GOLF.

Otago Witness, Issue 2929, 4 May 1910, Page 65

GOLF.

NOTES BY BTJLGEB. The final for the championship of the Otago Ladies' Club was played last Wednesday between Miss Winnie Scott and Mrs "Wiaa-d. No exception could be taken to the weather, .as it was an ideal day for golf. It was' expected the match would be a close one, as Mrs Ward has been putting up Borne good scones in club matches* for some time past. Miss Scott's fine performance at New Year, when she won the Otago Championship (2 rounds' stroke play), and established a fresh record for the course, was not forgotten. So, as was expected, the members of the Ladies' Club were keenly interested in the result, as was ghown by the large following of spectators. The game was not remarkable for anything brilliant, and Miss Scott, taking the lead early, won the match comfortably by 3 up and 2to play. She played' her usual steady game, gaining many strokes over her opponent on the greens. Mrs Ward was not as deadly in her short ga.me as she has been, and certainly was not playing up to recent form. Miss Scott has now got a fine record in her club, and her latest success was/very popular. The semi-finals for the Otago Golf Club's Championship were" got off on Saturday afternoon in perfect weather. Basil Smith beat Wyinks after a good game by 4- to 3. The result is by no means a fair indication of the game, as Smith had to play his best all along. It will no doubt come as a surprise to followers of the game, in Otago at all events, .to hear that Hamilton Smith suffered defeat at the hands of his brother Bob by the handsome margin of sup and 3to play. Hamilton has not been playing his best for some time —bis business necessitated his absence in the country for about six weeks before the championship games commenced, so he was, therfore, unable to get in the practice necessary. On top of this he fiprained his wrist rather severely some time ago, which did not improve matters. It must not be thought, however, that I am making excuses for the ex-champion, because I am certain Bob went out fully determined to win, and we all know what he is capable of doing when' on the job. His trouble, however, is inconsistency. The final (36 holes) which commences on Saturday, 14th inst., will be a titanic struggle, and it is quite on the cards Bob will prevail. He revels in match play. The tie for the Otago Club's foursome was Dlayed off on Saturday, and resulted :n a win for Dodds and Samuels, who are heartily congratulated' on their success. . The monthly Bogey competition was played on the St. Clair Links bv the St. Clair Ladies' Golf Club on Tuesday. The following cards were handed in: — Seniors (18 holes). Hep. Score. Miss Potheringham 4 2 down Mrs Gilray ... 16 7 down Mrs Jackson 12 8 down Miss Taine 17 8 down Juniors (10 holes). Miss Wyinks 8 4 up Miss Gibson-Smith 10 1 down Mrs Smith ...* .. 2 1 down Miss Burt .'.' 3 2 down Mrs Kahlenberg ...... 4 4 down Miss C. Jackson 4 5 down Mrs Isaacs ..: 10 5 down THE PULL. The following article, by P. A. Vaile, appeared in a recent issue of the Field, and is interesting: Before considering the manner in wh : ch the pull is produced, it will be interesting to glance at the opinions and statements of the leading authors and players on this beautiful stroke, probably, in fact, almost certainly, the most misunderstood stroke in golf. Harry Vardon says, in "The Complete Golfer," that the pull is one of the master strokes of the game. He writes: "Which, then, is the master stroke? I say that it is the ball struck by amy club to which a big pull or slice is intentionally applied for the accomplishment of a specific purpose which could not be achieved in any other way. ... 1 call it the master shot,

because to accomplish it with any certainty and perfection it is so difficult even to the experienced golfer, because it calls for the most absolute command over the club and 1 every nerve and sinew of the body and the courageous heart of the true sportsman, whom no difficulty may daunt, and because. when properly done, it is a splendid thing to see, and for a certainty results in material gain to the man who played it." I must conclude from this striking tribute to the slice and the pull that no amount of study is too much for an earnest golfer to devote to these strokes. There will be found many, however, who are inclined to think that in bracketing the slice on an equality with the pull Vardon has done it too much honour; but that is by 'he vay, and will arise naturally later. I have not been able to find in any golf book any attempt to explain what takes place in the pull at the moment the ball is struck by the club. Needless almost to.say this is wherein lies the secret of the whole stroke, and unless the unfortunate golfer knows exactly and minutely what he intends to do, the chances are that his results will b° as uncertain as his mental attitude tothe. ball.

