GOLF.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 17021, 18 December 1920, Page 7

GOLF.

COMING KEN IN THE GAME. 3 LESSONS or THE KNOCK-OUT TOURNAMENT. (special to "the press.") (By Abe Mitchell.) Naturally I was most interested ir mv own matclics at Mid-Surrey. Bui surveying the play as a -vholo I thin] the outstanding lesions afforded was the extraordinary- improvement that ha taken place in the general level of pro fessional Rolf since the war, as coin pared with last year. My friend George Duncan, who is one of the keen est and gJ n st observant critics of golf o. this or any other time, ventured th( opinion 'twelve months ago that the gol: then was two strokes a round worst than in the old days. This view wai borne out at St. Andrew's when Dun can and I tied for the first place witl an aggregate of 212 strokes for foui rounds in the unofficial championsliii meeting in 1919. This score was thir teen strokes worse than that achievet when Braid won the championship or the same links under very similar condi tions some years earlier. Duncan was accused of overestimating the setback, occasioned by lack of com petitive practice during thfc war, bm his discerning estimate was fully born< out by play in other competitions'whicl were played in the same year. Ther we had sequence of unconnect ed shots. Isow we have knitted then together through the development ol concentration, and are able to keep uj a high average standard, it was jusl as though a billiard professional degen erat-ed lor a time into tho amateur sy» tqm of single-stroke play, instqad oJ looking ahead to each ensuing stroke ii comprehensive strategy. I tremble to advance tho opinion, thai British- golf is two strokes better now than it ever was before? Whether tixif view is seriously challenged or not, ] do stubbornly maintain that ai no time in the history of tiit game havo there been _ bo manj players , capable * of achieving th< liiguest standard of play. Mid-Surrey may not afford the best possible test ol first-class play. To that extent it fav oured the younger school, who are nol called upon to play a great number oi exhibition and therefore hav< not the samo experience of playing un 4er widely varying conditions obtained by the men who have) "arrived." I think this was all to the good. _ Foi looking at tl«Tlnatter from its widest aspect, the main object of competition/ of the kind played at Mid-Surrey is t< discover now genius. Certainly the "News ot the World" Competition which is tho only event of ita kind during the season—tho professionals usual' ly have to go out with a card and pencil —did not fail in this particular on th( present occasion. Ockenden's perform; ancc in the tournament "has already hac adequate justice done to it by manj writers. Some people have made tht mistake of regarding him as a new discovery. He did not distinguish himseli in the championship meeting at t)ea! this year. He was off fus game, anc never got the touch of his clubs. Bui he was marked out as a coming man even before the war, and, though he has not the length of some of the great hitters, he reminds me just a little oi James Braid. His holing out on the greens, too, is extraordinarily good, and though his style does not please the eye to the same extent, he ia almost as successful in this respect as that wonderful little golfer. Tom Ball, whom he succeeded at Ilaineja Parke. It was my fortune "to come up in the tournament not only against Ockenden, but against P. Allis, who took me to the twenty-first green before I had the good- fortune to survive the third round. Allis is a youngster of twenty-three, who served his apprenticeship to the game before entering professional golf at the Hallamshiro Club. Though style does not count for everything in golf, the man who does not play on certain lines cannot hope to make a success of the game. This youth 1 , has not only a natural aptitude for the game and is equipped with a calm and calculating temperament, but is thoroughly orthodox in all his methods. His swing is admirably controlled, his wooden clubs being taken back to tho horizontal line, and there is firm incisive snap in the down swing. It often happens that the more one knows about golf the more difficult it becomes, but at the present time Allis obviously does not see the pitfalls which the more experienced player is always conscious of. On his performances this season, A. G. Havers is Entitled to claim the leadership of the rising generation of professional golfers. But he. has certain peculiarities of style which raise doubts as to his ultimate pinnacle. His grip is unusual. The left hand is turned far over, and the knuckles of the right hand are pointing to the ground in- much the same way as my oivn. Possibly the left hand position counteracts the pulling tendency of the right, but it was significant that in his match against Tom Williamson he kept an irregular line. I do not like, too, the way in which Havers plays his iron shot. The club at the top of the swing is put outwards. That is to Bay, his left wrist is not underneath the club. Whether these defects, according to accepted theories, will impair Havers's progress remains to be seen. This searson his record miggests that he is a player of great possibilities. As a stylist there is no young player Df to-day "who surpasses Hugh Roberts, n-ho has taken the place of James Sherlock at Stoke "Poges. He has hardly dlone as well this season as was anticipated. Here at Mid-Surrey he lost to Alec Herd after having gained a winning position. Roberts has a full swing that is smooth and easy. Indeed, he plays the game just as the text books eav the game should be played.. He has now joined the circle of Southern players; and I feel-, sure that he will develop into a first-class player with the experience he will obtain. Another young player of undoubted merit is Seymour. Ho is going to have a say in the big events of the future. Ho liiUs the baUns far as most of us, and, with the modern ball, there is a lii<r asset. As in the case *of Roberts, his style is a model of correctness.