Evening star., 1933-03-24
AYERS LINKS BUILT
TO AID THEIR GAME
Greens That Hold All Shots
Don't Demand Finesse of
Old Days, He Says.
BY w. r. McCALLUM.

n ODERN gOl1erS are suffer-
I'M ing from too much cod
lVl ding, and the low scores
they make in competition
are the result of a game made
easier for them by course archi-
tects who insist on making put
ting greens that will stop and
hold anything from a full brassie
shot down to the tiniest pitch.
So AYERS Freddie Mcleod, the Colum-
bia Country Club golf instructor. who
grew Up in the days when the golfer had
to play shots and the golf course didn't
play them for him. 1t may all sound
very mysterious to your golfer who has
learned the game since the era OF built
up putting greens, but Freddie traces
the orgy of low scoring over the past
two decades and the almost total abb
sence Of the finer points Of shotmaking
nowadays to the prevalent tendency OF
making the golf course play the shots
instead of the golfer playing shots to
ht the golf course.
Here Is how Freddie explains It:
In the old days, 20 years and more
ago, we didn't have built-up greens to
which we could throw shot knowing
it couldn't go over. In those days we
had to know running shots, half shots,
pitch and run shots and we had to have
better control Of the ball than your
headliners of today, for If we didn't we
would be playing lot of bunker shots.
Nowadays what do we have? The
green's are so built up and kept so
heavily watered that you can half miss
a shot and it gets the same result as
good shot. Hit 'em in the air, Is the
slogan of today. It's exactly the opposite
Of the way we used to play, before ample
watering Of putting green's became the
vogue and when you were as apt as not
to find a green sloping away from the
shot. I think the way the greens are
built up and the way they are kept
water soaked are the two reasons for the
improvement in scoring.
s'VoU can play almost any kind Of
i shot to a green stuck way up
in the air and soaked with water
and have a putt for birdie. The same
shot a score of years ago would find
your ball over in bunker. Take the
old third hole at Chevy Chase. That
green used to be tough one for any
man to play to because it sloped away
from the shot. Yet the men who knew
golf shots had little trouble with it. The
same goes for the first hole at Oakmont.
That hole is a par of little less than
500 yards.
IF the green was built up it would
be cinch 4 for the long boys to knock
two shots onto, but they have a lot Of
trouble with the hole because it isn't
banked up. The third at Oakmont is
the same way. To me that is one Of
the beauties of that great golf course
1t calls for all types Of shots and 1t
doesn't play the shot for the player. He
has to play the shot himself. The
course won't do it for him.
Golf at Pinehurst, where the greens
are sand and small, is the nearest ap-
proach to the golf of the old days that
exists anywhere today. At Pinehurst If
you land on the sand you will 60 over
into trap or the woods. But if you
have the Judgment and ability to hit q
few yards short Of the sand and trickle
on you will get lot of brides. That's
what makes Pinehurst such q hard
course to score on consistently. The
course doesn't play your shots for you"
CHARPENING up his game for the
- North and South Open at Pine
hurst next Tuesday and Wednes-
day, AL Houghton, Kenwood pro- played
the Congressional course yesterday in
II strokes, one better than par for the
layout. Despite cold wind from the
north, which blew sleet and hail across
the course throughout most of the
round, Houghton scored 38-33-7l in
an impressive exhibition Of shot-making
and putting. He picked up three brides
on the round, played with j. F. McCar-
ron. Sandy Armour and w. R. Nc
Callum all of them on the last nine
holes, finishing with a brace of brides
on the last two holes. Houghton three
puted the eighth green. Armour
scored rs and McCarron had a II.
DR.. Alfred c. Norcross and all the
current officers of the Argyle Country
Club were reelected at meeting Of
the board of governors last night. In
addition to DR.. Norcross. again chosen
president, the following were reelected: :
retary treasurer, Charles L. Gable; as
sistant secretary-treasurer, Raymond E.
Gable.
Committee chairmen for the year are !:
Coli, Wilbur A. Taylor; greens, P. W..
lie Due; house, William P. Steil; mem
bership, Charles L. Gable: tennis, Ray
mond E. Gable; dance, Wilbur A. Tay-
lor. The schedule OF club golf events
will be announced within few days.
CONSTRUCTION Of a new golf shop
~ to be located at the first tee was
begun yesterday by the Kenwood
Golf and Country Club. The work Will
be completed in q few weeks and AL
Houghton and his staff Of assistants
will be located right on tho beaten
path to the tee.
A new type Of steel-shafted golf club,
with good deal of lateral whip In the
shaft, is to be put on the market this
year, and already has made an i'm
preston in the South.
Commenting on the new club Sandy
Armour recalled that in the old days
of the game whippy shafts were used
with the comparatively lifeless ball Of
30 years ago to aid in getting distance
Nowadays, with a ball that any one
can hit" we use stiff shafts, "the
sitter the better" Sandy declared. He
says that whippy shaft, If properly
timed will hit the ball farther than
a stiff shaft, but q shaft with some
''give" to it must be timed correctly
to hit the ball straight.