Evening star., 1933-01-30
LITTLE MEN SHOW
VALUE OF F|NESSE
Diffenbaugh, Mcleod Score
Better Than Many Brawny
Hard HitterS.
BY w. X. McCALLUM.

I1CIlG d1C OWO iiOVe1OAS Va
amples around Washington
i of the fact that you do not
have to have beef, weight
and reach to play winning golf.
What it takes to wallop a golf ball
around any course in respectable
figures that will not take Sc
we're licking from par is not
classed by poundage, but by that
evanescent quality known as golf
brains plus a small percentage of
physical ability otherwise known
as timing and a fundamentally
sound style.
The two examples are George Diffen-
baugh, pint-size professional at Indian
Spring, and Freddie Mcleod, the be-
loved and respected little mentor at
Columbia. Put these golfing guys in
any field and you will find them up
near the crest reaching for the dough
that goes with outstanding ability in
the game.
Neither weighs much more than a
well-fllled sack of potatoes, but they
weigh heavy in any league where abil-
ity to smack golf ball pays off in
cash dividends. And probably they are
about as consistent a pair of golfers
as you could find in many a days
travel.
Not for them the mighty, distance
eating tee shots of bigger men. They
smack the ball fer enough, to be sure,
but their real finesse is in their play
around the hole. Neither can wallop
a golf ball with the big hitters of the
game, but they are poison to their
rivals in the gentle and even more
deadly arts of chipping and putting.
CTRANGELY enough, they have SINH
~ lar styles in their work around the
cup. although their style on the
long shots is not all all similar Freddie
Mcleod has what might be called an
abbreviated st. Andrews swing, swing
in which shift of body weight is an
important factor and is aided materi-
ally by full, free backswing Diffen-
baughS style is more compact, more
closely clipped. He plays almost en-
tirely with a shut face on all his shots,
and what a terror he is around the
greens. just as is Mcleod.
I1O1Co lAhC Ille ll1llll ana 6lSNeIlI1
at Columbia are two full wooden shots
for Freddie these days, when the ball
gets only little roll and not so much
carry. And holes like the fifth and
twelfth at Indian Spring are two full
shCts for Diffenbaugh. but both get
their pars just the same
You will usually find them chipping
from around the edge of the green and
knocking in a putt for a par to halve
with the bigger men who sometimes
reach the green in two shots and get
down in the regulation brace of puts.
DIFFENBAUGH'S game has come
- along fast since he took over
the post of full-fedged pro-
fessional at Indian Spring McLeod's
game still has the same deadly accu-
rate precision the little Scot has shown
since he first landed in America 80
years ago, product Of North Berwick,
where so many fine Scottish players
learned the game
Outstanding among Diffenbuaghs
featS this year was the Scintilliating 81
the little Indian Spring mentor shot in
the first round of the Maryland open
championship at Columbia to break by
two strokes former record that had
stood for nine years
Diffenbaugh has played Indian Spring
several times in 70 and better.
Mcleod has played the Columbia
course in IS strokes, and has batch of
66S to his credit in informal competi-
ton. Although Freddie has not been
playing SO well this Winter, he always
: is around between Y and rs. He and
Diffenbaugh are outstanding examples
OF the old proverb: You don't need
weight to play winning golf.
nONT get the idea, though, that
- these two pros can't punish a golf
ball from the tee. Put them on a
tough two-shotter of about 440 yards
and they won't be far from the green
in these days in two shots. They prob
ably are more apt to be somewhere up
there chipping and putting for their par
than are the men who wallop the ball
240 yards from the tee and then knock
the second shot into a bunker
BY and large. the shorter the hitter
the more accurate he is apt to be- So
these two pint-siZed pres never cut loose
with a wild wallop designed either to
next pasture. Oh, no Their sole desire
they can. And you would be surprised
how that pays off against the gents who
burn tee shot mile and then forget
to hit the next one straight.
Their main strength, though, is in
their play around the hole. Whether
there is anything in this "close to the
ground" theory regarding little men, it
is a fact that most small men are fine
clippers and putters. Of them all, Nc
Leod and Diffenbaugh are among the
better examples.