CHAPTER FIVE .sx THE SHORT APPROACH SHOTS By Roger Wethered .sx ALL approach shots from within a radius of fifty yards of the green may be described as chip shots .sx The objects of these shots , as every one knows , is to place the ball so close to the hole that only one putt is required to hole out .sx Unlike iron or full mashie shots where the player usually concentrates his attention on placing the ball in the heart of the green , irrespective very often of the question of its finishing in the immediate proximity of the hole , chip shots can almost always be regarded as desperate efforts to knock three shots into two .sx In other words , they are , as a rule , recovering strokes necessitated by previous errors and must generally as a just penalty be played from inconvenient positions near the green over awkward contours which require careful judgment , out of rough grass , from behind hillocks , perhaps on some rare occasions through the branches of trees .sx In many respects this phase of the game exercises a peculiar fascination of its own .sx The problems which are encountered are varied and unexpected , and constant ingenuity , combined with a certain vein of imagination , is needed to solve them correctly .sx Strange as it may appear , they have little enough to do with the principles employed in the longer shots beyond the fundamental considerations common to all strokes in the game , such as the need to keep the head still and swing back slowly .sx They are in a degree a law to themselves , based primarily on individuality and an intelligent outlook .sx No effort , therefore , will be made in the following remarks to reconcile the methods of playing these shots with those usually employed in the longer .sx Short approaches , in fact , require to be treated from an entirely separate standpoint of their own .sx On the other hand , the importance of this apparently .sx insignificant stroke , which overlaps between longer approach play and putting , should on no account be underrated .sx By means of it many matches are won without the reason of the resulting victory being in any sense obvious .sx So far from being a sensational type of stroke , one might describe it as , on the whole , rather a bread-and-butter business , practical and unostentatious , yet genuinely effective .sx No stroke in the game is capable of giving the player a greater thrill of satisfaction than when , at some critical moment , the exact impetus is given to the ball , with just the right amount of drag or forward run to assist it , so that it finally comes to rest within easy putting distance of the hole .sx A variety of clubs can be used in playing the many different types of chip shot which present themselves from time to time .sx Very rarely are they repeated in exactly the same form ; and straight-faced irons down to the most lofted niblick in the bag may be called upon at any time during the course of a round to provide the right solution .sx Proficiency in this delicate art can save a number of valuable strokes because , generally speaking , from a reasonable lie round the green there is practically no situation which should render it quite impossible to put the ball very near the hole .sx This is a point which every golfer should take to heart .sx It is the last shot that should be taken carelessly .sx Amongst the many masters of this particular stroke several names very readily suggest themselves .sx They may not all of them have necessarily been immaculate players through the green ; but they have , without exception , possessed in a unique degree the gift of recovery , which represents the cool , calculating brain at its best , backed up by an exceptional quality of touch .sx Harry Vardon , by his genius in summing up a situation , and his brilliant power of execution in carrying his idea into effect , was able to play the most difficult of the shorter shots with the same ease and precision as the longer .sx But the chip shot , as a distinct species of shot in itself , never quite reached its present prominence until Walter Hagen illustrated the merit of good short approaching as providing an invaluable aid in match and score play .sx Perhaps the improvements in modern greenkeeping have contributed very largely to the possibilities that lie in short recoveries .sx The sureness of the surface enables a ball , pitched with extreme accuracy , to run its course with as great a chance of success as at least the approach putt in former years over rougher ground .sx Certainly no player in the history of golf has saved himself so consistently by " a chip and a putt " as Hagen .sx Without playing at his best through the green , he has , in spite of the fact , been able to win championships , struggling against adversity round after round in the longer shots and redeeming his ill-fortune time and again by laying his shorter pitches close enough to the hole to obtain the par figures .sx His resource near the green has always been one of the outstanding features of his game so much so , that he seems to have appreciated to a greater extent than any other great golfer the fact that a stroke saved has a value equal with a stroke gained .sx Slopes and Undulations .sx The first point to notice is that the undulations round the green are the primary governing factor in the playing of short approaches .sx Everything depends on the influence which these undulations are likely to exert on the run of the ball , and it is therefore always necessary to make a decision on this vital point before any attempt is made to play the shot .sx The bounce of the ball when it pitches is of the first importance .sx Unless it pitches where the ground is level ( or , at any rate , smooth ) the subsequent run will rarely agree with the player's calculation .sx Some patch of ground , therefore , between the ball and the hole must be selected which