The new golf

Front matter

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CDPYRIGHT DEPflSm

JEROME D. TRAVERS

Preface

gently about, golf, one has to miss about three quarters of the conversation in any country club — and many other places — in America.

This may seem a poor way to look at a great game. It really is not so. There is more golf in the atmosphere than politics or religion. Nobody cares to be quite ignorant of the subject that is engrossing the attention of one 's friends and relations. It is therefore becoming increasingly important for every one to know at least enough about golf to avoid being bored to distraction.

This is a very insidious method of adding to the ranks of the golfers. It is right that one should get this knowledge — this theoretical knowledge — first. It is so much pleasanter for him — and the other people — when he sets out to put it into practise, as he undoubtedly will.

In arriving at the new golf it was of course necessary to know ''Ye olde goffe." In comparing the new thought and the intellectual advance in the game with what has gone before it has been impossible to avoid reference to the works of the great masters of golf, men whom every good golfer honors for their great skill in playing the game and for the admirable manner in which they all so worthily maintain their position in it in every way. All advance in any science is built upon the achievement or error of

PREFACE

the men who went before, and even the errors of the earnest student are frequently good for the man who comes after. I have been led to the truth by a famous man's error, the same error as I myself had made before him, but I did not see it until he made it. Then it was clear to me.

So, it has been necessary for me to use the work of the famous men, who have gone before me in the history of golf, in building up The New Golf and the secure foundation for The New Thought in golf, which is of infinitely greater importance. Knowing golf thoroughly and thinking it keenly cannot make the game less interesting or beneficial, and that I am sure will be proved by a careful study of The New Golf.

I must impress on my readers the fact that in nearly every case where a golf book has been produced in England under the name of a famous professional it has been written by some golf journalist who is not himself entitled to speak with authority. In this manner much that is not even **olde goffe" has become associated with the names of the famous players, — ^much, indeed, to which they will not now subscribe. The trouble is, however, that it is still circulating with all the authority of their great names and will so continue to circulate unless The New Thought in golf damages it severely — as I think it will.

PREFACE

Americans really are keen and analytical about their game. They desire always the shortest road to proficiency. I believe that in The New Golf I am showing the American golfer that road. If this work is not a primer to the beginner and a valuable friend to the champion, and this indeed is '*a far cry both ways," it will have failed of the purpose which inspired its production.

P. A. V.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I The Right Wat to Learn Golf 1

II Gripping and Soling the Club 6

Chapter II Gkipping And Soling The Club

There are quite a number of different grips that may be advantageously used for playing golf — by different people. I have very little doubt that of the grips commonly used that which is generally called "The Vardon grip" is the best.

The Vardon grip was not introduced by Harry Vardon. It was known and used before Vardon took it up, but he undoubtedly set the fashion for it and it is the best of the known overlapping or interlocking grips.

I may say at once that I do not believe in any of the interlocking grips although we have one or two cases of golfers who have made history by the use of some form of interlocking grip. I cannot see any possible advantage in an interlocking grip that cannot be obtained better by an overlapping hold.

The outstanding features of the Vardon grip are that the thumb of the left hand is buried between the pahn of the right hand and the shaft of the club and the little finger of the right hand rides on the forefinger of the left. This grip, with slight differences in the positions of the hands on the shaft, is used by Braid, Taylor, Vardon, Duncan and many of the leading golfers. The great claim made for it is that it brings the wrists more closely together and so leads to a more harmonious action.

There is very little doubt that this claim is well founded. It is not, however, so certain that the advantages of the grip are so great as is commonly supposed in England. In America the grip is not nearly so popular as it is in England where golfers are extremely prone to follow the lead of success. Some very fine English golfers have not adopted the overlapping grip and in America a great number of the leading players still use the old two handed grip.

In speaking against the Yardon overlapping grip one is confronted by a fairly stiff argument in the shape of at least sixteen open championships won with it. It sounds almost revolutionary to say it but I am inclined to think that this does not necessarily prove that the Vardon grip is the best for golf or even for the majority of golfers. On the contrary, I am inclined to think that for the majority of golfers it is a dangerous grip and one that is calculated to induce the player to ease his grip with his right hand during the swing, and this is a particularly objectionable habit to cultivate.

