The Indianapolis journal., 1903-06-21
FEW new WAYS AT GOLF
suIT CLEAN AND FOLLOwTHRorcx,, ;,
Is THE AXIOM OF SUCCESS.
Rail Must he Hit Clennly and I'm sucb
Manner that the Club Must Go
Along with It-FuII Swing.

"Hit clean and follow through" e. tho
present-day axiom in golf, says an expert in
the New York Sun. 1t has banished the
adage that came with the game from Scot
land of Don't press, slow back and keen
your eye on the ball" Kipling has written
than VIXEN American learns the inner-
most meaning of this phrase he is for prac-
teal purposes denationalized The facts do
rot bear out the fiction. Our players conned
and Obeyed the saying until they found ii
was not wholly sound; then, in the way to
prove them true Americans, they forthwith
invented new methods and new tools of the
game, the climax being the lively bau
which travels farther than the solid gutta
percha and does not crack the club heads
To a degree. the change in the axioms hinges
on the new ball.
With the Scots a very full swing has
always been the first principle of good
style in driving. Willie Park. jr.. the first
open champion to come over here. had a
swing OF the true heel-tapping sort, and the
professionals most prominent here in 1895
and 1890 took pride in the same full circle
Of the club head. There was little pause
at the top or the swing, and the club head
seemed to go back as quickly as it came
down. Our amateurs noted that the pro-
fessiOnals got long and straight balls. al
though themselves ignoring the maxim thew
taught so yolubly. This, even In those early
days sounded the knell of ''slow back"
The professionals who began to come
over after 1886 were mostly young men. who
had learned from Vardon and Taylor that
tls very tun SWING was only needed when
shafts, shorter swings and quicker ones.
our players, who meantime were devoIpinr.
near! the same method, were still fearful
that !hey were doing wrong. One reason
was that II. j. Whigham, c. B. Macdonald
and Flndlay Douglas are all full-swing ad-
Soeates' ath3ugh not one OF them is "slow
quick hitter. This feeling of disconfent
vanished with the coming of Harry Vardon
and ]. IL Taylor. both short-shaft. ''hit
nard mar ana followed through" disciples. for so
summing up was, that as racehorses run i'm
all shapes, SO golfers may succeed in all
styles. ''''
TRAVERSE A CIRCLE.
The fundamentals left are that the ball
must be hit neatly and in such a manner
that the club head must go along with it.
To do this. the club head must traverse
circle, but the lines at the tops need not
overlap, nor indeed need the upper segment
be completed. if to do so weakens the hit
ting force. In a word, the ball is not jabbed
at but struck with a swinging blow
Walter j. Travis. II. NJ Hartman, Quin-
ey A Shaw, jr, OF Boston, Walter Smith
Of Chicago, A. Fl. Smith, OF PHILADELPHIA
and many more who have not been braek-
eted as champions had learned this axiom
or hit clean and follow through in the DAYS
OF the solid ball and long shafts. They
were all, however, constantly trying te
lengthen out their swing, on the theory
that 1t would lengthen out their game, In
spite OF their tournament successes. until
Nardon.s visit. The rubber-cored ball came
soon afterward, but our players had thrown
or the allegiance 10 "slow back before its
advent The backward swing, as II is only
preparatory 10 the real stroke, like the
backward swing in baseball, will never be
as forceful the forward swing but il is
made just as quickly. There is no gain in
dwelling on IL.
Although confined to the decade, the
changes wrought in America in the game
are many, and certainly as epoch-making
as the last nifty years have brought forth
IN Great Britain. We have still coming to
us the outcome OF experiments with clubs
having inner chambers of compressed air
10 promote elasticity, and of balls with
In taking up with the 1s< in the impedi-
mentia Of the game, OF amateurs have
been encouraged by the results obtained "a
discard the stilted style taught as the~one
worthy method I'm the early days OF the
game here. That they are right is proven
Dy the better average game In our cham
fiOnSnlpS ana the open tournaments. The
general average OF play is steadily improv-
ing. and there is closing up of the gap
that even two years ago divided Travis
and Douglas from those in the class below
them. while the old third class is stepping
on the heels of the grade above them. The
early tournaments have helped to make
this plain, although Douglas won out in the
metropolitan Golf Association champion
ship. and the belief that the state of af-
fairs will be established more positively
than ever before is creating an unusual
eagerness TO witness the play in the i'm
pending trio OF national championships, the
open, amateur and the women's.
VARDON'S SWING.
Vardons swing, while it lacks the ele-
ganee OF Willie Parr, jr.'s, is very full COM
pared TO j. II. Taylor's, which is a three
quarter swing OF the most positive sort,
ard players have as a class merged
in their style Taylors back swing with the
Vardon follow through. They have found
that sufficient power be obtained with
this stroke, with the maximum of accuracy
in direction. Travis, the greatest student
or detail in this country, has this year
shortened his back swing in a most marked
SHegree. Sie The club goes back quickly, with
body turn most easily OH the sweeping
hliSh, and the club is carried well around
over the left shoulder. In the Metropolitan
and at Garden City Travis met with de-
feat. but this simply showed that the gap
has been closed up that formerly made
MIN an amateur in a separate class, and on
these occa sions there was something lack
Ing in the temperament with which he en-
tered the match, for the player cannot
always be I'm the aggressive mood. That
the shorter back swing has not affected
Traviss game has been amply demonstrate
ed on other occasions, notably in the recent
1oUr-ball match at Baltusrol. where the
open championship is to be played on June
20 aud o. in which the amateur fairly car
ried off the honorS from the professionals,
George Low, Alexander Smith and Stew
art Gardner.
WELL-KNOWN PLAYERS.
Among those most conspicuous for their