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Some General Hints · The Complete Golfer

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  Chapter fifteen of The Complete Golfer. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
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  recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Betty B. The Complete Golfer by Harry
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  Varden. Some general hints. The following are detached suggestions, each of which
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  I think is of value and importance. In most cases they are such as
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  I have not had an opportunity of making in any other chapter, but in
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  a few others they are repetitions of former injunctions for the sake of further emphasis,
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  don't play too much golf if you want to get on in the game.
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  Three rounds a day are too much for any man, and if he
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  makes a practice of playing them whenever he has the opportunity, his game is
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  sure to suffer. He often says that his third round is the best of
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  the day, but what about the first next morning? Two rounds a day
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  are enough, and these two rounds on three days of the week are as
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  much golf as is good for any player who does not want to become careless
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  and stale. Remember that the player who first settles down to the serious business
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  of a hard match has the advantage In a majority of cases. Concentrated purpose
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  is the secret of victory. You must be thoughtful if you want to get
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  on in golf. Most players, when they make an exceptionally good stroke,
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  gaze delightedly at the result and then begin to talk about it to their opponent
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  and the caddy. They rarely give a thought as to exactly how they did
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  it, though it must be obvious that for that good result to have been
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  obtained, the stroke must have been played in a particularly correct and able manner,
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  unless by pure accident. No good ever comes of a bad stroke.
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  When you have made a really wonderfully good shot, for you, bring yourself
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  up sharply to find out exactly how you did it. Notice your stance,
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  your grip, and try to remember the exact character of the swing that you
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  made and precisely how you followed through. Then you will be able to do
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  the same thing next time with great confidence. Usually, when a player makes
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  a really bad stroke, you see him trying the swing over again without the
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  ball, wondering what went wrong. It would pay him much better to do
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  the good strokes over again in the same way every time he makes them,
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  so as to impress the method of execution firmly upon his mind. Don't praise
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  your own good shots. Leave that function to your partner, who, if
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  a good sort, will not be slow in performing it. His praise will
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  be more discriminating and worth more than yours. And don't say spiteful and unkind
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  things about his good shots, or be continually talking about his luck. If
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  you do, he will hate you before the game is over. When a
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  whole is being keenly contested and you look as though you are having the worst
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  of it, try not to appear you're pleased when your opponent makes a bad
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  stroke or gets into serious trouble. However relieved or even delighted you may feel.
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  It is human nature to feel the better for your opponent's mistake in a
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  crisis of this kind, but it is not good manners to show that you
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  feel it. And however well you may know, your friend, it is
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  not half so funny as you think it is to laugh at such a time
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  or shout out that you rejoice. It is simply bad taste, for your
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  opponent at that time is suffering from a sense of keen disappointment and is temporarily
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  quite unable to appreciate jokes of this kind. He is inclined to think he
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  has been mistaken in you all along, and that you are much less of
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  a gentleman and a sportsman than he had imagined. If he is playing several
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  more in a vain endeavor to extricate himself from a bunker, do not stand
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  near him and audibly count his strokes. It would be justifiable homicide if he
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  wound up his pitiable exhibition by applying his nibbling to your head. It is
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  better to pretend that you do not notice these things. On the other hand,
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  do not go out of your way to say that you are sorry when
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  these misfortunes happen. Such expressions implay a kind of patronage for which your opponent
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  will not thank you, and he knows all the time that you do not
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  really mean it, and therefore infers that you are a hypocrite. Best golf
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  is that which is played in comparative silence. At the beginning of a match,
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  do not worry yourself with the idea that the result is likely to be
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  against you. By reflecting thus upon the possibilities of defeat, one often becomes
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  too anxious and loses one's freedom of style. Take more risks when you are
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  down to your opponent than when you are up on him. If you play
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  a difficult shot successfully, the circumstance will probably have some effect upon the other
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  man. It is a mistake continually to exercise extreme caution. Play is severely
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  cramped by an excess of care. Try whatever possible to make matches with opponents
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  who are at least as good, if not better, than yourself. This
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  will do your game more good than playing with an inferior player, against whom
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  you will always be liable to play in a careless manner. Always make an
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  effort to improve your game, and do not content yourself with the idea that
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  you go out on the links for the exercise only. It is no more
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  difficult or less pleasant trying to play better than it is to go on continually
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  in the same old way. When making a match, do not try to
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  get a greater allowance of strokes than that to which you are entitled on your
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  handicap, alleging to your opponent that the said handicap is an unfair one.
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  Your opponent may think you are a little too keen, and if he grants
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  your improper request, and you should then win the match. He may think
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  some other things besides, remember that more matches are lost through carelessness at the
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  beginning than through any other cause. Always make a point of trying to play
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  the first hole as well as you have ever played a hole in your life.
