Horace Hutchinson 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
THE "OVAL" SERIES OF GAMES 
 Edited by C. W. ALCOCK 
 
 GOLFING- 
 
 BY 
 
 HOEACB HUTCHINSON 
 
 FIFTH EDITION', REVISED 
 
 LONDON 
 
 GEOKGrE KOUTLEDGrE & SONS, Limited 
 Broadway House, Ludgate Hill 
 1898 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in'2014 
 
 https://archive.org/details/golfingOOhutc 
 
GOLFING. 
 
 HISTORICAL. 
 
 When Scotland gave to England the rather dublons bless- 
 ing of her Scottish kings, she gave therewith a gift which was 
 an undoubted boon : the game of golf. For very many years 
 England was more blind to the merits of the game than of the 
 Stuarts. The Scottish Court, taking its country leisure at 
 Greenwich, recreated itself for the toils of government by 
 playing golf on Blackheath. If Blackheath was as flinty then 
 as it is to-day, that fact may partly excuse and explain their 
 governing so badly. 
 
 It does not seem, however, that golf was of indigenous 
 growth in Scotland. So far back as the date of James VI., 
 we find an Act of the Scottish Parliament forbidding the 
 importation of Dutch-made golf-balls as injurious to native 
 industry. This stringent protectionist measure shows that 
 the game must have been largely cultivated by the Mynheers, 
 but its records are hard to trace. Here and there we come 
 on a picture — there is one by Van der Veldt in the National 
 Gallery — or on an old Dutch tile, representing the game, 
 usually on the ice. But this was not an exclusively glacial 
 epoch of the game, for there is an account, often quoted 
 before, in an old book named *' Les Contes du Roi Cam- 
 brinus," by one Charles Deulin, of a game named chole^ a 
 bastard species of golf played in French Flanders. He 
 represents it as a very popular game. In his tale one 
 Roger, a wheelwright, is so great a player that in all the 
 
 958450 
 
2 
 
 GOLFING. 
 
 country round he is known as *' le grand choleur.** But 
 we cannot think that he exactly ^flayed the game, for he 
 had a wonderful club given him by no less a person than 
 St. Antony. St. Antony was thus generous in return for some 
 small matter of smith's work which Roger did for him, and 
 besides giving him the wonderful club, he granted him two 
 boons— one, that no one who sat on the stump of elm tree 
 in front of his smithy should be able to move without his 
 leave ; and the other, that no one who stood on a certain 
 square patch of carpet should be moved therefrom against 
 his will. So Roger beat everyone at chole, including the 
 Devil, from whom he won a whole sackful of souls. When 
 death at length came for Roger, the ** grand choleur" asked 
 the monarch to take a seat for a moment on the elm trunk — 
 whence he did not permit him to stir until he had covenanted 
 for a hundred years longer of life. So again he golfed 
 and beat all comers. When the hundred years were up 
 Death called again and took Roger with him to Purgatory. 
 Here the Devil declined to receive one whom he knew so well. 
 
 Why," said Diabolos, *' he would depopulate my kingdom, 
 lie has won heaps of souls from me already. " Death was 
 much perplexed where to bestow Roger. The latter suggested 
 that they should try heaven. Death laughed, but said it was 
 no harm trying, though he was sure Roger would not be 
 admitted. St. Peter supported Death's view, when they 
 arrived at the portal, but as a favour allowed Roger to 
 come inside the gate for a moment in order to talk to St. 
 Antony, whereupon Roger clapped down his square of carpet, 
 and since they could not move him they were forced to let 
 him stay. 
 
 Perhaps this account may not be strictly accurate, but it 
 is remarkable as describing a game which is clearly a transi- 
 tion phase between hockey and golf. Chole, in fact, is a sort 
 of missing link. It proceeded in this fashion. If Tom 
 Morris and Hugh Kirkaldy were going to play a match at 
 chole they would first fix on an object which was to be hit. 
 
HISTORICAL. 
 
 3 
 
 A cliiirch door at some five miles distance, cross country, 
 seems to have been a favourite goal. Tliis settled on, match- 
 making began — a kind of game of brag, *' I will back 
 myself to hit the thing in five innings," Tom might say. (We 
 will explain in a moment what an *' innings " meant.) " Oh, 
 I'll back myself to hit it in four," Hugh might answer. 
 
 Well ; I'll say three, then," Tom might perhaps say, and 
 that might be the finish of the bragging, for Hugh might not 
 feel it in his power to do it in two, so he must let Tom try. 
 Then Tom would hit off, and- when he came to the ball would 
 tee it and hit again, and so a third time. But when they reached 
 the ball this third time, it would be no longer Tom's turn 
 to hit, but Hugh's. He would be allowed to tee the ball up 
 to decholef as it was called — that is to say, to hit it back again 
 as far as he could. Then Tom would begin again and have 
 three more shots towards the object ; after which Hugh would 
 again have one shot back. Then, if in the course of his third 
 innings of three shots Tom were to hit the church door (a 
 profanation which Tom Morris would never be guilty of, by 
 the way) he Vv'ould win the match — if he failed, he would 
 lose it. 
 
 This was the game, then, which Eoger, by favour of St. 
 Antony, played so well. Both played with one ball — there 
 was a clioleur and a decholeur : a server and a striker out 
 as one might say — and in this humorous tale (which we owe 
 to a translation by Miss Bruce in Longman's Magazine") we 
 find a very important chapter in the history of the evolution of 
 golf. At the club-house of the Royal Wimbledon Golf Club 
 there is one of the clubs which they appear still to use in 
 Flanders. It looks as if it were meant for digging up whins 
 with, but Zola says that they drive about four hundred yards 
 with these clubs — he must mean on the ice, if he is really 
 a realist. 
 
 The history of Scottish golf is written chiefly in terms of a 
 wine merchant's catalogue. There are long lists in the Club 
 records of magnums of claret lost or won on the links. Aioo 
 
4 
 
 GOLFING. 
 
 its history is largely written in Sabbatarian or patriotic enact- 
 ments of the Scottish Parliament. You were not to play golf 
 on a Sabbath unless you had been to Church in the morning. 
 (They are not so scrupulous at Sandwich now.) Altogether 
 golf was looked on with disfavour by the authorities, who 
 deemed that " shooting at the butts " — in old-fashioned 
 spelling — was more helpful for a nation's liberties than 
 *' golf and foot-ball. " But golf, like other things, throve on 
 persecution. It was all very well for parliaments to enact that 
 golf and foot-ball be *' utterly cryit down," but the Stuart 
 kings were but the more disposed to play on that account— 
 sometimes in partnership with humble men, such as *' one 
 Patersone, a shoemaker. " 
 
 All this went on before the days of gutta-percha. Men 
 played with '* feather balls" — that is, balls of leather stuffed 
 so tightly with feathers that when taken out the feathers filled 
 a hat. The makers used to press the feathers in with a 
 wooden pin fastened in a piece of board. They pressed 
 against the board with their chests in order to cram the 
 feathers in the more tightly. It is said that this induced a 
 pulmonary complaint — perhaps it would have been better, 
 after all to have let Dutchmen make the golf-balls. Coming 
 down to days of which our records are more accurate, we find 
 that the feather golf-balls used to cost four shillings — a vast 
 sum in those days. Men played much with "bafiy spoons" 
 made by Hugh Philp, because if you topped a ball "with the 
 iron, four shillings were gone for ever. No man who 
 respected himself ever played with a club of another maker 
 than Philp, nor in less dignified clothes than a tall hat, 
 swallow-tailed coat and knee breeches. These were the days 
 of the grand old manner. They had a certain number of 
 iron clubs — one, certainly, the " sand iron " as it was called. 
 It resembled the heavy iron of to-day, but difi*ered from it in 
 having a concave face, like the latter-day niblick, or Park's 
 patent lofter. Specimens of strange old golfing weapons aro 
 kept under a glass case at the Club-house of the Royal and 
 
HISTORICAL. 
 
 S 
 
 Ancient of St. Andrews. Of Scottish golf, the oldest adequate 
 records are those of St. Andrews, and of the Honourable Com- 
 pany of Edinburgh Golfers who played at Musselburgh. These 
 courses must have been a great deal narrower then than now. 
 Trampling by the human foot and attack by the golfer's 
 niblick have worn away the whins which beset these links, 
 until they are almost any breadth. We are told fearful tales 
 of the whins of the past. Other evidences are not lacking of the 
 greater horrors of golf at that epoch. No man would go to 
 theology, and waste his vocabulary now in giving to the bunker 
 which we get into going to the long-hole- coming-home at 
 St. Andrews, such a desperate name as "hell." Yet that is 
 the title by which it is so well known to us, though there is 
 often fine lying in the bottom. And this name was given before 
 theologians had done so much as they now have towards 
 cooling our conceptions of that undesirable place. Pande- 
 monium, at Musselburgh, is still horrid, but no one need get 
 into it. In what we know of the golf of the past we see 
 several diflferences from our own golf, which no doubt have 
 arisen from the greater narrowness of courses. Allan 
 Kobertson, a small man, but of little less fame in golf 
 mythology than Hercules, used habitually to drive from the 
 tee, going to the heathery hole with a short spoon. This took 
 him nicely over Walkinshaw's bunker and laid him short of 
 the bunkers beyond. But he could scarcely have got home 
 with his second. The methods to-day are different. "VVe 
 drive to the right or to the left of the second lot of bunkers 
 and so are home without trouble in two. In Allan Robertson's 
 time there were whins, both to left and right, and there was 
 but one hole on each putting-green, each hole being played 
 twice — once going out and once coming home. This single 
 instance is an illustration of a tendency. All that we have 
 from our golfing forefathers — the clubs they used, the 
 predominance in their maxims of the sure over the far 
 — everything goes to tell us that golf was a more exact science 
 then, that accuracy was more precious then, as compared 
 
6 
 
 GOLFING, 
 
 with lengtli, than it is now. For those eluhs which Hugh 
 Philp made so well and which Allan Rohertson played with so 
 well are so light and delicate that the slogging scratch-player 
 of to-day regards them — with reverence, it is true, as curios 
 — but as toys for the practical uses of the game. 
 
 There is no doubt that there were very good players then. 
 The role of the laudator temj>oris acti is very graceful and 
 tempting, but facts tell us this — that Allan Robertson was 
 regarded as the best player of his day, and that " Old Tom 
 Morris," who was playing at the same time, has, even as an 
 old man, played very fine golf. Whether Allan was really a 
 finer player ftan Tom is a hard matter to decide. They 
 played no set matches, but in their friendly matches Tom had 
 the better of it ; had he had his way he would dearly have 
 liked a real set-to with Allan. We can only speculate. 
 Certainly Allan's prestige was very great. Then George 
 Glennie's score of 88, which for so many years was the 
 amateurs' record in a St. Andrews competition, is a figure 
 which is quite likely to win a St. Andrews medal to-day. It 
 ought not to ; but now and again it does. Of course the lies 
 are not nearly so good as they were before there was so much 
 play ; but Hugh Kirkcaldy cannot have got into many bad lies 
 when he made his record round of 73 — nor can Andrew, his 
 brother, when, more recently, he did the round in 74. Bo 
 that as it may though, we think most people will agree with us in 
 this, at all events — that amateur play has much improved lately, 
 as compared with professional play. And from the general point 
 of view it is hard to think but that the play all round must be 
 better. Certainly clubs and balls are better, many more 
 people play, and we are not aware that human beings have 
 appreciably deteriorated. In all other games there has been 
 an advance : it seems unlikely that golf can be the sole exception. 
 
 But all the while that Scotland had been golfing, no one in 
 England had more than heard of the game, unless he had gone 
 north of the Tweed, which few people then did, or to 
 Blackhe&th, which yet fewer did; for not only did the 
 
HiSTOklCAL 
 
 1 
 
 Scottish game survive tlae Scottish kings who introduced it, 
 but of all golf clubs that at Blackheath, where the Stuarts 
 played, has the oldest records. This is a glory which can 
 never be taken from it — until someone unearths the authentic 
 records of the club match in which Cardinal Beaten took sides 
 against the devil — though with less success than Flemish 
 Roger with St. Antony's Club. The records of the ** Sumruer 
 Golf Club," as it was called, at Blackheath, are inextricably 
 mixed up with the records of a yet older club there — the 
 Knuckle Club. Eventually the two merged, so far as one 
 makes out, and what was the Golf Club in summer became the 
 Knuckle Club in the winter. From their records it would seem 
 that they were thirsty souls — these knuckling and golfing 
 Blackheathens — as other golfers since have been. But where 
 all our golf would have been without them, no one, humanly 
 speaking, knows ; for when first a St. Andrews man came to 
 Westward Ho ! and saw its mighty capabilities as a golf links, 
 it was from Blackheath that most of the men came to play on 
 it and to let its existence be known. That redoubtable Mr. 
 George Glennie came down and won the medal as often as he 
 liked. But from that moment golf began to " boom." It did 
 not boom very quickly at first, but Westward Ho I taught men 
 at Liverpool to look favourably on a rabbit- warreny place 
 which has since become the Hoylake Golf Links and " raised " 
 Mr. *' Johnnie Ball." About the same time it occurred to the 
 London Scottish Volunteers that Wimbledon Common — their 
 headquarter camp — was a possible place to play golf on. This 
 club soon so grew and multiplied that the iron house which is 
 the volunteer shelter became inadequate, and a secession of 
 the plebs resulted in the purchase of the present house of the 
 Boyal Wimbledon Golf Club at the other end of the common. 
 Meanwhile the old London Scottish Club still plays from the 
 Putney end : and it is creditable to all concerned that the 
 consequent collisions are so few. 
 
 Still, men with golf-clubs were a rarity at any railway 
 station or ordinary place of meeting in England — there was a 
 
8 
 
 GOLFING. 
 
 lull in the " boom." Gutta-percha had been invented, and for 
 a shilling could be bought a better ball than the four- shilling 
 leather thing -which the men in swallow-tailed coats and higk 
 hats used to play with; but still the Englishman and the 
 cricketer regarded as a fool him who was incautious enough to 
 call himself a golfer. But by slow, slow degrees a spirit of 
 toleration crept in. It began to be observed that some men 
 who admittedly were no fools played golf. Finally, Englishmen 
 and cricketers began to suspect themselves of folly that they 
 had not played golf before. In a word, golf became the fashion 
 — golf is now the fashion. Golf clubs sprang up in the most 
 unlikely places — golf links were started on the most 
 unpromising gi'ound. Fine meadow land, unredeemed jungle, 
 stony and blasted heaths — every scrap of ground on which 
 there was room for driving a golf-ball was put to that purpose 
 and called a golf links. Men play golf to-day on places at 
 which the imagination — if he had any — of the old golfer would 
 have been paralysed. We have, ourselves, played on a common 
 whereon, after the tee-shot, the niblick was the only possible 
 weapon ; and this was true, even of the putting-greens. But 
 when we mentioned this to the enthusiastic old golfer who had 
 started golf there he said, terrified — " Hush, hush ! For 
 goodness sake don't let the other members hear you say 
 that ! They have never played anywhere else, and they think 
 it is splendid." 
 
 That is exactly how it is. Most of these poor people have 
 never played anywhere else, and so they do not mind it. It 
 is just what is said of canaries — they can be happy in a cage 
 because they have never been out of one. So that, far from 
 pitying these folk, it is impossible to do otherwise than envy 
 them — these saiis heati who know nothing of St. Andrews and 
 Westward Ho ! and Sandwich. For besides these bush- 
 whacking and stone-breaking courses, the new spirit of English 
 golf exploited courses which were really golf links. Enough 
 for Sandwich that the delegates for the Amateur Championship 
 eelected it for the arena of that contest in 1892. Its excellenca 
 
HISTORICAL. 
 
 9 
 
 requires no ' other testimony. Littleslone," again, is an 
 excellent English links, and so are Felixstowe and Great 
 Yarmouth. The last new find, as we write, is Brancaster — a 
 right royal links. But even to enumerate the links in England 
 might fill a small book, while in Scotland, too — its ancient 
 stronghold — the game has been spreading with increasing 
 popularity. It has spread until nearly every blade of grass has 
 been hacked off that unfortunate St. Andrews Links, whither 
 £0 many golfing pilgrims annually wend. Nor is St. Andrews 
 peculiar. From Kirkwall down to Land's End one can scarcely 
 put one's finger on a bit of the map which does not cover a 
 golf-links. They have golf-links — and real good ones — in 
 Ireland. Not an English colony is without them — from Japan 
 and all the Shiny East to Australia and New Zealand, and 
 back to Egypt, Malta and the Riviera, or westward again to 
 Canada. Lately, moreover, there has been a demand for 
 professional green-keepers for America — " and most likely '* 
 wrote the applicant, *'we shall want many, for there seems to 
 be a regular golf blizzard setting in here." 
 
 The wonder is, chiefly, not that golf should have " boomed," 
 but that it should have been so long in " booming." England 
 had seen golf in occasional places for years before she began 
 to take the interest in it which it deserves. Golf and tennis 
 probably divide between them the honours of being the most 
 ancient of athletic games. There is reference in the 
 " Arabian Nights " to something which may have been polo, 
 though the translator calls the weapon used in the game a 
 golf-club. More probably the game was an equestrian one of 
 some sort. 
 
 But England, in assimilating Scotland's game, has some- 
 what altered it in the process. There used to be something 
 60 grand and dignified about it when men used to play in 
 swallow-tails and high hats ; and in Scotland a portion of that 
 high and noble spirit broods over the game still. But tho 
 Englishman did not accept the game as an inheritance with 
 all its traditions. He took it up rather as a parvenu who has 
 
lo 
 
 GOLFING. 
 
 purchased a house from aristocratic owners. He came in 
 with the spirit of cricket possessing him, and plays golf with 
 less than Scottish solemnity. He is known to laugh when his 
 adversary makes a bad stroke — he sometimes plays in 
 flannels, and takes his coat off — he often runs after the ball, 
 frequently shouts at it, and almost invariably counts his 
 score. This last is regarded as his capital offence by the 
 antiquaries. They say that match-play by holes is the real 
 game of golf — that score-play is but a device for bringing 
 together a number of competitors. Of course this is perfectly 
 true, but why a man should not put down his strokes if ho 
 pleases, to give him an added interest to the interest of the 
 match, is hard to see. Of course, he should not keep back 
 other players by insisting on holing out after all chance of 
 his halving the hole has vanished. This is annoying both to 
 the man with whom he is playing and to those behind. But if 
 he is interfering with no man's time or pleasure, why should 
 he not count his strokes if it pleases him ? It is hard tc 
 think that it will please him, because most of those who put 
 down their score on paper go round in numbers which can give 
 pleasure only to their opponents. Doubtless, however, the 
 score-keeping is an index of progress—or the reverse — and 
 with the qualifications which we have mentioned, we fail to see 
 any legitimate ground of complaint with the practice. But it 
 is only early in the golfer's career that he will find it necessary 
 to carry pencil and paper for this purpose. When he has 
 arrived at any steadiness of game at all he will find it quite 
 sufficient to settle in his mind on a figure which he shall take 
 as iis average for each hole, and to reckon his score by 
 saying to himself **that is one," or "two," or whatever it 
 may be, " above or below the average." Say the player takes 
 six strokes a hole for his hypothetical average— then, if he 
 does the first hole in 7, he will say, " that makes me one 
 above the average — say he now does the second hole in 5, 
 and so be, on that hole, one below the average, he will reckon 
 on this one to the good against his previous one to the ba^ 
 
HISTORICAL. 
 
 II 
 
 and say, ** that makes me even with the average " — and so 
 forth. Of course, this sort of thing will not do for competi- 
 tions, but for a man's personal satisfaction it will be found 
 quite adequate, and it is simplicity itself. 
 
 Also, in taking up golf, the Englishman has gone in for 
 handicap competitions to an extent which is an abhorrence to 
 the old school. Very likely they are right, but on the other 
 side it must be said that, as a rule, Englishmen bet less on 
 matches than the Scottish golfers seem to have done. The 
 old school talks a deal about the ** pot-hunting" which goes on 
 on English links ; but though there is a degree of truth in it, 
 it must be borne in mind that the pot is generally of very 
 moderate value. Scarcely ever will the value of it pay the 
 hotel bill and travelling expenses of him who is engaged in its 
 chasse. People do not really go to competition meetings 
 nearly so much for the sake of the prizes as because they 
 know that they will meet a number of their friends, and get a 
 lot of pleasant matches. The objectionable spirit of "pot- 
 hunting " enters into the business very little. 
 
 If the prizes were principally scratch-prizes they would be 
 of interest to a very select few, comparatively speaking. At 
 St. Andrews, until a very few years ago, there were no handi- 
 cap prizes at all, nor was there any sweepstakes associated 
 with the medal. Probably it may be true to say that there was 
 no handicap prize in Scotland. Now their name is legion. 
 The medal given to the St. Andrews Club by King William 
 IV. used to be the highest honour (excepting the Open Cham- 
 pionship) that an amateur golfer could win, as representing 
 success in the best field. Now the Amateur Championship 
 has taken its place by instituting a competition open to a much 
 wider field. But the position taken up by the old school is 
 not quite defensible. They truly say that the game used to 
 be entirely a game of match-play : that handicap prizes were 
 practically unknown. This is quite time ; but it does not follow, 
 as they appear to assume, that the game must necessarily 
 femain such as they played it. We say this, though of our 
 
12 
 
 GOLFING. 
 
 personal preference we are with them in their love of the 
 match and dislike of the handicap ; but for all that, if men 
 like playing for prizes under handicap we can see nothing 
 wicked in their doing so. Where, however, we would join all 
 our forces with the old school is in those cases in which there 
 is a " selling lottery," as it is called, in connection with the 
 handicap prizes. For these lotteries run into biggish sums — 
 at all events into sums which appear sufficiently large to destroy 
 the moral sense of some of those who play for the prizes con- 
 nected therewith, and may lead golfers, who are as honourable 
 as other men in the ordinary affairs of life, to do things, in 
 order to conceal their true form from the handicappers for 
 which, or for the like of which, many a man has been de- 
 servedly warned off the turf. If men like to bet, let them do 
 so ; but when one finds any system of attaching a money- value 
 to success leading to the practice of dishonesty, it is high time 
 that this system should be discountenanced by every means in 
 the power of those who care for the game. 
 
 While penning these lines there has come to the writer's 
 hand a copy of the Melbourne, Age^ containing an account of 
 the presentation of prizes to the members of the Melbourne 
 Golf Club by their President, Sir James Macbain. Plainly, 
 this antipodean golf club is in a highly flourishing condition. 
 By the same post a correspondent encloses a cutting, headed 
 ** Golf a la Fran^aise," and running thus : 
 
 Under the heading of "A New English Game," a popular Paris 
 newspaper writes as follows : — " It is called * Le Golf,' and resembles 
 both * Crockett ' and lawn- tennis. Its special feature consists in 
 the use of a ball, a sort of marble, extremely small, which is struck 
 by a mallet. One element of the game consists in the erection of a 
 little mound, recalling the pastime of 'forteresses * played with marbles 
 in our young days. 'Le Golf,* which is indulged in especially by 
 those persons upon whom lawn-tennis, with its obligation to keep on 
 running about continually, soon fatigues, is at present the favourite 
 amusement in the suburbs of London. Backed up by our Anglo- 
 mania, it will be the rage this summer in our park& and country 
 houses, and, as it does not require a large space of ground, in oii^ 
 gardens and villas," 
 
HISTORICAL. 
 
 It is very satisfactory to find such authoritative testimony 
 to the prohability of the success of the game in France. If, 
 however, the French play with anything of their national eZan, 
 and drive, as M. Zola tells us they do, four hundred yards, 
 the introduction of the game is likely to be of much benefit to 
 the glazier trade (to say nothing of the surgical profession) in 
 the neighbourhood of ** our gardens and villas." Golf, as 
 we know it, is played now with much enthusiasm in some 
 parts of France — such as Pau and Biarritz — but chiefly by 
 Englishmen ; though at Pau, we believe, there is a French 
 professional player of high merit. The ladies play with great 
 spirit at Pau, and it is generally characteristic of the present 
 new and extended phase of golf that ladies are anxious to 
 share with men its joys and sorrows. Men are selfish crea- 
 tures — they do not permit women to vote, and only under 
 severe restrictions do they permit them to golf. A small por- 
 tion of ground which is not required by the more athletic sex 
 is the utmost that courtesy allows them at most of our golfing 
 centres ; but in the more chivalrous land of France they are 
 graciously permitted, under certain conditions, to play over the 
 men's course. This leads to the consideration of the suitability 
 of the game for ladies. Some ladies play remarkably well ; 
 but this is, perhaps, but a motive the more for the unwillingness 
 of men to let them share in the game on equal terms. The 
 superior sex points out that the fall swing is ungraceful for 
 ladies. But they should remember that in most cases the 
 swing which they justly condemn as ungraceful was learned by 
 ladies when no longer children. Now, it is well known that 
 no man acquires a graceful style unless he learned the game 
 as a boy ; therefore it is unjust to expect grace from a lady 
 who learned after arriving at years of discretion. On the 
 other hand, ladies who began golf as children have, in point 
 of fact, exceedingly neat and graceful swings — so that the 
 contention falls to the ground. And all the chief elements of 
 delight in the game— its science, its leisureljaiess, and its 
 healthful exercise — make it as proper an object of feminine 
 
 B 
 
GOLFING, 
 
 as of masculine pursuit. The objection that ladies cannot he 
 brought to see the serious nature of the immortal game — that 
 they have an innate predisposition to talk and to move on 
 the stroke " — may he conclusively answered (if, indeed, it calls 
 for an answer) by pointing to the silent, motionless and 
 appreciative spectators, many of them ladies, who accom- 
 pany golf matches in Scotland and in certain parts of England, 
 where the etiquette of the grand old manner is properly 
 observed. 
 
 IMPLEMENTS. 
 
 We cannot follow back into its earliest stage of evolution 
 from the prim83val hockey stick, the first golf-club of primoeval 
 man ; but we know that the golf-club was but a clumsy 
 weapon before the days of old Hugh Philp and that Scotland 
 imported feather golf-balls from Holland, until a protectionist 
 Act of the Scottish Parliament forbade it. A rude weapon, 
 the effort of a Welsh carpenter, was once lost by its owner in 
 the St. Andrews club-house. It was found, after many days, 
 reposing in stately anachronism with the real old golf- club 
 relics of the past, under a glass case. An antiquary had mis- 
 taken it for an antique —a mistake the like of which anti- 
 quaries have made before. 
 
 Hugh Philp made drivers and all wooden clubs much lighter 
 than the earlier specimens which are still extant, and than the 
 club elaborated by the Welsh carpenter. Making all allow- 
 ance for the tendency to praise the time that is past, Philp 
 undoubtedly put a beautiful finish on his clubs, and made 
 them of sterling good wood. But they were light — lighter than 
 the scratch-playing amateur and the professional uses to-day. 
 Also as regards the wooden clubs, there were more of them. 
 The golfer of to-day uses far more iron clubs, in comparison 
 ta the wooden ones, than the golfer of fifty years ago used. 
 
IMPLEMENTS, 
 
 Gutta-perclia is partly — principally, we suspect — tlio reason. 
 It is, perhaps, less elastic as a material for golf-balls than 
 the old leather, stulfed with feathers. It is also far cheaper^ 
 and a top with the iron does not destroy it so utterly. Year 
 by year the tendency seems to be to play with heavier and 
 with stiffer clubs. The demand for golfing materials has 
 grown so rapidly of late that it is hard to get good clubs or 
 good balls. As a rule, you will get better clubs if you buy them 
 straight out of the club-maker's shop than you will get at the 
 Stores or at a London shop. Especially is this the case if you 
 have a friend in the club-maker's shop. Yo«r friend will then 
 see that you are served with a fine and well-seasoned bit of 
 wood, both for shaft and head. 
 
