his
downward swing, and must see that he wipes the tee from the face of the
earth when he makes the stroke.

Though in my explanations of these various strokes I have generally
confined myself to observations as to how they may be made from the tee,
they are strokes for the driver and the brassy,--for all cases, that is,
where the long ball is wanted from the wooden club under unusual
circumstances of difficulty. Evidently in many cases they will be more
difficult to accomplish satisfactorily from a brassy lie and with the
shorter faced club than when the golfer has everything in his favour on
the teeing ground, and it must be left to his skill and discretion as to
the use he will make of them when playing through the green.

CHAPTER IX

THE CLEEK AND DRIVING MASHIE

A test of the golfer--The versatility of the cleek--Different kinds
of cleeks--Points of the driving mashie--Difficulty of continued
success with it--The cleek is more reliable--Ribbed faces for iron
clubs--To prevent skidding--The stance for an ordinary cleek
shot--The swing--Keeping control over the right
shoulder--Advantages of the three-quarter cleek shot--The push
shot--My favourite stroke--The stance and the swing--The way to hit
the ball--Peculiar advantages of flight from the push stroke--When
it should not be attempted--The advantage of short swings as
against full swings with iron clubs--Playing for a low ball against
the wind--A particular stance--Comparisons of the different cleek
shots--General observations and recommendations--Mistakes made with
the cleek.

It is high time we came to consider the iron clubs that are in our bag.
His play with the irons is a fine test of the golfer. It calls for
extreme skill and delicacy, and the man who is surest with these
implements is generally surest of his match. The fathers of golf had no
clubs with metal heads, and for a long time after they came into use
there was a lingering prejudice against them; but in these days there is
no man so bold as to say that any long hole can always be played so well
with wood all through as with a mixture of wood and iron in the proper
proportions. It may be, as we are often told, that the last improvement
in iron clubs has not yet been made; but I must confess that the tools
now at the disposal of the golfer come as near to my ideal of the best
for their purpose as I can imagine any tools to