Facilities for Golf, Sailing, Tennis Are Available for Student Athletes

Smooth sailing is readily and easily available locally for those students who prefer to spend their free time out on the water.

The chief drawback to this sort of entertainment, is of course financial. Most boat rentals are fairly high; even your personal dinghy won't fit comfortably in a car. The outstanding exception to the price rule is a purely local organization: the Harvard Yacht Club.

An informal association of sailing enthusiasts, the Club charges members an exceedingly low $5 membership fee. In return, one has a chance to sail virtually every fair afternoon. An agreement with M.I.T. affords members the use of Tech boathouse and dinghies. Successful completion of a boat-handling exam is the only other membership requirement.

Another worthy feature of the Club is its extensive racing program. Club members make up the Crimson Yacht Team, and as such compete in a regular schedule of intercollegiate meets. Current composition of the team is determined by a flexible ladder.

In addition, for less experienced members, the club offers the Charles Basin League, which serves as a kind of farm club for the varsity with instruction offered.

Other nearby opportunities for free-time boating include Community Boating Inc., located at 21 Embankment Road (Telephone: CA 7-6272).

Membership fee here is $15 for 30 days. Besides this, a simple sailing test is required.

One of the nice features of the arrangement at Community is that one is permitted to take two guests along; both must know how to swim. Equipment consists of dinghies only.

On the North Shore, Raymond Hunt's with offices on the town dock (next to the Boston Yacht club) offers an attractive series of rental deals.

Water bugs are available for hourly charter nearly all year 'round, and 210's and 110's for day or for morning or afternoon. Rental fees vary with the seasonal demand, but $10 should cover a day's sailing in one of the larger boats at this time.

If you think you're going to play much golf this spring, you need either ready access to a car or else plain and overpowering determination.

Harvard has no gold course. Although at least seven public courses are within a ten mile radius of the Square, none of these is serviced be a direct bus line.

The outlook for the golf enthusiast, however, is not completely black, for some of the surrounding clubs are of championship calibre. Foremost among there is Ponkapoag Golf Course near Canton. Slightly more than a 20-minute drive from the Square, Ponkapoag is reached by driving along Memorial Drive to Route 1, turning off Route 1 when it intersects Route 138, and following Route 138 for eight miles.

Ponkapoag has 27 holes, nine for beginners and 18 in the championship class. Formerly rated as a par 72, the eighteen hole course was changed to a par 73 two years ago after topflight professional and amateur golfers had failed to either equal or break the existing par.

The course is in excellent condition, extremely long, and well laid out. In addition, Ponkapoag is not generally overcrowded.

For these wishing to stick closer to Cambridge, several mediocre courses are within fifteen minutes of the Square. Nearest is Fresh Pond Golf Course, a nine hole Cambridge Municipal affair. Short, in poor condition, and fairly uninteresting, Fresh Pond's only advantage is the fact that it can be reached by driving 2 1/2 miles along Concord Avenue.

Other courses in the area that are heavily used by Harvard and Radcliffe include Franklin Park Golf Links, 7 1/2 miles away in Forest Hills, Brookline Municipal Golf Course, eight miles from the Square and 1 mile off Route 9, Albemarle Golf Course, five miles from Harvard along Route 16, Minute Man golf Course, six miles away along route 2 in Lexington, and Mt. Hood Memorial Park Golf Course, eight miles to the North along the Newburyport Turnpike. All these are 18 hole layouts.

Interesting Holes

By far the most interesting set of holes for the average golfer is to be found at the Leo Jerome Martin Memorial Golf Course. The first nine is a generally easy par 35 layout, but the last nine will provide trouble for even the expert. Most of the back nine fairways are no wider than a four-lane highway. To either side lie woods, rough and water. Several of the holes are dog-legs to the left, but none are very long. Scores on the front nine are low, but the back nine makes up for this.

Leo J. Martin can be reached by traveling along Route 16 and turning up Commonwealth Avenue for about three miles. The total distance is less than 10 miles.

Greens fees on most of these courses are $1.25 on weekdays and slightly higher on weekends. the lowest daily rate is $.75, charged by Fresh Pond. The highest fee is the $2.00 charged by Ponkapoag.

For those that enjoy just driving, but have neither the time nor the energy for uselessly walking around a golf course, a multitude of driving ranges operate both day and night along the Worcester Turnpike and other main highways. The closing of Ted Madden's range which was next to the Business School has caused some inconvenience, but the Harvard man can locate a driving range or pitch and putt course by driving for ten minutes along any of the Hub's great spokes.

Aside from golf shoes, no special sportswear is necessary to play golf. The accent in golf fashions is placed upon comfortable clothes which allow free arm movement and protect the golfer from head and the sun.

If the distance involved in reaching golf layouts does not deter you and if you have the capital to buy golf equipment, you too can be a golfer this spring