But either way beyond these limits, the slightly cupped or the dead in line, definitely no excessive cupping, the forming of too concave a bend where the back of the left hand joins the wrist, opens the face of the club too much, and, let me say it again, turns the shaft across the line of the feet at the top of the swing.

  In order to make quite clear why this is wrong I will explain it another way.  From the across-line position at the top you have to make an additional movement, a compensating movement if you like, to bring the club-shaft behind the hands.  I am against additional compensating movements in the golf swing.  For one thing we want the operation to be as simple and compact as possible.  But more to the point is the obvious fact that if the player misses out on the compensating movement, as he certainly will at times, the club must be thrown out of line.  Then the club head is drawn across the ball from outside to in as the right hand overpowers the left.

  The other extreme hand position at the top of the swing is produced by dropping the left hand until it is almost parallel with the ground, thereby making a convex bend.  This shuts the club-face and leads to all sorts of complications if the club-face is to be returned square to the ball.  The compensating element here is considerably more difficult to work into the movement and misfires more often than in the case of the excessively cupped hand position.

  The set of the left hand in relation to the left arm which I advocate retains the golf clubs face in the SQUARE position as it was in the address.  From this position at the top you will not need to make an adjustment or correction in order to deliver the club face squarely to the ball.

  Certain parts of the anatomy you do not need to worry about if you follow the movements I have outlined, but since a good deal has been said and written about the function of this and that part of the player, I will have a brief word to say about them in the hope of preventing natural curiosity from leading you astray.

THE WRISTS: I said earlier that you would read very little in this website about the part the wrists play.  In the completed backswing, already described, the wrists have performed their function naturally without your being aware of it.  They have broken with the smooth momentum of the weighted club head.  If you have followed my instructions so far you have not given a thought to the matter of whether or not they are fully cocked at the top of the swing.  That is as it should be.  You need only concern yourself with allowing the wrists to remain supple and not locked by too fierce a grip of the club.  Excessive wrist-action is one of the problems I have to iron out in so many pupils coming to me for the first time.

THE HIPS: The action of the hips has been facilitated by the straight back and the flexed right knee, two important points to which we gave attention in the address.  Unless locked by tension or a faulty address they have responded to the trunk and arm movements I have described.

  The hips have made a turn of about 450 (precisely how much depends on individual physical characteristics) compared with the essential 900 turn of the shoulders.  The right hip has moved back without being raised (Note the handkerchief in an earlier image).  The right hip-action is of particular importance with short, stocky players, say those under five foot eight, and the over-forties who are becoming less supple around the mid-section.

  They particularly need a full free movement of the right hip to get the required shoulder turn without strain.

THE HEAD: I have already emphasize d that the head should have remained still, in the same position as at address.  I have pointed out, too, that an obsession about the transfer of weight from the left foot to the right will cause the head to move laterally.  Wrong.  But an upwards and downwards movement of the head during the swing can be just as damaging.  This provides one more reason why you should keep the right knee consistently flexed throughout the backswing and the left shoulder up.

  Once let the left shoulder drop and before you realize it the head goes with it, the left side collapses and the right hip rises too high.  Keep that head steady.  Don't let it bob up and down and from side to side like a cork on a rough sea.

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