NEW GOLF PLAYERS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 225, 17 June 1919, Page 5

NEW GOLF PLAYERS

THE VALUE OF PROPER INSTRUCTION

(By Anthony Spalding, in the "Daily News") [Embryo golf champions, who are at present coquetting with golf- Balis ,on, improved putting greens within their own domestic purlieus, will ho ' interested to read the following account of the difficulties -which make gouf" at once a science and a joy.l _ A widespread belief prevails that there is-not the'least.difficulty in learning howto hit a golf ball, and few of thoso ignorant of the game • beliove that tho learning of golf is one'of the most difficult .tasks that can be undertaken. The man who is confronted for the first time with the necessity of hitting a golf ball has no doubt in his own mind that he can strike it with- tho club. His failure is often marked by the assumption of an air of inexpressible.disgust, as if in a world WheTe 6uch a thing could happen he might as well enter on a course of recklessness. Loss of temper {produces negative results, and he is soon reduced to the condition of a baby engaged in the primary mystery on its own toes. And he goes away a humbler man, with Borne idea nf his personal limitations and a:notion tliat he wants more Tange'and less, rage to drive the ball successfully .from'the tee.

".' ■' The Self-Taught Basis, i Golfers ore hot /made a? a gardener grows a cabbage, b,ut-as the result of training/discipline, and good example. The game is composed of elements which 'bring it within the category of an art as well as a science,-arid, generally speaking, it cannot bo self-taught.' Mr. John Low says that he.does not believe any really good golfer has been. taught his game—he.has always, taught,himself, and no doubt Mr. Low is • right l in regard to.the golfing.-genius. But the players of outstandin? merit are the.-executions which prove-the-rule that the-man who ;s neither young nor old and who_ takes ur> golf on a self-taught basis is. not likelv to get out of the eddy of its rudimeits. .'" ' > The beginning, of one's golfintj life is, therefore, a most important; period. The beginner is in the position of a man who requires first aid,'and it is, well to remember there aro occasions when first aid is admittedly precarious. There is an acute.danger,in the earliest stage of golfing scholarship. ~The-first object, of a beginner should be to obtain the ad- : vice of somebody competent to shape his enthusiasm and movements, so that their intrinsic purpose can-be made good.-If h» remains untaught, the beginner is at the mercy-,of. blind chance, just a whirl of random energies,- one. movement canCelling the other. Unless he seeks vice, folly will-come-up in errors just as weeds will in a garden; he will contract bad habits which ,at first, are only venial'infirmities, 'but unchecked he will become a slave to faults, and not less abject than Caliban to Prosper*, his detested and despotic master.' And the longer instruction is, delayed the harder it is to break away from vassalage. ■ . A' Good "Teacher, ..Not, the least'difficulty is.-to-find, a good .teacher. : '.There'are professionals in abundance, but every professional is not a good}teacher,, though he. may .be a good player. Tho ideal teacher, should known something . more ' than certain., movements of limbs.and body, which is the A.B.C. of/teaching, just as the mere degrees of loud and 1 soft tones and alterations in tempo are the A.B.C. of the conductor's oinceZ ,The art of, imparting knowledge, is a gift, and it embraces the (highlyimportant intuitive faculty of being able to assess the inherent possibilities, of the pupil, and the adaptation of. instruction to. the latter's, strength,; age, and capacity of discernment., ~ ' So many . professionals' attempt,; .to .mould their.pupil's,to their own pattern and likeness, ;forgetting that-what is suitable' for a strapping young fellow in the twenties is an impossible task to, the comfortable rotundity of a man approaching fifty. ! -Nearly, every man has a certain amount'of golfing talent, which, developed on proper lines, will enable him to reach his .level,, and beyond this, it is'impOsSibl'e'for. hini'W'pass/' And he is in. a .fair, way ..of coming into his .own kingdom.when he .'can 'say: "I,know, ■what I can. do and what I cannot do." : That is conimon-sense. ■ In order to leani what he should not; do: he must be taught what he must do. There ' are stumbling-blocks over which every golfer falls, but the-professional points to-where they. are,'an,d 'if he- is a real.,teacher, .his explanation'of body movements will .enable the pgpil'-to recognise with eyes and reason both'cause and effect:

A last word of warning! Don't think it is possible to learn golf from books.' Literature is an accepted auxiliary, but a ■ theoretical knowledge of' Taylor's strokes, 'say, cannot transmute one's faults into, Taylor's virtues. The begin'ner ..may learn such useful axioms-as "Dbn J t . press," "Follow, through," but when lie is oh the tee his natural inclination will be to use muscular force, iust as a quadruped that has been taught in walk on'his'hind legs will ie.wanting to be on all fours. Professional lessons are not only a good investment for money, but gilt-edged for all one's golfing life, yielding , .subsequent : enjoyments. This is subject'■■;to. fluctuations, but all sorts of bonuses come as' pleasant sur-prises,-and after play one gets high interest in pleasurable anticipation;