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  The favorite saying of some players, I never try to win the first
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  hole, is the most foolish thing ever said in connection with the game of
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  golf. When as many holes as you can in the early part of the
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  game, they may be useful for you to fall back upon later on.
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  Try to avoid an unnecessary expenditure of nerve force by treating your adversary with all
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  due respect to him as a non entity. Whatever brilliant achievements he may accomplish,
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  go on quietly playing your own game. There is always the probability that
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  sooner or later he will make enough mistakes to bring him back to you.
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  It is the steadier player who plays his own game from the first tee to
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  the last green, and who never allows himself to be upset by anything that
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  happens, who wins the match. Never hurry when playing a match, or
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  a metal round, or indeed any kind of golf paste will affect your nerves
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  and spoil your play. The record for playing around in the shortest possible space
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  of time is not worth the holding. Take time enough, But don't be
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  unnecessarily slow. If from any cause whatever you are playing a very slow game,
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  don't miss an opportunity of inviting the couple behind you to pass. It
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  will please them and will be far more comfortable for you. But if your
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  match is behind a slow one, do not be offensive impressing upon the match
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  in front by making rude remarks and occasionally playing when they are within range.
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  You do not know what troubles they are enduring. Remember the story of the
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  old player who, on a ball being driven past him by the couple behind,
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  sent his caddy with his card to the offender, and with it the
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  message mister Blank presents his compliments and begs to say that though he may be
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  playing slowly, he can play a devil of a lot more slowly if he
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  likes. Be careful that you always stand on the proper side of the tee
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  when your opponent is preparing to drive. At this most anxious moment for your
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  friend, do not be practicing your own swing, or move about or talk.
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  You would be intensely annoyed with him if he did these things when you
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  were driving, if he lost the match through a Fosel drive, he would
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  be justified in saying that you did not play the game. In playing through
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  the green, avoid as far as possible getting in your opponent's line of sight
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  when he is making his stroke. Also, do not stand so near to
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  him that he can see you through the corner of his eye when he is
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  taking his swing. Do not get into the habit of asking for a half
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  on the putting green when in your own opinion you are lying dead and have
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  one stroke left for the half. You may not be as dead as you
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  think, and your opponent and it may not consider you are dead at all.
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  He naturally wonders why you ask for the half when it would be so
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  easy to put the ball. It would be excusable if he were to offer
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  to make you a present of the ball you have on the match. These
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  propositions about the giving of halves should invariably come from the other side. Besides,
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  when you have asked for a half and your opponent says no, put
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  it out, you not only look foolish, but you are so irritated that
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  you may very likely miss the putt. Then you will look more foolish than
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  ever, and the next thing you will lose is the match. But when
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  your opponent, of his own free will says, I will give you that
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  meaning the little putt for the half, show your appreciation of his confidence in
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  your putting by picking up the ball and saying no more about it. Don't
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  insist on putting the ball into the hole, either with one hand or in
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  any other way. You are sure to be playing carelessly. And suppose you
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  failed to hold Your opponent said he gave you the half, and yet you've
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  failed afterwards to get it when you insisted on playing. Of course you have
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  a right to the half that he gave you, but you will have an
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  uneasy conscience, and your friend will be sorry that he was so generous.
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  Also, when you have carelessly missed a six inch putt for the half,
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  do not remark to your opponent, as some players do. Of course,
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  if you insist upon it, I will give you the whole. It is
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  no question of insistence. It is the rule of the game. I say,
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  stick to the rules of the game. Never use long headed clubs.
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  The shorter headed clubs are easier to play with and are more accurate. Do
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  not wear two tightly fitting clothes. Particularly, be careful to see that there
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  is plenty of spare cloth under the arms. Tightness here where there should be
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  the utmost freedom, means the wholesale ruination of what would otherwise have been good
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  strokes. Always use braces in preference to a belt round the waist. I
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  never play with the belt. Braces seem to hold the shoulders together just as
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  they ought to be. When a man plays in a belt, he has
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  an unaccustomed sense of looseness, and his shoulders are too much beyond control.
