GOLF.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVIII, Issue 18600, 30 December 1920, Page 9

GOLF.

AT HOME AND ABROAD

(By “THE CADDIE”.! Although this is the “off season so far a-s competitions are concerned a> few players appear occasionally at the various links. The course at Richmond .Hill is still in good order and is still patronised by a lew enthusiasts, j l have not noticed anyone at llagley lately and play had to be stopped at Avondale some time ago owing to the length of the grass. Shivloy club kept up competitions later than any other, the last being on December 16. “ deck,’’ writing in the “ Southland Times” remarks that many golfers are still playing regularly both at Otatara and on the Park, both courses being in good order. He mentions that the Balmanceau links are in good order for the New Year tournament. Teachers of golf, both on paper and by word of mouth, have in so many instances declared putting to be an inspiration that hundreds of despairing duffers have let it go at that and given up all hope of coaxing the ball into the hole except by way of merciful fluke. 'The said duffers can now take heart again, for a great revivalist has come to their rescue, bringing tidings _of comfort and joy, and roundly declaring that putting is not an inspiration, but an art “ which can be taught and, by perseverance, acquired.” “It is/’ lie says. “ knowing • bow—and practice." All bad putters, and many useful ones, too, would do well to seize this opportunity of sitting at the feet of Willie Park, the “ Prince of Putters,” the exnert who thirty years ago coined the aphorism, “ The man who can putt is a match for anyone,” and lias again and again proved it to. be correct. Park lias embodied bis ripe knowledge in a book, entitled “ The' Art of Puttine ” (J. and J. Gray, St James-place. Edinburgh, one guinea), and in it has covered everything that can hnnpen on the battle-ground represented bv the/ shaven area round the hole-tin. He explains how he first learned the art by constant ornetice on the difficult greens at Musselburgh and even on a brick floor in his father’s shop, and bow, at the time he was engaged in liis big matches, ho still further perfected himself by putting on a private green where the six holes were of different lengths and out half an inch smaller than regulation size. 'Compared with those, he said, the ordinary hole looked iike a wash tub.

Park, in his book, goes over the ground thoroughly. Tn his chapter on the dub he advocates the use of a putter with a narrow sole, which permits play from a cupped lie, and this should provide food for thought to those people who wield what, the irreverent call “ flat irons.” The neck of the putter, Park says, should be bent, this "making the stroke more of a,, pull than a push. His statement that “ it is much easier to pull the ball into the hole than it is to push it in ’’ is likely to arouse controversy at the present time, when so many first-class players address and hit the ball off the toe and try to cut it into the tin. Further on Park states: “ ’J’lie player must hit the ball with the middle part of the blade each time, and with thorough practice this can ; be done.”

Allot her controversial statement is: “In playing the stroke the wrists act on the same principle as a hinge, and the club is taken straight hack. The club should bp kept just clear of the ground. The ball i should be hit

“ kindlv ” with a slow backward and forward movement bending the right wrist. ... On the forward move-

llwnt the club should be raised just enough to keep it dear of the ground when hitting the ball. The dub should only hit the ball, and not the ball and the ground. Even after the ball has been hit the club shortld not touch the green.” This should lead to furious thinking among many players, especially those who “stab” their putts, but Park’s method is the one to be recommended since it makes for a pendulum movement, corrent timing, and retention of the line, whereas the stab shot ns affected by numerous minor professionals often wobbles just wide of the hole in most tantmlasing fashion.

Again, Park is likely to be challenged for saying: “ There is no such thing as "under cutting’ or putting a drag on a downhill putt or-any other kind of putt. The putt is essentially a stroke in which the bnll is kept rolling over the ground. The only time the ball can revolve backwards and still travel in a forward direction is when the ball is in the air. No ball can roll forward and be revolving backwards at the same time. That is what people are really saying when they speak about under cutting a j>utt or putting a drag on it.” The average player will agree, because he knows that in his own humble way, when faced with a straight downhill putt he dares attempt nothing more ambitiqus than a “trickle” with just sufficient strength to drop the bail into the tin at what might be called the last gasp. And yet one seems to remember seeing Jack White—a putter who could challenge comparisons even with Park—“ stop* ping ” downhill putts in an uncanny fashion that' certainly suggested the application of some mysterious checking process. Park’s book is full of other interesting points. Because, he says, all the hitting of a putt should be done with the right hand, he believes in the grip with the four lingers of the right hand on the shaft and the right thumb lying across and pointing down, as opposed to tlie overlapping grip, which, in his opinion brings the left hand too much into play.. Plnyers who fix themselves as stiffly as men in armour on the greeils should note that Park says, ” Take up an easy and comfortable position,” while those fussy folk who waste everybody’s time .in studying the line, first by squatting behind the ball and looking towards the liolo, then crouching behind the hole and squinting towards the ball, and even repeating the ritual several times, should ponder those word? of wisdom from Park: “In doing this (as described above), however, the player sees two different directions, only one of which is of any use. The right line is that seen by looking from the ball to the bole, and this can also be got by simply standing bv tho ball and looking down on the ground over which it will have to pass.” If only the “squatters” will take these tips Park will earn the thanks of the thousands of players who have been held up to the point of desperation by “ biade-of-grass inspectors” in front.

There were good entries for the various competitions at the Christmas tournament now being held at Here(Wellington). In the two Qualifying rounds of the Summer Championship J. L, Black (Morningtnn) tons the list with A. W. S. Duncan (Wellineion), the score of each being 158. C. A. Seymour, of the Christchurch dub. whose scores of Si and 79 total IG3 fills fourth place, and another Christchurch representative in D. Whyte (83, 88—-171) is eighth amongst the best sixteen. C. A. Seymour (handicap 7) won a stroke handicap of 36 holes with a net score of 149. For the first round of the Summer Championship Seymour had to meet H. R. Bnlneavis (Miramar) and Whyte had a bye.