DO NOT UNDERCLUB

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 56, 15 September 1928, Page 22

DO NOT UNDERCLUB

(I3y Gene Sarazen.)

There has been so much talk, lately about the power of- the current golf ball that it has reacted in a way to the detriment of many new golfers and players in the duffer class. They read glorious accounts of prominent golfers who seldom bother about using . a brassie these days, as they are able to reach the green easily with a powerful drive and an iron shot. To go and do likewise- is their ambition and it remains their ambition. They are seldom able to do the trick. Far be it from me to-preach against imitation as a means of learning golf. 'In fact I think it is one of the best and quickest methods of picking up the game. The eye has quite a way of making lasting impressions pn the memory. That a beginner should hope to match length with a star golfer at the very outset is, however, a bit inclined toward the ridiculous. Perhaps this outlook is a, relic of the days, which I thought' were gone for ever, when people who didn** play golf thought the game was May; that, in truth, there is. nothing t» it at all. Be that as it may, there are any number of such golfers who have a. superiority view towards th* game. Despite the fact that they are unable to reach certain objectives in strokes that other golfers are accustomed to, they use the same clubs. To do differently is to their minds an admission'of weakness. It isn't any such a thing but to try to argue the matter with them. There is a method of finding out just how far one can knock the.ball which, after sufficient practice, is so much a part of instinct to a player that he can tell the approximate distance to the hole without the aid of pencil «nd paper. It aided my play in the_ beginning and I shall pass it along with the hopo that you may make better use of the suggestion than does my pro friend's pupil. The player should measure the aver-. age distance he can gain, with each club; not in one particular day but over a long period of time and, making a mental tabulation of this, so conduct his play in the future that he is able to figure out just how far he has gone and how much further he has to go. The score sheet will show the distance of each hole and by subtracting the distance of hi 9 drive he will know the distance required of his second shot, and by referring to his mental chart of what distance he can acquire with the different clubs, he will know which one to use. Under no conditions should he trust to luck unless the occasion is such that chance taking- is advisable. If a beginner, or any duffer, for .that matter, will follow out this procedure he will find that the great evil 'of underclubbing which seems so prevalent now, will gradually disappear. There is another bit of advice in view of this practice which seems advisable at the present time. This is in regard to using one club to the. exception of others. There are any number of players who have become more adept with one club than others and by continuing to use this implement more become quite proficient with it. However, there are many occasions when this club is used when another club would fill the bill more readily. " , Too often a player can readily get into a rut by favouring one particular club or more to the exclusion "of others which are more adaptable for the shot in hand. I have often seen players using their favourite club even when the topography of the course was decidedly against the shot being a success. They frequently made a successful shot, but I often wondered if they didn't depend just a little too much upon this one club. To really imagine a tragedy, suppose this club were' broken or lost. In that ease the player would be forced to use a club at critical moments that he had but little faith in and which might react to his disadvantage. A favourite club can we}l prove too much of a good thing. Golf requiros a diversified use of all the clubs in the bag, and anything that counteracts against this is apt to prove detrimental to one's game. It is best in the hng ran. not to become a one club man.