Evening star., 1923-04-01

the great improvement he is going
He has read in the advertising
new clubs and new balls. and has,
one OF these wonderful drivers anC
farther than any other. and has had
in two shots. which always previous
1t is indeed. a game of imagina-
tiOn. and the marvellous scores that
many make when clOseted in their
studies instead Of on the fairway
would break all records. Indeed.
there are new things in golf. and we
shall see a test Of many of them
again this year Some will be turned
down by the harsh edicts of the gov
erning body. but by far the greater
proportion will prove futile at the
hands of the player himself. for. after
all. as Bob Mcdonald said when test
ing out steel and wooden shafts 1t
is the man. and not the shaft that
makes the ball go.
Evans AH-American Holes.
one of the novelties has been the
drift of foot ball sentiment into golf
As illustrated by the selection by
Chick Evans on an all American
course of nine holes And he has
picked one hole from the new Pine
Valley course. outside Philadelphia;
another from the old Chicago Golf
club; one from 81 Louis Country
club; one from that most picturesque
cleveland. one from the Merton
cricket club; one from the Columbia
club, in Washington ca course which
gave the pros some trouble couple
of years ago): one from the south,
Memphis: one from the Flossmoor.
outside Chicago, and one from the
heroic National links. on Long
Island. Here is an opportunity for
other golfers to show their magma
tions in putting together holes from
..I ~ l. NJ, t.rn
courses
Ouimet Has Right Idea.
We are sending a team over to the
British amuteur championship. One
of the most encouraging signs that
some of the men selected at least
viii be wise enough to face the situ-
alton as it is. is statement from
Ouimet. in which he shows that he
realizes fact that our amateurs
here have either forgotten or ignore
namely. that the tOp-nUtch golfers
play a run-up shot. for the most
part" wherever opportunity opens
for it.
The failure TO recognize this and
to master and use the shot has been
one of our Weaknesses abroad. The
British golfer has In his bag both
the high pitch and stop. and the run
up shot. and with hard treacherous
greens and in wind he opens up the
opportunity. il possible, for his run
up shot. whereas the majority of
our golfers ignore very largely the
question Of opening up the hole, re-
lying upon their mashte nibiicks to
send the ball over Intervening haz-
ards and stop on the green.
Another point which our golfers
should bear in mind is the fact that
Jock HutchisOn, when he won over
fhere confessed that he had taken a
leaf out of Vardons book and played
his long tee shots with the faintest
suspicion Of a cut rather than "A pull.
In the last open just before the war
in 1919 the writer was at Prestwtck
and saw Nardon's work and saw how
beautifully his ball travelled out and
then faded off just a little at the
end, avoiding any treacherous run.
and kept In the middle of the fair
way
Where Yanks Are Faulty.
Our last man to be put out at the
time of the last invasion we made
went out practically by two pulled
tee shots into the rough. The culti-
walton of this pull and run by our
amateurs has oftentimes been fatal
10 their chances over there; whereas
here, with our parallel fairways and
a lightly penalizing rough, it has not
cost them enough to make them cor
rect the habit
Much has been made of the state
ments of British players that our men
are better putters. and the writer is
inclined to think that this is true
We have developed some remarkable
putters. and. of course. the Britisher
cannot forget the wonderful work
of Walter Travis, the only American
who has won the British amateur
with that Schenectady putter of his.
1t is a pity that Jesse Guilford is
not gong over. for his power and
distance has in the last two years
been supplemented by excellent put
ting. Whereas with some of our
players putting seems an inspiration
which comes and goes. with GuIisord
II has been steady requirement:
and while it is true that on some
days he holes more of the long ones
than on others. he hGs become one of
our most reliable men on the putting
green.
1t would be well if our men also
took the opportunity to practice on
keener greens. both approach and
putting, and If possible on courses
where there is a good stiff wind. AS
rule they can find plenty of this
breeze on some of the Atlantic City
courses, where, when the wind does
blow it usually is not zephyr but
a real half gale. The only way to
prepare for playing in the wind is to
play in II steadily until the shots are
natural and not endeaVor to practice
shots on the still day. figuring how
they will go in the wind
buffers Have Most Fun.
II reminds the writer little of a
foot ball team years ago. which never
practiced in the wet but once and so
often soaked the foot ball overnight
so as to make it slippery But after
all, the men who get the greatest
amount of pleasure out of the game
~ golf in this country. as well as
abroad, are the men who are not the
scratch men nor the stars, but the
great rank and file who get two or
possibly three afternoons a week.
working hard the rest of the time
and looking forward to this reIaxa-
ton.
They are serious in their game,
play as well AZ they can. are always
buoyed up by the hope of doing bet
ter, and yet to them the possibility
Of fame on the links is unknown.
They are quite content to play in
their class with this but one excep-
iion, that they always hope that upon
the occasion of the next contest they
viii have improved while their ira
dltlohal opponents have not This is
a constant picture of the Imagination
ana on amount of its failure to "come
on has preveted the. man from these
happy dreams.