A Golfing Genius

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 7168, 15 March 1930, Page 13

A Golfing Genius

DIEGEL’S LEAP TO FAME

World’s Best-Paid Professional

“njl-lEN, two years ago, at Baltimore, Leo Diegel brought W an end to Hagen’s long reign as American professional champion, golfers tlie world over were taken by surprise, ‘Just a fortuitous circumstance, ’ was the. comment of those who knew more of Hagen than of the victory. The other day, at Los Angeles, Diegel administered a second dose of the same medicine, and for another year he wears the American crown. ‘A fortuitous circumstance’ is a phrase now requiring revision, the underlying suggestion of the element of luck having been proved unjustifiable and unsound.”

“What manner of man and golfer is he who has brought about the downfall of the world’s greatest match player?” asks “A F.oving Player” in London “Sporting and Dramatic News.” Without using the term loosely, I regard Diegel as a golfing genius. He is such because, in defying convention in the matter of style and method, Diegel, in working out his own salvation, has proceeded on lines which savour strongly of eccentricity, a human characteristic closely allied to genius. He has had to live down a good deal of ridicule. Hagen once likened Diegel to the “praying mantis,” a playful description often made use of, because of liis extraordinary putting attitude, something absolutely unique as regards style. It is based on the pendulum swing, which, Diegel maintains, is the only sure way of striking the ball with the face of the club square to the line of the putt.

In producing tho pendulum effect, Diegel certainly strikes an attitude suggesting prayer. The stance is fairly wide, with the toes turned in, pigeon fashion; the back is arched, so that the gaze is directly over the ball; both elbows are stuck out like a woman standing over a washtub scrubbing clothes; the hands held close to tho chest are clasped—the right over the left. All movement seems to come from the elbows, the left pushing tho clubhead back, and the right pushing it forward through the ball and not at it, a . distinction with a good deal of difference. FANTASTIC AND BIZARRE

By no stretch of imagination can this be called a pleasing style; rather is it fantastic and bizarre. But with that whimsical little smile of his Diegel will look at you and say, “What does it matter so long as the putts go in?” I do not suppose it matters two hoots; in fact, I overheard a wellknown amateur exclaim, . “If I could putt as well as tills fellow I wouldn’t mind standing on my head. People might laugh; but let them.” Certainly the la.ugh is with the man whose putts are constantly disappearing into the hole, because, other things being equal, he is going to win. No player has more reason to know the truth of this statement than Mitchell. In the Ryder Cup match ho was the victim of a display of putting which amounted almost to witchcraft, Diegel’s putts dropping in from every conceivable position. Mitchell was beaten by 9 and 8, the biggest margin in his career either as an amateur or a professional. Diegel’s oddity of style does not end with the putting; for example, in driving he is different from any other golfer I have yet met. He and Mr. Eustace Storey are the only two first-class golfers who wear gloves.

In the case of Diegel, he wears one on the loft hand as a preventive against soreness and consequent loosening of the grip at the critical moment of the stroke. Most golfers hate the idea of wearing gloves; firstly, because they feel clumsy, and .secondly, because delicacy of touch, a most important consideration, is lost. However, in neither direction is Diegel troubled, and as a hitter of the ball both as regards length and direction he has few peers. Diegel procures his effects in a manner peculiar to himself. He tees up the ball on a specially made peg 2fin. high, an'd employs a driver with a face two inches deep, the head of the club being so massive as to give the appearance of a bludgeon. A QUICK THINKER Naturally, with an implement of this description, the swing has to be flat rather than upright; in other words, it is a ‘Tound-the-corner swing with a tendency to hook, an excellent and lucrative shot when under proper control. Dicgel’s drives swing in from right to left, not, of course, violently, with spin on the ball, which, on alighting, shoots forward with a good amount of run. It is not a type of shot for the ordinary golfer; lie should concentrate on getting the ball into the air, where, as J. H. Taylor properly says, there are no hazards, and down the middle of the course. When he can perform with confidence this elementary part of the business, then is the time to practise the shot hit with "draw.”

Not only a quick thinker, Diegel is a courageous fighter whose creed, when dealing with a player of the Hagen type, is “to hit hard and often,” and to be blind and deaf to the “showman stuff.” By nature Digel is inclined to be excitable and emotional, a man who goes through life living on his nerves. I have witnessed two pathetic sights in my golfing life; one was at Prestwick when Macdonald Smith, with a hatful of strokes to spare, broke down in the most pitiable manner imaginable, and the other was at Muirfield this year, when Diegel, with the championship virtually in his pocket, collapsed like a house of cards. Afterward, in the privacy of his room, Diegel was found literally weeping tears of rage at himself. In robbing Hagen of much of his glory, Diegel has become a dangerous rival in the matter of personality and earning power. With a retaining fee of £3,000 a year from the Agua Coliente Country Club, Old Mexico, Diegel is the most highly-paid of any professional in the world, while his earnings from all sources amount to double that sum.