MADE EASIER

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 601, 4 August 1933, Page 3

MADE EASIER

MODERN IMPLEMENTS ,, I IN GAME OF GOLF. DECEPTIVE REOORDS. Never has a igolf season cpened ; more auspiciously for British competitors than the present one (wrote F. J. C. Pignon, in the London Daily Mail a few weeks ago). At almost every tournament this year the course record has been lowered, and amazing scores in the sixties, ohviously produced by brilldant golf, or startling feats in great matches, make the ordinary golfer, who, wtih his handicap allowance, would like to average fdurs, feel that .ambition is a wild dream. But is this a new standard of British golf? Has it really improved so greatly? The figures would appear to prove that we must revise our ideas : of what is good scoring. Look at the big professional tournament at Southport! Records were so prolific that scores of 70 appear ed quite ordinary, and yet, in the end, the winner's aggregate was six strokes higher than the best score when the tournament was played over the same course two years ago. I take this as an example because there is a great significance in the fact that J of those players who beat 70 only one 1 of them was: finally placed among the first 15, and he equalled the record in the last round. To take a broader view, the open

L- ■ championship was won with an exceptional score last_year, hut apart from that there has 'been no marked improvement in the winning score during the last 10 years or so. Why should this be the case when there are so many record seores returned by young players? The modern implements have made 1 the game simpler. There is no douht about that. The golf ball to-day will travel so far that secret tests have revealed the average carry on a good drive by an amateur to be 214 yards. It was upon these tests that the nev formula for standard scratch scores was based. The steel-shafted clubs have a uniformity about them, and their perfect balance makes them easy to swing. Moreover, it is not necessary to learn to play a shot. A golfer needs only to learn to swing a club; he can buy the shot, for these is a club for practically every golf stroke. The passing of the cross hazard which demanded a long carry also makes golf easier. All these things have a tendency to make scoring lower, but while the golf played to-day may be impressive, it is not so skilful as it was 20 years aigo. If the skill of the modern golfer were as great as that of the players of : a quarter of a century ago, then scores would be definitely lower. The modern youngsters drive a surprisingly long way, accuracy being sacrificed for length and when it comes to a battle for the honours in the final round, length fades out. They are so tired that they cannot continue to drive so far and the rest of the game hecomes increasdngly difficult; there is no reserve. And how does all this affect the amateur, the ordinary club golfer who plays at week-ends and competes only in club events? He may get a false sense of value of scores and arrive at the conclusion that his efforts are useless. But this is not the case. Amateur golf has shown no more marked improvlement than H^as professional Play.