Kinder, Gentler Golf

Your article on (“Non-Golfers Told Not to Stray Onto Rancho Santa Fe Course,” Nov. 8) on the non-golfers using the Rancho Santa Fe golf course to take their daily constitutional brought back memories.

It was during World War II and some of us golfing aircraft workers looked forward to Sunday, our only day off from a six-day, dawn-to-dusk work week. Green fees were $1.

One memory: I had hooked my drive into a grove of orange trees. Since golf balls were out of production “for the duration” I went searching. After retrieving it, I stood for a moment contemplating plucking an orange; then came a welcome voice from the owner’s house, “Go ahead. Pick some for your playing partners, too. I don’t play so I’ve got a box of balls in case you need any.”

That’s the kind of place it was when Bing Crosby was the main influence.

BILL GORMAN, San Diego