THE OLD WAYS IN GOLF

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 13 June 1927, Page 8

THE OLD WAYS IN GOLF

LIVING ANP RE-LEARNING

(By Harry Vardon, Sis Times Open Champion).

[Specially 'Written for "The Mail"]

All the signs indicate I hat the ancient maxims o r golf arc returning Io grace and gl-i.y. . For a long while—at any rate. in this eounfrv- such once-sacred aphorisms as -Slow back," "Hit with the left hand." and 'Toilcw through" have drooped and hidden their diminished beads before the widespread advance of new methods. Quick up-swings have been a feature of the ways of the younger generation ; there has been a tendency to establish the right hand and lie tight side of the body as controlling factors; and an even more pronounced disposition to check the club-head immediately after tbe impact, as though the idea of the follow-through had been proved useless and played out. It has needed the loss of both the amateur and open championships of Britain to make 1 people wonder whether " new faiths are good faiths. Now "there is a general rallying to the old ones—as striking a change as ever the game has known in a short period. It has been remarked that the Americans instead of adopting the modern British system of hitting at the ball and stopping the club, swing the, club-head through the position occupied by iJie ball, after the manner of the old-time players. The hit may produce a little extra length (or seem' to do so because it is so strenuous), but it certainly does not promote the same accuracy of direction as the swing pure and simple. This view has latterly been set forth with vigour in a. large number of places, but far and away the most interesting support of it was contained in an interview in which Mr Bobby Jones analysed his own evolution and his own methods— an. interview which ho described as the only one lie had ever given or probably ever would give, and which he communicated to the writer who is known as his Boswell. Mr 0. B. Keeler.

THE OLD IDEA

Mr Jones declared that,, although he never had a lesson, he learnt to play golf from the age of five onwards by watching Stewart Maiden, who had then just been appointed professional to the Atlanta Club, in Georgia. "Stewart Maiden" said Mr Jones, "had the finest and soundest stylo I have ever seen. Naturally, I did not know this at the time, but I grew up swinging like him."

Maiden was a true, type of the oldfashioned Scottish professional, with that freedom and fullness of swing which always marked the race.until, in comparatively recent years, if developed- tho way of hitting at the ball and finishing with the club pointing straight ahead, instead of following through so smothly as to bring the hands more or less to the level of the left ear. It is a rather curious reflection that Mr Jones should have confessed that, living in a. cottage on the fringe of the golf course, he built up his style on that

of an old-time Scottish professionalone of tbe kind who in the past twenty years have gone out of fashion because their swings were supposed to be too long and flowing and generally out of date. Apparently British golfers have tried to race ahead a, little too fast- without paying sufficient heed to the principles oj'which their progenitors proved the value—at least to their own satisfaci tion.

One of the outstanding traits in 'the methods of the Americans is the slowness of their back-swings as though they had* only just heard the adage, "Slow back," ami were determined to pay respect Io it, if simply as a, duly. I suppose that, in. this country, people heard it and read it so often that it , lost its significance. None among the Americans has an upswing of quite such' rhythm and modulation as Mr Jones; and. as if to complete the chain of evii deuce in favour of the old ways in golf, he remarks that there is one poiint which he is now just learning. The point is that the left hand should be regarded as the master hand in. the swing. Here in truth is a. belated buf distinguished vindication of the almost! forgotten proverb of the. old professionals: "Give it the back of the left hand.".

SEEKING TO IMPROVE "I know," says Mr Jones, "that the' right hand provides the punch, or most of it. But if I get to thinking about the-right hand, or fgnoring-theleft,-ih.6' right seems to get in too soon, and all kinds of trouble are the result. By re-i garding the left as in control, I can geti a sort of .'feel' in the stroke; and ,the right, no matter how ignored, comes in at the proper juncture. At Sunningdale. where I had those rounds of 66 and 68 in the qualifying for the British open,I" felt as if I were literally Tiiaking the shots with mv left hand." It seemed I could not getToff the line. I felt as if I could sink that ball just anywhei'o. I wanted. I'm going to study this phase seriously in the next few months-; and try to improve my game." The situation is interesting. It has taken all this time to produce a man capable of winning the. open titles of both' America and Britain in the same year, and so establishing himself as undisputed champion of the. World. And ycfc'hc is just a.simple interpreter of ancient maxims on modern links, and is now becoming highly interested in. one of the oldest of all the golf aphorisms? "Give it the back of the left hand."