Bobby Jones on Golf

by Robert Tyre Jones

  Now when it comes to hitting the ball, let us see what happens. The ball is lying so that it is apparent to the player that force will be required to dig it out, and, whether intentionally or not, he is going to hit it a good bit harder than he would ordinarily. There is no possibility, theoretical or practical, that any sort of half or spared shot can be played to offset the decrease in the loft of the club which I have mentioned.

  This much takes care of the range of the shot, but there is one other argument in favor of using the more lofted club.

  Everyone knows how impossible it is to play a backspin shot from a heavy lie, the grass cushion between the club and the ball preventing the clean contact needed to impart spin. So in order to stop the shot within reasonable or calculable limits the player must depend entirely upon elevation, and no club straighter than a four-iron will do the trick. If he can’t make the distance with the four-iron, in nine cases out of ten he would do best to play safe, rather than attempt the use of a more powerful club.

  It is often surprising what distances can be reached from long grass with a lofted club. I remember one shot in particular I played at Winged Foot that surprised me as much as anyone else. On the twelfth hole of the playoff, I pulled my drive to the rough behind a hill and beyond sight of the green. The hole is guarded at the left by a huge bunker which extends about halfway across the putting surface. The hole is about 470 yards in length, and my drive could not have traveled over 230 yards. I thought I had no earthly chance of reaching the green.

  With the intention of whacking the ball out, over the hill, into position in front of the opening to the green, I selected a four-iron and hit the shot over the top of the hill to the left of the big tree standing on the edge of the fairway. But when I reached the green, I found my ball less than a foot off the putting surface. The shot with a four-iron had traveled at least 230 yards, aided by the tremendous roll produced by the heavy grass. Had I been in the fairway, I should have needed a spoon, at least, to make the same distance.

  So instead of a stronger club, when playing from a cuppy or heavy lie, it is best to use a more lofted iron, making sufficient allowance so that the ball can be hit a smashing blow. For the exigencies of a situation of this kind, it is necessary to force the club to a degree which would never be good practice under ordinary circumstances.

  5 DOWNHILL AND UPHILL LIES

  The chief difficulty in downhill or uphill lies is in resisting the influence of the slope upon the transference of the weight of the body. To play either kind of stroke successfully, the player must either move against gravity, or hold himself back despite its pull. When playing a downhill, or hanging lie, the big problem is to stay back of the ball, and to resist the tendency induced by the sloping ground, to move the weight over to the left leg during the backswing; in the other situation, when the lie is uphill, the inclination is to fall back upon the right leg in the act of hitting, and so to strike in an upward direction. To play either kind of shot correctly, the player must learn to handle his body weight against the slope.

  I do not think that altering the location of the ball by addressing it more off the right foot, or off the left, is likely to be helpful. The best rule is to take the stance and make the address so that the position is entirely comfortable. It was only occasionally, when playing a lofted club from such a lie, that I made the least conscious alteration in the positions of my feet with respect to the ball, and even then the concession was to comfort.

  When playing downhill, it is important to remember that the ball cannot be picked up cleanly and lofted into the air; there is no way to get the club under it so that it can be struck upward. If it is to be got up with a wood club of little loft, it must be smashed down, so that the speed and the spin will cause it to rise. Obviously, this is one of the most exacting shots in the game, and the player who lacks the ability to bit hard and accurately will do well to go to a more lofted club; but even then the mechanics of the stroke are still the same.

  The weight of the body must be held back during the backswing, and in starting down, the cock of the wrists must be retained. The blow must be descending, and its success will depend upon how well the player times his movement down the slope. In an extreme case, striking downward with the slope gives the body such an impetus that the player must take a step or two in the direction of the stroke in order to maintain his balance. The timing of this performance is not always easy, but there is no better way.

  An uphill lie looks easy, and most players like it, but it does bring about an astonishing number of topped shots. Only the knowledge that it is necessary, supported by the determination to do so, will ever cause the player to move off his right foot up the slope as he swings into the ball. In almost every case, he will stay back on his right leg, and strike upward or across the ball from outside to in.

  It may help a great deal to recognize the tendencies produced by situations of this nature, in order to be better able to guard against them. There ought to be in the player’s mind a clear picture of how he wants his club face to be moving as it strikes the ball. Hitting downward from a hanging lie produces in almost every player a tendency to slice, because of cutting across the ball with the face of the club open. Playing uphill, the tendency will be to pull, because the face of the club is more likely to be closed. In either case, it will be very helpful to make an effort to swing through precisely on a line toward the hole.

  6 AGAINST THE WIND

  There is probably no shot in the game that bothers the average golfer so much as any shot into a head wind, where distance is of importance. Of all the hazards likely to be encountered on a golf course, wind is the most formidable for nine-tenths of those who play the game, because of its disturbing effect upon the mind. It is simply impossible, and understandably so, for an inexperienced player to maintain his mental equilibrium in the face of a strong wind.

