The New York herald., 1921-01-04
HOMEBRED SHOWS
LESSENING POWER
Golf Season of 1920 Has Been
Poor One for American
Professional.
ny JOHN &. ANDERSON.

ny JOHN q. ANDERSON.
The golfing season just past has
given to history more incidental features
than have ever appeared in like time
before. For the purpose OF speedy
exposition we here jot down few Of
the most important
The international rules congress.
Robert Gardner's reaching the final
round OF the British amateur cham
pionship.
Ted Ray first and Harry yardon tied
for second in the American open.
Chick Evans's wonderful golf against
Francis Ouimet in the amateur final.
The splendid manner in which the
open at Inverness was handled
The growing strength of the Canadian
Internationalists.
The wonderful golf displayed by the
winner of the Seniors tourney.
The new amateur rulings reinstatine
| golf architects and agreeing with the
British definition.
The falling off in homebred play on the
professional side.
| The lack of young golfers to come
through to any priced victories.
The complete failure of Walter Hagen
in the British open, as surprising fact
as any in golf.
The offering as purses for profess
sonal matches. counting those in which
Ray and Vardon starred and the open
/ Journeys, of $4,000. about double any
previous season.
The exceptionally high cost Of eolfing,
dues, implements. transportation, &c.
4 The visit of four British amateur stars,
including the amateur titleholder and
| their swift downfall
| The three time successive champion
ship won of Miss Alexa Stirling.
The Standardization of weight and
minimum size of golf ball.
4 Shows Progress and Growth.
/ There are many others Of course,
| which have taken the attentio for more
than a short period of time. but these
are quite sufficient to show progress and
real growth. Two of the most interest
| ing, it seems to me, refer to the actual
play. Last years summary, despite the
wholesale success of Walter Hagen and
the growing brilliance of young Leo
Deieel, commented upon the lessening
power of the homebred squadron This
was never so manifest as this year, for
but one big title, the Metropolitan, which
Hagen gathered in. fell into their
clutches. They came close. but never
really threatened as in times past.
Brady was never steady consistently for
four rounds Hagen finds that being out
Of the professional field in an active
capacity and playing more or less with
amateurs rather than with pros has not
| helped his own abilities any Mcnamara
| has not been his real putting self for
three years, although the rest of his
game is as good as ever Bowden. Hoff-
ner, French, Mclean and host OF others
simply flash for a day and then the
rumbling of their thunder becomes
| feeble.
If championships were against par
with the personal element at minimum
we would look for these golfers TO shine
with unwonted brilliance. Deigel did
come through at medal play and failed
easily at match golf. He has not yet
won his way to an acknowledged place
at or near the top. The reason is that
his style and temperament have short
comings which are not the stock in trade
of real champions. But 1t must be ad-
mitted that the homebreds for a decade
at least have been in the front ranks
and their lapse at that may be but tenn
porary.
Women's Golf backward.
In this same strain we might speak
of women's golf. No one golfer in the
past ever rivalled Miss Stirling but the
standard of play of the women golfers
has not advanced a whit. we should
judge. in the last Ave years. Nor is
there any number of youthful stars who
in the course of two or three years
might give promise of championship
ability. Are the young girls made to
face encouragement too early, or do
they give up the game when signs point
to their ultimate success? These are
queries whose answers are vitally i'm
portant in the life of a nations success
in an international way
The answer has not been difficult to
fathom in certain quarters at least. We
! know of two or three instances where
young stars have been so praised by
their friends and members of their fam
lilies that their local successes have gone
to their heads and their skill has suf-
fered. Premature high praise Is fatal
Several instances are on record this
year.
BY the way. there has been splendid
success In Great Britain in the staging
OF a Juvenile championship. those eligi-
BILE being twenty years or under. Some
such plan would not only help 10 adj
vance the standard of golf In our coun-
| try. but It would bring out one of the
largest fields of any championship. In
Britain girls as young as ten played. and
played well, too. Have all the golf at
match play. 20 that every one would be
sure OF having one real contest. This
Is a problem which the executive COM
mittee for the women might well ponder
over the coming winter months. They
assuredly do not care to see the standard
B. of women's golf on the decline. We
state again that aside from one player
this Is the case.
Hagen shows Falling on.
Can golfer, amateur or professional,
keep TO championship form without
steady playing? Three of the four semi
flnalists In the amateur championship
! Evans, Ouimet and Jones--certainly
played as much golf last year as they
cared to undertake. which was consid-
erable at that 1'hey were highly sue
cessful Barnes and Hutchinson were
topnotchers in American pro ranks and
they didn't permit many days to go by
without n swing at a ball. beginning in
the winter season and continuing until
| October.
But Hagen fell from his high pedestal
not because he lost something of former
power or skill but because he practised
less frequently than. when he vas In the
golf teaching business. PLAYED different
courses each week (mighty little good