GOLF.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17121, 16 April 1921, Page 10

GOLF.

WOMAN'S GAME WITH A PUNCH. (special to "the PBISS.") (By Abe Mitoheix.) The lady golfer of the present era is a hardy athlete. Even on those days when a shrewish wind sends us to the fireside for comfort she goes out, wrapped in her jumper and woolly scarf, and finds enjoyment where none would seem to ho. She laughs at worm-oasts and poor lies. 'Like the man. who declared that no beer was bad, slio finds her fun, even if it is in a hunker. Truly has Woman's golf changed. , ffhe other day I saw a photograph of a scene that might have been staged in the long ago. In the foreground -was a carriage and pair with two ladies watching eagerly a woman driving from a tee a few yards away. And the golfer was wearing a wide, flowing skirt that trailed on the ground, and a whita blouse with a high, stiff cdllar. How old do you think the picture was? It was talien at the Ladies' Championship .at Westward Hoi m 1910, and the golfer shown was Miss Grant Suttie, the winner. I fear I am woefully ignorant "in women's fashions, but it seems to me that the ladies have tackled the question of • their dress with the same .thoroughness as they have always conducted their affairs on the links. There was a time, of course, when the leading clubs had their picturesque coats, and'men went forth in scarlet and blue, but to-day only the ladies,] often greatly daring sis it may seem, brighten the colour scheme. One imagines that« they will never gb back to the long skirt and stiff collars. More likely is it that they will abandon the skirt and take to breeches. This may seem, perhaps, to be too revolutipnary a change, but —well, the woman golfer .in knee-breeches has already ceased ibo startle American golfers. The skirt, as it must appear to every man.iB declared to_be a Hindrance, and mora and more ladies in America, I am told) ai*e leaving'it in the dressing-room before going out to play. A Game with a Punch. Even in my time women's golf has changed both in style and ideas. It has ceased to be a game in which grace has a false value. Picture the player of tweinty years ago. She took her club back with a fine, sweeping movement until the toe almost pointed to the ground, and then brought it back in.a leisurely way to finish with a magnifi- . cent follow through. It almost seemed as if it were the follow through, whieli counted for more than the actual striking of the ball. Tind ( when the move- , ment was finished she would stand poised as if in self-admiration. All such notions have gone to-day. Now only one thing ma tters—the striking' of the ball with all the firmness that the player can command. *The woman golfer has become most prac- ' tical and businesslike. ' Every action, from the moment when she takes up' her stance on the tee,,, suggests that her one purpose is to exert all the phy : sical force that she ean control. So the swing has been shortened ; the blub is not taken back below the horizontal. And on the down swing she works up to a grand crescendo which smashes out at the moment of "contact with the ball. As for the follow through,' she has come to realise that actually it is not much more than a picturesque phase of golf.: I do. not wish to suggest that the follow through can be ignored, for whilst this is true to a large extent, T believe it, to- be a dangerous teaching. At the same time you will see Miss Leitch and some of her hardhitting sister players drawing their hands in at the waist line, as I and others dp, instead of i. carrying them high I over the left shoulder. Woman's golf is a game with a punch in it. It is fully recognised that whilst 1 a well-timed swing gives astonishing results, it is' only by th(j accurate application of physical power that' considerable length can be obtained. In, my opinion Miss Leitch has had a, wonderful influence in this respect. She was probably the first woman to try and mould her style and methods on those of. her brother "players. and to what extent she has succeeded there is "Hbuijdant evidence today, not only so far as she is concerned j but from those who have followed her lead. Influence of Miss Leitch. Miss Leitch has told us that she has never had a lesson. All the teaching she received was from her brother wliQj, unhappily, died aa a young man. But 6he has, been a wonderfully close and' observant student of the game. One imagines her going to watch—well, in style she resembles Braid more than - anyone else, arid though I do not know, it is possible that, he has influenced her a good deal —and saying, "I ain' going to hit the ball in . the same may. i have strong wrists,, and there is no reason why '1 should not do so. • At any rate, I shall never be able to hit the ball two hundred yards unless I can apply the necessary force." Whether Miss Leitch was the first woman to make the discovery that power is an essential factor in golf, I do not know, but I" believe that she was the first to put the theory into practice. Henoe her present supremacy. She took some time to reacn the ■ goal, and still longer to persuade some 6f her sister players that, she was really the 'leader of- woman's golf; v but' to-day she is generously- placed in a class above all. others... . Presumably it is oecause of her superiority that "plus" has been introduced into the L.G.U. system of;handicapping. There is a prospect of the greatest match woman' s; golf has, known, this season, if luck will. birly ordain that* Miss Leitch and .Mis 9 Alexa r Stirling should be drawn together, in the championship at Turnberry. Miss Stirling has not'been beaten in' America since 4915,' and all the evidence suggests that.-she;-is a worthy opponent for our own champion. Woman's golf has developed astonishingly during the last 'ten years or so, and not only as regards the leading players, but the play generally has attained a much highef standard. ' To ' some extent the advance has been helped by the improvement of the ball, and 1 imagine that there .would be a bitter protest from the ladies if the worst were .to happen, and we were compelled to go back to the .old Floater. -The "31" is hardly a suitable ball for them; but the or thfe new one made to St. Andrew's un- i less it is too small, -admirably fits their i physical capabilities.