Yesterday I was reviewing some golf articles from the 1920s and 1930s and came across a column called Fore! And Maybe More written in April, 1932. The author wanted to know what Walker Cupper Don Moe thought of Gene Sarazen's idea of enlarging the cup diameter to eight inches. Since Don was a student in Eugene, he contacted the campus daily editor, Dick Neuberger (who happened to become a US Senator). This is part of the interview:
"The reason for my opposition to the radical suggestion of Gene Sarazen is one tht involves some degree of technicality. Fundamentally the game of golf is one that demands unusual skill (except in Kalen's case
) and co-ordination in anyone who hopes to become a good player. If the cups were enlarged to eight inches, putting would become a lost art, rather an unnecessary one. The game would eventually lose much of its appeal as a result."
Moe's views on the subject are shared by Bobby Jones, who said not long ago that the larger cups might make for an interesting game, but it wouldn't be golf. Other world-celebrated linksmen, notably those three veterans of the divot-cutting sport Sandy Herd, Harry Vardon and James Braid, agree with the peerless Georgian that the proposed change is not calculated to help the game.
Sarazen maintains that when a dub and an expert play a game of golf together it works out about this way: the duffer approaches within 25 feet or so of the pin, while the expert will usually drop his ball within en feet. Both will take two putts to get down, under the present conditions. But if the cup is enlarged to eight inches the expert will almost invariably sink the ball while the average player, from further away, will still require two strokes. Well known pros who approve the Sarazen idean are Leo Diegel and Al Espinosa.
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So the way I read it Sarazen was unhappy with the quality of the green surface.