Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-01-03
TWO IN 1881 EARN
TITLES THROUGH It
Overlapping Rated Superior,
However, Despite Success
of Ouimet and Hicks.
BY w. r. McCALLUM.

Ing Lle most laSIllOIldU1e AOL
champions in golf? Does the
success of three prominent ex-
ponents of it in 1881 presage les
sening of use of the Vardon or
overlapping grip, or is it just a
coincidence that the two cham
pionS of the amateur ranks in this
country both use the interlocking
grip, in which the little finger OF
the right hand locks between the
first and second fingers Of the left
hand?
For many, many years Francis Ouimet
has been the single outstanding amateur
of this country who used the interlock-
ing grip; Gene Sarazen has been the
outstanding pro who used it, and now
Helen Billy Hicks, the Hewlett, Long
Island, schoolgirl, who won the wom-
. ems national last october, falls in line.
Thus it is that the two amateur
champions and one of the outstanding
professionals of the Nation use the In
terlocking grip against the horde OF
prominent amateurs and pros who aa-
here to the Vardon grin, La which the
little finger of the right Land oyerrideS
the first finger of the left hand.
You could go long way and search
for many moons and not find two finer
golfers in their respective fields than
Billy Hicks and Francis Ouimet. But
in the Judgment of most of the pro-
fessionals the fact that these two cham
pions both use the interlocking grip is
only a coincidence and not the founda-
ton of the skill which brought them
national championships in 1881. 1t
would take a lot of winning by the ex-
ponentS of the interlocking grip or any
other grip to make the adherents OF
the Vardon grip break away from that
time honorsd and tTue-tested manner
of gripping a golf club.
j. Monro Hunter, pro at Indian
Spring, and Al Houghton, pro at Ken
wood, both point out that the main
reason for using either the tnterloeking
or the overlapping grip is to subordinate
the right hand to the lett in gripping
the club; keeping the right hand in
subsection to the left to eliminate the
possibility of the ordinarily more pow
eTful right hand gaining control of the
club. Both also claim that the Vardon
grip is better suited to the average
golfer, and, in addition, 1t does not have
the demerit Of gnarling and kaottlng
the fingers that grip a Nations golf
clubs. A look at the hands of an in
terlOcking gripper who plays good deal
will disclose that his fingers are out OF
shape because of the grip he uses. No
such distortion can come from the Var
don or overlapping grip.
1oI i'm "a
of the interlocking grip assert it per-
rlits-may force q complete grip of
the club at all times, for they claim
that the right hand of the Vardon
gripper may open at the top Of this
swing with detrimental results to the
shot.
Whatever the merits Of the matter
may be, it is certain that good golf can
be played with both types of grip for
the full shots Bobby Jones, Hagen,
Horton Smith and most of the leading
opponents of the game use the Vardon
grip, but you can't laugh OF two ma
tional championships won in single
year with the interlocking grip. Nor
can you forget the record made by
Gene Sarazen over the past few years
Gene has won everything but the
kitchen clock, using that interlocking
grip with those stubby fingers Of his
pounding golf balls up and down
countless fairways.
AS long as golf balls are hit there
will be attempts TO devise new and
"infaIlible" methods of play, but the
grip possibilities are limited. Not so
many years ago the palm grip, known
as the two-V grip, was the favored one.
With this grip the club is held like a
base ball bat, in the palms Of both
hands. 1t has undoubted power, but
it has the fault of permitting the right
hand to gain too much control Of the
club. Bigger and better hooks came
from the old grip.
Chick Evans, the old-time Chicago
amateur, has his own version of the
palm grip, with variations. Chick does
not overlap nor interlock, but holds
the club in the fingers of both hands
with the thumbs pointing down the
shaft. This grip has brought him three
national championships and host Of
lesser crowns.
So you can take your choice of grips
They are all good, or bad, depending
on which way you look at it, But the
interlocking grip has the Strangle-hold
on championships this year.