THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF EDITED BY RACE G. HUTCH1NSON THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF THE BADMINTON LIBRARY GOLF BY HORACE G. HUTCHINSON With Contributions by LORD MONOREIFF, The late Sir WALTER SIMPSON, Bart., The Right Hon. A. J. BALFOUR, M.P., ANDREW LANG, H. S. C. EVERARD, and others. With 90 Illustrations FIFTH EDITION Crown 8vo. Cloth. $2 net. LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. NEW YORK, LONDON, BOMBAY, CALCUTTA. JOHN BALL, JUNR. (Eight times Amateur Champion, once Open Champion) [Front i.^iio-e THE NEW BOOK OF -GOLF EDITED BY HORACE G. HUTCHINSON With Contributions from MRS. ROSS (n&e Miss MAY HEZLET), BERNARD DARWIN, JAMES SHERLOCK, A. C. M. CROOME, AND C. K. HUTCHISON ILLUSTRATED BY PHOTOGRAPHS LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. FOURTH AVENUE AND 30-TH STREET, NEW YORK LONDON, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA 1912 All rights reserved - EDITOR'S FOREWORD THERE is no need of foreword from me to appraise the team that has done the work of this book. The names tell their good tale. All I want to say is a word about the manner in which the work was done. Mr. Croome, as a professional instructor of youth, was allowed a free hand to tell people how to learn, how to use the teachers* lessons, but all the other writers were first given Mr. Darwin's MS. for their study and their text on which to say their own say as a commentary, yet without prohibiting them all liberty to give their private views expression. In this way I hope and think this book has acquired a unity which has not belonged to other golf books composed by a team of writers. That is the special claim with which it is put forth. 259886 CONTENTS PAOK PROLOGUE : HOW TO LEARN, BY A. C. M. CROOME 3 PART I. ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION, BY BERNARD DARWIN PRELIMINARY NOTE . ... 27 CHAPTER I. DRIVING : (fl) FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE SWING . . 29 (6) THB STANCE 41 (c) THE FOLLOW-THROUGH 54 (d) SOME FURTHER POINTS IN DRIVING ... 58 CHAPTER II. THROUGH THE GREEN WITH WOODEN CLUBS 67 CHAPTER III. THE SPOON . . 74 CHAPTER IV. WITH IRON CLUBS .... 78 (a) THE HALF-SHOT 85 (6) THE MASHIE 92 (c) THB RUN-UP 99 CHAPTER V. IN HAZARDS . . . . . .105 CHAPTER VI. PUTTING 116 (a) THE PUTTING STANCE 128 (6) ON TAKING THE LINE 135 (c) OF STYMIES . 140 CHAPTER VII. ON FAULTS IN GENERAL . . .146 (a) PARTICULAR FAULTS 154 vii viii THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF PACK PART II. FROM THE PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW, BY J. SHERLOCK CHAPTER I. EDUCATIONAL . . 171 (a) COACHING 173 CHAPTER II. MY OWN GAME .... 187 (a) THE SWING 191 (6) IRON CLUBS 197 (c) WRIST ACTION 199 (d) PUTTING 206 CHAPTER III. CLUBS-THEIR SELECTION AND PUR- CHASE 211 CHAPTER IV. TEMPERAMENT AND OTHER MATTERS 220 PART III. MEN OF GENIUS, BY C. K. HUTCHISON . 235 PART IV. FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW, BY MRS. Ross (nee Miss MAY HEZLET) . . 267 CHAPTER I. DRIVING .... 269 II. IRON PLAY . . 283 III. PUTTING . . 294 IV. THROUGH THE GREEN . . 308 V. APPROACH PLAY 318 VI. IN HAZARDS . .327 VII. MANY INVENTIONS . . 340 VIII. THE LITTLE THINGS THAT MATTER 355 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS From Photographs by Montague Dixon and Co., London; II. G. Stone, Slough; A. Lee, Portrush ; The Sport and General Press Agency Ltd., London; The Golf Monthly, etc. JOHN BALL, JNR Frontispiece. ONE-HANDED EXERCISE face page 34 DRIVING: TOP OF SWING, 37 A FINE FINISH 64 PICKING THE BALL UP FROM A HANGING LIE . 72 A FULL CLEEK SHOT: TOP OF SWING 80 FULL SHOT WITH MASHIE-IRON : TOP OF SWING 84 HALF-SHOT WITH IRON : TOP OF SWING 88 FINISH OF THE HALF-SHOT WITH THE IRON . 90 ORDINARY MASHIE SHOT WITHOUT CUT: TOP OF THE STROKE 94 FINISH OF ORDINARY MASHIE SHOT ... 96 MASHIE SHOT WITH CUT : TOP OF THE STROKE 98 FINISH OF MASHIE SHOT WITH CUT 99 RUNNING-UP WITH THE IRON .... 101 FINISH OF RUN-UP SHOT .... 102 PLAYING AN ' EXPLOSIVE ' SHOT OUT OF HEAVY SAND 108 AN ' EXPLOSIVE ' SHOT WELL OUT ON TO THE GREEN 109 DRIVING : SHOWING GRIP AND STANCE . . 189 DRIVING: TOP OF SWING .... 192 DRIVING: FINISH OF SWING .... 193 b ** x THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF IRON SHOT : STANCE AND GRIP . . . face page 197 IRON SHOT: TOP OF SWING .... 193 IEON SHOT: FINISH OF SWING ... 199 MASHIB SHOT: STANCE AND GRIP ... 201 MASTTTE SHOT: TOP OF SWING ... 202 MASHIE SHOT: FINISH OF SWING ... 203 PUTTING : STANCE AND GRIP .... 208 PUTTING: HOLING our 209 CAPT. C. K. HUTCHISON .... 235 HARRY VARDON ...... 235 JAMES BRAID 237 J. H. TAYLOR 237 ALEC HERD M 238 A. MASSY 238 GEO. DUNCAN 239 J. SHERLOCK 239 EDWARD RAY, OPEN GOLF CHAMPION, 1912 . 241 H. H. HILTON (a little anxious) ... 248 H. H. HILTON (quite pleased) .... 248 R. MAXWELL ....... 251 JOHN GRAHAM 261 E. A. LASSEN 254 ABE MITCHELL 254 L. 0. MUNN , 258 ANGUS V. HAMBRO, M.P 258 HON. M. SCOTT 260 FRED HERRESHOFF (America) . . . . 260 Miss RAVENSCROFT, OPEN LADY CHAMPION, 1912 267 Miss E. GRANT-SUTTIE'S ' FOLLOW-THROUGH ' AT ST. ANDREWS 269 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi GRIP FOE DRIVING : THUMBS ROUND . . face page 274 WRONG GRIP : AS SOMETIMES USED BY BEGINNERS 274 GRIP WITH THUMBS DOWN .... 274 BACK VIEW OF GRIP SHOWING HOW CLOSE HANDS SHOULD BE TOGETHER .... 274 MEDIUM STANCE FOR DRIVE MRS. Ross . . 277 Miss DOROTHY CAMPBELL .... 279 Miss E. GRANT-SUTTIE 279 Miss C. LETTCH 280 Miss D. CHAMBERS 280 Miss STELLA TEMPLE, RUNNER-UP OPEN LADIES' CHAMPIONSHIP, 1912 287 THE HEELS TOGETHER PUTTING STANCE Miss VIOLET HEZLET ..... 294 MEDIUM PUTTING STANCE .... 301 Miss E. GRANT-SUTTIE ..... 308 Miss DOROTHY CAMPBELL .... 308 SHOWING HOW EYE SHOULD BE KEPT ON GROUND AFTER BALL is HIT IN AN APPROACH . . 325 BUNKER SHOT MRS. R. A. CRAMSIE . . 332 BACK SWING FOR DRIVE Miss V. HEZLET . 340 Miss RAVENSCROFT, OPEN LADY CHAMPION, 1912 355 PROLOGUE HOW TO LEARN BY A. C. M. CEOOMB . HOW TO LEARN THERE are many who hold that Golf, being an Art and not a Science, cannot be learnt from books. These never tire of narrating the fable of the Open Champion and the Casual Stranger. The latter had arranged to visit Walton Heath and to play with the former, receiving odds of half a stroke. As the pair walked to the first teeing-ground the visitor expressed a confident hope that the allowance would prove sufficient. He had, he said, been reading much in the book of Advanced Golf, and believed that careful study of its contents had improved his game by at least four shots. ' Then I will give you two -thirds/ was the reply of the talented author of that great work. Rightly apprehended, the moral of that fable is not that the reading of didactic books on golf is necessarily and in all cases a hindrance towards permanent progress in the efficient use of the clubs : if that were so, the writers of those books would be guilty of doing grave disservice to their kind. It is true that numerous cases can be cited of men who, after reading such books, have for a time played worse than they did before. That is because, while the knowledge acquired in armchairs is in process of assimilation, the student is apt, when he visits the links, to think overmuch t 4 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF about his style and to neglect, at least partially, the plain duty of hitting the ball. But in the long run knowledge proves itself to be power on the golf- course as elsewhere. In every art theory is valuable only so far as it is capable of being translated into practice. Nothing but the theory of golf can be learnt from books. The beginner who has taken a dozen lessons from an expert golfer will certainly be able to beat another, his equal in physique, who has read all the books about the game which have ever been printed, but has not had the will, or the opportunity, to avail himself of practical instruction. Yet the books may contain the whole truth and nothing but the truth, while the expert may say much that is demonstrably wrong. But the expert can hit golf-balls, books cannot. Thus the former by his example can and does minimise the evil effects of unscientific instruction orally conveyed. The printed word has no corrective for wrong apper- ception of its meaning by the mind of the reader. When one sets out to tell incipient golfers ' How to Learn,' it is no bad thing that he should begin by pointing out to them the true place of didactic books in the scheme of education. Their function is to clear the ground for the practical instructor. The beginner ought to spend all the time and money which he can afford on taking lessons from a profes- sional. These lessons will be pleasanter for both parties, and more profitable to the pupil if previous reading has so informed his mind that he can rightly understand what is said to him, and can correctly HOW TO LEARN 5 analyse the example of the way to hit which is dis- played for his edification. The science of the various shots required to propel a ball from tee to hole will be set forth in subsequent chapters by men excellently qualified for the task, owing to their notorious skill with club and pen. This chapter is intended to serve merely as an introduction to their work. They, and the professionals who show to learners how theory is translated into practice, must inevitably use phrases which have become conventional. Many of these phrases are sufficiently illuminating, and need no further explanation. The true inwardness of others is only to be discovered by analysis and thought. For an example of the latter let us take the recom- mendation that in executing short mashie shots the weight should be rather on the right foot. A common spectacle on the links is that of a man, in an attitude of great discomfort, trying to balance himself on the right foot while he plays a little pitch up to the hole. The precept above mentioned has been seared into his brain, and his reverence for authority causes him to stand as if he had lost a leg in a railway accident. The fact is that the great golfer has a delicate sense of balance. Consequently, when he causes his right leg to support two or three pounds more than half his total weight, he is acutely conscious of its unequal distribution. Less gifted persons require stronger evidence to prove to them that they are poised, as they think, correctly. Consequently, when one of them tries to rest his weight * rather on his right foot/ he overdoes it by a stone or more, sways his 6 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF ill-balanced body as he makes his stroke, and produces a more or less egregious foozle. But before proceeding to discuss the exact meaning of possibly obscure phrases, there is a matter of supreme importance to be considered. It is the difference between method and style. Method is one and universal. Whenever a player who receives the limit handicap hits a really good shot he employs the same method as the Open Champion. The differ- ence between the good strokes of the two men is one of degree, not of kind. No doubt the spectacles presented by the executants will be vastly different, for each has his peculiar style, the collection of idiosyncrasies which he superimposes on the essentials of method. A bad style is one which makes difficult the inclusion of all the essentials ; a good one is not necessarily graceful, but it ensures that the club head is presented square to the ball, and is at the moment of impact travelling at the pace required to produce the desired effect. Unfortunately a teacher is prone to regard some point of his own individual style as an essential of method, and learners, in their anxiety to discover a royal road to success, seize with avidity on ' tips ' which, when unscientific, retard rather than accelerate their progress. For example, some teachers find that they themselves can hit the ball more accurately if they hold their clubs with part of the right hand overlapping the left. They strongly recommend, if they do not insist, that their pupils should imitate their example in this respect, and adopt the so-called * Vardon Grip.' They do not HOW TO LEARN 7 realise that the grip of the hands, more especially of the left hand, is nothing more than the attachment which links together the two parts of the club shaft, the one part being the hickory stick, the other the left arm of the striker. It is very helpful to the beginner if he realises that everything from his left shoulder to his club head is, properly speaking, shaft. The progress of many towards steadiness of play is retarded because they bend left wrist or left elbow in hitting. No man has a hinge in the shaft of his driver : it is not certain that the Rules Committee would pass such a mechanical contrivance. Manifestly a hinge in the human part of the shaft, though it would escape the ban of authority, must be a cause of wildness. Just as many people play well with hickory shafts which are not exactly straight, so many drive far and sure with their left arms bent. But this is the important thing the amount of bend is constant throughout the stroke. A pedant would call it 4 warp ' rather than bend. This little digression will not, it is hoped, be regarded as irrelevant. To return to the original point just as the head of a club may be joined to a stick by a socket or a skear 1 if that is the right way to spell the word so the stick may be united to the arm by varying arrangements of the left hand and its fingers. Some grip very much over, like Braid ; others, including Mr. John Ball, go to the other extreme. Some have the thumb down the handle, others keep it round the leather. These are differences of style, and people must discover which 1 More often spelled ' scare.' ED. 8 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF variety suits them best and stick to it. Method de- mands that the attachment between the two parts of the club shaft should be strong enough to remain firm when club head impinges violently on its objective, and so adjusted that the club face is presented fair and square to the ball. None can doubt that for Braid, Taylor, Vardon and the strong-fingered gentry, the overlapping grip is the best. Probably the employment of it saves each of those three professors as many as six or eight shots in the course of a year's play. Every beginner ought to experiment in the use of it, if only for the reason that when a man has once grown accustomed to it, he is less liable to alter his grip insensibly and so introduce a cause of wildness into his hitting. The question whether to overlap or not is one which need not trouble the learner during the first few weeks of his golfing life. But it is of great importance that he should at once discover how far over the handle of his club he should place his left hand. The best method of making the discovery is that recommended by Sir Walter Simpson in his book, The Art of Golf. He says : ' Having placed himself opposite the ball, let the player take hold of his club loosely, but so that, if held short, the end of the shaft would pass under the wrist bones. Let him swing it backwards and forwards freely over the ball, de- scribing an elongated eight, whose length is limited by the locking-point of the wrist joints. After two or three such continuous figures have been described, the hands, still holding loosely, will settle themselves into a proper relation to each other, and to the shot.' HOW TO LEARN 9 The educational value of Sir Walter's recommendation lies in the fact that it is in some sort an appeal to Nature, by whose decree each individual differs in countless respects from each and every other. Again, in the important matter of stance, the ultimate appeal is to Nature. When a man wishes to deliver the most vigorous blow possible at a fixed point, it is natural for him to place his feet equidistant from that point. This enables him to preserve his balance while hitting, and consequently to time his stroke accurately. It is extremely probable that no golfer exactly follows the guidance of Nature in taking up his position for each and every shot that he plays ; and it is quite certain that if a man should satisfy himself by use of a yard measure that he had got his feet equidistant from the ball before striking at it, his shots, owing to lack of spontaneity, would be feeble and inaccurate. The learner need not be particular to an inch or even two. Any greater divergence than this from the normal, in the distance of the two feet from the ball, is a source of danger. Granted that several men play extremely well from a stance which looks as if it had been originally arbitrary rather than methodical ; granted, further, that two or three of these men are peculiarly capable of adapting then* stance to the inequalities of undulating or hummocky ground ; it by no means follows that their example can safely be followed by normal creatures. My experience as an educationalist leads me to believe that a scientific lecture can sometimes be made to produce satisfactory practical results to 10 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF the learner, if it be summarised in a rule of thumb. Therefore I suggest to the incipient golfer that he train himself to place his feet equidistant from the ball, and to poise his weight so that each of his two legs makes the same angle with the surface of the ground, which for purposes of this rule is presumed to be dead flat. He will be told in subsequent chapters how to make his arrangements for ' hanging ' and * cocked-up ' balls. Discussion of accidental diffi- culties is out of place in a broad dissertation on ' Method.' There is another point to be dealt with before we come to considering how the club is to be lifted from and brought back to the ball. It is the position of the shoulders during the preliminary address. Let me recapitulate what has already been said : repetition is often helpful. The player is to regard his left arm as part of his club shaft, and his grip as the attach- ment splicing one part of the shaft to the other ; he is to stand with his feet practically equidistant from the ball, and his legs at practically the same angle to the ground. Now, the normal man's arms are, like his legs, of equal length. When he golfs he has to treat his left arm as so much club shaft. It is obvious that in a great majority of cases that left arm will be kept straight, or so nearly straight as makes no matter. It follows that in order to place his right hand below the left on the handle of the club, the normally built man must depress his right shoulder appreciably. A simple experiment will show him well enough the amount of depression which is proper. Let him take HOW TO LEARN 11 hold of his club with the left hand only ; let him stand upright and keep his left arm rigidly straight ; then let him slowly put his right hand on the handle below the left without stooping forward or shortening his left arm by bending it or by any other trick. He will find that his right shoulder must go down anything from four to six inches below the left. At first, when he addresses the ball, he will very likely feel as if he could not hit as hard as his physique justifies him in expecting to hit. By raising the right shoulder he gains an added sense of power. But what we want is not a feeling of power during the address, but tangible evidence of its presence at the moment of impact. An ounce of fact is proverbially worth a pound of theory, and fact is particularly valuable when it supports theory, as it does in this case. One of the differences between amateur and professional golf is that the professionals, when addressing the ball, keep their right shoulders appreciably lower than the amateurs. Braid, Taylor, and Vardon, though they possess this as every other golfing virtue highly developed, are not thereby singled out from other members of their profession. Mr. Ball and Mr. Maxwell are conspicuous among amateurs for their depressed right shoulders. I have admitted above that the adoption of the position may cause a sensation of comparative feebleness during the address. I will now try to prove that the feeling is illusory, and that full power is exercised in the hitting. In the first place, the five golfers mentioned are all notably long drivers. On the whole, it is true to say that they attain length without 12 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF appearing to strain after it ; their strokes, though full of vigour, are yet restrained and compact. There is every reason why this should be so. The depres- sion of the right shoulder enables them to grip tight with both hands, at least while the club is approaching the end of its downward journey. Even in the days of my novitiate I felt there must be something wrong about the old maxim, ' Tight with the left hand, loose with the right.' Now I am sure. It is seldom wise to argue from the analogy of other games to golf, ' the peculiar pastime of a peculiar people,' but in this connection analogic method of proof is sound. In all ball-games except lawn-tennis, force and nip are put into hitting by the introduction of the action employed by a good cover-point when he throws in underhand to the stumps. Give a rackets-player a balk a la main, and down goes his right shoulder as he throws his racket underhand at it. The cricketer does the same things when he drives a half-volley straight for four. There is no need to multiply instances ; it is sufficient to ask why a golfer should be deprived of a privilege freely accorded to the rest of sane humanity. Many readers will recall countless occasions on which they have heard disappointed players account for a missed shot by saying, ' I dropped my right shoulder at it.' I confess that I do not know precisely what this error of style is, unless it be a lifting of the trunk simultaneously with the club and a subsequent lurching of the weight on to the ball. This is an action very different from that which I have endeavoured to describe. But the frequent use HOW TO LEARN 13 of the phrase ' dropping the right shoulder ' frightens many off imitating Braid, Vardon, Mr. Blackwell, and a host of other fine drivers who all depress the right shoulder when addressing the ball, and hit by throwing the club underhand at its mark. There is some danger that he who tries to acquire the recom- mended action of right-hand arm and shoulder will at first overdo it. He must be warned against allowing his right hand to master the left. In the golfing stroke hit is subservient to swing. So far as either hand or arm is concerned in the production of swing, it is the left. When the right hand introduces the element of hit or ' throw ' call it which you please it must be kept under such restraint as will prevent it from causing the left wrist to be bent at the moment of impact. When that happens the club head is not presented square to the ball, and a miss of one kind or another ensues. It has been stated above that the left arm must be regarded as part of the club shaft. The right hand must not bend it any more than it can be allowed to bend or break the hickory stick. Having arrived at a definition of * hit,' we may with propriety try to discover the exact meaning of the term swing. In the last paragraph it was said that, so far as either hand produces swing, the left does the work. As a matter of fact, it is the turn of the body which swings the club. We may conveniently visualise the path of the club head through the air as the arc of a perfect circle, although it is really an ellipse. The centre of that circle is the player's backbone, and the length of its arc is properly esti- 14 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF mated by the amount of body-turn, not by the extent of the club head's backward journey. It is popularly supposed that Mr. Maxwell's swing is very short. A careful examination of his photographs shows that it is quite full. True, the club head rarely is lifted back higher than his right shoulder, and his hands are seldom above the level of his waist. But the body- turn is quite complete. His shoulders, which at the time of his address were parallel, or practically parallel, to the proposed line of his ball's flight, are, when he is at the top of his back swing, at right angles to that line. It will be of great assistance to the beginner if he can realise what his instructor means when he talks about swing. Few golfers have never felt the desire to drive with a full swing ; many have been led by that desire to take their clubs back further than is at all necessary, to the great detriment of their play. Within limits it is true to say that the less distance the club head is withdrawn from the ball the better the results. The limits alluded to are set by two facts : one is that the swing should be full, the other that the right arm must have sufficient space in which to do its special work, the ' hitting.' A power- ful but stiffly built man like Mr. Maxwell can get the desired effect, and yet curtail the arc described in the air by his club-head. Less muscular and more supple individuals require more room for their manoeuvres. Every man must discover for himself by experiment the length of backward arc most suitable for his peculiar physical conformation. It will aid him to arrive quickly at the required knowledge if hs learns HOW TO LEARN 16 from the start to measure length of swing by the amount of pivoting round his backbone done by his shoulders and loins, and by nothing else. Roughly speaking, the stronger a man's forearm the less the space which he requires for dealing an effective blow, and the shorter the distance which he need withdraw his club from the ball. The truth of this is made more apparent by cricketers than by golfers ; the former hit the more naturally of the two and are the less disposed to aim at a style rather than the ball. Mr. Ernest Smith and Mr. B. J. T. Bosanquet, each of them conspicuous among the hard hitters of their contemporaries, seldom lifted their bats shoulder high even when making their biggest drives. Major H. S. Bush, a man of much lighter and more wiry build, takes his up to the level of his right ear, and sends the ball equally far and high. The explanation of the difference between the two styles is obvious. The last-named batsman requires more space for the full development of the hitting action the underhanded throw than the other two. The essential method of all three is the same. The purpose of this chapter being to provide a basis of theory on which professional teachers, and the other eminent authorities who discourse in subsequent chapters of this book about the various golfing shots, can build an abiding edifice, I should be encroaching on their domain if I were to deal particularly with the different clubs, their use and abuse. Yet I have not quite reached my conclusion. So far I have endeavoured to set down the minimum of general 16 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF knowledge required by a learner before he can extract the maximum of profit from technical instruction. It remains to decline from theory to practice and state what is in my opinion the best, or rather the only proper way for a would-be golfer to organise his education. To those whom I most desire to serve my remarks will seem to be uttered by the voice of one crying in the wilderness. They will not read this or any other book about golf until they have been some weeks at the game, and have possibly contracted bad habits which they will find difficult of eradication. Herodotus once said that the worst pain which the human mind can suffer is to have foreknowledge of many things combined with inability to influence anybody. I face the prospect of suffering that awful agony because there is a reasonable chance that professional coaches will read what is printed below and adopt, at least in part, the educational methods there recommended. They have to contend with the fact that the embryonic golfer wants to run before he can walk ; and, so far as my experience goes, many of them encourage him in his error by letting him begin straight off with a wooden club. It is not very surprising that a professional should put first into the hands of a raw pupil the club with which he himself commonly commences his daily round. But it would be much better for the pupil if he would refuse to gratify his almost irresistible desire to drive balls as far as possible, until he has to some extent mastered what for lack of a better name I will call the * Fundamental Shot.' This is nothing more nor less HOW TO LEARN 17 than a long putt played as stiffly as is compatible with some freedom of hitting. The distance which the ball goes will vary according to the club used ; a cleek may send it one hundred and fifty yards on hard flat turf, a mashie no more than sixty or seventy. The wisest golfer of my acquaintance, when he finds himself off his driving, invariably confines his practice, if he can so far overcome his constitutional laziness as to go out and indulge in solitary practice, to repeated execution of this Fundamental Shot with his play -club. One of the most difficult tasks which a man can set himself is the description of a particular stroke in any game. One may say, with some hope of conveying his meaning clearly to the mind of another, how he himself executes the necessary motions, and it is possible to enumerate precisely the ideals aimed at. But ultimately the value of every lesson must depend on its apperception in the mind of the pupil. I once started a beginner at golf in the way which I here recommend, and I think I shall best serve the purpose which I have in view by describing our procedure in detail. Our first object was to learn the proper action of the left hand and arm. I made my pupil take hold of a club with his left hand only. He had previously been handling it with the air of one anxious to hit. When he was obliged to take his right hand off the leather, a difference in the grip of the left at once showed itself. Previously the fingers had been too far under the shaft ; when the left hand was made to act by itself it came naturally to the B 18 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF proper position, so that the finger-tips were not visible to the striker's eye. The moral of this having been pointed out, he was told to take his club back slowly by wrist action only. He immediately bent his wrist instead of turning it. He was duly penitent when it was pointed out to him that he had broken his club- shaft. His error was easily remedied. First he was made to drop his hand a trifle, thus diminishing the angles made by his club with the ground and with his left arm : when left to himself he had got arm and club almost in a straight line. This change in their relative position enabled him to ' support, the head of his club/ as the tennis-player is taught by the marker to support the head of his racquet. It then came naturally to him to turn his hand so that the further the motion was continued the more the back of it came into his view. At the start of the movement the toe of his club swung away from the ball and inwards, and on its completion, when the shaft was parallel to the ground, the toe was pointing straight up to the ceiling : this preliminary lesson was given indoors. The movement was repeated until the sensation of its correct performance was familiar to the pupil. He was then permitted to place his right hand on the handle of the club. When he now tried to take his club back, the original error of wrist-bending showed a tendency to reappear, because the right hand wanted to do too much of the work. It was reduced to order promptly by being made to hold so lightly that the club handle, when lifted, fell back against the web at the base of the right thumb. HOW TO LEARN 19 Having arrived at an idea of the proper way to begin the back lift of the club, a process which required less time than is necessary to write a description of it, we went out to the course. There the learner was provided with an ordinary mid-iron, with which he was asked to hit teed balls at a mark placed less than a hundred yards away. To do this he had merely to pass his club to and fro without using all his power of muscle. In a very short time he learnt to keep his left arm straight, to turn his left wrist properly, to hit through the ball and not at it. I cannot say that all his shots were good ; many were topped, others went crooked. But he never perpetrated the complete and disgruntling miss, and from the very start he began to develop a satisfactory follow-through. For a couple of days he confined himself to practising this Fundamental Shot, using different clubs, but never attempting a full stroke with any of them. It was a week before he played a round, though he watched a certain number of matches being contested. In considerably less than a year his handicap was below ten, and I hold that his rapid progress in proficiency was due to the excellence of his start. It will, I hope, be already apparent what this Fundamental Shot is. It might be called a Half -shot, seeing that it is played almost entirely with the arms ; body-turn hardly enters into it at all. It constitutes the whole of a short pitch-and-run approach, and forms the essential beginning of every longer stroke. Let us suppose that it is desired to play a ball by the Fundamental Shot to a point due north. First the 20 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF left hand and wrist turn the club head in a south- westerly direction, at the same time gradually lifting it until it is a little higher than the player's knee. The toe of the club is then pointing straight up to the sky. The back lift is completed not by bending wrist or elbow, but by allowing the left arm to pass in front of the chest, until a feeling of strain on the left shoulder joint gives warning that the limit of south- westerly movement has been reached. The player's hands will now be about on a level with his waist, his club head with his right ear. I have a strong belief, amounting almost to conviction, that the triceps muscle of the left arm does most of the work during the second half of the back lift. It also starts the downward motion of the club by pulling it back towards the ball. This downward motion is con- tinued by the re-turn of the wrists, especially the left, to their original position. If these motions are correctly executed the face of the club will be presented fair and square to the ball, as it was when it ' addressed ' it. It is of the first importance that at the moment when club head impinges on ball the left wrist should be taut almost to rigidity. The club head will then be dragged through the ball by the triceps muscle of the left arm, the right assisting by the thrust of its underhand throw, and will follow on smoothly until its momentum has exhausted itself. It is impossible to say where it will finish, for Finish is a thing entirely different from Follow - through. Follow - through is the natural consequence of a correctly executed stroke ; Finish is the device adopted by the individual player HOW TO LEARN 21 to relieve the muscles of hand and arm at. the end of his follow- through. Vardon seems to relax his grip at this moment and to let his club drop gracefully on to his left shoulder. Taylor pulls his hand back to his left thigh. Mr. John Ball's wiry wrists some- times make his club describe a ' pig-tail ' in the air when a specially vigorous drive has caused a more than usually forceful follow - through. Even the follow- through itself may be curtailed by circumstances. When Vardon executes the so-called ' Push-shot ' with cleek or iron, his club head often stops within two or three feet of the spot from which it has removed the ball. This is because after striking the ball it went on into the ground, which acts as a shock- absorber, and immediately relieves his wrists of strain. The follow-through is complete, but finish is lacking because there is no need for it. Here I permit myself to digress, because the ludicrously wrong ideas about ' Vardon 's Push-shot ' held by many persons aptly illustrate an important point in this chapter, videlicet that the general acceptance of inaccurate terminology handicaps edu- cationalists terribly in the discharge of their duties. This particular stroke has no share in the nature of a Push, and it was used for the treatment of bad-lying balls by many players before Vardon appeared to impress the imagination of the golfing world. When he lays a ball dead with his cleek from a distance slightly less than two hundred yards, incidentally cutting a fid of turf from the ground just in front of where his ball lay, and stands there poised in an 22 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF attitude of easy grace, his club checked maybe a yard in front of him, he pulled rather than pushed the cleek head down on to the ball. It was the left triceps, not the right biceps, which did the trick, and at the moment of impact his hands were in front of the ball rather than behind it. He has himself told us that he keeps his hands in advance of the ball, and the camera shows that he speaks truth. Now nobody can push an object forward unless he gets behind it. But some of Vardon's would-be imitators make a sad mess of their long iron-shots, because they have an idea that they must in some way * push ' the reluctant ball towards the hole. They will very probably find illumination in the statement that the club head must be pulled on to the ball with the left arm, the underhand throw of the right coming in at the last moment to supplement, but not to supersede, the pace imparted to it by the left. This seems to me to be merely another way of stating Vardon's printed explanation of his method. To return for a moment to the ' Fundamental Shot.' I claim for it as a medium of education, that as com- pared with the Full Drive, which most commonly forms the subject of the earliest lessons given to a beginner, it is easy to explain and easy to demonstrate ; that a persistent and prolonged attempt to master it makes a man detect unity in the manner of making all strokes from short approach to full drive ; that the absence of violent exertion prevents the intrusion of errors in hitting, which are difficult of detection by teacher or pupil ; that it leads to a grasp of the HOW TO LEARN 23 essentials of method, which will be most valuable to the young player when he has developed a recog- nisable and appraisable c game/ but finds himself temporarily off it : he can put himself on the road to recovery by beginning again at the beginning, and he has a definite beginning to begin with. Finally, it is universal ; everybody who is anybody at golf plays the half -shot with an iron club in practically the same way, and the half-shot differs only in degree from longer and more forceful shots. I leave it for others to tell how the more complex strokes from Drive to Putt should be accomplished. My sincere hope is that those who have given careful attention to the instruction in the elements hereinbefore set out, will in consequence be able to derive the fuller benefit when they get into the Sixth Form, and are up to Mr. Darwin, James Sherlock, and last but who in all courtesy should have been named first Mrs. Ross, better known to golfing fame as Miss May Hezlet. PART I ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION BY BERNARD DARWIN PRELIMINARY NOTE A NUMBER of educational works have been written on golf, many of them by highly distinguished persons. On certain points these authorities have differed considerably, and I have thought that it might be interesting to bring together their various views for pur- poses of comparison, and occasionally, after summing up, to pronounce, for what it is worth, a diffident verdict upon their differences. These controversial points are, however, apt to be abstruse, and, though I hope they may be of some interest to mature golfers, would probably confuse the mind of the quite ele- mentary student. Therefore I have tried as far as possible first to give the elementary theory of a particular stroke more or less dogmatically, and after- wards to discuss the more complicated points, on which there is a diversity of opinion. This can be done much more easily with some strokes than with others. The right and wrong ways of putting are, for instance, so much matters of opinion that it is almost impossible to separate elementary dogmas from violently controversial points. I am therefore conscious that I have not always been able to stick 27 28 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION as closely as i could wish to the scheme I marked out for myself. I think it is best, however, to give this short explanation of the plan on which I worked as far as I could, in order that the reader, if he does not find a particular point in one place, may curb his indignation, and hope to find it in another. CHAPTER I DRIVING (a) FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE SWING THERE are two rather different systems on which instruction may be imparted in the art of driving. In one the victim is first of all carefully placed in position by means of a foot-rule, while an exhaustive explanation is given him of the probably fatal effects of adopting any of some six other courses. Then, when his mental and bodily faculties have become paralysed by terror and cramp respectively, he is allowed, as an afterthought, to swing his club. In the other, as little attention as possible is for the moment paid to position, but the teacher's first object is that his pupil should learn to swing the club back- wards and forwards in a reasonably correct, and at the same time comfortable manner, while having as few things as possible on his mind. Then, when he has attained to something dimly resembling a swing, the question of attitude is gone into in greater detail. The latter seems to me the better of the two, and for a specific reason. Very good golfers adopt very Note. The pictures illustrating the various strokes, positions, etc., discussed by Mr. Darwin, are from photographs of Fred Robson taken in actual execution of each stroke. [ED.] 29 30 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION different attitudes before striking the ball : attitudes which have so little in common that to deduce from them any hard-and-fast general law that shall be useful to the learner is almost impossible. There must always be so many exceptions to any rule that the question resolves itself in the end into a matter of opinion. On the other hand, as regards swinging the club, however different from each other the good players may look to our fallible eyes, yet, if their swings be picked to pieces, certain things will be found in the methods of one and all of them. Those things there- fore would appear to be essentials, and by all means let us get the things that are essential drummed into the student's head as soon as possible. Yet at the very outset I must depart from the plan that I have proposed for myself not once but twice, in order to deal with the question of clubs and the method of holding them. In order to get to the real business, however, I will, at the present moment at any rate, be as brief as possible. As to the club, indeed it is wise at this stage to say just as little as may be. If the reader is not in the absolutely elementary stage, he will already have got a wooden club which he believes, no doubt rightly, to be the best in the world ; if he is a beginner, he had better let himself be guided by the man who sells him the club, unless the latter appear obviously dishonest or incompetent. The only two points on which he may venture to insist are that the club should not be too long, and that it should be reasonably lofted in the face. As to the question of grip, I propose to leave over DRIVING 31 for the moment the much debated question of the overlapping grip, and to say that a club may be grasped in any way a man pleases subject to these three provisoes : 1. That he holds his hands as near together as may be. 2. That he has the knuckles of his left hand turned perceptibly upward, though not to an extent that will cramp him. 3. That he do not imbed the handle of his club too deeply in the palm of the right hand, nor hold it with that hand in too cast-iron a grip. The left thumb may do what it pleases, but the right thumb will be better round the handle of the club than straight along it. And now at last for the swing, with only these two further words of caution : that the player should stand as far from his imaginary ball as he comfortably can, that his feet should be fairly wide apart, and that he should begin by making himself and his muscles feel limp and ' floppy/ if the expression be permissible, rather than taut and rigid. The point of the last piece of advice is just this, that, to quote from the Badminton Library, ' above everything the golfing drive is a swing and not a hit.' It is often said that the best golfers of to-day hit much more pronouncedly than did their predecessors, and that in fact the golfing stroke is really a hit and not a swing. I will not pause to argue the proposition, which may after all merely resolve itself into a question 32 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION of words ; if there is truth in it, it is an improper truth to be jealously guarded from the golfing young person. Whatever the best word to describe it, a golf-ball is best propelled by a smooth and even motion of various parts of the player's anatomy, and if the beginner imagines himself to be hitting, he will inevitably brace himself for an effort, tauten his muscles, and deliver a blow spasmodic, jerky, and uneven, probably accompanied by a palpable jump. So, whatever he thinks, he must clothe himself in a panoply of faith, ' the quality which consists in believ- ing that which we know to be untrue/ and believe with his whole soul that he is to sweep away the ball, or rather, for the present, the head of a daisy. So armed, he may take an easy gentle swing or two ; then at the third swing let him stop in the middle at the top of the swing, as it is called and in the words of the Irish drill-sergeant ' step out here and look at himself/ Two tests may be suggested as to whether he is performing the action, roughly speaking, rightly or wrongly. Let him observe, firstly, whether the nose of his club is pointing straight down to the ground ; and, secondly, whether his left wrist is bent inward so as to be almost directly under the shaft of his club. The latter point needs perhaps a further word of explanation. The learner has prob- ably noticed at one time or another that common,' and often charming phenomenon, the bad, female lawn-tennis player ; he will have seen her method of playing a back-hand shot with the wrist bent outward in the direction in which the ball is supposed by DRIVING 33 courtesy to be about to travel. The golfer's wrist at the top of his swing should be just as unlike that lady's wrist as it is possible for one thing to be unlike another. Now, it may turn out that he finds that in both instances he is doing the right and not the wrong thing ; if that is so, he is very lucky, and has avoided one considerable difficulty by the light of nature. But it is much more probable that his wrist is turned rather outwards than inwards, and that the nose of his club is pointed rather to heaven than earth. One of these mistakes depends on the other, and both proceed from a very pardonable misconception of the player's duty. He properly begins the proceedings by having the club face turned in the direction in which he proposes to drive, with the centre of the face opposite the ball, and it is quite natural to imagine that this attitude of the club head towards the ball should be maintained throughout the swing. There- fore with much pains and labour he takes the club back, the face being still religiously turned in the direction of the ball's proposed flight. Now this idea is, as has been said, very natural ; it may even be praiseworthy ; but it has one serious defect in that it is shown by experience to be hopelessly, fatally wrong. The mind must at the outset be disabused of the idea that the club is to keep its face turned faithfully towards the ball ; on the contrary, the up swing is to be a process of turning the face gradually away from the ball, and the down swing a process of turning it gradually towards it again. And since the 34 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION club face is moved by means of the hands and wrists, it follows that these two have also to turn away from the ball in the upward swing. This appears a positively unnatural doctrine, but it is not really so outrageous as it sounds. I once tried to explain it in a small elementary treatise by reference to a one-handed stroke, and I venture to think that this is as illuminating a method as any other. Let the player take his club in his left hand, and having fixed on the daisy or dandelion that is to be his victim, imagine himself to be playing a back- hand shot at it as he would at lawn- tennis. Since nearly every one has played lawn-tennis or some other game involving a racket, this will be a natural movement, and he will go through it more or less instinctively. Let him go through the performance quite slowly and keep a watchful eye on his hand and wrist and on the head of the club, to see what they are doing. He will see that the club head does not for more than a very few inches of its progress remain facing in the direction in which he proposes to hit. No, it turns away from the line of flight and inwards, towards the player's body, while the hand and wrist are similarly turning over and inwards. Continue the movement a little further, and the face of the club is almost looking up to heaven. Continue it a little further still till the club has reached a horizontal position over the player's neck : the nose of the club will be found pointing straight down to the ground and the wrist will be bent inwards right under the shaft of the club ; the two latter phenomena, as I . ::% L ONE-HANDED EXERCISE [To face p. 34 DRIVING 35 said before, being essential to a true swing. However, to take the club right round the neck with one hand is hard work, and is not, moreover, really necessary. It is quite sufficient, with this back-hand shot, to take it back quite a short distance, because the essential thing is to get the club to start its career correctly ; once comfortably started it will not be likely to err very grievously. I have a firm belief in this short back-hand swing with the left hand as a method of starting the club back properly, and it should be practised and persevered with for a little while, till the player feels quite com- fortable with it. Then the strong right hand, which has no doubt been itching to plunge into the fray, may be allowed to join the left in holding the club. The immediate result will probably be a thorough dislocation of the swing, for the right hand does not like being ordered about by the left, and is apt to rebel at first against that turning-over movement of the club. So, although it will ultimately be allowed to hold tight and do plenty of work, the right hand had better at first hold rather loosely and be thoroughly subordinated to the left. Although he has now got two hands, the player should still as far as possible imagine himself with only one, and drone away to himself ' a back-hand stroke with the left hand. 1 The two warring hands will gradually make friends and work together more or less harmoniously. When he has in some degree mastered this elementary movement, the player should try by degrees to make it gradually a bigger and bolder one, 36 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION taking the club back further and more freely, and with the arms not too closely tucked in to his body. As soon as he does this he will very clearly feel the necessity for his body and legs to join in the fun, since, if they do not, there inevitably comes a hitch when no further backward movement of the club is possible. The great thing to remember about the body and legs is that they must always know their place, which is a subsidiary one ; they must never start a movement on their own account, but must only move at the moment when the arms and wrists, having taken the lead, can get no further without them. His own sensations will tell the player when that moment has come, and he is not to antici- pate it. Moreover, when the body is allowed to move, its owner must be very careful only to let it move in one particular way. He must not move it from left to right with a hazy, if magnificent, idea of gathering all his weight together on the right foot for a plunge at the ball. That is called swaying, and is one of the seven deadly sins. Nor must he move it upwards like the hero in a novel who, at some terrific moment, i draws himself up to his full height,' as a preliminary towards making a ' supreme effort.' The head must be kept absolutely and rigidly still, and there must be none of this upward jump. The body must move only round its own axis. Behind the player's waist- coat buttons runs an imaginary line, and round that line, as an axis, the body should turn freely, but the axis itself must not budge, and the best way to keep DRIVING : TOP OF SWING (To face p. 87 DRIVING 37 the axis steady is to keep the head absolutely and ferociously still. If the head and the imaginary axis behave them- selves, there is nothing desperately difficult about the body movement ; nothing, indeed, comparable in difficulty with the initial task of keeping the head still. If the club goes back properly, the left shoulder will be found to be coming gradually round and downwards towards the ball, while the right shoulder goes gradu- ally upward and away from the ball. But the left shoulder cannot move very far round if the left foot is kept rigidly fixed, and so the turning movement is communicated to the left knee and left foot. Two things are particularly important as regards this left foot. First, it has to occupy a completely sub- ordinate position and ought hardly to move before it is literally torn from its place by the turn of the body. Secondly, when the turn of the foot is made, it is to be made on the inside of the foot and not on the tip of the toe. To pirouette on the extreme toe almost inevitably upsets the balance of the body, and is a perfectly spurious and unnecessary movement, coming under the head of what has been called ' false encouragement ' to the swing. Now, if all these various parts of the body have performed their functions properly, the player will find himself poised at the top of his swing and looking at the ball from a point just to the right of his left shoulder. His hands should be just above the level of the right shoulder, and the club well clear of the shoulder. This is what ought to have happened, 38 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION but since it is quite possible that it has not, it is worth while suggesting one or two errors that, in spite of all precautions, may have crept into the upward swing. It may be that the club, instead of being over the shoulder, is over the head, while the right elbow, instead of being kept low and fairly close to the side, as it ought to be, is high in the air. In that case it is probable that the right hand has been recalcitrant, has refused to obey the left, and has taken charge of the swing, with the consequence that the turning movement of the wrists has not been properly carried out. It follows that the turning movement of the body is not properly completed either, and the whole swing is thrown out of gear. There is nothing for it but to pay great attention to the wrist movement, and go back if necessary to that back-handed move- ment of the left hand. On the other hand, the player may have made exactly the opposite mistake ; he may, with the best intentions, have exaggerated the turning movement, so as to swing the club with a scythe-like motion round the middle of his back, while the wrist, from overmuch zeal, is actually turned out instead of in. If so, he must see to it that in turning over his wrists he does not perform that action with such misdirected energy as to turn the left elbow outward and far away from the body. If the left elbow be kept lightly brushing against the chest as the club goes up, the wrists ought not very gravely to misbehave themselves in this particular. These are the two extremes of error into which the player may have fallen, but I will assume that he has DRIVING 39 avoided them both and is now comfortably poised at the top of the swing comfortably and yet with a certain sense of tension : tension of the wrists if they are bent beneath the shaft as they ought to be : of the body if it has turned properly, and of the right knee, which ought not to have been allowed to bend in the slightest degree. He ought not in fact to stop at this point, for the club should come down again after only an imperceptible pause, but I may allow him to stop and rest for a minute, because he has now accomplished infinitely the most laborious and difficult part of his task. The down swing which actually does the hitting of the ball is child's play compared with the up swing ; granted a proper up swing, the down swing will come almost automatically. Therefore, though the club has at first to be taken up carefully, it can almost from the first be brought down comparatively light-heartedly, subject only to two words of caution. The head must be as immov- able as ever ; the player must keep his eye on the ball or, as I have seen it well expressed, he must take care to see his club strike the ball ; also he must not allow himself to think too much of the word hit : he must remember that he is still swinging. On this down swing the various movements before described will repeat themselves in an exactly reverse order : the wrists will, so to speak, uncoil themselves : the body will turn back on its immovable axis : the right shoulder will come round and under. But, and this is intensely important, the player must let these things happen spontaneously : he must not 40 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION try to help them. If he does, he will probably turn his right wrist over and beat the ball heavily over the head with the face of the club turned inwards. He must regard himself rather as a piece of machinery which has been carefully and correctly wound up and must, so to speak, go off by itself. Left to itself, the machinery will bring hands, body, club and all back to the ball in exactly the same position in which they were when the swing was begun, and to do this is, I suppose, the secret of accurate hitting. But the machine must not be stopped with a whir and a jerk when the ball is reached. Left to itself and this phrase cannot be repeated too often the swing will finish right out and the club head go, as it were, clean through the ball and end over the left shoulder, while body and legs follow obediently in its wake. A good player can, by putting in force at the right moment, accelerate the working of the machine without dislocating it. The novice must not try to do so ; it will work quite quickly enough unaided. It is because this is such a hard lesson to be learned that the word hit is to be deprecated. The good player does hit very hard, but he hits smoothly and through the ball ; the bad player hits at it, and to do that is to stop the swing with a jerk. It is far easier to avoid this error if nothing more solid than a daisy takes the place of a ball, just because it is so much easier to imagine oneself hitting through a daisy. Wherefore the ball should be eliminated until the club swings backwards and forwards smoothly and easily. The longer the learner can do without a ball, DRIVING 41 the longer will be the distance that he will some day be able to drive it. (6) THE STANCE When dealing with the elementary principles of the driving swing, the position of the feet was dis- missed in rather cavalier fashion. It must, however, be faced, and with it the golfer is confronted with a question which, if not acutely controversial, is at any rate one of opinion. To the earnest student of golf it may not be uninteresting to trace, very shortly, the changes both in teaching and in actual practice which have taken place on this one point. In 1890 the author of the Badminton volume laid down the law dogmatically thus : that supposing an imaginary line to be drawn from the player's left toe parallel with the line on which he intended to drive, his right toe should be some three inches in rear of that line. In common golfing language he was to stand with his right foot behind his left. This theory the author justified in three ways : by deductions from first principles, by referring to the older golfing manuals of Mr. Chambers and Mr. Forgan, and by pointing to the example of the great majority of good players of that date. 1 After that there arose a race of fine players nearly all of whom acted in direct opposition to these tenets, by standing more or less ' open/ 1 It may be noted, as giving a hint of some previous changes of opinion in more ancient times, that at this same date Sir Walter Simpson speaks of the style recommended both by himself and Mr. Hutchinson as the new as opposed to the old style. 42 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION that is to say, having the right foot in advance of the imaginary line. One may quote as conspicuous instances, Mr. Ball, who had previously been regarded as the exception that proved the rule, Mr. Hilton, Mr. F. G. Tait, J. H. Taylor and Harry Vardon, and of a rather younger generation Mr. Maxwell and Mr. Graham, three of whom have in print upheld the open stance as the best. With these forcible examples before them, the golfing world, always an imitative and easily influenced one, largely threw off its allegi- ance to its pristine teachers and adopted an open stance, sometimes with benefit to itself, sometimes probably with disastrous results. To-day the pen- dulum has swung slightly back again. From an ex- perience in watching golf during the last few years which, though certainly not peculiar, is at any rate extensive, I should say that the greater number of good players still stand slightly but perceptibly open, and that very few indeed have the right foot actually behind the left. On the other hand, Taylor, who perhaps afforded the most conspicuous example of the open stance, has, I think, his right foot further back than in his early days, and Braid, the most notable player of the last few years, stands, and has recommended others to stand, ' square/ that is to say with neither foot perceptibly in front of the other. When all is said and done, it must be to a con- siderable extent a matter of individual preference. If any man feels a strong natural predilection for any particular stance, not grotesquely exaggerated, can only feel comfortable in that stance, and is reasonably DRIVING 43 successful with it, he will probably be ill-advised to change it. Most of us, however, are not reasonably successful, and therefore one may sum up the argu- ments for the different methods and indicate as judicially as possible one's own conclusion. The teachers of the older school said shortly this : that to have the right foot in rear of the left helps the player to take the club well out away from his body, and so obtain a bigger flatter sweep of the club. They carried the war into the enemy's country by adding that the open stance had a tendency, by reason of the more vertical taking up of the club, to check the swing, and produce that most hideous of all diseases, slicing. The argument of the other side was briefly this : that the player with his right foot in advance was better able to see where he was going, and so could aim better ; that he could follow through more easily and with less effort ; and that he had, generally, more control over himself and his club. To the arguers on both sides one may say, in the words of the conciliatory innkeeper in Silas Marner, ' The truth lies atween you ; you 're both right and both wrong, as I allays say.' There is, for instance, no doubt that the old stance, as I will call it, does let the arms, and so the club, go further out from the body, and when a golfer gets into a cramped and confined method of hitting, as will sometimes happen, the remedy of putting the right foot an inch or two further back is at least worth a respectful trial. But and here is the rub it may be gravely questioned whether the doctrine that the 44 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION arms should go as far as possible out from the body is a sound one at all. We have seen that with nearly all good drivers the club head is not taken away for any distance in a straight line behind the ball. If it were, the arms would of course go with it, right out and away from the body. But since we have agreed that the club is to be taken very decidedly inwards, it follows that the arms go inwards too, and, save in the sense that the swing must be free and not cramped, they do not go out from the body at all. Nothing is more noticeable about the driving of the modern professionals than the fact that they keep their arms quite close to the body. It is a free style, of course, splendidly free, but it is a wonderfully compact style too. And this look of compactness is due, I fancy, to the arms never straying far away from the body. Taylor is the most noticeable of all in this direction, with that right elbow of his never leaving his side a principle on which he lays great stress ; but Taylor is not really the best example, because he is an abnormal player with an abnormal wrist and forearm. What other player could finish with his hands tucked away in the pit of his stomach, and yet hit the ball perfectly straight and hideously far ? Look rather among the young players, at Duncan, as free and slashing a hitter as can be, and see how well into himself he keeps his arms. Look among the older men, at Harry Vardon, upon whom, with certain obvious differences, Duncan has clearly modelled his style ; there is the same beautiful compactness. Sherlock, again, a player in some ways sui generis, lets the right elbow slide DRIVING 45 noticeably round his back ; his arms certainly do not go out from the body in the sense in which the words are used in the Badminton. One would hardly tell a beginner deliberately to keep his arms close to his body, or at any rate to do so would be to incur a grave responsibility, with the possibility of cramping him for life. One might rather compromise by telling him to avoid swinging wildly with the arms. At any rate, having regard to the weight of modern teaching and example, one would not tell him deliberately to take the club out from his body, and, that being so, the chief argument for the right foot back goes by the board. One or two further arguments against this attitude may be adduced. For one, it is for most people a difficult position in which to aim straight ; and for another, the fact of having to reach out over the left foot produces a tendency to stooping, as any one can discover by personal experiment. Again, it is an attitude which lends itself perhaps more fatally than almost any other to exaggeration : the right foot is apt to creep back and back till the golfer, who started by aiming towards long-on, will end by trying to hit to square leg. When the position is in the very least degree exaggerated, the player can only follow through in the desired direction by wrenching round his shoulders with a palpable effort. Even among very good players who stand with the right foot noticeably far back, I have noticed the tendency to a forced and ungainly twist of the shoulders. And now, having poured a broadside of abuse into the old stance, let us attack the new or open stance. 