VOL.
V., NO. 21. PINEIIURST, N. C, APRIL 4, 1902. PRICE THREE CENTS
I i i
TIIE'JLOST BALL.
Standing one day on the golf links,
1 was weary "and ill at ease,
And I baffed and foozled idly
Over the whins and tees.
1 know not what I was dreaming,
Or where I was rubbering then ;
Hut I swiped that ball, of a sudden
With the force of two score men
It sped through the crimson twilight
Like a shot from n ten inch gun;
And it passed from my fevered vision
To the realm of the vanished sun ;
It chasseed overthe hunker,
Jt caromed hazard and hill
It went like a thing infernal
I suppose it is going still.
I shied each perplexing stymie
With inlluite nerve and ease;
And bored right ou through the landscape
As if it were loath to cease.
I have sought but I seek it vainly
That ball of the strenuous pace.
That went from the sole of my niblick
And entered into space.
It may be some blooming caddy
Can sooner or later explain ;
It may be that only in heaven
I shall 11 nd that ball again.
I.aure Siminone in March Smart Set.
GOLF PENALTIES.
Some Itevlsioii.N May hv .Undo in Itnle
Skill In (ianic I In lax'l l lie
Preliminary SU'.
In addition to amendments to the con
stitution and to the bylaws of the U. S.
golf association the executive committee
of the national body this year will free
itself from the charge made in some
quarters of inertia by taking up the rules
for consideration and possibly revision.
This intention was announced by
President Robson of the association at
its annual meeting and as one of the
members of the executive committee will
go to England shortly he will be asked
to confer with the committee of the
Royal and Ancient club at St. Andrews,
Scotland, with object of revising rules
which obviously are complicated or to
which the breaking of the same too
severe a penalty is attached.
A case in which a very sevsre penalty
was incurred for an infringement of the
rules occurred at the Woman's golf
championship tournament when the
event wag held at Philadelphia. A
player teed outside the limit of the tee
ing ground. The mistake was made
owing to the fact that the discs had been
moved, and one of them had left an
impression on the turf so that if one did
not look closely it appeared that the disc
was still in the place from which it had
been removed. The player did not play
the shot over as is required by the rules
and there was nothing for the committee
to do but disqualify the contestant.
It is suggested that the penalty for
playing from outside the limits of the
teeing ground should be two strokes
instead of disqualification and that the
resort to disqualification should be taken
only when a player does something to
gain an unfair advantage over the field
in a medal-play round, such as practic
ing on the putting greens.
It is becoming recognized that golf has
advanced beyond the preliminary stages
in this country and that the teacher of
the future will be required to impart
more scientific knowledge of the game
than the mere matter of swing, keeping
the eye on the ball and so forth, lie
will be required to instruct those who
have learned the preliminary steps in
how to putt, slice or pull on a ball, how
to play shots into the wind, how to put
cut on the ball so that it will drop almost
dead on the putting green and in various
fine points of skill, with which only the
experts are familiar
Such a shot as that made by Hilton in
the championship finals at St. Andrew's
last year and which won the hole and
made him dormy one is an illustration.
It was at the stationmaster's garden
hole. Hilton's second left him about 135
yards from the green. The green is on
a very narrow strip of land with a road
beyond and guarded in front by several
sand pits. Hilton played a lofty shot
with an aluminum spoon, putting spin
enough on the ball to stay on the nar
rosv green.
A letter from the London Field
explains very well the theory of "under
spin'' as formulated by the late Professor
Tait. It says : Speaking generally, the
golf ball, when struck from the the tee,
is liable to acquire any one of four
different rotations underspin, overspin
or sidespin, either from left to right or
from right to left. Underspin caused by
the ball being struck below the centre,
results in a soaring flight. Unless the
ball has to meet a strong wind it makes
a long carry and drops comparatively
dead.
Good drivers always impart a certain
amount of underspin to their drives an
amount which was measured by Profes
sor Tait and ascertained to consist of
about two complete rotations in the first
three or four feet of the drive. The
effect of underspin is to give the ball
more time in the air, and a ball struck in
this manner will frequently carry a
much greater distance than one starting
with greater initial velocity, but with
little or no rotation.
