For those players who cannot feel themselves comfortable and confident with the cleek, there is the driving-mashie that may be used as a substitute. The slope of its face is a little more upright than that of the mid-iron and a little less straight than that of the cleek. In this respect it stands between these two clubs, but in general shape it resembles the mashie. Like the mashie, the face is rather broad and is decidedly wider at the toe than where it joins the shaft. It is an easier club to use than the cleek as it will more easily pick a ball out of an indifferent lie, but it is not so strong a club and it is not possible to get so great a distance with it. However, it has its uses and its disadvantages and has found favor with a great many players.

Another club that may be used instead of the cleek is the spoon. The spoon is more nearly similar to a brassie than any other club on account of its wooden head and brass covered sole. Its head, however, is not so deep nor so broad as that of a brassie and its face is more sloped back. On account of the fact that its sole is curved from toe to heel, it can readily pick a ball out of a cuppy lie, and therefore it is an easy club to use in situations where a brassie would be impossible. Recently the club has come into quite general popularity after having lain in oblivion for some years. Before iron clubs were used at all, the spoon, or baffy as it was then called, served the purposes for which the mid-iron and cleek were afterward designed. With the general acceptance of iron clubs the spoon fell into disuse, and has been taken up again only comparatively recently. It is not such a difficult club to use as the cleek, and it will get a long ball without a great deal of run. It cannot, however, be used to produce such precise and accurate shots as can a cleek when in the hands of an expert, but for the ordinary player it is a very convenient club. I have J. H. Taylor as my authority for the statement that "A professional golfer is never known to use the baffy." If this is true, it does not mean that the club must be banished by less proficient players, but it may be taken as a warning not to rely on the baffy-spoon to the exclusion of the mid-iron and cleek, because in the long run it will not prove so satisfactory.

Against this remark of Taylor's, we have the fact that George Duncan has been using his spoon very successfully, but whether or not he will continue to favor it, is impossible to predict. Among those professional players who speak of using a spoon it is possible to detect a somewhat apologetic air. In "The New Book of Golf," page 197, Sherlock says: "I must confess to a distinct liking for playing my spoon. It has a fairly long shallow face and a stiff shaft only two inches shorter than that of my brassie. I swing for a full shot with this club in just the same way as I do with a driver. I frequently use it for short shots - checking the backward swing - and much prefer it to a cleek." That this is a sincere expression of Sherlock's opinion no one can doubt. The spoon is a very convenient club, it must be admitted, but it is not wise to range oneself on the side of those players who favor it above the iron clubs, nor yet to stand with those who systematically despise it. When the ball is in such a lie that a spoon is required there can be no question but that the spoon must be used, but it weakens one's game to force it into precedence over the cleek when the cleek is obviously the club that is right for the particular shot that is to be played.