Evening star., 1916-05-14
CONCENTRATION IN GOLF
Successful Players Do Not Allow
Their Minds to Wander
From Game.

In golf more than any other form
of sport the contestant must keep his
thoughts on the matter in hand. Con-
centration is the keynote and the ul-
innate step to success. Can it be
imagined that billiard player is not
focusing the whole of his mind on the
shot to be played or that a sprinter is
going to look back fifty yards from
the tape to see who is closest to him
1t is hardly probable
Why, then, should the golfer in this
hardest matter of all permit his
thoughts to wander from that supreme
state of centering his mind on the ball
and on that alone. Golf often has been
called an unsociable game, and it is
true that to play it well requires a
certain degree of abstention from any
thing that tends to remove the mind
from the game.
But Walter J. Travis is very much
liked and more taciturn man has sell
dom been on the links. He takes the
stand that when a man is playing a
match he is not there to be beaten, but
to put forth his utmost efforts to win.
and as a means to this end he cannot
allow himself to be distracted by any
outside factor. 1t is a result Of his
intense concentration. He goes right
ahead and thinks of nothing but the
game with a mental state OF deep Serl-
business and determine ton Many others
might be mentioned who take the same
stand, among them Jerome ID. TraV-
ers. Perhaps one of the contributing
reasons to Chick" Evans chronic semi
final habit is this matter of too much
sociability He permits his mind to be
removed from some of his shots by
mixing too much with the spectators.
| 1t is not possible to top ball badly
| IL the eyes are not removed from the
| sphere Many times the concentration
| Is so intense that the desire to follow
the fight of the ball is evinced frac-
| tion Of a second too soon and IN thai
| inf1nitesimal time the stroke is ruined
If the player would remember that Il
| does no harm to watch the spot where
| the ball was. and that he has cad
die to follow the ball, he would moi
top so many, either from the tee oil
through the green. Especially In
| bunker must the player devote all his
| mind to getting out. The usual tend
| ency is to look up, probably induced
| by anxiety or the abnormal difnculty
of lie. Again the player should never
| forget that the essence of success ir
| the stroke is keeping the eye and mino
| on the shot. In this case. however
the eve should be kept on the sand ar
| inch behind the ball.
Arnold Hau1tain in his delightful
book called THE Mystery or COLI eX-
plains. in part. the process undergone
by the aspiring player. How can we
| keep our eye on the ball? And why
must we keep our eye on the ball
Whence arises the necessity? Wherein
consists the peculiar efficacy of fixing
our gaze on that humble little sphere
at our feet-or it's top-or at its back
or at the turf behind. as the case
may be- What happens if we do look
What happens if we do not look? This
little puzzle, how to keep ones eye on
the ball, may be said to possess a lit
tie psychology of its own. We per-
ceiye' an object. say the psychologists,
when not only our attention is drawn
to that object. but when all the other
impressions that are exciting sehsa-
tions at the same moment fall into the
field of inattention: in plain words.
when we are oblivious of everything
but the thing perceived. 1t is this in
attention or oblivion that the golfer
has most carefully to practice. If. dur
ing the infinitesimal period of time
which elapses between the beginning g
of the upward swing of the club and
it's impact with the ball, the golfer
allows any one single sensation or
idea to divert his attention-con-
sciously or unconscious|y-from the lit
tie round image on his retina, he does
not properly perceive that ball. and.
of course. by consequence, does not
properly hit it."
This seems to contain the crux of the
whole matter and better explanation
of the situation cannot be conceived.