The Washington times., 1915-06-20

DGCOTIle BuCn OuScSslOH tho oIht0S
At one time. the swing in which the
player starts the club very nat, sweep.
ing 1t round his legs until the arms will
let 1t go no further. whercupon II has
to be raised. was the generally accepted
method in Britain; but 1t has: given wa5
in recent times to a more upright WAY
OF welding the club, which ts all fol
tho best. When last saw Willie smith
play, I was sorry to observe that ne
had fallen a victim to the craze for nat
Of Inaccurate hitting. To me he seemed
to have sacrificed the distinctive quality
that marked his golf on those exciting
days at St Augustine. wheaton, ans
Midlothian.
Ouimet a Born Golfer With His Best
Before Him.
'Nevertheless. the band of American
top sawyers 10 arising. Nothing could
have been more striking than the i'm.
provement Of J. J. McDermott between
ls1a, when ne failed to qualify Tor ths
British championship at Muirfeld. and
1913. when he finished NTH In tina.
event at Hoylake. and in the short In
teryal he had changed from the flat
swing to the upright Among anna
teurs, there are few who hit their
half-iron shots better than MI. "Chiek
Evans Of Chicago; he has the ability
to make the ball stop where It gttcnss.
will rise to an even greater Pitch OF
excellence than that which he has al
ready attained, and ] say this IN full
knowledge Of the fact that he 10 the
present amateur champion OF the
States and that he beat Ray and me
In the American open" at Brookline
two years ago. I like particularly his
wooden club play; 1t is as good as
anything one could wish to see In
that direction.
of the American amateurs Is the prog
ress of the professionals; Of the latter
the one who has appealed to me most
in recent times Is Macdonald Smith.
He Is a fine natural golfer, who. given
good health, is bound to go long
sense was Of I propoption t in saying that
have never watched any golfer. old
or young, who hits his iron shpts UP
to the hole better than Aacdonali
Smith. =" !; ~ ~
]. M. Barnes is another man of Aas
unite promise: he knows every shotiih
the game There are Others; the I'm
provement Is so obvious in so many
cases that one cannot estimate how
many players stand chance OF win
ming the championship.
The Caddie Who Wanted To Go
Snake Killing.
wonder whether the caddies on
American courses retain their old
air Of detachment and independence.
In a way. / almost hope they do; they
are exceedingly engaging. even II
they make one feel at times. that
they might be little more helpful.
At home we have a queer mixture of
caddies; some wholehearted In their
attention to their employers game
and others utterly unconcerned as TO
their due reward for acting as light
porters OF the links. I do not think
the American cad1te Is often lack
Ing in interest, although he is oc-
for me in a match at Miami. which
was particularly keen on winning
cannot have been very greatly affect;
in the middle OF the round. hold
these clubs and I'll go and kill
In the ordinary way. however. lofty
independence has struck me as being
the spirit in which the American
caddie pUrsues his calling. In Britaip
he nchman shall clean the clubs at THE
end OF the day, and the most laggard
member OF the species makes tee
Tor the drive unless you ten him that
you would rather make 1t yourself
which is fairly often. During my
eolfinK travels in America, have
very seldom come across caddif
WHO regards II as part OF his duty
TO prenare a tee and as for clean
ing the clubs-well. that would be
far beneath his dignity.
remember once asking a caddie to
remove the mud from ball which
had collected some OF that tenacious
substance as the result OF Visit to
. ditch I told him that would use