CHANGED OUTLOOK IN GOLF

Evening Star, Issue 19699, 28 October 1927, Page 12

CHANGED OUTLOOK IN GOLF

LONG DRIVING INSTEAD OF SCIENCE [Written by Hahrv Vaudon, for the ‘Evening Star.’] I have just been reading the year book which is published annually by the United States Golf Association, it is a most comprehensive volume of official records, and it includes the reports of the numerous _ special committees of the each of which has charge of a certain department of legislative affairs in American golf. One of these reports makes it clear that our friends across the Atlantic are still working hard to find a solatia® to the problem of limiting the driving power of the ball. All their activities are now directed towards perfecting a machine devised by Professor H. A. Thomas, of the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburg, for measuring the resilience of the ball. They feel that if this resilience can bo measured and restricted, then a definite limitation can be placed on tho carrying and running powers of the ball—a theory to which our own Rules Committee has subscribed. Ac first blush, the scheme may seem to have some of the eccentricity ol a Heath Robinson idea. The construction of the apparatus is such that it discharges ball after ban with the consistency of a gun filing shells. At a distance of a few feet the ball impinges on a pendulum, which communicates the power of the blow to another pendulum. On the latter the measure of the ball’s resiliency is registered. It all sounds desperately fresh, but if we accept the promise that driving is so excessively Jong under certain conditions—particularly the hard ground of summer time—as to make the other shots of disproportionate length, then we have to confess, that the resiliency of the ball is the cause of all the trouble. For this it is that produces the run that makes the normal hitter flatter himself about his driving capacity. Deep down in tho souls of most players is an abiding satisfaction with tho situation. If, as a result of it, the game is going to ruin as a test of skill, it is at least going to rum in a very exciting way. Whether the multitude are living in a fool’s paradise in the sense that all this liveliness in the ball is making it difficult for the purposes of approaching and putting, is tho form of propaganda which the authorities need to launch before they can hope to convert their subjects to the cause of diminished driving power. MORE LENGTH TO COME. Mr W. C. Fowues, the moving spirit in the American scheme, has said that in tho absence of restrictive legislation we may expect to see tho shots go farther and farther as tho ball-makers discover new methods of manufacture. Tho American scientists have tested every well-known brand of ball on their machine, and discovered that the most resilient on the market shows no more than C2 per cent, of tho resiliency that is possible in an article of its size and weight. At tho present time, first-class players given favorable conditions of ground—aim and expect to reach tho green from the too at a hole of, say, 260yds. They often drive a great deal farther. In the last open championship at Troon, for instance, there was Mr Cyril Tolley driving on to the green at tho first bole, which measures 330yds, and getting down his putt for a two. At least two or three players have driven on to tho green at the eighteenth hole at Bt. Andrews —a distance of 364yds. These are exceptional shots, but, granted the developments which the American scientists declare to be possible, it seems reasonable to suggest that holes of 400yds will one day be reached from the tee without anybody getting very excited about it. This may maim golf more amusing than ever in a purely sensual way, but whether it will make for the ultimate good of the game is doubtful. It is certain that the leading American players are not nearly as keen as our most prominent golfers on hitting their drives tremendous distances. Walter Hagen once told us that we devote too ranch attention to this department at the sacrifice .of proficiency in the art of saving strokes round, and on the putting green, and probably ho was right. . , . In point of fact, Hagen himself is capable of driving a good deal farther than he does in the ordinary way. Ho lot himself go to the full in the intex - - national team match at Wentworth with which the American professionals opened their lour hero last pear, and everybody who had seen him during Ins previous visits to this country remarked upon the increased length of his hitting. A LOST AMBITION. T mentioned the matter to him. “Yes,” he said, “I was loosening myself out, and hitting a bit harder than usual to-day; but Jong driving doesn t count for anything. It’s getting on to the green and holing out that wins.’ That was six weeks before ho delivered himself of his views as to why tho Americans heat us at golf. It at least indicated that he came over with his sentiments already established, and that, although ho only gave voice to them at tho finish, they were not formed during his stay. Far and away the most notable change that has conic over tho, attitude of this country towards, golf since 15(14 is that the studv of methods, which was once the ruling passion of the game, has become almost a lost art. For proof of this, one has only to analyse golf club talk. At one time the conversation in the club house during the luncheon interval and alter the day’s play turned rapidly and inevitablv to discussions os to how this, that, or’ the other well-known golfer executed ids shots. Now it i' generally about bow far somebody drives. It is conceivable that the ctiang< n outlook on must matters produced In tho war has brought about this chant: in the attitude towards gob. II ‘ methods of tho loading British piayei were never so diverse and misccllaneoc as they aro now. In this respect, tin Americans provide a striking contrast Their uniformity of method is reman--able, even though Mr Bobby Jones isomething of a law unto himself