Thegolfsportissue7

Signature Magazine for the Golfing Lifestyle

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Issue No. 7

The Golfers: A Grand Match, 1850 1st Edition Print by Charles Lees This is an original, 1st edition, 1850 hand-colored “Proof” steel engraving by Charles E. Wagstaffe after the original 1847 oil by Charles Lees entitled, “The Golfers: A Grand Match Played Over St Andrews Links”. Printed by W. Wolding of Edinburgh, this is an extremely rare version of golf’s most famous depiction of the game. The Grand Match was played upon the Links of St Andrews in 1841, during the annual meeting of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club. Charles Lees’ 1847 painting is the world’s most celebrated piece of art pertaining to the game of golf.

In the painting Lee’s renders the landscape of golf’s most famous links subservient to the actual game – depicting over 40 figures gathered together to watch a two-ball foursome match pitting Sir David Baird and Sir Ralph Anstruther against Major Hugh Lyon Mayfair and John Campbell. According to accounts of the time Lees’ was paid 400 pounds sterling to paint The Golfers – recently the original sold to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery for 11 million pounds sterling. From the original, an engraving was done in 1850 – presumably because many of the individuals depicted in the painting wanted a copy of the painting for their homes. The engraver Charles Wagstaff teamed with the Edinburgh publisher Alexander Hill and created an engraved print that numbered 50 titled Artist Proofs, 20 Presentation pieces and 100 First Edition prints – for a total of 170 total pieces. The original AP’s sold for 10 pounds, the presentation pieces for 6 pounds while the rest of the first edition sold for 3 pounds. Before these prints were made – a number of “Proof” prints were made to ensure the plate and print were ready for production – this being one of those prints. Since this print has been hand-colored there is a strong possibility that this was one of the very first prints of this nature. Printed

by W. Wolding of Edinburgh, this is an extremely rare version of golf’s most famous depiction of the game.

It is the expert opinion of The Great Republic, LLC and our authentication specialist that this print is an original antique of or about the date specified and is unconditionally guaranteed as genuine for life.

FRAMED SIZE: 38”x 50” LOCATION: St Andrews, Scotland CONDITION: This print is in very good condition, with some age appropriate toning to the paper. The print has been cleaned and treated by one of the Nation’s leading conservationist.

The print is presented using the very best archival procedures and materials.

PROVENANCE: This print was acquired from a private collection in the United Kingdom via auction. No further information about the previous ownership is available.

GUARANTEE: The Great Republic proudly stands behind our antique, one-of-a-kind offerings in perpetuity. We want your purchase to be made with confidence, primarily because our reputation is much too important to us to offer an item that has the slightest question regarding authenticity.

Contact Edmund R. Papczun, Jr. at epapczun@gmail.com or Visit reat-republic.com

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Issue No. 7

The Song of the Iron

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Out of the furnace and into the dirty water he hissed and he seethed and attempted to sidestep the stick that was to be jammed in his neck. By Joshua Taylor

A Round with Bing 26

The legacy of Bing Crosby would be incomplete without including the indelible mark he left on the game of golf.

By Laurie Bogart Morrow

Dancing with the Stars on Your Tongue

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For a drink with such an enormous reputation, the roots of champagne are very small. By Jameson Parker

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2 Contents

Punch-Drunk Golf Excerpts from Mr. Punch’s Golf Stories.

“Quiet on the set! Mr. Jones, you

may now strike your ball.”

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From the golf course to the courtroom, Bobby Jones was the epitome of a master, so it’s no wonder Warner Brothers signed the superstar to make a series of instructional videos. By Alan Clemons .

The DUTCH 74

A challenging professional course that is equally playable for amateurs, The Dutch and its founders envelop a casual atmosphere that stresses a universal message toward members: It’s just a game. By Sid Grover

{ 84

TheTrain Trip of a Lifetime

For 25 years, Rohan Vos and his company, Rovos Rail, have provided adventurers with transcontinental travel taking them into the far reaches of South Africa’s glorious countryside. By Laurie Bogart Morrow

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Contents

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96 }

Symphonie in Green

Virtuoso, Sir Michael Hill, put aside his violin and created a masterpiece among the mountains and canyons of southern New Zealand. By Arthur Farrell

Photograph by Matthew williams

The Course

{

14 Marina Bay Golf Course, Singapore16 Yishan Golf Club, Wuhan, Hubei Province 18 – An Asian Portfolio –

Yinhong No. 6, Yintai Hongeye Golf Club, Beijing

40 Style Unique Motifs 46

Collectibles

All Leathered-Up

Heirloom equipment from Leather Head Sports

Neck & bow ties from Lazyjack Press

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Contents

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Gallerie at The Hills

106 Art

Within the landscape of New Zealand’s The Hills Golf Course lies an amazing collection of sculptures, unsurpassed in picturesque arrangement and setting.

The Next Morning.

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6 Contents

128 Parting Shot

{ 116 Dressed to Kill

From shooting peg to fireside, the exquisite apparel and accessories from Holland & Holland are second to none.

}

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Luxury Laboratory

MAXIMILIAN BÜSSER & FRIENDS Timepieces

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www.golfsportmag.com

Publisher/Creator-In-Chief – T. Ryan Stalvey • Josh Wolfe – Publisher/Editor-In-Chief Associate Publisher – John L. Horan To obtain a Media Kit or for Advertising Inquiries – (803) 767-8290 The Golf Sport is represented by Publisher’s Creative Systems • Account Manager – Kristy Kipp Publishers Distribution Group, Inc. • Special Interest Publications – John S. Ryan Proudly Printed in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania by Fry Communications, Inc. Please Call (855) 492-1671 for Subscription Information The Golf Sport is published quarterly by Stalvey & Wolfe Partners LLC., Columbia, S C. All rights reserved, reproduction in whole or in part without the written consent of Stalvey & Wolfe Partners LLC. is prohibited. Subscription prices: One year $19.95; two years, $34.95. (Canada, Mexico and all Foreign – add $42 per year.)

Single copy $8.95. Subscription and change of address should be mailed to: The Golf Sport Subscriber Service Center, P.O. Box 23902, Columbia, SC 29224.

Allow six weeks for entry of new orders or renewals or change of address. Periodicals postage paid at Columbia, SC and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes and inquiries to The Golf Sport, Subscriber Service Center, P.O. Box 23902, Columbia, SC 29224. Printed in the U.S.A.

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8 Masthead

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e’re back! And apologies for the delay. Sometimes it’s necessary to slow down, step back, and take a look at the big picture. It’s like when you approach the ball, waggle a time or two before realizing that the feel is not necessarily wrong, just not necessarily right. So, you step away and survey the landscape. Perhaps you test the wind or appreciate the sight of ducks landing on a nearby lake.

The holidays have come and gone and a new year is once again upon us.

Like many, I’ve gathered with friends and family for what seems like a couple of months now. Then again, that’s what I love most about the holidays. College football is behind us as are many of the hunting seasons for you outdoorsmen and women. I know I was fortunate enough to share some great times afield with my best friend and his Lab. So, what awaits us down the fairway of 2015?

It’s now that I long for the fairways and the greens, and in particular, the green. Spring is the time of year I live for; when the leaves are budding and nature is coming back to life. The dogwood’s bloom and the turkey’s thunderous gobble. A cool round in the morning with the hope of warmth in a southern breeze. These are the things I look forward to with the dawn of each spring.

I live in southern Tennessee, not far up the road from Jack Daniel’s renowned distillery. I drive forty minutes to play Bear Trace at Tim’s Ford Lake or an hour down to Hampton Cove, the northern tip of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail of Alabama. At The Golf Sport, we are very fortunate to see not only our local courses on a regular basis, but also the wonderful designs that inhabit the rest of the country. Brays Island and Chechessee Creek were a couple in 2014 that we so thoroughly enjoyed, and plans for this year are in the works. Whether it’s playing my home course or traveling out of state to play yours, it’s the trip I love. The same forty minute drive through the country after a round on a hot day is just as rewarding to me as a fair score on a mountain course in southern Virginia or a challenging course in South Carolina’s lowcountry.

It’s all about the journey. This year I’m going to take more time to step away from my ball and see the landscape, test the wind and realign my shot if necessary. It’s a new year, a new season, and in this moment a new issue of The Golf Sport, our seventh.

We keep going for you and because of you, the reader. I know I harp on this, but it’s so important that you understand what and whom we’re doing this for. As always, don’t forget to tell a friend or just sign them up. Cheers to a new year.

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Sincerely,

Josh Wolfe

Editor-In-Chief

From the Publishers

From Our Readers I gave my husband the magazine for Christmas, and he absolutely loves it.

Chelsea H., Greensboro, NC

Really enjoyed the “out of the box” take on Steve McQueen.

Great article!

Jonathan S., Nashville, TN

I can’t get over the covers of this magazine. Time and time again you never fail to amaze me.

Lucy D., Albuquerque, NM

This is, no joke, one of three magazines that I’ll read.

Cima S., Savannah, GA

Congratulations on the award for Best New Magazine.

It is well-deserved.

Tom S. Houston, TX

You guys keep hitting the nail on the head, or should I say the ball down the fairway.

Gene T., Burlington, VT

I can’t wait for my latest copy. So far, I have received four issues. Each one is so refreshingly different from the last.

Jon G., Buffalo, NY

A great American magazine with a touch of worldly flare, love it!

Caytlin K., Huntsville, AL

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ach issue, I hunt-and-peck these columns out on a clunky old typewriter. A bit odd, you might think, given this contemporary age of convenient gadgets and speed of life, but it just feels right. It’s not that I eschew innovation, for where other than Netflix can you instantaneously watch a Bogart mystery or Eastwood western. And while I do prefer that popping, crackling resonance of an old phonograph, Chet Baker sounds awfully nice through a Bose headset. My friends and colleagues call me an old soul. It’s true I am a hoarder of musky old books and periodicals, antique leather goods and out-dated sporting equipment, and that my taste in music is mostly confined to blaring trumpets or soaring arias, but I am really just a big kid at heart. I do like new things, especially once they’ve become old. I partake most vigorously in the sporting pursuits, and take greatest pleasure when the weather is at its worse. My short game is tight, my irons loose, but I play a beautiful set of Titleist blades and love the sharp way they look when nestled behind the ball, and when I make a pure strike – Oh my!

As tempting as it would be to fill this space with my laundry list of what I think is wrong with the world, the rule of thumb here is to remain noncontroversial and put you, the reader, in a pleasant mood for the ensuing pages. However, I suppose I should, in equal accordance, acquaint you with several of my dislikes. Here goes: I have a fear of clowns, that’s called coulrophobia; buttermilk tastes disgusting, and I’m glad George Washington and the Founding Fathers aren’t around to see what this wonderful nation has become. I had better stop there. My apologies to the buttermilkdrinking, clown-lovers of the world and as far as America, chin up, there is still hope.

I go gaga for fine Italian shotguns, dark-haired women and have more than a mild fancy for bespoke apparel, although one might refer to my style as fashionably unfashionable at best. I enjoy a good laugh, even at my own expense and try not to take myself or my golf game too seriously. I take my whisky neat and think my English setter is prettiest after he’s been uglied-up from a hard day afield. Seasonally, spring is my favorite, early spring, when nature’s blood flows anew, the air is crisp and damp, and a young year’s promises are still full of possibilities. Give me a warm fire, a hot slice of derby pie, a cold glass of milk and I’ll drift off into a smiling slumber. Mostly, I love my God, my family and this magazine. And, I have to say I believe the issue you are holding in your hands to be the finest ever done. I hope you agree.