Overspin, on the other hand, is not
employed by any driver intentionally
unless in very extraordinarjr circum
stances. It results in a short flight with
considerable running power ; the ball is,
in fact, "topped," and finds its way,
unless fortune is more than usually
favorable, into the nearest bunker.
The two other sorts of spin commonly
occur in the case of the tyro with an
entire absence of intention, although by
an expert they may be made to yield
useful results. The more usual is a rota
tion from right to left (taking that half
of the ball nearest to the club head) and
the effect is a beautiful curve toward the
right which is apt, with an opposing
wind, to land the ball a long way out of
the course. This is a slice, and it may
be caused by the face of the club meet
ing the ball at an angle, the heel being
further forward than the nose, or by
the arms being drawn in toward the
body at the moment of the impact.
In a pull the rotation is in the opposite
direction, from left to right and the
effect is to produce a similar curve toward
the left. The effect of the pull is to keep
the ball low, while a slice raises quickly
oft" the ground a result produced by the
fact that in a pull the club head is gen
erally turned slightly over while in a
slice it is turned back. Beginners are
apt to find the slice considerably the
easier of the two.
At an early stage of the game it is
inadvisable to cultivate either. But when
a player has mastered the art (if any one
ever can thoroughly master it), of hit
ting the ball fair and square and straight
on its appointed part, he may then
attempt the task of making a servant of
his former enemy. There are occasions
when slice and pull, and even overspin
are found singularly useful. Shots of
this kind belong to the finesse of the
game, and no man can claim to be an
expert until he can bring them off when
required with a fair amount of certainty.
Boston Globey March 9.
ROSS WON IN THE TWELFTH.
Best Ball Match Thompson and Manlce
Versus Ross Was One-sided.
LOCAL GOLF EYENTS.
Since our last issue, the much dis
cussed and eventually arranged best ball
match, E. A. Thompson and E. A. .
Maniee versus Donald J. Ross, took
place on the Pinehurst links before a
large crowd of spectators. It was appar
ent after the third hole that the contest
was to be a one-sided one, for Ross was
in his best form and clearly out-classed
his competitors. The match was won
by lloss in the twelfth hole, with 7 up
and 6 to go but the balance of the holes
were played out.
The first hole was rather poorly played
by all in 4 ; hole halved. At the second
hole, both lloss and Manice topped their
balls on the drive, but lloss redeemed
his error by placing his ball on the
green by a very clever second shot; hole
halved with Thompson's ball. The
third hole put Ross 1 up, 3 against 4 for
both Thompson and Manice. In the
fourth, he was 2 up with 5 against two
G's. The fifth hole made it one
more, with 3 against Thompson's 4 and
Manice's 5 ; in this hole lloss ran a beau
tiful long putt, from the edge of the green,
one of the two best shots made during
the match. In the sixth hole, 386 yards,
lloss over-played the green on his second
shot, but still won the hole with 4,
against two G's for his opponents, mak
ing him 4 up. In the seventh, Manice
drove off the course, Thompson pulled
badly, and lloss made a fairly straight
ball; lloss 5, Thompson and Manice 6
each lloss 5 up. In the eighth, 213
yards, both lloss and Thompson were on
the green in the first drive, while Manice
over-drove; both lloss and Thompson
fell slightly short of making the hole on
the first putt ; hole halved, 3-3-4. The
ninth hole put lloss six up ; 4-6-6. He
"went out" in 35, Thompson in 43,
Manice in 46.
Coming back, the players were slighly
handicaped by a strong wind which
made accurate golf very difficult. In the
tenth all three did very poor driving,
Manice going to the right and lloss and
Thompson to the left; hole halved
5-5-6. In the eleventh, Manice, with
his iron, over-drove the green and rolled
below, lloss fell to the side, but hole
high, and Thompson fell a few club
lengths short, holed halved, lloss 4,
Thompson 4, Manice 6. In the twelfth
lloss made a fine drive away, Thomp
son's was also good, and Manrice sliced
into the bushes. Ross was on the green
in his second shot, Thompson falling a
little short. Ross won the hole in 4,
against Thompson's 5, Manice 6. Ross
had won the match, with 7 up and 6 to
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