The Washington times., 1921-10-23


When the hook Is Intentional II is
very useful. The expert knowing that
such q shot Is required can bring II
off to perfection nine times out OF ten.
The professional or the star amateur
player Is unlike the duffer. as he finds
II easier TO hook than to slice.
The stars sometimes overdo II. In
pressing for distance. a player OF the
first caliber will be more incliend TO
pull than he will TO clice. This Is
about all that the really long hitter has
to worry about.
How to Hook the Ball.
A great many pros will hook a ball
without changing their stance. They.
OF course, make UP for this by the
change Of grip and the use OF the for
arms.
prefer to hook by means Of the
stance. II would not be noticeable in
my play that changed my stance in
the least. BIT az a matter Of fact. II
is changed very materially. do 1t by
shifting the position Of the ball rather
than my feet. IN producing The hook
one must stand more in front OF the
ball. while in slicing you stand behind
It. So when desiring either shot.
take my stance in the regular way.
but tee the ball off the left heel for
pull.
II you will stu.iy this idea, you will
readily understand my theory. When
the ball is played off the left tee,
II Is quite natural 10 draw the face OF
TIE club across II. and thereby shorten
the follow throrsh. The ball starts
toward the left as 4 IL sent in niat
direction, but II very shortly changes
its course Of flight and swerves to the
right.
When the ball is played off the right
heel 1t is next to impossible to draw
the club face aross the ball, as you
are not IN a position 20 do it. The
club must come to the ball from the
inside" so II naturally keeps on
going straight in the direction of the
rough to the right just as / explained
before.
The follow through will necessarily
be longer than is the case with the
slice because the club has a greater
distance to travel. I hope this Is per-.
fectly plain to the reader as II is some
thing that is hard for beginners to
grasp. / have described my way of
standing to the ball for the pull, but
I would not advise my pupils to adopt
an open stance and expect to get the
desired results. One should take his
stance for the pull with the left foot
closer to the line of the flight than
the right. See that the ball Is well
back opposite the right heel.
Hands and Arms Play Important Part.
This is not all there is to the trick
The hands and the arms play an i'm
portant part too. In slicing the ball,
I told the reader the other day that
the two "Vs" made by the thumb and
first finger In gripping should be on
top of the shaft. 1t should be impos-
sible to see the knuckles on either
hand in this case. But in pulling the
ball the closed palm OF the right hand
points to the sky so II is possible to
SEQ the fingers clearly and the left
hand knuckles can also be seen. The
right hand and wrist are also snapped
in firmly and sooner.
This will bring the club head on TO
the ball with a slight turn over. as It
will have the effect of closing the face
Of the club at the top of the swing.
Hooking and slicing when done as
an art are the master shots OF the
game. II indeed, we can couple them
together in this sense. There are
times when nothing else will do and
the player who learns how to accom-
plish a hook will find that he has cor
rected slice without half realizing II.
Courses are made nowadays so that
a long slice or a long hook Is required.
The so called dog-les holes call for
just such shot. 1t Is quite necessary
on the elbow hole also.
My friend Joe Kirkwood, the Aus