Now that you know all about me, tell us about you. Please take a moment to fill out, and then post, the short survey located between pages 64 and 65. As always, any comments, concerns or an occasional hello can be mailed to The Golf Sport, P.O. Box 23902, Columbia, SC 29224. Receiving arrangements can be made at our office address for the shipping of any over-sized items, such as a fine Italian shotgun. But please, no buttermilk.

Here’s to knowing you,

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T. Ryan Stalvey Creator-In-Chief

From the Publishers

You have exquisite taste.

Your style is refined.

Your game is not limited to the course.

That’s why you read The Golf Sport.

Subscribe Today.

Call 855-492-1671 or visit GolfSportMag.com.

Yinhong No. 6,

Yintai Hongeye Golf Club, Beijing

IMAGE COURTESY DAVE SANSOM - DAVESANSOM.COM

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The Course

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The Course

Marina Bay Golf Course, Singapore

Yishan Golf Club,

Wuhan, Hubei Province

IMAGE COURTESY DAVE SANSOM - DAVESANSOM.COM

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The Course

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The Song of the Iron

Out of the furnace and into the dirty water he hissed and he seethed and attempted to sidestep the stick that was to be jammed in his neck.

By Joshua Taylor, 1920

Yes, G 20

I am a battered, worn-out looking apology of a golfclub, am I not? And you would scarcely believe that once I was as bright as the smile of the man who has just returned a “four-up” on the “Colonel,” and the particular pet, for a time, of a scratch player.

Where I first saw the light of day I don’t remember, but where I first felt it was in the dirty, dusty, dingy – I almost feel inclined to finish the Ds – forge of a golf-iron maker. From the first I was unlucky. Once during the ordeal of being heated and hammered and hammered and heated I struck. My dignity was offended at the repeated efforts of an alleged workman to hammer my socket right. From the very commencement I liked to be handled, grimy, son of toil, who was making an awful hash of my delightfully curved heel. All white with righteous indignation and the heat of the fire I spun round, wiggled out of the grasp of the pincers and bit him on the wrist. His language was awful, at least I thought so at the time. I have since learnt that what he said was honey to what some players have since called me when I playfully hit a ball into the open jaws of a hungry bunker. The workman spitefully flung me into the far corner of the grimy shop, picked me up again, and before I had time to even squeal, dropped me in a trough of dirty water. I

hissed and literally bubbled with rage, so much so that the fellow picked me out again quickly muttering, “You’ll do, confound you.”

With a batch of others I made the acquaintance of the emery wheel. I liked that.

I felt as bright and clean as a London tripper after his annual bathe and did not resent at all being punched violently in the back which left an impression that is only now beginning to wear off. I was packed off, with a dozen others, to a man whom my packer called a pro. Who this pro was I could not find out, but he must have been a disagreeable man for my packer remarked as he tied the last knot – I could hear him quite plainly through the paper – “There, I wonder what complaints you will have to make about this lot.”

I arrived at my destination. My clothes were a bit torn and damp, but I was all right. I was thrown on to a bench. There was a snick, the point of a sharp instrument just missed my nose and once again I saw the light of day. A grubbyface urchin with hands that smelt of pitch and varnish picked me up, gave me a glance and flung me down again with the remark that he hoped this lot would be easier to fit than the last.

I made a mental reservation to myself that if I could help it, my fit would be the hardest job that young man ever attempted. It was. For an hour he tried to force a piece of wood down my neck, but by dint of sidestepping and slipping I prevented that piece of wood from going straight home. He hammered the wood in, knocked it out again, or rather knocked me off, filed a piece out of the wood on one side and stuck a piece of paper on the other. Tried wrapping it with string, but still I would not give in. Finally he gave it up and I heard him say, “You’d better have a go at this one, I can’t get in on straight.” I felt another hand grasp my neck. No pitch-covered hand this, but one with singers, although they held tight, yet had that indescribable feeling which betrays the mastermind. I went on as tamely as a player lays a stymie, and had my revenge when I heard the pro advise the urchin to “practice on the gas pipe” and not to defile a beautifully-shaped head with his filthy hands. I was finished, placed into another room, and after a deal of handling and banging on the floor and bargaining, was sold to a player. My troubles commenced, I was swished through the air, and made to make mouthfuls of earth. I was used as an instrument to recover a dirty ball from a stinking pond and to hit that ball, after I had rescued if from the branches of

Head by ROSEMARY M. KILLEN – image courtesy heritage auctions, ha.com

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a tree. I was flung into a hedge after I had hit the ball into the back garden of a house and was retrieved by a grinning caddie. Every indignity that could be showered on me I suffered and I was not sorry when I became the property, in exchange for what was called “half-crown,” of another player. Through a dozen hands I went.

I was knocked this way and that. One said I carried my nose too high.

In ten minutes my nose was like the tail of a half-drowned dog. Another said I had too much weight in my heel. This was a libel, as my heel was as perfect as that of Pavlova, but I lost a bit nevertheless, I got tired of it all. I, who was once so bright and clean, had been fondled with gentle care by the caressing fingers of the pro was now a dirty, mis-shapened lump of red iron. The punches on my back were nearly obliterated but a close study would reveal enough to identify me as once being the work of a famous maker.

I decided that enough was as good as a feast, so one day when my latest owner was using me to coax a ball from a forest of thick grass, I bit through the wood at my neck and flew away into space. I heard a cry that sounded like, “Where the ‘ll did that go,” but I smiled as I bored a hole into a soft mud bank. I was free.

For days I hid in that bank and should have been there now for my present owner. He was diligently looking for a lost ball when he caught sight of my neck. With a yell he yanked me out.

I was cleaned of mud, and the remaining piece of wood was patiently bored out of my neck.

A new stick from the hedge was cut and with difficulty fitted in. I bore it all for I felt I was at last in the hands of one who appreciated me. My trappings were not so fine. There was no grip on the stick, while the ends of the rivets that held it and me together, stuck out like the eyes of a Scotsman at the sight of a sovereign. I did all things. I knocked balls about the cast-iron roads and knocked nails into my owner’s boots. I won pennies at putting in the caddie-yard, and have been the means of dislodging a cat from the top of a wall. My life is a hard one, but I am content.

I am the most-valued treasure of my owner – I sleep with him –and I would not change places with one of a dozen that adorn the bag of one of my earlier masters. I may be nothing to look at, but I am appreciated and that’s what makes life worth living. Don’t you think so?

The Classics of Golf Library:

This exclusive collection of the world’s best reading golf books was created to preserve the works of early and modern golf literature for those who cherish the history and the game, under the guidance of Herbert Warren Wind, the Dean of American Sportswriters.

The unique 69-book collection is available as a complete set or individual books, and includes the most revered names in golf like Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller, and classic titles like “Down the Fairway”, “Scotland’s Gift Golf ” and “The Dogged Victims of Inexonerable Fate”.

A History of Golf (1955) by Robert Browning $35 A History of Golf in Britain (1952) by Bernard Darwin $35 An Introduction to the Literature of Golf (1996) by Herbert Warren Wind $35 The Architectural Side of Golf (1929) by H.N. Wethered and T. Simpson $45 Autobiography of an Average Golfer (1925)by O.B. Keller $35 Breaking 90 with Johnny Miller (1990) by Johnny Miller $3 Down the Fairway (1927) by Robert T. Jones, Jr., and O.B. Keller $40 F. G. Tait: A Record (1900) by J.L. Low $35 Following the Leaders (1991) by Al Laney $35 Goldfinger (1959) by Ian Fleming $30 Golf (1954) by Bernard Darwin $35 Golf Architecture (1920) by Alister MacKenzie $45

Golf for Women (1904) by Genevieve Hecker $30 Golf in America (1895) by James P. Lee $35 Golf Is My Game (1960) by Bobby Jones $40 Golf: A Royal and Ancient Game (1875) by Robert Clark $40 Golfers’ Gold (1964) by Tony Lema $35 Golfing By-Paths (1946) by Bernard Darwin $40 Golfing Memories and Methods (1933) by Joyce Wethered $35 Great Golfers in the Making (1907) by Henry Leach $35 Green Memories (1928) by Bernard Darwin $40 Herbert Warren Wind’s Golf Book (1948) by Herbert Warren Wind $35 Hints on the Game of Golf (1886) by Horace Hutchinson $50 How to Become a Scratch Golfer (1963) by Patrick Campbell $35

How to Play Your Best Golf All The Time (1953) by Tommy Armour $35 James Braid (1952) by Bernard Darwin $35 Letters to the Secretary of a Golf Club (1935) by George Nash $35 Mostly Golf – A Bernard Darwin Anthology (1976) by Peter Ryde $40 My Golfing Reminiscences (1907) by Harold H. Hilton $35 On Learning Golf (1942) by Percy Boomer $40 On the Tour with Harry Sprague (1960) by Herbert Warren Wind $35 Out of the Rough (1932) by Bernard Darwin $35 Out of the Rough (1934) by Joseph T. Shaw $35 Playing the Like (1934) by Bernard Darwin $40 Reminiscences of Golf on St. Andrew’s (1887)by James Balfour $50 Scotland’s Gift Golf (1928) by Charles B. Macdonald $45.

The rich history of the great game written by the masters who designed it, played it, perfected it, and popularized it.

In addition to the Library, Classics of Golf publishes new books and makes available other unique golf books that make superb additions to any library and wonderful gifts for all avid golfers.

800-483-6449 www.classicsofgolf.com Scottish Golf & Golfers (1992) by S.L. McKinlay $40 Shape Your Swing the Modern Way (1976) by Byron Nelson with Larry Dennis $35 Swinging into Golf (1941) by Ernest Jones and Innis Brown $40 The American Golfer (1964) by Charles Price $40 The Art of Golf (1887) $40 The Badminton Library (1890) by Horace Gordon Hutchinson $35 The Basic Golf Swing (1968) by Bobby Jones $40 The Bogey Man (1968) by George Plimpton $30 The Clicking of Cuthbert (1922) by P. G. Wodehouse $40 The Complete Golfer (1954) by Herbert Warren Wind $45.

The Darwin Sketchbook (1991) by Bernard Darwin $40 The Dogged Victims of Inexorable Fate (1970) by Dan Jenkins $45

The Duffer’s Handbook (1926) by Grantland Rice and Clare Briggs $40 The Game of Golf (1896) by Willie Park, Jr $40 The Game’s Afoot! (1926) by Bernard Darwin $40

The Great Women Golfers (1994) by Robert S. Macdonald & Herbert Warren Wind $40

The Greatest Game of All (1969) by Jack Nicklaus $40 The Happy Golfer (1997) by Bernard Darwin $40.00 The Lay of the Land (1990) by Pat Ward-Thomas $35 The Life of Tom Morris (1908) by W. W. Tulloch $40 The Links (1926) by Robert Hunter $45 The Methods of Golf’s Masters (1975) by Dick Aultman $40 The Mystery of Golf (1908) by Arnold Haultain $40 The Perfect Golfer (1931) by H.N. Wethered $35

The Story of American Golf (1954, 1956, 1975) by Herbert Warren Wind $50 The US Open: Golf’s Ultimate Challenge (1987) by Robert Sommers $40 The Venturi Analysis (1981) by Ken Venturi $40 The Walter Hagen Story (1956) by Walter Hagen $40 The World that Fred Made (1955) by Bernard Darwin $35 Thirty Years of Championship Golf (1950) by Gene Sarazan $40 Three by Darwin (1902) by Robert S. Macdonald $35 Vardon on Golf (1989) by Herbert Warren Wind $35

“If I were asked what single thing has given me the most gratification in my long and sometimes pedestrian career, I think I would have to say it is this tournament.”

