GOLF PUTTING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22976, 2 March 1938, Page 24

GOLF PUTTING

PERFECT EXPONENT VETERAN TENDERS ADVICE THE CORRECT COMBINATION One of these days a new 6tar may appear in the golfing firmament —the perfect exponent of putting, says an Australian writer. It is a pity, perhaps, that H G. Wolls and Aldous Huxley are not keen golfers, because from their periodical literary glimpses into the future it might be possible to glean some basis for building up to perfection that extremely difficult department in a golfer's game. To come nenrer home and discuss the art from a more mundane standpoint, it need scarcely be repeated that much has already been written on putting—its pitfalls and its problems. Everyone knows the exasperation which comes when a six-inch putt is missed after a conquering drive from the tee to the green. Yet in America a 70-year-old veteran, Mark Harris, claims to have approached closer than anyone else to the art of perfect putting. A designer by profession in his early days, he applied his knowledge of lines and angles to golf. And this is his advice on putting, furnished through the columns of the National Golf Review:— You can groove a putting stroke, he says, and become conscious of a straight line, running through the ball, along which to swing the putter. At the moment of address predispose yourself to swing straight through by planting the left foot at right angleu to the line. Swing the putter into the ball. There need be no conscious attempt to follow through as in other strokes. But swing, don't push. Stress the right angle of alignment of the putter face at address and at impact. Alter grooving the back swing and the forward stroke, impact becomes the most important point in putting. Here you should be swinging straight ahead. The ball should be contacted with "pinpoint" accuracy into the back of the ball and on the exact centre of the putter blade. Keep your head and eyes in the same position until the stroke is finished. The correct putting stroke is a combination hand-and-arm swing. Learn and groove the stroke by swinging a putter back and forth along a line in a rug—minus a ball and hole, of course. Shake your conservatism—with a stroke you can make putts. Easy, isn't it? A SUCCESSFUL SWING FOLLOW THROUGH ESSENTIAL POSITIONS OF THE FEET Lawson Little, the only holder of the British and American golf titles for two years in succession, writing in a golf magazine, says a good follow through comes as the result of a good swing, and is not the cause of it. The body is simply allowed to be pulled into position by the momentum of the club. ' This shows that relaxation is important in golf, and that a good follow through can be obtained by letting the body flow through after the club; in a 1 sense, pulled by the club to the follow ' through of finished position. This would sound as though a player could not better his shot by thinking of the follow through, and theoretically this is true, but in practice everyone is different and has different guards. He must build up against the errors he is | most likely to commit. If the player makes an effort to follow through in a certain way, be may overcome or correct some error that would otherwise come into his swing before the downswing is completed. "1 have to guard against a hook," says Little, "especially when I am trying for a little extra distance. The hook is caused by my right shoulder coming around after my lsft shoulder, | instead of under the chin. Because all parts of my body are moving so fast just before impact it is difficult to concentrate on my right shoulder. I have found that my best and easiest guard to accomplish is in the follow through. "I concentrate upon making my eyes finish at the end of the follow through on a slant, and my hands high close to my head. This automatically makes the right shoulder travel under the chin in the down swing because it is from this action only that I could get-my hands high in the air. If the shoulder is allowed to come through too high (or around) the resulting finish with the hands will be flat near the left shoulder.

"A good follow through should mean that the player has finished his shot with most of his weight on his left heel —the heel is off the ground, and he steadies himself with the toe of the right foot. The original curve of the body at address is still present, and is facing where the ball was. This puts the eyes on a slant. Xhe club is still held firmly in the hands, and the hands are fairly high and close to the player's head. "The most common error in the follow through," adds Little, "is pulling the left foot away or out of position;. This error is called 'fire and fall back.' The result of this action is a glancing cutting across contact with the ball that invariably sends it off into 'right field.' Remember, the left foot must remain in position and support the player's weight at the finish of the swing." I