Visitors used to play our course on Wednesdays and Saturdays--our big
days--and then sit in the lounging room and try hard to remember that
they were our guests. There were two questions which they never failed
to ask:
"Don't they ever let anybody through?"
And then:
"How long has this been going on?"
When we answered them truthfully they shook their heads, looked out of
the windows, and told us how much better their clubs were handled. Our
course was all right--they had to say that much in fairness. It was well
trapped and bunkered, and laid out with an eye to the average player;
the fair greens were the best in the state; the putting greens were like
velvet; the holes were sporty enough to suit anybody; but----And then
they looked out of the window again.
You see, the trouble was that the Big Four practically ran the club as
they liked. They had financed it in its early days, and as a reward had
been elected to almost everything in sight. We used to say that they
shook dice to see who should be president and so forth, and probably
they did. They might as well have settled it that way as any other, for
the annual election and open meeting was a joke.
It usually took place in the lounging room on a wet Saturday afternoon.
Somebody would get up and begin to drone through a report of the year's
activities. Then somebody else would make a motion and everybody would
say "Ay!" After that the result of the annual election of officers would
be announced. The voting members always handed in the printed slips
which they found on the tables, and the ticket was never scratched--it
would be Watlington, Peck, Peebles and Hamilton all the way. The only
real question would be whether or not the incoming president of the club
would buy a drink for all hands. If it was Peck's turn the motion was
lost.
As a natural result of this sort of thing the Big Four never left the
saddle for an instant. Talk about perpetuation in office--they had it
down to a fine point. They were always on the Board of Directors; they
saw to it that control of the Greens Committee never slipped out of
their hands; they had two of the three votes on the House Committee, and
no outsider was even considered for treasurer. They were dictators with
a large D, and nobody could do a thing about it.
If a mild kick was ever made or new blood suggested, the kicker was made
to feel like an ingrate. Who started the club anyway? Who dug up the
money? Who swung the deal that put the property in our hands? Why,
Watlington, Peck, Peebles and Hamilton, to be sure! Could any one blame
them for wanting to keep an eye on the organisation? Cer-tain-ly not.
The Big Four had us bluffed, bulldozed, buffaloed, licked to a whisper.
Peck, Peebles and Hamilton were the active heads of the Midland
Manufacturing Company, and it was pretty well known that the bulk of
Watlington's fortune was invested in the same enterprise. Those who knew
said they were just as ruthless in business as they were in golf--quite
a strong statement.
They seemed to regard the Sundown Golf and Country Club as their private
property, and we were welcome to pay dues and amuse ourselves five days
a week, but on Wednesdays and Saturdays we were not to infringe on the
sovereign rights of the Big Four.
They never entered any of the club tournaments, for that would have
necessitated breaking up their foursome. They always turned up in a
body, on the tick of noon, and there was an immediate scramble to beat
them to Number One tee. Those who lost out stampeded over to Number Ten
and played the second nine first. Nobody wanted to follow them; but a
blind man, playing without a caddie, couldn't have helped but catch up
with them somewhere on the course.
If you wonder why the club held together, you have only to recall the
story of the cow-puncher whose friend beckoned him away from the faro
layout to inform him that the game was crooked.
"Hell!" said the cow-puncher. "I know that; but--it's the only game in
town, ain't it?"
The S.G. & C.C. was the only golf club within fifty miles.