46 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION The gravamen of the charge against it is that it causes the club to be taken up too vertically, the swing to be too ' straight up and down.' In this charge there is truth if, and as I venture to think only if, the open stance is exaggerated. What of course constitutes exaggeration is a question which may be asked, and can be best answered by indicating what is not exaggeration. It may safely be said that to have the right foot three or four inches in front of that imaginary line of ours comes within the limit of strict moderation. Let the reader take a club and, at imminent risk to the chimney ornaments, try the experiment himself. He will find that if the right foot be advanced immoderately, the right leg and shoulder will, if one may say so, get in his way, or, to be precise, in the way of the club, so that his only comfortable plan will be to take up the club more vertically. Also and I think this is the more impor- tant point of the two he will discover that a much more forcible turn of the body is needed if he is to be in the proper position at the top of the swing, and so there is the greater temptation not to turn the body at all ; from this last crime the taking up of the club too straight follows almost inevitably. The moral of this is that the player who adopts the open stance must be very, very careful to keep that right foot within bounds. To be for a moment egotistical, I have sometimes found that with a very decidedly open stance, I can drive with an ease and fire and straightness of which I did not believe myself capable for a while. It may be for a few shots, or a whole DRIVING 47 round, or, and this is sadly rare, for a whole day, but there always comes a breakdown, due, no doubt, to a gradual exaggeration of the successful stance, and that breakdown is the worst of the many kinds to which I have been a martyr. At length I have learnt wisdom on this one point, and if in the hour of my affliction a kind friend makes the suggestion that I should stand more open, my invariable reply to him is, ' Get thee behind me.' I know he is only tempting me to a worse fall. From the fact that two equally eminent golfers have written that the open stance (1) impedes and (2) facilitates the art of following through, a cynical reader might draw the conclusion that in this particular regard it has no effect whatever. My own experience, for what it is worth, is that it is easier to follow through when standing open. The fact that the player is already facing, in a slight degree, in the direction in which he means to drive, seems to allow club, arms, and body to go forward more easily in that direction. Indeed, in that word body there lurks a hidden danger ; it is fatally easy to lurch forward with the body instead of standing still, so that Braid says that 1 the chief danger of the open stance is the tendency which undoubtedly exists to put the body into the stroke too soon. The body seems to want to get in almost as soon as the club begins the down-swing, and when the player is a little off his game it is con- stantly getting there before the club.' The reader may by now have discovered for himself the advice to which all this argument has tended, 48 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION namely, that he should avoid the error of either party by adopting a stance that shall be as far as possible square. Let the right foot be three or four inches in front and not more : let him be for ever watching and praying that this foot does not encroach any further. According to the stance he adopts, the player will stand more or less behind his ball. He may have the ball almost opposite to his left heel, or to the middle of his body, or further back still almost opposite his right heel. The latter is a phenomenon occasionally to be observed in the styles of those who stand very open, but is not to be imitated. The object to be obtained is, roughly speaking, that ' the ball, club shaft and hands should be all, as nearly as possible, in the same vertical plane.' To this may be added that the getting of the hands in front of the ball is, on the whole, a commoner error even than having them too far behind. Hundreds of thousands of shots are annually mistimed by the hands coining through too soon, and if a man start by having his hands too far in front of the ball, he is surely encouraging himself in this common error. Therefore it seems wise to put the ball as far forward as is comfortably possible, but a few inches behind the left heel. If the player comes to feel that he cannot reach the ball on the down swing without a forward lunge of his body, he may be sure that he has exaggerated yet another virtue into a vice and has got the ball too far forward. This is comparatively rare, however, and a much more frequent and insidious bad habit is that of getting too far in front of the ball. This attitude gives for a DRIVING 49 while a great sense of power, of being well over the ball, but the ensuing breakdown is nearly always a particularly bad one. Besides what may be called this main question as regards the stance, there are two or three subsidiary ones, two of which are of so elemental a character that perhaps I should have put them first. They are, first, How far away the player is to stand from the ball ; and, secondly, How far his feet are to be apart ? It is a truism to point out that the first question must depend largely on the lie of the club, and that the more upright the club the nearer must the player stand to his ball. There are a few people who, so to speak, flatten the lie of their clubs by holding them in such a way that the heel of the club rests on the ground, while the toe is cocked in the air. One exceedingly sound golfer, Mr. H. S. Colt, has a suspicion of this style about his driving, although it is not so marked as in his putting, wherein only the extreme heel of the club rests upon the ground. One may assert, however, with some boldness that it is not a good plan, that the head should rest on the turf at its natural angle, and that if a man wants to drive like the ' auld wife cuttin' hay ' of Bob Martin, he had better buy a flat club. There are a few who may be seen with only the toe of the club on the ground, a feat accomplished by holding the wrists abnormally high in an attitude of the most exquisite discomfort, but these are almost invariably bad players who may be condemned without any show of respect. 50 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION Since so much must depend on the lie of the club head and also on the length of the shaft, it would be futile to lay down any rule in feet and inches, and no better guide though it is of course only a rough guide can be given than that of the Badminton Library : * The ball should be at just such a distance from the player that when the club is laid with its heel not the centre of the face to the ball, the end of the club shaft reaches just to the player's left knee as he stands upright.' A more general piece of advice may be added that the player should stand as far away from the ball as he can, consistently with holding himself tolerably upright ; and, further, that he should always be on his guard against standing too close to the ball. The beginner nearly always desires to get close to his ball, and the seasoned player is quite likely to fall into the error of gradually creeping in. Braid, who is a great advocate of standing far away from the ball, carries out his own precepts so thoroughly that he addresses the ball with the extreme nose of the club, and this is also a feature of the style of another great golfer, Mr. Mure Fergusson. Presumably in the course of their swing these two fall ever so slightly forward, so as to bring the centre of the face against the ball, but the fact that they can do it is not enough to justify the less talented in trying such tricks. As far as I know, Mr. Laidlay is the only good player who addresses the ball with the heel of his driver, and then, by way of compensation, falls ever so slightly away from the ball in the course of the swing. This, too, is an eccentricity of genius not to be imitated. DRIVING 61 As to the distance between the feet, the ancient piece of advice may be quoted, merely in order to give some rough idea, that the distance between the feet should be eighteen inches. One or two considerations may, however, be pointed out. To stand with the feet very far apart, in short to straddle, ought to ensure a certain firmness on the feet, and may be recommended to those conscious of unsteadiness in this respect. Of all golfers there is no one who is so splendidly steady on his feet as Mr. John Ball, and he has rather a wide stance. Yet those who knew his game a good many years back will tell you that he now has his feet very decidedly nearer than of yore. This may be because even Mr. Ball is not quite so young as he was once, and a very wide stance increases the strain on the back and demands distinctly more exertion in swinging the club. There is also in this style, as may be found by experiment, a greater temptation to an altogether too free and exuberant movement of the knees : some very wide straddlers, indeed, attain at the top of the swing to an attitude best described perhaps as prayerful. To go to the opposite extreme and stand with the feet very close together makes an easier business of the swing ; indeed, there is some danger of too much ease, and a consequent loss of power. This method is nevertheless characteristic of at least three very excellent golfers, the Messrs. Ellis, H. G. B. and H. C., and Mr. H. W. Beveridge. The latter nowadays has his feet wonderfully close together, and his style of driving is certainly a very easy one. I am not sure 52 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION whether he is quite so long as he used to be, but he would appear to have gained perceptibly in accuracy of hitting. To any one conscious either temporarily or permanently of too forcing a style, with too much body and knee movement, and an inability to let the club come well and easily through, this style may be respectfully recommended for trial. Any measurements of distance between the feet must largely depend on the relative positions of the player's heels and toes ; or whether, and if so to what extent, he turns his toes out. This will again depend in a measure on whether or not he adopts a more or less open stance. Those who stand in what I have called the old style are inclined to have the left foot hardly turned out at all, and the right turned out palpably more. Players in the open style, on the other hand, have the left foot turned well out, while the right foot is almost at right angles to the imaginary line drawn parallel to the line of flight. This is the case with Harry Vardon, for example, and it is the obvious and natural thing to do. In the same way it is, I suppose, natural for those who have quite a square stance to have both feet turned slightly outward, and it is safe to say that ' what is natural can't be desperate.' At the same time, observation of the best players of the day shows that they nearly all of them have the left foot turned very perceptibly more outward of the two, and there is, I think, one good reason for having the right foot scarcely at all turned out. It is generally held that, for the sake of greater stillness and steadiness of the body, the DRIVING 53 right knee should not, at the top of the swing, be bent to any perceptible extent, and this stiff right knee is characteristic of nearly all the best drivers. A little experimenting will show that the keeping of the right knee stiff in the upward swing is decidedly easier if the foot be not turned out ; if it be turned out, there is an inclination to let the right knee swing out also as the club goes up. Fifthly and lastly in this intolerable discourse, is the question of how much, if at all, the knees should be bent in addressing the ball ; a question which one who is conscious of standing like a broken-down cab -horse must be peculiarly diffident in tackling. There are some very fine players who appear to stand with a perfectly stiff knee. Conspicuous among them are two of the great North Berwick golfers, Mr. Laidlay and Mr. Maxwell, and it is an article of faith with Mr. Laidlay that the backs of the legs should be stiff at the moment of hitting the ball. Still, for most people to stand with a perfectly stiff knee is uncom- fortable, and the majority of good players will be found to stand with a very slight bend of both knees. One or two, such as Herd, stand with much bent knees, but then Herd makes up for this crouching stance of his by a conspicuous lift of his body in the upward swing, and, grand player though he be, this is one of his qualities that should not be imitated. That the player should bend the knees ' just as little as he can avoid ' this would seem the best conclusion of the whole matter. 64 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION (c) THE FOLLOW-THROUGH In the dim future perhaps some post-impressionist golfer may arise and declare that the follow-through is not only unnecessary, but actually harmful. At pre- sent, however, no one, so far as I am aware, has had the hardihood to say so, and it is generally admitted as one of the essentials of good driving that the club head should come well through after the ball. There is scarcely any point about which the new and enthusiastic golfer becomes so excited as this one of following through ; yet there are none on which, as it often appears to me, he is so wrong-headed and ignorant. He is apt to believe that, quite apart from everything that has happened beforehand, some separate magic resides in the twirls and twiddles that his club performs long after the actual hitting of the ball. He determines that the club shall at all hazards come through, and by sheer brute force he does compel it to do so ; nay, he stands for an intolerable time with it duly poised over his left shoulder. Yet the ball, singularly enough, scuttles along the ground or soars away with a sidelong motion to take refuge in the whins : the follow-through for photographic purposes is admirable, but the prac- tical result is contemptible. Now the follow-through, though immensely impor- tant, is important chiefly as an outward and visible sign of inward and spiritual grace. That which happens to the club after the ball has gone is really only a piece of evidence the most convincing possible A FINE FINISH DRIVING 55 evidence except the flight of the ball that the club has reached the ball in a proper manner. This has very often been said before, but the matter is so often misconceived that it may be worth saying again. To bring the club head to the ball in the wrong way, and then, after the mischief is done, to drag it through by main force and suspend it over the left shoulder, is an utterly futile proceeding. Yet, half fearing that I have written too vehemently, I must at once disclaim any intention of minimising the importance of the follow- through. If a player finds out for himself or is told by his friends that his club is not coming through, let him pay heed to it, for it is as the writing on the wall. He must consider that he is not a Taylor, who can hit with a sturdy forearm punch and very little apparent follow-through indeed, and that if his club is not coming through he is probably committing one of two main crimes. Either he is letting his body lurch forward as the club comes down, so that the hands get through before the club head, or else he is not so much swinging his club as lifting it up and hitting with a snatchy jerk. Whichever crime he decides on as being his, he will do well to remember that as the club goes up so it will come down, and set to work first of all to see what is the matter with his back swing. This is not to say that the player can never do himself good by concentrating his mind simply on the follow- through. It must be admitted that it is sometimes a beneficial course, although not quite, I fancy, in the way that many people imagine. By visualising his 56 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION club as sweeping through after the ball, the player can often unconsciously affect his method of taking back the club : the benefit which he attributes wholly to following through comes really from his back swing having unconsciously grown smoother and more sweeping. There is one point connected with the follow-through which is a delicate and difficult one : to what extent, if at all, is the player to let the body come through with the club. It has been repeated ad nauseam that the body is only to revolve on its own axis. If this be so, it would seem to be clear that the body should certainly not come forward with the club, but occupy at the end of the swing the position that it did at the beginning, subject, of course, to its being necessarily turned in the direction of the ball's flight. Nevertheless, the same people who taught us about the body revolving on its own axis provided us with pictures showing us, as an ideal finish to the swing, a gentleman whose body has evidently lunged as far forward a-s possible on to the left foot. We might be able to disregard the pictures, but observation with our own eyes shows us that with nearly all good drivers the body has come perceptibly forward at the end of the swing. On this point one observation clearly falls to be made. The good player's body comes forward not before but after he has struck his blow ; it is dragged forward by the impetus of the arms and the club head as they go flying out after the departing ball. The bad player's body, on the other hand, too often DRIVING 57 tumbles or lurches forward as he is in the act of hitting. No doubt it is impossible to avoid a little of this forward body movement after the ball is struck ; to try to do so altogether would cramp the swing and lose power. Yet the difficulty is by no means solved, because at any rate one very great golfer, Mr. Hilton, deliberately advocates the coming right through with the whole body. He says that since many good golfers do not come through with the body, he cannot well call it essential to do so, but he goes on : ' I cannot help feeling that whatever success I have attained has been greatly due to my observance of this principle.' Incidentally it is interesting to know that Mr. Hilton acquired his very pronounced follow- through, not on his own initiative, but because in his boyhood he was nearly driven out of his seven young senses by a judicious parent who insisted, with almost wearisome reiteration, on this point of the game. The question really seems to resolve itself, like many others in golfing teaching, into one of a balance of temptations. Which is the commoner temptation, to fall backwards or to fall forwards, to come through too much, or not to come through at all ? I venture to say that the temptation to overdo the movement of coming through is far greater than that of under- doing it. How many thousands of golfers does one see beginning to hit too soon, dancing on their toes and bending their knees long before the club reaches the ball ? Their bodies are through long before they ought to be, with the inevitable result that the club stops with a jerk and never gets through at all. True, 58 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION one also sees those who do not come through, who fall back feebly on to the right foot at the end of the swing, but on the whole they are the less common. It is a case in which each golfer must recognise his own faults and temptations, and act accordingly ; but, since the quite immature golfer is not always capable of so much intelligent thought, I would urge him again to beware of those alluring pictures, and too free a movement of the body. (d) SOME FURTHER POINTS IN DRIVING In trying to deal with the elements of driving I treated the turning movement of the left wrist as the foundation of a true swing, which I believe it to be. The player was vehemently exhorted to acquire this wrist movement, and very little more was said as to the path on which the club should travel in the upward swing. It must not be overlooked, however, that there are equally good players, possessing an equally admirable wrist action, who yet take the club back on decidedly different lines. Vardon and Taylor are two conspicuous examples. Vardon has an upright swing, and Taylor a flat one. Vardon's club goes back for some little way almost straight behind the ball, and is then taken up rather suddenly, although sudden is perhaps not a good word to apply to that which is superlatively graceful and easy. Taylor, on the other hand, takes his club back, as he himself describes it, ' well round the right leg/ From the moment the club leaves the ball it travels, not on a DRIVING 59 straight line behind the ball, but inwards towards the player. Braid is another who seems to take the club well inwards round the legs from the very moment when the swing begins, and he too, like Taylor, has a distinctly flat swing. Now this taking of the club inwards would seem to be diametrically opposed to some highly respectable and cherished doctrines. In the Badminton Library Mr. Hutchinson says this : ' The club head should swing back, as far as possible, without too forced and painful straining after this object upon a line which would be given by production through the ball and to the player's right of the ball's intended flight.' The words quoted describe very accurately his own method of swinging ; he does not begin any turning movement till the club has gone some way back, and it is this that probably accounts for a slight 4 hang ' in the middle of his swing, a phenomenon of which he is not conscious himself, but which he is willing to take on trust from others. It is a doctrine that may perhaps be advantageous in so far as it encourages a swing that is big and free, but it certainly complicates matters by introducing two movements instead of one, and so makes it the more difficult to swing smoothly. Moreover, as far as I have been able to observe, it is contrary both to the teaching and practice of the majority of fine players, and I incline, therefore, with great respect to treat it as an eccentricity of genius. To be sure, one is also faced with the fact that Vardon takes* the club straight back for some little distance behind the 60 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION ball, but his again is a different style, with the club taken more abruptly up and with the arms kept much closer to the body. Vardon's indeed is a style by itself, which, much as I admire it, I must frankly admit I never can quite understand. A better driver cannot be found, but it is possible perhaps to find a style which is a safer guide for ordinary mortals. It is agreed, then, that the club is to be taken rather inwards towards the body in the backward swing, but this really need not alarm anybody into thinking that he has got something quite new to remember. The turning of the wrists properly begun will naturally take the club inwards to a quite sufficient degree, and there is not the least necessity consciously to accentuate it ; to do so is to run a grave risk of cramping the swing by getting the arms tucked too closely in to the body, and indeed of ruining it in various other ways. A great many people do not take the club sufficiently in to themselves, and these are generally confirmed slicers who, having thrown the arms far out to the right in the back swing, bring them sharply across to the left in the down swing, thus cutting across the ball in the most fatal conceivable manner. If they be observed closely, it will generally be seen that it is not merely that they take the club back on the wrong line, but that they take it back in the wrong way, with the left wrist doing none of the things that it ought to do. In fact, it is the turn of the wrist, at which I am still hammering away, that is at fault. There is another point which may be called con- DRIVING 61 troversial in regard to the up swing, and which is, I am inclined to think, decidedly important, and that is the behaviour of the right hand at the top of the swing. We used always to be taught that the club should turn freely in the right hand, so that at the top of the swing it should be resting on the web between the forefinger and thumb. I may quote from the late Mr. Everard's interesting book, Golf in Theory and Practice. While saying that it was an open question whether the grip of the right hand should be tight or loose, and whether it should be a grip with the fingers or the palm, he adds this : * But one thing is certain, that, when the club strikes the ball, the shaft in all cases must have arrived in such a position that it is resting in the fork at the base of the thumb ; those who adopt the finger grip allow it to drop into that position during the upward swing.' I do not think this very positive statement was accurate in 1896 when it was written. For instance, Mr. Hilton was then, as he is now, one of the best of all golfers, and he has told me that never since he was a boy of fourteen did he let the club thus fall into the fork at the base of the thumb. Neither, I am very sure, did Taylor or Mr. Laidlay, who both flourished in 1896 ; indeed, it is one of the merits of their method of holding the club that the right forefinger is almost bound to retain its control of the club throughout, and never let it slip. Vardon, who has the same grip, in describing his own position at the top of the swing, says ' the grip of the thumb and first finger of the right hand ... is still as firm as at the beginning.' 62 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION At any rate, the statement would be totally inaccurate if made to-day. The majority of professionals adopt the so-called Vardon grip, and so the club does not glide about in the hand, but remains immovable. There are, of course, some very fine golfers who do let the club slide, but to do so must, as one would think, add to the difficulty of their task. The chances of losing control over the club must be perceptibly increased by any superfluous movement. Of course the grip of the right hand must not be too vice-like, lest freedom be restricted. The right hand must relax a little at the top of the swing, and we can see a noticeable instance of this in the style of Mr. Hilton, who at the top of his swing holds his club with an extraordinarily delicate grip of the fingers of the right hand. But and this is the important point he holds the club firmly with the right fore- finger and thumb : he does not let the club flop, if one may so call it, into the fork at the base of the thumb, and it is this flopping which I so strongly deprecate. Only one or two cardinal points in this matter of grip were insisted on at the beginning of the chapter on driving, lest the main issue should be confused, but perhaps it may be well to say a little more now. Since it is used by such a very large number of fine players, the overlapping or Vardon grip is certainly worthy of a most respectful trial. It has been described and depicted so often that it is almost superfluous to do so again. A ringer grip with both hands ; the left thumb lying almost straight down DRIVING 63 and not round the shaft ; the little finger of the right hand riding on the first finger of the left : these are of course its characteristics. When this method of holding the club was first introduced to public notice, the chief merit claimed for it was that the overlapping of the two hands made in effect but one big hand of them, and that the wrists were thus likely to work in perfect unison. Doubtless there is some truth in this, but I incline to think that this particular merit of the grip has been a good deal exaggerated. I believe that it has proved beneficial to golfers for other reasons. First, because of the firmness before mentioned, which reduces to a minimum the danger of the club sliding with too frolicsome a spirit in the right hand. Secondly, because of this same firmness it is more difficult for a player grossly to over-swing himself. The left thumb held straight down the shaft does something to stop the club going far beyond the horizontal at. the top of the swing, and the un- relenting grasp of the right hand does more. There are, of course, many very fine players who hold their clubs in other ways, and it would be very foolish to say that they are wrong. As to the left hand, presuming the thumb to be coiled round the shaft in the elder fashion, it is of no great moment whether the grip be a finger or a palm grip, so long as the knuckles have a decidedly upward turn. As to the right, it is permissible to be more positive and to plump for a finger grip, because the resultant swing is more likely to be smooth and harmonious. To have the club sunk deep in the palm of the right hand 64 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION tends to produce a style best described as a heaving one, with too much dropping of the right shoulder, a heavy blow instead of a quick one. It is also, I know, the view of Mr. Hilton, acutest of observers, that it tends to too long and uncontrolled a back swing. I may perhaps add, as one conscious of far too long a back swing, that I began life by holding my club deep in the right palm, and have never been able to overcome this over-swinging. A preacher of this doctrine can always have quoted against him Mr. John Ball, possessor of the most beautiful style in all the world, who appears to hold the club sunk home in a clenched right fist. But, in the first place, Mr. Ball is a wholly exceptional player ; and, in the second, he perhaps deceives the superficial observer. The right forefinger straying quite loose gives a clue that ought to put us on our guard, and in truth I fancy that it is the three other fingers of the right hand that do most of the hard work of gripping, and not the fist at all. The golfing beginner nearly always desires to do one of two things as regards the right hand : either to hold the club with this tremendous grasp of the whole fist, or else, if he holds more with the fingers, to lay the right thumb along and not round the shaft. This last gives him a feeling of guiding the club, and perhaps it may be well for a short while to let him have his own way. I doubt it, however, because the right thumb down is almost sure to cramp him, and cause him to take the club up far too abruptly. It is, generally speaking, inimical to a sweeping stroke. DRIVING 66 Many good players hold their iron clubs thus, but as regards driving I can only think of one, Mr. Maxwell. There is always an exception, and apart from that Mr. Maxwell has a style as peculiar as it is effective. It is a stiff swing, with hardly anything of the orthodox wrist movement, and an equal measure of genius and physical strength are probably required to imitate it at all successfully. So let the right thumb, unless hopelessly obdurate, be laid across and not down the shaft. There is one more point in particular upon which modern players have shown a tendency to differ from the older teachers, and that is as to the distribution of the weight at the top of the swing. We used to be taught that in the up swing the weight was trans- ferred from the left to the right foot, so that when the player was at the top of his swing all his weight was on his right foot. Now even if this doctrine is quite correct, and all the weight is on the right foot at the top of the swing, I think it would be a very dangerous one to teach to a beginner, for in his efforts to attain this shifting of the weight he would almost inevitably sway his head and his whole body to the right, the one thing of all things that he is not to do. Even if he kept his head still and he probably would not he would yet throw his body about in a very unseemly way. But in truth and in fact I don't believe the doctrine is true at all, or only in a very modified degree. Look at the photographs of any good player at the top of his swing, or at the players themselves, and it will be seen that he has still got a very perceptible 66 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION amount of weight on his left foot. The sounder and more modern doctrine appears to be well stated by Braid : * At the top of the swing, although nearly all the weight will be on the right foot, the player must feel a distinct pressure on the left one, that is to say, it must still be doing a small share in the work of supporting the body. If it is merely touching the turf, it is a sign that the weight has been thrown too far backwards, and the proper balance of the body been disturbed.' If there is a fault in this passage, it is that it is not vehement enough in favour of the left leg. The inclination to sway to the right is so deeply implanted in human nature that it is, I believe, better to tell the beginner to keep the weight throughout fairly evenly distributed between the two feet, and let the transference of weight look after itself. I have heard of one very good player and teacher who declares that when he is driving well, he feels as if he were wearing a hole in the toe of his left sock. If this be an exaggeration, it is both a picturesque and useful one. CHAPTER II THROUGH THE GREEN WITH WOODEN CLUBS WOODEN club play through the green is not, it must be sorrowfully admitted, what it once was. The glory has in a measure departed from it, not because golfers are less skilful, but because they have far fewer opportunities of showing their skill. Golf -balls are made to fly further and further every year, and the utmost fierceness of golfing architects cannot keep pace with the ingenuity of ball-makers. Not only does the modern ball fly an unconscionable distance, but it flies particularly far when struck with an iron club. The result of this is that when there is any grave doubt about the goodness of a lie through the green, it is possible to take an iron club and lose com- paratively little distance ; the loss is so small as to be more than compensated for by additional ease and certainty in making the shot. Therefore the art of tearing the ball away from an unpromising lie with a wooden club and this used to be one of the most magnificent and satisfactory of all golfing shots is not nearly so valuable as it used to be. The Badminton volume devotes considerable space to explaining how the ball should be jerked away with 67 68 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION a brassey out of a cuppy lie. The shot was very well worth the learning and playing then, because invalu- able distance was gained by daring greatly with wood. Now the ignoble, pusillanimous iron will do very nearly as well. However, though long drivers have to-day but little use for their brassies, the club is not wholly atrophied. Many people are not long drivers ; the rudimentary golfer is not likely to be at first, so he will have this consolation that the poorer is his driving the greater his opportunity for playing the j oiliest shot at golf, the full bang through the green with a wooden club. For this purpose he will have to buy a brassey, unless, which is no bad plan, he began to learn his driving with a brassey rather than a driver. Even so, he had better get another brassey with which to play through the green. For his tee-shots he will not desire a very much lofted club, as soon as he has passed through the most elementary of all stages, but through the green he had much better adhere for some while to a club with a good deal of loft. I cannot help thinking that there are hundreds and hundreds of golfers wailing and wondering quite unnecessarily as to why they cannot hit a wooden club shot unless the ball be teed. A touch or two with a file would often make them, comparatively speaking, happy for life. As to the shaft of the brassey, it should certainly be rather stiff, and I am disposed to add that it should be of the same length as that of the driver. It is the orthodox thing to have the brassey the shorter of the WITH WOODEN CLUBS 69 two, but unless a player has a fancy for an abnormally long club from the tee, a quite needless complication seems to be involved. The simplest and best thing to do is to play the shot through the green, when the lie is normally good, exactly as it would be played from the tee, and this is made more difficult by having clubs of different length. I observe in Miss Cecil Leitch's book that she goes so far as to have her brassey the longer of the two, her reason being that through the green the player may have to stand above the ball and reach far down to it. Perhaps, however, on the whole we shall go far enough if we have the two clubs of the same length. About the straightforward brassey shot, with a good lie and an even stance, there are just two things to be said. In general, the player is to swing his club exactly as he did for a teed ball ; in particular, he is not to be afraid of the ground and is to put full con- fidence in his club. The ball seems to be lying horribly close to the ground, it looks as if something beyond the ordinary swing were needed in order to hoist it into the air. That something, in the case of the beginner, nearly always takes one disastrous form. He drops his right shoulder and tries, as it were, to dig the ball by main force out of the ground. Most often the ball utterly refuses to be dug out, and if it yields at all it makes but a sulky little flight with, as a rule, a pronounced curve to the right. Now this digging with the right shoulder is a thing to be avoided like the plague. Persisted in for any length of time it may become an almost ineradicable 70 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION bad habit. It dislocates the swing : it throws the head up into the air : it leads to much and excessive bending of the knees : it is altogether vile. It were far better for the beginner that he should top ball after ball to begin with than that, at the very outset of his career, he should hang this millstone of a vice round his neck. He must believe that the loft on the club face will do all that is necessary, if only he can swing that club truly. Doubtless the ball will for a while show a desire to trundle along the ground : it is a way that a ball has when it is hit by a beginner. It is not so much that he is swinging wrongly : it is only the ball, taking advantage of his youth and innocence, trying to tempt him to dig. So he is to go on swinging easily, aiming carefully, looking at the ball with a fixed stern eye, declining to be tempted into digging with the shoulder. The ball will soon quail before his intrepid glance and do as it is bid. Thus far the straightforward shot. Next we must deal with four unpleasant predicaments that can be divided into two groups. The player's feet may be on the flat and the ball may be either above or below him : that is two. Ball and player may both be on a down-slope or they may be on an up-slope : that is two more. As to all four of these predicaments, the best general piece of advice is to take it very easy and not to try to do too much. Indeed, when the difficulty is too acute, it will be wise to take an iron club. For the purpose of argument, however, we assume that a wooden club is justified. As to the first group, the ball below the player is WITH WOODEN CLUBS 71 decidedly more unpleasant than the one above him. It tends to tumbling forward, which is a vice more easily yielded to than falling back ; and it tends to slicing, which is worse than pulling. There is not much to be said, save that the player must jamb his heels into the ground and must not fall forward, and he may well make some slight allowance for the slice. The ball above the player is, in strict moderation, not wholly unpleasant. For one thing it leads to hooking, and to hit a reasonably hooked ball is great fun. Then it inclines the player to swing the club low round his shoulder rather than over it, and since he is probably disposed through original sin to too upright a swing, this may in moderation do him more good than harm. But he must not let himself be carried away ; he must swing very easily, and even so he will do well to make some allowance for the hook. If the ball is at all far above him, he will also do well to take a grip of his club lower down on the leather. As to the uphill shot when the player's left foot is higher than his right and the ball lies upon an up -slope, there is again some temptation to hook, but there is a still greater temptation to top. The eye is apt to look up to the top of the hill far sooner than it ought. A similarly disastrous result is often produced in a different way through the player coming down with his hands too far in front and so ' smothering ' the ball. This is caused by a fear lest the uphill lie will make the ball go too high in the air, and the resulting determination to keep it down. The best precaution against taking the eye off is clearly to keep it on ; 72 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION in the second case there is not much to do save bow to the inevitable and allow the ball to go as high as it pleases, concentrating the mind solely on hitting it cleanly. Fourthly and lastly comes the down-slope, the hated hanging lie. The exact degree of unpleasant- ness will here depend not only on the steepness of the hanging lie, but also on the nature of the ground immediately in front of it. Whether the ground in front continues to slope away from the player or bobs up again in the form of a nasty obtrusive little hillock may make all the difference in the club and the tactics to be employed. Whatever the conditions, however, and whatever the club, there is one golden rule, namely, to accommodate the swing to the lie of the ground. In one of the old bound volumes of Punch there is a delightful picture of Charles Keene's in which a bootmaker, with a deprecating manner, is suggesting to a testy old gentleman that it would be easier to make boots for him if he were to cut his corns, to which the old gentleman replies, ' Cut my corns, sir ! I ask you to fit me a pair o* boots to my feet, sir ! I 'm not going to plane my feet down to fit your boots/ Now the attitude of that old gentleman is the attitude of the hanging lie. It is no manner of use to be like the bootmaker, and swing the club to suit the ground as you would like it to be. You must accommodate yourself to circumstances and swing down the hill. It is another case in which the club must be trusted to do its work properly. And there must be no digging with the right shoulder. The . 1 . ; : V , V PICKING THE BALL UP FROM A HANGING LIE To face p. 72 WITH WOODEN CLUBS 73 swing should be particularly easy and smooth, and the ball should be perhaps a little more nearly opposite the left foot than usual. If the ball is at all far back, there will be an inevitable tendency to come down rather on the top of the ball, which will be particularly fatal. For the same reason the body must be kept well back, and its inclination to tumble forward down the slope is to be sternly repressed. When the slope is particularly steep, or there is rising ground in front which has to be cleared, nature can be assisted by artifice, in the form of a shot intentionally sliced. The player may stand rather more open, and then, turning the face of his club rather out to the right, swing across the ball. This shot, if properly played, will cause the ball to rise perceptibly quicker, but elementary persons are so far more likely to play it improperly that perhaps they had better take with due humility to their irons. CHAPTER III THE SPOON No review of wooden club play would to-day be complete without some mention of the spoon, which, after being buried for a while in comparative oblivion, has now become exceedingly fashionable and popular. There are many spoons : some have short squat heads, when they rejoice in the name of ' pug ' or 1 bull-dog ' ; some of them have long heads and a few have heads of aluminium ; some are shod with brass and some are not ; but their general characteristic is that of a stiff-shafted club decidedly shorter than a brassey, and having a face considerably lofted. As there are spoons and spoons, so there are spoon-players and spoon-players. There are some that are celebrated as such : Mr. Hilton, for instance, who can do the most wonderful things, and get an incredible amount of stop upon the ball, with the old cut-down driver that he has wielded for years past numbering. Duncan is another beautiful spoon- player, and to see him play a shot right up to the hole with a great deal of slice is among the most attractive sights in golf. Mr. John Low has a stroke with a spoon which is, as far as I know, unique a kind of wrist-shot that is wonderfully effective ; and 74 THE SPOON, 75 the editor of this book can perform remarkable feats alike off grass and out of deep heather with a club having a long, rather springy shaft and an aluminium head. Now these accomplished golfers are spoon-players proper ; they play shots with the spoon which are different and differently played from their shots with other clubs. But of these jugglers there are but few. For the hundreds and thousands of other golfers who carry a spoon in their bag the club is just a short, much lofted brassey and nothing more. They can do nothing out of the common with it ; they play a perfectly ordinary simple shot, which is not quite so long as a brassey shot, and is possibly a little longer than a cleek shot. All this is not to say that the club is not a very good one, and a useful one to carry as an alternative to a cleek, because the latter is a very fickle club. Taylor, for instance, is usually a magnificent cleek player, but at the time he won his fourth championship at Deal in 1909, his cleek had so utterly forsaken him that he used throughout a little stumpy-headed, lofted brassey that he called his Toby, and extra- ordinarily fine shots he played with it too. What I do say is that for ninety-nine out of every hundred golfers there is no particular magic in the club. I have heard golfers of very mediocre attainments allege that they can with a spoon do wonderful feats in the way of cutting the ball up into a stiff wind, stopping the ball dead on a glassy green, and so on. I have heard others talk as if they believed they would be 76 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION able to do all these things if they only had a spoon. As far as I know, they both deceive themselves very grossly. A spoon will be useful to them when they want to hit rather a shorter distance than they would with their brassey, or when the lie is hardly good enough for a brassey shot, and to those uses of it they had much better confine themselves. It is unwise to attempt anything more subtle in the early stages of a golfing education : the time will, I think, be better spent in mastering simpler shots with iron clubs. Of the more recondite uses of the spoon, Mr. Hilton is certainly the past master. He can, if he likes, hit the ball a long way with it, but more often than not he uses it for comparatively short distances, when a player of no extraordinary power would often use no club longer than a fairly straight-faced iron. His power of making the ball fall dead with practically no run is truly remarkable, and he is too extraordinarily skilful in holding the ball up against a wind that blows from right to left. In this last respect the spoon is, I fancy, particularly useful, because there is always a slight tendency to hook with iron clubs, and it is particularly hard to hold the ball into this kind of cross wind with an iron or cleek. Mr. Hilton's method seems to consist of keeping the body rather stiff he certainly does not use it to anything like the same extent that he does in driving and to trust chiefly to the arms, alike in the back swing and the follow-through. This is what he says himself : 1 It certainly does not seem correct to say : Keep THE SPOON 77 taut on the upward swing, and then relax on the downward sweep, but it is the way I play the stroke with a spoon.' That therefore must be the way to play the best spoon shots in the world, but to relax in the downward stroke is too dangerous an experiment for most of us. Our already imperfect follow-through would be likely to vanish altogether. This kind of spoon shot is advanced golf if ever there was such a thing. CHAPTER IV WITH IRON CLUBS MOST of us, if we practise at all, go in for what may be called the two extremes of golf, driving and putting, and leave our iron play to take care of itself. This it does, as a rule, in a highly inefficient manner, for though we are bad drivers and bad putters, we are worse iron players. That we are thus lazy about working at our iron play must be put down to pure wilfulness, because we know, if we know anything about it at all, how intensely important these iron clubs are : we know that there is nothing by which we can so swiftly tell the professional from the amateur as the firm, confident, crisp way in which he uses his irons. We know, too, that there is no sensation quite so exquisite as that of a really difficult iron shot really well played. So, with the knowledge of this besetting laziness, it is well to start with the statement, made with all possible emphasis, that alike for profit and pleasure, iron play is enormously well worth the cultivating. Now anybody who professes to teach another erring human being to use his iron clubs is faced straight- way with one considerable difficulty, a difference of opinion between learned authorities. The question 78 WITH IRON CLUBS 79 is whether it is ever right to play a full shot with an iron club, or, as it is sometimes expressed, whether it is ever right to swing an iron club. It may savour of putting the cart before the horse to place an apparently abstruse discussion on the differences of sages before elementary instruction for the learner, yet the differ- ence is so fundamental that some mention of it seems necessary in order to clear the way. The point shortly is this, that various very fine golfers have said that for a man to take a full swing with an iron club as he does with one of wood must always be a crime, and that nothing more than a half- shot should ever be played with an iron club ; need- less to say, they add that they themselves practise what they preach. Now, in the first place, I must with the greatest respect join issue with these authorities on a question, not of law, but of pure fact. That they do make great and splendid use of the half-shot is patent, but when they say they never take anything approaching a full swing, I firmly believe that they deceive themselves as well as other people. ' The devil himself knoweth not the mind of a man/ remarked Chief Justice Holt, and certainly I cannot tell what is going on inside a champion's mind when he is playing a cleek shot. Doubtless he may feel some difference from his driving swing, but that the cleek whirls round his head much as does his driver, it is surely difficult for any one gifted with a pair of eyes to deny. I would go further and say, that many very great players play on occasions full shots with their irons. Not all, I must 80 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION admit. Braid, for instance, when armed with any club short of a cleek, seems content to play his so- called ' dunck,' which is really a tremendously power- ful half-shot, but he is, I think, decidedly the excep- tion ; and unless appearances are strangely deceptive, I have on occasions seen the great Alexander Herd swing freely round his head a club bearing a strong family likeness to a lofting-iron. So, on the mere question of fact, I cannot believe that full shots with cleeks and driving-irons are never played by the greatest masters of these clubs. Some time after I wrote these words I went down to Milford in order to see taken the photographs by which they are illustrated. As this point is rather an interesting one, I will state as exactly as I can what happened. I told Robson to play both with his cleek and his mashie-iron the longer shot that he would normally play in a game with either club, and I particularly emphasised the fact that he was not in any way to force the club or the shots. He appeared to play both shots it is, I trust, superfluous to say that they were real shots well within himself, the full iron shot being a particularly easy one. The results speak for themselves. It will be seen that with the cleek Robson has swung well past the horizontal. If that is not essentially a swing, and a pretty full swing too, then I give the whole thing up as a bad job. With the mashie-iron the swing, which is portrayed on a later page, is perceptibly shorter, and there is less freedom of foot-work, but the swing is a tolerably free one nevertheless. UN5V. v. '*' ; * ?*"* *J % A FULL CLEEK SHOT : THE TOP OF THE SWING [To face p. 80 WITH IRON CLUBS 81 Without, then, for a moment denying the supreme value of the half-shot as played by the best golfers, I am prepared on theoretic grounds, as well as on practical experience, to commend, within limits, the full shot with an iron club ; that is to say, I commend it in the case, not of young champions in embryo, but of the ordinary elementary golfer of pedestrian attainments. One of the very greatest of iron players has said that it is always easier to cover a specified distance with a half-shot with a powerful club than a full shot with a weaker one. Here again I respectfully join issue. I have no doubt in the world it is easier for him, but I do not believe it is easier for the commonplace golfer. For this latter there is no shot half so difficult to master as the half-shot, because there is no shot which demands so perfect a control of the club, a control which a great many golfers will never obtain as long as they live. Moreover, to hit the ball any real distance with a half-swing demands a strength of wrist and forearm which is not given to everybody. With a full swing they can, as it were, get up a reasonable amount of steam and hit the ball a reasonable distance ; but if confined to a half-shot they lack the strength to get any appreciable length with their iron clubs. So much for the cart, and now for the horse that comes after it. Iron shots are generally divided, in colloquial language, into full shots, half-shots, and wrist-shots, to which there must now, I suppose, be added, as a kind of corollary, the fashionable and mysterious push-shot. I think that what are loosely 82 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION called half-shots and wrist-shots will be found to join naturally on to one another, so that the dividing line will hardly be discernible ; but the heretical full shots may at any rate be put in a class by themselves. They will be played, for the most part, with the cleek, or alternatively the driving-mashie, or also occasionally with the driving-iron. Whether a man plays with a cleek or a driving-mashie is, one may suggest, of no great moment ; he can have whichever he fancies. The driving-mashie with its broader face looks the easier to play with, and I should be inclined to recommend it as being the easier club, but that the great majority of good players use the cleek instead. Whichever is the club chosen, it should have a shaft that is fairly stiff, and it should, I think, be moderately heavy. For the hitting of a long ball with an iron club timing seems to be almost more vital than with wooden clubs, and it is easier to time the stroke accurately when you can feel, to some extent, the weight of the head. These observations also apply to the driving-iron. Now, the player is going with his cleek to hit the ball very nearly as far and as hard as he can. I say very nearly, because if there is any serious doubt in his mind as to whether or not he can get up with the cleek, it will be time for him to take a wooden club. He has not got to begin at the beginning with the cleek, because he has already learned the rudiments of the full swing with his wooden club. The best thing he can do is to reproduce that swing with a cleek, subject to this, that any variation between the two WITH IRON CLUBS 83 swings is to be in the direction of moderation ; the performance is to be gone through on a very slightly reduced scale. This reduction will come for the most part naturally. The club being shorter, the player must stand nearer his ball, and as a natural consequence he will probably put the ball rather further back towards his right foot. Also he may, if he have a mind to it, advance the right foot slightly, since it is a sound working principle that the shorter the shot the more open the stance. Generally speaking, the swing may be a thought shorter and more controlled ; the grip, if anything, more firm ; and the follow-through a little less luxuriant. Yet these differences are not worth striving after painfully and industriously. All that is worth aiming for is a rather greater feeling of general restraint. It is particularly important not to hurry unduly. The comparatively heavy head of the iron club making the art of timing, as I fancy, rather easier, there is less temptation to hurry than with a wooden club ; but if this error is easier to avoid, it is more fatal when it is made. There is a fine deliberateness about the hitting of great iron players, and it is to be cultivated in the longest, as well as the shortest of iron shots. Braid goes so far as to recommend a pause at the top of the swing with iron clubs, and if this be found to encourage deliberateness without dislocating the swing, doubtless it is a good thing. So far as concerns the fuller shot, the cleek may now be left alone in order to tackle the iron. I spoke of the driving-iron, but many people probably have no 84 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION club answering to that description, or if they have the club they call it by some other name, medium iron, mid-iron, or, simply and perhaps best of all, iron. Let it be assumed therefore that we are talking of a club that comes somewhere between a cleek and a mashie, that is more lofted than the one and less lofted than the other. Now with this iron a quite full swing is no doubt a thing to be guarded against. I would not say that such a thing should never be done ; I believe it is done occasionally by the very best, whatever they may say to the contrary ; but it is a thing to be done comparatively rarely. The more lofted is the iron, the more rash it is to take a very full swing, since the ball must necessarily fly high and be at the mercy of the wind. So, just as with the cleek the player was told to exercise a little general restraint over his swing, now with the iron he should be conscious of restraining himself yet a little more. Thus he will attain to something perhaps a little longer than a three-quarter swing, and if he can stick to that he will not do badly. His stroke will still be a swing ; not so much so as in the case of a drive with a wooden club, but still a swing. The next stage of his education will bring him to the half-shot, and here, I take it, the swinging element largely dis- appears, and the hit begins to play a much more prominent part. As to the exact distance from the hole when a man should begin to play a half -shot with his iron, that must naturally and necessarily depend on the man himself. Some people can send the ball with a half-shot practically as far as they can with a FULL SHOT WITH MASHIE-IRON : TOP OF SWING [To face p. 84 WITH IRON CLUBS 85 full one ; others cannot get nearly so far, and they are the more unfortunate, because there is a distinct gap in their armoury of shots that has got to be filled somehow. Roughly speaking, it may be laid down that the greater the distance that can be brought within the compass of the half-shot the better, but it is a fatal thing to be led by vainglory into attempting to play half-shots beyond one's strength. The man who, when his opponent takes a brassey, himself takes a cleek in order to show his inherent superiority is certainly a fool, but I doubt if he is so lamentable a fool as one who tries to flick the ball up with his wrists, when he knows in his heart that he ought to be swinging the club round his head. The half-shot is essentially a controlled shot in which straightness is everything, and distance, comparatively speaking, nothing. The moment the player feels that he must get his body into it in order to get the distance, he may be certain that he is trying far too much. (a) THE HALF-SHOT We have been talking about the half -shot as if it were played purely with the iron, but the shot can, of course, be played with various other clubs. It can be played very profitably with a cleek, although this is a difficult stroke, only to be acquired, if at all, with much practice and long after the elementary stage is past. It can be played with a mashie, and unless a very abrupt loft or a very dead fall is required, 86 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION it is the easiest and most obvious shot for an ordinary person to play with a mashie. In short, it is the shot which is the foundation of all approaching, in the usual colloquial sense of that word. Once its main principles have been grasped, the stroke may with comparative ease be regulated to fit the distance. For the moment distance is not particularly to the point ; the thing is to grasp the character of the stroke, which, having in some respects the same foundation as has the driving swing, is yet so essentially different from it. Fortunately there is here no great controversy on the matter of stance. It is generally conceded that the stance should be more open, the right foot further forward than it was in the drive, while the greater part of the weight is on this right foot and the ball is placed comparatively far back. There are the inevitable exceptions. Mr. Laidlay is apt to play his iron shots, as in his most frequent moods he plays all his shots, off his left leg, while Duncan plays all his iron shots with a remarkably square stance. One can only say that these two are unusual, and that a fairly open stance is most likely to suit the average person. At the same time, the knees are rather more bent, and the whole attitude slightly more stooping, the player is decidedly nearer to his ball, and has his arms closer to his side. Also, since straightness and control are to be his particular object, he should almost certainly hold his club fairly low down on the grip. One may hit a full shot very comfortably while holding the club at the extreme end ; even if the resultant sensa- WITH IRON CLUBS 87 tion be that of the tail wagging the dog, it is not in driving wholly to be deprecated, but so undisciplined a state of things will not do with iron clubs. The term half-shot conveys the impression that the player is to take back his club just half the distance that he would take it back in a full shot. The club is in reality taken considerably further back than this, but if the player keeps a halfway swing before him as an ideal, he will at any rate be likely to keep his club well under control. Now, in making this curtailed movement there is, I believe, a greater risk even than there was in driving of his taking his club up entirely in the wrong way. Just because it may seem to him a simpler and more natural move- ment, he must be particularly on his guard. He may well return for a moment or two to that back- hand exercise with the left hand ; at any rate, he must take great care that his wrists and the face of the club are turning away from the ball as they should. Having started the club up on the way it should go, he must stop it when it has only com- pleted part of its course, and this stopping of the club at the right place is one of the hardest achieve- ments in golf. Nearly all bad iron players, which is much the same as saying nearly all golfers, lose control of their club for a fraction of a second. During that infinitesimal moment they do not quite know where the head of the club is and where their own hands are, and it is this momentary loss of control, more than any other one thing, that makes them bad iron players. In order to avoid this pitfall as far as 88 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION may be, the infant iron player should take up the club distinctly slowly, and make something of a pause before the club begins its return journey. Also, he must keep a very decided grip throughout with the right hand ; not a grip so masterful as to cause the right hand to overpower the left, but a thoroughly firm grip, with no trace of that relaxing at