Winston Churchill is known for many different reasons, the most obvious one being the leader of the Allied forces during the Second World War. He also had many things to say about many different things. His advice for people giving a speech (and perhaps equally writing an article – take note, writer) is legendary: “A good speech should be like a woman’s skirt: long enough to cover the subject and short enough to create interest.” When a lady expressed her dislike of him and criticised him by saying, “Winston, if I were your wife I’d put poison in your coffee” his swift reply was, “Nancy, if I were your husband I’d drink it.” On another occasion he declared that “Tact” (of which, we may add, he did not appear to have much), “is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip”.
However, his observation about golf may not be so well known: “Golf is a game whose aim is to hit a very small ball into an even smaller hole, with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose.” Golf, like so many sports to many people, can be incredibly frustrating and difficult. As Harry Tofcano said, “I’m hitting the woods just great, but I’m having a terrible time getting out of them.” Things rarely go to plan, despite all our best efforts, choices and preparation.
A golfer is allowed to take up to fourteen clubs in his bag each round. In the ‘good old days’, these clubs were called by wonderful (Scots) names - brassie, spoon, niblick, mashie, cleek, jigger, baffy but now they are simply numbers, whether woods or irons, with the recent introduction of a whole collection of hybrids (still with numbers). The golf clubs are all different with varying lofts for different purposes – the higher numbers will lift the ball higher but hit it less far though with greater control (in the best of all worlds, of course!). However, a golfer has to think carefully about what club to use in each and every situation – the hole may only be ninety metres away (normally requiring a club with a high loft) but if there are branches in the way or if the wind is strong then a club with a lower loft may be used, hit with half strength. Putters are used on the smooth putting surface, but some players have used a putter from halfway down the fairway. The fact is you can use any club anywhere you choose. Some courses occasionally hold a fun tournament where each player can only play with one club all the time – so it might be that one player ends up having to play a driver out of bunker, or a wedge off the tee or a putter out of the rough, none of which is ideal.
The secret is not only in what club a golfer chooses but also how he handles the golf club. Rory McIlroy, one of the world’s top golfers, has spoken of how he discovered he was gripping his club too strongly; many golfers speak of the importance of ‘feel’, especially for shots around the green, where the difference between a good score and a bad one is really seen. The golfer and the club need to become as one, in effect; the club is simply an extension of the golfer’s body.
In a similar way, the school sports coach has different clubs in his bag. For the coach, the players are his clubs – he will have many players in his ‘bag’, all with different uses and skills. Much of the work of a coach is to pick the best player for each task, to use them wisely in the context of each situation, to employ them imaginatively even, maybe using one who is normally associated in one area in a completely different area. In recent years we may have also discovered ‘hybrid’ players, who need to be handled differently. Sadly, too, in recent years, in common with modern society, there is a danger that we no longer refer to them by individual names but see them simply as numbers.
Our players, like our clubs, need to be an extension of our own role; we need to release our grip if it is too strong or change our grip if it does not produce the right result. We need to have a ‘feel’ to know what makes players tick and how we can get the best out of them, especially around the academic greens (examinations, perhaps). Getting the best out of them is the key, even if they are like Churchill. And be warned, we play a dangerous game if we try to take on Churchill with words. When he told one lady that “Madam, you are ugly!” the lady responded, “Well, sir, you are drunk!” Churchill retorted instantly, “Yes, but in the morning, I’ll be sober”. In the morning, when hopefully we are sober, will our children be better? We do not need tact to answer that. Just the right club.
