a few thoughts on iron play

ROBERT T. JONES, JR.

why the iron shot to the green is the most telling factor in golf and how to execute it

What department of the game of golf carries the greatest offensive threat? What is the greatest scoring weapon in the hands of an expert player? That is a question upon which it is hard to find general agreement. Some say that good putting wins more holes and saves more strokes; others prefer good iron play, while others vote for long and accurate driving.

When we try to appraise the respective values of different departments of play, we must assume that the player possesses ordinary skill in all departments of the game, for the co-relation of each is so close that if one were actually bad in one department the value of all the others would count for little. Good putting amounts to little if a shot has been wasted in reaching the green, and, similarly, a surpassing skill with the irons avails little if the tee shots have not left the ball on the fairway.

A veteran of many campaigns once expressed the opinion that iron play is really the offensive department of golf. I confess that I had never had the same opinion, but the more I think of it the more certain I now am that I agree with him. There are many holes in a round which are decided by the drive, and others that are won by a long putt after a mediocre iron shot; but these instances are comparatively few. In the end the greatest weapon of all is the fine iron shot finishing close to the hole and putting the player in a really offensive position—where he may hope to hole the putt for a win.

Fine driving throughout a match has a great effect, to be sure, but it is more or less a Cumulative effect. Consistency in this department bears down upon the opponent with a pressure which is steady and relentless. If continued for long, and if backed up by sound play in other departments, this pressure may result in a rout. But, in the play of a hole which is innocent of freakish design, it is seldom that a commanding advantage is secured from off the tee. As long as both balls rest on the fairway, a difference of ten yards or so in length is easily offset by a good iron shot.

And that is where the real offensive is started. Both balls, let us say, are lying on the fairway after the drives, and both are a respectable distance from the tee, one twenty yards farther than the other. One man plays a moderately good shot on to the green, but thirty feet or more from the hole; the other (the shorter driver of the two) plays an excellent shot stopping ten feet from it. Twenty yards may not be a killing advantage off the tee, but twenty feet means much on the green. The man thirty feet away cannot expect to hole his putt. He must even concern himself lest he take three putts. His opponent, ten feet away, is certain of finishing in two putts with an almost even chance of finishing in one.

It is true that, over a long route of thirtysix holes, against an opponent who is not quite sure of himself or who may be upset by continued pressure, a long straight drive, a conservative iron to the green, and an unambitious two-putt green, will lead to ultimate victory. But when the heights must be taken by storm, and there is no time for a deliberate siege, it is the iron shot close to the hole which supplies the punch and wins the hole.

Here it may be interesting to wonder just what sort of iron play usually places the ball close to the hole. There is always, in every golfer's mind, this problem: is it better to use this club and hit hard, or that one and spare the shot? Throughout a full round of golf, do the forced shots or the spared shots finish closer to the hole on the average?

The old Scotch caddies at St. Andrews do not look with favour upon the golfing kit of the Americans for whom they must carry. Usually the bags contain (among other clubs) a full set of numbered irons, designed to cover the whole range of iron play, reducing the gap between the clubs to the least possible number of yards. Even with this apparently comprehensive set of irons, it is seldom that an exactly full shot, with any club, is required to place the ball beside the hole. To stop the ball in what I call an offensive position— where there may be reason to expect to hole out in one putt—the distance cannot be off more than a few feet. To expect an exact graduation of range in the club itself is of course an impossibility. The player must himself control the length of his shot, just as an outfielder must control the length of his throw to the home plate.

The control of a spared shot is often considered beyond the reach of the average player. (He is thought to be on much safer ground when he is blazing away at eacli shot with every ounce of power in his body.) But it is not necessary that a man should be able to play a mashie shot with a mid-iron. All that he needs to do is to bridge the fairly small gap between each of his many clubs so that he may have control throughout every foot of the differences between his various clubs—from his driver to his putter. Every stroke which utilizes less than the full power of the club may be called a spared shot, and I think the spared shot, within certain limits, is more effective in the long run than that which forces a club to the utmost.

I am of course speaking about getting close to the hole, and it is well to remember that to do that it is not enough to hit the ball on the line. I have heard many players tell of hitting a shot directly at the flagstick only to add that the ball finished at the hack, or the front, of the green, as though that were not their fault. They would likely consider the shot a bad one if its length were exact and its direction forty feet off. But range and direction are equally necessary. The subsequent putt is not made a bit easier by the fact that the previous shot was on line.

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I have noticed that when I play an absolutely full shot with any iron club, I usually find myself many feet past the hole. There must be many places on a golf course where the distance is exactly right for a full shot but I never seem able to find them. I think, though, that the explanation of that may not be difficult after all. When the player has once determined that a full shot is required, he should hit the ball hard, concerning himself only with the direction. But in playing anything less than a full shot he must have both distance and direction constantly in mind.

It should be added that iron play differs, in one very important respect, from wooden play. In playing any iron the degree of accuracy required is much higher. The problem is not to get as much range as possible but to hit the ball as far as the hole and no farther. This feature makes it desirable, except in certain special instances, to hit a shot with backspin which will cause it to stop very quickly after striking the ground.

Here is another difficulty. I remember that one of my earliest troubles with the irons was a desire to hit the ball too much upward in the hope of gaining backspin. Apparently when one takes, let us say, a mashie in hand to play a neat pitch to the green over a yawning bunker, one's first impulse is to lob the ball high into the air. I have seen any number of players who attempt to obtain backspin in this way. They never stop to think that the lofted club is exactly designed to secure the necessary altitude without

this necessity. In playing an iron, and by that I mean to include the pitching irons, it is imperative that the player "stay down to the shot".

It is important, in iron play, in order to accomplish the kind of stroke which I have described, that the left hand grip should be firm and the left arm straight at the impact. I also like to feel that I am pressing downward with the palm of my left hand.

Now, another matter. It is easy to talk about the necessity of preserving a straight left arm at the top of the swing. That feature of the swing has probably been more discussed than any other single phase of the stroke. But Varden proved that golf could be played exceedingly well even though the left elbow might be slightly hinged.

So much for the left. But what I have not seen satisfactorily demonstrated by anyone is the possibility of playing even moderately decent golf without a straight right arm at impact.

I have a little idea of my own that this straightening process is the source of a large percentage of the power of the stroke. At the instant when every bit of energy which the player possesses is being hurled at the ball the right arm is the means of transmitting power from the right side and shoulder. One trial is enough to show that it is impossible to exert great force if the right arm is allowed to bend.

And now a final word as to speed. Apparently, in golf, the amount of power depends a good deal on how much "winding up" can be done without complicating too greatly the unwinding process. Power is speed and speed increases with motion. So, power will be gained by moving the clubhead as rapidly as possible with, however, movements which are under control and easily executed.

EDITOR'S Note—This article, by Mr. Jones, is published here by permission of the Bell Syndicate, Incorporated.