The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1927-09-24
? j I I IN 6
IMPORTANT
BY Robert T. Jones, il.
National Open. British Open ana
Southern Open Champion

National Open, British Open and
Southern Open Champion
/ suppose every golfer IN the
world must have wondered why he
can play one day without missing
a single holeable putt, and on the
very next round find himself unable
to hold out from the shortest
distances. For a long time now
have worried and fretted myself
trying to develop 4 putting style
which would enable me to putt well
every day. / have tried. IN other
words. TO reduce my play on the
greens to q scientific and certain
basis upon which / could depend.
Clarke Corkran thinks that the
only important feature OF the putt
il the stroke Snd perfect hitting Of
the ball His idea Is that Il nan
could acquire . sound stroke, and
would practice until he could pro.
duce Il every time, be could putt
wen every day. So when Clarke
practices putting he gives no atten-
ton to the hole nor to where his
bah may finish. His entire concen-
tration Is upon hitting the bail. be-
cause, he says. all missed puts are
occasioned by faulty hitting.
Now / admit that the stroke Is
Important, for obviously the ball
cannot Be started On the proper
line IL the club-face rs askew ut
the time Of hitting. But / do
believe that many Of us do give
too much thought to the way We
take the club back. and. to the
position Of the wrists. and TO strok-
Inc with the right hand.
Mechanically the putting
stroke e the simplest 81 an.
There are no difficuit lies 81 81
the putting green and there
n1'e no problems Or pivoting
ana elbow action rs content
with. It would seem That We
much ado, 60 swing 8 putker
IN reasonably accurate fashion
s we have any aptitude with
= golf club.
Ny own experience Ia this re-
spect seems to me 10 be typical.
For many years / tried to initiate
Walter Hagen, or Freddie Mcleod,
and other good putters bur i
could never attain any Satisfactory
consistency on the greens until I
abandoned all this and began to
take my own natural position and
to swing the club IN my own pee
u1iar way. Several montna acc i
made up my mind that regardless
Ar hrTf q
thing In putting Was To get the
ball into the hole.
still practices putting JUS as
I practice all my shots but j dom
do It for the same reason. When
{ So out Is work with iruns 10, or
wood ] do 30 because there q
fault IN my swing that must be
found and corrected; but waen j
I do not give Thoughts 10 the
way she + swinging.
The two essentials 0g rood
putting are touch and cOnffi.
ence. BY touch / mean the
lndeflnable something which
llneOnsciOusly gives the prOper
strength to the blow. It Is tho
result Of = coordination 81
delicate mecllanisnls fl tlie
mind and nerves. IL cannot Be
taught and possibly not a..
Quired by practice BY all neO.
pie. Some days we have IL
and some days We don't. But
we cannot putt wen WithOue it.
Confidence Is q familiar quantity.
It Is easily recognized but hard 10
cultivate, and am sure that Ii Is
over fifty per cent Of good putting.
| have many times holed prodiki ous
puts and chip shots when i felt
before ! addressed the BAH that 1
was going to do It. Often I can
see the lire which my ball must
take to the hole and 1t appears to-
be drawn out for me. And / don't
seem able to remember d single
instance when / missed one Of those
puts. thought once that could
be q better putter IL I could only
wait and look until could see the
line Of every putt. But It doesn't
work that easily. It takes some.
thing more than waiting and look
ing.
syndicate. Incl
There's bound to be when two
hitting clubs meet. But just the
same pitching Is apt to tell the
storv--and figure tha Yanhaao