Editor, Vineyard Gazette:

Permit me to express my interest in your account of early golfing on Martha’s Vineyard, as described in your issue of August 7th. May I also venture to add an item or two relative to the Edgartown situation.

In spring of 1905 John H. Hanmer of Springfield, Mass., who was an enthusiastic summer resident of Edgartown, called together a group of people who either were, or ought to be, interested in golf, and proposed the formation of a club. The meeting organized itself into the Edgartown Golf and Tennis Club, with Mr. Hanmer as president, Harry L. Wimpenny 2nd as treasurer, and the writer of this note as secretary. The Shurtleff pasture was hired, nine holes were surveyed by Mr. Hanmer, and the links was named The Pineside, the same ground now used by the Edgartown Golf Club. The total measurement of the nine holes was 2,493 yards, and the bogie was 39. Members came almost equally from the summer residents and the permanent folk. During the summers of 1905 and 1906 active play continued. In the spring of 1907 Mr. Hanmer became unable to continue as president; consequently the club decided to suspend operations, and sold its equipment to Mr. Shurtleff with the idea that he would maintain the pasture links as a private enterprise. Yes! as a matter of fact the rule against Sunday play was self-enforcing in those primitive times.

You are correct in your mention of names: Pickells, Wimpenney, Cutler, Braley, and many others. Your account divided these facts into two and ascribed part of them to a mythical organization on George Norton’s field. Cutler’s correct name is signed to this letter; and as the club never disbanded, he is still the secretary. Unusual hazards beset the Pineside links in the olden days; Mr. Shurtleff continued to pasture cattle along the fairway, including a “gentleman cow,” with the result that not only the ball but also the player might find himself in the rough.

Frederick Morse Cutler.

Professor, Massachusetts State College, Secretary of the Edgartown Golf and Tennis Club.