GOLF NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 71, 21 September 1927, Page 16

GOLF NOTES

PLAY YOUR OWN GAME VALUE OF APPROACHES IRON PLAY • ■ Good advice is offered in the following article by Gene Sarazen. It amounts to "play for par, forget the other fellow." There have been so many ties in open championship tournaments of late that the matter is beginning to present quite a problem to those running such events. Jn other words, it may be that in- the; future it'will be necessary to arrange for at least one extra day, to provide for.a deadlock, in allotting dates for titular meetings. 1 Regardless of who wins or loses in. a play-off, somehow such a victory does not carry with it quite the zest that a clean-cut win.does. .Possibly.this is accounted for by the fact that the men are no longer pitted against the field, but against each'other; the playoff takes on the aspect of.a match rather than a medal round, and even the spectators following a play-off speak of A hole being won or lost by one man rather _ than\: counting the strokes for each "player* It's this identical policy of a "match" in a play-off that entirely changes the conditions, and in many instances the result is:different than it could possibly have been in an open field. The answer.is that the player cannot disassociate himself from the other man. He fails to play his own game. Too closely concentrating on what the other man is doing, and watching his shots, will almost assuredly interfere with the'task.of concentrating on the • playing of the second party.'

And so my advice is, don't worry about the other fellow and you will marvel at how •; much- ■ can be accomplished. Don't try to play shot for shot with any other golfer; play your own game. If your opponent hits a particularly powerful drive, don't figure you must do likewise, for if your game is Dot suited to it, you will press or slice the shot to your total undoing. It isn't such a. horrible ,to have to play the odd-on' the second shot, for you can always have the consolation of figuring you might lay your second much closer to the flag. If you do succeed in playing your second inside your opponent, it will certainly not help his game. . He will have to start getting the advantage all over again after having accomplished his purpose from the tee. , '■'.. Again, take the golfer who places his drivo or his second in such a. position that he has a certaini:three, or., four, in view.. His opponent may be a little off the line, and the situation calls for bold measures. Rather th'anplay safe, he .will go for the green, and at he fails badly will console himself with the thought that he would probably have lost the hole in any case. That being admitted, he fails to realise it : would still-have Jjeen^ better for.him had he not" taken tne'iTslt—induced;" of course, by his opponent—-wherein the cards were stacked against him. • Play your own game; do- not begrudge your opponent a hole or two if he wins by a brilliant stroke. On the other hand, do not make him a present of it by taking all sorts of foolish chances on the strength of what he may possibly do. ■The Short Oame.ii* />•' • : If- one taftes the,\averlge/-'flf holes on j a typical, course it will, in all probability, be found that in the majority of cases it is essential to get the ball well up in order to reaeli tho green (saya George Duncan). When that is so, it is also essential to impart to tho ball as much underspin as is 1 possible However, the approach to.ja few. of tho greens should bo made_by a well-placod low shot that -is '.pijiy.ed' in -such a way that tho ball will Tuni after-pitching. Take, .foe instance, t a /green sloping .to 'right or :loft. or away from you. When you have thought of that it is not essential for me to call attention to the difficulty of playing a shot that will ensure tho ball'stopping'any whero near where it is pitched.. You may tako.it..for granted that the" shot -to play up to' tho '.hgle' in. such /circumstances '..,Ob-;I: Jiay^,,,pointed, -out-is a shot "which is reduced as nonr as possible to .a putt, *Pl think that is tho best way of describing the virtuos of the pitch-and-Tun-ovor pitch-and-stop when conditions permit of the former shot.

You must choose your ground for tho run-up shot. For instance, you would not trust your ball to the mercies of a' series of. undulations which might turn.it in all sorts of undesired directions. You should.'wait for level ground and a good clearance, and then with' a mashio ox even a midiron you can. reduco your shot to tho simplicity of n, long putt or nearly so. It is easier, under tho circumstances, I have, mentioned, •to play a shot in which the. ball is; hit down and tho right wrist finishes, turned over...so that run has been imparted to the ball than it is to play a ball well up to the hole and stop. But the fact that it is a more simple shot should not deter you from playing it. • Any golfer'to be first-class must have within the bounds of his playing capa-city-several methods of approaching. For my part-4 find that, in nine cases out of ten, the approach which pays me the best Is" the ono in which tho ball is hit a descending blow without any roll of tho right forearm on tho down swing. In short, the bpst of approaches, -in my opinion, is the underspin shot. Because I think that,- howover, docs.not make mo feel, prejudiced against the run-up shot. J liko the latter .very much in its right,! pi acGyfpr I know,that by its-means-the ball can-be placed up to the; hole--with precision., even whenvtho greens aye?ib:f , such' a conformation that w6_uld.;makd>ane.feel timid about the playing'of a high ap"proach with its consequent turning of the ball to left or. right arid .the; danger of- finishing ('in'^a, bunker. Do not despise the run-up stroke. It is a good golf .shot...when used in tho right place, and inasmuch as it will in many cases holp to complete the player's repertoire of strokes, "I commend it to your serious attention. Lot your stance be open, /and .do- not forgot the turning over of the right wi-ist at pact; then you can get good results with this style of play. Armour's Irons. Armour takes his stance for the iron shot with'- his .'feet spread .well apart. His weight is well back on the heels instead of on the toes, a fault that a great many players have. Ho-takes what is known as the square The ball-is teed nearer, to' the right ■foot than the left. and,:, : j;he reason for toeing the ball back.ifsd' fai, is to give the club-head a lot/of swepjPjiiK&s-Ai-m-

our plays the shot, the ball is practically swept away.

In hitting this shot, ho gets a firm purchase on the ball and there is every evidence-to show that he has not reached the greatest speed with his club when the ball is struck.

The little white pill has no chance of acting badly Tvhen hit thusly. There is little or no danger of its slipping off the club and slicing into a trap or tho tall and uncut grass. There is not so much danger either of a badly-hooked ball or one that is going to climb up pretty high in the air.

It is safe to say that Armour carries the ball farther on the club when hitting with an iron than "any other player in the game. He does not hit tho ball on the upward swing, as all experts do, and instead of bringing the club up quickly for a finish around behind, his head, he has let the clubhead go on through as far as his arm will permit it to go. The club has doscribed what can be said to hj3 a flat arc. The club' apparently hangs closely to the' ground, carrying the ball along'on the face of it for what seems to be a distance of a foot or more.

This idea is well worth thinking about, and the player who cares to learn the art of hitting the ball properly will do well to take notice of these remarks.;.' . -..-'-■■