William Everett Hicks: Growth of Municipal Golf

[Joe Bausch]

Hicks was a very prominent golf writer in New York.  He cut his teeth writing for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.  In 1922 he moved to the Brooklyn Times.

Below is one of his articles where it recounts what he covered in his golf talk show on WOR radio.  I've often wondered about the power of the written word from these writers, and now the spoken word too!

This from May of 1923:

[Ronald Montesano]

That word, perfunctory, is a spectacular beacon. As long as we do everything in more than a perfunctory manner, we target the proper goal.


I like that he thanks his readers/listeners at the end.

[Bernie Bell]

124,000 rounds at one course in Chicago between March 25 and December 15?  Under what conditions would that be possible?

[Joe Bausch]

124,000 rounds at one course in Chicago between March 25 and December 15?  Under what conditions would that be possible?

After 123,999 paid rounds, someone late on the 15th of December decided to get in a late nine?

Sincerely,
C. Spackler

 

[Tom_Doak]

124,000 rounds at one course in Chicago between March 25 and December 15?  Under what conditions would that be possible?

Here's the math (assuming no rainouts):


124,000 rounds divided by 265 days = 468 rounds / day (!)


Average day from June 15-December 15 = 12 hours
Average day from March 25-June 15 = 14 hours
So, let's round up, and say the average day is 13 hours, and people are playing in 2.5 hours, so that's 10.5 hours of tee times who can complete a full 18.


468 / 10.5 hours = 44.5 golfers per hour = a four-ball every 5.5 minutes




Looks like some MBA guy's spreadsheet for future earnings.

[Joe Bausch]

I’ll bet a soda pop those numbers aren’t far off.  Why?  They are probably counting people that paid, not number of completed rounds.


In the same timeframe loads of people were teeing off at 8 pm at Cobb’s Creek later in the summer.  The price was so cheap to play I don’t think many cared if they only got a few holes in.

[MCirba]

Love his description of Cobb's Creek.

[Pete_Pittock]

Have to agree with Joe, the article said there were 124,000 people who played golf, not 124,000 rounds of golf.  Could be a lot of 9 holers.