e that very rarely indeed is
anything of a success made of shots of this sort. A duffed stroke is the
common result. In such cases the swing is of no more value than if it
had not taken place at all.

CHAPTER XI

APPROACHING WITH THE MASHIE

The great advantage of good approach play--A fascinating
club--Characteristics of a good mashie--Different kinds of strokes
with it--No purely wrist shot--Stance and grip--Position of the
body--No pivoting on the left toe--The limit of distance--Avoid a
full swing--The half iron as against the full mashie--The
swing--How not to loft--On scooping the ball--Taking a divot--The
running-up approach--A very valuable stroke--The club to use--A
tight grip with the right hand--Peculiarities of the swing--The
calculation of pitch and run--The application of cut and spin--A
stroke that is sometimes necessary--Standing for a cut--Method of
swinging and hitting the ball--The chip on to the green--Points of
the jigger.

There is an old saying that golf matches are won on the putting greens,
and it has often been established that this one, like many other old
sayings, contains an element of truth, but is not entirely to be relied
upon. In playing a hole, what is one's constant desire and anxiety from
the tee shot to the last putt? It is to effect, somehow or other, that
happy combination of excellent skill with a little luck as will result
practically in the saving of a whole stroke, which will often mean the
winning of the hole. The prospect of being able to exercise this useful
economy is greatest when the mashie is taken in hand. The difference
between a good drive and a poor one is not very often to be represented
by anything like half a stroke. But the difference between a really good
mashie approach stroke and a bad one is frequently at least a stroke,
and I have known it to be more. Between the brilliant and the average it
is one full stroke. Of course a stroke is saved and a hole very often
won when a long putt is holed, but in cases of this kind the proportion
of luck to skill is much too great to give perfect satisfaction to the
conscientious golfer, however delightful the momentary sensation may be.
When a man is playing his mashie well, he is leaving himself very little
to do on the putting green, so that, if occasionally he does miss a
putt, he can afford to do so, having constantly been getting so near to
the f