Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 10, Number 47, DeMotte, Jasper County, 10 October 1940 — Sportlight [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Sportlight

by GRANTLAND RICE

T-X OW good a swinger is Sammy 11 Snead compared to the best of ail time? Snead has yet to win a national crown and yet many, in-

cluding Bobby Jones, pick the West Virginian as one of the top stylists since the first Scotchman socked a rock with a shepherd’s crook and complained of the greens. Snead may be the “dream swinger” to many, but he isn’t to Jimmie Donaldson, an able stylist of his own and one

of the top instructors of the game. In rating Snead as highly as we have, Jimmie thinks your correspondent is a trifle curious in the cupola—as follows— An Expert Disagrees Dear Grant: I happened to see your article about Sammy Snead. How a man like you who has seen as much golf as you have can compare Sammy Snead’s swing, which has a decided loop (which is preventing him from winning big tournaments), with a great swing like Harry Vardon’s baffles me. What do you mean about Hagen, Sarazen and J. H. Taylor being swingers? They certainly were not swingers, but decided hitters. And if you are writing on the subject of swingers, how can you possibly overlook Byron Nelson who, I personally think, is a much better swinger, and better grooved, than Snead has been last two years. To the layman your article might appeal, but to someone like myself who knows a little about it, it is really funny. Sincerely yours, Jimmie Donaldson And in Rebuttal — Dear Jimmie — I know of few golfers who swing l a golf club better than you do —or few who know as much about the old game. But I can’t agree with you about Sammy Snead. You say he has a loop in his swing? So did Bobby Jones. Do you know a better swinger? Yet only a few days ago Bobby Jones told me that in his opinion Snead had the best all around swing with every club that he had ever seen—and Bob played with Vardon as far back as 1920. Bobby Jones was referring to the physical of Snead’s swing, not to his mental attitude in a championship. Snead gets amazing results with little show of effort, of extra effort. Snead’s downfall has never been due to any fault in his swing—only to his inability to concentrate —only to his mental attitude, which as you know is 70 per cent of golf. I played with Bobby Jones four days ago and he had a 65. I still got a thrill from the slow, smooth beauty of his swing. Bob still insists that Snead is the top. The difference is that Bobby could always concentrate and keep full control of his mental and nerve resources. Snead can’t. Yet remember this — in his last four big tournaments, Snead has won three and reached the final hole against Nelson in the last P. G. A. I have seen Snead hit many a golf ball, but I have yet to see any “decided loop.” Hagen and Nelson Continuing our correspondence, I hate to disagree with an expert of your rank. But to my mind Walter Hagen is a better swinger than most. Hagen in his prime was one of the ideal swingers. Sarazen, with his stocky build, is more of a hitter than a swinger. We agree here. Sarazen doesn't think Snead has any loop, but he is afraid Snead is getting a trifle flat in his back swing. “The greatest fault in golf today,’’ Sarazen says. As for swingers—how about Henry Picard? Winning temperament—no. But a great golfer and a great swinger. Snead has had a better three or four-year record than MacDonald Smith. Did you ever see a finer swinger than Mac Smith? Yet Mac Smith through 25 years never won a national title. Here was the great crime of all golf. Mae Smith with the golfing temperament of Walter Hagen or Byron Nelson would have won at least six championships. Imagine Sammy Snead with the mental attitude of a Hagen or a Nelson—or the tremendous concentration of a Bobby Jones — Even as it is, I believe Sammy Snead will still astonish the world of golf. Watch him! Swing Still Secondary If you are thinking in terms of swingers I’ll give you my list—Bobby Jones, Harry Vardon, Sammy Snead, Walter Hagen, Mac Smith, Henry Pieard and Paul Runyan. It also so happens that winning championship golf belongs even more in the heart and above the shoulders than it does in the technique of any swing. What about Byron Nelson, one of our best through many years? Nelson is a good swinger, who once in a while gets his left wrist tied up.

Grantland Rice