Bobby Jones on Golf

by Robert Tyre Jones

  2 THE MOST IMPORTANT MOVEMENT

  If the grip be left out of the picture on the ground that it is in truth a preliminary, and we can assume that this is correct, then I should say that the most important movement of the swing would be to start the downswing by beginning the unwinding of the hips. It is possible to play good golf without a straight left arm; it is possible to do so using a square, closed, or open stance; and one may get along with a short and fast backswing if there are compensating virtues. But there can be no power, and very little accuracy or reliability, in a swing in which the left hip does not lead the downstroke.

  One sees any number of players who take the club back almost in a vertical arc, thereby violating the principles of the true swing. In other words, instead of swinging it back, they lift it up over their shoulders; but a lot of them, because they initiate the downswing by beginning the turn of the hips before they move anything else, manage to play good golf.

  No matter how perfect the backswing may have been, if the hands, or the arms, or the shoulders start the downward movement, the club immediately loses the guidance of the body movement, and the benefit of the power the muscles of the waist and back could have contributed. When this happens, the turn of the body during the backswing becomes entirely useless, and the club finds itself in midair, actuated by a pair of hands and arms having no effective connection with anything solid. I think we may well call this the most important movement of the swing.

  3 AN IMPORTANT FAULT

  Hitting with the right hand from the top of the swing ruins as many shots as any other single fault. By forcing the downswing out beyond its proper groove, and by using up the cock of the wrists too quickly, it can lead to almost anything from a smothered hook to a full-fledged shank. When the right hand takes charge at the top, there is no possibility of approaching the ball from inside the line of play—and nearly every golfer is inclined to do this, especially when he is trying to hit hard.

  The remedy or preventive involves two main intentions: first, to relax the right arm as completely as possible during the backswing, and second, to begin the downswing at a moderate pace, no matter how hard you intend to hit. There is nothing complex in this prescription, yet I am certain that it will prove to be of considerable aid to any kind of player.

  Relaxing the right arm keeps this member from lifting or picking up the club from the ball, and so beginning the swing in a too upright plane. It also puts the job of swinging the club squarely up to the left side of the body, and thus forces it to push the club back. But, of equal importance, while the right arm is relaxed, the right elbow is not likely to heave into space away from the side. It will remain tucked in close—but not tensed—until the upper reaches of the swing draw it away.

  In this way, the relaxed right arm is exceedingly helpful in arriving at a correct hitting position. It assures a swing rather than a lifting action; it encourages a full windup of the hips; it allows the club to move back so that it can be swung down on the inside; and it leaves the left hand in control, as it should be.

  To keep constantly in mind that the start down should be leisurely is almost a necessity, for here is the means of keeping the swing in gear at a crucial stage. When one has arrived at the top, and prepared for the return, the inclination is strong to let everything go in an effort to use every ounce of power. This is where the right hand can cause a lot of trouble if it is used too soon. But if one merely thinks of dropping the right elbow back to the side of the body, while the wrists retain their cocking, and of doing this at a leisurely pace, a proper start will be made and speed can be built up and used in an effective way. It is this action here that makes it possible to hit along the line of flight or across it from the inside.

  4 USING THE BODY

  One reason, or excuse, offered by the average golfer for a bad slice is that he got his body in too soon. Since any such idea is bound to discourage an ample use of the hips and back (exactly the point wherein I believe the average player is most remiss), and because, in nine cases out of ten it is entirely wrong, I think a little consideration of the body movement in the downswing may be helpful.

  Motion pictures of numbers of our best professionals disclose three common characteristics that are important to a discussion of this particular point. First, the hips begin to unwind—that is, to turn back toward the ball—even before the club has reached the end of its backward travel; second, the left heel returns to the ground very early in the downstroke while the hands are at shoulder level or above; and third, at impact the hips have turned through the address position, and at this point the lower part of the body fronts almost toward the hole. Thus, it is impossible to escape the conclusion that the unwinding of the hips in the correct swing is very rapid indeed.

  I have often observed precisely the same action in a baseball pitcher warming up close to the stands before a game. There is no doubt that the quick twist of the hips beginning the throwing movement supplies important momentum that increases both speed and endurance. If a pitcher were to eliminate his hip movement, or retard it to such a degree that it would be useless, he would be a very weary young man at the end of nine innings.

  The momentum obtained by the golfer, when the unwinding of his hips leads the hitting movement, is no less important to him than to the baseball pitcher. For one thing, it makes it possible for him to attain a much greater speed at impact with appreciably less effort.

  I tried many times, in testing this idea, to turn my hips too rapidly in hitting a full drive. I found this to be impossible so long as I observed the rudiments of good form. Indeed, I was able to trace many errors to slowing down or stopping the hip-turn too quickly.

