One of the most inspiring stories from the history of golf is Francis Ouimet 1913 victory at the US Open where he defeated legendary golfer Harry Varden to win as an amateur. He is also regarded as pretty much the father of US Amateur Golf over in the United States and is the only non-Brit elected captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club as well, so a real kind of statesman of amateur golf not only in the US, but across the world. Now, his golf swing was very interesting in many ways. He wasn’t a very big man, he wasn’t a very powerful man, but he had a very, very repeatable action and a very, very kind of signature follow through and finish move. After he hit the shot his legs and his knees, his chest were all facing forwards and his shaft was resting right across the shoulder blades.

So, the butt end of the club pointing left the head of the club pointing right just resting in this position very, very balanced very, very in rhythm and very, very in tempo. Now, what that allowed him to do is as he swung through if he got to that position, his swing would have been in sequence it would have been in tempo and it just allow him to hit much, much straighter shots. It’s a great example of focusing on something in the follow through and the through swing to actually enable you to hit better shots at impact.

So, what he used to do is get set up, swing it away, quite a wristy swing on the way back,, but then rest the shaft across the shoulders as they impacted the impact position into here. And just holding that position until the ball landed. And if he was holding that position you knew the swing was in tempo and in rhythm and more than likely the shot would have been a good one. If you are looking for a bit of an inspiring story read about Francis Ouimet and that victory in 1913, it will certainly inspire you to get out on the course.