WORLD’S GREATEST GOLFER

Taranaki Daily News, 4 January 1929, Page 3

WORLD’S GREATEST GOLFER

ON IMITATING MR. BOBBY JONES. t. ' “ (By Harry Vardon.—Copyright.) London, Nov. 15. Everybody agrees that the present ? year has established Mr. Bobby Jones more clearly than ever as the .greatest player in modern golf, and it ts grati- . flying to learn that there is a consideraable likelihood that he will re-visit Bri- y tain next season to take part in our open championship —which he did not defend last May—and also tlie amateur championship. ' ? : If this hope be realised, doubtless there will arise up and down the country another host of hero-worshippers deterirfined to emulate his methods, for somehow those methods have an enticingly ■ simple look which invites imitation. Let us be warned in time. . r ■ J fear the truth is that, so far as concerns the principles of playing golf, Mr. Jones is a law unto himself. Two years agO, in Britain, lie had disciples by the thousand.. The die-hards are still --- to be seen, standing with the feet close together, trying to turn the body with the Salome-like simplicity'and' rhythm, of their exemplar, and doing everythin"; else (except hit the hall) in a way that ■ they feel to .be a passably good copy of the 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-hopeful essayists have resigned themselves to the impossibility of im« personating 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 he . has lessons from a professional, or listens to the advice of his friends, he often learns that he stands too far from the ball, or too close to it, or too straddle- • legged, or too 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 he forms his early impressions of Mr. Jones. Nobody has ever before thought of bringing'the feet in,to such a limited compass, and standing so essentially over his work instead of. reaching out’ to accomplish it. - t ■.?'<- 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 America golfers, a truly successful company, practise the same principle. It is true that they have something J- : like a standardised manner of swinging the club; but if you study Mr. George von Elm, Mr. Jesse Sweetser, Mr. ’ Francis Ouimet', and others among the United States amateurs, and such pro-, fessionals as Walter Hagen, Johnny Farrell, Janies Barnes, and Albert you will find that they stand pretty - > much after the fashion of British golfers-

However, Mr. Jones, as the leading ft American player, has been set up as model of his country’® style, and. a great many people think that America has discovered a new way of standing to - ( the ball, of which he is the perfect pattern. BUILT FOR IT. 1 ; The fact is that Mr. Jones in this respect, like other geniuses in other respects, is inimitable. . t ; He musLhave a physical constitution that is built peculiarly for golf, with hips of very remarkable power and. . elasticity. He looks almost cramped as he addresses the ball. He appears to be 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 hw—< manner of standing for a shot than m any other champion I know. . . a It is part and parcel 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 lie.starts to swing the club,, all the appearance of cosistraint disappears, and he is a model of freedom and grace. . Only a model with a very wonderful pair of hips, capable of turning the body on 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 the leading players say that they have cultivated success in their young days by watching, and reproducing in their own ways, certain methods of great "olfers. But there are physical limits to the possibilities of the policy.