The importance of power in golf

Most of us do not pay enough attention to what we are told, how we are told it, or by whom we are told it. In fact most of us need to learn how to learn. When I use the words "power," "strength," "energy," or even "moving force," some people take no notice whatever—they do not try to understand or analyze what is meant.

Some people of course do try to understand, and they soon realize the difference between the expressions which I have so carefully selected to indicate power and those which they had previously confused with them, such as "speed," "quickness," "velocity," and even "hurry." Which distinction is highly desirable, because, if they aim at speed, quickness, velocity, and hurry, they will kill any chance they may have of swinging with strength.

It is the strength of the swing of a very good player that intrigues us. He seems to swing slowly, even lazily, yet drives prodigious distances, and we marvel at it and wonder why we cannot do the same. For me there is nothing to wonder at; he swings strongly from his legs upwards while we swing quickly from the club head downwards by means of our shoulders, arms, and hands. He tries to produce power in his swing; we try to impart speed to the club head.

Please remember before we go on to consider its application that power at golf is centered around the hips. Please note centered around; the power is not produced by the hips (or very little of it is) but by the feet, calves, and thighs—but it is gathered up and given the correct centrifugal golf direction by the hip brace and pivot. And we will fail to drive the ball far and straight as soon as we fail to take control of the club from the top of the swing with the feet, calves, and thighs.

Now each shot in golf is a separate situation, and when we contemplate a situation—preparatory to playing the shot—we have to sense through our carefully built-up sense of feel how much power we need. How much power, not how much swing. A half-shot with a mashie does not mean a half-swing with that club but a swing with half power. We can play—or we should be able to play—a three-quarter shot with a full swing or a full shot with a three-quarter swing. I realize that this conception may be difficult to grasp, but it lies at the root of the superiority of the really great golfer.
I say the really great golfer because there are many well-known and successful players who can play nothing but full shots; a controlled shot is right outside their golfing range. Yet the great golfer plays every shot controlled, that is he plays every shot with what  he feels to be the correct degree of power not at full pressure. This control is the secret of his greatness.

The test of a golfer's control is in his ability to play a shot of 70 yards with every iron club in his bag. Think that out; it will give you an idea of what control of power means. Every shot will be played firmly, but the power applied will obviously have to be varied greatly with the different clubs.

I do not claim that I was ever a great player but I did teach myself to perform this tour de force, for a tour de force it is. It took me most of my golfing life to learn how to do it. "And why," you may ask, "should you expect us ordinary golfers to be able to do a thing which it took you, an expert, a lifetime to learn?" Well, I did not say I expected you to be able to do it ... what I do say is that understanding how it is done and endeavoring to do it yourself will give you a real conception of controlled power in the golf swing.

In my opinion, we cannot lay too much stress upon this matter of getting the right conceptions. It is surprising what you can get people to do once they clearly understand what it is that has to be done. To reverse this, I contend that many of us are playing bad golf not because we are incapable of playing good golf but simply because we are thinking of golf in the wrong way.

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