GOLF NOTES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 26 June 1924, Page 5

GOLF NOTES.

SIDELIGHTS ON THE GAME. (By “Jigger.’’) TIMARU CLUB. Local goifers were again favoured with good weather during the weekend. and the links were in excellent order. Abqut 90 players started m the bogey handicap and Lindsay Medal match; at Hightield, on Saturday, and the unavoidable congestion probably accounted for a good many of the bad scores. Mr E. A. Scott played the best round, finishing one down, in Id (handicap 2), but Dr. Waddell returned the best card, being one up (haiuli cap 17). Dr. Waddell thus holds the gold medal for the ensuing year, and Messrs E. A. Sc-ott and E. Ziesler will play off for the tie for the otliei medal.

Mr A. E. Horwell holed out his approach from off the green at the ■•‘Plantation” on Saturday, taking three for the hole, which is 400 yards in length, bogey 5. It has been brought under°the notice of the writer, with reference to “hole-in-one” honours, that Miss F. Ziesler achieved the distinction of holing out her tee-shot at Highfield some time ago when playing with the professional, Mr Butters. Mrs L. E. Finch, when playing in a match-' at Waimate last Wednesday, also holed out a drive.

An interesting picture was shown to the writer in Mr E. A. Scott’s office the other day, showing Mrs Melville Jameson and Mr R. L. Orbell playing the “Terrace” hole on March A 3, 1905. There was a marked eontrasS between the fairway of that time and that of the present day; there being no sheep on the links in those days tho grass was very much longer than it is now. Entries for the c-lub championships closed on Tuesday. Twenty-five players entered for the senior championship, and 41 for the junior.

NORTH END CLUB. A team from the North End Club went to Teniuka on Saturday to play a match against the latter club, which resulted in a win for Temuka, five up. The local players found the links in good order, but are inclined to regard the heaviness of the greens and .'.p proaches as having contributed in somo measure to their downfall. A four-ball bogey handicap match covering two days will be played at North End on Juno 28 and July 12, for which a trophy is to be given for the best card returned. TIMING THE SHOT. “Proper timing means swinging ...hd club-head against the ball with minimum cut and maximum impact,” ;o : marks Thomas H. Ussell in a particular ly good article in “The American Golfer.”

“ ‘Pressing,’ ‘letting the club-liead do the work,’ ‘throwing the club-liead at the ball,’ ‘snapping the - wrists,’ dettipg tho hands get ahead of he club,’ ‘cultivating rhythm,’ ‘and keeping tlio head stilJ,’ ail these time-hon-oured shibboleths of the game merely suggest phases of the general problem of correct timing. Driving well without correct timing cannot be don'e. The problem of timing the shot is created largely, by two facts about ( human beings, one physical, the oilier mental : (1) the body is stronger than the arms, and the arms are stronger than the wrists, and (2) the greater the stress of excitement one is under the more action tends to be unreflective, impulsive, uncontrolled. At this stage the writer includes in his article a couple of diagrams. “A” shows the club-liead behind the ball at the moment of the impact, the line of shoulders, and the line from tho-ball through the figure’s head making right-angle intersection. “B” shows the figure with the right shoulder already coming through, and the hands in front of the ball which tho club-head has reached. The arms lag behind the body, and the club lags behind the arms. The writer goes cn to say: “This is an exaggerated form of bad timing. Figure “11 ’ shows how those popular faults of topping and slicing result from bad timing. The angle formed at the grip by the hands going ahead and the club lagging behind shortens the reach of the club, pulling it higher than it was ill the address, and so resulting in a ‘top.’ Since the hands are ahead ol the club-head the 'latter is pulled across the ball while it is being hit and a side spin is imparted, swerving the ball off to the right. Tho importance of correct timing as a remedy for flie major errors of golf is made cleat enough if we see what happens when other remedies are applied. To prevent topping we lean over a bit. If re lean over just enough to hit squarely a slice results; if we lean over too much the shot is dubbed or selaffed. To keep the club up with the speed of J ho arms we rn-in the club tighter. AVitii all the muscles tense the position of the body is altered and the shot, toc-etl or heeled. The worst tilings tliaf -e----sult from the too-tiglit grip, however, are that the force of the arms are expended too soon, resulting in a loss of distance, and the arms are jerked sharply towards or away from _ lie body at tho impact, resulting in a slice or hook. Seeing the ball sail into a slice, the beginner naturally fac-es more to the left. The effect of this is often to bring the club into contact sooner than before, while ,t is still on the .downward swing, thus increasing the cut, and slicing is even worse than ever.” The writer goes cn to recommend a study oi results in practice, using only a three-quarto/ swing, and swinging (not hitting a ball) with a dub, tho head of which is heavily weighted. Ho continues: “By wav of summary let me offer ten practical hints which may help you master the timing of every shot in your bag: , . , “1. The essence of the shot is the swing, not tho blow. A boy strolling along a meadow sweeping a dub at the "daisy heads before has the fundamentally correct rhythm. Try swinging your dub easily in the same manner. “2. Loosen your grip, especially during the follow-thtougli after a full shot. Tl7is loosened grip you will probably find unsuitable for use with your irons, and indeed you may not be able to manage it with. your wooden clubs; oven so, it will pay you to experiment with it in practice. “.‘l. Give up the idea entirely of over swiping blindly at the ball. r J lie teeshots of somo of tho champions sm h as iSaiazon seems at times to ho just such swipes as this, hut their *ays are r.ot for the average player. “4. Try a weighted dub until yon trot the fed of the dnh-head and teach yourself to think of it rather than of ihe ball. “5. Practise driving with your loft hand only. The ovcrstrong right side and arm are much to blame for bad timing. Strengthen the left: side. Flic-k the ball off the tee with a shavp turn of the wrist at tho bottom of this one-armed swing. “6. Don't force tho follow-through. Let your body be pulled round by rite club-head rather than vice versa. “7. At the beginning make a few experiments of hitting the ball while preventing the body from following through at all. Your dub will seem to have grown .suddenly longer and the h-ill will rise much more sharply into the air. Then gradually let vour body follow after the shot. “S. In practising with your iron clubs von will find that added confidence is "gained and rhythmic .swinging mado i easier by at first teeing up tho ball.

When the correct swing becomes habitual, the tee can be lowered gradually until the ball rests on the turf. “9. Don’t force your dubs. Rather than struggle with the temptation to force a ’ mashie, for instance, take a mashie iron or a spoon. The longm. clubs will get them high enough it you hit them clean; and clean hitting is the main objective of a correctly timed shot. “10. Remember Columbus: the wises, thing lie did was to get started, and the next wisest thing ho did was to keep going until he got there!”