This half stroke will take you back to a hundred yards from the hole with ease, and then you will find yourself in a dilemma. A full shot will take you too far, and a half shot will hardly reach the green. The books advise you to play what is called the three-quarters shot. As every one who plays golf at all knows, this is quite the most dangerous stroke in the game. It is, in fact, the stroke which most beginners use for every kind of approach - that is to say, they take a full swing and spare their strength.

There is, however, one way of getting out of the difficulty. At a distance of a hundred and twenty yards, let us say, you find that a full shot with your light iron will go rather too far, and the half shot which you have been practicing will not go far enough. You still may have recourse to your driving iron, which with the same half shot will send the ball the whole distance required, because it is straighter in the face, and therefore causes the ball to run farther after alighting. But then another obstacle may arise: there may be a bunker in front of the whole, so that it is impossible to play a running shot. In that case play a three-quarters shot with your light iron. But don't forget that even so, the follow through is the most important part of the stroke. The reason that the three-quarters shot is so often a failure is simply this: The player begins by taking a full shot, and tries to shorten the distance by checking his swing at the moment of impact. In other words, he does not carry his club through to the finish. No stroke of that kind can ever be used with safety, although it may occasionally "come off," more by luck than good guidance. Again, some of the books regard as the distinguishing feature of the three-quarters shot that the arms and shoulders are used as in the drive, but the weight of the body is not called into play. Now, this I conceive to be entirely misleading. I have already pointed out that except in the very short approaches the transference of the center of gravity from right to left is as important as in driving. And no full shot can be played with safety, simply by using the arms alone. In attempting the three-quarters shot you should stand very much as you do in driving, except that the right foot may be rather more advanced, and the ball may be moved a very little farther back. The club should then be swung back, as in driving, except that the hands should not rise above the line of the shoulder; and since the object is to loft the ball, the are described by the head of the club should be part of a smaller circle than that described by the head of the club in playing the half shot; or, to put it more simply, the head in going back should not travel so close to the ground.

Then it may be well to pause for the fraction of a second at the top of the swing in order to avoid undue haste, to which one is particularly liable in this shot. Finally, let the follow through be as complete as ever, except that the hands and club should not travel on quite so low a line as in playing the half shot. In other words, the arc described by the club after the ball is struck should correspond to the arc described in the backward swing.

The Three-quarters Shot

I. Position

II. At the Top of the Swing

III. Follow Through

IV. Follow Through V. The Finish no

I

II

III

IV

V