AMERICA'S GOLF TEAM.

Shannon News, 26 January 1926, Page 2

AMERICA'S GOLF TEAM.

SOME NEW WORLD ASPECTS OP THE GAME. (By Harry Vardon, Six Times Open Champion). With their season finished, the Americans are in a position pretty well • to decide as to the team of eight amateurs who shall represent the United States in Britain next year. It is announced that,Mr. Bobby Jones, Mr. Francis Ouimet, Mr. Jesse Sweetsea, Mr. Watts Gunn, Mr George Yon Elm and Mr. Roland Mackenzie may be counted as almost certain members of the side, and that Mr. Chick Evans and Mr. Jesse Guildford are likely selections for the other places. A friend in America sends me some interesting points about amateur golf' here, and one of them is that the average age of the players mentioned above is no more than 25. Only two of the eight ihen are oyer 30, Mr. Evans being 35 and Mr. Ouimet. 32. Mr. Mackenzie, who qualified for the United States Championship last year and took Mr. Von Elm to the 37th hole in the match stages after being eight down at one. stage, and who accomplished the best score in this season’s qualifying round, is even now only 18. Mr. Gunn is 20, and the close friend . and ardent pupil of Mr. Jones, to whom he was runner-up for the National title in September. Mr. Jones himself is only 24, although he has been in the front rank of amateur golf for so long a period that he has all the attributes of a seasoned campaigner. To British minds the youthfulness of the leading American amateurs is rather startling. I am informed that ihe average age of the sixteen men who survived the eliminating stages of this season’s United States amateur championship was 26, although there were two veterans in the company, namely, Mr. W. C. Pownes, who is 48, and Mr. William Reekie, who is 41. In this country, we hardly expect first class golfers to attain the maturity of their skill until they are approaching the age of 30, but not infrequently they maintain their posi- , :ions in the front line until they are something like 46. In America, the champions at 30 are considered to be getting on in years, and at 45 they are usually past their prime. Possibly it l is to their advantage in international golf that they develop so early in life, for modern championships and such events as the team match between the United States and Britain -are strenuous tests in which youth—assuming it to be allied to skill —is likely to be served. i As in the Beginning. My correspondent on the other side of the Atlantic tells' me that a very noticeable tendency amongst presentday American amateurs is to practise the drive of low trajectory finishing with what he calls “tremendous rollthrough due to overspin.” In short, he means that they are cultivating the flat swing so as to add to the length of their drives. This was a noticeable feature of golf in America when I made my second tour , there in 1913. Almost everybody seemed to have gone crazy on the flat swing—the sweep of the club-head round the legs before) raising it—in the quest .of distance, and as a result the standard of play was certainly not so high then as in Britain. The hitting was unquestionably long, but it was also erratic and these low, running ishots were manifesting themselves in the iron play with the result that comparatively few Americans had the gift of making the ball stop reasonably close to the hole with a half or three-quarter shot. A great transformation had taken place by the time that I made my third tour in 1920.

IThe upright swing—entailing a slight loss of distance but promoting control of direction and run—had then become general. This it was, I think, that added so markedly to the efficiency of American golf, and produced a situation in which the'United States heat Britain four times m the amateur team' match, and American professionals won four of five conse.u’.'vc eonc«.-«is' for the British Champ >) ;p. It is indeed strange to 1 learn that our rivals are now showing a tendency to revert to the flat swing. My informant says that the general principle is to stand with the bail opposite the left heel —or even the left toe —and swing the club-head in the 1 manner of a man mowing grass with a scythe. If the Americans really are devoting themselves again to this system, there is hope for' the Old Country yet. Shafts and Tees. Of other points mentioned by m correspondent, not the least interesting is that 32 of the competitors in this season's United States . amateur championships carried steel-shafted clubs. Of these, six were among the sixteen who qualified for the match stages, and two reached the semi-final. Steel-shafted clubs are prohibited in Britain, and there seems to be no likelihood of their use ever being permitted by the Royal and Ancient Club. Here is evidence however that they are growing in favour in America, where they were legalised only about - two years ago. Another interesting item is that of the sixteen qualifiers, all but two used the wooden-peg tees, which also enjoy so great a vogue in this country. The two who maintained their faith in the old-fashioned sand-tee were Mr. Bobby Jones and Mr. Jesse Sweetsea. As Mr. Jones won, it can be said that the beliefs of the ancients are not yet entirely humbled.