So far, everything in this book has dealt with the physical actions of golf, the positions and movements of our hands, our feet, our bodies, our arms, and of the club itself. There is another side of golf, though, that is all too fre­quently overlooked in our sometimes frantic efforts to master the swing. This is the mental or thinking side of the game. Happily, this is not nearly so difficult to master as the rest.

Basically, the thinking side of the game is the exercise of common sense, by which we give ourselves the best possible chance on every shot we undertake, adapting ourselves to the elements of wind, weather, and terrain, using our clubs to their fullest capabilities. We plan how we are going to play each shot, how we are going to position ourselves and our ball to play each hole.

The more talented or expert a player is, the more likely he is to carry out his plans. He has the ability to make the ball do, most of the time, what he wants it to do, within varying limits. The poorer player does not have this fine control of the ball, and he does not hit it so far, but he should plan every shot and every hole. He will not be able to carry out his plans as often as the good player, but when he does, they will save him strokes, and obviously the poorer player should overlook no opportunity whatever to reduce his shots.

The playing of a round of golf is a long succession of decisions on what to do, followed by the physical action of carrying them out. The physical action may be good but may fall short of success if the decision is wrong. For instance, having hit a fine drive, you decide the 8 iron will carry the trap and put your ball on the green. You hit the iron perfectly—and drop the ball into the trap. The execution was faultless but the decision was wrong. You should have used your 7.

The selection of clubs, though, is only one area of the thinking department. A larger area is the planning of a shot to avoid trouble. This is, in a sense, a negative or defensive type of thinking, but it is extremely important. There are players who glory in playing everything boldly, in taking all manner of chances, and in scorning caution in themselves or anyone else. But when you stop to think of it, what chance does the poor player or the average player or even the pretty good player have of beating the golf course? He is one poorly to moderately well equipped individual, pitted against more than six thousand yards of rolling coun­try, studded with both natural and man-made hazards. For him to think he can beat this enemy is asinine. The course has all the advantages. The only sane attitude for any ordi­nary player to adopt is the defensive one, charting his way around or over the lurking dangers (thumbing his nose at them as he goes, perhaps), but at all costs avoiding them.

The besetting sin, the fatal flaw, if you will, in the poor or average golfer, is attempting too much. He gambles, on a decision born of sheer hope, that he will make a great shot from a poor position when the odds are heavy that he would not make nearly as good a shot from a perfect position. He takes a 5 iron when he knows he should take a 4, because the others in the foursome are using 5's. He attempts to carry a trap from the tee when he knows in his heart that only a perfect shot, which he rarely hits, will get him over it. He tries to get distance from the rough when all he should try to do is just get out. In short, hope and pride—and apparently a belief in miracles—cause the average player to attempt too much. By trying to beat the course to its knees when he should only be outboxing it, the typical player loses strokes.

For the expert the situation is different. For him the bold attack is fine, tempered with reasonable good sense. He has the game that can beat the course, and he will beat it only if he attacks it.

A perfect example of a top pro attacking a course was Arnold Palmer on the first hole of the last round at Cherry Hills in 1960. Palmer started that last round seven shots behind the leader. He knew that only the boldest of play could close the gap. The first hole was a par 4, slightly down­hill, measured 346 yards, and the green was closely guarded by traps, although there was a narrow opening. Palmer let out the shaft, as the pros say, and drove the green. He got down in two putts for a birdie 3, was off to a fast start, and as it turned out, a victorious round. Palmer has the power­ful game to beat any course. He kept attacking Cherry Hills, subdued it with a 65, and won the Open.

Before we go into the specifics of thinking, there are two things we can all do. We can learn both the rules and the etiquette of golf. The rules are many and they are sometimes peculiar, but the etiquette is simple. It is merely the ap­plication of the golden rule to golf: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Most of the rules of golf are restrictive; they tell us what we cannot do. But many of them afford us relief, too, from particular situations. Be certain you know the rules on a lost ball, out of bounds, an unplayable lie. Learn the rules governing water hazards and lateral water hazards. Know what a hazard itself is and what you are permitted and not permitted to do when your ball is in one. Familiarize your­self with the rules on obstructions, and bear in mind always that you cannot "move, bend, or break anything fixed or growing" except in special circumstances. Read, also, the rules on casual water, on obstructions deriving from course maintenance, and read the local rules printed on the score-card. Sometimes you find some surprises in the latter.

The rules and etiquette are issued annually in booklet form by the United States Golf Association, the best and wisest sports governing body in America. You owe it to your­self to have a copy.

