THE GOLFER’S CLUBS.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2314, 5 December 1925, Page 12

THE GOLFER’S CLUBS.

AN IMPORTANT POINT IN SELECTION. (By Harry Yardon. Six Times Open Champion). A Yorkshire golfer has written to I me on the question of the “lie” of clubs. By "lie" is meant tho angle the shaft makes with tho ground when the club is soled behind tho ball in the ordinary manner of the address before the shot. The subject is one of considerable Importance. My correspondent says:—“l do not think that in ‘How to play golf’ (which I have read four times with great benefit) yon make emphatic pronouncement on the matter save as regards tho wooden clubs. I should like, therefore to know if you ad. vise having the same lie on the driver, brassie, cleek, iron, and masbio. I presume tho niblick and putter are laws unto themselves.” In the volume to which reference is made I have strongly recommend, ed the player to see that his driver and brassie are of exactly the same length and lie, and the more experience I obtain of golf the deeper grows my faith in the value of this hint. So far as I have been , able to judge, 'it is the brassie that provokes the greatest misgiving among the majority of moderate performers, they live in such mortal dread ot bungling a shot yet frequently it is the very club that they need most at what are known as two-shot holes, because they are not such long hitters from the tee as their brethren ot the plus and cratch departments In many cases, the cause of their mistrust and failures is that they have a brassie of''a different lie from the driver. It is either a little more upright or a little flatter. Their natural instinct is to stand for it in the same way as for the driver, and, as a consequence, either the too or the heel of the brassie Is off the ground when tho club-head is placed behind the ball preparatory to the accomplishment of the stroke. Tho action is so brief that its details may escape notice, but I am convlnc. cd that many brassie shots are miss, ed because, owing to the descrepancy in the lie of the wooden clubs, either the too of the brassie is cocked into the air during the address or is nearer to the ground than the heel. The full length of the sole should be capable of being rested on the ground just as it is with the driver. Length and Stance. In regard to iron clubs, I do not agree with those who say that here also the lies should bo exactly the same. The shorter the club the more upright it should be, inasmuch as it compels one to stand a little nearer to the ball. The lie of the cleek will be tho closst approach to that of the wooden clubs. The difference will be very small indeed, but it will be just sufficient to allow one to stand a trifle nearer to the ball, as one should do, for tho ciocn than for the driver or the brassie. There will be only a small disparity in the lie of any two Instruments in the bag, but tt is a sound rule to lay down that the shorter the club the closer the player should stand to the ball in order not to have to stretch his arms uncomfortably during the, address. As a rule the cleek is a little shorter than the driver, the Iron a little shorter than the cleek and the mashie a little shorter than the iron. These graduations are for the common good so long as the golfer re. members to close in a .trifle on the ball for every inch that is lacking in tho length of the shaft. And. vchen he is standing nearer, it follows as a matter of course that the lie of the club should be correspondingly more upright so as to enable him to ground the full extent of the sole of the club during the address. This latter is an important point that applies to every shot where one is allowed to ground. ■ It secures a command over the situation which is Impossible when half of the sole is off the turf; for, unless the player is a genius and something of a con. tortionist, half of it will still be. off the turf as it strikes the nail. About The Ball. Anoher correspondent writes to me on the subject of the ball. He expresses the opinion that tho of the Royal and Ancient Club, as tho body possessing the power of final decision in all matters appertaining to golf legislation, have made a mistake in rejecting the proposal of their own ' Committe to standardise a ball larger and lighter than that now in common use. He says that, if the average golfer —"with a handicap of anything from 4 to 24”—only know it, he would obtain belter results from a ball larger than that which at present holds the field as a fashion. Personally, 1 am sure that my correspondent is right. The ordinary golfer multiplies his difficulties especially at this season of tho yearf, when the ground is more or less heavy, by placing his faith in the ball of 1.02 Inches diameter. He goes on using it as a habit but its smallness makes it lie so closely to the ground that in the majority of instances he has to dig deeply into the turf to got it on its way. And he is not built to dig like a powerful young man of the Arthur Hayes type, who can take this liberty ■without being cheeked in the progress. The moderate golfer is very well advised to give his trust to a ball bigger than the legal minumum. The size, suggested by the -Rules Com. mitteo is a diameter of 1.68 inches, which means just sufficient of an in. crease in girth to make the ball sit up instead of nestle down, is admirably suited to the great; majority of ! golfers, except that on . the hal’d ground that prevails during three or four months of the year, they can secure a greater run with the'small ball. The real crux of the; question is that the younger and, stronger players like the small ball, because they

have the strength to hack it out o! heavy lies and make the most of its capacity to gain distance —once it has been lifted into the air- I am convinced however, that many a long-handicap player would: Improve by using the bigger ball. He has first to make sure of lifting- it.