GOLF

Evening Star, Issue 22275, 28 February 1936, Page 5

GOLF

[By Suck.]

The four-ball knock-out competition at Otago has almost reached the final stages'. T. B. Ferguson and D. A. Ferguson are already in the final, but there is a match still unplayed. D. Ferguson is showing great promise, and at times he has no trouble in scoring in the low seventies. He certainly shows every indication of following the example set by his older brother. The first match of the next series for the interclub shield between Otago and St. Clair will take place over the weekend, and in view of the strong challenge made last year by St. Clair a great deal of interest will attach to this year’s event. The number on each side has been increased from eight players to 12. and it will be interesting to see “ how the tail wags.” These matches are invariably most enjoyable and do a great deal to promote good fellowship among the clubs and increase the standard of play. The Grip. Robert T. Jones gives some useful hints on that important point, the grip. He says: “A good grip is. the most valuable single asset a golfer can have. With it he has an opportunity for improvement without it the game lias him down from the very beginning. Until he has his hands placed on the shaft of the cluh in something like a proper relation to themselves and to other members of his body there will be no chance for him to execute correctly the successive movements of the swing. Yet this does not mean that all good grips are exactly alike. Hands of various shapes and thicknesses may appear quite differently even while preserving all the fundamentals of a correct grip. Grips may be overlapping, interlocking, or of the old-fashioned variety with all fingers of both hands on the club, all as the comfort of the individual may dictate. -

“ Common mistakes are these: Gripping with, the left hand too much under or oft the front of thp shaft. Obviously this tends to disable the left arm by forcing the elbow closer to the body so that it cannot swing through freely while the clubhead goes through on a line toward the hole. Placing the right hand too much under the shaft. This is a position of greater power, but jt is ■lso a hooking grip because it brings■bout a tendency to close the face of the club in the effort of hitting. Holding the club firmly in the palm of either hand. Not only does this lessen the control which the player may have over the club, but it' has the effect of mak- , ing rigid the joint of the wrist where : great flexibility is desired. When the . club is held in the fingers a very positive control may be maintained without creating any troublesome rigidity in the - wrists, and while leaving the left hand free to open a bit at the top of the swing to ease the strain of the change . of direction. “The proper action, beginning with . the address position, involves no independent hand movements whatever during the first one-quarter of the back- . swing. The player turns on his spine, his arms move back, his wrists flex a little due to the inertia of the club-

head, the lag is made up as the hands pick up the movement, and, as the club reaches the one-quarter mark or close to it, club, hands, and arms are as they started with respect to one another. Of positive hand action there has been none. From that point the club is swung upward, almost straight, by means of a movement in which the hands are quite prominent. But even here they flex without pronation. “The other common mistake follows the position at the top of the swing. It results when the player, in his eagerness to hit. throws the club with his hands as the first movement of the downswing. Immediately the whole angle of the cocked wrists is used ,up without benefit. The swing has been thrown outside its proper path and the effectiveness of fhe stroke has been destroyed. “ Consideration of correct methods in holding the club also involves the factor of tensity. It is difficult to suggest how tightly it should bo held in terms of pressure, because what might be a tight grip for one might, at the same time, be very light for another. “ The main thing to remember in this connection is that you must hold it tightly enough to maintain full control of it, yet not tightly enough to destroy flexibility in the wrist joints. “ And the grip must he maintained throughout the swing. You may have noticed certain players who appeared to loosen the grip at the top of the backswing. particularly in allowing the shaft to drop down against the web between the thumb and forefinger of the right hand. About all that can be said for that practice is that it shows that the right is not being applied too tightly. But the practice of itself has nothing to recommend it, so far as 1 can see.

“ Correct hand action is vastly important. Whether it is more important than correct body action, as so many argue, can never he decided, for one cannot exist without the other. Faults in one bring about faults in the other. “ The golf swing must be as nearly as possible one movement, performed by a single mechanism. Obviously the hands play an important part, and iust as obviously placing them so that they may work to the best advantage is a matter for careful consideration. In any event, there is no reason whv anyone should handicap himself or herself because of faulty methods in bolding the club, once the correct method is explained.”