Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1933-03-09
D|LAP|DATED CLUB
PROVES BIC ASSET
Makes Deadly Approaches to
Offset Shortness Off Tee
and With Irons.
BY w. r. McCALLUM.

III W. Ass NASS&AA<ASNAs
A LITTLE wooden shafted jig
~ ger stuck down in a bag
n crammed with a flock Of
the usual steel-shafted golf
implements has earned for Paul
Runyan of New Jersey a spot in
the Winter sun that seems des-
tined to push the diminutive win
ner OF three Of the biggest tour
neys Of the year into a top place
among the professional brigade.
Runyan today stands as the second
largest money winner Of the Winter
season, only few dollars back Of
Craig Wood, who got away to flying
cisco and Los Angeles Journeys early
in the season. Wood has a winning
total of about $4,000, while Runyan's
total, bolstered by his victory q few
days ago in the Miami Biltmore event.
stands at $4,l27.
Most of the credit for the almost
unbroken series of victories which have
come the way of the smiling Jersey lad
goes to that dilapidated-looking jigger,
topped off by the knack OF rolling IN
the f1ve-foot puts. with an aluminium
headed putter. Not SO long from the
tee and lacking in the knack OF fling
ing high-fying iron shots up against
a distant pin, Runyan has more than
overcome the distance Of his opponents
by his chipping ability with the dis
reputable jigger, beloved relic OF the
days when Runyan was dreaming OF
winning tournaments.
ct TITLE POISON" he has been
IL dubbed by his brother profess
SIGNALS, but most of the poison
lies in the narrow blade OF that ante
dated jigger, the same club with which
he broke the hearts of Tommy Armour
and Olin Dutra in the final Of the in
ternational four ball tourney two weeks
ago. Time after time, on hole after
hole, Runyan played his second shot
first, outhit by from to 40 yards by
both his opponents. Horton Smith;
his partner. was wild as q hawk. and
the main burden fell on the lad who
learned the game in the Arkansas hills
and developed his winning stride IN
Jersey.
On hole after hole little Paul, play
ing with his head as well as his CLUBS,
laid his second shot close enough Tor
the deadly chip with the wooden-shafted
jigger. From chipping distance he
never failed to lay the ball stone dead
with his club, the only wooden-shafted
club in his bag. Almost alone, Runyan
and his archaic jigger won the best
ball classic of the year. Smith figured
in only two holes Of the afternoon
round. On all the rest Runyan car
ried the burden, he and the jigger.
= rr-rrr DAFT, has Knocked the illu-
IL sion that a winning golfer must
be long hitter into a cooked hat.
Over one CT the longest golf courses IN
the yorld-that at Aqua Callente,
Lower California, the little Jerseyite
outstrippsd a field Of the finest pros IN
the world to win the second biggest
money event of the year. Then ne
went over to Florida, where he finished
fourth at Tampa, q co-Wlnner OF tne
international four-ball, and then turned
on the heat to win the last big event
of the Florida season. the tourney az
Coral Gables, sponsored by Henry L.
Doherty's Florida Year-Round Clubs.
It's only O couple Of years since
Runyan was just another young golfer,
struggling with q score OF others 1or
a SPOT far back in the prize money at
open tournaments. Today, and mainly
because Of his amazing accuracy around
the green with that jigger. Runyan Is
one of the most feared competitors IN
any tourney he enters Unlike several
of the so-called Florida flashes, Run
van is Just as good in the North as ne
has shown himself to be IN the Soutn.
Runyan, Densmore Shute and John
Revolta are the outstanding lads OF
the Winter season. Not one of them
has vet reached the age OF 80 years
Shute started off by winning the Glen
Falls open, placed second to Horton
Smith at Kenwood. and then won the
Miami Biltmore and Tampa Journeys.
He is the third biggest money winner
Of the season, running only behind
Wood and Runyan. But Wood has not
done anything in Florida. His hot"
streak in California petered out before
he hit the sandy fairways OF the penin-
sula State.
GU LAUDICK, Columbia Country
IL Club golfer, has played many times
with Runyan, in ether years be-
fore the youngster began winning
tournaments. Even in those days,
three or four years ago." Laudick said,
he wasn't so long from the tee, but
he could certainly knock the ball close
from anywhere around the green. He
had that same jigger inathose days,
and 1t worked just like it works today.
Florida golf differs in many respects
from golf in the North. In the first
place the game is played on flat courses,
where folks used to Judge distances by
elevations are at loss as to what clup
to use. In the second place the ball
gets very little roll from the tee. IN
DERIVING the sparse fairway grass is
sand Dig down anywhere and you
nave a bunker. Go little deep with
IN iron club and it will fun" up sand
as if you had played a bunker shot.
Iron play except on those few courses
in the State which have fairway water
ing, is q technique new to most golfers
who have not played Florida courses
before. The putting greens are sown
mostly to Bermuda grass mixed Win
red top and few other strains. This
mixture produces turf OF good texture,
but one on which definite grass gram
predominates, exactly Ike the gram OF
a coarse stand Of bent.
In all the Florida match play tour
naments the pros scrape the grass near
the line of putt to see which way the
grain runs, thing that could never be
permitted in big Northern tourney. 1t
certainly looks peculiar to see q cham
pionship competitor scraping the grass
almost on the line of putt, both ways,
to survey the grain Of the grass.
NNLY three tournaments remain be-
~ fore the Winter golf season will be
over. Radium Springs, Ga, Is to
have a tourney shortly. to be followed
by the Charleston open, for $4,000, IN
which Al Houghton of Kenwood VIII be