By Vivien Saunders in The Long Game Swing The Clubhead Vivien Saunders Ladies Open Champion 1991 VHS Available on Amazon
Filmed at Abbotsley Golf Hotel St Neots Cambridgeshire UK
“I HAVE often heard the drive in golf described as a sweep, but I have no doubt in my mind that the tee shot is a hit ; and the harder you hit the ball, the further it will go.” George Duncan, 1921.
“You must whack it, and the only way to whack it is to bring the club-head to it in front of the hand, not a great way in front, but a few inches in front, so as to “swipe” it away. I like “swipe” better than “sweep,” because “swipe” has something of “hit” in it.” Sandy Herd, 1923.
“I depart from Sir Walter’s advice in one respect. I prefer the word “swing,” where he says “hit.” I prefer “swing the clubhead” to “hit the ball” because there is a vast difference between swinging at a ball and hitting at a ball. I claim nothing new or revolutionary in “swing the clubhead” because the term is used to describe the player’s effort to wield the club. The simplest example of a swing is that of the pendulum in an old grandfather’s clock.” Ernest Jones, 1952.
“I always remained faithful to my hand action whereby the ball was whipped, not pushed. Using my hands and wrists in the way I do, and have done for a long time, does not put any abnormal strain on the spine, for the body plays a normal role: it does not have to do a kind of corkscrew movement in order to get the club square to the ball.” Henry Cotton, 1952.
“Strong hands and arms are not everything, and many really strong men are comparatively short because they do not use their hands correctly. Their swings are stiff and they have little cock of the wrists. Flexibility is essential to long hitting and without it good timing is impossible. It is that last snap of the wrists at impact which gives those extra yards.” Harry Weetman, 1953.
“We think, talk, and write so much about the details of the stroke that we sometimes lose sight of the thing which is all-important – hitting the ball. It is a matter of well-timed acceleration rather than of physical effort of the kind that bends crow-bars and lifts heavy weights.” Bobby Jones, 1961.
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