The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-12-16
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The Left Heel


 Next to rhythm and balance In the golf stroke the player should under stand that the good shot depends upon timing.
 Timing Is the detail of bringing the clubhead against the ball at the pre- else moment when the left heel re- turns to the position against the ground that it occupied at the mo- ment when you started the club up. If on the down swing the clubhead any other position. the timing is wrong and anyone of several things may happen. The ball may hook or slice; it may be topped or hit fairly well; it may go straight but lack the distance it would have got had timing l been exact. The degree of disaster in the improperly timed shot is in proportion to the degree in which the timing is off.
 | Many players have very good form in getting the club up. They assume e that If the club is taken up properly it will largely attend to its own job of coming down. One of the preva- 1 lent ideas is that the player has only to take the club up in the proper manner that it will come down all right with the right start up. This is l true to large extent but not 100 per cent true. It will come down all right if the player does not press and If he watches his timing carefully. | There is always that if In golf, as we all know.
 All forms in golf may be employed approximately except timing. Timing must be exact You cannot time the shot approximately and get the full result.
 Tendency to Lean
 | One of tie errors of play that quickly throw timing out of gear especially with the player who has developed to very fair game, Is the tendency of too many players to lean ! forward with the body weight, think ing, by doing so, to get more power /, into the down stroke of the club | This leaning forward nearly always results in the player rising slightly on his toes. This rise on the toes i throws the timing off by a narrow margin-and then the player has a horrible session with topped shots. | He Is at a loss to explain his top ping. His lack of exact timing is the source of the trouble.
 Topped shots result when the tim Ing is late. That is. the blade comes into contact with the ball before the left heel returns to the ground on the down stroke This causes the blade l to go through the ball at a slightly higher level from the ground than it should follow. If the heel is just slightly off the ground the ball will be only half topped. It will go but will not rise as it should; for in- stance. off a mashie or jigger 1 Timing Too Early
 1 The reverse of this is the timing that is too early. Players get into this fault by not waiting back with 1 the body for the clubhead. The body does not go ahead of the clubhead, nor does it go behind it. The two travel together, with the clubhead felt in the fingers just as a rock would be felt were it tied to the end of string as long as the driver shaft and then swung around at the ball. The player who is in too much of hurry to hit the ball usually gets his body ahead of the clubhead : and his heel returns to the ground before the time it should be there This player. because of the position of his body, draws the club face across the ball He is afflicted with an "ineurable slice" most of the time W hen the neau IS nelu Stlll, the i eye kept on the ball and the left heel returned to it's original position at the moment of club contact with the ball the player could not miss the ball if he tried to. To take the, club up slowly at the start, letting it gain in speed as it climbs; to attain nice balance at the top of the stroke, With the left arm fairly straight and the weight mostly on the right leg; to start the club downward easily, then increase it's speed as the body gets in with it, and to time the shot ex- actly-all this seems like a lot to do in so short a time, but the agreeably surprising part of the whole thing is the astonishment you will experience over the ease with which it is done once you get the knack of it.
 The only thing then remaining is to do it every time-and that is hard. Copyright, John F. Dille Co.)