NEW SHAFTS EVERY YEAR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 35, 11 February 1939, Page 4

NEW SHAFTS EVERY YEAR

OPEN GOLF WINNER GIVES REASON

RISK OF UPSETTING BALANCE. Golf, of course, is at a standstill. There is not much tun playing on snow. Have you ever tried to use a red painted ball? It is, of course, easier to see than a white one, but it. never seems to come properly off the club. I have heard others make the same complaint, writes a London correspondent. 1 have discovered what a goll champion does at these times. When 1 went into Reginald Whitcombe's ship I found him at the bench putting new shafts in his clubs. 1 was surprised. He would not have done that m the hickory era. Then the hope was to make a shaft last as long as possible. To put in a new one entailed a serious risk of upsetting the balance of lhe club and changing its “feel.”

But it was not such a tricky business with steel shafts. They are produced in specified weights and spring to suit the different heads, and if you want one for a No. 4 iron you simply order one, and it can be fitted with the assurance that it will be almost identical with the one it replaces When steel shafts were introduced the professional was apprehensive that they would ruin his easiness. "They’ l ! last a lifetime," he said.. "They won't break and when a player has got a set 1 shall not see him again."

But this fear has been dispelled. Allsteel clubs do not last a lifetime and they break. As a matter of fact, they do not serve as long as the old hickory club. They become “tired,” and lose their driving power.

Reginald Whitcombe has new shafts every year. He finds, he told me, that they become soft. This may be due to the power which he puts into his shots. Most players complain that they lose their snap, or, as the manufacturers say, harden. They also tend to become brittle. This is why they occasionally break.

Still, the all-steel club has been a big success. Comparatively few players have retained their wooden shafts. Occasionally one sees an odd one in a bag, but this is only because it is a favourite, and the player hesitates to discard it.