Instruction
Revisiting Ernest Jones’ “Swing the Clubhead”
Ernest Jones was a British golf professional who lost a leg in World War I. That didn’t stop him from continuing to play to the level of a scratch golfer, however, proving, as others have, that a golfer needs only one functioning leg, or arm even, to play at that high level. Important history we should keep in mind when considering the physical requirements for good golf.
Jones’ classic instruction book, “Swing The Clubhead,” begged golfers to do only ONE thing. Yeah, THAT. But a lot of people missed what ol’ Ernie was really on about. This article aims to shed light on what Ernest Jones described as a TRUE swinging action.
I will admit that the first time I read through the book as a younger instructor, , I missed the heart of the lesson. Up until that time, I had not even considered the possibility that the wrists could be passive and not actively bending back and forth. Similarly, I never understood what people meant by “keeping the hands out of it.”
“The hands are ON the club, they HAVE to be in it,” I reasoned.
Then one day it hit me. EUREKA! What if I hold the handle VERY lightly, like a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10, wind-up my hands around my center as a means to move the club head, and ALLOW the wrists to behave as they like — passively, in response to the active action of swinging the hands. Would that even WORK? Like a charm, I would discover. With all clubs and swings, long and short. The benefits are numerous, but perhaps coolest of all is that the wrist action is 100 percent AUTOMATED, the wrists truly functioning as a free hinge. Ah, so THAT’S what he meant!
Jones’ only real teaching aid was a pocket knife attached to a handkerchief, a kind of weight on a string. To swing something means to cause it to rotate around something else, an axis. To cause the dangling pocket knife to swing, the swinger needs to only hold the handkerchief and move the hand back and forth through space. The flexible handkerchief ALLOWS the knife to swing and represents passive wrists for the golfer. No torque needs to be applied at the hinge, which is free, to create a hinging action between the knife and handkerchief. The same is true for your golf swing. What a relief! One less thing to worry about!
Jones’ primary practice drill involved swinging the handkerchief and knife simultaneously with a club, to test whether one was even swinging at all. Any conscious and ACTIVE bending of the wrists, which Jones called “levering,” instantly causes the club to fall out of step with the swinging knife.
One of several “whippy” swing aids on the market, like the Orange Whip Trainer, allows the user to FEEL an object swing from a freely functioning hinge — the shaft in this case. Like the knife and handkerchief, this teaches us that an ACTIVE wrist action is NOT a requirement to create the ACTUAL wrist action seen in great swings, but the polar opposite of what Ernest Jones saw as a REAL swing. To do as Jones intended, simply swing or rotate the hands around your body, and ALLOW the club head to swing around the hands.
“Swing the club head with your hands,” Jones said, NOT with an active bending, “flipping,” or “levering” of the wrists.
Now that you know HOW to swing the club head, let’s swing it efficiently. This involves acceleration of the swing of the hands. With passive wrists and light grip pressure, you can learn that sufficient acceleration of the hands in one direction causes the club to initially lag behind and hinge back in the REVERSE direction. A fundamental aspect of efficient swinging is to make contact BEFORE the club head catches up to its axis, the hands, promoting solid contact with a descending attack angle, especially for swings off the turf.
Executing something called the “lagging club head takeaway” establishes the passive-wrist hinging action to start the swing. As the hands are swung back, the club head lags behind momentarily before following the hands along.
Above: Bobby Jones exhibits the classic “lagging club head takeaway”
Another great practice drill is to slowly wind-up the hands fully and stop. Starting the forward swing from this stopped position, you should CAUSE and ALLOW the club to again hinge back in the REVERSE direction, just like with the “lagging club head takeaway.” Consider that the reason you don’t always see this in great swings is because, as the forward swing begins, the wrists may already be bent back to their fullest extent. Since the forward swing to impact lasts only a few tenths of a second, there’s not much left to do now except continue smoothly accelerating the hands through the impact zone. Oh, and keep your eye on the ball! Eventually the club head catches up to the hands, but the ball is already gone.
