The approach shot in all its various forms is the most difficult and the most important part of the game of golf, and yet it is the stroke which the beginner, as a rule, practices least and attempts most erroneously.

There are two reasons for his shortcomings in this respect. In the first place, he starts at the wrong end. Instead of learning to play a very short approach to begin with, and then going on to extend the capacity of his half stroke, he regards any kind of iron shot as a modification of a full drive, and so attempts to play up to the hole with a flabby and half-hearted full swing; whereas, if he did but know it, he could cover the same distance far more easily with a third of the exertion and with far greater accuracy.

In the second place, the tendency to enter handicap competitions at an early stage of his career has the effect of crippling his stroke even more in the approach than in the drive. He is determined to get to the green somehow or other, and so he generally purchases an abomination of modern golf, known as a lofter, with which he certainly avoids bunkers, but only at the expense of correct style and future prospects.

Two things, then, must be borne in mind in the beginning: The shorter your swing, the greater your accuracy; and secondly, the less your club is lofted the steadier your game will be. The reason for the latter proposition is very obvious. With a club that is excessively laid back, the slightest error in hitting the ball, either too high or too low, will make an enormous difference in the distance. With a club that is not laid back so far, the ball may be hit high or low, and travel almost the same distance in either case. It is true that most good players use the mashie to a large extent, but you will generally find that the mashie which is used by a good approacher is a very different weapon from the shovel-faced lofter which is generally put in the hands of a novice.

Choice Of Club

And even the mashie may well be discarded until the use of the light iron has been thoroughly acquired. It is hardly necessary to state that it is advisable, as far as possible, to employ only one club for all the approach shots within a hundred yards of the hole. Occasionally a steep bunker has to be negotiated when the hole lies only a few yards beyond it, and then a mashie is practically a necessity unless you have acquired the art of putting a strong back spin upon the ball. But shots of that nature need not trouble the beginner very seriously. He may be well contented if he can learn in the space of a few months to play a good straightforward approach where he can drop his ball twenty yards short of the hole and let it roll the rest of the way.

Let him take, then, what is known as a light or medium iron, a club which is quite sufficiently laid back for all practical purposes, and leaving the mashie severely alone, let him devote himself for an hour or so each day to playing the approach shot. And in order to avoid any tendency to force the stroke, let him begin at a distance from the hole - say thirty or forty yards - which he can cover with a very small expenditure of force.

Position

In playing this stroke, the stand should be changed from that required in driving. The line of the feet should be at an angle of nearly 45° with the line of the ball's flight, so that the player may face the hole; and the ball should be more nearly opposite the right foot than the left. The player must be careful, however, to give his arms perfectly free play, and on no account must the right elbow rest upon the hip.