GOLF

Taranaki Daily News, 21 February 1931, Page 11

GOLF

TOO MUCH “STRAIGHT LEFT.”

DOCTRINE OFTEN' UNSUITABLE.

(By Harry Vardon. —-Special to News.)

It seems to me that no theory in connection with modern golfing methods has done so much harm among the rank and file of players as the repeated advocacy of the “straight left.” It has been the more damaging because -some of the best golfers in the world have insisted in their books of instruction on the game that all iron shots must be accomplished with a straight left arm from beginning to end of the swing. Such terms as “rigid” and “stiff as a poker” have not been considered too forceful to use in,order to indicate the condition which this left arm should assume. ■ I have no doubt that the system is practised by the distinguished players who recommend it, but I should like to see a little latitude introduced into the question. As matters stand, tens of thousands of golfers are slaving at the principle^ —their imagination is caught by the seeming simplicity of the advice and its terseness —with physical constitutions that are not at all adapted to the purpose. Their shots are worse instead of better for the change. My first point is that even the greatest players who commend it cannot apply . so rigid a left arm to their entire swings as they suggest in their counsels; or they would never be .able to introduce, the necessary power into the blow. My second point is that a lot of middle-aged people who have, taken up the game comparatively late in life, are attempting the impossible in trying to carry out the idea, although, in a certain degree, it may be natural to those who made it their style in the days of their youth. And, as a third point, the claim.may reasonably be advanced that, it is not the only correct way of swinging, for plenty of firstclass golfers have had a very pronounced bend in the left arm in taking the club up for half iron shots as well as in their full swings with wooden clubs. ILLUSTRATING 'AN ARGUMENT. As regards the rigid left arm and the power that is possible with it, let us conduct a little experiment. Let us take hold of a walking stick in the left hand only and, keeping the left arm “as stiff as a poker” (this is the phrase used by one champion to illustrate his advice for iron shots) swing the stick backward and forward with the object of hitting something on the floor. • The fact is that we can put very little •power or life into the blow for the reason that the arm is altogether too constricted. I realise to the full that the arm must be perfectly straight and firm at the instant of impact, but I am absolutely certain that even the most famous apostles of this modern fetish must introduce a certain .relaxation into the swing in order to deliver, the kind of blow that makes them golfers of the -front rank. It is because their countless disciples have heard nobbing about such • relaxation.. that they are spoiling their golf. A further explanation of my point may be.given. Everybody knows that a “straight left” is one of the best ■ attributes that a boxer can possess. I presume that the term has (be.en imported into golf from boxing.. But although very telling punches are made with a straight left, does anybody suppose that the keeps that arm straight in shaping . forthte blow ? Obviously he would produce nothing but a gentle and useless jab if he poked his left arm at his rival in that state of rigidity. Clearly he must bend the arm and straighten it as he hits. Thus it is, too, in - golf. A lot of famous players and good judges con? sider that most of the power in the golf stroke should come from the left ’ hand and arm. “Give it the back of the left hand,” is one of the oldest maxims of the game, and it still commands respect. Personally, I am inclined to think that the work is shared jijst ‘about equally by the two hands. Certain it is, however, that the left must contribute a great deal to the blow, and, with a rigid arm alt the way, I do not see how it could do anything worth mentioning. THE SHORT TRACK. It is surely a fair assumption that people who take up golf after attaining the age of, say, thirty (and they are by far the most numerous recruits to the game) may find it desperately difficult to practise this straight left arm. They Are not likely to have learnt it at cricket or any other pastime, and, with their joints and muscles more or less set, they cannot very well expect to accommodate themselves to it. The most likely thing is that they will be thrown .off their balance every time they try it, or else reduced to a short, snappy swing which affords none of the exhilaration that the game is capable of giving. When as a struggler in the golf arena, I was experim-nting with every conceivable method of playing shots, I gave attention to the idea of hitting the iron shots with a straight left arm. In those days, I devoted at least two hours a day to practice, not contesting matches, in every day of the year, so that there was plenty of time to put all the possibilities to t-ho test. And I came to the conclusion that a straight left arm in the up swing was not the best way ■with iron clubs.

Perhaps that is because I secured the most effective results with an upright swing, for if you are going to take the club to the top by a short track, the left elbow must begin to bend as you turn the left wrist to raise the head of tlie club. And I am still confident that this short track allows the least margin for. error. I should not have won. six British open championships without It. ’. .

The disposition is now to make the track of the club-head longei* with a flat or semi-flat swing. What is the matter with the shortest route to any given point? So long as the left arm is straight at the impact, a bend in its uptake is as good as stiffness—and perhaps better. I suppose it is the flatter swing which encourages a straight left to the point where it becomes a doctrine.