LynnBlakeGolf Forums - Sept 2005 Golf Digest

Quote:

Originally posted by efnef:
What about the very first statement below the photos at the top of the article: "Henry Cotton said, educate the hands." Where have we heard this?

Here are some more Henry Cotton quotes from 1948 you may find interesting.

Ever since I decided to make golf my business I wanted to be a crack golfer and calculated that the nearer my golf swing could be made to resemble the action of a machine the better I would be. So I began to explore ways of getting a machine-like swing and eventually I arrived at the controlled backswing, now known as the “three quarter” swing.

If the player holds the clubface square at the address and holds the face down to the ball as long as possible, then he can go to the top of the swing with little wrist-roll, but these players are the shut-faced players and do not work their wrists in the way I do and the way I teach.

Some American players are “edging round the back” in an effort to get the left wrist lying flat at the top.

The ordinary player is always worried about the uncocking of the wrists but those who have trained, flexible wrists can “forget it.” The player with a bad grip and slow working wrists will find the correct positions impossible to attain.

If the club-head is always late and the clubface just a fraction open at impact and the swing is the normal easily-repeatable under-pressure swing many players proceed, in order to force the face just square, to make their swing complicated and full of effort. In so doing they destroy the whole of their acquired rhythm. I know that it should be possible to work out such a fault but to the average persons with limited time and ambition, it is not easy. I mention this case as it is the most common fault.

I like to feel that I hit the ball hard but disguise the hit in a swing as much as is possible; but many players who would imitate my swing should learn to hit first as no golf ball was ever sent a long way without a very hard hit.

There are two main ways of attacking the golf ball; to make the clubface work from open to shut or from shut to open.

From observation, I should say that more shut-faced golfers turn finally towards using the open face than vice versa. This is because in shut-faced golf much more strength is required in order to hold the clubface square to the ball at impact and to fight the ever present inclination of the clubface to close too much if the wrists are allowed to roll at all before impact.

The latest American technique is to use a shut faced push stroke for all iron shots, particularly those from 80 yards down. A series of lofted rough-faced pitching irons are employed in this way. I do not like it but must admit that the way Willie Turnesa played throughout the week at Carnoustie made me think it was a system to be respected and to be noted by would-be champions as something to experiment with.

Generally speaking, the most consistent and accurate players lift their heels the least from the ground during the swing. Those who “ride” their weight on the insides of their feet and keep their heels down always impress me favorably.

Now that a golf ball can be hit a longish way with an easy blow there is no need to wind up from the ankle and to throw one’s entire weight into the shot. It is better to learn to hit the ball from a position where the body is solidly anchored down. A good fast hitter can make his arms and wrists do all the work and play with the minimum foot movement to help him, as the winding and unwinding of the hips and shoulders is of greater value than the lifting of the heels up and down.

When should the wrists begin to work? This point is truly personal but there are a few simple rules involved in the question. A weak player needs to hit earlier than a strong one; a player who plays with a very open face throughout the swing needs to close the clubface to get it square at impact and so has to decide whether to close it on a gradual turn or on a kind of snap turn. Players who use a snap turn of the wrists usually hit a long ball as they are late hitters but are apt to misjudge this turn when under pressure. I prefer to see a player use some proportion of push in his shots when he has to produce winners.

At present the only way to get sufficient power into a full shot is to use a turning and flicking action.

It is curious how the very raw beginner, knowing nothing of wrist work, always takes the club back with the face square all the way; he is immediately taught to roll his wrists for his power. One day perhaps he will be left to follow this natural path.

The advantage of teaching players a simple system, with the minimum of wrist roll, is that every player can soon have his game “repaired” should he lose his form. I am sure that a gradual squaring up of the face on the way down is safer than a quick unwinding hit and so as I have advised before, a combination hit and push is preferable.

Anyone who can discover a system of teaching precision has a fortune just for the taking, but this precision unless a person is gifted, only comes through concentrated effort.

If you have been losing length lately and have not been playing as well as you are able, examine as well as you can the parts the right and left hands are playing in the shot and give your strong hand - the right - a chance to hit the ball; it wants to, if you will allow it.

Byron Nelson, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan have recently contributed instructional golf books to the world’s already extensive golf library. These interesting, easy-to -read books follow the same lines in presentation and curiously enough describe the same method.
The young American generation of golfing machines considers the method used by these golf stars as something new, original even, whereas, in fact, it is probably as old as the game- even in golf “there is nothing new under the sun”. The theme in these books is that it is safest to keep the left wrist from going under the shaft too much at the top of the swing, as we have seen done for years by Harry Vardon, J.A. Taylor, James Braid, Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen and others, and to make the back of the left hand and the arm remain in a straight line; in other words, that there are no wrinkles at the wrist joint. The value of this position, it is claimed, is that it keeps the clubface shut or half shut at the top of the swing and by restricting the wrist action, cuts out the danger of “letting go”.
That this method produces results and wonderful results is beyond argument as these three athletes have long demonstrated, but having been aware of this method and having tried it extensively myself, I feel that it requires more than average athletic ability to use successfully. I think that it is a strong person’s method, as the power required in the left arm and wrist to hold “the back of the hand to the objective”, to use Nelson’s own words, is considerable.

Imagine the ball has little legs, and chop them off.

A system that requires less than 100 per cent use of either arm, I cannot consider a good one.

To hit a golf ball, precision is required and this cannot be taught in a matter of minutes by anyone.

I have found that to do an accurate, strong golf swing, golf muscles are needed. This is no discovery of course, but I am sure that it is essential to determine which are the weak muscles and work on them.

The grip must allow the hands to apply power in the surest fashion, via the wrists.

The big trick in putting is not method. The secret of putting is domination of the nerves.