Judge, 1914-07-04 · page 7 of 24
Judge — July 4, 1914 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This *Judge* magazine page satirizes golf's transformation from a simple sport into an absurdly complicated pursuit. Columnist Grantland Rice notes that English authority Herbert Fowler claims golf "has become entirely too easy," yet ironically, golf experts have made it impossibly complex by contradicting each other on fundamentals—where weight belongs during a swing, whether to look at the ball or hole when putting, which swing style to use. Rice's point: experts have turned an easy game into a "wild flurry of psychology" full of conflicting advice and physical contortions. The top cartoon jokes about financial desperation—a man owing $5,000 with only $3,000 to pay gets absurd legal advice to buy a car instead, satirizing poor financial decision-making during this prosperous era. The bottom cartoon's meaning is unclear from the visible caption fragment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Mostly About Golf By GRANTLAND RICE ««GOLr,” according to Mr. Herbert Fowler, a profound English authority, ‘‘has become entirely too easy.’’ Mr. Fowler, ina way, may be right, despite the fact that in the bowels of a thousand golf courses the thud and swish of the niblick are heard in the land. But all is not yet lost. Re-enforcements are beginning to bring Mr. Fowler cheer and put the grand old Scottish frenzy back where it belongs. The experts are rallying swiftly to his aid. They are taking a simple game, which consists in the main of hitting a ball with a club—one of the main essences of all games—and investing it with a complexity and a tangle that are swiftly and surely get- ting in their deadly work. Golf is no longer a game of hitting a ball with a club. Through the experts at large, and at work, it has developed into a wild flurry of psychology, combined with all the gyra- tions of a contortionist, aided and abetted by a mental scramble and a physical upheaval. One expert tells us that the weight at the top of the swing is on the left foot; another, that is on the right. One expert says in putting to look at the ball; another, to look at the hole. One expert advises a flat swing; another, an upright swing. And we have read from seven different experts exactly seven different ways of playing the push-shot. Then comes Mr. Walter J. Travis and states that golf is Jones—\ owe five thousand dollars and have three thousand to pay it with. What would you advise me to do? Lawyer—Why, | should advise you to pay it with one thousand and put the balance into a car! Householder —Ex—would it be too much to ask you take this hat? comicbooks.com