Golf. SWING YOUR WOODS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 111, 27 May 1937, Page 15

Golf. SWING YOUR WOODS

Let the Club Do All the Work ; CONTROL OF BODY How' often do. you see piayers ■logging With. a.11 their bodily effort ; with their woofien clubs iu an attenpt to get the little white bait on its way to the hole? In this effort they nse enough force to swing a "Macksmith's sledge hammer, and get nowhere. They npset their balaaoe, destrpy their timing, fosxle or slice thblrbail and wonder hotar the sllght girlish player on the next fairway got more length without any apparent effort. Stop and think. It Will come to you that you did not swing' your elub at all, You lurchod iuto the shot with your body -first and and- dtagged your elub at the ball. Just fry taking an ea iy etance with your feet not too faf apart eo that you can balanee on either foot. Take jour club back, so that you feel the weight of the clubhead in your left hand, for % foot or more straight back from the ball and close to the ground. Your left shoulder will then follow xound and also your left hip, the right hip slipping back to brace the right side at the same tixne. Your right hand ia kept almost out of play with the elbow close -to the fcide. Then the Wrists will complete the back swing by getting into a hjitting position with the elub horiiontal over the shoulders. Steady ie now the word. "With your eye on the ball you start the forwaTd swing, keeping the right ana well into the body etill and just uncoil yourself ■o that the clubhead describes the same arc in ite deseent as it did in the upswing. Your hips will move first if you retard'the hitting from your (shoulders. The left hip coming back and locking in unison ,with the left kn.ee, the the right hip coming round With the right shoulder following. Then as you reach this position you are all set to put the hit or force into the shot if you have kept the right arm into the side. The wrists and hands uncoil and flip the elub-head into the b&ll, the right arm ie right behind and follows through to give the driving force at the moment of impact. Just a swing and pivot. AD so simple and easy if the body effort is kept in subjection. With the iron elub the hit is more in evidence, bnt the same order of move- - ment of the various bodily members oiust be followed. The etance should be firm bnt eaSy, with ball slightly ihore in with the right heel so that the naturai bottozu of the swing is in front ef the belL The club-head then comes in oontact with the ball on the down ■troke and the tnrf taken after the ball is.hit. Thie is termed hitting down on: the ball and imparts backspin and steadiness to the flight of the ball. Follow through is essential to complete the shot, but not to an exaggerated exiaat If the club-head is allowed to follow through and.point to the objective aimed at* everything should be right. Any attempt made to stop a follow ttfrough results in a slackening off and a half hit shot or & stab at the ball. Thie ie very apparent in th'e shor tohips with a mashie when approaching the green when a player is scared of overrunning the hdle or green. Every iron shot 'should be played docisively, even the shortest, Control the distance of the fiight by the length of the backswing, but hit the ball crisply with the handn Hastingi Club Notea. The Tecent rains have made a m&rked differenee in the playing conditions of the Hastings Club's course. The grass is now eoming on rapidly on the fairways and there is a decidedly shorten run on the ball, which is reflected in the scoree xeturned. In Saturday's medal match only one A grade inan, N. Campbell, Teturned a card below par, 81 — 15 nefc 66, which was an easy first. G. D, Sutherland (6) 75 and P. E. Clifton (5) 75 £lled (second place, with three, F. M. 6. Budd (4), N. Appleby (9) and F. S. Candy (15) tieing for third place with net 76 each. Ia the B grade the pride of place was fliled by B. D. Brown (21) 70, E. L. Commin (20) 71 being second and C. Carrell (21) 72 third. Four others • played .to their handicaps in securing net 73— namely, A. E. Palmer, G. W. Estaugh, C. Vidal agd J. G. Esam. The week-end four-ball bogey resulted'in a tie for first place, W. Matthewg and C. Yidal, 4 up, and T. Webster and J. Leggatt, 4 up, sharing the honoura. Next in order were E. A. Tong and F. M. Murray, H. E. EUiott and A. Barnaby, H. H. Edwards and H. J. Longstaff, each with 2 up, to their credit. The bogey match on Thursday saw E. A. Tong xeturning the nice card of 3 up to secure the tropby. This player is on the improve after a spell from the game for a few years and is now beginning to show hia real form. A.-D. Murphy was again in the picture with a xeturn of 1 up. F. Cole and H, Blackmore were satisfied to call it quits with bogey at all square, though at one stags the last-named player was 4 up on tbe colonel, but could not quite stay tbe distance. B. Yesty caitie next with a card of 1 down. Inter-CIub Match. A team from the Hastings Club journeyed to Waipawa last wook-end, a trip that was amply repaid by the co*--diality of the welcome and the spirit in which the matches were played. The Hastings men proved the winners in both the singles and four-ball games, winning eight' singles to Waipawa 'a five, and five four-ball games to the iiome club's two. Lator in the season Waipawa will return the call and then hope to reverse the tally.