GOLF

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 6 March 1926, Page 13

GOLF

There is a most welcome feeling of exhilaration in the golf atmosphere which bodes well for the season Members are keenly looking forward to tie opening day with a feeling that t iey are in for a good time, for 19-6. The work of restoration and makir- b has been well begun, and it is the opinion of all who have been down there that it will not take long to gv the course, or at least a part of a, into nlavable condition. The* draft of the rules lias been prepared and these will be sul ?niitted to a general meeting. to be held on vv to. UG Members" will now be getting out their clubs and polishing them up to enter the' list against Colonel Boge> with all his glory and reputation, o. against any greater or iesser competitor- who may be game to oppose them. Under the new rule for hancheapping the men will be out to beat bieii p vious best so as to earn .and keep , handicap. The puttmg m of ca ds will be good for play, and after at me be a matter of course, much as players may consider it a fag at liist. should be, if members accept too conditions in the right spirit, a eral raising of the standard of playLogical argument that is S rounds: A Jot of men past middle age have dropped dead while playing golf, therefore golf for men past middle age >i>> dangerous; line. But, let s carry Bo logic a bit further. A durnsite 1 more men past middle ago have drop pod dead while not playing golf; so apparently it’s a durnsite more dangerous not to play golf. POVERTY BAY CLUB. The golf club at Gisborne, whose pavilion and house were destroyed, by Are last year, is, according to the annual report, in a. very strong position financially and as regards members The principal items of expenditure, were wages £498 and rent £335, whilst the surplus for the year transferred to capital account amounted to £268. The main source of revenue was derived from subscriptions £865, annual bail £.150, and rent £7B. It will interest Hawera members to read that the annual dance held in Julv proved a record success, resulting in a profit of £l5O 13s Id. The club's thanks is very much due to ail those members, especially the ladico, who worked! so hard. The result, improved the club’s financial position considerably. The committee give the heartiest congratulations to Mr G. M. Dodgsliuu in upholding the prestige of the club by winning the championship of Hawke’s Bay from so redoubtable an opponent as Kapi Tareha, in the final. It is to be hoped he will repeat the performance this year. In regard to new buildings the club is fortunate to have complete buildings at a competitive cost under course of eonstnietion, to replace those lost by fire in November last. The buildings will be an improvement in every wav and are to be completed by Easter.

GOLF SWING. ARE PRESENT DAY METHODS WRONG? SURGEON’S INTENSIVE STUDY. The New Zealander, Dr Harold Gillies, whose qualities as a distinguished surgeon and a first-class player have enabled him to make an informative study of the movements of the .joints and 'limbs constituting the golf swing, declares that British golfers are inconsistent, because they are now taught to commence the swing by the club head back with a half turn of the wrists; when it ought to begin with a pivot of the hips, making the club head follow. An intensive study of slow motion films shows that tne old Carnoustie school, which produced Willie Smith a/nd Macdonald Smith, and other famous present-day Americans and also gave Harris his training to win the 1925 amateur championship, 20 years ago, taught that the hips were the first method, which is an exact reversal of the system now generally adopted in England. Bobby Jones ,as well as all the leactiuo- American professionals and amateurs, show the old Carnoustie trait to a marked degree. ~ Dr Gillies insists that Vardon, Braid, and Taylor practised the Carnoustie principle at the height of their fame. “Great Britain’s golfers will not beat the Americans until they re-adopt it,” he says, and emphatically asserts that British players would produce their form as regularly as the Americans if they could be induced io fashion their swing on the scientific formula of the hips making the first movement. He points out that he per 1 * sonally has played the best golf cu his lifetime when using the famous inch tee mounted rubber pipe, because the high poising ball encouraged him instinctively to commence the swing with a pivoting body movement. 80 SIMPLE! The following instruction for the golf swing is given in the Golfers’ Magazine bv -Too Novak: — 'The golf stroke, or swing is the proper combination of three moves: . Move No. I —ls a body turn or pivot —it can be easily applied if the correct position has been assumed, by simply pulling or drawing the right hip away from the ball. This action of pulling

or drawing the right hip away automatically forces or bends the left knee forward" that is, the golf pivot or twist, or wind-up applied diagonally across the body from the right hip to the left knee, and upon the proper and natural execution of this move the whole swing depends. If the position has been taken according to directions this body turn or twist —which is a simple turn—becomes an easy move, but if the position has not been assumed correctly there is no use frying to do it. So one becomes helpless or effective with their swing, according to the position in the beginning. The importance or value of applying the body turn correctly is simply this: If the body turn is correct then the club can be raised to a natural strik-

ing or swinging position by simply giving the shoulders a turn to the right, and that is the trick of a golf swingshoulder control. If one cannot put this shoulder turn in then it is going to be all wrong. The wrist will bend, the arms will bond, the hands will slip, the cdub will turn and blisters appear; in fact, everything will happen but the knack of hitting the ball easily, and if one cannot hit the ball easily and naturally then the whole order or scheme of things is wrong—because golf is a game and there is not much fun in playing any game that is not half way easy or natural to do. Getting back now to our instructions; if the position has been taken correctly and braced properly it ought to be an easy and natural thing to make the swing or stroke with three moves as follows:

Move One.—Turn or twist the body away from the ball. This twist is entirely at the waist, executed by drawing or pulling the right hip away from the ball, and this, automatically at the same time, forces the left knee forward. Another way, a much simpler way, of explaining this first move of the swing is to start the first move by straightening the right knee—the right hip could not be drawn away otherwise, so it is with the straightening of the right knee that the swing really starts —it is this straightening of the right knee that allows the right hip to be drawn away and that forces the left knee forward at the same time. Move two is to raise the club. This is done with a turn of the shoulders. This action or move—that is, raising the club with the shoulders—cannot be executed unless there is a slight pressure with the left baud, which would make the club head start or lead away from the ball. In other words, this pressure with the left hand starts the elubhead away, and this action is then completed or followed with a turn of tin* shoulders. The position of the arms or wrist or club do' not change after Ihis Jirst litile lead with the left hand, so rate should be taken not to exaggerate this pressure with the left hand.

Move number three • is to swing through, and this is done very easily by simply reversing the body turn.

That's ail there is, there is no more. This is n simple story of golf swing in two parts of three moves eac;h, with an extra move, the turn of the right heel in between.