Newsletter from the Society of Hickory Golfers Golf with Hickory Golf Clubs

(This newsletter is published 8 times a year - or as often as events warrant it. See schedule at the end of the newsletter)

This edition of Hickory Happenings highlights the great Scottish golfer and architect, James Braid

Features

Columns

Departments

Presidents Message

Well the Month of June is upon us and the "really big" show of Hickory Events start this month with the GCS Region 3 golf and trade show in Asheville followed by the NHC at Oakhurst. Back to back great golf weekends in two of the most beautiful places I can think of. For those of you that like to play with the Old Clubs the Oakhurst NHC is a must. This year like last year Pete also has a Vintage Division for the new 1920-1935 clubs. There is something for everyone. The results will appear in the news here on the SoHG site.

I hope that everyone has made a few plans that include a Hickory Golf event this 2007. There are plenty of great tournaments planned around the country. One of our great members, Rob 'Kiltie" Ahlschwede is moving to the Northwest soon. Well he will sure qualify for the Long Distance award when he come back here to play. It won't be long and we will have a group of Hickory Converts I am sure out there. Are we to hear of "Kilties Club Repair" opening soon. I know Randy and Tim will miss having him around their shop in Omaha.

I have recently started making some splice neck woods. I hope to have an article for an issue of the Wee Nip about modern repair of these clubs.

The WEE NIP will be mailed soon. This printed edition of our news has great stories and information not on the Web and is only for our members of the SoHG. If you would like to join the SoHG drop either myself or Roger Hill an Email.

Message from Ken Horne, secretary to The Braid Society

It is indeed an unexpected pleasure to see such informative articles about James Braid featured in your newsletter. Although the days of general play with "hickories" are over the memory of these exceptional men lives on. After playing on the links at Brora, in the north of Scotland, 5 times Open Champion Peter Thomson expressed the view that a society dedicated to the memory of James Braid was long overdue. From this comment, the James Braid Golfing Society was formed and is dedicated to the memory and spirit of James Braid. It upholds the essential traditions and values of the game and aims to pass them on to future generations. www.thebraidsociety.com

Although Braid remained "one o’ Jock Thomson’s bairns" we remember that he was also a member of the Triumvirate and that Harry Vardon said that watching James Braid was a "thrilling spectacle". I trust that your members may become more familiar with this plain speaking Scot and perhaps follow the James Braid Trail, imagining how the great man would play that special shot.

Feature Article

This is part II of our three part series on Hagen and match play. The first part ran in our March/April newsletter

Walter Hagen

The Maestro of Match Play. Part II

The essential difference between match and medal play is well know. Coming down the closing stretch you score four birdies, four pars and a triple bogey for a one under total, in medal play you will probably loose, in match play you will probably win. In stroke play it is essential to get rid of the big score, so the steady, but not necessarily spectacular player will do well, whereas the streaky player is at a disadvantage. Also golf is different from other games in a very fundamental way.

To digress for a moment, I once was playing with a very fine player, a plus two handicap, a former Scottish International Player, and one of the finest strikers of the ball I had ever seen. Let's call him Bob Gillespie. In those far off days I was a long hitter of the ball, and usually out drove Bob, or so I thought. We came to a monster par five, just over 600 yards in length and slightly uphill, an almost unheard of distance in those days. I had the honor and I put my drive out about 270 or 280 yards. Bob wound up and put it 50 or 60 yards past me! My brassie left me with about 120 yards to the green, and Bob's spoon left him with a simple chip. My third shot was not good but put me on the edge of the green. Bob had a simple uphill chip and a putt to win the hole. He promptly shanked his chip across the green into a bunker. He then shanked his sand shot into another bunker and repeated the process into a third bunker. Where upon using his native intelligence he set him self up so that when he repeated the shank the ball would go in the direction of the hole. Needless to say on this occasion the ball went perfectly straight! I braced myself for the coming storm, for Bob was known to get a little mad on occasions, but in stead, with great self control he looked at me and said "You know what I like about golf Frank, it's just like life, its #@$%%# awful!!"

Which brings me back to the point that golf is different from other games. Whereas other games are a reflection of warfare and combat, it's team against team, or man against man, in golf it's man against the course. In life, it is man against providence and nature - and who ever masters best the vagaries, and challenges that life, or the course, throws at them will usually prevail. In match play, however, not only does one have to overcome the course, but one has to do it better than one's opponent. However there is an interaction between the two players and part of the art of match play is inducing yourself to play above your own game and your opponent to play beneath his. And of course we are not talking here of such crudities as jingling one's car keys as your opponent putts - such behavior is never seen among gentlemen and Walter was always the perfect gentleman - but the art is to induce your opponent to do something that he would not normally do, or in an old term, get your opponents goat. If you can induce in your opponents mind the thought "What have I got to do to beat this son-of-a-gun" your match is as good as won.

In other words a player has to play two games at the same time; golf as a mirror of life, and golf as a mirror of combat - one almost needs a split personality. And no one did this better than Walter Hagen. In this section we look at how Hagen would get under an opponents armor

It must be confessed his psychological ploys did not always work. Gene Sarazen seems to have been either not affected by them - cynics say because he lacked the imagination - or as Sarazen says they just increased his natural pugnaciousness and resolve. Even the notoriously high strung Leo Diegel seems to have become immunized to them in the end and it was indeed Leo who ended Hagen's PGA string of victories.

"There has never been a golfer who could outthink and outmaneuver a match-player opponent as Walter Hagen could. You couldn't rattle Hagen, whatever you did.Throw a string of birdies in his face, and he'd smile that disturbingly undisturbed smile of his, and then throw some birds of his own back at you, when it counted. But Hagen could rattle you. He was a master of psychological warfare. One of his successful strategies was to kill an opponent with kindness, a bonhomie you knew was bogus but impenetrable. When a youngster got hot against him, Hagen would charm him into submission by raving to the newcomer about the remarkable quality of his shots. "After you win this championship," Hagen would tell him "we'll go on a tour together." Before the youngster new what had happened, Hagen had slipped away from him, and there was no more talk of a tour. Walter always had Jim Barnes licked before their matches began by ribbing him about the super-seriousness, the tension with which Barnes was taking "just another round". The closest parrellel in sports that I can think of was the meeting between Jack Sharkey and Jack Dempsey before their title bout. Highly emotional by nature, Sharkey had worked himself up to such a peak of hatred for Dempsey that when he was weighing in he told his handlers, "I hope I don't run into Dempsey in this room. I'll clip him right here." A few seconds later in walked Dempsey, smiling and relaxed. "Hello Jack," he greeted Sharkey with unfeigned warmth as he extended his hand. "How's that nice family of yours?". "I was knocked out right then," Sharkey told me."

"Too many tournament players are inclined to disregard the value of studying and gauging the temperament of opponents in match play. Following the circuit year in and year out I learned early to use the characteristic play of each opponent to my own advantage, not forgetting the value of pars or better on every hole. Nevertheless I couldn't always measure the accuracy my opponent might have on any given day. At times we all played way over our heads." ... "I never allowed my opponents shot or ball to interrupt my shot or my concentration. Should his ball lie a few feet from the hole I always figured that my shot or the location of my putt might possibly make his putt a little more difficult ... and it often did".

Play-off at Brae Burn

When he won the US Open at Brae Burn in 1919, after 72 holes he was tied with Mike Brady at 301. The play off was due the next day, but the problem was the Haig had been invited to a party with Al Johnson, and there is no way he was going to miss this. He got very little sleep, and dashed out to the course with minutes to spare where Mike Brady had been warming up for an hour, and looked grimly determined. He had his shirt sleeves rolled high above his elbows. "Mike," said Walter "if I were you I'd roll down my sleeves". "Why?" Mike asked grimly. "All the gallery can see your muscles quivering!" Mike did exactly what Hagen expected, he ducked-hooked a ball into the trees on the left and took a six to Hagen's four. Those two strokes proved to be the margin of victory. Also in that match the referee accused Hagen of a rules violation in that he had picked up a matchbox before playing a shot. Hagen was sure he hadn't violated the rule (Ed. Under this old rule a player was not allowed to remove a loose object which was either with-in two club lengths of the ball or within sixty feet of the hole) and was also aware that Brady had also picked up a stone and thus violated the same rule. However he saw a way to gain an edge. He suggested that they check out both possible violations, but he made sure that they checked out Brady's first, by making the suggestion when they were nearest to the site of Brady's violation. Brady had in fact violated this somewhat ridiculous rule and was assessed two strokes. "O.K." said the official "let's check out your possible infraction" "No, that's OK, I'll take two also" said Hagen. Why did he do this when he was certain he would not be assessed. Well as he explained later he certainly didn't want to win a National Open Championship on penalties, but he wasn't beyond maneuvering things to gain a psychological edge over an opponent!