The Weapons We Use

Since we play this game with clubs, our first thinking should be about the weapons we use. And there is plenty of ma­terial for thought here. How heavy should they be, what should be their swing weight, how stiff should the shafts be, how many should we carry, and which ones should they be?

Weights of clubs seem to go in cycles. In the early 1930's the tournament pros felt that with light clubs they could swing faster and thereby get more distance. The word spread about how the pros felt, the demand for light clubs in­creased, and the manufacturers of course obliged. This lasted until somewhere in the 1940's, when the pros decided that with heavier clubs they expended less physical effort; they would, in effect, let the club do the work. So heavier clubs came in. By 1960 the trend had begun to go the other way, toward slightly lighter sticks, not much but a little.

We prefer a club a little on the heavy side, for the reason that it doesn't have to be swung so fast. It can, and will, do most of the work if it is given a chance. With such a club the player can concentrate more on swinging correctly, mak­ing the proper moves that will bring direction, and not concern himself with getting adequate distance.

The average driver today weighs 13¼ to 13½ ounces and is 43 inches long, measured from the base of the heel to the tip of the shaft. The other woods are shorter by about a half inch with each number. The No. 2 iron is about 38% to 38⅝ inches, and the others drop about 7/16 of an inch each, down to the No. 9. The irons weigh from 14½ ounces for the No. 2 to 16½ for the No. 9. Sand wedges will go up to 17½.

Shafts of clubs are graded in three types, flexible, medium, and stiff. Most of the bigger, stronger pros use the stiff shaft. The medium shaft is for the average player. The flexible is generally considered best for players of more advanced age and for women. It is best suited for a slow swing. The limber-ness of a shaft is known to the manufacturers as shaft de­flection.

The amount of loft in the face of a club (the amount it inclines from the vertical) varies from 10½ degrees for the driver up to 58 degrees for the sand wedge. There is only one degree difference between the No. 4 wood (19 degrees) and the No. 2 iron (20 degrees). Here are the lofts of the standard clubs:

Woods                                  Irons
Driver     10½ degrees          No. 2            20 degrees
No. 2       13     degrees       No. 3            23 degrees
No. 3       16    degrees        No. 4            27 degrees
No. 4       19    degrees        No. 5            31 degrees
No. 5       21     degrees       No. 6            35 degrees
                                            No. 7            39 degrees
                                            No. 8            43 degrees
                                            No. 9            47 degrees
                                            Pitching
                                            wedge           53 degrees
                                            Wedge         55 degrees
                                            Sand
                                            wedge           58 degrees

We have heard a great deal, for years, about swing weight. The term is tossed about so loosely, in fact, that few players have much of an idea what it is. Swing weight indicates the distribution of the weight of a club. It is the proportion of the weight in the head compared to the shaft and the grip. Swing weights are listed from C—0 to D—9.

But a D—9, for instance, doesn't mean that 9 ounces of a club weighing 13% ounces are in the head. D—9 is merely one of the calibrations on what is known as a lorythmic swinging weight scale.

A D—9 is no club for the average player to use, either. It is what Arnold Palmer and many of the other pros use, and it is for a strong, fast swinger. For the average player the ideal swing weight is from D—1 to D—4. For women the range is from C—4 to C—6.

In a general sense, the more you "feel" the head of the club when you waggle it or swing it, the higher the swing weight. You have often heard players say, and no doubt you have said it yourself, when handling a new club, "Feels like a lot of head in this." What you are feeling is the swing weight.

You could be fooled, of course, by the shaft. A medium swing weight, for instance, in a club with a flexible shaft, would feel like a very high swing weight. You would "feel" an inordinate amount of head when you swung it. In fact, with a club like this, you would have a very difficult time developing a decent swing at all. But the manufacturers have taken care of this. They do not put out clubs with high swing weights on flexible shafts. In men's clubs the swing weights for a flexible shaft are D—0 and D—1. For medium shafts they are D—1 to D—4. For stiff shafts they are D—4 to D-9.

Which Clubs to Carry

Since the USGA permits the carrying of fourteen clubs, it would be difficult to persuade the average golfer that he shouldn't take full advantage of the rule. He would not be happy, indeed he would feel himself laboring under a handicap, carrying fewer than the rule allows. So, which ones should they be?

From the conventional set of three woods, nine irons, a sand wedge, and a putter, the average player should drop the No. 1 iron and the No. 2 wood. For these he should substitute the No. 4 wood and a pitching wedge. The No. 2 wood and the No. 1 iron, with their relatively straight faces, are the hardest clubs of all to use. Many pros dispense with the No. 2 wood, the old brassie, though most of them carry a No. 1 iron, mostly for use off a tee. If the pros cannot use them effectively, what chance does a 16-handicapper have to make them behave?

