The pivot in driving

I've known people who've played golf quite seriously for 25 years and who have never given their driving the time and attention it needs. Driving is as important as any part of the game. You do it on 14 of the 18 holes. Most of your great players were (and are) skillful drivers who set themselves up on tee after tee so that they maintained a steady tee-shot production. It was the key to their scoring, for consistent driving puts a player continuously in a position to put his iron approach up close.

Golf has so much tension involved in it that a wise player wants to eliminate as much thinking as possible and learn to rely, if he can, on one single master motion. In driving, as I have experienced it, the key is working sedulously on a proper pivot until it is almost second nature. A good pivot does three things for you: it gives you good balance; it produces more power with less effort; and it automatically increases your accuracy, which results from a combination of balance and power. I cannot overemphasize how strongly I advise every person who wants to drive better to give priority to the development of a really fine pivot, one that is a natural turn of the body, with everything—legs, hips, shoulders—moving in proper synchronization. From a good pivot you develop into a good player. This is where you begin.

LIONEL HEBERT, Lafayette, La.

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