PRACTICE

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 41, 20 February 1929, Page 7

PRACTICE

SECRET OF GOLF

The average golfer is inconsistent in his game. Some days his game will be way over his head so.to speak, while on others every shot in the bag seems to go wrong. He is usually at a loss to explain the phenomenon, generally basing it on luck. In golf play is not always practice and the duffer, who is generally out after what fun there is in the game, does not pay enough attention to the finesse of th,e game. Thus it is when he is playing with some of his own kind, he is apt to be carefree and this attitude is conducive to relaxation. When a person feels this way, he'is apt to play a good game, for relaxation is the" keynote of golfing success. On the other hand when lie is pai^id *. »-ith ■ one who is adept at the game lie becomes worried and harassed and is apt to tighten up his muscles in an endeavour to do his best. He wants to get all the distance possible and is nearly always pressing his shots hoping that it will be the means, of making a very low score. He wants each and every stroke to count tuo utmost and his nervous system is taxed to the extreme.

This, added to the fact that lie has never seriously lent himself to the detailed study of the game, and that his strokes are moro of a haphazard nature than anything else, puts him under a great handicap. In pressing his tee shots he is liable to land in the rough, a bad second may land him in a bunker and by this time lie is all befuddled. .

It is necessary to keep one's head at all times in a golf game, and the golfer in the predicament above is in a position where he does not care. He takes needless risks which land him in further trouble and fey the time the ball is holed out he finds that he's hopelessly behind. Before ho can regain his poise he has lost three or more holes in the same manner and his self-confidence is largely destroyed.. By the time the round is over lie is far above the hundred mark and ho wonders how it. all happened. The next day with a different partner he may find a different result. o Thb duffer should never take risks which he thinks are beyond his powers because he generally ruins the style he is forming and creates a bad habit for himself. In some cases only a very desperate shot will savo/tko match and in that.case it is advisable. Ho should consider the, shot from all. angles, however, before he attempts it, and, above all, should not hit in a blind rage, because of his own shortcomings in the game. Eoal concentration is necessary to know, the game of golf, and if a player confines himself to competition alone he is not. apt to rise from tho rank and file. Practice and moro practice is essential for conquering the game.

In order to tone up the nervous system, however, it is advisablo to play in competition preferably with some one bottor than himself. The fact that tho duffer plays botter with his equals iii the gamo is apt to'influence him to go a round with thorn, especially when side bets are so much a part of this great pastime. Ho will find in tho long run thatthis doos not improve his gann, however. If ho plays with those who are more adept nt tho game, and is very obsorvant of their- mothods instead of flying off the handle because ho is losing, his game will improve noticeably and confidence in himself will bo restored. If a player has great dif> ficulty with.one, club it is a good idea to practice shots-with this club alono, until- he has mastered it. This will euro ii shortcoming n hundred times quicker than it would if ho, only used the club when it came its turn in competitive play. As. a player£s gamo improves so does his.poise, and'although oven tho best golfers have, an occasional off day, they take it as part of .tho gaino and not something to lose their heads over. Many great golfers cast, guilty looks back to the duffer stage when they had numerous off days and despaired accordingly,' and so will thei'average player if he keeps.his head and': plays tho game to the best of his ability at all times. '■.'.,..