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Abdelmonem Afifi
Susanne May
Robin A. Donatello
Virginia A. Clark
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300
Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reasonable efforts have been made
to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all
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material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has not been
obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we may rectify in any future
reprint.
Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized
in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, mi-
crofilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers.
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(http://www.copyright.com/) or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA
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Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identi-
fication and explanation without intent to infringe.
Preface xi
Authors xv
4 Data visualization 37
4.1 Introduction 37
4.2 Univariate data 38
4.3 Bivariate data 45
4.4 Multivariate data 50
4.5 Discussion of computer programs 52
4.6 What to watch out for 54
4.7 Summary 56
4.8 Problems 56
v
vi CONTENTS
5 Data screening and transformations 59
5.1 Transformations, assessing normality and independence 59
5.2 Common transformations 59
5.3 Selecting appropriate transformations 62
5.4 Assessing independence 69
5.5 Discussion of computer programs 71
5.6 Summary 71
5.7 Problems 72
II Regression Analysis 85
7 Simple regression and correlation 87
7.1 Chapter outline 87
7.2 When are regression and correlation used? 87
7.3 Data example 88
7.4 Regression methods: fixed-X case 89
7.5 Regression and correlation: variable-X case 93
7.6 Interpretation: fixed-X case 93
7.7 Interpretation: variable-X case 94
7.8 Other available computer output 98
7.9 Robustness and transformations for regression 103
7.10 Other types of regression 105
7.11 Special applications of regression 107
7.12 Discussion of computer programs 110
7.13 What to watch out for 110
7.14 Summary 112
7.15 Problems 112
Appendix A 389
A.1 Data sets and how to obtain them 389
A.2 Chemical companies’ financial data 389
A.3 Depression study data 389
A.4 Financial performance cluster–analysis data 389
A.5 Lung cancer survival data 390
A.6 Lung function data 390
A.7 Parental HIV data 390
A.8 Northridge earthquake data 391
A.9 School data 391
A.10 Mice data 391
Bibliography 393
Index 411
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Preface
The first edition of this book appeared in 1984 under the title “Computer Aided Multivariate Anal-
ysis.” The title was chosen in order to distinguish it from other books that were more theoretically
oriented. By the time we published the fifth edition in 2012, it was impossible to think of a book on
multivariate analysis for scientists and applied researchers that is not computer oriented. We there-
fore decided at that time to change the title to “Practical Multivariate Analysis” to better characterize
the nature of the book. Today, we are pleased to present the sixth edition.
We wrote this book for investigators, specifically behavioral scientists, biomedical scientists,
and industrial or academic researchers, who wish to perform multivariate statistical analyses and
understand the results. We expect the readers to be able to perform and understand the results,
but also expect them to know when to ask for help from an expert on the subject. The book can
either be used as a self-guided textbook or as a text in an applied course in multivariate analysis.
In addition, we believe that the book can be helpful to many statisticians who have been trained
in conventional mathematical statistics who are now working as statistical consultants and need to
explain multivariate statistical concepts to clients with a limited background in mathematics.
We do not present mathematical derivations of the techniques; rather we rely on geometric and
graphical arguments and on examples to illustrate them. The mathematical level has been deliber-
ately kept low. While the derivations of the techniques are referenced, we concentrate on applica-
tions to real-life problems, which we feel are the ‘fun’ part of multivariate analysis. To this end, we
assume that the reader will use a packaged software program to perform the analysis. We discuss
specifically how each of four popular and comprehensive software packages can be used for this
purpose. These packages are R, SAS, SPSS, and STATA. The book can be used, however, in con-
junction with all other software packages since our presentation explains the output of most standard
statistical programs.
We assume that the reader has taken a basic course in statistics that includes tests of hypotheses
and covers one-way analysis of variance.
xi
xii PREFACE
Part Two covers regression analysis. Chapter 7 deals with simple linear regression and is in-
cluded for review purposes to introduce our notation and to provide a more complete discussion
of outliers and diagnostics than is found in some elementary texts. Chapters 8-10 are concerned
with multiple linear regression. Multiple linear regression is used very heavily in practice and pro-
vides the foundation for understanding many concepts relating to residual analysis, transformations,
choice of variables, missing values, dummy variables, and multicollinearity. Since these concepts
are essential to a good grasp of multivariate analysis, we thought it useful to include these chapters
in the book.