If you find that this short swing shows a prominent wrist action, you would be correct. But looks can be deceiving. All of the bending of the wrists you see here is provided by the acceleration of the hands with passive wrists. The same swing, with firmer grip pressure, would look less “wristy,” but executing the reverse hinge phenomenon you see here at the start-up and transition is a great exercise to prove passive wrists and efficient hand swing acceleration.
The Swing-Eze teaching aid functions nicely as a “weight on a string.” Its free hinge permits a prominent “lagging” action.
Impact is made well BEFORE the club head catches up to the hands.
The ball has left the face while the club head is still lagging behind the hands.
The club head finally catches the hands well after impact.
“Stay ahead” of the club head with your hands this way and you may well be on the road to your personal performance potential. And remember, you can swing all your clubs this way, full and short! Ultimately, you may choose a grip pressure that is firm enough to prevent the “reverse” hinging, but either way, feel FREE, literally, to continue swinging the club head by swinging the hands around your body with passive wrists.
Ernest Jones would have been proud!
There may be no more painful affliction in golf than the “yips” – those uncontrollable and maddening little nervous twitches that prevent you from making a decent stroke on short putts. If you’ve never had them, consider yourself very fortunate (or possibly just very young). But I can assure you that when your most treacherous and feared golf shot is not the 195 yard approach over water with a quartering headwind…not the extra tight fairway with water left and sand right…not the soft bunker shot to a downhill pin with water on the other side…No, when your most feared shot is the remaining 2- 4-foot putt after hitting a great approach, recovery or lag putt, it makes the game almost painful.
And I’ve been fighting the yips (again) for a while now. It’s a recurring nightmare that has haunted me most of my adult life. I even had the yips when I was in my 20s, but I’ve beat them into submission off and on most of my adult life. But just recently, that nasty virus came to life once again. My lag putting has been very good, but when I get over one of those “you should make this” length putts, the entire nervous system seems to go haywire. I make great practice strokes, and then the most pitiful short-stroke or jab at the ball you can imagine. Sheesh.
But I’m a traditionalist, and do not look toward the long putter, belly putter, cross-hand, claw or other variation as the solution. My approach is to beat those damn yips into submission some other way. Here’s what I’m doing that is working pretty well, and I offer it to all of you who might have a similar affliction on the greens.
When you are over a short putt, forget the practice strokes…you want your natural eye-hand coordination to be unhindered by mechanics. Address your putt and take a good look at the hole, and back to the putter to ensure good alignment. Lighten your right hand grip on the putter and make sure that only the fingertips are in contact with the grip, to prevent you from getting to tight.
Then, take a long, long look at the hole to fill your entire mind and senses with the target. When you bring your head/eyes back to the ball, try to make a smooth, immediate move right into your backstroke — not even a second pause — and then let your hands and putter track right back together right back to where you were looking — the HOLE! Seeing the putter make contact with the ball, preferably even the forward edge of the ball – the side near the hole.
For me, this is working, but I am asking all of you to chime in with your own “home remedies” for the most aggravating and senseless of all golf maladies. It never hurts to have more to fall back on!
Over the last couple of decades, golf has become much more science-based. We measure swing speed, smash factor, angle of attack, strokes gained, and many other metrics that can really help golfers improve. But I often wonder if the advancement of golf’s “hard” sciences comes at the expense of the “soft” sciences.
Take, for example, golf instruction. Good golf instruction requires understanding swing mechanics and ball flight. But let’s take that as a given for PGA instructors. The other factors that make an instructor effective can be evaluated by social science, rather than launch monitors.
If you are a recreational golfer looking for a golf instructor, here are my top three points to consider.
1. Cultural mindset
What is “cultural mindset? To social scientists, it means whether a culture of genius or a culture of learning exists. In a golf instruction context, that may mean whether the teacher communicates a message that golf ability is something innate (you either have it or you don’t), or whether golf ability is something that can be learned. You want the latter!
It may sound obvious to suggest that you find a golf instructor who thinks you can improve, but my research suggests that it isn’t a given. In a large sample study of golf instructors, I found that when it came to recreational golfers, there was a wide range of belief systems. Some instructors strongly believed recreational golfers could improve through lessons. while others strongly believed they could not. And those beliefs manifested in the instructor’s feedback given to a student and the culture created for players.
