Bobby Jones on Golf

by Robert Tyre Jones

  This should not be hard to understand. No one would attempt to throw a baseball while reared back on his heels or to deliver a right uppercut while stepping away from his foe. Why, then, should he fling his left foot at the water bucket when he tries to hit a golf ball?

  3 PLACING THE FEET

  The average golfer, when he is going out for length to add those few additional yards to his normal drive, cannot resist an impulse to spread his feet just a bit farther apart. It is natural, of course, to feel that a firmer, more fixed stance is necessary in order to brace himself against the effect of the extra exertion and, in order to make sure that the footing is solid, the ambitious one will invariably work his feet into the ground as though he were getting set to lift a piano. He thinks he is getting set to hit harder, but he is in reality beating himself at the start.

  The most tremendous span in a golf stance was that accomplished by Major Charles O. Hezlet, the British Walker Cup player. Once while playing with the Major I made an attempt to take the exact stance he had employed for a drive. By great effort, I could make my legs cover the distance, but once in the position, I had no earthly chance of hitting a golf shot. Certainly, if a wide stance were an aid in getting distance, Major Hezlet would have been an astonishingly long driver. He was about as firmly fixed to the earth as one could possibly be, yet while he was a very straight driver and a fine player, he was far from being an exceptionally long hitter. His forte was, rather, his ability with his short, almost pivotless swing to hit the ball time and time again down the middle of the fairway. Major Hezlet elected to employ a wide stance because for him the advantage gained by improved control more than offset the length he was thus forced to sacrifice.

  There are several sources of power in the ordinary golf stroke. The arms, wrists, shoulders, and hips all contribute toward the aggregate force that should be exploded exactly behind the ball. The ideal, of course, is a proper balance among all these factors that will allow each to contribute as much power as possible without disturbing the accuracy of the stroke. Anything causing a loss or an impairment of the efficiency of any one of these factors will cause a loss of power in the entire stroke.

  A stance as extreme as Major Hezlet’s practically destroys the value of hip turn as a contributor to distance. With the feet spread wide apart, the lower part of the body is almost completely locked, and even the shoulder motion is made more difficult. The result is brought about, though in lesser degree, by any increase the player may take over his normal span.

  The keynote of the address position should be ease, comfort, and relaxation. Above all else, the first posture must be one from which the movement of the swing may start smoothly without having to break down successive barriers of tension set up by taut or strained muscles. To go a bit further, the player should feel himself alert, sensitive to impulses, and ready to move in either direction.

  It is always better at this point to be one’s own natural self than to try to look like someone else. Any posture that feels uncomfortable is certain to produce a strain somewhere that will cause the ensuing movement to be jerky. It is well to remember that there are no forces outside the player’s own body that have to be resisted or balanced. There is no need for him to set or brace himself, for there is nothing to brace against. If one could conceive that he were standing naturally, with a club in his hands, engaged in ordinary conversation, and that he then bent over enough to ground the club behind a ball not too far away, the resulting posture would be quite good.

  This position, where everything is more or less at rest, is the most easily observed of the entire stroke, and it is the first to which the beginner should give attention. It is difficult to swing the club correctly, but it ought not to be a hard job to assume a correct position from which to start.

  Taking first the stance, the position of the feet is all we have to consider. At first, I think the player should give himself little concern about the placing of his feet with respect to the ball, disregarding this feature to the extent of learning the correct stance before attempting to address the ball. The most important thing about the feet is to place them in such positions that they will not hinder the motion of the body during any part of the stroke. This must be done whether the stance be open, closed, or square, and whether the player finds himself more comfortable with his feet close together or far apart.

  The best pros, almost without exception, place the right foot so that the toe points almost exactly straight to the front, at right angles to the line of play. Never in select golfing company do we see a right toe pointing more than ever so slightly outward away from the ball. The left toe, on the other hand, usually is turned slightly outward, away from the ball, and never inward toward the ball.

  This is the correct position because it is the position from which the complete swing may be most easily accomplished. With the right foot pointing almost straight ahead, a turn of the hips causes the right knee to swing back and form a splendid brace, as it must. If the foot were turned either way, it would interfere with the stroke either going up or coming down, simply because the motion of the leg could not conform with the hip turn if the foot were far from the proper place. Turning the right toe outward destroys the right-leg brace, and interferes with a free swing through the ball; turning the left toe outward prevents a full backswing by restricting the action of the left leg.

  When one stands naturally erect, with feet approximately twelve inches apart and each in a natural position as in walking, there is a perfect balance of the body, and a complete facility of movement in either direction without destroying that balance. Hips and shoulders can be twisted and turned, arms swung, and the entire torso turned to either side with equal ease. This is what we are striving for in addressing a golf ball, and the positions of the feet have a great deal to do with the value of the position. The more like a natural standing posture the thing can be made, the better off we are.