Hagen finds Gene Sarazen's Achilles heel

Gene Sarazen was one tough nut that Hagen could not crack, although he tried every ploy possible, and often they back-fired on him. However Hagen took his miscues and losses with the same good grace as when he won! However on one occasion he did manage to get to Gene. Gene and Walter were to play a seventy-two hole exhibition match, some five years after their famous International playoff (won by Gene when one of Hagen's ploys backfired!), 36 holes over the Miami Biltmore - which Hagen had never played - and 36 over Walter's Sanford course. The Haig racked his brains over how to rattle Gene. He knew Gene liked to run a tight and organized schedule, prided himself on his organizational abilities, and had a tendency to get nervous when things were not going according to schedule. He told Gene that he would turn up four or five days in advance in order to familiarize himself with the course - and then he went into hiding! The match was scheduled for Saturday. On the Wednesday before the match Gene was concerned, but he knew Walters habit's so was not overly concerned; by Thursday he was worried; on Friday he was fit to be tied - inquiries of Hagen's friends gave no clue to his whereabouts. By Saturday morning Gene was frantic! Then the Haig strode on to the tee with a few minutes to spare. "How the **** do you expect to play a course that you've never seen!" Sarazen demanded. "That's OK, my caddie will tell me where to shoot" replied the Haig. The ploy worked. Gene was 5 down after 36 holes on his home course, and was finally beaten 8 and 7. Disgusted at the way he let himself be conned, Gene threw his clubs in the Lake! And that was the first, and last, time Walter got under Gene's skin! Gene never let it happen again, in fact whenever he realized he was being psyched he bore down and played harder. Walter of course never gave up trying. You can't ask a leopard to change his spots!

The Art of the Conceded Putt

In 1925 Hagen was trying for his third consecutive PGA championship at the Olympia fields in Chicago. As he walked in the locker room the other pros all started talking pretending to ignore Hagen:"Let me take Hagen this year said one!","No, no this is my year", "No I'll get him he's mine". The needling went on and on, Hagen paused and then as though he had heard nothing turned round and pointed to them individually and slowly said "I wonder ... which ... of you ... will be ... second ... this year!" Then he went to his locker, dropped his coat and was soon back with the boys joining in the fun, but the point had been made!

Poor Leo Diegel was his victim in the quarter-finals, he fell not only to excellent play and luck, but he was finally psyched out of the tournament. Leo was dormie 2. Hagen was on the seventeenth green in two but facing a horrific breaking down hill put of about 15 feet. It would either go in the hole or be twenty to thirty feet past it. Diegel got an unfortunate break in that his ball was stuck in mud (there was no lift and place in those days) he blasted on to the green but was left with a forty foot putt ... which he promptly holed. Walter actually putted away from the hole, and holed on top of him for a birdie!

Probably shaken Leo messed up his drive at the next hole and so they went to extra holes. On the thirty-ninth they were both on the green in two and lagged up. Hagen had a horrible down hill putt of about four feet and Leo a nasty curving 3 footer. Now they had not been conceding puts all day. As soon as the Haig had tapped his putt he knew it was going in the hole, and he reached over and threw Leo's ball to him and strode off to the next tee. Leo was confused and his obvious mystification had excited the gallery. As soon as it was sorted out what had happened - that the putt had been conceded - Leo, still flustered, went to the next tee. Hagen immediately drove, a beautiful drive, and Leo, instead of composing himself immediately followed ... with a topped drive into a horrific lie! Hagen won that hole and with it the match, and went on to take the championship.

Trimming Ray Deer

In the semi-finals of the 1924 PGA Championship at French Lick, Walter was paired with Red Deer. In the grill the night before the match he had overheard Red telling his friends that he "was going to take Hagen" the next day..

One the first tee Walter was all charm and humility. You've been playing some great golf, I hope you don't beat me too badly, it won't look good in the home-town papers if I get beaten by double figures. Red sank a long putt at the first to go one up. "You see I'm one down already." said the Haig. Walter knew that a man who figures he doesn't have much of a chance is apt to get reckless and start holing out from all over the green. He also knew that if he could get him to try and protect that one hole lead, he would probably get tense and start missing short putts. And that is exactly what happened. Walter won 8 and 7.

Body Blows

Any one who has played even a little competitive golf knows what a blow it is when we have a hole in the 'win' column ... and then end up losing it! It's like a blow to the guts, and the effect seems to last for the next three or four holes. No one understood this better than Hagen and he made a point of trying to dish out this kind of punishment. On the flip side of this was that when the same kind of bitter cup was served to him, he seemed to take it in his stride. "I made a point of never letting what my opponent was doing upset me, and played my own game. I realized that not only was he going to get lucky, or play above himself on occasions, but that I was going to play some terrible shots. I never let this get me down." And of course Hagen's penchant for wild shots left him with plenty of opportunities for miraculous recoveries! However it was on the green that he particularly shone in this department. Not only was the Haig probably one of the best putters who ever lived, but he would take infinite care to pull of a 'miracle putt'.

We have already seen how he pulled off the Putt against Leo Diegel - what was not detailed above was the enormous difficulty of the putt. Both Walter, and almost certainly Leo, realized that if he went right for the cup there was really no chance of the ball going in. It would pick up such speed going down the slope that even if it hit the cup dead-center it would probably stay out. Leo must of thought he had the match won. Hagen's solution was to actually putt away from the hole and over a small ridge so that when the ball boomeranged on itself it would be going at a slow enough speed to go in the hole, and as we saw he pulled it off! Other great players have done this - one is reminded of Tiger at the sixteenth at the Masters - but no one did it as consistently as Hagen.

On another occasion in a match against Abe Mitchell, Abe had laid him a perfect stymie with his ball on the edge of the hole (I assume the six inch rule was not in operation at this time). Hagen could not get his ball in the hole without seemingly knocking in Abe's as well, which would have given Abe the half he needed. After careful study Hagen took a Seven Iron, pitched the ball just short with a little backspin, and got it to hop over Abe's ball and into the hole. Such imagination, such skill - and not a little luck!

And then of course there is the miracle shot he pulled on Robert Jones ... but we will leave this to the next section.

Mr. Jones and Sir Walter

Many matches have been billed as "The Match of the Century", but this one probably was, or at least had the potential to be. During the fall of 1925 the press had been building up a rivalry between Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen with each camp having its supporters, but the majority coming down that Bobby Jones was far the better player. Hagen himself was not keen on a face off. Even though it would appear that with the press coming out for Bobby, he would have nothing to loose as he himself said " ...I was not keen on taking a beating from him. Having won my second PGA title, my stock was running pretty high. I couldn't see how a possible defeat at Bobby's hands would increase it's value". Further more Hagen had been berating his fellow professionals haranguing them that every time that Bobby showed up they would roll over and play dead. Only he (Hagen) showed a lick of spunk, he would inform them. Yes, Jones certainly had most of the professionals psyched!

However such a match up was inevitable and was also being pushed by the Real Estate developers in the Florida boom. Jones represented one course at Sarasota (as a salesman) and Hagen another at Pasadena (as a professional). When a purse of $5000 was guaranteed, which as Jones was an amateur would go to Hagen win or loose, the match was on. Hagen liked the good life too much to turn down that kind of money! So thirty-six holes would be played at Jones Sarasota course and thiry-six at Hagen's Pasadena, a coin toss to decide the honors. and course rotation.

Both wanted desperately to win, probably Hagen more than Jones, at least that is the impression one gets reading their memoirs! Hagen set out a psychological ploy. He wanted to play at Jones' home course first, so he told his manager to opt for Sarasota first even if he won the toss. His manager Bob Harlow thought this was ridiculous, but Hagen shrewd judge of human nature that he was knew better. Here is how he explained his reasoning to his manager:

"At Sarasota Bobby's a very popular fellow. He'll have a huge gallery following him around patting his back, shaking his hand ... and yelling for him. Me? Well on my side there will be you, me and my caddie. There'll be nobody and nothing to take my attention off my game. I can concentrate completely on what I am doing. In a match of this kind I do better with my back against the wall."

And besides, Hagen did not mind being a few down, it never bothered him much. He also knew that he was a better match-player, whereas Bobby had only become a great match player when he had learnt to play against the card rather than his opponent. Hagen was going to make sure that Bobby would have to play against him!

As it turned out Bobby won the toss and elected for his home course Sarasota. Also as it turned out , from Haig's point of view, everything went according to plan. Haig won the first hole. It was pretty much to and fro until the sixth hole of the afternoon match. Jones had just won the previous hole and was now three down, not a large difference in a 72 hole match, and while Hagen was faltering Jones was starting to rally. He hit a perfect drive, and Hagen hit a terrible one and had blocked him self out behind a tree on the right. His path to the green was also guarded by a bunker, so he could not play low. His only shot was a sliced mashie-niblick. Hagen took a huge cut at the ball, and completely topped it, but the ball had so much spin on it that it ran through the trap and ended on the green 12 feet from the hole. Visibly shaken, Jones never-the-less managed to play an excellent pitch that left him a couple of feet further away than Hagen. His putt rimmed the hole and left Hagen with almost a complete stymie, so instead of winning the hole, which in all fairness he deserved, he was left with a half, or was he? Walter realized that if he could somehow sink the putt it would be a body blow! After careful inspection, with great daring - he could easily have knocked Bobby's ball in the hole, he trickled his ball past Bobby's, it paused on the left lip of the cup, and then fell in! Hagen was four up!