2. Coping and self-modeling can beat role-modeling
Swing analysis technology is often preloaded with swings of PGA and LPGA Tour players. The swings of elite players are intended to be used for comparative purposes with golfers taking lessons. What social science tells us is that for novice and non-expert golfers, comparing swings to tour professionals can have the opposite effect of that intended. If you fit into the novice or non-expert category of golfer, you will learn more and be more motivated to change if you see yourself making a ‘better’ swing (self-modeling) or seeing your swing compared to a similar other (a coping model). Stay away from instructors who want to compare your swing with that of a tour player.
3. Learning theory basics
It is not a sexy selling point, but learning is a process, and that process is incremental – particularly for recreational adult players. Social science helps us understand this element of golf instruction. A good instructor will take learning slowly. He or she will give you just about enough information that challenges you, but is still manageable. The artful instructor will take time to decide what that one or two learning points are before jumping in to make full-scale swing changes. If the instructor moves too fast, you will probably leave the lesson with an arm’s length of swing thoughts and not really know which to focus on.
As an instructor, I develop a priority list of changes I want to make in a player’s technique. We then patiently and gradually work through that list. Beware of instructors who give you more than you can chew.
So if you are in the market for golf instruction, I encourage you to look beyond the X’s and O’s to find the right match!
Most pros take months, even years, to win their first tournament. Lottie Woad needed exactly four days.
The 21-year-old from Surrey shot 21-under 267 at Dundonald Links to win the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open by three shots — in her very first event as a professional. She’s only the third player in LPGA history to accomplish this feat, joining Rose Zhang (2023) and Beverly Hanson (1951).
But here’s what caught my attention as a coach: Woad didn’t win through miraculous putting or bombing 300-yard drives. She won through relentless precision and unshakeable composure. After watching her performance unfold, I’m convinced every golfer — from weekend warriors to scratch players — can steal pages from her playbook.
Precision Beats Power (And It’s Not Even Close)
Forget the driving contests. Woad proved that finding greens matters more than finding distance.
What Woad did:
• Hit it straight, hit it solid, give yourself chances
• Aimed for the fat parts of greens instead of chasing pins
• Let her putting do the talking after hitting safe targets
• As she said, “Everyone was chasing me today, and managed to maintain the lead and played really nicely down the stretch and hit a lot of good shots”
Why most golfers mess this up:
• They see a pin tucked behind a bunker and grab one more club to “go right at it”
• Distance becomes more important than accuracy
• They try to be heroic instead of smart
ACTION ITEM: For your next 10 rounds, aim for the center of every green regardless of pin position. Track your greens in regulation and watch your scores drop before your swing changes.
The Putter That Stayed Cool Under Fire
Woad started the final round two shots clear and immediately applied pressure with birdies at the 2nd and 3rd holes. When South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim mounted a charge and reached 20-under with a birdie at the 14th, Woad didn’t panic.
How she responded to pressure:
• Fired back with consecutive birdies at the 13th and 14th
• Watched Kim stumble with back-to-back bogeys
• Capped it with her fifth birdie of the day at the par-5 18th
• Stayed patient when others pressed, pressed when others cracked
What amateurs do wrong:
• Get conservative when they should be aggressive
• Try to force magic when steady play would win
• Panic when someone else makes a move
ACTION ITEM: Practice your 3-6 foot putts for 15 minutes after every range session. Woad’s putting wasn’t spectacular—it was reliable. Make the putts you should make.
Course Management 101: Play Your Game, Not the Course’s Game
Woad admitted she couldn’t see many scoreboards during the final round, but it didn’t matter. She stuck to her game plan regardless of what others were doing.
