Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-01
VIEWS ALL DIFFER
AFTER EXHIBITION
Endless Questions Asked by
GazerS in Jones, Vardon,
Wethered Films.
BY WALTER R. McCALLUM.

M golf fanatics and let 'em
argue. Yes, let 'em argue.
Put 'em in a closed room,
lock the door and throw the key
away, and let 'em keep on argu-
ing. If those gents who had a
Pollyanna idea that the slow NOV
les of Jones, Warden and Joyce
Wethered would stop all con-
troversy regarding theories of the
golf swing, they were sadly mis-
taken, for last nights showing of
the movies with the pace of a
turtle have broken the rash out In
q new spot.
Instead Of being all ended, as some
thought it would be with the showing
Of Aims OF the three finest golf swings
IN the world. the argument has busted
loose In q new spot, and unless some
thing Is done to stop it we shall have
to learn some entirely new theories OF
the golf swing.
The slow movies, reproduced at the
rate Of 5000 dickers q second, were put
on at the Indian Spring Golf Club last
night. A smattering of golf pros were
present, but most of the spectators were
amateurs who hope some day to bust
100, and among the viewers who re-
manned TO argue we're a few who can
consistently break 80. They looked and
gazed and theorized. They saw that
perfect pivot, that glorious back swing
Of the great in golf; that slight hip
shift at the start Of the down swing;
that. perfect coordination Of mind and
muscle that marks the great in the
game; and even then, with the entire
golf swing taking four minutes TO run
through, they couldn't agree on the
details.
Calls vardon Greatest.
joyce Wethered put on her show In
the films. So did Jones and 30 did
Vardon. When Vardon came on, Sandy
Armour enthusiastically yelled: THE
greatest golfer of them ALL and don't
bar Jones'" And then they watched
Harry Vardon violate all the canons Of
golf by bending his elbows into knot
at the top of the back swing, Straighten
them out on the downswing, and meet
the ball perfectly. We kidded Sandy
about that, telling him that he couldn't
teach such q swing and get away with
Il. He agreed that II he tried to teach
his pupils to bend the elbows at the
top Of the upswing he might as well
take up pinochle as 9 means Of hveh-
hood. But genius Is . law unto itself. !"
Sandy said, land Harry Vardon is moth
ing less than genius"
One hundred and sixty persons saw
the show, staged by the Middle Atlantic
Professional Golfers Association, and
at the end there were 100 theories.
Does the great man start his down
swing with a shoulder shift to the
left? Which starts first, the shoulders
or the hip shift? Why does he keep
the club face closed until he nears the
thTee-quarter mark in the upswing?
Is it true that the first movement of
the club is a slide to the right and not
pickup Of the club? How does he
keep his head SO still?" And so many,
many more of the same nature that
we came away bewildered by the end
less succession Of questions. But, as
Monro Hunter, with his usual knack
Of getting at the bottom Of things,
said: Fundamentally, they are all
the same. You viii notice that they
all slide the club to the right rather
than pick It up from the ground; that
they all swing back with the club face
closed until the wrists make their nat
ural turnover; that they all start their
down swing with a pull down Of the
left shoulder. and that they all trans
fer their weight easily and smoothly
TO the left side. And they all hit
against stiff left side"
Taken to Aid Pros.
These movies were taken by the Pro-
9esSional Golfers Association of Amer
Ica to aid the professionals in this coun-
try to teach the golf swing. My per-
Bonal reaction was that they are far
away the finest things that ever have
been done along that line. Far slower
shan any movies ever filmed Of the golf
swing before, they are 200 times slower
0han the swing itself. But the camera
Mork 10 rather amateur1sh. Details Of
stance, grip and body action are not
plainly brought out and the entire en-
Bemble Of background and body action
Is not sufficiently clear to bring out I'M
mistakably the component parts that
90 into the swing. In our Judgment,
Hollywood could have improved the
films tremendously by a little artful
stage work and a few pros. In any
event Hollywood would not have per-
mite the vagueneSs of the films, par
ticularly those of Jones. But this
criticism does not detract from their
value. They are great films. No doubt
about it. And they will cause an end
less argument around this town.
Personally. we think that Joyce
wethered has a sounder swing than
either Jones or Vardon Her swing is
not compromise to prevent hook or
slice and it has in it all the fundamen-
tails that both the others have. But in
Jones swing, and particularly on the
long irons, the height Of the left elbow
20 prevent a hook is noticeable. He
has hook swing On the other hand,
watching WetheredS swing. you could
see that hook is as foreign to her
game as poor sportsmanship to her
makeup. But whatever they may say,
Sandy Armour is right: Genius is a
law unto itself" II Jones needs to
crook that left elbow at the meeting Of
the ball. that is genius showing itself.
If Vardon bends his elbows at the top
OF the swing, genius again asserts it
self. Did you notice, however, that the
ball does not remain on the clubface for
any length Of time, but that it leaves
almost Immediately?