Chapters 11-18 might be considered the heart of multivariate analysis. They include chapters on
discriminant analysis, logistic regression analysis, survival analysis, principal components analysis,
factor analysis, cluster analysis, log-linear analysis, and correlated outcomes regression. The mul-
tivariate analyses have been discussed more as separate techniques than as special cases of some
general framework. The advantage of this approach is that it allows us to concentrate on explaining
how to analyze a certain type of data from readily available computer programs to answer realistic
questions. It also enables the reader to approach each chapter independently. We did include inter-
spersed discussions of how the different analyses relate to each other in an effort to describe the ‘big
picture’ of multivariate analysis.
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our appreciation to our colleagues and former students and staff that
helped us over the years, both in the planning and preparation of the various editions. These include
our colleagues Drs. Carol Aneshensel, Roger Detels, Robert Elashoff, Ralph Frerichs, Mary Ann
Hill, and Roberta Madison. Our former students include Drs. Stella Grosser, Luohua Jiang, Jack
Lee, Steven Lewis, Tim Morgan, Leanne Streja, and David Zhang. Our former staff includes Ms.
Dorothy Breininger, Jackie Champion, and Anne Eiseman. In addition, we would like to thank Ms.
Meike Jantzen and Mr. Jack Fogliasso for their help with the references and typesetting.
We also thank Rob Calver and Lara Spieker from CRC Press for their very capable assistance
in the preparation of the sixth edition.
We especially appreciate the efforts of the staff of the UCLA Institute for Digital Research and
Education in putting together the UCLA web site of examples from the book (referenced above).
Our deep gratitude goes to our spouses, Marianne Afifi, Bruce Jacobson, Ian Donatello, and
Welden Clark, for their patience and encouragement throughout the stages of conception, writing,
and production of the book. Special thanks go to Welden Clark for his expert assistance and trou-
bleshooting of earlier electronic versions of the manuscript.
Abdelmonem Afifi
Susanne May
Robin A. Donatello
Virginia A. Clark
Authors
Abdelmonem Afifi, Ph.D., has been Professor of Biostatistics in the School of Public Health, Uni-
versity of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) since 1965, and served as the Dean of the School from
1985 until 2000. His research includes multivariate and multilevel data analysis, handling miss-
ing observations in regression and discriminant analyses, meta-analysis, and model selection. Over
the years, he taught well-attended courses in biostatistics for public health students and clinical re-
search physicians, and doctoral-level courses in multivariate statistics and multilevel modeling. He
has authored many publications in statistics and health related fields, including two widely used
books (with multiple editions) on multivariate analysis. He received several prestigious awards for
excellence in teaching and research.
Susanne May, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Wash-
ington in Seattle. Her areas of expertise and interest include clinical trials, survival analysis, and
longitudinal data analysis. She has more than 20 years of experience as a statistical collaborator
and consultant on health related research projects. In addition to a number of methodological and
applied publications, she is a coauthor (with Drs. Hosmer and Lemeshow) of Applied Survival
Analysis: Regression Modeling of Time-to-Event Data. Dr. May has taught courses on introductory
statistics, clinical trials, and survival analysis.
Virginia A. Clark, Ph.D., was professor emerita of Biostatistics and Biomathematics at UCLA.
For 27 years, she taught courses in multivariate analysis and survival analysis, among others. In
addition to this book, she is coauthor of four books on survival analysis, linear models and analysis
of variance, and survey research, as well as an introductory book on biostatistics. She published
extensively in statistical and health science journals.
xv
Part I
1
Chapter 1
3
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4 CHAPTER 1. WHAT IS MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS?
framework can be tested to determine if they are consistent with the data. An example of such model
testing is given in Aneshensel and Frerichs (1982).