the top of the stroke which was allowed him in his full swing. Control, control, and again control ; that is the thing to preach about this shot ; and all the time the club is being taken back, there should be a feeling of tautness and tension about the wrists as if they were determined not to let the club head run away with them. Now the player is at the top of this curtailed swing, his wrists bent well under the club, his right elbow close to his side. He has finished the pause at the top, and he wants to come down and hit the ball. As in the drive, the return journey of the club should be made almost automatically if the preliminaries have been correct, but the club must not be allowed to come down and fling itself after the ball with quite the glorious abandon of the driving shot. It must come down more slowly and discreetly : it must not finish so high in the air or so far round the player's left shoulder, and which is the most teasing and deceitful thing of all it must not sweep the ball away, but come down on it with something of a snap, with a very palpable hit. Sir Walter Simpson has said that we must not expect a mental attitude to drive a golf-ball, and it is, on HALF SHOT WITH IRON : TOP OF SWING This is a shot that probably a good many people would to-day call a push shot, but half shot seems a simpler and better description. [To face p. 88 WITH IRON CLUBS 89 the whole, one of the profoundest remarks of that depressing teacher. At the same time, it is so hard to indicate in words any really tangible difference between a swing and a hit, that one must perforce rely to some extent on the mental attitude of the player. From the very beginning of the stroke, even at the moment when he is turning over his wrists so carefully and conscientiously, he must have it in the back of his mind that this time there is to be a good deal of hit about his swing. This mental attitude will not by itself hit the ball, but combined with much practice it will help in the hitting. At any rate, when once the club has been taken back properly, I have nothing better in the way of positive advice to give. It may perhaps be added that the right hand may be allowed to play a fairly prominent part in bringing the club down, so as to get a little extra snap into the shot, but I have some qualms in this regard, and at any rate the advice must be adopted very circum- spectly. As regards this stroke, nothing has been said about the pivoting movement of the body, upon which such stress is always laid in regard to driving, and in truth I think the less said about it the better. Of course the body must not be kept wholly rigid and immobile ; it must turn to some extent, and so must the left knee and the left foot. But now that the turning movement of the wrist has, let us hope, become in some degree a second nature, the turning of the rest of the anatomy will follow of itself, and, in respect to this stroke, wants restricting rather than 90 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION encouraging. The steadier and stiller the body and feet, the better for the stroke. If it is essential not to move the body forward, it is almost equally important not to move it upwards. In other words, the player must never ' unhinge him- self at the small of the back/ and so alter the inclination of the body. Also, he cannot possibly be too careful in keeping his eye on the ball. To me, at any rate, the temptation to remove the eye seems greater, and the result of doing so more fatal, in a half -shot than in a full shot. Moreover, it may be added that in playing a half-shot it is very difficult to overdo this business of looking at the ball. In a full shot it is possible to cramp the follow-through by keeping the eye too resolutely glued on the ground after the ball has departed, but in a half-shot there is practically no such risk. The worst that can happen is an occasional hook, and what is that com- pared with the miseries of topping and socketing ? It only remains to be said, that since the shot will be used at various distances, it is necessary to be able to regulate the strength, and this must be done by regulating the distance that the club is taken back. There is a temptation to do it in quite a different way, by taking back the club a uniform distance, and hitting a more gentle or more vehement blow, as the case may be. Nothing could be more fatal. The gentleness degenerates into flabbiness, so that the club falls feebly on the ball and never gets any further. The vehemence inevitably leads to putting the body into the stroke at the wrong time and in the wrong FINISH OF THE HALF SHOT WITH THE IRON [To face p. 90 WITH IRON CLUBS 91 way ; the shot is hopelessly mistimed and the ball struck more often than not upon the socket of the club. A propos of the half-shot, it may be thought that something should be said of a stroke that it is now very fashionable to talk about, if not to play, namely the push-shot. I confess to being frightened of this shot. Not only have I grave doubts about its being elementary in character, but I am not at all certain of anything about it ; so many different shots, all of them good and useful, are now called by this name. In some cases it is indistinguishable to my eyes from a half-shot. In the case of one player, Mr. Mure Fergusson, it exactly deserves its name. With a driving-mashie or driving-iron Mr. Fergusson plays a shot which is a push and nothing else. He takes the club back a surprisingly short distance with a comparatively rigid wrist, and he pushes the ball a wonderful distance. It is a magnificent shot in a heavy wind, and may well be imitated on a small scale, but it is idle for most people to try to send the ball anything like so far as does Mr. Fergusson. Mr. de Montmorency has a famous push-shot which he plays with a very short cleek. He stands with his weight well forward, and the hands rather in front : he takes the club up very straight, and seems to punch very hard down on the top of the ball. The player, however, who has really made the fame of the push-shot is Harry Vardon. He does not look particularly like Mr. de Montmorency when he is playing the stroke, but there is something of the same method about it in that he, too, seems to come rather 92 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION down on the ball. I cannot do better than quote this master's account of his own shot : * In playing an ordinary cleek shot the turf is grazed before the ball in the usual manner ; but to make this half or push shot perfectly, the sight should be directed to the centre of the ball, and the club should be brought directly on to it. In this way the turf should be grazed for the first time an inch or two on the far side of the ball.' In these words is, I think, compressed the essence of the Vardonian push-shot, and as played by him it is, no doubt, the most beautiful and valuable shot. It is a stroke that does appear to be endued with some uncanny power of making the ball keep an undeviating course, and it may be especially valuable to those who feel a tendency to hook their long iron shots. By all means let the player try to master it in time, but at first he had better attempt fewer and simpler things. When he comes to mastering this push-shot, he will be out of the nursery and likely to despise text-books. (6) THE MASHIE We now leave the iron and come to the mashie, with which the shorter and more delicate part of approaching is to be done. It may be well to begin with a general word of caution, and that is, there should be no semblance of forcing with the mashie. Distance is no object at all, and if there is any real doubt about getting up with a mashie, then a man should stick to his iron. There is a temptation to WITH IRON CLUBS 93 force with this club because it looks, and is, easier to get the ball into the air with the mashie, but no club more quickly or vindictively resents being used outside its own proper sphere. There is, too, this to be remembered : as somebody has well said, you cannot hit the ball cleaner than clean. Take a club outside its proper distance ; then fail, as you often will fail, to hit the ball quite cleanly, and you must inevitably be very short. In any case, nine out of every ten approach shots are short ; so where there is a doubt the more powerful of two clubs almost must be the right one. For practical purposes it may be laid down that a full shot should not be played with a mashie at all. We may begin with the half-shot as previously described, and that shot may be made the foundation of the learner's mashie play. If he has a considerable distance to cover, and there is no bunker close in front of the green, so that the ball may be allowed to run fairly freely after pitching, he cannot better the shot which has just been inculcated with regard to the iron. But he will very often want to pitch the ball well up to the green, so that it shall not run very far on alighting. He has not yet reached the point when a very abrupt loft or a very dead fall are required : he is at a kind of halfway-house shot. How is he to differentiate it from his fundamental half -shot ? Perhaps the answer that I am going to give may seem unorthodox ; it is almost certainly contrary to the generally sound doctrine that the back swing 94 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION is the important thing. Nevertheless, I should say that on this occasion he is to concentrate his mind on what is going to happen to his club after the ball is struck. The ball has to be picked up rather abruptly, and to that end the club is to be picked just a little abruptly too, after the ball has been hit. At the finish of the stroke the club ought to be pointing more or less straight up in the air in a perpendicular position, and, which is important, it is to be guided into this position with a firm wrist. The requisite finish is not to be attained, although there is some temptation to do so, by playing with a loose and ' floppy ' wrist ; in short, by trying to execute the stroke with the wrists and with nothing else. This perpendicular finish will ensure the ball getting well up into the air, and so dropping comparatively dead. Now, if the player can concentrate his mind on the ending of this stroke, there will probably not be much amiss with his back swing. The fact of having to pick up the club at the finish will naturally make him pick it up rather more abruptly than usual in the back swing. ' Why in the world/ some one may ask, ' did you not begin by telling us to take it back in this way ? It would have saved much talking.' The answer is that I have observed that when people are told to take the club back in a rather more upright manner than usual, they pick it up as if they were going to hammer something into the ground, and deliver a quite ineffectual chopping blow upon the turf. It will, of course, never do to be afraid of .*.&> - ORDINARY MASHIE SHOT WITHOUT CUT : TOP OF THE STROKE [To face p. 94 FINISH OK OKDINAKY MASHIK SH<>T (To face p. 9."> WITH IKON CLUBS 95 taking turf with this shot, for it is the natural result of the more upright swing, but the original sin of an upright back swing wants no direct encouragement, and so it is well for this once to proceed indirectly, make a point of the finish and let the back swing adapt itself automatically. So much for the general principles of the shot. As to details, the stance may be still a little more open, the attitude have just a suspicion more of crouching about it. Nothing has been said lately on the matter of grip, the player having been left to settle that for himself. If he has adopted the overlapping or Vardon grip, so much the simpler ; he will be able to grip the club in the same way for all his shots. If, on the contrary, he grips rather with the palms of his hands, it may be suggested to him that in these more delicate shots it is wiser to have a more delicate grip, and to hold as much as possible with the fingers. The club has now to be more continuously guided than in the free slash of the full swing, and if the player have a mind to hold not only his left but also his right thumb down the shaft, in order to obtain more guiding power, he need have no scruple in doing so. I keep to the end a warning which Braid believes to be the most important that can be given in regard to pitching. ' By far the commonest fault in pitching,' so he says, ' is the raising of the body when the club is being raised in the finishing of the shot.' Certainly I know the feeling of lifting up the body only too well, and so no doubt do many other people. So let us avoid it as we would the very devil. 96 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION Now, there is the third and last case in which a very steep loft, if it may so be called, and a very dead fall are required, and here the player comes to some- thing like a parting of the ways. He may take a niblick, or a very much lofted mashie, and play with it the straightforward shot just described, trusting to the loft on the club to do the work for him. That is, in a sense, the course of a coward, though it may possibly be also that of a wise man who knows his own limitations. On the other hand he may, with reckless bravery, plunge into the intricacies of the most fascinating and delicate, and perhaps also most difficult shot in golf, the approach played with cut. There was a time when the way out by means of a niblick or a much lofted mashie was regarded with more suspicion than it is now ; it was thought almost disgraceful. To-day an enormous number of golfers, some of them very good golfers, avail themselves of it, and never tackle the cutting shot at all. My own impression is that for the middle-aged and rotund person of limited possibilities and ambitions, it is well to leave the cutting shot alone and learn, as far as may be, to hit cleanly and truly with the niblick, leaving the rest to heaven and the club itself. On the other hand, the man who professes or hopes to be a good golfer has a weak joint in his harness if he is not more or less a master of the cutting stroke. The professionals are one and all masters of it ; not so many amateurs who are rated as scratch or better. The young player of to-day is apt to pursue the line WITH IRON CLUBS 97 of least resistance and take to his big, saucer-faced niblick. Often he is very good with it, but I do not observe that he is so sound a pitcher as, let us say, Mr. Ball, Mr. Laidlay, Mr. Hilton or Mr. Hutchinson, who learned their golf in a sterner school. When the ground is hard and baked and the ball will not grip the turf, he is a very great deal worse. Niblick or no niblick, his ball bounds gaily away over the hard ground, and I speak with the most sincere fellow- feeling he has not the means of making it stop. Wherefore let him go out and watch the professionals, and learn to play the shot with cut against the day when it may be necessary. It is a stroke that hardly comes under the head of quite elementary instruction, but it assuredly cannot be passed over. There are in golf certain catchwords, familiar expressions on the links call them what you will which are sometimes more illuminating than pages of laboured description. We sometimes hear a man after playing an approach shot explain that he has 1 cut the legs clean from under it ' ; it, in this case, being the ball. When he says that, he is certainly not directly praising himself, because he means that his ball has fallen far short of the mark, but he is perhaps obliquely lauding the tremendous cut he succeeded in imparting to the ball. At any rate, that expression gives rather a good word-picture of the cut shot ; it enables the learner to visualise the stroke. To me at least it conveys the impression of the club head cutting right underneath the ball with a ' slithering ' sidelong motion. That is what has got G 98 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION to happen ; the club face and I presuppose the club to be a mashie has got to hit a glancing blow across the ball, and it has got to get well beneath it. So the club has got to be taken out somewhat to the right on the way back, and is then to return a little across the line of flight and finish to the left. This is an action which can very easily be exag- gerated. If the club is taken far out to the right, the arms go too far away from the body ; they thus lose the necessary support of the body, and the whole performance becomes disjointed and uncertain. To obviate this let the player stand still more open, so that he is to a considerable extent facing in the direction in which the ball is to be hit, and let him further turn the face of his mashie slightly out to the right. Then let him lift the club up in his natural manner for a short mashie shot. He will find that his attitude naturally causes him to take the club out somewhat to the right, as if to play across the ball, and that this cross-cutting action needs very little, if any, artificial aid. Similarly the club will come inwards and finish rather to the left of the body on its return journey. The swing is still, of course, to be of a distinctly upright character, and the club is to be picked up rather quickly after the ball is struck. Such, as far as I can explain them, are the elements of the shot, but it is essentially one that can best be learned by watching a good professional play it. If we observe a professional playing this stroke, there is one thing in particular that we notice : just before the club reaches the ball he seems, as it were, to MASHIE SHOT WITH CUT : TOP OF THE STROKE [To face p. 98 FINISH OF MASHIE SHOT WITH CUT (TofacSp. 99 WITH IRON CLUBS 99 increase the speed at which the club head is travelling, and to draw it quickly across towards his left foot. I should like to say that he did it with a quick little flick, if such an expression did not give the idea of jerkiness. There must not be a jerk, but at the same time the shot must be played with great firmness and crispness ; the ball must be hit comparatively hard, not stroked in a tender, half-hearted sort of way. In the Badminton volume Mr. Hutchinson indicated an alternative method in which the right hand is held quite loose, and the club is allowed to turn on the web at the base of the thumb. It is possible thus to get an extraordinarily vertical swing, and Mr. Hutchinson can use the shot, not only with deadly effect, but with certainty. I do not know, however, of any other good players who play the shot quite in this way, and for ordinary people I am nearly sure it is altogether too difficult. Its most distin- guished exponent himself admits that it is ' only, if ever, to be attempted when in great straits.' (c) THE RUN-UP So much for getting the ball into the air. There remains the task, which at first sight would appear to be a great deal easier, of making it run along the ground. I am inclined to think it is in fact easier, but that does not seem to be the opinion of the great bulk of work-a-day golfers. There is no shot at the prospect of which they so palpably flinch as the run-up. They possess very often just two methods of hitting the 100 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION ball, the full swing and the pitching shot. Anything outside these two strokes they deem it apparently not only impossible to play, but in the highest degree presumptuous to attempt. Why, it is difficult to say, but the fact remains. Let there be a hurricane blowing, let there be a steep bank in front of a plateau green, let there be no bunkers within a hundred miles, and still they will insist on cocking the ball up into the air with a lofted club, so that it will either be blown to perdition by the wind, or, if it alight on the plateau, will never succeed in staying there. This is rather violent language, and it may be taken as showing that I ' believe in running up/ or ' do not believe in pitching.' I hope not, because, if so, then I am very effectually writing myself down an ass. No sensible person can be a thick-and-thin adherent of either stroke, because there must be some occasions when it is obviously right to run up, and others when it is an equally obvious duty to pitch. There are, however, occasions in plenty when there is no very definite right or wrong ; when Taylor, or Vardon, or Mr. Hilton, for example, would probably pitch the ball, while Braid or Andrew Kirkaldy or Mr. Low would elect to run it. As to these dubious cases, it is likely enough that if one has the pitching gifts of a Taylor, pitching is the most profitable, because, on the whole, less fearful things can happen to the ball in the air than on the ground. But I very much doubt whether the average golfer will ever learn to pitch well enough to play an essentially pitching game. I think he is much more likely to RUNNING UP WITH THE IRON [To face p. 101 WITH IRON CLUBS 101 attain to a reasonable measure of steadiness in playing the running shot, if only because the run-up shot possesses this negative virtue that it is harder to make a complete and hopeless foozle of it. At any rate, it is every golfer's duty to learn to play the run-up merely for those occasions when it will clearly be the right stroke for him to play. These occasions are, moreover, becoming more and more frequent, since the tendency of modern golfing architecture is to do away with cross bunkers in front of the hole, and to perch many of the holes upon plateau greens. The stroke can be played with a variety of clubs, but is most often perhaps played with the club having the odious name of ' jigger/ or with the approaching cleek, which is much the same thing with a pleasanter name and a hump on its back. Without launching into reckless extravagance in the club-maker's shop, the essentials of the stroke can be comfortably acquired with the iron. In its very shortest form it is little more than a prolonged putt, in most instances it is a great deal more, but in any case it is no bad thing for the learner to keep the action of putting in his mind's eye. It is another case in which I venture to think that a mental attitude may do something towards the hitting of a ball. If the player has putting in his mind he will probably do one or two of the things that he ought to do : he will stand fairly close to his ball and well over it, and he will keep his club moving close to the ground. If he does those two things it is something gained, but it is not quite enough. He must and this is important stand with his weight 102 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION forward on the left foot, the ball being fairly far back towards his right foot, and this attitude will naturally bring the hands well forward, and somewhat in front of the head of the club. Further and this rather less emphatically the right hand should be held well over the club. This will help not only in keeping the ball down, but also in getting a horizontal swing of the club, and that is what is wanted a rather short, low, flat swing of the club, well round the legs. The right wrist should turn over just after the ball is hit ; indeed, it should be getting ready to turn over just before the ball is hit. If the club is taken back in the right way, this turn over of the wrist will come in a measure naturally ; but it may be encouraged a little artificially, because it is of such great value in approaching any kind of plateau. The ball that is struck without the wrist turning will falter and fade away at the foot of the hill, but one hit with the action that has been well described as that of locking a door, is imbued thereby with additional vitality, and will go on without so much as a stagger, clambering up the hill with the utmost gallantry. About the whole stroke there is to be an air of comparative stiffness and rigidity. The wrists must be kept particularly firm and taut in taking back the club, and the whole body is to be rigidly under control. Perhaps, as the club comes through, the body may go forward a little, but this is not to be too much encouraged, for the hands are naturally well forward and the ball rather far back, and any ill-timed body movement will infallibly be disastrous. D FINISH OF RUN-UP SHOT [To face p. 102 WITH IRON CLUBS 103 Just because of the great risk of lurching forward with the body the player should, at first at any rate, refrain from trying to run the ball up from a long distance. Let him play the shot well within the compass of his powers, and I solemnly declare it to be an easy shot, easier at any rate than a pitch. But to try to hit the ball really far and hard with so cur- tailed a movement of the club is to be in great danger of moving that body about which I talk so everlastingly. Would that we had only astral bodies : we should be far better golfers. There is one more stroke, or rather one group of strokes, that should perhaps be mentioned. It consists of those little shots, chips or runs-up as the case may be, which have to be played when the ball is within quite a short distance of the edge of the putting-green. In a sense they are only abbreviated versions of the longer pitching and running shots, but I am tempted to make one remark about them. Most bad players play these shots particularly vil- lainously, and they seem to me to have less idea than usual of how to control the club. It runs away with them altogether, so that they lack both sureness and delicacy of touch, the two things most requisite. My recipe, for what it is worth, is the adoption of a rather grovelling attitude, and the holding of the club quite low down on the shaft. It is of the utmost importance that these little shots should be played crisply and decidedly, and a reasonably short grip of the club makes it much easier to hit the ball fairly hard. When the ball can run the whole way 104 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION and there is no pitching necessary, it can be stroked gently up to the hole after the manner of a putt ; but when it is necessary to pitch the ball ever so little, crispness of hitting is essential, and anything that makes it easier to hit the ball hard is worth considering. I also incline to think that many people put the ball too far back in playing their little chips, and would do better if they had the ball well forward, and played rather off the left leg. It seems easier thus to get the ball into the air by the natural loft on the face of the club and without using any artificial means. That, however, is a suggestion founded on purely personal experience. CHAPTER V IN HAZARDS OF any beginner in golf, however eminent he may be in other walks of life, it may be assumed, and that without insulting him, that he will sooner or later get into a bunker. Even if he never make a bad shot, a large assumption, he will, in these days of far-flying balls, occasionally drive his tee-shot so far as to be caught in the bunker that is meant to trap the second shot of weaker vessels. Therefore he will be well advised to learn the art of getting out of it as quickly as possible, and he is to consider that it is an art, and not merely an affair of brute strength and good fortune. Most bad golfers give themselves up for lost when their ball disappears into a bunker ; and not without reason, for they are singularly inept in extracting it. Yet to have a reasonable hope of getting out of a reasonably bad bunker in a single shot should not be too lofty an ambition for any ordinary mortal who will take the trouble to learn to play the stroke properly. To attain to this comparatively modest degree of skill is to gain enormously in confidence and so to strengthen the whole game, for a man is not nearly so likely to put his ball into a bunker if he believes that he can get it out again. A paralysing con- 105 106 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION sciousness of impotence with the niblick is one of the approacher's worst foes and the bunker's best friends. Balls that lie in bunkers, by which it is, I hope, superfluous to add, I mean sand bunkers, may be primarily divided into two classes, those that lie heavy and those that lie clean. The former are taken first because they are the more frequently met with, and also because they alone demand a stroke which may be termed sui generis. By a ball lying heavy is meant one that has partially burrowed its way into the sand, that is lying, in fact, more or less cupped, and the great point to remember about such a ball is that the golfer's whole duty is to get it out a contemptibly short distance maybe but out. The first thing to do, then, is to take a niblick, a niblick with a very strong stiff shaft and broad heavy head, liberally dowered with loft, and to take it in a firm determined grasp. The shot that has now to be played is unlike any other in the game of golf, in that the one thing to be avoided is the hitting of the ball. The ball is to be removed from the bunker by means of an explosion, and the player merely resembles the gentleman of anarchist proclivities who lights the fuse. The explosion is caused by the club descending forcibly into the sand close behind the ball, and the ensuing commotion hoists the ball more or less straight up into the air, to fall no great distance away, but, let us hope, upon the turf ; limp and lifeless, perhaps, but safe. The most important point of all is to keep the eye rigidly upon the particle of sand which it is intended to hit which is an extremely IN HAZARDS 107 difficult thing to do and not, in the course of the stroke, to let the eye glide forward towards the ball itself, which is a fatally easy thing to do. As to exactly how far behind the ball the club is to be plunged into the sand, it would perhaps be rash to dogmatise. It may be some two inches, it may conceivably be more, and it may certainly sometimes be less. For one thing a great deal must depend on the nature of the sand, which varies enormously, not only with different courses but with the weather. At Woking, for instance, in a wet winter, the sand in the bunkers becomes of a consistency only to be compared to pea-soup, and to cleave through any appre- ciable quantity of it requires a strength perfectly gigantic. Wet, hard sand, moreover, must necessarily require different treatment to sand which is dry and powdery. In ancient days a player was allowed to make a preliminary trial of the sand with his niblick in order to test its consistency, and I have heard one venerable and scientific niblick player lament that this is so no longer, since a greater chance was thus afforded to the clever player to make a really clever shot. However, it is not allowed nowadays, and so we must just make the most of our powers of observation. So much for the first great point. The second is that the stroke is to be far more of an up and down character than any other ; indeed, it is not to be very far removed from the common chop. One of the gravest and commonest forms of original sin is the lifting of the club up too straight, with the almost 108 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION necessary corollary of bringing it too straight down. Yet, curiously enough, when the golfer is told to give full rein to his sinful proclivities and take up the club almost as straight as he can, he appears incapable of doing so ; either he does not in his heart believe what his instructor tells him, or else, having laboriously learnt a flat swing, he cannot suddenly convert it again into an upright one. Whatever the reason, there are hundreds of players who are practi- cally helpless when their ball lies near even a moderately steep face of a bunker ; they beat the ball again and again against the wall of its prison, simply because they will not or cannot come down straight enough into the sand to make the ball rise sufficiently vertically. Therefore it is essential to go straight up and come straight down, and let this manoeuvre be executed with all the freedom and vigour that is consistent with a reasonable measure of control and the keeping of the eyes glued to that particle of sand. This word of warning should be added : the bunkered one must not think that his whole duty has been done when he has brought his club down into the sand. He must not let it remain there, but must take it through to the best of his ability. This following through is a very important part of niblick play, and, just because it appears so superfluous, we are particu- larly apt to forget it. The explosion has to take place under the ball and not merely behind it. I have used the word chop, but I recognise that herein lurks some danger of a misunderstanding, because the art of chopping rather implies that the :: l\ PLAYING AN 'EXPLOSIVE' SHOT OUT OF HEAVY SAND [To face p. 108 AN 'KXI'LOSIVK' SHOT WKI.I. OI'T ON To THK (illKKN IN HAZARDS 109 chopper should stand well over the choppee, as the executioner might stand over his victim. Now, with the niblick experience shows that this will not do. The player must stand well away behind his ball, preferably with rather an open stance and having the ball opposite his left foot ; he may also keep the right shoulder down and the left shoulder up, an attitude which seems natural to one about to perform the action of heaving or hoisting. Little more can usefully be added to this description of the volcanic shot, as it has been called ; practice must do the rest. It must not be imagined, however, that this shot is only to be employed when the ball lies more or less heavy. It is generally to be used, however well and cleanly the ball may lie, whenever the cliff of the bunker is so near that any stroke wherein the club hits the ball and not the sand would fail to make it rise sufficiently abruptly. Indeed, whenever the cliff is anything but exceedingly low and there are desperate circumstances to call for desperate measures, it is by far the safest shot for any one, save the expert, to employ. Even if the ball lie clean and the cliff of the bunker is a negligible quantity, this stroke may be infinitely useful. It sometimes happens that a ball lies in a bunker, and yet is but a few yards from the hole, so that the player's object is to make the ball just pitch out of the bunker, and fall as dead as possible on alighting. To hit the ball itself, however cleanly and accurately, will impart a certain amount of run, but the explosive stroke, skilfully played with a nice judgment of the 110 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION amount of sand to be taken, can be made to drop the ball as dead as a stone. It may be worth while to add, as a special word of caution, that for some mysterious reason the cleaner the ball lies the more difficult it is to keep the eye upon a spot behind it instead of on the ball itself. Indeed, it is not unusual to hear a man who has made the saddest mess of a niblick shot attribute his failure to the fact that his ball lay too well in the bunker a confession of weakness, it is true, but of a very common and human weakness. However, all bunkers are not close to the green ; more often than not the player would like to hit the ball out as far as he possibly can, and then a clean- lying ball represents a direct intervention of Provi- dence, to be taken the fullest advantage of. Much must, of course, depend on the proximity and steep- ness of the face ; that has already been emphasised ; and so for our present purpose it may be assumed that the face will not interfere with a fairly low- flying ball, and the player may take almost any club he has a mind to. Account should be taken of the exact circumstances : it may be wise to take no risks at all, or things may have come to such a desperate pass, that the only hope lies in taking a big risk and the only club that will reach the green. There is just this to be added on this point of tactics : before making his decision the player might well put the question to himself, * Which is the more likely, that I should successfully reach the green with the longer club or that, having played short, I should IN HAZARDS 111 either lay the ball dead with my pitch or hole a long putt ? ' I propose to leave out of the question the taking of brasseys and cleeks ; these heroic expedients are not for the elementary student, who may lay it down as a sound rule of conduct that the straight-faced or driving-iron is the most ambitious club that he should ever employ in a bunker, however tempting the lie. To hit a long shot out of sand is not an easy thing to do ; only a slight inaccuracy will mar the stroke, and much confidence is required ; wherefore, if the player is in any real doubt between two clubs, he will do well to take the more lofted of the two, since a lofted face is a great begetter of courage. There is really more to be said about these tactical considerations than about the stroke itself. As to the latter, what is there to say in eifect save that the player should apply his mind to swinging easily, and to keeping his eye upon the ball with a greater ferocity than usual, should that be possible. Yet maybe something special ought to be said about a stroke which is more often and more hopelessly foozled by the amateur than any other, the little chipping shot whereby the clean-lying ball is flicked out of a bunker for quite a short distance. This is a stroke over which nearly every professional has a wonderful mastery, playing it indeed so easily and so surely as to make one think that it cannot really be very difficult, if the player can but take his courage in both hands. That is what is wanted above all other qualities courage, for the shot, though a 112 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION delicate one, must be played firmly and crisply. Mr. Maxwell, indeed, has a wonderful way of stroking the ball gently out of a bunker, which his admirers call, I believe, his ' pussy-cat ' stroke, but it is a stroke of genius not to be attempted by ordinary people ; with them the least tendency towards too great gentleness of hitting ends invariably in the most ignominious fluff. This last is an onomatopoeic word requiring surely no explanation ! The profes- sional plays the shot, as he plays all his pitches, with cut, and he plays it beautifully ; but laying this for a moment on one side, there is much to be done by taking a sufficiently lofted club and keeping the eye on the ball. There is a dreadful temptation, more acute than in any other stroke, to lift the body in the act of striking the ball, and it must be resisted to the death. I have once been given, as a ' tip ' for the curing of this habit, the advice to keep the weight well forward on the left foot. Very likely there is something in it, as there is in many other tips, if it is not overdone ; but if the weight is to be kept forward, then the ball must be very well forward too ; other- wise the player will be apt to bring his club down upon the top of the ball, with results too painful to describe. Finally, since all balls that lie in bunkers cannot be put into one of two hard and fast categories, there is the ball that lies betwixt and between not perfectly clean and yet not really heavy. From such lies as these the most surprising things are apt to occur. * Great heavens, I never thought it would IN HAZARDS 113 come out as clean as that,' cries the astonished victim as the ball flies like an arrow from the [bow into impenetrable whins some fifty yards beyond the hole. The distance is in fact very difficult to regulate, and it is equally easy either to go too far or, by means of a feeble fluffy blow, to go not nearly far enough. So many and different may be the circumstances that only one definite piece of advice can be given, that is, the shot should be played with a heavy club. A light niblick may be of some service, though not so good as a heavy one, for the volcanic shot, and also for flicking away the ball that lies quite clean, but when anything in the nature of a half-shot is required it is practically useless. The least little bit of inter- vening sand will take all the firmness out of the shot, and a deliberate firmness is here essential. In addition to bunkers there are hazards of such infinite variety, that it is only possible to indicate the more common, such as whins, bent grass, and rushes. With these may be classed heather, although it has been expressly decided that heather is not a hazard, and unpleasantly long grass. As to these last two, however, save that the victim will have the advantage of grounding his club, his predicament will be every whit as painful and his method of extracting himself to all intents and purposes the same. There are degrees in the badness of a lie even in the spiky heart of a whin bush, but as regards all the substances before enumerated, when the ball has H 114 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION embedded itself therein with a genuine malignity, there is little for it but the 4 common thud ' ; that is on the assumption that the advice to keep some control over the temper is superfluous. As in the case of a bunker, the first great object is to get out, and to take any club but a niblick is the height of folly, unless success is reasonably certain. The club, too, must be held very firmly, for it is terribly apt to twist in the hand, and it is worth while remarking that, more especially out of the long thick grass, there is a natural tendency to hook, for which some slight allowance may wisely be made. In all these cases a great deal must depend on whether or no the player can take a free and untrammelled back swing ; very often he must adapt his swing to the circum- stances, and sometimes it will pay him to take the line of least resistance, playing out in a direction which is not the most eminently desirable, but is the only one allowing of a free back swing. As regards heather, when the ball lies reasonably well a wooden club, preferably a spoon, is sometimes more effective than an iron one. The roots of the heather seem to wind themselves round the iron head and impede it, whereas the wooden club slides more easily and smoothly over them, and so reaches the ball with its velocity unimpaired. There is no heather more trying or tenacious than that at Ashdown Forest, yet Rowe, the professional there, will nearly always take his spoon in preference to an iron, and very wonderful strokes he makes with it. It cannot be denied, however, that some assurance is needed for IN HAZARDS 115 the stroke more perhaps than the rudimentary player is likely to have for some time. Water is a hazard from which the ball can be played, though the modern fashion of heavy non-floating balls seems likely to make the art of so doing extinct. It is an art in which I am afraid I must confess myself to be one of the blind leading the blind, and that not merely as a figure of speech, but because I always play the stroke with my eyes shut and the most lamentable consequences. It is a sad thing to be afraid of a splash, but it is that fear which makes the stroke so difficult for most of us. We flinch so palpably that we really stop hitting before we get to the water at all : the club goes limply into the water and stays there ; there is no vestige of follow-though, such as shall pick the ball up and out ; we merely emulate the oarsman who catches a crab. There is really no reason why the ball should not come out, if we can keep our eyes open without flinching. To this I may add on good authority that nearly everybody is inclined to take far too much water behind the ball. So let the club nip in behind, but only just behind, the ball, keep the eyes wide open, and don't shy at the water like a horse at a traction-engine. How I wish I could do these things myself ! CHAPTER VI PUTTING ' What mighty ills have not been done by putting ? Destructive, damnable, deceitful putting ? ' So might the golfer exclaim, adapting the words of Otway, who was, I regret to say, ungallant enough to apply these epithets not to putting, but to woman. Of all the golfing arts putting is at once the most important, the most aggravating, and the most unteach- able. Its supreme importance no one with even the smallest experience of golf will be disposed to deny ; one or two putts of merely dubious length holed in the course of a round often make all the difference between exhilaration and despair, and colour the golfer's recollections not only of his play upon the green, but of every other stroke that he played in the game. It is aggravating chiefly because it is so terribly uncertain. It is possible, though I admit it is exceeding rare, always to drive well, but the finest putter in the world is not only incapable of always putting well, he cannot be quite sure even of putting decently. Even if he does putt well, he can never feel certain that his opponent, usually an execrable performer on the green, will not on this one occasion putt far better. Nevertheless, the man no PUTTING 117 who has deservedly earned a reputation as a good putter is one to be bitterly envied ; he possesses a gift whose price is far above rubies. I have called putting the most unteachable of the golfing arts, and by this I mean that a man must to a great extent puzzle it out for himself. There are of course certain things indeed a great many things that can be told him, but pure book-learning will be of less service to him in putting than in the playing of any other stroke. This is, I suppose, partly because the latitude that can be allowed the learner in respect to style is greater in putting than in other strokes, and partly also because there is no other department of the game which is to so large an extent mental rather than physical ; wherein the most perfect style must be so utterly useless if only the brain wander or the nerve collapse. Yet never was there a greater mistake than in thinking, as some people do, that putting is purely a matter of nerve or will power, and that style is of no importance. In putting as in every other stroke, the golfer who has the soundest style will be most likely to retain his skill, under unfavourable circumstances. Moreover, those who make light of style in putting will, I think, observe, should they condescend to look, that good putters have in fact certain characteristics in common beyond that most important characteristic of all, the getting of the ball into the hole. Equally they will see if they be not wilfully blind hundreds and hundreds of players whose method is so obviously and hope- lessly bad that nothing but a series of miraculous 118 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION interventions can cause ball and hole to meet. There- fore the teacher, whilst admitting that much must depend on the learner's nerve and power of self- control, and whilst also insisting on the need of much wrestling in prayer and dogged practising, may yet give his pupil a good deal of definite advice as to the style and method of playing. There are in putting, whether in approach putting or holing out, two main things to be considered. There is, in the first place, a preliminary calculation of the line and strength, and there is, secondly, the actual hitting of the ball. One eminent authority whom I profoundly revere has declared that * the mechanical part of golf is comparatively simple,' from which it may be inferred that the really difficult matter is the preliminary calculation. That the latter is vastly important is proved, if need be, by the great care taken over it by all good putters, but that the ' mechanical part ' is simple I respectfully but entirely deny. I would go so far as to say that anybody who could rely on the mechanics of his putting being permanently correct could afford to make some of the grossest errors of judgment, and yet probably be the best putter in the world. I will make so bold, therefore, as to begin with this mechanical part and let the line for the moment look after itself. The player's first direct business is, I think, to learn to take the club backwards and forwards in the way it should go. In order to do this he must have a club and he must take hold of it. Wherefore we come to the questions of club and grip. As to the PUTTING 119 latter a good deal of latitude may be allowed, and the player, having already decided on his grip for other clubs, will probably be disposed to hold his putter in much the same manner. The one point that may properly be insisted on is that the grip should be a comparatively delicate one touch in putting is half the battle and that the club should be held mainly with the fingers. Whether the overlapping grip is used or not is in itself no great matter, but it may be pointed out that a number of golfers who do not overlap for the longer shots use this grip for putting, probably because it is essentially a finger grip : Mr. Hilton and Herd are two prominent instances. With much the same object, no doubt, namely the obtaining of a greater and at the same time more delicate control of the club, many players who, before the green is reached, coil their thumbs round the shaft, lay them down the shaft in putting. This plan would seem to make it rather easier to guide the club, and a player who feels naturally inclined to it will be wise to adopt it. There is one grip that deserves perhaps a special word of description, because it is, as far as I know, a purely putting grip, never used for any other stroke, and also because it is the grip of at least two very excellent putters. It may be called the reverse overlapping grip, a name which goes some way to explaining itself. As in the ordinary overlapping grip, the player holds his left thumb down the shaft, but instead of allowing the little finger of the right hand to ride upon the first finger of the left, he reverses the position, so that the first finger 120 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION of the left hand rides upon the little finger of the right. It is a grip well worth trying, one of its chief characteristics being that the right hand is apt to feel and become the master hand, a state of things for which, as we shall see later, there is much to be said. Moreover, it is the grip of Mr. W. J. Travis, or at least was when he came, saw, and conquered us in 1904, and no more beautiful exhibition of smooth, true, accurate hitting was ever seen upon a putting-green. Mr. Herbert Fowler is another noticeably good putter who holds his club in this way ; and Mr. John Ball also has from time to time flirted, if one may say so, with this grip, though I do not think he has permanently adhered to it. So much for the grip, and now as to the club, which may be made of wood, aluminium, or iron. Clubs of wood and aluminium I propose to class together, an action blasphemous and indecent in the eyes of those who wield the old wooden putter. Certainly a putter properly so called is the more graceful and fascinating of the two, and its aluminium rival may lack something of its sweetness of hitting, but the method of using the two clubs is largely the same, and so I will venture to stick to my guns. Iron putters vary amongst themselves* to an enormous extent. They have straight necks and crooked necks, lofted faces and absolutely straight faces, flat lies and upright lies ; they can be light or they can be heavy. Still they are all iron putters, and the main question to be decided is between wood or aluminium on the one hand and iron on the other. If a man PUTTING 121 at the beginning of his golfing career feel a strong yearning towards any particular kind of putter, it would be flying in the face of Providence to balk him of his desire. If, however, as is quite likely, he starts with a mind void of prejudice, then let a club of aluminium be thrust into his hand ; aluminium, and not wood, firstly on the economic ground that it is more indestructible, and, secondly, because the slight degree of loft on the face makes it rather easier for the ordinary person to control. I say this because an aluminium putter is more likely to make him acquire a smooth and even manner of hitting the ball. A ball may be tapped or scraped with an iron club with a just sufficient measure of temporary success to harden the player in his bad and early ways, and make future reformation a matter of the gravest difficulty, but an aluminium club instantly and effectually resents any such flagrant misuse, and the ball that is scraped or tapped keeps out of the hole so resolutely that the owner is in self-defence compelled to wield the club in a more becoming fashion. I may, further, adduce the remark of one of the very best of cleek putters, that had he to begin life over again, he would begin with an aluminium putter, because it makes putting easier. Aluminium putters are turned out by the thousand according to one or two standard patterns. They are so like each other that no advice need be given in the choosing of one, save only that the one should be chosen which is the best balance. As to what is well or ill balanced there can be no better guide than the player's own 122 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION feelings, confirmed perhaps by those of his professional adviser. If, however, he chooses an iron putter, he will have an infinitely wider range of choice, so wide indeed that but two general pieces of advice can be given him. The club should have a certain amount of loft on the face, for the absolutely straight-faced iron putter is by common consent an atrocity, and it should not be too heavy. Possibly he may secure, by means honest or dishonest, one of those old, light, thin-bladed, lofted putting-cleeks, which though rare are still to be found in the bags of a few fine putters, such, for instance, as Mr. Laidlay ; if so, let him treasure it tenderly. They are beautiful clubs that often began their careers as driving-cleeks in almost prehistoric times, to be converted in their old age into putters, and are especially good upon fast or rough greens. Indeed, there is this to say against the aluminium putter, that on greens that are very keen or very rough and lumpy, it demands a degree of confidence, firmness, and delicacy almost superhuman, so that an iron club may well be held in reserve. Meantime, however, the nature of the green does not enter into the question, and so taking his club in hand the learner can come at last to the swinging of it. And as to this, the first great piece of advice is that putting is to be done with the wrists. It is dogmatic advice, and advice with which every one does not agree, since there are fine putters who declare that as regards short putts the all-important thing is to allow no play to the wrists. Nevertheless, observation shows that the majority of good putters undoubtedly do PUTTING 123 putt with a free wrist, and perhaps I may add, for the sake of antithesis as much as argument, that the majority of execrably bad ones putt with a stiff wrist. Moreover, although I suspect that it is almost wiser to be dogmatic than to appeal to argument, one good reason for this advice may be advanced. The man who putts purely from the wrists can hit the ball and yet keep his arms practically still, but the stiff-wristed putter must very decidedly move his arms, and in consequence is much the more likely of the two, as a moment's experiment will show, to move his body. As to this last crime there can be no two opinions as to its criminality. The body must not of course be held as still as a ramrod, since to be cramped in regard to any stroke is absolutely fatal, but it is impossible to assert with too passionate an emphasis that the player must not try to assist the club on its path by sympathetically moving his body forward in unison with it. The result will inevitably be exactly opposite to that intended. So let it be set down once and for all that the body is to be kept still, and that the stroke is to be of the wrists and the wrists only. The matter, unfortunately, does not end here, because to swing a putter backwards and forwards with the wrists in a reasonably smooth manner is not so easy as it sounds. The learner will find, on the contrary, that the movement of the club is apt to be jerky, ragged, and uneven. Let him persevere, how- ever, swinging the club gently to and fro somewhat after the manner of a pendulum, and the motion will soon 124 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION become smoother and more satisfactory. He must also remember that, in the words of a distinguished writer, ' the principal secret of good putting ... is that the club should travel as long as possible on the line or a production of it on which the ball is to travel/ and that his club must resemble a pendulum not only in the smoothness of its motion, but also in the fact of travelling over and over again the same straight path. For the attaining of this end, the editor of this volume once gave some excellent advice that I may here repeat, namely that ' the problem can be solved more readily in a drawing-room, without a ball by seeing how the putter head may be best induced to move along a straight line of the carpet pattern than on the putting green.' In trying this indoor experiment the student will probably discover incidentally that the direction in which he swings his club will be materially affected by alterations in the position of his feet, and by wriggling his feet back- wards and forwards he will very likely attain to the position which suits him best. He will also discover that the behaviour of the club will vary according as his right or left wrist plays the predominant part in the swinging of it. For some mysterious reason it appears that, what- ever may be done in theory, in practice the work cannot be equally apportioned between the two wrists. If their owner craves advice as to which should do the greater share, he confronts the adviser with a most difficult problem. The answer that most people would give is, I fancy, that the right hand PUTTING 125 should be the predominant hand, but very excellent players can be quoted who both by precept and example uphold the opposite theory. There is Mr. John Low, for instance, than whom no one comes nearer to his own ideal of ' hitting the ball with freedom, grace and accuracy in the middle of the club.' Mr. Low declares that he has come ' very strongly to the opinion that the left should be the master.' I have also heard Mr. Herbert Fowler and he is a very good putter and a gentleman of very decided opinions express his belief that a vast deal of the bad putting in the world comes from the club not being taken back sufficiently with the left hand. Mr. Low suggests that a good deal depends on whether a man uses a club of wood or iron, and that in putting with cleeks, more especially those of the Park or swan-necked type, the right hand takes a relatively more important part. He himself of course uses the putter of wood, but Mr. Fowler uses a cleek with a bent neck. Some illustrious examples may be quoted on the right-handed side of the question. Mr. Sidney Fry and Sherlock are two that occur to me, and both of these may be set down primarily as cleek putters, although I have seen them both putt admirably with aluminium clubs, and that without any apparent change of method. Mr. Travis again is very decidedly a right-hand putter, and yet there is certainly no lack of freedom, grace, and accuracy about his really beautiful stroke. The question clearly cannot admit of a positive answer, but personally, taking an ordinary 126 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION individual about to start on his golfing life with a perfectly clean sheet, I should advise him to give the right-hand method a good trial as being, on the whole, the easier to acquire and the more faithful servant. Most golfers have probably at one time or another experimented in putting with what I may call a croquet-like stroke ; not by swinging the club between their legs as with the now forbidden mallet, but by holding their hands some considerable distance apart. A trial of this method gives the sensation of the right hand doing most of the work, and more especially pushing the club well through after the ball, so that a follow-through of almost exaggerated magnificence is obtained. I would not advocate holding the hands far apart, but I quote that method as giving, as it were, a clue to the stroke, which for the average person will be found a very sound one. Mr. Fry, although he holds his hands quite reasonably close together, has that right-hand push and follow- through very well marked, and may be given as a good instance of this method. There is this to be said against this pronouncedly right-hand style, that it may lead to the player being unduly cramped. It is a canon of good putting that the club should be taken back with freedom and well away from the ball, and a moment's experimenting will show that the club can be taken further back and with more complete freedom if the work be done with the left wrist. Still, the right wrist, if it be fairly supple, should do the work quite freely enough for practical purposes, and any possible disadvantage on PUTTING 127 this score is, I think, more than compensated for by that fine push through of the club straight on the line. As noted above, there is something like a con- sensus of opinion that the club should be taken a good long way back from the ball. It is a noticeable feature in the style of nearly all the best putters, particularly resplendent examples being Mr. Low, Mr. Charles Hutchings and Massey, and it must necessarily make for the avoidance of the jerk or snatch, which is fatal to every golfing stroke. Braid, who, being by nature but an indifferent putter, has yet by taking thought made himself a very good one, takes the club back as far as any one and with a notable, almost laboured, slowness. This slowness is probably worthy of study and imitation as tending to a smooth movement of the club, but there is one danger that lurks in it. The taking of the club back very slowly and very far produces sometimes a horrible sensation hard to describe in words, but easily recognisable in practice ; a kind of hitch in the stroke, wherein the player feels that he cannot get his club back to the ball unless he moves his body forward. He does move his body forward, his hands come through in front of the club head, and the ball is, as a rule, pushed out to the right off the heel of the club. I know no definite cure for this disease except to stand resolutely still and avoid any undue exaggeration of the solemnity of the back swing. The use of the word swing again introduces a point. There are those who putt very well with something of a sharp tapping stroke, but there are a great many 128 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION more who putt very ill in this style, and even of the good ones it may be said that ' when they are bad they are horrid.' To those who use a club of wood or aluminium a swinging movement is essential, and the man who putts with a cleek will probably do much better if he visualises his stroke as a swing rather than a hit. For one thing he is more likely to let the club go well through, and a follow-through is hardly less important on the green than on the tee. It must not be too laboured or self-conscious a performance, and assuredly no striving after it must tempt the body to move forward. If a man be standing still and striking the ball a nice, free blow, the follow-through should come naturally ; and if it does not come he had better examine critically his back swing, and try to infuse into it something more of smoothness and rhythm. (a) THE PUTTING STANCE Having said a good deal about the actual way of putting, I may now deal more briefly with the attitude in which that hitting is to be done. On the main question, which is that of stance, there may almost be said to be two schools of opinion. Some will say that stance is of so little importance, that a player who is hitting the ball well, would hit it just as well if he were completely to change his attitude. Others hold that every man has a stance that is for him the natural and right stance, and that when he goes off his putting the reason is generally to be found in the fact that he has unconsciously deviated from his PUTTING 129 normal attitude. The former are doubtless right as far as this, that hitting the ball truly is the essential, and that the placing of a foot here or there, some little trick of attitude, copied perhaps from a master putter who is himself completely unconscious of it, will not make a good putter out of a bad one. To this the other school might reply, ' Yes, we admit all that, but if you get out of your regular way of standing you feel uncomfortable, and if you feel uncomfortable you cannot hit the ball. Get back into your natural and proper stance, and you will swing the club in the right way. 1 Everybody knows the sensation of those rare red- letter days on the putting-green when the feet seem to plant themselves down spontaneously in the one natural, comfortable attitude, so that their owner without any effort finds himself and the face of the club aiming straight at the hole. Those having much faith believe that on that day the player has got his feet in exactly the right place, and that if he could stereotype that attitude he would never putt very badly again. The thoroughly sceptical, on the other hand, would attribute the sensation entirely to a kind of Christian Science, alleging that the player feels his feet to be rightly placed merely because he feels confident and is hitting the ball confidently ; in short, because he is putting well. Personally I rather incline to the more credulous view, in so far as I think that when found the successful putting stance should be made a note of. I do not mean that after a few good putts a man should instantly try to stereotype his I 130 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION stance ; that would be falling into the disastrous error which Sir Walter Simpson has called imitating one's own style. The mental note, once made as accurately as possible, should be tucked away in some pigeon-hole of the brain only to be referred to in time of trouble. To try too deliberately to ward off that time of trouble is the surest way to accelerate its inevitable coming. Now, if every golfer in the world can have his natural and proper stance, one must, considering the variety of stances to be seen upon the links, admit that there