Gene Sarazen was one of the world's best golfers in the 1920s and 1930s, but his name is still widely known by golf fans and players around the world.
He was one of just six players to ever seal the Career Grand Slam, achieving a legendary status that truly transcends time.
Gene Sarazen's 100 Year Old Timeless Golf Tips For Amateurs
I have known players with a lead of three or four holes in a match start thinking out a new theory of strokes which had been lying dormant, as it were, if not in their minds, then in the execution thereof, and the result, when they began trying out these theories, was a complete reversal of form.
When one is going good is folly to tempt defeat by learning lackadaisical in play and attempting new ideas.
Every stroke is of equal importance, whether one is ahead or behind, and should be played with intense concentration. One is often cheated of victory by regarding an easy shot as simple.
Played with that view it oft-times becomes distinctly hard, and what should have been a par three becomes in reality a five or a six. And a five or six it remains on the score card.
If it seems simple is to reach the vicinity of the green in two, the golfer should attempt to get within holing distance of the pin in that number of strokes. Strive for perfection in your strokes and you will have few regrets.
Gene Sarazen is a seven-time Major Champion and Career Grand Slam winner
I do not wish this statement, however, to be so confused by the reader as to make him believe that I advocate pressing one's shots. This is so apt to happen when one is playing for all one is worth that a word should be said regarding it.
No one knows better than I myself do, the despairing effect of tenseness when one is trying with every facility to make a shot perfect.
The mind seems so set on the objective that the muscles instinctively tighten in an effort to carry out the wish of the brain. When this happens a player defeats his own purpose, although unknowingly.
The muscles must be subservient to the mind at all times in this game and a free, unhampered swing is of paramount importance.
This is difficult to do when one is trying hard, but, if the player will keep what he is striving for always in mind, the stroke in time will be mastered. For the beginner this may prove to be almost an impossibility, but constant practice will bridge the gap.
That is why so many teachers of this ancient pastime contend that a player should first seek accuracy in place of distance.
In this way he will develop a smooth swing which will in time become a sort of second nature and not apt to go to pieces when added brain pressure is brought to bear upon it. Perseverance is one of the keys to success.
Gene Sarazen was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974, further cementing his legendary status
There is no doubt that many players have a temperament particularly suited towards the game. They learn easily, reason out different shots for themselves, prove born golfers, as it happens.
On the other hand, the vast majority have to overcome many faults and idiosyncrasies before they become reasonably proficient at the game. The mental powers come into prominence here too.
There is the matter of topped shots, hooks and drives, missed putts which prove exasperating, and, to the one whose patience is exhausted, particularly so.
However, if instead of flying off the handle at those errors they will consider the situation from a calm point of view, the absurdity of such actions will be readily seen.
There is no use trying to wreak vengeance on the ball and on the score card simply because of a little mistake. Take the breaks of the game with a smile and philosophical air and you will find the mistakes less prevalent than before.
There is nothing so laughable to an onlooker as to view a golfer who has missed a shot swing four or five times without result just for the sake of venting his anger on the ball.
These tips might be 100 years old, but amateur golfers can learn plenty from Sarazen's advice to this day
It was probably embarrassing to him to miss the first shot, but it is even more embarrassing to go to such extremes. He should wait until he is calm and collected, and try again.
If you are out of breath when you arrive at the putting green, wait until you have regained your wind before putting. If you know you can hole the putt in two, try to do it in one or, at least, get within a short radius of the pin in one.
There are too many such incidents where it would pay one to stop and ponder the situation for me to enumerate. But you will find them every day on the golf course, and it will certainly repay you tenfold to give them your attention.
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