GOLF.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 1 November 1924, Page 11

GOLF.

Those who da not play summer golf have put away their clubs and, donning the garb of some. real summer sport, have adopted the racquet or the willow. For them lies ahead a. spell . six months before the links makes its call. Summer golfers have for several years had an excellent time in the off season. It has been most popular, thanks largely to the valued help of the enthusiastic golfer who directs the farming activities on the links. That has been an essential factor in making golf possible during the hot period from October to March. There is somewhat too much grass in one or two parts now because of the wonderfully favourable season for growth, but taking the condition as a whole it is very good and the greens are excellent. There will be a larger 'number playing this year, several more, ladies than usual being amongst the number. Everything points to a really good time.

The summer cup competition will make a fillip to the play, and no doubt as soon as the number is settled of players the drawing can take place. It has b.een. every year a most popular event.

Leo Quin had to lower his colour® to J. C. Bithvijl, of Masterton, on the Springy ale course last Monday. They both played good golf. Two great struggles were recorded in the other semi-final, where Goss beat Saunders at the 19th, and in the final in which the ex-champion Goss, was beaten by Bidwill, bub only at the twenty-first hole. LONG DRIVING. “Whatever may be said to the contrary,” writes the golf correspondent of the London Observer, “it is an undoubted fact that deep' down in the heart of every golfer there is the fierce desire to he recognised as a long driver, to compel admiration from friends and enemies alike by reason of the enormous distance covered by the drive. There is no golfer who does not hate to he out-driven, and so the mad rape for mere and more length goes on.” This is in an article on Mr. Tolley’s book on golf, and Tolley is one of the greatest of drivers. He, Tolley, sums it all up in the one word rhythm. “Swing back very slowly at the start of the drive, then swing down very slowly and in both case* solely with the left hand. To obtain length it is absolutely necessary to hit against the left side of the body. The toe of the left foot should be turned in. Never neglect to turn in the left toe. It is one of the secrets of the gam*.” “SLOW BACK” MYSTERY. SETTING THE PACE OF GOLF STROKES. ' i (Christchurch Star.) One 'of the oldest maxims in golf, amj» certainly one of the first that is impressed on every beginner, is “slow back.’’ No one knows precisely what it means, and it is pretty safe to say that it has caused the ruination of scores of potential golfers. It probably originated in "the dark ages of the game, when it was realised that it seems to be a natural instinct for every one who tries to hit a stationary ball to take the club back quickly. As a general principle, “slow back” ip a very sound idea, says Harry Vardon. the famous British golfer. But what many golfers do not realise is that it is just as bad to be too slow in the upswing as it is‘to be too quick. Good Examples. It is, of course, impossible to be dogmatic about the pace at which the club should bo taken hack, hut I rather admire the man who had a theory that from the moment of addressing the ball to the top of the swing should occupy the time it would take for J .he player to sing “God save our gracious King.” Walter Hagen and Edward Ray pro vide two good examples of the pace at which the upswing should be made. ' Tliey, like nearly all great golfers, are not noticeably slow, nor are they remarkably quick., -Ray has —quite unjustly in my opinion—frequently been accused of unorthodoxy, but in the matter of the b'ack6wing he is incontestably orthodox. As a pattern for the handicap man who wants to enter the select circle of scratch players I can imagine no better model than Ray in the matter of the upswing. The curious thing about the quick hackswing is that nearly all the people who practise it come down slowly. This, of course, is simply reversing the order of things. It means that the player has expended all his power at the wrong place’. If the ball were somewhere at the hack of his neck he might succeed in giving it. a healthy clout.

The object of the upswing, of course, is to get the body into such a position that the full weight and power of the player is imparted to the club at the moment of impact. Obviously, therefore, any acceleration in the pace of the club should occur the nearer it approaches the ball. . Comparative Time.

An expert with a stop-watch onertimed my swing for a full drive. He put; the watch on for about a dozen swings, and on each occasion he found that from the time of starting the clubhead away from the ball to the

top, of the swing took 1 l-oeec. .The down swing occupied 3-§see. This experiment seems to .indicate that the tafee “about twice as long as the movement coming down. An infinitesimal fraction of the times I have mentioned is, of course, spent in recovering from the top of the swing and gathering all one s power for the downward movement, One of the commonest faults on aqy links, however, is to see people making a full swing by taking the cjdb uji quickly and coming down slowly. But I cannot too strongly emphasise the fact that the other fault of obeying the '‘slow back” maxim too literally by taking the club up at a pace that is simply funereal is just as fatal. •

mashie the back swing is a bit slower than for the full drive. The great thing always to remember is that the club must come down firmly with; the club-head speeding up all the time * Naturally the mashie is not taken sol far back an the driver.

Golfers who come down slowly, as they nearly always do- after a. quick upswing, cannot guide the club properly. They are almost sure to get out °f position i-f the club is jerked up with a. kind of. spasmodic movement. The folly of attempting to play golf with a too rapid upswung may fee derponstrated by any one who. tries to hit a stone with an ordinary walking

The other extreme, however, is ; equally bad, and I am inclined to’ think that "Don’t hurry the back! “Slol back 1 6l -

NERVES! , ®f re : Caddy,! Take my watch and step bach a few yards. The damned : ticking puts me off my game.”