MISS STELLA TEMPLE Runner-up Open Ladies' Championship, 1912.

[To face p. 287.

Mrs. Cuthell and the Misses Whigham used to be remarkably good iron players. Of the leading lights of to-day Miss Doris Chambers and Miss Margaret Curtis, the American champion, take first place. The latter is a terrific hitter with all her clubs, but she gets an astonishing distance with an iron. She possesses very strong wrists and is of powerful physique, and these are two very helpful assets.

Practically, the only difference between a full iron and a three-quarter is that the swing is still more curtailed and the stance a shade more open. With reference to the half-iron there are a number of points which require notice. A half-iron shot is much more of a hit than a swing, and so in attempting it the beginner need not tax her brain with the maxim that the ball must be swept away, a maxim which has borne such an important part in her previous instruction. The body should be kept perfectly still. The requisite movement is altogether one of the arms. The head, body, and feet should alike remain still. The principal idea which has to be instilled into the player's mind about this shot is that it should be a controlled one. There must be no loose easy swing about it; restraint is the predominant feature. As this is the case, it is better to grip with the thumbs down the shaft, and to grasp the club short of the extreme end. The stance is decidedly more open than even for the three-quarter shot, and the ball should be pretty far back, almost in a line with the right foot. The general attitude is slightly stooping with the knees a trifle bent, but it is not good to adopt too crouching a position. The club may be taken back almost to the shoulder. The wrists and the face of the club should turn away from the ball in the same fashion as directed for the up swing of the drive. The arms must not be allowed to fly too far out. A good guide is that the right elbow should be kept close in to the side at the top of the swing. The shoulders may turn a very little and the knees give slightly, but these movements must be kept strictly under control.

The follow-through is very much restrained. From a study of photographs of good players illustrating the finish of this particular stroke, it will be seen that at the conclusion of the stroke the right wrist is nearly always turned over and inwards.

The length of the shot is regulated by the distance the club is taken back, not by the pace of the swing. The pace of the swing must be exactly the same for an approach of thirty yards as for one of sixty. Many beginners labour under the delusion that they can regulate the length of the shot by the slowness or impetuosity of the stroke. Such an idea is altogether wrong and leads to a very bad style of play. It is sometimes difficult to gauge the distance the club must be taken back, but it is solely a matter of practice and experience. It is very much wiser to avoid trying to do too much with a half-iron shot. If there is any doubt in the mind of a player as to whether she can reach the distance with a half-iron shot, she should always take a full shot. The only exception to this rule is in the case of a green with a clear run up to it, and a gaping bunker on the far side. A forced half-shot generally results in the body being thrust forward. The effort to get all possible strength into the stroke causes this to happen. The maxim 'be up ' cannot be too often reiterated. If the distance is of such a length that the player knows she can only hope to accomplish it by hitting the ball absolutely perfectly, she will save herself a great deal of worry and repining if she puts her pride in her pocket and is content to play a full or three-quarter shot. Although we all confidently hope to make a perfect shot each time we take a club into our hands, the sad fact is that the perfect shot only rarely comes off. The golfer who has the courage always to aim beyond the hole will go far on the road to fame. I have never regretted anything so much in all my golfing career as a wretched half-iron shot at the eighteenth hole at Troon in the final of the open championship. Miss Dod played the odd with her second and laid the ball apparently close to the hole (on coming up to the green we found it was really about ten yards short). I promptly lost my head, and instead of hitting boldly at the approach, made a hurried feeble flick, and, needless to say, lost the hole and the championship in consequence. Who has not watched a match in which she was interested, and witnessed the player she wanted to win throw away chance after chance from not being up in her approaches. One has groaned in bitterness of spirit and realised to the full the utter foolishness of it, but one has probably gone out immediately afterwards and done likewise. It is an extraordinary thing how prevalent is this deadly error. Even the most experienced golfers fall victims to it.

