There is practically no back spin on the ball, and the reason it stops dead short is that it comes down so straight.

The player should think only of the wedge going into the turf because it is the sharp impact of the club meeting and displacing the turf which sends the ball away rather than the direct blow of the club head upon the ball. Do not be afraid of taking a big divot and getting well under the roots of the grass. Follow through, but let it be well into the ground.

You cannot get over ninety yards, and it is wiser not to attempt even that distance until you have mastered the shot. You strike the ball with a very glancing blow and the turf stops the back spin and emphasizes the quick rise.

As you play the shot, be even more particular to hit firmly and freely, and on no account allow yourself to look up. The stroke is played with the hands pretty well down, with the left arm kept well down at all stages, and the principal movement in the wrists. The farther back of the ball you hit, the more the rise to the ball is emphasized, but the shorter the distance forward the ball will go.

It will pay to cultivate this shot, as the player will find many occasions where it will be extremely useful.

When I play this shot, I take a divot about an inch thick and seven to twelve inches long, with a great deal of earth coming out with the grass. Hit freely and firmly.

It sometimes happens in golf that you find your ball in a sand trap behind a bunker with the green on the other side. It is a shot that can be played with accuracy and precision if the player gets the correct idea.

The basic idea in this shot is to come down very sharply and drive the bottom of the club deep down and well below the ball, treating the shot as though the ball were not there at all and you were trying merely to play about as much sand as you can get your club head into the distance you desire to go.

Aim at least the width of the club head behind the ball and hit freely and firmly, remembering to follow through in order to throw the sand at the point you want to reach. There is no delicacy required. Give a good stiff poke and the ball will go as far as a piece of gravel would and not much more.