Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-20
ORDINARY GOLFER
CAN IMPROVE GAME


N the other day: You cannot drive
shots which I occasionally see you play
which I could never play. I see the
length 1 can get with the game. am
pleased with my driving, But, play as I
like, cannot get a bit farther on.
doubt my general pay is fixed I see the
real difference is in the niceties of the
game
That gentleman represents vast num-
Der of golfers, who have put off taking
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-clase and the ordinary player. OF
course. the latter is e toughy player
not touchy player-but firm. dour, de-
termined player. He is far from being a
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
obliges him to take "a third from the
real player from his boyhood. This, some
times fixes the relative standards, which
are often indelibly marked, and it is the
nicetiey of the game which determine the
line of separation.
There are exceptions for q time. but
this is working out the general principle.
We have the amateur champions. Messrs.
Hutch'ngs and Travis, who were UP a
bit in years before taking to golf. But
In a real, trying game against, say,
Messrs. Ball, Hilton or Maxwell, their
defects woulc be visible to a trained OBJ
server. However, even with this expla-
nation. the remarks in this paper are on
the type of players who have started
young. In comparison with the type of
players who have been up in years be-
fore commencing the game.
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; but
when he happens to succeed with one 1t
is a mere "huke;" whereas the first-claes
golfer be he amateur or professional,
plays those strokes as easily as any
others These are the "niceties of golf.''
What are Heaily NIcetieSf
OF course, niceties are not mere feats
with a club, independent of a match.
Matthew Alexander, who, by practice in
his younger days, at St. Andrews, could
take wrist shot off the face of a watch.
the bali rising beautifully, without any
injury to the glass Bob Andrews (of
PERTH and Willie Park, sr., (of Mussel-
burgh) did the same with the tee shots
off a driver for a whole round But
these were feats, not niceties.
The aiceties are the most skillful parts
Of the game. which are the peculiar prov
inoe OF the trained expert. Enormous
practice in details from boyhood has
brought him to the point of excellence
that he can play the critical shot just
when needed HE jist keepit that ane
ms pouch" Lang Willie, the well-known
caddie of old would say, after the trying
shot has been successfully executed. "Ye
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 shots ever man had to
negotiate. Allan succeeded; but Da' had
confidence that he would succeed. II
was playing two more from the road at
the seventeenth hole at st. Andrews. hol-
ing the ball and winning the hole, and
afterward the match.
The real nicely in approaching hole
Is the half shot off the cleek. That Is
between the full cleelS shot and the
wrist shot. That half stroke is puzzle
to the uninitiated. 1t is one of the test
questions for the degree Of master golfer
Niceties by Practice
The peculiar motion between the wrist
turn and the full swing with the cleek re.
quires considerable practice. 1t is ther
that the most ordinary foozle comes ir
with the secondary player. Numberiess
are the wrong ways in which he plays 1t
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-cleel
approach. Between the same shots fol
the iron the wrist cleek can generally b'
substituted unless a good loft over {
hazard has to be made; then the peculiar
half stroke with the iron is equally re-
ouired With the uninitiated there Il
sure to be a foozle. though the player
may be above the funlxing stage. To ge
the muscles Of the arms into the exac
half swing much continued practice !.
needed--for a time with corks and small