Evening star., 1932-03-09

Ism Wltnln 1eW Gays
under the warm sun Of oncOming
Spring, could there be a better
sine to overhaul the golf swing
md prepare it for future links
Spnquests than right now? Is 1T
not a good time to take the swing
apart, analyze it and find out why
the old slice has been getting
worse Of late, why you have not
been getting proper distance or
why you haven't hit the ball SO
well and so often as you used
to do?
Each case of poor hitting of golf
ball must be treated on its special
merits, or dement's, and yet there are
general rules which cover all cases.
Slicing is caused by only one thing
drawing Of the clubface across the ball
at the moment of impact. This may
be done in variety of ways, but can
have only one effect. Topping is al
most always caused by lunging or ac-
celeration of the body swing and pull
ing or hooking is almost always caused
by what Bob Jones calls the hooded"
face, that is, by hitting the ball with
face that inclines toward the left Of
the line of play.
Faults Grow Steadily.
It's queer game, this golf. You can
60 along for weeks and months, hitting
the ball as well as you ever hit it, i'm
proving your scores and looking for
ward to the day when you'll make the
first fight and then, inSidiouSly and
almost unknown, there will creep into
your swing a series of minor faults which
swing a series of minor faults which
alone may not cause trouble, but in the
aggregate can ruin any game. And the
worst part of the whole thing is that
If they are not nipped in their infancy
they will grow and grow until the
player, in sheer desperation, has to
start all over again.
There Is a golfer at Congressional,
q man who used to break 100 rather
consistently a few months ago, who
now, through pyramiding OF minor
faults, actually cannot break $50.
Minor faults have become aggravated
into major faults, a smooth swing has
become a mere stab at the ball, loose
muscles have frightened into muscles
that could not possibly propel golf
ball any distance, and his mental atti-
tude toward the game is one of ex-
treme detection.
Where few months ago this man
could hold his own in his golfing COM
pany, today he is man without hope,
q man who hits more balls on the sole
of the club than he hits on the face,
who actually fans the ball once in a
while and who now regards golf simply
as walk and not particularly pleas
ant walk either.
Few of us can be champions. Not
all of us can break 80 consistently, but
all of us, If we do the thing at all,
want to do 1t respectfully well. Re-
specially well does not necessarily
It may not mean breaking 100. But it
does mean keeping ones end up in
the golfing company in which we play.
Most of the buffers who find their
game going haywire and their scores
mounting could stay the process of
golf1ng dissolution by keeping the body
entirely out of the golf swing. To be
sure, a simple hit with the arms can
not knock golf ball as far as the eX-
perts can knock it with their combina-
ton of shoulders, wrists, hips and
arms, but it is astonishing how far
golf ball may be hit simply by hitting
with the arms.
Body May Be Hindrance.
Proper use of the body is essential
for extreme distance, but for the or
dinary game use of the body is more
apt to be a hindrance than a help,
simply because most players do not
know how to use it. The body must
stay behind the ball at all times In the
swing.
Ho.a 4. - -ix.-1o ;l1,,e+ra+iop aS uSaI
by Chick Evans, the old Chicago master
Of the game. Consider that the club
hear is on the end of a string. Swing 1t
(do not pick it up) as if you were trying
to hit the shoulder of a man standing
few feet to your right. That necessl-
tates a shoulder turn. Then permit the
hips to rotate in that direction, which
places your hands in hitting position.
Then swing smoothly down toward the
ball, continuing the arc of the clubhead
in the same direction, out and through
the spot where the ball lay, retaining
that mental image Of the clubhead on
the end of the string.
Have you heard the story of the old
Scottish pro who had wealthy pupil
willing to spend anything to play a
decent game of golf? Weeks of lessons
N this phase and that phase of the
swing convinced the pupil that instead
Of improving he was getting worse. He
took more lessons and became worse
Finally his teacher, discouraged and an
noyed, coulseled, Man, TAX the club
and throw 1t at the ba'" And the mys-
terry was solved. From that day he be-
gan to play better golf.
The whole idea of the address Is to
square the clubface with the line of
play. And yet how many confirmed
slicers ever think to find out if the
clubface, at the moment of meeting
the ball, is in the same relative posi-
tion as in the address. Your slicer,
somewhere in the swing, causes his
clubface to turn out, and when he
meets the ball it is cutting across it,
tnparting left to right spin. 1t can
do nothing else but slice.
Few Early Hints.
Here are few early season hints
which may help to aid the ailing swing:
Get your club back in the hitting
groove. If 1t comes back right, it must
go down right.
Don't lunge forward with your body
Cultivate a smooth swing Lunging
and pressing don't win championships,
or even friendly matches.
Be natural The whole thing is
simply a natural movement.
If you fall into small errors go to
your club professional. He is the man
who has seen you swing, know your
swing and can cure your faElCs with a
little bit Of instruction. Furthermore,
he knows more about the swing in two
minutes than all the gratuitouS ad-
yiSerS know in MANY dayS