 As the advice which we are presumptuous enough to offer 
 is given chiefly in the interests of the beginner, we may say at 
 once that the beginner wdll do well to play with a stiffish club. 
 The spring in the shaft which feels so seductive is apt to lead 
 to inaccuracy. Many materials have been tried for shafts — 
 including, besides all kinds of woods, rhinoceros hide and 
 shafts with a steel core. We are inclined to think that for 
 driving clubs — indeed for all wooden clubs — no shafts are 
 better than the ordinary hickory ones, if they be good of their 
 kind. But lancewood and greenheart are also good for shafts, 
 though, in our opinion, somewhat too heavy. For the shafts 
 of iron-headed clubs, orange wood is perhaps better than any ; 
 for though it, again, is heavy, the weight matters less in this 
 case, and the orange wood keeps its straightness rather better 
 than hickory. But hickory is most commonly used, and is 
 quite good enough. Ash shafts are not so good — the spring 
 in them is apt to run all up the shaft ; and the best driving 
 shafts are considered to be those in which there are a few 
 inches of fine steely spring just above the whipping which 
 binds shaft and head together. Still, some men like to play 
 with shafts made of their old billiard cues, and since this wood 
 is sure to be well seasoned the conceit is harmless. 
 
 For heads beech is certainly the best* Apple and pear and 
 
GOLPiNG. 
 
 hornbeam are perhaps more durable ; but that is becausd 
 they are harder, and the hardness diminishes the driving 
 quality. The best driving heads of all are those in which tho 
 grain of the wood runs out towards the face ; but this is a 
 point which need not be insisted on. If the hickory for the 
 shaft and the beech for the head be well seasoned, and the 
 club be well finished off, the reasonable golfer can expect 
 nothing more. He may expect, however, with reason, to 
 find in the club-maker's shop a fair selection of these good 
 clubs, so that he may make a choice of the weight and style 
 of club which suits his fancy. Excellent clubs may be bought 
 second-hand out of the sets with which professionals play — 
 but for these the professional rightly and naturally asks a 
 fancy price. Whether this is worth the paying depends a 
 great deal on the financial position of the purchaser, but tho 
 very commonest form of golfing disappointment is to find 
 that one cannot play a bit with a dearly-bought club which 
 had seemed a perfect wand of Jehu when we had it on trial. 
 
 The ordinary wooden stock-in-trade of the golfer of to-day 
 is seldom more than two drivers— -one in case of accident to 
 the other, and a brassey — i.e., a wooden club soled with iron. 
 Never start out with one driver only, for if any loosening of the 
 glue or lead occurs, to say nothing of graver misadventure, you 
 are rather at a loss. Many men habitually use two drivers, 
 one for driving down the wind, or where a high shot is desira- 
 ble, the other, a stiffer club, for driving a low, skimming shot 
 against the wind. "When the distance is less than that of a full 
 drive, or if the lie be bad, they take the brassey — in a worse lie, 
 or for a shorter distance again, the cleek ; and so on down to 
 full shots with the iron, to three-quarter, half and quarter shots, 
 to wrist shots and so to putts. But in this scale of gradation 
 there is nothing fixed by hard and fast line or rule, so that a 
 man shall say this is a full iron shot — this a half-shot. What 
 is one man's full-shot is another's half-shot ; there is no use 
 in dogmatising. The shot which one man will pitch with an 
 iron, another will take a mashie to, and a third would run up 
 
IMPLEMENTS, 
 
 17 
 
 the same with a putter ; and all three may lie equally near the 
 hole, and each club was equally right. Even in the case of 
 the man who used two drivers there need be nothing hard and 
 fast about the names. Very possibly he will call the driver 
 with which he hits the more lofty ball a grassed club, or long 
 spoon ; and we need not quarrel about it. The great thing is 
 to find out what sort of weapon you can do best with, and to 
 play with that in spite of names. If you can play best with a 
 walking-stick there is no reason that you should not use it — • 
 in fact there is every reason that you should. But, of course, 
 there are certain things which cannot be done with a walking- 
 stick, and which you must learn to do somehow. You must 
 learn to drive a tolerable distance tolerably straight ; you must 
 learn to play out of a bad lie, and you must learn to lift the 
 ball up out of a hole ; for though the putter may be the club 
 sometimes, it certainly is not the club if a bunker yawn 
 between you and the putting-green. In this case you must lift 
 the ball over the bunker. In old days men used to do this a 
 great deal with baffy spoons ; nowadays they do it with an iron 
 or a mashie. But to a great many beginners this lofting stroke 
 is the most difficult of all, and it is our firm conviction that a 
 great many of those who fail with the iron would find it far 
 easier to play the stroke tolerably well with a baffy, or short 
 spoon — a short, much-lofted wooden club. Some of them have 
 even tried the baffy, and found this to be true ; but very few 
 indeed have the courage to stick to the baffy. Somebody has 
 told them that no good player approaches with the baffy — that 
 its use is a confession of incapacity with the iron. Well, why 
 not ? If you find it the easier club to loft the ball with, use 
 it. Accept the situation, and you will not feel very deeply the 
 sting of the gibe about your ineffectual iron-play if, with the 
 baffy, you loft nicely on to the putting-green while your more 
 vain opponent foozles into the bunker. Therefore, we would 
 urge the beginner, if he finds the iron a puzzle, to add a short 
 or baffy spoon to his wooden clubs, and we think he will 
 thanX us for our advice. Certainly the green- keeper will thank 
 
i8 
 
 GOLFING, 
 
 us, for the iron or mashie in the hands of a beginner is a cruel 
 weapon for the green. 
 
 The brassey should be rather stiffer in the shaft and rather 
 shorter than the driver. In weight it should, of the two 
 differences, be rather heavier. Naturally, the more its face is 
 laid back the higher it will loft the ball. A flatter- faced brassey 
 will drive further, but it cannot be used with as much effect 
 as a more spooned club when there is a steep bank or other 
 high obctacle just in front. It is best, therefore, to adopt a 
 middle course and use a club which will effect a compromise 
 between the extremes. It is impossible to lay down fast rules. 
 Of course, other things being equal, the more laid back tho 
 face of a club the higher it will loft the ball ; and, on tho whole, 
 stiff-shafted clubs do not seem to drive the ball as high as 
 more supple-shafted ones. But one man v/ill drive high in the air 
 with a club with which another man will drive skimmers, and vloii 
 versa. The same man, even, will find himself at times driving 
 high and at other times skimming his balls with the same club. 
 Much, of course, depends on the quality of the turf. If the 
 lies are hard the club will not get under the ball, and it is very 
 difficult to get it well into the air. This is especially to be 
 noticed at St. Andrews and Musselburgh, which are very 
 hard, as compared with Prestwick, Westward Ho ! and 
 Sandwich. 
 
 Two sorts of wooden clubs are in vogue — straight-faced 
 clubs and bulgers. The bulge on the club gives it rather the 
 appearance of having the face-ache, and its effect is that the 
 ball is struck by a convex instead of by a plane surface. The 
 merit of the convexity is that it makes it easier to drive straight. 
 With the plane-faced clubs a ball struck on the heel had a 
 tendency to curl away to the right of the intended line ; a ball 
 struck on the toe had a tendency to curl to the left. Why this 
 occurred we need not stop to enquire — more especially as 
 enquiries made at very great length and with much science 
 have not received a very distinct answer. The inclination of 
 the convexity in each case tends to correct the deviation, for 
 
IMPLEMENTS. 
 
 19 
 
 tlie heel of the convex-faced club faces ratlier to the left of tho 
 intended line of flight, and the toe faces rather to the right of 
 that line. Thus the direction of the face counteracts the spin 
 which is put on the ball, and the latter flies fairly straight, 
 though nob so far as if struck truly on the most prominent 
 point of the convexity. 
 
 So the bulger is a good club for all who can be at all sure 
 of hitting the ball somewhere near tho middle of the face of 
 the club — for straightness is an exceedingly valuable quality. 
 But it is by no means so good a club for those to whom 
 it happens but rarely — and there are such — to hit the ball 
 nearly on the right place. The beginner will do better with 
 a straight-faced club. He can come to tbo bulger later on. 
 
 Then we come to cleeks — for the bulger principle is as yet 
 practically restricted to wooden clubs. Your cleek should be 
 shorter, again, than your brassey, and stiffer in the shaft. Of 
 cleek-heads there are a great many kinds — new inventions for 
 the most part. The principle which these new inventions 
 agree in endeavouring to carry out is to mass as much weight 
 as possible on that part of the head which is directly behind 
 the point of its impact with the ball. In other words they aim 
 at making the blade of the cleek as thick as it can be made 
 without disturbing the balance of weight. There can be little 
 doubt that this is a good principle, and we cannot be far wrong 
 in advising the golfer to choose his cleek-heads thick, and in 
 other respects to suit his own fancy ; always remembering that 
 what he gains in loft he will lose in distance, and vice versa ^ as 
 we snid when speaking of the brassey. 
 
 For distances which are too short for the cleek, the iron is 
 the club. There are many sorts of irons : such as driving irons, 
 lofting irons and heavy irons, but for all practical purposes 
 one iron is sufficient. It should be shorter in ^he shaft than 
 the cleek, and the shaft should be stiffer. The head should be 
 more lofted than the cleek-head. In this particular, again, we 
 should advise the beginner to aim at a mean between an 
 ^jttremel^ lofted head and m e:^tremely straight-faced one. 
 
20 
 
 GOLFING, 
 
 The latter will drive somewhat further, and the greatly lofled 
 one will pitch the ball rather deader ; but on the whole, and 
 especially at first, it is best to aim at reducing the number of 
 clubs rather than exaggerating it. 
 
 All the clubs which we have discussed, with the exception of 
 the iron, and perhaps the baflfy spoon, are intended almost 
 entirely for full shots — that is to say, for shots in which the 
 lull swing is used. But with the iron you will have to learn 
 to play a regular gradation of strokes, with three-quarter, half 
 and quarter swings, down to the little wrist stroke. For all 
 these purposes an iron with medium loft is sufficient, as well 
 as for the full swing strokes ; but, as we said before, it is quite 
 possible that you may find yourself able to play most of these 
 with a baffy — a short, stilf, much spooned wooden club— better 
 than you can with an iron. In this, experience alone can be a 
 safe guide. For the shorter strokes, of which we have spoken 
 as usually played with an iron, many men use a mashie. The 
 mashie is generally rather shorter and stifFer than the iron. 
 Its face is more laid back, so that it will pitch the ball more 
 dead, and its face is exceedingly short — almost as short as the 
 little round face of the niblick, between which and the iron the 
 mashie is a kind of compromise. The mashie is a club of 
 rather recent invention, and before it came into general use 
 many players used the niblick as an approaching club where it 
 was necessary to pitch the ball more dead than they could hope 
 to pitch it with an iron. The trouble about this practice was 
 that the face of the niblick was so dreadfully small that it 
 required great accuracy to hit the ball truly with it. If hit on 
 what would have been the heel of the iron, the ball found no 
 heel in the niblick, and flew off towards cover-point, off tho 
 hose of the niblick, with disastrous consequence. Therefore 
 wise men invented the mashie. But even with the mashie it is 
 all too easy, especially for the beginner, to hit the ball on the 
 heel. The learner will probably do better to eschew its use, 
 and to employ, instead — supposing that he finds he cannot play 
 the short approaches ^ith si:^^Q}ent}y de^4 loft W\ P^ioary 
 
IMPLEMENTS, 
 
 21 
 
 iron — a much-laid-back approaching cleek. On eojace links 
 these are a great deal used, under the name of jiggers. The 
 shalt should be short and stiff and the head well laid back. 
 
 The appropriate and painful function of the niblick is to get 
 you out of a bunker, or very bad lie. Its head is so short that 
 it will go into almost any hole or rut big enough to receive the 
 ball, and in sand it meets with less resistance than the long- 
 faced iron. Many players have ceased to carry a niblick, 
 making a mashie do most of its duties. The niblick should be 
 heavy in the head or should have the shaft very strong. Mr. 
 Frank Fairlie has invented a method of obviating the trouble 
 of occasionally hitting the ball on the hose of these short- faced 
 clubs. He has the hose coming up from the rear of the blade so 
 that no ball can possibly meet it. We incline to think that 
 this is a good invention for the beginner, though most players 
 who have learned with the ordinary weapons will be frightened 
 by the strange looks of the new patent. 
 
 Certainly the list of clubs which we have given ought to suffice 
 to bring any player on to the putting-green. He has now to use 
 a putter with which to get the ball into the hole. Of putters 
 there are two kinds — the wooden and the iron. The wooden 
 putter has the wisdom of ages in its favour, for the general use 
 of the iron putter is quite modern. We are inclined to think 
 that the iron putter is perhaps the better weapon for putts up 
 to twenty yards in length ; but certainly the wooden putter is 
 safer for the long putt. This matter of putting, however, is 
 one for which it is even less possible to lay down a hard and fast 
 rule than for any other part of the game. Men putt well with 
 all manner of weapons and in all manner of attitudes — and in 
 all attitudes and with all weapons men putt badly. One can 
 but say this for certain, that the shaft of the putter, whether 
 wooden putter or iron, should be without spring. Balance is a 
 great quality in a putter, but one which it is quite impossible 
 to define or even to describe. An experienced player will tell 
 you in a moment, of any particular putter, whether it balances 
 ^elL 3^rely, too, i^s f^ce e];oul4 be perpendicular — er 
 
22 
 
 GOLFING, 
 
 very nearly so ; and beyond that there is little that one can 
 say. 
 
 To play golf one must have golf-balls ; and a good golf-ball 
 is a very difficult thing to get. Excellence in balls may bo 
 viewed from two different points. The player who is engaged 
 in important matches — or what he deems as such — is on the 
 look out for the ball that will enable him to play the best golf. 
 The beginner is more concerned with finding out a ball which 
 will resist his tops with the iron and various maltreatment. 
 The best ball for this latter purpose is the Eclipse ball. It is 
 very elastic, and when a hole is knocked in its head the hole 
 fills itself up again. It is the most economical ball, and it is 
 an uncommonly good ball for putting. But it does not carry 
 so far as the ordinary gutta-percha. Gutta-percha, as used 
 now for golf-balls, may, roughly speaking, be divided into two 
 kinds — the black and the red. The red gutta percha, of which 
 the A 1 balls are a sample, is somewhat like the Eclipse. It 
 keeps its shape and its smooth surface under ill-treatment 
 better than the black gutta-percha, though not quite so well as 
 the Eclipse balls do. On the other hand it does not, in our 
 opinion, fly as well as the best black gutta-percha. But 
 black gutta-percha balls are exceedingly hard to get. As a 
 rule the makers sell them quite new, and new ones are always 
 soft. They should be at least three months old. Thornton's 
 match-balls are very good ones, and are guaranteed to be 
 three months old, or more. Slazenger has lately brought out 
 some remarkably good balls, but at a correspondingly remark- 
 able price. We believe, too, that some of the later issues of 
 the Silvertown Company have been exceedingly good, but we 
 have not tried them. Formerly the Silvertown people some- 
 times sent out a ball which erred on the side of being too 
 hard, so that it went off the club too much like a bit of china, 
 and sometimes with disastrous effect on the club. 
 
 From these rather vague hints we must leave the beginner 
 to cull what information he can. This, above all, is to be 
 vemembered— that no ball is good when it is new. If you buy 
 
EDUCATIONAL, 23 
 
 balls new you should keep them — unpainted for choice — in a 
 cool dark place for three months, then paint them, give the 
 paint a month to dry, and go and try to play golf with them. 
 If the paint be too old, or if too much drier be mixed with it, 
 it will chip off with the jar of the striking. 
 
 EDUCATIONAL. 
 
 Golf is best learned by imitation, and since boys, being, I 
 suppose, nearer akin to monkeys than they are when they 
 grow up, are the most imitative of human creatures, it follows 
 eveD from that that golf is best learned as a boy. Moreover, 
 it is a great matter to get into the right way of doing athletic 
 things while the muscles are growing ; for then they seem 
 to grow 2J0 that they cannot do it wrong. Unfortunately everyone 
 is not a boy, nor has every boy a good golfing model to 
 imitate, or else perhaps it would not be so absolutely necessary 
 to write precepts for a golfer's teaching. Further, no boy ever 
 learns much out of a book, so that the following remarks must 
 be considered to be intended for persons Vv^ith commonsense 
 and a faculty for applying it. 
 
 Golf — like all Gaul in Ciesar's time — is divided into three 
 parts — driving, iron-play and putting. Driving is the most 
 pleasing part of the game, because the ball looks so delightful 
 as it flies two hundred yards without touching ground (that is 
 with a wind behind), and there is a great sensuous pleasure 
 in hitting the ball truly with the driver. In old days it was 
 rather the counsel for the beginner to abjure the driver and 
 play with the cleek ; but this was before golfers were so 
 numerous, or turf on golf links so scarce. The cleek, as an 
 iron-headed club, cuts up more turf than a driver will do. 
 Therefore, do not begin with a cleek, but begin with a modi- 
 fied form of wooden club, which shall resemble the cleek in 
 being somewhat short and stiff. The resident club-maker will 
 make you one, or a mid spoon will meet the purpose. Later, 
 
24 
 
 GOLFING, 
 
 when, if ever, you acquire confidence and freedom, you may 
 lengthen your driver, and so, presumably, your drive. One 
 Bays presumably, for it is almost open to question, so slight is 
 the increase in length of drive given by a longer club. Especi- 
 ally if the beginner has had the education of a cricketer will 
 he find the shorter club more handy, for so it becomes more 
 lite a cricket-bat. Now, having hold of such a club as 
 this, it is necessary to consider the proper position of the ball 
 which you mean to strike with it — the proper position, that is, 
 relatively to the striker. 
 
 In order to get a definite starting point, I would ask the 
 learner to imagine the intended line of flight of the ball. As 
 he stands in position to strike, a line drawn from the toes of 
 one foot to the toes of the other should be, roughly speaking, 
 parallel to this imaginary line of the intended flight of the 
 ball. With regard to the distance which the ball should be 
 from the striker a good measurement is to lay the club with 
 its "heel" to the ball, and the end of the shaft should 
 then just reach to the left knee when the striker stands 
 upright. This, then, gives the manner of facing the ball 
 and the distance of the ball from the striker. To determine 
 its position relatively to the feet of the striker, a line drawn 
 from the ball in such a way as to meet at right angles the line 
 from the striker's left toes to his right toes should fall, say, 
 four inches to right of his left toe. These directions will give 
 all necessary adjustments, and it will be seen, by those who 
 know, that in them we have advocated what seems to be a 
 mean, avoiding, on the one hand, the tendency of Mr. J. E. 
 liaidlay, who places his ball for the drive almost in advance — 
 to the left— of his left foot, and, on the other hand, the idiosyn- 
 cracy of Mr. Macfie, say, who plays with the ball not much 
 to the left of his right foot. Both these are very fine players, 
 but it would be more true to say that they are so in spite of 
 their peculiarities than by reason of them. In all hints for 
 the learner we shall try to suggest the mean, merely naming 
 tlje extremes between which, if anywhere, is perfection. 
 
EDUCATIONAL. 
 
 25 
 
 The manner of gripping the club is the next subject for 
 Consideration ; for it is important, though we are disposed to 
 think that many teachers over-rate its importance. One maxim 
 may be laid down as a truism — that the beginner should grip 
 more tightly with the left hand than with the right. Somo 
 finished players say that they grip equally tightly with both 
 hands ; but then it is not to finished players that these re- 
 marks are addressed. Some players, again, hold the thumbs 
 of both hands down along — not round — the club shaft ; others 
 hold one thumb along and the other round ; others, again, hold 
 both thumbs down. As before, the mean is perhaps the most 
 advisable aim for the beginner. Let him hold the thumb of 
 the right hand round and that of the left hand down along the 
 leather. It will be seen that in this manner a stronger grip 
 is obtained with the left hand than with the right, which is in 
 itself a good thing, and, further, that the thumb of the left hand 
 helps to control the direction of the swing — that is to say, the 
 movements of the head of the club. Maybe it is possible to 
 hit a little harder with both thumbs round the club, but it is 
 of more importance to be accurate than to be powerful ; and, 
 again, it is possible, at first, to be a little more accurate with 
 both thumbs along the grip, but it does not do to get cramped 
 in seeking to be accurate. The mean is best. 
 
 Now, you have hold of the club in the right way, and the 
 ball is at the right distance from you, and your feet are in 
 proper position relatively to each other and to the ball. Re- 
 member, now, that when you begin to strike the ball you do 
 not want to be stiff, as if you had swallowed a poker and had 
 rheumatism at every joint. Do not, therefore, tighten your 
 joints ; let your knees be slightly bent, so, too, with your 
 elbows and your back ; but, on the other hand, do not crook 
 your limbs in the fashion of a dachshund, nor painfully 
 bend your back over into the attitude of a croquet-hoop — for 
 all these things are done. Let all the principal hinges of the 
 body be slightly relaxed, but not elaborately crooked. If you 
 are a well-made man — and everyone supposes himself to bo 
 
26 
 
 GOLFING. 
 
 that — the most natural angle of these joints will most likely 
 be the least Avrong. The hend of your right elbow will he a 
 good deal afiected by the manner of your grip with the right 
 hand. Many professional teachers insist on the right hand 
 being forced over the cluh until the hack of the hand is upper 
 most. Some pupils carry this to so great an extreme as to get 
 in a short time something like scrivener's palsy iu the " right 
 hand and arm. This is a pity. In moderation the turn over 
 of the right hand is good, but it is a mistake to cripple oneself 
 with it. 
 
 The club should be laid to the ball in such a way that the 
 middle line of the head — say, where the maker's name usually 
 comes — shall be just opposite the ball. The sole of the club 
 should be fair and flat on the ground — presuming the ground 
 to be smooth — and the face of the cluh should be at right angles 
 to the intended line of flight of the ball. Now, if you are 
 standing at all correctly you will find that the ball, your hands 
 and your left eye are pretty much in the same vertical plane. 
 Your hands should not be much pushed out from the body. A 
 straight line drawn from your eye to the ball should pass high 
 above them. Indeed, we think we may say that with almost 
 all good players the upper arms, almost down to the elbows, are 
 kept in gentle contact with the body. 
 
 The method of all golfers — practically speaking — when 
 about to drive is as follows : they walk up to the ball and 
 stand to it, witn reference to its intended line of flight, pretty 
 much as we have indicated ; they rest the club for a moment on 
 the ground behind the ball, so as to assure themselves of the 
 distance, then they commence a little preliminary waggle of 
 the club over the ball once or twice ; then they again rest the 
 club behind the ball for a moment, and then they draw it up 
 for the magnum opus — the heroic business of the swing." 
 This is the order to be observed; and taking the various 
 motions of the address " in chronological order we have now 
 arrived at the " waggle." The " waggle " has a use though it 
 does not appear to have one. Its use is to encourage th'3 arms 
 
EDUCATIONAL 
 
 n 
 
 into a certain freedom of movement wliicli they would be apt 
 ^ to miss if the club were drawn right away from the ball after 
 its first rest behind it. Again, the ** waggle " is a sort of 
 trial cruise, or preliminary canter, for it suggests to the driver 
 the proper direction of the swing by causing the club-head to 
 move over the ball in little sections of almost the same arc as 
 the swing itself. The club-head should not be drawn more 
 than two feet or so away from the ball in this preliminary 
 flourish, nor be allowed to follow on for more than about that 
 distance in front of the ball. The waggle should be executed 
 chiefly by the wrists, and above all it should be remembered that 
 its great use is to assure the driver that his arms are moving 
 freely while his body is planted firmly, though not stifily, on the 
 feet. The latter is a very important point. A good player's feet 
 seem to grip the ground almost as if he were quadrumanous 
 when he addresses himself to the ball. It needs no wizard to 
 see that if there be any shiftiness or uncertainty in the stand 
 the stroke must lose both in power and accuracy. So, when 
 this " waggle " has been executed, following the line of flight of 
 the swing (so near as may be, that is, considering that the 
 club in the " waggle " has to pass to and fro above the ball), 
 then the driver should again for a moment rest the club behind 
 the ball before raising it for the great effort to which all that 
 has gone before is but preface. One great point to bear in mind 
 is that the golfing stroke is a swing, and not a hit. The ball is 
 to be swept away by the swift movement of the club — it is not a 
 matter of driving at a dynamometer. It will at once be asked 
 What is the difference between a swing and a hit?" The 
 difference that we mean to imply may be explained by saying 
 that by swing we mean a motion which may be slow or may be 
 fast, may be sometimes slow and sometimes fast, but changing 
 its speed at a constant rate of acceleration or diminution. 
 
 One of the great maxims of the old golfing sages was ** slow 
 back." You were told that the upward swing was to be very 
 much slower than the downward swing. This is quite good 
 advice, but the slowness of the upward swing must not be ihd 
 
GOLFING. 
 
 slowness of a man ** trying to catch a fly on his ear/' as Sif 
 Walter Simpson so happily puts it. No ; the upward stroke 
 must be a swing no less than the downward. It must be a 
 swing, and it must not be a lift. The player should feel the 
 weight of the club-head all the while that he is raising it. 
 Farther, there should be a sort of harmony between the 
 upward and downward swing. A man in whom practice in 
 youth has engendered confidence will bring the club on to the 
 ball with a lightning speed which would lead a middle- aged 
 learner into a horrible fiasco — this young man may seem to bring 
 up his club very quickly, and indeed may actually do so ; but 
 you may be quite sure that it is not a swift movement in com- 
 parison with the speed of his downward swing — otherwise he 
 would not be a fine driver. There must be a unity ; and the man 
 who can but dare to hit slowly at the ball must make his 
 upward swing slower again, or he will lose this unity. In point of 
 fact the whole thing ought to be of a piece — the pace and 
 vehemence of the *' waggle "and the speed of the upward 
 swing all regulated by the pace of movement which the player 
 has it in his mind to give to the clab-head at the moment that 
 the club-head meets the ball. But, it will be said, there is 
 necessarily a pause at the top of a swing. That is so, but even 
 this pause has a relation to the speed of the swing and is 
 shorter where the swing is quicker. In this regard we 
 find a striking contradictory instance in the person of David 
 Brown who once won the championship at Musselburgh. His 
 is a rather slow, wild swing upward, with a tremendously long 
 pause at the top. Now David Brown is an exceedingly fine 
 golfer, but his is not the driving style on which we should 
 advise a learner, especially a middle-aged one, to form himself. 
 Here, as in above-named cases, he is a genius in spite, rather 
 than by reason, of his eccentricities. The swing, then, must 
 be allowed " to finish itself out," as it is called, at the top 
 before the club is brought down again to the ball. Fly-fishers 
 will best realise the full meaning of this counsel. Then may 
 tae club, tightly held in the left hand, and less tightly in the 
 
EDUCATIONAT^ 29 
 
 riglit, be brought down with constantly but evenly acccleroted 
 force until the greatest speed which the player can control is 
 given to it at the moment at which the face of the club meets 
 the ball. 
 
 So much, then, for the pace of the swing in its various 
 movements. The direction of the swing is the next point to 
 study. A good fandamental principle to bear in mind is that 
 the club-head should travel as long as possible, consistently 
 with sufficient force, in the intended direction of the ball's 
 flight. The correctness of this principle is almost self-evident, 
 for it is clear that if fully acted on it will ensure the ball being 
 correctly struck, and also will give the player a better chance 
 of striking it correctly, because the club-head will thus be 
 travelling for some little section of the swing in the direction 
 in which it is possible for it to meet the bail properly. Tho 
 club-head must not be describing the arc of a circle at the 
 moment of its meeting the ball — it must be travelling horizon- 
 tally if it is to hit the ball fairly, and the longer its course in 
 this horizontal plane the longer is the space in which it may 
 meet the ball fairly. It gives more margin for a little error. 
 This is, in fact, an application of the principle on which the 
 young cricketer is instructed to play forward *' from wicket to 
 wicket." He then keeps his bat moving all the time in such a 
 direction as will meet the ball fairly. 
 
 The great means of carrying into effect this principle in its 
 application to golf is to let the arms swing well away out from 
 the body as the club-head comes down. If the arms be kept 
 in to the sides the ball will be sliced and be struck with a 
 feeble, crooked blow. Now it is a maxim taught by all golfing 
 experience that the downward swing is almost sure to be a 
 repetition, in its direction, of the upward swing. If you are 
 slicing your balls and ask a professional the reason, he will 
 generally tell you that you are bringing the club up too straight. 
 Of course, theoretically, it does not matter how you are bringing 
 the club u-p — what matters is how you are bringing it down. 
 
