For all players, especially weekend golfers

There's been a decided trend of late towards playing all shots (from the wedge right down to the wooden clubs) with the ball spotted in just about the same position in reference to its distance between the left and right heels. For pro stars who can practice eight hours a day, this ultra-uniformism works out all right: they are able to acquire great feel and to compensate with their hand action for the slight differences between the contact point of one club and another. But this method is very harmful for the average golfer. If you don't move the ball, you must indeed change your hand action a bit for every different club, and this is well beyond the average golfer's ability. Uniform spotting gets him into all sorts of trouble.

It is much more sensible to graduate the position of the ball to fit the varying physical properties of each club—playing the key club, the five-iron, in the center of the stance and moving the ball back about an eighth of a turn as the loft of the club increases, an eighth of a turn forward as the loft decreases. In this way you accomplish your adjustment immediately and there is no need to compensate with your hand action when you execute your swing.

from HARRY COOPER, Metropolis Country Club, White Plains, N.Y.

TWO PHOTOS

TWO ILLUSTRATIONS

NEXT WEEK'S PRO: ED DUDLEY ON THE GRIP AND THE SWING