,,the ,,spirit ,,of ,,the ,,links ,,the ,,spirit ,,of ,,the ,,links ,,by ,,henry ,,leach ,,great ,,golf1 ,,what ,,powerful ,,charm ,,is ,,in ,,thy ,,name6 ,,what ,,cunning ,,witchcraft ,,is ,,thy ,,fascinating ,,game6 ,blackheath ,golfing ,lays1 #ahfg ,,methuen ,,co4 #cf ,,essex ,,street ,w4,c4 ,,london ,first ,published in #aijg ,,contents ,,page ,,spring #a ,,men ,,and ,,things #cg ,,the ,,queer ,,side #ge ,,the ,,wandering ,,player #aah ,,the ,,sunny ,,season #afc ,,the ,,professor ,,on ,,the ,,links #aid ,,the ,,fabric ,,of ,,the ,,game #bai ,,winter #bea ,,the ,,spirit ,,of ,,the ,,links ,,spring ,i ,to discover the secret of its wonderful charm is not the least of the problems of golf4 ,it is a game that encourages the reflective and philosophical mind to close investigation1 and so it is not enough for the worthy player that he should take the things that he sees and feels for granted1 with no questions concerning the mystic influences that seem constantly to brood over the links1 and the people who are of them4 ,each day as we go forward to the game1 and in particular if it marks the beginning of a special period of play1 we feel these influences strong1 and it may happen that for a moment we wonder again as to their cause and their origin4 ,many minds have made great efforts towards the discovery of this secret1 but the fruits thereof have not been satisfying4 ,golf is not like other games which stir up great enthusiasms in their players4 ,long spells of failure or of ambition thwarted often kill the passion that has fed the energy of the players of these games2 but that is not the case with golf1 and golf almost alone4 ,nor does a surfeit of play lessen the desire for it as it does in the case of other field sports1 which need close seasons for their healthiness4 ,when one day's golf is over1 the thought is of the next that will succeed it1 and the hope already goes forward to anticipation of the superior delights that may be in store4 ,and it makes the same appeal to all persons of all classes who once attach themselves to it1 and it has been found that the golf impulses are as strong in the men of other races and of other colours as they are in the ,british who have cultivated the game4 ,this universality1 the constant enthusiasm1 the unweariedness of the golfer1 and the intense ardour that distinguishes him from the players of other games1 suggest to us that some strong emotion of the human mind is touched by golf in some peculiar way1 that its principles and the conditions of its play make a special appeal to some elementary feature of simple human nature2 for it is the appeal to these primitive instincts that is always the strongest1 the most overpowering4 ,upon this line of investigation we come upon a clue that leads us to a more satisfactory idea as to the secret than any other which has been suggested4 ,the strongly humanising tendencies of the game are evident to all1 and admitted4 ,no cloak of convention can be worn over the manners and thoughts of the player2 he is the simple man4 ,and what are the subtle features of the primitive instincts that are awakened in him so constantly1 at almost every stroke1 in every round1 and on every day8 ,it is sometimes difficult to seize upon them1 floating in a vagueness as they do1 but it does seem that all the strong emotions of the golfer combining to make up his grand devotion to the game1 are clustered round the simple human instinct1 most human and most potent of all1 the instinct of ,hope4 ,it is this hope that leads the golfer on through all his troubles and disappointments1 and it still urges him forward when he has already ascended to a great delight4 ,it is a hope that will never permit complete satisfaction4 ,this simple formula that the mystic charm of golf is hope1 will explain all the emotions that rise up in the golfer in the course of a year of play4 ,take him from the first tee to the end of his game4 ,it is the fresh morning1 and the ardour of the golfer is warm within him1 and he has a yearning and a high hope for a great day's sport4 ,here1 on the teeing ground1 he is animated by a great desire to play the first hole as well as ever before1 and to drive a clean far ball that shall speak well of his skill and make good augury for the strokes that are to come4 ,if he succeeds his hope but increases4 ,does he play the tee shot badly1 and his hopes go forward to a great recovery with the second shot of the game4 ,if that should fail1 vexatiously1 there may still be the chance of a wonderful approach1 and though the approach be not so wonderful1 is there not the possibility that the gods may be so kind as to steer a very long putt into the hole8 ,these are exactly the alternating sentiments2 