It is not unusual to find a man with an ugly action playing better golf than a rival with a good-looking swing.  The reason is that the first man, for all his faults, has a better delivery than the second.

  But if the second player were to succeed in fitting as good a delivery to HIS superior swing he would put himself way ahead of the other fellow and would remain a good player far longer.  And the better the shape the better chance you have of giving yourself a good delivery.

  One more warning to note in working out your practice routine.  Never flog yourself into a state of exhaustion.  Forcing your limbs and muscles to carry on under the strain of fatigue is sheer misplaced enthusiasm, more harmful than beneficial.  A little and often is preferable to driving yourself on to your knees in one long prolonged bout.  Pack up when you feel the first signs of weariness.

  There remains something to be said about putting practice.  Of course, it is one thing to knock the ball into the hole on the practice green and quite a different matter doing likewise under pressure out on the course.

  No one in the game dare underrate the exacting standard of putting demanded in America where their methods are soundly conceived and put to the test without doubts and inhibitions breaking in on the player's concentration.  The Americans, be it noted, are demons for practice.  If the putter is not working well they frequently go straight from the eighteenth green on to the practice green and settle down seriously to sorting out the trouble.

  That is what an American Ryder Cup golfer, Bill Collins, did when he three-putted five greens in the first round of the 1961 U.S. Masters.  After finishing in 74, he spent the rest of the afternoon with a liberal supply of balls on the practice green.  Later he holed the course in 67, lowest score for one round in the event, and he had ten one-putt greens in the process.

  It is on the practice green that you work out your method of getting the ball into the hole, and it is there that you consolidate that method and acquire the initial confidence from striking the ball effectively with the putter-blade.

  Practice putts of all lengths, but give your main attention to those from ten feet down.  Don't putt a succession of balls from the same spot.  Vary the line by moving round the hole.  You will find, too, that this way of going about the task is far less back-aching.

  And before you go out on a serious round of golf, Practice a few "tap-ins". Y es, take your time and putt the ball into the hole from two feet to eighteen inches or even less.

  Eighteen inches or less? Certainly.  If you laugh this off now, you will soon be changing your attitude when you have missed one or two tiddlers with a card and pencil in your pocket.

  I have a pupil who would have been a very fine golfer indeed had he been more confident with his putter.  This player has putting inconsistencies which throw a considerable strain on his play through the greens, and he once confessed to me the origin of his trouble.  Coming into the game towards the end of the war when there was no competitive golf and sociable four-ball matches comprised almost the entire golfing diet, he was never asked to knock the ball into the hole from twelve or eighteen inches.  These putts were invariably conceded.  Then after the war came his first club competition.  "Just a minor affair", he said, "but at the very first hole I suddenly found myself bending down to knock the ball into the hole from twelve inches.  I couldn't remember the last time did it.  Suddenly I was scared I might miss.  Sure enough did."  Similar short putts are being missed by other golfers today and every day.

  They must not be regarded as a mere formality. Practice them and be sure you are slow back from the ball, deliberate on the return movement, and that you make a point of seeing the right forearm pass the spot where the ball lay.

  This last is all-important.  It maintains the putter-blade square and on line through the ball and stops you looking up too soon.

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