THE FUNCTION OF THE EYES
One of the commonest of the many excuses advanced for missing one's
drive is, "I lifted my eye." If the player only knew it he could lift
his eye with impunity. That is not what matters. It was lifting his
head which caused the trouble.
"Keep your eye on the ball" is, without question, the soundest of
sound golf maxims, but it is both abused and misused. We need not
waste time arguing the question as to whether or not keeping one's eye
on the ball at the moment of impact is absolutely essential to success
in driving. Every golfer knows that for all purposes of practical golf
one absolutely must keep one's eye on the ball, and that to do any
other thing with the eyes at the moment of striking the ball is, to
put it mildly, quite inconvenient.
The trouble in connection with lifting one's eye is that one's eyes
are in one's head. The seat of the machinery which works the golf
drive is in the same place. If one relaxes for a moment the mental
effort which has to be made whilst the golf stroke is being executed,
the eyes quite naturally wander in the direction in which the ball is
about to go. That in itself would not be so bad. The eyes
unfortunately do not wander without carrying the head with them. The
head is attached to the portion of the body where, roughly speaking,
the centre of the swing is situated. Immediately the head moves, the
centre of the circle, if it may for purposes of illustration be so
called, is affected. Hopeless inaccuracy is the result. It is a matter
of the most vital importance in golf that the eyes must not move.
Keeping the eyes in the one position from the moment when one has
finally addressed the ball until the moment of impact practically
ensures the proper management of one's weight; for it stands to reason
that if the eyes do not move it is impossible for the head to move,
and if the head does not move it will be impossible to sway, and
therefore to get the weight on to the right leg at the top of the
swing, as do so many golfers who follow the misleading directions
given with regard to the distribution of weight in the golf drive.
Keeping one's head perfectly still is a matter of far greater
importance than keeping one's eye on the ball; for it will be obvious
that it is quite possible for a golfer, after having taken his
address, to keep his eye on the ball until he has driven it, but he
may in the meantime have lifted his head three or four inches. Lifting
his head three or four inches will not have caused him to take his eye
off the ball for an instant, but it will have been sufficient to have
ruined his drive. Therefore, we see that the really important thing is
to keep one's head and eyes in the same position for the impact as
they were at the moment of address. When I say the same position it is
manifest that there will be a fractional alteration, but it must be
the aim of the scientific golfer to have his eyes, at the moment of
impact, almost exactly in the same position as they were at the moment
of address.
Keeping one's eyes steady in this manner means, as has already been
pointed out, that one preserves the centre, if it may be so called, of
the swing much better than if one allows one's weight to move from one
leg to the other. Preserving the centre of the swing in this manner
means that the rhythm of the swing must be very much better than if it
has a moving "centre." A moving centre must import into the stroke of
any golfer far greater inaccuracy than there would be if his centre
had remained constant, as it will do if he keeps his head in the same
place.
Some time ago a good professional golfer asserted that the well-known
maxim "Keep your eye on the ball" was a delusion, and that it was
possible to play perfectly good golf blindfolded, provided one had
first taken one's stance and judged one's swing at the ball. In due
course a match was arranged between this professional, blindfolded,
and an amateur, and the professional was very badly beaten, as he did
not, I believe, win a single hole. This result naturally tended to
discredit his ideas very considerably.
As a matter of practical golf, what he wished to establish is
perfectly correct. Although "Keep your eye on the ball" is the
soundest of sound practical golf, it is to a very large extent
preached in a manner which is in itself entirely fallacious--for two
reasons: Firstly, the player is told that it is absolutely essential
to his stroke that he must keep his eye on the ball up to the moment
of impact, and not only must he keep it there until the moment of
impact, but that he should keep on gazing at the turf where the ball
had lain after the ball has gone on its way.
Now our professional golfer, who essayed the task of playing
blindfolded golf, was perfectly correct in stating that it is not
necessary to keep one's eye on the ball in playing golf, for the
simple reason that the eye has fulfilled its function and has gone
out of business, so far as regards that stroke, long before the head
of the club has come into contact with the ball. It is this fact which
makes us so prone to lift our eyes, and with them our heads, which of
course is fatal to good golf. I go so far as to say that if Vardon in
his drive could be automatically blindfolded when his club was two
feet from his ball, and that he could accustom himself to keeping his
head still after he was blindfolded, it would not affect his drive in
the slightest degree, for the very simple and all-sufficient reason
that the eye has finished its function in connection with the golf
stroke for a very considerable period before impact takes place. It
has assisted the golfer to take his proper stance and address, and has
aided him in judging his distance, but the arc of the golf stroke is
practically settled almost from the instant that it starts on its
downward path.