can be absolutely relied upon as a safe landing-place , and the type of shot to be played will depend entirely on the position of this area in relation to the hole .sx If the ground , for example , immediately in front of the ball be undulating , followed by a level strip of green before it breaks into further undulations in the neighbourhood of the hole , the player must make up his mind to pitch his ball over the first undulations on to the level ground lying between with sufficient run to breast the final contours allowing , that is , for any deflection likely to be caused by the slant of the green or the shape of its contours .sx When , on the other hand , the green is perfectly flat , then , as soon as the preliminary irregularities are surmounted , a plain half-pitch and half-run shot will do all that is wanted to take the ball right up to the hole .sx The Straight-Forward Stroke .sx In discussing the technique of the stroke one must begin with the type of shot which is normally used whenever the conditions are fairly simple the mashie shot from the edge of the green .sx This is the stroke with which the player will be more often confronted than any other .sx A mashie is clearly the club to use for such a simple emergency , because a run-up shot with an iron would be at once killed by the slopes in front of the ball .sx Also , a mashie niblick would have the effect of stopping the ball too abruptly and hinder the smoothness of its run .sx As it is only required to hit the ball a very short distance , accuracy in playing the stroke must be the first consideration .sx The player will stand well over his ball and close to it , at the same time shortening his grip .sx The proper regulation of the grip at a lower point on the shaft , according to the distance of the shot , should be noted as being an extremely valuable consideration , as it helps to preserve decision and crispness and permits of a more compact swing when the player gets well down to the ball .sx Using a " long handle " for a short shot is bound to involve certain elements of weakness and indecision of stroke .sx As to the feet , they are placed close together , with the ball on a line equidistant between them .sx The stance should be open , since , being open , it has the advantage of allowing the player , while addressing his ball , to look up without having definitely to lift his head .sx With a square stance he would be compelled to turn his head from the shoulders in order to see the point at which he is aiming and thus be very likely to upset the steadiness of his balance .sx The open stance also allows the right arm to rest lightly on the right leg in the address , giving an added sense of security .sx The hands should be held a little in advance of the club head in order to ensure that the turf is not taken before the blade of the club reaches the ball at impact .sx So far as the grip is concerned , the fingers should exercise the main control .sx If the club is held to any marked degree in the palms of the hands , delicacy of touch is impaired and the wrists cannot operate comfortably throughout the swing .sx The arms should hang easily from the shoulders in the address ; neither arms nor shoulders should be allowed to stiffen at any period of the swing and so impede the even flow of the club .sx The firm grip of the fingers alone guides the club head and supplies just that element of final crispness which is so essential .sx The swing of the club in all chip shots should be quite free and natural .sx The left arm starts the club back , and the left wrist should hollow itself ( that is , by bending a little inwards ) during the backward movement , which , in its turn , should be as slow and deliberate as the player can make it .sx An almost imperceptible pause is also advisable at the top of the back-swing .sx The down-swing consists in letting the club head fall simply and directly on to the ball , just as if the player were allowing the force of gravity to do the work for him , while he retains the necessary control by his finger-grip and by the steadiness of his body during the stroke .sx The eyes must not leave the back of the ball , until the shot has been definitely played .sx If it be possible to imagine that the club has been seen to strike the ball , so much the better .sx The slightest relaxation of mental concentration will result in either half-topping the ball , or a far worse error in striking the ground behind the ball and completely duffing the shot .sx According to this method the club head descends rather sharply on to the ball , and care must therefore be taken to compel the blade to follow through smoothly but at the same time decisively .sx Otherwise there will be a tendency to jab the club into the ground .sx But if the stroke has been completed on the lines that have been suggested , it will be noticed that , although the ball leaves the face of the club comparatively fast and runs sufficiently freely on pitching , a certain amount of back-spin has been unconsciously applied which effectually prevents the ball from trickling too far past the hole .sx The fact that the club head struck a descending blow accounts for the spin , and , in theory as well as in practice , the application of this spin is of advantage because it allows a delicate stroke to be played crisply and firmly with considerably less risk of the ball running out of holing distance .sx In a similar manner an expert billiard player will strike the cue-ball low and with drag , whenever a slow shot is needed down the full length of the table .sx Variatons of the Stroke .sx Such a manner of playing chip shots with a mashie can be turned to equally good account with all the iron clubs .sx in the bag even with the mashie niblicks and niblicks when , to take an example , a bunker with an unusually high contour lies between the ball and the hole .sx