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Kirk Gill

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Whigham's "How to Play Golf"
« on: March 24, 2011, 03:36:40 PM »
HJ Whigham was an interesting chap. He's known around these parts mostly for being CBM's Tonto, and for being a very good player. He was also a writer and editor and had a substantial life outside the game of golf.

That said, he did write a book called "How to Play Golf," and it's a good, succinct read. Here is a link to a "free of charge" online copy of the book, although it IS available in reprint.

http://chestofbooks.com/sports/golf/How-To-Play-Golf-2/

The book is dedicated to CBM (natch) and has some interesting chapters on how to go about creating a course of your own. An excerpt:

"These, then, are the main thing's to bear in mind, and I may repeat them shortly as follows:

For the purpose of making an eighteen hole course, look out first for at least two hundred acres of the best pasture land, provided that you cannot get the genuine golf land by the sea. Avoid a clay soil.

Make your course seventy-five yards wide at every hole and remove every tree, ditch and stone from its surface.

Locate your putting greens first with regard to natural situation, and then model your distances upon the St. Andrews links in Scotland. Roll your course every spring, and keep it close cut with mowing machines in summer. Make your putting greens as perfect as the abundant use of water and the mowing machine will permit.

Let all your hazards be sand bunkers, with the addition of a water hazard if nature supplies it.

Make your bunkers large and varied in shape - you cannot make them too large -and guard all your putting greens either on one or upon every side."



My apologies if this has already been posted and everyone's already taken a peek at it and I'm boring everyone to death with yet ANOTHER mention of Mr. Whigham and his exploits.
"After all, we're not communists."
                             -Don Barzini

George Pazin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Whigham's "How to Play Golf"
« Reply #1 on: March 24, 2011, 04:23:52 PM »
Simple wisdom, a trait always underrated relative to acclaimed genius.
Big drivers and hot balls are the product of golf course design that rewards the hit one far then hit one high strategy.  Shinny showed everyone how to take care of this whole technology dilemma. - Pat Brockwell, 6/24/04