HOW TO LEARN GOLF

Evening Star, Issue 19062, 3 October 1925, Page 11

HOW TO LEARN GOLF

IMPORTANCE OF FIRST TWO MONTHS [Written by Hamit Vamjon, for tie ‘Evening Star.’] It happens invariably during the holiday month of August that great numbers of beginners at golf are let loose upon seaside, links, to the very great harassment of players who want to make their way round at a normal pace. ■ . ■ • , , Unfortunately, there seems to be no means by which the clubs in charge of the courses can remedy this situation. If they are willing—as most of them are—to accept green fees from players who belong to recognised golf clubs, they cannot stipulate the exact standard of ability which the visitors shall show, since the average person does not know how he will perform from one day to another. Nor can they declare that novices shall be barred, since some novices are bettor at the game than individuals who have philandered with it for years. The result is that, just when the courses are most crowded, there are always to be found a certain number of players who, being as inefficient as it is possible to be at the time of introduction to an art hitherto untouched, create misery for everybody else. Animated with the holiday spirit, these beginners do not realise the trouble that they cause; they seem to think that other people are pretty much as themselves/ I remember seeing two of them start on a Yorkshire seaside course, , After various foozles, they both got into pot bunkers about 150 yards from the first teeing ground, and there—each in his own bunker—they beat the ball again and again, working their respective ivays round and &ound the interiors of their respective bunkers, striking the walls like wild birds in captivity fluttering against the bars of their cages, hut never getting free. . t A large crowd waiting on the teeing ground to start had to endure this, with all the horrors that it threatened to those who had the courage to follow in the wake of the chequered pair. AN HOUR A DAY.

My object in mentioning the matter is to put forward the point that there is no need for anybody to thrust himself into the middle of the golf course in this unprepared state—a state which prevents him from obtaining proper enjoyment from the game, and certainly spoils the enjoyment of other people. I am certain that any normal person with an ordinary aptitude for the game can learn enough in two months to avert being a nuisance to himself and others if he will devote those two months to lessons and practise without attempting to play a round during the period. At the end of it he will be qualified to play ou any course without the likelihood of suffering checks at every turn and checking his brethren at every turn. To me it is a matter of very groat wonderment that only about one person in every ten thousand adopts this principle of obtaining a thorough grounding in the science of the game before starting to take part in matches. It was the way that I learnt golf, and if I were going to try and play such a game as billiards, even late in life, I would do nothing for a few months but have lessons at it and practise shots at it. If sully people could be induced to realise it there is an immensity of interest in preparation for the first round.,of golf. The best plan, I think, is to have an hour’s lesson from the club professional one day, practise what has been taught for an hour on the following day, and go on alternating instruction and practice throughout the two months. Five clubs are sufficient for a_ start —brassie, mid-iron, rnaslne, niblick, and putter. Indeed, it will probably bo at least eighteen months before the player need burst beyond the bonds of Jkese five clubs. INTEREST. He should start with the brassie, using it for learning to drive from the tee, because of the confidence born of its little bit of loft, and making the acquaintance of a _ driver only when he knows how to hit the ball. He may well devote his first hour's lesson to this and practise with the brassie from the teg, for an hour oil the following day. It is not nearly so dull as the suggestion may at first sight. In fact, it soon becomes' deeply engrossing. The first shot may be disappointing, and the second ono astonishingly excellent. He puts down another ball and fails, and a fourth may suffer the same fate. Then comes a beauty. It quickly makes him feel that there is something in golf which ho can master if ho sticks to it, and that is the spirit which produces the player. On tho third day ho may devote himself with the professional to learning the use of the mid-iron, with an hour's practice following on the fourth day. And so on through the range of five clubs; then he can start again. Tin’s is tho quickest cut in tho world to a reasonable degree of proficiency at golf, and I can assure the render that it is full of interest because tho results are so full of variety and tho dosire to produce tho best shot is so keen all the while. The game is not terribly difficult. The trouble is that poople make it so by not learning to swing tho 'club correctly. A child has to be taught to use a knife and fork at table. If it were not taught, it would make a pretty mess of the operation. The simile is appropriate.