Data from the first time period of the depression study are described in Chapter 3. Only a subset
of the factors measured on a subsample of the respondents is included in this book’s web site in
order to keep the data set easily comprehensible. These data are used several times in subsequent
chapters to illustrate some of the multivariate techniques presented in this book.
Logistic regression
An online movie streaming service has classified movies into two distinct groups according to
whether they have a high or low proportion of the viewing audience when shown. The company
also records data on features such as the length of the movie, the genre, and the characteristics
of the actors. An analyst would use logistic regression because some of the data do not meet the
assumptions for statistical inference used in discriminant function analysis, but they do meet the
assumptions for logistic regression. From logistic regression we derive an equation to estimate the
probability of capturing a high proportion of the target audience.
Poisson regression
In a health survey, middle school students were asked how many visits they made to the dentist in
the last year. The investigators are concerned that many students in this community are not receiving
adequate dental care. They want to determine what characterizes how frequently students go to the
dentist so that they can design a program to improve utilization of dental care. Visits per year are
count data and Poisson regression analysis provides a good tool for analyzing this type of data.
Poisson regression is covered in the logistic regression chapter.
8 CHAPTER 1. WHAT IS MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS?
Survival analysis
An administrator of a large health maintenance organization (HMO) has collected data for a number
of years on length of employment in years for their physicians who are either family practitioners or
internists. Some of the physicians are still employed, but many have left. For those still employed,
the administrator can only know that their ultimate length of employment will be greater than their
current length of employment. The administrator wishes to describe the distribution of length of
employment for each type of physician, determine the possible effects of factors such as gender and
location of work, and test whether or not the length of employment is the same for two specialties.
Survival analysis, or event history analysis (as it is often called by behavioral scientists), can be used
to analyze the distribution of time to an event such as quitting work, having a relapse of a disease,
or dying of cancer.
Factor analysis
An investigator has asked each respondent in a survey whether he or she strongly agrees, agrees, is
undecided, disagrees, or strongly disagrees with 15 statements concerning attitudes toward inflation.
As a first step, the investigator will do a factor analysis on the resulting data to determine which
statements belong together in sets that are uncorrelated with other sets. The particular statements
that form a single set will be examined to obtain a better understanding of attitudes toward inflation.
Scores derived from each set or factor will be used in subsequent analyses to predict consumer
spending.
Cluster analysis
Investigators have made numerous measurements on a sample of patients who have been classified
as being depressed. They wish to determine, on the basis of their measurements, whether these
patients can be classified by type of depression. That is, is it possible to determine distinct types of
depressed patients by performing a cluster analysis on patient scores on various tests?
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Golf Architecture:
Economy in Course Construction and Green-Keeping
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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project
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Author: A. Mackenzie
Language: English
The 140-yard short hole at Sitwell Park: a fiercely criticised green that has become universally
popular.
Frontispiece
GOLF ARCHITECTURE
ECONOMY IN COURSE CONSTRUCTION
AND GREEN-KEEPING
BY
DR. A. MACKENZIE
WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY
H. S. COLT
Copyright
First published 1920
INTRODUCTION
My partner, who is the author of these short essays on Golf Course
Architecture, has asked me to write an introduction. This is,
however, hardly necessary, as the name of Dr. Mackenzie is so well
known in connection with this subject.
Many years ago now the idea came to him, as to a few others,
that it might not be impossible to create a golf course without doing
damage to the natural attractions of the site. Up to that period the
courses which had been designed by man, and not by nature, had in
great measure failed in this direction, and although no doubt they
had provided necessary opportunities for playing the game, the
surroundings in many cases proved a source of irritation rather than
pleasure.
I vividly remember meeting my present partner for the first time. I
had been asked to go to Leeds to advise about the design of the
Alwoodley Golf Course, and stayed at his house. After dinner he took
me into his consulting room, where, instead of finding myself
surrounded by the weapons of his profession as a Doctor of
Medicine, I sat in the midst of a collection of photographs of sand
bunkers, putting greens, and golf courses, and many plans and
designs of the Alwoodley Course. I found that I was staying with a
real enthusiast, and one who had already given close attention to a
subject in which I have always been interested.
