Evening star., 1942-10-15
Too Many Fads Upset
WouId-be linksmen,
D. {. Pro Claims .
Insists Come Should Be
Pleasure, Not Chore
'lsms' Have Made 1t
BY WALTER McCALLUM.

Dy vvhAAGn V1CNhAAON1s
Coli, as a game, probably has as
much Importance in connection with
the war effort as baseball or any
other sport played nowadays when
the Army wants more than 1000 900
men in uniform in 1943; the Navy
is crying for able-bodied gents cap
able of blowing holes in sub
carcasses, and the marines are doing
job on the yellow men in the
Solomons. But golf continues to be
the chief sport of around 5000, 600
Americans, and around 10000 or
more scattered throughout the
sprawling giant that Washington
has become.
They 60 through, when they have
time, the mental agony Of the missed
tee shot, the contortions they think
are necessary to successful hitting
of an inanimate rubber sphere, and
they suffer. Yes, suffer.
You Don't Conquer Golf.
For there's no halfway business
about golf. You don't conquer it.
You only reach compromise OF
skill against par. Even the Ben
Hogans and the Bobby Joneses and
the Craig Woods never reach that
pinnacle Of skill from which they
can look back and say: Il have
conquered this game"
Which are some one of the reasons
q little ruddy-faced fellow who has
been around Washington, almost
unnoticed and certainly unheralded,
should rate more attention than he
gets.
The name is Ernest r. Jones.
He is Britisher, born in Lancas-
ter, England, SIS years ago. He lost
q leg at Loos in World War No. l
and he wears a steel leg now. But
1t is Of the mental things, and not
the physical, that he thinks-and
teaches.
Game Should Be Pleasure.
"A game that should be genuine
pleasure has become real chore to
millions" said Jones, during a work.
out at Chevy Chase, where he was
giving Mrs. Myron Davy another
lesson in the art of swinging golf
club.
Most golfers are weighted down
with so many preconceived or &C
quired theories on the golf swing
that they are licked before they
start. They burden themselves with
SO many 'musts,' they can't hit the
ball right. You've heard them:
Keep your left arm straight shift
your weight over hit with your
many fetishes they rob most people
of the real pleasure in game that
essentially should be played for
pleasure and fundamentally is
perfectly natural one.
Sometimes I describe myself as
messenger of Joy, and I don't mean
that in an egotistical way. For my
message is simple. 1t is this: Swing
the club" And here Jones pulled
from his pocket big silk handker-
chief with jackknife hung on the
end, and swung 1t.
Energy Comes From Swing.
"You see, the energy of that knife
comes from a swinging motion. That
knife corresponds to the clubhead.
And the clubhead, after all, is the
hitting implement in the golf swing.
Millions would play better golf and
would get more pleasure from the
game If they simply swung the club
and let the club act naturally with
out forcing themselves to think of
the myriad things they have read or
absorbed or been taught.
Jones, Of course, has something
there. Watch that caddie who
scores in the middle 70s, and ask
him to analyze his swing. Guess
just hit the ball." he says. Ten
will get you 100 he cannot properly
,dissect and analyze the reasons he
hits 1t straight and far That's the
point" says Jones. They just swing
the club. They aren't crammed
with inhibitions or isms. They swing
1t naturally"
Has Taught Champions.
Some national champions have
won their crowns the Jones way.
Betty Hicks Newell, the apple
checked California youngster who
holds the national women's crown;
Virginia Van VIE and Helen Hicks,
among others.
But don't think it applies only
to women" grinned the ruddy-faced
Englishman. IF the men would
swing the club they'd find it works
for them, too. And they'd get so
much more fun from the game.
Try it next time. Don't think Of
where the ball is going. Just make
sure you swing the club, and let the
building up of clubhead speed take
care of itself. You'll find yourself
hitting the ball farther with less
effort"