"I watched those shots" said Bobby "and said to myself 'I'm four down to a man who can miss one like that!'". Sir Walter had got to him! He lost four more holes that day and was 8 down at the halfway point. Certainly Hagen played some fine golf, and his putting was out standing. Jones took thirty and thirty-one putts, but Hagen only took twenty-seven and twenty-six! But what really did Jones in was the fact he was psyched out.

As he said after the match when Hagen had won 12 & 11: "I would far rather play a man who is straight down the fairway with his drive, on the green with his second, and down in two putts for his par. I can play a man like that at his own game which is par golf. If one of us can get close to the pin with his approach, or hole a good putt - all right. He has earned something that i can understand. But when a man misses his drive, and then misses his second shot, and then wins a hole with a birdie - it gets my goat!"

That sixth rankled Bobby for a long time, but Hagen understood match play and specialized in getting his opponents goat - and he had prevented Jones from playing against 'Old Man Par' and made him play against him!

Hagen v Compston

Of course not even Hagen won every match, and he took some fearful drubbings - but even his drubbings served to show why he was such a great player. One of his most famous was in a 72 hole challenge match against Archie Compston at Moor Park in 1928. He lost a 72 hole challenge match 17 & 16! Hagen of course was as graceful in defeat as he was in victory, and of course he never stopped trying. His manager - Bob Harlow was distraught, he saw the whole of the tour going up in smoke. Hagen however was quite unconcerned. In the car afterwards, in a thoughtful mode, he lit a cigarette, exhaled the smoke and opined "You know I can beat that Son-of-a-Bitch any day of the week." What resilience! ... and two weeks later the Haig won the British Open at Sandwich, edging out Gene Sarazen and Archie Compston!

These were just a few examples of the ploys used by Walter Hagen. He was always thinking, not just about his next shot, but about how to gain an edge on his opponent, but we must remember that none of this would have prevailed if he hadn't been a tremendous golfer, had a sturdy temperament, a razor sharp mind and above all a will to win. In the third and concluding article on Hagen's match play mastery we will look at these factors and see what his contemporaries had to say about them.

(Most of the quotes in this article are taken from "The Walter Hagen Story" Simon & Schuster 1956)

Portrait

James Braid

This portrait of James Braid painted by Sir James Gunn in 1930 hangs in the clubhouse of the Walton Heath Golf Club,
where Braid was professional from the club's founding in 1903 until his death in 1950. James Braid was one of the 'Great Triumvirate' and won the British Open in: 1901, 1905, 1906, 1908, 1910

Archived Article

JAMES BRAID: DIVINE FURY

by BERNARD DARWIN

IT HAS BEEN SAID OF SOME CELEBRATED PERSON-PERHAPS OF SEVERAL OF THEM-THAT nobody could be so wise as so-and-so looks. As regards golfers, I feel inclined to transpose the aphorism and say that nobody could look so wise as James Braid is. "There is nobody whose every word and action is so redolent of sagacity. He has a great twinkle of humour, too, humour such as the Scots call "pawky," and many other admirable qualities, but one thinks of him first and foremost as a man of extraordinarily cool, wise judgment.

Certainly no man ever played golf with a cooler head, though I have heard him say that he liked to feel just a wee bit nervous before starting. Oddly enough, he combined with this quality a power of hitting at the ball with an almost reckless abandon as if he meant to kill it. He would march along the course with a long, slow, almost sleepy stride, and then, when he came to the ball, he would lash at it with what Mr. Horace Hutchinson well called a "divine fury"; and indeed, though one must write of his triumphs in the past tense, he can still do so. He was a superb iron player, famous especially with the now departed cleek, a master of every kind of running shot, and though not naturally a good putter, he made himself for one period of his career almost a great one. A better player out of difficulties I am sure was never seen, for not only- could he by pure strength remove tons of sand and acres of heather, but he was as skilful and resourceful as he was strong. In fact at his best, he was almost impregnably armed at all points, but it was his driving that delighted people when he first appeared, and it is still his driving, more especially against the wind, that they remember best. It was at once so appalling in its ferocity, so rhythmical in its majesty.

Braid may almost be said to have inherited long driving, since he was a cousin of Douglas Rolland who came, like him, from Elie in Fife, and was the legendary long driver of the eighties and early nineties. He himself has given to the world the mysterious piece of natural history that he went to bed one night a short driver and woke up next morning a long one. We must take his word for it, but I never heard of anyone who remembered him as a short driver, and he assuredly was a long one, when, with something of the suddenness of a meteor, he flashed upon the golfing world about 1895.

Everybody thinks of him now one of the famous three Braid, Vardon and Taylor, who were known as the "triumvirate" and for years almost monopolized the Open Championship. But we are apt to forget that in point of fame though not of age (he was born in 1870), he began a little later than they did. He started life as a joiner, first at Elie, then at St. Andrews and at Edinburgh, and was working at his trade while Vardon and Taylor were already budding professionals. Braid's own desire was always for golf, but his family thought nothing of it as a career and so he worked away as a joiner and played his golf when he had time as an amateur, and a very good amateur, too, at St. Andrews or on the Braid Hills course, near Edinburgh.

It was almost at the end of 1893, the year before Taylor won his first championship, that Braid crossed the Rubicon and became a club maker. The manner of his doing so was rather odd. A friend of his, C. R. Smith, was a club maker at the Army and Navy Stores in London. He wanted help and offered Braid the job, and Braid accepted it, though he had never in all his life made a club. His trade had taught him, however, all about the use of tools, and he had golf in his blood, so all was well. Even so, he had very little time for playing, and I well remember, when I was an undergraduate at Cambridge, hearing rumours that there was a wonderful golfer (name to me unknown) at the Stores, who would do terrific things if he could only get the chance.

The chance was bound to come and it actually came in 1895, in the form of an exhibition match which somebody - got up between Braid and Taylor, then reigning champion, on a suburban course. After a great struggle the match was halved, the newcomer's fame was established straight away and he became not only a regular professional, but one of those at the top of the tree.

Braid was second in the championship of 1897, beaten by Mr. Hilton by a single stroke, but he did not win till 1901 (at Muirfield), the last year before the coming of the rubber-cored ball. It always seemed strange that of his five championships, Braid won only one with the guttv ball, for there was surely no one better calculated to flog that comparatively unresponsive and stony-hearted ball. I remember that a good many years after the coming of the Haskell there was staged an exhibition between Vardon, Taylor, Braid and Duncan in which one side played with the gutty and one with the rubber core. Braid's play with the gutty that day was something to remember, and one had the impression that if that ball could be restored, there would never be any other champion but he. How, then, was it that he did not really come into his kingdom till the rubber Core was established? I think the answer can he given in a single word - putting. Braid's putting was for several years almost the despair of his supporters. I recollect that the first time I ever saw him was in the late nineties, when I went down with a friend to Romford to match our best ball against his. Up to the green he was overpowering, but I am almost sure we won one round because of those putts, and Braid remarked, more in sorrow than in anger, that he had putted "like an auld sweetie wife." In those days he putted with a cleek and had a great deal of that "knuckling" movement of the knees, as it was called, which then marked the caddie-bred putter. It tended to a movement of the body and a pushing out of the ball and had nothing whatever to recommend it. Braid toiled away at his putting with but varying success, and I think it was when he got to Walton Heath and played with that fine putter, Mr. Herbert Fowler, that he really improved. He took to an aluminum Club, he curbed that "knuckling" and developed a smooth movement with a noticeably slow take-back of the club.

Putting never looked as if it came quite naturally and easily to him, but - artificial or no - he undoubtedly became a highly effective putter and, if he remained just a little vulnerable over the short ones, he holed the most inordinate number of middle length and downright long ones. The putts won championships for him, and once he started he did win them with a vengeance.

I said he won in 1901. In 1904, for the third time in his career, he had a putt to tie and did not hole it. When at St. Andrews in 1905 he won for the second time, despite some desperate adventures at both the fifteenth and sixteenth holes, where he put his ball on the railway line (not then out of bounds) and had to batter it back to the course from amongst metals and sleepers. Now that he was fairly started he won again in 1906, 1908 and 1911. At the same time he made a not infrequent practice of winning the News of the World, the unofficial match-play championship, and it may be said that from 1905 to 1910 he ruled the roost. Of all his wins that in 1908 at Prestwick was the most impressive. Not only did he hole the four rounds in 291 magnificent scoring - and win by eight clear strokes, but in the third round he took eight to the third hole, the dreaded Cardinal.