  The exact location of the ball with respect to the feet is not a matter of first importance so long as certain considerations are not lost sight of. The first of these is that a preponderance of weight must not be upon the right foot. There should be an approximately equal division of the burden, but if either foot is to carry more, it should by all means be the left foot. Regardless of what is said by those who like to talk about swaying, it is necessary in order to swing easily and rhythmically that there be an appreciable shift of weight successively backward to the right foot in taking the club back and forward to the left in striking the ball. This cannot be done if too much weight rests upon the right foot at the start.

  The most usual position of the ball is on a spot opposite the left heel of the player, or perhaps a very few inches back of that point. There is an important requirement of good form that limits the advance of the ball beyond the left foot, just as the requirement of weight distribution makes it necessary to keep the ball ahead of the right foot.

  It will be noted that the better players uniformly address the ball so that the hands of the player are ahead of the ball and the shaft of the club inclines backward to the head, resting behind the ball. This is a very important feature, because the position of the hands assists materially in keeping the club face open. The left hand, being the factor that opens or closes the face, should be placed on the club with the back of the hand upward. This position can only be maintained if the hands are advanced beyond the spot opposite the ball, so that the club will slant backward to its position on the ground.

  4 PROPER POSTURE

  There is one point that ought to be noticed in which the better players are alike and the dubs are uniformly out of step. That point has solely to do with the degree of rigidity to be found in the knee joints. Many beginners, for some reason, stiffen one or both legs to the point where all spring and mobility is taken away. The knee joints are thrown backward and locked so that the legs become like pieces of wood. Watching any good player closely, it will be observed that each leg is relaxed and supple—not bent into a squat
ting posture, but far from the rigid straightness of the dub. The desired curvature is about that accomplished in walking leisurely at a comfortable speed.

  The man who reaches out for the ball gets into trouble because he cannot extend his arms and remain relaxed. The extreme of this is often seen in the player who extends his arms and elevates his hands until arms, hands, and club complete a straight line from his shoulders to the ball. The teaching that the left arm and the club should lie in the same vertical plane is all right, but no one in his wildest moments ever conceived that they should lie in the same plane in any other direction.

  I always like to see a person stand up to a golf ball as though he were perfectly at home in its presence, in a posture that appears easy and comfortable from top to bottom. To accomplish this, it is only necessary to stand erect, with feet just far enough apart to accommodate a little footwork when the body is turned from side to side; then to bend over slightly, just enough to assure that when the arms hang naturally downward, the hands will have free passage across the front of the body.

  5 POSITIONING THE BALL

  It seems to me that one of the most important things for the golfer to watch is the matter of keeping his weight behind the ball. For some reason, it is difficult for the player himself to be aware of the exact location of the ball with respect to his feet. The almost universal tendency is to creep more and more ahead until the player suddenly finds that at address the ball is directly opposite his right foot, when he would have sworn it was opposite his left.

  In order to strike a blow at any object with the full power of which a particular human mechanism is capable, the force of the blow must be contributed to by every muscle and by every ounce of power in that mechanism. Any force or any portions of weight moving in a direction counter to the direction of the blow must inevitably take away some of the sting.

  This is what usually occurs when a golfer allows himself to get in front of the ball. Very soon he finds that he must reach backward in order to strike it. He finds that if his weight is permitted to go forward into the shot as it normally would, a badly smothered hook will result, and, in order to avoid this, he will begin to hold his weight back on the right foot or shift it backward even more. This is when slicing or topping begins.

  With the ball placed well forward—that is, about on line with the instep of the left foot—at the top of the swing one will have the feeling that he can throw the whole weight and power of his body into the stroke, with the further advantage that the advanced position of the ball gives him more time to swing the club head into proper alignment. With the ball placed farther back, the tendency is to abbreviate the backswing and to yank the club down from the top before the player has swung himself into a hitting position.

  The average player also has trouble moving the left hip out of the way of the stroke in time to allow a free passage for the arms. This will make more trouble if he starts his swing standing to any degree in front of the ball, for subconsciously he will hesitate to move his body to any extent for fear he will place himself in a position from which he cannot hit. If the ball is placed farther forward, a free turn and flowing swing will be encouraged.

  6 THE PROCEDURE IN ADDRESSING THE BALL

  The close observer will note that almost all first-class players take their stances in substantially the same way. The procedure is about like this: the player will walk up to the ball from behind, all the while looking toward the objective and planning the shot he is about to play; as he nears the ball, he will ground his club behind it; then, still aware of his objective, he will place his left foot so as to provide proper alignment; now he need only drop the right foot back into a comfortable position and take as many waggles as he likes (in my case, this was usually one) before starting the backswing.

