GOLF SIDELIGHTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19383, 19 July 1926, Page 6

GOLF SIDELIGHTS.

SOME GREAT PERFORMANCES. THE VALUE OF CONSISTENCY. RUDIMENTS OF THE GAME. BY NIBLICK. Brilliance and consistency very seldom go hand in hand. How often do we remark about a very ordinary golfer that he is consistent, conscious that we arc damning him with faint praise! With regard to golf, I would rather be capable of outbursts of brilliance without consistency than be the most consistent member of the club, invariably able to command an 80 or a 78, but void of that dash of inspiration which makes par, or less, occasionally a reality. There are times, however, when we may see brilliance and consistency yoked together in the service of some golfer highly favoured by the gods. Bobby Jones, with his wonderful performance in the recent British championship, is a case in point. On the one course, Sunningdale, 66 and 68; on the other course, 72, 72, 73, 74. T. E. Howard said that if Sunningdale were in Australia the bogey would be 80. In 1909, at Deal, J. H. Taylor won the open championship with the following aggregate: 74, 74, 74, 75—295. Archie Compston, just a year ago, was runner-up in the British open with 76, 75, 75, 75. A sequence of firstclass rounds like these constitute brilliant golf. A single 75 or 74 is very fine, but it is the repeated production of such a fine, figure that is brilliant. One Stroke in Six Sounds. jfri the United States open championship of 1925 Willie Macfarlane and Bobby Jones tied for the honour with 291 each. They played 18 holes to decide the tie, and were level once more, 75 each. A sixth round found the professional 72, the amateur 73. One stroke between them in six rounds! For brilliance it is surely hard to beat the aggregate with which Harry Cooper won the Californian open championship a few months ago: 279 for four rounds, made up as follows: —70, 68, 74, 67. This performance is all the finer because the 67 was badly needed in the last round, for George Vonelm, at the end of three rounds, had the same aggregate as Cooper. Vonelm took 70 for his fourth round and handed in an aggregate of 282. A leading British professional gives it as his opinion that amateur golfers in Britain, as a class, will not be able to stand up to the American amateurs until they play regularly on level terms with the professionals. In America this is already tho general practice. The best amateurs are far closer to the professional golfers in every way, play more with them, see more of them, are equals. This practice is much more general in Scotland than in England. The professional plays regularly with the local scratch or plus players and these, in turn, reach the same level of play as the professional. Indeed, the practice goes further still in Scotland, for very many of the most promising young players become professionals themselves. Bobby Cruickshank and Tommy Armour are cases in point. Rivalry of Jones and Eagen.

The prominence of the British-American rivalry in the recent big international events has somewhat overshadowed another rivalry—more interesting because more personal—namely, the long-standing rivalry between Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen. In the past five years in America they have led together the "hunting pack" of first class golfers. Their records over this whole period are better than those of any other players, amateur or professional. In six open championships Jones has a lower aggregate and a better average than Hagen; in the duel over 72 holes, however, played a few months ago, Hagen gave Jones a bad beating by 12 and 11. Jones certainly has not been able to forget that reverse; for he was playing par golf practically throughout these four rounds, while Hagen repeatedly made had shots and brilliant recoveries. Aftnr one particularly bad shot by Hagen Jones is reported to have said: " And I'm 4 down to a man who can miss a shot like that!"

There is no doubt that Jones was not forgetting the bone he had to pick w"h Hagen ? when, having missed the amateur championship, he waited to have an attfimnt at the " open." Those who supported the Hagen side of the argument contended that the professional was a better all-round golfer, with a game suited to any conditions. They felt sure that Hagen would establish a comfortable lead on the wind-swept courses of Britain. To all seeming the debonair amateur got a good deal of his own back in these 72 holes of the British " open." The rivalry was continued on the American side of the Atlantic, where Jones again proved his worth in accounting for the American open championship, with an aggregate of 293. Where Goli Begins. A few years ago a well-known Scottish golfer, Major Guy Campbell, wrote a small book to guide those who wished to learn how to play golf from the beginning. I have always felt that he did a wise thing, albeit an unusual thing, for he made the very shortest stroke the initial step in the game. If I remember rightly, he advocated the policy of beginning with the putt, including stance and swing, then the run up, then the chip, shot, midiron, and so on It is certainly a method of coaching whirh dnsfirves a thorough trial. Th» chief feature in favour of it is the fact that one begins with the least complicated shot and advances by degrees to the more complicated. Further, in giving attention tc the shorter strokes, demanding a shorter swing, one has, surely, more chance of learning, right from the beginning, that the first 2ft. or 3ft. of the back swing, after the clubhead has left the ball are nf sunrome importance, and more too. of learning how to execute that back swing. Long Shot up to the Green. I suppose that in no shot is there so much difference between the ordinary good player and the really first-class golfer as in the long shot to the green—say, the shot of 170 yds. to 200 yds. Whether it be a shot for the iron, the cleek or the spoon, the first-class player from that distance plays for the pin and is aiming at getting down in two more. "As a man j thinketh in his heart, so is ha." The; man who, in his heart, is not quite definitely sure that he is up to this standard will reveal that hesitation in his play. This is an illustration of the " inwardness " of golf. The class player never hesitates, never thinks of a more cautious possibility, unless other compelling factors enter in. Without wavering or doubting from that distance he plays for the pin, and, in his heart, knows that if he does himself justice he will get down in two more after the shot to the green is played. It was in this department that Sweetser so definitely showed his superiority to Simpson, the Scot, in the amateur championship final at Muirfield in May. It was not off the tee, nor was it on the greens that Simpson failed to the extent of 6 down with sto nlay. He developed a fatal weakness in his iron strokes. . , and it was this in-between game that iet him down badly. He did not 1 connect ' between driving that kept alongside the American and putting that looked easier in style and was more successful in effect 1 than Sweeper's."