LONG PUTTS AT GOLF.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19150, 5 November 1927, Page 17

LONG PUTTS AT GOLF.

GBRIOUS ASPECTS OF THE ART. (srzcujxt vnurrax »om nra Misc.) (Br Harry Vardon, Six Times Open Champion.) I suppose there must be a definite faaulty which onablos certain golfers to get down a large numbor of long putts. At any rate, some players aro so celebrated for their deadlinoss in this respect that it is unreasonable to suggest that thoy owe their success to luck, even though, wharo tho ordinary individual is concerned, it is customary to regard the holing of a long putt as something of a fluke, readily though it bo granted that he struck tho ball with admirable judgment of strength and direction.

It is agreed that he fully doscrvod to lay it so close to the tin as to make tho holing of the next putt a moral certainty, but there is invariably lurking in the minds of tho onlookers a conviction that ho ought to thank his lucky stars for consummating tho good work by directing the ball into tho hole without further ado.

Nevertheless, there aro players so consistently successful in this department that it is only fair to assume that they owe their peculiar and ohvinblo distinction to skill. Mr Bobby Jones gets down a lot of long putts, although his standard on the greons is probably only in keeping with tho golf he plays from tho too and in the iron shots. For some reason, tho gift seems always to have been given to amateurs in far more instancos than to professionals. Indeed, the only prominent > professional of tho present day who ocours to tho mind as possessing it in a marked degreo is Walter Hagen. Qthers may bo inspirod to achieve these gratifying prodigios of holing out, fairly ofton in exhibition games or other comparatively unimportant rounds, but they are seldom blessed with such dispensations in big tournaments on which fame and fortune depend. ' The Candid Critic. Perhaps tho explanation, is to bo. found partly in the remark which Alexander Herd onco utade to an amateur who, by getting down putts from all oyer th> place, had heaton him in a mateh-play tournament) open to both amateurs and professionals, at St. Andrews:

"You wouldn't holo all those putts if yon had tq .do it for your living," declared Herd in his bluff, good-humour-ed way.

Nevertheless, there are, plenty of people who, think that professionals should find the propess comparatively simple.

"It's only what they ought to do; they're playing every flay," I heard one hard-hearted, old gentleman doplare When twp professionals in an exhibition match had got down long pfotts on three consecutive greens. %f n hPi hqwevev, was not so' icy in iys criticism as a persqn on the occasion of a 'tournament match between Taylor and myself. On a certain green eaoh, of us, holed a very iang putt. "Wonderfull" ejaculated a fervent onlooker. ' .• ' be hanged!" retorted the unemotional ope, "they simply do that sort of thing to make thp gallery applaud." , r ~ ' '■■,■-■ I Many, and'pf epgrossing interest, , I are th,e plienolpepi- of. putting, 1' tnjnk I n\ay blaipv to haye been in jpy time as accurate as anybody, in laying: long putts" cjeac|, but certajnjy not in holmg a lot. What is jthe reasppP Qpe would expect a man who could lay the ball close to the hole consistently from distances of fifteen or twenty yaroV to round off the good work at reasonable intervals by actually holing the long putt. .It may be that the cause—although this is no explanation of it—is bound up in that mystic,' inscrutable fat» which, in a career of over thirty years,,, lipiited, ray.achievement of a "hple in one" to a solitary occasion.. At apy rate, Taylor, Braid, and Herd, an4'other exTchampipnj "have done quite, a \pi q£ 'ppes, ft w "at least interesting as a puzzle or thp law of averages that 1 nave holed only one tee shot.. , It> m as jnty»res#ng as th,e ''hUQ^ao"—?«,, I th,ipk, the Aniericans call an evil spirit—which, on the brink of the hole, dances attendance upon myjqng putts, although. I ©an lay ? those putts close to the hoi?.

' Braid's Gain and Loss. James Braid once told mo that, in his yqunger days, he was npjwious. as. a holer of ohip - Bnois. '■' Aj; Sue he* was always getting down from just off the green with,his old sandl-iron, which was,a sort of mashie and mid-iron rolled into one, and used by golfers of . that generation far s#prp*cb,es of all lengths. , His trait as a chipper into thg bql@.remained faithful to him when he came south and gave up his sand-iron for the modern 'clubs.

All this time h.e. was Vt(}sA B«tt*r; just about the worst in the ranks of prominent profesqipnals. Npw the- curious part of his evolution. By long and diligent practice, Braid made himself into a very- good putter. # And, ho told me, coincident with this welcome advancement, he suffered a strange loss—he lost the knack of holing chip shots. Npr has he ever recovered it in its old glory. There must be something in this mysterious game which insists upon taking as well as giving compensation.

Mr Tan Lucas, who, as Beuter's corr«roqftdsM. apfqfflpanwl tfte Duke and Duchess qf Yprk on th*ir recent ceremonial tour through Australia, and New Zealand, in his book, "The Royal Embassy" does not fail to emphasise — more especially .in the chapter entitled "The Duke Games On"—the notable p'ajt played by ihe Duke in his rolo of Hoyal when, owing to the illness of the Duchess, he was left alone. '

"Br his own sterling character and impressive personality," writs* Mr Lucas, "ihe '• Duke won his way into tho hearts irf' tho peonle In just tbe same minuet as he and. his charming 'ofjlo had done together. .' . . His sincerity in all things, hit kindliness and thougntiulness for others drew the people to him, ... It Is. trn« that the reception Thich ' ihe' T>uke "had in Christchurch exceeded in its sheer warmth and unfading fervour the magnificent welcome* of the otVet cities of New Zealand. apd eten of those 0' the greater cities of Australia."