 But the professional knows by experience, without having 
 
 c 
 
GOLFING. 
 
 theorised aLotit it. tliat if j-ou bring up tlie club in a certain 
 direction yoa Avili bring it down again in a similar direction : 
 therefore he tells you to sweep it along the ground away from 
 the ball as you take it back preparatory to bringing it down 
 again. If you take a spot on the carpet and try bringing the 
 club-head away from that spot as if it were the ball, you will 
 find that unless you sway with your body, which you must not 
 do, the only way that you can with any ease bring the club 
 away from the ball in a direction which would be a backward 
 prolongation of its intended line of flight is by letting your 
 arms straighten themselves well out as you draw the club-head 
 away. If you begin at once to bend your arms, the club-head 
 will leave the ball in a direction slanting from this line ; and 
 you may depend upon it that if you bring it away in this 
 manner you will also bring it down again in a like manner. 
 And this you must not do. Bj' the time your clab, in the 
 upward swing, has gone to an angle of about 45 degrees with 
 the plane of the horizon, your arms should be stretched out to 
 their fullest. Then they must, of course, be allowed to bend to 
 admit of the club being swung well back behind the head, and 
 this series of adjustments will naturally repeat themselves as 
 you bring the club down again. "VYe do not mean that you 
 are to neglect the direction of the downward swing altogether. 
 It is useful to remember that your arms should again be at 
 their fullest stretch when the club is again, on its descent, at 
 the same angle of 45 degrees with the horizon ; but if you can get 
 into the correct way of the upward swing you will find the reverse 
 motions much simplified. At the top of the swing the club 
 should be above the right shoulder and pointing away, behind 
 your head, somewhat in the line in which 5^ou intend to drive 
 the ball. Do not let the club strike or rest on your shoulder, 
 nor swing it round so low as to be below your shoulder. To 
 get the club into this position with any ease you will find that 
 you have to allow the body to turn upon the hips, and also to 
 allow the knee to bend inwards. Your shoulders will also of 
 cours© turn upon the backbone, as if the backbone were a 
 
EDUCATIONAL, 
 
 31 
 
 pivot on w'liich. they worked. With almost all fine drivers yon 
 will see that the left heel comes right off the ground and that 
 they aid the turn of the body by rising on to the ball, or even 
 on to the toes, of the left foot. But all these motions should 
 rather /oZ/o7.(; the swing, so as to enable it to be easily per- 
 formed, than be considered an integral part of it. They should 
 go to help the swing, rather than to make it. If you find it 
 easy and natural to raise your left heel thus off the ground, if 
 you find that it is dragged off the ground, as one may say, in 
 the motions of the swing, allow it to follow these motions ; but 
 do not make an effort to take the heel off the ground in the 
 hope of thus making the swing longer and more correct. The 
 same may be said of the bending in of the left knee and the 
 turning of the body — these movements should be allowed to 
 take place in proportion as the upward swing seems to demand 
 it of them ; they should not be made in order to form the swing. 
 
 In course of the upward swing the weight of the body is 
 transferred from both legs — or, indeed, from the left leg, for 
 this should bear most of the weight as you address the ball 
 ■ — on to the right leg, which supports almost the whole weight 
 when your hands are at their highest above the shoulder. 
 But this, again, should follow the swing naturally, and there 
 should be no effort made to effect the change. 
 
 But, it will be asked, how can this be done if the body is not 
 allowed to sway ? The true fact is that the lower part of 
 the body does move in course of the upward swing from left to 
 right, working on the hips ; but the backbone at the shoulders 
 must be steady, or must move on its own axis only, for all 
 through the swing your head shAild hardly change its pof^ition 
 at all, but must keep the eyes looking steadfastly at the bail 
 throughout. If you take your eyes off the bail for a moment 
 you will find it impossible to be accurate. Further at the 
 moment at which the club-head meets the ball your legs, l^ody, 
 hands, and all should be back again, for the fraction of an 
 instant, in the position in which all were when you addressed 
 yourself to the ball. For this is the use of the address, to shiaw 
 
32 
 
 GOLFING, 
 
 yourself tlie attitude in wHch you wish all your muscles and 
 your golf-club to be at the moment of striking. Therefore, 
 it is well to have the upper vertebrae of the backbone steady, 
 as a sort of fixed point to help you back. 
 
 Beginners, and even some who have played long enough to 
 know better, have a habit of moving forward the right foot as 
 they strike, or even of moving the left foot a little as they swing 
 back. It need scarcely be said that there can hardly be a more 
 fatal habit. It must diminish accuracy, and can give no com- 
 pensation in the way of added power. 
 
 But even after you have contrived to bring down the club 
 so as to hit the ball as described, there is a further word to be 
 said about the direction in which the club-head should travel. 
 Not only should it travel before striking the ball in the direc- 
 tion which would be a backward prolongation of the intended 
 line of flight of the ball, but even after the ball has been struck 
 it should follow on as far and as straight as possible after it. 
 And this, again, you will find can best be done (indeed, can 
 scarcely otherwise be done, except by swaying of the whole 
 body, which is still unadvisable) by letting the arms again fly 
 out straight as if they, too, were wishing to follow the ball. 
 In fact, we may put the precept very roughly, but practically, in 
 this form — to let the arms swing as far as conveniently may be 
 from the body all through the swing, both before the ball is 
 struck and after. It is evident that if you are to keep your eye 
 on the ball throughout (and this you must do) your left upper 
 arm must not swing up high, so that the elbow should come 
 before your face. You must be able to look over it at the 
 ball. 
 
 In these instructions we have tried to give brief reasons as 
 w^e went along. We may now shortly epitomise the most im- 
 portant pieces of advice. Stand steadily on your feet. Let the 
 swing be a harmony, the up-swing more slow than the down- 
 swing, but in a certain relation to it. Keep your eye on the 
 ball ; let your arms swing well away out from the body as you 
 draw the club back from the ball, and similarly as it oom^^ 
 
EDUCATIONAL. 
 
 ^3 
 
 down to tlie ball and after it lias struck it. Grasp 
 more tightly with your left hand than with the right. Let un- 
 essential motions, such as lifting the heel of the left foot off 
 the ground and bending the left knee, follow the swing rather 
 than be consciously made a part of it. Do not try to hit with 
 so much force — that is to say, speed — as to be unable t(> : 
 control the direction of the clnb-head. 
 
 When you first begin you will learn more by trying to get 
 this swing correctly without a ball than you will with ono. 
 Practice at daisies on a lawn, but, if possible, always have a 
 good golfer looking on to tell you of any faults. Then, when you 
 begin hitting at the ball, you will naturally reproduce the 
 swing without having to think about all its details. 
 
 If you want to get on you must be thoughtful. Golf is no( 
 to be learned without an effort. If you have made a bad start, 
 try to think where the error was, and have a few trial swings at 
 a daisy to correct it. Equally, if you have made an unusually 
 good one, try to reproduce it, so as to fix in your mind and 
 muscles the means by which you achieved it. There is really 
 much more fun and satisfaction to be got out of the game if 
 you take it up in this earnest way than if you go at it in a 
 slap-dash fashion. You will improve so much faster. Golf 
 altogether is as much a matter of character and temperament 
 as of eye and muscle. 
 
 But do not study the details so much as to lose all sense of 
 freedom. Keep the direction of the swing right, and keep your 
 eye on the ball — ^these are the two big things you have to think 
 of. Other details are less important, and may be taken up as 
 you find you are going wrong in them. Do not sway your body 
 is a third maxim of first-rate importance, and if you transgress 
 none of these three you cannot long go far wrong. 
 
 Still, you will always find, even when you have got the swing 
 beautifully, in the absence of the ball, that it becomes a different 
 thing when the gutta-percha takes the place of the daisy. You 
 will then find yourself irresistibly tempted to hit — not to stick 
 to the easy swing. Often, too, without understanding your 
 
34 
 
 GOLFING, 
 
 malady, you will find that you are in very bad case, and mora 
 often than not an experienced player, watching you, will tell 
 you that your eye is not on the ball. It seems as if it ought to 
 be easy to look at the ball, but experience shows us how diffi- 
 cult it is. Looking away from the ball is a sin which the best 
 piayers commit at times. Remember, too, ihat it is not on the 
 top that you wish to strike the ball, but on the hinder side. 
 Keep your e3'e, therefore, on the spot which you wish the faco 
 of the club to meet. 
 
 Of the professional or amateur teachers to whom you may 
 appeal, you will find that some are very much more helpful 
 than others. An amateur will rarely do you much good. He 
 is generally rather intent on his own game, and gives you but 
 little attention. But the professional you will pay to give you 
 attention, so you have a right to expect it. But do not let him 
 come out with clubs and balls, or, at least, let him confine him- 
 self to one club and one ball, with which he may set you good 
 examples from time to time. But on no account, at first, 
 endeavour to play a match with him ; for, if you do, it is 
 clearly absurd to expect him to take as much interest in your 
 game as in his ; and it is in your game that you want him 
 to take exclusive interest. It is by no means always the best 
 players, whether professionals or amateurs, who will give U3 
 the best advice, any more than it is the healthiest man who ig 
 the best doctor. Some have a peculiar talent for seeing what is 
 wrong. Moreover, a man who is fairly familiar with your play 
 is likely to be better able to detect the causes of your aberra- 
 tions than another. Ho is in a position analogous to that of 
 the family doctor who has been conversant with your constitu- 
 tion since your infancy. A clever teacher will not try to teach 
 you a too exact imitation of his own style, but will be intelli- 
 gent enough to see how far his methods are suited to your 
 muscles and shape. 
 
 But all success in golf is not to the driver. There are other 
 matters for your study. Tbus far we have spoken chiefly with 
 reference to the simple full swing. This swing has to bo usod 
 
EDUCATIONAL, 
 
 35 
 
 witli certain modifications when driving wiili or against a strong 
 wind, or when the lie is bad or sloping. The ball which the 
 beginner finds easiest of all to hit is, perhaps, the ball which 
 lies up hill — on a slope which tends upwards in the 
 direction of the intended line of the drive. The ball which 
 chiefly bothers the uninitiated is the ball which lies "hanging," 
 i.p,.^ on a slope tending downwards in the direction of the drive. 
 The great thing to remember when this practical problem is be- 
 fore you is that the head of the club has to travel over the surface 
 of tlie sloping ground as if the ground were flat. The direction 
 of the swing must suit itself to the incline of the ground. 
 Therefore it appears that the club-liead must be travelling 
 somewhat downward when it meets a hanging ball. The result 
 is to hit the ball rather downward. This is undesirable, and 
 the best way out of the difficulty is to use a rather spooned 
 cUib. Most beginners recognise this ; bat what they cannot 
 bring themselves to recognise is that they must allow the spoou 
 on the club to do the raising of the ball. They find it very 
 hard to get it out of their heads that they have to do some re- 
 markable gymnaslic or conjuring feat with their v^rists in order 
 to lift the ball. If they would but be content to simplify the 
 stroke, playing it as if the ball lay level, except that the ciab- 
 'head is made to travel downwards rather, as it hits the ball, so 
 as to adapt its direction to that of the ground, then they 
 would astonish themselves by the ease with which they played 
 the stroke which before had seemed so difficult. In golf, as 
 in most arts, the simplest means are the best. You should try 
 to make the game as easy for yourself as possible. 
 
 The same rule applies to driving down and against the wind. 
 Of course, down vvind you wish to drive high — against the wind 
 you wish to drive low\ Going down wind, then, tee the ball 
 high on rather rising ground — then the club, travelling over 
 the surface of the ground, \Nill be rising as it meets the ball and 
 will naturally drive it high. Against the wind tee low, and, 
 preferably, on a slight downward incline. Of course there are 
 other methods. 'When the ball is lying with a hill in frout, 
 
36 
 
 GOLFING. 
 
 the skilful player will slice it somewhat with an inft'ard draw 
 of the hands, so that the ball may rise quickly and so clear the 
 hill. Or if he wishes to keep the ball low, when the wind is 
 against and there is no high obstacle to clear, he will bring his 
 hands forward to the left of his body — thereby turning the face 
 of the club rather downward, and thus driving a wind-cheating 
 skimmer. But these are niceties which the beginner will pick 
 up as he goes along, and had better not bother himself by 
 studying. 
 
 But there is a modification of the full swing which it behoves 
 him to learn early, it is so constantly useful, and that is the 
 jerking stroke from a bad lie. The essence of this stroke is 
 that the club-head is travelling downward somewhat at the 
 moment at which it strikes the ball. But it is not travelling 
 downward in order — as when the ball lay hanging — to travel 
 on over the surface of the ground after meeting the ball, but in 
 order that it shall not be arrested by the lip of the cup in which 
 the ball is lying. The club-head has to nip in between this lip 
 and the ball ; and in order to do this it must be travelling 
 rather in a dov\'nward direction. It then goes on into the 
 ground, cutting up a fid of turf and being rather arrested with 
 a jerk in the ground — whence its name. Note this — the reason 
 of its name — and do not be misled into the idea that there 
 has been any jerkiness in the motions of the swing. The 
 swing has to be as truly a swing, and with as even motions, 
 until the ball is struck, as in the ordinary drive. It is only in 
 the meeting of club and ground that the jerk occurs. Therefore 
 all the rules which were laid down for the full swing apply to 
 the swing for this jerking shot equally. Your arms may even 
 be allowed to go away after the ball, just as in that other stroke, 
 in spite of the jerk of the club in the ground. It is true your 
 right foot may with advantage be a little more advanced, 
 because so you are better able to bring the club straightly 
 down upon the ball ; and you may, perhaps, grip somewhat 
 tighter with your right hand. But remember you do not want 
 to see how straight down you can bring tho club. Your aim 
 
EDUCATIONAL. 
 
 37 
 
 should rather be the reverse, to see how much you can sweep 
 the chib-head along the ground — in the manner recommended 
 for the drive — consistently with getting it to strike fair on the 
 ball without spending the greater part of its force on the lip oi 
 the cup. The best practical maxim is to hit in as much the 
 manner in which you would hit a teed ball as possible, 
 considering the lie of the ball. 
 
 This stroke, it is very plain, requires great accuracy. The 
 club-head has just to clear the lip of the cup and yet not to hit 
 the ball on the top. It is, therefore, more necessary in thii? 
 stroke than in any other to keep the eye firmly on the ball all 
 through the swing — and not merely to keep the eye " on the 
 ball," which would seem to mean on the top of the ball, but on 
 that exact spot on the ball which we hope will be the point of 
 impact. 
 
 It so often happens that the iron clubs are used out of 
 bad lies that many good players are in the habit of jerking, 
 in this manner, all their iron shots. Most find themselves 
 able to hit the ball straighter and with more control, and 
 certainly quite as far, in this method. But we also see very 
 fine iron players who hit the ball clean, without jerking, so 
 we may leave it as a matter of taste without dispute. 
 
 You will generally find that the shorter the club which a 
 good player has in his hand the more will his right foot be 
 advanced and the more will he be gripping the club with his 
 right hand. In the methods of the majoi-ity of St. Andrews pro- 
 fessionals this is so. The shorter the club in their hand and 
 the shorter the stroke to be played, the nearer does the right 
 foot come to the ball until, in the case of the late Young 
 Tommy Morris, one used to wonder that his putter did not 
 sometimes hit his right too. 
 
 We may leave the beginner to apply, as best he may, these 
 instructions for the full swing (whether carried smoothly 
 through or checked by jerking in the ground) to all the full 
 swings shots, whether with driver, brassey, cleek, iron, ba%, 
 or mashie ; but it will be well to give him another position for 
 
38 GOLFING. 
 
 the three-quarter shot with the iron — and this position for the 
 thi^ee-quarter shot will serve him, with modifications, for the 
 half shot, quarter shot, wrist shot and even, if it so please him, 
 for the putt. For convenience it will he as well to say at once 
 that what we mean hy the three-quarter shot is the shot which 
 is required at such a distance that the player's full iron shot 
 would carry him just a little too far. The difference in swing 
 between a full shot and a three-quarter shot we may say to 
 be that, whereas in the full shot the left shoulder swings 
 down and round on the backbone for a pivot, in the three- 
 quarter shot the shoulders practically do not turn at all. It is 
 a stroke played almost entirely with the arms and with move- 
 ments of the lower parts of the body — the legs and hips. Of 
 course the shoulders are not rigid ; they give with the other 
 motions, but they do not take a very actively energetic part. 
 (W^ do not insist on this as the only correct or possible defini- 
 tion of the three-quarter stroke, but we find it convenient to 
 adopt it, and think that it fairly describes the stroke ordinarily 
 80 liamed.) 
 
 The feet shonld be nearer together than in the full swing, 
 and the right foot should be rather in advance of the leffc — 
 by which we mean that a line drawn from the toe of the left foot 
 to the toe of the right foot, and towards the player's right, would 
 go5n meet a prolongation backward of the proposed line of 
 flight of the ball. The ball also should be not so much 
 towards the player's leffc as was recommended for the driving 
 stroke, but about midway between the feet, and, for choice, 
 rather nearer the right foot. The club may be gripped rather 
 tighter with the right hand than was advised for the drive ; 
 and, with these differences, the stroke may be allowed to be 
 very similar. The club should be brought away from the ball 
 well along the ground, the arms being allowed to go out 
 pretty straight. Again, the upward part of the swing must be 
 in a certain harmonious relation, with regard to its speed, to 
 the downv/ard part. Again, it must be allowed to swing itself 
 out behind the back, like the line of the fly fisher, bofora being 
 
EDUCATIONAL 
 
 39 
 
 brought back; and, again, the turn of the body at the hips, 
 the knuckling in of the left knee, and the rising off the left 
 heel must be allowed to follow the swing of the arms rather than 
 be made actively to encourage it. Again, the eye must be 
 kept well on the ball and the arms be sent out after the b'411 
 is struck. So, in all this, the three-quarter stroke bears great 
 resemblance to the full drive — why, then, should it be so 
 difficult? 
 
 For it is fairly generally admitted that this is the most diffi- 
 cult of all golfing strokes- — the distance most generaUy abhor- 
 red even by good players. We are inclined to think that a 
 frequent reason of fiiilure is in the peculiar difficulty of letting 
 the upward swing, in this stroke, finish itself well out before 
 the downward swing is commenced. The shoulders are not 
 "working freely, hut are kept rather stiff and taut ; and this, 
 we are inclined to think, disposes the player to hurry back just 
 a little — iso give a little jerky twitch which disturbs the smooth- 
 ness and accuracy of aim. Therefore, our advice to the 
 beginner would be to take note of this danger, and be fore- 
 warned against it, and be peculiarly careful in this three- 
 quarter shot to let the upward swing finish itself well out. 
 
 Young Tommy Morris used to say that many amateurs found 
 it peculiarly difficult to keep their eye on the ball when playing 
 iron shots because the glittering face of the iron attracted their 
 unpractised eyes to follow it when it left the ball. Make this 
 again, then, a special matter of study — that you kot^p your eye 
 steadfastly on the ball in your iron shots and in all your 
 approach shots. Some players go so far as to leave the faces 
 of their irons all unpolished, that there may be no evilly- 
 attractive glitter ; but this is an extreme measure, and is a 
 confession of weakness which ought to be overcome. 
 
 Nearly all the professionals play their approach iron shots 
 with a jerk — that is to say, the club-head goes on down into 
 the ground and cuts out a divot. The divot which the profes- 
 Bional cuts out is generally a solid slab, and if it is replaced 
 ^ith care will do little damage to the turf in its ordinary coa- 
 
4© 
 
 GOLFINC. 
 
 dition. Far more harmful are those little scrapes off of tlie 
 grass which the duffer makes in missing the shots which ho 
 intends to take clean. These bruise and scatter the roots ; 
 the other is generally in the nature of a clean cut which goes 
 beneath the roots. 
 
 But our object in mentioning this idiosyncrasy of the 
 majority of professional players is to assure the beginner 
 that there is no magic virtue in thus cutting up the divot. 
 This is a needful warning, for we have actually heard a be- 
 ginner, who was intent on this sincerest form of flattery of 
 the professional, say proudly : ** It is a poor shot, but I don't 
 care ; I cut out the divot." 
 
 As if that mattered ! The professional does not care a bit 
 about cutting out the turf ; his object was to get near the hole, 
 and it so happened that the jerking met]«od was the way in 
 which he was accustomed to play the approach stroke. But in 
 all probability the amateur who did not begin to play golf as a 
 boy will find that trying to jerk the ball adds greatly to the 
 difficulty of the stroke. For him it will appear infinitely 
 easier to take the ball clean. On every account, therefore, ha 
 ought to do so ; both because he will so make better strokes, 
 and also because he will not do nearly so much damage to the 
 green. But if the beginner finds the approach stroke with the 
 iron, however he tries to play it, of great difficulty, by all means 
 let him try whether he can do better with a baiFy, or wooden 
 spoon. There is nothing illegal or morally disgraceful, as 
 modem golfers seem inclined to think, about approaching with 
 a wooden club ; and, in fact, many very fine players of the old 
 school used to approach with nothing but wood. Only here 
 and there — once in a round, perhaps — will a stroke present 
 itself to you which a spooned wooden club will not accomplish ; 
 in such a case, say, as is presented by a bunker immediately 
 before the hole and hazardous ground beyond it. Here the 
 wooden club will, perhaps, hardly land you dead enough ; you 
 will need a laid-back iron or a mashie. 
 
 Some years ago there was a great prejudice against clubs 
 
EDUCATIONAL. 
 
 41 
 
 mncli laid back. They were considered veiy uncertain, and in 
 most cases men tried to stop the ball dead by putting cut upon 
 it, by means of drawing the head of the iron across the ball 
 at the moment of impact. Many good players, especially pro- 
 fessionals, use this stroke now, but with most players it is 
 being superseded by the use of much-lofted clubs — mashies, 
 light irons, or approaching cleeks. We are inclined to think 
 that of all these the approaching cleek is the most easy for the 
 beginner to play with. It seems to look at the ball in a more 
 straightforward, simple way than the mashies and irons, whose 
 faces always seem to present themselves at somewhat of an 
 angle to the direction in which the ball ought to go : in a 
 word, they seem easier to play straight with. The mashie is, 
 of coarse, rather a dangerous tool in the hands of a tyro, 
 becausvi it has so small a face. There is but little margin for 
 error. 
 
 Nevertheless, despite this word in favour of the approaching 
 cleek, the iron is, of course, the orthodox and recognised 
 weapon with which to approach the hole. When the distance 
 is less than that for which the three-quarter stroke is used, 
 it is commonly called a half-shot distance. Now, it must be 
 said that the three-quarter, half, quarter and wrist shots are 
 on a nicely graduated scale, so that a man could hardly say 
 with certainty at what distance one leaves off and another begins. 
 So, too, with the strokes— a man could hardly tell you whether, 
 on a certain occasion, he were playing a three-quarter or a 
 half shot. The names are rather arbitrary, and do not corre- 
 spond to any very clearly- defined differences ; but roughly we 
 may differentiate the strokes as follows : — When you are 
 just a little too near the hole for the three-quarter stroke, you 
 will use the half shot. The half shot is played similarly to 
 the three-quarter shot, save that it is executed by the arms 
 working from the elbow-joints only. Other motions, such as 
 the turning in of the left knee and rising on the ball of the 
 left foot, do but follow on in such a way as not to check the 
 motions of the fore-arms, which are the active agents of tha 
 
42 
 
 GOLFING, 
 
 swing. In the quarter shot— a shorter distance again — littla 
 part is taken in the swing by the arms above the wrists. 
 This is, in fact, a wrist-stroke ; hut it may be distinguished 
 from the wrist-stroke proper by the fact that the motions of the 
 lower limbs are allowed, as before, to follow the swing : 
 whereas the strict wrist-stroke may be said to be one in which 
 the player is practically motionless, save for his hands and 
 wrists, with which alone the stroke is played. This last, 
 therefore, is only useful for a very short loft. 
 
 But these distinctions, as we have said, are quite arbitrary — 
 it is open for any other to define the strokes differently— but 
 we do believe that it will be of service to the learner to 
 be conscious of some more or less definite difference in the 
 methods for playing strokes of these different lengths. Other- 
 wise he will be all too apt to play them with a kind of small 
 section of the full swing, quite without method, and so be 
 little likely to improve. 
 
 The shorter the stroke, the nearer the ball the player should 
 stand, and for very short strokes many players are in the habit 
 of shortening their grip on the club — in some cases lowering 
 the right hand even below the leather of the handle. It is well, 
 too, as the distance becomes shorter, to have the ball moye 
 to the right — -nearer the right toe. AVhere the problem is 
 to pitch the ball very dead, it will be found that this may 
 be best solved by holding the club rather loosely in the hand 
 — the looser the better, always provided you are able to 
 combine the looseness with accuracy. A rather straight up 
 and down swing will also tend to make the ball go high and 
 to fail dead on alighting. 
 
 The methods for putting cut on the ball are so very difficult, 
 both of description and of execution, that we prefer to leave 
 the beginner >vith the much-lofted club in his hand, or to 
 recommend him oral and practical instruction from a pro- 
 fessional player. Moreover, by the time he is thinking of 
 fuch niceties he will be rather beyond the *' beginner class." 
 
 There remain but two clubs in the set whose use we have 
 
EDUCATIONAL. 
 
 43 
 
 not iouched on — tlie niblick and llie putt:r. As tlio former 
 is the least palatable subject, let us first dispose of it. The 
 niblick, as no one can play golf long without learning, is 
 designed for getting you out of a bunker. Whether it is 
 well designed for the purpose it has occurred to many to 
 doubt, but that is chiefly by reason of their own misuse of 
 it. If you are in a whin, or in very heavy grass, the getting 
 out presents no special features. You have to hit the ball a 
 heavy, brutal blow which shall rend away all obstacles. ** Get 
 well under the ball*' exhausts nearly all the professional 
 coach's advice in such straits. But a frequent case in which 
 the niblick is called in is that of a ball lying in the sand of a 
 bunker and with the bunker cliff before it. The method of 
 treatment suitable for this stroke differs from the method of all 
 other strokes ; for in this case you must not endeavour to hit 
 the ball, but to hit downward into the sand some two inches 
 or so behind the ball. The precise distance behind must 
 depend on the nature of the sand. If the sand be very light 
 you can afford to hit quite three inches behind the ball. Or if 
 the sand be very heavy you will have to hit into it not more 
 than one inch behind the ball. Of course, in the former, caso 
 — of very loose sand — you will be able to loft the ball much 
 more perpendicularly — you will be able to get so much better 
 under it. If the ball is lying hard, a very moderate bixnker 
 cliff will be an insurmountable obstacle. 
 
 It is not at all easy to hit just the right distance behind the 
 ball, and the only way to be at all certain of the stroke is to 
 keep yonr eye fixed not on the ball itself but on the exact spot 
 behind the ball which you propose for cleavage by your niblick. 
 This sounds very simple, but in reality it is very difficult ; for 
 it is to be hoped you will have become pretty w^ell acdustomed 
 to looking at the ball when you prepare to strike it ; and you 
 will certainly find that the force of habit makes it very hard 
 for you not to lift your eye from the little speck of sand and 
 transfer it to the ball. To realise the difficulty is the best 
 )ielp towards overcoming it. 
 
44 
 
 COLFINLt. 
 