And it is this enthusiasm for the natural beauty of nature which
has helped him in all his work, so that in the case of Alwoodley the
player not only has the opportunity of displaying his skill in the
game, but also of enjoying the relaxation which delightful natural
surroundings always give.
No doubt many mistakes were made in our early attempts, and I
never visit a course which I have designed without seeing where
improvements could be made in the constructional work, and as long
as this is so, I feel that we shall all continue to learn and to make
progress, our instructor being nature herself.
H. S. Colt.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. General Principles of Economy in Course Construction
and Green-keeping 17
II. Some Further Suggestions 68
III. Ideal Holes 88
IV. The Future of Golf Architecture 116
ILLUSTRATIONS
The 140-yard Short Hole at Sitwell Park Frontispiece
PAGE
The Sixteenth Green at Headingley, Leeds 26
The Home Green at Sitwell Park 28
An Artificial Hummock at Moortown, constructed from the
stones removed from the Fairway 32
The Fifteenth Hole on the City or Newcastle Course 40
Diagram of Hole of 370 yards, illustrating the value of one
bunker, B 45
The Artificial Hummocks guarding the Fifth Green at
Alwoodley 49
The Seventeenth Green at Harrogate 52
Grange-over-Sands: the site of one of the greens on the
rocks near the boundary of the course—work just
beginning 62
Grange-over-Sands: ready for turfing—a green constructed
on rocks 63
The “Scraper” at work on Wheatley Park, Doncaster 69
Grange-over-Sands: the turf cutting machine at work 70
Grange-over-Sands: sandhills constructed by means of the
Scraper on terrain originally perfectly flat 71
An Artificial Bunker on the Fulford Course 86
The Second Hole at Headingley 94
The Eighth Green at Moortown 99
The Eighth Hole, “Gibraltar,” Moortown Golf Course 101
The Sixteenth Hole at St. Andrews 103
The Fourteenth Hole at St. Andrews 107
The Seventeenth Hole at St. Andrews 111
Plan of Ideal Two-shot Hole of 420 yards 115
The Fifth Hole at Fulford 124
GOLF ARCHITECTURE
CHAPTER I
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMY IN COURSE
CONSTRUCTION AND GREEN-KEEPING
Economy in course construction consists in obtaining the best possible
results at a minimum of cost. The more one sees of golf courses, the more
one realises the importance of doing construction work really well, so that it is
likely to be of a permanent character. It is impossible to lay too much stress
on the importance of finality.
Every golfer knows examples of courses which have been constructed and
rearranged over and over again, and the fact that all over the country
thousands of pounds are frittered away in doing bad work which will
ultimately have to be scrapped is particularly distressful to a true economist.
As an example of unnecessary labour and expense, the writer has in mind a
green which has been entirely relaid on four different occasions. In the first
instance, it was of the ridge and furrow type; the turf was then lifted and it
was made dead flat. A new secretary was appointed, and he made it a more
pronounced ridge and furrow than ever; it was then relaid and made flat
again, and has now been entirely reconstructed with undulations of a more
natural outline and appearance.
In discussing the question of finality, it is well to inquire if there are any
really first-class courses in existence which have been unaltered for a
considerable number of years and still remain, not only a good test of golf,
but a source of pleasure to all classes of players. Is there any existing course
which not even the rubber cored ball has spoilt? And, if so, what is the cause
of its abiding popularity? The only one I know of is one which has been
described as “a much-abused old course at a little place called St. Andrews, in
the Kingdom of Fife.” This (as well as some of the other championship courses
to a lesser extent) still retains its popularity among all classes of amateurs. In
fact, it is characteristic of all the best courses that they are just as pleasurable
(possibly even more so) to the long handicap man as to the player of
championship rank. This fact knocks on the head the argument which is often
used that the modern expert tries to spoil the pleasure of the player by
making courses too difficult.
The successful negotiation of difficulties is a source of pleasure to all
classes of players.
