GOLF FOR LADIES
As to its being a ladies' game--A sport of freedom--The lady on the
links--The American lady golfer--English ladies are
improving--Where they fail, and why--Good pupils--The same game as
the man's--No short swings for ladies--Clubs of too light
weight--Their disadvantages--A common fault with the sex--Bad
backward swings--The lady who will find out for
herself--Foundations of a bad style--The way to success.
Some people say that golf is not a ladies' game, and from time to time
one hears of something in the nature of dissensions within the family
circle when there are wives and sisters anxious to take up the sport
which palpably affords their male relatives one of the greatest
enjoyments of life, and when there are husbands and brothers who, it is
said, advance arguments which for number and ingenuity would do credit
to a King's Counsel, designed to show the absurdity and the futility of
the desire expressed. It is a question upon which it would be out of
place for me here to take any side, though it seems to me that there is
something to be said for the complete separation of the men's golf from
the ladies' golf, particularly in the case of large clubs and crowded
courses. Golf is essentially a sport of freedom. Restraint of even the
most trivial and conventional character in regard to manners and customs
is irksome when there are holes to be played and tight matches to be
pulled out of the fire. I like to see a lady go out on the golf links in
whatever costume she thinks fit to wear for her own comfort and good
play, and generally to do as she likes, as if there were nothing but
Nature and a little white ball and the hole with the flag in it in all
the world. I have a great admiration for the American lady golfer, whom
I have several times had the opportunity of studying on her native tees,
and the other day I read the perfectly true story of an American
clergyman making a scathing attack from the pulpit one Sunday upon lady
golfers, of whom he numbered many in his congregation. The reverend
gentleman exclaimed that some of the lady members of his congregation
attended divine service in the customary manner on the Sabbath, and then
"swore like troopers" on the golf links on the Monday. The conduct of
these ladies was no doubt exaggerated; but it appears as if it may have
been reprehensible. However, it shows the keenness and the enthusiasm of
the American lady golfer; and I am not at all sure that the answer of
the English lady player, when she was asked if those bad words were ever
uttered in this country, that the Englishwoman made fewer bad shots and
had no occasion for an extended vocabulary, was entirely convincing. One
hears that the ladies have coined new words for the expression of their
disgust at the results of their strokes, and, on the other hand, that
the limits of expletive which they permit themselves when bunkered
consist of the chiding utterance, "Oh, you naughty, naughty little
ball!" However this may be, I know not, and I would only remark, without
presumption, to the ladies, as I have done in another place to their
husbands and brothers, that golf is a game for thought and silence.
Now, I am glad to see so many ladies taking up the game year by year,
and thus giving the best possible answer to the question whether it is a
real ladies' game or not. And furthermore, I am pleased to bear witness
that the standard of ladies' golf in this country is improving every
season, so that now it needs a fine man golfer to give a third to the
best of the gentler sex. These good lady players, or some of them, are
attiring themselves in these days as I like to see lady golfers
attired, that is to say, there is evidence that they think a trifle less
of fashion and dainty appearance than they do of security, comfort, and
freedom of limb and muscle. But the majority of lady players do not
attach the proper amount of importance to these considerations, and that
is why one is sometimes a little doubtful as to the prospects of ladies'
golf generally in this country in comparison with those of American
ladies' golf. The American girls are adopting the game more
whole-heartedly and thoroughly than their English sisters, and their
devotion to it will tell. The lady of the States who is a golfer dresses
for golf and for golf only. Very seldom do you see in America a lady
golfer wearing a hat, or head covering of any description. When she has
one, it is almost invariably a light tam o'shanter, or something very
small and soft, which clings closely to the hair and does not get in the
way of the swing of the club. She tucks up her sleeves like a man, and
in the soles of her shoes she has plenty of goodly sized nails. And she
does not look a tittle the worse for any of these things; indeed, the
picture of the determined, strenuous, and yet charming lady golfer was
one of the most attractive that I saw when in America. The average
English girl does not appear willing to make so many sacrifices for golf
as the American. She seems too often to say to herself that it is only a
little game after all, and there is an end of it; and yet she is always
desirous of getting on and reducing her handicap. I need hardly say that
this is not the proper spirit in which to achieve success at golf. We
see too many ladies on our links with big hats and no nails in their
shoes. I have no faith whatever in their future as golfers. It is
impossible to play good golf if one is not fitted out properly for the
game, whether the player be lady or man. Few players of our sex would
dream of going on to the links in a tightly fitting coat and
smooth-soled shoes. But the ladies are more venturesome.
After this brief lecture on attire, let me at once declare that there
are many points about our English lady golfer that I greatly admire. It
has been my privilege to teach the first principles of the game to many
of them, and I am bound to say that for the most part I have found them
excellent pupils--better generally than the men learners. They seem to
take closer and deeper notice of the hints you give them, and to retain
the points of the lesson longer in their memories. They are painstaking;
and if she begins to play early enough in her life, adopts sensible
methods, and is possessed of an average amount of athleticism, I can see
no reason why any lady should not become a very fair golfer. Many
somewhat spoil their prospects by concluding too hastily that they must
play an altogether different game from that of their men friends, that
they must have special clubs, special methods, and so forth. This is not
the case. No doubt it is well for ladies to admit at once that they
cannot drive as far as the men. But otherwise the man's game and the
lady's game are the same in principle and in practice. As for the manner
in which to play, I have not a single special piece of instruction to
offer, and can only refer the lady neophyte to the previous pages, in
which I have set forth as well as I am able the precise method in which
each of the many strokes in golf should be played. I have merely to
insist that they shall not deviate from these methods in one or two
special matters in which they are advised or inclined to do.
