The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1922-12-20
TEE,FAIRWAY
AND GREEN
By CHICK EVANS
GoLF,s GREATEST SHOT


In these days of Hole In One
clubs" the player may forget that
gelfs greatest shot Is the putt.
l have never been the victim Of
that fortunate golf accident, per-
feet combination of good shooting and
freak luck that yields the hole in one,
but it was my good fortune to wit
ness a shot that will, think. stand
out in golf history as the greatest
shot ever accomplished. 1t was putt.
1t was made by Walter Travis, the
greatest putter the game ever de-
veloped, and it won a championship.
l have long been an ardent student
of the history and stories of golf as
well as the science of the game. And
many instances of remarkable sht is
come to my mind as l think back over
the matches / have taken part in and
the stories that have come down to
us about great players of an earlier
generation. The story is already a
classic of how Francis ouimet putted
in his match with the British stars.
Vardon and Aay. Great as was Out
NETS achievement there, am in
clined to think that a putt made by
the veteran Walter Travis was the
Tut pay tHdl HdS ever
been executed.
Travis in Difficulty
At one of the metropolitan cham
pionships played at Garden City
Travis was having hard match with
a Mr.. Wilder of Boston. In fact, the
veteran was four holes down and
four to play as the contest neared
the finish. Travis has always been a
wonderful man in this kind of adver-
a - p IL.
out of a match until 1t is over. He
proved himself that day by winning
the fifteenth and sixteenth holes
leaving him two down.
When the green was reached on
the sixteenth hole it looked as if
Travis was out of the running for
good and all. Wilder needed only to
ha1ve the hole to win the match.
Wilder, on his third shot. was not
more than five feet from the putt
while Travis was at least 80 feet
away and some observers estimated
thirty-five.
Travis Wonderful
i have talked of the Importance of
the golfing confidence in oneself and
the fighting spirit in the face of diff
ficult conditions. Right here Travis
proved he had those qualities to the
nth power. Travis was not only some
80 feet distant from the putt but the
green was one of the most difficult
of the entire course. From where
Travis ball lay he could not play
straight putt as there was decided
break In the slope Of the green, once
to the left and once to the right.
Travis took his time here and was
confidence itself. He walked from his
ball to the cup carefully studying the
line he must take. for he knew if
he failed Wilder would almost GER
tainly sink his ball and would surely
halve the hole; in either case 1t was
all over for Travis.
1t must have seemed an age to
Travis from the time he hit the ball
till it reached it's destination. 1t
rolled up the side Of the raised mound
to the right. down again on the other
side in a serpentine path and dropped
squarely in the hGle-certainly one
of the most remarkable puts in golf
ing history. The stroke itself must
have had a decided influence on
Wilder, for he missed his putt, lost
the next hole as we'll as leaving the
match squared. Wilder came back
strong after this but Travis would
not be denied and on the. fourtieth
hole sank his ball again and won the
match.
Par gCif allows two puts to the
green and the player is never sure
golfer until he can make his approach
putt so good that he is sure to be
down on the next one. An extra putt
on each green runs the card up IS
strokes. The player should practice
long and diligently on the green, I'M
til he can develop a real confidence
that his puts are going down when
he starts them for the hole.