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Peter Pallotta

The Roots of the Public Game
« on: January 26, 2007, 05:42:06 PM »
I thought this was interesting. There's a NY Times article from Nov. 1908 headlined "Golf Boom Coming, All Due to Taft".  It describes incoming U.S. President William Taft as an avid golfer who wanted to see more public golf courses being built. C.B. Macdonald is quoted in support:

"If Mr. Taft's influence upon golf will be the means of breaking down the absurd notion, still largely prevalent in this country, that golf is a rich man's game, it will be one of the best things that ever happened for the future of the sport in America. Nothing makes me more indignant than to see golf heralded as an exclusive pastime for rich men or idlers. One has only to visit Scotland to see the number of free courses which are maintained by the Town Councils, those requiring a small fee, from one penny to sixpence, and in some instances nothing at all. It occurs to me that the Common Councils of the various towns in the United States cold do nothing better with their parks which belong to the people than to lay out a golf course in each.”

That was 100 years ago, and C.B. went on to build some pretty exclusive courses; but have we ever been further from (or closer to?) the ideal that Taft/Macdonald are discussing here?

Thanks
Peter

Adam Clayman

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:The Roots of the Public Game
« Reply #1 on: January 26, 2007, 07:31:20 PM »
In our day and age, where the politician is a ... a.... a professional. Alll the good work president Taft started, is going the way of the dodo. Save for a few exceptions, the powers that be only see green when the word golf is mentioned. Not the green grass, either.

The worst example is what has happened to those fine folks of Pacific Grove. The appointed leader has altered the course and the atmosphere to the extent that the course has gone from being extremely profitable, to likely needing 50 years to recover from the debt they've allowed to pile up. While simutaneously crowding out all the golfers who use to patronize the place, daily.
"It's unbelievable how much you don't know about the game you've been playing your whole life." - Mickey Mantle

Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +2/-1
Re:The Roots of the Public Game
« Reply #2 on: January 26, 2007, 07:48:25 PM »
Clearly, Mr. Macdonald had more connections on Wall Street than at City Halls across America.

I got that book about golfing Presidents for Christmas this past year and I was startled to read how much golf Taft and Woodrow Wilson and Harding played while in office.  Wilson played golf five or six days a week, a few holes each morning before work, on doctor's orders to relieve some of the stress of the job.  Harding played several days a week, too.

Hard to imagine any President nowadays being allowed to play golf anywhere near that often, but maybe they should ... I can think of a couple who might have stayed out of trouble that way.

JMorgan

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:The Roots of the Public Game
« Reply #3 on: January 26, 2007, 07:51:39 PM »
Peter,

I think Taft's efforts for golf backfired in part because he had a PR problem right out of the gate.    When Teddy Roosevelt chose, somewhat reluctantly, to emulate Washington's example and step aside after two terms, TR did a heck of a lot to promote Taft within the Republican Party and to the press and public leading up to Taft's election.  Taft never really wanted the Presidency; he wanted to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.  TR pushed him, along with Taft's wife -- she wanted to be a First Lady -- and much of the party leadership, into the nomination.  When Taft won, the first thing he did was go play golf, which did not sit well with Roosevelt and the press.  When he continued to play golf instead of tackling issues with the "square deal" energy that the public came to associate with TR, the reputation of golf suffered even more, along with Taft's popularity.  The Republican Party at that time was the party of the railroad & oil barons, bankers, Old Money -- in short, wealth.  Wilson won the election for the Democrats four years later, beating Taft and TR, who left the Republican Party and ran as a Progressive Party candidate.  

Joe Hancock

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:The Roots of the Public Game
« Reply #4 on: January 26, 2007, 07:53:13 PM »
Hard to imagine any President nowadays being allowed to play golf anywhere near that often, but maybe they should ... I can think of a couple who might have stayed out of trouble that way.

Bush doesn't golf because he has to take Cheney with him...but Cheney expects W to reciprocate by going bird hunting. Of course, W has been advised not to..... ;D

Joe
" What the hell is the point of architecture and excellence in design if a "clever" set up trumps it all?" Peter Pallotta, June 21, 2016

"People aren't picking a side of the fairway off a tee because of a randomly internally contoured green ."  jeffwarne, February 24, 2017

Peter Pallotta

Re:The Roots of the Public Game
« Reply #5 on: January 26, 2007, 08:11:10 PM »
Thanks, James, for that neat bit of history.