and if the fulfilment of the hope be denied to the last putt1 and the hole be lost1 at the second tee there is hope again that the indifferent start will be succeeded by a flash of brilliance as shall restore the position and the complete equanimity of the player4 ,and so it is from shot to shot and from hole to hole all the way round the course1 and 8,spero meliora0 is the eternal motto1 even though the present state be happy4 ,if the whole round be weak and the result of it adverse1 there is the hope of the afternoon2 and at the end of the day the unfortunate golfer1 moved almost to despair by his failures1 soon recovers again that optimism which is his constant succour1 and then his hopes are of the morrow4 ,does he not know now what it was that he was 8doing wrong10 the golfing sin that he committed all the day8 ,to-morrow the fault shall be corrected1 and the swings that are made in after-hours now give fair promise of a great change4 ,a well-prepared heart has the golfer1 the like of which1 as ,horace says1 hopes in the worst fortune1 and in prosperity fears a change in the chances4 ,give it that the man has golfed above his true ability1 and how he does fear that the next game may put him back again2 but here again there is buoyant hope in evidence1 and when the evening is filled with the exaltation of it1 how sweet it is to wander a little over the resting1 deserted links and mark the places where balls were pitched1 and the lines along which fine putts were made1 and the points to which play shall be directed when the next round is in the making1 perhaps the best of all4 ,so it is hope and hope all the way through the golfer's life1 and it is the most joyous1 the most uplifting of all the instincts1 and the most intensely human1 and that which is given to man alone4 ,it is because golf strikes always this chord in his nature that it makes the strong appeal to him4 ,there is no other game or sport that permits him to hope through failure in the same way1 that leads him on1 coaxes him1 cajoles him1 even fools him4 ,and this drama of the emotions of the individual is played always in the most perfect setting for such a simple human play--the sea and green fields and plain earth1 and the simplest tools to move a little white ball1 not along marked lines or within narrow limits or in protected arenas1 but anywhere along that green grass1 over the hills and through the valleys and across the streams and rushing rivers1 while the wind blows now this way and then that1 and the rain pours4 ,all the time the golfer pursues the little ball1 alone with plain nature and his human adversary4 ,here he is released from all the conventionalities of mind that hold him in his other doings in this complicated civilisation4 ,the primitive instincts are in command2 they have the fields and the sea for harmony in the scene1 and the golfer is away from all the intricacies of the twentieth century1 and is the simple man and the hopeful man4 ,that is a fair creed concerning the command of golf1 and we may reject the theory that indomitable1 persevering mankind finds the fascination of the game merely in the failures and irritations that it brings and in the desire to overcome them4 ,the activity of that instinct of hope is the mystic charm1 and surely it is to the credit of a game that it should teach the man to look forward with courage and cheerfulness1 and to be always something of an optimist1 and the more of it the better for his game4 ,these things lead to the making of a good man as well as a good golfer4 ,,ii ,men of other races1 whose skins are not white1 are afoot with this game4 ,black men are playing2 yellow men are becoming expert2 red men have achieved great skill4 ,a few years since a golfer traveller found his way to the ,blackfeet ,reservation in ,montana1 and he saw the wild ,red ,indian at golf1 and thought that it suited him better than his old game of lacrosse4 ,spotted ,horse drove off along the prairie--a plain prairie with only a few shrubs about--and he followed and played the ball for a couple of miles to the turn1 and then played it back4 ,there were no holes2 the game was to play the course in the fewest strokes4 ,here1 indeed1 is the primitive golf4 ,some of the ,indians are said to have made fine drives--as good as the best that white men do--and this was all the more remarkable inasmuch as it is the ,red ,indians' pretty custom to yell and howl in a frightful chorus while one of their number is addressing the ball preparatory to making his stroke4 ,so it does not seem easy to put the red men off4 ,golf1 indeed1 is the one world game2 it is in essence that very simple sport which so easily and certainly spreads over the planet4 ,everywhere the ,british are pioneers1 and they are by far the more numerous players2 but native proselytes are coming in fast in almost every quarter of the globe1 so now it may fairly be said that no other game is being played everywhere by so many different sorts of people as this game of ours4 ,sit on a magic carpet and be transported to any place1 and there1 somewhere about you1 will be a golf course4 ,i have lately had some talk with men from the ,east1 who tell of the good game that half-naked tribesmen1 standing and walking in bare feet1 have learned to play2 and1 moreover1 of the beautiful clubs1 most exquisitely finished and sometimes inlaid with ivory and fancy woods1 that they have made4 ,i am assured that the 8professional champion of ,ceylon0 is a ,cingalese caddie who holds the record for the ,ridgeway course1 made when he was playing against a ,british golfer of thoroughly good class4 ,the ,japanese are beginning to play1 and good judges have been led to express fears that their qualities and temperaments will bring them to a higher state of perfection in the short game than has ever been attained before1 and which will surely threaten the supremacy of the white man4 ,golfing at ,kobe is a peculiar experience4 ,the course is at ,rokkosan1 on the top of a high mountain1 and you must therefore climb the mountain before you can golf on the course4 ,you go by rickshaw to the foot of the ,cascade ,valley1 and are then carried up the mountain slope by coolies for an hour and a half1 when the tees and the bunkers come into view4 ,those who play there hold that the view from this course is the finest from any1 though it can hardly be better than that from the course on the top of ,senchal ,hill at ,darjeeling1 for from here there is ,kingenjunga1 #bh1jjj feet high1 to be seen1 and from the summit of ,tiger ,hill1 overlooking the course1 there is ,mount ,everest itself in view4 ,and there is golf in ,china too1 six clubs for it4 ,we had no sooner come to the conclusion and officially announced some years ago that ,wei-hai-wei was a very desirable resort1 than the golf club was duly established there4 ,in these days the building prospector first settles upon his golf course1 and advertises it1 and then he builds his houses round about2 and in the same way it is realised that it is the proper thing when seeking to make a new centre of ,europeans abroad to start with a golf course4 ,i have been with men on shipboard who1 having golfed on the queer course of ,tangier1 have then speculated unceasingly in the smoke-room as we sailed along the smooth waters of the ,west ,african coast about the kind of golf that would be vouchsafed to them on reaching the ,canary ,islands4 ,some time since ,i had a letter from a highly-placed ,british official at ,chinkiang on the ,yangtse ,river1 and he told me how they had just begun to play the game out there on a new course which was covered with crater-like excrescences4 ,these are ,chinese graves1 and they are said to make most excellent hazards4 ,there are pig-tailed fellows for caddies1 and it was carefully ascertained that no ,chinese sentiment is injured in the matter4 ,there are golf clubs in all the ,states of ,europe4 ,there are very many in ,france1 and there are more each year1 and it is remarkable that the ,frenchman is now establishing them for his exclusive use4 ,at ,boulogne the ,englishman and his friends of ,france golf together on a course where some of the hazards were the earthworks of ,napoleon's camp--the camp that held the ,grand ,army that lay in readiness for the invasion of ,britain4 ,what irony is here--that the ,british golfer should play over the ,emperor's camp6 ,the ,master-,general must himself have walked many times over the lines of our tee shots1 and the shadow of the monument that he built to commemorate his invasion of ,albion1 almost lies across the course from which ,albion herself1 uninvaded1 may be seen4 ,and the ,mayor of ,boulogne gives prizes to the ,british golfers who make the best golf on ,napoleon's camp4 ,i come to realise the depth of the meaning of the lines cut into a marble tablet that ,i saw on the side of a staircase in the ,museum at ,boulogne one day--8,france and ,england have more good sense than all the world10 and those lines were put on the stone more than sixty years ago4 ,france is fair and free1 but the game is played in ,europe where the times and conditions are not at all the same4 ,there is golf in ,russia1 and to it there was added a new course but recently4 ,at the first thought it seems a little odd that such a peaceful game should be played in holy and revolutionary ,russia even by ,britishers4 ,they have had two courses in ,russia for a long time past--one near ,moscow