One of my present pupils, a young woman, will be less troubled than some by old habits recurring.  She had yet to play round a course when she came to me half-way through the winter and had not fallen into dangerous ways.

  I set to work giving her a shaped golf swing and when the spring came and she played her very first rounds of golf she immediately put in three cards and earned an initial handicap not of 36, nor even 30-but 18.

  I have found that the positive way to remove a golf player's bad habits is to guide him into good ones.

  Dwell on the right.  That makes a positive approach to both teaching and learning.  I may tell a golf pupil his faults to satisfy his own natural curiosity and to prevent his mind from puzzling over what he may be doing wrong when all the time I want him to devote his undivided attention to learning and mastering the correct golf movements.

  Trying to avoid the wrong thing is the incorrect approach.  Far better to concentrate on developing a good golf swing and delivery.

  The golf pupil must put in constructive work on the practice ground and in front of his mirror between one golf lesson and the next.  On his own he must consolidate what he and his golf instructor together have achieved.  And as he advances his game by acquiring a shaped golf swing which he knows from experience WILL work if only he will let it, he must heed my repeated warning to leave the shape alone and refrain from dabbling with this or that section of the golf swing.

  I thought at one time that Max Faulkner, a player of outstanding gifts, would become one of the greatest players in the history of the game.  I feel he has failed to reach the exalted position which should have been his solely because he tinkered about with a good method.

  Faulkner placed his feet in the most exaggerated positions from which only a golf player as gifted as he is could hope to hit the golf ball even reasonably well.  Why on earth did this remarkably talented golf player make things difficult for himself?

  Another top golfer who I feel must have tinkered with an excellent method, to his own detriment, is the American Lloyd Mangrum.

  I saw Mangrum when he came to this country in 1949 with Ben Hogan's Ryder Cup team which retained the trophy at Ganton.  I could not fail to be impressed.  At that time Mangrum played from a slightly closed club-face at the top of the golf swing with the shaft off-line and a very fine body poise.  He struck the golf ball splendidly.

  The next time I saw him was four years later when he led the American team which won the Ryder Cup at Wentworth Golf Club.  What a different golf player he was.  That year he had his wrists more under the shaft at the top of the golf swing, the club-face was consequently opened up and the shaft pointing slightly across the line of the feet.

  He had lost his admirable body poise and was not nearly so impressive.

  It was obvious to me that he was uncomfortable with his hands because at impact with the ball his left heel rose off the ground.  As a result, that beautiful long-arm drive through the golf ball, so noticeable on his previous visit, was missing.  Excessive cupping at the top of the golf swing with too much play on the wrists had deprived him of his old forearm drive and entirely spoiled his movement into the golf ball.

  I was not in the least surprised when a mutual friend told me that Mangrum was not at all happy about his game.  He had cause for misgiving.

  Golf players less gifted than Faulkner and Mangrum suffer still more through fiddling about with their method.  I would urge you once more to acquire a shape and cherish it.  If it has served you well, let it continue to do so.

  Finally, let me remind you of what you must resort to when you are unhappy about the way you are playing and there is not time to seek sound advice.

  The American tournament pros have a saying that if a player hasn't got it when he arrives at the tournament golf course he won't find it there.  By that they mean it is worse than useless to rush out on to the practice-ground and start tinkering with the golf swing.

  The only chance, and a good one it is too, lies in concentrating on the delivery of the golf club head firmly into the back of the ball and through into the apex.

  That was Archie Compston's salvation years ago in America.  It could be yours tomorrow.

Here's how to end your frustration and maximize your golf potential.

Your golf swing will have effortless power.  Producing amazingly long and straight drives that blow by your golfing buddies by 30 yards on every hole.