Golf as a recreation;

              Bulletin HASKINS & SELLS 55
Golf as a Recreation
AMERE glance at the vacation plans
of the organization shows that the
keynote is golf. Probably the most ex­aggerated
case of golf enthusiasm is found
in an item which announced that the vaca­tion
of the person in question would be
spent on the "Golf" Coast. Lest this be
misunderstood, or the knowing reader be
led into attempting to relate the informa­tion
to the person involved, it should be
made clear that it was a typographical
error. "Gulf" Coast was intended.
Without any reflection on those who find
their chief pleasure in swimming, tennis,
motoring, or traveling to and from Europe
on ships of foreign nations, it may be said
that golf is the greatest recreative agency
yet devised. The preference for golf on
the part of so many members of an organi­zation
augurs well for the future.
Representations sometimes have been
made that swimming is the greatest form
of exercise known. It may be. But there
is something more to recreation than ex­ercise.
Any fish can swim. The face­tiously
inclined, using the vernacular of
the day, may say that some "fish" try to
play golf.
With tennis there is the exercise, plus
an occasional thrill. But tennis smacks of
sameness; one shot after another which is
good or bad; the ball is in or out, and the
longest volley soon comes to an end, only
to have the process begun again.
Motoring is educational. It teaches
geography. It develops a love of nature,
except one seeks the sensation of being
whizzed through space with a swiftness
which precludes a sight of the surrounding
and ever-changing panorama. But motor­ing
lacks exercise unless one is beset with
the vicissitudes of tire and motor trouble,
which scarcely can be said to afford recrea­tion.
Golf is the acme of idealism in the field
of recreation. It affords exercise, both
physical and mental, variety of scene and
of action, exhilaration of body and mind,
companionship, and a stimulus to health.
An hour in the bright sunshine is equiva­lent
to one minute of violet ray treatment;
is much more enjoyable and much less