Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-05-24
WOMAN AND MAN GOLFERS.
Former Lack Control Rather Than
Strength.

Possibly the difference in the effective
ness of the womans and the mans game
of golf can, as some people claim, be
traced directly to the length of shots, but
the more one investigates the more he is
led to qualify this conclusion.
For instance, in that famous match in
Ensland when Miss Cecilia Leitch played
our present American champion. H. H.
Hilton, to find out what odds a good man
player should give good lady player,
OF the tee Mr.. Hilton's shots were sur
prisingly little longer than his opponents.
whereas with the brassy his shots were
frequently equaled by the young Eng
liSh woman.
1t becomes on the whole less reasonable
to credit solely to muscular advantage the
eight TO nine strokes which roughly meas
ure the handicap due from a man to a
woman. With this assumption we can
proceed to that side of golf where some
thing besides muscle admittedly plays the
important part.
In the first place, men have far greater
game experience. They begin to play bat
and ball games at an earlier age, and
thereby develop more thoroughly the
feel of Clubs and the fine eye that is
necessary for success in such games.
And when they take golf club in their
hands for the first time the essential act
Of concentrating their vision on the OBJ
ject to be struck is not a novelty. 1t is a
second nature.
With girl it is different. She has not
daily played games that developed her
eye, such as marbles, scrub hockey,
snowballing and target practice. games
that are the constant avocation Of bipeds
who practice the profession of being boys
And yet one of the greatest woman golf
ers assures me that women have shown
in tOurna mentS more concentra ton of the
eye than men. and that only last fall this
fact was proved. 1t appears that a COM
putation was made both at the mems
championship and the women's which
proved that the women missed their
drives less often than the men.
Women ought to approach and put bet
ter than men, for the reason that 1t is
in those departments that they more
surely can improve. But even as they
have not had other training TO prepare
them for golf in the same way they are
not as liable to have the habit of prac-
ticing Is men.
1t is much more fun to play golf than to
practice putting and approaching. but
when the long game is limited there is
an obligation TO make ones self pluper-
feet in the short game. Women do not
always recognize this obligation Finding
themselves at a disadvantage with the
driver. the brassy and the cleek. they
do not set out to make mere man look
like a dub with the mashie and putter.
Perhaps about two-thirds of the handi-
cap now due to woman from man
ought to be allowed to muscular differ
ence. The other third might be elm
mated by women if they played their irons
as well as they should. There are about
four shots which the ladies present to the
men. two, let us say, because they do
not use their eyes as well as men and two
because they allow the fact that they
are not as strong as men to be a mental
drawback.
Thus taking the difference at eleven in
stead of eight leaves q liberal seven for
distance. But it seems as if the best
women ought to play within four or even
three strokes of the best men, and at
their present rate of progress they will.
That is certain to be the case IL they
pay greater attention to their short game.