HOW I PLAY GOLF

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21893, 31 August 1934, Page 17

HOW I PLAY GOLF

DRIVING LONG BALL ; SPEED .OF THE CLUB-HEAD 'DEVELOPING right muscles CONSTANT PRACTICE NEEDED BY HENBY COTTON No.. V. ) Continuing ,from yesterday, this, of course, brings me to "pressing," which to my mind is brought about by the desire to hit beyond one's normal speed. In yesterday's article I mentioned the word "strength" several times. This, / as interpreted by me, does not neces- / sarily mean huge muscles, but means speed of the forearm, for it is possible to be strong and yet not fast. As I explained in my second article how essential it is to cultivate a strong grip, perhaps my readers can follow me better now. For every person there"mus;t be a weight of club that he is able too control, and with which he can get his } maximum speed, which is by far the best way to .to after length at golf. So far during my career I have had very little precedent to work on. Nobody has ever sai d —and by no body I mean no world-famous player with a record behind him —that if you follow a certain routine you can arrive at a certain.' result. Therefore I have worked in the dark, and. evolved in my own little way a sort of theory, which brings nite back to the question of cultivating the speed of cilub-heaid. Go Slowly I have received numerous letters and / circulars from va,rious physical culture experts, offering to help in s.trengthen- ' ing the arms and wrists and general condition; but, while not disbelieving in the results their systems can produce, I feel, as they are not golfers (by golfers I mean expert players) that I may be making a serious mistake in following their routine. I have heard of really good players who have ruined their game in their efforts to become super golfers, by developing muscles that have been a handicap to the production of a good golf swing. I do not know of a strong man—strong in the sense of being a physical giant—who can really hit the ' ball a very long way, further than anyone else by a considerable distance. From the latest accounts from America, I understand that by far the longest driver there is Jimmy Thompson, an English boy, who has been in America for some time. Unless ho has considerably changed since I saw him / some few years ago, his figure resembles that of Arthur Lacey, of England. He has a reputation of heing very much longer than anybody else, and those who know Arthur Lacey cannot possibly consider him a giant. Keep Hitting Balls People have tried to find out the reason for this, but so far nothing has been discovered beyond the fact that his club-head is faster at impact. As I said if women players would concentrate on strengthening their arms, trying not to over-swing, which is a very common fault in women's golf, they would soon see an improvement in their play. So far as I have found out, the only way to improve at golf is to keep on playing golf. The only way to develop foli:' muscles that are of any use is to eep hitting golf balls.