Evening star., 1937-07-25

NX yOU'VE gotta be plenty dumb
" to play this game Of golf"
Witty Cox the tall-broved
Il guy from kenUood, was
talking. why you gotta be 30 dumb
that all you zee is the green and .hs
pin. You never see the bunkers or
the rough. No Imagination. no brains.
and dumb mental condition spell
good golf, if you have any mechanical
ability at all"
Golf is played on a six-inch course
all north of the ears" saws Tommy
Armour. you've got TO be thinking
all the time about your shots and how
to play EN-. If you stop thinking
you're licked"
There you have two entirely differ.
ent theories on the mental side of golf
as eHpounded by two of the great
modern masters of the game. Those
tneorles are as far apart as night and
day, and yet somewhere in between
them lies the true answer to the
thinking half OF the game of golf.
Calls Blank Brain Ideal
ERB CRAFTS was right when
he cracked that the dun1ber Won
are the better you can play this game
grinned Witty. 1T doesn't make soms
OF us look so good, but it's true, The
guy With Imagination and fast
actlng brain is behind the s-bs1
Inc right mental condition is blank
praln, with nothing in it but the reyt
shot and not too much of that tn.
perfect mental condition is mn hr.ir,
al all, or no consciously directing BRAN
mat tells you of anything other than
the immediate shot at hand. I frrnlv
oeileVe that the gent with the WELL
erooVed swing and the blank brain IL
lar more apt to play consistently cood
COLL than the men with the active
brain, and what's far worse. an active
imagination.
The first guy simply swings the club.
HIS muscles think for him. in term.
OF low ball, high ball, a controlled
NOOK or controlled fade. It's q
matter OF muscle feel with him and
not OF brain control The second
guy thinks Of the fade or the draw,
put ne also thinks: What if I fade
1t too much. or put too much draw
on the ball? I'll get in that biz
bunker at the left or I'll miss the
green on the right The first e1Iv
sees nothing but the pin and the
green and he blazes awav with M
thought OF danger The second is
always Ilguring on what NAV happen
II he misses the shot a little bit.''
How Armour Sees II.
TOMMY ARMOUR, one the brain.
lest men who ever hit zolf
Dali and one Of the clearest thinkers
on the game. holds that the brain
directs the muscles and that fror
tne cortex 'the thinking organ) is
derived all the merit that anv man
may have on the golf course "Yonr
brain tells your muscles what to do"
he says.
If you can't play that s-,nch
eolf course above the ears you can't
play that 6,7o0-yard course you walk
on"
Gosh. I wish I was as dumb a.
some Of these guys" cracked Wl1v.
Ii l didn't have the memory Of
some OF those bad shots of mine be-
hind me. of brain that is working
all the time Id play better golf"
Well. when You are PLAYING veu,-
We asked Wifi. how do you explain
1t? Brains or no bralns?"
It's all a matter OF muscular feel"
he said If I have the feel of the
club and the swing I can hit the
ball well, If don't have the feel
there's nothing 1 can do about IT.
Douglas Edgar had it right IS years
ago. He said he played his best when
his hands felt thin He simply was
trying to explain muscular feel. And
brains or lack Of EN-. don't have
much to do with muscular co-ordina-
ton. A thinking game? Sure. sos
tennis and polo and base ball. in
spots. But if your mechanical equip
ment is O. K. you don't need anything
else"