 Thus, in course of time, you may hope to reach the puttinsr- 
 green, or, if hut on the edge of the green, you may run the ball 
 up with the putter, or with the iron laid with its face ovcr so 
 as to push the hall along the surface of the ground. For this 
 is a useful stroke to learn : the hands are brought well forward 
 to the player's left ; the ball is opposite his right toe, so that 
 the face of the iron becomes almost upright as it meets the ball. 
 Then, with stiff waists, the club is pushed out, along the 
 ground, away from the ball and dragged forward again, still 
 with stiff wrists, with a slow, pushing stroke somewhat like a 
 slow forward stroke at cricket. This stroke is often useful 
 when there is some rough ground to go over just before the 
 ball, and then a clear run up to the hole. But if the ground 
 be level and clear of hazards all the way, there is no better club 
 than a wooden putter. Even if the ground be rough there is 
 scarcely a better club, if the roughness consist of small, ill- 
 defined hummocks ; for in this case it is impossible to know on 
 which side of a hummock a lofted shot will pitch. If the ball 
 pitch on the up-hill it will stop dead, but if it pitch on the 
 do^vn-hili it will run like a hare. Therefore, on ground of this 
 nature, unless there be be3^ond it a fairly level spot on which 
 your lofted approach may light, a putter is better, because you 
 can strike a rough average of the bumps w^hich your ball is 
 likely to get and regulate the strength accordingly. A wooden 
 putter is better for the long putt and for the putt over rough 
 ground than the iron putter, because the latter seems to keep 
 the ball closer to the ground and makes it so much the more 
 liable to kicks and illtreatment. But this same quality of the 
 iron putter seems to make it the more desirable weapon when 
 you are near the hole or on a very true green ; for the close 
 grip of the ground which it seems to give the ball makes the 
 latter all the more likely to go into the hole if it come across it 
 when going rather strong. 
 
 And, in fact, we see many players use a wooden putter for 
 tHeir long putts and an iron one for holing out. But all this 
 is in a great measure a matter of fancy and of confidence, as 
 
EDUCATIONAL, 
 
 45 
 
 all putting. Some men play quite long approach putts with 
 iron putters, and play them very well ; but it would appear that 
 for approaching over rough ground with the iron putter it is 
 best to hold the club rather lightly in the grip. Then the ball 
 runs more boundingly and with less of the tight hold of the 
 ground. 
 
 But of all putting, even more than of the rest of the game, 
 it is true that the great difficulty is to hit the ball correctly ; 
 and the great secret for hitting the ball correctly is to keep the 
 eye on the ball. We fancy that few golfers realise how easy it 
 is to miss-hit a putt. The results are not so glaring as in the 
 case of a missed drive, but we are only the more likely, on 
 that account, to go on with our missing and say that our eje 
 is out," or that we are " bilious," when really the trouble is 
 that we do not realise that we are continually topping, heeling 
 or teeing our putts. Evidence to confirm this will be seen in 
 the fact that a man who is quite off his putting with his usual 
 putter will often take another club and find himself putting 
 quite well with it. Why is this ? Simply because with the 
 unfamiliar weapon he unconsciously feels a greater difficulty in 
 hitting the ball true, and to efi'ect this gets his errant eye back 
 to the ball again. 
 
 But he should on no account quarrel with the result because 
 he has found out the reason. By all means let him go on 
 putting with the club he can play well with. The magic will 
 have gone from it in a day or two. Let him enjoy the novelty 
 while he may. It is always good to have an alternative 
 putting weapon — a second string when the first is out of 
 tune. 
 
 Of putting there are as many styles as there are golfers, 
 almost. Men putt badly in all styles and well in all styles. A 
 few general maxims will suffice on a point on which it is so 
 impossible to dogmatise. The best putters have seemed to us 
 to draw the putter well back from the ball before striking it, 
 so that they have hit a smooth blow without jerk. A great 
 thing is to find out the position m which it is most easy for you 
 
 P 
 
46 
 
 GOLFING, 
 
 to make tlie putter travel straiglit as it hits tlie ball — not in 
 too much of a circle. Bring j^our putter home, and study 
 out this problem on the lines of the carpet or of the boards 
 of the floor. It will not be wasted time. Imagine the ball 
 to be on a certain spot on the line, and try to see how you 
 can most easily get the putter-head working along the line 
 both to right and left of the spot. If the putter-head is 
 moving straight when it meets the ball, the ball will not go 
 crooked. 
 
 Unfortunately you do not have a line marked like this on 
 the putting-green, but it is a good plan to take a line, 
 looking from behind the ball, with your face towards the hole, 
 and select a daisy or a salient blade of grass, and make up 
 your mind that if you can get the ball to go over that you 
 will be in. If you have an index of this kind near your 
 ball you will find it less disturbing to glance at it in adjusting 
 your aim than to be continually looking up at the compara- 
 tively far-off hole. But in your approach-putts we would 
 advise you not to be over-careful in studying your direction, 
 but to get as right as possible the much more important 
 matter of strength. In putts of ten yards or over, golfers 
 err much more often in the matter of strength than of direc- 
 tion. Finally, remember the maxim which should ever be 
 on the putter's lips, " Be up." 
 
 HISTORY OF CHAMPIONSHIP, etc. 
 
 Golf is a storied game, but in the comparatively-recent past 
 there was not even a recognised bay-leaf to crown the best 
 golfers of the time. Like the great men previous to A,^p.- 
 memnon, they golfed and passed avray unrecorded. Legend 
 tells us a few stories, most of them qaite within the bounds of 
 our credence, of Allan Eobertson ; but Allan Robertson had 
 ceased to golf before the Prestwick G olf Club, in 1860, offered 
 tho Champion Belt to be played for annually over th^ 
 
HISTORY OF CHAMPIONSHIP, &-c. 47 
 
 Prestwick Links, and to be held for the year by the best 
 player. With the trophy went the title of Champion; and, 
 indeed, there seems to have been no other prizes open to the 
 golfing world to compete with it. 
 
 The belt was not given absolutely as a challenge prize. If 
 woii thrice in succession it was to become the property of 
 such winner. Its term of existence under these conditions 
 was only eleven years, for in 1870 young Tom Morris won it 
 for the third successive time, and it became his property. 
 Notice, too, that in these eleven years but three names appear 
 on the record of fiime — Park, Morris, Strath. Of these Strath 
 won once, Park thrice, while the name of Morris fills up all the 
 balance. But it was not always the same Morris. Four times 
 did "Old Tom" win the belt, against the triple victory of 
 Vis son ; but the father could not manage three successive 
 wins. The son did things better. Having begun to win, 
 almost as a boy, in 18G8, he did not leave off winning until 
 1870, when he had won the belt outright. Then there was a 
 gap of a year, no one offering a prize to take the place of the 
 belt. In 1872 the Champion Cup replaced it, and poor Young 
 Tommy showed that the nature of the trophy was a matter of 
 indifference to him, and recorded for himself the first win of 
 the cup. 
 
 The winners of the belt, from its institution do-wn to its 
 annexation by Tommy Morris, were as follows : — 
 
 18G0 
 
 W. Park 
 
 Score, for 3G holes 
 
 174 
 
 1801 
 
 Tom Morris, sen. 
 
 )> 
 
 ?> 
 
 163 
 
 18G2 
 
 
 
 >> 
 
 163 
 
 18G3 
 
 W. Park 
 
 
 jj 
 
 163 
 
 18G4 
 
 Tom Morris, sen, 
 
 
 
 160 
 
 18G5 
 
 A. Strath 
 
 '> 
 
 »> 
 
 162 
 
 186G 
 
 W. Park 
 
 >) 
 
 ji 
 
 169 
 
 1867 
 
 Tom Morris, sen. 
 
 »> 
 
 n 
 
 170 
 
 1868 
 
 Tom Morris, jun. 
 
 »i 
 
 >» 
 
 154 
 
 1860 
 
 >» >» 
 
 »» 
 
 »> 
 
 167 
 
 1870 
 
 >» »» 
 
 »i 
 
 
 149 
 
48 
 
 GOLFING, 
 
 So Young Tommy made an end of the belt, and in 1871 
 there was no bay-leaf; but in 1872 a syndicate, composed of 
 the Eoyal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, the Honom- 
 able Company of Edinburgh Golfers (who played at Mussel- 
 burgh) , and the Pr estwick Golf Club, offered a Champion Cup 
 to take the place of the Belt. The cup was to be competed 
 for on the links of each donor club in successive years. 
 Moreover, it was to be a real challenge-prize. Warned by 
 the expensive result of the all- conquering genius of Young 
 Tommy, they determined that no number of successive victories 
 should carry absolute possession of the cup. That they were 
 wise men in their generation the result has amply proved, for, 
 looking over the list of winners of the cup, one sees that 
 twice has the triple successive victory been won — singularly 
 enough in successive triads of years. In 1877, 8 and 9 Jamie 
 Andejrson won ; in each of the three following years Bob 
 Ferguson won. Each of these, then, would have won the 
 trophy absolutely, had it been under the conditions of the 
 belt. But by this time a premature death had carried off poor 
 
 Young Tommy. 
 
 
 Of winners of the Champion Cup 
 
 the record is as follows : 
 
 1872 
 
 Tom Morris, jun. 
 
 166 
 
 1873 
 
 Tom Kidd 
 
 179 
 
 1874 
 
 Mungo Park ... 
 
 159 
 
 1875 
 
 Willie Purle .. 
 
 166 
 
 1876 
 
 Bob Martin 
 
 176 
 
 1877 
 
 Jamie Anderson 
 
 160 
 
 1878 
 
 » 
 
 157 
 
 1879 
 
 
 ... 170 
 
 1880 
 
 Bob Ferguson 
 
 162 
 
 1881 
 
 
 170 
 
 1882 
 
 
 171 
 
 1883 
 
 W. Fernie 
 
 169 
 
 1884 
 
 Jack Simpson 
 
 160 
 
 1885 
 
 Bob Martin 
 
 171 
 
 1886 
 
 D. Brown 
 
 157 
 
HISTORY OF CHAMPIONSHIP, 49 
 
 1887 
 
 Willie Park, jun. 
 
 
 161 
 
 1888 
 
 Jack Burns ... 
 
 ... 
 
 171 
 
 1889 
 
 Willie Park, jim. 
 
 ... 
 
 155 
 
 1890 
 
 Mr. John Ball, jun. ... 
 
 •*• ••• 
 
 164 
 
 1891 
 
 Hugh Kirkaldy 
 
 ... 
 
 166 
 
 1892 
 
 Mr. H. H. Hiiiou ... 
 
 (72 holes) 
 
 305 
 
 1893 
 
 W. Auchterioii.o 
 
 ... ... 
 
 322 
 
 1894 
 
 J. H. Taylor 
 
 
 326 
 
 1895 
 
 J. H. Taylor 
 
 
 322 
 
 1896 
 
 H. Vardon 
 
 
 316 
 
 1897 
 
 Mr. H. H. Hilton ... 
 
 
 314 
 
 This championship is now competed for on the links of St. 
 Andrews, Prestwick, and Muiriield in Scotland, and of Sand- 
 wich and Hoylake in England. 
 
 From this list it will be seen that the open championship 
 has thrice been won by amateurs, once by Mr. Ball, and twice 
 by Mr. Hilton. It is very noteworthy that both these are 
 men of Hoylake, both Englishmen. Singularly enough, 
 though Mr. Hilton is in this unique position of having twice 
 won the Open Championship, he has never yet won the amateur 
 8vent. The institution of the Amateur Championship is of 
 recent date, and is due mainly to the energy of the Royal 
 Liverpool Golf Club (which has its course at Hoylake). 
 
 la 1885 the Boyal Liverpool Club hold a competition undei 
 the title of an Amateur Championship Meeting, and in a very 
 representative field Mr. A. F. Macfie was victor. As a con- 
 sequence of the success of this meeting a more formally recog- 
 nised Amateur Championship was inaugurated — delegates were 
 sent from all the prominent Clubs subscribing for the purchase 
 of the Amateur Championship prize, and to those delegates 
 was entrusted the business of drawing up conditions for 
 the contest and fixing its arena. These conditions are that 
 the competition shall proceed by matches of eighteen holes, 
 the pairs to be drawn, the drawing for the first heat to fix the 
 order in all subsequent heats ; each beaten player to retire, but 
 
50 
 
 GOLFING, 
 
 in case of a tie, extra lioles to be plajed until one side Tvins a 
 hole ; blanks to be put in in sufficient number to raise the 
 number of tickets, in the first drawing, to a power of two, 
 and each blank ticket to be drav/n against a player's name, 
 in order that all byes may come in the first heat. 
 
 The delegates arrange the general conditions, but the details 
 are subject to the Ptules and to the Committee of that club 
 on whose green the contest may be held. Each competitor 
 has to pay £l entrance fee — the money going to defray all 
 expenses and to buy memento medals for the winners and 
 runners-up. In 1892 a departure, in the matter of the arena 
 of battle, was introduced. The competition was held at 
 Sandwich, on the links of the St. George's Club, in Kent. 
 Previously it had been held at St. Andrews, Prestwick and 
 Hoylake, but the new battlefield gave every satisfaction. 
 
 A further alteration, made in 1896, provides that the final 
 heat shall consist of thirty- six holes, instead of the eighteen 
 that had hitherto been sufiicient. 
 
 The following gives a list of Amateur Champions. 
 
 Winner of Championship competition under the auspices of 
 the Royal Liverpool Golf Club : — 
 
 Mr. A. F. Macfie, at Hoylake 18^5 
 
 Winners of Amateur Championship since its formal inau- 
 guration : — 
 
 Mr. Horace G. Hutchinson, at St. Andrews 1886 
 Mr. Horace G. HutchinsoQ, at Hoy lako ... ]887 
 Mr. John Ball, jun., at Prestwick ... ... 1 888 
 
 Mr. J. K Laidlay, at St. Andrews... ... ]S89 
 
 Mr. John Ball, jun., at Hoylake ... ... 1890 
 
 Mr. J. E. Laidlay, at St. Andrews 1891 
 
 Mr. John Ball. jun.. at Sandwich ... ... 1892 
 
 Mr. P. Anderson, at Prestwick 189? 
 
 Mr. J. Ball, junr., at Hoylake ... ... 189 i • 
 
 Mr. L. Balfour-Melville, at St. Andrews ... 1895 
 Mr. F. G. Tait, at Sandwich ... ... 1896 
 
 Mr. J. T. Allan, at Muirfield ... ... 1897 
 
LINKS, 
 
 51 
 
 LINKS. 
 
 The Ptoyal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews is surely a 
 line-sounding name ; yet it is not one wit too sonorous a title. 
 Royal, St, Andrews is, for kings and princes have golfed — 
 indifTerently — upon its green ; and ancient, because men, royal 
 end otherwise, golfed there before they began to make history. ' 
 Still, despite the growth of Southern golf, we look to St. Andrews 
 with pious veneration as the alma mater, the fountain head of 
 golfing life and inspiration. 
 
 She is an austere parent— one might wish her a few more 
 fountains — for her soil is very hard and very much cut up by 
 the irons of her ungrateful children, who are all too careless 
 about the replacing of the turf. Also the links abound in small 
 braes or grassy faces in the centre of the course ; and if you lie 
 close behind one of these your fate is worse than that of the 
 wild knight errant who has wandered into the *' fog " on either 
 side. This quality of hardness of soil, which St. Andrews 
 shares with Musselburgh, and which is due, one may suppose, 
 to a considerable admixture of clay with the sand of the links' 
 soil, is very vexing to a player who has been brought up on the 
 softer turf of Prestwick, Westward Ho ! , or Sandwich. It is 
 not the best quality, in our opinion, for golf; yet we may bless 
 the golfer's patron saint that the St. Andrews turf is thus con- 
 stituted, for otherwise the whole links would be a Sahara. 
 They would never stand the enormous amount of play which 
 goes on upon them were they of any softer consistency. Never- 
 theless, St. Andrews, with every drawback, has noble links still: 
 they are so long — a joy to the long driver. There are none 
 of those tremendous carries from the lie which are the feature 
 of Sandwich ; but the holes are laid out so cunningly, at just 
 the ideal distances apart, that an indifferent drive is almost as 
 badly punished, though it may lie well, as a similar drive at 
 Sandwich which ends in bunker. For unless the first drive be 
 a good one, it happens at nearly every hole that the player will 
 find himself a stroke to the bad because he has not made him* 
 
GOLFING, 
 
 self for getting tip to the putting-green with his second ; er in 
 the case of the long hole, both of outgoing and homecoming, 
 with his third. This is a merit which St. Andrews s possesses 
 beyond any other links which we know, and it is a merit which 
 those whose duty it is to lay out links should fully recoguise 
 and strive to imitate. Far too many holes do we see on most 
 links which are of that most wretched length— a drive and an 
 iron shot, or two drives and an iron shot. This is a wretched 
 length, because it admits of a bad shot going un-penalised. 
 The man who has bafFed his drive has but to take a longer club 
 for his next shot than the opponent who has hit a fine one ; and 
 both may be on the green in the same number. But at St, 
 Andrews it is hardly ever so. Two really good shots will put 
 the fine driver upon the green, while the opponent, who has 
 slightly missed one or other shot, will be some forty yards from 
 the hole, and will need an heroic effort to get down in less than 
 three more, while the two faultless drives leave this feat within 
 the range of practical and simple politics. 
 
 This, we are inclined to think, is the transcendant beauty of 
 St. Andrews. Moreover, most of the holes are remarkably well 
 guarded by bunkers, and bunkers of a very fair sort; for 
 they are deep and rather hard at the bottom, so that it almost 
 always happens that they exact the penalty of one stroke in the 
 getting out. But they very seldom exact more, unless the 
 niblick shot be a bad one, for the lies in them are never des- 
 perate. Most of these bunkers are more or less in the middle 
 of the course and close around the hole ; but there is not an 
 unfair shot on the course. There is always good lying — barr- 
 ing the misadventure of lying behind a brae or in an iron-skelp, 
 which is, more or less, of the machinations of the evil one — if the 
 ball be well and straightly struck. On the first and last five 
 holes the putting-greens are very fine, and of those towards the 
 find of the course we may say that, considering the amount of 
 play, it is wonderful that they are no worse. Many object to 
 the St. Andrews bunkers that they are sunken and do not 
 show themselves to the player at the tee ; but you will need to 
 
LINKS. 
 
 S3 
 
 be exceptionally fortunate if a few rounds do not make you 
 fairly acquainted with their whereabouts. Some of the holes 
 are on little plateaus, with banks towards you ; and since the 
 turf is so hard that a ball pitching on the greens can hardly be 
 made to stay there, the "running up " stroke with the iron is a 
 very useful mode of approach to cultivate. 
 
 The links are in the form of a shepherd's crook, with the 
 handle turned towards St. Andrews. The eighth and ninth 
 holes are on the short bend of the crook, towards the town, 
 and the tenth and eleventh on the short bend away from the 
 cathedral city. Then, all the way home you have the town 
 revealing to you tower after tower of its fine buildings and 
 noble ruins, which are given you as landmarks in the navigating 
 directions of your caddie. From the great play upon it the 
 green is wide, the whins which used to hem in the course 
 having become so trodden away that it requires some skill in 
 going off the line to find them. Yet, still, the round is not 
 done in small numbers. The medal has never been won in 
 less than 82 strokes ; and though Hugh Kirkaldy has been 
 round in 73, and his brother, Andrew, in 74, these are the 
 deeds of heroes and not of ordinary men. 
 
 Right across Scotland, on the west, is another very famous 
 links, and very different from St. Andrews : Prestwick, in Ayr- 
 shire. Prestwick golf is different from St. Andrews golf. The 
 soil is softer — it is the real links sand, with a fine carpet of 
 turf. Prestwick is a private course, belonging to the members 
 o( the club ; and its privacy is its salvation, for it could never 
 carry on its existence under the amount of play which St. 
 Andrews with difficulty survives. Prestwick, in old days, was , 
 but a twelve -hole course, but they were twelve of the best — 
 some say the very best — that could be found anywhere. Great 
 big bunkers and undulating sand hills to carry, with holes ia 
 dells and punch-bowls amongst the hills were its character- 
 istics in those days ; and these it still keeps. But, further, 
 it has added other holes " beyond the wall," which are, for the 
 most part, flat, with a streamlet menacing the crooked driver. 
 
S4 
 
 GOLFING. 
 
 But betwixt tv/o level pastures runs a portentous ridge of sand- 
 hills, appropriately named the " Himalayas/' over which the 
 golfer must drive his bailor pay fearful penalties. On the 
 homev/ard journey the perils of m.ountains are enhanced by 
 the stream v/hich courses along their feet, and which is then 
 on the far-side of the mountain from you. It takes a really 
 good drive to carry both Himalayas and burn. It is, of course, 
 possible to get into the burn on your outgoing shot over the 
 mountain ; but this can only be done by the worst of *' tops," 
 for you tee on the very brink of the stream. The Cardinara 
 Nob is perhaps the most famous of the great bunkers, and 
 probably it has cost more strokes than any other bunker into 
 which a golfer has ever got. For, besides being deep and 
 broad, it is palisaded with boarding to keep the edges perpen- 
 dicular. Above all, it does not present itself as a hazard to 
 be carried from the tee — that is, on its outgoing and more 
 terrible aspect, but as a crux for the second shot. Now, many 
 men top the ball from the tee, but more top it from the place 
 which it goes to after the tee shot. Therefore, we again 
 affirm it, more men get into the Cardinal's Nob, compared with 
 the number Vv'ho try to get over it, than into any other bunker 
 in the world. No one who has played at Prestwick will fail to 
 associate his golf on these links with the excitement of running 
 up one of the great hills to see how near the ball has rolled to 
 the hole which is known to be in the hollow just over the hill. 
 And the joy of finding that your own ball has rolled down 
 dead, while your adversaria's has stuck upon the hill-side, is 
 quite ecstatic. The scenery from these hill-tops is less beautiful 
 than the sight we have just conjured up, but only a little less. 
 There is Arran in the distance, and all the beauties of the 
 Ctyde estuary nearer at hand ; but, needless to say, the golfer 
 does not look at them. In the dim distance is the Mull of 
 Cantire, on which is a noble golf-links. Machrehanish is its 
 name, and its natural golfing features are second to none ; but 
 as it is as hard to get to as its name is to spell or to pronounce, 
 its golfers are comparatively few. But nearer there are the 
 
LhXICS, 
 
 55 
 
 beautiful links of Troon, and it makes a nice change from 
 Frestwick to play the first nine of the Prestwick holes, then 
 to walk half-a-mile across the hents to the end hole of Troon, 
 and finish your eighteen there. Then lunch at Troon, and play 
 back in reverse fashion in the afternoon. Even in Arran, a3 
 well as in the " adjacent islands of Great Britain and Ireland," 
 there is a golf-links now ; and there is one as far noi-th aa 
 Kirkwall, in the Orkneys. 
 
 But of greater golf-links there are Dornoch, Montrose, and 
 Carnoustie — the last perhaps the best, if the former-named 
 will pardon our saying it. If St. Andrews and Prestwick 
 were put together and then divided, you would get a dividend 
 much like Carnoustie. Its characteristics are in the mean 
 between the characteristics of the other two, save that its soil 
 is, if anything, lighter than Prestwick. North Berwick de- 
 serves a high place amoDg Scottish' links, though it is too 
 short to be first-class ; but what there is of it is so charming. 
 There are eighteen holes, and almost all of them are little ones, 
 but the chances of misadventure are infinite in number and 
 variety. There are stone walls, fir woods, the sea, the rocks, 
 a turnip-field, a quarry, a walled garden, bathing machines, 
 perambulators, nursemaids, and a horrid place just below Point 
 Garry which they call the bear-pit. Besides these, there are 
 plenty of bunkers proper — so that when all these things are 
 put into small space the result must be sporting. Finally, the 
 putting-greens are very good, and the islands dotted in tho 
 sea make the scenery always delightful. 
 
 Though Musselburgh has never had more than nine holes, 
 they are nine good ones ; though, we fear, lesa good than 
 they used to be. It is so near Edinburgh, and Edinburgh is 
 the home of many a golfer. The whins are trodden away, 
 almost to vanishing point ; but the bunkers, including the 
 famous Pandy, are as formidable as ever. A great deal of very 
 good golf is played at Musselburgh even now. It is, more- 
 over, one of the greens on which the Open Championship used 
 to be played — St. Andrews and Prestwick being the others. But 
 
56 
 
 GOLFING. 
 
 the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers has now re- 
 moved and taken the Open Championship with it, from Mussel- 
 burgh to Muirfield, further down the Forth, where its members 
 will find finer turf and fewer golfers. All this Forth coast is 
 golf-links. Luffness is remarkably fine, and Gullane scarcely 
 less so. Nearer North Berwick is Archerfield, and now Muir- 
 field is laid under the golfer's requisition too. 
 
 And so we may leave Scotland, with many apologies to the 
 many noble links of which lack of space obliges us to refrain 
 from speaking. 
 
 Blackheath, the oldest of all English Golf Clubs — indeed, 
 the club whose legends go further back than even those of the 
 Royal and Ancient — is not all that its traditions seem ,to 
 promise. There are seven very long holes, but the soil is 
 flinty, the lies are not good, roads are the chief hazards, and 
 unsympathetic passers-by are ubiquitous. 
 
 Wimbledon is still, we think, the best course near London, 
 despite the growth of Chorley AVood, Tooting, Mitcham and 
 all the rest. At Wimbledon there are real whins, a real pond 
 and real reward for good play. The lies are not all that one 
 could wish, but the putting-greens are sometimes very fair ; 
 and the beauty of those birch-clad ravines over which we have 
 to drive, and of the surrounding distance, mellowed by the 
 suburban fog, are scarcely to be matched on links much more 
 remote from the metropolis. 
 
 Guildford is good, too, but this is further away; and the golfer 
 who can go so far as Guildford may perhaps be able to spare 
 the time to seek some of the excellent seaside links of v.hich 
 England now has a number. 
 
 From Blackheath the love of golf spread first to Westward 
 Ho ! — and what links can beat Westward Ho ! in the beauty of 
 its lies, its indefinitely large putting-greens, its tremendous 
 bunkers, its horribly sharp rushes ? There is the true seaside 
 links turf in its finest quality. Nowhere in the world do men 
 go often take the driver for the second shot ; you always lie 
 teed. The Westward Ho I course used to begin from beside 
 
LINKS. 
 
 57 
 
 the old iron hut, planted amongst the boulders of the pelble 
 ridge which protected it from the thundering sea. But now 
 the course starts on the hither side of that common, known as 
 the Northern Burrows, on which Amyas Leigh played — but 
 did not play golf. So the first tee is handier, and nearer the 
 golfer's home ; and if the first three holes be flat, they ai'e not 
 without such incidents as a burn to receive the gross top, 
 and ditches and rushes in small patches to punish subsequent 
 inaccuracy. Then we come to the region of big bunkers 
 and long carries and assegai-like bundles of rushes. Finishing 
 out the round, by way of the flat country, the approach to the 
 last hole is exceedingly fine, for the green is just beyond a 
 stream, somewhat too stagnant to merit its name of burn, but 
 planted so as to try the nerves of the approacher most shrewdly. 
 But the great glory of the links are the lies, which are every- 
 where so fine ; and it has this additional feature, that whereas 
 on many a links it is sufficient to drive far and straight, at 
 Westward Ho ! you will often find yourself driving for a 
 particular spot. You must know how far you are going, as 
 well as how straight. As a school of golf this is its great value. 
 
 From Westward Ho ! Liverpool men conceived the idea 
 they might play golf at Hoylake. Heretofore it had, perhaps, 
 seemed scarcely right — almost sacrilegious — to the many Scots- 
 men in Liverpool to think of golf south of the Tweed. But 
 Hoylake soon flourished. There are none of the mighty 
 carries there for which Westward Ho ! was then so famous, 
 though in that matter its glory has been eclipsed by that of 
 Sandwich. But Hoylake is a course which makes the erratic 
 player pay fearful penalties. Above everything he must be 
 straight. Then he is rewarded by reaching, in due course, a 
 putting-green which is not to be matched anywhere. For 
 years the putting-greens at Hoylake have been a marvel ; and 
 now that the links are extended in among the Western sand- 
 hills, they are no longer to be called flat, or without incident, 
 even by the sourest caviller. That men can learn fine golf at 
 Hoylake. Messrs, Johnnie Ball and Hilton have proved to us. 
 
