RESEARCH QUARTERLY

the writer has not combined the data for amateur, for open, and for
professional golf champions. There is a valid reason for not doing this.
In the first place, the National Amateur Championship is probably the
easiest to win. The basis for this assertion is the well known fact that
when the National Open Golf tournaments are held, only a very few
amateurs are to be found among the leading contestants. This seems to
afford sufficient reason for treating the amateur championships sepa-
rately. Secondly, correspondence with an eminent golfer elicited the
following statement regarding the Open and the Professional Champion-
ships:

It is generally conceded that the annual championship of the P.G.A. is
the hardest to win. This is because the winner must maintain a top form for
six days. Thirty-six holes a day for six days is more of a physical grind
than three days at 18-18-36, as is the case in the Open. From the psycho-
logical standpoint the Open undoubtedly is harder on the nerves for the
reason that there is more of a publicity build-up, the pace is always fast,
and every player knows that one or two missed shots may end in disaster—
more so than in the match play P.G.A. even.

Whether or not the foregoing analysis is wholly valid, since the
Open and the Professional tournaments are not the same kind of con-
test, no mistake will be made if the data for them are treated sepa-
rately. Such separate treatment reveals clearly that the ten-year inter-
val of greatest golf proficiency is that from ages 25 to 34 inclusive.

FURTHER REMARKS

Most of the athletes for whom data have been assembled herein are,
or were, professionals. Since professional athletics are profitable finan-
cially to successful participants, it seems likely that the various age
groups continue to participate in professional athletics as long as they
are able to profit thereby. And they are able to profit so long as they
retain unusual skill. Amateur athletics, on the other hand, are likely to
be an expensive luxury to the ordinary individual. It is probable that
many individuals forsake amateur endeavor not because of their waning
proficiency but because they find amateur athletics very costly in terms
of time, energy, and money. Certainly, the average American youth
cannot afford to devote a major share of his time to activity which
yields no financial return. Therefore, it should perhaps be concluded

* This hypothesis may explain in part why the amateur golf champions are younger
than the professional golf champions. The present writer has found also that amateur
boxers and amateur baseball players (Olympic entrants) are younger than are profes-
sionals who participate in the same types of activities. The foregoing hypothesis also
provides an explanation for the curious shape of Figure 4 which sets forth data for
amateur tennis championships. Professional tennis is of such recent origin that data for
- the construction of an age curve are not yet available. Nevertheless, it seems safe to
predict that, when sufficient data can be assembled to permit the construction of a
curve showing the ages at which a large number of professional tennis championships
have been won, the latter curve will exhibit a gradual annual rise and an equally gradual

decline. It is probable that the age curve for professional tennis championships will bear
a closer resemblance to Figure 1 (see page 5) than to Figure 4 (see page 8).