GOLF.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18147, 9 August 1924, Page 11

GOLF.

AMERICA'S GREAT PLAYER. WALTER HAGEN AND HIS METHODS. (sMOAIiT V&ITTgU »0& "TBX PMBS."> (By Harry Yardon.) . "Walter Hagen, of Now York, has won the British Open Championship for the second time in three years, and we in the Old Country raise our hats to a man who has shown the heart of a. lion as well as the true golfing genius in his struggles for the title. Somebody remarked to me the other dav that Hagen is the parallel among professionals to the late Lieut. F. G. Tait among amateurs, in his capacity for retrieving an indifferent shot by following it immediately by a brilliant one. But of Hagen, as of the late Lieut. Tait, one could s»y that his successes are gained not by fortunate recoveries, but by sheer ability, to play always the right shot at the right moment. That, after all, is as good a wav to win as any that can be devised, although it is much easier to win by never making the semblance of a mistake.

In a few years, Hagen has changed his methods aad improved His-results in a degree that grips the imagination. He was frankly disappointing when, in 1920, he came to Britain for the first time to play in' our championship! He was the title-holder- in the j United States, and we expected much of-him. He did well in the qualifying rounds,, which were held that year on two London courses, Burliill and St. George's Hill, in the calmest of .calm weather, but when it came to the championship proper at Deal, with the wind blowing half a gale or more all the time, he went sadly to pieces. To be exact, he finished 51st with rounds of 82, 82, 78 and, 85, making his aggregate. 327—24 strokes worse than that of the winner, George Duncan, which meant six strokes a round worse than the play of Britain's beat golfer that year. • . Everybody admired the,courage which made Hagen decide promptly to show what he could do by, going over to Paris for the French open championship in the following week. Ho. won that event. People said that in such tranquillity as prevailed on the course of Versailles', he was just the man to conquer, but that in such st6rmy conditions as he had to face at Deal,'he would never bo a winner. Evolution. Truth to tell,' his style made one fear for him. He had'a very flat'swing, with the club-head striking round the legs and only beginning to rise in earnest when tho length of his arms would allow hira no longer to keep the club-head low.' He was' a victim- of the once great craze —St. Andrews really began it—of promoting distance by hitting the ball witlT" draw'.' spin, so as to keep it low and make it run a long way. ' • • And he discovered that this principle, had perils and penalties in-a high wind. He must have resolved quickly to.alter his style to that which is known as tho : principle of the upright swing—the system of taking the club up by the track that will get to. the top with-the least degree of. flourish round, the legs; ir. . short, the simplest route that is' consistent with harmony of. movement. He was in process of evolution when he came to St.; Andrews in 19? I. His evolution was complete at Sandwich in tho following year, when he gainod his first triumph in this, country. "He'had converted his flat swing into ari essentially upright one. He was finishing with the left.side of the body firm and secure—the way to combine accuracy with power in the hitting of the ball—instead of lurching forward* as he used to do, from the effect of tho flat swing, which' is akin to the action of a man mowing grass with, a scythe. There have been several such conversions. George Duncan, 1= believe, was a very flat swinger in;, days. He is-now a model of the upright swing. . Certainly ■J. J. McDpr-, mott, the first of the line of accom-1 plished American-born professionals, started the club back in the flattest of arcs when he canje to Britain-lor the first time in 1912, and pulling three consecutive shots out of the bounds at Muirfteld—as this kind of swing might make anybody do-r-failed to qualify for the championship. His. transformation to uprightness, onco he had, digested the lesson, was remarkable. Jie had completed it when ho came'over again in the following year. He finished fifth at Hoylake then,,and had a chance of winning until near the end of,his last round.

The Way to Putt. . Hagen has established himself as one of the greatest fighters, of uphill battles that ever the game, has known. He has the scoring temperament, If ever a man possessed that quality. The Americans, as a race, are wonderfully good at getting down in two shots-ra chip and a putt—from just off the green, but pr6bably none of them is so good at it as Hagen. Last year at Troon when he ultimately finished second in the championship—one stroke behind Arthur. Havers—he- only qualified by the skin of his teeth. He had not even a stroke to spare. This year, at Hoyiake, he was in almost as embarrassed a position; he had to save the situation in ttu*. iast nine holes of the qualifying tost. . ~ ', And he had to do just the same thing in the competition proper. The man who can keep on doing this is something of a marvel. His putting is the nearest approach to easy inspiration that ever I have seen. He nover looks in the least degree concerned about it. One km>W3 that his concentration is complete, but he betrays never a trace of anxiety. The heavens would surclv fall in despair if he wore to go down prone to study the line, as so many first-class golfers do. He survevs the line from a position hnlfwav between the hole and the ball; then he has a good look at it from behind the ball. Never, however, arc these deliberations protracted. Evidently he believes in seeing a line in a few seconds, convincing himself about it and then putting without looking for any other. And that is the easy step towards success in a department of the game which can create its own logics.

"A Bibliography of Australasian Poetry and Terse," by Percival Serie. will be published by the Melbourne University Press about the beginning of next year. It will include over 2600 volumes and pamphlets, by oyer. 1400 separate authors. There will also be about 300 short notes in the text, and many cross references. Two appendices will be added, of which one will be a list of the more important authors and volumes; an attempt to suggest a collection of about 350 representative volumes of Australasian verse. A further selection of about 100 will be made from the 350, and it is hoped that these lists will be found useful by librarians in other parts of the world -who may wish to start an Australasian poetry section.' The other appendix wUI give a list of authors!who have not published separate volumes, but whose verse has been included-in one or more of the better known.anthologies of Australian or. New-Zealand I verse. The edition will be limited to 250 copies. - •