Jimmy Cox

Success in anything is hardly possible without faith, and this is true of success in golf. One way to develop golfing faith is to study experts.

There is a mental side to the game of golf which will always attack your nerves and exploit your imagination if you allow it to.

The secret of success in golf lies in temperament and that is true whatever grade of golf you may aspire to play. Tournaments are not always, not even usually, won by the greatest stylists. They go to the men with the best balanced outlook on the game. And how frequently we have seen the fellow with a rank, bad swing take the half-crown off a man who looked far better on the tee.

Selecting the proper equipment is a big step toward playing better golf. This phase of golf is so often overlooked that I feel impelled to point out how important it is to have clubs that fit you and your swing.

If you have a good grip and a fundamental understanding of the basic swing, wood shots should not give you too much trouble. The full swing is employed in hitting both the fairway woods and the driver, but there is a distinct difference and, as a result, a different feeling between hitting a ball off a grassy lie and hitting off a tee.

If you are serious about your golf practice, you would be well advised to add a large mirror to your equipment. Any old Victorian relic, if large enough, will do, and it matters little if it is cracked. Any second-hand furniture dealer should be able to meet your requirements, and when you have found what you want set it up against the wall of your garage or box-room.

We need to select hobbies that we can engage in for the balance of our lives. Golf is an excellent choice. There are, however, a number of conditions which can weaken our interests.

I suppose the most often repeated piece of advice in the whole realm of golf is "keep your eye on the ball." It is given and accepted as a profound golfing truth (which properly understood it is), but it is necessary to examine what we mean by it and how it fits into the rest of our golfing program.

One great secret of golf is to overcome inertia. Muscles have a mind of their own, and do not like to make any move unless impelled to do so. Once they begin to move, the muscles do not seem to care.

Almost every hole in golf requires some kind of an iron shot. If you can consistently hit the greens with your approach irons and position your ball near the pins, you are going to get your share of birdies and pars.