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  It is a mistake to imagine you can swing better with a belt than with
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  braces. For the same reason, I do not advise a golfer to play
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  without his coat, even on the warmest day, if he wants to play
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  his best game whenever possible. You shoes for golfing instead of boots. They
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  allow more freedom to the ankles and make it much easier to pivot on the
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  toes. Keep the leather of your boots and shoes soft and pliable. Applied
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  dubbin to them in the winter. Take care that there are plenty of nails
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  on the soles of your boots and shoes, and that they are in good
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  condition and the heads not worn away. Nails in the state are almost useless
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  and create a great tendency towards slipping. Aluminum nails, though very light,
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  wear away too quickly and have a tendency to drop out. I do not
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  like big nails of any description, nor do I favor small ones arranged in
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  clusters. Those that I prefer have round heads about the size of a small
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  pea, and are fluted down the sides. I have the soles and heels
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  of my boots freely studded with these, and always according to the same system.
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  There are twenty five nails on the sole of each boot and fourteen on
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  each heel, and they are arranged as in the accompanying diagram. It will
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  be observed that there are plenty of nails in the fore part of the soul
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  on which the pivoting is done, and where there is the greatest tendency to
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  slip. Do not get into the habit of counting your strokes from the beginning
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  of the round in every match that you play, in the hope that each
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  time you may be able to beat your own record for the course. If
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  you do so and play one or two bad holes to begin with, you
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  will suffer from a sense of disappointment, which may have a bad effect upon
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  your play. For the remainder of the game. Obtain the thorough knowledge of
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  the rules of the game, always play strictly according to them, and adhere
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  rigidly to the etiquette of golf. When you insist upon the rules being applied
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  to yourself, even to your own disadvantage, you are in a stronger position
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  for demanding that your opponent shall also have the same respect for them. When
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  play is always according to the rules, with no favor shown on either side,
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  the players know exactly where they are. When the rules are occasionally overthrown,
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  difficulties and dissatisfaction constantly ensue. When playing in frosty weather, do not
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  take it for granted that because the greens are hard, they are also fast.
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  Unless the greens were exceedingly smooth when the frost began, they will be
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  covered with an abundance of little frozen knobs and pimples, which greatly retard the
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  progress of the ball. In wet weather, it is a good thing to
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  carry a piece of chalk in your pocket and to rub the face of the
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  driver and brassy with it each time before making a stroke. It prevents the
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  ball from skidding, unless you have a very good and special reason for doing
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  so. Do not play in gloves. The grip is seldom so secure and
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  exact as when it is affected with the bare hands. Always use the club
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  that takes the least out of you. Play with an iron instead of forcing
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  your shot with a mashet. Never say, oh, I think I can
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  reach it with such and such a club. There ought never to be any
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  question of your reaching it. So use the next most powerful club in order
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  that you will have a little in hand. It will be easier and the
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  result will be much better, or at least it ought to be. Never
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  use thick handle grips. They place weight at the wrong end of the club.
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  I like the thinnest I can get. I do not advise playing with
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  rubber grips if they can be avoided. On a wet day, they might
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  be the cause of a lost match. Always use spliced in preference to socketed
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  clubs. They are better in every way. Do not be tempted to invest
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  in a sample of each new golfing invention. As soon as it makes its
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  appearance. If you do, you will only complicate and spoil your game and
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  encumber your locker with much useless rubbish. Of course, some new inventions are
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  good, but it is usually best to wait a little while to see whether
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  any considerable section of the golfing public approves of them before rushing to a shop
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  to order one. If you have completely lost confidence for the time being in
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  any particular club, even though it may be one with which you have performed
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  brilliantly in days gone by, leave it out of your bag altogether for a
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  short season and try to forget all about it. The day will come before
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  very long when you will feel that it is once more the very club you
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  are wanting to make your game perfect, and you will rejoice to renew its
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  acquaintance when you take it out of your locker. We can see too much
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  of even our best friends. Always make up your mind, definitely and finally,
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  before taking up your stance, what club you are going to use,
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  and exactly the kind of shot that you want to play with. When you
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  have taken up your position, but still ponder in a state of uncertainty,
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  it is very probable that your mind will be affected by your hesitation and then
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  your swing, and the result thereof will be bad. There are fewer certainties
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  in golf than in any other game, and dogged pluck is rarely so well
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  rewarded as on the links. If you are playing golf in the afternoon,
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  do not lunch any more heavily than you feel to be necessary. A heavy
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  lunch tends to take the keenness out of a golfer, and at the same
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  time it has what very few people suspect a very serious effect upon the eye
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  and its capacity for work. The golfer's eyes often give way to the strain
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  that is put upon them long before his limbs. When we talk about keeping
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  the eye on the ball, we do not mean the top of the ball.
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  Your object is not to hit the top of the ball with the bottom
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  of your club for an ordinary stroke. Keep your attention fixed on the grass
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  immediately behind the ball. This should result in the soul of your club sweeping
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  evenly along the turf and taking the ball just as it ought to be taken.