If one must use an overlapping grip I am inclined to think that the reverse overlap to that used by Vardon is safer and for at least ninety per cent, of golfers more efficacious than that in general use. In this case the forefinger of the left hand over-rides the little finger of the right, the left thumb as in the Vardon grip lying at the base of the right thumb between the shaft and the palm of the right hand.

The Vardon grip, in my opinion, tends unduly to weaken the grip of the right hand while the suggested overlap gives the right hand its proper position on the club, does away with the great tendency to open up the right hand,(and exerts a most beneficial influence in checking one of the most prolific causes of inaccuracy in golf, namely, the deep-rooted tendency to overswing that seems to be inherent in most golf ers)*— or would-be golfers. This shortening of the swing is of much greater importance that is realized, and I shall have occasion later to deal with it fully.

It is however impossible to dogmatize about the matter of grip. There is probably one grip that is best for most players. I think that the new grip suggested by me will, in the course of a few years, perhaps sooner, come into general use, but even then, it will not suit every one. So it resolves itself into this for the individual. He must try the various grips and choose the one that suits him best, if he is going on his own judgment, assisted by the book, or he must (in reason, of course) follow the advice of his professional, but always I should advise a beginner, and indeed any player who is off his game, to try the new overlap, as I am convinced that it has advantages that the Vardon overlapping grip does not possess.

I do not want to enter into any wearisome argument in favor of the new overlap. I may however direct the attention of my readers to the remarkable records of Messrs. John Ball and H. H. Hilton. The Vardon overlapping grip played no part in making their fame, therefore it is at least certain that the overlapping grip is not a necessity. Argumentative people may point to the records of Braid, Taylor and Vardon. The answer is that probably these men would have won with any of the grips used in golf. We may even go further and say that we cannot possibly say how much better they might play if they were to adopt the proposed method of overlapping instead of that used by them.

Now there will be few to deny that the golf of Messrs. Ball and Hilton is right-handed golf.

Allowing this to be the case what argument can we find in changing grips for making so sudden and radical a change as to deprive the right hand of its place of honor on the shaft and for giving that to the left, for that is what we do in the Vardon overlap. We take away the full grip with the right and give that to the left. In the proposed overlap I proceed by the more natural stage and allow the right hand to take its proper place on the shaft without being interfered with in any way, for the insertion of one thumb at the base of the ball of the other thumb cannot be regarded as an interference ; indeed it is probably very useful in tending to prevent one getting too much of a palm hold.

Grripping the club correctly is unquestionably of very great importance and it behooves the beginner to try most carefully and earnestly to get the grip that suits his hands and build best. It is, as I have at various times indicated, almost impossible to dogmatize on this subject, but there is another matter of fundamental importance which should be taught just as soon as one knows how to hold a club, yet is most consistently neglected in nearly every book on golf and by at least nineteen of twenty professionals. I refer to the soling of the club.

Many quite good players handicap themselves

THE NEW GOLF ii

by their faulty method of soling the club. It is not unusual to see golfers addressing the ball with the toe of the driver cocked up in the air and the heel resting on the ground. This is a mistake. At the address one should strive to place the club as nearly as may be in relation to the ball in the same position as one intends it to be when it returns to the ball in the downward swing.

It must be remembered that the sole of the club is meant for the club to rest on. It is not necessary in addressing a ball that the club shall rest on its sole, but in ninety per cent, of golf strokes it is advisable that the sole should be allowed to perform its office. The loft of a club bears a definite relation to the sole. This has been settled by the club-maker. Therefore in addressing your ball let your club rest on its sole. This is a good general rule though it is not without many exceptions to prove it. For instance, my most prized mashie has practically no sole, for it starts curving upwards and backwards directly it leaves the lower edge of the face of the club.

A player should not require the sole of his club by which to sole his club, but it is undeniably expedient in most cases, when addressing the ball, to lay the club so that it rests easily and naturally with the whole of the sole in contact with the turf.