It strikes me that, whatever may have been the faults of the age, the notion of the civic/public good was an important one back then, i.e. around the turn of the century.  It still amazes me that such a big chunk of valuable Manhattan real-estate could've been set aside for a public park. In that context, President Taft encouraging local councils to build and maintain public courses seems practical as well as admirable.    

I assume Tom D's comments about Macdonald were meant to say that his suggestions about a golf course in every town were naive/uninformed. I wonder if that's true, in the context of the times. I wonder if those times are, as Adam suggests, gone forever. (Forever's a long time.)  

Peter

Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +2/-1
Re:The Roots of the Public Game
« Reply #6 on: January 26, 2007, 08:41:07 PM »
Peter:

Perhaps Macdonald was a bit naive to say what he did ... he either knew or was about to learn that American soils and climate are less naturally conducive to the game than those in Scotland.  But, that really wasn't my point.  I just meant that Macdonald did not have the connections to take the game in that direction, and more's the pity that he did not.

Peter Pallotta

Re:The Roots of the Public Game
« Reply #7 on: January 26, 2007, 08:59:03 PM »
Thanks, Tom, for that extra bit of insight re: the agronomy issues.*  I realized just after I posted that you were referring to Macdonald's connections (to Wall Street) vs. his lack of connections (to middle America). Given that, it's interesting that Macdonald felt compelled to make a case for the public game, as if that was the 'politically correct' position to take back then.

Peter
     
* Were American soils and climates less naturally conducive to the game than those in Scotland, or just less conducive to the way the game was PLAYED in Scotland?
« Last Edit: January 26, 2007, 09:01:48 PM by Peter Pallotta »

Scott Witter

Re:The Roots of the Public Game
« Reply #8 on: January 27, 2007, 01:21:32 PM »
Peter:

Ah ha...could stay away huh?  I trust the family is well  :D I don't suspect we will see many posts from you, but good to have you back, if at least only for a moment.

Adam Clayman

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:The Roots of the Public Game
« Reply #9 on: January 27, 2007, 07:59:44 PM »
Peter, One interesting happenstance was The Columbian Exposition of 1893. It allowed the world to come to Chicago at the exact time CB was trying to spread the game and raise funds. As I understand it, he wasn't able to arrange the financing until the Exposition came to town. And afterward,(1897) they built a course on the debris pile from the tear down of the exposition, that is still a municipal facility today. The first public course west of the Alleghenies. Jackson Park
« Last Edit: January 27, 2007, 08:01:31 PM by Adam Clayman »
"It's unbelievable how much you don't know about the game you've been playing your whole life." - Mickey Mantle

Jonathan Cummings

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:The Roots of the Public Game
« Reply #10 on: January 27, 2007, 08:03:18 PM »
Tom - I don't have the numbers but I bet Eisenhower ran circles around them all as far as days-away-from-the-office-playing-golf were concerned.

JC

Kyle Harris

Re:The Roots of the Public Game
« Reply #11 on: January 27, 2007, 08:06:34 PM »
Wilson won the election for the Democrats four years later, beating Taft and TR, who left the Republican Party and ran as a Progressive Party candidate.  

That's Bull-Moose Party to you...  ;)

Second best part name ever, first being the Anti-Masonic Part of 1812.

Peter Pallotta

Re:The Roots of the Public Game
« Reply #12 on: January 27, 2007, 10:34:00 PM »
Adam
thanks, that IS interesting, as is that whole period to me. It was the beginning of things, and everything was wide open: courses built on debris piles, President's encouraging the public game, early attempts to emulate the Scottish courses, architects figuring out how to grow grass, etc.  If the game has never achieved the popularity (and 'democracy') of baseball, football or basketball, it seems to me that the reasons might be found back then.    

It reminds me of an article about Henry Ford and the first gasoline engine: there were competing and perhaps better engine technologies available; but either by happenstance or design the infrastructure supporting gasoline engines -- i.e. gas stations -- developed very rapidly, while the same never happened for the competing technologies, and so it was Ford's ideas that won out.    

Peter
« Last Edit: January 27, 2007, 10:37:01 PM by Peter Pallotta »

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