Never shall I forget the ghastly silence that reigned as he tried to get out of the bunker with his mashie and twice in Succession the ball glanced off the boarded face and went out of bounds into the burn. Neither shall I forget, when at last he got clear, the utter impassivity alike of countenance and of gait with which he advanced towards the green. Those that awaited him there had not a guess that any thing untoward had happened. It was much argued at the time whether first of all Braid ought to have played short of the big bunker, and second whether he ought to have been content to get out and no more with his niblick. Perhaps he ought, but despite all his coolness and dourness Braid was always a bold player and went out unhesitatingly for the big shot. Sometimes he got into trouble, for he had not quite the machine-like accuracy of Vardon and Taylor and could at rare intervals hit a devastating hook. In a sense one of the greatest compliments I ever heard paid him was by an illustrious contemporary, who said that he ought to have won more than he did and that the hook was responsible.

Well, he won a very great deal and, moreover, there never was such a recoverer. A friend of mine once took a charming lady to Walton Heath to play a foursome with Braid as her partner. At hole after hole she toppled the ball off the tee into heather and Braid with terrific blows of the niblick put her ball far down the course. At last came a lie too much even for him. He removed the greater part of a young tree, but the ball moved only a few yards - nobody else could have moved it at all. Then said the lady, with a sweet smile, "Oh, Mr. Braid, I am glad to see that even you can make a mistake sometimes!"

After 1910 Braid won no more championships, partly, I think, because his eyesight troubled him, but he remained a great player not only up to the war but after it. He reached the final of the News of the World Tournament when well on in his fifties, and even to-day, when he accepts the inevitable gliding of the years with entire placidity, he is perfectly capable of a sixty-nine or so in a friendly round at Walton Heath. At that noble course he has now been the professional for some thirty years, and reigns there an undisturbed monarch.

If all monarchs had been as sage and suave, as imperturbable and as far-seeing as he is, what a lot of crowned heads there would be in the world to-day! He has done much work as a golfing architect, and, though the kindliest of men, is rather ruthless in the matter of bunkers. His old friend, J.H. Tavlor, once got into one of Braid's creations at Prestwick and remarked that the man who made that bunker ought to be buried in it with a niblick through his heart.

Alone of our great professionals, Braid has never visited the United States, having, I believe, a well-grounded apprehension ocean voyages. l am afraid he never will now, and if it is his loss it is also America's. Every American goIfer who comes here should make a pilgrimage to Walton Heath to see this monument of a man.

Instruction

BRAID ON LONG DRIVING

Hereunder are presented some of the main points to be considered in obtaining length with wooden clubs from the tee, as they are set forth by the champion, James Braid, one of the longest and steadiest drivers who have ever played the game.

HOW EXACTLY the very long driver gets his long balls he is generally at some loss to explain. A man may become a good driver, and he knows how he has done so. Then, in turn, he may become an exceedingly powerful driver; and though he is conscious, perhaps, of certain changes in his system, he is unable to give any satisfactory explanation of the improvement. In my own case the transformation was amazingly sudden and quite inexplicable to me. However, that is not the point. Today we have thousands of golfers who have carefully studied the game, and have, with great perseverance and with the help of capable instructors, brought themselves to a certain point of skill in it. They know all the main principles of driving, and practise them; but they do not get the long ball, and they realise that until they do they bear a handicap which will prevent them from going forward so far as they can wish.

Now, without any question of making these men very long drivers, the longest drivers of their club, they can certainly be transformed into such long drivers that they never need fear that their driving will let them down in the best of company. It is a question of paying very particular attention to certain points, of a very strong determination to uproot certain defects that have got into the system of the swing— even though, generally speaking, that swing does not appear to be a bad one—and, of course, incessant practice. We know how to get the medium ball; now let us see how we can get the really long one that is going to enable us to reach the green at the fairly long holes with the second shot. On the matter of stance, square or open, I do not wish to dictate very firmly, since it is highly probable that the reader will have settled for himself which is the best stance for him. I would only say that if he is one of the men, who change and change about, he may be recommended to give longer trials to the square stance. Another point about the stance is of more importance. I do not believe you can ever become a long driver if you stand close to the ball, and the great fault of many players is that they stand far too close to it. It is clear that the closer they get to the ball the more cramped and restricted are their movements; their swing will have a strong tendency to be both short and upright, and anything in the nature of a long ball becomes impossible. For length there must be a round full swing; anything else is fatal to distance.

I do not want the player to go in for any exaggerations in the reach that he is setting himself; but assuming that he is a short driver and that he is capable of improvement, I want him to try to accustom himself gradually to standing further from the ball until he feels that he is at the limit that is compatible with being easy and getting fairly hold of it, and with complete freedom of body. The change may be made so gradually as to be almost imperceptible. When he has fallen into his ordinary stance, let him wriggle his feet an inch farther back without raising them from the tee, and try the drive from that position. If he does this every time, he will son find that he is standing appreciably farther away; and he may stop at that for a while. In accustoming himself to this new state of things, it is quite likely that for a time he will feel uncomfortable in his swing, and that many shots will go entirely wrong in consequence; but satisfaction will come in due course, and he will find that unconsciously the swing itself has been undergoing a change all the time as the result of the changing stance, and that it is now made on a style quite different from the old one, much freer and fuller, and with vastly more power in it.

Of course it must always be remembered that it is in the highest degree necessary that the stance on both feet should be thoroughly firm, and that the weight should be kept back well on the heels, particularly the right one; but it will be found from experience that there is nothing incompatible between keeping the weight thus well back on the heels and cultivating the long reach A little thing that might be mentioned is the direction in which the feet are placed. It often happens that a man feels much securer and better balanced, and his weight falls more naturally onto his heels by moving the toes—generally of the right foot— just an inch or two one way or the other. He might experiment in this way if he generally feels some insecurity in his stance. It is a point that depends to some extent on the physical peculiarities of the player.

Now there is another important matter in which it is generally found that the short driver is at fault, and that is in regard to the twisting of his body, or its pivoting upon the hips as it is sometimes called, both in the upward swing and the follow through, but particularly in the former. When you are first taught to drive you are told that the body must turn in its middle and upper parts while the upward swing is being made; but nine players out of ten settle down to a system of driving without cultivating this twist; and as for some time they drive what are for the time being regarded as satisfactory balls, they grow up in golf with this very serious fault in their system. Their bodies do not twist, and the result is that their swings are too upright, and their movements altogether too cramped.

One of the chief objects of the twisting is the same as that indicated as the object of the standing as far away from the ball as possible, that is, to allow of the free sweep when making the swing. The long ball with the stiff body is impossible and the player must realise that fact and act accordingly. The man who has been driving for years with the stiff body may quite likely find it a difficult matter to turn as he ought to do, that is, to twist well round upon a definite axis whilst keeping his head in the same place and guarding against anything in the nature of sway, and his first efforts at driving on the revised system may be quite ineffectual. But ease, confidence and accuracy will come as the result of determined practice; and, apart altogether from the extra length that will accrue, the pleasure of getting in this body work will be found to be a most exhilarating thing. The stiff body men do not know all of the pleasures of driving a golf ball, even though they may hit some fairly good ones at times. Another good result of proper body twist is that the tendency to sway is almost entirely removed.

One factor of importance in this consideration is the part played by the left leg while the upward swing is being made. All the men who play with the stiff body, and many other besides, get into the way of pivoting on the left toe and bending the leg more outwards than in any other direction. But you ought not to pivot on the toe at all, and the bend in the knee ought not to be outwards. You should pivot on the fore and inner part of the shoe, that part which is occupied by the ball of the foot and the big toe, and, when the bend in the leg is made in response to the upward swing, it should be inwards and towards the right toe. A purely outward bend is of no more use than if not made at all; while, on the other hand, the inward bend not only greatly facilitates the upward swing, but might almost be said to encourage the body to do the necessary twist.

It might be as well to point out the extreme importance of seeing that at the top of the swing the line of sight is directed over a point a few inches to the right of the middle of the left shoulder, as showing that the body has got well round. Ask the average player of some experience where that line of sight should be when his club is at its topmost point, and he will promptly say, "Nearly over the middle of the left shoulder," having probably been told hundreds of times that this is the place, and having seen it written in many text-books on the game; but if he will make a close examination of his own position at the top of his swing, he will often find that his line of sight is far away from that point. When the shoulder is in its proper place, it is as if the spring of the body has been wound up, and now at the top of the swing there is a sense of keen tension, so that when the club comes back again it does so with a snap that would be quite impossible if the body had not been turned. The whole difference between driving with the twisted body and the straight, stiff body, is that in the one case you have all the elasticity that is comprised in the entire human framework stretched out and employed in the making of the drive, while in the other case you dispense with it altogether and content yourself with a mere pendulum swing and such momentum as you can convey to your club in a simple downward passage from the top to the ball.

