Evening star., 1907-10-13
HOW THE ORDINARY GOLFER
CAN REACH THE FIRST RANK.
MUST MASTER THE NICETIES.

dead stymie has been neatly holed
And that may mean the turning point in
the match
In general. when "the Ike" is being
played In the course Of a stymie Il is
not able-unless for a very express
purpose, to show ones nerve and SKIN
in nicety-tO try to loft it, for one
might, by missing the hole, run the bali
out of holing next time The ground
should be studied and the direction o: the
wind watched 10 see on what side 10
screw the ball in from the wooden putter
Ana this is becoming more finul. on
the billiard table putting greens that are
on most Of the modern courses.
Some Hints and an Example.
A cleek Will not do for this SHOT It
does not give the same skin and draw.
Nor Is the cored ball so easily negotiated
as the gutta. If the player puts to
the right side of the hole. he pushes the
putter slightly away from him in ,trik-
ing; If to the left side. he draws in the
putter slightly 70 his foot With watch
ing and practice he will frequently sue
ceed. But 1t is a very fine shot
Six years ago, during the amateur
championship competition at Muirtield, I
saw Mr.. John Ball hole a remarkable
stymie for half. Mr. Angus MacDon-
leaving about an inch of the edge of the
hole clear. Mr.. Ball put an upright spin
on his ball, with Just sufficient forward
force to take the ball to the edge of the
hole after slipping past Mr.. MacDonald's
BALI when, halting, the ball overba lanced
itself into the hole and a half was won.
Few out Of the hundred players could
have done this so successfully. 1t was
masterpiece of Allan Robertson
Of course, when ''the odd" is being
played and the opponents ball is not
very near the hole, the player must sim
ply pitch over that ball, either to drlbble
1t into the hole. or make it lie short as
counter stymie for the testing of his
opponents nerves. But it requires long
practice to be successful just at the right
time.
On memorable occasion in the sixties
when playing a very important match
OF seventy-two holes over the St An
dreWs Inks my opponent-the medalist
on the three principal Scottish green's
took the first four holes from me by ex-
ceptionally brilliant play. AT the next hole
ne laid me in the odds" dead stymie,
from the whole length of the green. 4
half was of little use to me- and I Iofted
and holed. winning the hole. and. very
hke!y IN consequence, the match also.
Other Nice Shots.
Hhere is another nicely to be able to loft
ball over a bunker TO the putting green
by slightly slicing movement, drawing
the iron to you in striking. and thereby
putting spin on the ball to prevent it's
running too far. Do not slant the iron; il
is better plan to play it naturally when
you can do it.
Then to pitch a ball from the bunker on
to the putting green, so as to lie near the
hole, one has to take plenty of sand with
the iron and hit fairly hard Even when
the ball is lying well in the sand il is
dangerous TO use the wrist only. This is
tempting; but do not yield to the tempta-
ton: play the ball if it had an ordinary
bunker-lie. All wrist work with the iron
requires art to conceal art
Some master strokes are really niceties.
These are in making brilliant recoVeries.
II the wind happens to take the ball OFF
the course into the rough, a splendid stroke
may be made by a skilled hand, not hit
ting the ball in the center, for it would not
rise: not hitting too much below, for there
would only be duff" but slightly below
the center of the ball, with a sharp wrist
jerk. Then as to recovering from a bad
lie on the green. much skill is needed to
jerk in properly and make the bali fly, es-
pecially against the Wird with a beautiful
swa low-lke motion skimming a few feet
above the ground until it rises suddenly
before the final fall. Never to realize haV-
ing bad lie on the green was the opinion
of a master hand like Tommy Morris He
used his driver throughout the course a
crippled ball he would make leave that
with an intense power of wrist which off
the driver went about as far as d ball
from the level.
Conclusion.
One who can play the mld-spoon well 10
frequently very successful in approaching.
He can strike the ball in three ways. even
with a full swing: and sparing a bail is
generally fraught with mischief. BY half
topping the ball he can carry 1t longer
distance; next. by a fair shot he has the
natural; then, by a baff, the distance Gov
cred is shorter. He can negotiate accord
ng to his judgment; and this is a nicely.
a man like NardOn can give a twist to
the drive so as to turn the corner of a
wood; but that is a nicely beyond most
players. Tayior's lofting mashie pitches
are the work of inimitabe master
hand. Planning for the second shot is
also a nicely worth studying Cheating
the wind off the tee with half top is also
4 successful stroke. But the players at
the top Of the tree. who are up % al. the
acknowledged niceties. h ave each some IA
vnkite stroke WI Ch makes them feel at
home. Lucky - it when they have this
offered in an important match,
One man mastered d.i-Autn a Robertson.
No gloyed fingers touched his check. he
felt his iron as an artist fees his BRUSH
10 the eyes of the astonished on4ooker his