It may be asked, “Who originally constructed St. Andrews?” Its origin
appears to be shrouded in mystery: like Topsy, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, it simply
“growed.” But the fact of the matter is that St. Andrews differs from others in
that it has always been deemed a sacrilege to interfere with its natural
beauties, and it has been left almost untouched for centuries. No green-
keeper has ever dared to shave down its natural undulations. Most of the
bunkers have been left where nature placed them, and others have originated
from the winds and the rains enlarging divot marks left by the players, and
some of them possibly by the green-keepers converting those hollows where
most players congregated, into bunkers, owing to the difficulty of keeping
them free from divot marks. The bunkers at St. Andrews are thus placed in
positions where players are most likely to go—in fact, in the precise positions
which the ordinary Green Committee would suggest should be filled up. This
is a significant fact, and tends to show that many of our existing ideas in
regard to hazards have been erroneous. Mr. John L. Low pointed out years
ago that no hazard is unfair wherever it is placed, and this particularly applies
if the hazard is visible, as it should be obvious that if a player sees a hazard in
front of him and promptly planks his ball into it he has chosen the wrong spot.
I once heard a Yorkshire tale of an old farmer finding a man in his coal-
house during a recent coal strike. He put his head through the window and
said, “Now I’ve copped you picking out all the big lumps.” A voice from the
darkness came, “You’re a liar, I’m taking them as they come.”
On the old type of course like St. Andrews, the players have to take the
hazards as they come, and do their best to avoid them.
There is nothing new about the ideas of the so-called Golf Architect: he
simply wishes to reproduce the old ideas as exemplified in the old natural
courses like St. Andrews, those courses which were played on before over-
zealous green committees demolished the natural undulations of the fairways
and greens, and made greens like lawns for croquet, tennis, or anything else
except golf, and erected eyesores in the shape of straight lines of cop
bunkers, instead of emphasising the natural curves of the links.
In the old view of golf, there was no main thoroughfare to the hole: the
player had to use his own judgment without the aid of guide posts, or other
adventitious means of finding his way. St. Andrews still retains the old
traditions of golf. For example, I have frequently seen four individuals playing
the long hole (the fourteenth), and deliberately attacking it in four different
ways, and three out of the four were probably right in playing it in the ways
they selected.
At St. Andrews “it needs a heid to play gowf,” as the caddie said to the
professor.
As the truest economy consists in finality, it is interesting to consider the
essential features of an ideal golf course. Some of them are suggested now:
1. The course, where possible, should be arranged in two loops of nine
holes.
2. There should be a large proportion of good two-shot holes, two or three
drive-and-pitch holes, and at least four one-shot holes.
3. There should be little walking between the greens and tees, and the
course should be arranged so that in the first instance there is always a slight
walk forwards, from the green to the next tee; then the holes are sufficiently
elastic to be lengthened in the future if necessary.
4. The greens and fairways should be sufficiently undulating, but there
should be no hill climbing.
5. Every hole should have a different character.
6. There should be a minimum of blindness for the approach shots.
7. The course should have beautiful surroundings, and all the artificial
features should have so natural an appearance that a stranger is unable to
distinguish them from nature itself.
8. There should be a sufficient number of heroic carries from the tee, but
the course should be arranged so that the weaker player with the loss of a
stroke or portion of a stroke shall always have an alternative route open to
him.
9. There should be infinite variety in the strokes required to play the various
holes—viz., interesting brassy shots, iron shots, pitch and run-up shots.
10. There should be a complete absence of the annoyance and irritation
caused by the necessity of searching for lost balls.
11. The course should be so interesting that even the plus man is
constantly stimulated to improve his game in attempting shots he has hitherto
been unable to play.
12. The course should be so arranged that the long handicap player, or
even the absolute beginner, should be able to enjoy his round in spite of the
fact that he is piling up a big score.
13. The course should be equally good during winter and summer, the
texture of the greens and fairways should be perfect, and the approaches
should have the same consistency as the greens.
A DECIDED ADVANTAGE
In regard to the first three principles, there can be little difference of
opinion. It is a considerable advantage that a course should be arranged in
two loops of nine holes, as on a busy day players can commence at either the
first or tenth tee.