– BING CROSBY, on the “Crosby Clambake”

Bing A Round with

By Laurie Bogart Morrow

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sk any old-time golfer about the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and he’ll cock an eyebrow and say, “You mean the Crosby Clambake?” Just as Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without Bing Crosby singing Irving Berlin’s classic holiday song “White Christmas,” the PGA Pro-Am Tour wouldn’t be what it is today without the Bing Crosby National ProAmateur, America’s first national tournament of its kind, which also happens to be affectionately known as the “Crosby Clambake.” In 1937, the man many consider the third most popular actor of all time, invited 60 of his golfing buddies, professional and amateur, to play a tournament near his home in Rancho Santa Fe, California.

For 24 years, with the exception of World War II, Bing hosted what he called “the first Pro-Am garden party” until his death in 1977.

In its 77-year history, more than the players have changed. Sadly, so has the name: in 1986, AT&T became the title sponsor. The $10,000 purse Crosby himself put up has mushroomed to a staggering $6.6 million. But the tournament’s mission remains largely unchanged. While the Crosby Clambake generated millions of dollars for Bing’s scholarship fund, the National ProAm Golf Tournament continues “to bring the community together with global leaders in sports, entertainment, and industry to raise charitable funds that create opportunities for success.”

Amateur golf champion, Sandy Tatum, who served as president of the USGA from 1978 to 1980, maintains that Bing’s spirit can always be

felt. “His love for the game was manifested by his creation of ‘The Crosby Clambake.’ Bing’s personality was all over it.”

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ARRY LILLIS CROSBY, JR. was the fourth of seven children of Harry Lillis Crosby, Sr., an accountant and builder, and Catherine “Kate” Harrigan Crosby. Born in Tacoma, Washington, in 1903, in a house that his father built, he was a direct descendant on his father’s side of Elder William Brewster, an Englishman who crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower, which landed on Plymouth Rock around 1620. Crosby’s maternal grandfather, a builder, was an immigrant from County Mayo, Ireland. When young Harry was three, the family moved to Spokane, where he spent a wholesome, happy, middle-class childhood. When he was six, he got the nickname “Bing” from a comic strip he got a kick out of called “Bingo from Bingville.” The Crosby home was always filled with music. Harry and Kate loved to sing and Bing showed real appreciation and talent for music. He took singing lessons, bought a set of drums, and joined a band in high school called the “Musicaladers.” It was a gig that provided him with pocket money throughout his college career at nearby Gonzaga College, where he studied law. However, music beckoned and he dropped out his senior year. Bing had listened to his heart, and was confident he could carve out a niche for himself as a singer. Little did he know that soon he would become one of the most successful performers in history.

Bing Crosby, circa 1948 – courtesy photofestnyc.com

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ING HAD AN EASY-GOING, rich bass-baritone that was almost hypnotic. Though Al Jolson was his idol, the young “crooner’s” sound was smoother, sweeter. In 1926, he appeared on the radar of Paul “The King of Jazz” Whiteman, who signed him up to sing with his dance band, one of the most popular of the day, the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. In 1930, Whiteman made a two-reel Hollywood film called The King of Jazz, the distinction of being the first motion picture to use a prerecorded sound track. “Pops,” as he was called by Billie Holiday, George Gershwin and others he helped start their careers, arranged to have Bing appear in the movie – and the rest, as they say, is history.

In 1931, at the age of 27, Crosby made his solo radio debut and soon got his own 15-minute daily broadcast. He sang “Out of Nowhere,” “Just One More Chance,” “At Your Command,” and “Found a Million Dollar Baby (in a Five and Ten Cent Store),” topping the charts with ten of the country’s “Top 50” popular songs. “I’ve Got the Girl” would be the first of over 2,000 recordings he made in a career that spanned over a half-century. “The King of Comedy,” Hollywood producer Mack Sennett – best known for the “Our Gang” shorts and launching Charles Chaplin and W.C. Fields – signed Bing to appear in six short films.

Then, in 1934, a new recording company called Decca Records offered Bing a contract.

He would be the first star to sign on, and by 1948, more than half of the 80,000 hours a week apportioned to music on national radio were playing Bing’s songs; his records sold like hotcakes. He would make 1,200 recordings for Decca, including “White Christmas,” the number one selling record of all time, making Decca one of the most successful labels in the world. By the time of his death, Crosby had sold an estimated half-billion recordings.

By 1937, Bing was one of the biggest stars in the world. While filming The King of Jazz, he took up golf, a game he knew something about, having caddied as a boy in Spokane. He played in earnest, taking every opportunity he could get to hone his skills. His partners included Humphrey Bogart, W.C. Fields, William Powell, Edward G. Robinson, Bob Hope, and other Hollywood stars who were also serious about the game. Near the studios was Lakeside Golf Club, which became his home course, and where he would become five-time club champion. Crosby excelled at the game with a scratch handicap, and would

A Round with Bing

compete in both the British and U.S. Amateur Championships. He gained notoriety as one of only a handful of players to ever make a holein-one on the 16th hole at Cypress Point and in 1978, was posthumously inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Originally, Crosby saw the Clambake as an opportunity to give his golf buddies a chance to play with professionals, learn something about the game in a true tournament situation, laugh, enjoy one another’s company and jokes, and enjoy a clambake supper. “To show his appreciation to all those who came on the run to make the idea work, Crosby dug into his pocket to stage a huge party on the eve of the tournament, complete with dinner, open bar and entertainment,” John M. Ross, former editor of Golf Magazine, wrote.

“For the last, Bing tapped some of his Tinseltown pals to do a turn, and he wound up with the biggest names in show business pitching in. It quickly became the golf event of the year.”

The Crosby Clambake was a huge success. The tournament was put on hold during World War II, but resumed in 1947, moving outside of San Francisco to rotate four rounds on a field of three courses, Monterey Peninsula, Cypress Point and Pebble Beach. In 1967, the format of 25 Pro-Am teams and 60 Low-Pros changed when Spyglass Hill, a new Robert Trent Jones course, replaced the Monterey Peninsula Club.

Stories of the Crosby Clambake abound, such as the time Johnny “Tarzan” Weissmuller hit a ball into a tree and to dislodge it, hung onto a branch, pounding his chest, and giving out his famous jungle cry. Among Crosby’s friends was four-time Academy Award winning songwriter, Jimmy Van Heusen, who recorded a hundred of his songs with Bing, including movie musicals he scored, in which Bing starred: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court; The Road to Bali and The Road to Morocco, with his close friend, sidekick and golf partner, Bob Hope; and most famously, Crosby’s signature role as Father John O’Malley in the 1944 film, Going My Way, for which he won an Oscar, and the sequel, The Bells of St. Mary’s, co-starring Ingrid Bergman. For the Crosby Clambake, Van Heusen, with Sammy Kahn, wrote a song especially for Bing called “Straight Down the Middle.” The first verse goes like this: Fore! Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle. Then it started to hook just a wee, wee bit. That’s when my caddie lost sight of it. That little white pellet has never been found to this day.

But it went straight down the middle like they say.

Bing Crosby and Freddie Steele, 1937 Paramount Keybook Photo – courtesy heritage auctions, ha.com

Stories of the Crosby Clambake abound, such as the time Johnny “Tarzan” Weissmuller hit a ball into a tree and to dislodge it, hung onto a branch, pounding his chest, and giving out his famous jungle cry.

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OUL WEATHER WAS THE HALLMARK of just about every Crosby Clambake. The first Clambake was played in such a deluge that the rain wiped out a bridge on the course. Another time, the courses were covered with two inches of snow.

Over the years, Crosby would remark, “One thing about Crosby weather, there’s lots of it.” But in 1976, something extraordinary happened. The weather was perfect. As The Prescott Courier reported on January 22: “Jack Nicklaus is here. And Johnny Miller. And Tom Weiskopf and British Open ‘King’ Tom Watson and defending champion Gene Littler.

And show business celebrities Clint Eastwood and Glen Campbell, George C. Scott and Efram Zimbalist, Jr. But the Crosby weather is among the missing. The sun is shining. It’s bright and warm and sunny and beautiful. There’s just a gentle breeze off the bay. In the 35 years since Bing started his clambake, the event has offered almost annual incursions of wind and rain, occasionally sleet and snow. And cold. Almost always there’s been the cold.

This year the weather is almost perfect. It’s almost too good. It’s been so dry and sunny and pleasant no one knows how to play the course.”

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ING HAD BEEN in poor health for some time. For three years he fought a life-threatening fungal infection in his lung and in March 1977, fell into the orchestra pit while taping a concert commemorating his 50th anniversary in show business. That September he was in London recording Seasons.

It would be his final album. On October 13, he arrived in Spain to play golf and hunt partridge.

The following day, October 14, 1977, he died of a

A Round with Bing

massive heart attack as he came off the 18th hole of the La Moraleja Golf Club in Alcobendas, Spain, near Madrid, with his partner, professional golfer Manuel Pinero. Forewarned by his doctors to not exceed nine holes, he nonetheless played the entire course. His last words were to his golf buddies: “That was a swell game, fellas.”

In 1981, Bing’s youngest son, Nathaniel Crosby, won the U.S. Amateur at Olympic. Forty years before, his father had qualified for the 1940 U.S. Amateur, held at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York, and then the following year, qualified for the U.S. Amateur, held in Omaha, Nebraska. He had a necklace made from his player identification badge as a keepsake.

Nathaniel, then 19 years old, was wearing it at Olympic when he won the championship.

“It was something to relax me,” he said. “It was a way of keeping positive thoughts in my mind. I knew he was there and he was on my side.”

Bing was a good friend of British journalist Alistair Cook, the original host of PBS’ Masterpiece Theatre – “one of the most interesting, articulate, attractive people who ever came over the pike,” Sandy Tatum recalled. “He did all kinds of things, including a history of the United States that was a masterpiece. Alistair was also a lover of the game.

On the day before he died, Bing sent a postcard to Alistair describing how miserably he had played golf that day, but went on to write, ‘But I will never surrender.’” Tatum said this sentiment reflected a lot “not just about his life, but his golf game.”

That attitude is the mark of a true champion.

And in the annals of golf, few men championed the game more –or epitomized its spirit better – than Bing Crosby.

Bing Crosby, 1937 Paramount Key book Photo – Courtesy heritage auctions, ha.com

Horological Machine N°3 megawind Time and Power – who says you can’t have it all? Derived from the iconic HM3 series, MEGAWIND combines a giant 22k gold and titanium winding rotor with highly legible time indication cones rising up from the complex asymmetric case, like truncated gold-framed monoliths. Quite simply it is a machine that tells the time, rather than a machines to tell the time.

