EASIER GOLF.

Northland Age, Volume II, Issue 35, 3 September 1930, Page 2

EASIER GOLF.

SERIES ' >F INSTRUCTIVE ARTICLES.

BY H. STUART HOBSON

A golfer in a club recently made what seemed a foolish wager —that he would go round the 18-hole course in less than QO minutes, holing out every putt, and returning a net score of less than 80. Takers for this wager were plentiful. Eighty net would be a moderately good score tor this player over the some course at any time; to travel four-and-a-half miles in qo minutes, and allow for occasional searching for the ball and and eighty shots, would mean running between holes. Even a young man in flawless physical condition would find this a severe test. Actually the player returned a net 75, and came in on the stroke of his time. He used five caddies posted down the fairway to avoid any searching for the ball, but apart from that he played a. normal round of golf in unusual time, and returned what was, for him, an exceptional score. A Scot supplied a clue to the feat. “When I learned my game on an artisans’ course,” he said, “there was none of this three-hours-a-round business. We waited in queue to begin, and once we were off we wasted no time; each man carried his own clubs, and strode after the ball as though he were in a Marathon.” “But didn’t that spoil your game ?” we asked. “Not a bit! Move brisklv be-

tween your shots, and you are glad of a breather when you reach the ball. You swing slowly and with conscious steadiness —and that is the secret of golf.” I think there is a lot to be said for the theory.

The golfer to-day is apt to walk slowly from shot to shot, fretting over the lie he will find, and inventing problems for himself. He wonders whether he will be socketing his iron shots as he has last week, and whether it would be better to force with a mashie or play a spared shot with a spoon.

By the time he reaches the ball he is in a state of mental exhaustion but he has ample —in fac*, too much —physical energy.

He is like a player who has spared himself for a supreme physical effort. Unfortunately for him, supreme physical effort is totally unnecessary in golf. The player of superabundant energy fails by excess of enthusiasm. The golfer who uses more physical energy in moving between shots places a curb on his swing, and also on his mental outlook. Having paused between intervals of moving quickly, he is ready and willing to swing slowly. Every effort has been made in

recent years to speed up the rate at which the game is played, with the oDject of relieving congested courses. An average iound, however, still takes nearer three hours than two. That is another criticism I have to make of the four-ball. Of four players, there is likely to be one in trouble at most holes, with irritating delays ; there are four swings to be waited for at every second shot. If a player has lost his ball and found it, he feels that he has been delaying his companions, and he hits hastily to make up time. This is bad not only for the shot that he plays, but for his golf as a whole,

The way to play golf is to move

up to the ball without any waste of time, and without anxiety. Having inspected the lie, the club should be chosen. After that, until the ball is flying on its way, the game should become slow.

Slowness at the wrong time spoils many a round, because it leads to hastiness at the wrong time.

I have never known a good putter who was irritatingly slow in settling down the ball. I nave seen some magnificent putters who moved the club as though in a dream, but that was slowness at the right time. It is walking round the ball with a fixed frown, and looking at it from every angle that is to be condemned, because it leads to haste when the actual stroke is to be made.

Many good putters, I have noticed, contrive to pass the hole as they walk up to the ball, so that they get a quick glance at the contour of the green from hole to ball. Then they get behind the ball for a moment, to see the contour from ball to hole. That is all the matter of a second or so. It is the actual movement and follow-through of the club that is slow.

The actual time taken by a player over a round of golf must depend on individual temperament ; there are no fixed rules. What would seem a great hurry to one player might still prove annoyingly slow to another. It is true that a first-class golfer refuses to be rattled by the slowness of an adversary, but even so the time between two shots must affect his game.

I am convinced that a number of golfers would achieve greater consistency if they were in more hurry to get to the ball, and less hurry to play it.