The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1916-04-30

the Jaw. IL i had not jumped back ~
should have caught II beautifully. fhat
| pupil had her first lesson after her first
| swing.
There are three golf grips which are
more or less correct. One is the old
fashioned palm grip. in which the
| PLAYER holds the club well in the palm
| OF the right hand. with the knuckics
| the left hand facing the direction OF
| play. John Ball and Alexander Herd
| are the most illustrious golfers know
who adopt this method. and certainly
| I would not dissuade any player from
| favorinR Il II he felt that II was the
| only way In which he could hit the ball.
but IL 10 disadvantageous In q heavy
| lie because. as the club meets the turf.
II Is likely TO turn In the right hand.
| There In no check on II to prevent II
turning unless YOU hold very tightly
with the right hand. and an intensely
II tends to render taut all the muscles
OF the arm. whereas they should be
flexible.
However. 1t Is possible to play .ome
| rood shots with this grip. especially
when the lies are clean and the ball
can be picked up wlthou. the club
having greater contact with the turf
I.than TO clip through the closeiy-cropped
grass. III YOU must ndnpt bUCn u
method. would say only: lie sure that
the hands are touching. The right fore
Anger should be nesting well up against
the left forehnger.
i II u a mistake to suppose that. by
putting the back of the right hand UNI
der the shaft. and holding the club
deeply In the palm. Won get more power
Or perhaps I should say that II Is an
error to suppose that you profit by
getting more power In this manner.
supposing that YOU do obtain IT,
As n matter OF fact, you ought not to
be conscious that the hands In particular
are doing q lot of hard work. Their
function Is to put the. club-head into
the proper position for hitting the ball:
. not TO do the hitting. They are to all
intents and purposes connecting link
, between the arms and the ciub-noth-
ing more. II Is the swing-the swing
of the club the hands. and the arms
acting as one piece OF mechanism-that
produces the power and makes the
II You Try to hit with the hands. you
are almost sure to spoil the effort by
holding too tightly with the right. The
player who falls into this error gen.
! peraiion arrive opposite the bali before
the club-head reaches II. and the latter
Ia therefore drawn across the ball.
You will notice that good golfer
. ON the right leg. That is because,
having depended upon the swing to Sc
cure the distance, he drops on to the
right leg TO check the club. III he were
to hit with his hands. his body would
go forward with the follow-through and
the bulk OF his. weight would be on the
left leg at the finish.
II is because the old IA shioned palm
grip encourages-and. In bad lies. neces-
sitates-a tight grip with the right
hand that think II has defect. You
need 20 hold a golf club firmly. es-
pecially between the thumbs and fore
fingers. but not like grim death. There
Ia no earthly reason why SO many golf
ere should have corns on their hands
the conssauence Of very tight gripping
leither OF my hands except near the lit
Itle finger Of the left hand. and that Is
caused solely by the fact that I wear
ring on the finger mentioned. The
palm gripper nearly always has a 10,
| OF corns.
SO much for the ancient method OF
gripping. which is stll very extensive
~ practIcej. especially among anna
represents the stage before the over.
tapping grip. Very little change IL
necessary to alter II to the latter. The
club is held so that the two thumbs
rest on the shaft. and. with the fore.
? fingers. form VS.. The right hand In.
stead of being under the shaft, Il
) brought round. and the back Of that
The back of the left hand looks toward
. the line OF play.
Here. then. we have the hands nicely
balanced-the backs OF the hands facing
In opposite directions and the thumbs
and forehngers formed into VS. with
their apex uppermost. This Is a sound
grip so long as you remember 10 make
, the hands meet on the shaft. They
must not be apart even to the extent OF
, the tiniest fraction OF an inch.
To proceed from the grip described q
that known as "oyerlapping," all 20,
: little higher up SO that the ball OF
the thumb rests on the back of thu
[ left thumb and the little finger OF the
right hand deposits itself on the fore
make the grip more compact and rem,
, der the union of the hands complet,
Some people like to bring the RICH
4 two or three fingers of It, There 1,
: nothing to be said against the schem,
IL the golfer prospers on it, but person
: ally think that the ideal feeling Of
/, freedom Is obtained when one overlapl
. only with that little finger Of the figh
q hand.
4 These. then. are the three grips suites
to the game. and 1t is not too much t.
n ced faults. The last feature that / Xix,
e to alter In a players method is the wa,
4 in which he disposes his hands, bu
' sometimes II is unavoidable. When tn,
A
to the ground "a frequent condition II
the novice) 1t Is impossible to swing tn,
| club.
There once came to me a man VIII
= gripped with the back of the right han
4 looking upwards He had to turn II 4
! order to get the club up. In thes
= cases II Is often necessary to put n golf
a err completely of what he calls his gam
so as to enable him ultimately to pla,
a better one. 1t is a point worth re
: Numbering that when the early effect
y OF changes advised by a teacher are b
= make the shots seem more difficult thai
/, ever, II Is often a prelude to success
When the only way to put playe
right is to undo at the outset ali tina
he has done wrong. he generally suffer
z a period OF purgatory.
II Is a rather curious circumstan nc
: that people with short fingers general
x choose clubs with thick handles Will
players with long fingers exhibt a pref
o erence for thin handles. Where the gri
!. is concerned. the nature of that part O
. the club which you are going to hold 1
: important, and / would advise the short
n fingered section of the community to sc
II lect thin grips. because they general
r mean better balanced clubs than thic
r grips. The latter are sometimes neces
sary I'm the case of a person with lon
fingers. Unless the handle were fairl
Na..N L..