ition in the hazard. It is indeed a rashly
speculative shot, and one of the most difficult imaginable. It comes off
sometimes, but it is a pure matter of chance when it does, and the lucky
player is hardly entitled to that award of merit which he may fancy he
deserves.

When the situation of the bunkered ball is unusually hopeful, and there
does really seem to be a very fair prospect of making a good long shot,
I think it generally pays best to play straight at the hazard, putting
just a little cut on the ball to help it to rise, and employing any club
that suggests itself for the purpose. I think, in such circumstances,
that it pays best to go straight for the hazard, because, if length is
urgently demanded, what is the use of playing at an angle? Again, though
there is undoubtedly an advantage gained by taking a bunker crossways,
and thus giving the ball more time to rise, the advantage is often
greatly exaggerated in the golfer's mind. When a ball is bunkered right
on the edge of the green, it is sometimes best to try to pick it up not
quite but almost cleanly with the niblick or mashie, in the hope that
one more stroke afterwards will be sufficient either to win or halve the
hole, whereas an ordinary shot with the niblick would not be likely to
succeed so well. If, after due contemplation of all the heavy risks, it
is decided to make such an attempt, the stroke should be played very
much after the fashion of the mashie approach with cut. I need hardly
say that such a shot is one of the most difficult the golfer will ever
have occasion to attempt. The ordinary cut mashie stroke is hard to
accomplish, but the cut niblick is harder still. I have already given
directions for the playing of such shots, and the rest must be left to
the golfer's daring and his judgment.

CHAPTER XIII

SIMPLE PUTTING

A game within another game--Putting is not to be taught--The
advantage of experience--Vexation of missing short putts--Some
anecdotes--Individuality in putting--The golfer's natural
system--How to find it--And when found make a note of it--The
quality of instinct--All sorts of putters--How I once putted for a
Championship--The part that the right hand plays--The manner of
hitting the ball--On always being up and "giving the hole a
chance"--Easier to putt back after overrunning than when short--The
trouble of Tom Morris.

Putting in golf is a game within another game. W