The last and most important counsel in connection with half-iron shots is that the eye must be kept on the ball. One is always struck, in watching first-class golf, by the way in which the players keep their eyes fixed on the spot where the ball has been, quite an appreciable time after it has been hit away. The insidious tendency to look up too soon to see where the ball has gone to, must be combated. The point cannot be too much emphasised. The head should not turn at all with the follow-through of the arms, and the eyes must remain glued to the ground. It is easier to grasp this advice by practice than by theory. A very good plan for a beginner would be to count six before allowing herself to look up. It might have a disconcerting effect on her game at first, but she would very soon get accustomed to it. Nothing would teach her more quickly to acquire the habit of concentrating her attention on the right spot.

A shot for which an iron is admirably adapted is the run-up approach. There are two main ways of approaching, the pitch and the run-up. Although all good golfers should know how to play both of these strokes, nearly every one has a decided preference for one or the other of them. This preference is often due to the character of the links on which the player has learnt her golf. Some links are better adapted to one shot, some to the other. For instance, Miss Leitch, having learnt her golf at Silloth where she says pitching is unnecessary, displays a greater proficiency in running up. The north of Ireland golfers who are familiar with such links as Portrush and Newcastle generally pitch. The Scottish players of St. Andrews, Troon, Prestwick, North Berwick, and other similar courses, who are accustomed to extensive greens with a clear way in front of them, usually run their approaches. Miss Dorothy Campbell is a past master, or rather, I suppose, I should say a past mistress of the art. Her approaching drives one to desperation when playing against her. She gives the ball a little tap, an annoyed opponent would almost call it a scuffling shot, and you think she has missed it, but the ball runs and runs with the most maddening persistency and perseverance until it eventually finishes up close to the hole. Personally, I must say, I prefer pitching; it is so much the prettier shot; and I flatly disagree with Mr. Darwin in his statement in an earlier chapter, that the ball cannot be pitched on to a plateau green and made to stay there. In my opinion it is much easier to pitch it up than to run it up, and with a properly fashioned club and a good deal of cut on the ball it is quite possible to make the ball pull up suddenly even under very adverse circumstances. The ball which is supposed to run up the edge of the bank, so often walks up to the top, and evidently does not like the look of things when it gets there, and decides to come down again into the greater shelter at the bottom.

We have often seen an unfortunate player struggling in this way, the ball rolling up to the very edge and coming back again with irritating reiteration, until in a rage the player takes a mighty blow, and not only clears the primary obstruction, but also clears the green, and the same old game begins again on the other side of the plateau. All the same, although I will defend the pitch shot through thick and thin, I quite appreciate the usefulness on occasions of the run-up, and I fully concur with Mr. Darwin that all beginners should learn both styles of play. Miss Leitch, who, as I said before, is very proficient in the art of running up, gives the following advice about playing the shot. 'For the run-up approach with the iron the stance should be a square one, the feet being equi-distant from the ball. Let the club lie naturally and stand fairly erect. As to how much the club is taken back depends on the length of the shot. The swing is a flat one. The club follows through well, and the hands turn over at the finish. The turf is brushed, not cut. In the address it is very important that the arms should be kept fairly close to the body. This run-up shot is really much like a long putt.'

Mr. Darwin lays great stress on the point that the player should stand with her weight forward on the left foot, the ball being fairly far back towards the right foot, and the hands well forward. Miss Leitch and Mr. Darwin agree that the right wrist should turn over after the ball is hit, the latter even going so far as to say that it should be getting ready to turn over just before the ball is hit. Both also describe the swing as flat and low. As Miss Leitch and Mr. Darwin have evidently studied the subject very thoroughly, and as they have proved in actual play that not only are their theories workable, but very effective, I feel that it is quite unnecessary for me to make any further comment on this subject. I will just add that in all approaching the aim should be not merely to get on to the green, but to get near to the hole. If the player succeeds in this, not only is she likely to demoralise and dishearten her opponent, but she will also save a considerable number of strokes in each round.