In the shop it seemed perfect, but I knew there
was something wrong with it from the moment I
started to play. A little practice convinced me tliat
it was too heavy, so I filed a bit off the toe. With
its weight reduced, the cleek realised my expecta-
tions.
That is an indication of the small change you
may make in a club, and produce from it big re-
sults. It is a factor of the kind — there are many
like it — to which a professional is always paying
attention, because his livelihood depends in a con-
siderable measure on his playing ability, but which
amateurs are apt to ignore. If you know you are
hitting the ball well — and instinctively you are
usually guided to a right judgment on this question
— and yet the shots are not coming off, then the



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84 THE GIST OF GOLF

chances are that there is something wrong with
the club.
My experience is that no club is so liable to
possess defects as the cleek. That, I believe, is
why many people abandon hope of mastering it.
In many instances they have never had a cleek
answering to their requirements, so that they have
had no real opporinnity of making the best use of
one of the most valuable types of clubs ever devised.
The most common defect is for the toe to possess
too much weight The result is that the club drags
at you as you swing it. You may not be conscious
of this circumstance, but the fact is that the toe
of the club is pulling at you all the while, and having
just sufficient effect on your swing to spoil the shot.