  The average golfer usually experiences trouble for one of two reasons. Either he omits the forward movement or shift of the hips that must precede and blend in with the beginning of the unwinding, or he moves his whole body, including head and shoulders, in a sort of lunge at the ball. He cannot hope to do other than cut across the ball if he holds the greater part of his weight upon his right leg, or falls back upon it as he brings his club down.

  In the correct swing, starting down, the hips should shift forward slightly before any noticeable unwinding takes place. I like Abe Mitchell’s expression that “the player should move freely beneath himself.” In other words, the head and shoulders should not accompany the hips in this initial movement.

  I have often referred to the stretch that I feel up the left side and arm, from hip to hand, as the result of leading the downswing with the hip-turn while the club is still going back. Now the hands drop almost vertically downward, starting the right shoulder moving below the left, from which point the swing is able to pass through the ball on a line approximately straight toward the objective.

  Handling the several movements in this way, I have not found it possible to turn the hips too quickly. Whenever a player gets his body into the shot in any way greatly different from this, he is wrong whether he does it too soon or not.

  5 HITTING DOWN ON THE BALL

  Expert players have discovered that the maximum length from the tee, or when playing a ball lying well in the fairway, can be obtained by causing the club to strike the ball at or slightly in front of the lowest point in the arc of the swing. The notion that a golf ball can be made to fly carrying overspin is pure fantasy, but when the ball is struck squarely in the back with the club moving parallel to the ground, or slightly upward, a minimum of backspin results. A ball so struck will fly in an arching trajectory so that it will still have some run left in it when it returns to the ground. A ball struck in this way will also have a greater capability of boring into a headwind.

  This, of course, demands a degree of control on the part of the player that is not to be expected of the average golfer. In most cases, the matter of control is far more important than length, and backspin is a steadying influence upon the flight of the ball. The average golfer should do his utmost to learn to play every shot in this controlled manner. Above all, he s
hould be convinced that he cannot lift the ball from a cuppy or downhill lie by striking upward; on the contrary, he must rely upon backspin to cause the ball to become airborne.

  Excepting only the drive and the long shots from the fairway, when maximum length is desired, every stroke in the game should be played so that the club meets the ball while still in its descending arc. The angle of descent varies from the woods that merely shave the ground to the pitching club moving slabs of turf; but the spin imparted by the downward blow is needed to control the flight of the ball.

  The player who tries, with any wood club, to get a ball up from a cuppy lie by getting the club under it in order to hit it upward is doomed to disappointment. He must either strike the ground first, or missing that, with the club coming up, hit the ball on top. This kind of shot can be played only by smashing the ball down so that the spin will cause it to rise. This is why, as you may have noticed, it is easier to play from a tight lie on level ground than on an upward slope. The need for the descending arc remains the same, but the slope, which at first blush would seem a help, makes the handling of the body movement more difficult.

  The average golfer realizing that he cannot get the ball up from close lies, nor apply a really effective backspin with any club, until he learns to swing so that the club will strike a descending blow, should begin to find out what he must do to accomplish this result consistently. Merely to hit the ball down is not enough. Indeed, almost every duffer begins by hitting down; but at the same time he cuts across the ball viciously. Keeping most of his weight on his left foot, or shifting it there during the backswing, when he begins to hit, he falls back upon his right foot, and brings the club across the line of play from the outside. Naturally, this will not do. In order to be effective, the downward blow must be directed approximately along the line upon which the ball is expected to travel.

  Of course, in order to explain fully how any particular shot may be played correctly, one must describe the whole of the correct swing. But here are the main points which directly affect the direction of the blow:

  The first should be to see that the distribution of weight at the top of the swing is such that in hitting through, the player will not have to fall back upon his right foot in order to maintain his balance; this means that a preponderance of weight must not rest upon the left leg at this point. An approximately equal division between the two feet is correct, and this can be arrived at by starting with an equal division in the address position, and completing the backswing by a simple turn of the trunk without transference either way.

  After the windup of the hips has been completed in the backswing, the unwinding must start before the club head begins its return to the ball; and at the same time the hips must shift slightly forward in order to move the center of the swing in that direction. In no case must this center be allowed to move backward, for then the ball must be struck upward, or very much across.

  This much, done properly, gives a fair assurance that a descending blow can be delivered; but it can be undone in an instant if the hands begin to move the club too soon. The angle between the left arm and the shaft of the club has been made more acute by the pull of the left hip, as it began unwinding, against the club still swinging up. If, in overeagerness to hit, the player should throw the club head from the top, and thus straighten out the angle at which his wrists have been cocked, his hope of hitting down passes immediately. The arc of his downswing moves straightway beyond its proper groove, and the only chance of bringing it to the ball lies in a sort of lifting, shoveling action, performed mainly with the shoulders and arms. This is what a great many players do when they try to hit unusually hard.