and the other at ,mourino1 a small village a few versts out from ,st4 ,petersburg4 ,the men who play here are of a hardy1 determined strain1 fine men for pioneers4 ,to get their golf they have to drive thirteen miles out from the capital over bad roads2 and in order to obtain a fair amount of satisfaction from their game they have to returf their putting greens almost every year1 owing to the extreme sandiness of the soil4 ,the ,kaiser is encouraging the game in ,germany1 and has given prizes for it2 there are eight clubs in ,italy2 and others in ,austria1 ,holland1 ,belgium1 and all the rest4 ,the game has flourished for twelve years past in the dominions of the ,sultan of ,turkey1 that is to say at ,bagdad1 and the golfers there are pleased to tell you that their course is no miniature affair as are so many at the outposts of the empire of ,st4 ,andrews1 but that it consists of full eighteen holes1 and that1 in the desert1 they are very sporting indeed4 ,it goes without saying that the game flourishes greatly in all the ,colonies4 ,in ,canada1 ,australia1 ,new ,zealand1 ,south ,africa1 and the others there are little booms of golf in progress1 each of its own kind4 ,at ,pretoria and at many places at the ,cape the greens consist of diamondiferous gravel1 smooth and sparkling1 and the first local rule of the ,kimberley ,club startles the newly-arrived golfer from the homeland1 for it tells him that 8,it shall be lawful for a player to level the ground on the putting green in any manner he pleases40 ,in ,india there are some forty flourishing clubs1 and that at ,calcutta1 with its five hundred members and two courses of nine holes each1 having been established for nearly eighty years1 takes rank as one of the premier clubs of the world4 ,there is the ,aden ,club in ,arabia1 the ,royal ,bangkok in ,siam1 where an old and very imposing ,siamese temple does duty for clubhouse1 and others all over ,asia1 as one might almost say4 ,there are many golf clubs in the ,argentine ,republic and the other ,south ,american ,states4 ,the ,sandwich ,islands are full of the game1 for there are five clubs there4 ,in the ,east ,indies there are three1 and in the ,west ,indies there are eight4 ,wherever the ,britisher goes he leaves his trail of golf behind him4 ,there is a story of ,captain ,adair holding a golf competition in his camp when pitched on one of the passes leading into ,thibet1 at a height of sixteen thousand feet above the sea-level4 ,i have no information about the game having been played in the ,north ,polar regions2 but ,i am told that when the recent ,british ,antarctic ,expedition was made in the ,discovery1 the ,commander1 ,captain ,scott1 who is a keen golfer1 took some clubs down there with him1 and in some leisure moments 8had a knock10 by way of reminding him of the old links at home1 and of seeing what the sensation of ,south ,polar golf was like4 ,it is said that forged iron has a peculiarly cold and numbing touch in the frozen south4 ,it is the same game everywhere1 and the law is always taken from ,fifeshire2 but the conditions and makeshifts are sometimes peculiar4 ,we have said how at the ,cape they putt on gritty earth that smacks of diamonds1 how in ,china there are graves for bunkers1 and how across the ,channel1 ,napoleon's trenches serve for the same purpose4 ,boulogne1 after all1 is only in the nature of a corollary to our courses at ,walton ,heath and ,huntercombe1 for hereabouts the golfers play where the legions of mighty ,csar were encamped1 and the stables and the kitchens that ,csar made1 huge pits deep in the earth1 are in the line of play1 and things are so arranged that they constitute fine traps for erring balls1 and offer remunerative opportunities for skill with iron clubs in playing out of them4 ,and yet1 if one must play bad shots1 it is well that they should be played in the direction in which ,csar dug1 for these pits were made so long ago and are so deep that they are often beautifully turfed with soft springy stuff1 which anywhere except in a pit would be a delight to play from1 being so congenial to one's iron4 ,we must applaud the ,romans in this matter4 ,it is nearly a pleasure to go into their kitchens and stables2 they were made so long ago and they are so green and nice4 ,there is golf at ,old ,calabar on the ,west ,coast of ,africa1 and there the putting 8greens0 are made of fine coal dust4 ,so they are 8blacks40 ,at ,mexico and many other places they are merely 8browns40 ,in ,egypt1 where there is much golf1 they are often made of rolled and baked ,nile mud4 ,it is not necessary to say that there is nearly as much golf played in ,america as there is in ,britain1 and that the time may possibly come when there will be