The duration of impact in a drive at golf has been measured by the
most competent authority to be one ten-thousandth of a second.
Photographs of the impact of the golf club with the golf ball taken at
the one twelve-hundred-and-fiftieth of a second, are merely blurs.
There is no clear definition of the club whatever. We can see from
this that the rate of speed at which the golf club is travelling is
extreme, even had we not the scientific measurement of the exact
amount of time consumed during the contact. It will be obvious to a
very ordinary understanding that when a club is travelling at this
terrific pace it would be impossible for anyone to impart into the
line of travel of the club head a new direction at, say, two feet from
the ball, without ruining both the force and the direction of the
ball. Therefore, it is evident that if one could close one's eyes when
the club head was two feet from the ball and still keep one's head in
exactly the same position, the impact would be practically not
affected at all.
This is the undoubted fact in so far as regards the work of the eye.
It fulfils its duty very early in the stroke; but although the
explanation of the function of the eye is so incorrectly given, still
"Keep your eye on the ball" is, and ever will be, a sound golfing
maxim, for it is not given to golfing man to be able to lift his eye
and at the same time to keep his mind concentrated on his stroke, and
to keep his head in the same place as it was in when he addressed his
ball. Therefore, although it is not so absolutely necessary to keep
one's eye on the ball as is generally laid down, it is expedient to
preach to the fullest extent and to insist on what Harry Vardon calls
"the parrot cry of the links."
Most writers who deal with the matter of keeping one's eye on the ball
are not satisfied with exhorting the player to keep his eye on the
ball until after the moment of impact; they go further still and
insist upon the fact that he must continue to gaze at the piece of
turf whereon the ball lay, long after the ball has departed to the
hole. This, again, is an absolute fallacy. It is only excusable on the
principle that the greater includes the less, and that by insisting on
one gazing at the turf long after the ball has sped on its way, one
may be able to make the player do what he should do, and that is just
to keep his eye on the ball until the moment of impact, for if we
follow the advice given by many notable men of continuing to gaze at
the turf after the ball has been driven, there can be no doubt
whatever that we do much to spoil the rhythm and effectiveness of the
drive.
To preserve these we have been told that the head must be kept
immovable throughout the golf drive, and that one must keep one's eye
on the ball until it has been driven, and on the place where it was
after it has been driven. However, following Vardon's explanation of
the drive and taking what we know of this stroke ourselves, it will be
remembered that at the moment of impact, "simultaneously," Vardon
says, the body moves down the line of flight to the hole. It follows,
therefore, that if one continues turf-gazing after one has hit the
ball, that one's body is going on its way towards the hole whilst
one's head is being held backward in the opposite direction to the
travel of the body. This is absolutely bad golf, and Vardon does not
do this himself.
The truth with regard to the proper management of the eye in the golf
stroke is that it should move simultaneously with the ball, for if
there be any attempt whatever to drive the ball and to keep the head
in the same position as it was at the moment of address, this will
inevitably result in preventing the right shoulder getting through and
the body following it as it ought to do, for a rigid head and neck
will prevent any follow-through.
Vardon is very explicit about the value of timing the body so that it
goes forward down the line of flight towards the hole at the moment
the stroke is made. He shows us, as a matter of fact, that this
forward movement is practically simultaneous with the impact of the
club on the ball. It will be obvious, then, to anyone, that this
turf-gazing after one has hit the ball, which is recommended by the
leading authorities of the game, is absolutely bad golf, for it must
inevitably interfere with the follow-through.
At page 174 of _The Complete Golfer_ Vardon says:
Keep your eye on the ball until you have hit it, but no
longer. You cannot follow through properly with a long shot
if your eye remains fastened on the ground. Hit the ball and
then let your eye pick it up in its flight as quickly as
possible. Of course this needs skilful timing and management,
but precision will soon become habitual.
It was by the merest chance that I saw this passage after I had
written my chapter on "The Function of the Eyes," although I am now
incorporating it herein.
I am very glad to have Vardon's authority to back me up in
discrediting the silly idea about turf-studying; but although I have
him with me I cannot hold him guiltless of spreading the error, for he
has been photographed _repeatedly_ illustrating it in a style which he
never uses in actual play. This may be seen in the series of
photographs in _Fry's Magazine_ already referred to, and also at pages
89 and 97 of _Great Golfers_, wherein this great player is shown in
positions which in actual play he would not understand how to get
into; but people who know no better, and have not the real power of
comparative analysis and close thinking, are led away and suffer for
this kind of foolishness merely because it is associated with a great
name.
