k in long driving--Hit properly and hard--What is pressing and
what is not--Summary of the drive.

Now let us consider the upward and downward swings of the club, and the
movements of the arms, legs, feet, and body in relation to them. As a
first injunction, it may be stated that the club should be drawn back
rather more slowly than you intend to bring it down again. "Slow back"
is a golfing maxim that is both old and wise. The club should begin to
gain speed when the upward swing is about half made, and the increase
should be gradual until the top is reached, but it should never be so
fast that control of the club is to any extent lost at the
turning-point. The head of the club should be taken back fairly straight
from the ball--along the A line--for the first six inches, and after
that any tendency to sweep it round sharply to the back should be
avoided. Keep it very close to the straight line until it is half-way
up. The old St. Andrews style of driving largely consisted in this
sudden sweep round, but the modern method appears to be easier and
productive of better results. So this carrying of the head of the club
upwards and backwards seems to be a very simple matter, capable of
explanation in a very few words; but, as every golfer of a month's
experience knows, there is a long list of details to be attended to,
which I have not yet named, each of which seems to vie with the others
in its attempt to destroy the effectiveness of the drive. Let us begin
at the top, as it were, and work downwards, and first of all there is
the head of the golfer to consider.

The head should be kept perfectly motionless from the time of the
address until the ball has been sent away and is well on its flight. The
least deviation from this rule means a proportionate danger of disaster.
When a drive has been badly foozled, the readiest and most usual
explanation is that the eye has been taken off the ball, and the wise
old men who have been watching shake their heads solemnly, and utter
that parrot-cry of the links, "Keep your eye on the ball." Certainly
this is a good and necessary rule so far as it goes; but I do not
believe that one drive in a hundred is missed because the eye has not
been kept on the ball. On the other hand, I believe that one of the most
fruitful causes of failure with the tee shot is the moving of the head.
Until the ball has gone, it should, as I say, be as nearly perfectly
still as possible, and I would ha