Her mental approach:
• Focused on her process, not the competition
• Drew on past pressure situations (Augusta National Women’s Amateur win)
• As she said, “That was the biggest tournament I played in at the time and was kind of my big win. So definitely felt the pressure of it more there, and I felt like all those experiences helped me with this”
Her physical execution:
• 270-yard drives (nothing flashy)
• Methodical iron play
• Steady putting
• Everything effective, nothing spectacular
ACTION ITEM: Create a yardage book for your home course. Know your distances to every pin, every hazard, every landing area. Stick to your plan no matter what your playing partners are doing.
Mental Toughness Isn’t Born, It’s Built
The most impressive part of Woad’s win? She genuinely didn’t expect it: “I definitely wasn’t expecting to win my first event as a pro, but I knew I was playing well, and I was hoping to contend.”
Her winning mindset:
• Didn’t put winning pressure on herself
• Focused on playing well and contending
• Made winning a byproduct of a good process
• Built confidence through recent experiences:
- Won the Women’s Irish Open as an amateur
- Missed a playoff by one shot at the Evian Championship
- Each experience prepared her for the next
What this means for you:
• Stop trying to shoot career rounds every time you tee up
• Focus on executing your pre-shot routine
• Commit to every shot
• Stay present in the moment
ACTION ITEM: Before each round, set process goals instead of score goals. Example: “I will take three practice swings before every shot” or “I will pick a specific target for every shot.” Let your score be the result, not the focus.
The Real Lesson
Woad collected $300,000 for her first professional victory, but the real prize was proving that fundamentals still work at golf’s highest level. She didn’t reinvent the game — she simply executed the basics better than everyone else that week.
The fundamentals that won:
• Hit more fairways
• Find more greens
• Make the putts you should make
• Stay patient under pressure
That’s something every golfer can do, regardless of handicap. Lottie Woad just showed us it’s still the winning formula.
FINAL ACTION ITEM: Pick one of the four action items above and commit to it for the next month. Master one fundamental before moving to the next. That’s how champions are built.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “The Starter” on RG.org each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more Tips!
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Rob Saxe
Jun 1, 2019 at 9:46 pm
I’ve worked with many instructors from THE TGM guru to former tour players to pga teaching and coaching summits. Now that I’m getting older the only thing that matters after everything I’ve read from sir Walter Simpson to Ernest Jones to Jack Nicklaus to Sean Foley to athletic motion golf on YT, is allowing the clubhead to swing me and control my wrists and footwork. That’s all I pay attention to. The rest of bs. Great post here. Thank you. Oh and I love the imperceptible clubhead lag in takeaway. It sets the tone for the backswing.
BT
Sep 23, 2015 at 12:01 am
I’ve been playing 25 years and have been a 5 hc for the last decade. Straight but short off the tee with a good short game. Average drive about 225 or so. Always had a smooth easy swing. I’ve never been able to increase my swing speed much without destroying my accuracy. In fact I really haven’t tried much. Just accepted that I’m a short hitter and still managed to shoot in the 70s most of the time. I’ve read some Ernest Jones stuff before and thought it was compatible with what I do but never fully understood it until I read this article. I’ve now seen that part of my problem creating club head speed all these years was my lack of a truly free release of the club that this article promotes. I had a sound swing but not much speed. No lag to speak of. After I started working on the free swinging motion described here, I had to strengthen my grip slightly so that it’s more neutral now, rather than weak as I’d played for years before. Once I began to trust the free swinging motion this creates, my distance has increased dramatically. I am now driving it 30-50 yards longer than before with less effort. It’s completely changed my game. Clearly I was leaving a lot of distance on the table since I was short before but this has been a revelation. I’ve lost just a little accuracy but the distance gains more than offset that. Used to hit 10-12 fairways a round and now I’m hitting 8-10. None of the par 5s on my home course were ever remotely reachable for me before but now I’ve been around all of them in two at least once including a 520 yd hole today. I’m a club and a half longer with every iron as well. I can’t begin to explain how great it’s been. Anyone who’s worked hard at their game for years and achieved a relatively low handicap can tell you that you don’t just wake up one day and pick up 40 yards off the tee. But I have and it’s entirely due to what I learned from this article. I realize this isn’t the best way to swing for everyone but it certainly works for me and no one should discount it just because it’s not what suits them.
