The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-05-10

,,r,b by him IN a polume on rdrious
authors inst issued bp Little. Bro,cn
1 a.. entitled success at Colt"
u, FRANCIS oUIMET.
, ,,,wu,ou United states 1919.
rpTuING else Is so commonly be-
NJ walled in golf as inability to
putt well. who has not known
the man who could have "broken
,ho record of Their course" defeated his
onnonent" or turned in better score
than the winner Of the medal play COM
petl,lon had it not been for my poor
rutting"? With a great majority II Is
the will o. the wisp Of the game. To-
dav II seems possible to hole everything
in sight: tomorrow the cup looks the
size If an egg holder into which must
he driven a pumpkin or squash. The
worst Of il Is that tomorrow" generally
Is the day Of a match or a tournament,
the day of all days when It Is desirable
:, make every stroke count for its
greatest value.
In no other branch of the game are
all men born so nearly free and equal
can almost fancy that the putting end
Of golf was the product of an exceed
inglv fertile and ingenious mind, coming
about in this wise: A and b were the
original pair to play a game which has
developed into the present game Of golf.
was a mighty man who, with what
ever crude instrument was used at the
time. could deal a prodigious blow that
would send the bali a comparatively
great distance.
i was Of more delicate mould. To AS
taunt and laughter over his feeble efforts
to propcl for any great distance the OBJ
feet hit | think | can hear saying:
TRUE | admit | cannot hit SO Justify
as you. hut I'll lay YOU wager l can
roll this ball along the ground and have
It stop nearer that brown patch than
you can.
A accepts the wager and Il wins It,
Thereupon A Is determined not 10 be
so triumphed over. and he tries again.
with the same result for up to this time
A has thought of nothing other than
the distance he could hit. Now being
quite huh.bled he determines that in
secret he will practise that more deli
cate stroke SO that thenceforth he may
not only triumph over b in the matter
of distance but in the skill of making
the ball stop where he wishes or at
least nearer to that spot than can b.
Thereafter. in their dual play. they de-
clded that both factors Of the game shall
be included in their wagering and even
tually they conclude that the new fea-
ture lends an added flavor to their
outings.
To-day | know of many golfers who
are only second or third rate golfers.
but whose skill as putters is all that
keeps them in the rank at they do
hold From this there may be two de-
ductions---one is that, knowing their de-
fcencies in other branches OF tn" game,
they devote themselves assiduously to
practise in that department which alone
can place them on "A par. or near "A par
with others who far outclass them in
= the matter of driving and approaching
the other solution is that some golfers
are natural born putters. My personal
opinion, however is that more men are
good putters from practise than be-
cause they have any pronounced supe-
riorlty, to begin with, over other men.
one of the greatest mistakes common
TO golfers who are known as in and out
putters, to my mind. is that they are as
Mighty over their styles of putting as
their putting is cratic II farmer
were 70 plant a row of vegetable seed,
on his land Monday. and becoming dis
satisfied over their progress by the enc