Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1915-06-18
TRAVIS TELLS
SECRET OF GOLF
Wonderful Old Man of the
Links Says It Is liability
to Putt"
(By frank G.. Menke.)

(By frank G. Menke)
NV York. Jun. 1G.-" Ability to
putt-thats ,he secret of golf sue
cess" says w liam J. Travis, the
wonderful old man Of thu links. who
than 100 of the greatest golfers in
til East, and pu:ted his way to the
Metropolitan golfiEs championship
OF 1915.
Travis. not even considered as an
outsider when the recent tournament
began, beat every opponent that was
ptted against him-and bat evsry
one in q d c.sive way.
Golf matches are won and lost on
the putting g"een" said Travis.
learned that many years ago. And so
decided to perfect my putting. !
practised driving, of course, but
gave most Of NY time to putting. I
puttsr from every conceivable angle
and distance that was possible and
b. lieve that became quite profit
cient in putting.
It was marvellous putting skill that
won the championship for this 80
year old veteran He's snail in size
and frail in build. practically every
one of the m n he battle against out
drove him from 10 to 30 yards But
Trsvis ncv,r worried over that
handicap. lie knew tina, the final
issue would be fought out on the
or en-and it was On the green that
he won all If his matches.
"Str2nge as it may seem, golf rs
are more liable to miss two Or five
yard Putt than .hsy are to miss a
longer one said Travis. "Thats be-
cause the short putt looks easy. They
rarely rractisa the short puts. They
always are practising the long and
difficult ones. But oftentimes its the
short puts that lose the game for
them.
"sevt raj times during the Metro
poiitan it locked bad for. me-. Sone-
times my oppon NJ was one stroke to
the good on tn. glcen because of sup
erior driving and it seemed as II l
was sure to lose TIE hole. But on
most of those occasions my rivals
fcozled on an easy putt II SCI ned
so e9sy--and they missed"
Travis, or the green, seems 10
havs no more nerves than machine.
Nothing upsets iloi He is cool, con-
fdent, unerring~ The slightest twist
or false movement would mean Ie-
feat for him. But Travis, through
the year. has schooled himself 10
NEST just such conditions and Trav s
is the master of himself and the
raster of every nerve in his body
when tho time comes for him to drop
ID. ball into the cup.
Travis driving is beautiful to
watch, The grand old man of the
links can't gel TIE terrific force into
his swing IS do his younger and
heavier foes. but Travis timing is
perfect and mis- swing is perfect. IT'S
been so long sine Travis topped" a
drive Or mad bad slice that the
oldest inha bitants have forgotten
about il.
Travis, in nutting, uses son-,, of the
heaviest irons ever seen on the links.
His mashins are peculiarly shaped.
r sembling a fishhook to a certain
exten, and his drivers have big knots
along the shafts instead of being
smooth as are most other drivers.
MY clubs look sort of funny to
others, but they look all right to
me- said Travis, in explanation "The
knots on the drivers enable me to
get better grip. The mashics
serve their purpose we'll. and l lind
that heavy putter is better. for my
work, than lisat one"
Travis victory in the Metropolitan
gives his that championship for the
fourth time. He won in 1900 when
he was "mere child" of 40 repeated
in 1902, won in 1890 and again this
year
Travis has held the national cham
pionship and in 1904 went TO Sand
.wieh. Eng.,~aand won the amat eur
chan pionshp there.
Glow much longer do you expect
to play IN golfing championships"
Travis was asked.
"rhats hard to say angwerei
Travis. with one of his rare smiles
Its aid that golf is an Old mans
gams I'm lust ayoung fellow now.
'and@becausc@ IKE the game, and the
spiri, of ccytest, ] guess I'll con-
t'nue to battle for medals and things
like that until get to be an old fell
low"