Evening star., 1920-11-28

he VIII be a golfer
/ 4 X X x
iIH7HILE l was still occupied with
w these meditations Mortimer swung
! at the ball. The club, whizzing down,
brushed the surface of the rubber
sphere, toppling it off the tee and pro-
pelling it six inches with slight slice
on it.
"Damnation." said Mortimer. unrav-
| cling himself.
l nodded approvngly. His drive had
not been anything to write to the golf
! ing journals about. but he was picking
up the technique Of the game.
! what happened them
| / told him in a word.
"Your stance was wrong and your
! grip was wrong. and you moved your
head and swayed your body, and took
your eye off the ball and pressed and
| forgot to use your wrists, and swung
back too fast and let the hands get
ahead Of the club. and lost your balance
and omitted to pivot on the ball Of the
! left foot and bent your right knee"
| He was silent for moment.
There is more in this paStime, ne
said. than the casual observer would
suspect
| I have noticed, and I suppose other
i people have noticed that in the golf
| education of every man there is def
mite point at which he may be said to
1
bicon. as it were-that separates the
golfer from the non-golfer. This IAo-
ment comes Immediately after his first
good drive. In the ninety minutes in
which ] instructed Mortimer sturgis
/, that morning in the rudiments Of the
i game he made every variety. OF drive
| known to science, but it was not till
we were about to leave that he made
! good one.
A moment before he had surveyed his
. r. OF han with SnTnhpF diSPnSt.
| "Its no good.'' he said. Il shall never
| learn this beast of game. And don't I
/ want to. either It's only tit for lunatics.
Where's the sense in it? Hitting rot
exercise II take a stick and 60 and
rattle it along the railings: There's
! so,ne thing in that. Well. let's be get
| ting along. No good wasting the whole
morning out here. -,
.Try one more drive. and then we'll
! CO."
! "All right If you like. No sense
| in 1t, though
/ He teed up the ball. took a careless
stance and ,flickered moodily. There
was a sharp crack. the ball shot off
| the tee. flew a hundred yards in a
| dead straight line never ten feet
! above the ground, scared another
seventy yards in a graceful arc, struck
| the turf. rolled and came to rest
within easy mashie distance Of the
| green.
! "SpIendid" / cried.
| The man seemed stunned. He blink
How did that happen
! / told him very simply
[, "Your stance was right and your
| grin was right and you kent your
head still and didn't sway your body
and never took your eye or the bali
| and slowed back and let the arms
come well through and rolled the
| wrists and let tile cSub-head lead and
| kent your balance and pivoted ON the
| the right knee"
that must be it.
'Now let's go home"
"Wait minute. l Just want to
| remember what / did while it's fresh
! in my mind. Let me see. this was
the way | stood Or was it more like
this? No. like this" He turned to
| me. beaming. What great idea
it was. my taking up golf! It's all
! nonsense what you read in the comic
papers about peonle fooZling all over
the place and breaking clubs and all
that. You've only to exercise little
reasonable care. And what corking
world. I wonder If Betty is up yet.
I must go round and show her how
I did that drive, A perfect swing.
with every ounce of weieht wrist and
muscle behind it. I meant to keep
| it a secret from the dear girl till I
had really learned. but. of course. I
have learned now. Let's go round
and rout her out"
He had given me my cue. ] put
my hand on his shoulder and spoke
sorrowfully.
Mortimer. My boy, I fear I have
bad news for you
"slow back keep the head -
what's that? Pad news"'
"About Betty
About Betty? What about her?
Don't sway the body. Keep the eye
on the"
Prepare yourself for shock. my
boy. Yesterday afternoon Betty
called to see me. When she had
gone I found that she had stolen my
silver matchbox"
Stolen your Matchbox
'';tolen my matchhox"l. :.
| ooh, well: I daresay there were
faults on both sides" said Mortimer.
Tell me il I sway my body this
time"
you don't grasp what have said!
Do you realize that Betty. the girl
you are going to marry, is a klepto-
maniac?"
"a kleptoma niac"'
THAT is the only possible explana-
tion. Think what this means. my
boy Think how you will feel every
time your wife says she is going out
to do a little shopping! Think of
l.yourself, left alone at home, watch
ing the clock, saying to yourself.
Now she is lifting a pair of silk
\ stockingsv-'Now she is hiding gloves
in her umbrella"-Just about this
moment she is getting away with a
pearl necklace"
Would she do that"
i "She would! She could not help
herself. Or. rather. she could not re-
frain from helping herself. How
about it. my boyT'
1 "Tt only draws ns closer topefhar ~