GOLF.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17295, 5 November 1921, Page 9

GOLF.

MAKING THE GAME EASY. THE VALUE OP A SPOON. (special to "the pbess.") (By Harry Vardon.) Of late, during some holidays, I have been watching the efforts of golfers of different grades of ability in various parts of the country, and have arrived at a few conclusions. One of them—l had been conscious of it before, but never in so pronounced a degree as now, that the great majority of amateurs under-club themselves in playing a moderately long shot up to a hole. I am convinced that this is the reason that many club members fail to make progress which they should do at the game, and that amateurs who are born to excel at golf, fail, with few exceptions, to offer serious challenge to the professionals. Why is it that so manv players hit for all they are worth, as" though t;.ey were driving, with a mid-i.on, w.:eu they could accomplish an easy and controlled shot with a spoon ? They would find golf ever so much easier to master if they made less hard work of it. Why is it that they rush in with a mashie at prodigious and hope, by a tremendous feat of strength, to secure the length and reach the green? It would be much simpler, and so much more likely to secure the desired result, if they were to take a mid-iron and clip the ball up to the pin with a well-controlled swing. If there is one abstract principle which has contributed more than any other to such success as I have gained on the links, it is a determination to make the game as easy as possible. Why deliberately make it difficult? It is trying enough in all conscience without going out of one's way to attempt a shot which cannot achieve its purpose unless one hits the ball with all the force as well as the accuracy that human power is capable of applying. Forcing to Get Distance. No doubt the desire to have a really good bang at the ball is a natural instinct. A subsidiary influence may be the desire which many keen golfers possess to excel their own previous performances at particular holes. "I was up at the eighth to-day in a drive and a mashie," you will hear a member say. "When So-and-So"—mentioning a wellknown player—"was here last week, he had to take an iron for his second." But probably So-and-So, having the gift or making the gams easy for him- j self, would be up at most h*»es with a | drive and an iron, whereas the elated member might not repeat his successful swipe with the mashie in another I half-dozen attempts. That is one reason why some people can give strokes to others. Professionals, as a rule, appreciate the of this point. A few men—Edward Ray-is an example—<have such herculean power that they can force with a club which ia not intended to accomplish the-distance they want, and accomplish their purpose because, allied to their strength is the gift of maintaining the accuracy of the swing in strained circumstances. I have seen Ray obtain distances with a mashie-niblick which it would be fatal for other people to attempt—although some do attempt it and come sorely to grief in the enterprise. I have been amazed by. the quantity of sand that James Braid can dislodge in a bunker in forcing his bajl out of the hazard, and the sang froid with jtvhich he can destroy half a bush with hi 9 niblick if he finds hie ball entangled in the roots and makes up his mind to get it clear in one. fell swoop. But these shots are not for ordinary mortals. . . .?. ( Spoon Easiest of all Clubs. I may be reproached with the reminder, that, although I have recommended an. easy spoon shos in place of a neck-or-nothing mid-iron, shot which will call for the limit of the player's Hitting power, 1 do not so much as carry a spoon in my bag. That is true as regards my latter-day golf, but when I was winning my early championships, I made a great deal of use of a spoon. There was no particular reason for ' turning it out of the bag; its exclusion was just a whim which took possession of me when I felt that I was going round with too many clubs. If you are not satisfied with your game, and you have no spoon, it is well worth while trying one. It is just about the easiest of all clubs to use, especially in playing a spared shot. Its loft gives that extra touch of confidence which the mid-iron or mashie inspires, and the wooden head, with its weighting of lead, secures the distance. Many a player would fare far better at short holes if he were to play his tee-shots easily.and quietly with a spoon instead of. hitting desperately with a mid-iron. For one thing, the natural tendency of the spoon 13 to apply "cut" to the ball—you need not be conscious of trying for it—and that is a help when the ball has to be made to stop somewhere near to its alighting place. J.t is a club with an honourable past and.a dignified position at the present time George Duncan, Alexander Herd, and Abe 'Mitchell are among the famous professionals who find it valuable. It is an interesting fact that most of the amateurs who have distinguished themselves during the period in winch I have been playing in big competitions have been unmistakably fine iron players. The three best I saw before the war were Mr John Ball, Mr Harold Hilton, and Mr Robert Maxwell. They never fell into the error of oyerswinging with their mnshies or mid-irons, and trying to perform wonders when they could accomplish the end more easily with a club built to obtain an extra 15 or 20 yards So, too, with Mr R. H. Wethered in the last year or two, although, if the action-pictures I have seen count for anything, Mr C. J. H. Tolley has improved a lot since he made his first appearance. His finish is far better than it was in 1919. "Take a club that will enable you to reach the green without forcing: without overswinging." That is the moral which, it seems to me, deserves to be borne in upon the minds of many.