plained, "'Will you
take ze tee?' and I answer, 'Ah, oui,' but they give me no tea, but make
a leetle hill with the sand. Then they zay, 'Will you take the spoon?'
They have give me no tea, but no matter. I answer again, 'Ah, oui,
monsieur,' but they give no spoon either. So I give up the thought of
the tea, and play with the new club that they do give to me." However,
that is neither here nor there. The baffy, or spoon, is a very useful
club, which at one time was a great favourite with many fine players,
and if it has of late years been largely superseded by the cleek, it is
still most valuable to those players who are not so skilful or reliable
with this latter instrument as they would like to be. The baffy demands,
for the achievement of such success as it can afford, a fairly good lie,
and when this is given it is a tolerably easy club to play with. A good
lie is essential because of its wooden head and long face, which prevent
it from getting down to the ball when the latter is at all cupped, as
the cleek would do, or as the brassy may be made to do when the jab shot
is played. The baffy with its long face cannot be burrowed into the turf
so easily, nor can it nick in between the ball and the side of the cup,
but it makes a bridge over it, as it were, and thus takes the ball right
on the top and moves it only a few yards. A cleek would take the turf
and the ball and make a good hit. Therefore, when the lie is not
reasonably perfect, the baffy is of little use, though in favourable
circumstances it is a useful stick. The shaft should be slightly longer
than that of the cleek, but appreciably shorter than that of the brassy,
and it should be fairly stiff. Its face, as already remarked, is much
longer than that of the brassy, and it is given several degrees more
loft.

The method of play with the spoon is very much the same as with the
brassy, with only such modifications as are apparently necessary. For
example, the club being shorter, the feet will be placed slightly nearer
to the ball; and although the baffy calls for a fairly long swing, the
player will find that he is naturally indisposed to take the club head
so far round to his back as he was with the other and longer wooden
clubs. In other respects, the upward and downward swing, the grip, the
follow-through, and everything else are the same. With many players the
club is a particular favourite for the tee shot at short holes of, say,
140 to 160 yards length