SILENT AND TALKATIVE GOLFERS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6623, 12 September 1908, Page 3

SILENT AND TALKATIVE GOLFERS

Braid, tho champion golfer, is always quiet and thoughtful when ho is playing a match. Ho .speaks little because it i« more profitable to be thinking. - Iho came is played better, and, what is more, it is certainW enjoyed better, when there is ha little talking as possible. The time that is spent in walking from the place where the ball was last struck to that at which it stopped again, and from which tho next shot will have to be played, had better bo employed in thinking out tho problems of tho nest shot rather than in general conversation. "Too much thought can never b© given to a consideration of the circumstances at times like this—the wind, the lie of tho ball, the question as to whether you will pitch or run it, and so forth. There is at most a couple of minutes for all this thinking, and when the ball is reached only a few seconds will be loft. "You enjoy tho game better if you think like this. It is always said that one of tho great advantages of the game is that vou can think of nothing else while playing it; but at tho same time many players seem to try to think of other things, and to make their opponents do so.

"Very talkative golfers often prejudice their chances of winning the match in other ways. They explain their shots to their opponents, what they found out when playing them, and certain peculiarities of the situation that they had not suspected. "On the other side, alwmys bo ready to profit by an information given you in this way, and particularly get into the habit of watching your opponent’s stroke, and what happens to his ball when he is playing from anything like the same position that you are in. You may find out something very much worth knowing about the way in which your own shot will have to bo played."