[Illustration: PLATE VIII. EDWARD RAY
This plate shows the champion's tremendous finish in the
drive. Ray, at the top of his stroke, gets much of his weight
on his right foot, but does not advise others to do so.]
In connection with this matter of the function of the eye there is an
interesting point which I have not seen mentioned in any golf book--a
point which makes it, if anything, more necessary for one to insist
upon the vast importance of the maxim "Keep your eye on the ball,"
although it is fallaciously preached both before and after impact.
This point is that there is just before impact a very considerable
portion of the travel of the head of the golf club during which the
ball is practically never seen by the golfer. This is what I may
call the golfer's "blind spot." It exists in practically all ball
games where the ball is struck by a bat or other implement of that
kind. Its existence, of course, is well known in cricket. I have
played lawn-tennis for twenty years, and I do not believe that I have
at any time during that period seen my racket hit the ball when
actually playing. I have seen it do it when I have made up my mind to
watch the ball and forget other matters, but in actual play one does
not do this. One plays the stroke with the utmost naturalness. The
ball is coming towards one and one gauges the distance and strikes.
One knows that whatever happens one's stroke is made for good or ill,
and there is in many strokes a blind spot of fully six to nine inches
in length.
I have had some wonderful photographs of this blind spot wherein it is
shown most clearly that the lawn-tennis player is looking right away
from his ball long before he has struck it. I think it is beyond
question that this same blind spot exists in golf. I have no doubt
whatever that, perfect player as he is, there is in Harry Vardon's
stroke a blind spot of at least five inches. Few people who have not
studied this question can realise the incredible rapidity with which
the head of a golf club travels. I am well aware that there are many
photographs of Harry Vardon in existence, which show him carefully
studying the turf after the ball has gone on its way. I am also well
aware that these photographs were taken to illustrate the fact that he
does engage in turf-studying after the ball has gone on its way. I am
also well aware that in actual play he does nothing of the kind, and
that his beautiful, free, and natural finish is as different from the
stiff and constrained photographs shown when he does not lift his
head, as chalk is from cheese.
I have watched Harry Vardon many and many a time, and I am absolutely
certain that in his natural play he has no thought whatever in his
mind of gazing at the turf after his ball has gone away. There is
nothing whatever to be gained by doing so, and there is much to be
lost. Any attempt whatever to anchor the head by gazing at the turf
after the ball has gone away, and then afterwards to allow it to
resume its place, together with the shoulders, in the swing of the
follow-through, is mere futility, and must result in absolutely
spoiling the rhythm of the swing and a proper follow-through.
There is no player in the world who could be taken as a finer example
than Harry Vardon, of the fact that in the golf swing and at the
moment of impact there must be no restraint whatever on the movement
of the shoulders and the head. They must work together with the club
head and the ball. If they do not all move at the same time something
is out of gear.
In the game of blindfolded golf which I have referred to, the
professional player took his stance, addressed his ball, and was then
blindfolded with a handkerchief, an operation which naturally took
some considerable time, but even as it was, he played some
astonishingly good shots even when his whole swing was blindfolded. He
should have had a pair of spectacles lined with cotton wadding or some
similar material and fastened with an elastic band, which could have
been lifted up whilst he was taking his address and closed down the
moment he was ready to make his stroke. This would have given him a
better chance to demonstrate what he desired to, which, as I have
already said, was in itself practically sound.
I have spoken of Harry Vardon's blind spot, and I have said that it is
a matter of five inches. As a matter of fact it may quite well often
be double that; but it seems to me perfectly plain that nothing
whatever that Vardon can do when his club is within a foot of the
ball, so long as he keeps his head steady or still, is likely to alter
the path of the club head--I am speaking now, of course, of any normal
golf stroke. This consideration of the matter brings us back to the
statement which I have made time and time again, and in which I am
supported by James Braid, that once the golf stroke is commenced, the
fact of it connecting with the ball is merely an incident in the path
of the club head; and that after the club head has proceeded a certain
distance on the way to the ball it is beyond the power of the player
to alter the character of that stroke, for his force has been
irretrievably directed, in so far as regards that particular stroke,
in a particular manner.
Speaking of the position of the head in driving, Taylor says:
The head is maintained in exactly the same position as the
arms are brought down again, and so it remains until the ball
has been swept from the tee. The arms and body for all
practical purposes go through the same action, but in the
reverse way as in the upward swing, the body being held in a
similar position, but with the head turned and eyes looking
over the right shoulder at the finish of the stroke.
