Evening star., 1915-07-11
DELIBERATION ON GOLF LINKS
USUALLY IS QUITE PROFITABLE
Its Main Result Is to Hold Up Other Golfers
Rather Than to Increase Skill of
Slow Movers.

80 quickness was aided. There was the
-ule tina. you must play the ball where
it lay and that saved many a minute
of looking up the golf dictionary to
see If some lawyer had sent in a sam
pie case for previous arbitration; and
there was the added fact that the man
who could play the fine shots with the
least apparent effort and the greatest
speed was considered the golfer king.
The years brought traps. deep bunk
ers and difficult undulating greens. and
it became n matter of real necessity for
little more care to be exercised before
the shot. But we have had this condi-
ton before us for a number Of years,
and there is no adequate reason why
any player should not. with all the pre-
vious information about undulation,
play along with little waste of time.
In the afternoons play of the last
round Of the open championship some
Of the spectators were amazed at the
speed OF the two leading golfers. At
only one tee. the seventeenth. did Mr..
Travers wait for an appreciable length
of time before driving, and this was not
because he himself had not made up his
mind, but because the crowd was in the
way. That round should be an object
lesson IL from that standpoint alone,
for when was there greater need for
caution or seeming deliberation than In
that last eighteen holes of the play? Ii
play in matches happens to be success
ful he should not take too much credit
to himself: perhaps 1t was his lazy play
which put his opponent Off and made
him lose, rather than his own superb
ority. Which brings us to another
point.
What Is Rule of Etiquettef
those players who take an abnormally
, To- l.
the opposing golfer to be forced to
stand idle for three or four minutes
while his partner tries to concentrate.
does concentrate, then begins to think
that he is concentrating and finally be-
gins all over again, and say nothing or
do nothing about the matter: Is the
situation to be left to the pressure of
the gallery? Or in the case of medal
rounds. will there not be certain off,
| cials whose duty it will be TO warn
| men when they are losing ground?
Such warning was given five years
ago in the amateur championship at
| Brookline when prominent amateur
with his partner took one hour to play
| FIVE holes and there were no lost balls
! to use up time. The members of the
| committee sent out word to him that he
would have to hurry along or else let
| two or three couples go by. He hur-
| ried and his game did not suffer.
! always feel when 1 see a player
taking five or six minutes to figure on
what shot should be made that he is
showing signs of non-coDfidence at the
game. When George Duncan. J. H.
Taylor. Harry Vardon. Tom McNamara
and of the amateurs Max Marston,
Philip Carter. Jerome ID. Travers, D. L.
Sawyer. Francis Ouimet. Oswald kirkby
/ and hundreds of others who have won
local IL not national and international
| fame. can play along and get results
| there seems to be no legitimate excuse
for dawdling. In all the four days
| play at Baltusroi a fortnight ago there
was hardly wait at a single tee. This
| point was remarked by many golfers,
! particularly amateurs. and some of
these know took II as a salufary les
/ son. Many course with short holes
! the busy days IL the members had a
| little of the businesslike methods of
the professional In his play.
| We have to look only to the Wykagyl
what is and what could be done. There
the fifth, sixth and seventh holes are
! short. ranging in length from 135 to
about 200 yards. saturdays. Sundays
and holidays IT is the usual thing to
| wait for half to three-quarters and
sometimes even a full hour before get
| ting a chance to get started for the
| drive to the sixth. Yet at the start the
players back on the first tee had waited
until the ones in front had got out of
| range, anu at tHo WulCu
comes after a long hole, there Is gen.
orally no wait Of any length.
| Wykagyl Is not the only course thus
affected. for almost every links has
some such problem. To make the play
ers drive of from the tee fours Is an
excellent thing. and should be follow
ed. for experience has proved this to
be efficacious: but l would plead for a
faster game, especially on the short
holes. Not only would the play Of hun
dreds Of golfers be helped. but the tenn
permanent and perhaps the digestion OF
as many aided as we'll.
Finally. II might be well to remind
the brethren weak in this respect that
the time 10 now at hand when the
dawdlers OF the links. especially in
match play. will cause free and id
verse critfcism: but in medal-play
rounds the remedy Is still nearer and
will be most efiicacious, / think. II IL
to start off those who are spotted fol
being the "toiiers" last. Then no one
Is hurt, and II the qualifying round |,
at thirty-six holes In one day. this sys.
tenn ought to help nightly in chang.
ing these habits. 1t never pays to try
Ito hatch your shots, not even the putt