"TEE SHOTS" BY FRANK LEWIS, Golf Professional

By Letty Stapp Watt

In 1938 Frank Lewis became the golf professional for one year at the Miami Country Club. One of his promises to the club was to bring in more interest in golf to the community by writing a series of eight articles on the game of golf. 

Vintage 1920-30
leather golf bag 

1938 March 13 MNR "Tee Shots" by Frank Lewis, club professional at the Miami Country club. #1

In presenting a series of articles on golf, I want it understood that these discussions are not to be regarded as actual lessons. I will attempt to explain why golf is and always will be "individual" and as such, what might be correct for one golfer may not hold true for another. 

After 20 years of teaching the game, in England, Canada and the United States, I have found that learning to play from books or articles has not been very successful--or else there would be more better golfers. I do not believe there are better readers of golf articles than good golfers themselves.

I personally prefer to teach the individual as I find him or her. Sometimes it is not easy to determine the ability of your pupil to relax under strain. You must build up his or her faith in his own ability. In accomplishing, that, an instructor has done much.

What I want to emphasize in subsequent articles is the stroke or swing. Also I will strive to show the meaning of the word "timing" and several other terms of which golfers have heard but do not understand the full meaning or significance.

These articles, I believe, can be enjoyed by the par shooter as well as the beginner. After all, we will always have with us the "good old duffer." God bless him, what would the game be without him? 

1938 March 20 MNR "Tee Shots" by Frank Lewis, professional at the Miami Country Club #2

All golfers, good and bad, are troubled with common faults. In looking at linksmen for some 20 years, I find that there is one fault, common to all.

What is it? It's the "up swing." It causes more worry than any other shortcoming and its one that requires careful analysis to correct.

The tendency is to grip the club too tight. Consequently the golfer makes the up swing too hard. It is a case of bad timing. I think the mistake is made by attempting to clout the ball too hard. The result is often topping, slicing or even pulling.

Tension in action is a difficult problem to master. It is the hardest of all habits to break. I believe it can be mastered only by one's ability to relax under pressure. Upon that performance hinges the success or failure of a player.

Take my advice--watch your up swing and learn to let the wrist muscles of the arms relax. Do not forget the body also. Try to eliminate anything which tends towards stiffness. In that statement I am running into deep water. 

I refer to the stiff left arm. Well, I'll leave you there with this question: Is there such a thing as a stiff left arm? You should think before you give your answer. I'll give my opinion next week. 

1938 March 27 MNR    "TEE SHOTS" by Frank Lewis, golf professional. #3

The idea of a stiff left arm in golf is really wrong, for anything which tends to stiffen the upswing is bound to cause stiffness of body action. I am a believer in relaxing the left arm. I have watched too many good golfers swing without showing any trace of a stiff left arm. To swing correctly we must relax. Thus how can you relax if you really are trying to stiffen the left arm?

I find also golfers are prone to grasp the club too tightly. One should try to be natural--a good golfer always does as his swing clearly shows.  If you are a beginner, try to adopt an easy grip. Swing the club; you don't have to kill the ball because the speed of your wrists will give you a lot of hitting power.

It is very hard to convince an old golfer that he is not hitting with his left hand. After all, a right hand golfer can and should hit with his right wrist. If he is left-handed, let him use his left wrist. My own idea is that a right-hander can't throw a ball very far with his left arm. Then why not follow the same principle to the golf swing? 

1938 April 3 MNR "Tee Shots" by Frank Lewis, golf professional. #4

There is a definite wrist action which starts with the left wrist moving from the ball in the upswing and continues to the top of the swing and then both wrists begin to operate on the down swing. This is where the average golfer runs into trouble.

If he has attained the sense of direction the forward swing must take, he knows how much his wrist action means. His right hand must be free always; otherwise he does not get a good follow through.

I was asked once what was the idea of a follow through. That was an easy question to answer. All I said was the follow through is a finished swing and if failed to be added, what happens to the shot?

Many golfers never realize how they actually start a shot or how it should finish. If you play yourself, look your swing over. See if I am nearly correct.

I have been asked also if it is possible, then to over swing. Yes, it is, but a golfer who has an over swing is rarely found. The reverse is true about under swinging. most golfers do not go back far enough to get the proper wrist break. Bobby Jones calls it cocking the wrists at the top of the swing.

That's another common fault, caused from gripping too tightly. The question is how tight should one grip a club, a question that covers a big field. How tight do you grip and what are the results? Next week I will give a further discussion on that point. 

1938 April 10 MNR "Tee Shots" by Frank Lewis. #5

The grip is something that all golfers are seldom conscious of. I am not going to say the Vardon grip is correct nor any other grip as far as that goes because among professional golfers there is quite a difference in grips as well as opinions.

Some say the right hand should be up; other s say the right should be under and there you are.  I remember the time when the so-called lock grip was thought to be the thing and then the Vardon grip, but I advise you to look around and see the different grips for yourself. 

(My father, Johnie Stapp, was an ardent believer in one grip. He considered the Vardon grip the best because it gave balance to both hands. He believed both hands had to work together to produce a straight shot.)

I know one good golfer whose grip is almost like a baseball player's, and yet he can shoot par very easily, so don't run into danger by trying to play a certain grip, especially if you do not get the desired results.

I have changed too many hands not to know that the most natural grip is the best one. Take hold of the club as it suits your hands. Try it, for sometimes it works. 

