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.
Do not mistake me. It is an excellent thing to be a stylist, if your style is supported and molded by a good golfing temperament. Harry Vardon before the Great War and Bobby Jones in the years that followed it were perfect stylists, but they were also perfectly balanced in the psychophysical sense and won more tournaments than any other golfers.
I suppose we might say that a man's style at golf is evolved from the reactions on one another of his temperament and his physical make-up. We may all learn to write from the same copy-book but we will grow up to sign our checks differently, and, though I have been teaching golf for thirty-five years now, I have yet to find two people who play alike. No matter how much you tried to teach two people to play alike, the results would be surprisingly different.
To get as mad as the proverbial meat-axe because we miss a shot is the sign of a young golfer. The experienced golfer does not get mad when he misses a shot because he knows that if he does so the chances are that he will miss the next one too. And I doubt if it is any more difficult to build up control of your temperament in golf than it is to build up control of your swing once you appreciate the need.
Many big business men and men in public life have told me how great a relaxation they found golf to be. Nothing takes your mind so completely off the daily worries as does a round of golf. Each of us, whatever his rating as a golfer may be, has to pay attention to the job in hand; so much attention that for a couple of hours we are in a new world and the problems and tensions of our normal world are forgotten.
Temperament is pre-eminently important in putting because good putting is so largely a matter of confidence. You can only stroke the ball when you are quietly confident; otherwise you jerk it. You can always drive or play big shots reasonably well, because that is done more with the grosser muscles, but the finer touch required for putting is a much more delicate matter and so is much more liable to be put out of gear and jerked by nervous tension.
Bad putters habitually stab the ball: that is why they are bad putters. Good putters jerk the club when they are nervous, which is basically quite a different fault.
If you wish to hide your character, do not play golf. It will be revealed on the course. I was telling this one day to a very irascible chap, and he said, "Well, what would you do about it, if you were me?" I replied quietly, "Ride a bicycle."
When we come to bedrock, what do we mean when we say that a man has a "good golfing temperament"? We mean that he has sufficient control of himself to produce his best shots whatever the circumstances may he. The man who has this starts with a greater advantage than the man with the ideal golfing physique or the man with the fine natural style.
Can you acquire the golf temperament? You certainly can, as I had to do to a considerable degree. Once you have gained some self-control, you will be well on your way to having a proper golfing temperament.
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