On the Links.

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 154, 27 December 1924, Page 18

On the Links.

GENERAL NOTES

OF LOCAL INTEREST

VARDON ON WRISTS.

COMING EVENTS. January 1-S—New Year Open Amateur Tournament, at Miramar.

Br " Bapft."

Entries for the New Year tournament ,of the Miramar Golf Club, close to-day, and a very representative gathering is shown by the entries that were in earlier in the' week. The club has decided that, in. order to allow competitors to get a knowledge of the course, and' to accustom themselves to the greens, the course will be opened to all competitors on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday next. The tournament- will commence ' early on Thursday morning. -This opportunity is taken to extend to all golfers the season's greetings, together with' the hope that those of you who have still to etudy "Hints.onhow to get under 100" will advance during the ensuing year to the study of Vardon on the chip-shot and someone else on the intentional pull and splice. Personally I always thought that an hour with the professional followed by a little assiduous practice in which one endeavoured to use his head as well as the rest of his anatomy, was of more value than all the books ever written. Try it next year, especially the practice and the use of the head.

IRREGULARITY IN AMATEUR

TEST.

A controversy arose over the result of!the amateur championship of America, played at the Marion Cricket Club, hi which. Bobby Jones defeated George Yon Elm, of the Rancho Club, Los Angeles, on the twenty-eighth green, when neither holed out on the last green. The official records show Jones's -margin to be 9 up and Bto play. Jones started for the twenty-eighth hole dormie 9. He took the short-cut to the green and his ball landed in the rough, a short distance" from' a trap which guards the left side of the tenth. green. Yon Elm was off to the right, in splendid approaching" .'position. The Californian's pitch, shot was several yards short of the pin, while. Jones, with a wonderful niblick shot out of the long grass, pitched his ball to within two yards of the hole. After .Yon! Elm putted past the hole, missing by a narrow margin,'he walked over and congratulated his opponent. Ordinarily that would be construed as conceding. Jones his putt for a 3, and many who were around the green at the finish so construed it, but tfie TJ.S.G.A. ruled otherwise.-- Whether -it i*as' 9 and-8 or 10 and 8, however, makes little differ, ence. Jones's victory was a cue-sided one- in any event. It was wide enough at..all.:times to leave no doubt in the minds, of the 5000 or more who followed each and every shot as to the winner.

SANDY HERD ON "NERVES."

"The man who plays golf to keep fit does a wise thing, but the man who keeps fit to play golf does a still wiser thing from the point of view of enjoying tho game. The Americans lay great stress upon.this. They appear to be always in training for whatever game they are,specially interested in. I do not mean that they train in any special manner, but they take very few liberties with their health, always bearing in mind the fitter they feel the better they will play., i'

"It is a curious fact that one hears far more about 'nerves' in golf in England than ; in-America. I always think the American reasons out for himself that he cannot do anything well unless he has enjoyed it, and that the more he enjoys it the better he will do it."

'WANTED IN AUSTRALIA.

The Sydney "Referee" writer published the following recently:—

"I received an interesting" letter from New Zealand during the week. My correspondent speaks very highly of B. J. Moss, formerly of Manly, now of the Auckland Golf Club, and professional and open champion of New Zealand. He states that Moss, with the necessary practice,- has improved his game over 70 per cent. J. M'lntosh, of the Hutt Club, Wellington, is a young player of promise, and "expected to do well in the near future. T. H. Horton, of Masterton, gives the impression of being as fine an amateur as there is in Australia, especially as the course he plays on is practically unplayable throughout • the golfing season, and so he is very restricted as regard to practice. It seems rather a. pity that the three men named cannot find the time to come over for the next open championship, which will be played at Kensington. Perhaps they will, when Moss and M'lntosh might pair against some of the New South Wales and Victorian professionals. I have also received a copy of the score Moss did when beating the record on 30th October, of 71,' held by R. D. Wright, ■the champion of the Auckland Club. The bogey is: 0ut—454554345—39; in—34s 344555—38—77. The length is 6200 yards. Moss's figures were: 0ut—4535 ■44335—35; in—344334344—32—67." The writer is, I think wrong in according the record of 71 to Wright. Wright did 71 on the pre-championship course, and, unless this has been reverted to since the New Zealand meeting in September last, then the record of 71 was held by A. D. S. Duncan, who established it in the first round of the open championship, and is probably still the official holder of the record. All those who are interested in "the game beyond their own immediate interest in it, would-like to see the three go to Australia, but so far as the professionals are concerned the expense would probably be too heavy. In the meantime, so far as the amateurs are concerned, Arthur Duncan is still the best amateur stroke scorer we could send to Australia.

PRESENCE OF MIND,

The following appearing in the Sydney "Referee", is introduced with the one word "perhaps" followed by a note of interrogation:—

„ "Don't. allow golf to interfere with .business." ■ This is evidently the slogan of a member of the Miramar Club (Wellington), writes a of mine who has just returned from a holiday jaunt to New Zealand. The gentleman in question was about to drive'off the other clay when the ball of a gentleman playing in the opposite direction, struck him on the head and felled him. Golfers raced up from all directions. A Scotsman kept his flask in his pocket lest thei'e might be a more serious accident later on; but he did all he could otherwise in the way of artificial respiration End so forth. Suddenly the •wounded

man sat up and said "I have it with me. Indeed I'm very fortunate." And then from his: waistcoat pocket he produced a tube of ointment of which he is sole proprietor in the Dominion. He rubbed some on his temple and then stood up. Golfers of all shapes and sizes were amazed. "The miracle of Miramar," said Harold Beauchamp. "Most amazing," declared Mr. Barnett. "Is that stuff dear?" asked Mr. Ritchie. "The golf story of the season," said Mr. Parker. The wounded man put the magic tube back in his pocket, continued his round, and walked, away for a spot. Now all Wellington is armed with tubes of his ointment. Miramar is a'beautifully.situated course. Ten minutes from town in a motor-car, and a quarter of an hour in a Ford. It is hemmed in one side by the ocean. Away in the distance is a mountain which is snow-capped all the year round."