Todd
Jul 13, 2016 at 4:17 pm
Awesome, BT! When the wrists are allowed to function as “free agents”, a Jack Nicklaus described in his book, “Golf My Way”, the wrists un-cock with greater speed, as you’ve discovered! Ironically, intending to speed-up with the wrists themselves, reduces speed!
Jeff
Jun 8, 2015 at 3:48 pm
Unfortunately, I regret to report that the information in this article is worth exactly what I paid for it. Total crap. I am convinced that golf instructors know it’s bad business to make people better golfers and no longer need lessons. Its maddening and cruel, in my opinion.
Jeff
May 31, 2015 at 8:11 pm
I have read STC so many times that I have lost count. I have also purchased an expensive DVD which claims to teach pure Ernest Jones. Never did it occur to me that passive wrists was the missing link to my success. Yes I know they are mentioned, but I always honed in on other details. There have been days where I have the feel and I can’t miss, where golf actually feels easy for 5 or 6 straight holes. HOWEVER, much more often, I have struggled to implement STC and typically go back to experimenting and doing what gets me by. If there weren’t thunderstorms outside, I would be at the range trying this right now. Rest assured I will soon, and I will post the results.
James G
May 4, 2015 at 11:33 am
The lagging clubhead move was also used by Julius Boros and his swing was very much like what Earnest Jones advocated. Boros’ swing is still as relevant today to study as when he was playing on the Tour.
As an aside, this is the theory behind the Whippy Tempomaster training aid as well. The man who developed it said he had been swinging a ball on a string and came up with the Whippy as a better alternative to that.
dcorun
May 1, 2015 at 12:49 pm
I’ve used this swing for some years after reading an article about Ernest Jones and thought how simple this swing idea was and why it wasn’t popular with more golfers. This is a very simple swing as explained. Light grip pressure, pick a target, turn the shoulders and swing through the ball not at it. Let everything happen naturally not mechanically like a lot of today’s teachers try to teach. I found a book by Manuel de la Torre a Top 100 and highly regarded instructor/teacher called ‘Understanding The Golf Swing’ and it is a great book which teaches this swing. It is easy to understand and has illustrations always help a lot. If you can get it do so since it goes into greater detail than Todd can in this short space. Manuel and his father who taught him were disciples of Ernest Jones and Manuel’s father met and worked with Earnest. Todd is also right that this swing is for all shots.
BA
Apr 29, 2015 at 9:00 pm
Todd, have you followed the work of Manuel De Le Torre? He is a direct disciple of Ernest Jones.
Todd
Apr 29, 2015 at 11:39 pm
BA, yes, I have studied Manuel’s book, “Understanding The Golf Swing”. None other than Moe Norman adopted Manuel’s method later in life!
LK
Apr 29, 2015 at 10:17 am
I’m not sure about the orange whip or the swing eze but back in the day I learned to swing this way using a Whippy Tempomaster. Over the course of a couple years I dropped about 25 strokes (100ish to mid 70s) and gained 30 yards with every club. I’m proof that Mr. Jones theory is legit.
Skip
Apr 28, 2015 at 2:13 pm
Wow, nice to see you understand it now. Probably would have come in handy way back when, when you were teaching people how to play.
Todd
Apr 28, 2015 at 9:48 pm
Skip, you’re right. It would have. After years of study and experience, I feel better-equipped to teach effectively today than when I started teaching 20 years ago. But the thing that keeps me most interested in the golf swing is knowing there is always more to learn.
Greg V
Apr 28, 2015 at 10:17 am
Percy Boomer took it one step further by teaching how to hit the ball using pivot, while keeping the upper body (everything above the belt line) relaxed and reflexive to the pivot of the legs and hips. Percy could play a bit; he won the French Open, beating Henry Cotton and the other good English/European pros of the day.
If you think about Earnest Jones playing single digit golf while pivoting on one leg, that is a pretty good trick!
On the other hand, Jim Flick used to sit on a stool and hit the ball pretty darn well with only a little trunk rotation and an arm swing. I guess the principle is the same – keep the hand action reflexive and a result of a pivot. The means are just different.