GOLF STRATEGY

Evening Star, Issue 15578, 22 August 1914, Page 1

GOLF STRATEGY

DIFFICULTIES OP PLAYING vSHO#T.

[By Bep.vaiid Darwin, in 'The Tinwa.']

Deliberately to play the bail short of a bunker when there is any possibility of carrying the bunker and reaching £hffl green is one of the most trying and difficult tasks in golf, and that "for some iaat reasons, ea-ch one of which is evidence of. the futility of our common nature.

First., we do not like to lose the fun of a big hit, and this, if a weakness, is a oom- | paratively amiable one. Secondly, w» | hare no very positive object in view, bat , only the negative one of keeping out of | trouble, and especially of not going too far; then it seems to our foolish fancy that there is everything to lose, and not thing to gain; we refuse to hit out freely at the ball, but gave it an indecisive, half* hearted sort of blow, and for the nnsklU ful golfer there is as much danger in € spared stroke as in the wildest press. Thirdly, if the match be in at all a critical stage, we have a strong feeling against prolonging the nervous agony of the situation. We want to know the best or the worst, and would almost rather plimga into the bunker and be done with, it than put off. the hour of crossing; we would rather he sea-sick at once than spend a day at Dover looking at the waves. Fourthly, we are beset by a fear that on* ingenious safety tactics will be confounded in the end, either by some over-anxious? putting on our own part or some unexpected piece of brilliancy on that of tt* opponent. This fear is the more potent becaufa we know by bitter experience that to lose a hole after we have played for safety Is apt to have a far-reaching and disastrous effect on the game; we are apt to forget. in the flurry of the moment, that to lose a hole through not having played for safety when we ought to have done so is at least equally demoralising. To play short _'Esquires' the greatest strength _ of mind, when by doing so we stand in jeopawly of losing not only the hole but the matclx as well, and it is right and proper that it should be so, since at such a supramo crisis we must be prepared to take Wg risks. But it is of no mannsr of use to take insane risks at amy point of the game; we had much better trust to our opponent's making a mistake or to holing a long putt ourselves. —A Reminiscence of Hunstanton.— One of the wisest and moat striking pieces of safety play that I have seen fo< a long while "was at this year's Ladies' Championship at Hunstanton, in tt«« match between Miss Ravenscroft and SGsa I Martin Smith. Going to the last hole, I Miss Martin Smith was dormy 1 up; she i had played a good' tee shot, and a good | second, and had thus an excellent steaien gic position in front of the cross-bunlcaTj whence a steady pitch and. two pottl would give her a 5. Miss Ravenscrpffc hadhad the longer drive, and had reached ajj position from which with her best brassay shot she might hope to reach the graea. There were, however, several important buts to be considered. She wanted a goo* lie, and she had rather a bad one; it wm thus extremely problematical if she could cavrv the bunker at all. and, even if ana did," the ball, hit almost necessarily kr*| from a hard lie. would probably shoo* over the green; the bunker was a badj bunker, and. once in it. she was mora likely to take 6 than 5. I have a notion—perhaps it is an uxmw one—that Miss Ravenscroft. if left to bar own devices, would have hurled* herself cheerfrj'v at the bali, and pin it to tia mwh "rice »T.d for all, but-Ac iad ! «s caddv of giant intellect- and commanding manner. She toot an iron «-nd_ put-yed short, trusting to one oi two possiMlittes, Possibility No. 1 did not come to her aid, for she did not get down in one mitt, though she made a gallant effort to <.<• so. Possibility No. 2 justified her trust :.; it, for Miss "Martin .Smith made a mistake;, she was rather short with her pitch, «the*» *hort again with her first putt, am!, did not hole her second. 'Hie match was halved, and Miss Ravenscroft ultimately. won it on the 2Cth green. _ This was a fine example of saleity p-tay, even in extremis—a!i the more so because, if ii had not been successful, the playis* must necessarily have had her own conscience and the reproaches of her mends, spoken or unspoken, to contend against. If the hole had beer, halved and the match ]o=t it would have been impossible not to think remorsefully of the bold stroke mi. attempted. Conscience would have wMsnered" that, after all, the he had not been, £0 bad, and those who had not seeni it would have declined to believe ih*fc H had been bad at all. The course, which, as far as public estimation xs concerned, oaq only be justified by success, needs soma courage in the taking.

—The Puit-er or the Brassey.—

hi considering any question of «afety plav we have to attempt a terribly oiincuit task—that of putting ourselves in th,e place of some cold-blooded, imparted actuary calculating risks. There is om point that wo ought always to try to remember oven in our most agitated state. However badlv we putt as a rule, wo da occasionally hole Jong putts, and we may do so at "this crucial moment; alternatively we raav lav a mashie shot dead. On the other hand", unless we are in thai verv small class who have a little of extra length "up their sleeves" for emergencies. we very seldom hit any one brassey shot* decidedly further than any other— thai, is, presuming in both case* that wflf hit th« ball clean. Which, then, is the mor< likelv : that we shall hole a lon# putt, or suidden.lv he dowered with a na«# 'ireriL'th, so that we hit the brassey *ho4 further than we have any right, to expeotf The chances are surely in. favor of tha putt. Of course, the question becomes mncfa more difficult when no extraordinary stroke i~ required ; when our ordinary stroke, played as well as we can play it, will just, arid only just, carry the bunlwr. Again, it may not bo a matter of carrying at all. but of fleering the ball along a very narrow road between desperate perils. In this last case we know thai we can plav the shot sometimes; the only question" is whether we are made of mfSc id entry gallant stuff to he able to play it

When the risks are no nicely balanced we had better do what we _*" feel Hke doing" at the. moment; bnt if we tak* the Brave course we must make sure thai -we do so thrown brave motives, ami not either out of recklessness or an inability to bear the strain of waiting. And before we decide it is most important of ail to remember that the enemy la, as we are, a. man of human frailty; that he is qnito capable of making mistake* even when, he is feeling comfortable, and that Just now he is feeling exquisitely mieoinfartablc. The knowledge that his heart u throbbing horriblv may not still our own, bat it can give us" if we will only take it, a vah»bi# clue as to his probable behaviours