The hatchet. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1883-19??, 1900-05-27

the proper manner in which to grip a
club, still there are scarcely two lead
ing experts who grip a club alike.
The general principle is the same
and they all get pretty much the same
result. although some do occasionally
get Il greater distance than others
The two men who have the most pro-
nounccd grip are J. II. Taylor ana
Harry Vardon. the two men who have
won the open championship Of Great
Britain between them five times in the
last six years, Taylor winning 1t IN
1894 and 1895, while NardOn carried
off the honors I'm 1896, 1898 and 1899.
Taylor and Vardon have adopted a
grip which differs from all Others by
an overlapping style they have which
virtually throws the two hands into
one. and thus throwing the power and
strength of the two hands into the one
hand combination.
There are many other leading eX-
perts. however who have not adopted
this new departure in the grip who
manage to get pretty good results from
their present style Of grip. In fact
were they to change their present style
of grip it might have a very serious re-
suit in their game.
Gripping the shaft firmly as the club
is on the downward swing and before
it comes in contact with the ball be-
comes perfectly natural as there is
scarcely one in a hundred who can
resist the temptation of also gripping
firmly with the right hand.
Keeping the grass cut short through
the fair green and on the putting green
is absolutely essential, especially dur
ing the summer months, whence it is
better to play golf on a regularly laid
out and well kept course than an Inn
provised course over vacant lots or
| pasture fields.
OF all shots played there is not one,
even to a 25Oyard drive from Il tee,
which thrills a golfer with such a SEN
sation of delight as the holing out of
long putt
In fact, putting, i'm my judgment, Is
| the most vitality important feature in
| the game Of golf and too much atten-
ton cannot be devoted to putting, as it
is a common occurrence for good put
ter to handily beat a good driver.
There are plenty of men who imagine
| that the whole game lies i'm driving,
owing to the great distance they can
acquire from the tee shot and they
will spend hours practising driving
while they almost spurn putting.
The plan adopted by the Americans
| in encouraging approaching and put
ting by holding approaching and put
ting competitions at frequent inter-
| walls, is highly commendable, as is the
system of laying out siX-hole putting
| greens for the women TO play eighteen
and thirty-slX hole putting competi-
! tons upon,
1t makes them very accurate in put
! ting, so that when it comes to playing
a mixed foresOmcs competition they
are Of as much value upon the putting
green as the men, and in many in
stances they are quite as clever at
! playing their approach shots,
4 ball that only rolls six inches and
| hangs an the rim of the cup counts
one stroke, just the same as a 25O-yard
drive, and each putt on the green
| counts the same as long brassy, cleek
or loon shot even though ii only rolls
| an inch or two, whence the vital i'm
portance Of being accurate in putting
The rule is TO allow two strokes for
! the putting green, one to lay in and
the other to hole out. Occasionally
when person is trying to lay the first
putt dead to the hole the bali will acct.
IDENTIFY drop into the hole. Instead Of
regarding IT as an accident and contin-
uing to play his shots in the same way,
i'm nine cases out Of ten the player will
| feel so highly elated over boiling out a
| long put in one that, instead of con-
] tinuing to try to lay dead on his first
putt he will try to hole out, with the
result that he is liable TO overrun the
hole and possibly 60 as far beyond II
ms he lay before. This Is one of the
most ruinous temptations in putting
| llolng out from q distance looks easy
| but, oh, how deceive.