SHOTS IN GOLF

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21639, 3 November 1933, Page 14

SHOTS IN GOLF

COMMENCEMENT 0F SWING PRELIMINARIES IMPORTANT CLUB WAGGLING VALUABLE 11V ltoliltv JONES golfers are ill tho habit of thinking of tho golf swing as beginning at tho instant the club-head starts to move backward away from the ball. To tho better player or on port, tho swing really begins somewhat before this when, after the final grounding of the (T:b, the hips and body execute their little twisting movement known as tho "forward press." But when wo begin to talk of method and the complete swing there is no reason why wo should not go beyond even .stance and address and include the wagglo as well. It is a fact that the manner in which a player steps up to the ball and goes through the preliminaries has an important bearing upon the result of the shot. Apparently there is evil belli in overdoing and in omitting the wagglo. Whenever one sees a player who waggles not at all. one sets him down immediately and correctly as a rank duller. No matter bow precise one may be in assuming a correct; posture, the preliminary movement is needed to eliminate tension and to start the swing away smoothly. The player who freezes in his position over the ball, attempting to stare it out of countenance, can never got his swing started easily and smoothly. Every tick of the watch finds him more and more tense. ■ Too Mucb Waggling Bad But tho other extreme is just as bad, that of tho man who waggles and waggles without being ablo to stop. At each waggle he extends the rigour up bis spine and in tho end he is gripping the club in a vice-like grip. A tendency toward this very thing came very close to ruining two of our foremost professionals, both former open champions. Each, for a time, became afflicted with a sort of hypnosis which made it absolutely impossible to start tho club back. Ono who lias bad the same trouble likened it to flinching with a shotgun when ono becomes unable to pull tho trigger. The golfer can only keep on waggling, often turning away from tho ball altogether, hoping for better luck by making a fresh start. Of course, when ono waggles the club and grounds it 17 times, as 1 have scon a really fine player do, before beginning bis swing, it argues a great uncertainty of mind, which is not long in being translated into tense muscles. It is the ■risk of such a thing that makes it advisable to decide upon the shot before addressing the ball, and, tho decision having been, made, to stop up and play tho shot without delay. One, two, or at tho outside, throe waggles are enough to free the wrists, to got the fool of tho club and to accustom the muscles to the movement. More than that gives theso muscles time to tauten. As in Oth.er Sports The waggle," under other names perhaps, is to bo found in all sports that I know in which a ball is struck by a player who can choose his position before striking it. It has no counterpart in games where the player is always himself in motion. But in baseball, or billiards, there is always the flourish of the bat or cue before the stroke is made. So the goiter's waggle is not merely a useless embellishment of style. Tt- has a great deal of practical value if done correctly and, like everything eb;e, can do a lot of harm if misused. Tho waggle should be leisurely and in keeping with tho tempo of the swing—short, quick waggles inevitably produce a short quick baekswing—and it should be responsible only for relaxing the muscles and testing the feci of the club. It is not intended to take up time while the player wonders what chot he will play.