Tommy Armour -- How To Play Your Best Golf All The Time
Tommy Armour was one of his era's finest golfers, winning the U.S. Open, the British Open, the PGA and a host of cash-prize tournaments. Pretty good for anybody, but particularly good for a guy who had been severely wounded and blinded in one eye in a World War I mustard gas attack.
He was also one of golf's most successful -- and expensive! -- instructors. He taught students whose skills ranged across the board from duffer to champion. They included the rich and famous and winners of national championships, both amateur and professional. Over time, his reputation as a teacher grew greater than his reputation as a player. To put it mildly...
The guy knew what he was talking about.
In 1953, he applied his brilliant mind to a little book he called How To Play Your Best Golf All The Time. He insisted that it be simple in narrative and illustrated only with a few line drawings (instead of the dozens of photographic sequences that had become de rigueur for golf texts of the day. The line drawings were limited to those Stroke alignments he deemed mission-critical. The book was an instant success, and it subsequently has been reprinted numerous times over the past five decades. In my next piece, I will discuss -- and illustrate from the book -- Tommy's grasp of the importance of the Head as the Pivot Center. And also, his thoughts on the geometry of the Stroke, the Flat Left Wrist and Clubhead Lag Pressure. There is much to learn.
The book has a special meaning for me, not only because of its content, but because I got an autographed copy at age 15. But the autograph is not that of Tommy Armour. No, it is much better than that...
Tommy Armour was one of his era's finest golfers, winning the U.S. Open, the British Open, the PGA and a host of cash-prize tournaments. Pretty good for anybody, but particularly good for a guy who had been severely wounded and blinded in one eye in a World War I mustard gas attack.
He was also one of golf's most successful -- and expensive! -- instructors. He taught students whose skills ranged across the board from duffer to champion. They included the rich and famous and winners of national championships, both amateur and professional. Over time, his reputation as a teacher grew greater than his reputation as a player. To put it mildly...
The guy knew what he was talking about.
In 1953, he applied his brilliant mind to a little book he called How To Play Your Best Golf All The Time. He insisted that it be simple in narrative and illustrated only with a few line drawings (instead of the dozens of photographic sequences that had become de rigueur for golf texts of the day. The line drawings were limited to those Stroke alignments he deemed mission-critical. The book was an instant success, and it subsequently has been reprinted numerous times over the past five decades. In my next piece, I will discuss -- and illustrate from the book -- Tommy's grasp of the importance of the Head as the Pivot Center. And also, his thoughts on the geometry of the Stroke, the Flat Left Wrist and Clubhead Lag Pressure. There is much to learn.
The book has a special meaning for me, not only because of its content, but because I've got an autographed copy. But the autograph is not that of Tommy Armour. No, it is much better than that...
Just dusted my copy,which was next to Percy Boomer's On Learning Golf. I will review and look forward to your discussion.
Amazon inside the book, backward leaning handle, catch on the upswing? page. 26
That is one of the many graphics I'll be posting. Armour believed in hitting the driver on the upswing -- that drawing went a bit overboard to make his point -- and everything else on the downswing. His address with the driver was also decidely different than with the other clubs.
Let me get all these graphics up tomorrow -- I've already got them scanned in -- and we'll talk about it. Like I said above, we're going to have a great time with this one!
P.S. I've got a full day on the Lesson Tee tomorrow, so don't expect anything up until the evening. See you then!
That's a good idea, DRW, and I encourage others who own the book to do the same thing.
I must have read your mind Yoda... I've got the book, and have read it long ago, but just yesterday, under flashlight, and having been offline for a while due to the power of 'Ernesto' taking Williamsburg back to the days of the early settlers, I pulled it off my shelf and began reading it again.
I immediatly noted his mentioning of PP#3 when discussing the grip and recall a post shortly after your Pine Needles class when Peggy Kirk Bell exclaimed "That's what Tommy told me".... Tommy Armour.
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I had hoped to be deep into the Tommy Armour thread by this point, but the images I have scanned are on my office computer (which is not exactly 'next door'). Fortunately, my teaching schedule has been non-stop -- -- but, unfortunately, it has not permitted me to make that trip. And I don't really see that easing for the next week or so. Unless I go in at night, it'll be tough to get to those files. But if I can, I will. Promise.
Interestingly, my student the past two days, Bob Crissy, a former PGA TOUR player and now a teaching professional in Boca Raton, Florida, trained for four years with Tommy at Del-Ray Beach Country Club during the last years of his life. We had a great time today at lunch with Bob reminiscing about those days. Really terrific stuff about how Tommy actually taught, some of which I will share as the thread develops.
I love this book, and got it after John Redman had talked about the influence Armour had on his teachings.
Would you say Armour was a proponent of right arm take away or was he, like others of his time, more inclined to let the left arm guide the club back?
He also believed in turning the hips freely (Snead, Singh) as opposed to inhibiting the hip turn (Hogan, x-factor)This free hip turn is not taught as often these days.
He was most know for his "whack the hell out of the ball with your right hand" advise, but I think his concern with proper foot work (driving the right knee at the ball ala Hogan) and keeping a steady head is certainly timeless advise.
This is a classic, and even though Im a TGM newbie I would think there had to be some things Homer saw in Armour that made its way into the machine book.
-- but, unfortunately, it has not permitted me to make that trip. And I don't really see that easing for the next week or so. Unless I go in at night, it'll be tough to get to those files. But if I can, I will. Promise. 
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