During the progress of this downward movement the weight of
the body is again transferred, passing from the right leg to
the left, until when the finish arrives the whole of the
weight has been placed upon the left foot, while the right
has assumed the position previously held by its neighbour.
We see here in a very marked degree the fallacy of the distribution of
the weight so that at the top of the swing the greater portion of it
is on the right leg; for Taylor, although he tells us that "the head
is maintained in exactly the same position," says that "during the
progress of this downward movement the weight of the body is again
transferred, passing from the right leg to the left."
It is a very natural question for us to ask, "How can all this
shifting of the body be going on if the head is to be kept perfectly
still?" As a matter of fact it is a physical impossibility; and it is
also obvious that it would be impossible to keep the head still,
rigidly fixed, as we are told it should be, at the moment of impact,
and yet to get a true follow-through.
Let us read a little farther on, and we see that Taylor says: "If the
ball has been struck there must be no semblance of checking or
snatching at the club. The player must not check himself or allow
premonitory symptoms of a check to make themselves felt even in the
slightest degree. He must allow the club head to follow the line of
flight of the ball as straight and as far as is possible." It stands
to reason that if one's head remains fixed for an instant after the
impact of the club with the ball, that instant the club head must feel
the tendency to be drawn out of the straight line to the hole, and the
follow-through down the line to the hole, which is so properly
insisted on by all great golfers, is ruined.
Taylor continues: "The arms must be thrown forward freely and
naturally, and as a consequence the right shoulder must be allowed to
swing forward too." This should effectually dispose of the idea of
holding the head still after the ball has left the ground, for the
simple reason that if the head and neck be held still, it will be a
matter of utter impossibility for the right shoulder to go through and
down the line to the hole as it should.
I must emphasise this matter a little more strongly by Taylor's own
words, for it is of very great importance in the golf drive.
Continuing, he says, in reference to the fact that the arms must be
allowed to go forward freely and naturally and that therefore the
right shoulder must be allowed to swing forward:
By doing this the involuntary checking of the swing is
rendered impossible; but if arms and shoulders were to be
held tightly under control and as rigid as steel, the stroke
would be finished as soon as the head of the club had been
brought into contact with the ball. Every stroke in golf must
be played freely, every muscle of the body must be allowed to
do its full share of the necessary work.
That is undoubtedly so; but if one arbitrarily fixes the position of
one's head as a stationary point in the golf swing after the ball has
gone on its journey, one prevents the right leg doing its share of the
work in shifting the weight forward down the line towards the hole,
and therefore one, to a very great extent, ruins one's follow-through.
This is a point which, in my mind, is of very great importance to the
drive, and it is, in so far as regards the function of the eyes, one
of the most pronounced fallacies of the many fallacious statements
with which unfortunate golfers are loaded.
This blind spot which I have referred to, exists, as I have already
said, in practically every game wherein the ball is struck with an
implement. It is found in lacrosse, racquets, tennis, cricket,
lawn-tennis, polo, base-ball, hockey, ping-pong, and even in
billiards; but the probability is that the farther the striking
surface of the club or other implement is from the eye, the less is
the blind spot; and this is very fortunate for the golfer, for his
margin of error is so small that it is of great importance to him to
reduce this blind spot to a negligible quantity. But on the other
hand, as a matter of scientific and accurate golf, he will make nearly
as great a mistake in his golf if, in his endeavour to follow out the
well-known and useful maxim, "Keep your eye on the ball," he acquires
the habit of turf-gazing after the ball has gone on its way to the
hole.
I have before had occasion to refer to the book entitled _The Mystery
of Golf_, and I have already, in part, touched upon some of the
author's curious ideas with regard to the analysis of the golfing
stroke. At page 159 he tells us that "the arms do not judge distance
(save when we are actually touching something) nor does the body, nor
does the head. The judging is done by the eyes." I am afraid that we
cannot deny that the judging is, in all cases, done by the eye,
because it is obvious that if we had not the use of our eyes, we
should not be able to see the ball; but the author seems to overlook
the somewhat important fact that although the arms do not judge
distance, yet they _measure_ it, and this matter of measurement is a
matter of extreme importance, as is exemplified in the case of play
out of a bunker where one has to measure the distance without
grounding the club.
On the same page the author says: "If the eyes look up before the ball
is hit, the muscles do not receive the proper orders to hit, and the
most important part of the stroke is done blindly. That is my theory";
and a most remarkable theory it is too. The muscles received their
proper orders to hit at the moment the stroke was begun, and lifting
the eyes a moment before impact would not affect the stroke if the
head remained in the same position. Lifting the eyes is in nearly
every case, as I have already pointed out, an action following on
lifting the mind. The mind has been allowed to come off the stroke
because the player's mental picture of the stroke has been completed
long before the physical act. In other words, he has got ahead of his
stroke. Then his head comes up, which of course is fatal to good
golf.