  Two things are most natural to do in this situation; one, to press the shot in order to make up the distance the wind takes away; the other, to try to hit the ball low so that it will escape the effect of the wind. The first of these, pressing, is, of course, fatal; the second is all right for the expert, but usually bad for the ordinary player, because he does not know how to accomplish his aim.

  Now let’s just stop and look at the thing for a moment. There is no way for me or anyone else to tell a man how he can hit a golf ball as far against the wind as he can with it, or in calm air; it simply cannot be done; so let’s not consider this as a possibility. If we suppose that a certain player, at his ultimate, can reach a four-hundred-yard hole in two shots when there is no wind, then if the wind against takes ten yards off each shot, his limit will be reduced to 380 yards, and the four-hundred-yard hole will be beyond his reach. Most likely, if the hole actually measured twenty yards more than his limit, in calm air, he would not worry about reaching it; then let him regard the wind as adding just so many yards to the hole.

  I prefer to regard the wind hazard in just this way—to treat it as part of the golf course—and to direct my efforts toward doing the best I can with respect to it. The main thing I think about is holding the ball on line. I try to get as much distance as I possibly can, with safety, but I never try to do more than I can. Direction is always of the first importance, and since an opposing wind magnifies errors in striking, it allows fewer liberties than could be taken at other times.

  I think the best advice, when hitting a shot into a breeze, is to take things even a bit more quietly than usually, the very opposite of pressing. Primarily, of course, the reason for this is to give better direction, but it will also be found, surprisingly perhaps, that in this way the actual loss of distance will be lessened.

  It is a most natural thought that a very low drive flies best into a breeze. In fact, there is one thing far more important than elevation—the trajectory of the flight of the ball. Those who yield to the inclination to hit the ball sharply down into a wind, soon discover that this kind of stroke does not actually keep the s
hot low; it merely starts the ball out close to the ground, but when it travels a distance, it begins to rise on the wind, and when it drops, it comes straight down; it has no ability whatever to bore its way along; it is at the mercy of even a light breeze.

  Sometime when the opportunity comes, stand directly behind one of the best pros when he is hitting a drive against the wind and watch the flight of the ball. You will see the ball come up, and it may even go comparatively high—but you will notice that it has no abrupt rise just before it drops. The ball will almost seem to be looping over in the air, and when it strikes the ground it will be still going forward.

  This sort of flight is not accomplished by hitting the ball down. The best stroke is one that takes the ball almost squarely in the back, while the club head is moving just about parallel to the ground; it applies only a very little backspin to the ball; and the more it can be made a sweep, instead of a sharp hit, the better.

  7 PUSH SHOTS

  It has not been difficult to cause a majority of golfers to understand that the controlled shot in golf—the shot intended to carry some amount of backspin—is accomplished by a stroke that brings the club head against the ball on the descending arc. Almost everyone recognizes the divot-taking stroke the expert employs with his iron clubs; so it is common knowledge that with these implements it is proper to hit down. But in this respect, as in many others, the degree to which the thing is done is of great importance; it is impossible to think of a golfing virtue that cannot be exaggerated or emphasized into a fault.

  When I was a small boy, twelve or thirteen years old, I remember being much inspired by an article over Harry Vardon’s signature describing the correct method of executing a “push shot.” Prior to that time, I had heard a lot about the push shot and had read numerous mentions of it, but I had never seen one played—that is, as I had conceived it—although I had watched some pretty fair players, among them old Harry himself. I even had asked Stewart Maiden about it, but Stewart was never fond of frills and had always put me off with some joking response.

  So when I ran across this article of Vardon’s, I decided to give the push shot a try. I read the piece through, then reread it; then I boarded an electric car and took the article with me to a practice tee at East Lake. Stewart was giving a lesson on an adjoining tee, but I dared not interrupt him; soon I became so occupied with my article and the push shot that I forgot anyone was near. The idea, it seemed, was to deliver a sharply descending blow that would produce a low-flying shot that would bring up quickly after striking the ground. The low trajectory was all I was ever able to get. I was moving yards of turf at each stroke, and giving my wrists an awful pounding, but I continued to hook, smother, and top shots indiscriminately.

  I was still taking myself seriously when I heard a soft chuckle behind. I turned at the sound and found Stewart perched on a bench, with cap cocked up on the back of his head and having the time of his life watching me. As I looked back, he chuckled again. “What are ye trying to do, Robin? Move the golf course?” was all he ever said, but I have never since troubled about the push shot.

  I confess that to this day, I do not know if the push shot ever existed as a shot distinct from the ordinary low-flying iron shot we employ today to meet certain conditions. I am certain of one thing, which is that Harry Vardon never intended that the shot should be played as I attempted to play it. I am familiar with the low iron shot, played somewhat less than full, into a head wind; this shot is “hit down” slightly more than the perfectly straightforward type, but ever so slightly more.

