Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-12-08
THE BRASSIE



In The Book of Sport" which is
soon to appear from the press of j. F.
Taylor & Co., of New York, Miss Ruth
underhill. the woman champion of last
year, writes the chapter entitled Two
mems Golf in America" The following
excerpt from her article will prove of
interest to all devotees of the links.
Taking the players collectively, New
York is undoubtedly the strongest of the
large cities. then Philadelphia, Boston
and Chicago. In naming a team of ten
for'Al-American,' I should choose Miss
Hoyt. Miss Griscom, Mrs. Fox, Miss Ter
ry, Miss Margaret Curtis, Miss Elsie
Cassatt. Miss Hecker, Miss Wetmore,
Miss Sands, and Mrs. Manice, although
the skill possessed by a large group Of
( leaders is so nearly identical that the
list might be double and made to in
clude Miss NJ. Oliver, Miss Heron, Mrs.
Morgan, Miss Mackay. Mrs. Pendleton
Rogers. Miss N. q. Sargent, Mrs. Nell
vaine. Miss Davids, Miss Wells and Miss
Hurlbut without materially lowering the
quality of the team. Indeed, if we stretch
ed it ten more and too in Miss Keyes,
Mrs. Cochrane, Miss VanderhOef, Miss
Fargo, Miss Howee, Mrs. Shipper, Miss
Bryce, Miss Kip, Miss Wickham, and
Miss Willis there would still be no very
great difference between the first and
the last.
In comparing the style of the differ
ent players 1t is best to speak first of
the drive, which betrays the most mark
ed individual peculiarities AS examples
of the orthodox full swing. Miss Hecker,
Miss Curtis and Mrs. Manice are as good
as can be found. Their styles resemble
each other both in appearance and result
All three bring the club back slowly,
rather low about the shoulders, letting
the arms go out so that the club head
describes a large circle. After a full back
swing they sweep the ball easily off the
tee without the appearance of much ex-
ertion. changing from one leg to the 9TH
! er, and getting the full advantage Of
their shoulder and body weight. They
all get a very long ball, Miss Hecker's
perhaps being a tri1e the lowest Of the
three. Miss Marion Oliver and Mis- Cas-
satt have much the same swing, with an
equally good result, and so also has Mrs.
Fox, except that in her case, it is not
quite so full. Her drive, however, is
quite as long as any woman's in America.
"Of our other longest players, Miss
Hoyt has a style peculiarly her own. She
brings the club very low around her
shoulders, and at the same time her
whole body curves away from the ball
like a bent spring. AS she strikes the
spring is released, and the suddenly add
ed weight of her body helps to give the
ball distance. There is not an inch of
her, from her feet up, which does not
| help, with weight or muscle, to send the
bail farther. A very accurate, complete
control of all the muscles, together with
great suppleness and vigor, are neces-
sary to maintain successfully such form
as this; Miss Hoyt's driving, however, is
excelled by lone of her rivals, although
her actual strength is less than that pos
4 sessed by many of them.
LAS to the skill of our best golfers, it
is of course respectable, and constantly
improving; each year shows a gain, both
in the distance covered and IN surety of
4 stroke. Nevertheless it is a fact which
has been commented upon that Ameri-
\ can women are less advanced in golf
than the men,. We do not play so near
by several strokes, to the women's bog
ey, of Mrs. Bogey,' to whom due allow
ance is made for her slighter strength, as
the men do to their Colonel. buffers
among us are as a rule worse than
among the men,, SO that although we
have not advanced so far, we have pro-
badly made at least equal progress rela-
lively in arriving where we are; but for
all this there is no reason why women
should not play as clean and perfect golf
on a limited scale, al men do.
"There is always curiosity to know the
relative standing of the men and wom-
en- It is only the very best among wom-
en- who nave any right to be compared.
The most expert often play in class B in
the mems competitions, and receive a
handicap of from ten to twenty-five from
scratch; while in a match play they need
at least a half or two-thirds of a stroke
a hole from a professional or a crack
who is at the top of his game. The best
woman player must receive some handi-
cap from any man of ~pretensions; while
she may be relied upon to defeat one who
would be classed as third-rate. Miss
Hoyt's record of 80 for the
Shinnecock course is 10 strokes be-
hind the mems; most courses show a diff
ference Of Is to rs strokes
between the mems and women's records
The best of us, of course, play better
GOLF thar many of the men who defeat
us; but it is of a smaller pattern, so thai
we lose in distance more than we gain
in accuracy. A woman handicapped in
the men class is more effective as q
partner in a foursome than when alone
for her lack of distance may easily be
compensated for when near or IN the
green"