MAKING GOLF EASIER

Taranaki Daily News, 30 August 1935, Page 12

MAKING GOLF EASIER

USE OF THE IRON CLUBS PLAYINb THROUGH BALL

Z '(By

Percy Alliss).

Anyone, they say, can, hit a tee shot. It is the iron shots which really count. This may be true of first class golf, but even in this the importance’of straight .driving cannot be overstated. To get the correct figures the ball mujft.be kept safely .in play on the fairways. ' I believe that the club golfer puts an even higher,-value on the drive and that he believes be’ lias got the worst over in playing a hole when he sees the ball well away down the middle. But in his case, too, the shot up to’ tjie green is, the testing ’ one’, and on it depends” whether he has to scramble for ’ the figure or make it easily. The nearer one arrives to the hole the less the margin for error becomes. There is ample room pn the fairway in which to’ place the drive, the range narrows in playing to the green and the hole is desperately small when the putt has to bp tackled'. In the circumstances there is an ever-increasing premium on accuracy, and above all' this is the, thing to aim for with the irons. Golf is never so easy as when you are hitting your approaches round about the flag, for under these conditions even the putting loses its dread. There is not much difficulty in getting down in two, for- instance, when you are only half a dozen yards from the hoie.’ Double and treble the distance and you begin to wonder whether you can .play the approach dead. It is in this way that you take three putts and fritter away the strokes. And rit is the putting that is, blamed. It is truer to say that the mistake crept in because the approach was a poor one. In nine cases out of ten 1 think the Club golfer is happy when he is riot called upon to take a wooden club through the green. He even choses ah iron when he is very doubtful whether he can attain the necessary" distance. “If I hit a good one I can just’ do it,’’ he says, and so he 'risks it although he recognises that the situation really calls for a spoon. So he puts all he can into the stroke, presses arid—makes, a mess of it. It is very foolish, but whatever I or anyone else may say I am’afraid golfers will go on forcing their shots when it is unnecessary. To pref® successfully is perhaps the most scientific shot in golf, and it is one that is very liable to let even the expert down. The most important part’ about’ play with the’ iron clubs is the balance, or the distribution of weight, ’ for on this’ depends the manner’ in which .the ball is struck. Definitely the ’weight must be further < forward bn the left •’ leg than in the case of, say, the drivgi bbcaiise the true object should’F not to “Strike under the ball but through it. ' In playing ah iron my right, foot is slightly in. advance of the |eft and while the swing is a Tittle more upright than in the case of the drive'the same method of taking the club up is. adopted. Tliat is to say the right hand is largely kept out of the back' swing. You/must begin with what I have previously described as a push back with the left, otherwise it is highly probable that the club' will be lifted to the top.

In going back some weight is transferred from the left to the right leg, but it is only slight’, and on the return, and specially at the impact, it should be well forward on the left. Many club golfers I am afraid do not distribute their weight correctly in the manner I

have described, and lienee they do. not hit the ball properly. ' They are too much on the right foot, .which means ’ that they hit.under instead. throng . With an iron club the ball shbuld be nipped or squeezed off the ground,; and this can drily be done by keeping the weight forward.. It is struck adownward glancing blow, the blade meeting the ball first before it comes in. contact. with the. ground. In fact, when gp’iron shot is played correctly tire club does not graze the turf until it has passed beyond ' the. spot’ on which the ball rested. This is a point well worth watching, And if you would test whether you are hitting, through the ball make an experiment in a bunker, choosing one with a low 1 face and from which an ordinary iron shot may be played with the ball ■ lying cleanly on the top of. .trie smooth sand. tire ot where the ball is to be placed, and if you play correctly through it the sand ■ will not be disturbed until an inch or so beyond the spot. » ■' The effect, as I have said, is to squeeze the ball off the ground, .hitting downwards. ’ When I was,a good deal younger idea was to play an iron shot with a little cut, making the. ball swing slightly from left to right.. Now, how-’, ever, we play straight , for the-fl«,’re-lying on back-spin rather than. crib to arrest the ball after the bounce. And the back spin, is imparted by striking in tire manner I have described. But remember that you must hit the ball before the club meets the ground, , '■ There are, of course, occasions when you want a high trajectory, and under these conditions the ball should be taken cleanly, playing underneath it. .For a shot of this'type it, is necessary to keep more weight back on the right foot, because at the moment of impact the club should have reached the bottom of the swing and should be just beginning to ascend. I think this will be obvious. To get the ball to' rise quickly the club ought to go up with it rather . than through. ■