The Follow Through

Some years ago when I was an oarsman I learned that the arms have not a great amount of strength. The real strength of the body is in the heavy muscles of the shoulders, back, and thighs. In rowing, the arms merely guide the oars and move them in and out of the water.

One of the first things a novice learns in rowing is that his arms are not much use for power. They tire too quickly. You cannot time the grip on the water properly if you use your arms to pull.

The same thing is true of golf. It is the heavy muscles which do the real work. The arms should merely guide the club; not exert the power. Notice the criticism of the professional, "get your back into it." Most beginners try to do all the work with their arms. If they had any such work to do as in rowing the arms would tire so quickly that they would be glad to shift the burden of the work to the muscles best able to stand it.

There's the rub. They don't tire, and the consequence is that it takes years to learn to put the shoulders, back, and thighs into the stroke. That is what gives the distance. That is what takes the load from the arms and enables them to merely direct the power. The arms propelling the club and, trying to pull the body around remind one of the "tail wagging the dog." The principle is wrong. The arms sweeping through the swing without the powerful muscles giving substance to the stroke prevent the various factors composing the swing from synchronizing.

If, therefore, the player will realize where his greatest power lies he will be in a fair way to develop his method upon sound theories. It will enable him to avoid the spiteful, vicious jerk to get the ball away and rely more upon the steady, powerful sweep of the club to give him his distance. There should be in the player's mind no desire or intention of "swatting" the ball; merely connect and keep up a steady. Firm pressure.

You can then begin to press more firmly against the ball in order to keep the club head in contact with it for a longer time and this will not only increase your distance, but smooth out your whole stroke. There are very few players who do not have ample speed, but they fail to keep the pressure steadily against the ball until it rebounds from the club head.