"The kind of putting that Locke can turn on when necessary was seen in the 1950 Tam O' Shanter Tournament, when he got four birdies in a row over the last five holes to tie for first place with Lloyd Mangrum.

He holed no fewer than four putts of 30 feet - all in succession - to do it.

The next day he turned on a 69 to beat Mangrum by four strokes for first money."

Reference : 'Golf is my business' by Norman Von Nida. Page 165. First Published By Frederick Muller Ltd. In 1956. Copyright, 1956, Norman Von Nida And Muir Maclaren.

"Archeological discoveries have shown that archery in China dates back 20,000 years.

Practical archery requires three elements:

• a bow strong enough to propel arrows;
• arrows that are sharp enough;
• and a technique to ensure the stability of arrows in flight.

The bow and arrow of ancient China fully met these three conditions".

Reference : 'Ancient Chinese Inventions' by Deng Yinke. Translated from the original Chinese by Wang Pingxing. Archery, page 134. Cambridge University Press. © China Intercontinental Press 2010. © Cambridge University Press 2011.

"During the first stage of training, when the archer still has to concentrate on individual movements and manipulations, he does not shoot at the actual target but at a bundle of straw (makiwara) placed about two metres away. The distance of two metres roughly corresponds to the length of a Japanese bow.

The archer practises technique on this bundle of straw 'on dry land' as it were. The intention is that he should become fully aware that shooting is not merely a matter of hitting or missing since even a beginner will have hardly any difficulty in hitting the bundle of straw.

The development of any ambition is thus counteracted from the very start, simply by not giving the archer any object which could foster it.

From the first training session, the master guides him on the way towards understanding that the greatest obstacle usually lies in the egotistical desire to score a hit, ultimately preventing him from really hitting the mark and advancing on the Way.

The practice of Kyudo: Hassetsu - The Eight Stages leading Release of the Arrow and Stepping Back from the Shooting Line:

• Ashibumi - The Stance
• Dozukuri - Balance
• Yugamae - Being Prepared. Focusing on the tanden. Torikake, Tenouchi, Monomi
• Uchiokoshi - Raising The Bow
• Hikiwake - The Draw
• Kai (Nobiai, Jiman)
• Hanare
• Zanshin

While implementing these eight stages the archer must be inwardly aware of the fact that each phase contains the one that follows, and that each consecutive stage continues to incorporate all the preceding ones, so that individual movements, manipulations, and phases of concentration imply one another and could not possibly exist in isolation from one another.

If the archer has fulfilled that primary condition, the action involved in shooting his bow will resemble the continuous, uninterrupted flow of a wide river which is steadily heading towards its destination and cannot be diverted by anything."

Reference : 'KYUDO The Art Of Zen Archery', Part III. The Practice of Kyudo, by Hans Joachim Stein © 1988 Translated by Frauke and Tim Nevill Element Books.

"And Locke's golf tour of the United States was no mere holiday. He'd played on the PGA Tour for three seasons, from 1947 to 1949, and won eleven of fifty-nine events.

He also finished second ten times, third eight times, and fourth five times.

In fact, he was so good that the other players began to resent that he was taking so much money out of their pocket and the tour found a way to ban him on a technicality.

Although the ban was later lifted, Locke didn't feel welcome and never returned to play in the United States full-time.

Thirty years later, those ill feelings seemed to be gone as he welcomed an American from Texas and spoke warmly about his time in the States.

In that first meeting with Locke, he taught me a lot about putting. I wouldn't say he had a great stroke, technique-wise.

He used a lot of wrist action, and the path of his putter head came into impact extremely from the inside.

It certainly wasn't a stroke that I would teach to my students. But Locke had grooved his stroke and he had confidence."

Reference : '18 GAME-CHANGING LESSONS' Talking Golf with Legends & Pros Mark Steinbauer with Hunki Yun. Stewart, Tabori & Chang New York. Published in 2010 by Stewart, Tabori & Chang. Text copyright © 2010 Mark Steinbauer. Lesson 6 Bobby Locke The Joy of Putting, page 69.

Compare that text with Bobby Locke's on PUTTING, from 'Bobby Locke On Golf' First Published in 1953 by Country Life Limited, 2-10 Tavistock Street London W.C.2. Part Two: How I Play Golf 17. Putting, page 119-123. British Open Champion 1949, 1950, 1952 and 1957.

"Among golfers the putter is usually known as the pay-off club, and how right that is!

Putting, in fact, is a game by itself. I am recognized as a good, consistent putter.

From early in my career I realized that there was far more in putting than actually striking the ball, and I do not think any prominent golfer has devoted more time and thought and practice to this side of the game than I have.

Illustration 1 Here you can see how I change my grip for putting...

Throughout the swing, the putter stays square to the hole. I want to emphasize that the blade does stay square to the hole. There are people who say it is impossible to take a club back 'inside' without opening the face. With a putter it is not impossible, and this is how I putt.

Illustration 6 ...It is essential in the method I am showing here that there should be no wrist-work.

Wrist-work results in inconsistency - and missed putts".