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luxury laboratory

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MAXIMILIAN BÜSSER & FRIENDS Timepieces

talian-born Maximilian Büsser has created within his brand Maximilian Büsser & Friends (MB&F), a unique concept in watch making. His company is dedicated solely to designing and crafting small series of radical concept watches in collaboration with creative professionals. MB&F is not a watch brand. It is an artistic and micro-engineering concept laboratory in which collectives of independent horological professionals are assembled each year to design and craft revolutionary horological machines. Upholding and respecting time-honored watch-making traditions without being shackled by them enables MB&F to act as a catalyst in fusing classical, high-quality watch making with cutting-edge technology and avant-garde three-dimensional sculpture.

Visit MBandF.com.

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Horological Machine N°5 HM5 On the Road Again may appear relatively simple, but it’s complicated: the hour and minute displays look straightforward, but they are bi-directional jumping hours with indications inversed, reflected 90° to the vertical and magnified 20%; HM5 has a futuristic case design, but it’s from the 1970s; The movement is mechanical, but it was inspired by an era when quartz was King; the rear louvres on supercars block light, but on HM5 they let it in; HM5 has exhaust pipes, but they drain water; HM5 is “On the Road Again”, but its inspiration barely left the garage.

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HM1 BLACK PVD Horological Machine N°1 is a highly innovative and totally original timepiece. HM1 features the world’s first movement with four barrels connected in both parallel and series, as well as the first wristwatch movement to have the energy transmitted to the regulating system from two sources simultaneously.

Look deeper and you will discover that Horological Machine N°1 is more than a meticulously handcrafted work of art, more than an intricate masterpiece of micro-engineering: it is a machine epitomizing the incredible passion and enthusiasm its collective of Friends dedicated to its creation.

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Legacy Machine N°2 Legacy Machines are wondrous reinterpretations of significant horological inventions by the greatest watchmakers in history. So the contemporary look endowed by the otherworldly appearance of Legacy Machine N°2’s dual flying balances, suspended high above the dial from four gracefully arcing arms, may at first appear paradoxical.

But make no mistake; LM2 is a timepiece tracing its lineage back over 250 years to three of the greatest watchmakers who ever lived: Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747– 1823), Ferdinand Berthoud (1727– 1807) and Antide Janvier (1751– 1835). Two and a half centuries after three of the world’s greatest watchmakers put two balance wheels into their movements, MB&F celebrates their pioneering works by creating LM2, a timepiece with two balances hovering outside the movement, the names of the two men responsible for the movement (Jean-François Mojon and Kari Voutilainen) are hand engraved on the back.

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Style

JWLRYMACHINE What could possibly bring together the 152-year-old House of Boucheron, that most venerable of France’s high-jewellery Houses, and MB&F, the young, cutting-edge Swiss creative laboratory? The JWLRYMACHINE, an astonishing haute-joaillerie version of the Horological Machine N°3 (HM3) conceived as a splendid jewelled owl. The owl’s eyes are large glowing cabochons, set over the twin cones, and its sparkling wings, wrapped protectively around the precious HM3 engine, are entirely pavé-set with brilliant-cut stones. Most mesmerizing of all: beneath the owl’s breast, its heart appears to be beating. The visual illusion is created by the faintly perceived swings of MB&F’s solid-gold battle-axe-shaped rotor beneath the translucent stone.

The JWLRYMACHINE is not for the faint hearted. It is an imposing piece, made all the more so by its sheer beauty. The extreme refinement that radiates from the proportions, the choice of stones and the quality of craftsmanship makes this creation “very Boucheron.”

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Horological Machine N째4 A traditional wristwatch has a relatively straightforward role: to tell the time. All that is needed is a hand for the hours, another for the minutes and perhaps a power reserve indicator to keep track of running time. A traditional wristwatch has a relatively straightforward role: to tell the time. HM4 is not a traditional wristwatch.

The sleek aerodynamic form of Horological Machine N°4’s envelope has its roots in Maximilian Büsser’s childhood passion for assembling model plane kits, though none looked remotely as futuristic as these. The striking transparent sapphire section of the case requires over 185 hours of machining and polishing to transform an opaque solid block of crystal into a complex, exquisitely curved panel allowing the light to come in and the beauty of the HM4 engine to stand out. Every component and form has a technical purpose; nothing is superfluous and every line and curve is in poetic harmony. Articulated lugs ensure supreme comfort. Highly legible time is a fringe benefit.

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All Leathered-Up Leather head Sports

ounded by Cooperstown, New York, native and former sports-industry professional, Paul Cunningham, Leather Head Sports has come to the forefront of baseball and football memorabilia retail shops. After retiring as the photo editor for Major League Baseball, Paul worked at a small glove importer before striking out on his own, eventually creating LEMON BALL baseballs and LEATHER HEAD footballs. Using the highest quality leather and the most skilled craftspeople, each and every item is made one at a time from Paul’s shop in New Jersey. And in case you’re wondering: of course you can take the balls out in the yard to play with!

Visit LeatherheadSports.com.

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Collectibles

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42 Collectibles

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Collectibles

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Pages 40-41 Leather Head™ Football.

Various Colors – $150.00 Pages 42-43 Leather Baseball gloves, outfield/infield positions – $275.00 LEMON BALL™ baseballs. Chromexcel Leather, various colors. – $38.00

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Unique Motifs

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neck & bow ties from lazyjack press

ored with paisleys and stripes? Are you looking to spice up your neckwear? Lazyjack Press has just the solution. Founded in 2012, the Lazyjack Press tie pattern is an irreverent take on the traditional European motif tie, combining the simplicity of the old-world style with American cheek. Offered in both long and bow, these ties come in a variety of patterns, from sports-themed to novelty, with custom ordering available and matching pocket squares.

Whether you’re addressing the board, hanging at the club, carousing on campus or tailgating before the big game, you can count on Lazyjack Press to add the finishing touch and that certain je ne sais quois to your perfect look.

Visit LazyjackPress.com.

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foreplay ties in lavender and green $89 at your service bow tie $78

buckwild ties in hunter orange & green $89

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The night they invented champagne It’s plain as it can be They thought of you and me!

The night they invented champagne They absolutely knew That all we’d want to do Is fly to the sky on champagne, And shout to everyone in sight That since the world began No woman or a man Has ever been as happy as we are tonight! – Gigi, by Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe

Dancing

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By Jameson Parker

with the Stars on Your

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t’s a charming conceit, but the truth has more to do with the affairs of the Church than with affairs of the heart.

Champagne has captured the world’s imagination in more ways than any other drink. It is the epitome of gaiety.

It is the epitome of celebration. It is the epitome of romance. It is the epitome of elegance. It is the epitome of urbanity and sophistication. It is the epitome of seduction. Just think of that most urbane, sophisticated, witty, and charming of all actors, David Niven, as the ultimate cat burglar, drinking champagne with the exquisite Claudia Cardinale as a very tipsy princess draped in diamonds and lying on a tiger skin rug in a luxury ski resort in Blake Edwards’ The Pink Panther. That is the essential image of champagne.

For a drink with such an enormous reputation, its roots are very small.

Literally. While there are a large number of sparkling wines (some better than others, a few California ones actually very good) produced around the world, champagne can only qualify as – and be called – champagne if it comes from a very small area (54,362 acres, to be precise) in northeastern France.

Tongue

The area covers a number of different departments (think administrative districts), but the most important one is the area of the Marne River valley, which produces over eighty percent of everything that may legally be called champagne.

All true champagne is white, but it is made primarily from the black Pinot noir grape, blended with small amounts of Pinot blanc and/or Pinot Chardonnay. The Pinot noir grape may be black (very dark blue, actually) but its juice is white, and it is by not allowing the juice to stay with the skin for more than a very brief time that the color is controlled; the same grapes, left with their skins, produce hearty Burgundies such as Chambertin.

That’s the area and those are the grapes, but why is the stuff, especially the really good stuff, so expensive?

The answer is that making champagne is very labor-intensive and time-consuming.

The very best grapes are carefully selected at harvest time, traditionally by women, which seems wonderfully apt for such a romantic beverage. The first pressing, called the tête de cuvée, is used only for the very best and most expensive wines, but each

Champagne New Year’s Eve by Leroy NEIMAN – image courtesy heritage auctions, ha.com

Veuve Clicquot I love partly for sentimental reasons – it was my father’s favorite – and partly for the name, which translates to “the widow Clicquot.”

I have an image, a fantasy, of the widow: young, breathtakingly beautiful, elegant, raven-haired and ivory-skinned, mysterious, a smile filled with both tears and laughter, and oh so infinitely sensuous.

Since reality never lives up to my best fantasies, she was probably fair, fat, forty, freckled, and missing a few important teeth, but that isn’t how I choose to imagine her.

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pressing must be tasted by experts several weeks later, after the first fermentation, to determine what proportion of other grapes must be added to achieve the traditional taste that particular label is famous for.

Then the blended wine is put into tightly sealed bottles along with a small touch of sugar for a second fermentation that lasts, typically, from two to four years.

The bottles are stored neck down and rotated very slightly, and tilted very slightly further down, every day. This second fermentation period produces both tremendous pressure (in the old days it could actually blow bottles apart with unpleasant results for the workers doing the rotating) and a sediment that must be removed in a process known as dégorgement. The trick is to remove the sediment without removing the carbon dioxide which creates the bubbles, and the tricks used to achieve this are difficult and various. Some vintners freeze just the portion of the wine in the neck of the bottle and remove that frozen plug of wine and sediment.

Other vintners simply uncork the bottle, a process that sounds easy, but actually requires tremendous training, deftness and speed.

In either method, a small amount of sugar and still (i.e. unfermented) wine is added to replace what is lost through dégorgement, and that amount of sugar determines what kind of champagne it will be: brut, extra sec, sec, or demi-sec. Brut has the least amount of sugar (typically no more than one percent) and demi-sec has the most (anywhere from five to ten percent), and right there is a good start to judging the quality of the champagne. Sugar can be used to hide a multitude of defects, so the rule of thumb is the drier the champagne the better, the sweeter the cheaper. (There are other methods of making sparkling wine – by tank or by “impregnation,” meaning adding the carbon dioxide artificially – but then it’s just sparkling wine and not the real, the effervescent, the traditional, the legendary champagne.)

There are many excellent and renowned true champagnes: Bollinger, Charles Heidsieck, Krug, Laurent Perrier, Moët & Chandon, Luis Roederer, Piper-Heidsieck, Taittinger, several others, but my two favorites are Veuve Clicquot and Dom Pérignon.

Dom Pérignon I love partly because its taste appeals to me the most, and partly

Dancing with the Stars on Your Tongue

Cocktails by Leroy NEIMAN – image courtesy heritage auctions, ha.com

because of the name, or more accurately, the history behind the name.

Dom Pierre Pérignon (1638-1715) is the Benedictine monk credited with the creation of champagne. He is also the man credited with being the first to successfully blend grapes, obtain white wine from black grapes, and enhancing the tendency of the grapes to retain their natural sugar and consequently inducing a secondary fermentation, as well as developing a number of other winemaking techniques, all of which prove the Catholic Church has been greatly remiss in not canonizing him. I mean to say, what more could the Church possibly want?

He is supposed to have called out to his brother monks, upon first tasting his own creation, “Come quickly! I am drinking the stars!” Whether that is true or not, it is a pretty accurate description of what really good champagne – Dom Pérignon, for example – should taste like. And this man is still not a saint?!

When is it appropriate to drink champagne? The answer, as every mother’s son knows, is whenever you possibly can.

