On the Links

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 22, 26 January 1924, Page 19

On the Links

THE VARDON GRIP

KIRKWOOD'S BIG SALARY

NOTES OF INTERe'sT.

(By "B4KT.")'

My contention has always been that the. Vardon grip would greatly tend to accuracy, but that the average player's hands, were not strong enough to employ a fiager grip (writes "Auld Keekie" in Sydney "Referee"). Writing in "Golf Illustrate," Mr. Hilton says that he has always advocated this, grip'as opposed to the. palm grip. He points out, however, the finest schppl of gplf in amateur circles which has probably ever existed depended upon the two V. or pa.lm grip. Ot this school were Mr. John Ball, Mr. John Graham, and Mr. Charles Hutchings, and in fact all the Hoylake players. He might have, added C. J. H. Tolley and Alex Herd, who is possibly lasting better than Vardon,' Taylor, and Braid, whq axe overlapped. My point is that many who adopt the Vardon grip at the start change it during, the swing. Kirkwood certainly did.

A picture of D. 6, Soutar which I took the other day clearly shows that the club has dropped into the webbing of the right thumb and forefinger, while in a series, of pictures ,of F. Popplewell, the grip of tumb and forefinger of the right hand ia clearly shown to be lost. This only gqe3 to show what tremendous power is required in the fingers. To have any virtue it would seem that aaQveriapper should be a.two-handed swinger which Vardon certainly Is. J. H. Taylor and George Duncan are not. The truth of. the -mattw is that the longest drivers have- always been palm, grippers. To mention two, Douglas Holland: and Edward Blackwell, and of the present day^ or younger school, Abe Mitchell-.- None could say that these men were inaccurate.. Mi\ Hilton, considers that the overlapping or interlocking grip is the best form of-putting your hands on the grip of the club for the reason that practically every professional golfer employs some form-, of this manner of grip, and all the later school of amateur golfers use it. There" must be some reason, says he, why they do, and" he agrees with the reason why they dq, in that it leads to acouracy. Ber it noted, however, that Mr. Hilton does not use that form of grip himself and it is generally agreed that he has command of more shots than any golfer who ever lived. In any case so few players that I see grip' the club correctly that almest any- method- would do. Curiously enough, in a thought for the round, Clyde Foster says : "It U> always a delicate, and; dangerous- thin" to suggest alterations in style to. anybody. But I throw out a hint for what it is worth, that players—and women ..especi-ally-^m <juest of more length and punch, might with advantage experiment with the natural two V grip—holding the olub as they would the first time a shot is tnpd., Women's wrists, as a rule are much .weaker than, men's. Except in very rare instances it is the shortness of their lee shots, that is bemoaned Another fifteen or twenty yards would make all "the. difference. lam inclined to think that the. natural grip wou id improve^ their driving. But letTnat those women' who, drive well with the' overlapping grip be persuaded to drop it. I have in mind _rathec those whose driving power is enfeebled, as it seems to he" because of a- certain slackness occasioned by overlapping." Miss Joyce Wethered is -tha greatest asset overlapping grippers

A most interesting item to golfers was Me tabled announcement . that J H Kirkwood, ex-Australia open : champion, has accepted a permanent position with the Hock-wood Club, New York (state, at a salary of approximately £2600 a year. Other Australians engaged with clubs 411, the United. States w J V Jlast and A. W. East,, both fine exponents of the game. ' . ffirkwood's salary is reported to be £2600' a year, which will be, the lai'gest ever paid t<? a professional gqlf er. in the United SUtes. I received by the last mail, says an Australian writer, the American Annual Golf Guide" for 1923 which;gives a list of all the golf.clubs in the United States, but no such club is mentioned. The nearest to it is tile Bjekajvay Hunting Club^ established in 1878, length 6300 yards, with a 73 par. It is 20 miles from New York.! Visitors' charges: 2 dollars week days, 3 dollars Sundays.and- holidays. Possibly- this is the. club: that is. meant. In any case, Kirkwood is to be warmly congratulated on the fine position that he has obtained: Everybne in Australia will be delighted. If- anyone deserves success, Kirkwood does, for no- ene epuld have worked harder at the game than he has, and possibly no. one knows more- about 1 it, even though he- may say little. Anyone who can CQmrna.q<i the great variety of shots that he does., must know, practically !a4l that, can be.knowp about the method of hitting the. ball to obtain the various flights. I trust. KiAwood will be happy in his. new position. Three Australians now hold positions at clubs in. America—J. V. East, A. W. East, and J, H. Kirkwopd—all of them fine players, with J. V. East a wonderful workman in the fashioning of golf clubs. I can. hardly imagine, there "is a batter in the world, though this seems to be saying a great dead. The club referred to might be Rockland County Club, Sj)arlflHll, though it has. only nine holes, with a length of 6450 yaros. It is 20 miles from the c.ity, but is not given as a New York club.