It is a very remarkable circumstance that the attempted analysis by
the author of _The Mystery of Golf_ shows clearly that he has entered
upon his task with but a very faint idea of sport generally, and he is
in this respect much handicapped in his efforts. Let us consider what
he has to say with regard to lifting the eye in golf. We read on page
164:
I have sometimes thought that there are two simple and
especial reasons for this difficulty of keeping one's eye on
the ball: first, because there is nothing to stimulate the
attention; second, because one has to attend so long. In
cricket, tennis, racquets, as I have shown, the stimulus is
extreme; by consequence, your eye follows the ball like a
hawk. In billiards there is no stimulus, but you rarely, if
ever, take your eye off your ball in billiards. Why? I think
because (1) the ball is so near to the eye--and, therefore,
the stimulus strong; (2) because the period of time requisite
for the stroke is so short. In golf there is no stimulus and
the period is always long: you have to look at your ball for
more than the whole period of the upward and downward swings.
This remarkable statement shows very clearly, as I have before said,
that the author is not practically acquainted with games generally,
for lifting the eye is common in practically every game where a ball
is used. And it is amazing to find anyone attempting to analyse such a
stroke as the golf stroke and at the same time making the statement
that "you rarely, if ever, take your eye off your ball in billiards";
and he proceeds to give reasons why one rarely takes one's eye off
one's ball in billiards, whereas the game of billiards is an
outstanding illustration of the fact that one does take one's eye off
the ball. To a very great extent one plays one's stroke at billiards
with a most pronounced blind spot every time, in that, just prior to
the moment of striking the cue ball, one always looks at the object
ball and practically one never sees one's cue on to one's own ball.
Also, it is open to doubt if the golf stroke takes, on the average,
from the time the club leaves the ball in its upward swing until the
moment of impact, any longer than the billiard player takes in playing
his stroke. If it does, the difference is not a matter which need
enter into any practical comparison of the strokes.
The curious thing is that in the game instanced by the author as
possessing the greater stimulus, that is those games wherein the ball
is moving, as in cricket, tennis, racquets, the tendency to lift the
eye from the ball is much more pronounced than in those games where
the ball is stationary, and this, I think, is by no means unnatural.
The operation of the eye is incredibly swift. It catches the flight of
the oncoming ball and one plays the stroke to meet it. In playing a
stroke at a moving ball, it stands to reason that one has, all other
things being equal, less time between the beginning of the stroke and
impact than one would have in executing a similar blow where the ball
is stationary, for here we have merely the pace of one moving object
to deal with, whereas we have in the other case the pace of the two
moving objects added together.
It seems to me clear, therefore, that the eye has been able to
ascertain much more rapidly what will happen in the case of the two
moving objects, and having decided definitely that the stroke must be
played in a certain way, the mind has given to the muscles the
necessary orders, and the eye has then gone out of business so far as
regards that particular stroke, and we get the astonishing result that
we find famous players at lawn-tennis playing their strokes with a
blind spot of, in many cases, as much as nine inches. This is beyond
the region of doubt, and can be proved to demonstration by numerous
photographs, so it will be seen that even if there were anything
whatever in the suggested comparisons, they are fundamentally unsound
in their premises, and therefore absolutely useless for any purposes
of practical golf.
We are told at page 166: "If you _don't_ keep your eye on the ball,
your stroke is cut short the moment you take your eye off." This is
obviously an error. Let us imagine that the golfer has played his
stroke perfectly accurately up to within three inches of his ball and
then takes his eye away from it, will any practical golfer believe
that if he keeps his head still the fact of moving his eye is going to
alter that stroke in any way whatever? I think not.
Again we are informed at page 167 that: "It is at all events
indisputable that any photograph showing a good follow-through shows
the player looking at the spot where the ball was, after the ball had
left it; proving that he was really looking at the ball when he hit."
Personally, I may say that I have never yet seen a photograph of a
good follow-through which did show the player looking at the spot
where the ball was after the ball had left it, for photographs of that
nature which I have seen showed most clearly that if one desires to
absolutely prevent oneself from following through, one of the best
methods of doing it is to cultivate the habit of studying the turf
after the ball has gone on its way to the hole.
In this we know that we have Vardon entirely with us. His
corroboration is valuable for the point is of great and practical
importance to the game.