is a vast latitude allowable in this respect. That proposition is indeed undeniable, so that any pieces of advice must be of necessity of a very general character. One that I would venture on, though sadly conscious of being personally unable to follow it, is that the putter should stand reasonably well up to his work. He will certainly look more beautiful, though that may not be a very important matter. What is important is that he runs less risk of acquiring a cramped method, since the man who crouches over the ball is likely to find the free movement of his wrists circumscribed by the other outlying portions of his anatomy. For some clubs, at any rate, a fairly upright attitude seems almost essential. I never saw any one putt well with a wooden putter who adopted what may be called the grovelling method. For some mysterious reason this club absolutely insists upon its votaries standing fearlessly up as if they were not ashamed either of themselves or their club, and its aluminium imitator, if not so exacting, will certainly PUTTING 131 do as little as it can for the grovellers. On the other hand, those who use palpably lofted iron clubs, such as the rare old cleeks of which I spoke before, nearly all hold their club rather low on the shaft and get down close to the ball. Mr. Laidlay I have already quoted, and Lord Winchilsea, Mr. Graham-Murray, and Mr. Stuart Wyatt are other names that occur to me ; all these four are very good putters and all adopt a partially grovelling attitude. An exception must therefore be made in their case, but then their clubs are rather exceptional too, so that I need not on their account go back on what I originally said. As to the distance between the feet, there is only this one thing to be said, that any one who is grievously conscious of letting his body sway may be well advised to try a rather straddling stance. It is by no means a certain remedy that I can vouch for but it may temporarily or even permanently alleviate. The distance that the player will stand away from his ball will be to a great extent regulated by the lie of the club which he elects to use, since it is a good general rule to sole the club at its natural angle. The exception which proves this rule is one of the very best of cleek putters, Mr. H. S. Colt, who has the toe of his club so high in the air that the extreme heel appears to be the only portion of the face available for use. Generally it may be said that, in putting as in other strokes, to come too close to the ball is apt to interfere with freedom. Most people putt with a more or less pronouncedly open stance, though there is no particular reason 132 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION why a man, if he have a mind to it, should not aim with admirable results in the direction of square leg. Indeed, I am by no means sure that such an exag- geration of the square stance in putting is not less likely to be disastrous than the converse exaggeration of the open stance. To stand with the right foot very far forward is to run some risk of becoming cramped by reason of the right arm and elbow being too firmly embedded in some portion of the body. I say this both from personal experience and from the watching of others, but it is only right to add that Jack White, who is one of the very best putters in existence, often carries the open stance to its extreme limit. The nearer he gets to the ball the more his right foot comes forward, and in certain moods he holes out his short putts with his right foot absolutely behind the ball, so that it almost seems as if he must hit his foot in taking back his club. When the Badminton volume on golf was first published, some twenty-one years ago, it was stated that the putting position adopted by the professionals almost without exception was that of having the ball almost opposite the right foot. I do not think that such a statement could truthfully be made nowadays ; indeed, I should say that the general run of professional and professionally moulded putters, although they have the right foot forward, have the ball very much more nearly opposite to the left heel than the right toe. This fact, if it be a fact, is one of purely historical importance as showing a change in fashion. Putting has not noticeably improved nor is the new PUTTING 133 attitude in any way superior to the old ; the younger generations have by common consent produced no putter better than young Tom Morris, who putted in the old style ; possibly indeed none so good. The feet are the chief consideration in this question of putting attitude, but there is something also to be said about the arms. One thing that is noticeable in the style of a number of fine putters is that they keep the left arm well away from the body. It is sometimes said that this makes it easier to keep the club passing backwards and forwards over the straight line. Of this I am not wholly convinced, and should rather say that the merit of this plan is that it makes it easier to restrain the movement of the arms and putt merely with the wrists. This left arm well away is, at any rate, characteristic of the style of Mr. Hutchinson, who putts with a wonderfully free wrist, and others that occur to me are Mr. Mure Fergusson, one of the very finest and most determined of holers out, Mr. Low and Mr. Fowler. It would appear to be more characteristic of amateurs than of professionals : at least I cannot think of many examples from the professional ranks, except Taylor, as a rule an excel- lent putter, who has a decided crook of the left elbow. I feel more inclined to be dogmatic about the right arm and elbow, which should, I think, be as close as is comfortable to the right side. This right arm well tucked in is a feature of the style of one of the best and most graceful of putters, Tom Ball, and I know that it represents one of the cardinal principles of putting, according to the Rev. A. H. Cochran, an 134 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION admirable wielder of the wooden putter. To keep the right elbow far out from the body has the effect of stiffening the right wrist and checking the swing, and those who indulge in the habit have generally a ' poky ' way of hitting at the ball. Moreover, the right arm almost certainly needs some support ; otherwise the club is apt to be taken back on an unsteady and wavering line. There is one thing quite essential to putting which I have only mentioned casually and incidentally, and that is the ball. This I did of malice aforethought, so as not to confuse the issue, but there are always two things, by no means original but incalculably important, which must be said about the ball. You must keep your eye upon it and must hit it hard enough. As to the first point, it is impossible to be too emphatic. I believe it to be possible, at any rate in driving and possibly also in iron play, to keep the eye too fiercely on the ball. The player who, with a laudable desire to imitate the photographs of Taylor, keeps his eye too conscientiously at the place where the ball used to be, runs some risk of restricting the freedom of his longer strokes, but there is no recorded instance of a similar calamity on the putting-green. There is no necessity for the player to move his head in the very least degree until the ball has come to rest, let us hope, in the bottom of the hole, so that the longer he keeps his eye motionless the better. I may add that he is not only to be on his guard against lifting the eye towards the hole, but also against letting it follow the club as it is taken back. It is a PUTTING 135 great temptation just to take a glance at the club head to see if it is going back rigidly straight, but it is a temptation to be resisted ; there are few things more inimical to true and free hitting. As to the second point, a most valuable but inordinately long sermon might be preached as to the enormous importance of being up. I will refrain from preaching it, but if the learner desires a more interesting and practical lesson, let him go and look at a tournament in which the very best players, professional or amateur, are engaged. He will soon discover how prevalent is the vice of shortness even in the highest circles, and how many strokes, holes, and matches it costs. There is really little that can helpfully be said on the subject, save this, that if a man be constantly short he will often be found to be letting go of his putter at the critical moment ; wherefore let him see to it that his grip is firm. There is, too, as regards holing out, that admirable piece of advice of Sir Walter Simpson, not to underrate the ' catching power ' of the hole. The question is really one of moral qualities, and I am not a moral essayist. (6) ON TAKING THE LINE So much for the stroke itself. Perhaps it is a great deal too much, and yet the subject is so difficult and mysterious that there are doubtless enormous tracts both of knowledge and speculation that I have left untouched. Now, by a process of putting the horse 136 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION behind the cart, I come to those preliminary investi- gations of the line which have to be mastered before the ball is struck. That the time spent on studying the line is very well spent may be seen from the example of nearly all the best putters ; of whom none putt really quickly, and some with a deliberation that, in the eyes of the irreverent, amounts to slowness. I remember once to have watched a match-play tournament for young assistant professionals, and never did I see matches played at such break-neck speed. Much of the golf from the tee and through the green was excellent, but the putting was, with one or two exceptions, dreadfully weak. Hardly any of the players took any time to consider their putts, their sole desire being apparently to get a tiresome business over as soon as possible ; it was a desire that really defeated its own end, for many of them played a sadly large number of shots upon the green. I do not know if any of the competitors learned wisdom from that tournament, but I feel sure that some of the spectators must have done so. The golfer who is inclined to self -conscious- ness is rather apt to put himself off by a very solemn study of his putts ; he thinks he is taking too long and that other people are thinking that he is taking too long, so that his last state is worse than his first. It is a natural feeling, but it is one to be fought against with might and main, for, save possibly on a green which is as flat as a pancake and so unworthy of the name of green, putting is not a thing to be done quickly. PUTTING 137 Some very fine putters make a practice of always or nearly always scanning the line of the putt, not only from ball to hole, but from hole to ball. This must sometimes, one is inclined to think, be a work of supererogation, and in any case it must in a measure depend on the individual temperament of the player whether such extreme deliberation is a benefit or a hindrance, but in all instances of real difficulty it is certainly a wise precaution to take. The line seen from behind the hole sometimes differs materially from that seen from behind the ball, and it is, I think, a maxim of most good putters that in cases of doubt the line seen from the hole is the one to adopt. Besides the line there are other considerations, such, of course, as the pace of the green and less obviously the wind. Putting in a strong wind is always a most unpleasant business, because it is so very hard to keep the body still, but, apart from this, it is a very common fault to underestimate the effect of the wind upon the travelling power of the ball. Nothing is commoner than to see a man hopelessly short when playing a long putt on a big open green in the teeth of a strong wind. I am also reminded by reading again the excellent work of Braid, one of the most thoughtful of putters, that it is very well worth observing whether or not the green has recently been cut, and if so which way the machine cutter has been taken over the grass. When the green presents an appearance of alternate light and dark stripes, ' the points of grass facing you,' says Braid, ' give a dark complexion to the green, so that the light stripes 138 'ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION represent the fast sections of the green and the dark ones the slower sections.' Light and keen, dark and slow ; it may be very profitable to remember. A propos of taking the line, it may be said that there are two different ways of aiming at the hole. Some people only consider the two main factors, the ball and the hole ; others fix on some spot of ground on the line to the hole and concentrate their attention on trying to make the ball pass over that spot. I must confess that I have never been able to master this latter system, a fact which I regard rather in its favour than otherwise. I can, therefore, recommend it only on the assurance of others. Those others are, however, very good putters, and I believe that the best putters do adopt this plan of aiming, not at the hole, but at a spot of ground near to it, so that the ambitious putter should certainly not abandon this plan without a thorough trial. Whichever is the system he adopts, one thing is tolerably certain, that once the player hag decided on the point to aim at, he should hit the ball as quickly as is consistent with a complete absence of hurrying. Once the stance is taken up, hanging over the ball is almost sure to be detrimental, and if the player feels uncomfortable, it is better that he should come right away from the ball and start again. Mr. Low tells us that having made sure of his line, he sometimes walks up to his ball and hits it without so much as another glance at the hole. This may be for some a counsel of perfection, but it is impossible to doubt that too much aiming is bad ; the player either falls into a state resembling catalepsy, or into PUTTING 139 overmuch knuckling over of hands and knees. In the one he becomes too rigid ; in the other not steady enough ; nor is the fact that traces of this knuckling movement are to be seen in the style of many profes- sional putters any recommendation. Probably there was once some great putter of whose style it was a natural feature, but with most people it is merely a piece of imitative lumber serving no useful purpose and tending to harmful moving of the body. There is one more putting problem connected with the taking of the line. In playing a ' borrowing ' putt, i.e. one in which due allowance has to be made for a slope, the player has, as a rule, to aim at a much greater nicety of strength than in a perfectly plain- sailing stroke. A very small variation in strength makes all the difference in the degree to which the ball will be affected by the slope, and, moreover, a ball that is hit only a very little too hard is terribly apt to kick out of the hole. The player has therefore to play to ' drop ' his putt, as it is called ; to hit it with exactly the right strength and no more. This is so delicate and difficult a business than any way of mitigating the difficulty is worth considering. There is another way, though it is doubtful, not only whether it can possibly come under the head of elementary instruction, but also whether a great many people will not find it worse instead of better. It consists in playing a putt either with slice or pull, so as in a measure to neutralise the slope. If the slope is from right to left, the player will slice the ball against the slope with a cross-wise cutting motion of 140 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION the club ; if from left to right, he will pull it off the toe with something of a turning-over movement of the right wrist. Since the hook or slice will be fighting against the slope, much less borrow will have to be allowed for, and sometimes the player will be able to play almost straight at the hole. Consequently he will not have to be so nicely accurate in the matter of strength, and can hit the ball with greater freedom and boldness. But this slicing and hooking of putts is a subtle business, and will need much practice before the player can feel sufficient confidence to try it in a serious match. In the hands of an accom- plished putter it is doubtless a valuable weapon ; with those less skilful it is apt to be a double-edged one, and should at any rate be used in strict modera- tion. (c) OF STYMIES The excessive violence of those who advocate the abolition of the stymie sometimes drives those who defend it into the use of language that is likewise excessive. The abolitionists talk as if no stymie could be circumvented, which is sheer nonsense, and their opponents are apt to retort that there is no stymie that is impossible, which is taking rather an optimistic view of the situation. It is quite safe to say, however, that a great many stymies are called impossible, either through ignorance or the fury of the moment, which are not only possible to circumvent but in many cases reasonably easy. When the adversary's ball lies at a distance of more than six PUTTING 141 inches between the player's ball and the hole, there are, broadly speaking, two courses for the latter to adopt : he must putt his ball so as to make it go round the blockading ball or he must loft it over. As to the first, it may be said that the ball can be made to turn only to a very small extent if the player has nothing to depend on but his own skill, but there are comparatively few greens on which there is not some little turn in the ground, and a very little help from the ground makes an enormous difference. So it is particularly essential to repress the impotent fury natural under the circumstances, and study the lie of the ground with the most meticulous care. It is also to be noted that the nature of the grass makes a great deal of difference, and that the ball can be made to turn far more on a green that is comparatively keen than on one that is slow and heavy. Finally, it may be laid down with some confidence that it is far easier to make the ball turn from left to right than from right to left ; the slice, as ever, is easier than the pull. I will assume that the player, having duly considered all these things, decides to play round the offending ball, and that he proposes to pass it on the left-hand side. The stroke, though capable of being played either very badly or very well, is yet a comparatively simple one, in that it is to be played with a slicing motion of the club, and to take the club out to the right and draw it across the line to the left is a natural often an incorrigibly natural movement. For the playing of this stroke either a putting cleek or even an iron is preferable to a wooden or aluminium putter ; 142 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION from the face of the latter the ball seems to leap too quickly away, before the cut has, so to speak, had time to work. Having taken his iron club, the player turns the face preferably a little out to the right, and plays a cutting shot across the line from right to left. He must not expect to see the ball describe a large and beautiful curve, because no human skill can make it do that ; but it will take every possible advantage of any helpful slope, and if it hits the corner of the hole it will, if I may so describe it, bite the edge and fall in ; whereas a ball played without any cut would resolutely decline to go out of its way. If the ball has to be played so as to come in from right to left, the stroke is theoretically the exact converse of the one just described, but prac- tically the exact converse of that slicing process is unattainable. To take the club inwards towards the body, and then to push it outwards across the line, is an unnatural and almost impossibly difficult feat. To attempt this outward cut to the same extent as the inward is to court disaster. The best thing that the player can do and bad is the best is to take some fairly lofted club, hit the ball off the extreme point of the nose, taking the club back slightly towards the body and encouraging the hook in moderation by the turning-over movement of the right wrist. When it is essential to hook the ball to any perceptible extent, he will be well advised to consider very seriously the desirability of a lofting stroke. This lofting stroke is often, of course, the only one possible. It is regarded with hopeless awe by many PUTTING 143 golfers, and if successfully played produces louder thunders of applause than any other. Yet as often as not the stroke is not a really difficult one, if only the player be not too much overwhelmed by his own audacity in attempting it. When the two balls are close together and the hole is some little way off, the stroke really presents no vast difficulties ; indeed, the mere consciousness of having a magnificent excuse for missing will make many a man hole out under such circumstances who would have missed a straight- forward putt with no ball in the way. Even when the hole is so close that the ball has to be pitched right into it or on to the very lip, the shot is by no manner of means impossible, if only the striker have sufficient confidence in his club and do not try to do all the work himself. Too often we see the stroke attempted on the lines of a curtailed mashie shot. The victim attempts to cut the ball heavily, picks up his hand quickly in order to ensure a sharp rise, and performs many other futile and laborious actions with a quite incommensurate result. He relies wholly on himself and not at all on his club. If, on the other hand, he had merely taken a lofted club and putted with it, he would as likely as not have been successful. The club must of course be well lofted either a mashie, [the face of which is well set back, or a niblick. I incline to think the mashie the better club, since there is something about the thick sole of the niblick that suggests a difficulty in gliding smoothly under the ball. Best, perhaps, of all is one of those ancient lofting-irons with a vast expanse of face, 144 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION tremendously set back, that are occasionally and irreverently called shovels. I am happy in the possession of a specimen that emerged from Tom Dunn's shop at North Berwick in the very early eighties, and is a wonderful overcomer of stymies. A sufficiently lofted club, used almost exactly after the manner of a putter, will get the ball quite high enough into the air to clear the biggest golf-ball that ever was made. As in putting, the club should be taken back close to the ground, and should follow through in the same way ; anything in the nature of a deliberate picking up of the club only adds to the difficulties and possesses no compensating advantage whatever. Even to call the stroke a pitch is to run some risk of getting a wrong idea of it into one's head. To think of it purely as a putt is some way towards coping with it. There are many stymies that are to all intents and purposes insuperable, and one of the most deadly is laid when the opponent's ball is within an inch or two of the hole, and the player's ball is some considerable distance away. It is humanly possible to play the ball so that it shall pitch just short of the obstacle and clear it at the first bounce, but to attempt it is indeed a desperate measure. It is also possible to play a running-through shot as in billiards, but I only once remember to have seen it accomplished. I remember that one occasion very vividly, because in a certain international match at Sandwich I thought I had stymied Mr. John Low very satisfactorily, only to see my own ball driven far away and his nestling PUTTING 145 in the bottom of the hole. I ought to add that Mr. W. E. Fairlie, one of the very best of all putters, became at one time so skilful in the playing of this shot that he could, I believe, accomplish it more often than not. That, however, was with a gutty, and the stroke is a much more difficult one with the rubber-cored ball. CHAPTER VII ON FAULTS IN GENERAL EVERY golfer is at times out of form, either generally or particularly, as regards some one club or stroke. Even the rawest beginner will fall at times perceptibly below his necessarily humble standard, and as surely as he does, so surely will he begin to inquire, ' What is he doing wrong ? ' This moment, at which the inquiring instinct first dawns in his infant mind, is a very important one, because on his ability to inquire in a reasonable manner, and to prevent himself from inquiring too much, his future happiness will very largely depend. He may grow either into a rational and intelligent person, or into a miserable, restless style-hunter, flying madly from theory to theory, never settling down to anything worthy of the name of golf. On this subject the late Sir Walter Simpson was at once the most brilliantly amusing and the most hopelessly depressing of all writers. He analysed with a pitiless and wonderful penetration all the insane fancies that golfers imagine themselves to carry hidden in the innermost recesses of their poor vain little minds. As I read the Art of Oolf I give to every other word a personal application ; I feel as if I were ON FAULTS IN GENERAL 147 in church one miserable little being against whom the preacher is directly thundering, regardless of all the rest of the congregation. As an exponent of those follies to be avoided Sir Walter is unsurpassable, but he gives little positive help. His gospel is one of gloom, almost of despair. * Aim more carefully ' ; that is the one piece of advice that he gives, as if he had a genuine belief in it. Nothing else matters : we may imagine vain things, but we all come to miss the ball at last. Now this will not entirely satisfy the enthusiastic golfer : he wants a policy more constructive and more cheerful. At the same time, one of the most valuable pieces of knowledge in the curing of golfing ailments is the knowledge of what to avoid, and one of the things most carefully to be avoided is any undue precipitation in diagnosis. The golfer who is at the very threshold of his career as such should be particularly careful. He is not to go a-hunting after the will o' the wisp of some new trick or ' tip ' ; he is not to think too much about what he is doing wrong. He will for some time have his hands full in trying to do rightly what he has been taught. With him the action of hitting a golf-ball is still such a new and unaccustomed one that he is bound, in the nature of things, to have many failures. It does not follow, because he hit the ball last time and did not hit it this time, that he has therefore fallen into some definable error. The more advanced golfer, to whom this chapter is more particularly addressed, ought likewise to be in 148 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION no hurry to discover and remedy faults. I have heard a good player say of himself that he was playing well because ' he did not mind making a bad shot.' He accepted the bad shot, if it came, as something that must occasionally and inevitably happen, and did not bother himself as to why it had happened, or whether it was going to happen again. That is primarily the frame of mind to be cultivated. An occasional mistake is to be disregarded altogether, and even a considerable series is best dealt with at first by the policy of ' Aim more carefully.' It is wonderful how often it is successful. Under this policy of careful aiming I include two or three other things : the time-honoured maxims, for example, of ' Slow back,' ' Don't press,' and 4 Keep your eye on the ball.' They are so valuable, for the reason that, unlike some other remedies, they cannot do much harm even if they do but little good. This is a treatment that is peculiarly applicable to a breakdown that is general rather than particular. Either because he has lost confidence or is out of practice, or for one of fifty other possible reasons, the golfer may be playing more or less badly with all his clubs. In such a case it is fairly clear that he has neither the requisite time nor intelligence to think out reasons and remedies to fit all his mishaps. If he tries to do so, he must almost inevitably go from bad to worse. It is essentially a case for what has been called c general treatment.' Similarly, although he may only be * off it ' as regards one particular club, his disease may be of a purely general kind. If he ON FAULTS IN GENERAL 149 hook his first drive, slice his second, top his third and follow this with a series of sclaffs, the inference is that there is no one remedy of so all-embracing a character as to cure him straightway of all his diseases at once. It is a case for patient, painstaking plodding, and for discarding from the mind everything except the most elementary theories. All the misfortunes above mentioned, and many more also, may come from his hitting far too hard or from his never looking at his ball. It is almost inconceivable that they can come from any minor and more recondite cause, and the victim ought to treat himself after the manner of a general practitioner rather than a specialist. On the other hand, it may often be that he is con- tinuously making the same kind of mistake and no other ; all his drives may be hooked or every ball hit from the extreme socket of the iron. After this has gone on for some time he may be allowed the luxury of a more particular diagnosis. It is probable that some one thing is amiss, and there is at least a hope that some one remedy will put the matter right. Now, in this search for faults and remedies there appears to me to be one particularly important rule : Go for the big things and let the little ones look after themselves. There is an enormous variety of minor faults, but they may all be divided into a comparatively small number of big classes. The thing to do, if pos- sible, is to locate the fault only so far as to place it in one of the big classes. Sometimes, of course, some very slight alteration of stance or swing a toe turned out here or there, a new twiddle added to or subtracted 150 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION from the waggle may inspire confidence and so work wonders. But this, after all, is a great piece of luck. It will not happen often, and the man who spends his time hunting for just the right, inspiring twiddle may have a weary quest of it. ' I knew I should get you out/ said a famous and insidious old slow bowler to a young batsman. ' Yes/ said the batsman, ' but I got eighty runs first/ So here, too, it is a question of counting the cost. The right twiddle will doubtless be found in time, but the searcher will often have lost many half-crowns before he finds it. If he had proceeded on saner and larger lines he would have made a much quicker and also a more permanent recovery. This is a point to be remembered not only when we are playing badly, but when, if so blessed a circum- stance ever occur, we are playing well. On those happy days when the ball flies so sweetly and easily away, it is of course foolish to note our symptoms too closely. If we do that, we shall soon be trying not to hit the ball far and sure, but to hit it exactly as we hit the one before, and this way lies one of the most facile descents to perdition with which I am acquainted. But if we can, without thinking too much about it, note some particular good quality on a large scale which is now present and is too often absent, we may acquire a valuable store of knowledge. Some abstruse kink of the little finger may have started us on our course of improvement, by giving us confidence. But it was the confidence and not the little finger that ON FAULTS IN GENERAL 151 smoothed out our swing for us and made it slower ; that kept the body still and let the arms follow through. Those are the things we ought to notice, and the little finger, having served its purpose, should be instantly cast aside with the blackest ingratitude. And now, to go back to our search for faults, it is often as well to take another opinion besides our own, if a competent one can be obtained. Sometimes we know perfectly well what we are doing wrongly, and the whole difficulty is to do it rightly, but at other times we may feel fairly sure and yet be very glad of a confirmation. There are times, moreover, when we are at our wits' end, being only conscious of missing the ball with an extreme feeling of discomfort. Here the external observer will be most valuable, and there is this especially to be said for him ; he will only see the big general faults, and will not lead us on a futile twiddle-hunt because, not being able to feel our most intimate sensations, he will be perfectly unconscious of fifty minor things that we imagine ourselves to be doing. Having by our own intelligence or that of others discovered our faults, what are we to do next ? The most delightfully simple, and generally the best course, is merely to try to refrain from doing the things that we ought not to do. Thus, we are taking up the club too fast or too straight : what we have to do is to take it up slowly or with a flatter sweep. So far so good, but there are faults more difficult to deal with. Suppose, for instance, that we are putting our body too soon into the downward swing, and so letting 152 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION body and hands go through before the club. The obvious prescription is simply to hold the body back, but in this case it is often a little too obvious and of no real service. Then we have to cast about for some other cure, and some two or three may suggest them- selves, all about equally hopeful. When this happens, it is always worth inquiring whether we have in fact run the fault to earth, if such a metaphor is allowable. Have we really burrowed quite deep enough ? It is quite likely that we have not, and we must go deeper still in order, if possible, to find some simpler and more fundamental fault, which is in truth the cause, and for which there is but one remedy. There generally is such a fault if we can only find it, and, whatever the remedy ultimately decided upon, that remedy should always be given a reasonably long trial. It is futile to abandon it merely because the first shot or two do not show a marvellous improvement. There is always likely to be some discomfort at first, but the patient must give the cure a fair chance, and if he tries to keep an open mind he will soon find out if he is on the right track. It is one of the advantages of having our own diagnosis confirmed by a competent observer that we are then the more inclined to give this fair chance, and not abandon the remedy at once with a despairing cry of ' That 's no good.' I have just two more pieces of general advice. The first is that the golfer should start afresh with each fresh illness. He should consider his lamentable case de novo and not hark back, without taking thought, ON FAULTS IN GENERAL 153 to some cure that proved effective in one of his previous seizures. ' So-and-so told me to put my right foot further back, and I drove magnificently,' says many an unthinking person, to whom I would reply, ' Yes, my dear sir, but it is likely that he said that because you were then standing with your right foot too far forward. At this present moment you are standing with the left foot forward as if about to hit to square leg.' The second piece of advice is not to go on trying remedies for ever. If a man cannot within a reason- able time discover that he is doing any one definite thing wrong, and those who know his game cannot discover it either, then it is clear that his is after all a case for general treatment, and that he had better eliminate from his mind everything save those two essentials, the club and the ball. When this fails too, it is sometimes wise to give up the game for a while and enjoy complete repose. In that case it is really to be complete repose, and there is to be no swinging privily in the front hall or pitching into well-padded armchairs. Faults may sometimes disappear and the golfer be himself again when he emerges from retire- ment, but as a rule it is otherwise, and the fault is too deeply rooted to be so easily driven out. Whether we are generally stale and jaded with too much golf, or whether we have acquired some particular and atrocious habit, the best cure is the most painful, to go on manfully plodding through despair and dark- ness. The ray of light will surely come in time. 154 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION (a) PARTICULAR FAULTS I have dealt with faults in general, and I now come to particular faults, and first of all to those which beset the driver. Of these the first and most elementary is doubtless that of topping ; to the beginner it is the most dreadful of all, but to the seasoned golfer not nearly so terrible as several others. Topping implies that the ball is struck upon the top, but the term is also loosely used to describe any method of striking that causes the ball to run along the ground when the striker desires it to soar into the air. Of topping proper there is not a great deal to say. We top the ball when for some reason perhaps we are stiff or cold or nervous we do not get properly down to it ; or again because we take the eye off too soon. An attack does not often last very long, and as a rule all that is needed to arrest its ravages are patience, care, and concentration. Mr. Everard has instanced a golfer who ' teed his ball in a hole ' so as to compel himself to get down to it. Without resorting to such heroic measures as this, a low tee will sometimes induce greater carefulness, and, further, it will be well to make sure of looking at the side of the ball rather than at the top of it. The ball may run along the ground with equal obstinacy when hit in one or two other and quite different ways. It may be struck far back off the heel of the club. In that case the player may be standing too close to his ball, or he may be standing at the proper distance, but with his weight too far ON FAULTS IN GENERAL 166 forward on his toes, so that he falls in on the ball as he hits. Conceivably he is falling in because he is standing too far away, but this is by far the most unlikely hypothesis of the three. Also, he may be cutting with his club across the ball, a vice to be dealt with later when we come to slicing. Again, the player may hit the ball in the middle of the club, and that without hitting only its extreme scalp, and yet it may cling obstinately to the turf. In this case he is in grip of the ghastly disease known as foundering, far commoner, save with the quite rudimentary, than topping, and far more difficult to cure. It is a disease worthy of the deepest study, since it is an absolute bar to all timing, and, as regards results at any rate, is very closely allied to slicing. Foundering hardly needs description, for nearly every one has suffered. It consists, roughly speaking, in letting the body come forward too far and too soon as the club comes down. The result is that the hands come down before the club head, and when the club head does ultimately arrive it is with its face turned downwards on the ball. The inevitable result is that the ball is driven right into the ground with a heavy ' dunt.' In aggravated cases it never leaves the ground again ; in the milder ones it ricochets and executes a low and scuttling flight with a tendency to swerve to the right. Though occasionally effective when there are no bunkers in the way and a strong head wind, this method is but a miserable travesty of driving and bound to be disastrous in the end. 156 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION The mischief, as a rule, is too deeply seated for the simple remedy of holding the body resolutely back. Your true founderer begins his error at a much earlier stage of the swing : I speak as one partially reformed, yet always liable to fall back into bad old ways. There is generally a perceptible jump about his back swing : he does not keep his head by any means rigidly still, and there is a decided and ominous lift of the club as it nears the top of the swing. The swing starts well enough : the wrists and body begin by turning properly. Then, when the club has gone about halfway up, comes the straying from virtue. It is so much easier to pick up the club straight than to go on turning, and so up goes the club with a jerk, up go head and body with it, and at the top of the swing everything is out of gear : the player's head is too high in the air, so is the head of his club, so are his right shoulder and his right elbow ; the left wrist is not sufficiently under the shaft and the twist of the body is very imperfect. Then there is an inevitable plunge forward of the body, and the club comes down far too vertically, first on to the ball and thence into the ground. The prime fault is then to be found, as it nearly always is, in the method of taking up the club. Hence the remedy lies in taking the club back properly, especially in preventing the head the player's, not the club's from moving upwards, and in taking greater trouble to see that the turning movement of the body is rigidly executed. To this end ' slow back ' should not be forgotten, because the quicker the back ON FAULTS IN GENERAL 157 swing, the easier it is to get into a habit of shirk- ing the body-turn ; the vice of hurrying is a most valuable ally to that of foundering. It may also be useful to curb the right hand rather severely for a while, and see that it is not allowed to take charge of the back swing. The body, however, is the real enemy. If it can only be compelled to turn truly and freely, the fear of foundering should never be a very grave one. From this point I can pass naturally to slicing, a term loosely used to signify the striking of the ball in such a way that it flies in a more or less pronounced curve to the right. Now this hideous result can be produced, like that of topping, in several different ways. To founder is not to slice, in the most accurate sense of the word, but the consequences are often much the same. Since in a foundered shot the hands come down in front of the club head, there is a natural tendency to push the ball out to the right. Moreover, since the turn of the body was not properly completed and the right shoulder has never got far enough round, there is also a decided tendency to cut across the ball from right to left. The habitual founderer's club, after plunging down into the earth, leaves a tell-tale mark upon the turf. Let him examine this mark carefully, and he will see that it does not point straight on the line whereon he meant to hit the ball, but palpably from right to left. So the man who is persistently hitting his ball to the right should always consider whether his disease is not in fact foundering in its milder form. If it is, he has the remedy I have endeavoured to describe. 158 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION The slicer proper does not clunt his ball into the ground ; rather does he sky it too high into the air. This he achieves by cutting more or less outrageously across the ball and finishing with his hands round his waist instead of thrown well out in front of him. Sometimes it may be that he has fallen into too circular a method of swinging. He takes the club back too low, round his waist instead of over his shoulder, so that it finishes in a corresponding position. Sir Walter Simpson has well said that many golfers misconceive the nature of a drive, and 4 visualize a swing as a scythe-like motion, not as a straight, forward sweep.' The remedy here is an obvious one, namely to take the club up higher and well over the shoulder. I may add that I have sometimes found it very useful, when suffering thus, to determine that the right arm shall brush against the right side in the down swing and to concentrate the mind chiefly on this point. This seems to throw the arms well out in front of the body in the follow-through, and to prevent them from sidling away to the left in accord- ance with their natural and vicious propensities. Another slicer of a slightly different kind habitually swings his club too far out to the right, so that the arms lose the support of the body and are almost certain to cut across the ball on the way down. This poor cowardly fellow has probably tried to make allowance for his slice instead of wrestling with it. He has aimed further and further to the left of the proper line. Now he should take up a bolder and more defiant attitude, and aim with moderation but ON FAULTS IN GENERAL 159 quite deliberately in that direction of which he is so greatly afraid. This alteration in his stance will often enable him to attain his object, namely, the taking of the club decidedly more inwards in the up swing. Finally, slicing can also be produced by too vigorous a dropping of the right shoulder in the down swing, sometimes accompanied by a pronounced fall- ing back of the body after the ball is struck. This method of hitting is generally characteristic of those who suffer from too exuberant a freedom of body movement and too much bending of the knees. As compared with slicing, hooking is one of the most harmless things in the world. A slight natural tendency to hook may be regarded on the whole as a blessing, and intentional hooking is an art that can be brought to great perfection. This, however, is beyond my elementary scope, and I deal here only with hooking in an exaggerated form, when it is a vice and not a virtue. A bad attack of pulling very seldom lasts long, and can generally be cured without much difficulty. There are, to be sure, those who have acquired a trick of turning over the right wrist too soon and too much, and this is a habit that may take some eradicating. Again, those who hold the right hand very markedly underneath the club are always credited with being constitutional hookers, and no doubt this grip of the right hand does conduce to hooking, but it is also apt to conduce to wildness of all kinds, and I have seen the most chronic and confirmed slicers who held their clubs in this way. 160 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION Speaking generally, however, by far the most common cause of hooking is hitting too hard, and this is a fault that ought to be easily abated. Also, because the slightly hooked ball is the longest that can be driven, there is a great temptation, in addition to that of hitting hard, to face rather out to the right and make allowance for the hook. In the strictest moderation this may be all very well, but the danger of exaggeration is great. To stand further round to the left and hit more gently will generally effect a cure. Sclaffing, which is, being interpreted, hitting the ground behind the ball, is another of the occasional diseases, and in its occasional form may be dis- regarded. Sometimes it is chronic, and then it is almost sure to bespeak a swing too straight up and down ; the remedy is naturally to be found in a swing that is flatter. Habitually to mistime the shot is lamentably common, but this disease is almost too vague a one to justify any specific prescription. It is, moreover, essentially one for general treatment. There is usually something radically wrong in the up swing, and the best thing to do is to verify with care and patience the nature of that upward swing. It is generally quite futile to try deliberately to put in some extra flick of the wrists at the right moment. It is far more to the purpose to swing carefully and easily, and so give body and club the chance of arriving at the ball in the right position. Mistiming can of course be of two kinds. A man may come down too soon on the ON FAULTS IN GENERAL 161 ball or he may come too late ; the hands may come down in front of the club head or behind it. The latter fault, however, is very rare ; it is infinitely more common to be in too much of a hurry. The player who is constantly too soon may be referred back to the description of a foundering style ; it will probably be a fairly good description of his own. Turning now to iron clubs, I may perhaps venture to pass by the longer shots, the full cleek shot and the very nearly full iron shot. As regards these, a player is very likely to commit much the same faults as he does with his wooden clubs. No peculiar treatment, unless it be a general shortening and stiffening up of the whole swing, need be recommended. Now, as regards the strokes that range from a half- shot downwards, it seems to me that faults cannot be separated into quite such clear-cut divisions as can those in the play with wooden clubs. A player is not so often, as regards his half -shots or wrist-shots, a chronic slicer or hooker or topper ; rather is he, I fancy, a general muddler. If he has no one besetting sin, it is not because he is virtuous, but because he is so sinful through and through, and therefore the sermon or prescription suitable to him should be of a more general character. I should say that the two big, all-pervading faults in the average golfer's iron play are those of hurrying too much and not standing still enough. The great thing in iron play I have said this before is control ; the whole performance is to be, comparatively speaking, a stiff one. There is apt to be with most players far L 162 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION too much movement of the feet, a movement that naturally begins with the left foot. I have certainly observed in my own case that when I am playing my irons least badly, I am firmest on my feet, and I have sometimes cured other people by telling them not to dance on the left toe. Moreover, the comparative immobility of the feet is a noticeable feature in the style of the best iron players. To allow anything more than the suspicion of a turn of the left foot when playing a comparatively short pitching shot must be unnecessary and wrong, but it is very commonly seen nevertheless. Similarly, it must be a sounder policy to finish these shorter shots with both feet planted firmly on the ground. The longer the shot the more movement will be necessary and allow- able, but to keep as still as is humanly possible is a sound working rule. As regards the fault of hurrying, it is perhaps more fatally easy to fall into it while playing a half-shot than in any other stroke. When the player is taking a full swing, the fact of his taking the club over his shoulder seems to make a natural pause infinitesi- mally small of course and to give the club breathing space before it comes down again. But when the club does not, if I may so express it, have the trouble of turning the corner of the shoulder, there seems no reason why it should not come down again as quickly as ever it can, and it generally does come down like a misdirected flash of lightning. Yet the iron shot ought to be a particularly leisurely performance ; the club head should be given plenty of time, and the ON FAULTS IN GENERAL 163 cultivation of a tiny pause at the top of the swing has already been recommended. The combination of these two faults, hurrying and not standing still, produces the obvious result, mistiming ; the bad iron player's hands and body are perennially coming down in front of the club head. Having so far talked in rather general terms, I must deal specifically with the most horribly specific of all golfing diseases, the socketing of iron shots. It spares neither high nor low, for even champions are occasionally attacked, and while it lasts it reduces the victim to a condition of hopeless paralysis. There is practically no limit to the eccentricities of which a ball is capable when struck from the extreme heel of the club. The utter feeling of helplessness too, the knowledge that nothing can prevent the catastrophe, must be suffered to be understood. If any one has never been thus afflicted he had better skip this part of the chapter. I should be sorry to think that I had put the bare idea of such a disaster into his head. The first thing to do when attacked is to try ordinary remedies. The socketer is nearly always taking his club back much too fast and also taking his eye off the ball. If these general hints fail to help him, he must try something more specific. The socketer may be taking the club too much in to himself, and then pushing too much outwards with an excessive use of the right hand. This is an explanation of the disease that has often been given. Occasionally it fits the case, but I believe it in most cases to be misleading. I think that it is much commoner to take the club too 164 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION far out to the right and then to bring it down too much to the left with the hands in front, the heel being thus the first part of the club to reach the ball. More often than not, therefore, the socketer ought really to take the club well in to himself, the arms thus getting plenty of support from the body, and further to verify once again the turning movement of the wrists. I believe I have cured one of the most persistent of socketers that ever lived by making him, after years of nagging, turn his wrists over sufficiently in taking back the club. Socketing may occasionally proceed from too free a use of the wrist, from making the stroke, in fact, that which it ought not to be, a pure wrist stroke. I remember once to have been severely stricken down when trying some fantastically abrupt lofting shots in a garden. I got gradually into the habit of picking up the club very abruptly with nothing but a flick of the wrist. For a while I accomplished some wonder- ful feats, but after that a veil may be drawn over my sufferings. However, in this instance, once the cause is discovered, the remedy is not very difficult to apply. When all is said, probably the best cure is one that may be called a catchword cure, of which I believe Mr. Charles Hutchings to be the inventor. I have often quoted it before, elsewhere, but make no apology for doing so again here. It is, c Take the club right through with the right hand.' It is contrary to many respectable doctrines ; the exact reason of its effective- ness is difficult to explain. I will not argue : I only say confidently, ' Try it.' ON FAULTS TN GENERAL 165 The subject of putting has already been so voluminously treated in an earlier chapter that I hesitate to say much more about it. What is the most common form of collapse upon the putting green ? It is not, as a rule, that the victim is for ever hitting his ball too much to the right or left of the hole a disease that would be reasonably amenable to analysis. No, he usually suffers from a general incapacity to strike the ball. It is impossible to prescribe at large in such cases. Patience, courage, a capacity for blotting out previous tragedies from the mind these are the chief requisites for recovery. There is one particular symptom that is often notice- able in those suffering from this temporary paralysis upon the green. They have a great difficulty in using their wrists with sufficient freedom, or indeed in aggravated cases in using them at all ; the ball is struck with a stiff, hesitating push of the whole arm. This is not uncommon with the very best of golfers. Harry Vardon, when he has one of his off-days on the green, seems to get his right wrist absolutely locked, so that it will only move with a stiff uneven little jerk. That which makes it the more difficult to deal with is that this is a purely mental, and not a physical disability. When there is no ball there, or it is of no moment what happens to the ball, the victim can move his wrists backwards and forwards as if they formed part of a well-oiled machine. I know of no definite remedy. There is nothing for it but to try with might and main to stand steady and force the wrists, and the wrists alone, to move, but it is 166 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION uphill work. It has already been suggested that the position of the feet is of some importance, and that it is easy for a player to deviate unconsciously from his normal and comfortable stance. Therefore it is sometimes profitable to abandon the wrists temporarily as hopeless, and devote all the attention to reacquiring a comfortable stance, in the hope that the wrists will then behave themselves of their own free will. Apart from this general futility of hitting, there are at least two big definite faults in putting. The player may move his body forward with or, worse still, in front of the club head, or he may take the club back crooked. As to the former, there have been very good putters who had a suspicion of this body movement. The late Mr. F. G. Tait, who was as good a putter as he was a bold one, had a trace of it in his style ; as Mr. Low describes it, he brought the club through "on a piece," head, shaft, and hands all going forward together, a manner due partly perhaps to the fact that he putted with a noticeably lofted cleek. Mr. Maxwell, too, as a rule a very excellent putter, seems to let his body go forward a little, but he has rather a curious style, with a fierce grip of the club and a wrist so stiff that one may be allowed, for the benefit of the less talented, to term it unorthodox. Generally speaking, however, body movement is strongly to be deprecated, and the man who is conscious of the tendency should try to restrain it, though this is easier said than done. The fault of taking the club back crooked admits of a subdivision, for it may be taken back either ON FAULTS IN GENERAL 167 inwards or outwards, to the left of the proper line or to the right of it. The ' pinching ' of the club inwards is often credited with being the commonest fault in putting, and it is at any rate alarmingly common. A ball struck in this way constantly flatters only to deceive ; it appears to be making straight for the hole, arrives almost at the lip, and then swerves away to the left-hand side. Mr. Everard tells us that Jamie Anderson, one of the best and most famous of putters, never lost sight of this besetting error, and eliminated it by making allowance for it ; but to make the right amount of allowance for such an error and no more is the very deuce and all. I have only heard of one specific remedy, which was imparted to me by one of the most deadly wielders of the putting cleek, Mr. D. F. Ranson. He declared that he had never suffered since he had taken to turning his right foot rather inwards. Such a stance does, I think, have the effect of making the club go out well away from the body ; the fear is lest it should be too effective, and drive the player into the opposite extreme. In the opposite form of error the club is not only taken out too much to the right ; as a rule it also describes in its course through the air a peculiar pattern resembling a pig's tail. The result is that the club cuts across the ball, which is pushed feebly out to the right of the hole. The fault is particularly characteristic of those who hold the club as in a vice and putt with too stiff a wrist. A greater freedom of wrist affords the best hope of reforma- tion. 168 ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION And now, having gone through the various faults and remedies, I end with one last solemn exhortation. As soon as the cure has effected its purpose, put it temporarily out of mind. A cure unduly persisted in invariably becomes a fault in itself. PART II FROM THE PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW BY J. SHERLOCK CHAPTER I EDUCATIONAL THERE must be no confusion on one point. This article is written from the point of view of a professional golfer, who quite expects that a considerable number of his brethren will emphatically disagree with many of the opinions expressed ; some will hardly consider the opinions worth expressing ; and others still will never know that any such opinions have ever been expressed. The various moods that led me to accept the editor's kind invitation I cannot explain. That I was duly warned of my peril I must admit, for, as a facetious friend of mine reminded me ' to be intelligible is to be found out.' Besides, I knew quite well that acceptance would land me in the worst bunker I was ever in in my life. Well, what follows is the point of view of a golfer who has learnt his golf on a mud heap. And such mud ! To describe it adequately is out of the question, and besides would serve no purpose, but I warrant that most of my brethren have little or no idea what it means to play under like conditions. In winter you slipped and slithered about as in a swamp, and it was quite the normal condition to return to the m 172 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW club-house, after a round, partially hidden by dabs oi mud. In summer what little grass there was dis- appeared, and the black soil baked so hard that if you dipped for a shot the least bit too much, the shock made the club shake and vibrate so that you looked anxiously at the shaft to see if it were broken ; whilst in the grass season you had a jungle, and at most times the worms so numerous and busy, that to get a lie through the green where you had not got to account for one of their monuments of industrj 7 was almost impossible. Such was my practice-ground and home course. I seldom got a chance to play on any other, except when I attended one of the few professional tourna- ments or took a golfing holiday. Yet I claim for the mud heap that it meant a training that should not be despised, and had advantages peculiarly its own. I am fully aware that this opinion clashes with that of a distinguished writer whose inimitable articles on the game I look forward to week after week. He holds that to be a master, your inception of the game must have been where the sand is under the turf, and the wind blows the salt of the sea in your face ; but surely for proof of this he must wait. The inlander has had so short a time in which to * arrive.' Why, even as recently as when the writer himself was collecting Blues at his University and he is still in the young forties inland courses could be counted in tens. My claim is based on a very simple fact. If you have to master such conditions you can only do so EDUCATIONAL 173 by acquiring the habit of accurate hitting, and * you 'ave to 'ave the 'abit or you 'd lose.' The ' not quite timing 'em ' sort of shot is no good whatever, for the margin of error is almost at vanish- ing point : slovenly methods do not pay, forcing methods mean disaster, clean true hitting is the only way. The Open Champion came once and we played an exhibition match. I did not appreciate what he meant at the time, but I do now. 'Jimmy,' he said, ' I know what you feel, but you take it from me, if you can play golf here you can play anywhere.' It must not be imagined that I love this dirty kind of golf, and fail to appreciate the flavour of the sea and the sand dunes. Far from it ; and perhaps it was not the critic's dictum but the artist underneath creeping through. Anyhow, as an inlander I must protest against even the artistic point of view when it asks too much and tends to discouragement. ' (a) COACHING Certainly the most important duty a professional has to perform for the club that employs him is that of ' giving instruction ' to the members, and as this is so important I ask no pardon for giving an opinion based on my awn experiences. There are a number of ways of coaching, and all sorts and conditions of men essay the task. It is not an uncommon sight to see the twenty handicap man seriously explaining to the beginner how to use the driver or the mashie. 