“Improve Your Golf.”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18786, 15 June 1929, Page 7

“Improve Your Golf.”

BY

GEORGE GADD

(FAMOUS BRITISH PROFESSIONAL.)

(Written for the “Star.’ 5 ) All sorts of reasons have been ascribed for the several disappointing showings of British golfers against Americans in championships. One is that players pay more attention to the drive than the other shots, whereas, in comparison, the American concentrates on the short game. There is no doubt that Hagen and his colleagues have brought the little shots to a fine art. They are masters of what may be called the stroke which saves a stroke. A good deal of prominence has been given to the fact that Sarazen plays nearly all his run up shots from just off the green with his steel-headed putter. Well, what club is used for a shot of this description is not of great importance. It is mainly a matter of fancy. Some players prefer a mashie or a straighter faced iron on the other hand. I have often seen Edward Ray play

his little chips with his mashie niblick, and, under certain conditions, I have chosen this club myself. Long Approach Putts. But I think it is true that the Americans tackle these strokes differently from most British golfers. They are keener to get the ball into the hole and put them perhaps within thirty yards of it, and they not only believe that they have a chance to run down, but also deliberately try to do so. _ They treat shots of this kind just as if they were long approach putts, and. as I have said, we have-Sarazen taking his putter to them. Now the British golfer. T am afraid, has yet to realise the full possibility of the chip. lie does not aim high enough. Of course, his endeavour is to place the ball dead, but. unlike the American, he does not aspire to hole out. If he should happen to do so, he regards it rather in the nature of a "fluke. It is true that you want a certain amount of luck to bole out from thirty yards, no matter how cleverly the stroke is played, but the American plan is undoubtedly the most profitable one, for even if you do not get down, the fact that you have made a deliberate attempt to do so is bound, I think, to produce a better result than if you merely play to place the ball somewhere near the hole. Keep the Body Still. In playing these little, but vitally important, strokes most Americans have one conspicuous trait. Ail of them are at great pains to keep the body still. To all intents and purposes they play the shots with the arms. There is little or no pivot of the shoulder. As I have said they, a!s far as possible, convert them into putts. The reasor for this is that the shorter the distance the ball has to travel the less margin there is for error. In making the run up see that your head does not move. That is the surest way to prevent the body swaying as the club goes back. Be Ambitious! Be a little more, ambitious. Try and hole out. It is a splendid habit to,

fall into. You will probably find, like the Americans, that the ball will drop occasionally. • Better still, you will discover that the ball is finishing nearer to the hole than it used to do, and that you are saving strokes on the green. That is the way to bring your handicap down Two putts a green is not good enough. In one round, at Sandwich, Hagen had only thirty-one, which was a clear saying of five strokes, judged by the old British theory. Lock to Your Clubs. From time to time every golfer should overhaul his bag of clubs, and I suggest that it will pay him to let his club professional examine them. It is quite likely that some of the iron heads have become a little loose, and it is a danger to play with them in that state. Besides, your wooden clubs will be all the better for a coat of varnish, and the grips may require to be redressed. I always believe in keeping my clubs in good order. I like them to look nice, because I believe it helps. Some players deliberately allow their irons to "get rusty, but I prefer that mine should shine brightly, and I will risk the sun clinging on them and causing a distraction to the eye. This is supposed to be the clanger of a well-polished iron head.

The Novice’s Bag. I have been asked what clubs I think are necessary for anyone taking up the game. We always consider that the bag of the novice should comprise brassie, mid-iron, mashie and putter. Of course, the brassie is used to drive from the tee. It hag a slight loft, and it helps to get the ball nicely up. Additions to the bag will come more or less naturally as the player becomes more familiar with the game, and he begins to make progress. First of all. he will probably feel that he wants a club a little easier than a brassie to handle for long shots through the green. His choice should be a spoon. Then he will want something to tackle the short approaches and also give more help than a mashie in bunker work. The club to satisfy these demands is a mashie niblick.

More Irons. By this time there will be need for a real driver, and perhaps a niblick, and you will be lucky if you escape the disease of buying clubs which attacks most players. But, in any event, you will get more irons. Perhaps a jigger, a useful club, as I

find it for many types of shots, and a No. 1 and a No. 3, iron. You already have the mid-iron, which counts as the No. 2. If you go beyond this collection, the choice is merely fane.}'. A mongrel mashie is a favourite club of many players. It is a mixture of mashie and mid-iron. Or, again, you may like a wooden cleek, but these are not essential. (To be continued next Saturday.)