The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-06-11
! TRAVIS AND LONG GOLF CLUBS
VARIED OPINIONS ONsTHE UTIL-
H,ITY or THE INNOYATTON.

p Play At WestbrOok This Week May Add
Light to the CONFERENCE.-THE High
Glass Championships Also Impending
Mrs. stout 70 Make Her Rea ppearanco
A threatened temperance OF Walter j.
Travis and his long shafted clubs Is an i'm
pending happening OF the week In golf.
There will also be two championships de-
cded that mean something, which may
not always be said Of the title on
the links, and an open tournament at
the course w. K Vanderbilt plays on.
So much for the golf Immediately about
Now York. Further afleld the Scotch
game Is to have a place In the recreations
Of many. Tho fixtures, leaving out tourna-
ments limited to members OF one club,
include wonens tournament at the
Country Club Of Springfield, Mass; the
Ohio State Association championship at
the Cincinnati Golf Club, an open tourna-
rnent at the Allegheny (Pa.) Country Club
and on Saturday the start in the indi-
vdual championship OF tho Golf Associa-
ton OF Philadelphia. Chicago and the
West are out OF it this week, but there will
be plenty doing in the week to follow.
In lengthening the shaft Of the driver
from a to 80 inches Travis has admitted
inc C06TR6 DTOukut dSd2iioS iiih ~ AAie AeAA'A
that his matches are won on the putting
green. This was an underestimate OF the
value In Travis's accuracy in driving and
brassey work, but he has given weight to the
charge by forsaking the clubs with which
he could play straight. Or perhaps, as
Travis may believe that our links are to be
made still longer he is trying to forestall
the change by making his game one OF dis
bo There Ia thlla
far no apparent reason for others to follow
In his stance, for those who have tried the
long shafts, among them r. c. Watson, Jr.,
have done better by throwing them away.
The latter. who did IS at Fox Hills on May
rs using the long shafts. did 70 and IS on
the very next day by resuming the short
shafts.
In an article In Country Life, the June
issue. Travis made this claim for the long
shafted clubs: II find that somewhat
longer ball can be secured with the longer
club, but it is at the expense of a certain
amount Of accuracy. Still, although It
may not be advisable to use constantly
the more powerful, but slightly more err
ratio Keapon there are occasions when
II ID a mighty good club to have In ones
bag, as in the case Of hole demanding
one or two unusually good shots to get
b Ahs., green ,,oor long carry from the tee
over a hazard"
Travis has been using the clubs con-
stanty, which he did not recommend his
renders to do, and there have been oc-
casions when it has been a mighty bad thing
that he has had the telegraph pole shafts
IN his bag. The good work with them
has been at medal play. in easy matches
or in practise rounds, the poor work
when Travis has had to stand Cd a vigorous
opponent The task that has 80 often
btoyenr an easy one with short clubs has
: iu1ostly been impossible to him with the long
clubs
y The claim Of greater distance means
nothing without the ability to get the greater
y distance when 1t is needed. In itself the
Clstn = merely the boast Of Archinedes
that With a lever long enough he could
move the world. What may he done with
q club az with a sword, in the heat OF con-
d dict - what counts. Curran, driving in
the same carriage with his opponent to a
duel was not faxed when that gentleman
shot off leaf to show his skill with the
pistol.
eSure, the twig was not aiming at him
With pistol quoth Curran.
Travis when a golfer has been Amin & at
him with the short clubs has thus far
failed to prove the long clubs good weapons
70 fight with.
The golfers who talk this way bring up
string Of facts to back up their opinions.
In the qua hfying round at Lakewood Travis
made a 10 in the morning and rs in the
afternoon. The previous amateur mark
had been 70, and the l54 for thirty holes
established also another record. Walter
f., .Egan was not far behind with 70, 77-l5e,
yet, as they were not partners Travis had
nothing to disconcert him or to take his
mind of the Archimedean driver. In the
first round Of match play it was different,
( for W. c. Chick, doing 70. beat Travis, who
did 80. by and l.
At the Garden City tournament to follow
TEv.s made IS in the qualifying round,
70 when he turned the tables on Chick,
and 20, 81 in the winning final. He was
not pushed in single match, and, while
Q not as good "a he has done with the short
clubs on his home course. In the Metro
politan Golf Association championship over
the knobs and depressions Of Fox Hills
Ing round, with 70, 7s-l57 (Byers doing
u, 75-l52), and he received the greatest
defeat OF his career at match play, no less
than and 9, when Jerome d. Travers did
. 10 ana travis ~.
Given the old Travis, before he became
possessed by the long shafted idea, he
would have been harder to beat in each
Of the above defeats. So say the friends Of
the noted amateur who for the only time
since 1900 does not hold one Of the coveted
championships, local or national, not to
mention the blue ribbon of amateur golf,
the British championship T. p. Curtis,
the Boston amateur. not long since leveled
on all his shafts to the length OF his putter
but soon gave up the notion. Amateurs
OF all sorts are continually making their
experiments, but it is only when a Travis
upsets the conventional that the golfing
world grows eager to watch the outcome.
An amusing side Of the matter is that Travis
has no patience with those who marshal
facts against his fad
In. refusing to give any blame to the
worries Of the longshafted clubs, Travis
as Shakespeare n player Of the tgame
remarked, doth protest too much. One
amateur, as prominent nearly as Travis
told him at Lakewood he would never be
able to play we'll with the long clubs through
q championship, only to be snubbed for his
pains. Another, at Garden City this time,
told Travis that after Watching his game
and studying it, he was convinced the long
shafts did not help any.
MY dear Blank" rejoined Travis, in
cool and measured accents, you are utterly |