more4 ,but it is not generally appreciated on what old-established foundations ,american golf is played4 ,the game has traditions in ,america now1 even as in ,britain4 ,in the archives of ,american golf there is still preserved a document which shows how little of a new thing is the game in the ,united ,states4 ,it is an invitation1 reading as follows3 8,golf ,club ,ball4--,the honour of ,miss ,eliza ,johnston's company is requested to a ball1 to be given by the members of the golf club of this city1 at the ,exchange1 on ,tuesday evening1 the #cast inst41 at seven o'clock4 7,signed7 ,geo4 ,woodruff1 ,robert ,mackay1 ,jno4 ,caig1 ,jas4 ,dickson1 ,managers2 ,geo4 ,hogarth1 ,treasurer4 ,savannah1 twentieth ,december #ahaa40 ,the original is in the possession of the granddaughter of the recipient4 ,there seems to be some suggestion that these pioneers of ,american golf were of ,scottish origin1 as pioneers of the game until lately mostly were1 and it might be appropriate to mention that ,savannah1 whose people are said to be celebrated for their love of pleasure1 piety1 and sport1 has in it the oldest theatre in the ,united ,states1 while it also claims to have started the first ,sunday school in the world1 founded by ,wesley and perpetuated by ,whitefield4 ,if it started here1 this was not a bad place for ,american golf to start at4 ,,iii ,rulers1 statesmen1 diplomatists1 begin to take more serious account of the sport-loving factor in human nature than has been their wont4 ,downing ,street1 ,washington1 the ,quai d',orsay1 and all the other nerve-centres of international affairs1 where there are housed all the cleverest modern masters of opportunism1 have entered upon the study of its peculiarities and tendencies1 recognising that here is an instrument of the most delicate perfection for the cultivation of amity between people and people when the bureaucrats have set the lead4 ,the ,british ,empire is being soldered up with sport4 ,besides the constant visits of ,colonial cricketers1 have we not had with us recently two separate detachments of ,colonial footballers1 and has it not been evident that while the ,colonial ,governments have given their representatives the most open and material support1 even to the extent of voting them certain supplies1 ,downing ,street has smiled approvingly1 and has1 now and again1 when not many people were looking1 given a pleasant little pat to the wheel of friendship as it went rolling along from ,cornwall to ,edinburgh1 and from ,blackheath to ,dublin8 ,and was it not an open secret that the 8very highest influences0 were brought to bear upon the controlling authorities1 with a view to avoiding the recent breakage in the regular sequence of ,anglo-,australian encounters on the cricket field8 ,the entente cordiale with ,france is being promoted from a toy model to a big machine that is working in the streets1 largely as the result of the awakening of popular sympathies by such means as games4 ,all the congruous elements of different countries far apart are being attracted to each other1 as if magnetically1 by such influences as the motor car1 the bicycle1 cricket1 football1 and1 far from least1 by golf3 and the potency of these charms lies in the fact that when they are set to work1 men's minds are relaxed from the general materialistic sternness of their business times1 and the humanity in them is asserting itself4 ,now1 all those good men who take the cosmopolitan view of human happiness must see that among all games with powers like this there can be none of greater adaptability and general use and efficiency than golf4 ,it may be1 and is used by people of every colour1 race1 creed1 and temperament1 in every climate and all the year round4 ,no recreation1 apart from the simplest contests of the river and field1 has ever been so universal since the world began1 with the single exception of chess4 ,and wherever and whenever it is played it extends its benign influence towards the promotion of fast friendship among the players4 ,there is no freemasonry like the freemasonry of golf4 ,to its temples in every land are always welcomed the faithful and earnest craftsman from where'er he came1 and he is passed on the signs of the bag and the stance and the little pimpled ball4 ,for it is one of the articles of belief that no man can be a good and enthusiastic golfer of experience and at the same time a thoroughly bad fellow1 for at the outset of his career the bad fellow would never be happy in his game2 others would not help to make him so1 and he would either be stung by the consciousness of his own defects and reform1 or he would slip away into the small silent pitiable minority who leave the links one day never to return4 ,thus has