Learn more about putting technique from Bobby Locke in 'Bobby Locke On Golf' First Published in 1953 by Country Life Limited, 2-10 Tavistock Street London W.C.2. Part Two: How I Play Golf 17. Putting page 119-123. This extract of page 119 and 121

"When a man has reached, I will say, thirty-five or forty years of age, his inclination is in the direction of the steady game, a style of game at which I feel confident he may do well.

He will not be inclined to strive after effect or to "play to the gallery," as not infrequently happens with the younger generation of golfers.

The tortoise, it will be recollected, succeeded in defeating the hare.

"Slow and sure" is another crusted, but apposite saying, and personally I am by no means certain that the steady, careful game is not after all the most sensible one. There can be no denying the fact that the one thing necessary in the game is steadiness and stamina combined.

There is, of course, an advantage in learning the game when young, but yet there is no reason to despair of getting well up in the lists even if a man has found it impossible to handle the clubs until he has reached the late thirties.

In proof of my statement in this respect I may instance Mr. C. Hutchings, of Hoylake, as an example.

Mr. Hutchings did not commence playing golf until, comparatively speaking, late in his life, but after this brilliant example who will be found bold enough to say that to learn late in life is an impossibility?

Mr. Hutchings at the age of fifty-three is not only capable of holding his own in excellent company, but has actually become the winner of the amateur championship, and if one man is able to do this, why not another?"

Reference : 'Taylor on Golf' Impressions, Comments and Hints by J. H. Taylor Chapter XV. The Most Common Fault. Open Champion 1894, 1895, 1900 and 1909 With Forty-Eight Illustrations Fifth Edition London Hutchinson & Co. Paternoster Row 1911.

"Full extension is a matter of using all your physical self as you swing - of fully stretching and coiling all the muscles of your body that need stretching and coiling.

Most of that stretching and coiling is done during your backswing, to allow for later unstretching and uncoiling as you return the club to the ball.

Full extension is easy to explain, but physically demanding to execute.

It involves three things during your backswing:

1. Making as full a turning of the hips as you possibly can short of straightening your right leg or shifting your weight onto the outside of your right foot.
2. Making as full a shoulder turn as you can while keeping the head steady.
3. Swinging your hands on as wide and as high an arc as you can short of shifting your head position or loosening your hold on the club."

Reference : 'On The Lesson Tee' A Sports Publication by: The Athletic Institute Basic Golf Fundamentals Jack Grout Jack Nicklaus' Teacher and Coach Illustrations By Jim McQueen Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. New York Copyright © 1982 by the Athletic Institute

"If there is an aspect of the tour player's game that inspires a sense of awe and wonder, it is his ability to crush the ball 300 yards or more with such grace and seeming lack of effort.

The distance these pros are able to achieve (with accuracy as well) can be unfathomable to the average golfer. It obviously is not a product of sheer size or strength since many pros are small physically yet capable of hitting the ball inordinate distances.

The casual golfer can attribute this skill only to equal parts skill and magic.

In fact, there is skill involved and some magic too, though the "magic" is attainable by anyone possessing average strength and coordination.

It all can be traced to the transition move, the critical series of events that occur as the backswing evolves into the downswing (fig. 4-1).

If you've been looking for the greatest source of power in golf, this is it, hands down...

To set the stage for a correct, powerful downswing, it is necessary for the upper and lower body to move in opposite directions just before the downswing actually gets under way (fig. 4-3).

That's what the transition move is all about."

Reference : Dr. Ralph Mann and Fred Griffin, with Guy Yocom's book 'Swing like a Pro, The Breakthrough Method Of Perfecting Your Golf Swing, based on the Computer-Generated Pro', Chapter Four, Transition, The Magic Move, page 101. Broadway Books, New York, Copyright © 1998 by CompuSport International.

Download : 'Transition The Magic Move' By Dr. Ralph Mann and Fred Griffin with Guy Yocom.

"If the grip be left out of the picture on the ground that it is in truth a preliminary, and we can assume that this is correct, then I should say that the most important movement of the swing would be to start the downswing by beginning the unwinding of the hips.

It is possible to play good golf without a straight left arm; it is possible to do so using a square, closed, or open stance; and one may get along with a short and fast backswing if there are compensating virtues.

But there can be no power, and very little accuracy or reliability, in a swing in which the left hip does not lead the downstroke.

One sees any number of players who take the club back almost in a vertical arc, thereby violating the principles of the true swing.

In other words, instead of swinging it back, they lift it up over their shoulders; but a lot of them, because they initiate the downswing by beginning the turn of the hips before they move anything else, manage to play good golf.

No matter how perfect the backswing may have been, if the hands, or the arms or the shoulders start the downward movement, the club immediately loses the guidance of the body movement, and the benefit of the power the muscles of the waist and back could have contributed.

When this happens, the turn of the body during the backswing becomes entirely useless, and the club finds itself in midair, actuated by a pair of hands and arms having no effective connection with anything solid.

I think we may well call this the most important movement of the swing."

