LEARNING 10 PUTT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 7 April 1926, Page 2

LEARNING 10 PUTT

THE til) LEER'S CHANGE To IMPROVE (]!v Harry \ anion, six limes open champion j it *■' *■- fmggv-teo. I; ill D tl arautiV.-s xv t; j b. re I/.*.-; i-it 1 1 x the Key it i arm Ancient Club O prepare t lieiiiselv.es loi ;h.' Walker Clip male'll against I lie I'nited Stales, nt St. Andrew's, in dune, should pa v particular attention to pulling practice, i am sure Hint il is a good idea. A lot of people declare that to learn to he a good putter is ini possible: that a person might just as reasonably hope by practising the writing of verses for a number of hours each week to become a great poet. I wonder I low much truth there is in this widespread belief?

After all, the business of laying a ba'li dead from ten or (Iftri nor twenty yards, and holing out ftuin three or four feet, is within the scope of anybody. Every golfer enjoys at least an occasional round when lie does it consistently whereas very few individuals, if they tried every day in their lives, could produce ten lines ot poetry comparable with the classics, i; is conceivable that the old saw that "driving is a knack, approaching is an art. and pulling an inspiration" contains a large proportion of fallacious seni.i men!.

The subject conies to mind us a result of llie return to form o; George Duncan. It is generally agreed that when Duncan is taking the game in ipiict earnestness, instead ot slapping carelessly at the ball, lie is a very line putter. The quickness and confidence with which lie holes out trout awkward little distances arc Ihe envy ot all his friends and rivals, and lie is jusi about as good as anybody in tin* longer pints which call part-icnlarly for judgment of strength and borrow. Duncan attributes his ability within twenty yards of, the hole (and all that a first-class player needs to do within that compass is to avoid prodigality of strokes; lie wins sooner or later il !.c lias a fairly regular aveiage of two putts per green) to nothing Imt sheer practice in his younger days.

SIX YEARS' STI'DY Some good putters are horn, but others succeed in making themselves such, and Duncan is one of the number. When he went to Timperley. .Manchester, to act as professional there — it was twenty years ago—lie resolved to study Ihe art of putting. He says that to master it look him six years, and that, for two of those years he never spent less than four or live hours a week in practising it. That is a record of patience and assiduity which few golfers can equal. Yerv likely, however, if lie had not devoted himself so thoroughly to learning that part of the game, where so many strokes can he wasted in a way that hurts the morale and self-reliance of the golfer more poignantly than any other, lie would not have become open champion. And Jo this day. Duncan uses the putter with which lie learnt to putt — another proof that this section of the game is an art and not an inspiration to be stimulated by const tint changes of dull. The most commonly sought of all remedies for an attack of ineffective putting is another club. Duncan. being human, lias had his off days with his old favourite, but never lias he lost fa it li in it. and it has rewarded his trust to the full.

it was originally a driving deck. He had its "lie" made more upright than ii was in its days of work through the green arid a new shaft lilted to it. That club saw him through hi* championship at Deal in 1920 just as it served him when, in HHlti, he leapt inic prominence be beating Braid and Taylor at Nottingham, and. so far as 1 can gather, he will go on using it till the end of his days—-unless he be overtaken by some sm-li awful tragedy as the loss of it.

.Assuming that the premise that amateurs /are, on the whole, better putters than professionals is unchallengahle. Duncan has an interesting theory in explanation of this. JTe points out that most professionals rise from the ranks of caddies, and that >n 111” struggling days of their boyhood, they nre glad to putt with any old club that can lie adapted to the purpose. It is very seldom that they have a real putter. More often than not they use the deck. and. as a result, develop wrung methods of putting.

A MATEDKS' ADVANTAGES Duncan pulled with his ordinary deck throughout the eariy pail of his life. The amateur is seldom handicapped in this way. From the beginning he at least lias a set of clubs as accommodating as llm vigilance ot air enthusiastic golfing father or a club professional can ensure. What comparatively few amateurs do is to practise putting'. Willi their advantages in the possession of a proper club for the purpose at the beginning of their careers on the links, no doubt, they would excel the professional greatly as putters if they would devote the same thought to the subject as the professionals dm. Nearly all good putters have been diligent in practising that which so many people call an inspiration, but which really appears to be as much nn art —sheer practical skill guided b\ certain principles—as another department of ihe game. The late Tom Ball, who win a beautiful putter, acquired his consistent exi cllciicc within twenty yards of the hole by nothing but practise. Tie would practise by the hour from every corner of the greefi. and carefully hole out every putt, even though it measured no more I ha u a foot. Willie Park, the best putter 1 have ever seen was equally assiduous. He lias confessed lliul he practised putting dav and night—for he had a shed in which he worked at it by i andle-liglit when dusk had fallen. Mis putting against me at Aorth Berwick when we played for €IOO a side was very near lv heart-breaking, for although frank ly lie drove badly .it was as much as I could do to get a hole up on him. And ii was not I lie result of in spiration. It earne of constant practise.