As one gains experience it is probable that one will have a club or two, especially in the future, that does not give the fullest indication of how to sole it by the shape and breadth of its sole; also, of course, the soles of many clubs are now curved. The player will however be well advised, wherever possible, to sole his club in the manner indicated by the make of the club. I cannot make this too clear, for it is a matter of the greatest importance. Let me therefore give a very simple yet forcible illustration.

One is addressing one's ball for a drive with an ordinary driver or brassy. Imagine that the shaft is sawn off at the socket. Take the club head and put it down on the turf behind the ball so that it rests fairly and flatly behind the ball, and so that a line taken from the face of the club through the ball to the hole would form with the front edge of the face of the club two right angles.

The idea in one 's mind must be that the face of the club runs at right angles to the line to the hole at the moment of address and particularly at the moment of impact. This is always of vital importance especially in putting.

Eemember that there must be no cocking up of the club in any way. It must rest truly and fairly on the sole. There are four ways in which people offend. They address with the club cocked up at the toe, which is very bad. Others address with the club down at the toe. This is a rarer and a worse fault.

A by no means uncommon fault is to address with the front of the sole a httle off the ground while others again are inclined to lift the back of the club and press down in front. All of these eccentricities should be avoided and the club allowed to rest firmly and lightly on the grass.

Most professionals now sole the club in front of the ball when addressing for the put. It is astonishing how these fashions spring up and take hold. The idea is that one is able to get a better line from the face of the putter to the hole if one 's view is unobstructed than one can if the ball comes between one's putter and the hole. Great putting was done, before this method was introduced, by people who have not used it, much very bad putting has been done by champions who have used it, and much really good work has been done by players who habitually use it.

This is a fair summing up of the case so far as regards this method of address. Most of the great players in England do it, but unless one can put better this way than in the old style it is inadvisable to worry about altering one's method. There are many details in connection with soling the club and putting that are of infinitely greater importance than this matter.

Chapter III Peevalent Misconceptions About The Golf Stkoke

There is so mucli misconception about the stroke in golf that it is expedient to dispose of as much of it as possible before dealing with the strokes in the usual course.

It will be noticed that I say "the stroke in golf." We shall be told that there are many strokes in golf. Well, so there are, but it will trouble any one to get one that is not an exaggerated put or some part of a drive. Indeed there are not wanting those who assert that a drive is merely a highly developed put. We need not follow this argument too far, although it may be said, right at the beginning, that for many people, particularly those who take up golf late in life, the nearer they can keep their drive to the put the better for them; and this has been proved to be very sound golf.

It is of the utmost importance for any one who intends to learn golf, or for any one who has learned, or is learning it, and is not satisfied with the result, to understand that above everything, if one wishes to play a fairly good game, it is necessary to give nature a chance. This is precisely what a vast number of people will not do at golf. Why they persist in this foolishness is the one great mystery of golf.

If one were to take the ordinary man up to a daisy drooping its head in a field, hand him. a walking stick and say ''Let me see you cut its head off" the chances are that he would unconsciously play a perfectly good right handed golf stroke. With many it would no doubt be a trifle short as the suggested operation would not need much strength, but it would be a natural hit, and that is what the golf stroke, to be successful, must be.

We must now try to disencumber our minds of quite a number of strange ideas which are very prevalent amongst golfers and golf writers. It is amazing what a great number of things it is expedient to forget when once one gets opposite the ball. As a matter of fact there is just one thing to keep firmly in mind and one only and that is to hit it. If the result is unsatisfactory one may then hold the post-mortem.

"Slow back."

Of all the parrot cries of the links ''Slow back" is perhaps the most insistent and also one of the most unnecessary. When once one has got one's swing under control, to insist on one's going back slowly, and to think of doing it, is merely adding another difficulty to the swing.

It is unnecessary to go back more slowly than just enough to ensure that there is no conflict of forces at the top of the swing when the upward swing ceases and the downward swing begins.