In regard to the fourth principle. It used to be a common fallacy that greens
should be made dead flat. Even on some of the best golf courses at the
present day you find them made like croquet lawns. There has been
somewhat of a reaction lately against undulating greens, but this, I believe, is
entirely due to the fact that the undulations have been made of a wrong
character, either composed of finicky little humps or of the ridge and furrow
type. Natural undulations are the exact opposite to the artificial ridge and
furrow. The latter has a narrow hollow, and a broad ridge, whereas the former
has a large, bold, sweeping hollow, and a narrow ridge.
The Headingley, Leeds—approximate cost £50: an entirely artificial hole; the site
sixteenth green at
was originally on a severe downhill slope and had to be cut out of rock.
The most interesting putting the writer has ever seen is on the Ladies’
Putting Course at St. Andrews. Even first-class golfers consider it a privilege to
be invited there, and are to be found putting with the greatest enthusiasm
from early morn till late at night. There the undulations are of the boldest
possible type, large sweeping hollows rising abruptly four or five feet up to
small plateaus. A modern golf architect who dared to produce the boldness of
these St. Andrews’ undulations could hardly hope to escape hostile criticism.
In constructing natural-looking undulations one should attempt to study the
manner in which those among the sand-dunes are formed. These are
fashioned by the wind blowing up the sand in the form of waves, which
become gradually turfed over in the course of time. Natural undulations are,
therefore, of a similar shape to the waves one sees by the seashore, and are
of all kinds of shapes and sizes, but are characterised by the fact that the
hollows between the waves are broader than the waves themselves.
If undulations are made of this kind, then there are always plenty of
comparatively flat places where the green-keeper can put the flag, and there
should never be any necessity to cut the hole on a slope.
A test of a good undulation is that it should be easy to use the mowing
machine over it.
If undulations are made of the kind I describe, it is hardly possible to make
them too large or too bold.
Perhaps the most aggravating type of undulation is the finicky little hump or
side-slope which you don’t see until after you have missed your putt, and then
begin to wonder why it has not gone in the hole.
The home green at Sitwell Park: An undulating green with a wide choice of places for the hole in
the hollows or on the flat.
The great thing in constructing golf courses is to ensure variety and make
everything look natural. The greatest compliment that can be paid to a green-
keeper is for players to think his artificial work is natural. On Alwoodley and
Moortown practically every green and every hummock has been artificially
made, and yet it is difficult to convince the stranger that this is so. I
remember a chairman of the Green Committee of one of the best-known clubs
in the North telling me that it would be impossible to make their course
anything like Alwoodley, as there we had such a wealth of natural hillocks,
hollows, and undulations. It was only with great difficulty that I was able to
persuade him that, to use an Irishism, these natural features which he so
much admired had all been artificially created. I have even heard one of the
members of our own Green Committee telling a well-known writer on golf that
the hummocks surrounding one of our greens had always been there: he
himself had forgotten that he had been present when the site for them had
been pegged out.
IMPORTANCE OF BEAUTY
Another common erroneous idea is that beauty does not matter on a golf
course. One often hears players say that they don’t care a “tinker’s cuss”
about their surroundings: what they want is good golf.
One of the best-known writers on golf has recently been jeering at golf
architects for attempting to make beautiful bunkers. If he prefers ugly
bunkers, ugly greens, and ugly surroundings generally he is welcome to them,
but I don’t think for an instant that he believes what he is writing about, for at
the same time he talks about the beauties of natural courses. The chief object
of every golf architect or green-keeper worth his salt is to imitate the beauties
of nature so closely as to make his work indistinguishable from nature itself.
I haven’t the smallest hesitation in saying that beauty means a great deal
on a golf course; even the man who emphatically states he does not care a
hang for beauty is subconsciously influenced by his surroundings. A beautiful
hole not only appeals to the short handicap player but also to the long, and
there are few first-rate holes which are not at the same time, either in the
grandeur of their undulations and hazards, or the character of their
surroundings, beautiful holes.
