As I have stated repeatedly, it is the accuracy and smoothness which give distance and not the tremendous effort. You will never lack in effort. It is the hardest thing you have to control.

There is another feature which I have observed in the majority of amateurs, and that is they swing back too slowly. If you will swing at a fair speed throughout you will overcome largely the tendency to stiffen up, and this is what causes the irrepressible desire to get speed at the last minute by one tremendous heave.

Swing at a fairly good speed and don't worry so much about every little step in the swing. When you are trying any of my suggestions, try one at a time and only lend a touch of it to your effort. If you dwell too long on any one detail you are apt to develop it out of proportion., if you swing too slowly it makes quite a physical effort of the stroke and you will find greater difficulty in keeping the head still.

The mental attitude has more to do with your success than anything else, and the direct result of the lack of feeling of power in every inexperienced player's stroke is a determined endeavor on his part to swing hard enough so that he can feel it. The result is a foregone conclusion; he makes more effort than he can control and gets practically none of it to the ball. The scheme, therefore, is never to swing so hard that you are conscious of the effort.

Take the case of nearly every beginner: when he gets about sixty or seventy yards from the green he swings easier at the ball in order not to go over, and almost invariably he connects cleaner and the ball goes about twice as far as he planned.

The great difficulty in learning is the fact that the player has an ever-present desire to feel the power go into the ball, and the few shots that come off in spite of his violent effort only mislead him more and more.

Any muscular effort which produces the slightest jerk in the swing requires a corresponding muscular effort to overcome it, and it is the play of the muscles working at cross purposes which makes you conscious of the effort you are making.

To guide the club correctly and to keep it from flying out of the hands requires a good firm grip with the fingers, and this is the only place where you should be conscious of a strain of any kind.