The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1922-10-18
Stopping the Ball

1t 10 next to impossible to deter
mine definitely which one of the
many IL the most productive shot In
golf-one could argue for most any
of the shots and have points in his
favor. But surely among the fine
shots Is tho one off the stoppum
mashie. If 1t works as intended 1t
puts the ball on the green, at the pin,
and makes 1t stay there. Before the
introduction of this club the great
problem with the skilled golfer was
to make his ball bite into the green
and hold. We used to have to apply
out-spin to the ball, and the out
spin ball was the most difficult shot
of all. It required a skill almost
equal to the spinning of coin off
the mashie blade. I am glad the
stoppum came into tho game, how
ever. 1t makes the game easier for
the average player ana improves his
score. Our British cousins call the
stoppum the self-player. but l think
that 10 carrying 1t a little too far.
The average golfer knows that his
ribbed mashie- niblick Is no self
player-he knows 1t full well.
Specialized ON Mashie
In my own case the invention met
a long felt want, Throughout my
golfing life ! have conferred my golf
practice around the mashie. had
never regretted this early turning of
my thoughts to tho mashie. although
have found that tho putter meant
more in actual strokes. AS the balls
become faster I practiced putting
backspin on tho ball--and as I put q
great deal of work on my practice
! succeeded as far as the medium
allowed. But the balls became still
faster and 1t seemed the green's were
harder to make them catch on. / was
not discouraged. however, for all my
life / have felt that the way to play
golf was through tho air where there
was no rough ground to kick you
off tho line. In consequence of this
belief there Is today one really weak
spot in my bag and that Is the pitch
and-run shot from any distance.
want to go all the way to the green.
The mashie cut-shot became less
and less satisfactory, and l found
that the balls were not only in
creasing In distance but they were
also diminishing In size. This de-
crease In size made 1t harder than
ever to get under the ball to meet it
properly for tho backspin. As well
as / had learned the shot ! found to
my dismay that was half-hitting
about ono in three because of tho diff
ficulty of getting the blade accurate
ly on tho ball. As / knew that the
value of the out-shot was increasing
each year I began to look around.
Distance Lacking
MY thoughts turned first to my
niblick. / worked on 1t for long
time and, I think, really mastered
1t. But I found that 1t was par
ticularly hard to get distance with It
and to Judge them. But what espe-
cially commended IL to me was the
fact that I could put a straight back
spin on the ball. mean by this that
the mashie out-shot as I played 1t
was a sort OF an emphasized slice
spin which should be dropped a little
to the left OF tho pin and always
kicked to tho right. 1t delighted me
to find that the niblick backspin was
'.deader" than that of the mashie.
And for that reason. after years of
practice with my mashie-my most
beloved club was beginning 10
place of prime Importance In my bag.
In spite Of all my work with the
niblick. however. there was always
the inner feeling that 1t would not
do, / badly wanted q club that
would drop q ball dead on the green.
and some years ago I had three
clubs made for that express purpose.
After coming to, that decision /
went to work at once to master the
shot, and must say that there Is not
. more difficult shot in the golfers
bag. In learning this shot I made
lots of mistakes, of course. but
consider It the prettiest shot in my
bag. There were many discourag ing
things about my learning. for in the
meantime was being obliged to give
up my mashie and tho shots that 1t
had taken me SO many years to learn;
shots, too. that had been associated
with many of my early victories. 1t
was like giving up old friends. In
time, however, discovered that 1t
was fatal to try to force the stop