accurately, and, the ball having
been given its little pitch to begin with, does not then begin to roll
along nearly so quickly as if the putter had been acting upon it. There
are times, even when the hole is only a yard away, when it might pay
best to ask for the mashie instead of the instrument which the caddie
will offer.

Upon the very difficult and annoying question of stymies there are few
hints that I can offer which will not suggest themselves to the player
of a very little experience. The fact which must be driven home is that
some stymies are negotiable and others are not--not by any player or by
any method. When the ball that stymies you dead is lying on the lip of
the hole and half covering it, and your own is some distance away, the
case is, to all intents and purposes, hopeless, but if you have only got
this one stroke left for the half, you feel that an effort of some kind
must be made, however hopeless it may be. The one chance--and even that
is not always given--is to pass the other ball so very closely that
yours will touch the rim of the hole and then, perhaps, if it is
travelling slowly enough, be influenced sufficiently to tumble in. Luck
must necessarily have a lot to do with the success of a stroke of this
kind, and the one consolation is that, if it fails, or if you knock the
other ball in--which is quite likely--things will be no worse than they
appeared before you took the stroke. If, in the case of a dead and
hopeless stymie of this kind, you had two strokes for the half and one
for the hole, I should strongly advise you to give up all thoughts of
holing out, and make quite certain of being dead the first time and
getting the half. Many golfers are so carried away by their desire to
snatch the hole from a desperate position of this sort, that they throw
all prudence to the winds, attempt the impossible, and probably lose the
hole at the finish instead of halving it. They may leave themselves
another stymie, they may knock the other ball in, or they may be
anything but dead after their first stroke,--indeed, it is when defying
their fate in this manner that everything is likely to happen for the
worst.

The common method of playing a stymie is by pitching your ball over that
of your opponent, but this is not always possible. All depends on how
near the other ball is to the hole, and how far the balls are apart. If
the ball that stymies you is on the lip and your own is three yards
away, it is