16 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



GOLF INTRODUCED INTO CUBA 



NINE HOLES IN COMMISSION THE FIRST GOLF COURSE IN 



THE ISLAND 



In a land where frost is unknown and 

 growth never ceases, where grass is ever 

 green and flowers bloom perpetually, ex- 

 tends the golf course of the Country Club 

 of Havana in its embryonic state, says the 

 Xe7c York Sun. During the past year a 

 corporation was formed in the city of Ha- 

 vana for the purpose of acquiring the 

 necessary land and developing it, to meet 

 the necessities of a social country club, 

 along lines customary in the United States. 

 Suitable land near Havana was soon found 

 and the property purchased is being con- 

 verted rapidly into a completely furnished 

 club organization with all the accessories 

 for recreation and enjoyment. 



As an illustration of this it may be said 

 that, although active work was not begun 

 until last October, nine holes of the course 

 are now in commission. The seaston, 

 while lasting all the year around, will in 

 a way be reversed as compared with the 

 North. Down there the dry season is dur- 

 ing the W'inter months, making the condi- 

 tions at that time most favorable for play. 

 While Xorthern golfers are trudging over 

 baked-out links in summer, nature in Cuba 

 through rain and warmth will be doing 

 her best to keep the greenkeeper busy cut- 

 ting the prolific growth of grass on fairway 

 and putting greens. 



Almost as increditible as it may seem up 

 to this time there never has been a golf 

 course in the island of Cuba. Americans 

 introduced baseball there and it is now the 

 national game. During the intervention 

 the American army did maintain a few 

 holes on sand greens within the limits of 

 the army reservation at Camp Columbia, 

 but that was the only attempt at golf on 

 the island and it grew- no further. The 

 reason for this was that the Anglo-Saxon 

 residents who naturally would promote the 

 game on the island are mostly busy men, 

 many of whom know little of the game, 

 and that is also true as to the knowledge 

 of the resident Cubans and Spaniards, 

 although quite a proportion of the younger 

 generation have acquired an acquaintance 

 with the ancient game while at school in 

 the United States or abroad. The predic- 

 tion already has been made that a brood 

 of clever golfers will spring from these 

 young men when they have opportunity 

 for regular practice and play. Xearly a 

 hundred golfers played over the Havana 

 links on Easter Sunday. 



In the course of a conversation with a 

 member of the Country Club of Havana 

 a book of rules printed in Spanish was 



produced. "La pelota" stands for ball and 

 "hoyo" for hole. "Linea de putt" means 

 line of putt, while on the tee is "sobre el 

 tee" in Spanish. There are a number of 

 legal holidays. "Grito de Baire," rhean- 

 ing the beginning of the revolution, falls 

 on February 24th. Holy Thursday and 

 Good Friday are of course observed there, 

 and the Cuban Independence Day is 

 celebrated on Alay 20th. Alaceo Day falls 

 in March, and on October 10th is "Grito 

 de Yara," which also means the beginning 

 of a revolution. December 7th is Memorial 

 Day there. The last holiday of the year is 

 Christmas. It was explained that golf would 

 be certain to flourish on all these holidays. 



There have not been any hotel interests 

 in Havana strong enough to promote the 

 building of links for commercial results, 

 nor has there been any need from that 

 point of view, as the hotels are always full 

 during the tourist season. Many reasons 

 exist why golf should boom in Cuba. The 

 climate, especially from November to May, 

 is superb, and for that matter midsummer 

 is not objectionable. The intense heat of 

 the Northern cities is missing, sunstroke 

 is unknown and breezes blow almost as 

 regularly as the days come. The worst 

 that can be mentioned of a Cuban summer 

 is its monotony. 



The soil and grass and rain and warmth 

 all will work harmoniously in favor of 

 golf links, and there is no time or discus- 

 sion or experiment to be wasted to deter- 

 mine the kind of grasses to be used, be- 

 cause it is already known that the reliable 

 and hardy Bermuda grass is the only va- 

 riety that will grow either in fair or putting 

 greens in the West Indies, so that problem 

 is quite simple. 



Life in Culia by reason of climate, house 

 construction and habit is practically all in 

 the open air, l)ut physical exercise is just 

 as essential to health in Cuba as elsewhere 

 and the city of Havana has been deficient 

 in this respect. This applies to visitors 

 as well, and is commented upon by them 

 to the effect that while there are sights to 

 set there is little to do through personal 

 effort for recreation and enjoyment. There 

 are unique architecture, a strange language, 

 different customs, a magnificent climate, 

 open air life, beautiful roads running in 

 all directions from Havana through sugar 

 and tobacco plantations, pineapple groves 

 to cities and towns not far distant, with 

 tropical flora always in view. These in- 

 digenous and varied attractions, combined 

 with opportunities for playing golf and en- 



