The ArT of Golf - Society of Hickory Golfers

Playing Techniques
Tempo
by randy jensen
excerpt from playing hickory golf
Tempo is another important element in
the golf swing that plays an extra important
role in the hickory golf game. Tempo is
how long it takes you to complete various
aspects of your swing. Your backswing
tempo could be slow or fast. Your transition
tempo could be slow or fast. A great way to
sense your perect temmpo is to take an iron,
hold it between your forefinger and thumb,
and start the club swinging. Get the shaft to
reach a point that is parallel to the ground
on both the back and forward swing.
Note how gravity controls the downward
practical tips
for hickory play
acceleration; this is how your golf swing
should feel. If your club just falls with gravity
from the top of your backswing, you will
achieve a stiff flex swing speed! Most players
actually restrict their club’s momentum
and speed on the downswing.
Think about how quickly an object accelerates
from a free fall: if you slip on a ladder
you can hit the ground before you can even
make much of a move! A free falling object
quickly reaches a speed of 180 mph. Note
that in our example where we are holding a
club between our thumb and forefinger and
swinging it back and forth that at the “start”
of the swing, when the shaft is in a vertical
position, the club has its greatest speed.
Consequently, a quick starting burst of energy
that provides the momentum to carry the
club to the top of the swing position is your
ideal starting and backswing tempo.
tempo and timing are key ingredients of a good swing as shown by Scott Staudacher from a bunker at French Lick in July 2012.
Personally
Speaking…
Musings on a rainy afternoon...
Having spent the morning planting
my garden a month earlier than
usual (due to global warming, no doubt)
my aching bones demanded a period of
repose, with coffee and brandy to hand. It
is now raining cats and dogs, so my timing
was perfect for a change, and I can reflect
on golf rather than hack it!
Although the first instinct is to dream
of being a top notch golfer, I find myself
more and more grateful to be old and
untalented, so that the game remains a
true pleasure. There can be little doubt
there is too much professional golf these
days, and the money throws up so many
great exponents that Tiger is likely to be
the last of the golfing deities – it takes the
last day of a Major, or the Ryder Cup, to
stimulate my interest in the televised version.
It is sad, too, that the old virtues of
honesty and humility as displayed by the
likes of Palmer and Nicklaus are no longer
required of the modern icons.
The most fascinating aspect of hickory
play is the wide parameters of performance
of the clubs, with no two shafts
and makes appearing to show any consistency
one against the other. Certainly, my
bag was filled with clubs that owed their
presence to my being able to perform with
them, and not to reflect a better or more
famous Maker. It puzzled me when bags
arrived full of Stewarts or MacGregors, as
it must have taken years to put together a
consistent matched set!
Having now been indoctrinated into the
Most players are too slow at the start
of their swings which forces them to consciously
use their muscles to move the club
through the correct backswing plane instead
of directing the initial burst of energy to
provide the momentum to automatically
move the club through the correct plane. A
quicker starting tempo will also more fully
coil your body on the backswing, providing
more power.
With modern clubs, errors in tempo,
especially in the transition, may not be too
damaging to your shot, but in hickory golf,
with its smaller margin for error, a rushed
transition move can cause a severe mishit
resulting in a very potentially penalizing
result. Focusing on and developing a good,
unrushed transition tempo is one of the best
hickory golf swing keys for the average or
even very good player.
necromancy of clubmaking, I understand
that the skills of the Oldtimers in Scotland
have their modern equivalent, with the
advantage of modern science and tools to
achieve the same end in obtaining a consistent
shaft flex and club weight. It now
makes perfect sense that Stewart would
sell only the club heads and leave it to
the Pro to custom make the clubs for the
Customer. It is timely that Russ Fisher and
his like have received due recognition for
their re-establishment of the old skills.
If only the Scotch and Irish whiskies
could be so easily replicated, life would
be perfect even for those who will never
shoot their age!
4 Degrees
Send your “Personally Speaking”
commentary to the Editor.
jdavis2364@gmail.com
photos/jan tellstrom
society of hickory golfers 16
spring 2012
featured
club(s)
by rob ahlschwede
olympia, wash. usa
have collected golf stuff for about 30
I years, more or less, and I have many
favorite clubs in my collection, some
being players and some will just stay in
the “golf room.” I will bore you with the
description of three. Sorry….
My first hickory clubs were some my
father picked up for .25 cents at a farm
sale in the ’50s. As a kid I hit ’em all over
the farm until all but one was broken. I
did take the shaft out of the mid iron and
put it in the putter when it broke – used a
copper harness rivet for a pin. Not my best
re-shafting effort. And thus, not one of my
favorites.
First on my list is the Spalding backspin
mashie niblick that is stamped “S.B.
Davies.” Stanley B. Davies – “Sandy”
to the membership – was a Scottish
pro at Omaha Field Club
from the 19-teens
through the transition
and into the
steel era. He
was the host pro
when the 1941
U.S. Amateur was
played there. This
particular club has his initials
stamped on it as the owner.
It was a really good play club that spent
time in my bag, but was retired to save
the stampings. Not a particularly valuable
club, but special for a hickory player who
lived in Omaha.
Of course, my fellow hickory players
would expect a discussion of my Spalding
Kro-flight Driver, called
“Frankenstein” to my
friends. It is really
just a common
Spalding driver
with the “landing
crow” face insert.
I found it in the
back room of a Pro
Golf Discount place
many years ago. It
was among a group
spring 2012
Spalding back-spin mashie niblick
Frankenstein – the Spalding driver
Dunn model putter
of hickories that had
been part of a trade-in.
The owner asked if
I wanted them. Of
course I did.
The insert was
fractured – as often
happens with those
fancy face era inserts –
and I glued it back in and
played it. It hit great! Has a super shaft for
me. So I kept it in
the bag. Over the
years it has suffered
many injuries. The
head fractured in two
pieces from heel to toe,
but I glued that back
and kept playing it. Still
hit great. After it fractured
a few more times
(once into three
pieces), I
drilled from the
face through
the back of the
head and inserted
wooden dowels.
And then a piece of the
insert disappeared.
More glue.
Thus the nickname “Frankenstein”—
more glue and bolts, etc. than club. One of
these days I may find a driver I like more,
until then “Frankie” stays in the bag.
The third on the list is my Dunn model
putter, a club that was copied to make
the Kempshall putter or maybe vice
versa. Mine has a wooden
17
head, is center
shafted, face
balanced and has
a heavy brass face
plate. The shaft is
stamped with “J.
W. Watson,” who
was at Monifieth at the
turn of the last century. There
was also a J.W. Watson who in Kansas
City later in the wood shafted era. Have
not been able to ascertain which Watson
has his name on my putter, but choose to
believe it came from Scotland. Of course.
The only other putter I have seen that is
exactly like it has a Spalding stamp across
the top. And, can you believe, the fella
wouldn’t sell it!
So, how much time do you have? I
could go on. I suppose I am like so many
of us in that the story of the club might be
more important than the club itself. We all
have more valuable clubs, but they might
not be our “favorite” clubs.
big three for rob. Top, the Spalding
backspin mashie niblick; at left, the
Dunn model putter and, below...
IT’S ALIVE!!! The much-discussed
Kro-Flite driver, kept in play by various
glues, dowels, nuts, bolts and, perhaps,
a soupsçon of mad genius.
www.hickorygolfers.com