ON THE LINKS

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 58, Issue 78, 4 May 1929, Page 12

ON THE LINKS

ACTIVITIES AT WAIOHIKI. ITEMS OF GENERAL INTEREST (Notes by "Plus Four.") I

The links at Waiohiki have nerer been so good at tliis time of year as i they are at present and the goocl conjdition lias resulted in an excellent ! number of good scores being rcgis- ! tered. j An example of tliis was given last j Paturday. when L. Stepiicnson and R. i At orker ivon the bogev haiulicap with |a scoro of nine up oii the colonel. Nor j was tliis the only pair who made hogev Jtake a socond place, for W. M. Satterj tJiwait and J. G. Hawke secured a i h'.'id of eiglit up, F. V. Ketllo and C. ? Atkinson a lcad of six np, F. L. Gor- ( don and Y\ . Heslop a iead of four up, jwliile four otiier pairs secured two up i advantagcs. j Roen competition prevailed and a | good number of entries were received i for ihe match. | All cnnditjons promise a most sucj ce.ssful season and if the improvements j in the course continue the Waiohiki t linhs should he one of the best in the j Pomiiiion when the annual tournajnent comcs round. the honour. Although every golfer knows that in match play the side winning the hole takes the honour at the next tee, and that if a. hole is lialved the side liaving the honour at the previous tee still ! retains it, some plnyers do not seem to he entirely clear as to the rulo in med.al competitions. As a matter of fact, the rulo is the same as in mateli play. The piayer taking the fewer number of strokes at any hole ought aiways to drive first at the next. It should bo noted that nlthough there is no penalty for an inadvertent breach of this rnle. an agreement to depart from it involves the disqualification of hoth competitors. In a case where, as a matter of convenience, on a congested course, the shorter driver took tiie lionour tlivoughout the round, it was held that both players musfc be discjualified. ^ instruction. The abilify to absorb gnlf instruction is about as scarco as the number of gcod players tliero are in the game. In other words the ability to absorb helpful information and apply it to your oira game is almost an absoluto necessity if you are going to make of your game what you wnut to make of it. Much has been written of the golf swing. No doubb tlio golf swing can bo explainod on mechanieal prineiples, but it is doubtful if that explanation :will ever do you any good. *• * * mechanical golf . To learn the meclinnics of golf is not to learn to play golf. You may read a description of the proper swing, but unless you have a strong imagination and, in your mind's eye, see yourself reprodueing that swing, and, moreover, unless you are sufficiently obsevvant to have fy-st made a mental picture of the swmgs of good players ahout you, ihe meclianical description will do you little good. * * * george duncan. George Duncan, captain of the British Rvder Cup teain, has resigned his position as professional at the Wentworth Country Club, Virginia Water. The reason for this step, which came as a snrprise to tlie golfing public, is that Duncan feels that his many engagements prevent him from devoting as much time as he thinks he i should to Ihe dutics at Wentworth. } He anticipales being awav six months j during the present year, a period which practically takes up the entire ; season. In addition to the British, ; Irish, French, ancl other European :r.ational championships, Duncan lias annual engagements which take him i to North Berwick in the Autumn and j to the Contincnt as private coaeh to jthe Aga Khan. Added to these calls, j Duncan is now responsihle for the eap|taincy of the British team which will j necessitate a week in training at Ganjton, near Scarborough, and a week at | Leeds for the matches with America. i In these circumstanccs, Duncan has •tiiought it only fair that he should | hand in his resignation to the direcI tors at Wentworth. This lias been 1 accepted, and the engagement was ter- • minated on March 4th. Duncan went , from Hanger Ilill when Wentworth ! was formed, his chief assistnnt being ] Jack Smitli, of long-driving fame. who | resigned last year. Duncan now joins j the ranks of l'ree-lance golfers, the ! chief of whom is Walter llagen, who, it is popularly supposed, makes a princclv mcomo roamiug ahout ^ the world gathering tlio honey where it is most plentiful. Another free lance is Joe Kirkwood, who has built up a most lucrative connection as a "trick ' golfer. It is understood that he has amassed a small fortune during the soven years lie has hecn touring the ,r^\ iM j^\