  This procedure accomplishes several things. First, it fixes the distance from the feet to the ball in the best of all ways by accommodating the distance to the comfortable extent of the arms and club. I cannot imagine taking my stance without first having some measure of this distance. The second advantage is that the player has approached the ball in the normal relaxed posture of ordinary walking; and approaching the ball from behind, he may stop where his body will be behind the stroke and he may set himself naturally, with his weight properly distributed.

  7 VARIATIONS IN THE STANCES

  I remember one night at the Marine Hotel in Gullane, Scotland, back in 1926, when the British Amateur was being played at Muirfield, George Duncan, the sporadically brilliant British professional, was expounding to a few of us his latest theory of the golf swing. George expressed the belief that the most important part of the business was accomplished by the knees and feet. He described and illustrated for us how he was “playing golf with his feet”; the “takeoff” from the left foot originating the motion of the backswing.

  Without either subscribing to or denying the correctness of Duncan’s ideas—indeed, I think they might be helpful to some as well as ruinous for others—it is safe to say that a great many players allow their feet to spoil too many shots. It is too easy to set down one foot in such a position that it will embarrass the stroke without being aware of the mistake until the swing has gotten under way, which is, of course, too late. A little more care in intelligently cultivating the habit of proper placing will be well rewarded.

  It is a fine thing for the golfer always to remember what he can do with his feet. Many times a tendency to hook or slice can be corrected by a small adjustment of the stance; or if the player has advanced far enough to attempt such things, he can in the same way bring off a draw or a fade at will. It is not so much that the altered positions directly affect the stroke, but that variations are induced when the player places himself in postures most encouraging to them.

  The closed stance is regarded as the hooking stance, and the open stance as the more likely to produce a fade or slice. The reasons are obvious. To assume a closed stance position, the player pulls his right foot back away from the ball so that it rests several inches behind a line through his left foot parallel to the line of flight. This accomplishes two things: first, it encourages a round, flat swing with a free turn away from the ball; and, second, it sets up a certain amount of resistance in the left side at about the time of impact. Addressing the ball in this manner encourages the player to hit outward at the ball, and when he exaggerates the maneuver, he may have the feeling of taking the ball upon the club face and swinging it around to the left.

  When this results in a wide, sweeping hook, I have known some of my Scottish professional friends to call this “a Scot’s shot—he held onto it too long.”

  The open stance, on the other hand, is not a position of power, but rather of control. With the right foot advanced, the player stands more directly over the ball and has more difficulty in turning his hips and shoulders during the backstroke. From this position, he cannot easily accomplish a flat swing; hence, he is apt to be more upright. The open-stance advocate will be more likely to slice than to hook and will likely play most of his iron shots with a slight left to right drift. In the open position, the player faces more toward the hole. Even at address, his left hip is moved backward out of the way of the passage of his hands; at the same time, the right side is advanced so that it becomes an impediment to a round, sweeping swing. These two factors encourage cutting across the ball, which is a characteristic of players who use this stance.

  8 STAYING IN MOTION

  The function of the waggle and the movement of the body preceding the actual beginning of the backswing is to avoid or destroy tension in the position from which the swing is to make its start. Smoothness is an essential quality of the correct golf stroke, and since a smooth start cannot be made if the muscles are tense or the posture strained, it is of the utmost importance that the player should be completely relaxed and comfortable as he addresses the ball. Provided the waggle and the player’s manner of falling into his first position accomplish this, it matters little what form or order the move
ment takes. Practice among first-class players varies from one waggle of the club to Sandy Herd’s famous seventeen. (I once counted them.)

  My own preference is for a manner of addressing the ball that wastes little time. Having decided upon the club to use and the shot to play before stepping up to the ball, I can see no reason for taking any more time in the address than is necessary to measure one’s distance from the ball and to line up the shot. The more one fiddles around arranging the position, the more likely one is to be beset by doubts that produce tension and strain.

  It is far easier to maintain a perfect relaxation if one keeps continuously in motion, never becoming still and set. It sounds farfetched, I know, but I have had a few players tell me that after forming the habit of taking great pains in addressing the ball, they reached the point where they simply could not take the club back.

  I liked to approach any shot from behind the ball. I think it is easier to get a picture of the shot and to line it up properly from this angle than from any other. Ordinarily, coming up from behind, I stopped a little short of what my final position would be. From there, I grounded the club behind the ball and looked toward the objective. The club gave me a sense of my distance from the ball, looking down the fairway gave me the line, while my left foot swung into position; one waggle was begun while the right foot moved back to its place; when the club returned to the ground behind the ball, there was a little forward twist of the hips and the backswing began. I felt most comfortable and played better golf when the movement was continuous. Whenever I hesitated or took a second waggle, I could look for trouble.