The late Alec Waugh (British author, elder brother of Evelyn Waugh) thought champagne was the ideal aperitif and that several glasses should be drunk before every meal. If only I had his deep pockets I would, but Alec Waugh was smart enough to marry very well indeed and didn’t need to rely on his income from writing.

One last note: the ubiquitous champagne glass we are all accustomed to seeing, a wide, flat thing, is an abomination. Think about it. What makes champagne so special is the millions of bubbles – the tiny stars – that dance on our tongues. The wider the glass, the faster the bubbles disperse. Get some tall, narrow glasses, the kind with a stem, but where the top is no wider, or even slightly narrower, than the body of the glass. Chill it slightly, fill it only to the halfway point, and then invite me over.

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For most of us, champagne is saved for special, celebratory occasions. My father, who dearly loved champagne, used to use my coming home from my various boarding schools as an excuse to open a bottle. Unfortunately, after I started getting thrown out of said schools on a monotonously regular basis, he abandoned the habit.

Jameson Parker was a working actor for more than a quarter century, best known for his starring role as A.J. in the long-running 80’s series Simon & Simon. He now makes his living as a writer for a variety of hard-copy and online magazines, and is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir, An Accidental Cowboy. He is also the editor of the anthology, To Absent Friends. You can read more of his writing on his website, www.readjamesonparker.com. He is married to the actress and singer Darleen Carr.

Dancing with the Stars on Your Tongue

Bunny Sipping Champagne by Leroy NEIMAN – image courtesy heritage auctions, ha.com

Punch-Drunk

Golf

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HERE are few pastimes that supply their followers with more innocent merriment than is afforded by “the royal and ancient.” Certainly, no outdoor game can make the neophyte feel more utterly worm-like in his ability, for it is the peculiar quality of golf to appear to be absurdly easy to the onlooker and preposterously difficult to the unpracticed player. It may be taken that there is no better way of reducing a man’s self-conceit than to place him on the teeing ground for the first time, present him with a driver and invite him to strike a little ball. Consequently, we have here most excellent material for fun. MR. PUNCH has evidently found the game so rich that his merry knights of the pen and the pencil have contributed to his pages many pictures and prose as to illustrate very lavishly the humors of the links. We present the following excerpts from Mr. Punch’s Golf Stories.

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TEE, TEE, ONLY TEE!

(Song of the Golf Enthusiast. After Thomas Moore) AIR – “Thee, Thee, only Thee.”

THE dawn of morn, the daylight’s sinking, Shall find me on the Links, and thinking, Of Tee, Tee, only Tee! When rivals meet upon the ground, The Putting-green’s a realm enchanted, Nay, in Society’s giddy round My soul, (like Tooting’s thralls) is haunted

By Tee, Tee, only Tee! For that at early morn I waken, And swiftly bolt my eggs and bacon, For Tee, Tee, only Tee! I’m game to start all in the dark, To the Links hurrying resting never.

The Caddie yawns, but, like a lark, I halt not, heed not, hastening ever To Tee, Tee, only Tee! Of chilly fog I am no flunker, I’ll brave the very biggest bunker, For Tee, Tee, only Tee! A spell that nought on earth can break Holds me. Golf’s charms can ne’er be spoken; But late I’ll sleep, and early wake, Of loyalty be this my token, To Tee, Tee, only Tee!

Tennis Player (from London). “Don’t see the fun o’ this game – knockin’ a ball into a bush, and then ‘untin’ about for it!”

The Golfer’s Dream

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The Science of GOLF [A certain make of field-glasses is advertised just now as “suitable for golf-players, enabling them before striking to select a favourable spot for the descent of their ball.”

There can be little doubt that this brilliant hint will be further developed, with some such results as those outlined in the following anticipation.]

s I told Jones when he met me at the clubhouse, it was a year or more since I had last played, so the chances were that I should be a bit below form. Besides, I was told that the standard of play had been so raised.

“Raised? I should just think it has!” said Jones. “Why, a year ago they played mere skittles, not what you could properly call golf.

Got your clubs? Come along then. Queer oldfashioned things they are, too! And you’re never going out without your theodolite?”

“Well,” I said with considerable surprise, “the fact is, I haven’t got one. What do you use it for?”

“Taking levels, of course. And bless me, you’ve no inflater, or glasses not even a windgauge! Shall I borrow some for you? Oh, just as you like, but you won’t be able to put up much of a game without them.”

“Does your caddie take all those things?” I asked, pointing to the curious assortment of

machinery which Jones had put together.

“My caddies do,” he corrected. “No one takes less than three nowadays. Good; there’s only one couple on the first tee, so we shall get away in half an hour or so.”

“I should hope so!” I remarked. “Do you mean that it will be half an hour before those men have played two shots?”

“There or thereabouts. Simkins is a fast player, wonderful head for algebra that man has, so it may be a shade less. Come and watch him; then you’ll see what golf is!”

And indeed I watched him with much interest. First he surveyed the country with great care through a field-glass. Then he squinted along a theodolite at a distant pole. Next he used a strange instrument which was, Jones told me, a wind-gauge, and tapped thoughtfully at a pocketbarometer. After that he produced paper and pencil, and was immersed apparently in difficult sums. Finally, he summoned one of his caddies, who carried a metal cylinder. A golf ball was connected to this by a piece of india-rubber tubing, and a slight hissing noise was heard.

“Putting in the hydrogen,” explained Jones.

“Everything depends upon getting the right

The Handy Caddy

Why, Jones sold his big St. Bernard and substituted a tame Caribou, which a friend brought him home from Canada.

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It was so handy when going golfing.

Punch-Drunk Golf

It made such a capital caddy.

And Jones could indulge in expletives without being a bad example.

A LAST RESORT. – Miss Armstrong (who has foozled the ball six times with various clubs).

“And which of the sticks am I to use now?” Weary Caddie. “Gie it a bit knock wi’ the bag!” amount. New idea? Not very; even a year ago you must have seen pneumatic golf balls filled with compressed air? Well, this is only an obvious improvement. There, he’s going to drive now.”

And this he did, using a club unlike anything I had seen before. Then he surveyed the puttinggreen about half a mile away through his glasses, and remarked that it was a fairish shot, the ball being within three inches of the hole. His companion, who went through the same lengthy preliminaries, was less fortunate. In a tone of considerable disgust, he announced that he had over-driven the hole by four hundred yards.

If the weather suddenly turned off cold he had only to help himself to a top coat:

“Too much hydrogen,” murmured Jones, “or else he got his formulas muddled. Well, we can start now. Shall I lead the way ?”

I begged him to do so. He in turn surveyed the country, consulted instruments, did elaborate sums, inflated his ball.

“Now,” he said, at length settling into his stance, “now I’ll show you.”

And then he missed the ball clean. . . . Of course he ought not to have used such language, and yet it was a sort of relief to find something about the game which was entirely unchanged.

& if it rained to an umbrella and sou’wester.

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Also it gave quite a park-like appearance to Jones’ back garden.

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Major Brummel (comparing the length of his and his opponent’s “drives”). “I think I’m shorter than Mr. Simkin?” Small Caddie (a new hand, greatly flattered at being asked, as he thinks, to judge of their personal appearance). “Yes, sir, and fatter too, sir!” {Delight of the gallant Major.}

Lays from the links I. THE HISTORY OF A MATCH.

LET A be the Links where I went down to stay, And B the man whom I challenged to play : C was the Caddie no golfer’s without, D was the Driver I used going “out”: E was the Extra loud “Fore!” we both holloaed, F was the Foozle which commonly followed: G was the Green which I longed to approach, H was the Hazard which upset the coach: I was B’s Iron-shot (he’s good for a younker), J was his Joy when I pitched in the bunker.

K was the Kodak, that mischief-contriver, L was B’s Likeness on smashing his driver: M was the Moment he found out ‘twas taken.

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Punch-Drunk Golf

N was his Niblick around my head shaken: O was the Oil poured on waters so stormy, P was the Putt which, next hole, made me dormy.

Q was the Quality crowds came to look on: R the Result they were making their book on: S was the Stymie I managed to lay, T was Two more, which it forced him to play; U was the Usual bad word he let fly, V was the Vengeance he took in the bye.

W the Whisky that night: I must own X was its quantity wholly unknown; Y were the Yarns which hot whisky combine with, Z was the Zest which we sang “Auld Lang Syne.”

“Keep your head still� is the first rule in golf, and Blinks means to do so.

Distinction without difference. – Sensitive Golfer (who has foozled). “Did you laugh at me boy?”

Caddie. “No, sir; I wis laughin’ at another man.” Sensitive Golfer. “And what’s funny about him?”

Caddie. “He plays gowf awfu’ like you sir!”

“A THREE-CARD LAY” LONG ago in Sweet September, Oh! the day I well remember, I was playing on the Links against the winsomest of maids; In a “cup” my ball was lying, And the “divots” round were flying, And with eyes-a-dance she said to me, “Your iron’s the King of Spades!”

Now a foe, on such occasion, Of the feminine persuasion, Fair and twenty to the game a sort of subtlety imparts;

And I felt its potent glamour, And I answered with a stammer Shy and nervous, “It was rash of me to play the Queen of Hearts!”

Any further explanation Of my inward admiration Very likely had exposed me to the deadliest of snubs!

But a snigger from behind me Just in time came to remind me Of the presence of my caddie and I blessed the Knave of Clubs!

Golfing Notes

“Denmark is the latest of the Continental nations to receive golf.” – The Tatler.

But golf must have flourished at Denmark in Hamlet’s time, judging by the above reproduction of a very ancient mural decoration which has just come to light.

See also quotation Hamlet, Act II., Scene 2: – “. . . drives; in range, strikes wide!”

The Moan of the Maiden (After Tennyson)

GOLF! Golf I Golf!

By the side of the sounding sea; And I would that my ears had never Heard aught of the “links” and the “tee.”

Oh, well for the man of my heart.

That he bets on the “holes” and the play; Oh, well for the “caddie” that carries The “clubs,” and earns his pay.

He puts his red coat on, And he roams on the sandy hill; But oh! for the touch of that golfer’s hand, That the “niblick” wields with a will.

Golf! Golf! Golf!

Where the “bunkers” vex by the sea; But the days of Tennis and Croquet Will never come back to me!

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Capable Caddies

UMOUR has it that a movement is on foot amongst a certain section of the golfing public to ensure that for the future all caddies on English links shall be compelled to furnish satisfactory proof that they are physically and morally qualified for the porterage and cleaning of clubs, and acquainted with the more rudimentary principles of the game. To this end, it is reported, an entrance examination paper is in course of preparation, in which individuals aspiring to official recognition as caddies will be required to obtain a percentage of at least eighty marks. The following questions are said to have been already drafted: 1. Write your name, legibly if possible, in the top right-hand corner of the sheet.

(Do not trouble to insert your nickname, as it is a matter of indifference to the examiners whether you are locally known as “Tiger,” “Ginger,” or “Bill Bailey.”)

2. State your age. If this is less than six, or more than seventy-five years, you may omit the remaining questions and retire at once from the examination.

3. Are you married or single? Give reasons for your answer.

4. Illustrate the finer points of distinction between (a) a niblick and a gutty; (b) a bye and a bulger.

5. Are you a Protectionist or a Total Abstainer?

6. Rewrite the following passage, correcting anything that may strike you as an error or an incongruity: “In an i8-hole match, X., a scratch player with a handicap of 20, stood dormy 12 at the I7th hole, but while half-way through the final green was unfortunate enough to get badly bunkered behind the tee-box. Being required to play ‘two more’ to his opponent Y., who had laid himself dead in 6, he only played one of them, thus holing out in 5, and securing a victory by the narrow margin of 4 up and 7 to play.”

