GOLF AND HEALTH

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 2 December 1927, Page 2

GOLF AND HEALTH

AN AGE OF BETTER LOSERS (By Harry Vardon, Six Times Open Champion.) Somebody recently put forward tho pleasing assertion 'that golfers nowafjyvy are better losers than they used to he'; that they do not seek to explain away their defeats as their predecessors' were wont to do. Certainly it was something of a tradition in a former era that the golfer in his hour of discomfiture would remark to the victor that he had not expected to play well that day because of an ailaok'of rheumatism or some other ill, or that, ai. any rate, he only pursued l.lm game for the f'rm of the thing, arid cared not. a, tinker’s condemnation whether he won or lost. .It, was a. gross libel upon tens of thousands of enthusiasts, hut I suppose it had some foundation in the attitude of a goodly proportion of golfers. Perhaps the explanation was that, in those rlays, nine out of every ten players were middle-aged or elderly people who had taken up the game late in life. Golf is now as much a young man’s game as an old man’s game. And young persons do, as a rule, know how to lose cheerfully, for the simple reason that, being young, they are more or less care-free.

Even the modern veterans have, in a great many instances, started their golf when in their prime, and so grown up in the spirit of being able to lose with a good heart, besides laying in on the links a store of health which renders untenable a claim to twinges, aches, or incipient influenza when defeat is their portion. Consequently, young blood in its innocence has done much to brighten the best of all possible’ worlds..

ANIMAL SPIRITS ' Being primarily an individual game, golf throws all the onus of defeat upon the individual, and here and there you still may meet a man who, in fhe depressed frame of mind which sometimes attacks the beaten, thoroughly enjoys bad health. But he is rapidly disappearing. Bo it said that on the. links animal spirits and rude good health may ho associated with a bad display of golf. Perhaps that is because the game calls for careful and measured methods of execution. It rewards tranquility rather than exuberance of the vital forces.

It demands canny consideration and a capacity for moving steadily to the goal; it is an invention of the Scots. Extreme buoyancy and its corollary, the •desire to succeed by the dash born of great good spirits, is about the worst complaint from which the golfer can suffer. It makes him swing too fas't, and it goads him to think that he is capable of performing feats for which he is physically unfitted. He takes the club back like lightning, and sends it nearly down to his heels.

It may be slipping in his grasp, and lie may be losing his balance, hut what does ho care? Ho feels so well. He recovers the club whirlwind fashion, lashes round at the ball, and sends the shot to perdition. Tliat man very reasonably might grumble. He feels so violently fit and cheerful that he has noi chilnce of playing “thinking” shots. There is a certain mediocrity of spirits, which is tlie best thing imaginable for one’s golf. It is something between brightness and gloominess. Lucky is tlie man who possesses it. There is a consensus of opinion among habitues of the links that, for the man whose daily duties involve a Strain which is almost entirely mental, golf ns a diversion ip incomparable. Indeed, there are learned and diligent individuals who declare that, they simply could not work so hard as they do unless they ceased at frequent intervals in order to play golf matches. It is one of the greatest of gifts to know exactly when to stop worrying about business and start playing games. It is an even more valuable provision of nature that enables a person to postpone a pressing professional obligation with the conviction that, for the sake of his health, and therefore, in the interests of his wife, his children and ethers who love him, he ought to give his brain ,a rest by engaging a day’s golf. It is impossible to detect a certain spirit of noble self-sacrifice in such a. man; he knows that he ought to be working, and yet lie feels that further to harass his already jaded brain would be unfair to his domestic circle and to lliose people who rely upon him to preserve clearness of intellect.

lie does not mind about himself, and so, for the common good, he Retakes himself to the links and there qualifies himself for Iris business duties.

BLITHESOME BLANKS

The manner in which this game absorbs the attention is in itself an interesting subject for study. Golf has its value from the physical point of view since two rounds of it involve the tramping of some seven miles. But it is mainly a thinking game, As to the latter circumstance, all its devotees are agreed. And yet it constitutes an. ideal rest-cure for a tired brain. The explanation is, I suppose, that when one is playing golf it is impossible to think of anything else. For two hours on end the intellect is lulled to sleep so far as affairs-of the outside world are concerned. The' oirly brain cells that operate are those which govern the execution of shots. Best- of all, there are ocasions when even these senses slumber, and the fortunate player walks along thinking of nothing. Could there be any better condition for the man who needs both mental repose and physical exercise? Let us recall the time when we have driven a ball over a high bunker or some other obstacle. It has disappeared on the other side of the hazard, but we know that it has llown straight and finished in the. middle of the fairway. All is well. The opponent lias pulled or sliced and marched off at a more or less acute angle, leaving ns as our only companion a small caddie who takes no interest in anything.' At such a period .it is possible to walk a; hundred yards without thinking afc all. The hall that is in sight provokes consideration as to how the next shot shall be played, but the ball which is temporarily hidden from view, but which unquestionably is safe, promotes that perfect state in which the brain is wide awake, and yet doing absolutely nothing. It is the acme of the rest-cure.