The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-05-23
Play "ApproximnteiyS

in golf--and I'll name 1t.
 shall call 1t the Approximate hole, and then try to show you why this is one of the most important holes of your golf career.
 Everything you do in golf should be done approximately. Too many players, especially the newcomers to the sport, have been led to believe, perhaps by the mass of. literature about the game of golf, that every play, every move on the links. is a matter of the greatest exactitude.
 On the contrary, all plays are 3 matter of approximate methods. You do as the masters do, approximately as it Is comfortable for you to do it.
 discern from letters reaching my desk how very seriously so many students of the game take the writ ten rules and bylaws" These let- ters have made me wonder if great many players do not really hold themselves back by thinking of the sport. and attempting different plays, on & basis entirely too exact No one can do a shot exactly AS Harry Warden does 1t. No ono can hit ball exactly as I might hit It.
 
 proximately as Jock Hutchinson does them--if he doesn't swamp himself trying to do them exactly and pre- cisely the way Jock plays.
 What do you mean by the for ward press7" still others have asked. This seemingly is . movement oi some kind that helps your playing a lot, but don't grasp what you mean to quote from tho letter.
 The forward press. like every oth- CT movement in golf, is not trick of my own invention. IL is not mys- terious at all. It is a thing of the utmost simplicity. and. because of It's simplicity and naturainess, has al- ways been helpful to me. All things leading to golf shots must be simple and natural. so much so that they tend to an ever greater relaxation and looseness of the muscles while the shot is executed. The nearer the player comes to an absolute mus cular abandon without quite falling into such abandon while making his plays. the better his game will be The one who does thing with per lection always aocomplishes 1t, of course. seemingly without effort, ap- parently without exertion. It is true with golf.
 The Forward Press
 The forward press. Take a base ball in your hand. or imagine you are grasping one now. Raise your right hand preliminary to throwing the ball. You now have the ball somewhere in the vicinity of your right ear. Now observe your right wrist carefully just as you begin the imaginary arm and wrist movements of throwing the ball. As you pre- pare, muscuiarly, to throw the ball from you, do not immediately draw back your arm and forearm. Your first movement is to bend the hand forward at the wrist. Then you draw back your hand with the move- ment flowing into/a general draw ing back of your whole arm. Atthe farthest point back as you pull back your arm, what happens7 Your wrist bends back still more. Then your arm comes forward, not with q Jerk, but with sweep-your hand and wrist gradually forging ahead until you find 1t. the instant after the ball Is re1eased-wher7 Why in precisely the same position 1t was in when you first bent 1t forward Just before you started your arm back for the throw.
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 That is the forward press in tn, golf stroke. And ir describing your own arm movements while throwing q ball, haven't I described almosl exactly the movements of your arm. and wrists while executing a goli stroke? Perhaps this comparison will help you understand how tht golf stroke is made with ease ant grace, with rhythm that Is a trut flow of muscle and easy exertion not Q veritable jerk of wrongly ap. piled power. Try the forward press doing 1t approximately as you would throw a ball. Apply the easy natural principle to your golf swing and perhaps your game will improve
 Some players claim the right eI- bow should be away from the body and high up at the top of the swing" another letter says: while still another asks how hard the pull should be on the left shoulder at the top of the swing. Hard to answer that last one except to say that the pull certainly should not be pro nounced at all--just let 1t be com. fortable. As for the right elbow, sort of like to feel that my right elbow. held fairly close in, gives me a good take off guide or balance for the down sweep. It's a matter oi approxiination--hold 1t where Il gives you best results, but If you elevate 1t away up there, or have that tendency, watch out that il doesn't throw your wrists out of line with the arc of the up stroke. Ii you throw the elbow out of the nat ural line, at the top of the stroke you must expect the clubhead to leave the line accordingly--unless you gel the elbow up there very gradually not with jerk at the top of your stroke.
 Copyright John F. Dllle Col