Chapter 8 - The Follow-Through And Finish

Left hand in line “K" shape action of the legs Resistance in the small of the back The carpet-beater action Club-line through the ball The poised Finish

The follow-through and finish I regard as integral parts of the swing which do not entirely look after themselves even though the backswing and downswing have been well carried out.

Remember that the ball at impact spreads on the face of the club as it is compressed by the momentum of the club at AND AFTER impact. Therefore any deviation or impediment of the club head in the follow-through must affect the flight of the ball, when it does part company with the club-face.

It is frequently claimed that the follow-through and finish reflect what has taken place in the earlier stages of the swing. True enough up to a point, but many a shot has been ruined by a fault being allowed to creep in after impact.

We often hear even an experienced and competent player remark after a shot has been mis-hit: "I wasn't sure I'd clubbed myself right. I quit on the stroke for fear of going through the green."

In his case the backswing and the downswing may well have been perfectly executed. The stroke fell below one hundred per cent solely because he slightly broke the power, and with it the control, as the club head went through with the ball  or even before. You see, the club head flies through the hitting area (that part of the arc a few feet each side of the ball) in a fractionally split second, and any irresolution or subconscious inclination to ease off on the shot frequently begins to take effect before the player realize s it.

It is equally wrong to concentrate the mind too far ahead of the hands and club head at any stage of the movement. To fix the mind purely on the achievement of a classical finish only throws out the timing at and through the ball.

Hence my insistence on the pupil acquiring a mental picture of the SHAPE OF THE SWING AS A WHOLE, without over-concentration on one particular phase.

It simply brings us back to the proven doctrine get the feeling of the club head through the hands and retain it throughout the swing.

So far I have dealt in detail with two-thirds of the golf swing. This has taken the club head away from the ball and back to it. The third and final stage the follow-through and finish  completes the pattern and provides a balanced picture of the shape of the whole swing.

At this point you may find it advisable to flip back a page or two and get clearly in your mind the position in which you have become poised at impact with the ball.

Now, what happens from then on in a well shaped swing? Let me emphasize that the sequence of positions which the body has taken up in the downswing, soon to be augmented in the follow-through, has been arrived at with two main objects in view:

(a) to give balance and poise;

(b) to retain the power in the hands ALL THE TIME.

A sudden check or lurch in the body-action, no matter how slight, will immediately cut off that power, just as a short circuit cuts off electric current.

Your club head has made contact with the ball and its unbroken momentum is taking it along the intended line of flight with the ball spread across the face of the club.

This is what the late Abe Mitchell was referring to when he put into simple words one of the most significant truths in the whole technique of golf: that "it is not so much a matter of hitting the ball hard as of hitting it for a long time".

With the club head going through with the ball:

THE HIPS continue their turn. They must not be checked or locked, or the free progress of the hands and, of course, the club head will be impeded.

THE HANDS are still square to the line and the BACK OF THE

LEFT HAND IS DEAD IN LINE, OR ALMOST IN LINE IN THE CASE OF THE LONGER CLUBS, WITH THE LEFT FOREARM (Fig. 2 2).

This I must stress. It is of the utmost importance as I will explain later. With the left hand in this position the right hand cannot roll over.

One thing about the RIGHT HAND. At this stage of the swing you may sense the power being added to the stroke by that right forefinger crooked on the shaft, trigger fashion, to which I referred in outlining the grip.

THE RIGHT KNEE is folding in towards the left leg beginning to form a letter "K" back to front and the RIGHT FOOT is rising, having arrived at this stage onto the inside of the big toe.

THE SHOULDERS  remember they were square at impact  begin to pour their power into the shot, against resistance built up in the SMALL OF THE BACK by the lateral shift which took place in the downswing.

Figure 23

Both arms have been fully extended as the club head flies out out after the ball. Now with the hands reaching hip level the left arm begins to ease off.

This allows:

THE ARMS and the club head to fly away from the body along the line of flight. The RIGHT ARM still "inside" the left arm, begins to straighten at the elbow just after impact and as the ball is sent on its way both arms are fully extended.

THE LEFT ARM remains fully extended until the hands have reached the level of the left hip (Fig. 23). At this point the left arm commences to ease

off and the elbow breaks for the first time since we took up the address position.

Figure 24

On to the finish, a perfectly balanced position entirely free from tension. The right knee and foot, having come into the stroke in the downswing have continued without restriction to play their part in the smooth, free follow-through and finish. Any restriction of the right knee-action must break up the rhythm of the stroke.

THE CLUB HEAD is carried up on the arms with the hands, at the completion of their arc, alongside the head. The body-turn has brought the CHEST round to face the target and the right foot is raised on to the toe with the sole exposed to the rear (Fig. 24).

With the hands alongside the head, definitely not below the level of the left ear, and still with no tension in either arm, both elbows will be pointing downwards (forming the two sides of a narrow-based triangle), not precisely vertical, BUT DEFINITELY NOT SPREAD. Control of this finish is held from the WAIST-LINE and the firm left leg.

From this position allow the hands to drop down to hip level, a sort of recoil action which a great many top-class players carry out involuntarily as they watch the ball on its way to its destination.