• i American continent, often in partner- ; ; ship with Hagen. ■\an aberdonian * Duncan, who is 40 years of age, is j an Aberdonian, his golfing career cora- ; mencing as a caddie on the Boval Bal- ■ gownie links. Duncan and Btaid are j perhaps the two most famous Scottish - golfers who came to England to scek : lame aml fortune. Duncan's populari ity among the crowds who attend i championships and other big events i lias never waned, even thoiigh his golf j may have touched the lowest depths. j Oue never knows, not even Duncan i liimself, when his game will rise to | dazzling heights, and it is this charac- , teristic, together witli his quick, dash- ; nig stvle of play, which exercise so j great a fascination for the spectator. ' Duncan will play sliots which no other : nlayer would dare attempt, and it is : hecanse his golf is so full of surpris.es j that he is never left unattended hv 1 those iThe are looking for excitement I and thrills. None will forget Duncan's dramatic chase of Hagen in the last j rnund of the British open championj ship at Sandwich scven years ago. Requiring a fi8 to tie, a score that seemj ed humanly impossible. Duncan failed hv only a, single stroke. He would have ticd had he taken a little mere oaro when plaeing a simple little chip shot from tlie side of the last gveen. But this is Duncan, he must,_ ns it were, take the shots in his stride, or lapse into medioerity. * * * concentra ti on . A piayer had tlie day open for golf and arranged with a friend to play the day. His morning round was bad. _ So had, indeed, that he viewed the eigliteen lioles to he played in the afternoon with more than dismay. If I don't play any better than I did this morning," he saicl, "I'll throw these clubs away. "Just try one thing," the fiiend suggestecl. "Loosen your neck a little and keep your chin pointing back of the ball as you swing. ' "I'll try one thing," he said, "but I don't want to think of two or three thiugs," "Chin back of the hall," he said, addrcssing it phvsically and verbally, and the result was a good drive, tlien a good hrassie and a par 4 on a 400 yard hole. He rau off four pars in succession and lie was gniety itself. Then he botclied two lioles hadly. "What about ihe cliin back of the ball?" his friend asked. "Geel" he taid. "I'd forgotten all about that after those four pars." He had taken it for granted that liis job of eoncentration was over and that he ■would henccforth work automatically for the lest of the round at Ieast. He snapped back for two or three holes and then drifted again. "It's hard to keep thinking ahout that all the way around," he said. "Which tiies you the more," his friend asked "to concentrate a little or to keep slashing away in bunkers or out of lieavy grass ?" The point is that a certain type of concentration is necessary. If a golfer hasn't been keeping his neck loose enough and his chin pointing back of Ihe ha 11 he won't do it automatically. He will have to think about it in advanco of the swing. There are many golfers inclined to grip a club as if it were a matter of life or death._ They j must think about a lighter grip and I less wrist tension before each shot. jlf they don't the old fault will leap upon them like a leopard from a jungle : lmib. j sj; j concentration. ! The trouble is that most golfers in ' place of concentrating on one or two necessary devices either try to concenI irate on a llock of do's and don'ts or . tliey don't concentrate at all. If you | have been keeping your weiglit too i much on your left foot at the top of ! ihe swing think about letting it travel to the right on the back swing so the j hitting motion can all be forward. But ; keep on thinking about this just before playing each shot. If you are too rigid think ahout more relaxation. At least pick out one thing tliat ought to bo dono in the right way and when this happens other right things will cften follow in order. Concentration, or attempted concentiation, on a number of dctails is fatal to any smoothness. There is a good, steady golfer who says to liimself just oue word as he addresses the ball : "Smooth — smooth — smooth." That keeps liim from any hurricd, jerkv stroke, and puts his mind upon tlio type of swing he wants to make. Concentration in golf — ooncentration on the right thing — is completely necessary; and it is less wearing than hscking awa.y all the afternoon in heel prints in the sand or through the lieavy rough outsido the fairway.