Sclaffing and digging differ from most faults in that the player is conscious of them before the ball is hit away. In both cases the club-head meets the ground before it reaches the ball; but though the two faults have this point in common, they are essentially different. In the sclaffed shot the club-head passes more or less lightly along the turf, the rhythm of the shot is not necessarily lost, and the speed of the club-head may not be seriously reduced. But in the shot known as digging, the club-head digs into the turf, the rhythm of the shot - if it ever had rhythm - is inevitably destroyed, and the movement of the club-head is piteously retarded. Sclaffing is by no means synonymous with foozling; digging is one of the most common forms of foozling.

An analysis of digging will show that in the down-swing the right side of the body has been relaxed, and that the right shoulder and probably the right knee have dropped. In short, the hands and fingers have failed to assert themselves, and the action has been led by the body. The player has really been trying to help the club-head on to the ball with his shoulder, instead of controlling the club-head with the hands and fingers and allowing the body to respond. It will be found that it is difficult to drop the shoulder if the swing is definitely made by means of vigorous hand and finger action; but that the moment that notion is lost sight of, the body will come lumbering in, to the utter ruin of the shot.

As regards sc/afing, the player will gain insight into the disease by asking himself how he would produce a sclaff if a sclafr were desired. He would stand in such a position that the club-head would reach its lowest point in the down-swing before it reached the ball. That is to say, he would stand a little farther away from the hole than he would normally do. It is clear, then, that a false stance may be responsible for sclaffing. As pointed out in the chapter on faults of stance, the stance should always be determined by the swing; and if the method of arriving at stance is followed, the player can obviously never suffer from the kind of sclaffing that comes from a wrong stance.

Is there any other easy way of sclaffing? If instead of allowing his body to be pulled through after the club-head, the player keeps his body back so that his weight at the end of the swing remains largely on the right foot, he will find sclaffing quite simple. And such sclaffing may permit of quite useful shots being made. For here the hands and wrists are doing their good work, and it is only the body that lags to some extent. The cure for this type of sclaffing is obvious. The player must let his hands work out his salvation by placing himself unreservedly in their hands, so to speak. His body must be like the child - it must not speak till it is spoken to, but when it is spoken to it must answer cheerfully and not grudgingly.

Killing

The player will find this operation easy if he determines to use his right hand for the purpose of turning the club-face over toward the turf as the club-head strikes the ball; and the operation will be facilitated if in making the shot he allows his body to turn prematurely so bringing his weight prematurely forward. The confirmed "killer" should note carefully, in the correct shot, the angle of the face of the club with the ground, as the club comes on to the ball and in the succeeding two or three inches of its journey. He should get this picture clearly defined in his mind, and keep it vividly before him when he is making a shot. His movements will soon learn to paint the same picture.

Toeing

On the face of it, toeing appears to be the very antithesis of socketing, but the two things have much in common. In the chapter on socketing it has been shown that the easiest way to socket is, as the club-head comes on to the ball, to stiffen the elbow-joints and to fail to use the hands and fingers, the effect being that the body, no longer under any impulse to turn, stops, with the shoulders facing the direction of the socketed shot. In the toed shot there is, as a rule, a somewhat similar failure of body action, but the hands at the last moment make a desperate effort to put things right and assert themselves. The club-head duly finishes on the left side of the line to the hole, but, the body being out of position, it is the toe of the club and not the middle of the face that meets the ball. The reader will not find it difficult to "toe" in this manner. He has only to check the natural turning movement of the shoulders and to use his hands at the last moment to find that he can toe nine shots out of ten. If, moreover, he tires of this method, he can achieve the same result by going to the other extreme (how true this is of almost everything in golf!). Instead of arresting the turning of his body, let him encourage it to get always in front of its proper position at every point in the swing, and he will find toeing possible again - not quite so easy as before, but still by no means beyond the average man's powers. Of course, if the player lifts his head as well, the operation will be still further simplified.

Fluffing The Short Approach

There is a strong tendency in making every golf shot to stiffen the wrists and forearms as the club-head comes on to the ball. The tendency is doubtless akin to the tendency to anticipate the kick of the gun in shooting. It takes *' quality" out of any shot and it utterly ruins the short approach, which may be two inches instead of two yards, or two yards instead of twenty. The player should practise these shots with one thing, and one thing only, in view, and that is to make the club-head move "through" the ball by means of persistent hand and finger work unimpeded by any stiffness of wrists or forearms. It will help him in this practice if he will consciously relax all his muscles and his grip except for the first two fingers and the thumb of each hand, and assertively make the club-head travel as far as possible - having regard, of course, to the limitations imposed by the nature of the shot. Let him guard against (i) the tendency to cease to actuate the club-head by means of hand and finger work at some point near to the ball, and (ii) the complementary tendency to stiffen the wrists and forearms at that moment. It is not enough for him to start the club-head down with a certain impetus and then to let it do the work. He must figure out the shot, and work out the shot, on the basis that his hands and fingers are going to keep the club-head moving all the time.

Faults Of Putting

These are (a) faults of direction, and (b) faults of strength.

Faults of Direction. - As regards direction, the player has obviously to stand to the ball so that, in making the normal movement of the club, the club-head passes through the ball along the line of direction, with its face at right angles to that line. The stance matters little, provided it is conditioned by the swing.

Faults of Strength. - The writer suggests that the finest control of the putter is likely to be attained by the player who grips mainly between thumbs and forefingers, and persistently keeps the club-head moving by persistent finger work. In this way he gets the utmost out of the club-head within the limits of any particular swing, and acquires a knowledge of what result to expect from the movement he sets out to make. He is better able to judge his effects than the player who checks the club-head and thereby introduces into an alarmingly uncertain thing still one more element of uncertainty. In this respect approach putting has much in common with mashie approaching. (At the same time the writer's advice to those players who can stab long putts up to the hole, and short putts into the hole, is to go on stabbing!) * * * *

The faults which have been dealt with do not, of course, exhaust the whole tragedy of the game. Golf is not unlike Cleopatra - age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety. It is hoped, however, that the suggestions for diagnosis and treatment that have been given are sufficiently broad in principle and sufficiently precise in method to help the victim, no matter what his malady, to make a man of himself, and a golfer.