Open and away do not mean the same thing, do they?
Further evidence to the madness of our wonderful sport, these two terms do mean exactly the same when referencing cutting the ball at angles away from the horse’s body for backhanders. When hitting away or open on forehanders, the more correct term is cutting the ball on either side. “Open” is actually referencing the position of the mallethead whereas “Away” is that the shot will travel away from the horse.
Like the tail shots, this technique calls for opening the head of the mallet as you stroke through the ball. So on a nearside backhander open, you swing down at the ball with the heel of your mallet leading at a slight angle. This will cause the ball to rebound off away from your mallethead at that angle. As with the tail shots, you can also spin your mallet head clockwise on the nearside backhander open as you are making contact. This will put additional spin on the ball gaining you even more angle away from the horse.
A little trick in hitting better away or open angles on your backshots is to move your horse’s head a little away from the side you are swinging. This will let you arc the beginning of your swing closer to where their head would have been, making it even easier to get more angle. Again, these shots are complicated and should be practiced at controlled speeds with careful swings. As your competence increases, so should the force in your swing.
The trick behind cutting the ball on your forehands away from your horse is mainly two-fold:
1) Opening the face of your mallethead as you make contact with the ball in the direction of the angle that you want.
2) Making certain to finish your follow thru with whichever side you are swinging. If you are trying to cut a near-side forehander away from you, you turn the mallet clockwise a tad from the near-side forehander position and follow thru a little to the left of the horse. Now if someone is alongside, you are more limited. You can turn your mallet head, but you cannot swing into their horse.
I think the two most difficult shots in polo at speed are the nearside forehander cut shot or away shot and the nearside tail. But as I type this, under-the-neck shots are pretty challenging as well.
If you are having trouble with hitting angle, do what I used to. Try to hit it straight, then you will probably get the angle you didn’t want. The reason for that often times is when we hit the ball, we don’t always hit at the sweet spot, where the cane comes into the head. If you do not hit in that sweet spot, the tremendous impact of ball against mallethead will cause your mallethead to spin around the ball. If you hit with the toe, the mallet will spin to an open position. If you hit to far to the heel, your mallet will close quickly, pulling the shot towards your horse. (A little trick to getting better at the sweet spot is sawing the toe and heel of a practice mallet off.)
So isn’t it just like life. We try to hit straight, we get angle. We try to get angle, it goes straight. Sometimes it doesn’t even go anywhere at all. But remember, at the very least, we are galloping across the field on the back of a horse. It reminds me of my surfing. I hardly ever caught any waves, but it was fun to be out on the board. Well, except for that jaws theme playing in my head.
Here’s to angle when you want it.
Photo: Curt Hughes @ Eldorado Polo Club
Credit: by L. Bremner
