The Club on the Upswing It is contraction, first of the right side and right arm that raises the club on the upswing. A reverse contraction of the left side and left arm pulls the club down into and through the ball and gives the player a controlled method of swinging the club, because muscle contraction can be regulated and controlled. The contraction of the right side on the upswing, and the reverse contraction of the left side on the downswing, plus the follow through are what constitute the body control and body action we have been insisting on as the basis of natural golf. But a contraction of the right side can never be executed unless the player is properly balanced on the right foot. And, of course, the contraction of the left side can never be done unless the player is properly balanced on the left foot. This, then, as has been previously shown, is the first lesson of golf. Learn to handle your weight so that you can use your body to make the club swing. Summary
Up to this point there has been a presentation of the 8 step procedure—the double 4 outline of the correct golf form—4 steps to establish the correct starting position, and another 4 steps to make the stroke. There is no possible short cut from this procedure. It is impossible to do everything that has to be done in regard to footwork, hands and body, the three operations that are essential in every golf shot, without going through the complete sequence of these moves. Emphasis has been placed on the need of proper footwork so as to establish in the body the proper sense of control, and the proper sense of swing. I have often said that people either play golf or they play at it, depending on just how they use their body in a golf shot. There will be more written about the action of the body in a golf shot, because a new concept of body action will enable us to present a clear-cut, understandable picture of just what the body action in a golf shot really is. As a matter of fact, it is this new concept that has motivated the writer to write this third book on golf. It was a similar motive that prompted me to do my first book on golf, Par Golf in Eight Steps. Previous to that time there had been much emphasis on the pronation method of golf play—a method which suggested that the body should never be used in a golf shot, that there should be no body sway. As a consequence, golfers were being so restricted and inhibited that they couldn't have any fun playing the game. This situation made me determine to present the true picture of the golf swing—that it was something that was done with the body, that it was a perfectly natural procedure that made the game a real pleasure. Years of study of our top golfing stars and an analysis of their game proved to me that their superiority as golfers came because they employed their body correctly. | 