New Britain herald., 1928-06-01
(By Jigger)

NDy JlEEer)
 1 There Is a strong conviction on every golf course that luck plays an important part in all matches. The expert may be able to make his own luck but the average player has to accept what comes his way. The champion takes the good lies as he does the bad ones: that is, after he has played his shot, the ball lies just about where it should whether shot from the rough. a trap or from a good fairway lie.
 That ability to overcome the bad breaks of the game distinguishes the first-class golfer from the second and third-rate players. Hagen is above par in this accomplishment. He gets into lots of trouble but gets out of it as easily as he falls into it.
 The ninety and the hundred play CTS have 10 play many shots from hunkers, traps, the long grass and from other bad lies. They get enough practice in this feature of the game but they do not appear to profit from trouble-shooting experience.
 Perhaps a great part of their trou- ble is mental, Probably their minds work differently when they see their ! ball drop off the fairway, than does 1 the champions when his shots drift i into the trouble area.
 1 In the first case it is regarded as ill luck which will probably cost the i hole. The duffers do not expect to play the next shot well. though they wish they could. They have hard problem as it is but they intensity it by worrying about the stroke which has placed them In a difficult position. Better to forget it as It is past and beyond remedy. Anyhow. thinking about a poor shot will not hclp matters in making a recovery. It is best 10 concentrate on that. The main desire is to get back on the line. Better 10 make sure of that than 10 gamble with a shot that may turn ont a dud and make an other shot out Of trouble, necessary. One poor shot often produces anoth- CT wasted one. Until one is dead sure of getting out of trouble with tho first stroke it is best 10 play safe, rather than shoot for distance.
 Dependable Club
 What is the most dependable club for this purpose? That old, un- appreciated niblick. It is the weapon to drive away trouble. It would pay every player to form a close friend ship with that club. It is a good ally 10 champion and dub. From the sand or out Of the long grass it will speed the pill back in the running. Used skillfully. it will send the ball quite a respectful distance.
 There isn't a club in the bag that, by its faithful performance, will re- move from the heart of a player the fear of q poor lie better than the iniblick. A duffer can modify bad luck by deXterous use of this club. If a shot is hooked, sliced or top ped into the rough from tee or tairway, it cannot be blamed, rightly, to bad luck. But when long, straight drive finds a hole or depres- sion in the fairway it is another mat
 
 good drive to stop in divot hole.
 Those who object to blaming any unfortunate happening to bad luck can attribute the misfortune to any dia hoical power that they think Ncs with the sway Of the golf gods. But the player who finds his ball nestling in hole dug up by previous golfer ri11 i,,,- r; l,J l., ,;e t,,, very poor.
 Other Bad Spots
 The other bad spots may be due 10 | natural causes but here is an artificial hazard which would not exist if every player lived up to the | rules and replaced cut turf. True | most of them do but enough of the | pests of golfdom get on courses to | make their expectations handicap | 10 others who follow in their wake. |
 Traditional custom permits a play CT to lift his ball out of foot marks | and wheel tracks in the fairway. | Local rules often allow the same l privilege when a ball is imbedded in | soggy turf, But 2 player is out Of luck if he finds his ball In a diyot | grave.
 The difficulties of sand traps are increased 50 per cent by depressions | made by players who scoop out their 1 ball and then fail to remove the | traces Of the battle. Theoretically a | player can expect trap unmussed, | except by tho damage done by his . own ball, but he usually finds the | ball in a trap surrounded by the . marks of those who travelled the | path before him.
 More than a few matches have | been lost by the added handicap inn | posed upon players by those golf f CAlnlinals who leave behind the | marks Of their profession. The ! natural penalties for off-side play ! and the regulation assortment Of . traps and bunkers may be con quered, but the unnecessary ob- |