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  But there are special occasions, as when a low shot against the wind
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  is wanted, fully explained in previous chapters, When it is desirable to hit
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  the ball rather higher up. The eye should then be fixed on the edge
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  of the ball, just half way up from the bottom to the top.
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  The accompanying diagram shows exactly the points to be looked at when playing the different
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  strokes. You may get in good strokes when looking at the top of the
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  ball, but it is only because you have accustomed yourself by long experience to
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  make a small allowance for doing so. The practice is theoretically bad, and
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  it is mainly the reason why beginners top their ball so frequently. Of course,
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  when you look down the side of it in the manner indicated, you
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  have the ball always in view. The life of a rubber cord ball does
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  not always last as long as it shall, and its best driving capacity has
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  often disappeared when there is scarcely a scratch upon it. Therefore, if you
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  are playing in an important match with the ball that has already been used at
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  a large number of holes, it may be advisable to put down a new
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  one. When long work with the driver and brassy is a vital necessity.
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  A close watch for loss of shape should also be kept on these rubber cord
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  balls. They vary very much in this respect, and not only is it
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  impossible to put well with a ball that is not perfectly round, but it
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  never flies so well as one which is quite true. Always use a clean
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  ball and carry a sponge to keep it. It detracts from the pleasure of
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  a game more than you may imagine if your ball is always dirty and cannot
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  be seen from a distance. Besides, the eye is less strained when a
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  clean white ball is played with, and there is less likelihood of fuzled strokes.
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  Moreover, your dirty ball is a constant irritation to your opponent. Don't
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  act upon the advice of your caddie when you are convinced in your own mind
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  that he is wrong. If you do so, you will very likely play
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  the stroke hesitatingly and without confidence, and the result in these circumstances is seldom
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  satisfactory. It is not impossible that the caddy knows less about the game than
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  yourself, and on the other hand, his views as to the best thing
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  to do in a particular situation are often regulated by what he has seen the
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  scratch men do. At such times. You may not be a scratch man
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  when playing in a foursome. Never forget that you have a partner. If
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  you are the inferior player, make a rule when in any doubt asking him
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  what he would prefer you to do. When you are addressing the ball and
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  a conviction forces itself on your mind just before making the stroke, that your
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  stance or something else is radically wrong, do not be persuaded that it is
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  best to get the stroke done, notwithstanding in such circumstances it is almost certain
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  to be a failure, and you will wish then that you had taken a
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  fresh stance, as you knew you ought to have done, and made a
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  proper job of it, even at the risk of annoying your partner by fiddling
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  about on the tee at a crisis in a match. Some golfers, fighting
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  desperately for victory or a half give themselves up when on the tee to hideous
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  thoughts of all the worst ways in which they have ever made that particular drive,
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  and of the terrible consequences that ensued. This is fatal. A golfer
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  must never be morbid if he cannot school himself to think that he is going
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  to make the best drive of his life just when it is most wanted.
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  He should try not to think of anything at all. Don't try experimental shots
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  on a new system when your opponent is dormy. It may be quite true
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  that those you make on the old system are very bad, but you had
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  better stick to them until the end of this match. At any rate,
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  do not attempt to play two kinds of golf at the same time. That
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  is to say, if you are playing for a medal, do not keep
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  up a hole to whole match with your partner. You will become confused,
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  with no clear eye of what you are trying to do, and you will
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  probably win neither the medal nor the match. If you feel that you must
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  match yourself in some manner with the man who is going round with you,
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  back your net return against his because you do a hole in bogie, or
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  even sometimes in one stroke less, do not always take it for granted that
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  you have therefore played perfect golfen Bogies are very easy, and some shots are
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  very fluky. A man may miss his drive, run a bunker, and
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  hole out with his mashyet beating bogie by a stroke, but he would be
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  well advised not to say anything about it afterwards lest he should be asked for
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  details. Not the smallest credit attaches to him for this remarkable performance. Always
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  play from a low tee, except when the wind is behind you. See
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  that your head remains rigid from the moment when you have finally taken up your
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  position and are ready for your swing, until you have struck the ball.
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  In addressing, always opposed to the ball that part of the face of the
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  club with which you want to hit it. Go slowly back, but be
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  quick on the ball. But do not swing back too slowly, or you
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  will lose control over your club. Gain speed gradually. At the finish of
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  the swing. For a full shot, the right heel should be well up
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  and the toe pointed downwards. The chest should then facing the hole. But
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  these and all similar movements should be quite natural. If they are forced,
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  they are useless and dangerous, and only indicate that your methods and your swing
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  are altogether wrong. In such a dilemma, study the photographs in this volume,
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  particularly those that show you how you ought not to do the various strokes.
