USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: APRIL, 1954 13 The Real Snead Story By WILLIAM C. CAMPBELL MEMBEK, 1951 AND 1953 WALKER CUP TEAMS You probably know Samuel Jackson Snead as the world's most naturally tal­ ented striker of golf balls. Like golfers everywhere, you have doubtless marveled at his rhythmic swing and flowing power, as universal standards of golfing perfec­ tion. But you may not know much about Sam himself. I welcome this chance to tell you something of the Snead that you do not read about or see at the golf tour­ naments. Sam is gifted with a beautiful physical coordination that is no less amazing than are his supple strength and his trigger- quick mental and physical reflexes. Ac­ cordingly, golf is just one of the sports at which he has excelled. As a high school star in football, baseball, basketball, track and boxing, he was the prototype all-around athlete. Many observers have commented on Sam's strong and flexible back, shoulder and arm muscles. Actually, of even more Sam Snead importance to his unrelenting golfing prowess through the years have been the relaxed strength and bounce of his ath­ golfer has ever combined such an up­ letic legs. right plane of arc with such width of arc Proof of Sam's participation in many at the point of impact. His full pivot, sports can also be seen in his strong long arms, loose shoulders and high fingers and hands, of which various bones hands at top backswing provide a tre­ have been broken. These repaired bones mendous leverage of power, whereas his combine with his unique double-jointed- clubhead describes through the impact ness to make an impossible task for any area a path that is as horizontal to the one who would try to emulate exactly the ground as is possible unless the hips were appearance of Sam's golf grip. Incident­ to sway through the ball. ally, his peculiar hand conformation has I regard this wide-arc-at-impact feature misled many students of golf, who have as the one basic common mechanical de­ failed to reconcile his open clubface at nominator among all the really top top of backswing with the apparent golfers. In Sam's extreme case, it prob­ straightness of the back of his left hand ably explains why he can consistently hit at maximum wrist-cock. "soft" iron shots that seem to drop laz­ ily on the green, with little forward force, Surely you have in your mind's eye yet with sharp backspin. an accurate picture of Sam's smooth power-in-motion swing. Just a word here Snead's Best Advice will suffice: I suppose that no other The other basic prerequisite is like­ Reprinted from Royal Canadian Golf wise in Sam's favor: an unfailing sense Association's Annual Golf Review, 1953. of timing. Characteristically, he does not 14 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: APRIL, 195,1. care about the numerical weight or swing- are eased and he becomes once more his balance specifications of his clubs, re- relaxed self. lying rather on his own "feel" in choosing A week or two thus "off the circuit," his equipment (witness his battered 15- and he is ready to rejoin the fray. You year-old "irreplaceable" driver!). will note that it is after these returns to He is blessed with an uncanny sense of the hills that Sam plays his best tourna- balance and timing, the two points I have' ment golf, because he is then doing his heard him emphasize most often. He once best thinking. cautioned me about a fast backswing on When Sam does win his first Open, as a long-driving hole with this revealing he surely someday must, and thereby gem of golfing wisdom: "If you want to completes his great record, someone will hit a nail especially hard with a hammer, do the Snead Story for the movies or for )'ou don't jerk it back and slash at it. a book. If proper research is done, peo- .Rather, you draw it far back nice and ple •will think the resulting story can only :slow, gather your power and, with care- be fiction. ful aim, let 'er rip. Now, why not drive They will learn things they never knew a golf ball that way?" about Sam: for example, that Sam's older Sam is a true child of nature, revel. brothers before him had the same Snead ling in the environment of forests, moun- swing and hit the ball prodigious dis- tains and streams, and possessing an un- tances (especially the mighty Homer) believable affinity toward wild life. when Sam was still knocking acorns about He is a true "ridgerunner," preferably with hickory branches. with a pack of dogs at his heels. He seems They will learn that, before turning to to have a sixth sense concerning the golf, Sam worked in a restaurant and W hereabouts and instincts of animals still is a good cook, that he played the which, together with his marksmanship, trumpet in a dance band, that his am- explain his reputation through the moun- bition was to be a clothes tailor, at which tains as an expert hunter and fisherman. work he had some amusing and short ex- The local lore about his prowess at perience, that he has a good singing field and stream approaches the legend- voice and claims that his golf timing ary. Certainly golf could not at all com- would be better if he could play golf to pete with these other out-of-door sports musical accompaniment, that he has a for Sam's preference and abiding voca- tremendous sense of fun and is a most tional interest if fortunes could be amusing raconteur of droll stories which amassed in mountain streams or deep could earn him a fancy living on the forests. banquet circuit should he ever tire of When Sam Plays Best golfing, that he has a remarkable mem- This proclivity towards nature, this ory for events, places and competitive sit- quality of naturalness, explains why Sam uations, that he is careful to stay phys- has reduced his tournament schedule in ically trim, to sleep long, to eat pro- recent years. Of course the income-tax perly and never to smoke or drink, that laws have not been without effect in this he has consistantly exercised a keen yet direction, but essentially it has just been cautious financial acumen in saving a case of his allergy to the commercial money and choosing wise investments, so aspects of tournament golf. True, he plays that he is already truly a West Virginia golf as a business, but in the process he is capitalist whose considerable wealth in- not immune to office nerves, which are cludes a healthy balance of bonds, an- soon frayed by the unnatural pressures nuities and good farmlands, even though of crowds, noise, travel, hotels and even Jimmy Demaret still insists that Sam's competition for the dollar. He has learned backyard is buried deep with tomato cans at such times to get back to his natural filled with cash. habitat in the hills, where the tensions Ever since, at the age of 15, I tagged USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: APRIL, 1954 15 ANALYZING THE SECRET OF GOLF Robert T. Jones, Jr., and Horton Smith, President of the PGA, chat in an introductory scene from the new 30-minute instructional film, "Keep 'Em in the Fairway," which was premiered in Augusta, Ga., during the Masters Tournament. The film was pro­ duced by Dallas Jones Productions for PGA and Life magazine and also features Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Lloyd Mangrum, Jerry Barber, Cary Middlecoff, Walter Burkemo, Ed Oliver, Jimmy Demaret, Lawson Little, Byron Nelson, Lew Worsham, Pat Abbott, Miss Louise Suggs, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. It sets forth the five fun­ damentals which the PGA believes to be present in every good golf swing and is being distributed in connection with National Golf Day (June 5). along as Sam's partner when he won our winning tournaments, or at least be the state pro-amateur title, I have studied him sentimental favorite, when most of the closely and come to know him well. I am younger stars of today are retired to their convinced that if he knew in his heart rocking chairs. how great a golfer he really is, thanks to Beyond and above his golf, in which doing what comes naturally, the rest of sport he must be recognized as truly a the field would have no choice but to phenomenon, Sam is a fine gentleman scramble for second-place money. Des­ and a wonderful friend, always his de­ pite this basic humility and occasional lightful, unspoiled, impulsive self. Just as lack of confidence, Sam has put together his native golfing genius has remained an amazing record. At 41 years of age, essentially unchanged through the years, after 17 years of major competition, he so has his sound character and appeal­ is still going strong; and he will still be ing personality. .