James Braid SoHG Archives

Course Architecture

POINTS ABOUT BUNKERS

by James Braid

Bunkers are not placed on a course haphazard, but they are made at particular places to catch particular kinds of defective shots. Therefore they should be made in such a way as to give their own shots the least chance of escape. To assist them, the fairway round about such bunkers should be hollowed slightly, so as to draw a ball that comes in that direction towards them. A ball that is running a little distance from such a bunker may escape ; but one that gets very near will be drawn in. This not only penalises a shot that ought to be penalised, but reduces the likelihood of luck helping the player by letting him just skim the edge of the bunker with a ball running slowly. Of course, one cannot supply every bunker on the links with this drawing power, and very often there will be no occasion to help them in this way ; but it is very advisable at times, particularly in the case of small pots. Next, so that the bunker may have the best chance of catching its shot, it should be set out so that its longest side faces the direction in which the ball will be coming. Thus if a bunker is put on the left side of the course, in order to catch a pulled ball, it should not generally be placed exactly at right angles to the straight line of play from the tee, but turned round somewhat so that the right-hand end is nearer the fairway, and the general line of the bunker is at right angles to the line in which a pulled ball would travel towards it. There is less chance of the ball slipping past the ends of such a bunker than there would be if it were placed quite straight ; and to still further help the bunker the front-or in this case the right hand-end of it should be curled in a little, the shape of the bunker being somewhat after the style of a double crescent as shown in the sketches. The bunkers on the other side of the fairway, set there to catch sliced balls, will be made on just the same principle ; but, of course, laid in the opposite direction, so that they also will be at right angles to the line that is taken by the balls which they are designed to trap. Pot bunkers nearer the middle of the fairway, put there simply to be avoided and to demand placing of the shot, may be oval or round, preferably oval.

While every assistance should be given to the bunker to enable it to catch its own kind of shot, it must be remembered that it is not part of the game that the ball should be kept there for long, and the player being punished by having to play out, generally with a niblick, should be given, at all events, a fair chance of playing forward. Therefore it is not generally a good thing, particularly if the bunker is a small one, and the ball that finds it naturally gets to its far or face side, that this face should be either very steep or very high. The top part of the face may be just fairly steep. Again, there should be no sudden drop into the bunker on the near side where the ball will enter it, because in such a case, if the ball simply trickled in, it would be left with a bank just behind it, and that bank would effectually prevent the player from getting his club to it. Therefore the entrance to the bunker should be, if possible, on a level with the turf, from which point it may sink down gradually.

These points chiefly concern pot bunkers at the sides of the course, and it has only to be added that there should be such a bunker on each side to catch nearly every pulled and sliced ball that is of full length, allowing for the pull and slice ; that is to say, there should be one on each side to deal with erratic tee shots, and then there should be others farther oil to catch pulled and sliced seconds after good tee shots had been made. As a pulled ball generally travels farther than a sliced one, it will be borne in mind that the bunkers on the left should be a little farther up the course than those on the right.

There is very little that need be said concerning the shape and placing of long cross-bunkers in the middle of the fairway, their object being chiefly to insist upon the player making a certain length of carry. A point, however, is that they should not generally go right across the whole width of the fairway, but should be short at the ends, so as to give short drivers a chance of getting round the ends of them. Those who take this course will always run the risk of getting into the rough-in fact, they will generally find it difficult to avoid it; while even if they escape this danger they will lose considerable length. To make their task even more dangerous and difficult, the ground round about the ends should draw towards the bunkers. Even if they escape being bunkered, then they will still have a more difficult shot to play than if they were out on the open fairway. Another point of importance concerns the means of passage for the player himself either over, through, or across the bunkers, since he will not wish to walk the whole way round them. Steps over bank bunkers are not a good arrangement, for they sometimes lead to unexpected difficulties in the playing of a shot that may have got on to or near them. A narrow open passage should be cut through such bunkers, and in ,order to prevent the possibility of a ball having the luck to run through it, it should be cut in an S-shaped pattern, so that this cannot possibly happen. In the same way, instead of a straight plank or path being laid across a sunk bunker extending across the fairway, it also should be shaped like an S, so that the ball that gets on to it at the beginning will fall in immediately afterwards.

Let me now say a few words about a form of bunker that is too seldom used as an alternative to the usual straight bunker, either of the raised bank or sunk pattern, going straight across the course and intended to be carried with the tee or second shot. This latter bunker has the disadvantage that a ball that may be off the line may be short of it, while one of the same length that is straight may find it, which is not proper justice. Besides this, it offers no temptation to a short player who feels that he cannot carry it. The alternative bunker that I recommend catches the short and crooked ball, and gives the better chance of being let off to the ball that is short but straight, while at the same time it offers distinct temptation to the short drivers. It is a bunker constructed on either a single or double diagonal pattern. Everybody knows what are the distinguishing and excellent qualities of a good doglegged hole. The player has a carry to make from the tee over a hazard that runs at an angle to the straight line to the hole, and he can choose his own length of carry. If he can drive far and will take risks, he goes over the farthest point straightest for the hole ; and if he makes a good shot he is much nearer to the hole than he would have been if he had taken the short carry, and ought then to be given a good or even easy chance of getting on to the green in comfort with his next stroke. On the other hand, the short driver may take an easy carry, but he will then probably be out of range of the green.

The good qualities of this type of hazard are apparent, and they may easily be applied to made bunkers at straight holes. The bunker that has to be carried is simply placed diagonally across the course instead of straight, and it makes no difference whether it is a sunk bunker, a line of pots, or a bank. In the case of the single diagonal you place one bunker-or line of pots-at an angle of about forty-five degrees across the course, the end nearer to the tee reaching the edge of the fairway, while the other end extends just a little beyond the middle of the course. Therefore the player who can drive well and wants to take the short cut to the hole goes for the long carry over the middle, while another man, who is a short driver or is afraid, can play over to the right or left as the case may be. (I think it would generally be best to let the near end of the bunker be on the right, as shown in the diagram I have drawn (p. 269), so the player would be induced to make his shot in that direction. This would give him less chance of escape if he sliced-slicing being more frequent than pullingthan he would have if the far end of the bunker were on the right.) But note that the man who does thus take the short carry is losing extra distance by departing so much from the straight line, and also that he stands a very fair chance of going into the rough if he is not careful, while the bunkers in the neighbourhood of the green will be so arranged that his next shot will be considerably more difficult than it would have been if he had kept straight. Thus, while the short driver is quite as well accommodated as he has any right to expect, the bunker is distinctly one that encourages him and makes him try to improve his length. This is the single diagonal, and as the far end of it will be, as stated, very little beyond the middle of the course (it would clearly be no use continuing it to the other side, giving an impossible carry on that side, or, on the other hand, leaving a free space for the short driver there), the course must be protected at that end by a good-sized pot bunker to prevent the ball that runs in that direction from getting round it, or otherwise going free. The diagram on p. 269 illustrating a method of bunkering a short hole, chiefly with a diagonal, shows the situation exactly. The double diagonal is simply the substitution of another bunker corresponding to the first one for the pot bunker at the end, making one big bunker of it in the shape of a wide inverted V, the point being nearest to the hole. I n this case the player who wants his short carry can go either to the right or to the left, while the other man who hits a long ball goes straight down the middle as before. A very little consideration will convince anybody of the sound advantages of this system of cross-bunkering.

When the run-up approach shot is encouraged, instead of the player being asked to pitch nearly everything, an effort should be made to make the ground for some little distance in front of the green slightly undulating, so that more things than the mere strength of the stroke will need to be taken into consideration by the man who is playing the shot. This makes the most fascinating kind of play.

We may now consider briefly the possible good placing of the bunkers at holes of different lengths. First of all take the very shortest hole, such a one as that of 120 yards which was mentioned in the last chapter. By far the best way of making this hole as good and difficult as it ought to be, is by placing a small green in the centre of a nest of pot bunkers completely surrounding it. What I would do, therefore, would be to keep or make the ground as rough as possible for about a hundred yards from the tee, or let the grass grow for that distance if that is the best that can be done. Then for ten yards up to the nearest point of the putting green the fairway should be smooth, so that a ball may be pitched upon it-as it may have to be if there is a following wind-and run on quite nicely. But the passage of admission to the green should be very narrow, and should he flanked on either side by bunkers that would be certain to catch the ball that was not quite straight. An opening of twelve yards' width is quite sufficient.

The green should preferably be pear-shaped, and should be of a width of not more than twenty-five yards. On either side of it there should be large pot bunkers touching its very edge, and beyond it there should be a series of smaller pots reaching almost the whole way round. A glance at the plan on the opposite page will show the design of the hole. It is obviously a difficult hole. One of this length that was also easy in the matter of bunkers would be no good whatever as a test. For a really short hole I do not think there is any good alternative to this system of bunkering, and therefore, on this occasion, need not trouble to seek one.

For longer short holes, those representing a full shot or nearly with a cleek or a driver, something to be carried must generally be put in, and there are alternatives, one of which is the use of the diagonal. This latter had best be reserved for the longest of the short holes, that which needs a really good full shot to get up. Taking a shorter hole into consideration first, a straight bunker might be placed at right angles across the course at a distance of about 140 yards from the tee, but the ends of it may be left open to give the short drivers a chance of going round if they feel disposed to try. They cannot reach the green in one if they do so ; and having to play their second shot at an angle, they will need to be very careful not to run into one of the bunkers that will be placed on each side of the green and touching it as before. This green may be of a width of about twenty-five yards. The diagram shows the idea of the whole thing.

