GOLF.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18419, 27 June 1925, Page 13

GOLF.

LADY PLAYERS. (spiciiiiT wamaa roa Ths raxs*. 1 * (By Harry Vardan.} The fact that the British ladies* open championship was decided at Troon, Ayrshire, last month, is ampte justication for devoting some attention to the subject of ladies' golf. For this event, tho entrants include Miss Glenna. Colktt, of Providence. Rhode Island, who is described as tho best of tho American women players. It is tivo years since I toured in tho Unitc<d States, and I did not see iliss Collett. in that comparatively remote period. Nor is tho circumstance surprising, for she was 16 years of age at the time. What is more, I believe- she only started to play golf when she was 14, and her rapid rise at tho game ha* caught its veterans napping. All tho same, there can be no doubt as to her qualities, after her performance against Mr Toiler in the recent annual match between teams oi" ' ladies and men at Stoke Pogea. SIS received nine strokes in tho round, a* the femtnino players always do on . these occasions, and nobody disputes that such an allowance is very considerable. She won by on© hole. I never thought that any arst-ffass amateur could give Bliss Cecil Leitch these heavy odds, and none ever did with success. Still, it was a Tery fine feat for Miss Collett to beat Mr Tolley, for her opponent was playing; just about at tho top of his form. He came to grief at one sole, ib» seventeenth, with its oat of bemssd* thicket on the left, and its stream in front of the green, but leaving that out of the reckoning; as an isolated example of waywardness, be bad an average of 4's for the seventeen holes at which Miss Collott was fighting hist hard. !

Nobody would expect to do tetter than that at Stoke Poges. Consequently the American lady mar be said to have achieved a ray esceUeat performance—worthy of Miss Leitch or Miss Wethered at her best -and the critic who has thundered out the remark that we need not fear lasts* tfe* championship to America is, I Fear, a little orer-confident. Bones. Undoubtedly there are two redVwhtable defenders of home honours in Miss Joyce Wethered and Miss OcQ LcmtK Their records are creat. Miss Leitea used to hare a rank in Iter iron-pJar in the sense that she took the- ebA back in too Sat an arc, and filled si divot in forcing for effect. Her »•*■* pical strength carried her through in this way. Imt it was not a Rood way, and she has done well to practise a rather slower and more upright swine. Miss Wethered has been severely criticis?d bv American experts far «*» methods. It has been an uprising a? onininn sufficient to shock a eoantrv that has accepted her as th** last w«r4 in *he science of ladies* coif. There can he no nuestioa as t» Ote deeds of Miss Wethered* on the tutka. I believe thnt the best amateurs, including Sir Ernest Holdemesa."any that thev wonld n'eT»r hope to giro krr six strokes—a third, let alone a batf—i* a round. She has provided a*aal« reason for their chariness by Iter arcompliahments aeainat leading amateurs in private matches. •

It is not at all certain that an? ptofessional could concede to her «£*• strokes in the round. Mia* LeilrV proved that she could prosper witksweJi a start as this when she idayed Tata Ball on his home course, West Lancashire, at a time when he was gnawi enough to be runner-up for the «few championship for two yean in **•**#»• sion. She was rerr heavUr under similar handicap terma by Abe Mitchell when he was nrofesnonal «t Ronning-on-Thames. All the sasae. a first-class professional is biting .«•?'»»' much as he can chew when ■*• aajwwis to give a half to a leading lady pl«j«x.

VJL AntHala.

The American eritiea, aaaryata*? Miss Wetfaered'a swing from tie •*»»> motion film* picture*, say that ate fern an outstanding fault; that saw dote a«fc lift the left heel from the graaad ia' the tip swing of the elate This certainly looks bed: it scttw t» be almost an indispensable t*m&SSm of taking the elnb back eometljr &r a long shot that the left keel was* come off the turf so that the ifrratiaa* on that foot tasr be done oat the joint at the base of tie hi* toe. Ikia St where I have always felt the pteaenswr in the back swing. . The American analysts go fart*«*r and say that when 3G» WetksteeV raises her left foot she doe* it ia th* wrong place; that she rises oa th* toe* of that foot at the impact, and saw «• to the toes of. the right foo*--wk&tk it natural—so that she is oa all ker Km* as she strikes the ball. They deehtm that she cannot remain a great gotta* if she continues to play in this mawswr. It is stern commentary. The fact remains that Miss Wethend coatiaaes to produce the desired reastts. and that the swine of her elak leaks perfect. It ia possible for her to asset Miss Collett in the third round «f the championship at Troon, and tilt aoga& to baa great test. Lady golfers are to be eoagratalat«4 on the wonderful advance that they have made in the past twenty years. At one time, they were hardly take* seriously. A seratek man ia av eat) would hare considered himself mean Ist offering to any of them no men than av, stroke a hole, for he would have expected to win easily. Nowadays, there is power in ladies" golf, and there is skill. The oary weakness of the sex is, I think, a dlsßoaitwai to use elubs of light weight. An extra ounce is no special taxes the phystoaa, and, given a true swing, it hekj* i» producing distance.