GOLF GRIPS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 74, 20 December 1919, Page 11

GOLF GRIPS

THE CARNHOUSTIE STYLE. (Bv R. Endersbv Howard, in tho "Daily Mail".) Somebodv remarked in connection with the Scottish amateur tournament at Montrose recently, that - nearly all the Carnoustie players—and they are a very powerful party—adopted the interlocking "rip This is the scheme by which the unison of tho hands is secured by placing 'tho lit.Ho finger of the right hand between the index-finger and second finger of the left. . Almost certain is it that, to obtain perfect results at golf, the two hands must work as one and rhat some means of welding theiii together in the grip is necessary. Which is the lest way.'' It is hue Hint mo-;t of tho nlus and scratch players of Carnoustie favour the principle deser bed above. The storv is that one of their stalwarts of a previous geneTation obtained earlv —but* not quite accurate— information a limit the cvnrInnpiiig grip. In this latter method, which :s now adopted by every professional of note, I believe, except Alexander Herd, the little finger.rf the right hand rests on the index filiger of the left. The Carnoustie discoverer thought Hint it had to pass bftween the fust two lingers. Ho tried that system and prospered on it. His fellow-townsmen cop'ed him, and so, by Mceidcnt. a new grip enme to be the, fashion in a jreat nursery of the game. Since that lime very many players in Pll ports, of fh" world have fin-mi red "otf.rlocking. Mr. Franc's Ouiinel, the young American anml'Mir wlin b«\t A don and Ray in the United Slate--- mien ehnmpionshin of 1913, had a knd of dcuble-bnrrelled interlocking grip in IV sense that he locked !wo (ingr r; of Ihe right bund into the fingers c-f the left. The test of time and nr:nv toirii"mcnts M.'ggosK however, that ove~l:ipping is the b"tler method. A amateurs—probably Hie majority—say that tliev cannot lini'-e any progress wi.th cither grip. That is an impression which Hie exnert leech"".'-; 0' "Mf ii* lo roniw.

They noint oiit thnt the mastering of the overlapping grip needs merely a littl" time nnd patience. Ya'don, who made ill'famous by his successes in IS9B and IS!)!), took a monl,!i or two to perfect himself at it. Taylor adopted it naturally from liis boyhood and so never had to learn it. Most of the olilier professionals who now have suoli faith in it experienced more than a little trouble in becoming accustomed to it, but _ I lihink tihey would say that its adoption has done more than any other influence to raiso the standard of professional golf clearly ahead of that of amateur golf.

The most natural wn.v of yrippinir is the old way—the hands touching but neither locking nor overlapping. It prevails among tlio rank and file of amateurs. Professionals who delve into problems of cause and effect declare that it is sure to produce periods when one lmnd controls the other and causes a crooked shot. Tho only worso method is to_ have tilie two '.hands actually apart. Jfiss Bertha Thompson did indeed hold the e.lnb in that wa.v when ehn won tlio ladies' open championship. It looked as though the. ouo hand mint he working against the other all the t>ime. Presumably sho supplied tlio exception to the rule.

Interlocking js inovo natural than overlapping; it gives a greater sense ot' power. But, "by common consent', one of (lie secrets of successful golf is n light g'rip—delicate and sensitive duviiig the swing, ami coming into its strength only by the involuntary effort of impucli with the ball.

_ Overlapping is almost essentially <1 finger-grip, so that it cannot be so taut as when the club is held in the palms of tihe hands. Moreover, it is 1 generally recognised that many of the bad shots in golf arc causrd by tho littio fingers exercising a tighter hold—as they aro capable ol doing—than Ihe thumbs and forefingers. Overlapping, obviously militates against fjmt, since, with tile little finger of the right hand resting on the forefinger of the left, ite strength is merely oomnuinicaled instead of being applied directly.