GOLF.

Waikato Times, Volume 102, Issue 17242, 29 October 1927, Page 20 (Supplement)

GOLF.

HANDS AND WRISTS. STUDY OF THEIR FUNCTIONS. % (By “Niblick.”) (By Ernest Jones in American Golfer.) The hands being the points of contact with the club must necessarily be the means of obtaining that very desirable thing in golf “control, so that it is interesting to study the right way of using them to obtain the best results. . It is a very common error to use the hands merely to grip the- club, without realising that it is possible to gel a great deal of hitting power by the proper use of the hands, or moic properly fingers; This is what I describe as “dead-handed golf. Consider a baseball pitcher for example. All the spin that is imparted to the ball must be done by thumb and finger action. In fact all throwing is done by finger action. A Two-handed Game. Now, there are so many ways of gripping a golf dub. Practically ever} first-class golfer grips the club in a manner slightly different from every other. For instance, there is the ordiary two-handed grip as used by Abe Mitchell and Sandy Herd. Then there is the overlapping grip popularised by Vardon and Taylor; also the itnerlocking grip so successfully used by Francis Cuimet and Sarazen. The question of which one to use must he left to the individual, hut whatever grip is adopted one thing must not he lost sight of; and that is golf in a twohanded game, and one hand must help the pother to get as much speed to the club head as possible.

It is frequently stated that the left hand does this, 4 - and the right hand does that, and one finds many players trying to work each hand independently of one another, which is absolutely fatal to proper golf. The Office of the Hands. Again, what is commonly understood as wrist action is in reality hand action. The wrists are the hinges that give in a responsive sense to the initiative actions applied by and through the hands. For instance, do you think of using your wrist when you lift your cup to take a drink? Of course you don’t, neither is a child taught to use its wrists. It is taught to hold the cup properly and use its hands. If you stop to consider the part of your hands that are used to get a sense of touch from, it will soon be realised that the forefinger and the thumb are the principal factors. For instance, if you are examining a piece of cloth, you feel it with your forefinger and thumb. Again, if you pick up your hall you will do it with your first two fingers and thumb. If you wanted to throw it you would use the same thing. It is the same in holding the club, in order to do something with it beside holding it. Every finger has hold of the club, but the action to move the club-head is applied mostly through the forefinger and the thumb. I don’t for one moment mean 1o convey that iK- uiii- a nzax must he held loosely.

but it is the natural thing for the little finger to grip tightest. On first thought you would imagine the forefinger, but you will very soon see that the little linger grips much the firmest. This is very often the case in gripping the club. The grip from the back of the hand puts the iorefinger and thumb out of action, so that great care should be taken to see the club is held in sueffi a manner that the forefinger and thumb are used to the best advantage. A good guide is to see that the tip of the thumb is in line with the second joint of the first finger. Another point often asked is, “How tight or how loose should one hold the club?” It should be held firm enough to he able to feel what you are doing with it. I will put it this way. How tight do you hold a pen to write with ? How tight would you hold a hammer?, etc. It all depends on the amount of power being used, the hands being the means of guiding and moving whatever has to be guided and moved. The Wrists. I would like to say at the start that in properly played golf strokes there Is no such thing as initiative wrist action, and that the action of the wrist In fevery case is that of a hinge, or responsive motion. This really is the whole thing in a nutshell, but we have all been so used to the slogan “use your wrists” that we have got to look on every motion of the wrist as a thing in itself, instead of a motion that is set in action by something else. For instance, if you open a door you don’t try to open it with the hinge; you push the door and the hinge gives to that action. That is what I mean by responsive motion. There is not the slightest doubt that the correct wrist motion is one of the most important things in a golf swing, but it must not be looked upon as an action in itself. The club is moved by the hands to the wrists, and not by leverage applied by the wrists themselves.

In fact, there is no such thing as leverage in golf at all. It is speed that is required: leverage and speed don’t go together. Momentum and speed, yes; hut not leverage. In a full swing you move the clubhead with the hands as far as your wrists will allow it to go, both backward and forwards, of course letting the arms, shoulders and body give, so as to get the right balance. In a shorter swing the wrists give according to how far the club is moved, so that in a short putt they would hardly give at all. For comparison take the action of a man driving a pile with a sledge-hammer,' and a jeweller using his hammer on a watch; it all depends on the amount of power applied.

Cause and Effect. We hear so much nowadays about the rolling action of the wrists that it is made a definite action in itself, instead of realising that it is the only action that could possibly take place if the clubhead is moved in the correct manner. It is all a question of understanding cause and effect. When you consider that speed in the clubhead is the principal thing to aim at, ■you must also realise that anything to travel at its greatest speed must take the line of the least resistance. You will also realise that leverage is forcing one point against another, so that it is not possible to get the maximum speed by leverage, although I will grant that it is the instinctive thing to do. Leverage feels as though you are using great power. So you are, hut it is really all misapplied. The reason golf looks so ridiculously easy .when played by a Bobby Jones or a Harry Vardon is that they can let themselves give with what they are doing with a club, instead of forcing themselves against it. It is not right to say that the clubhead starts first in the swing; neither is it right to say that the hands start first. What should he aimed at is to start both together until you can get the sensation of momentum in the clubhead, and then try to accelerate that momentum as much as can be easily controlled. Action of the Hips.

It is equally fatal to try to swing with the hips. Of course, you cannot swing the club with your hips, but they must not be held back by any means. Everything starts to give until the feeling of moving the clubhead itself is predominant. Mention is made here of starting the clubhead first or the hands first, also of the hip action, for the simple reason that one very frequently sees these made the subject of a discussion on how to properly make the golf swing. As stated above, I think the hands and the clubhead should start together. Also as to the hips, they play a prominent part in the swing, but get aw'ay from the idea of referring the groundwork of the to them. They will do their part without any conscious thought on the player’s part, if left alone, and trying consciously to make them take any preconceived action will simply confuse the player and detract his attention from the real task of speeding up the clubhead. •