7. Given that the regulation charge for a round is a shilling, would you consider yourself justified in attempting to exact an extra half-crown for clubcleaning from a player in spectacles, with a handicap of 27 and a wistful expression? (Candidates are advised to say “No” to this question.)

Editorial meeting of Punch magazine in the late 19th century.

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Punch, or The London Charivari, was a British weekly magazine of humor and satire established in 1841

by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Reflecting their satiric and humorous intent, the editors took for their name and masthead the anarchic glove puppet, Mr. Punch, of Punch and Judy.

Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term “cartoon” in its modern sense as a humorous illustration. Punch was the success story of a threepenny weekly paper that had become one of the most talked-about and enjoyed periodicals. Punch enjoyed an audience including Elizabeth Barrett, Robert Browning, Thomas Carlyle, Edward FitzGerald, Charlotte Brontë, Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emily Dickinson, Herman Melville, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and James Russell Lowell. Circulation broke the 100,000 mark around 1910, and peaked in 1947-48 at 175,000 to 184,000. Sales declined steadily thereafter; ultimately, the magazine was forced to close in 1992 after 150 years of publication.

Punch-Drunk Golf

Mr. Mothdriver, the famous, yet absent-minded golf-naturalist, invariably carries a butterfly net in his golf bag – for he agrees with Mr. Horace Hutchinson that some of the best entomological specimens can be captured in the course of playing the royal and ancient game.

Bobby Jones and George Marshall in a still from “How I Play Golf” (Warner Brothers, 1931)

“Quiet on the set!

Mr. Jones, you may now strike your ball.”

From the golf course to the courtroom, Bobby Jones was the epitome of a master, so it’s no wonder Warner Brothers signed the superstar to make a series of instructional videos.

By Alan Clemons Images courtesy Heritage Auctions, HA.com

all accounts, Robert Tyre Jones never did anything half-heartedly.

Whatever he pursued he did so with gusto, whether on the golf course or in business. Success wasn’t handed to him and his accomplishments are rightfully legendary, surviving for decades without a hint of blemish that might tarnish his achievements.

So it should be no surprise to discover that instructional golf films Jones agreed to do in the 1930s would be professionally produced. Instructional videos are legion today, of course, featuring coaches, teachers, pros and others offering tips and insights. They’re available on-line, for viewing at home or on mobile phones, even on the course during a practice session. Swing this way, stand that way, putt like the pros. You can build a library for everything from grip to stance and watch for hours.

Eight decades ago, however, golf was coming

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into its own among the masses. Private courses dotted the landscape but public golf was gaining a foothold. Jones led the way, the dashing Southern gentleman, winning titles as an amateur, claiming the Grand Slam in 1930 and capturing the hearts of Europeans with his visits overseas. He was among the greats in the Golden Era of the sport, and the public wanted to know what he knew, how he did it, what they could do with a mashie or niblick to gain a few strokes.

Following Jones’ capture of the Grand Slam in 1930, he went to New York to sign a deal with Warner Brothers to star in a series of instructional films. Titled “Bobby Jones: How I Play Golf,” the 12part series was masterfully produced by, at the time, the top film studio in the world. Jack Warner knew a good thing when he saw it, and the studio boss wanted to capitalize on Jones’ success and fame.

The series was a hit, of course, with stars of the silver screen clamoring for a part in the films.

Twelve were produced and made available. They weren’t the boring “Here’s a club, stand this way, make this shot” instructions, either. These were

Unlike the cracker-jack videos we see all over the Internet today, Bobby Jones’ series was done with taste and a host famous actors.

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Jones and his fellow cast not only added a humorous element on set with wellwritten scripts, but also found time to play a few rounds together when the cameras weren’t rolling.

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professionally made, with scripts for the actors and scenarios that took them from the office or home to the course, where their middling skills were enhanced by the greatest golfer in the world.

Witness the description by Jim Beaver for IMDb, the popular on-line movie site, about the eleventh film in the series, “Practice Shots:” Golf expert Bobby Jones arrives on the golf course to join actors James Cagney, Anthony Bushell, Donald Cook, Evalyn Knapp, and Louise Fazenda in shooting a golf instruction film. Louise Fazenda however has no knowledge of golf and her ongoing commentary disrupts Jones’s attempts to practice.

While Cagney and Bushell hold Louise’s mouth shut, Jones demonstrates his approach to golf.

Later, upon arrival of director George Marshall, Louise is sent off “to practice” alone while the cast and crew go about shooting the film.

“There was a big row over that which was kind of interesting, and hasn’t been talked about too much,” said Sidney Matthew, who, for over 40 years has been Jones’ defacto historian and collected immense knowledge, memorabilia

“Quiet on the set!”

and records about the legend. Matthew is an attorney in Tallahassee, Florida, and historian for East Lake Golf Club, which Jones established in Atlanta and is home to the annual FedEx Tour Championship each September.

“Chick Evans, who won the Open in 1916 was kind of the grand ol’ amateur. But he was kind of displaced by Jones and as you can imagine it was difficult for one star who was in the limelight see the spotlight move to another. Chick was a little put out by Jones coming out, beating him, doing what Bob did. Prior to that, Chick had set the high-water mark and Jones elevated the bar.

There was a little stiffness there.

“But the real goat-getter was after Jones won the Grand Slam in September 1930, he went to New York to sign a contract with Jack Warner to do the ‘How I Play Golf ’ series. Jones signed about October or November 1930 . . . I think it was as late as November. Later, on Chick’s 73rd birthday, I want to say… this was probably in the 1960s, someone asked Chick how he compared himself to Bobby Jones? Ok? Right?

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And Chick was reported to say ‘You know Jones wasn’t really an amateur?’”

The reporter was aghast at the accusation, and Evans reportedly told him that Jones had signed a contract before the final tournament to win the Slam. The reporter pressed but Evans held firm.

There was, as expected, spike marks upon the green of time.

“There was a pretty good row,” Matthew said.

“You could read between the lines, the tension.

But the facts were that Jones did not sign the contracts until after the Grand Slam was won.

I’ve seen the contracts.”

Aside from that unexpected blip, the “How I Play Golf ” series has endured. A second series of six films were made in 1932-33 titled “Bobby Jones: How to Break 90” (still a goal of many weekend golfers), that rounded out the 18film cache. The films were shown in theatres to rapt audiences. Some enjoyed the scripted performances and well-thought scenes. Others, of course, hung on every word Jones imparted about his ideas for hitting it long, shots around the greens and bunkers, and putting.

The scripts were funny, too. In the third film, “The Niblick,” it opens with a fretting wife asking the butler if he’s contacted “the club” to see if her late-for-dinner husband might be there. Naturally, the club says no, and when the husband arrives he spins a yarn about how the dreadful office finances are driving him to a nervous breakdown. The wife,

“Quiet on the set!”

of course, knows better.

“Oh, I see,” she says. “Do your arms hurt, dear?” My arms, he says, perplexed. “Well, when I play a niblick shot for hours, my arms get awfully tired. Don’t yours?”

The jig was up. The scene shifts to Jones watching a duffer hacking in the sand, offering advice, before showing the mistakes and how to correct them. Jones’ advice still holds true today as little is new involving the basics of the golf swing.

“Jones’ films are timeless. They’re timeless classics,” Matthew said. “Part of the reason is that Jones was brilliant in being able to articulate not only the mechanics of the golf swing but also the feel of the golf swing. Part of that was his innate genius and part of it was his mechanics and his degree in mechanical engineering. He had a gift and also was educated in it.

“He was able to discourse with Ben Hogan at a Met golf dinner about how to hold the ball a split-second longer on the face of the club to gain more control. That was the subject of their conversation during that dinner. So you’re talking about someone who was able to articulate it, who wrote about 500,000 words on it, wrote daily columns from 1928-34 for Bell Syndicate and cobbled (information) together for Bobby Jones On Golf and was published in American Golfer and newspapers. Jones is the one who said ‘No putt is too short to be despised,’ and that’s still true.”

Cagney was among a bevy of stars who clamored to be involved, Matthew noted, along with other luminaries including W.C. Fields and Joe E. Brown.

Legendary sportswriter O.B. Keeler of the Atlanta Journal was Jones’ scriptwriter and confidante.

Their trips to California for film production became highlights among the Hollywood stars who enjoyed the high life while mingling with sports icons.

“O.B. came up with a lot of the story lines,” Matthew said. “Jones was incredible in the films.

He (broke) the lens of a movie camera. He actually struck a ball that hit dead center of the lens and broke it. The camera was on a platform, about the height of where the ball was rising, and on the third shot the lens goes black. He broke the lens.

“In another series Jones was 232 yards from the flag and hits five shots within a blanket of the hole with a brassie, with wooden shafts. He did take his steel (shafted clubs) but insisted that he use his wooden clubs. I’ve been asked many times whether he could play with today’s clubs, and I know he could have. He shot seven rounds in the 60s with steel clubs. He shot 64 in practice before the first round of The Masters in 1934. We know he could play.”

Every time Jones ventured west, it turned into a rousing trip. Aside from the filming for the series, which Jones obviously handled with deft and class befitting his character and skills, the iconic courses of southern California became his playground with the stars.

“They had a group called the Divot Diggers – all the directors, camera men, grips and so forth – who played golf every day after shooting the movies,” Matthew said. “Keeler would sit at his typewriter, pound out a two-page movie script and then they’d act it all out.

“What was pretty amazing was that all the actors and actresses who wanted to be in the series were released from their contracts with other studios because they wanted to be in the Jones films, which was very unusual. Studios held a pretty tight grip during that time and didn’t release their big stars to do films with other studios. But for this they made a big exception, which was noted by everybody. They played all the great courses. Bob and Walter Hagan played at Catalina Island, which was owned by P.K. Wrigley of the Wrigley gum and Cubs fame, and Bob shot the course record.

They had a terrific time shooting the films.”

The “How I Play Golf” and “How To Break 90” series are available today in remastered DVD sets.

For any golfer who loves history, or wants to learn something from a true legend, they are, as Matthew noted, timeless. The lessons imparted by Jones more than 80 years ago still have much to offer.

“Bobby Jones was able to describe taking his club back like a waving plume… but he said you have to have it in balance,” Matthew said. “But that was a theme of Jones: his life was in balance and in priority, his golf swing was in balance, his speech was in balance. Everything he did was like that.”

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THE

DUTCH A challenging professional course that is equally playable for amateurs, The Dutch and its founders envelop a casual atmosphere that stresses a universal message toward members: It’s just a game. By Sid Grover

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he Dutch, which is one of the latest championship golf courses to be opened in Holland, was designed by none other than Scottish golfer and top designer, Colin Montgomerie. Bearing all the characteristics that exemplify the linksstyle courses that Monte grew up with, the only differences is its inland setting. Situated in the center of Holland, a 30-minute drive east of Rotterdam, and a 45-minute drive to the south of Amsterdam, The Dutch distinguishes itself from all other courses in four ways, which include it being a top golf course in the highest state of repair, having top facilities and an on-Dutch service, a member network of entrepreneurs and executives of international companies, and the Made in Scotland (the name of the company formed by its founders) golf professionals provide a special atmosphere and are a binding factor for the network.