The alternative, or the system of bunkering at another hole that may be rather longer, in which the diagonal is used, is clearly explained by the plan. Here the carry over the middle of the bunker may be a stiff one of about 150 yards, while the carry over the short point at the right-hand corner would be less than 130 yards. But the player who takes this short carry has to be severely dealt with if there is the least thing wrong with his run-up to the green. As before, we must have pot bunkers at each side of it, but instead of their being round and covering practically only the middle section of the green, let them be made more oblong in shape and brought a little more towards the tee. That on the right should be so far down that if the man who has taken the short cut has still got a fairly long ball, he will have this bunker to pitch over before he can get to the green, while this bunker and the one on the other side combine to still further increase his difficulties. It will be necessary for him to hug the bunker on the right very closely if he is to get near the pin, unless the latter is far away on the left-hand side of the green ; while if he is afraid of this bunker and goes too much to the left, and is least bit strong, he will find the other. If the green slopes towards the left in this case, so much the better.

On many occasions it will be found possible to adapt these ideas exactly to the planning of short holes ; but they are intended merely as ideas and suggestions upon which the constructors of a course may act as closely as they may be disposed. What they do indicate are principles, and these same principles are properly applied to the laying out of long holes as well as short ones, and therefore it is not necessary to describe at the same length the different ways in which those long holes and medium long ones may be made as difficult as they generally ought to be After all, it has to be remembered that a long hole is merely a short one with a wooden club shot, or More than that, tacked on to it, and what extra is necessary in its case is that these wooden club shots have to be attended to, while at the same time the green is generally not quite so closely guarded, consideration being paid to the fact that before the player comes to approach it he has already had to pass various tests. Thus it would hardly do to set him an approach like that laid out in the case of the first of the short holes described ; another reason for not doing so, being that the distance from which he would be approaching would seldom be the right one for such bunkering. Therefore while much the same principles may be employed in guarding the greens, they should be applied more leniently, and here and there a bunker entirely omitted.

Holes of medium length, such as those between one and two full shots, present no difficulty in the matter of bunkering, and afford plenty of scope for variety. It has already been stated that there should be traps at the sides of the fairway for the pulled and sliced balls. This should be the general rule, and the distance from the tee to the centre of the bunker that is set for the slice may be put at about from 140 to 160 yards, the pull bunker being from 10 to 20 yards farther. A hole that is intended to be a first-class two-shot hole, the length of it being from 360 to 420 yards, should not generally be very closely guarded, and the carry for the second shot ought not to be too severe, because unless the second shot is a good one it cannot reach the green. Where a carry is set for the second shot-a diagonal bunker would be a good one-a little allowance should be made for the drive having been a trifle below the best. Thus it would not generally be wise to put the bunker for the second shot more than 300 yards from the tee. The man who drove 180 yards, representing a fair but not really long drive, would have an easy carry for his second, while the man who was short with his tee shot would still have a chance of getting over if he hit his very best. Besides, wind has to be considered.

Finally, we will consider alternative ways of bunkering a really long hole, one of, say, 500 yards,and two plans for doing it are presented on the next page and will explain themselves. I n the case of the first, no carry at all has to be made from the tee, but the player has to hit a really first-class drive of about 200 yards to have any chance of carrying the bunker with his second. Even with his 200-yard tee shot he will have a carry of 160 yards to make with his second. This will necessitate his hitting for all he is worth, which is just what we must make him do at these very long holes. He may perhaps be left unpenalised for pulling, but a trap should be set for a sliced tee shot, and another bunker may be cut a little to the right of the middle of the fairway, and some way short of the one in the middle, which may be crossed by a man who has sliced or who has been otherwise short with his drive. This is simply a case of the diagonal bunker being cut in two halves, and, if it is desired, the simple diagonal may be put in instead. Then put a bunker at the other side of the bottom end of the diagonal, or short bunker, in order to catch the ball that goes over the latter too easily and is sliced. After this, one bunker at each side of the green, for its general protection and to threaten the approaches of the men who went out to the right, will be quite sufficient.

In the alternative, we make the carries easier, giving comparatively simple ones for both first and second shots; but at the same time we insist on straightness, and bring into the fairway formidable bunkers to catch both pulls and slices, also making the passage to the green much narrower by the means of bunkers on the right and left, closing up about half of it. With another bunker behind, this hole should be quite a good one and very interesting, and if there are two long holes on the course, these alternative systems of planning them might both be employed with interesting results.

It is not always easy to make good dog-leg holes, so much depends on the natural formation of the ground ; but they are excellent when they are well done. When, to get the best results, the drive should be sliced and the second shot pulled, or vice versa, a splendid test is afforded. Practically, these holes amount to a good arrangement of diagonal hazards.

I think that if the principles I have described are applied to the planning of a course, so far as it is possible to apply them, and with any such modifications as may be necessary or desirable, the constructors of the course cannot go very far wrong. When an inland course is being laid out, and one on which there are certain natural hazards, such as trees, streams, and so forth, the general aim will be to make the best use of them as hazards, and to get them in the right places, since they cannot generally be avoided altogether, even if it were desired to do so. There will not generally be such a desire, for the more natural hazards there are on a course, whatever their character, the more interesting that course ought to be, and generally is.

Upcoming Events

Carolina Mountains Hickory Tournament May 31st - June 1st

The 2007 Carolina Mountains Hickory Event will again be contested at the Donald Ross designed Country Club of Ashville May 31st and June 1st.

The 2007 Carolina Mountains Hickory event will be a 36 hole medal competition contested over two days. The $200 entry fee includes the tourney, green fees, cart, lunch, clinic, range balls, prizes, gift and awards banquet. In addition to the golf, a trade fair/swap meet and golf clinic are also being planned. Days Inn North, 2 miles from the golf club, is the host hotel. Their telephone number is 800 937-0224. Be sure to ask for the Carolina Mountain Hickory Tourney room.

National Hickory Championship - June 7th - 9th

Belvedere 6th Annual Hickory Tournament June29th - June 30th

10th Annual Hickory Stick Invitational September 10 2007

HICKORY STICK INVITATIONAL

To Benefit:

Monday, Sept 10, 2007

At Forest Lake Country Club
in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

12:00pm Lunch
1.30 p.m. Shotgun
6.30 p.m. Dinner

Invitations will be sent out this summer

Reminder: We have plenty of Hickory Stick sets available for use, so you can play in the tournament. Hope to see you there!

Contact Marty Gillespie at (248) 669-2323 ext. 3307 or e-mail mgillespie@hansenmarketing.com with questions.

C.B MacDonald Tournament 2007 September 14th-16th.

This is an event to recreate the first US-Canada amateur tourney organized by MacDonald in 1895. He invited a group of his Chicago friends to play a friendly match with some of his Canadian golfing friends. Macdonald, who was born in Niagara, had a summer home there and played his golf at Niagara GC at the mouth of the Niagara river and Lake Ontario. This course dates from 1875 and was founded by British soldiers on a military base complete with an 1812 fort. The course is the oldest in North America still on the original site. MacDonald describes this first tournament at length in his book 'Scotlands Gift-Golf. A trophy from subsequent events dated 1899 sits in the golf shop to this day. A secondary but important part of this event is the 27 hole Eastern Canada Medal Play Championship. We (The Golf Historical Society of Canada) invite you to come and join us in this historical event. It is a combined international match and medal play tournament featuring one day 1890's golf and one day 1920's golf. On Sunday, we crown an Eastern Canada individual champion and the winning team in the US-Canada matches.

Doug Marshall is the contact at dougmarsh7@aol.com

See http://www.hickorygolfers.com/macdonald for further details.

World Hickory Open Championship 2007 26th - 28th September.

The World Hickory Open Championship 2007 will be held at Craigielaw Golf Club in Aberlady, Scotland on 26th - 28th September.

Arkansas Hickory Open Championship 2007 Oct 13th - 14th.

The AHC this year will be held in Fort Smith, Arkansas at Hardscrabble CC. In addition to individual stroke play competition, a 4-ball State Championship will be contested.

Hardscrabble was designed by eminent course designer Perry Maxwell in 1926. Maxwell is perhaps best known as the architect of Southern Hills in Tulsa, OK and Prairie Dunes in Hutchinson, KS. It was built on the side of a farm, which because of rocky conditions, was known as a "hardscrabble" way to make a living - hence the name. Renovation was completed in 1998 by Jay Morrish and Associates. Hardscrabble CC has been a stop on the Nationwide Tour for years and has hosted numerous prestigious amateur golf tournaments, including the USGA Senior Women's Amateur, won by Alice Dye; the Trans-Mississippi Men's Amateur held twice and won by Mark Brooks and Bob Estes; the Trans-Mississippi Women's Amateur; the Women's Southern Amateur; Western Women's Amateur and the Western Junior Girls' Amateur. Invitations will be sent out before the start of the summer. In addition to being an ASGA championship event honoring the history and tradition of golf, this is also a fundraiser for First Tee. Please let other hickory golfers know of the event.

