New Britain herald., 1928-05-12

Editors note:--Thc following ar ticie is the first of series which will be printed in the Herald" weekly during the golf season. It deals with many phases of the game and numerous difficulties met with by the fair or ordinary golfer. The author is golfer who. by his own admission is neither . dub nor q champion but is chased with those who are known as flair" shooters.
 BY JIGGER.
 Probably in no game or sport does the ''inferiority complex" bulk as big In determining the final score. as in golf. All the dubs. most of the fair players and at times the cham pions feel the sway of that sinister influence which whispers, You can't make it." Once a duffer con- 1uers this bugaboo. he quickly grad uates from the hundred class. When the player in the eighties overcomes the fear of dubbing shot he breaks into the seventies and when a cham pion rids himself of unreasonable fear he wins tournaments.
 It Is not the bad lies. sand traps out front, or the water hazards which raise the greatest havoc with a golfers game. Rather it is that still. small voice that is eternally lowering close to suggest that player connot get 200 yards with brassie, make his pitch shots hold the green or sink three-foot putt.
 That's a hazard not noted on the scoro card but it's the curse Of every course. Wherever golfers go they find the common enemy. It is hazard that surpaSses the green keepers best efforts with artificial handicaps to make the course diff cult. Every player experiences it on his poor rounds. and when he is going good it is certain to appear to spoil a score that otherwise would have been his best.
 A good pro can teach the golfer how 10 drive, approach and putt but he would have to be psychiatrist to eliminate from his pupils mind the fear of missing shot.
 The game is all mental" is a common expression heard on the fairway and in the locker room. It is recognized as the best ally Of Old Man Par. Being no secret, non- golfer would guess that it would be easy to combat. But thousands of followers of the ancient Scotch game know it from experiences as their chief enemy.
 Having no reliable guide to follow, player adopts his own methods to rout the phantom. One golfer will use only irons from the tees and on fairways, regardless of the length of the hole. Another will play 15o yard holes with the wood because he has no faith in his midiron. Still another will use an iron off a certain tee and spoon off another where q driver is called for. because past experiences has led him to expect disaster if he started those particu- lar holes with the regular driving club,
 Golfers will so to any extreme in their effort 10 overcome mental fear, the firmer it becomes fixed in their consciousness.
 In practice, the player who says he can't use a wooden club, will pro- duce some long drives with the driver. The man who runs up his shots, because he is afraid to trust his machie -niblic, can go out and demonstrate some pretty pitch shots. And on the practice putting green. the fellow who in- sists he cannot putt in match play, will run down lengthy butts.
 Seven out Of ten golfers can take a full swing and clip off a dandelion blossom. but when it comes to hit ting the little white ball with the same nonchalance, they know it is q different matter.
 Take the Shuttle Meadow course. Tho first hole is 10: yards. No great skill is required to send the bali from the tee 150 yards to the under side of the hill where the roll will carry the ball to or past the 200 yard marker. X clcek, midiron or spoon will carry the distance, to say about q driver. Once out on the fairway. a fair-hit,' brassie shot. aimed true, will send the ball to the green. But few arc the players who make the grade on that shot. That 200 yards looks a mile. The distance regist CTS big in the players mind as he takes his stance for the second shot. Instead of swinging free and easy he. more often than not. presses and the stroke proves to be a aud. Elves and sizes are more common as a score than par four. And fewer birdies are made on this hole than on any other one on the first or second nine. The tourna- ment committees records indicate that.
 If every player played the first hole for five. instead of trying to