174 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW It is still more common to come across the nine handicap man, generally in the course of a round, diligently striving to show his twenty handicap partner how the game should be played. The scratch and the below scratch player invariably has a mania for coaching. On the links, in the club-house, even in the professional's shop, he is always at it. Now of this class of instruction I wish to speak with every respect; it is generously given and graciously accepted, but the best that can be said for it is that it is generally harmless but sometimes helpful. It reminds me very much of the class of remedies called ' patent medicines,' and with due reservations it is best left alone. I feel it my duty to write a word of warning to the last type I mentioned, * the scratch player,' especially he who comes to his power early in life. It is but true to say that he frequently spoils a good golfer in the making. Every professional can give you examples of it. I have personally known many instances. I will illustrate by an example. I was coaching for a short time a young player who was making rapid progress towards the scratch mark, when he had to go away to keep his 'Varsity term. There he came under the influence of a better player, an enthusiast, but with a very distinctive style. Well, when I next saw my pupil his game was in a hopeless state : he was simply torturing himself in attempting to acquire a method that could never in his case give satisfactory results. EDUCATIONAL 176 And in that case is to be found my reason for objecting to this kind of coaching. I say it quite frankly, because I have come to my opinion through much observation. Amateurs are, with very few exceptions, unduly obsessed with their own methods of playing the shot, and this I hold to be absolutely fatal to the art of coaching. Another form of coaching adopted is through the printer. An ever-increasing array of books on 4 How to do this ' and ' How not to do it ' seems to be multiplying furiously a sign, I suppose, that there is a public to buy. Of the literature on the game I have nothing to say. If an acknowledged genius writes a book on ' How he plays,' it is naturally of interest to all sportsmen, and part and parcel of the game's history. I have, however, little to say in favour of text-books on the game ; at any rate those which I have seen strike me as being useful in collecting methods and ideas, and harmless if not taken too seriously ; but inasmuch as they must obviously give details of several ways of playing, so surely will they confuse the learner as to which system to adopt, creating a bewilderment and indecision that is very difficult to lose. Read everything certainly, but view what you read from a sensible point of view. Do not regard it as a hypochondriac does the advertisements of quack medicines. Remember the man who wrote the book knows nothing whatever about you. You may be as nimble as a ballet-dancer or as clumsy as a hippopotamus, you may have the ' spring ' of a 176 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW 'Varsity sprinter or about as much as the cinder path itself, it may be mind sang muscle or muscle sans mind. I am led, therefore, to accept the old tradition that you cannot learn games from a book. This drives me to my last ditch, that the only sensible thing to do if you want advice about this game is to go to your local practitioner. If you have no faith in him, go to a specialist ; for I am con- vinced that he is much more likely to diagnose your case and be of help than any of the forms of coaching I have enumerated. Some of the more captious of my readers may see in this only an advertisement of the professional services. Apart from the real answer this view cannot hold, for I would respectfully inform them of the fact that more of the professional's hours of coaching result from indulging in amateur instruction than from any other cause. It must not be taken as my view that I consider all professionals good or even moderately good teachers. I do think, however, that the vast majority of us are well qualified to give first aid, and to cure ordinary ailments like the local practitioner. We have seen so much of it. The worth of a man can be roughly gauged by the fact of his liking or disliking this part of his work. If he can be drawn on to confess that he heartily dislikes coaching, then it is clearly time to ask yourself whether he is the man you need. I am confident that a man who likes his work is the man who gives the best results. Another opinion I hold, contrary to that of so many EDUCATIONAL 177 golfers, is that the best players are not necessarily the best teachers. This is an accepted truism in many forms of art, but in golf you often hear the really good coach snubbed and his efforts spoken lightly of, because he cannot play like . . . In this connection it is important to notice that nearly all the professionals have developed their game from boyhood, and discovered how they played it afterwards. Many of our prominent amateurs have adopted the converse method, and it is in a true appreciation of the significance of this fact that the answer to so many golf queries is to be found. I am quite aware that a number of my brother profes- sionals are just as guilty as the amateurs in modelling their pupil's game on their own, but I am convinced that this is not the case with the majority. Let me illustrate what I write by a picture my fancy calls into being. Supposing a visitor from Mars should call one evening on, say, Harry Vardon or J. H. Taylor, and successfully persuading the maid that his business was important, was then shown into the study where the great man was enjoying a quiet smoke after a hard day on the links. The visitor further persuades the Champion to give him a lesson then and there : a club is brought and the visitor told to swing at an imaginary ball on the carpet; he does so and repro- duces an exact copy of the Champion when he hits one of his best. I fancy I hear Vardon murmur, ' Ah ! not so bad ; I think that will do for now ; you seem a trifle quick in shifting your balance forward, and that kink in your back swing is a danger point ; M 178 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW however, come down to the links in the morning ' ; or J. H. T., ' Well, well, there 's something to be said for your swing ; a trifle snatchy perhaps, and there 's a decided tendency to let your body fall back on your heels ; but come round to the course in the morning, let 's see what happens to the ball/ And the visitor turns up in the morning and hits half a dozen. I feel sure both these champions would undoubtedly say, ' I cannot teach you any way that will give a better result than that. Keep as you are.' Now take another point of view : supposing the visitor produces Taylor's swing to Vardon, and Vardon's swing to Taylor. What will happen at the evening interview ? I think a non-committal attitude would be adopted by both, with the same request to come round to the course in the morning ; and when they each saw the half-dozen balls whizzing down the straight, I hold both will give exactly the same advice as before. In that illustration is to be found the secret of all successful coaching, and if any reader sees in this only the system of laisser-faire, he is wrong. It is meant to convey a very different idea. I have perhaps laboured this point because I believe it so important, and I may be accused of pointing out the obvious, but then I am not convinced that the ordinary man is very good at grasping the obvious. What I am convinced of is that it is nothing but this slavish imitation of the big men, who admit themselves that they owe so much to their physical equipment, that prevents so many golfers reaching the game that is in them. EDUCATIONAL 179 My own practical experience in the art of coaching has been varied and unusually interesting. At Oxford the ever-changing generations of ' Young England ' were always supplying all kinds of material. On looking up one of my old engagement books, I find from a haphazard selection in one term I was coaching an old Oxford man who was a frontiersman in Western America the year I was born tall, thin, with hardly an ounce of superfluous flesh, keen as a razor, and with decision in every movement. His weight was a problem, or rather the want of it, for no captain of boats would have considered him for anything else but bow. Well, I taught him a full swing, noticeably slow, and before I left he was playing comfortably down to eight, but expecting Anno Domini to be putting up his handicap soon. I shall always remember the games I played with him, because if he did get annoyed now and again, he always swore in a language picked up from the Indians of Mexico. Another of my pupils was a local celebrity whose fifth waistcoat button, counting from the top, success- fully spoilt a view he once had of a rather clumsy pair of feet. All the agility he possessed was in his brain. I always suspected the doctor had a hand in his taking up golf. I coaxed him into a style more resembling the swinging pendulum of a clock : it was so clearly his line of least resistance, and I hammered it well in. Of course his friends did their best to explain how wrong it all was, but he took little notice and stuck to it, and very soon had his revenge by rattling their half-crowns in his pocket. He was 180 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW a perfect trap to the unwary. His handicap was nine, and when most people saw his swing they jumped at the idea of taking him on, but it was mostly he that did the taking. He was invariably on the course with any club, short in length naturally, but he knew his own limitations, and never took any notice of what his opponent was doing. A third from the list was a Rugby trials man, some- what short in stature but finely knit. He also was encouraged to develop a short backward swing, a half- swing most people would call it ; his swing was quite conspicuous in those days. His first handicap allotted him at Oxford was twenty, but before his time was up he played first for Oxford against Cambridge, and whenever the discussion arises among old 'Varsity golfers as to who was the finest player that ever played top, his name invariably comes up for consideration. Those three were all at work during the same term, and I mention them because of the fact that all three were taught to develop entirely different methods. Of my own system of coaching I am inclined to say little. Each pupil I look upon as a problem, and diagnose his case to the best of my ability. I might say that I have found it best to start with the short shots first the mashie and work upwards. It makes for a better value of control, and I keep away from the course until ready to play a round, for I have found innate in most beginners a thorough dislike for spoiling turf. If he jags the turf with his first effort, he will top the next half-dozen for certain. Off the course EDUCATIONAL 181 you can instil in him the real value of turf ; and I am always striving to effect that the club head must be travelling on the line of flight before it reaches the ball and after the ball has gone. All other matters depend on the man. As a final summing-up of what I consider the hall- mark of good coaching let me suggest the following imaginary case. Should I ever be honoured by a visitor from Mars selecting me for his coach he knowing nothing whatever about this noble game, but by Nature splendidly equipped with all the qualities necessary for a champion I feel that when he had entered for the amateur championship, and had shocked the great men and caused the inevitable discussion as to where he came from, no one would be likely to say ' that man was taught by Sherlock.' If I am wrong, I should feel that I had ignominiously failed in my trust. There is one point of view I wish to mention, and at once I confess my own mental attitude towards it gives me no satisfaction. The truth is I feel in a state of chaos, caused by an innate respect for author- ity warring against certain ideas accumulated from observation and experience, possibly both inadequate and wrong. The question that puzzles me is : What are the so-called essentials of the golf swing and what are not ? Would that some scientifically trained mind would come along, and by comparison and analysis adjust the theory to fit the facts and settle the confusion. There must be many besides myself who would be grateful. 182 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW No advice, in my judgment, is calculated to do more harm than to insist that certain points in a swing are essential if they are not. Numbers of people who claim to have thought about the game and try to prove it by overmuch talk, together with the small but growing army of authors, are all guilty. When they do definitely state what are these essentials, they deliver themselves into the hands of the enemy. They seem to hold as a rooted axiom that there must be some points of the swing that all successful golfers have in common. What seems to me to have happened in the past is that the theory of the ' correct swing ' was formulated by such writers as the author of the Art of Golf, a truly great book that no golfer can afford to leave unread, and that it has held the field more or less ever since. The author apparently had a shock on the appearance of the Badminton, which he frankly admits in the preface to his second edition, and he attempts an explanation, backing himself to defend ' these most pregnant and important theses ' : (1) There are many points of style which are essential to effective play. (2) There is practical unanimity among golfers on recognising the effect of the presence or absence of most of these. The third doesn't affect my point for the present, so I don't quote it. Now how far in the light of modern golfers would Sir W. G. Simpson defend these theses to-day ? Were they ever sound ? I mentioned EDUCATIONAL 183 the Badminton, and I advise those who have never read it to do so. Two important plates in it show ' the top of the swing as it should be ' and ' end of the swing as it should not be ' ; another plate gives the St. Andrews swing. These two golfers, for it is quite well known whom they represent, have strangely different methods. The result we know they shared both hitting the ball very far and very straight. In 1898 there came that fine book Golf and Golfers^ and it is significant of the progress of the game that such a book should have been issued. It contains a splendid collection of golf swings, embracing practi- cally all the best exponents of the game of that day, too many of whom, alas, have dropped out. Although too much reliance must not be placed on photography, for it often lies, and a golfer, even one of the big men, conscious of being photographed, produces a very different picture from that when he is not conscious, yet for the purpose of observing what the players have in common the photos are sound, with perhaps the exception of Mr. H. G. B. Ellis's two examples. I cannot bring myself to take them seriously, as they savour too much of an uncontrollable fit of joking, sadly inopportune. 1 If there is one lesson to be learnt from this picture gallery, it is that there are dozens of successful ways of producing far and straight driving many have more than one point in common, but no one point is common to all. The frontispiece to the book is a ' finish of the 1 I can assure Sherlock that they are very serious pictures and true portraits of a very singular player. H. G. H. 184 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW drive ' by the late Lieutenant Tait, a giant even amongst giants. Carefully examine this side by side with his other photograph on page 144. The theorists have always appeared to me a little too fond of explain- ing away a fact that they couldn't fit in by avowing that the Champion (and it was generally a champion that gave most trouble) was so clearly a genius and thus a law unto himself. Lieutenant Tait certainly caused much anxiety with his right-hand grip and consequent wrist action. I well remember the flutter and excitement caused by Taylor when he won at St. Andrews. There was very little ' correct ' in his methods, and the clubs he used were mere freaks. Then Vardon came and wrested the championship away from Taylor in the famous play-off after the tie at Muirfield in 1896. What the old school must have thought about these two youngsters from over the border can only be guessed. Certainly between them they disregarded most of the points that were accepted as the right way of playing the game. Every year since, the list of those who are a law unto themselves has been added to. Nowadays, the golfer who plays with a style all his own escapes notice even at St. Andrews. If you doubt this, think for a moment what would have happened if Mr. de Montmorency had gone twenty years ago and annexed the Jubilee vase, as he did last year, with his egregious but horribly effective methods. I can imagine the feelings of the Royal and Ancient being so outraged that a special train would have been chartered their well-known sense of EDUCATIONAL 185 courtesy would have demanded that and he would promptly have been ordered south of the Tweed. Before me as I write, having arrived at a most opportune time, is an advertisement of yet another golf text-book. It contains a photograph giving a part of the swing with a driver, and printed with it, drawing attention to a certain movement, is the dictum 4 this is essential to the true swing/ The first thing that struck me was that at any rate it is not part of my swing, and, what is more to the point, neither does it form part of the swing of the editor of this book to go no further. My own case doesn't count, but the editor is the acknowledged W. G. of the game, and cannot be passed over lightly. Another book that has but recently seen the light of day is expected to be of use to the man who takes the game up late in life. To my mind it is unfortunate that the illustrations should be all of a golfer whose freedom of movement, ease and agility it is hard to match from amongst the best of the younger school. Exuberance is marked in nearly every photograph. Is it wise for many people, especially those of middle age, to try and emulate such a method ? An enlightening experiment, if it were possible, would be to parade the first twenty men, starting at any club in the British Isles, and carefully note how they are equipped to play games. Height, length of limb, power of wrists, arms, hands, etc., balance, quickness of movement, etc. etc. etc. Having done this, face the question : Is it likely to be the soundest advice that these men should be coached, drilled, or 186 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW a better word still is c bent,' to adopt one stereotyped form of swing ? Is it not more feasible to bend the game within limits to fit the man ? If there is some- thing to be said for this idea, the truth will probably be found in a scientific combination of both, and here, ' you writer of golf books, is a subject made to your hand.' But in the meantime don't frighten good men or shake the confidence of true men with all this talk about essentials. CHAPTER II MY OWN GAME THE editor expressed a desire that I should write something about my own game the way I play the different shots, and my reason for so doing, that is if I can discover any special reason. It will be gathered, I trust, from what I have previously written, that I do not mean this for a guide as to how others should play ; I only hope it may contain new ideas for some, and for others encouragement to go on with methods already formed. The first thing that strikes me as worthy of attention, and as playing a very important part in determining how I should play the game, is my build and weight. I stand 5 feet 8| inches and weigh 9 stone 10 Ibs. Further, I must confess that I have not been gifted with a large supply of muscle or strength. If the game demanded the application of sheer strength I should be but a sorry muddler, but let it be at once understood that it does not. I have often been amused by reading paragraphs in which I am described as being ' well set up/ ' of firm and strong build.' Only a week or two ago a golfing paper informed me that ' a big and powerful 187 188 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW pair of wrists * played an important part in the firm manner in which I played my iron shots. If the truth must be told, my wrists and forearm seem to me to have stopped growing since I was ten years of age, for they are far from being big and powerful. My little daughter, who can stretch little more than an octave on the piano, can with the same ease encompass my wrist. Do not imagine for a moment that this lack of strength worries me. I draw attention to it because it necessarily decided the lines on which my game has developed. Big strong men have much to be thankful for, but they have also, in consequence of this strength, much to watch and guard against. The rest of my anatomy is built in proportion. Perhaps I ought to mention a pair of feet which serve me well at all times, and which are neither too heavy nor too big. These details are worth mentioning if only to encourage those players who are built on similar lines ; they all too frequently get it into their heads that they can never succeed because they have no strength or wrists to speak of. What I would suggest is that they must direct their attention, as I do, to different methods from those of the strong men. The Grip. I hold my club with both hands close together, but not overlapping. The left hand grips firmly with the three fingers, the fork of the first finger and thumb is on the top of, and pointing straight down, the shaft, the thumb and first finger lap round the club and find a place out of the way, I..! DRIVING: SHOWING GRIP AND STANCE [To face p. 189 MY OWN GAME 189 since they are not called upon to take an active part in making the stroke. The right hand grips much in the same way as the left with the three fingers, but more loosely, and is held more under the club, so that the fork of the thumb and first finger is not on the top but to the side of the club, about midway between a point that would mark the centre of the top and a point that would mark the centre of the side. I wish the exact position of the right hand to be clearly understood, because of the subsequent movement the wrists and arms have to perform. My grip will be recognised as differing only in this detail from the old-fashioned orthodox method commonly known as the ' V ' grip, and the only mannerism and I use the word because I feel the action has no particular value, but nevertheless should be noted is that at the top of the swing the grip of the right hand slackens, so that the shaft falls into the fork between the thumb and finger, but directly the backward swing commences the fingers fasten on again and the club is held per- fectly rigid. And let it be remembered, this mannerism is quite common amongst the ' V ' grippers. The grip of the right hand must by no means be confused with what is known as the ' Palm ' grip, that is, holding the club in the palm of the hand so that the back of the hand falls underneath the shaft. Many fine players have adopted this grip and un- doubtedly drive far and straight, but I do not like it : it looks clumsy, and I venture to say it means trouble unless you are careful. And for this reason. If you have a full swing, there is a necessary move- 190 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW ment of the arms from the elbow joint, often incorrectly called the wrist action (of which more anon), and by gripping underneath with the right hand you start by cramping that action, and in consequence something has to happen during the downward swing in order to readjust matters. You can easily see what I mean by gripping a club and noticing the different positions of the right and left wrists. My opinion of the overlapping grip is that its effectiveness depends entirely on the strength of fingers and forearm. It would be useless for players to attempt it who have no more power in their wrists and fingers than I have. It is a very valuable grip for those people who have a powerful right hand that is always wanting to do more than its proper share of the work ; then the overlapping will be found to help tremendously, because it effects the getting rid of part of the right hand, and therefore strikes a better balance between the two. There is no need to think, however, that the overlapping grip has any particular value over any other grip. The Stance. When one has gripped the club com- fortably, the next point to settle is how to stand. My ordinary stance for a straight shot is slightly open : that means that if I drew a line from the toe of my right foot, I should find the toe of my left foot about a couple of inches inside that line ; and if you drew another line from the ball towards me, it would miss my left heel by about three inches. I stand upright, but there is a distinct crouch about the shoulders, though not much of a bend in the back. MY OWN GAME 191 This means the legs are not very wide apart for a man of my height. My weight is kept well back on my heels, and I stand just as far away from the ball as will allow of this. This question of weight is a most important one. Guard against your weight being on your toes : this means that you are too far away from the ball, and you are courting trouble for certain. It is a very good plan when you are settled to see if you can lift your toes off the ground without falling forward ; if you cannot, creep nearer the ball until you can. Of course this suggestion is only relating to the weight, it must not be interpreted as a defence for standing close to the ball far from it, for I am a great believer in standing as far away as possible, always of course considering the shape of one's swing and the length of club. One has always to bear in mind that the stance must be altered according to the shot required. For instance, if you have a hanging lie through the green or if you want to hold a ball up into a wind, then you naturally attack the ball from a different position. (a) THE SWING Imagine that you have gripped the club comfortably, taken up your stance and feel quite satisfied, and that the ball is teed ready for you to drive. Now comes the serious business of swinging or hitting the ball as straight and as far as possible. And this is how I attempt to do it. My first movement causes my hands and arms to 192 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW pick the club head off the ground at once, inwards, in a direction towards my right leg but well outside it. Note that there is no sign of the club head dragging along the turf. Almost simultaneously my left knee bends inwards, the left heel leaves the ground, and the balance of the body presses the ball of the left foot into the ground. As the club is taken back and up, the right elbow keeps low and slides round the body. There is but the slightest sign of the hands and wrists turning until the club has gone quite halfway on its journey upwards, but from that point you can plainly see the hands and wrists turn until they fall directly underneath the shaft as the club lies horizontal above the shoulders, with the nose of the head pointing straight to the ground. Meanwhile, the left shoulder has come round, but the body has not swayed backwards. I can still see the ball with both eyes (and if you cannot it is a sure sign that the body has moved), and the balance of weight is still very much as when I started, only it is the inside of the left foot and not the heel that now receives the pressure. When the club has reached the limit of the upward swing I can feel instinctively where the head of the club is. There is no ' Soppiness ' of the wrists allowing the club to fall at the top. This is prevented by the grip of the left hand. I have not taken back the club hurriedly, and consequently there is no trouble about where it must stop. The downward swing is begun by the hands, and the right shoulder is made to follow. The wrists and hands do their turning much DRIVING: TOP OF SWING [To face p. 192 /* ::*:!: '*': /': ; :, : . ' :^' DRIVING : FINISH OF S^ I N< ; \Tn are p. 193 MY OWN GAME 193 nearer the ball than in the upward swing. Another difference I am conscious of in the two halves of the swing is, that the head of the club is travelling on the line of flight an inch or two before it reaches the ball. This I attribute to the fact that I always try and hit away from myself. Naturally the club is travelling very much faster, for my intention is not to stop at that little white ball but to go clean through it, and the impetus gained should carry my arms well out, bring my right shoulder round, and drag my right foot from its moorings. My head and body will be after all this at least a foot nearer the hole. So much for the attempt. It will be easily recognised that there are several points in this swing that differ from the general rules of instruction. My footwork starts very soon, there is no waiting until the upward swing drags the left knee round and the left heel off the ground. I hold it is wrong for this movement to begin the swing, it must be made to follow the lead of the hands and arms, but how soon will depend on the nimbleness or clumsi- ness of the player. My weight is never transferred from the left to the right leg. Rather, as far as one can tell, it remains the same all through the swing, or at any rate until the ball has been struck, when naturally the following through carries the weight on to the left leg. I can feel that the downward swing is begun by the hands, and the right shoulder begins coming round soon afterwards. This point should be noticed by all who suffer from slicing. There is no more common V 194 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW fault than to start the downward swing with the shoulders, especially amongst moderately good players who have acquired quite a decent swing. It means that the ball will swerve away to the right at the end of the flight. Another very important point I have alluded to is what I have called hitting away from you. This is not easy to explain on paper, although simple enough on a golf-course. However, here is a test whereby any one may prove the point himself. The next time you take a divot with any club, carefully examine the scalp mark and see which way it is pointing. If it is pointing to the left of the line to the hole, you have undoubtedly hit towards yourself ; if it is pointing the opposite side of the line, you have struck away. Now, if you keep well in your mind the idea of hitting away, you will be pretty certain to avoid the hitting towards ; and it is this which is so important in driving. There is no point upon which one should more strongly insist. I am not afraid that many will succeed in actually hitting past the ball, because of the stance and the position of the ball, but the effort to do so will invariably result in the ball taking a straight flight. If this idea were more generally understood and acted upon, chronic slicing would be much less common than it is. It will be noticed that I differ from a number of the experts in the turning of my hands and wrists in taking the club back. The movement comes very much later, and at no time can it be said that the face of the club MY OWN GAME 195 * is almost looking up to heaven/ as Mr. Darwin thinks it should. I believe he will find that very few of the ' V ' grippers turn the club out so much as that. I certainly condemn it as unnecessary, and I should correct it in a pupil, since it is likely to exaggerate the wrist action and to cause 4 foundering ' or slicing, owing to the extra effort needed to get the club head back square. However, I intend to say more about the wrist action later. The last point to notice in my swing is that it cannot be said that both halves are alike. Now, it is a very serious fallacy in my opinion to hold, that c once get the backward swing correct, the downward swing will follow automatically.' Would that it did. Every club then would soon be boasting of its plus players, and scratch men would be too common to worry about. Coaching as a means of livelihood would be a very hard lot, but there would be this consolation, that it would be comparatively easy. No, this idea cannot be allowed to stand for a moment my own experience shows that it is in the downward swing that the faults creep in. There are plenty of players I know who take the club back correctly in every detail, but they can never be trusted to hit the ball straight. Perhaps it is because they are conscious of nearing the work in hand. I unhesitatingly say that most of the faults that I am called upon to correct, in coaching old players who are off their game, are faults in the downward swing. I feel it is important that golfers should be taught to recognise that bringing the club back correctly is 196 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW just as difficult, if not more so, than taking the club up correctly. And when all these important points have been carefully noted and are understood, it must be clear in your mind exactly what it is you are trying to effect by the swing. This is what I think should be aimed at and here I include every description of swings, 'quarter-swings,' ' half -swings,' 'full swings' and ' hits ' viz. to bring back the club head perfectly square to the ball and to let it travel on the exact line of flight you wish the ball to take, at least two inches before the ball is reached and as long as you can make it after the ball has been struck. To do this in the backward swing or (more important still) in the downward swing, never let the club head or any part of it be outside the ball. If this is not clear without a diagram, draw the line of flight back from the ball for some three feet. If your club head at any moment during the downward swing gets outside that line, it will require a miracle to make the ball fly straight. My last piece of advice about driving is this. Form an opinion as early as possible, but not hastily, as to what is to be your style, and then stick to it. Do not be led to abandon it by the first man who beats you, and start practising other methods. Remember that however long a driver you may be, you will be sure to meet some one who can get a bit further. Learn what is your maximum length and be satisfied ; take no notice of tipsters. The number of golfers who are continually trying tips to enable them to drive further than Nature tCC c A from the ball for S ' ~ - - - _ p about three feet. In J gg.^^ ^^ Qf ^ Qf ^ the Case Of these S...S. Dotted line showing approximate move- ment of club head before and after Special Shots the club striking ball for the slice. , j - ,. , P. ..P. Dotted line showing approximate move- head for a Slice must me nt of club head before and after be taken back OUt- striking ball for the pull. side that line, and it must finish, immediately after the ball is reached, inside that line. For the pull the club head must be taken back well inside the line, and when it reaches the ball it must be travelling on its way outside it. The stance is altered and the ball so placed as to produce the required result. There are plenty of photographs in the big books that give the exact positions, and I believe the instruction is quite sound. The difficulty occurs in making the shot. There is always the feeling, ' is it worth the risk ? ' and that is the reason why so few bring it off. You feel quite confident you can get a five, but to get a four you have to chance taking a six, and I must confess that I should never take the risk unless things were in a very desperate condition. For instance, if I stood dormy one down I should attempt it, but if I stood all square 206 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW and one to go I should certainly not take the risk, but I should feel quite satisfied if my opponent did. It may be gathered from this that I hold the shot to be far too difficult to admit of being attempted in any but ' now or never ' conditions. (d) PUTTING Putting, writes Vardon, is a ' game within a game,' and he might have added that the game within is greater than the game without. He also says that you cannot teach a man to putt, which I hold to be perfectly true. What you can do is to tell the man plainly why it is he cannot putt, and that is very seldom done. There is one point I might mention at the start, and that is, that a large number of golfers are too greedy in their expectations. Nowadays, when many of the greens are some forty yards square, for a player to grumble because he often takes three putts is, on the face of it, rather stupid. After what Vardon has written, I am not going to be guilty of suggesting anything that might be con- sidered as an attempt to teach, but I will content myself with pointing out certain things which are worth considering. First, I will briefly review what others have written, and I will start with the opinions of my friend Vardon. I cannot resist the temptation of suggesting that, when he next writes a chapter on this particular department of the game, he should not entitle it 4 Simple Putting.' His doing so suggests the story MY OWN GAME 207 about one of the other big men who, on a certain occasion, was suffering from a severe attack of socketing his mashie shots ; at the end of the round a certain nobleman came up and cheerfully suggested that what he should do was to read ' on how to play the mashie. ' Vardon seems to have a fixed idea that there is a method allotted to each of us by Nature. When we adopt it, unconsciously or not, we putt well, and when we deviate from it, if ever so little, we putt badly : that is his secret of putting. Now I do not think that is very sound. One cannot say that it is wrong, because it is so indefinite, but I think the idea is erroneous, inasmuch as it insists on the vital importance of the stance. I believe a really good putter Willie Park, for instance, and there is none better could putt with his feet in any position, so long as you did not twist his body until he could not get a good sight of the line, or interfere with the freedom of his arms. Another, and a very fine putter be it noted, informs us that the secret of putting is to strike the ball as much on the bottom as possible, in order to impart drag. He tells us not to follow through, and to try and coax the ball into the hole. Another authority tells us the real way to putt is to strike the ball on the top to give it running spin, and we are to be sure and follow through. Others again advocate hitting the ball off the nose of the putter ; some swear the heel is the best ; and some actually suggest the centre of the putter as the correct place. There are then plenty of methods to 208 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW try, and plenty of good putters who have adopted one or other of them. The value of undercutting the ball or of imparting top spin to it depends, in my opinion, entirely on the condition of the green and the texture of the grass. One idea I do think wrong, and that is for the man who drags his putt to aim at coaxing the ball into the hole ; his only chance is to putt boldly for the back of the hole. It is the man who putts with top spin who should be afraid of getting past. My ordinary way of putting is to hit the ball cleanly and to follow through. I always take a line as close to the ball as possible, and I putt almost entirely with the right hand. My stance is formed with the ball exactly opposite my left heel, and I stand fairly upright. If the green is very fast and slippery I take a putting-cleek. This helps to check the ball, and it also gives one a chance of hitting firmly without fear of running past the hole. For the long putts, which you wish to get dead, there is no help any one can give. The only advice is that you must practise. Always try to acquire the habit of quickly observing the condition of the green, and then nothing but practice will teach you the ' touch ' that is necessary for you to get the ball dead. There is no secret way of hitting the ball ; some days you will do it, and some days you will not ; but the more you practise, the more familiar with the stroke you will become, and the more often will you discover the correct strength. And for the short putts. Pay attention to what is PUTTING : STANCE AND GRIP [To face p. 208 IM-ITIN; : IIOUNC; orr [To face p. 209 MY OWN GAME 209 described as a good style that is to say, note carefully all the advice about ' keeping the body still/ * taking the line/ ' see that the putter is taken back smoothly and that it is brought back truly on the line to the hole ' for it is obvious that a good style is better than a bad one. This is all that can be insisted upon ; after that it is simply a question of whether you are able to hit the ball as you intend. There are plenty of people who think that a good style means success that is pure nonsense. It is no good disguising the fact that there are hundreds, nay, thousands, of people who know all about style and its value, but who cannot hole a putt of four feet at a critical moment to save their lives. What happens is that their style goes all to pieces. I have very little patience with the elaborate system of pretence one meets on the putting-green : it would be far better to tell the truth. You watch the four-foot putt stop on the lip of the hole, and then you have to listen to an exclamation that it is 4 hard luck/ that something or other stopped it on its way, and many other excuses when all the time you could see quite plainly that the ball was not hit hard enough. Or, again, when the eight to ten foot putt goes flying past the hole, and you are informed that the striker ' thought the green much slower/ you know well enough that at the last moment, for some unaccountable reason, he hit the ball harder than he intended you have done all this yourself. Perhaps the most glaring example of mendacity occurs when the eighteen-inch to two -footer is missed, o 210 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW and you are told that the mistake was due to pure carelessness, or not taking sufficient pains, when nothing else was responsible but a sudden surge of mental fright in the shape of a small voice reminding the player that he had missed many such a putt before. In putting, what I want to discover is how to make sure of hitting the ball as you know it should be hit on all occasions, or, in other words, how to stop those sudden attacks of flinching that paralyse the very best of styles, and upset the very best of players. CHAPTER III CLUBS THEIR SELECTION AND PURCHASE IT goes without saying that something must be written about the implements of the game the selection and purchase of clubs, etc., and although the professional's point of view may be justly con- sidered as flavoured by interest, it will do no harm if his opinion be recorded of other aspects of the question. I 've heard it said, ' Show me a man's bag of clubs and I will tell you the sort of golfer he is,' and it is doubt- less a very good test, but there are plenty of exceptions. I remember a celebrated match at Westward Ho, some years ago, between a member of the Royal North Devon, an international player, and a member of the Artisan Club. The latter turned up to play with an old brassie, a cleek, and an iron of sorts, and he won, and heaps of people to my mind drew a fatally wrong conclusion from the result. They argued that the clubs didn't matter, and it 's quite common to hear the same argument to-day. ' The best round I ever played was one day when I went out with four old clubs/ is a sample ; but the secret of the riddle is surely to be looked for in the man's attitude towards the clubs, and not in the clubs themselves. You can accept it as a fact the clubs do matter. 211 212 PROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW In the match cited above I could only see the case of a * golfer born,' but with a serious laxity of judgment that led him to treat the game with an indignity bound in the long run to react against himself, and therein lies the reason why, fine golfer as he is, much to the disappointment of many he has never 4 arrived/ But this sort of attitude is an extreme one, and need not be treated very seriously. I might mention in passing the other extreme, that of the man who insists on carrying some thirteen to sixteen clubs for a round, mostly irons of all sorts of conceivable patterns he breeds trouble of another sort. His position is, 'I would rather have a club with me in case I want it than leave it in the locker ' (the caddie question being naturally allowed to drop out). His danger lies in the insidious attack made on his capacity for decision, by having several clubs equal to the same work. I saw a very good example of that one year in the 'Varsity match. The top couple were having a tremendous match at the last hole the player in question was dormy ; for his second shot he had what appeared to me to be a straightforward cleek shot to the hole, but he stood looking at the ball, and one after the other pulled out his driving -mashie, cleek, and short spoon. Hesitation was so marked that most of the small ring of spectators could not prevent a smile. In the end he half hit the shot, and if his opponent hadn't been also attacked by some enemy, the match would have been halved. As it was, the hole was halved in a none too creditable six. CLUBS SELECTION AND PURCHASE 213 We need not waste much time in considering the man who fusses about his clubs so much that he is universally voted a nuisance, but there are such. One I know, and he is known to quite a number of the profession as ' Mephistopheles,' partly because he somewhat resembles the artistic representation of the prince, and partly because of his diabolical ingenuity in finding causes for grumbling. Every person he plays with ' has a better set of clubs than his own.' He never has a grip put on but what it 's ' too thick under the third finger/ or ' too thin under the right thumb ' ; if you make him a driver the chances are you will have to unmake it within a week. He has now got it into his head that what he wants is ' a split hickory shaft,' and I 've heard of him lately peevishly bemoaning his lot because he cannot get one, not that he would recognise it if he could. My excuse for mentioning this case is that, capable and keen player as this gentleman undoubtedly is, there is no doubt whatever in my mind that it 's nothing but his mental attitude towards his clubs which accounts for his failure to get his handicap lower. I hope it will be understood, from what has been said so far, that I am all in favour of taking a keen interest in one's own set of clubs. I confess that I like to hear a young player say that he J s ' got the best iron in the world.' Not that I 'm pleased with the truth of the statement, but I expect to see him, when the club comes to his hand, play the shot effec- tively and that 's what generally happens. 214 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW As to the number of clubs necessary, it would be very unwise to lay down a hard-and-fast rule ; the advice given by the big men is sound enough. Have a look at their sets in Golf and Golfers . My own whim leads me to carry, besides the ordinary set, two extras a straight-faced iron with upright lie, mainly for shots against a strong wind, and a putting-cleek. My ordinary putter is of the swan-neck type, and I rely on it for most of the work ; but when I find the greens unusually keen and slippy, the extra loft on the putting-cleek is a great help in checking the ball. That brings the number of my pack to eleven driver, brassie, spoon, cleek, straight-faced iron, iron, medium iron, mashie, niblick, putter, and putting cleek. Of course, if the event is important, I may include an extra driver, but things are not going well if I have to use it, and it only goes into the bag ' in case of accidents.' And now for a word on the all-important point of what club actually suits. First, the weight and lie of the club are very important points, and must depend on the style of play and the player. The depth of face both in drivers and irons is also bound up with the style of the player, but a further consideration is the kind of course you play on. A deep-faced club is more useful where the texture of the grass keeps the ball well up off the ground, and a shallow face where the grass is so fine that the ball ' sits very tight/ There is nothing very much to be said for the * patent clubs ' without heels, or with many heels. The usual pattern gives plenty of hitting face, and if CLUBS SELECTION AND PURCHASE 215 you have developed the habit of hitting the ball off the socket, I do not think it is going to help your game simply to use a club where the socket has been cunningly put out of the way. You had far better understand the cause of the trouble, and put it right. And when you are face to face with half a dozen clubs more or less alike, buy the one you fancy, never mind about anybody else. I 'm convinced fancy must be allowed to play a very important part, presuming that it is generally the outcome of one's own particular measurements and power, and it comes therefore under the heading of things to be taken seriously. Of course to those who would ask, How do I know what club suits my style ? I have but one piece of advice to give. Go to your local professional certainly don't go to a friend who happens to be a short handicap player and ask him to buy for you. The friend is nearly always an enemy in disguise. The test is simple, can you trust your friend to buy the club that he couldn't play with himself ? Mind you, it 's very unlikely that the same club will suit you both ; of course, you will try and make it do, but my point is you can do better with professional advice. My own experience is that very seldom does the crack player select any other club than the one he would purchase for himself, and the seller finds himself in a position where he must be patient and acquiesce. It is an all too common sight to find keen golfers assiduously practising with a club that is built for an entirely different style from their own. Think of the years some people spend before they have 216 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW definitely settled the style of club to play with ; and why ? There should be no difficulty about it ; but the importance of being properly fitted with your clubs cannot be emphasised too much. I feel I must make my reasons for the advice given above quite clear. First, the professional, however dull you may think him, is bound to know something about the points of a club. You cannot spend years of your life fitting shafts to heads, and handling hundreds of clubs, without acquiring knowledge, and the practical knowledge that counts. You may think this knowledge is also common to many of the crack amateurs, and perhaps it is, but it is astonishing how many of them are hopelessly at sea in judging a club. I had an instance of this some time back. I happened to be in a brother professional's shop soon after a very well-known golfer had paid a visit. My friend drew my attention to a nice-looking iron club, and told me what had happened : the head of the club was badly ' lying off,' and the player had quite failed to realise it, and took some time to grasp what was meant. Now I warrant there are not half a dozen professionals in England that would not have spotted it in a few seconds. Again, the professional can, if he has had any apprenticeship in coaching at all, tell you the style and stamp of club best suited to your methods of play, if you give him a chance. So I hold that from any point of view, if you want advice, the professional is the safest man to go to, and it will mean the soundest economy in the long run. Perhaps I ought to say a word about an idea that CLUBS SELECTION AND PURCHASE 217 sometimes crops up, that the professional is likely to sell you rubbish. That idea is really too stupid. To say nothing about the man's self-respect, it is so ridiculous from a business point of view, so certain not to pay ; and the modern professional is neither ignorant of advertisements nor of the value of customers. And here may I crave the reader's pardon if I introduce, for a brief space, what is not strictly part of the work expected of me. My excuse for doing so is that it affects all professionals and is but vaguely understood by their masters. I am thinking of the growing custom of golfers to buy what they need from the big stores, and from the shops in the town which run golf requisites as a side line. The condition of the professionals' trade has been altered very much of late years ; the steady improvement in machinery, and the advent of the rubber-cored ball, has affected the opportunity for business tremendously. A few years ago, repairs were an item that meant something to the professional, and wooden clubs did not stand the punishment from the ' gutty ' ball for any length of time. Nowadays, everybody knows that repairs hardly count, and that a driver with ordinary usage will last almost a lifetime. I know well enough that these conditions are in the natural order of things, but I would appeal to all members of the golfing public that what trade there is should be given to the local professional. Of course I shall be told that the golf professional makes a pretty good thing of it, and we all know 218 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW that, in the minds of many, fabulous sums are made by the ordinary professional ; but in reality the whole reward is outrageously exaggerated. That there are plums in the profession every one admits, and there are still plenty of desirable posts, and those that get them know themselves lucky and are for the most part grateful, but I do think the golfing public have got the whole perspective wrong. What they see is only the foreground of the picture, but there are distances beyond. If the truth must be told, the condition of the rank and file is fast becoming a very serious problem. All those who have had anything to do with the Professional Golfers' Association are painfully aware of it. Under modern commercial methods the golf professional is fast being squeezed out ' snowed under,' as one very tersely put it, and through no fault of his own. Surely it will be a very great pity, and have far-reaching conse- quences for the game, when the profession is reduced to that state that it fails to attract the keen working man ! Of course the golf professional can be done without, so we are told, but is it desirable ? Here is a case that came to my notice recently. A new club, inland, advertised for a professional and selected an apprentice, a young keen player, from a seaside course. The announcement of the appointment was made with a flourish of trumpets in the local papers : * Mr. had played round with the committee and had given every satisfaction, and was appointed, etc. etc.' Well, this young fellow had been employed a month at a purely nominal fee, and had so far only CLUBS SELECTION AND PURCHASE 219 been asked to play one round on the course. He certainly had given a few lessons, but not many, and the clubs and balls sold counted for little. What must the point of view of this young golfer be ? You can see quite easily what has happened. The com- mittee had made the appointment, and there they finished. The members, if they thought twice about it, surmised that all the other members were engaging the professional all day long, and supporting his shop in the interval ; and it was nobody's particular business. The result is that the young fellow would have done far better for himself as a road mender. I do hope my readers will not consider this an uncalled-for wail. It is a serious problem in the minds of those who have the interest of the profession at heart, and I believe a lot can be done if the needful purchases are given to the club professional. After all, the game of golf to most members is a sport, not to be associated with the business of life, and besides, if I had space, it would be quite easy to prove that buying clubs or balls at the great emporiums is thoroughly bad economics. Their system is a sprat to catch a mackerel, and you don't always get the sprat. CHAPTER IV TEMPERAMENT AND OTHER MATTERS WHEN the last word has been written about the right and the wrong club to play with, and the wisest way to select them, and when the pupil has been carefully and well informed as to the best and most effective way of hitting the ball, and in practice has become the equal of the master, there still remains the most terrifying problem of all the temperament of the man for the game, to use a vague expression that will be more or less understood, but which at the most is only a label for a group of activities far beyond my power to analyse. The equipment of the man to become the golfer seems to me to have been greatly neglected by the writers on the game, certainly as a subject for analytical study, and surely not because it is un- important, or because it is generally understood. Occasionally a writer refers to it, but incidentally to something he considers more essential, and there are rare chapters to be found here and there on training, etc., but to my mind it has not received anything like the attention that it deserves. That the mechanical skill in playing the shots can be acquired needs no proof : the strikingly high standard reached by the 120 TEMPERAMENT AND OTHER MATTERS 221 rank and file of the professionals has been noted time and again, and is admitted by every one, and I should go so far as to say that eighty per cent, of the men who take up golf before the age of thirty would certainly be given a certificate of * scratch possible ' by any physiologist. That they do not become scratch players, or anything approaching it, is certain, and it is just as certain that the man beats himself. Every one has had experience of the type of man who, when he finds himself losing holes, invariably commences complaining that he is far from well it is liver or indigestion or rheumatism or some such ailment. One such I well remember : if he were beaten he would come back and carefully explain to all who would listen why it was thus discounting any credit due to the game of the man who had just beaten him. At last one of his victims turned the tables, in this way : he laid himself out from the start of the round systematically to pretend that the man was bad 4 looked bad,' in fact * ought not to be playing.' Needless to say he won, and he might have gone on collecting half-crowns to this day, if he had not been so elated with his success that he gave the joke away. Only the other day I was playing a round with a visitor, who asked me if I had seen so-and-so play lately, mentioning one of our well-known professionals, and added ' what a fine driver he has become/ and then went on to say how he had ' pulled his leg/ This is his story. He said, c I was playing with him last week and noticed that the first five or six holes he was 222 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW getting a tremendous length from the tee, and I said to him by way of a joke, " You don't seem to be driving quite so far as you used ; how is it ? " " Don't you think so, sir ? " he answered, " well, I thought I was getting a bit further if anything " ; and from that point he pressed so abominably that he never got another drive clean.' Such tactics cannot be recommended, for it must be admitted that they do not represent the best sportsmanship, but the stories are true, and at least illustrate what a very slight mental disturbance will upset even the most skilful golfers. I could wish this obvious fact were more clearly understood. Pages and pages of paper are everlast- ingly being filled with the merest nonsense about why the shot is missed how it should have been played, temporary loss of form, etc. etc. and the real reason why is carefully disguised from the player, who is seldom made to face the real truth of the matter. Only yesterday I found an old friend of mine explaining in one of the morning papers c that Mr. was such a fine putter because he struck the ball in such and such a way.' Rubbish, my friend ! There are hundreds of us who have quite a sound style in putting, and know all about ' top spin ' and * drag ' and the rest of it, and who putt abominably just when we are most anxious to putt well. I must ask pardon for deserting the subject for a moment, but I cannot resist presenting this idea to the large group of golfers, links architects and others, who make themselves responsible for altering and bunkering the course. The one and only idea prevalent TEMPERAMENT AND^OTHER MATTERS 223 amongst them seems to be that of expanding the old conventional system of making frontal attacks on the game ; the more daring spirits amongst them are certainly creeping very much closer to the hole, and others have hopes of earning a reputation by placing bunkers that are manifestly unfair ; but, speaking generally, the result of their efforts is, that a good half of the bunkers are more of a help than a hindrance. Here is an example. I hold, and I think the majority of the experts at the game will agree with me, that the most difficult four to get is at a two-shot hole, just a drive and an iron, on a flat piece of ground, without a single bunker at all. And why ? Simply because it attacks the man. There is no help as to distance, no help as to the kind of shot best suited. But then along comes the architect, and plants a bunker for a pull, and another for the slice and the problem of distance is gone. He next (if he is modern and up-to-date) practically surrounds the green with bunkers, and the kind of shot to be played is decided for you. However, to get back to what I wish to say about temperament. My experience as a professional at Oxford afforded me ample opportunity of realising the importance of having, or not having, the right kind of temperament. At the University tempera- ment looms very large, and the order of things lends itself to it. The importance of gaining a ' Blue,' the keen and desperate struggle of those who fancy they have a chance, the short time possible for trials, and the attention given to the match itself by the 224 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW golfing public, all tend to produce a degree of tension which is scarcely realised outside the universities. The captain is the autocrat, and has the selection in his hands, and it is no easy task. It is not a question of selecting from a few, there are always dozens of likely men, and a regular bunch of players who> if their handicaps register their worth, are all of the same rank ; so that in the end it becomes a question of who has the best temperament, and that is where the trouble begins. I could fill many pages with curious and startling examples. Of course, the man who is clearly lacking gets found out in the first trial or so, and gives little trouble, except that he invariably becomes a somewhat loquacious critic ; but it is the type that can stand the strain of the minor events that upsets calculations. Many captains stood by the idea that the man who was accustomed to the importance of other contests, say, cricket or racquets, would at least be less likely to break, but experience has failed conspicuously to make this evident ; it recalls the old story that they might 'hit the ball if it was bowled to them.' I remember a few years ago Cambridge had a golfer, the equal in skill of any of his contemporaries. He accomplished very creditable things in the preliminary trials, but when it came to the match, he simply played like an eighteen handicap man, and cost his side a pocketful of holes. Apparently this result was not explained correctly ; for they played him again the next year, when he did the very same thing. TEMPERAMENT AND OTHER MATTERS 225 Oxford had many examples too, some of them really too painful to recall. All that can be said is that the importance of the occasion becomes an obsession, something goes wrong, and the captain is blamed for playing men who have not got the temperament. How on earth he is to know their breaking-point, I cannot imagine, for there seems to be no outward and visible sign of lack of the inward grace. And what is true of the amateur is equally true of the professional. Of course, in the ordinary round there is not much chance of discovering how one stands, there is little to excite or test one ; but in competitions and tournaments the strain is inevitable, and it must be remembered that these events are the central points of a keen professional's existence. He must gain his laurels then or not at all. If he would become one of those who count, he cannot ignore the big events, because it means being himself ignored. And it is known to all of us that the ranks of the profession are full of expert golfers skilful enough to break the record of any course who, when faced with the necessity of carrying a card and a pencil, become for the time being temporarily paralysed. A good story that will illustrate this is of an event that happened at a recent championship. Two rounds had been completed, and on the evening previous to the final day some half-dozen of the professionals were discussing the results and the chances. The man who ultimately won was amongst them, but stood ninth or tenth on the list. One of them started reading the list aloud, and the big man p 226 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW interjected after each name his opinion. ' You can cross him out,' or ' you must leave him in,' etc. etc., and his verdict was so remarkably correct, that the story got a vogue at once. And yet these very men, at least some of them, have grown grey and old, and have never been able to get used to the limelight of the big events. What it is that is lacking in their composition (or is there in too large a quantity) is beyond the comprehension of most people to call it nerves is only to provide a label, and it does not help. And how far it is possible to train oneself in this respect, or to improve one's equipment, is, to me at any rate, vague and uncertain, and it is here I ask for help from the learned. But there are points that present no uncertainty, and on which I offer an opinion and advice. I do not think it possible for the very diffident man to win a big event, or the man who is intensely self-conscious ; the former lacks the right kind of courage, and the latter will of a surety beat himself ; and if any one knows himself for such he is well advised to shun the big events, and save his energy for other and perhaps more useful channels. The kind of courage needed is very difficult to deter- mine. Lord Jim was magnificently courageous, as a man, but he would never have won a golf champion- ship. Nor is it the stamp of courage that is given to bullying and much challenging and hard swearing, if it is correct even to suppose that such courage is likely to succeed. Certainly a most important TEMPERAMENT AND OTHER MATTERS 227 and indispensable factor in the successful golfer is control control, in a sense which I will endeavour to explain and this at any rate it is within the power of most to develop ; and yet how many practise it ? To half the golfers I would say, ' It is not practice with the club you need, but practice with the man ; it is not skill you lack, but control/ And in this connection I wish to strike a note of warning, in the hope that it will do some good, but I am glad to say that it only relates to a small section of the brethren, and that the guilty ones are but a few. The first point is, that they allow themselves to drift into a stupid childish state when their manners and temper get out of hand, doubtless because they have been led on and made a fuss of, but it is none the less deplorable. One sees only too frequently, when a shot is missed, the club flying after the ball. One does not want to make much of it, but in anybody it is ridiculous, and in a professional simply unpardon- able. A much worse case is the constant use of torrents of bad language, and I have in mind one or two offenders, who by their skill are fast being considered amongst the showmen of the game. This cannot be dismissed as a puritanical attitude, because most of us would plead guilty to a certain extent, but there are limits, and these men seem bent on breaking records ; their general make-up towards the game and its friends leaves very much to be desired. They assume a silly, swaggering, devil-may-care sort of role, that in itself might be passed over as of little account, but for the fact that it is accompanied by 228 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW such foul language. Of course, I feel that amongst those friends of the game who count, this sort of thing is valued correctly, and explained as pure vulgarity, but it is nevertheless a danger. I know what a good many of the best and most respected members of the profession think of it ; they are disgusted and deplore it. But that, to my mind, is not sufficient. The offenders must be clearly given to understand that their behaviour is a serious menace to the prosperity of the profession, and pressure must be brought to bear to make them mend their manners. It behoves every one to see that the tone of the brotherhood is not permanently lowered by a few impossible people. Control over oneself and its meaning cannot be emphasised too much. Any little giving way that means a loosening of this control is a danger point ; it is certain that if you cannot control the man, you cannot control the game. Of course, every one can recognise the obvious examples of lack of control, most of us know by experience what it means, but it is the craftily disguised forms that one must train oneself to recognise and defeat. Nothing is more common than to see one bad shot followed by another. How often does a slice of good luck for your opponent unnecessarily affect you ? Who amongst us has not had the experience of the days when equity seems ruled out of the game ? You may play the hole in a perfect five, and find your opponent misses three shots, and gets a four ; hole after hole slips away from you, and yet you are playing points better than your TEMPERAMENT AND OTHER MATTERS 229 opponent, and you can still win, if you can resist the terrifying attack on your control. One could go on enumerating dozens of ways in which one's control is in- sidiously undermined, but I feel unequal to explaining clearly what I mean, for I am but a beginner myself. And out of control will grow confidence, which can hardly be described as a cause, but an effect ; and if there is one truism in this game of golf, it is that confidence is more than halfway to success ; and I will finish this section by giving what to me seemed a splendid example of courage, control, and con- fidence. The exemplar was Braid, the occasion the open championship at Prestwick 1908, and the instance his second shot to the twelfth hole in the third round ; and of those who saw it few who understand are ever likely to forget. Many things had happened previously, one hole had very nearly destroyed all his chance ; but the state of affairs stood, when the third round was being played, that Braid was well in it, but so were several other dangerous men. When he came to his drive, which needless to say was straight and far, he hesitated. Why ? Ninety -nine out of a hundred of us could not imagine ; there seemed nothing to do but hit the ball a long way, and get as near the wall as possible, so as to allow for a pitch over on to the green. Braid evidently thought otherwise, for he calmly walked the whole length of the distance, and then took his brassey. It is not too much to say that a regular shock went through the crowd ; a friend stand- 230 FROM PROFESSIONAL'S POINT OF VIEW ing near me said, ' Good heavens, he is never going for it ! It will cost him the championship ! ' and be it noted it was no ordinary risk there was quite a good chance of being tucked up under the wall and neither was it a ' death or glory ' shot. Well, he went for it, all out this time ; and if you wanted to have a record of how it is done, you should have snapped him then. The ball carried the wall, and, never an inch off the line, ran up on to the green, and came to rest a few feet from the pin. The crowd were excited enough, but when Jimmy started to move after the shot, it was with the same long steady stride that in the end wears us all down, and his face had the same sleepy, rather tired expression, yet he had just played a shot that no man living could better, and very few equal. And as if this shot was not enough, he holed the putt, and how many, even if the first shot were possible, could have holed that putt ? It has been suggested that when the psychologist has examined, photographed, and duly explained the type of man who is temperamentally best fitted to succeed to championships, we may not like him. His equipment may of necessity exclude some of the traits of character loved by all, but I have little faith in this point of view, for what I have observed I 1 like it much/ and would willingly take such, say, on a voyage to 4 Pitcairn to find Victoria/ which is saying a good deal, to those who understand, and there I must leave it. And at this point I feel like one who has just emerged TEMPERAMENT AND OTHER MATTERS 231 from a dreadful bunker, after hacking away at the ball with a club ill adapted for the purpose. But the ball is out at last, and to you, my partner, for keeping you so long, and trying your patience so much, I ask pardon. The round has been unnecessarily long, and the form shown abominably bad, but it will serve a purpose if, in some of the shots, you have caught the suggestion of a new idea that may be made to help. PART III MEN OF GENIUS By C. K. HUTCHISON MEN OF GENIUS GENIUS has been defined as ' the infinite capacity for taking pains,' and the definition is certainly a happy one when applied to golf, for no one can hope to excel at this most exacting of all games unless possessed of this quality. Perfection of style can only be acquired by careful thought and patient practice. Good style is the invariable attribute of the first- class exponent of every game. Though primarily due to natural gifts of eye and muscle, it must be assisted by sufficient intellectual ability to enable these gifts to be utilised to their fullest advantage. There are, of course, certain geniuses of every game, who apparently do many things wrong in point of form and yet do everything perfectly in point of result but the exponent of an eccentric style can hardly hope to produce such consistently good results as the more orthodox performer. Style is the manner that most completely and effectively conforms with the matter a fact which the professional adviser might well bear in mind when he is vainly endeavour- ing to impart his own free style to the middle-aged neophyte, whose stiffening muscles and possibly rotund proportions naturally resent such unusual treatment. 