If you said Jack Grout in our golf lessons, few students would know the name. A little known professional golfer, Grout played on the PGA Tour from 1931 to 1953. He started as a caddie at the old Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club in 1918, was named professional at the Edgemere Country Club in 1927, and was elected to membership in the PGA in 1929. He made his professional tour debut in 1931, playing in the Pasadena Open at the Brookside Park Golf Course.
So what does Grout have to do with your golf handicap? While Grout played with many great golfers—including Ben Hogan and Bryon Nelson—and taught many hall of fame players, he is best known for one thing in golf: He was the first and only golf teacher Jack Nicklaus ever had. Grout started working with Nicklaus in 1950, teaching him the game’s fundamentals. He also provided Nicklaus with golf tips throughout his career.
A Unique Arrangement
Grout and Nicklaus had a unique arrangement. Grout seldom held golf instruction sessions with Nicklaus during the PGA season. Instead, Grout would visit Nicklaus at the start of each season. During these golf lessons, Grout would review the fundamentals of the swing with Nicklaus. Occasionally, Grout would visit Nicklaus during the season for tune-ups or minor modifications. He would also visit Nicklaus at the Masters, the U.S. Open, and the PGA Championship, but he seldom worked with Nicklaus at tournament sites.
Grout taught Nicklaus four principles that helped him become one of the greatest golfers ever. Let’s examine these four principles:
1. Be self-sufficient
Grout believed that the best way to cut strokes from your golf handicap was to be self-sufficient. He believed that golfers could only achieve their full potential if they could make their own adjustments to their swings. Grout wanted golfers who attended his golf instructions sessions to identify and fix their own swing flaws—even in the heat of battle.
2. Keep your head still
This may be Grout’s most enduring principle. Keeping your head still, as you may have read in our golf tips newsletter, boosts consistency. It enables you to repeat the same motion over and over. Keeping your head still also results in the bottom of your swing arc being at the right spot for solid contact. In other words, the swinging of the arms to control the shoulders, with the legs and feet controlling the hips, allows you to “face” the ball at impact for improved ballstriking.
3. Roll your ankles
Grout taught Nicklaus to roll his ankles and feet during the swing, but to keep the inside of his heels on the ground—even at the finish. Rolling the ankles—something Grout had Jack practice for hours—helps control the legs and hips while the clubhead is released in harmony with the body’s movement. In short, rolling the ankles contributes to the full release of the clubhead, enabling you to strike the ball solidly.
4. Keep your head behind the ball
Grout believed that you should set up with your head behind the ball at address and that you should keep it there throughout the swing. That doesn’t mean that the head should stay rigid. It can move a little. But it should remain behind the ball when swinging. Nicklaus took this to heart. He played “left-eye dominant.” In other words, he looked at the ball with his chin turned slightly to the right. This enabled him to keep his head behind the ball at all times.
If you want to develop a swing that chops strokes off your golf handicap, you could do worse than to follow Grout’s four principles. Golf tips based on these principles helped Jack Nicklaus excel. They can help you lower your golf handicap.