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Show D CMTIA,W I.M AN iigs of prodigious hittint;, no matter what the game, there is Mill a wide awt-cp of in guim-nt in regard to record distances. Tlic-'e Is a wide iliver-r iliver-r ' ' gi-nce of opinion ns s to how far the if : mightiest of the hit- ters can drive a , '" s baseball, golf hull 4 or polo ball, to take V T u,) three examples. ., Few have ever -y -f ' i K . ' smacked a baseball V lyy beyond 500 feet. I , r mean on Uie carry, a.. .! j-. i. m A good many years tlranlland ltl. e "e of lil,be Ruth's Florida wul- lops Unit dropped into a plowed field was measured around S2U feet. Anything Any-thing over i'M feet is no part of soft I hitting. j Ruth remain! the loug-distunce I champion, both an a record hitter j uml as the must consistent one. The I Hnhe not only Iiuoj bulk and power hack of his punches, but he ulso hud one of the linest swings that baseball has ever known In the way of timing ) anil smoothness. But the Babe rarely reached a full range of 500 feet. There Is no way ! to make any exact j measurement when 'f j the ball sails out of .. Uie park or crashes ,r"vi: j into the upper T " ' ' x stands. ' . 1 There Is a center- ."" field fence in Uie St , - Petersburg park t I -y around 500 feet ' , ' ' away, and no one i . has ever hit this . palisade on Uie fly yet, according to Babe Kulh Uie best knowledge I have. Golf !! uppers In golf Jimmy Thomson remains Uie long-distance ruler with something some-thing to spare. As I recall Uie figures Thomson has won Uie last six driving contests arranged by Uie PGA. ! It must be remembered that the j only true measure In Rolf is from a ! flat surface, wllh no helping- wind, i , Roll drwsn't count. You can drive a eolf Kill a mile on the Ire. And a few of the lone hitters can stand on an elevated tee and pass 300 I yards on the carry with a helping ' gale. One earnest seeker fir records or.re drove a gn'.f ball well over a mile standing at Uie tnp of Uie Grand Canyon. Driving; from a level surface, on- hrlped by a w ind, Thomson's best blows usually range from 270 to 215 yards. This is big blasting. A carry of 250 yards under these conditions t Is big hitting. I doubt that any gnlf- ! er ever carried 300 yards on flat ground, minus a keen breeze. I know that few good hitters care to risk a carry beyond 225 yards when there is trouble to face. A helping or a headwind makes a much greater difference than many ' know. A headwind Is also a mental handicap since It usually brings on pressing and overeffort, which is always al-ways a mistake, i ' How Far a Polo Ball? In his prime. Tommy Hitchcock could hit a polo ball as far as anyone any-one I ever saw. Dev Milburn and Wilburn Guest were also on Uie longer side. Hitchcock figures that 150 yards, half the distance or the field, rs about all one can get from a full polo smash. Any wallop beyond 100 yards Is good, bard hitting. "The longest drive I've seen," an eyewitness writes, "came from a combination of golf and polo. Winston Wins-ton Guest teed up a golf ball at Meadowbrook one day, mounted his polo pony and was then handed a polo mallet. With a good, galloping startand a double windup Guest drove Uie golf baU Uie full length of the polo field a matter of 300 yards. It was all carry." Golf machines can reach 500 yards, which shows how far the human hu-man machine lags behind the metal Getting Distance Distance isn't a mere matter of bulk and physical power by many yards. Ben Hogan, weighing less than 135 pounds, is longer by yards than most of the 180 or 200-pound swingers. swing-ers. I once saw Cyril Walker, then weighing 110 pounds, outdrive Walter Wal-ter Hagen, at 185, consistently in a big tournament Distance comes largely from club-head club-head speed more so than from any other single faetor. Bobby Jones one day, with his own clubs missing, used his wife's set. Mrs. Jones' driver weighed only 12 ounce, much lighter than Bob's. "I was astonished to find that I was hitting the ball that day longer than usual," Bob said. "I found out that I could get much greater speed from the lighter clubhead. Naturally Natural-ly it called for less effort in swinging." |