2S5 236 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF Voluminous treatises, supplemented by instan- taneous photography, must have familiarised the styles of the leading celebrities to the present generation of golfers, so I am not going to attempt to describe them in detail, but will merely endeavour to point out their chief characteristics. During the last fifteen years the foremost figures in the golfing world have undoubtedly been the three great professionals, generally known as the Triumvirate. Not only have they achieved a wonderful record, but they are extraordinarily attractive players to watch. Although Vardon, Braid, and Taylor are men of totally different build, they possess in common unusual strength of wrist and hand, and a profound know- ledge of wrist-work ; and it is in both these essentials that the professionals can claim a marked superiority over the majority of amateurs. It not only enables them to hit the ball very far and straight with appar- ently little effort, but gives them the additional advantage of being able to control distances with a half -shot, where feebler folk must rely on a full swing. Mr. Darwin considers that the half -shot is the more difficult shot of the two. Personally I cannot agree with him, and certainly the leading professionals aver a decided preference for the half-shot, and the majority, at any rate, carry out this theory in practice. Vardon is undoubtedly the most graceful of the three great professors. There is a beautiful rhythm about all his strokes, and a perfection of poise which is quite unique. Mr. Darwin, though obviously a sincere admirer, considers MEN OF GENIUS 237 that Vardon's style is hardly a safe one to attempt to copy. He takes exception to the rather abrupt lift of the club in the middle of the backward swing. I cannot help thinking that Vardon has lately modified the one peculiarity in an otherwise faultless performance. Braid's style always gives me the impression of great power under perfect control. He certainly possesses a reserve force, which he produces with unfailing regularity when the occasion demands. No conceivable bad lie has the slightest terrors for him, and the straightness and accuracy of his recoveries from really horrible situations are even more wonderful than the amazing distance he succeeds in hitting the ball. Another very notice- able feature of his game is his perfect command of trajectory with every club. His long low shots against a head wind with wooden and iron clubs alike are magnificent, and he is perhaps the greatest master of the running approach. At one period of his career he was a distinctly moderate putter, but it is a rare occasion now when his work on the green can be described as faulty. When Taylor won his first championship at Sandwich his driving was so accurate that no hazards existed for him except the guide-flags, at least one of which he is said to have struck. He is without exception the most machine-like and accurate player that has as yet appeared. His driving style is quite peculiar to himself, combining a very flat swing with a most curious finish as Mr. Darwin describes it, 238 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF with the hands tucked away in the pit of the stomach. It is a wonderfully compact style, with the right elbow kept very close to the side, suggesting a tre- mendous amount of wrist-work. At one time he favoured the very open stance, but, like many others, seems to have modified this peculiarity considerably of late years. Outside the Triumvirate there is no player who has played finer or more consistent golf than A. Herd, though he can hardly be said to have had his fair share of fortune in the championship. But he is always there or thereabouts, and the reason is not hard to find, as he has probably the truest swing of any living golfer. He differs from most of his professional brethren by adhering to the old style of gripping the club. In fact, he seems to sink the club well into the palm of the hand, but it does not apparently hamper his wrist- work, as is proved by his swing being distinctly long and very supple. A considerable amount of body work is conspicuous, and his crouching address and determined waggle are distinctive features of his game. He is equally good in all departments a fine driver, good approacher, and usually an excellent putter, though failure to hole the four- footers certainly cost him the championship at Sandwich in 1911. When Arnaud Massy won the championship at Hoylake in 1907, he only fulfilled the prophecies of those best qualified to judge his qualities. The severe weather conditions which prevailed on that occasion suited his style of play, as he is very power- MEN OF GENIUS 239 fully built, and drives a very long ball with a decidedly low trajectory. His swing is distinctly of the 4 headsman ' type, the club being taken over the head and not round the shoulder, and he appears to get an extra twist of the wrists (which must be unusually strong and supple) at the top of the swing which seems to give him additional power. His left knee turns unusually late in the upward swing, giving an im- pression of great solidity of stance. He is a beautiful putter, and, as Mr. Darwin points out, shares with other fine putters the habit of taking the putter well back from the ball, and consequently striking it a very free blow. G. Duncan is another example of the ' headsman ' type. He is supposed to have modelled his style on Vardon's, but Duncan certainly takes the club higher over the head than the former does. In other respects his style bears a distinct resemblance to his model. Beautiful free wrist- work and an exception- ally fine follow-through help him to drive a tremendous distance, and his iron play is crisp, clean, and well controlled. The extraordinary rapidity of his play might possibly be slightly modified, but the results obtained are surely an object-lesson to the players who fondly imagine that their wearisome methods will help them to attain fame. Sherlock is a striking example of a player improving one department of his game by changing the course he most habitually plays on. Always a beautiful putter and approacher, it is only since his advent to Stoke Poges that he has attained the length of 240 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF driving which is absolutely essential in the highest class of golf. Possessed of a sound quiet style, he appears to play every stroke in the simplest and most natural manner, and his putting method is particularly easy and effective. He favours the old fashion of grip, even with the putter. The only peculiarity about his style is his habit of addressing the ball with the extreme toe of the driver in fact the club head is almost clear of the ball. Jack White is another very fine putter. When he won the championship at Sandwich he never missed a putt which he could reasonably be expected to hole. Contrary to Sherlock, he interlocks very considerably, and when holing out adopts a stance with the right foot immediately behind the ball. He is apt to go off his driving now and then, and on these occasions a disastrous hook becomes very evident ; and, curiously, it is a fault which he shares with perhaps the finest putter who ever handled a club. I imagine that few will dispute Willie Park's claim to that title. Park's method of putting certainly favoured the use of the right hand, and he hit the ball with a rising club, thus imparting overspin, and endowing the ball with that running-on power which was a very conspicuous feature of his play on the green. He was hardly ever short with an approach putt, and holing out had no terrors for him. Approach putting was, I think, certainly at one time, the deadliest part of Andrew Kirkaldy's game. He tied with Park for the championship at Mussel- burgh, but was defeated in the play-off. A fine c < c c EDWARD RAY Open Golf Champion, 1912 (To face p. 241 MEN OF GENIUS 241 player with all his clubs, his touch with the wooden putter, particularly at St. Andrews when the greens were glassy, was wonderful. With a quick, short swing, he drove a very long ball, and could punch it an incredible distance with a half -shot with the iron. In the opinion of many he is the finest golfer who never quite succeeded in winning the championship. Of all professional golfers E. Ray, the champion, is the most prodigious smiter. Tall and powerfully built, there are no half -measures about his game. He seems to put every ounce of his weight into the stroke, but the distinct forward lunge of the body is sometimes apt to make his long game a trifle erratic. He is certainly one of the few players who always appears to be perfectly unconcerned and happy even on the most important occasion. Tom Vardon is the happy possessor of a very similar temperament. His departure for America is a great loss to Sandwich, where his cheerful dis- position made him a general favourite. As an iron player and putter he had no superior, but his driving, especially against the wind, sometimes let him down a little. He invariably drove a very high ball, the result probably of playing nearly all his golf at Sandwich. Tom Ball came into prominence in 1908, when he was second in the championship at Prestwick. He repeated the performance the very next year at Deal, and also succeeded in winning the News of the World tournament. His style of driving is somewhat curious, by reason of a kind of dip and knuckle in of Q 242 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF the right knee in the act of striking. He is a fine approacher, especially with the mashie, and a deadly wielder of the aluminium putter. He believes in giving the back of the hole a chance. There is no greater character in the world of golf than Bernard Sayers. Not only is he a wonderfully scientific player, who makes up for his lack of inches by every trick which the ingenuity of man could invent, but he is a splendid instructor, always ready with some new-fangled club or latest infallible tip to revive the jaded spirits of the struggling tyro, or for that matter of the accomplished player when off his game. R. Thompson is another player who, like Sayers, learnt his golf at North Berwick. He is a steady, consistent player, who only lacks that little extra power which seems necessary to the winning of championships. W. Watt, who hails from the same part of Scotland, is a very similar player, and, like most East Lothian golfers, is a beautiful pitcher and putter. Mayo is another very steady, painstaking player, who has not so far done himself justice in the championship. Of the younger school Laurence Ayton and T. Fernie are very promising. F. Robson is one of the most promising of the younger school. His best achievement was reaching the final of the News of the World tournament in 1908, and giving J. H. Taylor a very hard final match over the latter player's own course Mid-Surrey. He is very powerful, and possesses a fine free swing. MEN OF GENIUS 243 At one time he appeared to play rather too much for a pull, but I think that he has modified that tendency considerably of late. He should have a good career before him. W. E. Reid is another promising young player with a neat and effective style. Though T. Renouf has never succeeded in winning the championship, he has always been well up in it, and reached the final of the News of the World tournament in 1908. He is a very steady and consistent performer. The same remark applies to G. Coburn, who has scored many successes in Ireland as well as in this country, and Rowland Jones, Moran (who hails from Ireland), Fulford, Ritchie, Toogood, Kinnell, J. Rowe, T. Williamson and E. Gray have all made their mark. In the space at disposal it is impossible to include many fine young players, not to mention the giants of the past such as D. Rolland, who was the mightiest hitter of his day, Tom Morris and his brilliant son, the Simpsons, Willie Fernie, Willie Auchterlonie, Allan Robertson, and many another hero whose doughty deeds are fast fading into antiquity. If I have been prevented by lack of space from including all the professionals I could have wished, how hopelessly difficult it is to select a list of amateurs which can be deemed to be in any way representative. There must be at least forty players, perhaps more, who are quite capable of winning the amateur championship. How different from the time when 244 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF probable aspirants to the honour might almost have been counted on the fingers of one hand. Yet these very players are still a force to be reckoned with ; and a very considerable force too, as one of their number, Mr. John Ball, won the event this year (1912), and Mr. J. E. Laidlay and Mr. Horace G. Hutchinson have both survived to the later stages of the competition in recent years. I imagine that few, if any, will quarrel with the assertion that Mr. John Ball stands out pre-eminently as the greatest amateur who ever swung a club. He can claim the open championship, eight amateur championships, and over a hundred medals at Hoylake alone, not to mention three Irish championships and four St. George's Cups. He is the happy possessor of a physique and a temperament singularly well adapted to the game, and his style is a model of grace and ease, especially since he modified the abnormally wide stance of his more youthful days. His grip, with the club well home in the palm of the hand, and the right hand very much under, is certainly curious, but I imagine that Mr. Darwin is right in saying that the club is gripped with the second, third, and little finger of the right hand, which allows it to ride loose in the forefinger and thumb. He is a beautiful cleek and iron player, and his cut shot, played with a medium iron, which he uses even to get out of a bunker with a steep face to surmount, is quite unique. Mercifully he sometimes misses a short putt, though his approach putting is usually so good that he can well afford to miss one occasionally. MEN OF GENIUS 245 His ofttime opponent, Mr. J. E. Laidlay, has very nearly as fine a record. Twice amateur champion, thrice runner-up, he also came within an ace of winning the open championship at Prestwick in 1893. His collection of medals is quite unique. St. Andrews, North Berwick, Musselburgh, Muirfield, Hoylake and Prestwick have all contributed their quota to the harvest ; and it is little wonder that all these courses appear to suit him equally well, as he is without exception the most accomplished master of iron clubs. Most players prefer one particular shot to another, but Mr. Laidlay appears to have no preference, as he plays every variety of iron stroke with an equal measure of ease and success. He is also a very fine putter, particularly on a keen green. The one weak spot in his game has always been his wooden club play. Not that he drives badly far from it but every now and then there is a lapse, made more noticeable by reason of the general excellence of the rest of his game. Mr. Laidlay is no believer in orthodox methods. Like Mr. Ball, he has considerably modified his stance, but he still draws his weight away from the ball in the back swing, and brings it back again at the moment of impact. It is a style worthy of all admiration, but hardly of imitation. Few, if any, have sufficient genius to attempt such methods. The name of the third partner, of what might well have been called the amateur Triumvirate, so success- fully did they defy all outside opposition for so many years, is surely a household word wherever golf is played. Not only has Mr. Horace G. Hutchinson a great 246 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF record as a player, but he can claim an equally great record as a writer on the game, and has probably done more to popularise golf than any living man. Whether he is a benefactor thereby is a matter of opinion. He won his first amateur championship in 1886, repeated the performance the following year, and reached the final on two subsequent occasions. He led the field at the end of the first day of the open championship on the occasion of the extension of the tournament to seventy-two holes, and needless to say has won many medals on various courses. His style is certainly a distinctive one, and especially noticeable for the slackness of the knees and for what Mr. Darwin describes as the slight ' hang ' in the middle of the back swing. It is a loose, free style, and his swing with iron clubs is unusually long. He is essentially a resourceful player, with complete command over all his clubs, even the wonderful weapon which he invariably uses off the tee. Scotland has certainly never produced a finer all- round athlete than Mr. Leslie Balfour Melville. An international football player, the best bat in Scotland, he also won the Scottish lawn-tennis cham- pionship, though I cannot think that the northern climate could ever permit this game to reach a very high standard. When he turned his attentions seriously to golf, he quickly made his presence felt, and crowned his achievements by winning the amateur championship at St. Andrews in 1895. He has always been a little more formidable at St. Andrews than anywhere else, and no one has won so many medals MEN OF GENIUS 247 over what is undoubtedly his favourite course. His style is often cited as a model for the young player, and the true deliberate swing, with the fine follow- through of the arms in the intended line of the ball's flight, is worthy of imitation. Like all St. Andrews players, he is a master of the running approach, and unlike some of them, he is also a beautiful pitcher. He plays all his approaches with rather a stiff wrist, but he keeps his body beautifully still one of the main factors of successful iron play. Mr. S. Mure Fergusson learnt most of his golf at St. Andrews, though he has also played a great deal in the south. His style slightly resembles Mr. Balfour Melville's, especially in the deliberate back swing and fine follow-through. He has one stroke peculiarly his own, which he calls his push-shot, and it is the only shot of the kind which really merits the name. It differs very materially from the push-shot as played by Vardon, etc., which in their case is a misnomer stab-shot would be more appropriate. Mr. Fergusson takes his club back a very short dis- tance, and seems to literally push the ball with his arms, the wrists being kept quite rigid. It is a very powerful stroke, and especially useful against a head wind. Although he never actually won the amateur championship (he reached the final at Hoy lake in 1894, only to lose to Mr. Ball at the last hole), he has a splendid record, which is only to be expected from a player of such power and determination. No list of those, who I trust will not resent being designated as the older generation, is complete without 248 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF some mention of Mr. Charles Hutchings, who accom- plished the unparalleled feat of winning the amateur championship when a grandfather. He is one of the few players who, though handicapped by a com- paratively late start, still attained to the highest class. Very straight and steady with all his clubs, he possessed great power of forcing the ball from a bad lie, and was invariably a beautiful putter. Mr. Alexander Stuart was another very fine player, and though he never won the championship, he won the Irish championship, and had a splendid record, especially at St. Andrews. He had a long deliberate swing, and drove a beautiful ball with apparent absence of effort. Mr. H. H. Hilton is a very interesting personality in the golfing world, not only on account of his wonderful record, but also as supplying a link between the old and the new schools of golf. His many successes include two open championships, three amateur championships, and he capped all previous records in 1911 by winning the amateur championship both here and in America, and by failing by the narrowest possible margin to win the open champion- ship at Sandwich. He is the most scientific of all the great players, and possesses the most complete mastery over all his clubs. To perfect control of trajectory he adds the power to hook and slice at will, though personally I prefer his driving when he is not going out for the hook. He is the greatest master of the spoon, his half -shot with that club being a most striking feature of his game. He is a great believer in the : v o : .;. MEN OF GENIUS 249 follow-through his own might almost be described as a ' fling,' by reason of its very exuberance. Another characteristic is the care with which he adjusts his feet in relation to the shot intended. He is facile princeps at the short game, especially with the mashie, when a quick stopping shot is necessary. The ball on these occasions is played boldly up to the hole with lots of cut, and drops like a poached egg at the hole side. His opponent in the memorable final of the amateur championship at St. Andrews in 1901, Mr. J. L. Low, is also a very scientific player, and a very good judge of the game. He is also a leading figure in golfing politics, and is the author of several golfing works of no little merit. He is a great exponent not only of the theory of the wooden putter, but also of the correct style of wielding it, his methods being in direct contrast to many who favour the old-fashioned type of weapon, whether it be made of wood or aluminium. Mr. Low trusts entirely to his wrists, taking the putter well back, and striking the ball a beautifully free blow. His running approaches are nearly as great a feature of his game, and are also played in the correct style, i.e. with a smooth stroke and a rising club, and not with the species of jab so much affected by some of the younger school. In the early 'nineties a most formidable young player began to make his presence felt in the important events, and in 1893 reached the semi-final of the amateur championship. But it was not till 1896 that the late Mr. F. G. Tait succeeded in winning the event 250 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF which proved a veritable triumph for him, as in addition to winning the St. George's Cup, he defeated Messrs. Hutchings, Laidlay, Ball, Horace Hutchinson, and Hilton successively, his play, especially in the final, being a revelation. He very nearly succeeded in winning the open championship at Muirfield the same year, and won the amateur championship for the second time at Hoylake in 1898. He reached the final again at Prestwick in 1899, only to be defeated by Mr. Ball at the thirty-seventh hole. In addition to these feats, he won every important event at St. Andrews, and again and again proved himself to be not only indubitably the best player in the Royal and Ancient Club, but probably the greatest amateur Scotland ever produced. To what heights his genius might have attained with the rubber-cored ball (which he never had the chance of playing with) can only be conjectured. His style gave an extraordinary impres- sion of control and latent power, and when occasion demanded he seldom failed to produce a great effort. He possessed a wonderful temperament, and always played in the true sporting spirit without which surely games lose most of, if not all, their true value. The late Dr. A. J. T. Allan was almost unknown as a golfer when he won the amateur championship at Muirfield in 1897. His sad death from pneumonia, a few months later, prevented confirmation of the great capabilities he undoubtedly possessed. Mr. P. C. Anderson was the first to check the vic- torious career of Messrs. Ball, Hutchinson, and Laid- lay by defeating the latter in the final at Prestwick in i cccccetet c t r ct ' < t e c , c *c cc ' et o s o MEN OF GENIUS 251 1893. Like many another winner, he owed his victory to magnificent putting. His departure to Australia pre- vented him from taking further part in first-class golf. Mr. R. Maxwell first came into prominence in 1897, when he astonished most people by defeating Mr. Ball and Mr. Hilton in the amateur championship at Muirfield. This performance did not surprise his friends in the least, as they were fully aware of the extraordinary power and accuracy of his game even in those early days. Although he has never cared for the glaring publicity of championships or for competitions of any kind or description, he has suc- ceeded in winning the amateur championship twice, been well up in the open, and has annexed a St. George's Cup and every medal of note at North Berwick, St. Andrews and Muirfield, the latter, judging by results, being his favourite course. His style is not only quite peculiar to himself, but I think is rather deceptive. Though he is generally credited with having a short swing, I am not at all sure that this is the case. Not only does the club head describe a very wide flat arc, but his hands travel very far, and are higher at the top of the swing than the majority of players ever reach. By reason of its very obvious power, one is a trifle apt to underestimate his exceptionally fine touch and skilful manipulation of delicate shots. His pitch-and-run approach, played with an unusual club, a niblick, and his long approach putts are perhaps the most telling part of his game. Nothing could have been finer than two of these typical approaches to the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth holes in the final 252 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF of the last amateur championship at Muirfield. They were so obviously played exactly as intended, that they thoroughly deserved to win the match and the championship. 1 We now come to a player who, though he is by common consent one of the most brilliant of modern golfers, has never yet succeeded in winning the amateur championship. Mr. J. Graham has certainly been very unlucky in this event. Time after time, when he looked all over a winner, an opponent put up an unusually brilliant game and snatched victory from his grasp. Granted that fortune has been very unkind, he is certainly not blessed with a temperament capable of withstanding a very prolonged strain, and I have always thought that his driving style might be a trifle apt to break down under pressure. His swing decidedly belongs to the ' headsman ' type, and the club is taken abnormally high above the head. If, in addition, he is rising a little on his toes, very perfect timing becomes imperative to prevent the ball being topped, and this is exactly the form in which a partial breakdown of his game sometimes exhibits itself in such tantalising fashion at the critical moment. I hope that Mr. Graham will forgive my attempted explanation of an extraordinary phenomenon, namely that such a superlatively good player should have failed so far to win a title to which no one ever had greater claims. His suppleness of wrist is a very 1 Captain Hutchison's modesty prevents his mentioning that he, equally deserving of championship honour, was the unhappy victim of these two very remarkable strokes. ED. MEN OF GENIUS 253 conspicuous feature of his play, and enables him to drive a very long ball with a rather low trajectory ; and he is a beautiful iron player. Mr. Edward Blackwell is famous as being the longest driver in the history of the game. In addition to great physical strength, he possesses a glorious swing, and being unusually supple for such a heavily muscled man, it is little wonder that the ball flies such prodigious distances. He is not only a very powerful, but is also a very crafty driver, taking every advantage of the wind. Since taking to an aluminium putter he has become very deadly in that department, especially at St. Andrews, which he knows by heart. On less familiar courses he appears sometimes to find unusual difficulty in judging distances. St. Andrews can also claim Mr. J. Robb as one of her most successful products, as he learnt, or at any rate put the finishing touches to, his game while he was studying at the Madras College. In spite of this fact his methods are the antithesis of what is generally regarded as the true St. Andrews style. His swing is short and rapid, and he relies principally on strength of wrist and forearm. There is one feature of his play which is common to nearly all St. Andrews players he is a beautiful putter ; but even here he differs from most of them by using a putting cleek instead of the traditional wooden weapon. He was amateur champion in 1906, was twice runner-up, and reached the semi-final on four occasions. Mr. E. A. Lassen first earned fame by winning the Yorkshire championship in 1900, but although he was 254 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF recognised as a very sound player, his win in the amateur championship at Sandwich in 1908 occasioned considerable surprise. That it was no fluke he has ably demonstrated by his fine play in the open championship at Deal the following year, and by again reaching the final at Prestwick in 1911. As might be expected from such a hard hitter at cricket (he was a member of the Rugby XI.), he is a powerful player with all his clubs. His chief strength, however, lies in his putting, and absolutely imperturbable temperament. As Mr. Darwin points out, he is one of the few really good putters who putt with a stiff wrist. If Mr. Lassen gained a surprise victory in 1908, it was nothing as compared with Mr. Gordon Barry's win at Prestwick in 1905, as he was practically unknown away from St. Andrews. That is not to be wondered at considering that he was only twenty years of age. At his best Mr. Barry is a most formidable player, since he combines exceptional length with a very accurate short game. He obtains his length by what used to be the most remarkable follow-through. Increasing years have doubtless led to a modification of a performance which could only be accomplished by a very supple and youthful anatomy. Mr. Guy Campbell, who is a contemporary of Mr. Barry's, nearly emulated the latter's youthful triumph, when he just succumbed in the ante-final to the eventual winner, Mr. Ball, after a match which ho ought certainly never to have lost. He also learnt most of his golf at St. Andrews, and has been MEN OF GENIUS 255 conspicuously successful there. A fine driver, with a well-controlled style, he also has a great number of shots in his repertory so many, in fact, that he some- times appears to find considerable difficulty in deciding which he will play. Few players have given a better account of them- selves in the amateur championship than Mr. C. E. Dick. Year after year saw him reach the last eight quite as a matter of course, and he reached the semi- final at Sandwich in 1908. His driving is apt to be a trifle uncertain at times, a tendency to hook being evident, but there are few prettier or more effective iron players a marked characteristic of all Hoylake golfers. When, Mr. W. J. Travis came over from America and carried off the amateur championship at Sandwich, he was distinctly lucky in finding that course in a state very nearly resembling an inland links, since it naturally suited a player who had learnt and played most of his golf over courses of this description. Still, such a good player would very likely have adapted himself to other conditions, and there can be no two opinions about his putting, which was marvellous. America sent us another very fine player in 1911, Mr. Evans to wit. A long driver, and a very finished iron player, he has only to master a tendency to miss short putts to attain the highest honours. In addition to his brilliant play, he displayed a true sporting spirit, and made many friends during his short visit to this country. As he is only twenty years of age, he should have a brilliant future before him. 256 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF Mr. Abe Mitchell aroused great interest at Hoylake in 1910, and sealed his reputation at Westward Ho ! two years later, playing Mr. John Ball to the thirty- eighth hole in the final the furthest to which it has ever run. One of many brothers, who are all good players, he learnt his golf at Ashdown Forest, where, I believe, the Cantelupe Club is practically composed of the Mitchell family. He stands well up to the ball, and hits it a terrific distance with an unusually high trajectory. His iron play is a trifle crude at present, but he putts well, and with more experience should become a great player. Like J. H. Taylor he can apparently afford to dispense with the orthodox follow-through. He seems to stop his hands imme- diately after the club meets the ball, and in this respect is the very opposite to Mr. F. Woolley. When these two players met in the championship at Hoylake, it was very interesting to compare their respective methods, which produced such similar results. Mr. Woolley has the shortest back swing of any first-class player, but makes up for its brevity by an unusually long and vigorous follow-through. His swing always reminds me of Mr. B. J. T. Bosanquet's drive at cricket. In spite of this idiosyncrasy, he drives a very long straight ball, especially against a head wind. His chief rival in the Midlands, Mr. F. Carr, has a much more orthodox style, and created a very favourable impression at Hoylake in 1910, and at Prestwick the following year, when he defeated Mr. Gordon Simpson in the international match after losing five out of the first six holes. MEN OF GENIUS 257 Mr. Palmer, the third representative of the Midlands school of golf, is a striking example of a strong athletic man taking up golf late in life with marked success. That he is a splendid match player he clearly demonstrated at St. Andrews in 1907, when he reached the final of the championship. He plays with a half-swing and hits the ball a very shrewd punch, but he owes most of his success to his putting, which is uniformly excellent. He has apparently a firm belief in keeping the left elbow well out, and trusting entirely to the wrists. If successful score play demands special attributes, Mr. E. Harris must surely possess them in toto, as he not only wins a great number of competitions, but he is invariably second or third on the very rare occasions when he fails to win outright. Always a beautiful iron player, he has latterly increased the length of his driving very considerably. He stands with his feet very close together, which peculiarity he shares with another fine player, Mr. Beveridge, who appears to win competitions at Deal in spite of any penalty the committee may impose. Mr. Darwin considers that his driving is rather shorter than it used to be. There is no doubt that it is much steadier, both results being attributable to the same cause a modification of the tremendous hook he used to play for. Mr. H. W. de Zoete is probably the greatest exponent of the hook amongst first-class players. He stands with his feet very wide apart, the right foot drawn back, and the ball nearly opposite his left foot. He has a beautiful wide swing, the hands being excep- E 258 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF tionally high at the top of the swing, which may account for the tremendous power of recovery, which served him so well in his memorable match with Mr. Maxwell at Muirfield in 1903. It is a great pity that he can so seldom take part in the important events. Mr. J. B. Pease is another example of the square stance and ball opposite left foot style. He relies on a pull for his length, but is straighter, though not quite as long, as Mr. de Zoete, the result probably of the three-quarter swing he contents himself with. He can always be relied on to give his opponent a very hard run for his money, as Mr. Ball can testify, when he met him in the last championship at Hoylake. He appears to play nearly all his shots with the same stance and swing. Of the younger generation there is no more promis- ing player than Mr. L. 0. Munn, who is indubitably the finest golfer that Ireland has yet produced. To win the Irish championship three times running is a great feat, and stamps him as possessing not only the skill, but also the temperament of a great match player. I should say that Mr. Munn is the finest exponent of wooden club play to be found in the amateur ranks. He drives very far and straight with an exceptionally graceful and easy swing, and his second shots are every whit as good as his tee-shots. Mr. J. Robertson Durham is a very promising young player, who also excels with wooden clubs. His carry is prodigious, but he hits rather too high a ball against a head wind. His run of success at Gullane and Luffness, where he plays most of his golf, has been MEN OF GENIUS 259 quite extraordinary. His swing is inclined to be of the 'headsman* type, and is not by any means a long one. Mention of East Lothian courses brings to mind the many fine players who learnt or played most of their golf in this ' holy land of golf.' Twenty years ago Mr. A. M. Ross's name was one to conjure with. A typically correct and orthodox player, he won innumerable medals in the North Berwick-Gullane district. His putting was remarkable as much for its deadliness as for the variety of clubs he employed, varying from the traditional wooden weapon to a long shafted driving-mashie, which he held at the extreme end. Mr. J. R. Gairdner has a splendid record at North Berwick. He is a very steady, consistent player, with a peculiarly open stance, the ball being nearly opposite the right foot. The brothers Hunter, too, learnt their golf at North Berwick, and in addition to successes in East Lothian, they have both won the autumn medal of the Royal and Ancient Club, Mr. Norman Hunter's 74 being still the amateur record, though others have succeeded in equalling it. They were very conspicuous in 'Varsity golf, Mr. Mansfield Hunter captaining probably the strongest University team which ever took the field. He is a very pretty player, especially good with the mashie. His brother combines great power with an exceptionally good short game, and has certainly not had his fair share of luck as yet in important events. The Martin Smith brothers have also played much 260 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF golf at North Berwick, and have scored many successes there. Mr. Everard Martin Smith is one of the most brilliant exponents in the amateur ranks. He has twice equalled the record score of 73 in medal play at North Berwick, on one occasion in half a gale of wind, but he capped all previous performances by his marvellous score of 68 in the second round of the St. George's Cup in 1911. Mr. Martin Smith sets himself a very high standard. He expects to lay approaches dead and to hole long putts, and was only living up to the tenets of his creed on this occasion. He is a very pretty player with a beautiful wrist action, his only fault being a tendency to drop the right shoulder when he is a little off colour. Like their cousins the Martin Smiths, the Hambro family are very famous in golf. Of all long drivers Mr. Angus Hambro is in my opinion the longest, and it is accomplished with a remarkably easy swing. Although he is very tall and strong, the results which he obtains from such a quiet swing, which is certainly not a long one, are quite wonderful. Mr. R. H. de Montmorency is another player who accomplishes wonderful results with an even shorter swing. A hard hitter at cricket and racquets, he punches the golf-ball very far and straight, especially with a short, heavy-headed cleek. He finishes with his hands well out and away, though like his back swing the finish is very much under control. He is an adept at the so-called ' push-shot.' Mr. Darwin fails to see much similarity to the stroke as played 1 MEN OF GENIUS 261 by Vardon, but I think that this may be explained by the fact that Mr. Montmorency picks the club up very straight, whereas Vardon swings back with a flatter sweep. It is a great pity that his duties at Eton prevent him taking part in more important competitions. Mr. Gordon Lockhart has been well known for years as one of the best players in the west of Scotland, but he has hardly done himself justice in the championship till 1911, when he reached the semi- final, and with the exception of the winner, probably played the best golf of the meeting. He makes full use of his height and strength, and is a good iron player and putter. His frequent partner, Mr. R. Andrew, was also a beautiful golfer, with a very finished style. He has recently joined the professional ranks in America, where his many friends will wish him all success. Another prominent west of Scotland player, Mr. A. R. Aitken, has not taken part in the championships the last two years. His best performance was reaching the semi-final in 1905. To survive many rounds of the amateur champion- ship, it is absolutely necessary to putt well, and Mr. C. C. Aylmer certainly did not lose sight of this fact when he reached the final at Hoylake in 1909. He is a very neat player, and seems to have lengthened his driving considerably of late. Mr. L. B. Stevens leapt into sudden prominence at Prestwick in 1911 by reaching the semi-final, and, but for an unfortunate misunderstanding with respect 262 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF to a local rule, might have attained even higher honours. He is a powerful player, apparently blessed with a singularly cheerful temperament. Mr. J. L. C. Jenkins has played very good golf for years, but he certainly never played better than he did in the amateur championship at Prestwick in 1911, when he eventually succumbed to the winner. He is a beautiful driver, and always appears to be brimful of confidence which after all is half the battle. As a combination of brilliance and occasional uncertainty, Mr. V. A. Pollock is an outstanding example. When at his best, and players must surely be judged by their best, he is a most dangerous player. He grips the club with the right hand very much under, and has an exceptionally flat swing, taking the club low round the shoulder instead of over the neck. The Scotts are another great golfing family. Mr. Osmond Scott has not been so conspicuous since he reached the final of the championship at Prestwick in 1905, but his brother Michael sustained a great reputation made in Australia by his fine play in the open competition at Troon just before the amateur championship, and again by reaching the final of the Irish championship. He has not quite got his brother's beautiful style, but he is an eminently sound and steady player. Mr. Sidney Fry is a striking example of a man who is pre-eminently good at one game, taking up golf comparatively late in life with very marked success. There seems to be some affinity between billiards and MEN OF GENIUS 263 golf. Mr. Herbert Fowler is another fine exponent of both games, and as a golfing architect is second to none. Walton Heath is a striking testimony of his constructive genius. Mr. H. S. Colt is also a fine golfing architect, and is a fine steady player too, with an extraordinary style of putting, so well described by Mr. Darwin in his remarks on that trying department of the game. Mr. H. E. Taylor is a finalist in the amateur championship, and a most consistent medal winner. He has a fine free style, and knows the game thoroughly. He is also a great judge of a club, and must have the largest private collection in the world. Space forbids me mentioning many another fine player, such as Mr. Gillies, who is as successful a golfer as he was an oar, Mr. Frank Mitchell, a great exponent of spoon play and a marvellous putter, Mr. Worthington, an ex-Irish champion, the brothers Fairlie, Mr. Douglas Currie, Mr. Gordon Simpson, Mr. A. C. Lincoln, and the brothers Ellis, both beautiful players, but so seldom seen of late. But this list is certainly not complete without the name of Mr. Bernard Darwin, who not only represented England for so many years in the international match, but succeeded in reaching the ante-final of the amateur championship at Muirfield in 1909, only to succumb to the ultimate winner after a hard fight. As might be expected from one who has obviously such profound technical knowledge of the game, he is a very finished golfer. I am certain that much may be learnt from an intelligent study of the methods adopted by the 264 THE NEW BOOK OF GOLF leading players, especially by the young golfer who has already attained some measure of skill, and is really desirous of improvement. The value of natural gifts of eye and muscle is enormously increased by the acquisition of a sound knowledge of the game. NOTE BY THE EDITOR IF only Captain Hutchison would have ventured on a word of autobiography, as his own appraiser, how much more pleasant and interesting it would be perhaps, however, too much to ask of him. He was, as indicated, the hero and the victim of those two great strokes of Mr. Maxwell which won the latter the amateur championship and lost it to Captain Hutchison, who was one up with two to play finished without fault and yet was beaten. Perhaps this was the highest mark he ever touched, yet a year or so previously it seemed impossible for Captain Hutchison to go in for any scoring competition without winning it. He is a fine cricketer and all-round athlete especially a fine gymnast. I know no man who gets power into his stroke so easily with so smooth a swing. He makes the game look very easy, because each stroke seems done without effort he almost seems to make it look too easy to be interesting ; it is a triumph of the art that conceals art it looks as if it were almost impossible for him to miss a shot or even mishit the ball, and, in point of fact, he hardly ever does. That sums him, the blameless player to whom mistakes do not happen. Yet do not think that it is not all the result of painful study. These triumphs of apparent ease are won only by long labours of love. PART IV FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW BY MRS. Koss (nee Miss MAY HEZLET) c etc c < MISS RAVENSCROFT Open Lady Champion, 1912 [To face p. 267 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW THE growth of women's golf has been extraordinary. As a recent writer put it, 'Even twenty years ago a woman walking in a London street, attired in short tweed coat and skirt, thick boots and carrying her bag of clubs, attracted much undesirable attention ; but nowadays a whole team could walk down Bond Street or Regent Street, and no notice would be taken.' The fact that four hundred and nine women's clubs are affiliated to that flourishing institution, the Ladies' Golf Union, is a wonderful testimony to the extent to which the game has been taken up by women. There have long been periodicals which set apart a considerable portion of their space for reports and discussions of women's golf. Recently a monthly magazine has been started which is to be devoted entirely to this subject. And the enthusiasm has not been confined to the women of the British Isles. Players from Australia, America, South Africa, Canada and British Columbia have entered for the open championship meetings. In France, Germany, Swit- zerland and Italy a great many women are now golfing, and the roll of players is increasing year by year. That golfing terms are still a mystery to some members of our sex appears from the following con- 267 268 FROM THE LADIES* POINT OF VIEW versation overheard at a recent championship meeting : First Girl : ' Who is the man that walks round with the players ? ' Second Girl : ' That man ? Oh, he is the stymie.' But the game is rapidly becoming so widely familiar as to make such instances of refreshing innocence very rare. We can claim for golf that of all games it is the most suitable for women ; that it is beneficial both to mind and body ; and that it provides interest and amuse- ment for countless women who would otherwise be leading bored and monotonous existences. It will be seen, then, that the presentation of the woman's point of view in a book on golf needs no apology. Some of the principles of the game are here set forth in their special application to women's play. Practical experience is worth infinitely more than theoretical knowledge, but there are times when such hints as may be gathered from books can be very helpful. And so we trust that those who read these pages may glean some information which may help them in their struggle to learn the finest game in the world. CHAPTER I DRIVING IN no department of women's golf has there been more progress of late years than in the length of distance attained with wooden clubs. In iron play there is still much improvement to be desired, on the greens very little change has been noticeable, but from the tee the difference between the long player of to-day and the long player of ten years ago is very marked. And, indeed, the difference is not confined to the exceptionally long players. The average woman golfer of the present is a vastly superior driver to her sister of the past. The introduction of rubber-cored balls has probably had a good deal to do with the matter, the improved physique of the modern athletic girl may be in part responsible, but the change is mainly due to the increased facilities women possess for playing on long links. To be able to drive well is usually the first ambition of every beginner. The novice regards putting as a very simple matter. The feat of sending the ball flying through the air is much more attractive to her than rolling it along the ground into the hole. The progress of a golfer can be judged by a kind of inverse ratio in this respect. While driving is thought to be 269 270 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW everything and putting nothing, the beginner is in a very raw condition ; when she realises that it is necessary to pay even more attention to her short game than to her tee-shots, she may be said to be beginning to understand the science of golf. For driving is the easiest part of the game, and putting far the hardest. There are two ways in which a beginner can learn golf. One is to put herself into the hands of a good professional and to work away under his tuition until some proficiency has been attained. The other is to fight the matter out by herself, by dint of strenuous practice, the reading of books, and the cultivation of an observant eye. The latter course may lead to success, but it is the more difficult of the two. Those who can obtain even a few good lessons to form a basis for after practice, will find that there are great advantages in doing so, and it will mean a considerable shortening of the period of drudgery through which all beginners must pass. The ideal way in which to learn golf is to commence the game at such an early age that the swing is picked up naturally and with very little effort. Children's muscles and joints are so supple that they instinctively adopt graceful attitudes and movements. But for those who are not familiar with the links from child- hood, the only road to success is by sheer hard work, and the expenditure of much patience and perseverance. The first thing for the beginner to do is to get clubs. Here at once a problem presents itself. How many clubs are necessary, and of what nature should they DRIVING 271 be ? The answer to this question is very largely a matter of s. d. The girl who is not obliged to consider expense will start off happily with a bag full of weapons ; her impecunious sister will content herself with a few. The latter has really the best of it. It is a great mistake to begin with too many clubs. It only multiplies difficulties. Each club requires a different method of play, therefore the larger the number of clubs used, the more complicated are the instructions which have to be assimilated by the reeling brain of the beginner. The result is likely to be hopeless bewilderment. The average golfer possesses driver, brassey, spoon or cleek, iron, mashie, niblick, and putter. Of these the three essential for a beginner are driver, iron, and putter ; the rest can be added gradually. These three clubs are normally always in use. The game may be said to be founded upon them, almost as the diapason stops are the groundwork of organ playing. It is always desirable that the player should feel confidence in her clubs ; therefore she should select them in accordance with her own individual taste. Such quantities of good clubs of all descriptions are poured upon the market nowadays that every one can find what suits her. In a driver the chief thing to aim at is good balance. For a beginner the face should be laid back a little, and the shaft should not be whippy, a whippy club being much more difficult to control. It is wiser to avoid all exaggerations of length, weight, or shape. The average club is the best for the average novice, and it is time enough to 272 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW indulge in eccentricities and fancies when proficiency is attained. A golf stroke may be divided into three principal component parts, viz. swing, grip, stance. Theorists can argue about a host of minor distinctions, but for our present purpose it is better to stick to these three divisions. There is a diversity of opinion among authorities as to whether the grip and stance should be taught before the swing is attempted, or whether the first effort should be to attain some sort of swing, leaving the grip and stance to be adjusted afterwards. I am inclined to think that the grip should be attended to first, then the swing, and lastly the stance. The stance is the easiest problem of the three to tackle, and may quite well be postponed. The grip is bound to affect the swing, and if the motions of the swing be learned with a wrong grip, they will have to be learned all over again when the grip has at length been corrected, with the result of disheartening the beginner not a little. The overlapping grip has come very much into prominence of late years. I have never tried it, and therefore do not feel justified in criticising its merits or demerits. A great many people use it and swear by it. The principle is that the little finger of the right hand is placed on the top of the first finger of the left hand, with the object of making the two hands as nearly one as possible, and preventing the right hand doing more than its proper share of the work. Miss Cecil Leitch expresses the opinion that few ladies are strong enough in the wrists to use this DRIVING 273 grip through the green, although they may easily do so on the putting-green. She does not use it herself, nor do many of the leading women golfers. Mr. Darwin advocates the ' go-as-you-please ' grip with three provisoes. These three are : 1. That the hands should be held as near together as possible. 2. That the knuckles of the left hand should be turned perceptibly upward, though not to an extent that will cramp the player. 