A mashie is either the joy or the bane of a golfer's existence. A good mashie player loves her club and uses it on every possible occasion, a bad mashie player is always in dread of committing some fearful blunder and avoids the risk of playing with the club whenever she can. There are various kinds of mashies - deep-faced clubs, short-headed clubs, clubs laid back at all angles, clubs in which the neck of the shaft turns with a kink, straight-shafted clubs, socketless clubs. All have their good points, and some are more appropriate for certain shots than others. Many people carry two mashies, one for fairly long approaches, the other for little chip-shots. This is rather a good plan, as it is hard to get sufficient length with a mashie, which is very much laid back in the face, and yet for a short approach this extra loft is very important. Theoretically it is a bad system to carry too many clubs, but in practice, after some proficiency has been attained, it is hard to avoid it. One may not always use all the clubs one carries in a round, but, on the other hand, some special shot may present itself to which one club and one club only is suitable, and if that club is not at hand the player feels very much at a loss. For instance, in iron play a medium iron fulfils all ordinary requirements, but sometimes a shot occurs of somewhat uncertain distance, too short for a full iron, rather long for a half-iron. Of course every one will say, 'Why not take a three-quarter iron?' But easier than a three-quarter shot is the full shot with an alternative iron, smaller in the head, much more laid back in the face. With this one can hit with the freedom of a full shot and yet depend on the ball stopping fairly dead on reaching the ground. These niceties of distinction, however, are not for the beginner, so we need not spend time over them. We will speak of play with the medium mashie.

I do not think that a full swing with a mashie is ever advisable through the fairway, although it is occasionally to be seen. In a bunker a full swing can be very effective and is often quite the right thing, but for the average mashie approach a half-swing is all that is necessary. The mashie is not a club with which one should force a shot. If there is any doubt in the mind of the player as to her power of reaching the required distance, she should take a half-iron or even a three-quarter iron. A forced mashie shot nearly always comes to grief, and it is very likely to result in socketing, an evil which once it begins is only too likely to go on indefinitely. Socketing is a subject to which we must return later.

It is quite a mistake to regard the attaining of great length as one of the points of a mashie. One has often heard people boast of being able to accomplish with a mashie shots for which others find it necessary to take an iron. The club is not meant for length, but for accuracy. With a tee-shot one tries for length, and length gained is a decided advantage, but with an approach shot the matter is completely different. A forced mashie is not the game. Provided that the ball finishes up near the hole, it is immaterial whether the stroke has been made with an iron or a mashie.

There are three very distinct ways of playing mashie shots. The most orthodox method, and the one adopted by the largest number of golfers, is to play very much off the right foot with an open stance and with the ball fairly far back. In contrast with this another method is to stand very much behind the ball and to play off the left foot. With this method the left knee is bent and the right leg is kept stiff and is drawn far back behind the left. The third is the square stance. There are of course many other methods, but these are the three most distinctive.

Miss Dorothy Campbell uses a moderately open stance. Miss C. Leitch adopts a pronouncedly open stance. Miss E. C. Nevile plays off her right foot. In fact, nearly all the prominent women golfers of the day adopt the open stance to a greater or less degree. I have seen very good work done with the contrasted stance, but it is more often used by men than by women. The square stance will commend itself to those who do not feel comfortable in either extreme position.

Miss Leitch and Mr. Darwin agree that the nearer the player is to the hole, the more open should be the stance, as more control can be gained over the ball. The advocates of the contrary style declare that the further you get behind the ball, the easier it is to raise it suddenly and to make it pull up quickly, both very valuable points in approaching.

Next comes the question of grip. For those who affect the interlocked grip very little change is necessary, no matter what the club used, the only difference being that the club may be held short or long according to the character of the shot. That is to say, for a drive the club may be held nearly at the end of the shaft, and for a putt or short approach the leather is gripped further down. With the ordinary grip a good many differences have to be observed. Thus, in driving the club is held much more in the palm of the hand than in the short game; with a mashie or a putter the grip is principally of the fingers. The thumbs, too, change their position according to the length of the shot. They are usually round the shaft for a long shot, and down it for a short one. Again, the grip may be tight or loose. For putting the club is held very lightly and delicately, for iron play it is gripped firmly. For mashie shots a medium grip is best, but it is well to remember that the lighter the grip the less will the ball run, and the tighter the grip the more will it run. For a very short chip the grip is relaxed a shade just at the moment of hitting the ball, but it must not be carried to excess, and it is only allowable in a very short shot.

For a long mashie approach in which it is not necessary to make the ball pull up suddenly, the swing is much the same as that already described for a half-iron shot. When the shot has to be pitched over some hazard close to the green and comparatively little run is wanted, the swing is more abrupt. That is to say, the club is taken back a little more uprightly and the follow-through is checked, the club being raised in the air instead of being allowed to follow straight out in the ordinary fashion. The finish of this abrupt movement should be that the club, instead of pointing towards the ground, will point straight up towards the sky. The stroke must not be made with very loose wrists, although it may be easier at first to manage it in that way. The wrists must be kept firm. Turf should be taken, as the more upright swing tends to this result, enabling the player, as it does, to cut well under the ball. The fault which it is most easy to commit when playing this shot is to raise the body just as the club is being raised in the follow-through. The player's mind being full of the idea that the club must be picked up sharply after the ball is hit, she is very likely to jerk her head back, and so raise her body in the effort to accomplish the picking up of the club. It is a fault which must be strictly guarded against.