  I believe this was Vardon’s meaning that I decided to go one better, like the patient who thought that if a tablespoonful of medicine would do him good, the whole bottle taken immediately would effect a cure. At any rate, for better, for worse, Stewart Maiden laughed me out of any further concern with the push shot. After that little experience, whenever anyone mentioned it to me I would change the subject as quickly as possible.

  8 RELIEVING TENSION

  Because tension is the golfer’s worst enemy, and the problem of remaining completely relaxed in order to complete a rhythmic swing his most difficult task, I am going to try to set out a few simple rules that will be of help in loosening up, regardless of the mechanical precision of the swing. We all want to develop a swing free of imperfections, but even the most perfect swing must have rhythm, and the most imperfect one may be made fairly effective by the addition only of a sense of timing.

  Here are the rules:

  1. Grip the club lightly. Hold it mainly in the fingers, so that it can at all times be controlled and kept from turning in the hands without tautening the forearm muscles. But don’t squeeze it. If you begin by gripping lightly, the hands will automatically tighten their hold as the progress of the swing makes this necessary. Make certain that you can feel the club head.

  2. In addressing the ball, arrange the posture as naturally and as comfortably as possible. Avoid strain in the position as much as you can. Don’t bend over too far, don’t reach for the ball, don’t stiffen the legs, and don’t spread the feet. These seem to be a lot of “don’ts,” but in reality they are merely saying, “Stand erect, let the arms hang naturally from the shoulders, and bring the ball close enough to be reached comfortably.”

  3. Use the legs and hips in beginning the backswing. Don’t begin by picking the club up with the hands and arms. Swing the club back and give the hips a full windup. If an ample use of the important muscles in the waist and back is not made, the effort will be too great and the swing will lose its smoothness.

  4. Be sure that the backswing is long enough. This gives the downswing plenty of time to get up speed before impact A backswing that is too short inevitably leads to hurry and tension.

  5. Start the downswing in leisurely fashion. Don’t hit from the top of the swing. If the backswing has been of ample length there is no need to be in too much hurry coming down. Let the acceleration be smooth and gradual.

  6. When it comes time to hit, don’t leap at the ball. Let the club head do some of the work. Think of giving it speed and then let it float against and through the ball Remember Newton’s law that a body in motion tends to continue its motion in a straight line until acted upon by outside forces. Be careful of what “outside forces” you set up in trying at the last moment for that extra distance. Keep on swinging until the ball has had a good start down the fairway.

  I have seen any number of players with terrible swings who obtained good results from a sense of rhythm and timing and nothing more; it is truly amazing how far one can go if he can only keep from tightening up. The effort to hit hard, instead of increasing the power of the swing, usually finishes in a sort of shove as what should have been the propelling force is expended too soon. The more leisurely swing, conserving this energy and discharging it where it will do the most good, yields more yards with considerably less effort.

  9 FOR LEFT-HANDERS

  Frankly, I cannot assign any very convincing reasons why a person should not play just as well left-handed as right-handed. Any number of objections to the left-handed method have been urged, but it seems to me that few of them, if any, have any real meat in them. One golfing physician advanced the theory that the swing of a left-handed player compressed the region around his heart and, therefore, impaired his physical efficiency. This one I should not attempt to pass judgment on, for I know nothing of the possible effect of whatever compression might result. But I do feel that some of the other reasons are patently unsound. In this class I would place the idea that golf courses are laid out for right-handed golfers and are, therefore, more severe upon the unfortunate who may prefer to stand on the other side of the ball. The only two considerations that might work to the advantage of the right-hander are that he can obtain superior clubs, and possibly more intelligent instruction because most of the good pros themselves happen to play in this way. Apart from these, it would appear that the only concern would be the comfort or preference of the individual.

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nbsp; The general prejudice that has grown up against the left-handed method has been fostered by the knowledge that there are in the world very few really expert players who play the game left-handed. It seems to me that we need look for no occult reason for this. Considerably fewer than one person of each ten thousand who play golf deserves an expert rating. I do not know the exact figures, but I should say that there would not be more than one left-handed player in each three hundred. If we take it at one in three hundred and the number of golfers in the United States at seven and a half million, we should expect to have, according to my figures, seven hundred and fifty experts, which is high, three of whom might be left-handed.

  One thing that some people assume, I do not know to be the case; namely, that the left arm of a right-handed person is necessarily weaker than the right. That, it seems to me, would not follow just because he might have a greater use of the right in certain performances requiring a more perfect control. It is my idea that the left arm should control the golf swing, but its function can be performed without the player’s having the use of it that would be required for accurate throwing, writing, or any number of other acts accomplished normally by the right. I conceive that there are certain definite reasons why the left arm should take the club back and why it should dominate the hitting stroke, and I do not admit that a right-handed person would be able to pull the club down from the top, in backhanded fashion, with any more powerful effect with his right than with his left arm, even though he might be able to throw better with the right.