6o4 



NA TURE 



[October 20, 1904 



Methods at a Glance." It is doubtful if methods 

 essentially kinetic can be effectually disclosed by 

 g-lances at a few critical positions statically pictured 

 bv instantaneous photography. Nevertheless, Mr. 

 Beldam's idea is a good one, and has been carried out 

 with great manipulative skill. The idea is to obtain 

 accurate pictures of some of our best golfers, pro- 

 fessional and amateur, in their characteristic poses as 

 thev address and play a ball, and to be able from those 

 pictures to deduce important conclusions. By a simple 

 svstem of rectangular coordinates, with origin at the 

 ball and one axis in the desired direction of flight, the 

 positions of the player's feet are accurately shown. 

 The grip of the club, the poise of the body at different 

 stages of the stroke, and the position of the arms at 



the top of the swing, are all recorded as the player is 

 taking his normal stroke. The descriptive discussion 

 is given by the four professionals Vardon, Taylor, 

 Herd, and Braid in regard to their own pictures, and 

 by Mr. Hilton in regard to the pictures of the 

 amateurs. 



It is evident that all the motions of the body, head, 

 arms, thighs, legs and feet are governed bv the way 

 the club is raised to the top of the swing and brought 

 down again to the finish of the stroke. Keep the head 

 steady — best done by keeping the eye on the ball — keep 

 down the right elbow, and practice will do the rest. 

 The backward swing of the club and arms makes the 

 body rotate easily about a vertical axis, and produces 

 naturally the characteristic bending of the left knee 



NO. 1825, VOL. 70] 



(in a right handed player). It is interesting by 

 measurements on the successive positions of the player 

 as he (i) addresses the ball, and (2) reaches the top of 

 the swing, to determine how much, if at all, the head 

 rises. In this respect, for example, Vardon and Taylor 

 differ decidedly. Exactly the instant during the swing 

 at which the left leg begins to support the greater part 

 of the weight of the body is not clearly brought out. 



There are of course great difficulties, even with an 

 exposure of only one-thousandth of a second, in catch- 

 ing the player at the very instant the ball is struck, or 

 just before the impact takes place. Out of the 268 

 " action photographs " three only can be accepted as 

 giving any information regarding this critical moment. 

 It is just here, in fact, tliat a word of criticism might 

 be offered. From a scientific point of view the 

 numerous pictures representing the finish of the stroke 

 are comparatively worthless — beautiful and striking 

 and " characteristic " though they are as showing the 

 pose of an athlete who has just done the deed. We 

 could gladly have dispensed with half a hundred of 

 these for the sake of even an extra half dozen like 

 Taylor's Nos. xxi. and xxviii. Unfortunately in these 

 particular nictures the ground is not chalked off with 

 the pattern of six-inch squares, so that we can only 

 roughlv estimate the position of the ball when it was 

 struck. 



In plate xxviii. (here reproduced) the blurred image 

 of the moving golf club and of the still more rapidly 

 moving ball are finely brought out, while the player, 

 with the exception of the right arm and hands, is as 

 steadv as a rock. We may roughly estimate the 

 velocity of the ball to be nearly 2h times that of the 

 club. The exposure is stated to have been i/iooo of 

 a second. The blurred image of the club head may be 

 estimated at not less than 4 inches broad, giving a 

 velocity of about 370 feet per second for the club head 

 after impact. This vt-ould mean fully 900 feet per 

 second for the ball. Tait gave a great deal of atten- 

 tion to this point, and concluded that a well driven 

 ball rarelv left the ground with a greater velocity than 

 350 feet or 400 feet per second. The discrepancy is 

 great, and points to some fundamental error either in 

 Tait's mode of measurement of the velocity or in Mr. 

 Beldam's mode of measurement of the exposure. The 

 Ijhotograph tells its own tale, and is above criticism ; 

 but we have no precise account of how the times of 

 exposure were estimated. A few more pictures of the 

 kind just discussed, showing the motion immediately 

 before impact, at impact, and immediately after, with 

 different clubs and different balls, would give some 

 reallv important information as to velocities and 

 coefficients of restitution. 



Every golfer knows the value of steady and .iccurate 

 putting, and how curiously variable is his " form " 

 in this respect. Mr. Beldam's photographs bring out 

 the very familiar fact that stance and pose are of com- 

 parative insignificance. In a small pamphlet on " The 

 Art of Putting " Mr. Beldam has notably supplemented 

 his volume. Here we have six photographs illustrating 

 the stvle of Mr. Travis, Amateur Champion of 1904, 

 and fourteen of Jack White, the Open Champion. 

 Each discusses his own methods. The professional's 

 account is particularly instructive, and touches on many 

 difficult points, such as putting uphill or downhill or 

 on a side slope; but here, as in billiards, a knowledge 

 of how to do is one thing, and the power to do quite 

 another. 



It is certain that as an exponent of good method 

 no book on golf can compare with " Great Golfers "; 

 and we have indicated above that Mr. Beldam's photo- 

 graphs have a scientific value quite apart from the 

 " science " and art of the roval and ancient uame. 



C. G. K. 



