MAKING GOLF EASIER

Taranaki Daily News, 5 September 1935, Page 9

MAKING GOLF EASIER

THE DISASTROUS SLICE CAUSES AND THE CURE. CONTROL OF THE SWING.

(By

Percy Alliss.)

No finer tribute can be paid to a golfer than to say that he is a straight hitter, and of all the players I have known I do not think any could steer the ball along the true line better than J. H. Taylor. At one time it was said that the guide flags were the obstacles he had reason to fear most. And of “J.H.,” as we still speak of him, it was pointed out that he appeared to be hitting with the back of his left hand. That, perhaps, requires some explanation, and it will come later. Most golfers, it is said, are natural slicers. It is undoubtedly true that in the case of the big majority when they are off the course they are to be found on the right. There is another section perhaps more inclined to pull owing to the way in which they hold their club and shut the face of it, but they are a comparatively small class. Generally, however, it is the slice that is the major trouble, and even when you know the faults that cause it, and how they may be eliminated, it persists in creeping into the game of even the most experienced player. The slice, in fact, is always with us. But it is the fundamental rather than the incidental slice of which I want to write, and how it affects the club golfer. It occurs in the majority of cases through a too upright swing. These players, in fact, do not swing the club. Their tendency is to wield it as if it were a hammer. They just hit, and the balance and everything with it goes wrong. ' i

The trouble occurs at the beginning of the back swing. At once the right hand is allowed to take control, and this starts a lifting movement which is carried out to the top. In these circumstances the club head follows a wrong direction.

If you will take hold of a club and make a simple experiment you will at once see what I mean. Lift it up with the right hand and note the position of the left elbow half-way up. I think you will find on looking down that it has already shifted several inches away from the front of the body.

Now try pushing the club ‘back with the left hand. You will see how the elbow keeps well in and actually grazes the front of the body as it goes back. Look, too, how the direction of the clubhead has altered. It has started on a sort of sweeping movement, and this, of course, is the correct one. Other faults are very liable to follow when the right hand is allowed to take charge of the club. The worst of these imdoubtedly is that the player probably goes back with the club in the form of a sway instead of letting the hips and shoulders turn in a pivot. • Thus at the top of the swing most of his weight is on his right foot. Now see what happens from this point. The' right hand is still in command and continues in command when you commence to bring the club - down. That is to say, you start hitting at the very top of the swing just as if you were in a desperate hurry to get at the ball. And in your eagerness the weight is quickly, much too quickly, transferred to the left leg. In these conditions it is almost inevitable that the club head should be left trailing in the rear. The body and hands go through before the club, and hey presto; there is your slice. The club head is drawn across the ball, and'it is given a spin that sends i< swerving : picturesquely but disastrously away to the right.

I once heard balance described as one of the main secrets of success in golf,and it is unquestionably a very important factoi. It is certainly true that the weight must, be accurately distributed. Take the drive. As the club moves back- there should be a slight and gradual transference of weight to the right leg, this taking place with the turn of the hips and shoulders, which is helped by lifting the left heel off the ground. Without this pivot there is bound, as I.have previously indicated, to be a sway, and one should see that this is not too pronounced. Above everything else the player should be in the same position when the club strikes the ball as he was in the address. The distribution of the weight should be the same and the player should be standing in the same square manner to the ball. That perhaps represents perfection, and it may not be easily attained, but it is the thing to aim for. Having got to the point of striking we now come to the matter in connection with J. H. Taylor—his suggestion of hitting with the back of his left hand. Taylor strives to play right through the ball, as it were, keeping the head of the club travelling parallel to the ground and straight along the line of flight for as long as possible. If one can do this the tendency to pull across the ball and impart spin will be avoided. I dealt with this in stressing the importance of the follow through, and it comes in again here as a helpful way to prevent spinning the ball.