3. That the handle of the club shall not be too deeply embedded in the palm of the right hand, nor held with that hand in too cast-iron a grip. The left thumb may do what it pleases, but the right thumb will be better round the handle of the club than straight along it. With the first two I fully concur, but from the last, with all due deference, I differ slightly. I would encourage my beginner to grip firmly and evenly with both hands, and I would have her keep both her thumbs down the shaft, not round it. This may be merely a personal preference on my part, as I began golf in that way myself, but I do think that a great deal more control can be obtained over the club with the thumbs down, and it is certainly easier to drive straight with them down than round. A little length may be lost, but in the first stages of golf length is not the most important consideration. When grow- ing power demands every facility of outlet, the change of the position of the thumbs from down the shaft 274 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW to round it can be effected with very little trouble. The hands should be held so closely together that the middle joint of the first finger of the left hand should rest in the angle where the little finger of the right hand joins the palm. The second of Mr. Darwin's provisoes is a very important one. The beginner is very apt to grasp the club in the fashion which comes most naturally, namely, with the left-hand knuckles right under the shaft. It is, however, impossible to swing correctly with this grip, and the upward turn of the left knuckles is one of the chief features of a correct grip. One other remark that it will probably make matters easier not to grasp the club at the extreme end of the handle and then we come to the swing. Of swings there are an endless variety. Neverthe- less, in the essentials there are points of resemblance between them all. For instance, with nearly all good players the ball is swept away with the impact of the face of the club, rather than hit away. Then the pace with which the backward swing is taken is always appreciably less than that with which the down swing is brought forward. The latter is gradually accelerated as the club nears the ball. In connection with this the question of correct timing comes in, but we will return to that subject later on. Thirdly, the head is kept still, while the body turns on its axis, the axis, roughly speaking, being the player's waist line. It is very necessary that these points should be borne in mind, as they form the basis of all good golf. In addition the beginner must remember, that in the GRIP FOR DRIVING: THUMBS ROUND WRONG GRIP: AS SOMETIMES USED BY BEGINNERS GRIP WITH THUMBS DOWN BACK VIEW OF GRIP : SHOWING HOW CLOSE HANDS SHOULD BE TOGETHER [To face p. 274 DRIVING 275 process of the up swing the face of the club should be gradually turned away from the ball. How and why this should be done is very minutely and carefully explained in the chapter on * The Principles of the Swing ' by Mr. Darwin. It will be found that the turning away of the face of the club will necessitate the turning away of the hands and wrists. There should be nothing rigid about the swing, nothing cramped, but, on the other hand, the club should never be allowed to get out of control. Overswinging is a fault to which women are particularly prone. Among the common phenomena of the links are players whose swings are so exaggerated that they look almost like acrobats in a circus. The club head seems to be trying its utmost to reach the ground behind their backs. The marvel is how they ever get it to come up again. The result of this is that all energy is spent by the time the head draws near to the ball. Instead of being able to put on extra speed for the last few inches, as should be done, the player merely flops against the ball, and then is surprised because it does not travel any considerable distance. The swing should be practised incessantly. The general opinion seems to be that at first the player should not be allowed to swing at a ball. A blade of grass or a daisy serves the purpose equally well, in fact better, as it is more important to get the motions of the swing correct than to find out how far the player can hit the ball. Swing first with the left hand in the style recommended in the earlier chapters 276 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW of this book, afterwards with both hands. But swing, swing, and swing again until the movement becomes an absolutely natural one. The arms should not be kept too close in to the body, but neither should they be let fly too far out. A happy medium may be cultivated by allowing the left elbow to brush lightly against the chest as the club goes up. The head must be kept rigidly still, and the eye fixed on the back of the ball. The recent attempt of Toogood to prove this latter rule unnecessary has ended in a dismal fiasco, and the doctrine will be more firmly established in the future than ever. The course of the down swing is precisely that of the up swing in a reverse direction. It is a well- established golfing theory that a correct up swing will produce a correct down swing. The chief point to emphasise is that the down swing must not be forced ; it should follow in a natural sequence from the up swing. Above all, the player must not try to help it forward by putting her body into the stroke ; she must just let the arms come down and through instinctively and naturally. The crucial point of the swing is the added impetus given to the club immediately before it comes into contact with the ball. Here comes in what is known in golfing language as correct timing. Miss Leitch states that this spurt, as she calls it, should commence when the club is about eighteen inches from the ball. It is difficult to dogmatise about the exact distance, and only experience will teach the player to know in- stinctively when to apply the extra force. The spurt MEDIUM STANCE FOR DRIVE MRS. ROHH [To face p. 277 DRIVING 277 must not be added in such a laboured fashion as to cause a recognisable jerk or jump at the ball. The smoothness of the swing is of tremendous importance. After the ball is hit the arms must follow on in the direction of its flight, but again we must repeat the caution, that the movement must be the natural outcome of the swing not a forced push. We now come to the question of stance. There are three main stances, the open, the square, and the one wherein the right foot is withdrawn behind the left. The open stance means that the right foot is advanced and the left drawn back. With the square stance the feet are practically on a level. The arguments for and against the first and third stances are briefly as follows : The open stance enables the player to gain great control over the club, and to follow through with very little effort. She is also better able to see where she is going, and so is enabled to take straighter aim. On the other hand, it undoubtedly encourages any tendency to swing too vertically. It also necessi- tates a more forcible turn of the body to get the proper position at the top of the swing. The third kind of stance is held to have the advantage of helping the player to take the club well out away from the body, and so encouraging a larger, flatter sweep of the club. But it must be admitted that this theory is not so popular as it formerly was. It is also true that this stance produces a tendency to stoop, from the endeavour to reach out over the left foot, and that it increases the difficulty of aiming straightly. If the player has no very decided preference, it will 278 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW probably be better for her to adopt the square stance, but if she has any strong inclination towards either of the other two, there is no valid reason why she should not take her own way. If the open stance be adopted, care should be taken not to exaggerate it, as, even if by so doing extra length is obtained, certainty will be lost, and a tendency to slice will very probably be developed. With the square stance the ball usually lies about halfway between the feet, but the further forward it can be brought towards the left foot, with comfort, the better, as this mitigates the chances of the player getting her hands too far in front of the ball. With the third kind of stance the ball can be either in a central position or closer to the left foot. There is much to be learned from studying the styles of the prominent golfers of the day, an advantage from which those are not wholly debarred who have not the opportunity of seeing these players on the links. Characteristics of style may be noted from the photographs, of which such numbers are being constantly published ; but for this purpose the photographs should be snapshots taken during actual play. Posed photographs are unsatisfactory, as they usually present the players in a somewhat constrained and unnatural attitude, and are not trust- worthy representations of their style. The following notes are drawn from memory, supplemented by a collection of photographs. Miss G. Ravenscroft, the Champion of 1912, has rather an original style. Her driving swing is upright, and although she hits hard there is no appearance DRIVING 279 of forcing. Her iron shots are played in the push fashion, that is with no follow- through. The club head seems to dig into the ground, and the ball flies away low and straight. Her putting style is quite unique. She walks up to her ball and plants her right foot down beside it, almost as if she had measured a specified distance with her eye, the left foot is then swung round in a half -circle, and the ball is played from abreast her right heel. The right knee is kept bent and turned inwards. The club is held fairly low down the leather. Miss Dorothy Campbell, the Open Champion of 1911, has a short, rather straight up and down swing. She stands fairly square, with the ball nearer her right foot than her left. She has a very steady stance, and is one of the very few players who do not turn on their right toe in following through. In her follow-through her arms go straight out and her right elbow is very little bent. She does not appear to put very much force into her balls, but her timing is very accurate, and her wrists come greatly into play at the moment when she is hitting the ball. Miss Violet Hezlet, silver medallist in the 1911 open championship, has a flatter swing than Miss Campbell. She has shortened it very much of late years, but to compensate for this she has a very full follow-through, so full, in fact, that in one of the photographs she appears to be poised on the tip of her right toe and the heel of her left foot. Miss E. Grant-Suttie, the Scottish champion of 1911, is very typical of the North Berwick school. 280 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW She has a short swing, and in taking back her club her left arm is almost straight and her right elbow very much bent, while the nose of her club points to the ground in the fashion upon which Mr. Darwin lays so much stress. Her follow-through is restrained her arms go straight out and they are very little bent. Miss Mabel Harrison, the Irish champion of the same year, has a very full swing and a full follow- through down the back of her neck. She uses the open stance with her feet rather close together, and plays off her right foot. Miss Cecil Leitch possesses a flat swing, that is to say, she takes the club back round her shoulder rather than round her neck. Her follow-through is full, the club going right back over her shoulder, with the nose pointing to the ground, but she keeps her hands low and her right elbow is very little bent. Her body is turned considerably round from above the waist, and she rises on her right toe while the left foot is firmly rooted to the ground. Miss Leitch has a singularly loose free style. Miss Doris Chambers has only a three-quarter swing, but a very full follow-through. She plays with rather short clubs. It may be worth while to see what deductions we can make from the styles of these few among the many leading players, as we have described them. Of the seven players referred to four are average long drivers, three are exceptionally long drivers. Miss Dorothy Campbell and Miss Grant-Suttie, who may be classed among the average drivers, are renowned DRIVING 281 for their steadiness. Miss Cecil Leitch, Miss Ravens- croft, and Miss Doris Chambers rank as exceptionally long hitters, but they are at times very erratic. Mise Campbell and Miss Grant-Suttie both possess some- what restrained swings, while the other three are exponents of a very loose style. Miss Campbell, Miss Harrison, and Miss Grant-Suttie are of average physique. Miss Violet Hezlet is very slightly built. Miss Leitch, Miss Ravenscroft, and Miss Chambers are all of powerful physique. Now, five of these players follow through very fully. Miss Grant-Suttie and Miss Dorothy Campbell do not follow through quite so fully, still they do so sufficiently to uphold the rule that a good follow- through is essential to good golf. The three most powerful drivers of the seven are Miss Chambers, Miss Leitch, and Miss Ravenscroft ; therefore we make the deduction that the looser the swing and the more strength there is behind it, the greater the distance the ball can be driven. But when we come to a comparison of the steadiness of the seven players, we have to admit that in this Miss Campbell and Miss Grant-Suttie easily head the list. Therefore it seems evident that abnormal length and steadiness do not, as a rule, go together. One must be sacrificed to the other. The short swing is easier to control and guide ; the very free swing has a tendency to get, as it were, out of hand. The effects of a slight fault are more likely to be accentuated in a very loose swing, and that is why, with a player of this class, when things do go wrong they go very wrong indeed. 282 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW Now there cannot be two opinions as to which is the more valuable quality for winning matches, steadiness or extreme length. It is not the slightest use to make prodigious drives at twelve holes out of eighteen and miss the remaining six. Of course I do not mean to imply that length is of no importance. A certain measure of length is absolutely necessary for any one who wants to gain high honours. But my point is that the straining after length to the sacrifice of everything else is a mistake, and that the violent effort to swing to the utmost possible stretch backwards and forwards, in the hope of gaining every possible extra inch, is not worth while. It only leads to disappointment and disaster. There are times when the golfer can take liberties with her swing and put more into it than at other times. When she is in thoroughly good practice and playing up to the top of her game, she can let herself go in a way which would be absolutely fatal on ordinary occasions. But it is rarely that these happy moments come, and the player must be very sure of herself before she counts upon them. She may bear in mind, as a warning, the fate of the fair lady who wanted so much to win the driving competition at one of the open championship meetings, that she swung with such tremendous energy and abandon that after hitting the ball she completely overbalanced and fell flat on the tee. CHAPTER II IRON PLAY THE second essential club for a beginner to possess is an iron. The word iron embraces a multitude of clubs of all shapes and sizes, but the particular iron that we are now about to speak of is a modification of the old-fashioned lofter, a club something between cleek and mashie. It is a very useful weapon, as it can be used for a great variety of shots. The shaft of an iron is usually shorter than that of a driver or brassey. It should be of a fairly substantial make, as a thin shaft is apt to snap when much strain is put upon it. The grip may be thick or thin according to the player's fancy, and, incidentally, to the size of her hands. It is advisable that the head should be of medium length, and the face fairly well laid back. With such a club much can be accomplished. Full shots, three-quarter shots, half-shots, push-shots and running approaches are all within its compass, and the player will not be long in realising its supreme usefulness. The iron is also a trusty, dependable club to take when the ball is lying badly through the green, or when it is lying cleanly in sand. The superiority of the stronger sex over the weaker sex in golf is more accentuated in iron play than in any other depart- 284 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW ment of the game. Of late years women have some- what raised their standard, and a few of the leading women players of the day can and do make the ball travel a considerable distance with their iron clubs. But there is still room for a great deal more improve- ment, and the average woman is decidedly weak in this branch of golf. That this should be so is a pity, and the beginner is recommended from the first to devote as much consideration and time as possible to the mastering of her iron clubs. She will find herself well repaid for her hard work, as good iron play is a most valuable asset in the game. All authorities agree that the swing for an iron shot should be distinctly shorter than that used for a drive or a brassey shot. But there is a great diversity of opinion as to how short it should be. Some say that a full shot with an iron is never per- missible, others hold quite a contrary view. Mr. Darwin, after discussing this vexed question at some length, arrives at the conclusion that while a full swing may be used on very rare occasions, that which will commonly be most advantageous will be some- thing perhaps a little longer than a three-quarter swing. I will not venture an opinion on what is best for a man, but I do think that in women's play the full iron shot should have a place. I do not mean an exaggeratedly full shot, but a shot that is a little more controlled than that taken with a wooden club. To send the ball any considerable distance, a half -shot demands very great strength of wrist and forearm, more strength than most women possess. With the IRON PLAY 285 full iron length can be obtained with a good deal less exertion. The matter, however, is one which depends to some extent on individual characteristics, and it can really best be decided by the player herself when she has made some progress and is capable of discrimination. But the beginner should certainly learn to play both shots. There are occasions when one or other is eminently preferable. For instance, against a strong head wind the half -shot is the correct one to play, as with it the ball can be kept low and some run obtained. With an uprising lie, a following wind, and a high bunker or hill to negotiate, the full iron shot is much more suitable. It will be found that with a full swing the ball can be raised more suddenly, and from the height of its flight through the air it will derive every possible advantage from the favour- able breeze. For a full iron shot the club should be gripped tightly with both hands, thumbs round the shaft. The stance is a little more open than for the drive, and it is better to stand closer to the ball. The swing is more curtailed than with a wooden club, and not so flat. A point of vital importance is the correct timing of the swing. Correct timing is very important in all strokes, but, for the making of long iron shots, it is absolutely essential. In addressing the ball it may be found a help to press the heel of the club well down into the ground behind it. The swing must not be hurried. A deliberate swing, especially a deliberate back swing, is highly desirable. In bringing the club down the aim should be to accelerate the pace gradually until 286 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW all the fire and energy of the shot is concentrated into the instant immediately before the club head comes in contact with the ball. Turf is usually taken with iron shots, and a hurried swing is very likely to make the player dig heavily into the ground, instead of cutting thoroughly under the ball. The body is not supposed to turn on its axis so freely for an iron shot as with a driver or brassey. It is held slightly more rigid. At the top of the up swing the weight is all on the right foot, but in the follow- through the weight passes into the left foot. In following through the arms should go straight out, not round the shoulder. Miss Cecil Leitch, in a chapter on iron play in her book Golf for Girls, lays great stress on three points. These are : that the player must grip the club firmly ; that she must keep her wrists stiff all the time ; and that she must swing back very slowly. She adds that at the top of the swing the left eye, the point of the left shoulder, and the ball are all in a straight line. Miss Cecil Leitch displays no small skill with her irons, therefore her remarks are worth attention. She also states that ' most girls use their irons like woodens, picking up the ball at the bottom of the swing, or even later than that, when the club has begun the upward swing.' This is the reason, is her comment, why women hit a much higher ball than men. Her own theory is, that in correct iron play the club should strike the ball just before the bottom of the swing and while still moving downwards. It may be a little bit difficult for the beginner to grasp what MISS STELLA TEMPLE Runner-up Open Ladies' Championship, 1912 I To face p. 287 IRON PLAY 287 exactly is involved in this last statement, but I imagine it comes to very much the same thing as the advice to cut well under the ball. Mrs. Cuthell and the Misses Whigham used to be remarkably good iron players. Of the leading lights of to-day Miss Doris Chambers and Miss Margaret Curtis, the American champion, take first place. The latter is a terrific hitter with all her clubs, but she gets an astonishing distance with an iron. She possesses very strong wrists and is of powerful physique, and these are two very helpful assets. Practically, the only difference between a full iron and a three-quarter is that the swing is still more curtailed and the stance a shade more open. With reference to the half -iron there are a number of points which require notice. A half -iron shot is much more of a hit than a swing, and so in attempting it the beginner need not tax her brain with the maxim that the ball must be swept away, a maxim which has borne such an important part in her previous instruc- tion. The body should be kept perfectly still. The requisite movement is altogether one of the arms. The head, body, and feet should alike remain still. The principal idea which has to be instilled into the player's mind about this shot is that it should be a controlled one. There must be no loose easy swing about it ; restraint is the predominant feature. As this is the case, it is better to grip with the thumbs down the shaft, and to grasp the club short of the extreme end. The stance is decidedly more open than even for the three-quarter shot, and the ball 288 FROM THE LADIES* POINT OF VIEW should be pretty far back, almost in a line with the right foot. The general attitude is slightly stooping with the knees a trifle bent, but it is not good to adopt too crouching a position. The club may be taken back almost to the shoulder. The wrists and the face of the club should turn away from the ball in the same fashion as directed for the up swing of the drive. The arms must not be allowed to fly too far out. A good guide is that the right elbow should be kept close in to the side at the top of the swing. The shoulders may turn a very little and the knees give slightly, but these movements must be kept strictly under control. The follow-through is very much restrained. From a study of photographs of good players illustrating the finish of this particular stroke, it will be seen that at the conclusion of the stroke the right wrist is nearly always turned over and inwards. The length of the shot is regulated by the distance the club is taken back, not by the pace of the swing. The pace of the swing must be exactly the same for an approach of thirty yards as for one of sixty. Many beginners labour under the delusion that they can regulate the length of the shot by the slowness or impetuosity of the stroke. Such an idea is alto- gether wrong and leads to a very bad style of play. It is sometimes difficult to gauge the distance the club must be taken back, but it is solely a matter of practice and experience. It is very much wiser to avoid trying to do too much with a half-iron shot. If there is any doubt in the mind of a player as to whether she can IRON PLAY 289 reach the distance with a half-iron shot, she should always take a full shot. The only exception to this rule is in the case of a green \vith a clear run up to it, and a gaping bunker on the far side. A forced half- shot generally results in the body being thrust forward. The effort to get all possible strength into the stroke causes this to happen. The maxim 'be up ' cannot be too often reiterated. If the distance is of such a length that the player knows she can only hope to accomplish it by hitting the ball absolutely perfectly, she will save herself a great deal of worry and repining if she puts her pride in her pocket and is content to play a full or three-quarter shot. Although we all confidently hope to make a perfect shot each time we take a club into our hands, the sad fact is that the perfect shot only rarely comes off. The golfer who has the courage always to aim beyond the hole will go far on the road to fame. I have never regretted anything so much in all my golfing career as a wretched half- iron shot at the eighteenth hole at Troon in the final of the open championship. Miss Dod played the odd with her second and laid the ball apparently close to the hole (on coming up to the green we found it was really about ten yards short). I promptly lost my head, and instead of hitting boldly at the approach, made a hurried feeble flick, and, needless to say, lost the hole and the championship in consequence. Who has not watched a match in which she was interested, and witnessed the player she wanted to win throw away chance after chance from not being up in her approaches. One has groaned in bitterness of spirit T 290 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW and realised to the full the utter foolishness of it, but one has probably gone out immediately afterwards and done likewise. It is an extraordinary thing how prevalent is this deadly error. Even the most experienced golfers fall victims to it. The last and most important counsel in connection with half-iron shots is that the eye must be kept on the ball. One is always struck, in watching first-class golf, by the way in which the players keep their eyes fixed on the spot where the ball has been, quite an appreciable time after it has been hit away. The insidious tendency to look up too soon to see where the ball has gone to, must be combated. The point cannot be too much emphasised. The head should not turn at all with the follow -through of the arms, and the eyes must remain glued to the ground. It is easier to grasp this advice by practice than by theory. A very good plan for a beginner would be to count six before allowing herself to look up. It might have a disconcerting effect on her game at first, but she would very soon get accustomed to it. Nothing would teach her more quickly to acquire the habit of concentrating her attention on the right spot. A shot for which an iron is admirably adapted is the run-up approach. There are two main ways of approaching, the pitch and the run-up. Although all good golfers should know how to play both of these strokes, nearly every one has a decided preference for one or the other of them. This preference is often due to the character of the links on which the player has learnt her golf. Some links are better adapted IRON PLAY 291 to one shot, some to the other. For instance, Miss Leitch, having learnt her golf at Silloth where she says pitching is unnecessary, displays a greater proficiency in running up. The north of Ireland golfers who are familiar with such links as Portrush and Newcastle generally pitch. The Scottish players of St. Andrews, Troon, Prestwick, North Berwick, and other similar courses, who are accustomed to extensive greens with a clear way in front of them, usually run their approaches. Miss Dorothy Campbell is a past master, or rather, I suppose, I should say a past mistress of the art. Her approaching drives one to desperation when playing against her. She gives the ball a little tap, an annoyed opponent would almost call it a scuffling shot, and you think she has missed it, but the ball runs and runs with the most maddening persistency and perseverance until it eventually finishes up close to the hole. Personally, I must say, I prefer pitching ; it is so much the prettier shot ; and I flatly disagree with Mr. Darwin in his statement in an earlier chapter, that the ball cannot be pitched on to a plateau green and made to stay there. In my opinion it is much easier to pitch it up than to run it up, and with a properly fashioned club and a good deal of cut on the ball it is quite possible to make the ball pull up suddenly even under very adverse circumstances. The ball which is supposed to run up the edge of the bank, so often walks up to the top, and evidently does not like the look of things when it gets there, and decides to come down again into the greater shelter at the bottom. 292 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW We have often seen an unfortunate player struggling in this way, the ball rolling up to the very edge and coming back again with irritating reiteration, until in a rage the player takes a mighty blow, and not only clears the primary obstruction, but also clears the green, and the same old game begins again on the other side of the plateau. All the same, although I will defend the pitch shot through thick and thin, I quite appreciate the usefulness on occasions of the run-up, and I fully concur with Mr. Darwin that all beginners should learn both styles of play. Miss Leitch, who, as I said before, is very proficient in the art of running up, gives the following advice about playing the shot. ' For the run-up approach with the iron the stance should be a square one, the feet being equi -distant from the ball. Let the club lie naturally and stand fairly erect. As to how much the club is taken back depends on the length of the shot. The swing is a flat one. The club follows through well, and the hands turn over at the finish. The turf is brushed, not cut. In the address it is very important that the arms should be kept fairly close to the body. This run-up shot is really much like a long putt.' Mr. Darwin lays great stress on the point that the player should stand with her weight forward on the left foot, the ball being fairly far back towards the right foot, and the hands well forward. Miss Leitch and Mr. Darwin agree that the right wrist should turn over after the ball is hit, the latter even going so far as to say that it should be getting ready to turn over IRON PLAY 293 just before the ball is hit. Both also describe the swing as flat and low. As Miss Leitch and Mr. Darwin have evidently studied the subject very thoroughly, and as they have proved in actual play that not only are their theories workable, but very effective, I feel that it is quite unnecessary for me to make any further comment on this subject. I will just add that in all approaching the aim should be not merely to get on to the green, but to get near to the hole. If the player succeeds in this, not only is she likely to demoralise and dishearten her opponent, but she will also save a considerable number of strokes in each round. CHAPTER III PUTTING WE have come to the consideration of the third essential club for a beginner, namely, the putter. Reams upon reams have been written about putting : it is wellnigh impossible to say anything new on the subject. It would be interesting to evolve some startling new theory, such as that the player should stand on her head to take the line, but there might be difficulty in obtaining support for it. Golfers would not be likely to possess the credulity of the Chinaman who went to a mission hospital for treat- ment. The doctor (who had been a great gymnast) examined him thoroughly, and then by way of a joke, to try if he could shake his phlegmatic calm, suddenly stood on his head opposite to him. The Chinaman remained perfectly grave, and after a little took his departure. A few days after the same Chinaman returned. The doctor again examined him, gave him some medicine, and waited for him to leave. The Chinaman, however, did not go, and the doctor at last asked him why he delayed. ' You have only looked at me in one way,' said the Chinaman reproach- fully, 4 last time you looked at me the other way also.' Putting has been the despair and joy of golfers 294 THE HEELS TOGETHER PUTTING STANCE Miss VIOLET HEZLET [To face p. 294 PUTTING 295 ever since the game was invented. A gamut of emotion can be experienced on each green. Hope, joy, rage, frenzy, and despair may in turn possess the player, and, most difficult feat, must be rigorously prevented from finding outward expression, so that the player can present a calm front to her adversary and to the world. Golf is a grand school for self- control, and, breathe it low, hypocrisy. Not only does the player pass through this stress of emotion when making her own shots, but she has to suffer it also when watching her adversary play. It is very difficult to keep an unmoved countenance, and utter the stereotyped phrase, ' Oh ! good putt,' when a hole or a half is snatched from one's grasp by a fluke from the edge of the green. But when a series of these flukes is perpetrated it is almost more than human flesh can stand. The natural man, or rather woman, feels inclined to execute summary vengeance on her enemy. Probably the person responsible for these flukes apologises in a half-guilty fashion for having made them, but this does not make the matter any better. We know that she is naturally internally jubilant, and we are not in the least soothed by the reflection that if the flukes had been on our side, we would have been equally jubilant. We only feel terribly aggrieved and ill-used, and draw largely upon that fund of self-pity of which nearly all golfers possess such an abundant supply. In the other parts of the game it is much easier to take the ups and downs of golf philosophically. Even if a drive is missed or an iron shot foozled without penalty, or an opponent's 296 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW ball barefacedly jumps a bunker by which it should have been trapped, we feel that there is always the possibility that something may turn up to change the luck to our side before the hole is actually finished. But on the green, when we are confronted with the two balls and the hole in close proximity, and we know that postponement of the issue is no longer possible, and everything will depend on the happenings of the next few moments, the situation is very different. Courage oozes away, knees tremble, hands shake, and nerves are strained to a breaking point. One of the irritating features of putting is its uncertainty. On one day the balls appear to be attracted to the hole as by a magnet, on the next they run round the edges, jump in and out, deliber- ately turn off the line, and commit all manner of eccentricities, and all for no apparent reason. The veriest tyro will at times outputt the most experienced golfer. No one seems to be exempt from off-days in putting. It is remarkable, too, that these off-days are often accepted, with bitterness of soul indeed, but yet in a fatalistic spirit, as belonging to the inevitable. If a scratch player is badly off her long game, she will resort to very drastic measures to find out the fault and cure it, but if she is badly off her putting, she is much more likely to regard it as a matter for regret and annoyance, but still a misfortune which she must simply endure. She waits with what semblance of patience she can muster until her putting recovers itself again. Now, all this is not very encouraging reading for PUTTING 297 the beginner, but there is a point to be emphasised. That point is this, that although every one putts badly on occasions, from various causes temperamental and other, the beginner can to a great extent provide against the recurrence of bad putting, by assiduous practice and the cultivation from the start of a sound style. Nerves and want of confidence are great hindrances to good putting, and are very hard to cope with. The possession, too, of a reputation is responsible for occasional failure. It is much harder for the person with a reputation to maintain to putt than for the average player. When the watching crowd have made up their minds that a putt cannot be missed, the result is more than likely to fall short of their expectations. But, as in music, proficiency in technique is a great help to a nervous artiste, so in golf the possession of sound principles and the knowledge of the mechanical part of the game gained by experience will enable the player in some degree to withstand the nervous strain, and will save her from a complete collapse. Therefore let the beginner cultivate an optimistic spirit. For some time she will be immune from the real trials of the green when the issue of a championship or some important match hangs on the holing or missing of a short putt. We will hope that by the time she has to face such ordeals she will have fitted herself fully to surmount them. Before we come to the actual hitting of the ball in putting, it may be as well to say a few words as to the taking of the line. The success of a putt depends very much upon whether the line has been studied. 298 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW Each green is not an exact replica of the last. They nearly all vary in character. Every undulation of the ground, every slight unevenness of the surface, will have its due effect on the course of the ball. Any difference in the character of the turf over which the ball has to pass on its way to the hole, such as is occasioned by a plantain or daisy root, or by the length and nature of the grass, will alter the pace at which the ball runs. Every obstacle, such as a small twig, leaf, wormcast or similar obstruction, will deflect or delay its course. Hence it is necessary that all these points should be taken into account before the putt is actually made. The wind, too, exercises a good deal of influence over the ball ; therefore its strength and the direction from which it comes must also be noted. The line can be taken either from the ball to the hole or from the hole to the ball. It is a curious anomaly that, while it is an acknowledged fact that if there is any difference between the two lines, that which is seen from the hole to the ball is the correct one, nine out of ten golfers on ordinary occasions use only the line from ball to hole. The posture in which the line is taken is a matter of choice. Some players simply stand up a few yards behind the ball and view the ground from that position. Others drop on their hands and knees in something of the attitude adopted by their remote ancestors when running along the ground. Others again use a kind of squatting attitude, and meditate profoundly with the right elbow resting on the knee and the chin buried in the palm of the hand. The beginner can PUTTING 299 select whatever attitude takes her fancy, but when she has taken up her posture may we implore her not to dally too long. The more important the putt, the more consideration has to be given to it, and careful- ness and thoroughness in the taking of the line are much to be commended, but there is a reasonable time limit. An exaggeratedly slow putter is a perfect nuisance to every one with whom she has to do. She exasperates her opponent to the last degree, she makes the people behind fume with impatience, and if she at any time attracts a ' gallery J she is responsible for the members of that ' gallery ' who contract violent chills, and in fairness should be liable for their doctors' bills. What may or may not be done to the line of the putt after all this careful investigation of it, is embodied in the following rules : RULE 28 (1). Any loose impediment may be lifted from the putting-green, irrespective of the position of the player's ball. If the player's ball, when on the putting-green, move after any loose impediment lying within six inches of it has been touched by the player, his partner, or either of their caddies, the player shall be deemed to have caused it to move and the penalty shall be one stroke. (2) Dung, wormcasts, snow, and ice may be scraped aside with a club, but the club must not be laid with more than its own weight upon the ground, nor must anything be pressed down either with the club or in any other way. (3) The line of the putt must not be touched except by placing the club immediately in front of the ball in the act of addressing it, and as above authorised. The 300 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW penalty for a breach of this rule shall be the loss of the hole. RULE 29 (1). When the player's ball is on the putting- green, the player's caddie, his partner, or his partner's caddie may, before the stroke is played, point out a direction for putting, but hi doing this they shall not touch the ground on the proposed line of the putt. No mark shall be placed anywhere on the putting-green. It is well to remember that the slower the pace at which the ball is rolling, the more easily will it be affected by the irregularities of the ground. Great latitude can be allowed in the matter of style in putting, as people putt well and badly in all manner of attitudes. But there are extremes of style which should obviously be avoided. One is the exaggerated crouch where the player resembles nothing so much as an old woman bent double with rheumatism. Another is the very upright stance where the club is held at the extreme end of the leather, and the impres- sion is given that very little control is possible. Yet a third is the style in which the player turns both her knees and both her elbows out to an exaggerated extent and holds the club at a peculiarly upright angle. Some players putt off the right foot, some off the left. Some stand squarely at the ball, others adopt the open stance, others again advance the left foot and withdraw the right. Some turn in their toes, some turn out their toes. Some keep their feet wide apart, some put their heels together, some separate them by a medium distance. Miss D. Campbell and Miss Grant-Suttie use rather a square stance. Miss C. MKhir.M ITTTINC STAN< K [To/aw ^. 301 PUTTING 301 Leitch putts off her right foot, her feet being fairly close together. Miss Violet Hezlet, whose putting is one of the strongest points of her game, keeps her heels close together. Mrs. Cuthell, who, at the zenith of her fame, was one of the finest putters I have ever seen, uses a comparatively open stance, with the ball rather nearer her left foot. The best plan for a beginner as regards stance is to adopt a medium position, and the main thing to be careful of is not to stand too close to the ball, as by so doing the freedom of the wrists is interfered with. The style in part depends on the kind of putter used, a wooden or aluminium putter demanding a more upright stance than an iron putter. As there is a choice of stance, so there is a choice of grip. The ordinary grip and the interlocked grip are those most generally used. A very large number of people who do not use the interlocked grip through the green, take to it on the green with satisfactory results. But there are good putters and bad putters in plenty who are strong advocates of each style, and the matter is one to be decided by each individual for herself. If the ordinary grip be used, it should be of a more delicate character for putting than for the rest of the game. The club is held principally with the fingers, not with the palm of the hand. Indeed, some people go so far as to make their left-hand grip consist merely of first finger and thumb. To ensure control and straightness the thumbs are better kept down the shaft than round it. There is a great diversity of opinion as to which hand should be the 302 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW master hand in putting. Indeed, opinions are so divided and there are such good authorities on each side, that it seems to be six to one and half a dozen to the other. But as it is generally easier to use the right hand more than the left, the beginner is advised first to give the right-hand system a fair trial. If she finds it does not work satisfactorily, she can advance the left hand to the place of honour, and then compare results and decide accordingly. Having adjusted grip and stance on sound lines, the player is now ready for the actual hitting of the ball. At this point the use of the wrists becomes a very important feature. Nearly all good putters do great work with their wrists. The alternative method is to putt with stiff wrists, but by so doing the arms are bound to be moved more pronouncedly. This movement of the arms is very likely to cause a move- ment of the body, a result which invariably leads to direful consequences. The moving of the body forward is a fault which must be strenuously fought against. The foundation of a putting stroke, and an essential to its success, is the smooth backward and forward motion by which the club head travels behind and along the line by which the ball is to travel. This smooth, even motion can only be acquired correctly by prolonged practice. In making the stroke the left arm may be kept reasonably far out from the body, but the right arm and elbow should be kept as close to the side as possible. With the stance in which the left foot is very much advanced and the right withdrawn, the left elbow is usually a good deal PUTTING 303 more bent than with the open or square stance. The keeping of the right arm close to the body prevents any stiffening of the right wrist or abrupt checking of the swing. The checking of the swing must be guarded against, as it is just as important to follow through correctly with a putt as with a drive. In putting a much more deliberate swing is used than in any other branch of the game. The club head is taken back some distance even for short putts, and the length of the shot is regulated by the force with which the club is brought forward again. A putting stroke in this way differs from all other strokes in golf, as in driving and iron play the length of the shot is regulated by the distance back the club is taken, not by the pace of the swing. Although the smooth pendulum motion is more generally used, quite a number of golfers putt with a kind of sharp tapping motion. This method can be very effective, especially on very fast greens, but I am inclined to think that it is the less certain of the two, and the beginner would be wiser to cultivate the smooth swing. The make of putter used has to be taken into account in deciding between the methods. An iron putter is much more suited to the tapping style than one made of wood or aluminium. One very essential point has not been touched upon so far, and that is that the eye must be kept on the ball. The reader is probably utterly weary of having this refrain continually dinned into her ears, but it really cannot be repeated too often. The keeping the eye on the ball is of vital importance in putting. 304 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW The shorter the putt the more necessary is it to bear this in mind. The desire to look up at the hole at the moment of hitting is most insidious, and unless the player assiduously practises avoiding it, it will get the better of her over and over again. Why short putts should be the bane of every golfer's existence is an insoluble riddle. Their intrinsic difficulty is trifling, and yet every player dreads them because sad experience has taught her that they are so continually missed. There is scarcely a match in which some one does not throw away a chance by failing to hole an easy putt. It is always possible to tell the initiated from the uninitiated in a golfing ' gallery ' by noting the relative value they apportion to drives and putts. It is good driving that impresses the uninitiated, and a raking drive will produce a burst of Oh's and Ah's of admiration, while a good putt will be regarded as quite a simple feat. It is only the experienced golfers who sympathise when a champion misses a wretched little putt. Those who are not well versed in the game immediately jump to the conclusion that the player has been guilty of gross carelessness or too much ' cocksureness.' I certainly think that since the Rules Committee recommended that no putts should be given, the difficulty of holing short putts has been lessened. Formerly there was a great deal of un- certainty as to whether one would be required to play a short putt or not. Sometimes a putt was given, sometimes it was not. A generous or rash opponent took a good deal for granted. A prudent opponent PUTTING 305 required proof positive of the player's capability to make the ball find the bottom of the tin. The consequence was that the player never quite knew what was going to happen. According to the theory of the game, and indeed of common-sense into the bargain, she ought to have gone boldly forward on each occasion fully prepared to ram her ball into the hole. But in reality it was very hard to do this. One always had a sneaking hope that the putt would be given, and so moved towards the ball in a hesitating sort of way, trusting devoutly that one's skill or weak- ness would not be put to the proof. Sometimes, too, an aggrieved feeling would be manifested because a certain putt had not been given and yet had been missed, and harmony between opponents has often been broken in this way. All this was very wrong. A golf match is a test of the comparative skill of the players, and each should be prepared to undergo all the testing that the game involves. No one should be expected to give, and no one should expect to receive, a point which has not been earned. A player is quite justified in refusing to leave anything to chance, and it is perfectly fair that she should reap the benefit of her opponent's mistakes. The victory usually goes to her who makes the fewest mistakes, and rightly so. Now that people have become more accustomed to the idea that all short putts should be holed, they practise them with more care. A good many short putts are missed through being played hurriedly. I have found by experience that one is much more certain of holing these putts if the u 306 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW eye is kept fixedly on the ball and the stroke made very deliberately. I do not mean to imply that I have found the recipe a complete safeguard ; far from it ; but I do think that it is the way to attain the best results. As a rule it is not a good thing to dally too long over putts, once the player has decided her line and plan of campaign, but the concentration necessary to play a shot very deliberately is undoubtedly helpful in negotiating quite a short putt. I suppose no discussion of putting would be com- plete without some reference to the necessity of hitting the ball hard enough on the green. But the subject has been worn threadbare by continued repetition. Mr. Darwin says it is one more fitted to be treated by a moral essayist than by a mere golf player. Failure in courage is one of the main reasons for short putting. The player is often afraid of running out of holing distance on the far side of the hole, and consequently makes the fatal mistake of only covering a portion of the required distance. In putting one must call upon one's courage and play for the back of the hole. There are times, of course, when judgment has to be exercised in the matter, as, for instance, when the green is on a slope and the hole lies above the player's ball, it is wiser for her to putt so that if she does fail to hole out in the first attempt, she still has an uphill putt before her and not a down- hill one for the second effort. The reverse holds good if the ball has to be played from the top of the slope. In that case she must putt a little hard so as to be certain of passing the hole if she misses, and thus have PUTTING 307 an easy putt back instead of the more dimcult one down the hill. A downhill putt on a fast green is excessively difficult to accomplish satisfactorily. The ball gathers impetus all the way, and unless it is hit absolutely truly for the centre of the hole, it is bound to miss its mark. The question whether men or women are the better putters is an oft-debated one. There is no reason why women should not putt as well as, or better than, men, as skill, not strength, is the chief requisite. Most women do not study their putts as carefully as men, but I will not venture an opinion as to whether the general results justify them in not doing so. The question of the comparative excellence of the sexes as putters is not one of vast importance. The point that immediately concerns us is that each golfer should equip herself to putt as well as she can against man or woman, and so long as she can prove her own individual superiority she need not worry about generalities. CHAPTER IV THROUGH THE GREEN ALTHOUGH out of a doubtful or bad lie the swing with a brassey varies slightly from that used with a driver, there is practically no difference between a driver and a brassey shot when the ball is lying well through the green. In fact, many people never carry a brassey, but make a driver do all the work. This plan, how- ever, only works well on links where the turf is of a particularly fine quality. On courses where cupped lies and uncertain stances are frequently to be met with, the brassey is the more suitable club to use, and it is practically a necessity for those who wish to get the most out of their game. Some years ago it was invariably thought the right thing to make the shaft of a brassey slightly shorter than that of a driver. Nowadays, opinion seems to be veering round to making both clubs the same length, on the principle that, as the difference in swinging the two is so slight, any variation in length only complicates matters. The brassey shaft is stiffer and the face of the club more laid back. The name is derived from the plate of brass which covers the sole of the club. This plate of brass saves the sole from wear and tear, and it also helps in cutting through the ground or any obstruction .. * Ju ' THROUGH THE GREEN 309 when the ball is not lying too well. With these few exceptions the club is made on very much the same lines as the player's driver, the most usual way of getting a suitable brassey being to give the driver used to the clubmaker and to tell him to make the brassey after the same pattern, only with the necessary modifications already specified. Few ladies' links afford much scope for brassey play, but on long links the club can be most useful. It is a very pleasant sensation to hit a really clean long brassey shot, and see the ball soaring away into the dim distance. It pays well to be able to use this club satisfactorily. At many holes a good brassey player will reach the green in two and be able to putt her third, when a weaker player will take three to get within putting distance. Or, again, the brassey will enable one who can use it well to go for some particular hazard and clear it success- fully, when another who has not the same skill has to take an iron and play short, at the cost of an extra stroke. Speaking from the woman's point of view, Deal is a links where brassey play is of tremendous importance. Much the same may be said of Walton Heath, where the second shots are far more difficult than the drives. At Newcastle, Co. Down, good brassey shots pay well, and the character of the turf seems to be such as to make it particularly easy to pick them up. The turf makes a great difference. It is much harder to get a brassey shot away well from very bare turf than from that on which the grass grows thickly. A shot made with a brassey will not run as far as one made with a driver, owing to the 310 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIE\Y extra loft on the face of the former club ; therefore, when the lie and stance are exceptionally good, it is not only permissible, but very advisable, to take a driver through the green. But the circumstances must be exceptionally favourable, else it is not worth while running the risk of not getting the ball up. With an ordinary good stance and lie the brassey may be used in an exactly similar fashion to a driver. It is important for the beginner to bear in mind when playing this stroke, that, although her ball is lying on the turf instead of being teed up, she need not make any extraordinary effort to lift it. The club will do the work of itself, as the loft on the face is quite sufficient to make the ball rise without any further help. The attempt to force the ball up from the ground only results in dropping the right shoulder, a fault for which no measure of condemnation is too strong. The beginner may find that she cannot play the shot successfully at first, and that the ball is inclined to run along the ground instead of flying through the air, but she must not be discouraged, but must just persevere steadily until some improve- ment manifests itself. Topping is not nearly such a heinous crime as dropping the right shoulder, and it is much the easier fault of the two to cure. Topping may result from a variety of causes. The player may not be getting down to the ball sufficiently, or she may be taking her eye off too soon, or looking at the top of the ball instead of at the centre of the side nearest the club. She may be standing too close to the ball, or she may be falling forward in the middle THROUGH THE GREEN 311 of her swing. Any of these faults would be quite sufficient to spoil the stroke. The remedy in each case is obvious and easily tried. Getting down to the ball is the only one that presents any difficulty, and it is a golfing term which is very hard to explain. I have recently asked several first-class golfers how to define it, but they all seem equally hazy on the point. They vaguely aver that it means to stoop, but how much or how little, or what, if anything, must be done besides, they cannot tell. They instinctively do the thing required in actual play, but they cannot describe it in words. I must confess that I find it equally hard to define. I think it must mean a relaxing of the tension of the body, a yielding of the upright position sufficiently to make sure that the ball is comfortably within reach, and that the club will strike it fairly in the even course of the swing without any jerk or straining of the body. A possible point is the hitting of the ball at its lowest extremity, but as to this last I would not be quite sure. A fault to which a beginner is very liable is jerking her body backwards and upwards as she raises her arms for the back swing. This backward jerk dislocates the even motion of the swing dreadfully, and inevitably spoils the shot. The slightly stooped position must be maintained throughout the whole swing, except at the finish of the follow-through, and the body must only be allowed to turn sideways, not upward. When a ball is lying in a cupped lie, it is better to hit it with the heel of the club and to swing more 312 FROM THE LADIES 4 POINT OF VIEW uprightly. Turf should be taken, and the shot is played with almost a little jerk, caused by getting the wrists well into the stroke just as the club head comes into contact with the ball and the ground. I say the ball and the ground, because in this sort of stroke the club should meet them both simultaneously. This jerk will force the ball a long distance, and is particu- larly useful against a wind, as with it the ball can be kept fairly low. When the stance is unfavourable, a very important point to remember is not to try to do too much ; in fact, not to press. When the ball is lying below the player, the fault which has most to be guarded against is letting the body fall forward. When the ball is lying above the stance, the grip of the club should be shortened and the swing kept rather flat and short. One of my earliest golfing recollections is seeing Lady Margaret Hamilton Russell play a beautiful approach shot of this description at the old chapel hole at Portrush, during one of the rounds of the 1893 open ladies' championship. With that most objectionable of all lies, the hanging lie, much will depend on the nature of the ground immediately fronting the ball. If the ball has to be raised suddenly, it is nearly always wiser to withstand the temptation to try a wooden club, and to be content with a cleek or an iron. If there is no necessity to make it rise at once, the shot is not nearly so difficult as many people imagine. If the club is allowed to do its work by itself, and the swing kept perfectly natural, everything should go well. In fact, it is best not to think too much of the difficulty of the lie, THROUGH THE GREEN 313 but to play the shot easily and naturally, letting the club follow well through after the ball is hit. The player may take up a stance rather more behind the ball than usual, that is to say with the left foot approximately in a line with the ball, as the further she gets behind her ball the more quickly she will be able to make it rise. But on no account must she try to force the shot up by dropping the right shoulder. As was said before, this is a fatal fault, and one which invariably leads to direful consequences. The old links at Greenisland, Co. Antrim, used to afford wonderfully good practice for the playing of uprising and hanging lies. The course ran straight up the face of the mountain, zigzagged a little at the highest level to which it ascended, and then came straight down again. The members of the club became very proficient in dealing with every variety of queer lie and stance. The only other links on which I have played, laid out on similar lines, was at a delightful little place in North Wales, where some of the holes were so steep that it was killing work to get up to the greens, and a golfer with a bad head for heights might have been in serious danger of falling off some of the tees. One experiences a great sense of power in playing straight down a steep hill, but the balls frequently do not travel as far as might be expected. A club which comes next in order to a brassey, and which many people use instead of a cleek, is a spoon, baffy, or toby it may be called by any of the three names. It is a modified brassey, shorter and stiffer in the shaft, and with the face more laid back. It is 314 FROM THE LADIES* POINT OF VIEW a much easier club to play with than a cleek, and with it the balls can be picked up out of quite bad lies. It is a useful club to have in one's bag for occasional shots. With it the ball runs comparatively little, and pulls up much more suddenly than it can be made to do with a cleek. It is also excellent for a push-shot against the wind. I do not think, however, that it really takes the place of a cleek, and I strongly advise the beginner who wants to master the game to learn to use both clubs. The swing for a spoon shot is on the same lines as that for a brassey, but slightly curtailed. The stance may be a little closer to the ball. For the push-shot against the wind the wrists are kept stiff and the swing is taken more round the shoulders. A cleek is a very difficult club to use well. It is hard to understand exactly why it should be so, but general opinion seems agreed on the point. Curiously enough, many golfers start the game with a cleek, and a cleek only, and get on splendidly, but after they have made some progress with other clubs and are qualified to use the ordinary bagful, they seem to lose their skill with their original favourite. This is, in fact, quite a common experience. A possible reason why cleek play presents such a problem may be that, although there are many thousands of such clubs turned out of the workshops each year, it is more difficult to find a cleek to suit one than any other club. Miss L. Moore, who is a fine cleek player, stated in a recent article that she purchased eight cleeks before she could get one which really suited her. Now, THROUGH THE GREEN 315 as every one could not afford to be so lavish in making a choice, the probability is that many people have to put up with clubs that they do not quite like. And of all the hopeless tasks to attempt in golf, that of trying to play with a club which, to use a north of Ireland expression, one has l taken a scunner against/ is the most hopeless. Miss L. Moore is one of the few leading women golfers who use the overlapping grip for all their shots. She describes her methods of cleek play as follows : ' I always use the overlapping grip and a stance which is almost square. I use this stance, as I find it enables me to keep the ball lower than with an open stance. I find it necessary to grip rather more tightly with the cleek than with other clubs, as when coming into contact with the turf it is apt, unless firmly held, to turn in the hands. Then I swing the cleek more like a driver than an iron, because I find I get better results. In the back swing, which in my own case is rather short, the left hand does practically all the work. But in the down swing I assert the right hand at the moment of impact of club and ball rather more than I do with any other club. The shot I favour most is the half -cleek shot. . . . One of the most fatal errors of cleek play, and an error which is most easily made, is letting the body come through too soon. I am most careful to start the hands coming through first, the body being held back as long as possible. By doing this I get more power into the shot, and much more satisfaction in the way the ball leaves the club.' Miss Moore goes on to say that the faults she finds 316 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW most easy to commit are : (1) Not keeping the head perfectly stationary in the backward swing of the club, and so pulling the body off the ball ; (2) bending the right knee in the up swing, and by this destroying the axis on which the swing is based, and also not keeping enough weight on the left toe at the top of the swing.' Among other expert players with a cleek may be mentioned Miss Dorothy Campbell, Miss M. E. Stuart, and Miss Margaret Curtis. Miss Cecil Leitch does not use this club at all, but makes a mashie iron serve the same purpose. Neither does she approve of the push cleek shot for women, a shot which is such a favourite among men players of to-day, as she says it requires great power of wrist and forearm. I do not quite agree with her in this point, as the push cleek is a very useful stroke against wind, and strength of wrist can be augmented by practice. Golf undoubtedly increases the size of the wrists just as it increases the size of the hands and feet. Not very long ago an article appeared in Fry's Magazine written by ' An Oxford Blue,' in which an elaborate table was compiled of the difference between the physical measurements of the perfectly formed woman, and of a prominent athletic woman of the day of the same height. In this the wrist measurement of the perfect woman was given as six and a half inches and the wrist measure- ment of the athletic woman as seven inches. No doubt golf is one of the athletic exercises which produces this result. Indeed, it is a very good plan for those who wish to improve their game, and for those who THROUGH THE GREEN 317 cannot obtain regular practice on the links, to keep their wrists strong and supple by wrist exercises. They will find that doing so materially helps their play. The wrists have such an important function to fulfil in golf, that it is essential to keep them in good working order. But this is digression, for after all the push cleek is not a shot for a beginner to trouble about ; it can be left to a later stage. For ordinary cleek play the swing is merely a reproduction on a smaller scale of that used with a wooden club. As a cleek is usually shorter than a driver or a brassey, the player must stand somewhat closer to the ball, and rather more forward of it than usual, that is, with the right foot nearer it. The left foot may be withdrawn, leaving the stance rather open. The grip must be firm and even, thumbs round the shaft, and a general feeling of control should be experienced control, not constraint, as constraint in golf is always bad. A controlled swing means one held within bounds, as it were, a swing in which the player never lets the body, arms, or club take charge of the proceedings, but keeps them all in due subjection and harmony. A constrained swing means an unnatural pose of body and arms by which the player is cramped, and rendered uncomfortable. All authorities on golf lay great stress on the point that the swing for all iron clubs should be comparatively slow. This reduction in the pace of the swing conduces to the general feeling of control, and is very important in connection with cleek play. CHAPTER V APPROACH PLAY A MASHIE is either the joy or the bane of a golfer's existence. A good mashie player loves her club and uses it on every possible occasion, a bad mashie player is always in dread of committing some fearful blunder and avoids the risk of playing with the club whenever she can. There are various kinds of mashies deep- faced clubs, short-headed clubs, clubs laid back at all angles, clubs in which the neck of the shaft turns with a kink, straight-shafted clubs, socketless clubs. All have their good points, and some are more ap- propriate for certain shots than others. Many people carry two mashies, one for fairly long approaches, the other for little chip-shots. This is rather a good plan, as it is hard to get sufficient length with a mashie, which is very much laid back in the face, and yet for a short approach this extra loft is very important. Theoretically it is a bad system to carry too many clubs, but in practice, after some proficiency has been attained, it is hard to avoid it. One may not always use all the clubs one carries in a round, but, on the other hand, some special shot may present itself to which one club and one club only is suitable, and if that club is not at hand the player feels very 318 APPROACH PLAY 319 much at a loss. For instance, in iron play a medium iron fulfils all ordinary requirements, but sometimes a shot occurs of somewhat uncertain distance, too short for a full iron, rather long for a half -iron. Of course every one will say, 4 Why not take a three- quarter iron ? ' But easier than a three-quarter shot is the full shot with an alternative iron, smaller in the head, much more laid back in the face. With this one can hit with the freedom of a full shot and yet depend on the ball stopping fairly dead on reaching the ground. These niceties of distinction, however, are not for the beginner, so we need not spend time over them. We will speak of play with the medium mashie. I do not think that a full swing with a mashie is ever advisable through the fairway, although it is occasionally to be seen. In a bunker a full swing can be very effective and is often quite the right thing, but for the