Ladies are frequently advised that they ought never to take a full
swing. Of course in the foregoing pages I have frequently insisted that
a golfer should avoid the absolutely full swing with all iron clubs,
believing that he gets for the most part at least as good results with a
good three-quarter swing. But those people who warn the ladies against
the full swing, not only with their irons but with their wooden clubs
also, advise the half swing because they say it is better for them for
physical reasons, and that their results will be practically as good as
if they had taken the three-quarter or the full. Now I am convinced
that this is altogether wrong, and, without encouraging any of my lady
readers to the development of a big swing and a slashing style, I do say
that they will do well for themselves and for their golf if they will
train themselves to the making of at least a full three-quarter. I
believe that the half swing entails a severer strain upon the body when
made under these circumstances than the full three-quarter, and that the
body does altogether more work than is good for it, while the delusion
is entertained by those who recommend the short swing that the opposite
is the case. In this half swing the body seems to get too much in front
of the club and to labour heavily, while in the three-quarter the arms
do most of the work, as they ought to do, and the body comes in at the
proper time for the remainder. Though in previous chapters I have
strongly advised golfers to play a half shot with one club in preference
to a full shot with one more powerful, I only do so obviously when the
distance is fixed and the half shot will reach it. In playing from the
tee it is an altogether different matter. In this case the distance is
not fixed. The object is usually to drive as far as possible, so no half
shots are wanted here.
As a general rule, ladies make use of clubs that are far too light for
them. Frequently they do so by advice, and then their own instinct
suggests to them that they should employ weapons less weighty than those
of their male relations. This would be very sensible and proper if the
clubs which men make use of were the heaviest that they could swing with
effect. But a man only uses a club of a certain weight, because
experience has proved that it is the best and most effectual for its
purpose, and usually he has a very great reserve of strength which could
be employed with heavier clubs if necessary. There is no reason at all
why ladies should not employ clubs of good average weight instead of
featherweights. By so doing they would spare themselves a great amount
of exertion, and they would certainly get better results, for it is
always much more difficult to get good results with a light club than
with one of medium weight. With the featherweight the swing is very
liable to get out of gear. It is cut short, and is apt to wander out of
its proper direction. There is, in fact, no such control over the club
as there is when one can feel the weight of the head at the end of the
shaft. A lady may require clubs a trifle shorter in the shaft, but this
is the only difference which need exist, and it is not of itself
sufficient to make any perceptible difference in the weight.
So far as I have discovered, ladies have no special faults or weaknesses
of their own, as distinct from other players, but I have found them more
than usually addicted to inaccuracy in the backward swing, causing the
toe of the club to be pointing upwards instead of downwards at the
turning-point. This is the result of wrong action and loss of control
over the wrists, and a study of my remarks on driving, where this matter
is specially dealt with, should do much to obviate it. It is possible,
however, that the lady's inferior strength of wrist, as compared with a
man's, may have much to do with the fault, but even in that case it only
needs caution and care to bring about a cure. I should say that fully
three ladies out of every five whose play I have watched make this
mistake, and it is a fault which has very serious consequences. I should
advise all of them to make a periodical examination of the position of
the club head at the top of the swing, as I indicated when discussing
the drive, and if they find the toe is upwards they must make up their
minds to get rid of this bad habit at any cost. If it has already become
a part of the player's system, it will not be abolished without
considerable difficulty. To begin with, she would try swinging back more
slowly, as a too rapid backward swing has often much to do with it.
Finally, I would suggest that any lady who aspires to be a really good
golfer should take numerous lessons from those players superior to
herself who are qualified to give them. I have already said that I have
found ladies exceedingly good pupils, and when they set about learning
the game in the right way, they often make really astonishing progress.
But it must be confessed that in too many cases they do not treat the
difficulties of the game with sufficient seriousness, and are inclined
to think that they can get on best in their own way and by the adoption
of their own methods. When once a lady has been given a couple of
lessons in the swing for the drive, she often insists on finding out the
rest for herself, and then a bad result is inevitable. All the practice
and patience in the world will not make a good lady golfer if she does
not learn the game in the right way. The simple fact is that, when a man
sets about the game he admits its difficulties from the beginning, and
goes about surmounting them in the right manner if he is really
ambitious and covetous of a short handicap. But it often seems that
ladies will not admit these difficulties, and persist in their attempt
to make golfers of themselves unaided. Perhaps that is one reason why
ladies do not always continue with the game with that increasing
eagerness and enthusiasm which is an almost invariable characteristic of
the man golfer. Learn properly, and practise much; and--well, yes, do
the rest like a man, and not as if there were a special woman's way.
That is the essence of my counsel to the lady aspirant on the links.