Reference : 'Bobby Jones On Golf', Robert Tyre (Bobby) Jones. Chapter Four. 2 The Most Important Movement. Page 56. Foreword by Charles Price. Illustrations by Anthony Ravielli. 1966 Doubleday & Company, Inc. New York.

"Misconception 6: The arms swing and the body simply responds to that motion or the hands and arms move first and then the shoulders and hips follow.

Reasons: If the hands and arms move first in the backswing, the shoulders will turn late in the backswing. As a result, the golfer will lose his extension and create an overly long and loose swing that is likely to come outside and over-the-top on the downswing.

Actually, the first part of the backswing should be a one-piece movement with the hands, arms, clubhead, shoulders and hips all moving away together. This ensures a weight shift, arm and club extension and a firm and short swing.

Furthermore, if the swing produces centrifugal force, the center of the swing must move first to create the force. The true center of the swing is located in the posterior lower spine somewhere behind the hips.

This part moves first and the hands, arms and clubhead simply respond to this initial movement. The big muscles of the shoulders, back and hips are the slowest moving yet most powerful muscles in the body. These muscles move first and keep the faster moving muscles of the hands an arms under control. Correct movement is always produced from the center of the body outward - never from the clubhead inwards."

Reference : 'Appendix 3 Golf Swing Misconceptions by Dr. Jim Suttie, PGA Professional Cog Hill Golf Course Lemont, Illinois, The PGA Manual of Golf by Gary Wiren PGA Master Professional, Ph.D. MacMillan USA Copyright © 1991 by The Professional Golfer's Association of America.

Bobby Locke, Open Champion, explains it this way : "And always remember that the first movement of the downswing is a slight drag with the left hand."

"The proper first move of the downswing involves the fundamental of footwork already mentioned - a lateral shifting of weight from the inside of the right foot to the inside of the left.

If you make this move before you start uncoiling your shoulders or uncocking your wrists, you will not only start your club down on a proper path, but you also may actually increase the extension and coiling of your muscles.

This occurs because your feet and legs are shifting forward while your hands and club are still moving toward the finish of your backswing.

Once you develop your footwork as described in fundamental 4, this first move of the downswing will take place automatically, so long as you give it time to happen.

While I don't believe that there should be an actual pause at the top of the backswing - some part of you should always be in motion - I do think that most golfers need to at least feel a momentary "waiting" at the top: a waiting with the hands and shoulders for the feet to shift some weight toward the target.

It is also extremely important that you remember always to swing the club.

That may sound ridiculously elementary, but too many golfers, in their efforts to use their legs correctly, lose sight of the fact that it is the golf club that strikes the ball. While the feet start the downswing, the arms - not the hands - must do their part to swing the club down and forward and "through" the ball.

So long as your feet work correctly and lead your downswing, on all of your shots you should try to accelerate your arms - and thus the club - through impact as fast as you possibly can without losing your balance.

Do this and your hands will react automatically to the weight and speed of the moving clubhead.

Do this and your wrists will uncock automatically to square the clubface at the proper time, so long as you also shift your weight and keep a steady head.

You'll risk big trouble, however, if you consciously attempt to apply your hands and wrists to the shot."

Reference : 'Let Me teach You Golf As I Taught Jack Nicklaus' Six Fundamentals Jack Grout with Dick Aultman Illustrated by Jim McQueen Atheneum / SMI New York 1975 Copyright © 1975 by Jack Grout and Dick Aultman Designed by Kathleen Carey.

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"At the University of Calgary, Joan Vickers Director of the Neuro Motor Psychology Laboratory did an excellent study on putting.

The article, in Golf Magazine (Oct. 1991) "Look and Launch - Make your eyes talk effectively to sink more putts." They say, "Feel does not come from mechanics. It comes from the eyes sending information about distance and the line of your hands, arms and shoulders. The more effectively your eyes talk to the rest of your body, the better you will putt."

The study found that higher handicap golfers stare at the ball and club with too many quick glances to the hole. As a result visual information is not processed very well.

Good putters do the opposite. They stare at the hole and glance at the ball.

The following procedure for putting is what they found to be most effective:

1. Get into position and check the club with a quick look and then the ball with a longer look. This is your impact position so it is a good place to start.
2. Turn your head and focus on the hole for the feel of distance. Do not look or focus on the green between the ball and hole. Focus on the hole for at least two seconds so that distance information is registered in the memory.
3. Run your eyes back down the target line to the club for a real quick check, then fixing on the ball for only a half second or less, stroke the ball while the distance information is still fresh in the mind.
4. Keep your eyes fixed on the ball throughout the stroke. Do not look at the club and ball at the same time, as this may give information overload. See the grass under the ball after the stroke."

Reference : 'The Golf Superbook' by Dr. Gerald A. Walford, Gerald E. Walford.

Reference : 'The Quiet Eye' It's The Difference Between A Good Putter and A Poor One. Here's Proof by Dr. Joan N. Vickers, Professor of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary, in Alberta, Canada. Illustrations by + ISM. Photograph by Corbis. GolfDigest.com January 2004. For more detailed information on The Quiet Eye, visit www.ucalgary.ca/