The Complete Golfer," describing how the stroke should be played, eays>, "There is a tendency in the downward swing for the face of the club to turn over to some «xts<n*. that is. for the top edge of it to be overlapping the bottom edge. This is exfl.otlv what is wanted, for, in f-« - : t is quite l necessarv that at the rr of impact the right hand' should be b••■•■:• 'ining to turn over in this manner, and if the stroke is to be a success the golfer must see to it that 'it ••does so." \ ~'„;." ,",.'. There is h'o ' explanation, of this amazing advice, l So' the unfortunate student is left with a' nice little conundrum, which is, how to met a. golf ball off the ground with a club that rot only has no loft, but; is supplied instead with an overhanging face. Xpaurning. for the «aWa of arsrumeirt, that there is reason in this instruction, there is not a word to be found of the mechanical •ffect which this strange procedure has

upon the bail, so the student starts out to dreeo-ver -the pull by turning over the face of his driver at the moment. of -impact, The result of-trying to pull in accordance with .these instructions would simply be to founder the ball in most cases Most golfers find it enough tax on frto*r skill to drive consistently a good slight plain ball. To ask aching sfoort of a super-golfer to calculate the loft, o Mus driver's face in a fast swing a* h*turns it over during.impact erpacially if it hap pens to be a whippy shaft is to look tor something that cannot be found f act it is practically a certainty that even the super-golfers do not produce the.pull this way, yet the erroneous advice is P*"J?J and circulated continually, and will be until some vigorous effort is made to stop it. Tn "Great Golfers" (p. 175 James Bra*d says, "In playing for a 'pulled ball the right wrist turns over at the momenof impact." It is a very significant.fact that in " Advanced Golf," which Braid .ex Phcitly says is practically all he knows o golf, this statement is not repeated It cannot be an omission for the instruction strikes at the root of what V*£" one of the master strokes of the game. As a matter of fact. Braid's statement in "Great Golfers" should have been confirmed in "Advanced Golf " or his change of opinion, or doubt on the point, indiCa We have, however, in " Advanced Golf " evidence that is almost conclusive against the statement about turning over the wr st especially when we take it. in conjunction with Braid's silence in this matter Opposite oage 79 Braid is shown playmg.a P and? fortunately, he has shown the absolute moment of impact. Obviously, the photograph shows a posed stroke but, tor my purpose, that increases; its value foi 5 indicates clearly, and without the least hadow of a doubt, what Braid now think he does when he pulls, and we must re member that this, the impact, is the all important fraction, of a second. If m .com pare this photograph carefully with Stance and address" for pull page we find that they are identical, or if not absolutely identical, so near it that only an expert could tell the difference. We also see that, so far from there being any turnover of the wrist, and any tilting forward of the club's face, the right wrist is well behind the shaft in its normal position . for the stroke, and that the club is passing over the turf as if truly soled. This seems to me to be conclusive evid'enoe against those who put forward the theory for it is nothing more than a theory, that the pull is produced by turning over the right wrist at the moment of impact, or that such turn is necessary to obtain the pull. The practice is that this turn takes place immediately after the pull has been played, that it is merely part of the natural followthrough of a well-played pull, and that a pull can be played without it if desired. T cannot, wonder at the widespread behet in this story, for it has gone forth under the authoritv of such names as Vardon and Braid and Messrs J. L. Low and ti. W. Hilton. Taylor practically dismisses the Dull without consideration. _ " Now we have seen the explanation ot the pull that is commonly given, and that is, unfortunately, frequently accepted, I have no" hesitation in saying that it is wrong and prniudicial. to the game. After such a "plain statement as this i must endeavour to make equally olain the correct explanation of the most difficult stroke in golf. The simplest explanation of the pull is that it is the reverse of the slice/ Nearly everyone can slice, esoecially when one does not desire to. By comparison unintentional pulling is an aristocratic fault. This explanation is not, however, full enough, for there are mysteries in both the slice and pull that have baffled golfers for many y-oars. We must elaborate the statement a. gocd deal and in the first place try to give a clear idea of the cause of the beautiful curve in the flight of the pull. Very few people know that the top of a wheel is moving more quickly through the atmosphere than.tbe bottom. The same thing happens with a spinning ball. In the flight of the' ball through the air it follows quite naturally that the portion or the ball that is moving' fastest gets most friction, «s a proiectile always c °eVs the line of least resistance the ball is edged over to the side which offers least friction against the air. This is the simple secret of the whole principle of swerve, and is necessary for a perfect knowledge of the pull. ' To return now to my statement that the pull is merely the reverse of the slice. The slice is a glancing blow delivered by the club head as it is leaving the line of flight to the hole, or as it is returning across it. The pull is a glancing blow delivered- by the club as it is going across the line of flight to the hole. There is the essential difference. The slice is played', with the almost theoretical reservation mentioned above, as the club returns to the player's side of the line of flight after having swung out across it. Tho pull, on the other hand, is hit before the club has crossed the line of flight; in fact, at the very moment that it is going across and away from the player's side. There is no necessity for trying to "push" the club head out, or to turn the wrist over. It is a natural "cut" stroke, although in golf this term is not used of strokes off the wood. It is, nevertheless, as correct to call it a cut as it is to speak of a out mashie stroke. This glancing blow, of course, sends the ball away with a large amount of spin (I am speaking of a righthanded player) from right to left. This means, of course, following our explanation of the wheel, that the right-hand side of the ball is getting most of the friction. As the pace begins to go off the spin gets to work, and we see the result in the beautiful curve so often taken by the pull. There is, however, something more in the soin of the pull than we see in that of the slice. The 6lice is hit much later in the swing- than is the. pull, and the spin it gets is nearly horizontal, so that in reality t it spins almost like a top in the air. If vve can imagine a strongly spinning top turned upside down and then thrown at an angle on the turf, we get some idea of how the spin of the slice grips the turf on landing. The pull, on the other hand, is hit very early in the swing, so there ; is a good deal of "top" in the spin. In : fact, it is spinning at , an angle like a top does before it goes ,to sleep, and its spin coincides with the" planed of the flight. In other words, if one were to' take the space enclosed by the curve of the ball's flight and the earth and fill it with an imaginary sheet of iron, the axis of the spinning ball would go through it i at a right angle. j The club is really going outwarefs and upwards when a pull is perfectly played.

