The secret of being able to hit a golf ball a very long way is freedom of action and the application of strength. To be a long driver it is not altogether necessary to be abnormally strong muscularly. Strength is useful, but not in any way essential, as is shown by the fact that many men of comparatively light physique are very long drivers, a fact which is no doubt due to strength of sinew and the ability to apply the strength they have at command. In connection with the evidence of power when hitting a golf ball, I am convinced on one point and that is that long arms are a great aid to the player, as not only do they enable him to obtain a fine, free sweep of the club, and obtain it without the use of any excessive body action, but moreover long arms are invariably set on the body on somewhat free principles, and the player who is blessed with this freedom is enabled to get his arms well away from his body. The ideal combination for long driving is a pair of long, sinewy arms combined with long, powerful hands and fingers, and the majority of players who drive a long ball without much apparent effort are invariably thus blessed.

Of course, there are players who obtain length by other means, men who are compactly built and comparatively short in the arms, but they usually obtain their length by forcing with the body, that is, by throwing the whole of their physique into the blow. It is a forcing style of driving which is not altogether elegant and, moreover, it is a style of play which is apt to go to pieces under pressure. Again there is always a danger in connection with players who, on account of their physique, have recourse to these methods, and the danger lies in the fact that with increasing years they are naturally prone to put on avoirdupois, and what freedom they originally possessed is apt to leave them, and they inevitably lose their length.

Of all the golfers I have come across I cannot think of any who to my mind would appear as ideally built for the playing of the game as Harry Vardon. He is sufficiently tall without being ungainly; he is strong without being muscle bound; and he has the strength in the correct places, viz.: the shoulders, wrists, and hands. There may be many men playing golf who are infinitely better physically developed than Harry Vardon, but perhaps none whose physique is better adapted for the game.

George Duncan is another player whose physique is also well adapted for the game, but Ray would appear to be a somewhat clumsily fashioned individual and does not in any way give one the impression of being an athlete, although he has wonderful strength and great freedom of action. At one time in his career he was probably too free in his actions, but since he has filled out into a big, heavy man, his freedom has come much more under control, and he is in consequence a more reliable long game player. Comparing his form of the present day with that when he was a man of comparatively light physique, one cannot help but think that the extra avoirdupois which has gradually appeared during the past few years has had a very sobering effect upon his swing. Many young players who are inclined to be weedy of physique would, no doubt, benefit by the addition of weight to their physique, much as Ray would appear to have benefited.

Reviewing golfers who have learned the rudi-

Harry Vardon

The British professional who set the standard of play higher than it had ever been before ments of the game in the States, one cannot help being struck with the fact that the four players who stand out as having made the biggest names for themselves are all men of comparatively light physique. The four I mean are Messrs. Walter Travis, Jerome Travers, Chick Evans, and MacDermott. Not by the wildest stretch of imagination can any of this quartette be called big men; in truth, one would be inclined to class them all as comparatively small men. Jerome Travers is probably the tallest of the four, but he is not by way of being a giant. Of course, it may be only a pure coincidence that the four most successful golfers in America are all of small physique, but it is nevertheless remarkable that they should exhibit more control over their clubs than the men of more commanding physique.

There is a saying that a good "big one" will always defeat a good "little one," and one cannot get away from the truth of this opinion, as, provided that both are equally gifted from the point of view of scientific application, the greater strength of the bigger man must pre-vail in the end. But on the other hand, it will generally be found that the smaller man has the better balanced physique, better balanced in the respect that he can control his actions more successfully. On this assumption the small man should be the more stable and consistent player than the big man, and I am inclined to think that on the average he is; he certainly has proved himself so in the States. It is in events such as Open Championship contests that the smaller man is at a disadvantage with his stronger opponents. He may be likely to do as well as any of his opponents, for argument's sake we will say even better than any individual opponent, but on account of the limitations to his power he cannot expect with just average fortune to accomplish anything as great as that which several of his stronger opponents may accomplish. However well the smaller man may play, there is always the great chance that one or the other of his more powerful opponents may do even better, for the reason that they are gifted with greater power, and in an open event one has to defeat all opponents and not any particular individual one.