The Dutch officially opened it doors May 14, 2011. The final event to symbolize the opening was an exhibition round between Colin Montgomerie and a local favorite.

“Driving up here, you think, ‘Wow, this is good,’” Monte began. “Talking as a member of the European Tour, I think that this is a golden opportunity for a great tournament to be played here.”

From the moment members and guests arrive, they are treated to a clubhouse that doesn’t feel like a cold, stuffy harbor where men gather before and after a round, but rather a home. With the whole ambiance of the locker room, it seems as though the clubhouse wasn’t built merely a few years ago, but rested on the same grounds for decades.

The idea for The Dutch was originally conceived by a group of friends who have a passion for the

The Dutch

game. In 2001, four golf professionals working in Holland and hosting golf events for their clients decided to formalize their bond into a company with aspirations of launching a golf course. Some say doing business in a bar is good while others completely object, but after coming up with a name, Made in Scotland, the four founding members sealed their commitment on a cocktail napkin that sits inside a trophy case hanging proudly on the wall today.

In 2004, they increased the founding group to six golf professionals and responded to feedback from their clients by finally planning to build the golf course that they would call their own.

Starting with a dream, injecting it with passion,

and then putting a plan into action helped the group garner the bank loans they needed to fund the project. Advanced memberships sales and the addition of Colin Montgomerie enabled them to proceed with their dream.

Monte, as well as European golf course architect Ross McMurray, who was responsible for the 2010 Ryder Cup course, was selected to design a championship-standard course.

“It’s an amazing transformation you find when you come here and find farmland, and you think, ‘Okay, now what can we do here,’” Monte said. “We weren’t constrained by villas or homes or property that most course developments are nowadays. This was very different.”

Like the course and its exquisite design and meticulous upkeep, the interior of The Dutch’s clubhouse is no different. David Burnside, one of the founding members, took care of all the interior design.

The DUTCH

There’s no better way to finish the day or while away the icy weather than a warm fire and a neat Scotch. The Dutch offers the comfort and privacy home.

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The founders of The Dutch, business group Made in Scotland, strive to make guests feel as though they are a member when present on the grounds.

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However, after the design was complete, the construction of the course did not come without its share of difficulties; none of which couldn’t be solved by the resilient duo.

“To prevent approach shots from sinking into the soft earth around the greens, we put a thousand square meters of foam concrete down,” said McMurray. “Foam concrete is a very, very light form of concrete that is injected with air and weighs about 25 percent of soil, and that stops the green from moving.”

Award-winning Head Greenkeeper, Niall Richardson, and his experienced team, deliver the true golfing challenge for all.

“We’ve got some fine support surfaces here,” Richardson said. “We’ve got a grass species on the perimeter of each green and fairway that we can really control (its height). Of course, we can make it really difficult when the grass is short and smooth and really fast around the greens. Or we can leave it a bit higher, which is going to choke your ball a little more. We can do a lot of things with it.”

“The greens are quite phenomenal, considering how young they are,” McMurray added.

A trademark of all of Monte’s designs is the importance of course management, and The

Dutch is no exception. As a true links course, hitting the correct shots is paramount. Playing a fade rather than a draw on certain holes can get even the best golfers into a world of trouble as the run-off on most greens makes approaches tricky.

Monte and McMurray both agree that if you don’t get the right shape on your shot, the ball is going to run away from the putting surfaces.

The high standards of course design and maintenance have also been extended into the interior of the clubhouse, where founder David Burnside took care of all the design.

“The goal for me was that when the members walk in the door, they have a feeling that they’re home,” said Burnside. “All the rooms have a homey feeling where one could also conduct business functions like meetings and presentations. And at the same time they can sit in the dining area or just relax on the veranda with a few people and a nice glass of wine.”

The Dutch offers members and their guests an array of culinary options whether it be a quick sandwich or a seven-course sit down meal.

Chef Gerrit Greveling, who has worked for the past 32 years in some of the finest restaurants in the Netherlands, guarantees the highest quality cuisine. Finishing a round at The Dutch,

The rolling hills and lush, green earth of Holland, have helped make The Dutch one of the most soughtafter clubs in the country.

followed by a fine meal, take the stay beyond the game of golf, truly making it an experience.

Even the guest of a member is expected to leave feeling as if he were, if only for the day, part of the club. There’s a sense of privacy and exclusivity and members pride themselves in knowing that they might give their own clients that little something extra at The Dutch’s clubhouse.

“We try to link people together,” said Phil

Helsby, Director at The Dutch. “That’s probably the expertise that we have that makes the experience very, very unique.”

The founders of Made in Scotland will be the first to tell you that what they’ve accomplished with The Dutch is beyond their wildest dreams.

Just think where a dream, fueled with a lot of passion and lit bit of luck, can really get you.

Visit TheDutch.nl.

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The Train Trip of a

Lifetime

For 25 years, Rohan Vos and his company, Rovos Rail, have provided adventurers with transcontinental travel, taking them into the far reaches of South Africa’s glorious countryside. By Laurie Bogart Morrow

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heir dream was to offer a “once-in-a-lifetime experience” to travelers who wanted to see Africa through the window of a lavishly restored, 20th century railway carriage, while sipping a glass of South African wine. However, this year, as Rovos Rail celebrates its 25th anniversary, founder and owner Rohan Vos, and his wife, Anthea, can look back not only with a sense of pride, but a sense of accomplishment that they achieved their dream.

What they may not have anticipated is that many clients who have traveled on one of their luxury trains keep coming back year after year, prompting the establishment of The Rovos Club for “Repeat Offenders,” as Vos affectionately calls his returning clientele.

A self-made businessman who financed his successful auto-parts dealership business from the sale of a 1940 Packard and a 1928 Austin he

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had restored, Vos would begin his eponymous railroad business, Rovos Rail, entirely unawares.

He and his wife had accepted an invitation to go on a train trip through the Cashan Mountains to Magaliesberg, north of Pretoria.

“Rohan has always been obsessed with things mechanical,” Anthea Vos explained. “I became a train widow on that day. I sat all dressed up by myself while Rohan spent most of the time in the engine with the driver. The irony was that we should have seen then how difficult it would be – the train broke down and we were bussed back to town.”

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n 1986, Vos became acquainted with the Railway Preservation Society of Southern Africa, an organization founded in 1960, which today consists of more than 700 railway

and steam locomotive members worldwide. Bit by the bug, he attended a few railway rolling stock auctions with the intention of buying one or two vintage railroad carriages to restore as a “family caravan on wheels” for the Vos’ four children and four dogs. He bought four.

He approached South African Railways (SAR) for permission to hitch his caravan onto a rented Spoornet locomotive for a family vacation and, surprisingly, got permission – and a catastrophic bill. In response to Vos’ objection, Sam Taute of SAR made a surprising suggestion that would change Vos’ life: “Why don’t you sell tickets?” he suggested.

It was the spark that created a roaring fire.

Vos knew nothing about the tourism business or, for that matter, how to literally build a commercial vintage railway company from scratch. “I remember the occasion very clearly:

on a wintry evening I was getting into a hot bath with my Red Heart Rum and Coke close at hand. There’d been a power cut, so musing by candlelight about the consequences of turning a hobby into a business, I let my imagination float around in delusions of grandeur. But I knew that launching into the arena of tourism and trains, for which I had no experience, held many dangers. It was an unchartered course and I had little idea where to start, let alone where to aim.

However, a unique challenge was right up my street and the decision was made to go ahead.

This was – unknown to me at the time – a lifechanging moment and sadly, during the next few years or so, I had many agonizing thoughts regretting the move. I could never have imagined how all-consuming the business was to become both financially and emotionally.”

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The “maiden voyage” of the Rovos Rail left Pretoria for the Eastern Transvaal on April 29, 1989.

A fully restored vintage steam locomotive hauled seven luxuriously restored, wooden, Victorian carriages carrying family, friends and four paying guests. Two years later, Rovos Rail was running a regular schedule of four-night, 1,520 mile “Lowveld” excursions between Pretoria and Cape Town. However, in 1993, Vos faced a seemingly insurmountable financial hurdle. “I found, to my horror, that one can lose considerably more money establishing a schedule, and consequently a reputation, when passenger loads are less than the number required to break even financially.”

Vos had sold several lucrative businesses in order to get the cash needed to launch Rovos Rail, but traded his largest holding, the auto-parts business, to a public company in exchange for shares that were held by the bank as security for his loan. The timing couldn’t have been worse. South Africa’s first democratic elections were slated for 1994 and

The Train Trip of a Lifetime

the country was in a state of national turmoil. “The public company went insolvent and my shares were valueless,” he said.

Confidence in the future was uncertain and banks began calling loans, including Vos’.

Although he could service the loan, the bank was “not interested and proceeded to summons me for the outstanding amount,” Vos explained.

Although Rovos Rail was on the verge of turning the corner from debt to profitability, Vos could not muster the financing. “I exhausted every possible avenue of financial assistance,” he said. Then, while attending the London World Travel Market, he met Phillip Morrell, founder of the innovative specialist tour group, Jules Verne, which he had established in 1978.

(Their Royal Highnesses Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh led the Royal Flotilla up the Thames on the occasion of Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee on June 3, 2013, on Morrell’s luxury cruiser, The Spirit of Chartwell.)

Morrell was sympathetic to Vos’ dilemma – and intrigued not only by what he had already accomplished, but his vision for the future.

“Between us, we hatched a plan to run the train from Cape Town to Victoria Falls,” Vos said.

“The package was advertised in the Sunday Telegraph in late December.”

Shortly after Christmas, four train excursions were booked and bankruptcy was avoided “by a nose.” Within a year, Rovos Rail purchased thirty-eight retired carriages from South African Railways. “Since then, we have never looked back,” Vos smiled, “although the scars of battle are always there, reminding me never to relax.”

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he legendary Blue Train, which famously transported King George VI and the Royal family when they toured South Africa, enjoys a “competitively amicable” relationship with Rovos Rail, according to Vos. “Our aim was to present the train as a gracious and comfortable home.” This “home on wheels” includes an in-suite bath in each compartment and spacious lounges and dining facilities. “We call ourselves ‘the most luxurious trains in the world’ and the rationale behind this is that we have much

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Below: Champagne Sports Resort. Right: More than birdies abound around the Leopard Creek Golf Course.

larger suites than other trains,” Vos explained.

“The train has a maximum of three suites per carriage, and some have only two, which is extravagant by other train standards.”

What’s more, apart from the glorious Scottish luxury train, the Royal Scotsman, Rovos Rail is the only train in the world whose beds, all fullsize, do not fold up. The wood-paneled suites also are fitted with two upholstered lounge chairs, a writing table, and a butler who, among his many civilized duties, is to explain to his passengers just how to open the windows, operate the air conditioning, and order tea or a nightcap. A staff of 24 can cater up to 50 guests. Think Downton Abbey on railroad tracks. And like the celebrated British television series, Rovos Rail celebrates that bygone age with the epicurean cuisine prepared by world-class chefs, an enviable wine cellar, and the unsurpassed pleasure of living like a lord or lady for as long as you are on board.

