heel should be
well up and the toe pointed downwards. The chest should then be facing
the hole. But these and all similar movements should be quite natural.
If they are forced they are useless and dangerous, and only indicate
that your methods and your swing are altogether wrong. In such a dilemma
study the photographs in this volume, particularly those that show you
how you ought _not_ to do the various strokes. If these do not provide
you with a cure, consult the professional at your club.

* * * * *

Don't press, but note the definition of pressing in Chapter VI. You can
hit hard without pressing, which really means jumping at the ball. When
your swing is working to perfection and you are full of confidence, you
may let yourself go as much as you please. It is not true, as some
golfers say, that a gently hit ball will travel as far as one which has
been hit with much more force, but otherwise in precisely the same
manner.

* * * * *

You must be particularly on your guard against pressing--real
pressing--when you are two or three holes down, and are becoming anxious
about the match. Perfect confidence and a calm mind are necessary for
the success of every stroke.

* * * * *

Keep your eye on the side of the ball, particularly when you are near
the hole and perhaps playing a little chip shot on to the green. There
is a tendency at such a time, so great is the anxiety of the golfer to
know whether he is laying himself dead or not, to take the eye from the
ball and direct its attention to the pin before the downward swing is
complete and the stroke has been made. But I do not approve of keeping
the eye fixed upon the place where the ball lay, so that the grass is
seen after the ball has departed. Keep your eye on the ball until you
have hit it, but no longer. You cannot follow through properly with a
long shot if your eye remains fastened on the ground. Hit the ball, and
then let your eye pick it up in its flight as quickly as possible. Of
course this needs skilful timing and management, but precision will soon
become habitual.

* * * * *

When you hit the small of your back with the head of your club in the
upward swing, it is not so much a sign that you are swinging too far
back as that your wrists are enjoying too much play, that you are not
holding your club with sufficient firmness, and that your arms