our happy game of golf wound a bright cordon round the world1 and so does she play her part in the great evolution of general contentment4 ,,iv 8,in spring10 we have been told in the ,georgics1 8heat returns to the bones40 ,and the blood runs eagerly through the golfer's veins4 ,april and ,may are the months of hope and of exultation4 ,there is joy in the present1 in the showers and the sunshine1 and a great joy in prospect in the future4 ,each true golfer is a lover of ,nature1 and something of a philosopher1 and at this season1 as at no other1 when he gets wakened on a bright morning and sees the country clean and fresh1 and coming again into bright green and many colours1 while the birds sing at allegro and fortissimo1 a deep pleasure fills his being1 the pleasure of spring4 ,he is alive1 alive2 and it is fine to be alive4 ,summer is glorious1 autumn is beautiful1 cold winter has charms for those who have proper feeling for it2 but spring1 the ,germinal1 is surely ,nature's favourite season1 and the golfer must always love his spring4 ,it gives him hope and thought4 ,change always induces reflection1 and here we have the change of the seasons1 and a little of all of them in a short space of time4 ,an old proverb says that 8,april borrows three days of ,march1 and they are ill40 ,but as often she borrows several days of ,may1 and they are warm and sunny1 and so hereabouts we have the winds1 and the showers1 and the sunshine2 and who can walk on the links to-day and not think something of what the rain has been doing1 and what the winds have done1 and what the sun is doing and is going to do8 ,here they are all together1 great master wonders to be thought much of4 ,they are much to all men2 everything to the sportsman and the folks of the outdoor life4 ,the sun and the rain are in such daily association in the days of the sportsman's spring1 and more than ever is he inclined at this season to give some passing thought to the phenomena of ,nature1 that one comes to wonder sometimes whether he reflects as he might do on the eternal exchange1 how the drops of water that the sun takes up from the fields over which he tramps1 the golf links that he plays over1 the rivers and streams that he fishes1 are every one of them placed back again1 perhaps not on the same fields or in the same rivers1 but in some field or river somewhere4 ,the bare fact is one of elementary knowledge2 but its extensions are not so much so1 and are interesting to think upon4 ,if the sun always gave back to each particular sportsman the rain that it had taken away from his own playing fields and rivers1 how dull would his life be from the knowledge of what the weather and the seasons had certainly for him in the future8 ,with the caprice of the clouds and the wind there is no such even and regular return of that which was taken away4 ,the golf links of the ,lothians may be kept rained upon and moist so that the turf is the most perfect1 all with the rain that was sucked up from the courses of the south coast of ,england1 round about ,deal and ,sandwich and ,rye2 and surely when the links in the south are parched1 and when they are green and moist in the north1 we must think of that4 ,v ,it behoves every earnest golfer to keep a match-book in which there shall be faithfully recorded the results1 with some particulars1 of all the matches whatsoever that he shall play in the course of each season4 ,yet it is likely that not more than two or three golfers in every club1 if indeed so many1 keep such a record of the golf that they have played1 which is sinking away into the forgotten history of their golfing lives4 ,the idea of the private match-book may have occurred to many golfers1 who1 on a careful consideration of the circumstances of the case1 have rejected it1 though it goes without saying that the chief reason for the absence of the book in the majority of cases is simple neglect4 ,those who deliberately avoid the intellectual pleasures of the match-book do so either because they conceive that there is something namby-pamby in the thing1 and that it savours too much of the keeping of a little diary which so few people know how to keep1 consequently degenerating into a record of the trivial acts instead of the life-governing thoughts2 or they are deterred by the fact that there are no such books with ruled columns ready for the purpose which are at all agreeable to their ideas as to what a match-book ought to be4 ,certainly there is no ready-ruled match-book2 the little things to fit the waistcoat pocket are hopelessly inadequate1 and really are only fit for doll's golf1 so that it is one of the things to wonder at that there are still apparently some thousands of golfers--beginners for the