In a natural swing it is quite unlikely that there will be any conflict for a peculiar reason that has not, so far as I am aware, ever been stated in a golf book or an article on golf. The downward swing really starts before the upward swing is finished.

This is a paradoxical statement but it is quite sound as any one who is sufficiently interested can prove by a close study of motion pictures. The body leads the hands and arm in the return stroke. It starts to twist back towards the ball before the club has dropped to the lowest point over the player's left shoulder. I believe I am correct in saying that this is the first time this has ever been brought out.

It will thus be seen that even in the quickest of drives, unless the action is quite stiff and unnatural, there is not, as is usually supposed, a moment at the top of the swing when the upward swing gives place suddenly to the downward. As a matter of fact, the one merges in the other in such a remarkable manner that it would be im-

THE NEW OVERLAPPING 0F», VAILE GRIP possible to say where or when the downward swing begins. Any student of golf who thinks that he can do this will find his time well spent with action photographs of the famous golfers of the world at the top of their swing.

There can be no doubt that the top of the swing is a critical position. If one arrives at the correct position there one has a reasonably good chance of returning correctly to the ball. It will therefore be seen that one must in swinging back be careful not to do so with undue speed for in that case there would be a chance of introducing an element of unsteadiness into the swing at a point where it is especially undesirable.

There is an excellent reason against ''Slow back" which one does not very often hear advanced. It is impossible to preserve anything like rhythm in the swing if one consciously tries to make one half of it much slower than the other. Anything of this nature should be by sub-conscious effort, otherwise the due relation of the upward and downward swing is lost. This ancient *' slow-back" maxim is perhaps the first thing to forget in making the golf stroke.

Swinging back.

A very misleading idea of the beginning of the golf stroke is generally given by books and instmctors. The pupil is told to swing the club back. In the address the club is practically at the bottom of its arc. It cannot swing upward without power being found for it. As a matter of fact, the club is picked up off the ground by the hands and wrists and carried naturally back by them and the arms even as the walking stick was in the daisy cutting experiment.

Any attempt to swing the club back will very likely result in the hands getting away backward before the head of the club, which is a bad fault. In the swing of most of the old St. Andrews golfers the first thing in the swing back was the press forward.

This is another very sound paradox. Directly the player starts to hit the ball he pushes his hands forward an inch or two which turns the face of his club over a little toward the ball. I have never heard of or seen any explanation of this habit, but there can be no doubt that it gives one a nice clean pick up of the club and it certainly tends to prevent the wrists hurrying away before the head of the club.

"As you go up so you come down."

This is one of the most revered of golf's hoary old traditions, most of which are extremely unsound, as indeed is this. One has undoubtedly a great tendency to come back to the ball by the same route as that which one uses to get to the top of the swing. It will, however, be apparent that if one goes back, as one is instructed to, well in a line with the ball for some inches and fairly, or perhaps I should say comparatively, slowly, and then returns at top-speed to the ball, as one must in order to drive well, one will return by the most direct route possible, which route one certainly did not take on the upward swing. This is another of those incorrect and unnecessary ''axioms" that may with much advantage be forgotten.

There is one good point in this unsound "axiom." It may perhaps make the golfer strive both in the swing back and the downward swing to keep his club head travelling for as long a time as possible, or rather for as great a distance as convenient, both in the upward and downward swings, in the line to the hole produced through the ball. This is of importance.

Distribution of weight.

Practically all books and all professional golfers teach the distribution of weight in the golf swing incorrectly. This is a very broad and sweeping statement but it is a fact. The distribution of weight particularly in the drive is of vital importance. All the greatest golfers say that at the top of the swing the weight must be on the right leg. This is quite wrong, and if one follows their instructions, it is a physical impossibility.

What one must try for is to have the weight absolutely evenly distributed between the legs at the top of the swing. If one tries for this the major portion of the weight will go where it ought to be, namely, onto the left leg and not onto the right.

The great golfers tell us that at the top of the swing all the weight goes onto the right leg. This is very bad gplf. Since I exposed the fallacy of this statement some of them now go to the other extreme and say that it must all be borne on the left foot. This is probably a worse error. The truth lies between these extremes. Try for equal distribution and one will get a slight excess on the left foot, which is as it should be.