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  If these do not provide you with a cure, consult the professional at
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  your club. Don't press, but note the definition of pressing in chapter six.
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  You can hit hard without pressing, which really means jumping at the ball
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  when your swing is working to perfection, and you are full of confidence,
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  you may let yourself go as much as you please. It is not true,
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  as some golfers say, that a gently hit ball will travel as far
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  as one which has been hit with much more force, but otherwise in precisely
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  the same manner. You must be particularly on your guard against pressing, real
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  pressing when you are two or three holes down that are becoming anxious about the
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  match. Perfect confidence and a calm mind are necessary for the success of every
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  stroke. Keep your eye on the side of the ball, particularly when you
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  are near the hole and perhaps playing a little chip shot onto the green.
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  There is a tendency at such a time, so great is the anxiety of
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  the golfer to know whether he is laying himself dead or not, to take
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  the eye from the ball and direct its attention to the pin before the downward
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  swing is complete and the stroke has been made. But I do not approve
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  of keeping the eye fixed upon the place where the ball lay, so that
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  the grass is seen after the ball has departed. Keep your eye on the
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  ball until you have hit it, but no longer. You cannot follow through
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  properly with a long shot. If your eye remains fastened on the ground.
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  Hit the ball and then let your eye pick it up in its flight as
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  quickly as possible. Of course, this needs skill he full timing and management,
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  but precision will soon become habitual. When you hit the small of your
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  back with the head of your club in the upward swing, it is not
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  so much a sign that you are swinging too far back as that your wrists
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  are enjoying too much play, that you are not holding your club with sufficient
• 25:18
  firmness, and that your arms are thrown too much upwards. Try a tighter
• 25:22
  grip. Remember that the grip with both hands should be firm, that with
• 25:26
  the right hand should not be slacked, as one is so often told.
• 25:32
  If your eyesight is not good and you are obliged to resort to artificial aids
• 25:37
  when playing the game, wear spectacles rather than eyeglasses, especially made sporting spectacles,
• 25:44
  in preference to any others. It is of the utmost importance that the
• 25:48
  glasses should not only be perfectly steady at all times, but that the rim
• 25:52
  should not be so near to the center of vision as to interfere with it
• 25:56
  under any circumstances. The sporting spectacle, which I recommend, are similar to
• 26:02
  those used for billiards and shooting. The rims and the glasses are circular and
• 26:07
  not oval in shape, and they are unusually large, about one and one
• 26:11
  half inches in diameter. By the use of them, the player is afforded
• 26:15
  a field of vision as wide as with the naked eye, so that practically
• 26:19
  he is not conscious that he is wearing glasses at all. The eye is
• 26:23
  a factor of such immense importance in the proper playing of golf that this is
• 26:29
  a matter to be strongly insisted upon. My own eyesight is perfect, and
• 26:33
  I have never had occasion to resort to artificial assistance of it. But I
• 26:37
  adopt these suggestions from players of experience who have worn these glasses, and upon
• 26:44
  whose judgment I can rely. If you have no caddy, do not order
• 26:48
  your opponent's caddy about as if you are paying for his services in the assistance
• 26:53
  that he may give you as an active courtesy extended to you by your opponent.
• 27:00
  Always fill in afterwards every hole that you make in a bunker. If
• 27:03
  all players do that, both you and the others will benefit. Constantly make
• 27:08
  a point of seeing that your caddy always replaces your divots, or replace them
• 27:12
  yourself if you have no caddy. This, as we all know, is
• 27:17
  a golfer's first duty. If your ball, at any time came to rest
• 27:21
  in a hole where a divot had not been replaced, you would be extremely
• 27:25
  annoyed, would say hard things about the other players on the links, and
• 27:30
  would declare that the course was badly kept. Never practice swinging on the putting
• 27:34
  green. It is not good for the green, and the greenkeeper who takes
• 27:38
  a pride in the results of his work is not usually in the best of
• 27:41
  tempers when he sees you at this little game. When carrying your own clubs,
• 27:48
  do not throw the bag down on the greens. If you do so,
• 27:51
  the toes of the iron clubs are certain to make marks which neither improve
• 27:55
  the greens nor the game of the players who follow you. Try your shots
• 28:00
  over again when there are other players behind you. It makes your partner uncomfortable,
• 28:06
  and he feels that he ought to apologize on your behalf to those who
• 28:08
  are kept waiting. When practicing, use the club that gives you the most
• 28:14
  trouble, and do not waste your time in knocking a ball about with the
• 28:18
  tool that gives you the most satisfaction, and with which you rarely make a
• 28:22
  bad stroke. End of chapter fifteen,