average mashie approach a half-swing is all that is necessary. The mashie is not a club with which one should force a shot. If there is any doubt in the mind of the player as to her power of reaching the required distance, she should take a half-iron or even a three-quarter iron. A forced mashie shot nearly always comes to grief, and it is very likely to result in socketing, an evil which once it begins is only too likely to go on indefinitely. Socketing is a subject to which we must return later. It is quite a mistake to regard the attaining of great length as one of the points of a mashie. One has often heard people boast of being able to accom- 320 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW plish with a mashie shots for which others find it necessary to take an iron. The club is not meant for length, but for accuracy. With a tee-shot one tries for length, and length gained is a decided advantage, but with an approach shot the matter is completely different. A forced mashie is not the game. Provided that the ball finishes up near the hole, it is immaterial whether the stroke has been made with an iron or a mashie. There are three very distinct ways of playing mashie shots. The most orthodox method, and the one adopted by the largest number of golfers, is to play very much off the right foot with an open stance and with the ball fairly far back. In contrast with this another method is to stand very much behind the ball and to play off the left foot. With this method the left knee is bent and the right leg is kept stiff and is drawn far back behind the left. The third is the square stance. There are of course many other methods, but these are the three most distinctive. Miss Dorothy Campbell uses a moderately open stance. Miss C. Leitch adopts a pronouncedly open stance. Miss E. C. Nevile plays off her right foot. In fact, nearly all the prominent women golfers of the day adopt the open stance to a greater or less degree. I have seen very good work done with the contrasted stance, but it is more often used by men than by women. The square stance will commend itself to those who do not feel comfortable in either extreme position. Miss Leitch and Mr. Darwin agree that the nearer APPROACH PLAY 321 the player is to the hole, the more open should be the stance, as more control can be gained over the ball. The advocates of the contrary style declare that the further you get behind the ball, the easier it is to raise it suddenly and to make it pull up quickly, both very valuable points in approaching. Next comes the question of grip. For those who affect the interlocked grip very little change is necessary, no matter what the club used, the only difference being that the club may be held short or long according to the character of the shot. That is to say, for a drive the club may be held nearly at the end of the shaft, and for a putt or short approach the leather is gripped further down. With the ordinary grip a good many differences have to be observed. Thus, in driving the club is held much more in the palm of the hand than in the short game ; with a mashie or a putter the grip is principally of the fingers. The thumbs, too, change their position according to the length of the shot. They are usually round the shaft for a long shot, and down it for a short one. Again, the grip may be tight or loose. For putting the club is held very lightly and delicately, for iron play it is gripped firmly. For mashie shots a medium grip is best, but it is well to remember that the lighter the grip the less will the ball run, and the tighter the grip the more will it run. For a very short chip the grip is relaxed a shade just at the moment of hitting the ball, but it must not be carried to excess, and it is only allowable in a very short shot. For a long mashie approach in which it is not x 322 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW necessary to make the ball pull up suddenly, the swing is much the same as that already described for a half- iron shot. When the shot has to be pitched over some hazard close to the green and comparatively little run is wanted, the swing is more abrupt. That is to say, the club is taken back a little more uprightly and the follow-through is checked, the club being raised in the air instead of being allowed to follow straight out in the ordinary fashion. The finish of this abrupt movement should be that the club, instead of pointing towards the ground, will point straight up towards the sky. The stroke must not be made with very loose wrists, although it may be easier at first to manage it in that way. The wrists must be kept firm. Turf should be taken, as the more upright swing tends to this result, enabling the player, as it does, to cut well under the ball. The fault which it is most easy to commit when playing this shot is to raise the body just as the club is being raised in the follow- through. The player's mind being full of the idea that the club must be picked up sharply after the ball is hit, she is very likely to jerk her head back, and so raise her body in the effort to accomplish the picking up of the club. It is a fault which must be strictly guarded against. When the ball is behind a bank, or when for any reason it is wanted to rise suddenly to a fair height and pull up abruptly on touching the ground, the cut stroke is the one for the player to use. This stroke is very difficult to play well, but it is well worth cultivating. It is invaluable on some links, and no APPROACH PLAY 323 golfer is worthy to be reckoned a first-class player until she has become thoroughly proficient in it. A great deal can be learned about the cut stroke by watching professionals play. Most of them use it to a greater or less extent in all their short pitch approaches. The club is taken out rather to the right, and brought in again somewhat across the ball at the moment of hitting, and then finishes to the left. At the same time it must cut well under the ball. A common mistake is to let the arms go too far away from the body, the swing thus becoming jerky and unbalanced. Mr. Darwin suggests for the mitigating of this tendency that the stance should be very open, and that the player should turn the face of her club slightly out to the right. This attitude will make it easy and natural to take the club out to the right, and so the cross-cutting action will follow automati- cally with very little deliberate effort. A method which I have found efficacious in my own play, but which is so unorthodox that I can only offer it as a tentative suggestion, is to face the club rather down on the ball before making the shot. I cannot explain why this should be helpful, and I do not think I ever saw any one else use the same method, but to me undoubtedly it is by far the easiest way of playing a cut stroke. There is one very important point to remember about this shot, and that is that no matter how the preliminaries of the stroke are made, the swing itself must be quick and firm. A wavering uncertain motion of the club will never effect the desired result. People vary very much in their methods of 324 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW approaching. Some use a mashie up to the very edge of the green, others prefer to run the ball up with an iron or wooden putter. The little chip-shots played from within a short distance of the hole are usually made largely with the wrists. Miss M. A. Graham plays these shots beautifully. It is delightful to watch her style of approaching. Whether a divot is taken with these shots, or whether the ball is picked up clean, depends on the nature of the lie. With an indifferent lie the former plan is adopted, with a good lie, the latter. The ball can be made to pitch and run, or to pitch right up to the hole and drop dead, as the player desires. Sometimes one shot is more suitable, sometimes the other. The pitch and run is accomplished by a miniature edition of the swing for an ordinary long mashie shot, the pitch and drop dead by the cut-stroke method. Approaching is a branch of golf which can be brought to a very high standard of excellence. A finished golfer should be able to lay her ball within possible holing distance every time she makes an approach from within fifty or sixty yards of the green. Sometimes, of course, she will get the ball quite close, occasionally she will even hole out, but only under very exceptional circumstances should she fail to make the ball stay within five or six yards of the pin. Practice and practice only will achieve this, and the beginner should always have this standard in view, and must con- centrate all her energies to the attaining of it. The most deadly enemy to good mashie play is that dreadful evil which goes by the name of socketing. BBOWINU HOW KYK SHOULD BK KEPT ON GROUND AFTER BALL IS HIT IN AN APPROACH (To face p. 826 APPROACH PLAY 325 Socketing is enough to make women weep and strong men tear their hair. It is a perfectly maddening disease. No words are too strong to paint its horrors. It sometimes comes from want of practice, sometimes from forcing, sometimes from taking the eye off the ball, sometimes from no apparent cause at all, but whenever it comes it reduces the player to the last degree of desperation. And when one fit is cured, the uneasy sensation is left that another may be in prospect, and so the player finds it very hard to recover her confidence. Some people carry a socketless mashie in their bag, to which they have recourse when the first symptoms of the disease appear, but this is merely a ' sop to Cerberus/ and it is much more satisfactory to try to get at the root of the evil and to overcome it. The most ordinary faults which lead to socketing are that the player is taking her club back too fast, or that she is taking her eye off the ball. But it may also be that the club is being taken too far out to the right and brought down too much to the left, so that the hands are allowed to come forward too quickly. To cure this latter fault the arms should be kept well in to the body, the left elbow in particular remaining close to the side, and great care should be exercised to see that the wrists are turning correctly. The keeping of the wrists and arms stiff may be helpful in curing socketing, as the malady occasionally comes from a too loose use of the wrists. Miss C. Leitch in her book on golf presents the following infallible cure to her readers : ' Put a folded handkerchief 326 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW under your left arm-pit, and you will not socket if the handkerchief remains there throughout the shot. The cure, of course, does not get a fair trial if you are standing too near your ball or falling forward on to it, because your weight is too much on your toes.' CHAPTER VI IN HAZARDS MOST women are at a disadvantage, as compared with men, in bunker play owing to their lack of strength. I do not mean that all women are feeble creatures, but that the average woman in comparison with the average man is endowed by nature with less power of physique. It takes a very considerable amount of strength to cause the explosion which Mr. Darwin describes as necessary to eject a ball deeply buried in sand. Unfortunately, very few women know how to use the strength they do possess to the best advantage. They do not seem to realise that they should put every ounce they can into a niblick shot. They ' flop ' at the ball in a half-hearted fashion, and then feel aggrieved because it refuses to budge for such inept treatment. It has to be allowed, I fear, that most women golfers are singularly ineffective out of a sand bunker. Of course there are some brilliant exceptions. Of these Miss Dorothy Campbell and Mrs. Gibb, better known to golfers as Miss Titterton, may be quoted as shining examples. I was immensely struck with Miss Dorothy Campbell's bunker play at St. Andrews in 1908. It was not that she attained such a very great distance out of the 327 328 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW several hazards into which bad fortune carried her, but that she was so absolutely certain of getting the ball out somewhere. She hit very hard, and evidently knew exactly the amount of sand which it was necessary to take with each particular stroke. St. Andrews, with its three hundred and sixty -five bunkers, struck terror into the hearts of those who competed in the open ladies' championship that year. Bunkers of every conceivable size, shape, and form had to be negotiated, many of them taking that most hateful of all forms, the pot bunkers, so small, that the un- wary stranger never suspects its existence until she finds her ball buried in its innermost depths. The Swilcan Burn was the only hazard which failed to overawe the ladies. Several of the competitors, rather than waste an unnecessary stroke, descended boldly into its chilly depths and played their balls successfully out amidst a shower-bath of descending water and the plaudits of the delighted crowd. Miss Titterton, as she was when she won that tourna- ment, has recently written an article on niblick play. In it she gives the following description of a ' sledge- hammer ' shot which she says is most effective in driving the ball from the bottom of a deep pot bunker : 4 It is by no means a pretty shot, for the club must be taken up almost vertically and brought down like a sledge hammer just behind the ball. Naturally there is no follow-through, for the head is buried in the sand, the ball, however, rises to a considerable height, which is what is wanted. In the case of a good lie in a deep bunker, the shot may be played IN HAZARDS 329 in a modified manner which is difficult to explain, but quite a useful stroke to play ; it is almost the same as the sledge-hammer shot but with a follow-through, the club practically describing a U as it descends and rises.' Miss Cecil Leitch's recipe for getting out of heavy wet sand is, 4 To turn the toe of the club out, grip firmly with palm grip, and swing away from the ball at an angle of about forty-five degrees, and then come right across the ball from right to left, and cut it out of the sand.' Bunkers vary very much on different links. In some the sand is light and powdery, in others wet and heavy, in others again of a medium consistency. The way to play the shot varies with the character of the sand, as wet and heavy sand offers much more resistance to the club than light dry sand. As will be seen in one of the preceding chapters in this book, Mr. Darwin recommends a niblick with a very strong stiff shaft and broad heavy head, liberally dowered with loft, as the best weapon to take when confronted with a ball lying badly in sand. This is the one club a woman should possess for the quality of weight. As a rule women are inclined to use too heavy clubs. By so doing they tire themselves un- necessarily and waste a great deal of energy. A niblick, however, is quite different to any other club, and it should be of as substantial a weight as the player can comfortably wield. It is not meant to be used to propel the ball a long distance, but it is meant to cut through all kinds of obstructions, and for this 330 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW latter purpose the heavier it is the better. It has long been a moot point in my mind whether it is better to take a half or a full swing with a niblick. Recently I have come to the conclusion that the full swing is preferable. It seems to me that with it more power is gained, and there is not so much likelihood of missing the shot. A half-shot to be effective has to be played perfectly, and a half-shot with a niblick may easily degenerate into a weak push. This weak push is only too often exemplified in the play of golfers of both sexes. They make little dabs at the ball in the effort to get it out of a difficulty, which are absolutely futile to effect the purpose. They resemble nothing so much as the tender-hearted maiden beating her pet dog with gentle little slaps, and crying, ' you naughty little dog, how could you ! ' only the golfer seems to say, ' you horrid little ball, why will you not come out ? ' If the maiden and the golfer each gave one good hard stroke, the effect on dog and ball would be decidedly better. Too much stress cannot be laid upon the point that the sand behind the ball is the object to be hit at, not the ball itself. Only practice will teach the player the exact distance behind at which to aim in each particular case, as the surrounding circumstances vary with each shot, but it may be given as a general rule that it is better to take too much sand than too little. Mr. Darwin's description of the 4 explosion ' necessary to eject a ball is very graphic, and the idea of the 4 ensuing commotion hoisting the ball more or less straight up into the air ' appeals to the imagination. IN HAZARDS 331 The method of attack is very similar to that described by Miss Titterton in the * sledge-hammer ' shot. Both make a great point of the up and down character of the swing, as this vertical motion tends to make the ball rise more suddenly. The straighter the swing, the easier it is to get under the ball. A modicum of common-sense will be of more assist- ance to a player in a bunker, provided that she has grasped the two great elementary facts that it is the sand behind the ball, and not the ball itself, that is to be struck, and that the swing must be vertical, than any amount of theories. A very prevalent mistake is to play the shot in too much of a hurry. Many people are so annoyed at finding their ball deeply imbedded, that they make up their minds at once that the matter is hopeless. They say, ' Oh, I will just have one shot at it, and see what happens/ without any expectation of a good result. They then take a wild hit, embed the ball still further, and pick up in a rage or resignation according to their disposition. Now there are very few lies, even in bunkers, which are quite hopeless. Before attempting a shot the player should study the ball carefully. She should take into consideration the state of the game, she should note the steepness of the face of the bunker, the lie of the surrounding country, the length still to be achieved before the green is reached, and last, but not least, the consistency of the sand. It will depend on all these things how much or how little should be attempted. The first point to be remembered is not to try for too much, to be satisfied with what is fairly 332 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW probable, not what is just possible. If the hole is quite near at hand, and if a straight shot is feasible, a straight shot should be tried. But if a straight shot is very unlikely to succeed, the player must be content to get out to either side, or even to play straight back on the line from which she has come, rather than run the risk of leaving the ball still in sand for the subsequent stroke. If the green is still some distance away, the lie of the ground should be noted with a view to the succeeding shot. A sacrifice of direction in the first instance often means a decided gain after- wards hi the ease with which the next stroke can be accomplished. The quarter from which the wind is blowing also affects the decision. When all these points have been thought out and the stance taken up, the shot should be played deliberately. Hit hard, as hard as you can, with a straight up and down swing, but do not hurry. Maintain this deliberateness in all bunker shots, even when the ball is lying fairly clean. Hurry is fatal. On paper it sounds as if the player would become rather a nuisance if she paused at each bunker shot to think out all these points. But with experience the golfer gains the power of rapid judgment, and the habit is soon acquired of seeing at a glance the best tactics to pursue. One feels a delightful sense of power on successfully making a long shot out of sand, but the effort to obtain too much distance is the source of many mistakes, and the cause of many a spoiled score or lost match. It is never well to be greedy. Safety BUNKER SHOT MRS. R. A. CRAMSIE [To face p. 332 IN HAZARDS 333 lies in moderation. A medium-weight iron often proves a reliable club when a ball is lying clean in sand. A considerable distance can be reached with it, and there is usually sufficient loft on the face to make the ball rise quickly. A cleek may be used with advantage in some hazards, but it is not a really safe club to take in sand, as with it the player is very likely to fail to get the ball away. It may be taken as a desperate expedient when a match is going badly, and the only chance of success lies in the forlorn hope of making an extraordinarily long and good recovery. But, as a general rule, the possible gain in distance is not so great as to justify running the increased risk of failure. When a ball is lying clear in sand, the player in making the shot should fix her eye on the ball itself, and not on the sand behind it. She need not take any sand with the shot, and the endeavour should be to pick up the ball as cleanly as possible. The swing may be a shade less vertical. One of the chief differences between a beginner and an experienced golfer lies in the latter's knowing her limitations and using her clubs accordingly, while the former with happy optimism tries impossible shots and trusts to luck to carry her through. When the novice has learned to recognise what she can reason- ably hope to accomplish, she may be said to have passed one of the most important stages of her novitiate. It may be said here that all through the green a great deal depends on the exercise of judgment in deciding which particular club to use for each particular shot. Of course, in numbers of cases the choice is 334 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW obvious, but in many others it is very difficult. A good caddie, who is familiar with the player's ordinary game and knows her good and bad points, can often give very helpful advice. The question to be decided may be the possibility of reaching the distance with a certain club, or the picking up of a ball out of a doubtful lie with some special club, or the chance of carrying a distant bunker or hazard, or any other of the numerous knotty points which occur so frequently in a round, and which add so much to the interest of the game. A good plan to follow is to play a bold game in a practice round, and a cautious game in a match. It is a mistake for a beginner to be too 4 canny/ as she may cramp her play. We never know what we can do until we try, and improvement without running risks is impossible. Bunkers and hazards vary very much on different links. On some the hazards are quite distinctive and are well known to fame. Such are the Maiden at Sandwich, the Water Hole at Ranelagh, the Station- master's Garden at St. Andrews, and the Crater at Portrush. To negotiate successfully any of these is a feather in the beginner's cap. So far, we have only dealt particularly with sand bunkers ; we now turn to hazards of other kinds. The definition of a hazard in the rules is, ' any bunker, water (except casual water), sand, path, road, ditch, bush or rushes.' In the same paragraph it is stated that sand blown on to the grass or sprinkled on the course for its preservation, bare patches, sheep tracks, snow and ice are not hazards. The beginner will do IN HAZARDS 335 well to study Rule 25, which deals with what a player may or may not do in a hazard. The most important points are, that nothing may be done which can in any way improve the lie of the ball ; that the club shall not touch the ground, nor shall anything be touched or moved, before the player strikes at the ball, except that he may place his feet firmly on the ground for the purpose of taking his stance ; and that in addressing the ball, or in the backward or forward swing, he may touch any grass, bent, bush or other growing substance, or the side of a bunker, wall, paling, or other immovable obstacle. The last clause is comparatively modern and has very much simplified bunker play. The permission to ground in per- manent grass in a hazard has been deleted from the revised rules. On inland links trees, ditches, and hedges are the commonest hazards. Trees possess a horrible fascina- tion for many golfers, and they are most disastrous obstacles to contend with, as if a ball catches a tree it may rebound off the trunk or branches in any direction. The best advice we can suggest is to give them as wide a berth as possible. But if the player is so unfortunate as to stymie herself with a tree, there are three courses for her to adopt. One is to loft her ball right over the top. The second is to pilot it skilfully through any discernible gap in the branches. The third is to trample on her pride and deliberately to play to a safe point, irrespective of the direction of the hole. The second course is the most difficult and should only be tried on very rare occasions. Granted 336 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW a good lie and that the ball is not too close in to the tree, the first is fairly easy of accomplishment. But the third is usually the most discreet way out of the difficulty. The eighth hole on the links of the Nice club at Cagnes is a great test of a player's nerve. There is quite a plantation between the tee and green and the shot has to be played most skilfully. As the ball can be teed up, the high shot clearing every- thing is the easiest to play, but it leaves the ball very much at the mercy of the wind, and the scientific golfers prefer to take the risk of playing through the branches. The big tree to the left of the first hole at Ranelagh used to be a terrible stumbling-block to many of the competitors at the annual spring meeting. It was very depressing to start a medal score by planting one's first tee-shot into the middle of the branches, and it was very humiliating to have to make one's second stroke from within fifty or sixty yards of the tee and the assembled multitude. Those who were not very courageous played well out to the right and were content to reach the green in two, and many who scorned this humbler policy were led by sad results to wish they had adopted it. Hedges are very nearly as objectionable as trees, but they are not so frequently to be encountered. If the ball sticks in a hedge, a hard shot with a niblick will sometimes dislodge it successfully. Ditches vary in difficulty according to their depth, width, and the character of the bottom. The ball is usually lying at a lower level than the player's stance, hence it is advisable to grip the club low down IN HAZARDS 337 on the leather, and to get well down to the shot, taking care to cut thoroughly under the ball. If the ditch is very deep and with a dry bottom, much the same sort of shot can be used as that described for a ball buried in sand, except that a half-swing can be taken more effectively in a ditch than in sand. When the ball is lying very much beneath the player, a full swing is apt to upset the balance. A firm stance is a great help. Practically all the advice that can be given as to the nature of the stance is confined to 4 Try and get a good grip of the ground/ as the exigencies of the position usually defy orthodox methods. On some links a special local rule is framed to permit of the ball being lifted, under a penalty stroke, out of a watery ditch. But if this is not the case, the ball must be played from where it lies, or rather from where it floats. Even when such a rule exists it is often possible to save the penalty stroke by playing the ball, and judgment must be exercised in each particular case as to whether to lift or play. It is not very difficult to hit a ball in water, if one can get a fairly good stance. The chief requisite is courage. It takes some strength of mind to lay oneself open to the possibility of getting splashed all over with dirty water, but if the player will hit boldly, keeping her eye firmly fixed on the ball, and endeavouring to get well under it, she will generally find that she can get the ball away quite well. Water does not offer nearly the same resistance to the club as sand. As we said before, several of the competitors in the ladies' championship meeting at 338 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW St. Andrews showed themselves very skilful in aquatic shots. Miss Titterton laid her ball dead at the first hole out of the Swilcan Burn, having profited by the example of her opponent on the preceding day ; and Miss C. Leitch made a beautiful shot out of water at the seventh hole in the semi-final against Miss Titterton, and was bold enough to take a spoon to do it with. Nevertheless, a spoon is not to be recom- mended for the ordinary golfer for such a shot, an iron, mashie, or niblick being a much safer club to use. A road is a hazard occasionally to be met with. If the ball is kind enough to stay in the centre, the shot is quite a simple one, and may be played after the same method as a ball lying clean in sand. If, however, it is tucked away in the gutter or under the bank, a decision has to be made as to whether it is worth risking a sideways cut-shot, or whether it would not be more discreet simply to tap the ball out into the middle as a preliminary to an attempt to get clear away. If the latter course is chosen, care must be exercised to play the tap with sufficient force to reach the desired spot, otherwise the stroke will be completely wasted by the ball rolling back into its original, or a worse, position. The cut-shot may be played very much after the fashion of a cut approach, that is to say, the club should be drawn slightly across the ball from right to left at the moment of impact. This will make it rise quickly. A shot on a road has nearly always to be taken cleanly, as the surface of the hazard is not of the same yielding consistency as IN HAZARDS 339 sand. Hence, the eye should be kept on the ball, and not on a point of the road behind it. Gorse and heather are very frequently to be encountered, and they make very formidable hazards. It is much more difficult for women than for men to play well out of heather, as strength is of the utmost importance in making such a shot. Heather roots are very tough, and they are very likely to turn the face of the club aside. The best plan is to grip the club very firmly, and not to try to do too much. One must usually be content with getting the ball out into better country instead of endeavouring to get a very long shot away. I think the most difficult ' rough ' of the description that I have ever experienced is that to right and left of the course at Ashdown Forest. On a hot day it is perfectly cruel. On some links the player is enabled by a local rule to lift out of gorse, but on others the ball must be played or the hole given up. A niblick is the best club to choose in dealing with a gorse bush, and the player must take up a firm stance regardless of the prickles. As in sand, she should put all her available strength into the shot, trying, if the ball won't come away by itself, to clear the gorse bush away also. In fact, she should take example by the police in the late suffragette riots, who, when a suffragette chained herself to a tree and refused to budge, uprooted tree and suffragette together and carried them both in triumph to the lock-up. CHAPTER VII MANY INVENTIONS WE have discussed the uses of the ordinary clubs driver, brassey, spoon, cleek, iron, mashie, niblick, and putter and the methods of play that should be adopted with them. We now turn to the consideration of fancy clubs and of play of a more advanced kind, and some miscellaneous matters. There is an endless variety of patent clubs, and the golfer who is so disposed can fill her bag with all sorts of queer weapons. Some people scorn innovations, others delight in trying every new invention that is put on the market. It would be quite impossible to describe all the patent clubs that have been produced from time to time. We shall only be able to speak of a few which can claim to possess features of real value. From the point of view of general usefulness, the socketless clubs come first. For the enlightenment of the uninitiated, it may be as well to say here that a socketless club has no heel, the shaft rises straight from the head. As we said before, a socketless club is only a palliative, not a cure for socketing, but it is undeniably helpful to possess one of these weapons for times of stress. In the extreme type the shaft has a sort of double twist in the neck. It is hideously i, * !* ! * '* 5'' vK'f-:: BACK SWING FOR DRIVE Miss V. HEZLET [See page 279] [To face p. 340 MANY INVENTIONS 341 ugly, and at first one's pride revolts from the idea of using such a club, but there can be no question as to the effectiveness of a mashie of this pattern. The shot may not always be successful, and the ball may trundle along the ground instead of rising grace- fully into the air, but even the most confirmed socketer will find that with such a club socketing is a sheer impossibility. A little coterie of golfers, who are great advocates of this pattern of club, have christened it ' bottle-nose/ but why ' bottle-nose ' remains a mystery. The catalogue name is ' Smith's Patent Mashie Iron.' A special point of advantage in the use of these clubs for women is that they are particularly good for a long mashie shot, such a shot as would be apt to make the player force with an ordinary mashie. The balls also run freely off them, as the face is not very much laid back. If the player adopts socketless clubs, she will have a varied choice of mashies and irons. I am inclined to think that with them it is more difficult to get the ball up, but this may be only imagination on my part. So many people use them and find them thoroughly satisfactory, that if the beginner feels any leaning toward them she may indulge her fancy without any hesitation. Another type of mashie is the one in which the face is deeply scored with horizontal lines. These lines are supposed to put cut on the ball, and with some people such a club seems to work admirably ; but one never feels quite sure how much is due to the club and how much to the player's own skill. There 342 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW is also the mashie with a hole in the face to let the sand go through, and yet another is the one in which the weight is concentrated in the centre of the head. An approaching club that is a great favourite is the one called a ' jigger.' It is generally used for running - up shots. The jigger has a long narrow head and the face is not very much laid back, while the shaft is short and stiff. The method of play with such a club is practically the same as that for a run-up approach with an iron. Some years ago aluminium clubs came very much into vogue. They were made in several sizes and shapes, so that if the player so pleased she could replace her entire stock of irons with them. Mrs. Cuthell used to use these clubs with deadly effect, and many people preferred them as being easier to manipulate than the ordinary cleek or iron, in the point of picking the ball up from a doubtful lie. They also possessed the great advantage of being unbreakable. Latterly these clubs seem to have gone out of fashion ; why, one cannot exactly say. The aluminium clubs most frequently to be seen nowadays are putters and spoons. Mr. Darwin advocates the aluminium putter as the putter which should be first given to the beginner, as he says it is the club which is most likely to make her acquire a smooth and even manner of hitting the ball. The ball runs much more freely off an aluminium putter than off an iron one, and for this reason great care has to be exercised that the ball is hit absolutely truly and cleanly, otherwise it will jump in and out and run round MANY INVENTIONS 343 the edges of the hole in the most exasperating manner. Many people use an aluminium putter for long putts, and take an iron putter for short ones, and this seems a very good plan. On very fast greens the iron putter is preferable for all putts. Before we leave the subject of putters and putting, it may be as well to say a word or two about stymies. No player can be considered a finished golfer who is not able to negotiate the ordinary stymie. Of course, under some conditions a stymie may be practically hopeless, and it is merely a fluke if the player should succeed in overcoming it, but the ordinary stymie is not nearly as great an obstacle as many people seem to imagine. The beginner must always remember that a stymie is not a stymie unless the balls are a greater distance apart from each other than six inches, measured from the nearest points, as if they are within six inches she can have the obtruding ball removed. If she is wise she will have six inches marked off on the shaft of her putter, so that there can be no question when the case arises as to the exact distance. There are two principal methods of dealing with stymies. One, to loft the ball over the obstruction ; the other to screw round it. The first is the more impressive form of play. The successful jumping of a stymie always produces a gasp of admiration from the onlookers, and the player pats herself on the back (metaphorically) and thinks how wonderfully clever she is. When the balls are close together and the hole a reasonable distance away, the shot is quite an easy one. A mashie is the best club to use, and 344 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW the stroke must be made easily and naturally, not as if a special effort were needed, or as if something extraordinary had to be accomplished. The loft on the club will do the work quite sufficiently without any necessity for trying to put cut on, and the club should be taken back close to the ground, and allowed to follow through very much in the same way as for a putt. The most difficult stymie is the one where the opponent's ball is on the lip of the hole, or a few inches away, and the player's ball a considerable distance off. Occasionally the ball can be pitched right into the hole and made to stay there, but the difficulty of doing this increases by every inch that the ball is further away, and it can only be accomplished by those who are in thorough practice. The shot, too, is one which requires a great deal of nerve. To screw round a stymie is slightly more difficult than a straightforward jump, because so much depends on the nature of the green. The slightest amount of favourable fall in the ground will make a great differ- ence, and the slowness or keenness of the green also helps or hinders, as a screw has more effect on a ball on a fast green than on a slow one. To pass on the left side of a ball and to make one's own ball turn to the right is easier than to have to make the stroke in a reverse fashion. An iron is a better club to use for screwing than an ordinary putter, as the cut will take quicker effect from an iron than from off a putter. The stroke is made by turning the face of the club out a little to the right, and playing across the line from right to left in the same manner as that described for MANY INVENTIONS 345 a cut approach. To play the reverse stroke, and to make the ball turn from right to left, the ball is played off the extreme point of the toe of the club, and an effort must be made to pull the shot by turning over the right wrist more pronouncedly than usual. A half-stymie can often be turned to account by making the one ball cannon off the other in the right direction, but the thing above all others to be avoided is the risk of putting the opponent's ball into the hole. To do so is exasperating to the last degree. People are not half careful enough about the matter of laying themselves stymies. From a long shot, if such a misfortune does occur, it cannot be helped, but on the green there is no excuse. One so often sees holes thrown away in this fashion. The player putts short and leaves her ball directly behind the other, or she overruns the hole and stymies herself on the other side. It is a contingency which should always be borne in mind when putting, and great care should be taken to avoid the possibility of such an occurrence. A recent invention, which has met with some success, is a flat-shafted driver for using in windy weather. The side of the shaft is reduced to the smallest possible degree, so that there is practically nothing to offer resistance to the wind when the club is travelling up and down in the course of the swing. We have become so familiar with the orthodox rounded shaft, that such an innovation as a flat shaft comes upon us with something of a shock. Two of these clubs are in the possession of first-class golfers whom I know, and both the owners express themselves as delighted 346 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW with the results attained with them. If a flat-shafted driver is so successful, there seems no reason why other clubs should not be made after the same pattern. Another club made to cheat the wind is a driver with a double bulge on the face, that is to say, the face is bulged both down and across. The idea is that the ball is hit with the centre of the two reverse slopes, and so a great deal of spin can be put on and the ball kept low. One of the greatest difficulties in connection with the game that women golfers have to contend with is wind. Men do not realise the immense pull they have in bad weather. They have not to contend with their hats and their hair and flapping and sodden skirts. Between the physical exhaustion produced by a long fight against a strong breeze, and the irritation occasioned by a wobbling hat, or stray locks of hair, or a skirt which will flap at the wrong moment, the woman golfer is reduced to a sorry plight. Of course, people will say that before she starts out, the player should see that her hat is firmly tied on, and her hair netted down, and her skirt properly cut, so that none of these annoyances may happen ; but it is easier said than done. A gusty wind defeats all precautions, and hairpins take a perverse delight in seeking other spheres. The recent fashion of hobble skirts proved a great boon. Hobble skirts may not be beautiful, but they certainly are very comfortable and neat for golf, when worn in a moderate fashion. The story ran that some ingenious golfers turned the fashion to account, and had their skirts made the MANY INVENTIONS 347 exact width of their driving stance. Thus they were able to make certain on every tee that they were adopting the right attitude. Although the hobble skirt is occasionally caricatured on the links, it is much preferable to the ' kicking strap ' of elastic which has been so widely adopted during the last few years to restrain the superabundant folds of the player's skirts. ' Kicking straps ' and crochet caps may alike be described as horrible inventions for destroying and distorting feminine attractiveness. Although it seems almost too obvious a thing to say, the chief points to be emphasised in regard to playing in wind are to make the best use of a favourable wind, and to suffer the least harm from an unfavour- able wind. Driving down wind the ball should be teed high and the swing kept rather vertical, so as to raise the ball as much as possible. If the wind is across the course, calculation must be made as to its probable effect on the ball (the swagger thing is to test its strength with a gaily coloured pocket-hand- kerchief, the more gaudy the better), and the shot played accordingly. It is also wise to consider in advance how the ball is likely to lie with a view to the succeeding shot. For example, in approaching with a side wind, the player should make up her mind whether she prefers to putt against the wind or with it, and she should play her approach to the side of the green which suits her preference. So, too, with a following wind, she can play to be over the hole or short. It is usually easier to putt against a strong wind than with it, as one can hit so much more boldly. 348 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW But as the nature of the green has always to be taken into account, it is impossible to generalise on the subject, and the player must exercise her judgment in each particular case. Against the wind it is very important that the player should not try to hit too hard. It is no use forcing. A pressed shot is very apt to result in dropping the right shoulder and digging the club into the ground, or in lurching forward with the body. Both of these faults are fatal to success. The principal rule to be observed is to try to keep the ball as low as possible, unless, of course, there is a high bunker within range. The swing should be more deliberate than in calm weather and somewhat restrained. The follow-through also must be kept as low as possible, the arms finishing up below and round the left shoulder. A firm stance is a great help. It is impossible to make a good shot with an unsteady stance. One often sees people wobbling about on their feet in wind, and hitting away without waiting to make sure of their balance. A great deal can be gained by judicious timing of the stroke, and taking advantage of every slight lull. A pause of even a few seconds will often make a difference in strong gusty winds, and will enable the player to hit the ball with comparative comfort. A great many good golfers play for a pull against a wind, as a pulled ball usually travels further. The way to do this is to advance the left foot further forward than for the ordinary stance, and to make the left hand the master grip. It is not desirable, however, for the beginner MANY INVENTIONS 349 to be in a hurry to experiment with this shot, as she may very easily acquire the habit of pulling, and the habit may degenerate into a serious fault. One of the most frequent causes of excessive pulling is hitting too hard. Another is turning over the right wrist too soon and too much. A third is clutching at the club with the left hand instead of maintaining an even steady grip. This last fault is, as a rule, more common in iron play than in wooden club play. It is a difficult one to overcome, and can only be cured by constant watchfulness. The best plan is for the player to remember to say to herself each time before she tries to hit the ball, ' I will not clutch/ ' 1 will not clutch.' But it is only those who take the game very seriously who may be expected to school themselves in this deliberate way. It is well to remember, when calculating the probable effect of the wind on a ball, that a shot from an iron club is not, as a rule, nearly so much affected as a shot from a wooden club. A very common mistake, particularly in reference to the short game, is underrating the holding power of the wind. The player must have the strength of mind to hit boldly. It does not in the least matter if one goes a little bit too far, but it does matter very much to be hopelessly short, as in a very large pro- portion of cases happens. Not only is a stroke wasted, but the annoyance of being so short has a demoralising effect on the player's temper. It is a mere commonplace to say that golf is largely a matter of temperament, as every one has long recognised the fact. It has been pointed out over 350 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW and over again. The stolid unemotional player has a great advantage over one who is jumpy and excitable. The former bears bad luck and good luck with equal imperturbability, and regards the vagaries of her opponents with calm indifference ; the latter always gets flurried at the wrong moment and is fussed by the least thing. The beginner will be wise to deter- mine from the very start that she will not allow herself to be put off by anything short of an earthquake or a thunderbolt. It is all a matter of habit. The habit of being easily fussed grows dreadfully. At first it is to a great extent imagination with fidgety people that they cannot play because some one stands within their range of vision, or a slight movement is made by some one standing near, or some one gives vent to a suppressed cough when they are in the act of hitting, or a dog bolts across the course in front of the tee, or a caddie looks at them too fixedly, or one of the hundred other trifles occur of which we hear nervy golfers so often complain. But eventually the fancy that they are put off by these trifles becomes so fixed and so strong that their game really suffers. Untoward things will happen, and happen, too, at the most inconvenient moments, but the only way is to make the best of things, to keep a calm ' sough ' as they say in Scotland, and to cultivate a sense of humour. From the woman's point of view a very important subject in connection with golf is that of clothes. There has been a very great change in the general appearance of women golfers during recent years. MANY INVENTIONS 351 When the game was still in its infancy any clothes were thought good enough for the links, and comfort and smartness were believed to be incompatible. Extraordinary figures of fun appeared, and the papers revelled in caricaturing the golfing girl. Now it is the exception to see any one unsuitably attired. Women have realised the fact that they must have a separate outfit for the game, that shabby best clothes cannot be cut down or adapted. The most difficult part of the tout ensemble to arrange satisfactorily is headgear. Considering the multitude of hats and caps that appear in the shops each year, it is extra- ordinary how hard it is to find any that are suitable and comfortable for golf. The crochet cap now seems ubiquitous for bad weather. Some years ago motor caps were all the rage, a little later tweed hats, more recently still small felt and beaver hats. These latter stay on splendidly, and when worn in a shade to match or contrast with jersey and skirt look extremely smart. The worst problem is to get a hat for fine weather, one that will shade the eyes from the glare of the sun and yet stay on well enough to resist the onslaught of a sudden breeze. The brim of such a hat must not be too deep at the back, because if it is, the club is very likely to strike against it at the top of the swing, and so the shot is spoiled. A wide hat can always be tied on with a motor veil or piece of ribbon, but such tying on somewhat inter- feres with comfort and freedom. It also makes the player hot. A few girls play bareheaded, but only those who are very impervious to the heat of the 352 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW sun's rays can afford to do this without risking the chance of sunstroke or headache. The recognised garb for the links is a blouse of silk, flannel or cotton, tweed or serge skirt, coat to match, or woollen or silk jersey, neat stockings of either con- trasting or harmonising shade, and thick shoes with square heels. The most comfortable collars for blouses are turned-down soft collars of the same material, or those of Peter Pan fashion made in embroidery or lace. A starched linen collar looks smart, but it is apt to hurt one's neck, and also encourages that high- water mark of sunburn which women have to fight so strenuously against when they wish to don even- ing dress on coming home from a day on the links. A heavy narrow skirt is the most suitable, one that will not blow about readily. Very light clothes, such as cotton frocks, are out of place on the links, as if the course is of at all a hilly character there is bound to be some slight wind. A fairly short skirt looks neater than a long one, as, in wet weather especially, a long skirt is apt to get a draggled appear- ance after the player has struggled through several sand bunkers. Many people cannot play without some sort of coat or jersey on account of overs winging. In hot weather such folk are placed at a great dis- advantage, and they have to decide which is the lesser evil, to roast and be sure of their game, or to be cool and uncertain as to their play. A woolly coat or jersey exercises less restraint than a tweed or serge coat, and nowadays one can get such light- weight jerseys, that the wearer suffers very little incon- MANY INVENTIONS 353 venience from them even in warm weather. The ladies' championship meetings are the occasions for finding out the fashions in golfing stockings. Last year the variety of hue and pattern was simply amazing. Most people kept to moderate colours for their prin- cipal garments, but they seemed to launch out with- out any hesitation into the most brilliant stockings. It is very important to have nice footgear on the links, as the feet are so much en evidence. Shoes or boots can be worn according to preference. In very wet weather boots afford greater protection, but they are more tiring to wear than shoes, and as com- pletely waterproof footgear is almost impossible to obtain, and the player must change whichever she wears on coming in, it does not make much difference. Fringed tongues are good things with shoes, as they keep the water from soaking in through the aperture for the laces. In wet weather the only way one can get a good grip of the ground is to wear nails. On fine days Scaife's patent soles or the big indiarubber rings are preferable, as they are much less tiring. In wet weather rubber slips. Some people use tennis shoes, but to my mind the absence of heel is a very great drawback. It is a very good plan to wear an ordinary pair of shoes up to the club-house, and only to change into golfing shoes immediately before playing, chang- ing again directly the round is finished. By so doing a great deal of wear and tear of the feet is saved. While speaking about changing, it may be as well to say a word about the great desirability of girls taking a complete change with them whenever they go out z 354 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW for a day's golf, no matter what the appearance of the weather when they leave home. It is a great bore sometimes to have to carry a change and a bag of clubs, but to do so is very essential for the avoidance of chills and colds. For a player to sit about in wet clothes, or to travel home by train or motor in drenched garments, is most dangerous. Chills are the foundation of nearly all serious illness, and although we cannot always prevent the catching of a chill, we can do a great deal by taking reasonable precautions to lessen the possibility. Some people play in gloves, others do not. The latter maintain they can get a better grip of the club. So many people, however, do use gloves, that it is very evident quite a good enough grip can be obtained with them, and any one who has the smallest respect for her hands will wear them. The gloves should be loose and not of too thick a make. Chamois and kid are the most generally used. The great thing is to try to avoid blistering. Salt and water or eau de cologne can be rubbed on the hands to harden them. If blisters are badly broken, and yet the player must go on playing, the best thing to do is to apply strips of sticking plaster. Personally, I have always found glymiel jelly the most effective stuff to use for the hands, both to prevent blistering and to heal blisters. Many girls who play much suffer from weak or strained wrists. For this complaint a silk handkerchief bound tightly round, or a leather strap worn constantly, will be found a great help. MISS RAVENSCROFT Open Lady Champion, 1912 [To face p. 856 CHAPTER VIII THE LITTLE THINGS THAT MATTER DESPITE the disparaging remarks that appear from time to time about women's golf from the pens of men writers, mixed foursomes are universally popular. The foursome game is very different from the single game. In a foursome neither player has the right to play according to his or her own sweet will. Each should consult with the other as to the course to take in a difficult shot, and the weaker player should submit to the judgment of the stronger. Some men like a partner who will simply putt the ball along into good lies out of which they can do all the work. Others prefer some one who will take her fair share of the game. Some like to give instruction at every point, others only advise when appealed to. Some have unlimited confidence in their partner's capacities, others are always doubtful. It is simply a matter of disposition. Success depends largely upon the exer- cise of judgment. Before starting off for a round, the holes should be thought out and the drives arranged so that the weaker player will have the easiest shots. At some of the holes perhaps the second shots are more important ; if so, this must be taken into consideration. The great thing in a foursome is not 355 356 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW to fuss. It only distracts one's partner and very probably puts one or both off their game. If a shot or two is missed at the beginning, it is better to show a cheerful and hopeful spirit and to look forward with an encouraging optimism. Every one will play better when encouraged, no one can play well if scolded or scowled at. The secret of all pleasant foursome play is to realise one's own faults and failings, and to turn the blind eye to those of one's partner. The golfer who has a real love of the game will give some thought to the care of her clubs. If clubs are properly looked after they will last much longer and be more satisfactory in many ways. Small repairs, such as the renewing of grips and the re- fastening of bindings, should be seen to at once. Periodically it is wise to revarnish the heads of wooden clubs, as otherwise they are apt to become dry and brittle. After a round in wet weather each club should be taken out separately, dried and oiled, and only replaced in the bag when the latter itself has been thoroughly dried. A waterproof bag with a hood wilLbe found a great protection for the clubs of those who play golf in all kinds of weather. Some people carry two umbrellas, one for their own use, the other for the caddie to hold over his precious burden of clubs. A little chalk rubbed on the faces of wooden clubs will be found to be an advantage in very wet weather, as it makes them less slippery and enables them to get a more certain grip of the ball. It is very important to keep the handles dry, as the THE LITTLE THINGS THAT MATTER 357 club is so likely to turn in one's hand when the grip is wet. Although rubber and kid grips are very comfortable to hold and are used by many, they are not satisfactory in wet weather, and the ordinary leather grip is much the most serviceable one for all- round work. It is prudent to carry two or three pairs of gloves if the match is an important one, as wet clinging gloves are most uncomfortable, and it is quite hopeless to try to play in them. A dry pair of gloves may make all the difference between success and failure. I remember being very nearly thrown out altogether at one of the championship meetings for want of a second pair of gloves. My hands had been very sore and blistered, and some one told me to rub soap on them before I started out to play. This I did, but without knowing that the soap should have been absolutely dry. The consequence was that both my hands and gloves became so sticky and slippery that I simply could not hold the club. If some one had not come to the rescue and lent me a pair of fresh gloves, I should have come badly to grief. If clubs are not wanted for use for any considerable time, they should be carefully oiled and kept in a dry place. There is a theory that wooden clubs lose their driving power after some years and that they should be changed from time to time, but it is always hard to make up one's mind to part with an old favourite which has done good service, especially as it usually takes some little time to get thoroughly accustomed to a new club. Those who take part in important z2 358 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW matches and championships should always carry duplicate wooden clubs, as an accident may so very easily happen. Miss Leitch broke a brassey in her match against Miss Titterton at the 1908 championship, and suffered greatly from the loss of it. Indeed, if the break had not occurred, the issue of that champion- ship might easily have been different, and certainly Miss Leitch has never been so near to gaining the chief honours as she was on that day. An iron shaft, too, is very liable to snap, and so, if possible, and if the player is not in fear of the Cruelty to Caddies Society, a spare iron should also be carried. Another item of golfing paraphernalia which may be of great use is a sponge in an indiarubber or metal case. On muddy inland links where a local rule permits the player to lift and clean her ball before putting, a sponge is practically an essential. It is impossible to putt with any accuracy when a lump of mud dis- figures the symmetry of one side of the ball. It is an excellent plan to have the player's initials stamped on all her clubs. This can be done in nearly all the clubmaker's shops on payment of a very moderate fee, and it is of the greatest service if by any chance the club gets adrift from its owner. It can be identified at once by the initials, and a great deal of worry and trouble saved. A putter especially is very likely to get mislaid or mixed up with other people's clubs, as the player in the excitement of finishing a match often forgets to give it to her caddie, and carries it away with her unconsciously as she leaves the green, She then lays it down in THE LITTLE THINGS THAT MATTER 359 some part of the club-house, and promptly forgets all about it until the next morning when, if she is a careful player, she is looking at her clubs preparatory to the day's play. If she is not a careful person, the loss may not be discovered until the first green, when a flying emissary has to be sent back to the club to look for the missing article. If the club is not initialled or marked in some special fashion, it is very difficult for this emissary to recognise it, and pick it out from among other stray clubs. For those who travel much from meeting to meeting a canvas or leather golf box is a most useful possession. Such a golf box can be sent in the van with the rest of the luggage, and in it the clubs are far safer and better protected than in an ordinary bag. Another great advantage of such a box is that it holds balls, gloves, umbrellas, pair of golf shoes and all golfing necessaries, so that on arriving at one's destination everything is at hand together, and one has not to search out the different articles from the recesses of a trunk. The question as to whether golf is an expensive game has been much discussed. The matter depends very largely on circumstances. If a girl lives close to a links and does not go about much from meeting to meeting, she need spend very little. If, however, she lives some distance away from a course, and plays in championships and other meetings, and travels here and there for team matches, it is a very different matter. Women, as a rule, play the game more economically than men. They do not take caddies so frequently (one reason being that their 360 FROM THE LADIES' POINT OF VIEW links are shorter and not so tiring, and another that the average woman does not carry so many clubs as the average man), and when away for a golfing holiday they content themselves with humble lodgings, whilst the ' superior ' sex goes to the hotel. Women's clubs, too, are run on a cheaper scale than men's clubs. To take at random a few of the most important clubs affiliated to the L. G. U., the fees are as follows : Walton Heath, entrance 5, 5s., subscription 4, 4s. ; Barnehurst, entrance 3, 3s., subscription 3, 3s. ; Brighton and Hove, entrance 2, 2s., subscription 1, 10s. ; Edinburgh, entrance 10s., subscription 1 ; Formby, entrance 5, 5s., subscription 2, 2s. ; Lytham and St. Anne's, subscription 1, Is., entrance 1, Is. ; Royal Blackheath, entrance 1, Is., sub- scription 15s. 6d. ; Royal Co. Down, entrance 2, 2s., subscription 1, Is. ; Royal Portrush, entrance 2, 2s., subscription 1, Is. ; Sunningdale, entrance 2, 2s., subscription 3, 3s. ; Westward Ho, entrance 2, 2s., subscription 1, Is. The fees for men's clubs of the same standing are considerably higher. Another point in which women are more frugally minded than men is in the amount of balls they use. Most of them, too, are content to play for the sake of the game alone, and do not think it necessary always to have a half-crown or more on the result of the match. Clothes are a very heavy item in a golfing woman's expenditure. If she plays much in competitions, she must have several complete changes to provide for the possibility of getting wet twice or even three times a day, as occasionally happens. A very wet day will THE LITTLE THINGS THAT MATTER 361 often reduce a set of clothes to such a disreputable condition that they are useless afterwards for any- thing but the very roughest wear. The expenses of an open championship meeting are roughly as follows. The entrance fee for the competition is 5s. The hotel bill usually comes to about 10s. 6d. per day. Rooms, of course, can be obtained at a cheaper rate. Caddies are from 15s. to 1 per week, and if the player does well she is expected to tip in proportion to her success. Expenditure in balls varies with the player's extravagant or economical disposition. A great change has taken place during the last few years in the time of arrival of the competitors at a championship meeting. Formerly, most people used to arrive on either the Friday or Saturday of the preceding week. Now, many go on the Monday or Tuesday, and nearly all have assembled by the Wednesday or Thursday. This change is partly due to the regular institution of the international matches, but it adds considerably to the expense of the meeting. Regarded as a game, golf may be termed expensive, but regarded as an amusement and compared with, say, hunting or motoring, it cannot be considered outrageously so. The fact is that the matter lies very much in the player's own hands, and expenditure can be, to a great extent, adjusted to suit one's purse. Printed by T. and A. COMSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty at the Edinburgh University Prea FOBNIA L TT > THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. )M M1 I | EB2 TOM f[B .. ! FEB 26 19i JAN 14 JAN 21 1941 AUG 87194^ 1- * 1946 jlMay'5310 1 MAY 16 1953 U ye 19634 .ft; 25988K X