"SAVE YOUR STROKES"

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 77, 17 April 1937, Page 14

"SAVE YOUR STROKES"

hagen's advice to golfers TOO MANY "DREAM" SHOTS. "The mm idea to golf," Walter Hagen matotalns, "is to save all the strokes you can. It is much bettef to iganible en a pitch close to the pto or on one putt than it is on some faticy shot that won't come off once out of a hundred. times." There is a great deal of wisdom in Hagen's advice, but it is strange how few of us even attempt :to oarry out his idea, which, after all, should obviously be a primary consideration says a writer to The Australasian. With the exception of a small mtoority of hard-bitten vetei'ans, nearly aU golfers play far too many "dream" shots— shots that are nearly always doomed to failure before they are made. Not Ibng ago I was. piaytog to a f our-bail game with a young chap in the middle twenties who had quite an attractive atyle and a good many splendid shots to his bag. His handicap of 20 seemed rather generous during the playing of the first few holes, but his subsequent efforts proved that the. handicapper had not made a mistake. He was one of those players one so frequently meets who had not acquired the knack of scoring. While waittog at one of the tees towards the end of the game he -voiced the old question, "What's. wrong with my game?" As quick as a flash came. the answer from a player of the "down the centre, on to three and two putts" type. "You have no brains," was his somewhat unexpected but nevertheless sensible reply. "Take that last hole, for instance," relentlessly continued the other player, "and let us sea what happened there. In the first plaee you had no need to try and hit the oover off the ball with your driver because placement rather than distance was needed to give an easy secod shot at the dog-leg. No, slogged the ball and into the bushes it went, Your ball was lying on loose sand and a sharp tap with a putter would have sent it running " with overspin safely heneath overhangtog branchos to the safaty of the fairway. But what did you do? You took a mashie and the lofted ball hit the trees and left you still in trouble. You wero lucky to get clear with your next shot, and from the position of your hall you should have easily reached the green with your next and got down to two putts for a slx. But because the pin happened to be on the right of the green hehtod a guarding bunker, you disregarded. the large area of green on the left and and played stralght for the hole." If you were surprised at being bunkered, I was not. And then what . did you do?" continued the eareful one. "Well, you tried to chip frqm loose sand tostead of safely exploding to the gre.en. Do you wond.er that you pick up at nearly every hole ?" It was only a week ago that I again saw the subject of this vigorous dressing down, and although I had for the moment forgotten the incident on the seventeenth tee,. I asked how his game was, more from forc'e of habit than anything else. "Old so-and-so was qqite right," he told me, "I'm playing a shrewd game and am saving strokgs right and ieft. I reckon I'll sqon be down to single figures," he added, not without a touch pf pride as he ailsabtd off to save yet more strokes, Seeing him walk to the first tee so full of hope made me think of the thrill that accompanies the honour of sepurjng a stogle figure handicap JEor the first time. All that is needed in many cases is the following of Walter Hagen's advice, Then, as I turned toward the clubhouse to hand in my card — not as good as it should ' have been— the thought came to me after nearly 20 years' experience, that perhaps I myself "had no brains" so far as golf playing taoties were coneemed.