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anything longer. It is very seldom that I play my mashie at a distance
of over eighty yards, and the limit of the swing that I ever give to it
is a three-quarter, which is what I call an ordinary mashie stroke, and
should be sufficient to do anything ever to be attempted with this
club. But some golfers like taking the fullest mashie stroke that they
can, and, when hesitating between the use of an iron or the lofting
club, they usually decide in favour of the latter. "I think I can reach
it with my mashie," they always say, and so they whirl away and commit
the most frightful abuse on a splendid club, which was never intended to
have its capabilities strained in order to reach anything. Instead of
saying that "they think they can reach it with their mashie," these
golfers should try to decide that "a half iron will not carry them too
far." It is easier and safer. Whenever a ball has a distance to go, I
believe in keeping it fairly low down, as low as the hazards will
permit, believing that in this way by constant practice it is possible
to ensure much greater accuracy than in any other way. No golfer has
much control over a ball that is sent up towards the sky. The mashie is
meant to loft, and it is practically impossible to play a long shot with
it without lofting the ball very much and exposing it to all the wind
that there is about. As very little driving power has been imparted to
the ball, what wind there may be has considerably more effect upon it
than upon the flight of other balls played with other iron clubs.

The line of the backward swing should be much the same as that for the
half shot with the cleek, but the body should be held a little more
rigidly, and not be allowed to pivot quite so much from the waist as
when playing with any of the other clubs which have been described. The
downward swing is the same as before, and in the case of the ordinary
stroke which we are speaking of, the turf should be hit immediately
behind the ball. As soon as the impact has been effected, the body
should be allowed to go forward with the club, care being taken that it
does not start too soon and is in front.

The great anxiety of the immature player when making this stroke is to
get the ball properly lofted, and in some obstinate cases it seems to
take several seasons of experience to convince him completely that the
club has been specially made for the purpose, and, if fairly used, is
quite adequate. This man cannot ge