Contact Information

Breck Speed Chairman & CEO Mountain Valley Spring Company LLC 501-624-1635 (office) 501-993-3344 (mobile)
Email: bspeed@mountainvalleyspring.com

If you would like your event highlighted in our newsletter please e-mail the Newsletter Editor. The next (May) Edition will be mailed about the beginning of May

Calendar

If you would like your event added to the calendar please email the fixtures Secretary

Wee Nip Contributions

The Spring edition is will be shortly mailed. As usual Jim has done a wonderful job.

We are now looking for contributions for the fall issue, so fire up your word processors and send your contribution to Jim Davis at jdavis@gr-press.com.

Jim Writes "Letters, comments, small articles... all are welcome. Ask them to include photos of anything they might cover in their submission, i.e. a favorite club, course, player, etc."

Please support this effort, and let's make sure that the next "Wee Nip" is every bit as good as this one!

Announcement

New Ontario Hickory Tour

Paul Dietz and Doug Marshall have announced the founding of the 'Ontario Hickory Tour'. Paul says that the plan is to play 6 events a year, three with pre-1905 clubs, and three with 'vintage' hickory clubs. Both Paul and Doug are members of the Society of Hickory Golfers.

For further details and this years schedule see the Ontario Hickory Tour web site.

Regional News

Carolina Hickory Golf Association

Five inveterate lads appeared at Cafrolina Trace CC in Sanford for our monthly CHGA hickory outing. Charles Millender, Richard Schmidt, Bob Georgiade, Barry Markowtiz and Bill Engelson were in attendance. CHGA charter member Barry Markowitz who resides at Carolina Trace made the arrangements with the club for us to play. The pro staff was reluctant to let us go as a fivesome, so I suggested within his hearing that we link up once we were out of sight of the clubhouse. The pro said, "You didn't hear me say that." ...and so, we did.

Some of us hadn't played in awhile and it soon became apparent to all of us that Trent Jones, Sr.'s mantra, easy bogey, hard par was a bit wide of the mark. Hard bogey, easy double would be more apt on the Lake Course from the white tees at 5,774 yard with a rating of 69.1 and slope of 122. The greens had been punched, slit-cut and sanded in preparation for an upcoming amatuer event and gave us a ready excuse for putts which seemed unwilling to drop. Anyhow, the weather was great and the companionship was outstanding and we all enjoyed the outing immensely. Barry Markowitz took half the prize pool for low gross and I took the remainder for low net. We both tossed all the winnings on the bar to defray drinks and lunch. By popular voice vote, no scores will be published.

Upcoming CHGA hickory events:
1. Sunday, June 24th - Gillespie Park GC, Greensboro - Pete Georgiady, host
2. Saturday, July 21st - Mimosa Hills CC, Morganton - Michael Fay, host
3. August TBD We are looking at Stryker Golf Club at Fort Bragg, NC, which is a Donald Ross course, I believe. (Mike Fay, help me on this, please.)
4. September (date TBD) - Alamance CC, Burlington - Charles Millender, host

Selected Upcoming Hickory Tournaments - check Society of Hickory Golfers website www.hickorygolfers.org and click on Upcoming Fixtures for details and contact info:
1. Thursday, May 31st and Friday, June 1st - Carolina Mountains Hickory Tournament, Asheville, NC - Ed Woeckener, host
2. Thursday, June 7th through Saturday, June 9th - National Hickory Championship, Oakhurst Links, White Sulphur Springs, WV - Pete Georgiady, host
3. Friday, September 14th through Sunday, September 16th - CB Macdonald Hickory Tournament, Niagara-on-the-Lake GC, Canada - Doug Marshall, host
4. Friday, November 2nd through Sunday, November 4th - Mid Pines Hickory Open, Southern Pines, NC - Rob Pilewski, host

Make sure you are diligent about posting your hickory scores. Free hosting on the Society of Hickory Golfers website. Contact me for details.

Far and Sure,
Bill
Wm. L. Engelson
Captain, Carolina Hickory Golf Assn.
29 Devon Drive
Pinehurst, NC 28374
910.295.2857
WLE@Profiles24x7.com
www.carolinahickory.com

Clubhouse Leader

Braid shoots his age

I can't help adding my own rather second hand piece about James Braid. I was playing a round of golf with a professional, who's name I cannot now remember, and after the round we got to reminiscing. He had been one of Henry Cotton's up and comming assistants, and Henry had insisted that he should go and play a round of golf with the great man. He had arrived at Walton Heath with a complete matched set of clubs - rather unusual in the post war years - and a caddy. He recalled that the weather was foul, raining with stiff wind. Braid came out of his shop carrying a pencil bag with six or seven clubs, and incredibly some of them actually had wooden shafts! The great man, then well into his seventies proceeded to give our hero a lesson in golf, breaking his age while our hero struggled to break 80! He recalled, "I realized there and then that the great champions really did have a different quality to them, and that us merely good golfers just did not have that spark that made 'The Great' truly great!"

Preferred Lies

MUSSELBURGH, THE NEVER-ENDING STORY (continued)

By Preferred Lies

For those who have been following the story of The Musselburgh Old Golf Course, and the proposed developments there, in which I wrote at some length, in the Autumn edition of ‘The Wee Nip’ and subsequently in the December issue of the SOHG newsletter, a further twist in the never-ending story has sadly occurred.

In early May, this year, Scotland’s Parliament and Local Councils had elections, resulting in substantial gains to The Scottish National Party from the Labour Party, who had previously been controlling Parliament and, in Musselburgh’s case, its Local East Lothian Council. This may result in a complete turn around to the support that the previous local Council have been giving to the development of the racecourse and Old Links.

In my previous report I quoted Martin Hannan’s excellent article in support of the development. I wrote to congratulate Martin and my letter was published in the weekend newspaper ‘Scotland on Sunday’. He has now written again after the elections and you will understand my concern for something that has had my involvement for the past seven years. This time I have not felt able to reply to this article as the situation has become so sensitive that I do not feel I could make a contribution without it causing offence to the new people involved. Perhaps if you read Martin’s accompanying article you may more fully understand the situation.

It may be that the journalist’s article is too gloomy and inside information tells me that there may still be light at the end of the tunnel. If nothing comes to fruition, I must again quote George Colville’s words from his book ‘ Five Open Champions and the Musselburgh Golf Story’ when commenting on the many failures to gain a further nine holes at Musselburgh...

I feel this new opportunity must not be missed as it could be the last. The authorities will stand condemned, as their predecessors were, for their lack of foresight if they do not grasp the opportunity...

Letters to the Editor

We welcome letters and input on any subject related to hickory golf. Please address your letters to the editor.

Book Review

Advanced Golf

"Or, Hints and Instruction for Progressive Players:
With Eighty-Eight Photographs and Diagrams"

by James Braid

When 'reviewing' a classic of this nature, one is reminded of the 'art critic' looking at the Mona Lisa. "Well, thats not very good" said the 'critic'. Of course, he (and I'm sure this is one of the times that any feminist would be happy to see the androgenous appelation used) was not passing judgement on the painting, he was passing judgement on himself!

So a reviewer does not really 'review' a classic book of this nature, the fact that it is still widely quoted is proof enough of its worthiness. The reviewer comments on its style, its content, its importance in the context of the time, and its importance to today's historians.

Advanced Golf was first published by Methuen & Co. in April of 1908 in the usual quantities for a sporting book of the period. The printing run was sold out within the week! In those days it was not so easy to churn out additional copies once the printing run was over, but with a superhuman effort they pulled out another edition for May. We can be sure that they doubled or trippled the number of copies, but again all copies were rapidly sold, so they brought out a third edition in June, and a fourth one was also required in August! Never had there been such demand for a book on sports.

Why the enthusiasm? Well there is the obvious fact that James Braid was the then dominant member of the triumvirate; he had won The Open in 1901, 1905 and 1906 and had been second or third in the other years; he could also hit the ball further than any golfer had until then dreamed possible - and length from the tee fascinated as much then as it does now; and he was the match player supreme wining the PGA Match Play Championship three of the four previous years, but there was also the fact that by any measure this was a heck of a book! Add to this that this was also the first book aimed at the established golfer rather than the beginner and we begin to understand the excitment with which it was greeted.

We should also remember that Braid was immensely popular - not in the shallow terms of today's celebrities - but he was recognised as a man of great pith and substance, to use a term from the Victorian era, he had Gravitas! This was not to detract from the other members of the Triumvirate - both Vardon and Taylor were consumate gentlemen - rather it reflected something extra, and the public had a desire to find out what made this Braid 'tick'. Braid was quiet, undemonstrative and modest, but without having any false modesty. Once when asked by Bernard Darwin whether he could have matched a famous drive of Freddie Tait, he paused, made sure of the particulars of the feat, thought for a moment then said "I'm rather sure I could". Such was the modest but assured and conservative nature of the man. Anyone who wishes to find out more about his character would do well to read any article on him by Bernard Darwin [Ed. There is one such article in this news letter], but they should also read this book. Braid's character shines through on every page.