58 
 
 GOLFING, 
 
 But if one liais heard it said of Hoylake, before its exlensJon, 
 that it lacked variety and incident, this complaint can, b) no 
 means, be laid to the charge of another great Englis.h golf- 
 links, Sandwich. Here we find bunkers on a colossal scale ; 
 a green committee, too, who are disposed to give these bunkers 
 their full value by putting the tees far, far back— too far 
 back, some say — so that only the fine drives of the fine 
 driver will carry them. This is the links for the strong man 
 delighting in his strength ; for though there be bye-ways 
 among the bunkers, marked by blue flags, for tlie shorter 
 driver, we have found our hearts full of pity for this poor man 
 when we noted the doubtful nature of his path. But, after all, 
 who, in his heart of hearts, really beheves himself to be a 
 short driver ? All go for the long carries, and enjoy the 
 struggle. Sandwich is not Paradise, how^ever ; there are bad 
 places in it. One or two holes down by the seaside are poor 
 things, and the lies '* foggy.** But, on the whole, it is a noble 
 course, and the putting-greens all the more to the credit of its 
 promoters that so many of the greens are artificial. The 
 maiden, a hole which may be reached in one, if that one clear 
 a really mountainous bunker clifl", is perhaps the gem of the 
 course. But Hades, a somewhat similar, though not quite so 
 awful, hole, is fine, too. These are fascinating, but for real 
 golf we are inclined to think the fourteenth is, perhaps, the 
 finest. It is long — three good shots wiU reach it, and for 
 each shot there is a hazard to carry. A brook awaits a 
 missed second shot, and there is a bunker just before the hole. 
 The seventeenth, again, is a beautiful hole, reminding one of 
 the seventeenth at Prestwick. The second shot carries you 
 into a great dell among the hills, and you pant to their 
 summits to see how near the hole your ball has rolled. 
 
 In point of seniority, Bembridge, in the Isle of Wight, ia 
 before Sandwich. Bembridge is very good, but it is very 
 little. There are but nine holes, none of them are very long, 
 and the course criss-crosses like a cat's-cradle* But what there 
 is of Bembridge is so very good, The lies are good, th^ 
 
LINKS, 
 
 59 
 
 palting-greens are good ; when there are not too many golfers, 
 there is scarcely a better place for golf. When the links are 
 at all crowded you are far safer in a French duel, or even in a 
 London crossing. 
 
 Norfolk has good golf-links. There is Great Yarmouth, and 
 the golf at Great Yarmouth is of very fine quality — good sandy 
 turf, fine putting-greens, menacing bunkers. No man can 
 return a good score at Great Yarmouth without playing real 
 good golf, and it is the full eighteen holes in length. 
 
 A little further north is Cromer — again good golf, though 
 not so good. But better than Cromer, and perhaps better than 
 Great Yarmouth even, is Brancaster. The Brancaster links 
 are a new discovery, but they promise very great things ; and, 
 though so little has been done to the ground, it possesses such 
 natural capabilities for golf that the promise has already begun 
 to fulfil itself. Even now the Brancaster Club has played a 
 match with Cambridge University, and defeated the Cantabs. 
 
 The Cantabs have a strong golfing team. They beat Oxford 
 with ease. But both Universities are to be pitied for the 
 quality of their links. 
 
 The mention of all the good golf-links in England and Scot- 
 land would fill a chapter with their bare names. Alnmouth is 
 good, so are Blundellsands, Lytham, St. Anne's aud a host more. 
 But in Scotland we have not even named Leven, Elie and 
 Earlsferry ; so we will leave others with an apology that space 
 does not allow our speaking of their merits, and see what the 
 layer-out of a new links should have in his mental vision when 
 he begins his hard task. 
 
 Much, of course, depends on the quality of the ground and 
 of the hazards. Difficulties divide themselves generally into 
 too much growth or too little. The most common problem 
 is, perhaps, to get rid of whins. They must be cut down and 
 the stubs kept fiush with the ground, if they are not rooted up. 
 The human foot is a great clearing agent, and so is the golfing 
 niblick. If doubtful whether to spare a whin or to uproot it, 
 err rather on the side of leaving it. Your golfer will soon 
 
6o 
 
 GOLFING, 
 
 clear wliins so thorougUy away, in grubbing after bis ball ai d 
 in efforts to hit it, that you are soon likely to repent that yea 
 did not leave bim more of it to do. Your links are apt to 
 become too easy. But in your clearing or your sparing you 
 should exercise discretion. Try to arrange matters so that 
 there shall be some hazard for the teed shot to carry ; and this 
 achieved, give the successful driver his reward — give him a 
 reasonable-sized clear space to lie on. The more hazards you 
 give him to right and to left the better, but the straight course 
 may also be too narrow. The race-course at Wimbledon is fa? 
 too narrow for erring humanity. 
 
 Neither must you make the carry too severely long, for there 
 are drivers and drivers, and a moderate player ought to have a 
 reasonable chance of carrying the obstacle if he hits a fair ball. 
 Failing this, you should give him some bye-way, by which he may 
 stealthily circumvent the hazard, though for this pusillanimity 
 it is only fair that he should pay some penalty in distance. Of 
 course all this applies equally to the second shot. It, too, 
 should, if possible, have some hazardous risks, but it again 
 should have its reward if it surmounts these risks successfully. 
 
 It is a great thing to have your holes well guarded with 
 hazards on the hither and farther sides and round about them. 
 Of course few holes are thus completely circumvallated, but 
 you should keep this principle well in mind, for the hazards 
 will call out the skill of the approacher. And all this applies 
 equally to hazards of every nature, from whins and sand 
 bunkers down to rough rank grass. Often you may take 
 advantage of a wall or road in the absence of more legitimate 
 golfing difficulties. Sometimes you may be driven to invent 
 hazards, by throwing up banks, cutting bunkers or planting 
 bushes. The last is always an unsatisfactory method. Good 
 golfing soil is seldom good for vegetation. It will always be 
 necessary to fence round the growing plantation; and that 
 which it has taken two years to grow, a very few golfers 
 will destroy in a fortnight. If you have to throw up banks 
 it is best to leave broken the ground from which you cut 
 
LINKS. 
 
 61 
 
 tliein and tlirow the bank up on the further side from the 
 rough ground. Thus the ground itself becomes part of the 
 hazard. Do not throw your banks straight across the course, 
 but in a sinuous curve, for so they are much better golfing 
 hazards and much more pleasing artistically. Build the lank 
 pretty wide, so as to give it solidity, and make the side from 
 which the player will approach it steep, the other side sloping. 
 Of course you will turf it — on the sloping side at all events — 
 otherwise it will soon crumble away. If the angle of the bank 
 is so steep that the new turfs will not lie on it, skewer 
 them in with wooden stakes, after beating them firmly down 
 with the flat of a shovel. 
 
 But on many links the trouble is that the turf is too light 
 and sandy, without sufficient vegetation to hold it together. 
 This gives bad lies and makes it liable to be cut up very 
 easily. There is a peculiar kind of grass seed useful for sandy 
 Boil of which Mr. Tom Morris, at St. Andrews, has the secret — 
 though perhaps he shares it with Mr. Sutton, of Reading. It 
 is not very satisfactory, however. It is said to grow, but birds 
 eat it or golfers hack it up, and there is little result. It is far 
 better to mend your sand with clay. Get some road scrapings 
 — they are the best things in the world for this friable soil, for 
 they are clayey and full of grass seed, and the Local Board will 
 generally give them to you for the carting away. Spread this 
 road scraping thinly over the sand and the result is sure to be 
 good. If possible do this while the scrapings are damp and 
 rather muddy, and when you think there is rain coming — there 
 is generally rain coming. Then, if you sow ordinary grass seed 
 on this, you will give the soil a better chance. 
 
 Too much rolling is a mistake. On some inland links wo 
 have seen the putting-greens rolled so much that the watery 
 mud had been squeezed out of the ground and had dried in a 
 thin cake all over the green. This makes a horrid surface for 
 putting. You want grass on your putting-greens, as much of 
 it as you can get, but as short as possible. If the grass ou 
 your putting-greens is coarse and rank, sea-sand sprinkled on it 
 
62 
 
 GOLFING. 
 
 will do much to fine it down. But for all sorts of coarseness^ 
 and tuftiness of turf there is no amelioration equal to the human 
 foot. A dozen men playing golf for a week over a rough common 
 will make a difference such as no one who has not seen it could 
 believe. Some few soils may be too tender to bear the tramp- 
 ling — may be so sandy that even the flat of the foot will tear 
 and bruise the roots. But on far the most qualities of turf the 
 treading of feet hr.s a consolidating effect which no rolling can 
 equal. There comes a time when turf may grow to be too 
 solid — too hard. In this condition it is what is termed root- 
 bound. The surface is packed so tight that the young blades 
 cannot get through it. Then it becomes necessary to give the 
 turf a rest, to water it well, and to prise it up, without break- 
 ing the surface altogether, with a long-pronged fork — ^not a 
 Sinner fork, but an agricultural instrument. This loosens the 
 mould around the roots, giving them fresh room to expand and 
 so to put forth vigorous young blades, which will then begin to 
 push up through the surface thus loosened. The signs of this 
 root- bound condition are a thinness and a general yellowness 
 of the grass, as if it were parched by a drought, combined with 
 great hardness of soil. Putting-greens on which there is much 
 walking are especially liable to this complaint. 
 
 In the laying out of your putting-greens you should endeavour 
 to have a space, clear of hazards, of the size of at least forty 
 yards in diameter. The holes should be shifted a yard or two 
 whenever the turf immediately around them appears too much 
 worn or whenever the sides of the holes themselves are at all 
 broken. Sections of iron cylinders let into the holes will 
 preserve their shape much longer than if they were without this 
 support ; but on no account should the rim of the iron be above, 
 or indeed quite flush with, the edges of the holes, otherwise it 
 will tend to keep out a well played putt. The best irons of all 
 for the holes are those which have a cross bar with a hole in it 
 for the flag which shall mark the hole. For the flag, without 
 this support, keeps falling over against the edges of the holes 
 and wearin g them awaj. Any of the London shops which supply 
 
GOLFERS AND STYLES. 
 
 63 
 
 golfing requisites should be able to furnish you with such irons ; 
 or they may easily be made, on your description, by a black- 
 smith. 
 
 The teeing grounds should be marked with whitewash, or, 
 preferably, with discs of whitewashed tin with a long nail let 
 through them to keep them in the ground. We think the discs 
 are preferable because they can be easily removed, whereas the 
 old whitewash marks are apt to cause confusion as to the now 
 tee. The tees, like the putting-greens, should be changed 
 whenever the ground becomes at all worn. 
 
 Your teeing grounds should be as level as possible, and 
 never hanging — i.e., sloping in the direction in which the shot 
 has to be played from them. On the other hand a little undu- 
 lation In the putting-greens h desirable, and this should be 
 borne in mind if at any time you have to level your greens. 
 All small knobs should be levelled down. This is best dona 
 by making incisions in their turf in the form of a cross, and 
 laying back the edges of the turf while the soil is scooped out 
 from under them with a trowel or with the hand. Then let the 
 edges of the turf be rolled back in place again, and you will 
 have a much less serious wound than if you had taken the turi 
 bodily oflf and replaced it. 
 
 Finally, bear in mind in arranging the length of your holes, 
 that great merit of St. Andrews, where one or two or three full 
 shots, respectively, will land the player upon the green, while 
 he who has at all failed in any shot, will be playing the odds 
 with an iron approach shot. 
 
 GOLFERS AND STYLES. 
 
 Nothing is so likely to make the tyro golfer sceptical of the 
 value of that mysterious quality named "style" as a survey of 
 the practices of those who have preceded him across the pons 
 asinorum of golf. They play in such various systems and there 
 seems sa little relatioa between their styles aad their success* 
 
64 
 
 GOLl^ING. 
 
 Doubtless wisdom is justified of all her cliildren — tliere i3 
 nothing to be said to them provided they succeed. But it does 
 not follow from their combining success with eccentricity that 
 they are successful because they are eccentric. Rather it is iu 
 spite of their eccentricity. And on a more careful study the 
 tyro will observe a family likeness between them all — namely 
 that they have the club moving in the right direction at the 
 moment of its impact with the ball — and it is in this that their 
 inheritance of wisdom consists. With this point in common 
 their individual differences are great. 
 
 Man is a very mimetic animal. The highest development 
 of man is the golfer, and in the mimetic quality he excels ; 
 wherein he resembles his forefather, the ape. For see how the 
 stamp of individual golfers of genius has impressed itself upon 
 the general golf of the locality in which the genius flourished. 
 The St. Andrews swing, even of to-day, still bears the sign 
 manual of poor young Tommy Morris," though it is many 
 years since his splendid golfing powers were seen on any links. 
 The fine swing of Mr. John Ball, junior, finds manifold repro- 
 ductions in many golfers in the neighbourhood of Hoylake, 
 Mr, Laidlay has inspired a multitude of disciples with the letter, 
 if not with the spirit, of that strange style of his — so entirely 
 *' ofi" the left leg " — with which he achieves such brilliant 
 results. 
 
 " Young Tommy" was a player of the most fascinating freedom 
 of swing. It is sad, indeed, that we can no longer see the 
 great original ; but all that slashing elan which every youthful 
 St. Andrews driver exhibits to-day is an inheritance bequeathed 
 by him. Mr. John Ball's characteristics are great firmness of 
 stance upon the feet, and a gripping of the club with the right 
 hand reaching far under, which is a contravention of prescribed 
 rules, but which seems, with him, to give marvellous power of 
 control over the ball. His balls start av;ay low from the club 
 with a whirr like a rocket ; then they rise toward the end of _ 
 their flight, often with a slight pull from the right, and fall, 
 after a great carry, nearly dead. There are longer drivers than, 
 
GOLFERS AND STYLES, 
 
 65 
 
 Mr. John Ball, though few have a longer carry " ; but this low 
 ball of his is a beauty in the wind, and it is an ideal stroke for 
 driving the ball up to the hole and landing it upon the green. 
 Mr. Laidlay's great merit is the approach shot. He is marvel- 
 lously correct with all his iron clubs. In all his strokes he has 
 the ball farther towards his left, as he addresses it — almost, 
 indeed, to the left of his left foot — than any other good golfer. 
 Over and over again, to the despair of his opponent, will ho 
 land himself from somewhere well off the green — often from a 
 most difficult lie — close beside the hole. And very often, when 
 he has thus laid his ball on the green, will he hole a long, stealing 
 putt, grasping his putter very low down and bending forward 
 to the ball — as if he were reaching out to play forward to a 
 rather short-pitched one at cricket — until his back is nearly 
 horizontal. 
 
 Long driving is a very great feature of the game of golf to- 
 day. By the trampling feet of many golfers courses have been 
 widened — the hazardous, rough ground on either side has been 
 worn smooth — so that length has come to be of greater value 
 than the straightness, which was all-important on the narrower 
 links of the past. Allan Robertson, that great giant of the game 
 in the days that are gone, was no gigantic driver. It was his 
 accuracy, combined with his imperturbable sang froid, that 
 pulled him through victorious in so many fights. The 
 same was the great merit of those renowned amateur players, 
 Admiral Maitland Dougal and Mr. George Glennie, of whom 
 the former, one stormy afternoon, once won the St. Andrews 
 medal after having been one of the lifeboat's crew which, in the 
 morning, rescued the survivors from a shipwrecked vessel. Mr. 
 Glennie's score of 88 was for many years the record for the St. 
 Andrews medal on that straighter course on which the old golfers 
 used to play. In those days the chief competitors were, perhaps, 
 Mr. Hodge, Colonel Boothby and Mr. Gilbert Mitchell Innes, 
 to the last named of whom especial credit is due for the ex- 
 cellence of his game, seeing that he took up golf only when his 
 4ays of 4iscretion had been reached. His is a pecuharly (|uiet 
 
66 
 
 GOLFING. 
 
 and easy swing, "wliicli picks up the ball wonderfully cleanly. 
 The late Sir Robert Hay was a beautiful player of the same 
 Bchool ; and the finished skill with which he used the now 
 almost discarded ** baffy " was a proverb. There were many 
 other notable players of like stamp whose game bore impregjj 
 of the same fact — that accuracy and science were vastly more 
 valuable than mere length of driving. They combined, perhaps, 
 the " far " with the " sure," but it was the " sure " which they 
 made their especial study. 
 
 After Mr. George Glennie came Mr. William Mure, record 
 breaking with an 85 for the medal round. Then, in 1883, Mr. 
 Alexander Stuart set a seal upon the date of the year by 
 winning the medal in the self-same figures — 83. His is a 
 long, smooth, even swing, which the learner will do well to 
 set himself to imitate, and it has received the sanction of many 
 successes. On the very day on which Mr. Stuart did this 
 record, Mr. Leslie Balfour, starting earlier, had done the round 
 in 85, and was hailed as the prospective winner. But though 
 Mr. Stuart had the better of him this once, as often again, 
 Mr. Balfour has had a lion's share of medal wins and a 
 golfing career in every way remarkable. In the Amateur 
 Championship Competition of 1892 he was all even and one 
 to play with Mr. Ball, the ultimate winner ; and in the same 
 year we see him captaining the Scottish cricket team at Lord's. 
 His is a very fine style of driving — more strong and firm 
 upon the legs than Mr. Stuart's. By a merciful dispensation 
 he sometimes misses a short putt. 
 
 Often in the fore-front at St. Andrews, and elsewhere, is 
 Mr. Mure Fergusson. His is a strong, powerful game — 
 muscular and determined. All these are of the long-driving 
 class — yet even these are not what we should term the slashers. 
 For these, among amateurs, we must look more especially 
 perhaps to the families of Goff and Blackwell, one of the last- 
 named of whom, Mr. Edward Blackwell, is, surely, the very 
 longest driver in the world. It is told of him that he once 
 drove past the long hole iu two, both coming in and going out, 
 
Leslie Balfour driving 
 
GOLFERS AND STYLES. 
 
 «n tbe same day. It is worth going to St. Andrews to see 
 him drive — that is if lie is tb^jro ; for he is oftener in California. 
 His physique combines immense strength and suppleness, 
 iiiid his swing is so magnificent that he seems to get into the 
 ball every ounce of this tremendous power. Nor is h», by any 
 ireans, erratic in his drives. Some years back, before he 
 vent to America, he played two matches, against Mr. Laidlay 
 and Jack Simpson respectively. Both the latter were at the 
 top of their game at the time, but Mr. Blackwell defeated 
 them both with ease, entirely by virtue of his enormous driving. 
 Willie Campbell was carrying for Mr. Laidlay, and expressed 
 himself as fnirly amazed. Mr. Blackwell's " carry " was said 
 habitually to land him beyond the spot at which Mr. Laidlay's 
 ball stopped running ; and Mr. Blackwell hits r-ather a running 
 ball ; nor is Mr. Laidlay, by any manner of means, a short 
 driver. Jack Simpson fared not a whit better at his hands. 
 Both were overwhelmed by the distance by which they were 
 out-driven. 
 
 It would, perhaps, be a near thing in a driving match be- 
 tween Mr. Blackwell and Douglas Rolland. Rolland's carry" 
 is enormous — quite as long, probably, as even Mr. Blackwell's ; 
 but we are inclined to think that Rolland's ball does not 
 run so far. Still ho is a huge driver — of very pov/erful 
 physique, and hitting the ball with a rather slow, but very 
 strong, body blow. Oar meaning is that he swings his body 
 upon the ball rather more than do the majority of fine drivers. 
 Holland is green-keeper now on a Southern links, but he 
 learned his golf at Elie and Earlsferry, in company with the 
 great family of professional golfers — the Simpsons. Jack 
 Simpson was champion one year, and has a very fine style 
 indeed at golf. We remember that Mr.Everard somewhere speaks 
 of him as having the finest swing of any man who ever played 
 golf. Mr. Everard is, of course, speaking of those who have 
 come within his personal ken ; but his experience of golf is a 
 long and veiy wide one. Mr. Everard's own game is an 
 example of what great results persistent resolution can pro- 
 
68 
 
 GOLFING. 
 
 duce out of a style which is certainly the reverse of promising. 
 Mr. Everard did not take seriously to golf very early — ^rather 
 he interested himself in tennis and cricket ; hut he is a St. 
 Andrews medallist, and has won many distinctions in many 
 places. 
 
 One of the easiest and most elegant, as it certainly is one 
 of the most effective, styles that modern golf can show us is 
 that of Harry Vardon, a native of Jersey, who learned his 
 golf on the excellent links in that Island, and is now engaged 
 on the Ganton course, near Scarborough. He won the 
 Championship of 1896-7 in a sensational manner, tieing with 
 J. H. Taylor, who had been champion of both the preceding 
 years, and beating him, after a fine fight, in playing off for 
 decision. A quiet ease is the characteristic of Vardon's 
 driving swing ; he never seems to force the stroke at all, and 
 yet one is fairly astonished at the distance that the ball is 
 driven by these seeming easy means. And when one takes 
 Vardon's club in hand, the wonder is only increased. It is 
 shorter and lighter than the average — we have said that 
 Vardon's style of stroke is an easy, quiet one — and we have to 
 seek the explanation of the length of its driving in the perfect 
 exactness with which the player strikes every ball. The 
 motions of the golfing swing make up an effect of great beauty 
 as he displays them. He has a fine long approach up to the 
 hole, too, with a heavy driving mashie, using it with a half 
 swing. 
 
 The great antagonist whom he defeated so gallantly, and 
 with such fine nerve, for the Championship, has a very different 
 style. Squareness and strength, one would say, are its char- 
 acteristics. Taylor is, himself, a squarely-built, very strong 
 young fellow. He plays every shot with his right foot a good 
 deal in advance of the left— almost as if every shot were a half 
 iron shot. His swing is not a very long one, and he seems to 
 get the power from the great strength of his forearm. His 
 driving, at the time of his double win of the Championship, 
 when he was in better form than we have since seen him, was 
 
GOLFERS AND STYLES, 
 
 69 
 
 notable for its wondei-ful straightness and a uniformly low 
 trajectory that was very useful on a windy day. Straightness 
 rather than great length (though he is sufficiently long) has 
 always been the feature of Taylor's driving. But if his game 
 was noteworthy for this straightness of drive, the straightness, 
 the accurate judgment and the dead loft of his mashie ap- 
 proaches were yet more remarkable. It was these qualities 
 that won him his championships even more than the accuracy 
 of his long game, and he has studied and worked out a special 
 method of mashie play, which he confidently believes to be the 
 secret of his success. 
 
 Vardon's clubs when he won the Championship, and drove 
 really very far all the while, were unusually short and light, 
 and from this circumstance a fashion set in, which is still in 
 vogue, of short driving clubs. Sayers, who used to play with 
 a club hugely long in comparison with his height, has shortened 
 it down very much, drives just as far as ever he did, and a deal 
 steadier. More lately again, Taylor, Vardon's victim in this 
 tie for the Championship, has followed his conqueror's lead, 
 and he, too, is playing with short clubs now. Many others, 
 both professional and amateur, have adopted the same plan, 
 so that clubs generally are shorter and also lighter, than was 
 the case six or seven years ago. 
 
 One of our largest drivers and very best players is James 
 Braid, engaged at present at Romford, in Essex. Braid learned 
 his golf on the neighbour links of Leven and Elie, which are 
 noted for the long drivers — Rolland, the Simpsons, etc. — that 
 they have sent out into the golfing world. Braid, who is a cousin 
 to Rolland, is as long as any of them, and perhaps the best 
 player of them all. At the Championship Meeting of 1897-8, 
 he was second only to Mr. Hilton, and only a stroke behind 
 him on the four rounds played. Since that championship he 
 has been playing in wonderfully good form, and has had the 
 better of almost all that have met him. His is a long, loose, 
 not strikingly graceful style, but its power is terrific, and he is 
 as sure with all his short clubs as he is far with his long ones. 
 There is no club in his set that he does not handle like a master. 
 
70 
 
 GOLFING, 
 
 But the pride of the whole professional class at the moment 
 of writing — that is to say, shortly before the Championship 
 Meeting of 1898-9 — has been brought low by the great victory 
 of Mr. Hilton in that meeting at Hoylake in which Braid came 
 second to him. It is a sufficiently great feat for an Amateur 
 to have won the Open Championship at all ; but Mr. Hilton has 
 won it twice. No other amateur except Mr. Ball has ever 
 won it, and Mr. Ball has only won it once. Curiously enough 
 Mr. Hilton has never won the Amateur Championship, but his 
 greatest strength has generally been shown in score play rather 
 than in matches by holes. Mr. Hilton, it scarcely needs to 
 say, is a past master in all departments of the game. He has 
 always been a remarkably good short game player, and lately 
 he has added many yards to the length of his driving, which 
 was all that was wanted to put him at all points equal with the 
 best. He has a way of playing his approaches straight up to 
 the hole, without any curve in the air, which scarcely any other 
 player except Taylor and very few besides have achieved. In 
 addition to this he has one or two shots rather peculiar to him- 
 self, notably a half shot with the brassie, which he often uses 
 with deadly effect. Of his driving style the chief character- 
 istic is its fine finish, the way in which he lets his body turn 
 right round to help in the follow on, while the club comes right 
 back over the left shoulder. But temperament seems to have 
 as much to do, as the muscular adjustments, with Mr. Hilton's 
 success. He is always good-tempered and cheery in good and 
 evil fortune alike, never losing heart and never being frightened 
 by the excellence of a good score. 
 
 There is but one golfer who has really taken any change at 
 all out of Braid since he ran up so well for the championship, 
 and this is that stubborn good match player Andrew Kirkaldy, 
 and this was only in an eighteen -hole match that they played at 
 Mitcham. Andrew is the eldest of the three brothers, of 
 whom poor young Hugh, the ex-champion, is no more. The 
 latter's style was most fascinating to watch, long, free and 
 fearless. Andrew has not the same delightful style — his is a 
 stronger, more squarely-built figure, and his swing, accordingly. 
 
GOLFERS AND STYLES, 
 
 71 
 
 is shorter. But he gets a very long hall with this short swing, 
 and in the shorter approaches is more than a match for his 
 brother at his best. Hugh's great faculty lay in playing his 
 full shots, full drives, right up beside the hole. No man, 
 probably, has so often holed in two from long distances, but 
 from 80 yards, downwards, Andrew has probably much more 
 often holed in two. It is in match play that Andrew Kirkaldy 
 has shown his chief strength. Unlike Mr. Hilton, of whom 
 we have just been speaking, Kirkaldy seems at his best in 
 the play by holes, whereas Mr. Hilton's greatest triumphs 
 have been in scoring play. One of those with whom Kirkaldy 
 played, and won, a great match was Willie Park, a player of 
 delightfully easy style, with which, nevertheless, he drives a 
 long ball. Park has twice been champion ; but Kirkaldy beat 
 him in a long match. At the moment of writing Park is 
 purported to have issued a bold challenge offering to play any 
 man in the world for £100, his only condition being that the 
 match shall be played on a seaside green. It will be interesting if 
 his old enemy, Kirkaldy, takes him up. But as a matter of fact 
 Kirkaldy, for the moment, has another job on his hands, 
 arising out of a brave challenge sent forth by Archie Simpson, 
 of Aberdeen, and Bernard Sayers, of North Berwick, to play any 
 other two a foursome match for £50 a side. The challenge was 
 promptly accepted by Andrew Kirkaldy and Alexander Herd, 
 and this match has still to be played. Nevertheless, Kirkaldy 
 may, perhaps, steal a day or two for a single match with Park. 
 
 All the players engaged in this foursome are men of note. 
 Archie Simpson is the brother of that Jack Simpson whom we 
 have mentioned before as a winner of the championship and a 
 long driver with a fine slashing style. It is to be lamented 
 that he is no more. Archie, however, is a worthy upholder of 
 the family honour, a fine driver, too, with a long, powerful 
 style ; in every point a fine golfer. 
 
 A few years ago Herd was playing so well that it seemed 
 impossible for anyone to beat him in a scoring competition. 
 At the time of Taylor's second championship Herd was win- 
 ning everything, and it was only by an extraordinarily fine last 
 
72 
 
 ' GOLFING. 
 
 round that, even for tlie championship, Taylor induced him to 
 take second place, Herd's style has not the slashing freedom 
 of some of those others that we have noticed, but by way of 
 compensation — and perhaps, just a little more than merely 
 adequate compensation — it seems to have a remarkable com- 
 pactness, as if all its motions were under unusually good 
 control ; and this we may, perhaps, take to be the reason that 
 Herd is so very consistently good when he is in form. He is 
 a very fine short game player, and his driving is only out- 
 distanced by the very long ones. 
 
