John Duncan Dunn (1872–1951?), British golfer, golf course designer and pupil of F. M. Alexander.
Duncan Dunn was a nephew of William Dunn, Jr. (1864–1952), who was also a well-known golfer and designer of golf courses in the US.
Duncan Dunn sold his own design of clubs and was a golf course architect.[1] He wrote several books, including A. B. C. of Golf. In his article ‘Conscious control and the lofting shot’ (in 1920 in the The Golfer’s Magazine) he wrote that MSI would be one of the best books for the ‘beginning golfer and the older player’. He writes that ‘conscious control is one of the absolutely necessary requirements of the golfer’, and also quotes from MSI on the subject of faulty sensory appreciation.[2]
Although Dunn does not make specific references to Alexander and the Technique in his books, A. B. C. of Golf (1916),[3] Intimate Golf Talks (1920)[4] and Natural Golf (1931),[5] the influence of the Technique is seen, for example, in his emphasis on ‘correct body poise’, not allowing the head to move ‘off centre’, and allowing the muscles to work in ‘perfect harmony’.[6]
F. M. Alexander on John Duncan Dunn
Alexander wrote how gratifying it was to have Dunn’s endorsement of his technique in CCC (part II, chapter 6).[7]
In his 1925 lecture, ‘An Unrecognized Principle’, Alexander said:
I wrote a technique for golf and I never played golf in my life, and yet Dunn, the famous golfer, said, ‘Ah, yes, that’s right, that is it.’[8]
The following illustrations and captions are from Intimate Golf Talks (1920).
Fig. 48 Wrong. Head has moved off centre and thrown whole body out of balance.
Fig. 49 Correct. Head is dead centre as at address and in perfect balance.
