GOLF NURSERIES

Evening Star, Issue 19841, 14 April 1928, Page 13

GOLF NURSERIES

PASSING INFLUENCE OF COURSES UPON PLAYERS [Written by Harry Varron, for the 7 ‘ Evening Star.’J One of the k...,.rcs of latter-day gull has been the rise in the playing strength of the English Midlands. Lust season this district provided the winners of three national titles, namely—Ur William Twoddell, British amateur champion*, Mr T. P. Parkins, English native champion; and Mr Eric Ficidian, British boy champion. It was a notable success in view of the fact that the Midlands, despite its many courses and players, had nevei previously gained any distinction as a nursery of first-class golfers, and in discussing it the other day, somebody referred particularly to the success of “ the Stourbridge school.” This was in appreciation of the circumstances that both Ur Twoddell and Mr Fiddian, as well as Miss Barbara Law, who secured the Midland ladies’ championship, entered for their respective events from the Stourbridge Club. It is customary to taik of “ schools of golf ” as though certain centres of the game produced numbers of players each possessing characteristics of style which, to an expert eye, revealed the place of origin. I think there was once a good deal of justification for this belief. r Io speak of the St. Andrew’s school meant something positive, for each succeeding generation roared in that ancient homo of the game showed a preference for a certain typo of swing -—a full, easy-flowing, and rather flat swing. On i.he other hand, the succession of prominent players bailing from Jersey adopted, without exception, an upright swing. In the palmy clays of Musselburgh, “ the Musselburgh school ” was distinguished bv a peculiar way of holding the club for playing long running shots—a grip which, so Jack White once said, was thought out by 7 old Willie Park, open champion _ over sixty years ago, and cultivated through the generations until the Musselburgh course faded into obsolescence. White learnt the grip from the son of old AA illie Park, and it helped him a lot, he says, to win his own open championship. AGE OF MANY STYLESBut these identification signs seem almost to have disappeared. Nowadays methods among championship players arc many and diverse; sometimes wonderful and sometimes fearful. No two men oven from the same training ground have much in common. Perhaps it is in some degree the outcome of the modern ball, which so often rewards a bad shot with a tolerably good result that everybody is content to take his'chance with any sMe that comes to him, mid wellt.. jnght-out science is more or less at a discount. What is known as the Hoylake school of golf has never had any features of style common to all its celebrities, and the fact is the more curious by reason of the multiplicity of those individuals. It might have been expected that at least two of them would bo alike in method. They have included Mr John Ball and Mi Harold Hilton, the only amateurs, apart from Mr Bobby Jones, who have secured the open championship; Mr Charles Hutchings, a winner of the British amateur championship; Mi John Graham, the most brilliant and most unlucky amateur of bis day; bis sister, Miss Molly Graham, who was lady* champion; Tom Ball, who was runner-up twice in the open championship ; and Mr T. F. Ellison, twice English native champion. Many things ha,o been said and written to show that golf has its nurseries. Apart from the examples already quoted of the St. Andrew’s and Jersey swings and the Musselburgh grip—and as distinctive characteristics of places they belong to past generations rather than the present—there is little to support the theory. Nor is there much evidence to show that historic courses which are recognised as first-class tests of the game necessarily help fo evolve great players. Take, for instance, Prestwick links, the original battleground of the British open championship. For twelve years the event was decided there until somebody conceived the idea that it, would bo at least a change to go to SI. Andrew’s. To this day Prestwick is fiijnous as a course; it hns.livcd in fame through the. generations as a world-renowned links, and it is to he the scene of this year’s amateur championship. And yet it has never produced a great golfer. The same is true of Sandwich, which is in some respects the most historic, of the English courses. Admittedly it is remote and exclusive, but that ought, not to account for its utter barrenness as a nursery. THE HARD ROAD. At any rate, the Midland district lias every reason to plume itself, if it wishes to do so, on the issues ol recent golf. Precisely why Stourbridge should have been the chief cause of its rise, I do not know. Can it be that their champions have infected one another with an enthusiasm for practice ? It may be claimed that Ur Twcddell is not a product of Stourbridge. He went to reside there only a ycai or two ago iu the pursuit of his profession as a medical man; ho was already a golfer of ability. All the same, I believe that the Stourbridge Club allowed rather grudgingly that ho plight be rated at scratch iu club co mpetitious. He had to win two events iu order to earn the burden of a plus-two handicap, which was Ills mark when he became amateur champion in Britain. 1 am told that Ur Twoddell applied himself desperately hard to the game in the intervals allowed by his medical duties. When, in a friendly round, he had made a bad shot, lie would ask his partner’s pcrpiission to put down another ball, and, if necessary, another one, until he had played the shot to his satisfaction. • This may not be the merry-go-ronnd way that pleases the average golfer. But the evidence asserts itself that it is a very good way. The masters of a previous generation, when goil was the simple pursuit of the few, had the incentive, to practise systematically, and the Americans have it now. During tournaments you will see them practising shots in the intervals between rounds while their opponents are reposing their faith in rest from the tension. That, perhaps, is a surer key to success than the circumstances of having been horn in a so-called golfing nursery.