 Then there is Sayers. For awhile, for most of his golfing 
 life, he used to play with a club that seemed disproportionately 
 long for him, for he is a man of short stature and his clubs 
 used to be unusually long. But lately, following the fashion 
 that Vardon set, he has, as we have said, shortened all his 
 driving clubs, and his game is, no doubt, the better for it. He 
 plays with less elTort, and there seems to be a reserve of power 
 in him that he had not when he played with so long a club 
 that ** the tail seemed to wag the dog." His golfing career 
 has been fall of triumph, but perhaps he has seldom had a 
 greater than when he met, and beat, the redoubtable Andrew 
 Kirkaldy a few years ago in a home and home match. 
 
 Another of the North Country professionals with a very fine 
 style, and a perfect knowledge of all the departments of the 
 game, is Willie Fernie, Just lately he has made a new record 
 for the Prestwick links, on which all the best talent has been 
 playing for generations. It is he that came South and gave a 
 series of golfing lectures, which were well attended and helped 
 some crippled swings not a little. 
 
 Of the amateurs none holds quite equal place with Mr. 
 Ball and Mr. Hilton. The former has four times been amateur 
 champion and was the first to break the professional spell and 
 win the open championship from the professionals ; the second 
 has never won the amateur championship, but he has won the 
 open twice. But after these, at the moment of writing, we 
 must place Mr. F. G. Tait, who has been amateur champion 
 once, and has twice played up iji a most worthy manner for th§ 
 
PROFESSIONAL GOLF. 
 
 73 
 
 open cliamplonsliip. If a Scottish amateur is to win the open 
 championship in the immediate future we think that Mr. Tait 
 m\\ be the man to win it. His game has in it something of 
 the characteristic of Herd's — he always seems to be going well 
 within himself and to have a reserve of force which he could 
 bring out if occasion required it. With a comparatively quiet 
 swing he drives a very long ball, and he is good with all his 
 clubs — a better putter than the long driver is wont to be. 
 
 The last amateur championship meeting, held at Muirfield, 
 saw the success of Mr. Travers Allan, a young player of whom 
 little was known, except locally. He surprised all who saw 
 him play by his quiet determination, and eventually he beat 
 Mr. Robb in the final tie with considerable ease. He was very 
 young when he won that honour, and yet, before his year of 
 holding it was over, he was no more. At the moment of 
 writing there is no amateur champion, and all the golfing 
 world has felt the sadness of so melancholy and premature a 
 loss. 
 
 And now we must bring this chapter to a close, though 
 fully conscious that there are many, many players to whom 
 we owe apologies for that their names are not among the. 
 worthies we have thus casually mentioned. But even to name 
 all the first-class players, whose performances have been worthy 
 of note, and whose styles are useful patterns for the golfing 
 tiros, would fill a chapter of itself, and to the general public 
 might prove, in the words of the Scotsman, who read from first 
 word to last of the Greek Lexicon, ** Yerra interestin' readia* 
 but a trifle disconnectit." 
 
 PROFESSIONAL GOLF. 
 
 Professional golfers— that is to say, those who derive their 
 livelihood, or a portion of it, from the game — may be divided 
 into three classes — club and ball makers, professional players 
 and caddies, or carriers of clubs. Sometimes the classes run 
 into one mother, and their functions overlap. Thus, in Scotland, 
 it will often be seen that a grown man is out carrying clubs on th(5 
 
74 
 
 GOLPtNG, 
 
 Monday; on tlie Tuesday he will, perhaps, be playing at a 
 higher wage, either as partner in a foursome or as coach to a 
 tiro. The Wednesday may see him doing time-work in one of 
 the club-maker's shops. In the South this is seldom seen, for 
 English caddies are generally little boys released from Board- 
 school — sometimes very good caddies, though generally cheap. 
 Now, surely this golf-carrying business is emphatically a boy's 
 trade — beneath the dignity of manhood ; a business, too, which 
 the boy can do equally well with the man : for, though we see 
 golfers, who are big enough and old enough at the game to 
 know better, asking advice of their caddies, a man really 
 ought to play the game off his own bat (or club) without con- 
 tinually wanting counsel. Surely it is rather degrading for 
 any but a blind man to need to be shown the line to the hole 
 in a two-foot putt, or to be told what club to use when at a 
 hundred yards distance. This, of course, does not apply to^ 
 the beginner, or to a man who comes fresh to a strange green. 
 In the latter instance he will need teaching of distance and 
 pointing out of difficulties ; but a Board-school boy can do 
 this — and, in the former case, of the beginner, he will need 
 teaching everything. 
 
 The art of teaching golf appears distinct from the art of 
 playing golf — as in many like cases. One would not go so far 
 as to say that the worse a man plays the better teacher he will 
 be, as having the more intimate acquaintance with all forms of 
 golfing malady : this is Socratic irony. But it is quite certain 
 that some men have the knack of seeing the errors in swing 
 which lead to topping, or heeling, or balling and the like, in a 
 very much higher degree than others have. Indeed, we have 
 often heard a player, much off his game, exclaim in despair, 
 ** Oh, if only So-and-so were here : he would tell me in a 
 moment what I was doing wrong ! " 
 
 Different men have different ** So-and-so's," who aro 
 familiar with their golfing constitutions, and know, by long 
 experience, the remedy which will suit it. A professional who 
 has educated yoii will, other things being equal, prescribe for 
 
j-ou belter than one whom you see for the first time. Other 
 things, however, are seldom equal ; and it is found and admitted 
 that some men are better coaches than others. So, in a young 
 club, where golf is new and there are likely to be many be- 
 ginners, it is useful to find a professional who has a good eye 
 for teaching. 
 
 But there are a great many other qualities which are, at 
 least, equally important. Taking the professional golfer from 
 the point of view of the employer, it is important that the 
 professional should be a good club -maker, that he should be 
 honest and that he should be sober ; and all these qualities 
 are not always found combined in the golf professional. 
 Changing the point of view a moment to that of the 
 employed, it is, of course, not our business to demonstrate 
 to the professional the advantages of honesty and sobriety. 
 There are others to do this for him ; but what we may, perhaps, 
 be forgiven for pointing out is the enormous pull which it 
 gives him to be known to be a good club-maker — or, at the 
 very least, to know how to make a club. There are so many 
 openings, and such good ones now, for steady professional 
 golfers in the South, as keepers of greens and so on, that it 
 is midsummer madness for a caddie, who intends to make golf 
 his profession in life, to grow up without a knowledge of club- 
 making. Many do ; for they naturally, with a healthy sporting 
 instinct, deem it a better thing to win a match than to make a 
 club ; but it does not seem to pay so well ; and that is an 
 argument which few Scots despise. The rewards for good golf 
 playing are ludicrously inadequate, as compared with the sums 
 which a cricket professional can make. For winning the cham- 
 pionship, the great event of the golfing year, the money reward 
 is generally only about £20, and probably the man has paid his 
 own expenses. This is for the winner — and see what it is for 
 those who do not win. There are a few minor prizes, in a 
 diminishing scale, for the next in merit ; but it is a mere 
 nothing. Whereas £63 were collected on the ground but 
 ktely for a professional who had made a century in a county 
 
CO LP 1 KG. 
 
 cricket-matck — an ordinary county match. THs dispropor-* 
 tion is absurd. 
 
 The fault, however, is one on the right side, in our thinking ; 
 for the less professionalism there is about a game so much 
 the better for it. 
 
 On the other hand, the post of green-keeper to a good club, 
 or even to a bad club (if there are such things), combined with 
 a little business in the club and ball-making line, is capable of 
 great things. First, there is the retaining fee, paid by the club ; 
 secondly, there is payment for coaching ; thirdly — by far most 
 profitable of all, if properly managed — there is the sale of clubs 
 and balls. Now not only does a young Scot stand much less 
 chance of getting one of such billets if he be without a know- 
 ledge of club-making, but even if he do get it, he is mulcted of 
 the finest source of income which this post ought to open for 
 him. The demand for clubs and balls is very much in excess 
 just now of any decent supply of them ; therefore it cannot fail 
 to be of the first advantage to every rising young professional 
 golfer to get a thorough knowledge of club-making. Then, 
 with fair steadiness and application, he is certain of a billet 
 in which he may make something not unlike a fortune. 
 Without a knowledge of club-making no golf professional will 
 go far. 
 
 Most of the caddies on English links, however, have no 
 thought of taking up golf as their profession. Most of them 
 cease carrying clubs when they become fit for bigger things, 
 and leave golf altogether, or resort to it only on Saturday after- 
 noons as a relaxation. A boy, as Plato has said, is the most 
 savage animal in the world ; and it is not all at once that the 
 influence of golf will reform him. In time it will do so, 
 however, and in our opinion the best caddies going are intel- 
 ligent, wisely- treated boys. The way to treat your golf carry- 
 ing-boy, as, indeed, all subordinates, is to treat him as a friend 
 and so make him jealous in your service. Get him to take an 
 intelligent interest in the game and he is a good boy at once. 
 "Without ihat intelligent interest he is either an ill- working , 
 
PKCFr.Ss:OA'AL GOLF, 
 
 11 
 
 macliine or a demon of mischief. The precincts of many golt 
 clubs, which ought to be almost hallowed premises, are rendered 
 hideous by the turmoil of unemployed caddies who seethe 
 around them. Boys will seethe and commit turmoil if you 
 engago them by word of mouth thus. But the remedy is to 
 have a man to look after the caddies, through which man the 
 member shall engage his caddie. Then the man has to soothe 
 the turmoil instead of the member ; and he does not mind it so 
 much, because he gets paid for it. And this man should have 
 a list bearing the names of caddies, whom he should have the 
 power to strike olf the list, as a penalty for misbehaviour, with or 
 without appeal to the Honorary Secretary, as the Committee 
 may direct. Under a stern and judicious commander-in-chief, 
 armed with these powers, the rank and file may be fairly ex- 
 pected to do their duty. 
 
 It follows from the fact that club and ball-making is the 
 most lucrative branch of the golf profession that the profes- 
 sional, being human and a Scot, will prefer that branch to the 
 loss paying one of taking plantains out of the putting-greens. 
 It is, in fact, always difficult to get out of your green-keeper 
 the amount of work you have a right to expect for your payment 
 of him. Coaching he will not so much object to, because it is 
 a light work and may be done golf- club in hand. But anything 
 in the shape of agriculture — the tending of the course and the 
 green — he is apt to abhor, and it will be the very arduous duty 
 of the Secretary and the Green Committee to see that he and 
 his coadjutors do something more than nothing. The best way 
 is to have down fairly, in writing, the hours fer diem which 
 the greenkeeper is expected to spend on the green. Then you 
 both know how you stand, for good or for evil. 
 
 It should be observed, in dealing with the class of profess- 
 ional players, that their temptations to unsteadiness are very 
 great. They live much in the society of men who are better 
 off than themselves— they see these men when they are taking 
 their pleasure and their whiskeys and sodas — naturally they do 
 likewise, with this dilTereucc, that siuce soda water is unfamiliar 
 
 F 
 
78 
 
 GOLFING, 
 
 to them, whereas whiskey is a friend of their childhood, they 
 imbibe the latter gi-atefully, while declining the former. Theji, 
 as a rule, their money is earned lightly. Sometimes, at slack 
 seasons, they have much leisure time — they occupy it with 
 their friends, convivially. 
 
 Bearing in mind then, their special temptations, it behoves 
 every member to be careful to do nothing to add to them. It 
 has happened to the writer to see, quite recently, the resident 
 professional brought into the club-room of a South Country 
 Club and there given a drink by an amateur whom he had been 
 coaching. We had thought that even the English golfer had 
 by this time grown too wise for such a proceeding. In Scot- 
 land, of course, it is scarcely possible that it should occur. 
 
 Many golf-greens are on Common-lands, where the rights 
 are conflicting and ill-defined. In such cases it is very im- 
 portant to have a resident professional of good manner, one who 
 will put the representatives of these rival interests on good 
 terms with one another. The masterly manner in which that 
 prince of diplomatists, old Tom Morris, conciliates the interests 
 of the Town Club and the Students' Club with the predominant 
 interest of the Royal and Ancient is a model which we may draw 
 from that great place, St. Andrews. But men of the type of 
 Old Tom are far to seek. 
 
 Here and there, on South Country Greens, we meet a pro- 
 fessional of English growth, and one of these, a Westward Ho I 
 boy, has already proved himself a great player ; but the great 
 bulk of the professionals are still Scottish. America has lately 
 begun to demand golf professionals — they have played golf for 
 very many years in Canada — and when America once begins 
 demanding this sort of commodity, the supply is soon severely 
 taxed. From America we expect soon to hear of golfing on a 
 Continental scale, of links co-extensive with the prairies, and 
 drives transcending things dreamt of in the British philosophy. 
 One or two courses are now open in Australia, and golf has 
 long been played in many parts of India, in Hong Kong and a 
 number of (jucer places j so that golf and the resultant demand 
 
MATCH PLAY, 
 
 79 
 
 for professional assistance is not limited by oceans or the 
 equatorial line. 
 
 For all which reasons let the would-be professional bestir 
 himself and learn club-making and sobriety. 
 
 MATCH PLAY. 
 
 The history of the great majority of hard-fought matches is tho 
 same : there is a hole or two of give-and-take at the start before 
 either side has really settled down to work ; then there follows 
 a ding-dong strenuous battle, until, about three or four holes 
 from home, one or other side holes a long putt, lays an iron 
 shot dead, or wins a crucial hole by some wonderful feat. 
 Then the other side *• cracks " — goes off its game — and the 
 remainder of the round is but a procession to its grave. It is 
 thus that the ** crack " is sometimes brought about. Very 
 much more often, however, it is the result of a piece of bad 
 play on the part of the *' cracking " side, rather than of super- 
 humanly good play on the part of the winning side — for the 
 former is far more common. But the three points we wish to 
 call to notice in the typical history of golf-matches are (1) 
 the few holes of loose play at the start ; (2) the ding-dong 
 battle ; and (3) the crisis. 
 
 Taking the first point in its order, we shall find by obser- 
 vation of others and of our own play, that it commonly takes 
 two or thi-ee holes for the player to become alive to the diffi- 
 culty of the task he has entered on ; he is apt to drive with a 
 joyous carelessness — to putt with no deep sense of his responsi- 
 bilities, feeling that there is lots of time ; " that if he loses 
 a hole or two now he can get it back long before the finish. 
 This is a bad frame of mind to start in ; and though it ia 
 true that the adversary may be playing with a similar careless- 
 ness, it is evident that ,the one who first settles down to serious 
 business will gain that much of an advantage. It is always 
 wellj therefore, at the start, to recall to yourself past experi- 
 
go 
 
 GOLFING, 
 
 ences of matcKes wliich have depended on tlie result of a 
 single putt, and to remember how immensely important that 
 crucial putt had seemed ; whereas the result of a similar putt 
 at the first or second hole had appeared of no comparative 
 consequence. Reflect that in point of fact the influence of 
 either on the match was precisely identical — that if you had 
 holed the putt (which you missed and thought nothing of) at the 
 first hole, your nerves would never have been subjected to all 
 that severe test at the crucial point. Remember that, in the 
 end, it is the easiest plan to play your very hardest from the 
 very first. In point of fact, the result of the first two or three 
 holes is, in many instances, all-important. There are so many 
 men who are depressed by a balance of two boles up against 
 them. Golfers deceive themselves very much about this. It 
 is common to hear them say, " Oh, I hate being up. I play 
 far better if I am a hole or two behind." 
 
 They believe this themselves, but no one else, who has had 
 much golfing experience, will readily believe it. "It is easy 
 to play the winning game," is a proverb which is far more 
 generally true. Play your hardest from the very first, then, 
 with the conviction that the encouragement of a hole or two 
 to your credit will improve your game, as it gives you confi- 
 dence, and will correspondingly take a little ofl" the confidence 
 and execution of your opponent. The previous stroke, and 
 the previous results, have always their moral efl*ects. It is 
 wiser to recognise than to ignore them. For this reason, at 
 the drive frdm the first tee, if your adversary ofi'ers you the 
 " honour," accept it ; for most drives are tolerably good ones, 
 and you are more likely, by making a good, clean shot, to put 
 a little of the fear of death on your opponent than he is to 
 encourage by making a "top." On the other hand, it is, 
 perhaps, scarcely necessary to say that it is not in the best ol 
 form to take the honour, unless it be ofl'ered — at all events 
 without some such phrase of courtesy as " Shall I begin ? '* 
 or the like. 
 
 Then, haying got the ** honour/' do your best to keep itr 
 
MATCH PLAY, 
 
 8i 
 
 By the latest St. Andrews rules it is inculcated, amongst the 
 iwaxims of etiquette, that the player who has the "honour'* 
 shall he allowed to drive off from the tee before the adversary 
 shall " tee " his ball. He thus is not bothered by the adver- 
 sary looking about for a tee while he is striking. There is 
 no penalty for the breach of this maxim ; but on this very 
 account it ought to be regarded, in common with the other 
 maxims of etiquette, as almost more rigidly to be observed 
 than those rules which have the sanction of a penalty. The 
 adversary is expected to stand still and silent while the player 
 is making his stroke ; he is expected to stand Avhere the player 
 shall wish him to stand, so as not to distract the eye which 
 should be giving all its attention to the ball. Even though the 
 requirements of the player may often be somewhat whimsical, 
 it is the duty of the opponent to humour and respect them. 
 Ereach of a rule is a matter, more or less, at the breaker's 
 risk ; but in infringements of the maxims of etiquette he is 
 sinning in inglorious security, and the man of fine feeling will 
 see that he should be the more scrupulous on the point of 
 honour than on the point of law. 
 
 Much, too, might be written on the mutual relations of 
 players and spectators. The player has a right to expect the 
 same consideration from the spectator as from the opponent in 
 such matters as silence and immobility. On the other hand, 
 the immobility and silence which are exacted as a due from 
 the opponent are rather conceded by courtesy on the part of 
 the spectator; so that the player, if occasion for complaint 
 should arise, ought to conch his complaint in the terms of one 
 who is asking a courtesy. But, in point of fact, there should 
 be no need for complaint ; and, indeed, the complaining is as 
 distressing and disturbing to finely-strung nerves as is the 
 offence which has occasioned it. 
 
 The consideration of side issues suggested by our first point 
 — the loose way in which the first few holes of a round are 
 commonly played — has led us into digression. We will return 
 to this point i» order to say to those who are about to com- 
 
82 
 
 GOLFING. 
 
 menco a matcli in tWs tlie normal method, " Don't '* — ax^>ly 
 jrourself with intensity to the business of the game from the 
 very start. It is the easiest plan in the end, for it may spare 
 you severer struggles later on. Golf your hardest from start 
 to finish. 
 
 The next point in the story of the typical golf match is the 
 ding-dong battle in the middle of the round. A very great 
 secret of success in golf is to remember that your adversary 
 does not beat you nearly so much as you beat yourself — ^by 
 which we mean that very many more matches are decided by 
 the mistakes of the loser than by any abnormal feat on the part 
 of the victor. The great thing to do in match play, as in 
 medal play, is to go on playing as well as you can. Do not 
 think too much about the game of your opponent. Play your 
 own game as well as you can and trust to your opponent's 
 mistakes for your victory. The man who makes tho 
 fewest mistakes is the man who wins most golf matches. It 
 is not by heroic means that their issue is decided — it is by 
 *' tops," and *' sclaffs," and misses, which are usually tho 
 result of striving after heroic feats — the result of ** pressing." 
 It is a good plan to try to get out of your head the fact of your 
 opponent's existence. Say to yourself, not that you have come 
 out to beat such and such a man, but that you have come out to 
 try to play the game as well as you can, to make every stroke 
 as perfectly as possible, to avoid making a mistake. That is the 
 way to win matches — the way which the most successful match 
 players have pursued. Of course, it is not to be said that this 
 theory is not liable to abuse, as are all theories of human 
 conception. If the adversary has played two or three more 
 it would be folly to attempt a long carry over a bad bunker 
 up to the hole ; although, if the player was two strokes be- 
 hind, it might be the better wisdom to attempt the perilous 
 feat. All theories must be accepted in a rational spirit, but 
 the tendency is certainly not to realise the truth that is con- 
 tained in the theory we have stated, but to try, by heroic press- 
 ing, to do something which shall make the opponent lie down 
 
MATCH PLAY. 
 
 83 
 
 and cry for mercy. That is not the best method of golf. To 
 wear him out by the non vi sod scepe cadendo plan is the thing. 
 Always lay your long putts dead. Make jiim think that you 
 will unfailingly hole in two from any part of the putting-green, 
 and he will find it veiy hard to play up against this paralysing 
 conviction. The moral efi*ect of character is much underrated 
 at golf. We find it in our own experience, though we may never 
 have definitely stated it ourselves : but probably we are all aware 
 of the depressing efi'ect of playing against one who has the cha- 
 racter of "never knowing when he is beaten," who, we are 
 sure, will play up to the very end. On the other hand, how 
 encouraging it is to feel that our opponent is a man whom a 
 small confretem'ps can put off, who is apt to " crack" at the 
 crucial point, who cannot bear the weight of two holes down. 
 Then, again, we play with much more confidence against an op- 
 ponent whom we have often beaten, but are depressed by the 
 knowledge that we are playing against one who has been in the 
 habit of getting the best of us. But all this moral efiect is 
 greatly annulled if we can keep our attention fixed upon our 
 own play without being too greatly concerned about out- 
 playing our opponent. 
 
 Some are very much oppressed when they find themselves 
 outdriven, and this is really more true of long drivers than of 
 short drivers ; for the latter are more accustomed to it. It is dis- 
 tasteful to find another constantly outdriving us, but it makes 
 but little difference, if only we can bring ourselves to believeit. 
 The difference between the respective lengths of men's drives 
 is very slight, after all. Yery seldom does one gain of another 
 a full stroke in any one hole by length of driving ; but how 
 often is a stroke lost and gained on the putting-green ? The 
 true means of hardening our hearts against the depressing in- 
 fluence of being outdriven is to put ourselves into the way of 
 longer drivers than ourselves, and to play many matches with 
 them. So, by familiarity, we shall grow to have a certain 
 contempt for what is, in reality, a slight advantage that these 
 Jehus gain ; jmd the seasatioa will not bo so paralysing as if 
 
84 
 
 GOLFING, 
 
 it came to us but rarely. And this, again, is but part of a 
 
 bigger principle — tliat if we want to improve we must play 
 with better players than ourselves. It is better that our imi- 
 tation of the methods of superior players should be as little 
 conscious as possible : in that way it is more perfect, and the 
 result becomes more truly a part of our personal property in 
 golf. Certainly it is not well to try by strenuous effort of 
 muscle to drive up to a naturally longer driver. If by the im- 
 provement in our style, greater length comes to us, as it were, 
 naturally, by all means let us accept the good gift with grati- 
 tude ; but it is no use trying to persuade the bail by 
 the methods of the sledge-hammer. 
 
 We have spoken of the humours of some golfers, as to the 
 place in which they wish you to stand, etc., while they are 
 playing, and have said that these are sometimes strained to 
 whimsical lengths. They then become a nuisance, though it is 
 your duty to respect them ; and you will bear with them with 
 the greater patience if you can remember that they are by far 
 a bigger nuisance to the player who is vexed with these 
 fancies than they can be to any of those who have to put up 
 wdth them. The same consideration may lead you to reflect 
 on the undesirability of cultivating like fancies in yourself. 
 Bear your misfortunes as long as you can, even if someone in 
 your vicinity talks or moves while you are playing. The more 
 you can bring yourself to treat these noxious circumstances as 
 if you were unconscious of them, so much the more will you 
 acquire a real unconsciousness of them. This will add to 
 your own happiness as a golfer as well as to the happiness of 
 all who play with you, in spite of the fact that it will also win 
 for you many more matches than if you allowed a hyper-sensi- 
 tiveness about your surroundings to grow until it fully pos- 
 sessed you. 
 
 Neither is it conducive to the comfort of yourself or others 
 to get into the way of continual complaint about your luck. 
 There never was a golfer yet who was not sometimes tempted 
 to think himself the exclusive subject of Providence's chastise- 
 
MATCH PLAY. 
 
 85 
 
 ment. That this should be so universal an idea shows that, 
 in reality, Fortune makes no such individual preferences. All 
 men's luck in the long run is probably very much the same. 
 The winning of golf matches depends much upon tempera- 
 ment — on a power of keeping the temper — and that is a power 
 which grows with use, and will be found of very great efficacy 
 throughout the ding-dong battle, and above all in the climax, 
 the crucial point in the match. At this point it becomes mcu'e 
 imperative than ever to bear in mind the maxim that you are 
 required to do nothing heroic, that you have only to go on 
 playing steadily without mistakes, and that you may confidently 
 count on a mistake, sooner or later, to decide the issue of the 
 match. Strive, then, to defer your own mistake ; let your 
 opponent's mistake come first, and the whole business is done : 
 you have conquered at the crucial point, the match is yours. 
 
 Bnt, of course, the history of every golf match is not pre- 
 cisely in this wise — though this is the most typical story. 
 Sometimes it happens that you will get a hole or two to the 
 good early in the contest, and then it especially behoves you to 
 try to keep steady. There arises, under these pleasant cir- 
 cumstances, a temptation to go carelessly, with the golden 
 ease of a man who has a balance at the bank. But this you 
 must strenuously fight against. Remember the well-worn 
 saws that the match is never lost till it is won, and the rest 
 of them. Remember this wise saying no less when you are 
 two or three down, and never relinquish hope. Some golfers 
 have won a great reputation for their staying powers, for the 
 faculty of sticking to a task which another would give up as 
 hopeless. It is wonderful what matches these strong souls 
 now and again pull out of the fire. 
 
 Another danger which is apt to beset the path of the man 
 who is a hole or two up is a nervousness arising from the idea 
 that the match is already within his grasp. His over-quick 
 imagination conjures for him a vision of victory which makes 
 his pulses beat unduly fast and interferes with the douce " 
 serenity of his spirit and of his game. He gets frightened by 
 
86 
 
 GOLFING. 
 
 his own success. Perhaps la match-play this fueling is less 
 common than the pleasing confidence which success more 
 often engenders ; but nearly everyone is aware of a similar 
 sensation in score play. Over and over again has a ma a 
 gone out in a fine score, and the sheer prospect of victory has 
 unmanned him and made him spoil himself on tho way home. 
 The more we can engage our attention with the stroke which 
 is before us at the moment the less we shall be affected by the 
 prospect or the retrospect. It is thus that the man of slow 
 imagination has the advantage. His vision is not clouded by 
 ghosts of his bunkered past or second-sighted fancies of a 
 future unlikely to be realised. " It's dogged as does it," is 
 the phrase quoted out of the mouth of an illiterate man by one 
 of our great thinkers. He used it of the quality v^hich wins 
 English battles, and makes the Anglo-Saxon what he is ; but 
 it applies excellently to the spirit in which golf matches are 
 won — a dogged persistence in doing the duty which lies nearest 
 to us, the stroke immediately in hand. In score play this is 
 especially true, " The medal player," sajs ISir Walter 
 Simpson, *' must be no Lot's wife." 
 
 So far as actual play goes, we are inclined to think that 
 the portion of the game which most generally affects the 
 result of matches is the approach stroke. It is exceedingly 
 important not to miss drives, and to lay putts dead; but 
 the importance of these is obvious, whereas a prime fact about 
 the approach stroke often escapes notice —namely, that it is 
 almost always short. No matter whether it be played with 
 wood or iron, with full or half-swing, the greatly preponderat- 
 ing tendency of the golfer is not to be up with it. We firmly 
 believe thai any player who could harden his heart always to 
 be up to the hole would put on a good third to his game ; 
 and, in the case of inferior players, might put on from a half 
 to a stroke a hole. There is no maxim like it — " the hole will 
 not come to you." 
 
 You see all your calculations, as you address yourself to 
 play the approach shot, are baaed on the supposition that you 
 
MATCH PLAY. 
 
 87 
 
 aro going to hit tlie ball clean. Now, notliing can very well 
 occur to make you hit it cleaner than clean, and so send it 
 farther than you have calculated, whereas all sorts of misad- 
 ventures by which you may hit it not cleanly are only too 
 familiar. The result is that nine approach shots out of ten are 
 short. 
 
