The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1935-02-11
By FRANK BUCK" O'NEILL
Times Staff Writer


How many different kinds
of grips are there?" demanded
the duffer as he Stormed up to
George Diffenbaugh in the
locker room at Indian Spring.
Gust two" replied the little
master of the mashie.
And they are?" came the
uestiOn.
THE right and the wrong"
said the pro.
"Now just a minute" OBJ
jected the duffer. THAT can't
be right. All my life I've been
reading of the VardOn grip, the
Braid grip, the interlocking
and the overlapping. How do
you account for that?"
ONLY ONE METHOD
"There still are two grips"
insisted Diffenbaugh. "They are
the right and the wrong. You
can overlap and interlOck from
now until Tbs eve, and unless
you do the thing just right,
you're going to be wrong and
you're going to have trouble"
"WelI, / must be wrong from
the start" said the horrible ex-
ample. 1--WE been in all kinds
of trouble"
LET me see you grip the
club" Diffenbaugh said in his
kindliest tones. Maybe we can
help you out of your rough
spots"
"Okay, here we co." came the
response.
Now we have to refer the
reader to the photo engraVingS
that accompany this piece.
Duffer Starts Wrong
Setting the club head on the
ground the duffer placed the
leather wrapping of his Bobby
Jones driver across the palm OF
his hands.
"Now this is the way I start.
/ try to keep the club close to
the fingers. Is that right?" he
asked.
ITS partly right" said Diff
fenbaugh. "Only right there
you've started trouble for your.
self. The club handle isn't in
the fingers at all. 1t is in the
palm of the hand. You can't
hit your shots consistently with
that sort of grip.
"Well how is this?" asked the
duffer, and he shifted his hands
a little, dropping the thumb on
the top of the shaft.
TERRIBLE" said the coach.
with your thumb in that posi-
ton it would take all the weight
of the club at the top of the
swing. Your hand is not in the
right position to let the club go
through to the finish as it
should. When you grip the club,
with the left hand 1 mean, you
should be able to look down and
see the tops of at least three
knuckles. AS it is you can't see
the tops of any knuckles. You
just see the side of them.
WRONG GOLF GRIP
"You say to get the thumb off
the top of the shaft?" asked
the duffer. "HOw is this?"
He shifted from the position
as shown in the second panel
of the engraving to the third
picture, which would be the real
Mccoy on a night stick, a bale
hook or a baseball bat. But it
strictly is out of all form in
golf.
A cold perspiration bathed the
forehead of the coach. He gasped
a couple of times, muttered
something about his spent youth
and then very gently crooned:
"NO, no; one thousand times
no."
You can't treat a golf club
like that" he said, and in his
voice there was a querulous tone.
REQUIRES DEFT TREATMENT
Don't you know that a golf
club is like a spirited horse?
If you treat it nicely it will
do the incest things for you,
but you can't abuse it.
"NOw the way you have that
club, you'd simply strangle its
soul. You could not make
your wrists work in harmony
with the accepted golf swing.
Now and then you might be
able to cold cock one off the
tees or through the green. but
for the most part it would be
a long, hard trip over the
course.
you'll find that if you take
the club between the thumb and
first finger; sole the club and
pick it up, ice tong fashion,
that your second, third and lit
tie finger will grip the handle
properly and the thumb will
be in the right position. You
will see the correct number of
knuckleS as you look down at
the left hand. You will be cor
rect in your grip, which is
starting right.
WAIT TILL TOMORROW
well, come around tOmor-
row and we'll show you the
right way to grip a club"