Harper's Round Table, April 28, 1896

by Various

One of the great advantages of the game is that you can play and have good sport even if there is no one to go around with you. You can try to beat your own best previous record, and, if possible, to lower the best score ever made by anybody over the course. If you succeed in this last, you will have gained the proud distinction of holding the "record for the course." Another good modification of the game is the "foursome," where there are two partners on each side, striking alternately at the same ball. But the ordinary match is against one adversary, and there is no reason why a girl may not play an interesting game against her brother. She may not be able to hit the ball quite so far, but once near the hole, where accuracy and not strength is required, she should be able to hold her own, and it is an old saying that many a game is won on the putting-green. Or again, she may be handicapped by an allowance of so many strokes, for in golf, as in billiards, handicapping does not detract from the interest as it does in tennis. There is no fun playing tennis against a very much weaker opponent, for you win rather on your adversary's mistakes than by your own skill, and this is fatal to true sport.

MODERN GOLF CLUBS.
1. Cleek. 2. Mashie. 3. Brassy. 4. Putter. 5. Driver. 6. Lofter. 7. Iron.

Now that we know what we have to do, let us take a look at the instruments with which the work is done. In the illustration seven clubs are pictured, and there is, at first glance, but very little difference between them. Of course, to see and handle the clubs themselves is far more satisfactory than any description, but the following hints may enable you to recognize them when you do see them. And first as to the different parts of the clubs and their name.

The striking surface is called the face, and the bottom, or the place where it rests on the ground, is the sole. The part nearest the angle made by the handle is the heel, and the extreme end is the nose. Both the wooden and the iron clubs are made in two pieces, the striking part being called the head, the long handle the shaft, and the place where they are joined together the neck or (in the case of the iron clubs) the hose. Some of these names may strike you oddly, but remember that the game is very old, and these terms have grown on to it somewhat as barnacles upon a ship's bottom.

The driver (No. 5) is a wooden club; it has generally the longest shaft of all the clubs, and is supposed to be the most powerful. It is always used for the first, or tee, shot, and in a good player's hands it will drive the ball from 150 to 200 yards. A boy's driving, especially at first, will be about 50 yards shorter, and a girl should be able to cover from 70 to 100 yards.

After the tee-shot the driver may be used again if the ball is lying clean—that is, in a good position—but most players prefer the brassy (No. 3), which is so called because its sole is shod with a brass plate. Generally, too, its face is spooned, or slanting slightly backwards, so as to raise the ball in the air, and its range is but little short of the regular driver.

Should the ball be lying in a hollow of the ground (called a cup), the cleek (No. 1) is the proper club to use. This is the straightest faced of all the iron clubs, and usually has a slightly longer shaft than the others. The cleek is also a powerful club, and its use is generally confined to free hitting when the object is to send the ball the longest possible distance.

But with the ball deeply imbedded in a cup, or with a sand bunker or other difficulty to surmount, it is necessary that the ball should be lofted, or raised higher in the air than the cleek can do it, and in such a case use the lofter, or lofting iron (No. 6), whose face is still further laid back. Or in the bunker itself you may take the mashie (No. 2) with its short head and very much laid back face. Its shape fits it to enter cart ruts and other places where the longer head of the cleek or lofter would stick fast. The iron (No. 7) is simply a modification between the cleek and lofter, and its carrying or driving power varies in about the same ratio. The beginner need not include it in his set, nor bother about it at all until he has played for some time.