Evening star., 1941-06-29
Flight Speed Of Ball
Is 10 Be Limited
By Regulation
Sphere Must Pass Test
To Be Approved; Clubs
Will Be Restricted
Ry WALTER McCALLIM.

The United States Golf Associa-
ton has decided to stop temporizing
with the implements of the game
of golf and 60 after series of regu-
lations that will standardize the
balls and clubs and freeze them
to standards that probably will last
q long time.
Latest in lengthy series of regu-
lations is the new golf ball stand
ardization announcement, centerlng
around Iron Mike" machine in
the Armour Research Foundation at
Chicago, which accurately tests the
flight and speed of a golf ball. The
association proposed with the aid of
this machine to regulate ball man
ufacture so that after January l
ball which flies faster than $50 feet
a second will be legally barred.
Here are some of the recent golf
implement regulations put in effect
by the national governing body:
The club limit in competitive
events sponsored or approved by the
U. S. G.. A. shall be IA clubs.
No club face shall bear more than
one angle or loft.
(This has done away with the old
concave-faced niblicks, predecessor
of the modern sand wedge)
In Effect Next Year.
After January l, 1912, the depth
OF the slots in iron club faces and
the distance between those slots will
be regulated.
After January 1, 1912, no legal
golf ball may have velocity greater
than $50 feet per second when meas
ured on the associations machine.
These are the regulations in the
implements which now are effective
or will become effective within a
few months. In effect the golf ball
ruling will be to freeze" the manu-
facture of the rubber marbles used
in the game at their present etfi-
cheney. The revised rules will not
cut down the length of the present
longest ball. says the association,
which found in tests on Iron
Mike" that the velocitieS after i'm
pact of balls furnished by 10 lead
ing companies a few days ago
ranged from 247.5 to 2543 feet per
second.
Recent improvements in manu-
featuring technique have brought
about increased distance from the
drivers of hard hitters. 1t is easy
to turn out a tightly wound golf
ball which will go farther than
soft wound ball from the clubs of
the Sneads and the Thomsons and
Littles of golf. 1t simply means
Tightening the tension on the rubber
thread wound around the core of the
ball. Yet the U. S. G. A. found that
the big hitters were stretching out
more and more and rendering pres
ent courses obsolete by their pro-
digious hitting.
Premium on Playing Skill.
Essence of the whole thing, how
ever, is an attempt to preserve play
ing skill as against the mere job
of slugging a ball The desire to
improve his skill has ever been a
challenge to the golfer" says the
U. S. G. A. The association has
tried to promote uniformity in
manufactured golf equipment (as is
common in sports. Thereby the
association hopes to serve the cause
of individual playing skill among
all classes of golfers and thus serve
the best interests and the true spirit
of the game"
More power to those forward
looking men Of the United States
Golf Association who give unstint-
ingly and frequently at considerable
personal expense their time and
talents to the maintenance of the
high standards of game that re-
mains without major scandal in
its long years Of competitive play.
They richly deserve all the en-
comiums that can be heaped on
them. They saw the mistake they
made with the balloon ball of
1881 and promptly returned to
more easily handled sphere.
And consistently they have kept
golf clean. 1t remains today a game
In which the best standards and
traditions of American sport pre-
vail. 1t is the cleanest sport of
them all.
(uffoIL Noxune E.k.:>