Show JACK KRAMER the tennis star was talking about the difference between golf and tennis We had just asked him iC there was any chance that he would follow hi in Ells Ells- Ellsworth Ellsworth worth Vines Vines' path and later take up golf for a living livin Not the slightest chance ever the astute Kramer said It may be tough to make a at t j. j living out of tennis J h v 1 But its it's far tougher r In golf goll For ex ex- example example ample in a tennis It match if U you can f beat an opponent in n nf f 1 straight sets or in m out of 10 three sets four you usually can keep on beating J. J Kramer him him- Not always but usually Its It's nothing like that in golf goll You can beat beata a star one day and next day some unknown will knock your brains out In tennis we knew pretty well who should reach the semi finals and the final round at Forest Hills We figured at least that most of the leaders would be hanging around But at Pebble Beach they were scat scat- scattering scattering the dust of beaten stars all along the Pacific Just about the time this golf championship really got under way Frank Stranahan was out Bud Ward was out Smiley Quick was out Ted Bishop defend defend- defending ing champion was out most of those picked to win were packing their clubs and heading somewhere else Fellows who had lost in the first round at Baltusrol a year ago now were decorating then their wigwams wig wig- wigwams with scalps stars Tennis also has its upsets I suggested Upsets Are the Rule I mow know that Kramer said But only here and there Only occasion occasion- ally Golf is nothing but one upset after another Look at the last P. P G. G A. A tournament Most of the star golfers were out by the second round I ul like golf goll as a game but not as asa asa a way of making a living Its It's too tough Ellie Vines has played a long number of brilliant rounds But he rarely wins a big money ment And Vines has practiced thou thou- thousands thousands sands of hours at golf Dont forget I put in that tennis is played over a few square yards of space A round of golf cov cov- covers covers ers over five miles and some acres A tennis court is perfectly massaged A golf course is full of trees bunkers traps tras matted rough ponds lakes maybe part of an ocean hills ravines bushes and jungle Irv Cobb told me once that he got so deep into the woods on some western course that he was attacked by two pumas Also there are few cuppy lies hi in tennis No bunker heel prints in the sand That may have something to do with it All I know knowis is that I dont don't want any part of pro golf golf even even if I was 15 strokes better than my 85 5 There is another angle that Kramer might have figured on The tension in golf is about four times the tension in tennis tennis tennis-or or any other sport There is only one cure or relief for tension that every other sport carries This is action move action move ment Golf has no such relief Too Tough for Many It is much easier to keep your eye on a moving fast baseball or a fast fast- moving tennis ball than it is to keep a fixed orb on a small white ball that doesn't even flinch until you hit it or move it Any football player will tell that his tightest tension ia is just before the first kickoff After one or two body collisions this ten tension sion is gone Nothing like that hap happens pens hi in golf Golf demands greater mental con con- control than any other game By men tal control we dont don't mean cultural cultura intelligence which has nothing to todo todo do with sport Psychology always plays a far big ger part in golf than in any other game In almost every other game you you are playing against some op opponent In golf you are playing al almost most entirely by yourself yours ell No one can interfere physically with any thing you do You can only beat yourself yours ell Your main opponent is yourself yourself not not the other fellow Golf demands no speed no brawn no quick mental reflexes under fire There are no split seconds of mental action hi in golf as there are in base I ball football tennis polo and all games of physical action Knute Rockne who played most games well gave up golf golt Its too tough for me Knute said Fred Stone was one of the great great- greatest est cst natural athletes I ever saw saw saw- acrobat boxer a star performer in inmost inmost most sports Fred learned how to ski hi in two hours Rex Beach told me once yet once yet Stone tried and quit golf goll It was a different game And those who have played other o her games so well hate to be duffers and dubs hi in a game that looks so easy and simple Sammy Byrd and Ellsworth Vines are the only two men I mow know who have starred at other games games base base baseball ball and tennis tennis plus plus golf Byrd was wasa wasn a n better golfer than he was a ball ballplayer ballplayer player but he turned first to base base- basel l ball ba |