  The cocking of the wrists must be retained through the early stages of the downswing; the momentum must come from the unwinding of the hips. At the same time, the right elbow must move down close to the side of the body, and the swing must remain on the player’s side of the balk from where it can direct the club in hitting approximately along the line of flight.

  6 INSIDE-OUT?

  Should the club at impact be traveling from the inside to out, or parallel to the line of play?” The answer is certainly that when a straight flying shot is desired, the ideal condition is met if the club, when it makes contact with the ball, is moving precisely along the line of intended flight, with its face exactly square, or perpendicular, to the line of play. A deviation in either the alignment of the club face or in the direction of its motion must tend to drive the ball off line, or to impart a sidespin which will cause it to curve in its flight.

  Players are advised to try to hit from inside-to-out because the tendency of most is to hit from outside-to-in, or cut across the ball. If they actually succeed in causing the club head to cross the ball location from inside the line of play toward the outside of this line, the chances are that an uncontrolled hook will result. The expert player, who is adept at club manipulation and sure of his swing, plays a controlled hook or draw in this way—that is, by directing his stroke slightly outward. But this is beyond the average golfer. If the latter can ever reach the point where he can swing straight through toward the objective, he will have little cause to complain.

  It is always important in playing golf that there should be in the mind of the player a definite picture of what he intends to do with the club head. It is safe to say that a vast majority of the struggling multitude are able to conjure up no very accurate conception of the swing. As they stand before the ball, their minds are utterly confused with all the do’s and don’ts they can think of, jumbled together. Even if a picture they might have should contain a few inaccuracies, still they would be better off than with no plan at all.

  One thing that has led to trouble has been the effort made by so many to “throw the clubhead at the ball,” especially when there has been trouble with slicing, a fault to which most inexpert players are addicted. It is never difficult to attribute a badly cut shot to late hitting—that is, to a failure to bring the face of the club around quickly enough—and the most obvious means of correction is by holding the hands back and whipping the club head through.

  The chief trouble with this procedure is that it almost always exaggerates the mistake sought to be avoided, or results in smothering, which is worse. This is one place where the inside-out theory should be given a chance, not as a thing to be actually accomplished, but as an end toward which to strive in order to correct the slices.

  The picture I like to have in mind is one of hitting directly along the line of flight, with the face of the club exactly squared to the hole, and in order to accomplish this ideal I have found it very helpful to “see” my hands slightly ahead of the club head at impact. The club face having opened during the backswing must, of course, be closed again coming down, but this operation can be and should be handled by the left hand without any necessity for holding the hands back. It is obviously impossible to hit from the inside out, or even along the line of flight, if the club head is allowed to get in front of the hands before the ball is struck.

  Leo Diegel, when he was having one of his good days, was probably the most accurate iron player in the world. I saw him on occasions when each iron shot looked as though it would knock the flag out of the hole, and it was characteristic of Diegel on such an occasion that his hands were perceptibly ahead of the club. The impression one gained from watching him was that the club was being pulled through with the left side.

  This hand-in-front picture automatically takes care of several things recognized as part and parcel of good form. This one idea, besides suggesting a blow in the right direction, also assures that the punch will be slightly downward, and that the weight of the body will flow forward into the stroke. The attempt to whip the club head through ahead of the hands usually sets the player back upon his right foot, a mistake which should never be allowed.

  As in every other aspect of the golf stroke, exaggeration here must be avoided. There are players who actually do permit the club head to lag too far behind, but it
will pay a person troubled with slicing to examine his swing and find out if he is not holding his hands and his body back too much. Among the expert players, it is not uncommon to find the hands as much as three or four inches beyond the ball at impact.

  7 USING YOUR LEGS

  One often sees a player who habitually allows the right leg to cave in as his club approaches the ball. This gives his swing a sort of loose-jointed, haphazard appearance and, of course, reduces to zero his chance of controlling his stroke or delivering a well-directed blow. But the fault is equally apparent in the left leg, for there he has made the mistake of accentuating the bend of the knee and failing to straighten the leg as he neared the ball. Once he learns to handle his left side correctly, he will not likely have trouble with his right.

  The two most important things to watch in the leg movement are, first, that in starting down the bend of the knees should not be sufficient to cause any appreciable lowering of the head and shoulders; and, second, that as the club nears the ball, the legs should be ready to produce the upward thrust that means so much in power. To all who have studied motion pictures of the golf stroke, the semisquatting posture at which the player arrives when his hands are about waist high on the downstroke is familiar. From that point on, there takes place a straightening of the left leg that culminates suddenly in a powerful upward thrust immediately prior to contact. Inevitably, this movement tends to straighten the right leg as well.

  The correct use of the legs is as important as anything in golf, for the expert player makes much of his connection with the ground. A golfer is no exception to the rule in athletics, placing such a high value upon substantial underpinning.