The term approach, in its strictest sense, is applied to any stroke which is intended to lay the ball on the putting-green. It is not, however, applied to a teed shot which reaches the green at a short hole, and it is seldom applied at long holes to full strokes from any wooden club (except a baffy or short-spoon) which place the ball on the green. Although approaching includes full strokes with a cleek, iron, mashie, baffy, or short-spoon, it applies more particularly to three-quarter, half or wrist shots. These expressions do not convey to every mind their actual meaning. The uninitiated are apt to suppose that the words three-quarter and half refer to the distance the ball is driven; thus a three-quarter and a half stroke would respectively mean a stroke which drives the ball three-quarters or half the distance of a full shot. This, of course, is not the case, as a half stroke can be driven by a player possessed of powerful wrists and arms very nearly as far as a full shot. The expressions apply to the extent of the swing. Thus, in a three-quarter stroke, the club is swung back about three-quarters the distance it would be for a full stroke, and similarly with a half stroke. The term wrist stroke is much more correct in its description; it means exactly what it says, viz. a stroke played with the wrists. It must be obvious that with different players the distances represented by full, three-quarter, and half strokes will vary considerably. One man may drive even further with a half stroke than another will with a full shot, and it is thus impossible to lay down any rule in regard to when a wrist, or a half, or a three-quarter stroke should be played. Every golfer must find out his own strength, and play accordingly.

The approach is the most difficult, and sometimes the most delicate, stroke in the whole game. In driving and play through the green the object to be attained is to drive the ball as far as possible, and the one thing to do is to hit the ball, and hit it as hard as the golfer dare risk. In approaching, not only must the ball be hit truly, but the distance to the hole must be calculated and the force employed proportioned thereto, and consideration must be given to the nature of the ground to determine whether the ball is to be lofted or run up. These considerations make the stroke more complex. But in no part of the game is there afforded a greater opportunity for the display of skill, as opposed to force, than in this, and nowhere is skill better repaid. For at every hole the player who can lay his approach near the Hag has the chance of saving a stroke oil' his less skilful adversary, provided he does not, by indifferent putting, throw away the advantage so gained.

When the putting-green is so far distant that a full shot is required, be it with a cleek, a spoon, or an iron, there is no difference between the manner of playing such a stroke and a similarly lying ball through the green, due regard being always had to the distance to be traversed. I would only repeat that, in using a cleek or any other iron club, it must be held firmly, and the ball struck sharply. Three-quarter and half strokes are to my mind much more difficult to play than full shots, especially the former. There is always a disposition to jerk the swing, as if to compensate for its being shortened, and this generally results in topping the ball. It is not safe to attempt to play anything under a full shot with any wooden club save a baffy or a short spoon, which, from their stiffness of shaft, may be used equally as well as a cleek or iron; but a club with a supple shaft cannot be used without the greatest danger of foozling. There cannot be any possible reason for pressing a half or three-quarter stroke, because, if it is desired to drive the ball further, the proper course is to lengthen the swing and take a full shot. Therefore, in playing these strokes, there should not, under any circumstances, be pressing: swing easily.

With regard to three-quarter strokes, although the term is still kept up, the necessity for playing them has almost, if not entirely, disappeared. In the older days of golf, spoons, cleeks, and irons were respectively made with a recognised amount of loft on each, and it frequently happened that a three-quarter stroke was absolutely necessary to lay the ball near the hole. Nowadays spoons have almost disappeared, their place being taken by cleeks having varying amounts of pitch on the face; and irons are made with almost any degree of pitch - they may be almost flat-faced, as in driving-irons, or may have a very great amount of loft, as in the case of pitching-irons. When a golfer states that he played a certain stroke with his iron, one cannot judge whether it was a remarkable stroke or not till the iron used has been examined. This multiplication of cleeks and irons has almost entirely eliminated the three-quarter stroke from golf; because, by a judicious selection of one or two extra clubs, it is possible to have a club at hand a full or half shot from which will come in place of the three-quarter stroke. A full stroke is by far the easiest to play, and a half shot is infinitely less difficult than a three-quarter one. For these reasons I do not propose to go further into detail than I have done as to the play of three-quarter strokes.

The position of the ball and stance for playing half shots is somewhat, though not materially, different from that before described. As in the former case, an illustration (Fig. 29) and a diagram (Fig. 30) are given. The ball is nearer the player's body, and nearer also to the line of the right foot. The right foot is also further. advanced. Fig. 31 shows the top of the swing. It need hardly be pointed out that, as the club is not swung far round, the shoulders and body do not move so much as in playing a full stroke. The shoulders must move round, and the body must be cased (as is pointed out in the chapter on style) to a certain extent, it is true, but the less they do so the better, consistently with letting the club go sufficiently round. The left foot will be just raised off the heel and nothing more, the left leg being flexed to ease the swing. It may. in fact, be said that the feet should not, if possible, be moved at all. The elbow of the right arm should be kept in to the body and not allowed to rise, but all the same the arms will be thrown out just as in playing full strokes. The follow-through will take place at the end of the swing; but instead of throwing the club and arms after the ball, they will rise quicker, and continue upwards over the left shoulder more than in the direction of the flight of the ball.