It is also a fact that most golfers find a lofted wood easier to handle than a long iron. This seems to be specially true as the player grows older. If you are one of these, and do not want to or cannot take the time to master the longer irons, then drop out the No. 2 and pick up a No. 5 wood.

Generally speaking, we recommend the carrying of a driver, Nos. 3 and 4 woods, Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 irons, a pitching wedge, a sand wedge, and a putter.

There are some to whom the No. 1 wood, the driver, seems to be a special type of poison. There is no logical reason for this. Anybody who can hit a 3 wood, or any other wood, off the fairway has more than enough ability to hit a teed-up ball with a driver. If you hook or slice so badly with the driver that you are afraid to play it, something is radically wrong with your swing.

Strategy on the Tee

Now that we have decided on our clubs, let us go to the first tee. You have the option of teeing your ball anywhere between, but not forward of, the markers. Don't forget that you can also tee it a maximum of two club-lengths behind the line of the markers.

Before you stick the peg in the ground take a good look at what is in front of you. And know what you are looking for. Almost every hole has more trouble on one side of the fairway than it does on the other. This trouble may be obvious: a string of white out-of-bounds stakes, a fence, or a pond. It may be more subtle: longer rough on one side than on the other, or a fairway trap on one side. It might be just a line of small trees, or a hidden ravine, or it might be one big tree with spreading branches out there in the rough about 220 or 230 yards from the tee.

Whatever the trouble is, make this your rule: Tee up your ball on the same side of the teeing ground as the trouble lies, and shoot away from it.

Fig. 53. Faced with rough, trees, and a brook at the right of the fair­way and only mild rough at the left, tee the ball on the right side and shoot away from the trouble.

If the worst trouble lies on the right side, tee up on the right. Aim for the left center of the fairway and let fly. This way you will be at least starting your shot away from the danger zone. If, playing from the right side, you slice badly enough to bring the ball back into the trouble, you will still have two sources of satisfaction: The ball won't be as deep in the trouble and you will know that you at least tried intelligently to avoid it. There is always the chance, of course, that you will hit the ball across the fairway and into the rough on the opposite side, but then you have been caught by the lesser of the two evils and the advantage is still yours.

Something else in teeing your ball. Take advantage, if there is any to be taken, of any unevenness of the ground. Often there are little depressions on a tee. If there are in the area you choose, tee your ball on the forward edge of one. This will give you a slightly uphill lie, the lie most golfers like to play from. This is especially important if you are playing with the wind behind you. It will get your ball a little higher. But wherever you tee, be sure there are no obstructions of any kind behind the ball. These might be worm casts, which could deflect the club slightly as it is brought back, or they could be loose, dead grass, the move­ment of which might distract you. Whatever they are, get rid of them.

Another point to be sure of is that your feet are on level ground, that there is nothing under them which disturbs you, like a stick or a small stone or a clod of mud. Be sure also, especially in wet weather, that your feet aren't resting on muddy ground or loose earth from which they might slip.

All this may seem to be making mountains out of those worm casts we warned you of, but such observation, inspection, and reaction should become automatic. We assure you they are with the good player. Any little advantages which may exist are even more valuable to you than they are to the pro or the low-handicap player.

Handling the Wind

One of the great and variable hazards of golf is the wind. Few players actually like the wind, because it is an unsettling factor, though sometimes more imaginary than real. It is a fact, though, that an appreciable number of yards are lost when you hit straight into a wind, even though it is a light breeze, and just as many yards are gained when the wind is directly with the shot.

It follows, then, that in playing against the wind the ball should be kept as low as possible, where it is less ex­posed, and that when the wind is behind us we should get the ball up so the movement of air can exert a greater and longer effect. To get a low ball, play it back farther than normal, toward the center line between the feet if it is the tee shot, back farther for a pitching iron. Keep more weight on the left leg than normally and try to have your hands ahead of the ball at impact. It is also advisable, against the wind, to take one club stronger than you would use in still air, grip it shorter, and use a shorter but firmer swing. Most of these alterations should be reversed in a following wind. The ball should be played a shade farther forward than usual to get it up quickly, and one club weaker than normal should be used. It, too, should be gripped shorter and swung with a shorter and firmer action. Let the weight movement and the hand action be normal; fooling with them is too dangerous.

Playing in a crosswind from the tee, the ball should be played from... [Chapter Incomplete]

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