Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-08-12


4 a may he of some service, aS II
will fit the swing Of any play
or in the great effort to place the
drive down the. middle.
Before tecing the ball. make num-
her OF swings and notice the mark
made on the grass by the sole of the
cuhhead. Tee your ball over the spot
which appears to have been most
frequently touched by the club in
passing. You should get 4 straight
ball if YOU follow this instruction.
Be certain that you do not change
the position of Your feet before max
ing the actual drive.
If YOU wish to know whether your
clubs are properly balanced find tho
point on the lower part of the shaft
at which the club balances. and meas
ure the distance from this line to
the clubhead. The shorter the dis
lance, the better the balance and
hitting power. Use the blade Of a
pocket knife to find the balancing
point on the shaft.
For the driver and other wooden
clubs, which are usually 40 inches.
the distance from the balancing point
to the clubhead should not be more
than IL inches. and with the iron
clubs the distance should be shorter.
the balancing line to the head, it is
good club.
Distance OF the Tee.
1t is possible to decrease the dis
lance between the balancing line and
the head of the club by replacing
the wooden plug at the end of the
shaft with cork and by removing the
padding under the grip. putting on
shellac and winding the grip over the
shellac. This will tighten the shaft
above the balancing line and force
the line toward the clubhead.
- Distance off the tee is regulated by
speed. There is talk of hard hitting
by people who really mean fast hit
ting. In Il shop in New York, Il man
has devised an electrical device
which measures the speed of the
clubhead for a distance of several
inches before the club hits the ball
until the clubhead has passed several
inches beyond the spot where the
ball was teed.
The record is made by series of
live wires. standing up at intervals
of one inch in the path of the club
head. A club with a brass head is
used for the experiment. and this
makes contact with each live wire
as it passes through. The contacts
are recorded by dots on roll of pa
pei. and it is remarka BILE how much
closer together these dots record
when a player known to be 4 long
hitter swings through the wire con-
facts, than when an ordinary hitter
tries the brass headed driver.
Speed Muscles" Asset.
This experiment demonstrates why |
well developed speed muscles" are |
a great asset and why many men Of |
less than $50 pounds can outhit men |
of $50 pounds or more. 1t is matter |
of speed.
1t is almost a safe wager that a |
golfer who is 20 or 80 yards longer |
off the tee than an opponent, can like. |
wise run 100 yards faster.
OF course, this might not apply if |
the player with good speed muscles |
carried too much weight. But show |
me two golfers weighing virtually the |
same. and of the same age and gen
eral health, and if one consistently
outfits the other off the tee. l will I
wager he can beat the other IN loo'
yard dash.
I have seen Babe Ruth stand on
tee and hit the ball a great distance.
lie uOPS HUJ always hiioN jazz
the ball is going, but it goes. Babe
swings with terrific speed. Wnen a
player can get such speed. and at the
same timei can make the cluohead
STAY in the proper groove, ne Is oouho
to be a long hitter. ;: -.
It is important for golfer to MT
with Just as heavy a CLUB as ne can
swing at the maximum OF his speed
possibility. If a golfer could swing
sledge hammer fast enough ne couio
knock the ball a mile.
Care in Choosing Clubs.
Most golfers do not use sufficient
care in selecting clubs. 1t pays 10
snend considerable time making a
study of the length and weight Oh
clubs they get best results with, ana
to do a great deal OF experimenting.
But the urge of most golfers is to use
what time they have, in playing. =,
I seldom find players who can ten
me the length or weight or their
clubs, and not one in five thousand
can tell the distance between the bal
ancing line Of his driver and the
clubhead A perfect set Of clubs.
fitted properly to the player, will take
strokes off the game of any golfer.
There are many scientific facts in
golf, and the golfer who understand
these and applies them plays strokes
better than he would otherwise.
am perfectly willing to agree with
that oft-repeated statement of the
player who made 6S, and in answer
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