 With training, in the sense of dieting, the golfer happily 
 need not greatly concern himself. The only difference that 
 I see,*' said a famous professional player, *' between Mr. A. 
 and Mr, B." (naming two first-class amateurs) "and the 
 professionals is that they get mair to eat and mair to drink." 
 The general intention was obviously complimentary, but whether 
 the speaker meant to suggest that the greater opportunities 
 of the amateur were helps or hindrances was less clear. Of 
 course it is possible to adopt a scheme of diet which will 
 promote so great a difference of opinion between the inner 
 man and the outward eye that the ball appears a very hazy 
 object, but the cure for this parlous state is to be sought 
 rather in manuals which treat of medicine than of golf. On 
 the whole, one plays best when one is well, but not too well 
 — not too keen — with that horrid imaginative faculty not 
 too brightly sensitive. Certain it is that an empty stomach 
 — that vaciuim universally abhorred by Nature — is an es- 
 pecially bad basis on which to play a severe match. Feed 
 the inner man well and wisely, with prudent use, but not 
 abuse, of stimulant, if the system is accustomed to it. It is 
 greatly to be regretted that a man once won the champion- 
 ship after being drunk overnight : the incident has led certain 
 caddies since into what we cannot but think to be an un- 
 wise view of the cause and the effect. 
 
 The question of the amount of practice which is beneficial 
 is one to which it is most difficult to give at all a distinct 
 answer. We are speaking now of the case of a man who 
 has reached his standard in golf, not of the learner and tho 
 improving player. These latter can hardly practice too much. 
 Above all it is useful for them to get a good long con- 
 
88 
 
 GOLFING' 
 
 tiiiuous term of practice ; otlienvise they are rather apt to 
 forget, in tlio gaps, what little they may have learned and 
 so he ohiiged to start again, each time, almost from the 
 beginning. But even to the learner there comes a time at 
 v/hich he feels that he has grown " stale " — that the action 
 of hitting the ball is abhorrent to him, and one which he 
 w^ould like to pay another to do for him. The course of the 
 learner of golf bears some resemblance to the inflowing tide : 
 he seems at times to be in a regular wave of progress, and 
 advances swimmingly; then for a while he will fall back into 
 a back- wash and seem to retrograde ; but it is only to come 
 on again, with better progress than ever, in the next suc- 
 cessful wave, so that by slow but sure degrees the tide flows 
 on. The beginner will often be tempted to throw up the 
 game in sheer disgust when he finds himself in these back- 
 waters, but he must keep up his spirits by the knowledge 
 that others have passed before him through precisely similar 
 experience on their way to the high-water mark. Then, as 
 the learner proceeds, he will find frequent cause for exas- 
 peration that on Monday, say, he will be driving very finely, 
 but putting and approaching like an imbecile — Tuesday will 
 find him topping his tee shots and " foozling " the globe 
 through the green, but putting as if the hole could not be 
 missed — on Wednesday he will, as likely as not, be both 
 driving and putting execrably but approaching with the skill 
 of a professional. How he will sigh, then, for the great day, 
 which seems as if it never would come, on which he shall 
 be found at his best in all department;!?. But that is the day 
 for which all his practice is forming him, and ^?hich nothing 
 but length of practice will ever bring to pass. 
 
 But the question of practice becomes more difficult when 
 we look at it from the point of view of the man whose game 
 is crystallized, or who, if he be improving at all, does so by 
 degrees so tiny as to be almost imperceptible. It seems as 
 though " practice makes perfect " should be an answer to 
 the problem; but it is to be received with caution. lor it 
 
MATCH PLAY, 
 
 is witbiu tLe experience of all of us, probalily, to have Leen 
 surprif'-cd to f..ud, after a long rest, that the game seems 
 easier than when we left it off ; we play a round or two with 
 a careless success which surprises us. Then, if we are very, 
 jwiug, we soon experience the almost greater and certainly 
 less pleasing surprise of finding that the cunning of our un- 
 practiced hand was a delusive thing, and that after these two 
 or three first rounds it deserts us. Then begins the old tread- 
 mill again, until we grow, by slow degrees, to re-establish 
 ourselves en our old, more, or less satisfactory relations with 
 the game. 
 
 But, to pursue the course of this golfer, who has long been 
 without practice and has at length worked himself back to 
 his old status — for awhile this fair degree of skill will bo 
 with him, but gradually he will feel that sensation of loss of 
 keenness and paralysing staleness, which we hinted at before, 
 creeping over him, and again he relapses. The pleasantest 
 thing to do, in this state of things, is to take a holiday for 
 a while and then come back with renewed ardour. This is 
 the pleasantest course, but it is not the best, for soon the 
 regained ardour will wear olT and you will be as bad as ever ; 
 but if, on the other hand, you persevere through this trying 
 course of stale " and indilferent golf, you will find, after a 
 weary while, that your skill and zest in the game are coming 
 back to you (how, you know not), and it is this recovered 
 skill and vigour which will be. useful, for they will stay with 
 you and not desert j ou. It is like a second wind which v/o 
 gain, not by stopping and resting, but by going on while v/e 
 are quite pumped out, until the blessed lightening of the 
 lungs comes to reward our perseverance. It is in this con- 
 dition only that the golfer can be said to be in full 
 practice. As WilHe Park lately said to the present writer, 
 *' you need to be playing golf pretty steadily for six months 
 before you can depend on your game." It is perfectly true,, 
 though certainly it sounds very heroic counsel, for it is given 
 to but few to be able to give up six months to golf. It is 
 
go 
 
 GOLFING. 
 
 not meant, however, that the golfer should play every day, 
 by any means, of this period. Five days a fortniglit 
 is, perhaps, the ideal amount of practice for one who can 
 thus devote a portion of consecutive weeks to golf. Three 
 days a week is not too much. Four in a week is rather 
 much for a long continuance — two days is rather too little. 
 
 These, then, are the main facts which seem generally to 
 be acknowledged to be true about practice in golf. A little 
 of it, after a rest, is rather a dangerous thing — your first 
 two or three rounds will probably be better than a good many 
 of the succeeding ones. After you have passed out of the 
 trough of this wave you will come out on to the crest of a 
 wave of good play, which will keep you going for a week or 
 two — then you will relapse into a trough again ; you may give 
 up the battle, take a week's rest, and come up again smiling ; 
 but if you can afford the time, it is best in the long run to 
 keep on straggling in this back eddy, because when you have 
 emerged from it you will be in halcyon waters, with but brief 
 disturbances, indefinitely. 
 
 But especially observe, if you are able to give months, 
 consecutively, to the game, it is not well to play all day and 
 every day; three full days of golf a week is enough, four 
 is perhaps an error on the side of the too much — always 
 supposing (a large supposition) that you prefer quality to 
 quantity in your golf. 
 
 The sort of practice which is good, but generally dis- 
 regarded because it is dull, is the practice which consists 
 in going out alone with the club with which you are weakest 
 and fighting with it, single-handed, until you have gained 
 the mastery over it. You are unlikely to have any trouble 
 in finding a club with which you are weak, and it is very 
 improbable but that a few dozen shots with it, and with 
 exclusive attention to ways and means of dealing with it, will 
 greatly strengthen you. 
 
HANDICAPPING. 
 
 91 
 
 HANDICAPPING. 
 
 A HANDICAP IS pretty sure to be a good one (1) if everybody 
 concerned is pleased ; or (2) if everybody concerned is dis- 
 Batisfied. This, however, seldom happens, so that the infer- 
 ence is that few handicaps are good ones. As a rule, the 
 dissatisfied are in a large majority — a majority swollen by those 
 who are not genuinely displeased, but who think that any 
 show of satisfaction might be taken to imply that they con- 
 sider themselves over-favourably handicapped, and so damage 
 their future chances. It will, therefore, appear that the handi- 
 capper's life is unlikely to be a happy one, and that his 
 remuneration more often takes the shape of kicks, metaphori- 
 cally speaking, than of half-pence. 
 
 The fact is that it is not the handicapper's fault. Of all 
 games that the idleness of man has invented, none defies 
 calculation so persistently as golf. 
 
 There are two ways in which it seems reasonable to approach 
 the task of handicapping a number of men for a score compe- 
 tition. The one is to assume a certain score to be the score 
 which a scratch-player is likely to return if he plays his best 
 game, and taking this as the unit, to handicap the others so 
 that each, if he also plays his best game, will be likely to 
 return a net score of the same figure. *' Another way " is 
 to handicap so that each man, when he starts, will have an 
 equalchance of winning. Both these plans seem reasonable, 
 yet neither of them is practical, and mutually they are incon- 
 f istcut. The reason of this — and the reason that golf handi- 
 caps must always, so far as human foresight can see, remain 
 imperfect — is that a good golfer plays his best game so very 
 much more frequently than a bad player does. The result of 
 which is that if you handicap on the former method your 
 Ecratch-player will win far oitener than your long-handicapped 
 men ; whereas, if you handicap on the latter method your 
 limit players will sometimes win with scores which are 
 humanly speaking, impossible for the scratch-player to touch. 
 
9^ 
 
 GOLFIXG. 
 
 a: 1(1 you Snd jroiirself in the position of a handlcapper for a 
 Lundr^ yards' raco, seeing one of the long-start men do the 
 hundred in nine seconds. According to our present system 
 there is usually no third method possible ; therefore, the 
 hanJicapper is reduced to do his best out of a compromise 
 between these two — and, like most compromises, it is a futile 
 thing. 
 
 That we are stating no prejudiced view, a reference to those 
 selling lotteries which we have before mentioned with reproba- 
 tion, will suffice to show. Therein, though it is one of the 
 principles which a handicap is supposed to recognise that all 
 should start with equal chances, we find that one man's 
 chance sells for four or five pounds, while another's is not 
 deemed worth so many shillings. Still, it is not the handl- 
 capper who is to blame ; for he is asked to perform impossi- 
 bilities. He can but make the best he may out of a bad job, 
 and ask St. Andrew's favour not to stultify his efforts too 
 completely. Moreover, there is a general feeling that the 
 handlcapper is everybody's enemy. Far from seeking to help 
 him, there are many men who seem to take a delight in trying 
 to mystify him — to think that they have done a clever thing 
 if they conceal their real game from him. Many shabby tricks 
 are resorted to for this end ; and it is these evil practices 
 which make us so averse to the selling lotteries " which offer 
 a substantial temptation to those whose principles are at all 
 " loose in the glue." 
 
 The maxim for the handlcapper, then, is to do his best to 
 avoid the mistakes which will follow the uncompromising 
 adoption of either of the methods which seem so full of sweet 
 reasonableness. He must exercise his judgment. He must 
 not be too closely bound up in red tape, nor follow too blindly 
 the records of previous performances. He must take these 
 records at their proper value — not so much penalising for a 
 win " as for the degree of skill of which that win was evidence. 
 His business is to start all players on an equality, with the 
 modification which is requisite, in order that the scratch-players 
 
HANDICAPPING. 
 
 93 
 
 should not be handicapped out of all possible chance — aaa a 
 very difficult business it is. 
 
 Can the difficulty in any way be relieved ? We beliovo 
 that it would be greatly overccn:e by a more general adoption 
 of the plan of competition in classes — all who are in receipt 
 of twelve strokes, say, or under, to be in the first-class ; ail 
 from twelve to twenty-four in the second-class ; and all up- 
 wards, if they are deemed worthy of competing for a prize at 
 all, in the third-class. We are convinced that this would 
 make competitions far more satisfactory, and would smooth 
 much of the difficulty from the rugged path of the handi- 
 cappcr. 
 
 In the meetings of handicap committees held under the 
 present system it commonly happens that the names of one or 
 two men turn up whose play is known to none of the members 
 of the committee. In this event it is wise to leave the 
 handicap of these unknown ones standing over until one or 
 other of the members of the committee, who shall accept 
 the task as his special business shall have made such en- 
 quiries as shall enable the handicapper to mete out something 
 like justice. The hete noir of the golf handicapper is the 
 improving player. It is so very hard to be as cruel to a man 
 of this class as justice to the other players demands. Very 
 often the improving player is almost a boy — always, almost, he 
 is a beginner, for few improve so fast after their first few years 
 at golf as to give the handicapper any real trouble in over- 
 taking them. It ssems peculiarly hard to blight the young 
 idea just when it is beginning to shoot and before it has made 
 itself obnoxious by winning prizes. But if justice is to be 
 shown to the other players this must be done, and, in so 
 doing, no less than justice is shown to the player who is 
 penalised. After all, there should be no sentiment about it. 
 Golf, as a wise man once observed, is not charity. 
 
 He who made this epigram was a true sportsman, for it was 
 apropos of a suggestion for raising his own handicap that he 
 eaid it. He declared that he did not want any more poiats, that 
 
 G 
 
94 
 
 GOLFING. 
 
 lie thonglit he had enough, and that if he could not wm at 
 these points he did not care to win at all. This is a noble spirit. 
 The handicapper's position would be a far more pleasant one if 
 it were more common. Some chivalrous souls have it as their 
 greatest ambition to come down to scratch, and hail with 
 delight, as public recognition of their improvement, the reduc- 
 tion of their odds. But, like noble men in other walks of life, 
 they are in a small minority. 
 
 Golfers in these days belong to many clubs, and it is very 
 much the practice for handicappers to give strangers the points 
 vrhich the latter have on their home greens. Their handicap 
 at home is, of course, a valuable guide, but it should be taken 
 with certain reservations. Custom has established a sort of 
 ideal scratch man — a mere invention for convenience sake, like 
 the equatorial line — whose presumed best score on each green 
 is accepted as the unit on which the handicaps are based. 
 Sometimes exceptional players are put " behind scratch " — - 
 4.e., have to give points to the ideal scratch man. There is, 
 therefore, a wise endeavour to establish an uniform unit — the 
 score of the ideal scratch man represents, roughly, about the 
 same quality of play everywhere. But when the odds from 
 this ideal scratch score have to be reckoned, it becomes neces- 
 sary to take into consideration the nature of the course on 
 which the stranger has been accustomed to play. For illus- 
 tration's sake we will suppose a St. Andrews player to come 
 to Sandwich, and to tell the Sandwich handicappers that his 
 odds at St. Andrews are eighteen. To have such long odds 
 as these it is fair to presume that he is either a short driver 
 or a very uncertain one. In either case a handicap of eighteen 
 will be of greater value to him at St. Andrews than it will be at 
 Sandwich. At St. Andrews there are no long carries fi'om the 
 tee, and there are but few places where a topped shot gets badl;^ 
 punished. The characteristics of Sandwich are just the reverse, 
 A short driver is heavily penalised by his inability to carry 
 bunkers which almost always confront a Sandwich tee ; and a 
 topped ball at very many of the holes (notably at the Maider) 
 
HANDICAPPING. 
 
 95 
 
 entails penalties wliich are quite indefinitely large. Sj, if 
 eighteen is a just handicap at St. Andrews for our visitor to 
 Sandwich, he will require more points on the southern green. 
 And this principle must always be present to the mind of the 
 handicapper who is fixing the odds for a stranger. At North 
 Berwick a clever iron player and good putter will require very 
 few odds, though his driving may be so indifferent that he 
 would need quite a large handicap on longer greens. Again, 
 a man who has learned all his golf on an inland course will 
 be very much handicapped, to his disadvantage, by the change 
 to a sandy links — and vice versa. All these considerations 
 should enter into the complicated business of the handi- 
 capper, and each should be given its due w^eight. 
 
 The handicap committee is generally a small body, ap- 
 pointed either by the members or by the general committee of 
 the club. It is advisable that it should not be too large a 
 body, for, though in the multitude of counsellors there may be 
 much wisdom, it is certain that there will be much loss of 
 time. Three or five are good numbers for the handicap com- 
 mittee. Certainly it should be an odd number, so that in 
 case of a vote being taken there may be a majority. All the 
 members ought to sign their name to the handicap list, when 
 completed, before it is put up in the club room ; and it is 
 scarcely necessary to say, after having once been signed and 
 posted, it should on no account be altered. The members 
 of the handicap committee, however few, should be so selected 
 as to represent difierent branches of the golfing community. 
 For, as a general thing, men play mostly with their equals, and 
 can form a better opinion of the play of those whoso perform- 
 ances are somewhat on a par v/ith their o^vn. A long-odds 
 man will not know much about the short-handicap players, 
 nor will a scratch-man often play wdth stroke-a-hole men. 
 Therefore, as things stand at present — that is to say, while 
 competitions in classes are the exception rather than the rule 
 — it is advisable to put on your handicap committee one who 
 ^hall rej>resent the scratch-players, one who shall be iible to 
 
96 
 
 GOLFING, 
 
 speak to tho coniparatiro merits of those who receive twelvo 
 fetiokes, or thereabouts, and one for tho people who arc in the 
 lowest grade of golf. Thus you wili have the best chance of 
 ax-riving at justice for the whole body of players. 
 
 So far we have spoken entirely of competitions by score. 
 A modification, and an exceedingly ingenious cue, has been 
 lately introduced into the golfing world under the name of 
 Colonel Bogey. Colonel Bogey, as his name implies, is a sort 
 of ghost ; and against him all the players who enter for the 
 Bogey competition have to match themselves. The score of 
 Colonel Bogey is fixed by the committee of the club, or by some 
 person in authority naming the number of strokes which tho 
 ghostly Colonel is supposed to take to each hole. This score 
 is fixed before the golfers go out to play ; so that at each hole 
 the player knows exactly what he has to do in order to halve 
 with or win from his ghostly opponent. At the conclusion of 
 the round, the cards are haiided in, and the man who has 
 beaten Colonel Bogey by most holes, or been defeated by 
 him by fewest holes, is the winner of the competition. If two 
 or more have tied, on this showing, the cards of the winners 
 are compared against eacb other, and he who is one or moro 
 holes up, as against the other or others, is declared the 
 absolute winner. 
 
 The merit of this plan is that it enables a large number of 
 competitors to be brought together, and their performance to 
 be tested by the result of a single round, while they are all the 
 while playing match-play — i.e., by holes — and not acore-play. 
 There is no doubt that match-play is the original idea of the 
 game of golf. Score play is but a device for bringing a number 
 of players together so that their merits in a single round may 
 be compared. So the invention of Colonel Bogey combines 
 these two advantages. 
 
 In a match of this sort it is evident that the odds given to 
 each man must be not only named in the gross, but that the 
 holes at which he is to take these odds must also be stated. 
 And this also is determined by a body having authority, sucl| 
 
HANDICAPPING, 
 
 97 
 
 as tlie committee of the club. There is usually a printed card 
 informing players at what holes three strokes in the round are 
 to be taken, at what holes four strokes, and so on. Should 
 a player receive more than eighteen strokes on the round, 
 there will be some holes at which he will receive two strokes. 
 
 But in match-play a player will not receive as many strokes 1 
 as he would receive if playing by score. The reason of this is ^ 
 that the inferior player, generally speaking, is more unsteady 
 than the better player — he is more liable to take a very large ^ 
 number over one or more holes at which he comes to grief ; he 
 is less able to extricate himself from difficulties. It is probable 
 that at one hole, at least, on the round, he will lose several 
 strokes more than he will gain on any other hole from a 
 stronger and more steady opponent. But this consideration 
 becomes of far less weight in a hole match. The hole is lost, 
 whether to Bogey or to a mundane opponent, and there is an end 
 of it. He loses one hole, instead of a formidable number of 
 strokes. Two-thirds or three- eighths of the just number of 
 odds in score-play seems to be recognised as about the fair 
 proportion in hole-play ; and generally speaking an odd fraction 
 is determined in favour of the giver of odds. Colonel Bogey 
 is an estimable person, and we fully expect to find this method 
 of handicapping come more and more into general favour. It 
 
 certainly more pleasant to play a hole match, even against 
 an opponent of supernatural accuracy, than to play that horrid 
 score game, with the ever-present fear of an impossible lie and 
 a double figure in the score as its result. 
 
 The score ol Colonel Bogey, who is a scratch-player, ig 
 generally fixed on the assumption that the Colonel makes no 
 mistakes, and that if he can reach the green with any iron club 
 he will not fail to hole out in two more. It is a high, but 
 not an absolutely heroic standard ; but it must always be 
 remembered that the Colonel is afiected by no eccentricities of 
 wind or weather, and that he never gets a bad lie, loses hia 
 nerve or misses a short putt. 
 
9^ 
 
 Ifc is \isiiat, as we have implied, to make handicapping for 
 hole-play a simple matter of arithmetical deduction from the odds 
 given in score-play. This is a rough-and-ready method which 
 might be better ; for some men are conspicuously better score- 
 players than match-players — others are markedly the reverse. 
 The man who gets eighteen points, say, in score-play by reason 
 of his woeful unsteadiness will be better off with twelve in 
 match-play ; whereas a man who gets eighteen because he is 
 such a poor driver, though a steady one, will be much worse 
 off with twelve in match-play. The steady man scarcely has it 
 in him to halve an occasional hole with the scratch-player ; 
 whereas the unsteady man, in an occasional brilliant interval, 
 can do a hole as Avell as anybody. A scratch-player would far 
 rather give the unsteady one eighteen strokes and play by score; 
 but to the steady potterer he would far rather give twelve 
 strokes and play him a match by holes. But our general system 
 of handicapping — in mercy to the handicapper, whose duties 
 are already quite sufficiently arduous and complicated — takes 
 no note of these line differences. Nevertheless, in handicap- 
 ping for private matches, the scratch-player — who seldom 
 arrives at this pitch of excellence without a course of experience 
 which has made him wary — may certainly with justice take a 
 note of it, and arrange the plan of campaign conformably. 
 
 Perhaps, however, this is such a fme and difficult difference 
 that the haudicappers do wisely to ignore it. But there is a 
 case to which the arithmetical method is very commonly 
 applied and to which a certain modification should be made in 
 its application. We refer to the case of foursome competitions. 
 The common method here is to add together the points of each 
 partner and give the combined pair the sum of these points 
 divided by two. It is very simple and it sounds as if it ought 
 to be very right ; but in point of fact it is not so. The reason 
 of its failure is that a combination of a strong player with a 
 weak player will ordinarily defeat a combination of two medium 
 players, though the sum of the individual handicaps of each 
 
HANDICAPPING, 99 
 
 pair respectively may be identical. Some of the very finest 
 foursome rouads havo been made by a strong player in com- 
 bination with a weak but steady partner. So fully is this 
 realised that some golfers, who are by no means strong whou 
 playing their own ball, are quite celebrated as partners in a 
 foursome. The late Mr. John Blackwood was a well-known 
 case in point, and Captain Molesworth, R.N., is another. The 
 truth is, that if a man be a good approacher and putter, thirty 
 or forty yards' deficiency in the drive becomes of very littlo 
 moment when a long driver is playing the alternate strokes. 
 
 Therefore we would urge most strongly on handicap com- 
 m-ittees the advisability of taking this fact into their calcula- 
 tions when a foursome competition is forward, and suggest that 
 a special handicap, which should take into account the strength 
 of the combinations as well as of the individuals, would produce 
 much better results. 
 
 A last word with regard to the manifold duties of the handi- 
 capper relates to competitions in which holes are given in lieu 
 of strokes. Nonsense is often talked in this regard, as in others, 
 Home contend that if A can give B three holes up and B can 
 give C three holes up, it follows that A can give G six holes up. 
 The absurdity of this is evident if it be supposed, for illustra- 
 tion's sake, that A can give B nine holes up, and B can give 
 nine holes up. It is pretty clear that A would not havo a very 
 good chance of winning against C if he gave him eighteen holes 
 up. It is a version of the old fallacy of Achilles and the 
 tortoise. A more pertinent question is the relation between 
 odds given by strokes and odds given by holes. Boughly 
 speaking, between good players, a third — or six strokes — is 
 equivalent to something a little over three holes up, with 
 eighteen to play. But when we come to low grades of 
 golf, holes up become relatively more valuable, because a third 
 means more between better players than between inferior oneg. 
 
 Between good players there is seldom a difference of mora 
 than a stroke at any given hole ; between bad players it is 
 
loo 
 
 GOLFING. 
 
 seldom that the difference is so little as one stroke — therefore, 
 there is far less chance of the stroke given as odds being of 
 service. But the three holes up are solid facts, which must 
 have weight in the result. This again, then^ is a subtle point 
 which the handicapper should not neglect if he has to arrange 
 for a competition in which holes are to be given. 
 
 Other fanciful modes of handicapping, such as playing with but 
 one club against an opponent with a whole set — or permission 
 to say " Bo ! " three times on the round in order to put the 
 adversary off his stroke — do not need discussion ; but we would 
 close this chapter by again reminding the ^i^jlfer that the 
 handicapper is a person who voluntarily and without remuner- 
 ation accepts a deal of trouble, that it is the duty of every 
 golfer to make the handicapper's task as little difficult and as 
 little unpleasant as possible, and that it is in the very worst 
 taste to grumble at the efforts of those who, however un- 
 successfully, have presumably done their best. 
 
 When the handicapper has himself to be handicapped it is 
 advisable that he should leave the committee-room and permit 
 his colleagues to settle his handicap without his assistance. 
 
 THE RULES. 
 
 The rules of golf are less an invented canon than a natural 
 growth. It is from St. Andrews that all clubs, more or less 
 literally, took their rules — the original stock was of St. Andrews 
 growth ; but since the St. Andrews rules, until recently, dealt 
 with such special features as the Eden, the bum and the station- 
 master's garden and so forth, other clubs were not able to make 
 use of the St. Andrews rules in iotOy by reason of the presence 
 of these purely local enactments. Therefore the St. Andrews 
 Club, in response to a very generally expressed desire for uni- 
 formity, and for some code which might be universal, did, in 
 September, 1891, adopt a scheme laid before them by a sub- 
 committee, whereby the rules, which are of general application, 
 are printed as one body, with the local bye -laws, under a separate 
 
,RULES FOR THE GAME OF GOLF, tot 
 
 heading, appended thereto. Thus all clubs are now able to 
 transcribe the general body of rules and adopt them for their own 
 use, and to substitute for the St. Andrews local bye-laws, such 
 bye-laws as the individual features of their own links may 
 make requisite. 
 
 We give, therefore, both the general rules, which may be 
 universally used, and the St. Andrews local bye-laws as a 
 pattern of legislation for other localities. We append also a 
 table showing the length of the respective holes on the Eoyal 
 and Ancient Links, which, in the quality of fine length of holes, 
 excels every other; and further, we give a table showing at 
 what holes strokes are to be taken in the competition for the 
 Jubilee Vase, for this table, too, may be found a useful model 
 by other clubs. 
 
 At the end is a glossary of the technical terms in common 
 use in the game. 
 
 Since the publication of the last edition of this little book a 
 committee, under the name of the Rules Committee, has been 
 appointed by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. 
 Andrews. It consists of some fifteen members, all being 
 members of the Royal and Ancient Club, but at the same time 
 — so wide is this great Club's membership — representative of 
 golfing opinion in all the corners of Great Britain. The 
 office of the members of this Committee, which is a permanent 
 body, is to give answers on any vexed questions of the rules 
 that are submitted for their decision, to act as interpreters of 
 the rules as at present constituted ; and at the moment of 
 writing they are considering the project of verbally revising 
 the whole body of the rules. Their functions, however, are 
 primarily interpretative, not legislative, and even their inter- 
 pretations only have a temporary authority — that is to say 
 until the ensuing general meeting of the Royal and Ancient 
 Club to which they are submitted, and by which they ar«N 
 either sent into limbo by rejection or converted into law by 
 confirmation. This Committee, therefore, thus appointed and 
 
102 
 
 GOLF/NO. 
 
 constituted, forms tliat central body, invested with recognised 
 authority, for the decision of most points of golfing law, that 
 golfers in general, and especially English golfers, have been 
 asking for many years past, but have never been able to arrive 
 at until the Royal and Ancient Club took the steps described. 
 
 RULES FOR THE GAME OF GOLF. 
 
 1. The Game of Golf is played by two or more sides, each 
 playing its own ball. A side may consist of one or more 
 persons. 
 
 2. The game consists in each side playing a ball from a tee 
 into a hole by successive strokes, and the hole is won by the 
 side holing its ball in the fewest strokes, except as otherwise 
 provided for in the rules. If two sides hole out in the same 
 number of strokes, the hole is halved. 
 