Holding this relaxed position, hands at hip level, the club head parallel with the line of flight, some 300 to 400 above the horizontal, check on the club-face of your driver. You should find that it is still square, that is, viewed from this dropped hands position, at right angles to the ground. (Figs. 2$a and b, and 26a and b show a controlled five iron finish.)

Lastly, THE HEAD if only because it makes the least movement of any part of you, It should make no movement at all at any stage of the swing until the ball is on its way. You should sense your club head flashing past the spot where the ball was before allowing your head to turn smoothly as the rest of the body rises to the finish of the swing.

Do not fall into one of the many errors of exaggeration by striving to keep the head down long after the flowing movement of the arms and the body requires that it should go naturally with the final stages of the movement.

Here, indeed, is just another example of how faults in the follow-through can wreck the shot. Try hitting the ball while consciously striving to keep the head down beyond the point where the physical urgings of the other parts of the body demand that it should rise. You will soon see what I mean.

I have described the movement in sequence in the follow-through to the finish. Now to explain one or two vital features of this phase of the swing and clear up certain misconceptions.

First, the left hand-action. The behavior of the left hand at and after impact with the ball can make or break the whole operation. Like upper-left-arm-leverage in the back-swing and the lateral shift in the downswing, so the retention of power and control from the left hand to the elbow immediately after impact (Fig. 22) and into the follow-through forms one of the cornerstones on which a sound, reliable, result-producing swing is built.

I have stressed that the back of the left hand MUST remain square no upward turn or roll and in line (or almost in line) with the forearm until the club head is at least one and a half feet past the spot where the ball lay. Once let that left hand break sharply at the wrist by turning over and up, then the club head is drawn away from the line or off its true arc.

Let me illustrate this by using the action of a carpet-beater as an example.

The broad face of the beater must be applied fully and squarely to the carpet hanging on the line for an effective blow to be delivered over a wide area. (Fig. 27a.)

To achieve this and bring the broad face of the beater with sustained force against the carpet the hands must go through the beater towards the carpet. If the hands arc checked or the face of the beater allowed to overtake them too quickly, the power of the blow is lost and only the further most inch or two makes any real contact with the carpet (Figure 27b).
It is a far more difficult operation with a golf club where the striking surface and the target are both infinitely smaller. Therein lies the reason for so many topped or thinly struck shots.

What happens in the similar cases of the thinly struck golf ball and the carpet where only the furthermost end of the beater's face makes contact?

Figure 25b

The controlled finish with a five iron, as explained in the chapter on The Short Game. Here are perfect balance and a foot action which is worth close study.

The left wrist has broken and the back of the left hand, instead of being retained in line with the forearm, has been allowed to form an angle with the forearm.

Recall what I said at the start of this book that the ball is DRIVEN in every golf shot from the full drive down to the approach putt. Only by the club-face at right angles to the ground denoting a still square position of the club-face.

Figure 26a

The controlled finish with a five iron. This shows the dropped hands position and the leading edge of mastering this left hand position can a driving force be sustained. In this controlled left hand position, together with a lateral shift in the downswing, lies the art of picking the ball firmly out of a tight lie, or squeezing it into the turf and binding it on to the face of the club. And it is the answer to the average golfer's persistent problem with his brassie and straight-faced irons.
The art of applying the club-face in a sustained and powerful blow at and through the ball. The artist has superimposed the face of a carpet-beater on the club head which has been swung into a carpet hanging from a line instead of into the back of a golf ball. Here the hands with the body-weight shifted laterally to the left have driven the whole of the hitting surface into the carpet. The solid nature of the blow is clear.

How different here. The body has been held back on "dead" feet, the right shoulder rides high, the right hand has overpowered the left which, of course, has collapsed at the wrist. Only the far end of the hitting surface has made contact and impact has been puny.

Figure 26b        Figure 27a        Figure 27b

It explains the power and penetration, and the straightness of a little man of far from robust build like Douglas Sewell, former English Champion and Walker Cup player, now a professional. His left wrist-control at and after impact is a notable feature of his action.

Therefore make no attempt to roll the wrists after impact. Do not allow that left wrist to break. Keep it generally in line with the left forearm and allow the club head to overhaul the hands in the follow-through gradually and late in the operation.

This will not be easy to master. Any rigidity in bringing about this left wrist-control will only cause the action to seize up. Get the mental picture, acquire the feel and train that left hand to obey.

One or two illustrations of the point may well add to your mental picture and help you to attain this essential mastery of movement and control of the left hand and arm.
Once the left hand conies out of alignment with the wrist by caving in, the upper left arm is automatically thrust against the body.

Take a golf club and swing it letting the left wrist give as you come into the ball. The upper left arm will recoil against the body, possibly without your realizing it until you come to check up.

Inevitably this means that the club-line cannot be maintained through the ball and miss-directed shot is the result. The left arm must swing unimpeded and clear of the body.

There has been some talk recently about the "long right arm" through the ball and it has been cited as an outstanding feature of Arnold Palmer's swing.

