The niblick may well be described as the pis aller club, and the golfer rarely takes it out of his bag with any pleasurable feelings. It is said that the Right Hon. Arthur J. Balfour once spent a fortnight (bed and board excepted) in a sand-bunker to establish the bonds of friendship and good understanding between the niblick and himself. It would be merely a counsel of perfection to advise players not to get into bunkers, and it would deprive the game of much of its attractive, as well as lurid, character if such things did not exist, or people did not find their way there. But they do get into them, and that is perhaps the reason for their existence. Even the champions cannot entirely forsake the evil ways of their golfing youth, and so the niblick, though not an essential companion to a heavy well-lofted mashie, is usually part of a golfer's equipment.

Being in a bunker, the first consideration is how to get out with the least possible damage to your score. Whatever its position, the ball should be persuaded to come out at the first stroke: a mis-hit may place it in a still worse fix and aggravate the situation so as to make confusion worse confounded. Besides, the resulting disturbance to the mental equilibrium and the temporary depreciation of the moral standard will not conduce to a normal condition when the adjoining tee is reached for the next drive. Given that the ball rests immediately under a perpendicular or overhanging obstacle with no possible chance of getting on to safe ground in the direction of the hole with the stroke, it should be played back sufficiently far to make the next shot comparatively easy. If, however, the obstruction is not insurmountable to a fairly skilful shot, the aim should be to place the ball in a good position for the next stroke. A gap often offers itself, or the lie of the ball sometimes suggests the direction of the stroke. If the bunker is close to the putting-green and the lie is pretty favourable, it is of course worth trying the direct approach to the hole, though the state of the score may be a determining factor to your course of action. If your partner is lying dead to the hole or nearly so, and you are playing the like or the odd, you should, as the saying is, "go for it"; if you have a stroke or two to spare, playing for safety may be the better policy. But the smallest possible amount of necessary elevation, consistent with the line of the hole and the probable destination of the ball, is the best guide. It may be that the lie is not so unfavourable as to demand the use of the niblick. If then the distance from the hole justifies it, a "superior" club may be called into action, but this is a matter to be decided by the circumstances.

The niblick is intentionally a very heavy club with a much laid-back face to get through heavy sand and to bring up the ball with as high a trajectory as possible to clear the confronting obstacle. The stance and grip must be very firm and the swing should closely resemble that of the mashie, the club being brought up very straight over the right shoulder as far back as with the full iron shot. The finish cannot be complete owing to the check offered by the sand. There is an im-portant variation of the rule of keeping the eye on the ball. In this case, a spot must be chosen an inch or two behind it according as the sand is hard or soft. Keep your eye on that spot and see to it that the club hits it and not the ball. You may be lost for a moment in a dust of your own raising, but you are likely to have the satisfaction of seeing the ball drop well clear of the hazard and, maybe, in pleasant proximity to the flag.