In Great Britain the Open Championship during recent years has invariably fallen to one of the big physiqued men; players like J. H. Taylor or Tom Ball, who are representatives of the accurate, scientific class of player, have a habit of finishing in second position. They suffer defeat because they have the misfortune to run up against just one player possessed of greater power, who is at the top of his game on that particular occasion. The difficulty for the Taylors and the Balls is to defeat the whole fleet of these big men, and the fleet is such a numerous one nowadays. In the old days the sound, accurate golfer had a much better chance of success in the Open Championship than he has at present, as the ever growing number of powerful big hitters has had the effect of increasing the pace, so to speak, in that the players now realize that to win the Championship something more than steady play is required. One or other of the strong men is almost sure to be on his game, and the men less gifted in physique have to go full steam ahead from the very start of the event and often crack under the strain.

Aside and apart from the question of a good wrist and a good wrist action, which is undoubtedly the most essential possession for a golfer who hopes to be a first-class exponent of the game, perhaps the most useful asset is a power-ful pair of hands. If the fingers are long, all he better for the player. To my way of think-ng, long, strong fingers are an aid to the golfer n every way, with the possible exception of when he is on the putting greens, when it may be an advantage to have slight, delicate fingers. But in the more powerful phases of the game, the long, strong fingers have it in every way, as they are able to control a comparatively heavy club with ease, and long driving in consequence becomes more or less a simple matter.

But it is in the real heavy work from indifferent lies that the strong fingers hold the great advantage, as they enable the player to grip the club firmly and get that quick, sharp nip into the swing which is so useful when playing from rough, heavy grass. I speak feelingly on this point, as nature gave me short fingers, and I look with envy upon men like Braid, Ray, and Vardon when they take heavy medium irons from lies, from which I would have to rest content with a niblick shot for safety. They have the combination of length in the fingers and strength in the hands, which allows them to put sufficient snap behind the shot to enable the club to come through all obstructions.

Personally I may have the requisite strength in the hand, but I am certainly not possessed of the requisite grip with the fingers, and if I attempt any of those Goliath-like feats, when playing from long grass, it invariably ends in my losing possession of the club. It is not due to the lack of strength in my fingers; it is entirely due to the lack of firmness of grip owing to the shortness of finger.

One excellent physical attribute for a golfer to possess is sloping, or what are generally termed bottle neck shoulders, as there cannot be the slightest shadow of doubt that the man with such shoulders is always gifted with exceptional freedom in this part of his anatomy. There are two of our noted players, viz., Mr. John Ball and Alexander Herd, who are blessed with this class of shoulders, and for freedom of swing these two are not excelled by any. The ease with which they can swing a golf club is simply extraordinary. Rather remarkable to say, both Mr. Ball and Herd grip the club in the palm of the right hand, with the knuckles pointing to the ground, and I feel assured that neither of them could employ this underhand grip and swing with such freedom and accuracy if it were not for the sloping shoulders that they possess. In swinging a golf club a square-shouldered man is, to my way of thinking, at a disadvantage in comparison with men who are physically modeled on the lines of Mr. Ball and Herd.

Although in the swinging of a golf club the upper part of a player's anatomy is admittedly a more important factor than the lower, still in accuracy of swing much depends upon the use the player makes of his legs and feet, and in consequence a player is a good deal dependent upon the physique of his lower limbs. There can be but little doubt that it is an advantage to be strong in the legs, as strength in this part of the anatomy enables a player to maintain his balance. But as against this, many men who are abnormally strong in the legs are not a little prone to try to utilize them too much, and are not only apt to move about on their feet, but moreover are sometimes inclined to place so much pressure on the feet that there is a continual risk of their slipping. One thing I have noticed is that nearly all players who are exceedingly well developed below are inclined to take a very wide stance. This in a manner is only natural, as they are naturally inclined to obtain a more than average degree of impetus from the legs and feet.

Another point which is noticeable in connection with the general run of golfers who have played from their youth up is that they are much inclined to turn their toes up, and in a true, free golfing swing players undoubtedly utilize their toes a great deal, and moreover turn on the ball of the foot, and this tends to turn the toes skywards.