Golf Swing Trainer

A Most Harmful Golf Theory, by Joe Novak

Without a doubt the most common fault in golf is slicing.

I remember many, many years ago, a British golf magazine relating the story of such a discussion. To prove how the club actually traveled a flaming material was attached to the clubhead and pictures of this flamed path were taken in the darkness of night. I vividly recall the utterly black background with a picture of the club's lighted path. The club did not go back and forth on the same line.

About the time that Bobby Jones was at the peak of his game, high speed motion picture cameras were being improved and perfected. One company, anxious to dem- onstrate the efficiency of its product, took pictures of everything that traveled at high speed and eventually they came around to Bobby Jones' golf swing. With this high speed camera they had pictures of the club at every point of the swing, so they charted the path of the club. Much to their surprise they discovered that Bobby Jones' golf club did not go back and forth on the same line—as a matter of fact, it did a decided loop. The club traveled inwardly at the start of the backswing, then straight up,

and as it reached the top of the swing it went to the out- side slightly. As the downswing started, the club dropped to the inside again and it remained on that path until the ball was met. At this point it went straight up and over— the club actually traveled through a figure eight pattern. The evidence was undeniable.

In presenting the pictures to the public a great hurrah was raised to the effect that Bobby Jones, the peerless champion, had a flaw in his swing. No one wanted to study a defect, so there was no interest in the films.

It is regrettable that the pictures were not regarded for their true worth. Subsequent study of the golf swing has proven that the club cannot and does not travel back and forth on the same line.

But as most players do not understand the need or the mechanics of shifting their weight, they are forced to use their left side in a sort of turning motion to take the club away on the backswing. This left side action of the body carries the club to the outside of the line of flight.

Add to this the common suggestion of a tight grip with the last three fingers of the left hand and you have a hand action which will throw the face of the club open. What can the player do but pull the club across the line of flight as the club is brought into the ball? After one or two such slices, everybody in the foursome becomes a coach and the routine advice offered is this: "You are pulling your club from the outside in—you are coming across the ball from outside in—now what you must do is to swing from the inside out." They continue: "Imagine that the ball is sitting on home plate and you are driving it to second base—but don't try to swing straight through the second base, swing from inside out—swing out towards first base."

And I see many golfers doing exactly this—and they have cured their slice but they have the most annoying, sickening hook you ever saw because they just replace one error with another error.

All this brings up the subject of just where the club does go as it travels from the ball to the top of the swing and down again into the ball and the follow through. Many golfers feel that the club should go back and forth on exactly the same path. Whether it goes back and forth on the same line has been the subject of many debates.

This is an excerpt from a book in the Online Classics Golf Library, an ever-expanding collection of golf books. Membership and lifetime access to the OCG library can be yours with your purchase of

Break 80 Without Practice,

A complete guide to score improvement for those with little time to work on their game AND A TURBOCHARGE for those that do. One payment, continuous books on golf sent to you to read on your computer or print out and read while sitting on your couch or easy chair.