Before continuing these illuminating remarks on golf, it might be well
to echo the warning of Andrew Lang in an introduction to an edition
of Walton’s Angler. “If there are any facts in this book,” he said in
effect, “they got in by accident.” This being understood, we may proceed
to consider that indispensable tool, the midiron.
The most satisfying shot in golf would be the drive, if you drove well
every day; but all the circumstances of this stroke are not always
within your control; on the off days driving is something that, since it
must be done, ’twere well it were done quickly. But the short shot with
the iron, up to, say, seventy-five yards, is, next to putting (which is
as simple as beanbag), the easiest thing to do imaginable. You need to
keep but two things in mind: first, you must lay the right elbow against
the side and take the club back with the wrists and forearms; second, you
must finish the stroke with the knuckles of the right hand underneath.
This in itself insures the clubhead being carried through on the line.
When this has become automatic you may add the crowning touch—finishing
with the clubhead very low, the blade laid flat, and your arms perfectly
straight and pointed at the flag.
Don’t look at the ground after the ball is gone. Let everything follow
it,—club, arms, eyes and body. A very good plan is to practise the shot
with eyes on the flag. When you discover that you can hit a ball without
looking at it you will have no trouble in looking at it when the occasion
requires.
And this, in a word, is what I have been driving at, that you cannot
play golf easily, gracefully and accurately until you have lost all fear
of the ball and have got rid of the notion that keeping your eye on it
is the fundamental principle of the game. Almost any professional will
tell you that it is not looking at the ball that enables you to drive two
hundred yards; it is keeping your shoulders in one plane throughout the
stroke.