Meeting the turf with stiffened wrists means a great shock to the frame, and the natural result is that the player on his next attempt tries to "pick" the ball off the turf, and I have already demonstrated that this is not only the hardest way because of the greater accuracy required, but it is absolutely, impossible to get as long a ball, as it bounces away quicker. The resultant lack of distance means an almost sure attempt to swing harder in the next shot to get more distance, and the in evitable result of that is failure to hit the ball true.

Now the rule in the playing of irons is to keep the wrists limber and free, while in the sweep stroke with wooden clubs the reverse is the case; the wrists should be stiff to make one continuous shaft from shoulder to club head.

The reason, in my opinion, why so few amateurs play the cleek well is because they at-tempt to play with stiffened wrists, as they would with the wooden shots. Another reason is that they do not use light enough clubs. A heavy cleek is hard to swing fast with the forearms, be-cause they are not strong enough to keep the club up with the shoulders and when a player once "feels" this he tries to swing as he does with the heavier wooden clubs. It is a peculiar fact, and yet not peculiar if you analyze it, that players who use light clubs are much more inclined to depend upon the forearms than those who use the heavy ones, and the reason is obvious.

Another item which should not be lost sight of is the fact that the wrists are not covered with muscles at all but are made principally of bone, ligaments, and tendons; and the muscles which hold the wrists firm are located in the forearm. Therefore, if you stiffen any of the muscles of the forearm you have no play, and if you have no play of those muscles the forearms do not enter into the stroke and you are compelled to fall back entirely upon the twist of the body when you do not need any such great amount of power. You need only a small part of the twist of the body, because the speed of the club depends upon your ability to get the club into position.

The fact is that you need but a very short twist of the body and a good stiff dose of forearms to make up for the slow-moving body. This can only be accomplished with free and active play of the muscles of the forearms.

You can get much more power from the twist of the body than from any other source, but it does not move fast enough for cleek play when not supported by the forearms. The forearms act as the transformer, changing the low voltage, powerful current of the slow-moving body and arms into high tension current and speed when transmitted to the club shaft.

Let this matter sink into your understanding of cleek and iron play and you will have learned one of the best ways to keep your head still when you are playing irons.

With the majority of beginners the effort to "kill" the ball begins even before the club reaches the top of the swing as the club is on its way up-ward, and their bodies have made the effort before the fingers and forearms can get the club started downward again. As the greatest power is in the body they naturally try to use that first, and in nine cases out of ten they use more power than their grip of fingers can transmit to the club. Naturally the club head lags behind the point where it should be when the great power of the legs, back, and shoulders is applied.