Evening star., 1932-12-16
PAID ROLE SEEMS
TO IMPROVE SKILL
Houqhton and Armour Among
Noteworthy Examples Of
Metamorphosis.
BY w. r. McCALLUM.

r IAVE you Watcned tne meta
morphosis of an average
amateur golfer into a first
class professional in recent
years? Have you noticed the way
SO many amateurs Of only aver
age ability have branched out as
top-ranking professionals within
a few months of their change
from amateur to professional
status?
There has been so many examples
over the last 10 years of amateurs who
turned pro becoming top-notch pro-
fessional players that there must be
something to the business of becoming
a golfing business man that results in
vast improvement in the game Of the
man who turns pro.
Just few examples of good run-of-
the-mine amateurs who have become
top-notch professionals are Tommy
Armour. Densmore Shute, Fay Coleman
and John McHugh, and right here in
Washington Al Houghton, the Kenwood
pro, who stands at the top of the heap
among the paid players in the Middle
Atlantic sector. George Won Elm is
another former amateur who turned
pro, and has become one of the very
best Of the men who make their living
by their skill at the game. But George
was better than an average amateur.
Any gent who wins the amateur cham
pionship as Won Elm did in 1926, after
having been runner-up two years be-
fore, Is better than average, particu-
1arly since the rise of Won Elm was
contemporaneous with the best years
OF Bob Jones'
TAKE Tommy Armour as an ex-
L ample Tommy came to this coun-
try from Scotland back about 1920,
q battle-scarred veteran of the British
army. q fine amateur golfer in the Old
Country but just an average player
here. His first amateur championship
here found Tommy going to the third
round. where Ouimet beat him. The
following year Bob Gardner beat him
in the first round and in 1922 Harrison
r. Johnston licked him in the first
round of the tourney at Brookline. That
was the last time Tommy qualified for
the amateur championship. He was
just good amateur, only fair hitter
for length, playing most OF his shots
with fade, in the typical British
fashion; even then great iron player,
but never championship material. What
has happened since? Tommy turned
professional in the Winter of 1924, and
money winners of the Winter circuit.
He won the National Open champion
ship in 1927. and today Tommy, 10
years ago an average amateur, is
ranked among the first half-dozen pro-
fessional golfers of the world What
change in 10 years!
Densmore Shute, the son of an Ohio
professional, played several times in
the amateur championship, but went
nowhere in particular. just another
average amateur. In 1928 he turned
open championship Of 1929 had he had
the experience he now has. II he had
played the last five holes at Winged
Foot in.level par, he would have nosed
out Bob Jones and AL Espinosa by a
stroke. Today Shute Is ranked high
among the professional golfers of the.
land a star among stars. He recently
won the Miami -Biltmore tourney, after
winning the Glenn Falls Open and fin
ishing second in the Kenwood Open.
only last week Johnny McHugh,
- another man who as an amateur
was only an average player, fur
nished the real sensation of the San
Francisco match play tourney by push
ing over Olin Dutra, top-heavy IA
vorite to win. McHugh turned profess
sional last year, along with Fay Cole
man, another good California amateur.
Won Elm turned businessman golfer
In the Fall of 1880, few weeks before
Jones withdrew from amateur competi-
ton. In 1881 Won Elm tied for the
open championship, losing to Billy
Burke in 72-hole play-off, only after
showing the most rugged pertinacity
and grit. Twice he holed long puts to
tie on the eighteenth hole.
Right here in Washington you can
take the case of Al Houghton. Al was
only fair-to- -middlinig amateur back