 3. The teeing-ground shall be indicated by two mark* 
 placed in a line at riglit angles to the course, and the player 
 ehall not tee in front of, nor on eitlier side of, these marks, 
 nor more than two club lengths behind them. A ball played 
 from outside the limits of the teeing-ground, as thus defined, 
 may be recalled by the opposite side. 
 
 The holes shall be 4]- inches in diameter, and at least 4 
 inches deep. 
 
 4 The ball must be fairly struck at, and not pushed, 
 scraped or spooned, under penalty of the loss of the hole. 
 Any movement of the club which is intended to strike the ball 
 is a stroke. 
 
 o. The game commences by each side playing a ball from 
 the first teeing-ground. In a match with two or more on a 
 side, the partners shall strike off alternately from the tecs, and 
 shall strike alternately during the play of the hole. 
 
 The players who are to strike against each other shall be 
 named at starting, and shall continue in the same order during 
 the match. 
 
RULES FOR THE GAME OF GOLF, 103 
 
 The player who shall play first on each siJo shall be named 
 by his own side. 
 
 In case of lailure to agree, it shall he settled by lot or toss 
 which side shall have the option of leading. 
 
 C. If a player shall play when his partner should hai'e done 
 BO, his side shall lose the hole, except in the case of the teo 
 shot, when the stroke may be recalled at the option of the 
 opponents. 
 
 7. The side winning a hole shall lead in starting for the 
 next hole, and may recall the opponent's stroke should he play 
 out of order. This privilege is called the honour.' On 
 starting for a new match, the winner of the long match in the 
 previous round is entitled to the *' honour." Should the first 
 match have been halved, the winner of the last hole gained is 
 entitled to the " honour.'* 
 
 8. One round of the Links — generally 18 holes — is a match, 
 unless otherwise agreed upon. The match is won by the side 
 which gets more holes ahead than there remain holes to be 
 played, or by the side winning the last hole when the match 
 was all even at the second last hole. If both sides have won 
 the same number, it is a halved match. 
 
 9. After the balls are struck from the tee, the ball farthest 
 from the hole to which the parties are playing shall be played 
 first, except as otherwise provided for in the rules. Should 
 the wrong side play first, the opponent may recall the stroke 
 before his side has played. 
 
 10. Unless with the opponent's consent, a ball struck from 
 the tee shall not be changed, touched or moved before the hole 
 is played out, under the penalty of one stroke, except as other- 
 wise provided for in the rules. 
 
 11. In playing through the green, all loose impediments, 
 within a club's length of a ball which is not lying in or touching 
 a hazard, may be removed, but loose impediments ^hieh are 
 more than a club's length from the ball shall not be removed 
 under the penalty of one stroke. 
 
T04 
 
 GOLFING, 
 
 12. Before striking at tho ball, the player shall not move, 
 bend or break anything fixed or growing near the ball, except 
 in the act of placing his feet on the ground for the purpose of 
 addressing the ball, and in soling his club to address the ball, 
 under the penalty of the loss of the hole, except as provided 
 for in Kule 18. 
 
 13. A ball stuck fast in wet ground or sand may be 
 taken out and replaced loosely in the hole which it has 
 made. 
 
 14. When a ball lies in or touches a hazard, the club shall 
 not touch the ground, nor shall anything be touched or moved 
 before the player strikes at the ball, except that the player may 
 place his feet firmly on the ground for the purpose of address- 
 ing the ball, under the penalty of the loss of the hole. 
 
 But if in the backward as in the downward swing, any 
 grass, bent, whin, or other growing substance, or the side of a 
 bunker, a wall, paling, or other immovable obstacle be 
 touched, no penalty shall be incurred. 
 
 15. A hazard " shall be any bunker of whatever nature:— ^ 
 water, sand, loose earth, mole hills, paths, roads or railways, 
 whins, bushes, rushes, rabbit scrapes, fences, ditches, or 
 anything which is not the ordinary green of the course, except 
 sand blown on to the grass by wind, or sprinkled on grass for 
 the preservation of the Links, or snow or ice, or bare patches 
 on the course. 
 
 16. A player or a player's caddie shall not press down or 
 remove any irregularities of surface near the ball, except at 
 the teeing. ground, under the penalty of the loss of the hole. 
 
 17. If any vessel, wheel-barrow, tool, roller, grass-cutter, 
 box, or other similar obstruction has been placed upon the 
 course, such obstruction may be removed. A ball lying on or 
 touching such obstruction, or on clothes, or nets, or on ground 
 under repair or temporarily covered up or opened, may be lifted 
 and dropped at the nearest point of the course, but a ball 
 lifted in a hazard shall be dropped in the hazard. A ball lying 
 
RULES FOR THE GAME OF GOLF. 105 
 
 in a golf hole or flag hole, may be lifted and dropped not more 
 than a club's length behind such hole. 
 
 18. When a ball is completely covered with fog, bent, -whins, 
 etc., only so much thereof shall be set aside as that the player 
 shall have a view of his ball before he plays, whether in a line 
 with the hole or otherwise. 
 
 19. When a ball is to be dropped, the player shall drop it. 
 He shall front the hole, stand erect behind the hazard, keep 
 the spot from which the ball was lifted (or in the case of 
 running water, the spot at which it entered) in a line between 
 him and the hole, and drop the ball behind him from his head, 
 standing as far behind the hazard as he may please. 
 
 20. When the balls in play lie within six inches of each 
 other — measured from their nearest points — the ball nearer 
 the hole shall be lifted until the other is played, and shall then 
 be replaced as nearly ai possible in its original position. 
 Should the ball farther from the hole be accidentally moved in 
 60 doing, it shall be replaced. Should the lie of the lifted ball 
 be altered by the opponent in playing, it may be placed in a 
 lie near to, and as nearly as possible similar to, that from 
 which it was lifted. 
 
 21. If the ball lie or be lost in water, the player may drop 
 a ball, under the penalty of one stroke. 
 
 22. Whatever happens by accident to a ball in motion, such 
 as its being deflected or stopped by any agency outside the 
 match, or by the forecaddie, is a " rub of the green,' and the 
 ball shall be played from where it lies. Should a ball lodge in 
 anything moving, such ball, or if it cannot be recovered, 
 another ball shall be dropped as nearly as possible at the spot 
 w^here the object was when the ball lodged in it. But if a ball 
 at rest be displaced by any agency outside the match, the player 
 shall drop it or another ball as nearly as possible at the spot 
 where it lay, On the putting-green the ball may be replaced 
 by hand. 
 
io6 COLFIXG, 
 
 23. If the player's ball strike, or be accidentally moved by an 
 opponent, or an opponent's caddie or clubs, the opponent loses 
 the hole. 
 
 24. If the player's ball strike, or be stopped by himself or 
 his partner, or either of their caddies or clubs, or if, while in 
 the act of playing, the player strike the ball twice, his side 
 loses the hole. 
 
 25. If the player, when not making a stroke, or his partner 
 or either of their caddies touch their side's ball, except at the 
 tee, so as to move it, or by touching anything cause it to move, 
 the penalty is one stroke. 
 
 26. A ball is considered to have been moved if it leave its 
 original position in the least degree and stop in another ; but 
 if a player touch his ball and thereby cause it to oscillate, 
 without causing it to leave its original position, it is not moved 
 in the sense of Rule 25. 
 
 27. A player's side loses a stroke if he play the opponent's 
 ball, unless (1) the opponent then play the player's ball, 
 whereby the penalty is cancelled, and the hole must be played 
 out v;ith the balls thus exchanged, or (2) the mistake occur 
 through wrong information given by the opponent, in which 
 case the mistake, if discovered before the opponent has played, 
 must be rectified by placing a buil as nearly as possible where 
 the opponent's ball lay. 
 
 If it be discovered before either side has struck off at the 
 tee that one side has played out the previous hole with the ball 
 of a party not engaged in the match, that side loses that 
 hole, 
 
 28. If a ball be lost, the player's side loses the hole. A 
 ball shall be held as lost if it be not found within five niiimtas 
 after the search is begun. 
 
 29. A ball must be played wherever it lies, or the hole be 
 given up, except as otherwise provided for in the Rules. 
 
RULES FOR THE GAME OF GOLF. 107 
 
 ^30. The term Putting-Green " shall mean the eround 
 within 20 yards of the hole, excepting hazards. 
 
 31. All loose imioediments may he removed from the putting 
 green, except the opponent's ball when at a greater distance 
 from the player's than six inches. 
 
 82. In a match of three or more sides, a ball in any degree 
 lying between the player and the hole must be lifted, or, if on 
 the putting-green, holed out. 
 
 33. When the ball is on the putting-green, no mark shall 
 be placed, nor line drawn as a guide. The line to the hole 
 may be pointed out, but the person doing so may not touch the 
 ground with the hand or club. 
 
 The player may have his own or his partner's caddie to 
 stand at the hole, but none of the players or their caddies 
 may move so as to shield the ball from, or expose it to, the 
 wind. 
 
 The penalty for any breach of this rule is the loss of the 
 hole, 
 
 84. The player, or his caddie, may remove (but not press 
 down) sand, earth, worm casts or snow lying around the hole or 
 cn the line of his putt. This shall be done by brushing lightly 
 with the hand only across the putt and not along it. Dung 
 may be removed to a side by an iron club, but the club must 
 not be laid with more than its own weight upon the ground. 
 The putting line must not be touched by club, hand or foot, 
 except as above authorised, or immediately in front of the 
 ball in the act of addressing it, under the T)enalty of the loss 
 of the hole. 
 
 35. Either side is entitled to have the flag-stick removed 
 when approaching the hole. If the ball rest against the flag- 
 stick when in the hole, the player shall be entitled to remove 
 the stick, and, if the ball fall in, it shall be considered as holed 
 out in the previous stroke. 
 
is>8 
 
 GOLFING. 
 
 36. A player sliall not play until the opponent's ball sliall 
 have ceased to roll, under the penalty of one stroke. Should 
 the player's hall knock in the opponent's hall, the latter shall 
 be counted as holed out in the previous stroke. If, in playing, 
 the player's ball displace the opponent's ball, the opponent 
 ghall have the option of replacing it. 
 
 37. A player shall not ask for advice, nor be knowingly ad- 
 vised about the game by word, look or gesture from anyone 
 except his own caddie, or his partner or partner's caddie, under 
 the penalty of the loss of the hole. 
 
 38. If a ball split into separate pieces, another ball may be 
 put down where the largest portion lies, or if two pieces are 
 apparently of equal size, it may be put where either piece lies, 
 at the option of the player. If a ball crack or become unplay- 
 able, the player may change it, on intimating to his opponent 
 his intention to do so. 
 
 39. A penalty stroke shall not be counted the stroke of a 
 player, and shall not affect the rotation of play. 
 
 40. Should any dispute arise on any point, the players have 
 the right of determining the party or parties to whom the dis- 
 pute shall be referred, but should they not agree, eithei party 
 may refer it to the Green Committee of the Green where the 
 dispute occurs, and their decision shall be final. Should the 
 dispute not be covered by tlie Kules of Golf, the arbiters must 
 <lecide it by equity. 
 
 SPECIAL RULES FOR MEDAL PLAY, 
 
 1. In Club competitions, the competitor doing the stipulated 
 course in the fewest strokes shall be the winner. 
 
 2. If the lowest score be made by two or more competitors, 
 the ties shall be decided by another round to be played either 
 on the same or on any other day as the Captain, or, in his 
 absence, the Secretary shall direct. 
 
ETIQUETTE OE GOLF. 109 
 
 3. New holes shall be made for the Medal Round, aiid 
 thereafter no member shall play any stroke on a putting-green 
 before competing. 
 
 4. The scores shall be kept by a special marker, or by the 
 competitors noting each other's scores. The scores marked 
 shall be checked at the finish of each hole. On completion of 
 the course, the score of the player shall be signed by thcpeisou 
 keeping the score and handed to the Secretary. 
 
 5. If a ball be lost, the player shall return as nearly as 
 possible to the spot where the ball was struck, tee another ball, 
 and lose a stroke. If the lost ball be found before he has 
 struck the other ball, the first shall continue in play. 
 
 6. If the player's ball strike himself, or his clubs or caddie, 
 or ix, in the act of playing, the player strike the ball twice, the 
 penalty shall be ono stroke. 
 
 7. If a competitor's ball strike the other player, or his clubs 
 or caddie, it is a *' rub of the green," and the ball shall be 
 played from where it lies. 
 
 8. A ball may, under a penalty of two strokes, be lifted out 
 of a difficulty of any description, and be teed behind same. 
 
 9. All balls shall be holed out, and when play is on the 
 putting-green, the flag shall be removed, and the competitor 
 whose ball is nearest the hole shall have the option of holing 
 out first, or of lifting his ball, if it be in such a position that it 
 might, if left, give an advantage to the other competitor. 
 Throughout the green a competitor can have the other coFi- 
 petitor's ball lifted, if he find that it interferes with his stroke. 
 
 10. A competitor may not play with a professional, and he 
 may not receive advice from anyone but his caddie. 
 
 A forecaddie may be employed. 
 
 11. Competitors may not discontinue play because of bad 
 weather. 
 
110 
 
 GOLFING. 
 
 12. The penalty for a breach of any rule shall be disquali- 
 fication. 
 
 13. Any dispute regarding the play shall be determined by 
 the Green Committee. 
 
 14. The ordinary Kules of Golf, so far as Ihey are not at 
 tariance with these special roles, shall apply to medal play. 
 
 ETIQUETTE OF GOLF. 
 
 The following customs belong to the established Etiquette 
 of Golf and should be observed by all Golfers, 
 
 1. No player, caddie or onlooker should move or talk 
 during a stroke. 
 
 2. No player should play from the tee until the party in front 
 have played their second strokes and are out of range, nor play 
 to the putting-green till the party in front have holed out and 
 moved away. 
 
 3. The player who leads from the tec should be allowed to 
 play before his opponent tees his ball. 
 
 4. Players who have holed out should not try their putts over 
 again when other players are following them. 
 
 5. Players looking for a lost ball must allow any other 
 match coming up to pass them. 
 
 6. A party playing throe or more balls must allow a two-ball 
 match to pass them. 
 
 7. A party playing a shorter round must allow a two'ball 
 match playing the whole round to pass them. 
 
 8. A player should not putt at the hole when the flag is 
 in it. 
 
 9. The reckoning of the strokes is kept by the terms : •* thei 
 odd," ♦*two more," "three more," etc., and ** one off three," 
 •* one off two," " the like." The reckoning of the holes is 
 
LOCAL RULES I^OR ST. ANDREWS LINKS, ill 
 
 kept by the terms : so many holes up " — or " all even " — 
 and— so many "to play." 
 
 10. Turf cut or displaced by a stroke in playing should be 
 at once replaced. 
 
 LOCAL RULES for ST. ANDREWS LINKS. 
 
 1. When the Green Committee consider it necessary, a 
 Telegraph Board shall be used to give the numbers for 
 starting. 
 
 2. If the ball lie in any position in the Swilcan Burn, 
 Tihether in water or not, the player may drop it, or if it cannot 
 be recovered, another ball may be dropped on the line where 
 it entered the burn, on the opposite side to the hole to 
 that to which he is playing, under the penalty of one stroke. 
 
 3. Should a ball be driven into the water of the Eden at the 
 high hole, or into the Sea at the first hole, the ball, or, if it 
 cannot be recovered, another ball, shall be teed a club's length in 
 front of either river or sea near the spot whore it entered, 
 under the penalty of one stroke. 
 
 Za, Over the bank of the River Eden shall be treated as a 
 hazard, and accordingly it is not permissible to ground the 
 club or touch the hedge in addressing a ball here. 
 
 36. The cart road in the whins between the old and new 
 courses shall be considered a hazard. 
 
 4. A ball in the enclosure (between the road and dyke holes) 
 called the Station-Master's Garden shall be a lost ball. 
 
 5. If a ball lie within two yards of a fixed seat, it may be 
 lifted and dropped two yards to the side of the seat farthest 
 from the hole. 
 
 6. Any dispute respecting the play shall be determined by 
 the Green Committee. 
 
 7. Competitions for the Spring and Autumn Medals of tho 
 
112 
 
 GOLFi KG, 
 
 Club (with the exception of the George Giennie medal) shall 
 be decided by playing one round of the Links, and the 
 competitor doing it in the fewest strokes shall be the winner. 
 
 8. The order of starting for the Spring and Autumn Medals 
 will be balloted for on the previous evening, and intending 
 Competitors must give in their names to the Secretary not 
 later than five o'clock on the previous evening. Any com- 
 petitor not at the teeing ground when his number is called 
 shall be disqualified, unless it be proved to the satisfaction of 
 the Green Committee or Secretary that he ba« a valid excuse : 
 sucli as serious temporary iUnesw, a Lraiu iato oi rViCij ' m 
 which case he may be allowed to compete, and, if allowed, 
 shall be placed at the bottom of the list. The absent com- 
 petitor's partner may start in his proper turn, provided he get 
 another player to play with him. 
 
 9. Competitors for medals or prizes are not allowed to 
 delay starting on account of bad weather, but must strike oft 
 immediately after the preceding party has crossed the bum, 
 and, after they have started, are not allowed to take shelter, 
 but must complete their round in the order of their start. In 
 cases of stoppage by accident, or severe temporary illness, 
 the Green Committee may allow a Competitor to resume play. 
 
 10. All private matches must be delayed till the last medal 
 competitors have holed out at the first hole. 
 
"3 
 
 LENGTH OF HOLES. 
 
 OUT. 
 
 1st Hole 352 yards. 
 
 2Dd 
 3rd 
 4th 
 6th 
 6th 
 7th 
 gth 
 9th 
 
 .. 417 
 .. 335 
 .. 367 
 .. 516 
 359 
 .. 340 
 .. 170 
 .. 277 
 
 3,133 
 
 IN. 
 
 1st Hole 290 yards. 
 
 2nd 
 3rd 
 4th 
 
 5th 
 6th 
 7th 
 8th 
 9th 
 
 .. 150 
 333 
 .. 385 
 . 475 
 .. 375 
 .. 334 
 .. 461 
 387 
 
 3,190 
 
 !N"OTE. — St. Andrews has now two courses: it is scarcely necessary 
 to say that these measurements apply to the Notes of the old, classic, 
 green. 
 
114 
 
 TABLE OF STROKES. 
 
 555 
 
 < 
 
 \^ 
 
 o 
 
 < 
 
 O 
 
 CO 
 
 r/5 
 1^ 
 1^ 
 O 
 
 & 
 
 H 
 <5 
 
 O 
 O 
 
 W 
 
 52; 
 O 
 ST 
 
 <5 
 
 a 
 
 CO 
 
 pel 
 
 ►-3 
 
 O 
 
 O 
 
 5Z5 
 Of 
 
 w 
 
 00 10 
 
 00 
 
 CO 
 
 00 
 
 CM 
 
 00 
 
 GO 
 
 G<1 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 00 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 00 
 
 CO 
 
 00 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 lHC^CO^lO«Pt>OOOOiHC<lCO'^WO 
 
 tH T-l rH rH tH tH 
 
GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS. 115 
 
 GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS EM. 
 PLOYED IN THE GAME OF GOLF, 
 
 Addressing the ball. Putting one's self in position to 
 strike the ball. 
 
 Approach. When the player is sufficiently near the hole to 
 be able to drive the ball to the putting-green his stroke is 
 called the *• approach- shot." 
 
 Eaff. To strike the ground with the *• sole " of the club-head 
 in playing, and so send ball in air. 
 
 Baflfy. A wooden club to play lofting shots. 
 
 Dent. Rush, bent-grass. 
 
 Eogey. Usually given the title of Colonel. A phantom who 
 is credited with a certain score for each hole, against which 
 score each player is competing. 
 
 Eone. A piece of ram's horn inserted in the sole of the club 
 to prevent it from splitting. 
 
 Brassy. A wooden club with a brass sole. 
 
 Break-club. An obstacle lying near a ball of such a nature 
 as might break the club when striking at the ball. 
 
 Bulger. A club with a convex face. 
 
 Bunker. Generally any rough, hazardous ground — more 
 strictly, a sand-pit. 
 
 Bye. Any hole or holes that remain to be played after the 
 match is finished. They are played for singly ; unless the 
 §ides agree to make another match of them. 
 
Ii6 
 
 GOLFING. 
 
 Caddie. A person who carries the golfer's clubs, and who 
 can usually give him advice in regard to the game. 
 
 Cleek. An iron-headed club of considerable driving power 
 and sometimes used for putting. 
 
 Club. The implement with which the ball is struck. The 
 heads are of three kinds — wood, wood with a brass sole, and 
 iron only. 
 
 Course. That portion of the Links on which the game ought 
 to be played, generally bounded on either side by rough 
 ground or other hazard. 
 
 Cup. A small hole in the course, usually one made by the 
 stroke of some previous player. 
 
 Dead. A ball is said to be " dead " when it lies so near the 
 hole that the ** putt "is a dead certainty. A ball is said 
 to fall '* dead "when it does not run after alighting. 
 
 Dormy. One side is said to be " dormy " when it is as 
 many holes ahead as there remain holes to play. (This 
 word is probably derived from the French, like many Scottish 
 terms.) 
 
 Draw. To drive widely to the left hand. (Identical in its 
 re3ults with Hook and Screw.) 
 
 Driven See Play-Club. 
 
 Face. First, the slope of a bunker or hillock ; second, the 
 part of the club-head which strikes the ball. 
 
 Flat. A club is said to be *' flat " when its head is at a very 
 obtuse angle to the shaft. 
 
 Fog. Moss, rank grass. 
 
 Fore ! A warning cry to any person in the way of the stroke. 
 (Contracted from before.") 
 
 Foursome. A match in which two play an each side. 
 
GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS, 117 
 
 Gobble. A rapid straight "putt " into the hole, such that, 
 had the ball not gone in, it would have gone some distance 
 beyond. 
 
 G rassed. Said of a club whose face is slightly ** spooned " 
 or sloped backward. 
 
 Green. First, the whole Links ; second, the putting- ground 
 around the different holes. 
 
 Grip. First, the part of the handle covered with leather, by 
 which the club is grasped ; second, the grasp itself. 
 
 Half-one. A handicap of a stroke deducted every second, 
 hole. 
 
 Half-shot. Less than a full swing. 
 
 Halved. A hole is said to be " halved " when each sido 
 takes the same number of strokes. A " halved match " is 
 a " drawn game " — that is, the players have proved to be 
 equal. 
 
 Hanging. A " hanging " ball is one which lies on a down- 
 ward slope. 
 
 Hazard. A general term for bunker, long grass, road, water, 
 whin, molehill, or other bad ground. 
 
 Head. This word is a striking specimen of incongruity and 
 mixed metaphor. A head is the lowest part of a club, and 
 possesses, among other mysterious characteristics, a sole^ 
 a /leeZ, a ioe or wose, a neelz, and 21, face / 
 
 Heel. First, the part of the head nearest the shaft ; second, 
 to hit from this part, and send the ball to the right hand. 
 
 Hole. First, the four-inch hole lined with iron ; the holes 
 going out are marked with white, and those coming in with 
 red flags. Second, the whole space between any two of 
 these. 
 
 Honour. The right to play off first from the te^. 
 
Ii8 GOLFING, 
 Hook. See Draw. 
 
 Hose, The socket, in iron-headed clubs, into which the 
 wooden shaft fits. 
 
 Iron. A club made of the material its name implies, with the 
 head more or less laid back to loft a ball. A most deadly 
 weapon in a good player's hands. 
 
 Jerk. In "jerking," the club should strike with a quick cut 
 behind the ball, and sto^ on reaching the ground. 
 
 Lie. First, the inclination of a club when held on the ground 
 in a natural position for striking ; second, the situation of a 
 ball, good or bad. 
 
 Like. See under Odds. 
 
 Like-as-we-lie. When both sides have played the same 
 number of strokes. 
 
 Links. The open do^^ns or heath on which golf is played. 
 
 Loft. To elevate the ball. 
 
 Long odds. When a player has to play a stroke more than 
 his adversary, who is much farther on — that is, nearer the 
 hole. 
 
 Made. A player, or his ball, is said to be **made" when 
 his ball is sufficiently near the hole to be played on to the 
 putting-green next shot. 
 
 Mashie. A club which, both in its make and its uses, is a 
 compromise between the niblick and the iron. 
 
 Match. First, the sides playing against each other; second, 
 the game itself. 
 
 Miss the globe. To fail to strike the ball, either by 
 swinging right over the top of it, or by hitting the ground 
 behind it, is counted a stroke. 
 
 Neck. The crook of the head where it joins the shaft 
 
GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TEKfirS. 119 
 
 Niblick. A small, narrow-headed, heavy iron club, used when 
 the ball lies in bad places, as ruts or whins, etc. 
 
 Nose. The point or front portion of the club-head, 
 
 Odds. First, means the handicap given by a strong player 
 to a weaker in a single match, consisting of either one, two, 
 three or more holes to start with, or one stroke per hole, or 
 every alternate hole, or at every third hole, etc. ; second, to 
 have played " the odds " is to have played one stroke more 
 than your adversary. Some other terms used in counting 
 the game will be most easily explained here all together. If 
 your opponent has played one stroke more than you — that 
 is, "the odds "—your next stroke will be "the like;" if 
 two strokes more— that is, "the two more "— your next 
 stroke will be " the one ofi* two ;" if " three more," " the 
 one off three," and so on. 
 
 One-off-two, One-o£F-three, etc. See under Odds. 
 
 Play-club. A wooden-headed club, with full-length shaft, 
 more or less supple : with it the ball can be driven to the 
 greatest distance. It is used when the ball lies well. 
 
 Press. To strive to recover lost ground by special hard 
 hitting— a very dangerous thing to attempt. 
 
 Putt. To play the delicate game close to the hole. (Pro- 
 nounce u as in hut.) 
 
 Putter. An upright, stiff- shafted, wooden-headed club (some 
 use iron heads), used when the bail is on the putting- 
 green. 
 
 Rind. A strip of cloth under the leather to thicken the 
 grip. 
 
 Rub on the green. A favourable or unfavourable knock 
 to the ball, for which no penalty is imposed, and which must 
 be submitted to. 
 
120 GOLFING. 
 
 Scare. The narrow part of the cluh-head by which it is glued 
 to the handle. 
 
 SclafF. When the club-head strikes the ground behind the 
 ball, and follows on with a ricochet. 
 
 Screw. See Draw. 
 
 Scruff. Slightly razing the grass in striking 
 
 Set. A full complement of clubs. 
 
 Shaft. The stick or handle of the club. 
 
 Sole. The flat bottom of the club-head. 
 
 Spoons. Wooden-headed clubs of three lengths — Ions, 
 middle and short : the head is scooped, so as to loft the 
 ball. 
 
 Spring. The degree of suppleness in the shaft. 
 
 Square. When the game stands evenly balanced, neither 
 side being any holes ahead. 
 
 Stance. The position of the player's feet when addressing 
 himself to the ball. 
 
 Steal. To hold an unlikely putt " from a distance, but 
 not by a gobble." 
 
 Stroke. The act of hitting the ball with the club, or the 
 attempt to do so. 
 
 Stymie. When your opponent's ball lies in the line of jour 
 " putt.'* 
 
 Swing. The sweep of the club in driving. 
 Swipe. A full driving stroke. 
 
 Tee. The pat of sand on which the ball is placed for the 
 first stroke each hole. 
 
 Third. A handicap of df stroke deducted Qyery third hoj^ 
 
GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL JILRMS^ 121 
 
 Toe* Another name for the nose of the ckb. 
 
 Top. To hit the ball above its centre. 
 
 Two-more, Three-more, etc. See under Cdds. 
 
 Upright. A club is said to be " upright " when its head is 
 not at a very obtuse angle to the shaft. 
 
 Whins. Furze or gorsc. 
 
 Whipping. The pitched twine uniting the head and handle. 
 
 Wrist Shot. Less than har a shot, generally played with 
 an iron club« 
 
 <OGDEK, SilALE AND PETTY, LMT., PEli^TERS, GBEAX SAFFEON HILL LONDOIT, E.O 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 Los Angeles 
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
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 ^1966 
 
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