Some human beings consider that the "antique" golfers who used hickory shafts performed golf very in a different way from the way we play now. While it's authentic that there were a few changes -- generally because of the stiffness of modern shafts -- most of the basics haven't changed.
Today I idea you may enjoy seeing just how historic some of the "cutting-edge" techniques of golf are.
Most modern viewers hear analysts and instructors talk about the rather dramatic upward leg action that many pros now use -- okay, let's call it a jump because that's what it has become -- and believe that this is a recent innovation. But this short newspaper piece Bobby Jones wrote back in the early 1930s puts the lie to that. It's from the book Bobby Jones on Golf and is simply called Using Your Legs. Make sure you notice the part that I've put in italics.
One frequently sees a participant who habitually permits the proper leg to cave in as his club processes the ball. This offers his swing a sort of loose-jointed, haphazard look and, of path, reduces to zero his risk of controlling his stroke or turning in a nicely-directed blow. But the fault is equally obvious inside the left leg, for there he has made the error of accentuating the bend of the knee and failing to straighten the leg as he nears the ball. Once he learns to handle his left side successfully, he's going to now not probably have trouble along with his right.
The two most important things to watch in the leg movement are, first, that in starting down the bend of the knees should not be sufficient to cause any appreciable lowering of the head and shoulders; and, second, that as the club nears the ball, the legs should be ready to produce the upward thrust that means so much to power. To all who have studied motion pictures of the golf stroke, the semisquatting posture at which the player arrives when his hands are about waist high on the downstroke is familiar. From that point on, there takes place a straightening of the left leg that culminates suddenly in a powerful upward thrust immediately prior to contact. Inevitably, this movement tends to straighten the right leg as well.
The correct use of the legs is as important as anything in golf, for the expert player makes much of his connection with the ground. A golfer is no exception to the rule in athletics, placing such a high value upon substantial underpinning. [p64-65] Granted, Jones never jumped off the ground when he swung the club; that much effort would have been too much for those more flexible hickory shafts. But even then, the move was still powerful enough for him to describe it as "a suddenly powerful upward thrust."
And observe that he even talks approximately using the ground. You thought that changed into a brand new time period, didn't you?
Many of the classic players set facts that stand to these days. It's because they understood a lot greater approximately the golfing swing than we supply them credit score for. Never underestimate the legends of the sport!
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