This archive is an absolutely amazing collection.
When I browse through these articles, I am always struck with how much more adventurous golf seemed then.
Way more often than in our modern times the talk then was of the land and of the golfers’ quest across it.
And these articles are good reading for participants on this website particularly.
Architectural concepts and history are both implicit and explicitly discussed.
When we discuss things here, it is always good to know how things used to be,
and how things morphed into today.
And sometimes you can bump into some pretty blunt reminders of how GCA has simultaneously changed and stayed the same.
Here, for example, from 1914, is a discussion of narrowing fairways and building wild greens to increase difficulty.
The same words can be heard today, if you change the numbers hugely.
“ The fairways are being made only 50 or 55 yards wide.”“ 10 years ago the fairways were wide and unbroken.Today few fairways are wider than 50 or 55 yards....Flat greens no longer maintain and in their place are the undulating greens with bumps and humps and hollows to make the putting more difficult....The fairways are mere islands in a sea of rough.Instead of one tee you will find three tees of varying lengths....”
