making the ball fall sufficiently dead, and _not_ to strike it so, that after pitching, it will run nearly as far off the green on the opposite side. The mashie is one of the most useful clubs, for besides being your "right hand" in approach shots, it is simply indispensable when playing out of a bad lie, or whenever the ball is snugly reposing in some sand bunker. To extricate oneself from such a lie, it is necessary first and foremost that both feet should be _firmly_ planted on the ground, for every atom of strength must be brought to bear on the right spot, at the right moment. About two inches behind the ball is the place to let your club-head delve into the sand, and it is upon _this_ spot that the eye must be fixed, and _not_ upon the ball, as is otherwise the case. The force of hitting the club-head into the sand, causes it to shoot up, bearing the ball high into the air, and over the confronting obstacle. Whilst speaking of bunkers and difficulties, it is as well to have in mind the St. Andrew's rule, No. 14, which runs as follows: "When a ball lies in or touches a hazard, the club shall not touch the ground, nor shall anything be touched or moved before the player strikes at the ball, except that the player may place his feet firmly on the ground for the purpose of addressing the ball, under the penalty of the loss of the hole, but if in the backward or downward swing, any grass, bent, whin, or other growing substance, on the side of a bunker, a wall, a paling, or other immoveable obstacle be touched, no penalty shall be incurred." In medal competitions the penalty for breach of this rule is disqualification. If there should be any doubt as to what is considered a hazard, rule No. 15 is very explicit. "A hazard shall be any bunker of whatever nature--water, sand, loose earth, mole hills, paths, roads, or railways, whins, bushes, rushes, rabbit scrapes, fences, ditches, or anything which is not the ordinary green of the course--except sand blown on to the grass by wind, or sprinkled on grass for the preservation of the links--or snow, or ice, or bare patches on the course." [Illustration: _Figure 9._ _SHORT APPROACH SHOT WITH THUMB DOWN THE SHAFT._] In _match play_, rule 29 states: "A ball must be played wherever it lies, or the hole be given up--except as otherwise provided for in the rules." Whereas in _medal play_, rule 8 reads: "A ball may under a penalty of two strokes be lifted out of a difficulty of any description, and be teed behind the same." The niblick, in bunkers where the sand is at all heavy, is rather a better club to use than the mashie, being so short, thick, and powerful in the head, therefore capable of delivering a stronger blow into the sand. A most useful club for bad lies through the green, is the driving mashie, made much after the order of a cleek, only being shorter in the face and very solid in the sole, it is able to hit a long, powerful shot under the most trying conditions in the way of bad lies.