Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-17

ing the general character of the play
out Of this new class of trap he will be
surprised to see the small percentage OF
players who get the ball out In one
stroke. Rather he will be struck by the
fact that the majority of those who find
their ball bunkered in this way are con-
tent to play three vicious shots without
raising the ball above the face, and then
he will notice these unsuccessful players
breathless with the exertion of digging
and out of temper at having to give up
the hole almost without a struggle, max
ing their way to the next tee full or
complaint against the unfairness of the
new hazard.
practice would well repay the special
labor of acquiring the bunker art. Yet
there are few golfers in all the varying
grades OF proficiency who will devote
themselves to an hours systematic
dEudgery to learn deity how to play a
ball lying in sand over a high fence.
Everybody adopts the proud theory that,
from the relative shortness of his play or
the straightness with which all of his
balls are hit, the chances of getting into
a bunker are fairly remote. But the last
bunker at the end of brilliant scoring
round, or when the match would be safe
in the players pocket, except for this
awkward accident at the inopportune mo-
ment. may easily enough prove to be the
undoing of him who steadily refuses to
Must Tighten Up.
Another instance in which there is
failure to tighten up the loose joints of a
game is the short approach shot, es-
pecially when there are one or two little
sand pits to be crossed in order to get
near the hole.
Many players seem to be unable to ac-
H. I&l~ - tee ,V,rr fI,A
ball clean, so as to place it we'll over
the obstacles near the hole side. But at
a distance of fifty or seventy-ive yards,
when there is a clear, unbroken run, the
players who do not practice the short
loft are a good deal more successful in
running the ball up along the ground.
The difference of execution is. in the
majority Of cases, due to the fact that
the pitch and run shot has been more
carefully practiced. while the more diff
ficult is generally treated as one of
those incidents in the game which only
occur at long intervals.
Practice in its true sense really consists
IN trying to strengthen the weak points
in the golfing harness. 1t ought to be
carried out methodically with that object
this is a counsel of perfection. No player
as rule seems to like to face the drudg-
cry of applying himself to the art Of
practicing in detail His main object is
rather W ucIltc lTOiu Tic SdmCs
whatever the result may be Of a frequent
beating, and his philosophic attitude with
respect to serious practice in the details is
summed up in the familiar phrase that
1.-THE game is not worth the CANDLE" Yet
If one were disposed to take leaf out
of the practicing book Of the professionals
the lesson Of detailed practice would be
graphically enforced by the amount of its
productive energy.
Requires Long Practice.
At times when J. H. Taylor, several
times open champion of Great Britain, has
been forced to listen o'the many deserved
compliments that have been paid to him
by discriminating amateurs on the bril-
liancy Of his mashie play, the modest an
swer of the professional has always been
that few golfers realized how many long
hours Of steady practice in acquiring skill
at that shot alone had been spent by him.
II, therefore, efficiency should be the. OBJ
ject of all practice, 1t is one of its essen
tial conditions that 1t must be madedn de-
tail.
For the main part. this is the difference
which distinguishes the methods Of the
professional from the amateur. The pro-
fessional is content to practice steadily at
the few shots in which his skill is rela-
lively deficient. while the amateur is only
in rare instances serious enough student
to sacrifice for time the sOciable ameni-
ties OF the friendly match to learn how
successfully to play out OF bunkers. or the
rough, or to lay the pitch approach shot
dead