Before getting on to the specifics of the book, it is necessary to say that this book is incredibly well written in succinct and clear English. Remember these were the years before every sports man had a 'Ghost Writer'. Although the editor would smooth out many manglings of the language, reading the efforts of other sports writers of the era, the overall result was not always successful. Braid, like most working men of his era left school at aged thirteen, but it is obvious that he picked up more about the english language, and a larger vocabulary in those few years of schooling, than many Eng. Litt. gratuates of today. To the modern ear the language may appear a little sonorous and ornate. Picking a sentence at random: "In the third and fourth varieties of abnormal stances, as enumerated already, the situation, as has been suggested, is complicated by the uneven distribution of the weight of the feet". However we have the same problem today when reading Dickens, Trollope or Bronte, and one soon gets used to the rythm of another era and forgets or ignores the trills and flourishes. The book is in fact a pleasure to both dip into and to read. [Ed. To get a taste of the Braid's english see 'Braid on Bunkers' in this news letter.]

There is also a 'bonus chapter' on what was understood of the science of the swing and ball flight in 1908!

Let us not forget that braid is writing for the 'Advanced Golfer'. Here is his definition:

And write for the advanced golfer he does, without getting tedious or over technical.

Equipment

Both collectors and players of today should read this section. He goes into great detail about the characteristics of various woods, their shape and depth. He also talks about the shaft, and where the 'spring' in the shaft should occur. Remember that braid was a club maker, and presumably it was an easy matter for him to sand down a shaft so that the 'spring' would occur mainly in the mid-shaft, not at the lower end which is where the spring occurs in most hickories.

Braid goes on to give a discussion of lie, face depths and face scorings which will be of interest to any hickory affectionardo.

Swing Mechanics and Shot making

There is much of both practical and historical interest in these sections. The reviewer found of particular interest the section on 'Playing form water'. he was somewhat baffeled by some of the advice until he remembered that these were in the days before ball standardisation, and that many balls actually floated!

Although moving pictures were just begining to be used, sequence shots were still rare, and the book is illustrated with mostly 'posed' pictures. Certainly looking at the address, stances and finishes, one is struck by the orthodoxy of Braids play by modern standards, although his finish is accompanied by a sway forward (one can be sure his downswing was not - his head was well behind the ball at impact!), and like Vardon he was not an advocate of the straight left arm. In the text Braid emphasises shoulder turn, although he calls it 'twist' and 'leg action'. All in all one is struck by how little the mechanics of the swing have changed over the years.

One interesting aside is that Braid does 'posed' shots of impact, and he must have felt his position at impact was the same as at address. However there is an action picture of the niblick bunker shot at impact - quite a remarkable photo for 1908 - which shows that this was indeed not the case! One would have to wait a few years before the quick lens camera would really show us what was happening through the swing.

Braid goes on to give advice on playing all kinds of shots, and there are nuggets of information here for every hickory player.

Course Strategy and Psychology

To the reviewer this section is still worth study in depth. James Braid used to 'think' his way round a course. James would not of course have called it psychology, he probably would have called it temperament or perhaps just common sense. However his hints on how to conduct one self when all is not going well are just as applicable today as they were in 1908. Indeed I wish I had read and applied the lessons when I was younger. Maybe I would have played better. Here is what he has to say about medal (stroke) play. This is quoted in some length as it seems to best sum up why Braid was such a successful player. This could really be Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, or Ben Hogan speaking!

Course design

Historically this is probably the most important part of the book. Not only was James Braid an outstanding architect, but the two chapters in this book were probably the first serious treatise on course design written by any major architect.

Braid's work is little known in the United States because he never travelled here. Braid suffed from extreme motion sickness and hated journeys of any kind. He never bought a car, and avoided car travel whenever possible. Even train rides occasioned him discomfit, and the short channel crossing to France was purgatory for him! However Braid was the first great designer of Inland courses, and the dog-leg has been attributed to him. he is best known for his work on bunkers, and his comments on bunkering has influenced every designer down to this day. [Ed. His notes on bunkers appers elsewhere in this issue.] J.H Taylor was heard to comment after being in a bunker in Prestwick - "The man who designed this bunker should be buried in it with a niblick driven through his heart!". His comments when he was informed that it was his good friend James Braid are not recorded!. The 'James Braid Trail' in Scotland features courses both famous and not so well known which he designed. Any one who has played any of these courses realises that here is an Architect right at the top of his field.

It is not really possibly to talk of a 'Braid Style', except to say that all his courses seem to fit perfectly into the landscape. However there is a Braid Style in another sense. We are so used to the 'standard' layout of the golf course, four par three's of varying length, four par fives, and a mix of long and short par fours, that we sometimes forget that it is Braid who first advocated this mix, and although there were many course before Braid's time that did not adhere to these proportions, there are hardly any courses built after that do not!

Autobiographical material

This is certainly the most pleasant section of the book to read. Again Braid's graciousness and modesty shines through. The chapter on his early years is particularly good reading. The reviewer is reviewing the first edition of this book, but this book remained in print for several years, and Braid was to win two more Opens.

Summary

Vardon wrote many books, and they are all good reads, but somewhat stereotyped. Braid only wrote one, but it carried through numerous printings and editions. With a new paperback edition hopefully golf historians will have ready access to one of the great books of golf.

Re-publication available:
# Paperback: 416 pages
# Publisher: Kessinger Publishing, LLC (May 26, 2006)
# ISBN-10: 1428622578
# ISBN-13: 978-1428622579

Original is listed from time to time. 1918 edition offered for $89 on Amazon 2007-05-19.

Notes & Queries

A question-and-answer page run by our readers. Either post a question or answer a question someone else has posted. If you have a question, or if you have an answer to a question, either e-mail us at frank@ mainspringtech.com with 'SoHG Note' in the subject line, or go online at the Hickory Golfers Web site- www.hickorygolfers.com - Notes & Queries.

Questions

Tid Bits and Anecdotes

Some James Braid anecdotes

"There may be times when it is necessary to be very talkative and Sociable, but one can hardly regard such a game as a serious one"

"You should always try to win every hole of a match; any other policy is fatal.."

"It is difficult with one with the wrong kind of temperament to become a first class player, and to a large extent the temperaments are born with the players; but there is such a thing as training the temperament for the purposes of golf, and this ammounts in reality to the application to ones game of various rules known as common sense."

And finally "Whoever designed this bunker needs to be burried here with a Niblick driven through his heart!." J.H. Taylor on failing to get out of a bunker at Carnoustie - designed by James Braid!

Proposed Publication Schedule for 2007: - Jan, Feb, Mar/Apr, May, June/July, Aug, Sept/Oct, Nov/Dec

Hickory Happenings

A monthly update on the world of hickory golf

June/July 2007

Summer is Here!

Features

Columns

Departments

Presidents Message

Message from Ken Horne, secretary to The Braid Society

Feature Article

Walter Hagen

The Maestro of Match Play. Part II

Play-off at Brae Burn

Hagen finds Gene Sarazen's Achilles heel

The Art of the Conceded Putt

Trimming Ray Deer

Body Blows

Mr. Jones and Sir Walter

Hagen v Compston

Portrait

James Braid

Archived Article

JAMES BRAID: DIVINE FURY

by BERNARD DARWIN

Instruction

BRAID ON LONG DRIVING

James Braid SoHG Archives

Course Architecture

POINTS ABOUT BUNKERS

by James Braid

Upcoming Events

Carolina Mountains Hickory Tournament May 31st - June 1st

National Hickory Championship - June 7th - 9th

Belvedere 6th Annual Hickory Tournament June29th - June 30th

Play Golf as it was meant to be played...

Home of the Michigan Amateur Golf Championship 39 Times...

10th Annual Hickory Stick Invitational September 10 2007

HICKORY STICK INVITATIONAL

To Benefit:

Monday, Sept 10, 2007

At Forest Lake Country Clubin Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

12:00pm Lunch1.30 p.m. Shotgun6.30 p.m. Dinner

C.B MacDonald Tournament 2007 September 14th-16th.

World Hickory Open Championship 2007 26th - 28th September.

Arkansas Hickory Open Championship 2007 Oct 13th - 14th.

Contact Information

Calendar

Wee Nip Contributions

Announcement

New Ontario Hickory Tour

Regional News

Carolina Hickory Golf Association

Clubhouse Leader

Braid shoots his age

Preferred Lies

MUSSELBURGH, THE NEVER-ENDING STORY (continued)

By Preferred Lies

Disaster as grand plans for Musselburgh fail to clear democratic hurdle

Letters to the Editor

Book Review

Advanced Golf

"Or, Hints and Instruction for Progressive Players: With Eighty-Eight Photographs and Diagrams"

by James Braid

Equipment

Swing Mechanics and Shot making

Course Strategy and Psychology

Course design

Autobiographical material

Summary

Notes & Queries

Questions

Tid Bits and Anecdotes

Some James Braid anecdotes

At Forest Lake Country Club
in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

12:00pm Lunch
1.30 p.m. Shotgun
6.30 p.m. Dinner

"Or, Hints and Instruction for Progressive Players:
With Eighty-Eight Photographs and Diagrams"