Evening star., 1934-07-08
F[AWLESS SWING
VETS CHIEF ASSET
44.Year.0Id Scot Still Title
Threat After "a Years
of Competition.

RIGdG IIltIl VI sOlA 40 ouC
~ to make an appearance
on Washington courses this
week.
Macdonald Smith, last of the one
time great golfing Smiths of Carmous-
tie. Scotland, now making his home
in Nashville, Tenn, where he holds
the fort as the outstanding modern
advocate of wooden-shafted golf clubs,
is to arrive in Washington within a
few hours to visit with and play a
few rounds of golf with Fred Mcleod.
also one Of the great swingers of
other days and a contemporary
tournament winner with Mac" Smith
when the latter was a smooth-faced
youngster just making his mark
among the select of golfdom.
The modern era of sock and hit in
golf, as personified by Sarazen among
the pros and Lawson Little among
the amateurs, leaves such men as
Macdonald Smith outstanding in the
precincts where smooth form and
Etroking power tally heavily.
There are only few OF EN- left
the swingers in big-time golf-and OF
them all Mac" Smith remains the
acknowledged master, the 44-year-old
player who for "a yeaEs has been
held back from a major champion
ship.
AS kone of the old-timers in the
ancient game about the Smoothest
swinger anywhere along the bunkered
front; the gent with the finest style
of them all. More than likely he will
come back with the name of Mac"
Smith, accompanied by something like
this: And isn't it shame that he
hasn't been able to win one OF the big
championships? The finest stylish in
the world. the finest swinger we have,
and he yet hasn't been able to grab
national title.
"A MACDONALD SMITH tied for the
,NI United States national open
back in 1910, at the age OF
20, when Bobby Jones still was play
ing with toys; when Gene Sarazen
was shooting marbles, and when Paul
Runyan, the present king Of the
money winners OF golf, was just
learning to walk. He tied with his
uncle Alex and John J. McDermott
when the latter was beginning the
meteoric career that ended in an asy-
lum and when Alex was nearing the
end of his glamorous championship
trail.
Twenty-four years have rolled by
since that day at Philadelphia when
Uncle Alex gave the youthful Mac
and the cocky McDermott fine lac
ing in the playoff, and yet Mac"
hasn't won the title.
But one thing has remained with
him through the decades to delght
the eye of the student of form in golt.
This is that flawless, silky smooth
swing, as effortless as a sea gulls
flight, as smooth as century-old bran
dy and as instructive to this son OF
Scotland as his morning shave.
The hitters have come and gone,
winning championships in their good
years, but Mac" Smith, with his
silky swing. remains alone, the finest
swinger of them all, the lone surviv-
ing link between the roistering cham
pions of other years and the finely
trained, ascetic young athletes who
win the titles of today. For back in
the days when Smith was foremost
challenger for the title they didn't
regard golf as a grim business 1t
was fun and frolic affair, with more
than the usual share of frolicking
interspersed between a couple OF
rounds of golf,
Today the lads who win champion
ships may frolic. but they don't do
1t in the care-free way of the old
timers
And they eschew the Demon Rum.
Did the old ones? They did not.
Which has nothing to do with Mac
Donald Smith. He is a symbol of a
period, and a period when they
thought more of playing golf the way
it should be played than of winning
money-the days of Harry Vardon,
probably the finest SHOEMAKER who
ever lived; of Alex and Willie Smith;
of Willie Anderson ard Fred Mcleod.
~ FAC" SMITH alone is left to
.NI bridge the gap between the
oldsters and the present gen.
Grafton. Twenty-four years of leading
the procession, and he still is good
enough to finish in the first five in
any national tournament. Such con-
Sistency only comes through perfectly
geared machinery-a perfectly timed
swing immaculate muscular training
and control.
Twenty-fodr years ago he tied for
the U. S. open championship. Only
a month ago he finished in a tie for
fourth, three shots back of Dutra, the
winner. And week ago he finished
in another tie for fourth in the
British open. They don't pack such
consistency and durability into
chap lacking in the proper funda-
mentals.
Mac" Smith has everything but
national championship. And even
today, at the age of A. when most
athletes in such a highly competitive
game as championship golf are living
in the past, Smith lives and hopes for
the day he will wear a national crown.
He is not too old. With that perfect
swing he can win championships at
50-and probably will.
There are few of. them left-the
swingers. Tommy Armour Is one;
Ed Dudley is close to being another
Smith. But players like Sarazen and
Harry Cooper, and others of the hit
ter type will have their moments of
inspiration. while the swing of Mac"
Smith goes on forever You students
of golf form who have a hazy idea
that rythm still has a potent part in
propelling golf ball will do well to
scan the style of the master Swinger.
a MOTHER superheated golf tourna-
n ment is in the off1ng for the
nnksmen of the male persuasion
who play in the affairs Of the Mary
land State Golf Association. A handi-
cap tourney will be staged on We'd
nesday over the course of the Indian
Spring Country Club, where Roger
Peacock reigns supreme among the
amateurs.
That mid-Atlantic P. c. A. tourney
last Monday at Indian Spring brought
about some funny situations. For ex-
ample, Roger Peacock, the Maryland