LAND AND WATER 
September 5, 19 14 
f. 
LLANDUDNO GOLF LINKS 
with shame let me confess it) in bogey competitions for 
a year, I am incHned to think that theRulesof Golf Committee 
were wrong in treating these as if they came within the subtle 
distinction that separates medal from match play. I am 
firmly convinced that bogey should be played under match- 
play rules. 
For instance, lost ball should be lost hole ; of course 
the penalty for the loss of a ball is equivalent to the loss of a 
hole, but there are some obstinate people in this world who 
are always ready to imagine they can do impossible shots, 
and who will keep the green back by teeing another ball on 
the million to one chance that they will hole it or lay it dead. 
There are a good many other instances which could be cited 
in favour of legislating tor bogey as match play, but 
into this rather vexed question it is not proposed to enter 
further. 
Speaking, however, as one who, from having been 
an absolute scoffer, from a fine old Tory point of view, 
has come to recognise that there is a certain amount 
of merit in the pastime I should like to draw attention 
to one or two points. In the first place (we must admit the 
ugly name), what does the " Bogey " of a course mean ? 
Before bogey was heard of we knew what " the par " 
of any course implied, viz., the best score per hole that the 
best player playing his best, but without any flukes, could do. 
" Par " reduces the score of all courses to its absolute mini- 
mum. But that is not what is meant or should be meant 
by the " Bogey " of a course. Bogey, as I understand it, 
is the score, per individual hole, which an ordinary scratch 
player ought to make under ordinary conditions, and it is 
so interpreted in hard and fast figures in every card that is 
issued. It is true that in clubs and courses the estimated 
capacity of the average scratch player varies very consider- 
abl}'. Some have a very high opinion of him as a player, 
others quite a moderate one ; so you will see by the Saturday 
reports that in one club the bogey prize has been won 
by a glorious victory of seven down, and in another one 
reads of a feeble defeat by one up. What is radically wrong 
about making the bogey score a fixed one is that no attention 
at all is paid to climatic conditions, and in these islands wind 
is the most powerful handicapper that we have. 
Thus, if I may take a concrete instance from the only 
course on which I have played this peculiar form of golf, 
viz., Newcastle, County Down. There are three holes over 
five hundred yards in length, two of which are played against 
the prevailing wind, which is sou'rherly and generally a good 
deal in evidence, and each of these is put down as a bogey 
five. 
In the same way there are several holes of about four 
hundred yards, for which four is the ghostly score. In calm 
weather this would be about correct, though it is probable 
that the ordinary scratch player would have to squeeze a 
bit to get the figures in comfort ; but when, as is often the 
case, there is half a gale blowing, trying to do these long 
holes in the stipulated figures becomes a heart-breaking job 
even for the long powerful hitters, while the short drivers 
might just as well not try to play the holes at all. 
There is indeed nothing more disheartening in golf 
than to face a hole more than a quarter of a mile long with 
the foreknowledge that you must do it in five otherwise you 
will lose it. 
There is, it humbly appears to me, a remedy for this, and 
one that might seriously be considered. It is a simple one, 
viz., to take the force and direction of the wind into con- 
sideration, and vary the inexorable figure for each hole 
accordingly. At first sight, this may seem so complicated 
as to be unworkable, but, seriously speaking, it should not 
be difficult to work out. Let the club committee, or whoever 
arranges the bogey score, draw up a sliding scale of figures 
per hole, varying according to the wind, and let them have 
a cone hoisted on bogey competition days so as to indicate 
the allowance to be given for the wind. Of course, only 
a few of the holes would have moveable figures, and it would 
require a fairly strong wind for the north or south cone to 
be hoisted. There need only be the two cones, the north 
taking in the bottom half of the compass, and the south the 
top half. It would be left to the discretion of the club 
professional to decide whether a cone should be hoisted. I 
think this is a scheme which could be easily worked, and 
it would add considerably to the pleasure or (a better way 
of putting it) mitigate against the annoyance of playing 
against a bogey score in a gale, by giving the ordinary human 
being a chance. 
It is claimed for bogey that it is less irritating than 
playing an ordinary medal round. In a modified wav that 
is quite true ; you may take double figures to several holes 
and yet not ruin your chances. It is indeed much more 
satisfactory to go the whole hog when one is about it. The 
man who just misses a hard half by a putt, which if there 
were any justice in this world should certainly have been 
in, is likely to be much more annoyed than the man who 
has made a hopeless mucker of the hole. Yet both have to 
mark down that algebraical sign ( — ). 
And in this connection let me give a word of advice 
to those who like to have a small bet on their respective 
scores with their opponents. Don't. It is bad enough to 
play a ghostly enemy, but do not give him the help of a 
material friend. V/hat I mean can best be illustrated by 
a.n example of what actually occurred to me the other day. 
I arranged to play for a bogey competition with a friend, 
with whom I was in the habit of having the keenest of keen 
matches, which almost always came to the last hole ; and 
the piece of family plate which passed alternately from one 
to the other was regarded as of the greatest value. We 
agreed that the usual stake should depend on our scores 
against bogey. The first three holes were played against 
a stiff wind, which made the proper figures chfficult to obtain. 
My opponent lost his ball at the first hole. I just missed a 
half with bogey " by a hair." At the second he was unplayable 
off the tee, and I got a hard half. At the third I again 
had the best of it as regards my human enemy, but the worst 
as regards the ghostly one. The result of those three holes 
was that I was two down against bogey, and rather irritated ; 
whereas if I had been playing proper golf I would have been 
three up against my man, quite happy and pretty sure to 
win my match. The result of that bogey round, so far as 
I was concerned, was that I lost my half-crown. Speaking 
personally, I would infinitely prefer to play a keen blood match 
with a friend, and win or even lose it at the last hole, than win 
twenty bogey prizes; but so long as human nature is what 
it is you will have pot hunters, and if you have to have 
pot hunting, playing against bogey is, to my mind, preferable 
to counting one's strokes. 
The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries stated a few days ago 
that there was in this country sufficient wheat to supply the whole 
population for about four months. They have now obtained more 
complete information, including returns of the stocks of wheat and 
flour held by about i6o of the principal millers in Great Britain. On 
the basis of the figures now available, it may be said with confidence 
that there is actually in the United Kingdom at the present time, 
including the home crop now being harvested, five months supply 
of bread stuffs. This is additional to the wheat and flour on pas. age 
and due to arrive shortly. 
9S4 
