The images from Golf Illustrated & Outdoor America, October, 1915, Vol. 4, No. 1 Photos by Livingston Sporting Picture Company.
For the original PDF files see the Digital Archives at www.aafla.org
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Golf Illustrated & Outdoor America, October, 1915, Vol. 4, No. 1, p. 8, 9.
CHAMPIONS are champions because they combine, among many others, two principal qualifications, an intimate knowledge of how to play different kinds of strokes, and the judgment when to use them. This series of motion pictures of Mr. John Ball shows that he combines in himself these two very valuable attributes of a champion, and he is a champion of champions, having won the British Amateur Championship no less than eight times, the first time over twenty years' ago, and he has won the British Open as well, and is the only man in the history of golf who has held an Amateur and Open Championship of major importance in the same year.
To play a mid-iron for a shot out of a bunker is not an uncommon thing. But to play it in a correct manner, to be reasonably certain of the result, is something the average golfer cannot do, in fact, very few play this particular shot, for it is an unusual one.
As illustrated in these pictures, Mr. Ball is playing the "dunch" shot made famous by James Braid, who employs it whenever occasion calls for it, from a bunker, from a bad lie on the fairway, or from the rough. "Dunch" is one of those Scotch words which it is somewhat difficult to give an exact equivalent for, in English. Robert L. Stevenson, a Scotsman, used it in Kidnapped, in reference to a wreck, saying the ship "dunched on the rocks," so it is fair to assume the word means crashed, and this is what the "dunch" shot is, it is a crash or smash of the club-head against the ball.
There is no attempt to do more than hit the ball a powerful, downward blow, no thought of follow through, nothing but just a crash of the club-head against the back of the ball. The clubface comes into contact with the ball before the sole of the club reaches the ground, and when the ball is lying on firm ground, the stroke imparts lots of back spin on the ball. But in the case of the "dunch" shot from the bunker, as here illustrated, no more than the normal back spin is imparted to the ball, the ball rises with the elevation given to it by the angle of the club-face at the moment of impact. In picture No. 14, if examined carefully, will be seen a white streak crossing the dark edge of the bunker, just over the shadow of Mr. Ball's shoulder. This is the ball, and shows clearly the angle of elevation of the line of trajectory.
This photograph, No. 14, brings out a very important element in this "dunch" shot, used from the bunker, in comparison with the ordinary niblick or mashie shot from the same location. Playing an ordinary bunker shot, the rule is to strike the sand back of the ball in such a manner that it is the force of the driven sand which takes the ball out with it, the club-face not coming into contact with the ball at all. It is a sort of a geyser of sand, with the ball on top of the spout of sand. But that sort of a shot will not give any particular distance, it is safe and conservative, the safe shot, but champions do not go in for safety first, they go for results, they have the shots to do things which the average player would simply flub, if he attempted them.
Notice that in No. 14 the ball has been driven out of the bunker, before the sand, not after it or with it. So it is perfectly apparent the stroke was one that hit the ball first, and then went down into the sand. The shot is a comparatively simple one, its principal requisite being a very powerful pair of wrists and forearms.
It is an arm stroke, almost entirely, the body does not come into the stroke at all, so far as the meaning of body work in the stroke is usually understood. From No. 1 to No. 9, from the beginning to the top of the back swing, the only body action has been that of accommodation to the arm swing. Even after impact, the body changes its position only so much as it naturally would in such a swing of the arms, there is none of that right hip push which is so noticeable in a driving swing finish. It is interesting to note how much the body affects the circular swing of the club around the body. Here, without much body turn, the club is almost over the player's head, a line dropped from the heel of the left hand would strike the ground very slightly back of the right toe. The hands have been swung almost straight backward; so far as their own effort is concerned, perfectly straight. Slight body turn, but very slight, and wrist and forearm action, together with shoulder rotation, have carried the club around the player's body to the point shown. The swing has been a straight backward and upward effort of the arms.
There has been no turning over of the left wrist, except such turning as would naturally accompany the swing to the positions shown in Nos. 6 and 7. Such rolling of the forearms as has taken place, is also a very natural accompaniment of the action of swinging to the position Mr. Ball is in at the top of the swing, Nos. 9 and 10. (I might say the pronation of the left forearm and the rotation of the right forearm, but the word rolling seems more simple, and will not necessitate the use of a dictionary, or reference to a physician.) Nos. 9 and 10 are very interesting, showing that Braid is perfectly correct in his instruction to have a slight pause at the top of the swing with an iron. Here the pause is shown, for the photographs are identical, in appearance; so slight is the difference that close examination with a powerful glass is necessary to detect any. Taken at the rate of sixteen a second, the usual rate, there is thus shown to be a pause of at least one-sixteenth of a second at the top of the swing. This pause is an outstanding feature of all good iron play, it is a "stop with a pause," different in that way from the stop without a pause, in the swing of the wooden clubs. This stop with a pause, occurs in all shots played with mid-iron, mashie or niblick, it is not so pronounced with a cleek, that is a full cleek, which is played more in the manner of the wooden clubs. For the down stroke, Mr. Ball, and Braid as well, simply smash at the ball, with all the force of their arms and shoulders, and at the moment of impact the work of the forearms and wrists is very severe, they must be able to give a tremendous punch to the stroke, it is this quick application of power of forearms and wrists that gives the "dunch" shot its kick. Look at the photograph numbered 12 and see how from this point to No. 14, the impact, the work is all of the forearms and wrists; it is a quick bang with these latter members, after the swing of the arms and shoulders have placed them where they can get in their work.
In the bunker shot illustrated, Mr. Ball has followed through somewhat, but this is due to the sand giving way before the power of the stroke, but there was no intention or effort on his part to have any follow through, and only such "follow on" as would carry the club-head firmly down into the sand. In the same shot from the fairway, the finish is scarcely beyond the place from which the ball is played. This "dunch shot," is a very effective one to have in "your bag," will get a golfer out of lots of apparently hopeless lies, with little, if any loss, and is well worth learning. At least that seems to be the judgment of Mr. Ball and James Braid, both of whom use it a great deal, and such men do not use anything that does not pay good dividends in results.
J. A. SCOTT.