clubs. He must have a driver, a brassy, a cleek, an iron, a mashie, and
a putter. At an early opportunity he may add a niblick to this small
set, but there is no need to invest in it at the outset, and as this
club is one which is least likely to require change, it is best that it
should not be bought until the player has some ideas of his own as to
what is wanted. By way of indicating what will be needful to make this
set complete for the purposes of good golf, when the player has obtained
a fairly complete experience, I may mention the instruments that I take
out when playing an important match. I have two drivers, one brassy, a
baffy or spoon, two cleeks (one shorter than the other), an iron,
sometimes one mashie, sometimes two (one for running up and the other
for pitch shots), a niblick, and sometimes two putters (one for long
running-up putts and the other for holing out). This selection may be
varied slightly according to the course on which the match is to be
played and the state of the weather, but in general principles the
constitution of the bag remains the same, and a player who is equipped
with such a set ought to be able to play any hole in any way, and if he
cannot do so it is his own skill that is lacking and not an extra club.
We may now consider in order a few of the points of these clubs. I shall
have occasion, when dealing with the method of play with each of them,
to call attention to many points of detail which can only be properly
explained when indicating particular objects which it is desired to
achieve with them, so for the present I shall confine myself chiefly to
general features.

Take the driver to begin with, and the preliminary word of advice that I
have to offer concerning the choice of this club is at variance with the
custom of the present moment, though I am confident that before long the
golfing world will again come round to my view of the matter--not my
view only, but that of many of the leading amateur and professional
players. One of the problems which agitate the mind of the golf-club
maker deals with the best and most effectual method of attaching the
head of the club to the shaft. For a very long period this was done by
what we call scaring or splicing, the neck of the club having a long
bevel which was spliced with the shaft and bound round for several
inches with black twine. Latterly, however, a new kind of club has
become the fashion with all but the oldest and most experi