New-York tribune., 1915-07-04
Luck Plays Big Part
From Tee TO Green

was resting where he had an easy iron
shot TO the sand green. As his club
came back the shaft or blade struck
a vine somewhere in the rear, and II
so happened that this particular vine
had an almost invisible creeper at
tached which rested directly under the
ball. The result was that the ball was
jostled out of its position. costing one
stroke, and Hobens then missed II COM
pletely, costing anothor-for when his
club head came in TO the ball tho
aforesaid ball was several inches be-
yond its original position. This creep
er cost Hobens the championship, and
through no fault or mistake Of his own.
Another Englewood golfer with a le-
gitimate claim TO hard luck is Oswald
Kirkby. metropolitan champion. In
1911 the Metropolitan Open was put
on at his club. Kirkby was then play
ing brilliant golf, with a good chance
10 win. He had recorded a round OF
SO and was either leading the field at
the time or within a stroke of the top.
Coming TO the twelfth hole he had q
chance TO break 10 again and take the
lead by a safe margin.
This hole is only 300 yards long-an
easily possible 8, as Kirkby was play
ing. He hooked his tee shot here, and
when he came to the ball he found that
il had rolled into a crevice in a stone
ledge to the left of the course. II
was probably the one spot within a
radius of twenty yards that would
have cost more than one shot. When
Kirkby finished he had required eight
strokes and his chance for the cham
pionship had passed.
All luck, however, isn't bad luck.
When Jamie Anderson was playing in
the British open at St. Andrews one
wear he teed his ball and stepped up to
play an iron shot for the green. AS he
was making his preliminary address a
small urchin standing by called out:
"Hey. Jamie, we're outside the disks
Anderson looked and saw that the
urchin was right Moving the ball back
to its proper location, jamie then pro
ceeded TO hole out in one shot With
that break in his favor there could be
only one answer. He won the cham
pionship.
In a tournament at Apawamis two
golfers Of fair ability were playing a
practice round the day before scheduled
proceedings were to begin. Near the
finish one Of them, swinging mashie,
struck the others knee and left deep
cut. The injured player was carried
into the clubhouse bewailing his hard
luck.
The next day, limping badly, Re en-
tered the tournament just TO get ~
round Of golf more than anything else.
At the start he was still complaining OF
the hard blow Fate had struck him. To
his great surprise he not only quail
fed in a higher flight than he had ever
figured on, but he emerged the winner
of this flight with several of the best
rounds he had ever played
The answer is that his supposedly
hard luck had been good luck. After
his accident he was forced to take an
easy swing. he had no chance TO press,
and as a result he kept straight down
the course. He had to play safe rather
than take a chance on any long shot,
and so. through the margin of an in
jured knee, he had surpassed himself.
In the main. most golfers will find
that luck pretty well evens up. The
trouble is that the golfer will remem-
ber bitterly the putt that hit the cup
and Jumped out, or the bad lie which
cost a shot, forgetting the topped
mashie that ran dead to the hole or the
topped brassie that jumped through. a
bunker and bounded merrily upon the
green. He will remember the short
four-footer that trimmed the cup, but
will make no mention of the thirty
footer that dropped in with resound-
ing "cluck" and saved from one TO
three strokes. He will remember the
long car. that just caught the trap,
forgetting the poorly played blow that
Just stopped short of trouble.
There is plenty of luck in golf-good
luck and bad luck but the winning
golfer is the one who takes both as
they come, all as a part of the game.