Let's go a little further about some short shots. I believe a lot of strokes are lost from 100 yards and down to the cup. Yes, I know one could write a book on what happens but honestly the greatest mistake is really a very simple one. A person has to watch only the back swing, because it is generally too fast. Short strokes are the hardest of all golf strokes.

Why? Because it calls for more concentration than we generally give it. The stroke is so interesting that I believe I will have to devote my next article to a discussion of it. 

1938 April 17 MNR "Tee Shots" by Frank Lewis #6

There are two very definite short shots, once called the pitch and the other the pitch and run. As you may notice one is a pitch, and the other a run. But wait, is it run shot? No, there are at least a half a dozen clubs to play the pitch and run--they all carry in the the angle of loft in the club.

Now the reason why it is not entirely a run shot is because the idea is to let the ball fall somewhere near the edge of the green and then the rest is all run. You must have a certain amount of pitch and also knowledge of how far the ball will run after it hits the green.

  (To this day I have movies that run in my head of the hours I spent practicing the pitch and run shots with my 7 iron, 5 iron, and 3 iron on the practice green at the Miami Country club. My father insisted that I concentrate on hitting the ball squarely and then watching and learning how far each shot rolled once it bounced.)

Now you see why the shot is very difficult. How accurate a player has to be to know exactly where to drop the ball and have the decided amount of run to put the ball near the hole. Take the pitch shot--it's difficult. But you can certainly see that if the ball has been given the right amount of loft it has a much better chance of dropping near the flag.

These shots are definitely the "brains of golf." You have to know how to execute either. Personally, I believe the pitch shot is the better in the whole game.

If you are a runner, try a No.8 club. Pitch the ball up for its lots of fun. As they say anyone can roll a ball, but why not learn to play good golf?

1938 April 24 MNR "Tee Shots" by Frank Lewis #7

Now we talk about the least known shot in the game--the explosion or bunker shot. Of course, there is a special club called a sand blaster which is used to play the shot. 

But if one is to get acquainted with the club--a very unwieldy weapon--the idea is to take a lot of sand with the ball. How can this be done? Golfers as a rule are afraid of the explosion shot and generally go into the trap with a prayer that the ball will stop somewhere on the green.

Yes it can be played to perfection. I have seen golfers come out of some of the most impossible places. I'll admit that I am one of the rank of golfers who offers up a prayer. But when I do play it right, I get a big kick out of it.

It's played in quite a different way as the stroke is almost vertical and one has to bear almost straight into the sand on the down swing.

1930's Sandblaster wedge. 

The sand on our course at the present time is very wet and as such is easy to play, but wait until it get dry and then listen to the tale of woe. The explosion shot takes lots of practice and courage because if you don't hit out properly you might find yourself just as far on the other side of the green.

Take my advice and learn to play the explosion shot; it will save you lots of stokes. Of course, we can chip out, but what about the bad lie in the trap. Another thing, when a player has finished his shot and taken lots of sand he should see that the hole he has made is filled in. The man playing behind is just apt to put the ball in the same bunker and he may find the hole made previously. It would be easy then to overhear his language. 

(This particular spring in Miami, Oklahoma must have been very rainy. There are several references made to the conditions of the course because the new "grass greens" were opened in April.)

1938 April 24  Mac Bartlett, sports writer for a column called The Grist, writes that the Miami Country club's nine-hole course has finally yielded a subpar score. Charley Lewis shot a sizzling 71 Friday afternoon, coming in one under par figures for the best 18-hole score posted at the club since the construction of the "Grass Greens."

The club pro, Frank Lewis, shot a steady 38 on the first nine. It was hit first try at the course in several days. He was one of a foursome that included his son.  

1938 May 1 MNR  "Tee Shots" by Frank Lewis, #8

When the ball reaches the green, the shot we are going to play is the most annoying of all as so much can be said as to how we shall stand and how shall we hold the club. A putter in action is a weird club because one day we can almost hole them in from anywhere; the next it seems as if we were using someone else's club. 

I wonder why, I have seen, I believe, literally hundreds of positions taken. To me a good putter is a gift from the gods of golf (if they are any gods of the game).

Watch a good putter if you every had the pleasure of looking at one. I don't mean the in-and-outer--good today bum tomorrow. All tournaments are won by putting. When a man's putter is hot, he is bound to be saving strokes. In addition, his mind is easy.

Miss a few three-foot putts, then what do you feel like? I know. I, too, have missed those putts. My advice in putting is not simple because putting is not easy. I like to see a man be comfortable. Yes, he can hold the club as he likes. Now he must, first of all, find out which grip suits him best and there are several. 

Putting can only be perfected by constant practice. Spend a little time each day on the putting green. It will repay you later on. This is good sound advice. Putting is a study, but who takes the time to figure it out. 

Figure how many three putts you have taken--then practice that distance. It doesn't cost anything. 

1938 May 1 MNR Mac Bartlett writes in The Grist column that women golfers are showing increased interest in the links sport here (in Miami). They plan to play at the country club Tuesday afternoon after a luncheon in the clubhouse. 

Charley Lewis and George Coleman, Jr, won a friendly golf match over Carl Childress and Howard Thomas Saturday afternoon. Lewis bagged a 72 while Coleman got a 74. Childress, a Joplin business man, took a 77 and his partner, who lives in Baxter Springs, came in with a 76. 

*Frank Lewis's love for the game of golf continued on with his son, Charley Lewis, who later became a well respected golf pro at Little Rock Country Club, Arkansas.