BEGINNING OF HALF-IRON SHOT.
A hanging ball is one that is lying upon a slope that runs down in the direction of the proposed drive. It looks hard to handle, but the difficulty is purely imaginary. The brassy, or any other club whose face is laid back, will easily raise it into the air if you swing properly and trust to the club to do the work. The beginner is apt to think that he must make an extra turn with his wrists to get the ball up, but he is mistaken. Place the club so that it rests naturally on the slope behind the ball, and swing precisely as though you were at the tee, and the "spoon" of the club will do the rest.
Balls lying on a side hill, whether above or below you, are best played with an easy swing, and with the grip of the right hand comparatively loose. Long grass is very annoying because it interferes with the swing. You will have to take the lofter or mashie, and play with a firm grip. But do not "press" or try to strike extra hard. Generally speaking, the worse the lie the more particular you should be to swing and not to hit. Accuracy and not strength is the essential thing. And get well under the ball.
Coming now to hazards and bunkers, it may be said that bunkers are, properly speaking, sand-pits; while a hazard is any permanent feature of the course, such as briar-islands, roads, water, trees, or fences. Of course you will try to avoid these difficulties, but to be successful in doing so you must be reasonably sure of always getting your ball well into the air. A ball trundling along the ground may often make more yards of distance than a nicety lofted one, but then the "green" must be comparatively smooth and clear. If there is a brook or a fence in the way, it must be cleared on the fly, or you will find yourself in trouble. Now the lofter and mashie, from their shape of head, tend to raise the ball higher in the air than the straighter-faced clubs, and the novice should especially cultivate the use of the first-named. If the ball be struck clean and true, it may be lofted higher than is absolutely necessary, but that is better than too low. There is a particular stroke, called the high loft, but that need not concern us now. Use the regular driving swing, and get well under the ball.
Being fairly in a bunker or hazard is a painful situation, and the one thing to do is to get out with all possible expedition. If you are in a bunker proper, or sand-pit, you will have to take the niblick or mashie, and you must remember that you are not allowed to "sole" the club—that is, rest it on the ground as in the ordinary address. The idea is that the mark made on the sand by the club head is an unfair guide for the eye, and therefore if you touch sand you lose a stroke. It is often effective in a sand-bunker to aim at a point a little behind the ball, rather than at the "gutty" itself. The club cuts into the yielding sand, and, as it were, explodes the ball into the air and out of danger. An experiment or two will make this clear to you.
With the ball in an ordinary hazard, play to get it back on the course, rather than to make any extra distance by a little extra effort. If you "press," you will probably leave yourself worse off than before. In a "score" game a player has the option of lifting his ball out of a difficulty of any description and teeing it behind the same, the penalty being two strokes. Of course you must use your judgment as to when this course is the part of wisdom.
In match play, where the scoring is by holes, a lost ball means the loss of the hole. In medal or score play the player must return as nearly as possible to the point where the ball was struck, and tee a new one, the penalty being one stroke.
There are several other contingencies noted in the rules of the game; it is worth while to procure a copy of these and study them carefully.
A HAZARD.