It is not suggested that we should all play round the links after the manner
of the curate playing with the deaf old Scotsman.
The curate was audibly expressing his admiration of the scenery, the
greens, and things in general, until they finally arrived at a green surrounded
by a rookery. The curate remarked, “Isn’t it delightful to hear the rooks?” The
deaf old Scotsman said, “What’s that?” The curate again remarked, “Isn’t it
delightful to hear the rooks?” The old Scotsman replied, “I can’t hear a word
you’re saying for those damned crows.”
The finest courses in existence are natural ones. Such courses as St.
Andrews, and the championship courses generally, are admitted to provide a
fine test of golf. It is by virtue of their natural formation that they do so. The
beauty of gold courses has suffered in the past from the creations of ugly and
unimaginative design. Square, flat greens and geometrical bunkers have not
only been an eyesore upon the whole landscape, but have detracted from the
infinite variety of play which is the heritage of the game.
My reputation in the past has been based on the fact that I have
endeavoured to conserve existing natural features, and where these are
lacking to create formations in the spirit of nature herself.
In other words, while always keeping uppermost the provision of a splendid
test of golf, I have striven to achieve beauty.
It may at first appear unreasonable that the question of æsthetics should
enter into golf-course design; however, on deeper analysis, it becomes clear
that the great courses, and in detail all the famous holes and greens, are
fascinating to the golfer by reason of their shape, their situation, and the
character of their modelling. When these elements obey the fundamental laws
of balance, of harmony, and fine proportion they give rise to what we call
beauty. This excellence of design is more felt than fully realised by the player,
but nevertheless it is constantly exercising a subconscious influence upon him,
and in course of time he grows to admire such a course as all works of beauty
are eventually felt and admired.
The fifteenth hole on the City of Newcastle course: constructed on flat, featureless clay land.
A hazard placed in the exact position where a player would naturally go is
frequently the most interesting situation, as then a special effort is needed to
get over or avoid it.
Many poor golf courses are made in a futile attempt to eliminate the
element of luck. You can no more eliminate luck in golf than in cricket, and in
neither case is it possible to punish every bad shot. If you succeeded you
would only make both games uninteresting.
There are many points of resemblance between cricket and golf: the
fielders in cricket correspond to the hazards at golf. The fielders are placed in
the positions where the majority of shots go, and it should obviously be easier
with a stationary ball to avoid the hazards than to avoid the fielders at cricket.
In both games it is only a proportion of bad shots that get punished, but
notwithstanding this the man who is playing the best game almost invariably
comes out on top.
It is an important thing in golf to make holes look much more difficult than
they really are. People get more pleasure in doing a hole which looks almost
impossible, and yet is not so difficult as it appears.
In this connection it may be pointed out that rough grass is of little interest
as a hazard. It is frequently much more difficult than a fearsome-looking
bunker or belt of whins or rushes, but it causes considerable annoyance in lost
balls, and no one ever gets the same thrills in driving over a stretch of rough
as over a fearsome-looking bunker, which in reality may not be so severe.
Narrow fairways bordered by long grass make bad golfers. They do so by
destroying the harmony and continuity of the game, and in causing a stilted
and cramped style by destroying all freedom of play.
There is no defined line between the fairways in the great schools of golf
like St. Andrews or Hoylake.
It is a common error to cut the rough in straight lines. It should be cut in
irregular, natural-looking curves. The fairways should gradually widen out
where a long drive goes; in this way a long driver is given a little more
latitude in pulling and slicing.
Moreover irregular curves assist a player in locating the exact position of a
ball which has left the fairway and entered the rough.
GLORIFIED MOLE-HILLS
Hummocks and hollows should be made of all sorts of different shapes and
sizes, and should have a natural appearance, with plenty of slope at the
bottom like large waves. Most of the hummocks and hollows should be made
so smooth that the mowing machine can be used over them. The glorified
mole-hills one sees on many courses should be avoided.
The artificial hummocks guarding the fifth green at Alwoodley: approximate cost, £8. The best
way of combining sand and hummocks, with the sand on the slope of the hazard above the
ground level.