most part1 you may be sure--who buy these trifles year by year4 ,but perhaps it is as well that there is no stereotyped form of match-book1 to which we might be persuaded to attach ourselves with some misgivings as to its form1 and the irritation that would be caused us in the future by the attempt to fill up constantly one particular column that might seem to be either unnecessary or suggestive of indelicate revelations4 ,you will not find the ideas of many men in agreement as to what ought to go down in the book and what ought not4 ,one will want spaces reserved for full particulars as to wind and weather1 of the ball with which he played1 and of the many other little details of varying importance1 forming the sum of the circumstance of the day's golf4 ,another will have a horror of such conceits1 and will limit his confessions to statements of the date1 the opponent1 and the result4 ,as in other matters1 the medium is the happiest choice2 but the difference of taste which could not be accommodated by so many different varieties of match-book1 suggests at once that the proper course to pursue is for each player to purchase a perfectly plain book and rule it off in so many columns to his own satisfaction2 or even1 indeed1 for the sake of a neater and less formal appearance1 and an arrangement which is more accommodating1 leave it blank1 and let the facts of the match be inserted in order1 just as the man is disposed to insert them at the time of the entry4 ,then a blank column will not in after years convey any reproach in the matter of a possible suppression of the truth1 nor one overcrowded tell too much a tale of despondency and excuse on the one hand1 or on the other of that boastfulness that comes not well from the heart of a good golfer4 ,now the beginning and the continuation of a match-book is a serious matter1 and the golfer will do well to come to an understanding with himself beforehand as to the policy that he will pursue in regard to it4 ,it is essential that the strictest truth1 and all the essential truth1 should at all times be set down1 and it is only a simple extension of the principle involved that if any matches are to be recorded they must all be so4 ,the chronicler of the time must not consider himself as historian1 and set himself to discriminate between what is important and what is trivial2 for1 as in all things1 it will be many years hence1 when the matters have been well sifted in the cold recollection of the mind1 before such a determination can be accurately made4 ,therefore it is the duty of the chronicler to state the full facts1 that is to say1 as full as he determined they should ever be according to his system of match-book keeping1 and he must leave it to himself in after years1 when1 the chronicler now exalted to the student of his own history1 he can ponder over the statements in his leisure and make such judgments upon them as he is disposed4 ,thus it is of the essence of the proper making of such match-books that no fault of the maker at any time or in any game shall be in any way extenuated1 and that nothing to the discredit of the opponent shall be set down maliciously1 so that in days to come1 when the player shall have advanced many more seasons towards the end of his golf1 in turning over these pages and with their honest help fighting his matches over again1 he shall truly behold 8the bright countenance of truth in the quiet and still air of delightful studies40 ,so it seems that the best match-book should rightly be a strictly private thing2 if it were meant as a book for the table or any other place where it might be exposed to the gaze of the curious1 there might at some time come a reluctance to the owner to state in full the truth of the day's play1 since the honest criticism of a partner in a foursome or of an opponent1 to some who did not understand1 might not appear so necessary as was actually the case4 ,this faithful record should be kept under lock and key1 and it should be taken with him when the golfer goes far afield for play which is to last more than a day1 and the entries should be made on the night of each day4 ,it will be soon enough for others to pry into this confessional when the golfer who whispered into it at nights is no more4 ,that such present labour will afford a rich sequence of future pleasure there can be no doubt4 ,just as there are no friends like the old friends1 and no wine like the old wine1 so one is sometimes disposed to fancy that there is no golf like the old golf that is now indeed but a memory1 and one often much too dim at that4 ,the match-book will refresh the mind to the recollection of dear friends with whom one is no longer associated1 and of fine sport that one had with