The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-02-21

Fashions and phenomena in golfing
methods are in constant process of
slow transition, remarked a prominent
golfer the other day. Continuing, he
expressed the opinion that we had at
length reached the time VIXEN the fiat
swing had gone completely out of
vogue-at any rate. among first-class
golfers. The fat swing may be said
to have enjoyed its heyday during
the period when st Andrew was held
TO stand for everything good in con-
nection with the game. That delight
full city in Fifeshire is still shrine
halIowed by its associations, still a
perfect place for the holiday in the
spring or the autumn. but by the
golfers of a practical age it is con-
sidcred a hit old -fashioned-and all
the more likable for that reason.
When in the '9Os courses began to APP
pear in profusion in the South, they
were made to consist of eighteen
holes COR half that number). simply
because ST. Andrews had eighteen.
and St. Andrews was the model for
everybody.
So it was with the Eolfnc swing.
For long while the st. Andrews
swing commanded whole -hearted ven
Grafton. Briefly it's feature was the
way in which the player swept the
club round his legs. so to speak. I'M
til he could keep it fiat no longer.
Then UP il went WIN magnificent
abandon, and at the top of the swing
the executant had his body twisted
and his suppleness of limb and mus
Gle but q grave danger of loss OF
la la nee. The modern race of golfers
is more economical in the expenditure
Of its energy. The old St. Andrews
swing. is not extensively practiced at
the present time, and even the men
who learned il in its native fastness
and afterward went out to win fame
in the golfing world have exhibited
! atient desires to try and forget how
they used to swing.
Take for instance. Laurence Ayton.
who of all the men who have changed
from amateur to professional during
recent years seems likely to become
an open champion. When in 1907 he
took part in the amateur champion
ship and lost in the second round ne
boosted the ST. Andrews swing with
vengeance. There is little trace n
it now in his style and it is an in
teresting fact that, during the last
few years, since he modified his
swing, he has been eighth, SIXTH fifth
and fourth in the open championship.
James Braid's swing was a great
deal fatter a decade ago than it is
at the present time. IT has been get
ting rounder ever since. Braid, how
ever. is a wonder in his way.of WELD
ing a club He does not appear to
take il back more rapidly than the
majority of leading golfers. but the
body movement at the waist is GER
tainly quicker than that of any other
celebrity whom one can call to mind
1t is not a question of merely screw
ing the hips during the upswing: at a
certain stake he seems to wrench his
body round with a suddenness. The
most obvious defect of the fat swing
is that II means starting the club one
way and then setting of on another
route in order TO treach the top.
Perhaps with the gutta percha ball
there was a greater incentive to have
the club on the move as long as pos
sible while the player was gathering
his strength and confidence to hit with
all his might. Accurate timing 10 more
important than hcfty hitting where