GOLF

Northern Advocate, 2 April 1932, Page 12

GOLF

GOOD PUTTING. LIGHT TOUCH ESSENTIAL. EASY STANCE ~~DESIRABLE. Writing in the “Christian Science Monitor,” C, B. Maefarlane says: — Glancing back over the golf of the past season, one performance stands out as being highly meritorious. Easily the best performance was the win of the American amateur championship by Francis Ouimet, the tall, smiling golfer who made history when he tied and beat both Ted Ray and Harry Vardon in the play-off for the American open championship in 1913, Francis Ouimet then was in his twentieth year, and the whole world of golf buzzed with excitement that a youth should dare not only to tie with but to beat these two groat professional golfers, who wore then almost at their best. ' Almost A Veteran.

Ouimet is now thirty-eight,- an age which is looked upon almost as being in the veteran stage in America. f Ouimet waded through the younger school of golfers, who, at one period, looked like running away with all the chief amateur events, as witness the final of the British amateur at Westward Ho, where Eric Martin Smith and John de Forest—both in their twentieth year—fought out the final, Smith winning after a long-drawn-out struggle. Francis Ouimet is an excellent performer with the putter. It is quite interesting to watch the American grip the putter so very lightly' in the fingers and roll the ball smoothly along the green. Good eyesight, of course, is a wonderful asset in playing golf, but an even greater one is a delicate touch for the short shots, and particularly on the putting green, and here Francis Ouimet, like Ted Bay, is the happy possessor of fingers which , just seem to grip the golf club tightly enough without hanging on to it with vice, like grip. The conviction grows stronger with me that the secret of good putting is to be found in this delicate grip. No Lift Advised. We all know that some day we can putt with greater accuracy than on others, and the trouble, I feel sure, is ,to be found in the firmness of the grip. That great amateur golfer, John E. Laidley, who won many medals at St. Andrews and North Berwick, once said that ho was golfing best when he was gripping lightly; and one of the longest drives in the professional world, the late Douglas Holland, said that the whole secret of getting a ’long ball was to grip "lightly."

A light grip certainly docs permit the clubhead to swing in a groove, and this is more true of the putter than any other club. And if there is a secret in putting it is to prevent the clubhead from being lifted in the backswing. It must sweep along the green, just as the driver does on the teeing ground.

If the putter lifts, the chances are that the ball will he half topped. Then it may or may not drop into the hole; but if the clubhead be held close to the grass, the ball has a much better chance of being struck in the middle of the putter. Stand easily and comfortably with the body weight on both feet. In the down swing allow the left hand to go forward. Any chock of the forward movement of the hands should bo avoided, for that alters the true path of the clubhead.