This matter is however of so much importance that we must, in dealing with the drive, give it further attention.

The golf stroke a sweep and not a hit.

Probably the most remarkable misconception on the part of the most famous golfers and authors is the wonderful idea that the golf drive is a sweep and not a hit.

I may mention incidentally that one of the most eminent scientists in England measured the duration of the drive in golf and found it to be one ten-thousandth of a second. This, I may mention parenthetically, is truly a gentle sweep !

This idea of sweeping the ball off the tee has been encouraged to an amazing extent by all the leading professionals and writers, even by J. H. Taylor, whose terrific right forearm punch is so famous.

James Braid also encourages the idea. In Chapter VIII of How to play Golf he says: "The chief thing to bear in mind is that there must be, in the case of play with the driver and the brassie, no attempt to hit the ball, which must be simply swept from the tee and carried forward in the even and rapid swing of the club. The drive in golf differs from almost every other stroke in every game in which the propulsion of a ball is the object. In the ordinary sense of the word, implying a sudden and sharp impact, it is not a 'hit' when it is properly done."

This really is a very remarkable statement. If one ten-thousandth of a second is not a sufficiently ''sudden and sharp impact" to warrant the golf stroke being called a hit I should like to know what speed is demanded before we go from the realm of the sweep into that of the hit.

As a matter of simple fact and plain common sense the stroke in golf, except possibly in the put, is a hit and not a sweep. Even in the properly played put it is open to argument whether or not it is technically a hit. With many, who are usually unreliable putters, it undoubtedly is a hit, but that matter we must consider more fully in another place.

This strangely persistent delusion about the golf stroke being a sweep has ruined the game of many thousands of players. I do not know of any stroke in the whole realm of athletics wherein, at the moment of impact, the striking implement is traveling so fast as the golf club does at that time, yet I never heard of this very silly claim being set up in tennis, cricket, polo, or indeed, in any other game. I am glad to say that the development of modern thought is tending to restrain these flights of imagination and that the player is getting every day a greater chance to be himself, to play the game as every game that is worthy of the name should be played — naturally and unaffectedly.

Regulation of stroke during impact.

The player must forget everything that he has ever read or been told as to what he can do to the ball while it is on the club, that is, during adhesion. The club and the ball are in actual contact and travel for a very short distance together. This is technically called adhesion. This period is so much less than what we understand by the word instantaneous that it is quite useless to try to convey to my readers any idea of its duration. It has been computed — as I have said — by one of our most capable physicists at one ten-thousandth of a second.

It will be quite apparent then that it is utterly useless for a human being to think that he can time his stroke in such a manner that any special thing he does in that period can have any effect on the ball.

We are told by quite experienced players, like Mr. W. J. Travis for example: ''The science of the stroke consists in hitting very sharply, and turning the wrists upward immediately after the ball is struck. ' '

Now the truth is that whatever one does to the golf ball during impact is merely an incident in the predetermined course or arc of the club head. The stroke is played at such a great pace that it is impossible to do anything during impact that is not in the swing of the club both before and after impact. James Braid emphasizes this. Let us see what he says : ''While it is of course in the highest degree necessary that the ball should be taken in exactly the right place on the club and in the right manner, this will have to be done by the proper regulation of all the other parts of the swing and any effort to direct the club on to it in a particular manner just as the ball is being reached, cannot be attended by success."

This strange fallacy was very prevalent in England until I demonstrated its falseness. There were not wanting serious students of the game who asserted that they actually saw Vardon producing his pulled drive by turning his wrists over at the moment of impact. It was years before they saw the futility of the action, if it had been used, and the falseness of the assumption that it was used.

It is however so important that the student should get rid of any lingering notion of this kind that I quote James Braid again. He says: ''If the ball is taken by the toe or heel of the club, or is topped, or if the club gets too much under it, the remedy for these faults is not to be found in a more deliberate directing of the club on to the ball just as the two are about to come into contact, but in the better and more exact regulation of the swing the whole way through up to this point. ' '