MORE PUBLIC GOLF COURSES
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Mr. Bernard Darwin could not employ his notable pen in a more just cause than to plead or to suggest that more public golf courses should be provided as he did with such prescience in his arresting article in last week's. Spectator.
" I know of no one in the golfing world whose views carry greater weight, or that is put forward with more conviction and sincerity. With others, Mr. Darwin, has, I believe, long since realized that public golf courses are the only possible solution whereby hundreds of thousands of people can obtain the opportunity to play the game. That they arc waiting for it admits of no doubt.
It is discreditable that London should possess but three or four of these. London should be ringed around with them. The two in Richmond Park only prove that South-west London is but inadequately provided, judging by the crowd that throng 'them, often unable to obtain a round, especially during the week-end. Playing tickets are repeatedly refused those who arrive late ; a fact that cannot be challenged.
I am continually receiving letters from would-be players
in North London asking my help to establish courses in their districts, and who find it impossible to reach Richmond Park in time for a round. Cannot something be done for them ? One hundred acres is, I admit, a large tract of ground—the economic questions regarding absorption I am not qualified to argue—but it should not be beyond possibility of acquisition. If such sites could be obtained around London for the purpose, they would be, despite initial costs, of relative cheapness. They might be obtained in perpetuity as open spaces, a phase of the question that is compelling.
I have watched the growth of public golf in England for
some years and have noted the desire of those who wish to play it, and with intense conviction as to its necessity I ask the Spectator to use its influence to help its recognition as an aid toward a greater national contentment.—I am, Sir, &c., .1. H. TAYLOR.
Royal Mid Surrey Golf Club, Richmond, Surrey.
[No one has a better right to speak about the need for more
public golf courses than Mr. J. H. Taylor, to whose initiative the success of the two public courses in Richmond Park is largely due. We welcome his letter. Will not some of our readers help him to provide one or more public golf courses in the North or North-east of London ?—En. Spectator.]
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