The Easy Go Club – Golf Poetry

THE EASY GO CLUB 

O COME now with me to the beautiful links 
That lie near the City of Joy, sir, 
Where the caddy boy sits and complacently blinks, 
And never a lie doth annoy, sir. 

O come to the links of the Easy Go Club. 
And let us put in the fair hours 
Where there's never a duffer and never a flub. 
No matter how meagre our powers. 

Where there isn't a trouble from first to last tee 
That isn't o'ercome by a ruling; 
Where the golfer is bold and the golfer is free, 
And not a soul needs any schooling. 

Where whatever may hap to the gutty that flies. 
If it fall in a bunker or puddle, 
You always can lift it, whatever your "lies," 
And thus get you out of your muddle. 

Where penalty strokes are forever unknown, 
On fair green, in ditch, or in bog, sir; 
Where golf is as easy as gnawing a bone 
To the average ravening dog, sir. 

Where golf is so easy that any can play 
Who has a mere knacklet for hitting ;
And even old ladies are found day by day 
Who declare it's as pleasant as knitting. 

O come, come away to the Easy Go Club. 
Where hazards are empty as bubbles; 
Where there's never a duffer and never a flub, 
Since Ground Rules abolish all troubles. 

John Kendrick Bangs in Lyrics of the Links, published in 1921

John Kendrick Bangs (1862 – 1922) was an American writer whose work appeared in Life, the popular Harper’s magazines, Puck and in more than fifty books. Bangs also was a well regarded and successful speaker on the lecture circuits which were popular at the time.