| The most common faults in the grip are | | | | faults of the left are compounded, for a low |
| holding the club entirely in the fingers of | | | | right hand tends to roll over at impact. The |
| the left hand, placing the left hand too much | | | | poor player may switch from slicing to |
| on top of the shaft, and getting the right | | | | smothering and go for several holes without |
| hand under the shaft. | | | | getting the ball more than a few feet off the |
| | | | ground. This, we need hardly remind you, is a |
| An all-finger grip and getting the left hand | | | | horrible experience. |
| on top, so that four knuckles show, go | | | | |
| together. It's almost impossible to hold the | | | | On any course and in almost any foursome you |
| club entirely in the fingers of the left, | | | | will see many peculiar stances. Most of them |
| without getting the left on top of the shaft. | | | | are not fundamentally bad, except for one |
| | | | thing: standing with an "open" body. This |
| When dropping the right hand lower and lower, | | | | means, simply, that although the feet are in |
| some people feel they will get more power. | | | | a perfectly square position (an equal |
| | | | distance from the direction line), the hips |
| Well, they are all wrong and they go a long | | | | and the shoulders are facing a little to the |
| way toward ruining what might be a good shot. | | | | left. |
| When the club is held entirely in the fingers | | | | |
| of the left hand and that hand is on top of | | | | These players are, in effect, aiming to the |
| the shaft with three or four knuckles | | | | left of their target without realizing it. |
| showing, there is an overpowering tendency to | | | | |
| roll that hand over to the left as the club | | | | You need hardly be reminded of the damage |
| comes into the ball at impact. When this | | | | this can do. The player develops a pull to |
| happens the face of the club is turned over | | | | his shots, the ball starting out a shade to |
| and closed, or hooded. The result is a bad | | | | the left and, if it doesn't slice, staying to |
| smother or hook. That is what happens with | | | | the left. There are usually just as much |
| some players. | | | | rough and as many traps to the left of a |
| | | | fairway or green as there are to the right, |
| The all-finger, left-hand-on-top position | | | | and the chronic puller is sure to find most |
| leads to another fault. It has a strong | | | | of them. |
| tendency to make the player bend the left | | | | |
| hand back at the top of the swing and get the | | | | There are other bad positions, such as |
| left wrist under the shaft. This opens the | | | | bending over too much, standing too far from |
| face at the top, and it must then be closed | | | | the ball, having the weight too far forward, |
| on the downswing. With the body and shoulder | | | | and so on, but the "open" body is by all odds |
| action most players have, plus their fear of | | | | the most common fault the average player has |
| getting the face closed too much, this is | | | | in the stance department. |
| seldom accomplished. Hence we have what is by | | | | |
| far the most common and exasperating bad shot | | | | Let us turn now to the positive side and take |
| of them all - the slice. | | | | the positions that will help so much to give |
| | | | us a square face at impact, a straight ball |
| Another move is for the player to try to hold | | | | that goes where we aim it, and fewer shots. |
| the face of the club from turning as it goes | | | | |
| through the ball. Then you see the lifting, | | | | Actually there is nothing mysterious about |
| lofting action which is so common, with the | | | | the grip. We merely want the club held in a |
| player trying to hold the face square long | | | | certain way, a way that will help bring it to |
| after it has hit the ball. This is a good way | | | | the top in the position we want and which |
| to bring on a slice. | | | | will help bring it back to the ball at the |
| | | | correct angle to the line of flight. |
| When the right hand is dropped low, the | | | | |