WORLD’S GREATEST GOLFER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 9 January 1929, Page 2

WORLD’S GREATEST GOLFER

ON IMITATING MR. BOBBY JONES

(By llarry Vernon, Six Times Open Champion}

(Specially written for “Tho Mail”)

Everybody agrees that the present year lias established Mr Bobby Jones more clearly than ever as the greatest player in modern golf, and it is gratifying to learn that there is a considerable likelihood that ho will re-visit Britain next season to take part in our open championship —which he did not defend last May—and alsd the amateur championship. If this hope be realised, doubtless there will arise up and down the country another host of hero-worshippers determined to emulate his methods, for somehow those methods have an enticingly simple look which invites imitation. Let us-be warned in time.

I fear the truth is that, so far as concerns tho principles of playing golf, Mr Jones is a law unto himself. Two years ago, in Bfitain, ho had disciples hv the thousand. The die-hards are still to be seen, standing with his feet close together, trying to turn the body with the Salome-like simplicity and rhythm of their exemplar, and doing everything else (crept hit the ball) in a way that they feel to be a passably good copy of tho master. Distracted members of a well-known club have told me how there was one of their number at a recent tournament providing an alluring exhibition of Mr Jones’s swing as seen in slow-motion photography. But the great majority of once-liopeful essayists have resigned themselves to the impossibility of impersonating that swing.

A STUDY IN FEET No other national champion has stood with the feet so close together, and so near to the ball, as in the case of Mr Jones. For the average golfer the stance is a perennial problem. Whether Tie lias lessons from a professional, or listens to the advice of his friends, he often learns that ho stands too far from the ball, or too close to it, or too straddle-legged, or 100 something or other. He feels that he seldom shapes properly for his shots —which, indeed ,is true. It is with the faith of one who sees new light and learning that ho forms his early impressions rtf Mr Jones. Nobody has ever before 'thought of bringing the feet into such a limited compass, and standing so essentially over his work instead of reaching out to accomplish it.

Here is something inspiring in the way of revolution; and simple to mimic. In a little while, the student is trying it. These experimentalists . are encouraged by frequent declarations that all the leading American golfers, a truly successful company, practise the same principle. It is true that they have, something like a standardised manner of swinging the club; hut if you study Mr George von Elm, Mr Jessee Sweetser, Mr Francis Ouimet, and others among the United States amateurs, and such professionals as Walter Hagen, Johnny Farrell, James Barnes, and Albert Watrous, you will find that they stand pretty much after the fashion of British golfers: However, Mr Jones, 'as the leading American player, has been set up as a model of his country’s style, and a great many people think that America has discovered a new way of standing to the ball, of which lie is the perfect pattern.

BUILT FOR IT

The fact is that Mr Jones in this respect, like other geniuses in other respects, is inimitable He must .have a physical constitution that is built peculiarly for golf, with hips of very •' remarkable power and clastici*”

He looks almost cramped as lie addresses the ball. He appears to he crowding himself on to it. His erect way of standing to it is out of harmony with his plump build. There is more of the element of an upright body in his manner of standing for a shot than in any other champion'd know. 'lt is part ’ and parcel 1 of his trait of having the feet close together and near to the ball; he has to be upright for such a stance. It looks constrained, and yet directly he starts to swing the club, all the appearance of constraint disappears, and he is a model of freedom and grace. Only a model with a very wonderful pair of hips, capable of turning the bodyon its own axis with supreme facility, could possess such a style. This, is very far from saying that imitation is futile in golf. Nearly all tho leading players say that they have cultivated success in their young days by watching, and reproducing in their own ways certain methods of great golfers. But there are physical limits to the possibilities of the policy.