Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-10-21
BALL AND SOCKET" IDEA IN GOLF,
OR HOW TO MAKE DOWN SWING
Body Should Turn About Point Between Shoulder
Blades Says Scott-Movements of Braid and
Vardon Cited-Local Notes
BY JOHN ALBERT SCOTT

IN MAKING the back swing, the hands
were the leaders, and 20 they are the
leaders in the down swing. That is to
sax. the initial impulse OF the forces OF
tbe body which have been prepared by
tbe movements described in the back
.Vvj,R is the starting OF the hands toward
the ball in precisely the same manner
one would throw a baseball after draw
sne the arm back 10 get the momentum.
81 far as any other part Of the body is
concerned, no conscious movement, no
attempt on the part OF the player TO make
anv other part Of the body move. to force
any other part into the stroke must be
made. As / have said before, as the
hands lead, the rest OF the body must
( follow, and the sequence will be the same
as in the back swing-the hands will
start first, then the arms and shoulders,
and the body, legs and feet will follow
IN due course The hands are the "exec-
utlvey connection between the player
club and ball II is with them, and
through them, that all other parts of the
body must exert their forces To fol-
low the description OF the stroke, this
must he clearly understood and appre-
ciated II is the hands we must keep
under control, permitting the rest of the
body TO respond naturally by not forcing
II into the stroke. Do not misunderstood
me. all other parts of the body must be
hands. Holding any part Of the body
back from its natural response to the
swinging of the hands is just as bad as
forcing that part into the stroke.
Much has been said about keeping the
head still during the golf stroke, and
certainly, on this point, there can be no
question; 1t must be kept STILL Stiffness
however, does not mean rigidlty. any
more than tension mean stiffness. Too
many try to keep the head still by stiff
enning the neck muscles, a practice that
is wrong, as stiffness, in the neck will
cause stiffness in the shoulders, which
must be allowed freedom. Rather relax
the neck muscles. have become con-
vinced from my study of the play of the
great golfers and from a careful analysis
of the position of their bodies at differ
ent parts of the stroke, that the head is
not the point or part we should concen-
trate on keeping still. In saying this
do not mean to imply that the head will
not keep still or that it should not. It
does, of course, keep in the same place all
the time until after the ball has been hit
and this is particularly noticeable in Var
don.
The particular part of the body to con-
centrate the mind on keeping still is
point midway between the shoulder
blades. at the spine. Imagine that at this
place there is ball and socket" Joint,
on which the shoulders can turn to the
right or left. and can go up or down.
for this is what they must do in swing
ing a golf club.
In the up swing the left shoulder goes.
down and around, the right shoulder up
and around; in the down swing this
movement is reversed 1t is on the ball
and socket" Joint, which I have asked
you to imagine, that this action takes
place. Now, presuming the shoulders
have moved around the point indicated,
In the manner described. and the neck
muscles are relaxed, the head will re-
main still; there will be no tendency or
cause to move it; 1t cannot, unless you
try to move it.
Local Golf Notes
With splashes of rain flying in all
directions in the holes between the fog,
the morning yesterday didn't look very
nice to the score of young ladies' that
had offered to caddy for the benefit of
St. Luke's Hospital, Toxic. In fact, the
aforementioned city seemed rather dis
tant when it was question of walking
four or five miles with a heavy set of