GOLF

Evening Star, Issue 20040, 4 December 1928, Page 3

GOLF

BEATING ONE’S ILLUSIONS NERVES AND NOISE Golf has probably more illusions per player than any other game (says Gene Sarazcn). The big trouble with players is that once they have contracted this dread illusion malady there seems no knoivn remedy with which to cure them. They seem as proud of their idiosyncrasies as most women are of their operations. That is if their odd gestures arc just personal little reactions to the surroundings or a set curriculum they go through before hitting the hall. They aro not quite so proud, indeed, rather humble, however, if there are one or two holes ou a course that they seem unable to master. This, indeed, chagrins them. Not only tho duffer, but the star, too. lo admit that one is baffled by the mere memory of what that bolo_eost the time before is hardly’ sell-satisfying. I no player realises tho trouble is merely mental, but these mental diseases aro sometimes tho hardest to cure. Iho.V have a decided ill effect on the physical forces. , 1 have known innumerable numbers of golfers who were completely at a Joss when they had to surmount a water hazard. Perhaps a memory’ ol their glimpse of water during tho first couple** ol* days of crossing the ocean blue, when they were not lecling quite so well, had something to do with it. That might explain the look of seasickness I’vo discerned in players’ laces Oil numerous occasions when the ball was just ready to bo dispatched oaci, into, or short of the wafer hazard; mostly into. The minute a doubt enters into their minds regarding the success of the oroposod shot, they seem at sea. Though they really aren t, tho ball generally is. Attribute tins to imagination, illusion, or whatever the especial pet term you have in mind lor it; tho tact still remains that to score well at all times one must get rid oh these hallucinations and play tho ball as if it wore just another ordinary shot. Ono must conquer oneself before one can conquer par. Allowing tbo water hazard to dry up, I run across many other strange and peculiar actions in different players. Ono player I know cannot play a shot if there is anv noise at all about him. There must bo a graveyard silence or the ball doesn’t move, though perhaps the club docs. I do not think it is a case of shell shock, for tho player was not in the war, and, as ho isn’t married, I am at a loss to explain it. I will leave that for some psychologist. Needless to say, on Sundays and holidays this player’s game is considerably worse than at other times, because there aro many more people playing, and therefor© the noise is much greater. Another acquaintance of mine cannot play if there is anyone playing behind him. He thinks that sooner or later they will ask to go through, and until they do each shot is a nightmare. Ho imagines they are watching each shot he makes and casting insinuations on same. During these periods he perspires freely as if ho were undergoing inhuman torture, and probably mentally he is. . I recall other players who figuratively run to cover whenever an automobile approaches when they are playing in the vicinity of a road. In most of these eases 1 do not think it is the noise of the car, but rather the thought that somebody is -watching them. Still others have queer actions in regard to their clubs preparatory to swinging at the ball with intent to hit. One will not make the down swing until he can perceive the club head over his left shoulder. This only means that he is swinging too far back, but any attempt to apprise him of the fact is met with the proud answer that this is a hobby of his, and he couldn’t even hit the ball without employing the gesture. A player who had quite a bit of success in the minor baseball leagues always hits his left instep with the club, a habit ho contracted in baseball leagues to loosen the mud from his spikes with a bat. However, his golfing ability

would not land him in a semi-pro golf league. I could quote many more such examples, but these few, I think, will suffice. After all golf is a game, and as such should bo indulged in for the recreation and fun one gets out of it. And such instances make tho fun funnier. Imagination is tho dearth of a low golf score; it puts the player’s nerves on edge, makes him visualise hazards that do not exist, causes Lam to observe imaginary slopes on the green, and even reduces the size of tho cup. It is bettor to have a dull, nonchalant outlook, impervious to external influences. ALTERING THE BALL. Leave tho golf ball alone. This sums up what most golfers foci about tho revolutionary proposal to supersede the present ball with one larger and lighter. Tho proposal was expected to come up for discussion (some said decision) at the autumn meeting of the Royal and Ancient Club, which has just been held at St. Andrews, hut tho annouricem-ant was made by Mr Angus V. Hambro, tho chairman of tho Rules of Golf Committee, that it had been decided to ipostpono any action in regard to tho specification of tho size and weight of tho golf ball, at the request of the United States Golf Association, until important experiments in that country had been completed. “ Our dominions,” said Mr Hambro, “are also being consulted.” Whatever the dominions may think it is as certain as day follows night that the big hotly of British golfers are dead opposed to any change in the hall at present in use, which weighs 1.G20z, and is 1.62 in in diameter; the proposed new ball weighs l.oooz, and is 1.68 in in diameter—a very considerable difference.

Advocates of the change say that tho present ball goes too far; that it has destroyed the art of shot-making, and made the game too easy. It certainly did not make tho game too easy for cither tho British Ryder or Walker Cup teams. The truth is that the proposal emanates from a few leading players, both hero and in tho United States, but judging from American Press comment the rank and file of tho game across tho Atlantic are, like the great mass of tho golfing community here, .satisfied that the game is both hard enough and good enough as it stands.

A larger and lighter ball will definitely make golf more difficult for the long handicap player—and the long handicap player is the backbone of every club throughout the world. Why further handicap him in order that the game may be made more difficult for the (in comparison) mere handful of golfers who take part in championship events. For tho new ball is obviously intended to make the game more difficult for the best players. That is indeed tho whole case for it. The case against it is tho natural desire of the moderate golfer to preserve anything which will flatter his golf. The new ball would definitely deprive him of the joy of hitting a good one from the tee; and he would unquestionably have much greater difficulty in controlling the ball in any conditions. If there must be ball reform, let the reformers—whoever they are—proceed in tho direction of a cheapening of tho half-crown ball. That would bo a sounder proposition.