The Washington times., 1921-12-18
iSOUTHPAWS ARE
UP AGAINST Tt
ON GOLF LINKS

Jock Hutchlson Says the Whole
Game Was Meant for Right
Handed Players.
ny JOCK HUTCHINSON,
0nly Americas - win British Open
Champienship.
~ OLE, apparently, was meyer in
VY tended to bo played left handed.
~ There are 9 Few stout-hearted
individuals who have refused to
listen to the advice Of their ,profes-
si0nal ito turn around and play the
other way" Hence. we have "south-
paws" and always will have them.
Il has been figured out that about
one IN thirty plays the game left
handed despite the fact they are the
putt Of many jokes. The attending
handicap which goes with playing
the game from the offside is usually
high.
There are q great many left-handed
persons who do everything from the
southsfde except play giif. These play
ers probably took up the game very
young when It was easy to make the
change. Men who have been accus.
toned to athletics-baseball. tennis,
cricket, hand ball. and other ganaes--
and who have reached forty will find
1t almost Impossible to make any prog
ress at playing right handed!
One of the rarest things in golf IL
to see q left-handed woman player
which goes to prove that playing the
EArhe from the south side is habit
that men acquire in sports. There are
some feminine southpaws however.
What Is the disadvantage of play
ing left handed?
Why shouldn't player be permitted
TO go ahead any old way. he likes 30
long as he conforms to the golf rules
and swings club in orthodox fashion?
Can't Explain It.
This is a hard question to answer
when put direct. I doubt whether any
PRO or low handicap amateur or any
other student of the game could ex-
plain satisfactorily why a player can
never attain perfection or win cham
pionships as a southpaw.
can, however, explain some OF the
disadvantages and Inconvenience OF
= left-handed player.
In the first place. golf courses are
always made to suit the right handler.
The average reader may not see any
rense in this statement. They prob
sbly never realized that all golf
courses are right Ihapded. The traps
and bunkers, the tees, the slope OF the
green and nearly every thing connect,
Cd with the game favors right-hand-
Cd player. III
In the second place, q great disad-
vantage must come from obtaining
suitable golf clubs. In baseball, ten
mis-, cricket, hockey or polo weapon
may be used either right or left hand
ed, but in golf It Is totally different
Right handed, clubs are no more use to
a left-handed man than q right shoe
10 to left foot. -
There are many right-handed clubs
on the market. Every pros shop
is full of them. Every big store ham
ding golf supplies carries twenty
times as many right as 1t does left
handed weapons So the left handler
must be content with q small lot from
which to make selection, or he must
have clubs made to order.
Harder to Teach.
There seems to be some great diff
Guilty in teaching a left handler as 1t
Is hard for him to follow and to profit
by instruction.
Outside of these disadvantages I
see no reason why a left-hander
shov'dn't become a star. There are
not many of them. know of no left
handed pro, or star amateur player.
To return to the golf course argu-
ment. some may think that this makes
little or no difference. Perhaps not to
the finished, player who is able to
hook or slice bah at will, but to
tMe beginner or duffer 1t makes a vast
S difference. The duffer is prone to
suce and left-handed slice, a common
fault of a southpaw. on nine out Of
ten golf courses leaves one in a peck
OF trouble.
The approach to the green favors a
right handed shot as rule. Greens
slope 80 that only certain kinds of
ference either way when 1t comes to
the putt. ,tt
Golf, from every angle we care to
look at 1t, 10 an exact science. The
man, who can place his ball on each
shot by means Of a slice or hook or
even by what some think still more
difficult keeping them straight with
out a kink eithSr to the left or the
right will never have to worry over
the way way a course Is constructed.
But these individuals, or geniuses are
few and far between.
Selection Of Club Important.
Referring again to golf clubs and
the small choice of the left handler.
want to Impress upon my reader the
fact that selecting a club is no small
part of the game. I'll have more to
say on this in a subsequent article.
Nearly every golfer that I know of
who has played the game very long
has collected great quantity of clubs
Of all sorts and description. The club
he fancies In the beginning will hardly
suit him after he advances In the
game. He will find 1t too heavy, or
perhaps too light, or 1t will not have
the right lie, or balance.
whether club has an upright or a
Dat lie il of the utmost Importance.
n takes some time to develop the fact
'ethat one leans either way. Golfers
DO not form much of style until they
have been playing some time.
II you have an upright swing and
you insist on using club with a fiat
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