The helief that a good night's sleep is necessary if a man is to. do himself justice at golf is very generally entertained among devotees of the.game. One of the participants in the New Year tournament at Balmaoeweri knocked that belief very completely out of bounds. N The player in question-, who shall be nameless, celebrated the advent o* the New Year so festively that it is recorded of him that he found his bed about 6.30 a.m. on one of the mornings of the tournament, having previously refreshed himself by a swim in the cool, fresh morning in 6ne of the inviting bays along the harbour side. His golf in the forenoon -was none the worse for this. It was, in fact, better than usual. He actually won the forenoon comgetition. Incidentally, his puttings—the supreme test of a steady, eye, a firm wrist, and a well-controlled nerve—was superb. Sir Alfred Schuster, the English scientist and philosopher, has lost the sight of his left eye from, the effect of an accidental blow from the golf cluß of a woman player who was practising driving in the garden of his house at Yeldall, Wargrave-on-Thames, Berks. Unaware that he was standing within the radius of the player's club, Sir Arthur received a blow which broke his eyeglasses, and a piece of glass entered his left eye. An operation to save the sight of the eye was unsuccessful,

The attention of. the committee of the Royal nnd Ancient Club was drawn recently to the fact that the referee in a tournament match had penalised .a player for smoothing with a club the. marks .made by - himself in a bunker before subsequently playing; another shot from-the .banker. The committee iltelded _ut Benl In May last lhnt 'lit these circumstances the player incurs

no penalty unless something was done which might be construed as intention v) do anything to improve the lie of-the ball or assist the .player in his subsequent play of the hole.

A remarkable golf drive was recorded during, a week-end in mid-November on the Home Park golf course, near Hampton Court. Mr. Kempley, a'member, waiting to drive off the sixth tee hesitated because ahead of him in the rough, about 187 yards away, was Mr. G. F. Preston, late telephone controller of London. His partner remarked: "You would never hit him in a hundred years at this distance." iMr. Kempley drove off and the ball struck Mr. Preston on the elbow. When Mr. Kempley apologised, Mr. Preston aaid, "I felt something hit- me, but I cannot find your ball." They searched for some time and finally found the ball in Mr. Preston's pocket. < The thirteenth hole on the Wanstead course, Essex, must b,e the most unlucky in the world from the point of view, of lost balls. It ia a dog-legged 'hole o: 296 yards, played from, left to right round a sheet of water known as Finviis's Pond, which in some places is 30 feet-deep. At the point where the scratch man drives over the lake the carry is 155 yards., but the smallest slipe will mean a watery grave, with the Vail gone for ever. A hooked shot to avoid the possibility of driving into the. pond will land the. player into a field—put of bounds. So at some, point of another he must, whether he likes it or not, go over the lake. Safely over, he has then a mashie shot of s,orts to the green. But he. had not finishec] with the lake, for the green is on the very edge oHt, and a timidly hit approach slightly off the "neck," and another ball hag disappeared. In an Essex Golfing TJnion tournament on 21st November at Wanstead, no fewer than 150 balls were lost in the.pond, surely a record for the number of lost balls at one hols in a day's golf. In 1914, the lake was dredged, and over 3000 golf balls were fished up "from the bed. What awful tragedies these thousands of balls represent. And ft is campnted that, in the nine, years that have elapsed since that time, another 5000 at least have, been driven ,into the lake. In/cash alone these fignres represent a sum. of £1000.

Harry Vardon's long-standing record was twice beaten, on the Leatherhead course recently, when the Gnildford Alliance, decided a 36 holes stroke competiop under handicap. In the second round, G. H. Turner (Guildford) returned 71, which beat Vadon's record by a stroke, and a little later H. Amos, tlie Bramley professional, came in with a 68. This enabled him to win the competition by a stroke from- A. E. Scrutton (West Byfleet). It is the opiniqn of many good judges that E. T. Story, the golf, captain of Cambridge University, is a lijtely winner of the amateur championship in. due c.oo.rso. Thus, there was considerable curiosity to see.how he would 'perform when meeting Roger Wethered, the present champion, in the* match between Cambridge and Worplesdon on the lafc ter's course near Woking. Wethered. was. at his. very best,' and it vwas no wonder Story went under for the first time this season. The former did the first, nine holes in 33 strokes, and finally won by 6 and 5. Story almost held his rival for fives holes, being then only. X down, but trying to do a hit top much led to his missjpg- or marring his tee shots, with the usual result. Wethered had nqthing worse than fours on his card, his score being. ■ 3443443.44— ?3, and coming home. 4443. Wethered was, 12yds wide of. the pin at the eleventh (528 yds), with- two shots, and his play throughout was wonderful* Though the captain lost, the Cambridge team proved" successful, the Worplesdon playexb goirig' under;^ by seven- matches to ■five, '•' ■„;'. ;;v; .;■■■•■■ '.. -