Indeed it is. But what few people appear to realize is that this "long right arm" is made by the long and consistent left arm-action of great players like Palmer. The very strong Palmer has a firmly sustained left-arm drive clear of the body which enables both arms to fly out along the line after the ball against the essential resistance built up in the small of the back.

The vastly improved pitching of Peter Alliss has come about through a firmer and more sustained left arm-action which maintains the club head longer on the line and through to a high finish.

Next, the shoulders. As in the downswing the shoulder turn FOLLOWS the hip turn. The two must not coincide either in the downswing or in the follow-through. The shoulders start to overtake the hips only after the club head has passed out of the hitting area which is some three feet past the point of impact.

The lateral shift of the lower part of the body in the downswing and the delayed action of the shoulders build up the resistance in the small of the back which so helps to send the arms flying out after the ball.

A word about this pocket of resistance set up in the small of the back. It is akin to the action of a horseman pulling on the reins. He must have some resistance against which to apply the power, and that resistance is centred in the small of his back.

Forget all you may have heard about the right shoulder coming under in the follow-through. You do nothing at all to initiate or sustain any action of the right shoulder. The shoulder-line, with the left shoulder up, is controlled by the hip-line. Any endeavor to hit under with the right shoulder leads to all kinds of errors, notably hitting the ground behind the ball and falling back on to the right foot.

This brings me to the post-impact action of the right knee. The more freely the right knee is allowed to fold in towards the left leg and the more emphatic the ultimate formation of the letter “K" in the leg-action, the longer will you keep the club-face on the ball and moving after it along the line of flight. It will help also to prolong the left arm-action and delay the easing off that arm as the momentum is spent. (This "K" formation of the right knee actually originated in the downswing. I deliberately chose not to dwell on it at this stage because it is automatically set in motion by the correct left side action in the downswing. The left side must initiate and control the downswing, and to concern jour self with positive action by the right side in this phase of the operation could threaten the whole system of co-ordination.)

There is an old story about the batman who was detailed to caddie for his CO. It was his first introduction to the game of golf, and later he was heard to describe it to one of his cronies as "a kind of 'ockey played at the 'alt!".

How far that is from the truth! In golf, just as in other games, footwork is all-important. A boxer uses his feet to put him into position to deliver a punch and to take him out of trouble. Correct footwork is vital to the batsman's skill at cricket.

In golf, the work done by the feet and the legs, while more limited, is no less important. It is often said among the professionals that when a golfer's legs start to "go" his form deteriorates in proportion. That is why a tired golfer's shot-making loses its precision. Fatigue has made the response in the legs and feet sluggish.

Henry Cotton would still be a force at the top if his legs could stand the strain of a hard tournament.

Before the last war I often stood behind Cotton and studied his shot-making. I am convinced that no other player anywhere in the world from 1935 to 1937 ever got the delivery of the club head so consistently square at impact and immediately after as Cotton did in those peak years. He maintained his club-line to such perfection that it was impossible to fault him.

There was that right knee of Cotton's folding into the shot and a perfect body poise held from the waist-line.

Tired legs were the cause of Ian Caldwell suffering a break-down in his driving at Wentworth in the final of the 1961 English Amateur Championship.
Afterwards he confessed that after seven days on this most exhausting course his legs "went" in the final.

Don't be scared to let the right knee do its work by moving into the stroke. Avoid nailing the right foot to the ground as the follow-through gets under way. That captivates the right knee and produces a checking action which spreads to the arms, hands and club head.

If you are able to watch Peter Thomson, note his right knee-action as he goes through the ball. His follow-through to a poised finish, held from the waist-line is a model and cannot be faulted.

This then completes the pattern of the swing as a whole from the time we take up position alongside the ball to the relaxed finish.

You may well ask: "How on earth am I expected to memorize all this detail?"

You are not. Mugging it up as you would the lines of a play would be entirely the wrong approach.

But if you read, and re-read thoughtfully, with a golf club within reach, the vital points will begin to take root in your golfing system.

It has been necessary to detail the whole of the mechanics in order to give you a complete picture of the swing-shape you are creating. With that picture in your mind as you go about your task, at first slowly with a club but no ball, then out on the practice ground, you are less likely to fall victim to some particular tip which you are so anxious to exploit that you will tend to exaggerate it to the point of distortion.

The whole outline of this swing-shape has been presented with the driver as the club used. For two reasons: It is the longest and most difficult club to control at the top of the swing; secondly, the straight face of the driver makes it simpler to check on the angle of the club-face at different stages.

You may now find it advantageous to transfer to a five iron as you set about putting these principles into operation. Indeed I advise it.

Now here is an exercise to help you get the feel of the follow-through and finish. Remember that the first stage of the backswing is confined to the simple movement straight back from the ball of the arms, hands and club head. Do this and extend it partly into the next stage which brings the left heel just off the ground.

Now return the club head through the impact position and into the follow-through and finish. Do this slowly and repeat it until you begin to get the feeling of the various actions I have described.

Assimilation of the combined factors in the swing will develop the shape. But that is not all. You have to apply the swing to the purpose behind the operation sending the ball accurately on its way. Between the two extreme ends of the arc which you have taken in the completed swing, you have to make a timed delivery of the club head to the ball, the crux of the whole business.

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