Evening star., 1941-03-17
er-CIub, Use Pitch
Where Logic Calls
For Runup Play
Pro Advises Simplest
Methods Conditions
On Course Permit
BY WALTER r. McCALLUM.

Golf said Fred Mcleod. isn't
such a hard game if you take the
short cuts and don't make it too
hard for yourself" Of course, Fred
die picked his spot for that pro-
nouncement. He made it in the golf
shop at Columbia. Had he made it
in the grill room the "boos" would
have raised the roof.
What mean" said the former
National Open champion, sis that
many players make the game hard
by trying to play impossible shots,
shots that have about one chance in
20 of being made properly. They
don't come off and they wonder why.
The answer is easy; they didn't play
the right type of shot"
Just what do you mean?" Freddie
was asked. Give some examples"
See that fellow out there on the
practice green" said Mcleod. See
what he's doing?" One of the club
members was playing pitch shots
over level turf to a level green.
That's what I mean" said Fred
That fellow is making it hard for
himself.
Should Play Runup Shot.
IF you'll look over the ground
you'll notice that he has a runup
shot and not a pitch shot problem
there. The ground in front of him
is level and free from bumps. There
isn't any bunker to pitch over and
no trouble of any kind Yet he's
using what seems to be about an
8-iron.
Common sense would indicate to
me that he should use a f1at-faced
club, say about No. 3 iron. He
would have better control over the
run and speed of the ball. He
would get it closer to the hole more
often, and even if he missed the
shot a little it would turn out bet
ter. So what do most players do?
They take the lofted club every time
because somewhere they saw some
fellow make shot with a lofted
club that ended close to the hole.
"A lofted club on short shots
needs lot of delicacy. If you hit
little behind the ball it doesn't 90
anywhere. If you top the shot it
goes over the green. You can mis-
hit the ball with lofted club in a
lot of ways and get bad results. But
you can mis-hit the ball with fiat
faced club a lot of ways and get
fairly good results. You even can
top the ball and it will 60 up there,
with a f1at-faced club. But the
swing with the lofted club must be
longer, and if you top it the ball goes
away over. That's what I mean by
playing the wrong shot. You might
call it using the law of averages,
for you, have better chance of
making.a good shot in those cir
cumstances with the f1at-faced club
than with the lofted club.
Should Use Longer Clubs.
But that isn't the only spot where
the unthinking player makes mis-
takes, even though the duffer wastes
most Of his lost shots around the
putting green. A lot of fellows don't
realize that 80 per cent of their
shots are not hit just right: that If
the shot calls for a 4-iron they
won't get there unless they catch
4-iron right on the nose. They
take the No. 4 and hit the ball short
because they didn't catch 1t Just
right. And wonder why.
'If they took a 3-iron or even a
No. wood they wouldn't be far
wrong. You can mis-hit a longer
club little bit and get approx
malely the same result. And the
great trouble with most of us, par
ticularly in the wintertime when
courses are soft, is that we hit the
ball short Of the objective.
Should Use Longer Clubs.
I'm the wintertime you don't
often see the ball going over the
green. And it's just as easy to chip
back from behind the green as to
chip over a bunker or some other
hazard in front of the green. II
don't see why most players do not
take longer club than they think |
they need and hit the ball easier. |
If they don't quite catch it they'll
get there just the same.
"Yeh, there are lots of tricks to
this game. And not the least of
them is taking the right club at the
right time. Make the easiest shot
under the circumstances. Don't |
pick the hardest shot because 1t
looks pretty, when the chances are
long that it won't come off"