[Dark Saint Alaick]

There will always be found many people who are prepared to condemn
utterly anything which they do not understand. Some of these are sure
to exercise themselves on this subject, so I shall give them some
additional food for thought. Some time ago, a golfer who was capable
of removing Mr. John Ball from the Amateur Championship Competition,
lost his left thumb at the second joint. After his misfortune he took
to driving a much longer ball than he had been in the habit of doing
before his accident.

Now there must have been some reason for this. The only one which I
can suggest is that his accident put the right hand more into its
proper and natural place on the shaft than it had been before.
Curiosity led me to try to reproduce this grip as much as possible. I
used the ordinary overlapping grip, with the exception that I allowed
my thumb to remain out and to rest on the back of my right hand in a
line with the knuckle of the little finger. I was astonished to find
how closely it seemed to bring the wrists together. The injured golfer
would probably have the ideal golf grip if he overlapped his right
with his left forefinger instead of using the ordinary overlap, for he
would have a perfectly free and full right-hand grip, no interference
by the thumb of the left hand, and a natural overlap with the left
forefinger on the little finger of the right hand.