The Lazy Golfer’s Companion. Peter Alliss

Чтение книги онлайн.

       THE LAZY GOLFER’S SWING TECHNIQUE

      Whenever a real golfer gets a new anything to do with golf (new clubs, a special wedge, the ‘ultimate’ secret from the latest book, whatever) he can’t wait to try it out on the course. But before you trot briskly off to the first, satisfied that at last your clubs and balls really suit you, there are some basics to consider and ponder about. Not least, what type of swing have you been using over the last ‘x’ years?

      You do already appreciate that everyone has an individual swing, very individual as you will see if you scrutinise the line of players at a driving range. The world’s top Tour pros are also different, if not so divergent, in the overall appearance of their swings. Nick Price, for example, has a decidedly brisk tempo. Fred Couples, on the other hand, swings almost drowsily, lifting the club with his arms, turning his shoulders late and looping the club inside to be on plane at impact. Ian Woosnam seems to stand a long way from the ball, yet he smacks it with very little apparent effort a long way down the fairway, as does Greg Norman, who seems to stand almost on top of the ball, which he assaults with a vigourous, gut-wrenching action.

      These four are instantly recognisable by their swings, even at the distance of a well struck drive. Yet they all have in common a sound swing technique which maximises their physical abilities and they are, to a man, top-notch exponents of the ‘modern’ swing. This is something of prime importance to really understand. For there are two distinct basic types of swing; the classical and the modern.

The Classic and the Not So Classic Swing

      Misunderstanding the different principles of the two types (and worse, using bits of one with parts of the other) has wrecked the swings of many golfers – and even a few Tour pros.

      The classic swing is more of a hands and arms action (rather than the ‘whole body’ movement of the modern swing, where the arms follow, rather than lead). Dating from the days of brassies, spoons, cleeks and mashie-niblicks, it was exemplified by the flowing movement of Bobby Jones, who started his swing with the hands leaving the clubhead behind, contrasted to the compact three-quarter action of Sir Henry Cotton.

      The classic grip was more in the fingers, promoting a faster hand action, and the classic golfer typically aligned slightly right of the pin and positioned the ball further back in his stance (centre for the 5-iron and even nearer the right foot for the short clubs).

      Foot action was also more pronounced, with the left heel lifting high off the ground in the backswing, basically because the thick tweeds the players wore restricted easy movement. The arms were also kept close to the body, the right elbow tucked in at the top, the left on the follow through, and the overall action was quite rotary on a flattish plane. The classic swinger also hit against a ‘firm left side’ which, with his set-up and swing shape, produced theoretically a right to left shot, hopefully a draw.

      The modern swing, in contrast, has much more emphasis on body movement. The legs drive, the hips turn, the arms follow and, in theory, the bottom of the arc is extended through impact, keeping closer to the ground for longer and hitting the ball further.

      The modern grip is more in the palm of the left hand, more neutral, and exponents talk of “taking their hands out of the game.” They align square or more open to the flag and generally position the ball for all clubs (except the driver) some two inches inside the left heel. With lighter, less restrictive clothes, modern swingers roll their left foot on the backswing and stretch their arms a little further away from the body, creating a more lateral and upright swing, with the clubhead travelling more down the line to the target. All this tends to produce, particularly with modern clubs, a higher ball which flies left to right, hopefully as a power fade.