Feb I, 1913 
FOREST AND STREAM 
145 
Archery-Golf. 
BY EDWARD B. WESTON. 
This is a game of golf in which the player 
uses a bow and arrow instead of a club and 
ball, together with certain modifications of the 
rules of straight golf. 
We have read in recent periodicals of games 
called archery-golf, which should have been 
called archery vs. golf, for they were played as 
matches over golf links between archers and 
golfers, each using their proper implements. 
The game of archery-golf, or golf-archery, 
is not new, having been played in St. Louis for 
several years. Wishing to learn more about it, 
I wrote to Randolph Laughlin, a prominent St. 
Louis attorney, whom I believed to be the origi¬ 
nator of the game, for the information. Fie 
kindly sent me the following letter, which I am 
sure will lie read with great interest by both 
archers and golfers: 
“I thank you for your letter of Jan. 10, in¬ 
closing clipping from the Daily News of Jan. 8, 
and asking me to let you know when first I 
played the game of golf-archery. 
"I played this game for the first time in St. 
Louis county (just outside the limits of the 
city of St. Louis) in the summer of 1899. At 
that time I supposed that the game was original 
with me, but since then I have learned that it is 
only a modification of the ancient English game 
of ‘Shooting at the Buttes.’ I am not very 
familiar with the English form of the game, but 
my understanding is that it consisted merely in 
shooting at mounds of turf, which were piled up 
on the English Commons for that purpose; the 
archers shooting from one mound to another, 
not so much with a view of keeping a score of 
their shots, as with a view to keeping in train¬ 
ing for the practice of archery. 
"In my case the purpose was to get the bene¬ 
fit of a not too strenuous exercise in the open 
air, with enough of an incentive to make that 
e.xercise a sport and .not a labor. My original 
purpose in selecting golf-archery in preference 
to golf was because T wanted a course right 
away, and had neither the time nor the patience 
to lay out a golf course. My purpose in main¬ 
taining the course as an archery-golf course in¬ 
stead of converting it into the regulation golf 
course is because I believe the game of golf- 
archery is very much superior to the game of 
golf from the standpoint of its own merits. The 
golf-archer gets fully as much exercise as does 
the golfer, and has the added zest which comes 
from using a man’s weapon instead of a child’s 
toy. In addition to this, the golf-archery course 
is much more picturesque than the regulation 
golf course. I did not have to cut down a single 
tree to lay out my course. Indeed, the numerous 
trees which are clumped and scattered all over 
the course furnish natural hazards, which add 
greatly to the enjoyment of the game. 
“Another and very sulistantial advantage is 
in the item of expense. I ha\ e to keep the grass 
cut, as a matter of course, but there are no 
putting greens to roll or water. Indeed, after 
purchasing the gear and targets, there is no more 
expense incident to golf-archery than there is to 
keeping up any ordinary park. 
"Another advantage is that, one does not 
have to waste any time to keep in practice. I 
make no pretense to being an expert archer, but 
I have played with several experts, and find that 
I am quite as good at the game as they are. On 
the other hand, I find that my wife is quite as 
BEGINNER IN ARCHERY, NEW ROCHELLE ARCHERY 
CLUB. 
good a player as I am, and that after a beginner 
goes over the course two or three times, he be¬ 
comes as expert as a veteran. The game is one 
in which a man's wife and children can compete 
with him on terms of substantial e(|ualitjL This 
is not true of golf. Nor does one have to keep 
in practice to play successfully. .^fter being 
away from the game for nearly a year, I found 
that T could play quite as well as I could when 
I was in almost daily practice. 
“My course consists of nine targets, scat¬ 
tered over a rolling country in an irregular circuit 
about two miles in extent. In tbc south central 
portion of this course there is a lake with arms 
and inlets which form natural hazards, as do 
also the numerous trees. The targets are placed 
at irregular distances apart, the general aim 
being to place them far enough away to make 
it necessary to take three shots to go from one 
to the other. The first shot is called the drive 
shot, the second the approach shot, and the 
third the target shot. There may be any num¬ 
ber of players in the “flight,’’ but two is the 
ideal number. The more players you have the 
longer it takes to get around, and the less exer¬ 
cise you get in proportion to the time spent. 
"One of the pla3'ers keeps score. Our usual 
practice is to make the low man at one target 
do the work of keeping score for the next target 
and so on. This score is kept on printed pads 
which I have had made for that purpose. These 
pads have blank spaces for the date of the game, 
the names of the several players, the handicap, 
if any, the number on the arrow of each player 
(each arrow being numbered to avoid confus¬ 
ion), and the shot score and target score made 
by each player at each target. Then, at the foot 
of each score card, is printed the following rules 
which are all the rules there are to the game: 
" ‘In the lake counts three shots, two for 
penalty. On the rocks, over the fence, in a tree, 
or a lost or broken arrow' counts two shots, one 
for penalt.v. A shot which strikes but does not 
penetrate the target does not score.’ 
"The player who completes his ninth targets 
in the fewest number of shots wins. If tw'O 
complete the round in the same number of shots, 
then only is the target score counted, the one 
with the highest target score being the bvinner. 
Thus, if you should complete the course in 25-66, 
and I should complete it in 25-63, you would be 
the winner, as this score w'ould indicate that w'e 
had each taken twenty-five shots, but that you 
had scored sixt3"-six points at the targets, as 
against my sixty-three. The targets on my 
course are of straw', mounted on iron tripods, 
and faced with the regulation oil cloth, painted 
in white, black, blue, red and gold. We keep 
the target score by counting one for the white, 
three for the black, five for the blue, seven for 
the red, and nine for the gold. IMy targets are 
left out all the year round, in all kinds of 
weather. I find that the iron tripods last in- 
definiteh', and that the straw will last for five 
years or longer, but the oil cloth facing must 
be replaced every spring. 
"Another advantage to this game is that 
you can play it all the year round. The only 
disadvantage of playing in winter is that if your 
arrows strike against the ice on the lake, they 
will slide for a quarter of a mile, and as every 
player has to be his ow'ii caddy, he sometimes 
gets more exercise than he bargained for. 
“T keep my arrows in a case made for that 
purpose, and my bows in the ordinar3' felt bags, 
but I leave both bows and arrows on a shelf in 
