Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-07-09
GOLF GOSSIP
sy STEVEN ARMSTRONG.

In an article have just written |
referred to something | had read
which deals with the old maxim. SLOW
back" and want you to read it be-
fore you do my own article. 1t Is
from the London Times and says it
would be idle to contend On behalf of
SLOW back" that it constituted the
perfect maxim, because II could, and
often did, lead people astray. For one
thing, 1t sometimes conveyed to the
beginner the idea of lifting the club
up softly and gingerly." and for an
other it drew too much attention to
its own antithesis, fast down"
1t is quite true that the club should
come down fast, and also that there
are few singularly constituted be-
ings, more often thaR not ladies past
the prime of youth, who err so sur
prisingly as to take Up the club faster
than they bring 1t down, but generally
speaking, the fact about the club COM
ing down fast had better be guarded
from the golfing young person; he will
find it out quickly enough for him
self. .-. ~. ....
No doubt ii seems hard on a maxim
to blame 1t not so much for what it
says as for what 1t hints Therefore,
it must further be urged against SLOW
back" that it conveys to many golfers
the impression Of heavy back" they
cannot take up the club slowly without
treating it as if it were a 16-pound
hammer; they heave the club up to
the top of the swing; there they wait
awhile to repose, then rise gradually
on their toes as preliminary to the
prodigious effort of the downward
heave .... ...
These various and calamitous posi-
bilities may detract something from
the merits of "slow back" but when
all is said and done, what is there to
take its place? 1t expresses, as far as
the imperfections of our language will
allow, in terse and memorable form,
a rule which is broken to his cost by
every single golfer, from the champion
on his pinnacle to the man with a
of "a. -.
That very brevity and simplicity
which is one of its chief merits, has
very likely often stood in the way of
SLOW back" The golfer struggling
with half-topped slice off the nose,
let us say, cannot believe that two
ridiculous little monosyllables can put
him right-his dignity demands some
thing more elaborate e.
Give him an elaborate recipe in
volving plenty of elbows and toes and
a swing either flatter or more upright
and he will be entirely happy; but tell
him merely to go slow back and he
will deem his adviser no better than an
and an offensive one at that.
Others will not allow themselves to
listen on slightly different grounds.
They have a conviction that they have
been hurrying, and that a course of
SLOW back" is just what they want,
but shame prevents them from taking
it.
A very frequently observable phe-
in small boyhood is an in
tense dislike to putting on a great
coat; however cold it may be, the boy
fights against the coat, not as an un-
comfortable thing. but as a badge of
childhood. When he wore a velvet
suit on Sundays he was a child; now
he is a boy in an Elton jacket. and
has done with childish coats.
1t is much the same with the golfer
and his maxims: he thinks that he
has got past the stage of "slow back"
and that to revert to it involves too
fearful a loss of dignity