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he first four Rovos Rail engines were named for the Vos’ three daughters and son – Brenda, Bianca, Tiffany and Shaun, and a fifth engine was christened after Rohan’s mother, Marjorie. By 2000, the Rovos Workshops had rebuilt 60 carriages from scrap, rolling out a fully restored coach each month. By 2010, its fleet had grown to 90 coaches and seven locomotives, including a Class 6 Locomotive that was built in 1893.

“This locomotive is probably the oldest

The Train Trip of a Lifetime

commercially operating locomotive in the world,” Vos explained. “The demise of steam travel in this country became the largest drawback as the facilities for loading water and coal were systematically removed from most stations. This meant that water had to be loaded from fire hydrants and tanks, which was a very laborious process. It could take up to three or four hours to ready a locomotive for the next 100 kilometers. The railway regrettably canceled all steam operations on our main routes in 2006,

thus putting an end to our steam trips. We do, however, endeavor to start and finish all our journeys in and out of Capital Park with our steam locos. In 1994, I made the decision to go the steel carriage route for the sleeping cars on the train. The old Edwardian coaches had done us proud, but with the advent of the Victoria Falls route in January 1994, the Edward train was doing 15,000 kilometers per month. It was too much to ask of the grand old lady! We now use the Edwardian train for charters.”

Today, Rovos Rail Tours remains family owned.

The company boasts a rolling stock of not only 90 carriages and 16 operational locomotives, but also administrative offices and workshops in Capital Park, Pretoria, that covers 60 acres and 15 lines totaling a distance of 12 kilometers (of which 100 meters are under roof), and a coal stage with 40 loading chutes – Rohan Vos’ great dream come true. And the dream continues.

“It has been our aim not only to rebuild the site to a world-beating standard,” he said. “But also to

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transform it into a working railway museum. Our new headquarters will cater to steam enthusiasts, tourists, and local visitors alike. With daily guided tours, we aim to interest and educate the public, especially those who have had no previous exposure to the world of trains.”

The three-day Rovos Classic I and Classic II excursions run between Pretoria and Cape Town, Pretoria and Victoria Falls, and Pretoria and Durban. Trains III and IV handle the long journeys, the epic Dar es Salaam journey, which lasts 14 days; the nine-day journeys, which include the Namibian Special, “African Collage” between Pretoria, Kruger Park, Durban, and Cape Town, and the “Golf Safari.” Corporate clients can book the Rovos Rail Events Train, a five-hour daytime journey that accommodates up to 200 people.

The logistics are mind-boggling. The Cape Town run, for example, rotates six driver crews, each of which must be prepared for the train’s arrival and departure times at each crew rotation along the way. The Station Master at every station must know, down to the minute, when a Rovos train is due to come through and which platform it is to be parked. Delays are not uncommon and for that reason, travel insurance is mandatory and it is suggested that passengers arrive a day before departure and do not schedule return flights until a day or two after the train’s scheduled return.

Ever the visionary, Vos purchased a 1944 DC-3 that was rebuilt to luxurious standards for up to 21 passengers. Though available for private charter anywhere in South Africa, it is primarily used for Rovos Rail’s 13-day “Southern African Air Safari” to Phinda Game Reserve, the Garden Route, Cape Town, Wolwedans in Namibia, the Okavango Delta, and Victoria Falls.

The Rovos Rail is not for everyone. If you are tethered to your cell phone, shackled to a computer, or addicted to Facebook and Twitter, then Rovos Rail is not for you. There are no television sets, radios, telephones, or Wi-Fi aboard the trains. You will only find delicious food, superb wines, good conversation among people from all over the world, time to read a book, scenery that will capture your soul, and the opportunity to step back into the romance and luxury of a supremely civilized era.

To Rohan Vos, it’s something more. “I like to think we bring happiness to a lot of people. The beauty of the train is that you are in touch with Mother Earth.”

Visit RovosRail.com.

The Train Trip of a Lifetime

Virtuoso, Sir Michael Hill, put aside his violin and created a masterpiece among the mountains and canyons of southern New Zealand. By Arthur Farrell

Symphonie in green

Photograph by Matthew williams

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ichael Hill never dreamed of having his very own golf course. But after the New Zealand native moved to a former deer farm just outside of Arrowtown, Central Otago, that dream became a reality. Not only have celebrities and royalty enjoyed the 18-hole, 7,285-yard course, it is the host of the New Zealand Open, where it returns in 2015. The road to creating a private, championship golf course, and hosting an event that was televised in more than 200 million homes in 26 countries, has been nothing short of fascinating for Hill and his family.

Hill, as they say, has many strings to his bow. He is a concert violinist, world window dresser, golfer (and, as you know, course owner), farmer, shipping magnate, supporter of the arts, motivational speaker, restaurant franchise owner, and most notably, a jeweler. At the age of 16, he left school to become a concert violinist.

And while he failed to win the coveted New Zealand Herald violin competition a year later, he embarked on a journey into the family watch business that would ultimately land his name in households worldwide.

After putting down his violin, he entered the family jewelry business, run by his uncle in Whangarei, as a watchmaker. In this role, he

lasted just three months, but stayed on for 23 years as a salesman and later store manager. At this juncture in his life, he entered the path that would take him from small-town shop owner to international legend.

The watershed moment came when Hill was literally watching his Whangarei house go up in flames. As it burned, he had an epiphany that he should make an offer and buy out the family business. Although he was nearly penniless after the devastating fire, he found a backer willing to put up the necessary capital. His uncle refused.

Undeterred, Hill opened up a smaller shop that, within 18 months, began taking his uncle’s business and he never looked back from there.

He opened seven shops in seven years and today, the Michael Hill jewelry chain consists of 250 stores throughout Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. Hill’s aim is to have 1,000 stores open by 2024.

Sitting 1,200 feet above sea level, The Hills Golf Course has ten lakes and various ponds that are fed by The Mill race, which runs through the property. Native and exotic trees, including Lombardy poplars, golden and tortured willows, flowering hawthorn, maples, sequoia, pin and red oaks; pines, Douglas fir and larch plantations,

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are cast throughout the course. The wetland areas are expansive and planted with varieties of New Zealand flax, toetoes, cabbage trees, and wetland grasses and reeds. More than 50,000 red and silver tussocks have been planted throughout the course, creating a visual statement. Another of the course’s distinct features is the artwork designed

by Hill’s son, Mark. His innovative work includes The Weta, a five-meter-tall sculpture standing on the fairway on the 1st hole. The 6th hole, known as “Dragonfly Lake,” has dragonfly sculptures nestled in the water hazard approaching the green while Walking Woman, an imposing three-meter-tall sculpture of a woman, stands on a bridge at the 4th hole. Not to mention the impressive installation, The Wolves are Coming, by Chinese sculptor Liu Ruowang, which is placed on the 18th fairway.

When the legendary Sir Bob Charles played the course for the first time several years ago, his immediate response was that in its stunning amphitheater encircled by the Remarkables

Mountains, with 180 degree views taking in Coronet Peak and the Crown Range, The Hills had the “X-factor” to become a tournament golf course.

“After playing most of the course and arriving at the iconic 17th hole, which is known as the ‘Canyons Hole,’ Sir Bob asked if I realized that I had something very, very special here,” said Hill. Sir Bob’s reaction motivated Hill to “go the extra mile” in developing his 7,285-yard course into an outstanding championship golf course.

Following Sir Bob’s visit, New Zealand Golf and Bob Tuohy of Tuohy Associates NZ, whose company manages the New Zealand Open, inspected The Hills and in May 2007, officially announced it as the venue for New Zealand’s premier golf event for three consecutive years.

The clubhouse is an icon in itself. As with all of golf’s stubborn traditions, the clubhouse, designed by the architects at Patterson Associates, who are arguably New Zealand’s most internationally recognized architects, is what you might call

The Hills Course, No. 14

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unique and innovative. All too often they are faux historical buildings set “out of bounds” with no relationship to the course, the land or the environment. Patterson Associates redefine this notion of golf clubhouse buildings with their design for The Hills. People often refer to the building as “The Wedge,” and you can see why as it illustrates the power of a professional’s swing, captured in a 220-ton cantilevered raking concrete roof supported on just three taut muscular steel struts. The roof is lined in GRC panels with integrated heating and acoustic design and topped in living turf. It’s the size of a fairway and rises out of the ground, crisply floating in the alpine air. Underneath, stark white architectural shapes, dimpled like some sort of cubic golf balls, are arranged to contain the interior spaces. Less than a quarter of the building protrudes above the grass and the cart store, workshops and service areas are all subterranean. And in what might be a world’s first, the building is situated within the playing bounds. If a ball lands on the grass roof, the player takes the shot from there. The result is a seamless integration with the landscape that is

almost overwhelmingly sporting in feel.

Inside, the clubhouse maintains a luxurious feel. Two bespoke color therapy spas are buried deep underground behind walnut paneled changing rooms and a large private gym is flanked by a reflecting pond. The ceiling of the locker room consists of large (three square meters) skylights with views of the mountain sky. You can find intimacy in the main bar and dining area that overlooks the 18th green. A huge inglenook fireplace hewn from dimpled textured white aluminum frames an 18-seat dining table.

The bar, which runs the full length of the space, is long and elegant; a wedge of walnut surrounded by full-sided, tooled leather stools. All rooms are set around an elegant fireside courtyard designed for theatrical and formal events with a secret service tunnel connected behind. It should come as no surprise that the clubhouse won the New Zealand Institute of Architects Supreme Architectural Award in 2008 and was a finalist in the World Architecture Festival in 2008 in Barcelona.

Visit TheHills.co.nz.

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The Hills Course, No. 17

Within the landscape of New Zealand’s The Hills Golf Course lies an amazing collection of sculptures, unsurpassed in picturesque arrangement and setting. Here is a Golf Sport selection of its finest.

Gallerie Hills at The

The Wolves Are Coming by Liu Ruowang

Weta by Mark Hill

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ark Hill, son of founder and owner, Michael Hill, has been instrumental in turning to the course into what many call an “open-air gallery,” with works that complement the senior Hill’s own impressive art collection. From his studio at The Hills Golf Course in Arrowtown, Mark creates forged and welded stainless and Corten steel sculptures. His works are typically largescale and placed in outdoor installments.

Mark’s innovative work includes The Weta, a five-meter tall sculpture standing on the fairway on the 1st hole. The 6th hole, known as “Dragonfly Lake,” has dragonfly sculptures nestled in the water hazard approaching the green while Walking Woman, an imposing three-meter tall sculpture of a woman, stands on a bridge at the 4th hole.

But perhaps the most popular of all the sculptures at The Hills Golf Course is The Wolves are Coming, built by Chinese sculptor Liu Ruowang. Originally displayed at 798 Art Zone in Beijing, the 110 larger-than-life wolf figurines were placed on the 18th fairway in October 2012 on a site chosen by the artist, not the one prepared by Hill’s staff. At the center of the installation is a sword-wielding warrior, which alone weighs about 3.3 tons. Initially, Michael Hill was only interested in purchasing five of Ruowang’s pieces, but ended up buying the whole 111-piece set, giving the installation a new home against one of the world’s most stunning backdrops.

Visit MarkHill.co.nz and LiuRuowang.com.

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Kelp by Mark Hill

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Scribble by Grant Palliser

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Art

The Calici Scythe by Paul Dibble

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The Wolves Are Coming by Liu Ruowang

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The Next Morning.

The Returned “Good Citizen.” – Well, who was elected?

Champion:

noun: A person who has defeated or surpassed all rivals in a competition, esp. in sports: