Evening star., 1907-10-13
BY DR.. J. G.. MCPHERSON.
(All Rights Reserved

(All Rights Reserved
A very keen golfer of middle age said
to me the other day: You cannot drive
now as you once could: but there are
shots which 1 occasionally see you play
which I could never play. I see the
length l can get with the game. I am
pleased with my driving. But, play as
like. I cannot get a bit further on.
doubt my general play is fixed. l see the
real difference is in the niceties of the
game"
That gentleman represents vast num-
Der of golfers, who have put on taxing
to the game until the muscles of the
wrists and arms were too fixed to be
trained for the particular form of work
needed in this game And the truth Is
that there is gulf fixed" between the
first-cass and the ordinary player O
course, the latter is a toughy player
not touchy player-but a firm, dour. de-
termined player. He Is far from being
duffer; yet he Is conscious OF the I'M
possibility of improvement. He can be
trusted to put in his steady. uniform
work, rarely foozling, but never brilliant
There is something a-Wantlng "hlch
obliges him to take "a third from the
real player from his boyhood This some
are often indelibly marked, and 1t Is the
niceties of the game which determine the
line of separation.
There are exceptions for a time; but L
am working out the general principle. we
have the amateur champions, Messrs.
Hutchings and Travis. who We're up a
bit In years before taking to golf. But
In a real, trying game against, saS
Messrs Ball, Hilton or Maxwell, their
defects would be visible to trained op-
Il-it a
ton. nv remarks in this paper are on the
type of players who have started young
In comparison with the type o. players
who have been up in years before COM
mencing the game. g..
There are certain things that the first
class golfer can easily do when in his
game: yet the stager below him cannot
touch them with confidence. Not that the
secondary player is incapable OF ever
performing these particular strokes out
when ne happens to succeed with one IL
is a mere .huke;" whereas the first
class golfer. be he amateur or profes-
sional plays those strokes as easily as
any others These are the "niceties OF
golf
What Are Really Nicetiese
OF course, niceties are not mere teats
with a club. independent of match. l
have seen Matthew Alexander, who, by
drew's, could take wrist shot off the
face of watch. the ball rising beauti-
f,,IIy without any injury to the glass.
Bob Andrews (ot Perth and Willie PARK,
ar fof Musseburgh), did the same with
the tee shots off a driver for Whole
round But these were teats, not hicel-es.
The niceties are the most skllltul parts
of the game which are the pecuilar
province of the trained expert. enormous
practice in details from boyhood mas
brought him to the point OF excellence
that he can play the critical snot just
when needed He jist keepit that ane
ms pouch" Lang Willie, the well known
raddie of old, would say, after the try
ing shot has been successfully executed
We can't doot, Allan, Aud Da
caddie once said to Allan Robertson;
when the wonderful player. was required
to face one of the most trying shoos sest
man had to negotiate. Allan succeeded;
hut Da' had confidence that he would
succeed. 1t was playing two more from
the road at the seventeenth hole at 81
Andrews, holing the ball ana winning
the hole, and atterward the match. ,.
The real nicely in approaching noe
is the half shot off the cleek That Is
hatuaan the full cleek shot and the
wrist shot, That half stroke is puzzle
70 fine uninitiated 1t is one OF the test
questions for the degree of master solter'
Niceties by Practice.
The peculiar motion between the wrist
turn and the full swing with the eleek re-
ou,res considerable practice. IL is then
that the most ordinary foozie comes In
with the secondary player. Numberless
are the wrong ways in which he plays it.
Yet when mastered by training 1t is
most deadly Bob Andrews of Perth
was one of the most successful players
of that long low ball in the half~cleeh
approach Between the same shots loi
the iron the wrist cleek can genera!!y De
hazard has to be made; then the peculiar
half stroke with the iron is equally re-
uu'red, With the uninitiated there Is
sure to be a fooz!e, though the payer
may be above the funking stage: 10 get
the muscles of the arms into the exact
half-sying much continued practice is
needed-for time with corks and small
bits of wood sawed from the top "nds
of golf handles-then with balls.
The stymie brings in another nlcety OF
golf Some sh to abolish the stymie In
match as in medal play; but distinctly
protest against such an innovation. For
successful! stymie holing shows the re-
suit of long practce--a fine eye, a steady
nerve and a cool temperament
The Question of the Stymie.
In the stymie the situation of the balls
is an accident, just as after br lllant
sa fe drive the ball may have fall which
by tho lay of the ground decoys it into g.
troublesome bunker. 1t is wonderful to
see the number of stymles to be found
in a good match. yet the chances are
equal for the players. Of course, a pes
sim!stic man, as Sandy Herd confesses
himself to be. always imagines that
luck" is against him, and. therefore,
broods over a succession of stym es
which he has TO negotiate. But it is here
that innate nerve. formed by intense prac-
tice, comes in to give the player conf
dence. To be able to hole the styme
makes a considerable difference in put
ting the shakers" on an opponent. Many
a short putt has an opponent missed after