WOMEN AND GOLF

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 66, 10 December 1938, Page 5

WOMEN AND GOLF

Will Never Be Able To Beat Men

COTTON UPSETS A THEORY

Never was the unbridgeable gap between men and women golfers more clearly illustrated than when Henry Cotton beat, the best ball of three of the best women golfers in,the world, said Henry Longhurst in the "Sunday ■Times” recently. In a match of this nature a victory by four and three over IS holes is a tremendous'hiding. The theorists ‘who held that the women -would have the better of the short holes, on the ground that they ■would'bave three putts, for a, two, 'while the man would only have one, ’proved sadly mistaken.

A't the first short hole all four played indifferent tee sjipts, and not one was putting for a two, so they halved it dn three. At the second, which measured roughly 200 yards, Cotton hit ’a smashing shot to within six feet of the ilag with a No. 2 or No. 3 iron, leaving Ills opponents trying to reach 'the green with their wooden clubs. 'He it was who had the two. And at the third he holed a very long putt for another two, leaving Lady Amory to miss her piftt after the best tee shot of the (four. The same thing happened at holes of. 'say, 400 yards, which represented two good shots for the women but only a drive and a high-pitched flick (for the man. Again it was he who Rutted for the three. Lack of Power. Golf is one of the games in which women will never equal men. Lady Jtinory when in full practice could, it is true, beat a great many scratch ■players, but if you compare the finest woman golfer of the age with what is strictly her male counterpart—say Cotton or- Jones —you have to admit that the man could ’concede her at least a third, notwithstanding her famous guiiie in a St. Andrews fourball with Jones When on level terms he only beat her bj» 2 and J. Woinen golfers fail simply because they have not suilicient strength, particularly in the hands and wrists. This absence of power entails not only a lack of length, but also a lack of technique. They don’t hit the ball so far as men : and they don't hit it us well either.

■ All great golfers give the impression of hitting the bull with their hands. YVatcli any of the masters —the Whitcom'bcs, Cotton. Sarazen and the rest —and you cannot fail to observe that their .liands govern the rest of their movements., Hurry Vardou culled the hands the "chief point I>f conventriltiou for successful golf.” I’tuii Barkan Be.rt.

iVunieh's .hands are nut strong enough to direct the vest of their movements. Sometimes they are not even strong enough To sustain -the weight of the club at the top of the ■nvkig. and so release it to bounce limply off (lie left shoulder. During the recent championship at .Alileburgli a friend of mine wits bemoaning die fact that his daughter seemed unable to achieve that lastminn’te snap that chavaeterizes the ■professional golfer. .She seemed, lie said, to sw«p the bull away instead of flicking it with that delayed wrist action recommended by the textbooks. My reply Was that he should not worry

unduly, since no woman golfer had. yet managed to accomplish what he so much desired in his daughter. Of present-day golfers Miss Pamela Barron impresses me as coming nearest to this ideal. Perhaps her lessons with Cotton have convinced her of the necessity of cultivating artiiieially the .strength in hands, wrists rind arms' ■that are not given naturally to women. Two Ways of Driving.

'lncidentally, it is entertaining, when wa'tching him in action, to notice the difference between his drive at .a hole where a long s.eCoud is going to be ■m eesstiry and at other holes where only a pitch is going to be required. •In the- first ease his right hand conies ■well over, hitting with terrilie force against the left. At the shorter holes he will play a controlled “left-hand" ■stroke, almost as though it were a spoon shot. Tift, one is played with, if anything, a shade of draw. and. rolls a Considerable distance on pitching; the other, and safer. stroke stops almost dead in its track in the centre of the fairway The difference between the two is upward of 35 yards. The high ■piteli to the green, which is the stock-in-trade of the professional. ean rarely be accomplished by a ■woman, whose lack of power in the wrists compels her to be ever playing the piteh-and-run instead—a far less conclusive stroke.

What surprises me a little, though it is perhaps ungallant to record it. is that women putt no better than men. if indeed as well. One would have thought that the hand that, threads the needle would have had 'the .greatest delicacy of touch in holing out from six or seven feet,, but experience goes to show that here again the ham-handed male is the better of the two.