WRIST WORK,

Harry Vardon, six times Bristol open champion, writes on wrist work as follows:—"Ever since golfers began to discuss the methods that lead to success on the links, the working of the wrists had been a subject of consideration. ' Give the ball the back of the left hand " was one of the prime aphorisms of the game in the days wl»ti I was learning how to play it. The phrase meant that, at the impact, the back of the left hand should be facing the line of play—a perfectly sound idea—but it also conveyed the principle that one should try to hit harder with the left hand than with the right, ■ a state of affairs that would lead naturally to a tautening of the left wrist just before delivering the blow. Obviously, one has to use the wrists in accomplishing a golf shot; they are joints in the human machine. But I venture to say that they are no more important than any others, and that _ the people who, try to promote hitting power by bracing up their wrists as they strike the ball are likely to make—and invariably do make a great many erratic strokes. Frequently you will hoar it said of a famous player who flicks the ball strongly to its mark with a ha»£-won shot: 'He must have a wonderful pair of wrists!' It is a common impression that these are mainly wrist- strokes—the heritage, I suppose of the teaching of a generation ago. Only the other day I came across a standard text-book, published in 1890, which said that all approaches played with less than a half-swing 'are true wrist strokes." " My personal experience is that the less we think about our wrists as we hit a golf ball the better we fare. These' members do certainly have to perform in a prescribed way—a way of which we may be conscious—in the up, swing. The left wrist: has to turn steadily in towards the body as the club risesit is as though one were locking a door with a key in the left hand—until it will not comfortably turn any farther, and the right wrist must subordinate itself to» this action. v But once the club has reached the top of the swing, and the wri&ts —not at. all taut—have started it 1 downwards,-my own belief and practice is that all sense of these joints should be forgotten. What they do coining down is the corollary of what they did going up. . " The advice about giving it ' the back of the left hand ' —involving an extra effort with the left wrist—is equivalent to a theory that the left hand is the master hand in golf. This, indeed, was once a widely accepted premise. J think the two hands are of equal importance, and should work in unison. For my own part, I am not conscious of a tightening of my wrists in the slightest -degree, even as I hit the ball. If they did tighten, my grip of the club also woiild tighten; and I am fairly sure that this does not happen. Indeed, it is one of the worst mistakes in golfing 'methods. Even now, after a career of 30 years in t first-class golf, I 'often say to myself, as a reminder of the first importance before playing a shot: 'Don't grip too tightly,' and if the hold does increase in firmness in a slight degree at the impact, due to the simple fact that one is hitting something hard, that degree must be very slight indeed. At any rate, I do not feel it, and the best evidence that it is small is that I never have any corns or blisters on my hands. The existence of such nuisances is sure, proof of unnecessarily tight gripping.' Tho arms, the wrists, the hands, and the shaft df the club should all be one —with no part dominating any other part. At the end is the club head, which is being swung like a weight at the end of a piece of cord. You could not swing a weight attached to a piece of cord— at least you could not swing it truly and accelerate it easily—if you had a joint in the middle of the cord, and you tried to make that joint regulate the operation. (That is what a lot of people do with their wrists when in the golf swing. My advice is: .' Forget your wrists when the club is coming down. Once you have recovered the club head from the back of your own head—an action that has to be performed as a kind of quiet preparation for the hit— swing the head of the club at the ball as though you had it on the end of a cord, and your muscles had to be easy in order to keep up-the momentum.' " This is why a ' follow through ' is good. I am not a believer in checking the club head immediately after the 'impact; it shows violent wrist action, and most of those who practise it make very wild shots. I saw one such player the other day; a young professional who might be very good indeed. He hit tremendously hard, and stopped the club with a suddenness which made the onlooker marvel at the strength of the pliability of his wrists, but he hit the ball all_ over the place. Even in the shortest chip shot, the temptation to make de; liberate use of' the wrists in striking the ball is to be vigorously resisted. It used to be said that these were essentially wrist shots, and to four out of every five golfers they are still such. If, however, you watch any first-class modern player who is especially good at the chip—a most valuable shot in its capacity for saving a stroke on the green—you will nofcjice tjhat he does not play it in the slightest measure with his wrists. Nor does the good lady golfer. What happens is simply a very slight pivot of the body at the hips, made, by straightening the right leg and bending the left knee a little inwards. The club goes back a short distanee-with that turn of the body, and comes down again as the left leg stiffens and the right leg bends a trifle inwards. In that way the club head, strikes the ball automatically. There is no scooping to obtain the effect. It is true hitting."

Tlio best shot with a cracked ball is the one which loses it.

No man plays so well but thinks he will do even bettor noxt time.

Let tho duffer, cursing his luck, rcmem. ber that thero comes nothing out of asack but what is in it.

"Two up and five to play never won a golf.match," they say, but it's a darn, eel good lead,