by: Alan Walker
Lesson 2
D.M. complained that his fingers were short, that his hands were thick and fat, and that it was impossible for him to take the club back as I suggested.
"D.M.," I pleaded, "I'm not asking you to perform a miracle. I'm only asking you to keep the club in position as you swing it up and down. This is something that you must do with your hands. Your number three motion, instead of being started with the left hand, which rolls the club away from the ball, should be actually started with the right hand; then your left hand instead of pronating could do the reverse, supinate, and the club face would be kept closed or square through the swing.
"In fact," I urged, "if you will do this on the back-swing, when you reach the top of the swing you will have control of the club with your left hand as you ought to. Then and only then will you be able to come through with the left arm and the left side, and only then will you meet the ball squarely and drive it down the middle."
No amount of explanation seemed to break up D.M.'s faulty hand action until we were in our fourth lesson. At this point, having exhausted about all the suggestions I had, I suddenly came out with this statement:
• Pronation is defined in Chapter Six.
"D.M., why do you insist on playing with the back of the club, when it's so much easier to play with the front of it?"
It suddenly happened! D.M., instead of thinking of his hands, began thinking of the club—thinking of what he should do with the club—and very soon he learned the difference between what he should not be doing, opening the club on the backswing, and what he should do, close it on the backswing or at least keep it square.
Of course, every good golfer has that ability. Every good golfer learns that it is one thing to swing a golf club, but it is another thing to know what position the club is in while it is being swung.
Well, once D.M. learned the difference between letting his club fall open on the backswing and/or keeping it closed, square, or in position as he made his swing, D.M. began to play golf. His shots started to go straight, and he began to play golf as one ought to play it—he used each club for the shot or purpose for which it was designed.
Let me digress for a moment from the story about D.M., because this is a good time to tell you what an easy game golf is, and what an enjoyable game it can be with a correct understanding of the simple facts:
(a) A golf club will only do what the player makes it do.
(b) Each club is designed for a specific purpose, and only
when it is applied to the ball in its true, natural state
will it produce the effect for which it was designed.
(c) Basically, there are only three clubs in golf:
1. The driver, shaped so that it drives the ball on a low
trajectory and is therefore used for distance shots.
2. The iron, formerly called a lofter, does exactly what the name implies—it lofts or lifts the ball. This club is used to place the ball into position in certain spots on the fairway or on the green.
3. The putter, which would be better named a "roller," is so designed that it rolls the ball; therefore, it is the club used to accomplish the very purpose of the game—roll the ball into the cup.
But golfers are not limited or restricted to these three clubs. Golfers get themselves a set of two or three, more generally four, but sometimes even five, drivers. They carry a set of three or six, most generally a set of eight, irons. They usually add to this outfit a heavy weighted club to get the ball out of deep grass or sand traps. And, the above clubs, along with a putter, generally constitute the set of 14 clubs that a golfer is permitted to use in tournament play.
Now, having such an outfit is a perfect waste of material unless each and every club is swung in the same way so that the various differences in the shapes of the clubs can each perform their objectives. In other words, golf is an easy game to play, because the player has a specific club or tool for each shot or effect that is desired. All he has to do is to learn the one basic swing and apply it to each club.
By comparison, the game of tennis is difficult. In tennis, the player has only one club or one racquet, the ball is never in the same position—it is either high or low, in front of him or behind him—and to make his shots successfully the tennis player must learn and be able to play several different strokes. But not so the golfer. If he correctly learns the one stroke, he can simply let the club do the work.