The Golf Club and Its Grounds — February 28, 1952

In order to preserve in its original flavor a description of the game of golf by a reporter for the “Hampshire Gazette and Northampton Courier,” the following article dated December 20, 1900, is here reproduced verbatim:

AN INSTITUTION WHICH PUTS LOTS OF MONEY IN CIRCULATION

“The Warner Meadows Golf club is one of the newest institutions of the city, founded in 1898. It has a $1000 clubhouse, and leases 100 acres of land of John L. and A. F. Warner, on their farm, a mile west of Florence, on the Williamsburg electric car line.

“There are 250 members of the club, one-half of whom belong to Smith College, and no
more than half may belong to the college at one time, probably so the control of the
property may remain in the hands of residents of the city. It costs male members $8 a
year to belong, and ladies $4 yearly, and it costs the average male member $5 a year for
golf balls and some $25 a year besides for what they spend for clubs, car fare and the
like.

There Were Expenses Then, Too

“The club itself spends almost $1800 a year on its grounds, taxes, water, rent, etc., and
the members spend as much more for supplies, car fare, hiring boys, etc. One dealer in
sporting goods in this city sold $900 worth this last year. The rent of grounds costs $150
a year, and the club hired two men all the season to care for them, removing rocks,
leveling rough places, building bridges over waterways and hollows, seeding the land
around the holes into which the ball has to be knocked, and caring for the clubhouse,
which has a giant fireplace, needing a great deal of feeding.

Every Knock a Stroke

“The game of golf is to knock a tiny, hard ball around a course having 18 stopping
places: in the least number of knocks. In the Warner Meadow club links there are but
nine stopping places, so they go around twice in playing match games. The club has set
the minimum number of knocks essential to establish a creditable record on this course as
37 knocks. Most of the club members get a ball around it in 50 to 55 knocks while the
best players like R. L. Williston make it in 39, and A.H. Findlay the Boston professional
one made it in 36 knocks.

Station-to-Station

“The station to which the balls are knocked from the start (teeing ground) are called greens, and in the midst of them is a hole four and a half inches in diameter, into which the ball must be knocked. The distance from hole to hole, or from green to green, varies with the nature of the ground. The names and distances of the holes on the Warner Meadow club grounds are as follows:

	Yards
1. Meadow hole ………………………………………………………………… 2. Elms hole ……………………………………………………………………….. 3. Uplands hole …………………………………………………………………. 4. Double Run hole ……………………………………………………………. 5. Riverside hole ……………………………………………………………..…. 6. Pool hole …………………………………………………………………..…… 7. Hickories hole ……………………………………………………………….. 8. Gap hole …………………………………………………………………..…… 9. Tantalus hole ………………………………………………………….….….	240 130 290 230 220 370 235 390 200
Total .………………………………………………………………………..……….	2305

The College Girls Started It All

“The club is three years old, having been started by college girls who subsequently had to get in the townspeople to make it a financial success. “In the possession of the club are two cups, to serve as incentives to players to make credible scores. One is the Club cup, valued at $200, for which the trials are made twice yearly, on the style of play known as championship medal play, as distinguished from handicap match playing, which method is followed to obtain the Governor’s Cup, worth $75, the trials being made yearly, on Memorial Day and Labor Day. Robert T. Lee won at both the first trials for these cups this year. R. L. Williston, the second trial for the $200 cup, and Dr. H. L. Moore of the college cup, the second trial for the $75 cup.”

Cup Competition

The Governor’s Cup still adorns the mantel of the present club house and the names of the winners of this semi-annual handicap tournament from 1900-1917 include:

Robert T. Lee, May, 1900 Herbert R. Graves, May, 1901 Frank Lyman, May, 1902 James T. Abbott, May, 1903 Wood Williams, May, 1904 Harry C. Southard, May, 1905 George L. Swift, May, 1906 Donald R. Gilfillan, May, 1907 Raymond B. King, May, 1908 No contest in 1909 Fred D. Cary, May, 1910 Robert l. Williston, May, 1911 J. Malcom Warren, May 1912 No contest in 1913 Warner Oland, 1914 William Feiker, May, 1915 Thaddeus Graves, 1916 H. B. Perry, May, 1917

Henry L. Moore, September, 1900 Warren M. King, September, 1901 Edwin K. Abbott September 1902 Raymond B. King, September, 1903 George L. Emerson, September, 1904 Harry P. Eastwood, October, 1905 Arthur G. Minshall, October, 1906 William H. Feiker, October, 1907 William H. Feiker, October, 1908 J. Malcolm Warren, September, 1910 Stephen L. Butler, September, 1911 Rufus H. Cook, September, 1915

Since the exterior of the cup was entirely filled by the names of the winning contestants, the Governor’s Cup was withdrawn from competition and became property of the club.