Los Angeles herald., 1910-05-01
STAND IMPORTANT
SAYS GOLF EXPERT
Whole Problem of Stance Said to
Be Simply One of Equi-
Iibrium
TWO TESTS ARE SUGGESTED
Swaying Is Bad, as 1t Makes 1t
Difficult to Hit the Ball at
the Right Instant

NEW YORK, April 30.-One of the
few canons of golfing style, which no
hereto has dared to dispute, Is that
which advises the player to stand with
his ball more nearly in line with his
right toe, as the distance to be COW
cred by the shot diminishes. Nova
days almost everyone drives with the
ball opposite a spot half way between
his heels, or even two or three inches
in front. But he plays his cleek shots
with the ball rather farther back, and
in approach play usually stands so
that the ball is almost opposite his
right heel.
All this is most orthodox. But 1t is
somewhat less usual TO inquire why II
should be SO. However. does not the
answer to this make plain the whole
problem of stance, which is simply
matter of equilibrium and depends up
on one simple rule: However you
stand, you must have your weight so
distributed that your center of grav-
ity is opposite the ball at the moment
of hitting 1t.
The reason is not difficult to see.
and perhaps It may be a source of
enlightenment as well as help to
have again brought to the notice of
those golfers who are in the habit of
pulling or slicing badly one funda-
mental idea.
An ordinary golf club is constructed
SO THAT IL LtlG Ddll Is W DC IllL bHudlSiy
the shaft must, at that moment of i'm
pact, be at right angles to the direc-
tion in which the player wishes his
ball to travel; that is to say, the play
er's hands must be opposite the ball.
If they are not the club face, as it
comes in contact with the ball, cannot
possibly be at right angles to the line
of flight, and glancing blow result
ing in a pull or slice is the inevitable
result.
EASY TESTS OF POSITION
1t is, however. easy for golfer to
prove for himself how the natural po-
sition of the hands. in holding any
two-handed weapon such as golf
club, depends upon the distribution of
the weight of the body. Let him clasp
his hands in front of him, then shift
his weight onto his left foot and note
how promptly his arms fall forward,
like some delicate pendulum, in ac-
cordance with the change. Contrari-
wise, If he throws his weight onto his
right foot and attempts at the same
time to keep his hands well to the left
as If he were going to play 'off his
left toe," he will realize that the po-
sition is one of constraint in which a
powerful stroke is impossible.
1t Is this factor which makes 1t so
awkward to play from an uneven or
insecure stance. The players weight
has to be distributed differently from
usual, owing to the necessity of OBJ
tanning a firm footing, and the natural
position of his hands being thus al
tered to play his ordinary stroke be-
comes impossible. Every one has eX-
perienced the fact that where some
hillock or hollow in the ground pre-
vents him from resting the same pro-
portion of weight as usual upon each
foot, though the stance Is otherwise
the same, he feels that he simply can
not play the stroke according to his
accustomed method often he Is con-
strained to play in some fashion quite
untried-and with complete success.
Because, as We must know, the most
important thing is not that he should
stand in particular way, but that
stance and swing should be suitable to
: each other Golf, like fencing and
other sports in which the stroke de-
mands great nicely of aim, demands
that the poise of the body be reckoned
as of the utmost Importance.
NATURAL POSITION VITAL
Driving with the ball we'll forward
and driving with 1t as far back as
possible have each certain advantages,
but neither Is the slightest good unless
the player is standing so that the ma
tural position of the hands, that posi-
tion into which they will fall at the
lowest point of the strike, is exactly
opposite the pail. IL is narQly neceS-
sary to prove that it is when the
hands are in this natural position that
the blow attains its greatest force.
In theory 1t is quite sufficient that
the body should be properly balanced
at the moment of striking the ball.
Accordingly swaying the body is not
necessarily fatal to a good shot. In
practice, however, the case is rather
different, because, when a player
sways back with the upward swing of
his club, the chances are against him
swaying forward to exactly the right
degree in the down stroke. In any
case, by swaying, he is Introducing a
new and difficult factor into his cal
culations, and the less this factor is
allowed to affect the conditions of the
problem the better
1t is all very well to talk about the
bad results which come from swaying
or an awkward stance-bad habits into
which many golfers have grown; what
interests them the most is how to
avoid these pitfalls. An early visit to
the clubs professional and a couple
of lessons ought to show the player
just how to overcome his errors.