This upward action is slight, and practically comes naturally, but it must be there, otherwise the- ball will not have the run after it drops that is so strong a characteristic of a well-play pull. The essential difference then between the spin of the slice and that of the pull 's that there is in jhe spin of the slice no" suspicion of "top," while in the pull it is very pronounced. This also accounts for the low flight of the pull. If we keep the plane of the spin in our minds we might almost say the ball flies on its side. It is more than probable, too, that in the flight of the ball the axis of rotation become© slightly changed, especially towards the end of the flight, when the friction on the forward-spinny part of the ball is being most severely felt. It would seem quite natural if about this time the pole nearer the player fell a little lower. If this does take place, and it seems not unreasonable to suppose that it does, the modified 'top" of the pull becomes -pure top-spin, and assists most materially the run of the ball, as of course in any case the natural and unchanged spin of the pull does. The whole secret of pulling successfully lies in knowing how to strike the ball a glancing of such accuracy and such well calculated strength that one can tell how much strength and how much cut to mix. For instance, if one wants the pull to com© at the end of a long flight, it stands- to reason that one will not endeavour to cut it excessively. If, on the other hand, a very quick pull were wanted, mostly cut, or spin, and little strength would be the aim. If anyone has any lingering doubt as to the correctness of the explanation given for obtaining the pull he may quite easily try it for himself. Let him get a dozen pieces of wire, six or eight inches long and so thin as to be almost invisible. These may be put in a line into the ground on the side of the ball farther from the player and at a right angle to the line of flight. The line should be. opposite the front of the ball. The place where the ball is driven from should be marked, as absolutely the same place is wanted each time. Now play a few ordinary drives. Remove all the wires that you have bent or moved so that you have just enough clearance for a straight drive. Now try to get a pull in the manner advocated by the books without knocking over any more wires. It will be found to be an impossibility. Now play a pull naturally, and then see by means of the wires you have moved how far you have swung across the line of flight When you have these things in your mind it follows that you are better equipped to produce a' certain definite result than is the player who hits the ball blindly trusting to providence—and his stance 10 drag his hands the right way.

While I am dealing with the pull. 1 may mention, an interesting point that has been just referred to me. I have been repeatedly asked why the modern, rubber core swerves so much mere whan pulled than did the old gutty. The reason seems to be that the present ball is much softer, so naturally dwells longer on the face of the club during the passage of the latter across the line of flight, thereby acquiring more spin, which naturally means more drift from the straight line. The curve of the pulled ball is naturally most towards the end if the flight. The modern, ball has a longer flight. The deflection from the line of flight will not start much, if any, later than with the old V>aH. so it follows naturally that the new ball has a greater. distance or more time in which to carry on the curving process. George Duncan has by experiment satisfied himself of the soundness of the contention that the turninfr over of the right wrist is not a part of the stroke which takes place . before impact, and his photographs show this portion of the stroke very clearly. In: concluding- this article I may say that many people exaggerate the importance of the slice and the pull. The pull is no doubt a beautiful stroke when properly played, and a golfer who. desires, to be first class ought to have it, and know it thoroughly; but as golf is played to-day a man might be champion of earth and Mans without the slice and pull. The golf of to-day is not, however, necessarily the golf of to-morrow, and in view of the esults achieved by some of our finest players, who have adopted this stroke as the staple of their game, it must be included as practically necessary for the first-cla6iS player of modern golf.