GOLF.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18229, 13 November 1924, Page 12

GOLF.

THE TELLING SHOT. WHY AMERICANS ARE GOOD

PUTTERS

(SPZCIAIiT WJiITTEX FOB "THE FRSSS.") (By Harry Yardor,.) Of late, there has been a good deal of discussion concerning the superiority of American golfers in c-ne" particular department of the game—putting. It has been said that British players ■are just as good as any in the world in driving and the hitting of all sorts of iron shots up to the pin, but that when it comes to the business of ' holing out, the Americans excel.

I have no doubt that, in a generai way. this sununing-up is correct. On a difficult course which inflicts the proper punishment for errors, it is even possible that Britishers liaive the advantage in driving. Some of them can be very erratic on cccasion, but,, on the whole, they are probably more accurate than Americans m their full shots from the tee. Except "Walter Hasen at Sandwich.in 1922, when he was hitting the ball very accurately, 1 do not Know that thetv i.> any United States player who can be held to have paved the way to his (victory in a British championship bv the splendour of his driving. Certainly Mr W. J. Travis steered a beautifully straight course when he secured the amat<Air championship—also at Sandwich—in 1904, but his driving was not emphatically short,, and' it was as much as he... could do just to scrape o\er the hazards that had to be carried from some of the tees. It_was his putting that carried him to (victory. There was nothing specially notable about the driving of Jock Hutchinson when., he captured the British open championship at St. Andrews in 1921, and no doubt Hagen would be ready in a moment to agree that he triumphed at Hoylake this year in spite of, rather than because of, his driving.

So far as I haive been able to judge, the best driver from America whem we have seen in this oountrv is James Barnes—a very straight hitter as well as a very long one. As a putter, however, he has not been specially successful. This is probably the reason that he has not won our championship.

Ball-Control. In the playing of iron shots, I am inclined to concede a shade of superiority to the . Americans. Macdonald Smith is—and has been for a dozen years—one of. the, finest iron-shot players in the world. Hagen is a master in this* department,of the game; so is Mr Bob-, bie Jones, that, great American ama-. teur. Indeed, among both amateurs and professionals, the standard of Ron play in the United States is high. My impression, after watching all the prominent competitors in this. season's open' championship, was that the present generation of British golfers lacked completeness of ball-control in hitting the shots up to. the pin. In most cases, one felt directly the ball had been struck that the shot was wanting in perfect control; that it might finish somewhere just off. the, green—as often it did.

In point of fact, I saw nobody- at Hoylake hitting his iron shots with such precision as the veteran,. J. H. Taylor. James Braid, too, was playing his beautifully,, Still, it would. be an exaggeration ■ to say that the stars of younger Britain were being left- badly by the Americans in this connexion. We have to prober farther, for ,the explanation of recent.. United • States, victories over British, players, and there remains only the, putting to. consider. I! daresay it is the real key' 'to the situation^

A Question of Conditions. If we accept the premise that the Americans are supreme within fifteen or twenty yards of the hole, what are we to advance as the reason? Is. it something in the American temperament that enables their players to putt with consistent accuracy? It is hardly that, I "think. Much more likely is it that the explanation lies lai the circumstance. that, having cultivated, a certain method, they stick to it and practise . it; th.ey do not change it because, for a -day or two, it happens to meet with little success. .In Britain, almost everybody experiments with new . ways of putting seiveral times a year—or even, several times a month. There is this to be said in extenuation of such changeableness. The golfer is almost forced mto it. During my latter-day tours in ihe United States, I 1 have been struck by. the ' uniformity in the'" texture and pace of the puting greens —net only the eighteen putting greens of one course, bu~S all the putting greens in- a' -district. .Naturally, the putting is not quite tue same in' the East as in the West, because th 6 soil and the character of the grass; differ, but when one is fn a certain area, one knows pretty well what sort of pilTTtng is required throughout that area. In Britain, the (variety is infinite. It happens cften that the greens one course differ in pace and that tne nap of the turf (varies. Sometimes the grass is cut in two directions, with the result that its blades are resisting the putt for,half its distance, and going with it for the other Balf..,The player may have to hit one putt firmly, and trickle the rest—of perhaps the -same distance —in a gingerly way for fear cf running out of holing distance. <fhis makes it well-nigh impossible to cultivate a certain riiethod of putting and remain faithful to it in all circumstances. The golfer in Britain has to take the green as he finds it and adapt himself to it. The result is that he frequently changes his principle. One day, a certain system meets with success cm a certain course, and so he keeps to it for a while. But it does not serve him well on another course a few miles away where the pace and texture of the greens are different. So he tries a fresh system, and in all these changes there is only distraction. The end of it is that putting geta more cr less on his nerves. He is never sure of himself on the green. Ido not know any American ■ golfer of whom .it can be said that putting has~ever become nerve-racking to him. Having the advantage of uniformity of conditions in a district he feels that he can depend upon one principle. He has a sense of security wherever he may go. A little practice gives him the touch of the greens and he is safe. His confidence has not been undermined. If the reader needs proof cf what this constancy of putting conditions means, let it be said that even I have usually putted rather well within a few weeks of beginning a tour in the United States.