The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1922-09-30
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THE CLEEK


One of the queer aspects of golf
in this country is that one of the
finest and most effective of the or
thodox clubs, the eleek, should have
almost totally disappeared from the
golfers bag on this side of the water
Harry Vardon has described the
cleek as his favorlte club, partly be
cause of tho difficulty in mastering
1t and partly because of the wonder
full results it yields when properly
played. / always carry cleek and
/ use 1t a great deal. Perhaps the
reason for its seeming disfavor
among golfers lies In the real diff
Guilty involved in using the cleek eff
fectively, though the golfer should
conquer the club and never permit
the club to conquer him.
The cieek Is pre-eminently the club
for a good second shot, and Is capa-
BILE of long distance. In fast. 1 may
flatter myself, but I think that I can
make over 225 yards with it. My
own cleek is sS inches long and it
weighs about Is ounces.
Put the blade down SO that it lies
naturally at right angles with tho
direction line. Some professionals
turn the blade out q little. / do not.
l grip the club lightly in my fingers.
being careful to put left thumb on
the right hand side of the shaft, and
not straight down. The stance Is
square, varying to little open ac-
cording to comfort,
One good thought to bear in mind
when playing this club is to hit the
bali crisply and hard when playing
into the wind. Remember also that
your left knee should BIO braced
when you follow through, and let
your follow through go forward into
the wind a little so that the ball will
have a little lower flight. You want
to be sure not to let your body get
ahead of this stroke. Wait for your
club head to reach the ball ryth-
mically and then your weight Of body
will follow with the fullest force.
Do not bend over the ball too much.
or you may distribute your weight
in such manner that 1t will inter-
fere with the stroke. If, however,
you do want a lower ball. stand over
little more when you are address,
ing 1t.
On the backward swing be sure
to keep the right elbow in close to
your body. This forms a sort of a
take off, for the downward stroke.
Make your descent down a line where
the dubbed ball will meet the bal.
at right angles. II you swing inside
or outside OF this Imaginary line you
are likely to do all sorts of damage.
Don't quit when the clubhead has
met the ball. but follow II right
through with preferably the left
elbow, coming into tho left side. that
Is, getting sort of bent" follow
through. Just throw the head OF the
club at the ball as IL 1t were weight
on the end of a string. and let it fol-
low through enough to have to pull
1t back on the upstroke of the fin
ishing stroke. Regulate the distance
of your back stroke by letting your
left arm almost straighten out and
do not dip at the end.
Do not grip the club too tightly:
1t makes stiff muscles and keeps the
clubhead from doing its full share
of the work. If at any time you
find yourself little out of rhythm,
make your grip looser.
Always take a little turf, for It
steadies the flight of the ball.
Most golfers have trouble in play
Ing the cleek because they persist
in believing that It's playing differs
entirely from that of a wooden club.
As matter of fact, the difference
is but slight. and play them almos
exactly alike.
Copyright, John F. Ollie Ce.l