Lesson 3

Now back to our story of D.M.

Once he learned how to position and direct the club on the backswing, and once he began to keep the club in that same true position throughout the swing, his scores began to improve. As a matter of record, six months after his first lesson from me he won a tournament at Bel-Air by shooting a score of 66, four under par for 18 holes. One year after he had his first lesson his handicap had been lowered from 13 to 3.

In one week of play he scored a hole in one in addition to scoring a 2 on a 390-yard hole, and another 2 on a 410-yard hole. To do this, the ball must have been flying true and straight off his clubs.

An interesting sequel to the D.M. story is that ten years after the above-mentioned instruction, he was play­ing with a 4 handicap, and in a tournament in which there were over 300 entries he turned in the low qualify­ing score of 67 . What brought his handicap from 13 to 3? What gave him the ability to shoot a 66, and ten years later shoot a 67? It was a simple case of synchronizing the two things every golfer must do if he wants to play good golf. First, there must be a basic ability to swing the club correctly, and the correct way to swing it is with a sense of body control. This ability to motivate or swing the club with the body is impossible unless the player has the proper footwork and a proper sense of balancing himself, so that he has the full, free use of his body. It is from the body that the power flows, so that the distance aspect of a golf shot depends on just how the body is being used.

Second, the player must be able to kep the club in position throughout the swing so that the club will pro­duce the effect for which it was designed, and the ball will fly true and straight towards the objective.

Now, D.M. had (1) the footwork, which gave him the necessary balance so that he could (2) use his body to swing the club, but he was totally lacking in (3) the proper club positioning control so that his shots kept going "hither and yon," and until he corrected his errors in this respect, his golf game was erratic.

Everybody's golf game is subject to the following an­alysis . First, how well does the player handle his weight; what is his sense of balance; does he know how to work his feet and legs in order to establish the proper sense of balance so that the body can be established as the mo­tivating factor in swinging the club ? Secondly, how well does the player use his body; does he understand that a golf swing is a double-handed, am­bidextrous motion in which there is an upswing as well as a downswingan upswing that is made with the right side of the body and a downswing and follow through that is made with the left side?

Third, if the player has the footwork which will give him this double-handed, ambidextrous motion with his body, does he knew exactly how to use his hands to exert the necessary positioning control over the club so that he can make the ball do just what he wants it to do?

While these three things are individually necessary and important, there is a certain order of importance, and a certain order of performance that prevails in developing the ideal result. For example, before a golfer can use his body correctly in swinging the club, he must know how to handle his weight, and only when he has a working arrangement between his weight and his body is he in a position to learn how to use his hands.

In other words, there are prior factors and there are post factors in a golf swing. Let me call upon a scientific formula to help explain this order of importance that I am discussing. The formula reads as follows: Ultimate results depend on post factor efficiency.

These seven words succinctly describe the artistry of a golf swing; there are things to do, but there is a certain time to do them.

First the golfer must handle his weight; but shifting the weight from one foot to the other does nothing of it­self, it only places the player in a position where he can use and utilize his body correctly.

Secondly, only when the golfer has the basic or prior footwork so that he is in a position to use his body to swing the club, are the hands free to exert over the club the proper sense of position and control, and the ability to apply the club correctly to the ball. In other words, a golf shot only flies as the club makes it fly, and how the ball flies is a direct result of the club position. The club position is a direct result of what the hands are doing, and what the hands are doing is the post factor that deter­mines ultimate efficiency.

No wonder so much time and effort is concentrated on the correct grip in golf.

I have often said that a runner runs with his feet, but a goffer golfs with his hands. Of course, for the runner to get his feet in action, there is a lot of arm and shoulderwork, and for a golfer to get his hands working, there is a lot of footwork and body action.

To repeat, there are three basic factors in golf:

1. Footwork, for balance

2. Body action, for power

3. Hand action, for club control

But to these three factors there is an order of importance, a delicate sense of timing that so many golfers miss. They fail to get the knack of properly coordinating these three factors into a working arrangement. As there is a certain order of importance, so likewise there is a certain order of performance in these three basic operations of a golf swing. In other words, in the properly executed golf shot the player moves smoothly from one operation to the other, but all operations function collectively towards the final goal of applying the club to the ball. So there is in the golf shot an order of im­portance and an order of performance which precludes any such thing as a one-piece swing. Be prepared to reach your ultimate goal of a smooth, flowing performance through a natural step-by-step procedure rather than through any short cut.

The other comment I wish to make is that if there is error in the performance of any operation in the swing, then such an error would multiply and increase as it would be carried on into the next operation. So there must be sure performance in the execution of each of the three factors.