Playing The Cleek

The Cleek Shot in Golf

The designers of golf clubs have produced a model which takes care of the difference in the nature of the blow to be struck with a cleek and with a wooden club by "lofting" or inclining the face of the club more, which causes the ball to rise more quickly, as well as higher.

Also by reason of a shorter and stiffer shaft the arc of the sweep is sharper or less "flat." That is to say, the design of the club will take care of all the differences without any effort of the player at all. The same effort and the same "timing," as in wooden shots, will get the desired result. Leave all the changes to be made to the golf club.

The one great fault with poor iron players is that they swing so hard and fast that the club does not have a chance and no accurate blow is possible with such a violent effort. As the shaft is stiffer the weight goes into the blow quicker or the reaction of the shaft is quicker once you connect with the ball.

I have drawn a sketch showing the theoretical as well as actual result of playing a cleek with the same style of stroke as used with a driver, that is, by picking it off the ground clean.

In position 1 I have shown the cleek against the ball and drawn a dotted line marked p at perfect right angles to the face which is the line along which the ball should rise theoretically. I have also shown by the dotted line s the arc of the sweep when perfectly described with the hands moving parallel with the line of flight with' the whole leverage of the blow extending from the pivotal center between the shoulders.

In position 3 is shown the club at the instant the ball is leaving it, and you will see by dotted line marked a the actual line or angle of rise; the line is drawn at perfect right angles to the club face.

This, remember, gives a very high ball without turning up the club face with the hands, but by simply propelling the club forward as low as you can.

By referring to position 1 you will notice that the club touches the ball below the center and also that the distance between that point of contact and the ground is very little, giving but a very small latitude for error in hitting the ball.

For instance, if the club is not well down to the ball -is even as little as a quarter of an inch too high -you are sure to have a three-quarter or half topped ball, and by reference to position 2 you will readily understand what a loss of power will result, because the weight of the club head does not go into the ball; the shock of the blow is taken up by the shaft and not by the ball. This results in that uncomfortable "feel" which a three-quarter topped ball gives.

If the blow is delivered a quarter of an inch too low the club strikes the ground several inches too far back and a partly sliced ball is the result, due to the blow being wasted on the ground partly and partly to the fact that the dirt and grass get between the club face and the ball, deadening the blow.