In Spite Of Gunner’s Nerves, Abe Mitchell Is Still Britain’s Best Golfer.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17890, 5 July 1926, Page 13

In Spite Of Gunner’s Nerves, Abe Mitchell Is Still Britain’s Best Golfer.

mu inn in mum | ATpHERE can be no question as to who is the outstanding j I 1 British golfer of the hour, says “ The tinksman,” in J§ | the “ Graphic.” Abe Mitchell has begun the season of big j | affairs in a manner that calls ( to mind Harry Yardon at m ■ the zenith of his powers. He has outclassed his rivals, and jj 1 done it by sheer overwhelming brilliancy. mfiiiiiiiiiiniiimimiinmmiiiiiimttituHimiiiiiiiiuninnimiiiiiiiMimimmmimiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHHiiiimiiiiiiimiiiil

It -was the kind of thing that Yardon used to do: a process of crushing the opposition in the early stages and then proceeding placidly- to victory. These two men have made the game look easier than anybody else has done, and in saying this one is mindful of the genius of the great Mr Bobbie Jones. Mr Jones is the acme of grace as he swings the club and a marvel of consistency, but there are times when contemplation of the shots brings a pucker to his brow-—an effect which shakes the belief that it is all as simple and natural to him as his style suggests.

Some two years ago, when I was discussing with Vardon the manner in which he used to eclipse his rivals .in every variety of competition, he said: “ Mitchell ought to do the same now. He is good enough to win everything as easily as I did when I really could hit a ball.” It was a very fine tribute from a man who, for several seasons some thirty years ago, dominated his feljows completely, and who has gained recognition as an exceptionally shrewd judge of the game. Then why is it, we may reasonably ask, that Mitchell has not yet secured the open championship? Certainly it is not that he lacks the qualities as a score player which this event demands, even though he has built up his reputation very largely as the result of the fighting spirit which he shows when he has to face his opponents singly in matches. It is the fact that he is the only first-class professional who has never failed in the qualifying stroke competitions which precede all the important tournaments, and he must have finished first in those events more often than anybody else. That is sufficient evidence of his ability at the score play game. The truth is that the long-drawn-out test of four rounds of this grinding form of golf, such as the open championship exacts, has pjoved more than his physical condition could stand. Although he has said little about it, his health has been indifferent for seven years. He came straight from the hospital to resume the career of a professional golfer after service as a gunner in France, and could not quite recover his old fitness. His health has been better during the past six months than for a very long

while. F.or one thing, a private engagement which enables him to devote his attention to playing instead of looking after a professional's .shop, teaching all and sundry among the members who want lessons, and having to attend to the other requirements that are imposed by a position as professional to a club, seems to have given him a new start in life.

Mitchell is—beyond all doubt, I think —the best driver of a golf ball in the world. The ease, the seeming lack of deliberately applied forcefulness, with which he makes the ball start like a bullet from a rifle and fly tremendous distances, and the certainty with which he controls its direction, have, never been equalled. Mr F. G. Tait, Mr Cyril Tolley, Mr Roger 11. Wethered, Mr Edward Blackwell, Douglas Holland, James Braid, Edward Ray; all the great drivers of their different generations have possessed the obvious faculty of hitting very hard. Mitchell never seems to be giving the ball such a bang as he might do, and yet he gets farther than anybody else has ever done.

In the art that hides hard hitting and also keeps tlje shot straight, probably the second best driver is Mr Bobbie Jones. A famous player gave to me the other day his picturesque impression of how Mr Jones drives. He does it, said this authority, with something of the easy grace with which an expert thrower discharges those paper streamers which are sometimes features of gala nights at clubs; and the effect is much the same, for the ball rises and rises into the air, seemingly gaining .strength of flight as it progresses, just like the well delivered paper streamer.

Mitchell has a good deal of the same ease, but he makes the ball go farther —probably ten yards farther than the American champion. He has only one thing to fear—his putting. In truth, he need not fear that, for he putts as well as anybody when his mind is calm. Only it worries him a little. You will notice that he usually has a practice swing on the green, as though to impress upon himself the importance of swinging the putter smoothly instead of snatching at the ball. So long as he remembers to go on doing that, he seems to be all right.