them on days when the thrills of life seemed to be a little quicker than they are now4 ,by the mention of an incident1 and occasionally by giving the score of a few holes1 much of the whole game1 shot and shot1 is conjured up in the memory in all its keenness and its tensity4 ,and it shall come as a good recommendation in this matter that the golfer who is the favourite hero of us all1 as he was a pattern of the golfing virtues1 made a match-book for himself while he was still playing the schoolboy golf1 and kept it continuously for the rest of his time4 ,freddie ,tait's match-book was just what we might expect it to be4 ,it was a very honest thing1 and ,mr4 ,low1 who has handled it and copied some of it for the deep interest of us all1 remarks on the way in which the brave soldier golfer never spared himself1 his partner1 nor his opponents1 but dealt out praise and censure with a level hand4 ,one day1 though he had halved his round1 he says1 8,played as bad a round as possible02 and at another time his comment is1 8,never played worse with the exception of a few iron shots40 ,then as to a foursome it is1 8,the characteristic of the game was the bad play of both02 and of his partner in another match he remarks1 8,the play of ,mr4 ---- was feeble in the extreme40 ,there were eight column divisions in ,tait's match-book4 ,first there was the place for the date1 then for the name of the links1 and the third for the statement of the parties to the match4 ,the fourth column was for the mention of the odds of the handicap if any1 or for the name of the competition if he was engaged in one4 ,then there was one column for holes won and another for holes lost1 a broad one for 8remarks10 and a last little one at the side of the page for the total of the score4 ,generally the 8remarks0 were brief and pointed1 and it is these which make the record of the play of the most beloved golfer we have known so real and human1 so that it is a pleasure to sit by the fire and create some fancies of these matches4 ,now and then there is a little humour2 here and there a touch of sarcasm at the expense of 8,f4 ,g4 ,t410 as he generally referred to himself4 ,round by round there is the full story of the way in which he won the championship at ,sandwich1 and the next entry concerns the very next match that he played1 which was the day after at ,rye1 when1 with his honours new upon him1 he essayed the task of playing the best ball of ,mr4 ,h4 ,s4 ,colt and ,mr4 ,j4 ,o4 ,fairlie4 ,the remarks run3 8,h4 ,s4 ,c4 and ,j4 ,o4 ,f4 too strong for the golfed-out ,champion1 to whom they showed no mercy4 ,h4 ,s4 ,c4 and ,j4 ,o4 ,f4 both played a good game and did some very fine holes40 ,here there is a #f in the 8,lost0 column1 and it is a notable thing that this1 on #bcrd ,may1 was the first figure that had appeared in this column of defeat since #afth ,april1 though golf was being played almost every day4 ,in his comments on the final of that same championship he twice pays compliments to the pluck of ,mr4 ,hilton1 who in the game was very soon left without the slightest chance of victory1 and was beaten by a full eight holes4 ,the gods would never permit the favourite ,freddie to be beaten by the finest player of his time1 and that player now refers to his early engagements with the soldier as the day when ,tait 8commenced his career as the slaughterer of ,hilton40 ,another day we find ,freddie revelling in two glorious matches with ,andrew ,kirkaldy on the new course at ,st4 ,andrews4 ,in the morning he lost by a couple of holes1 but in the afternoon he was the winner on the last green4 8,another splendid match10 he rejoices2 8both in great form4 ,f4 ,g4 ,t4 only halved the third hole by carelessly moving his ball with hand while removing a piece of grass4 ,the hole was played out and won by ,f4 ,g4 ,t41 but he had1 of course1 to lose a stroke1 according to the rules of golf4 ,this unfortunate accident made the difference of one hole4 ,a4 ,k41 #hj1 a magnificent score4 ,f4 ,g4 ,t41 in3 #d #c #e #d #d #d #e #d #d #cg40 ,here is another comment1 8,r4 ,t4 ,b4 very fair4 ,self good at first1 but got too many up1 and then got careless1 with the usual result40 ,he lost that match by a hole4 ,another time1 when he was playing the best of two balls1 he wrote3 8,played badly4 ,the two balls also bad40 ,that match was fittingly halved4 ,in this way we can follow the happy ,freddie all the way through the spring and summer to the end of the year on all the best links that are to be found1 and these judgments of his will serve as models to other men who in this small matter would copy the methods of the perfect golfer4 ,there is this entry in the match-book alongside the date #cast ,july #ahhh1 concerning a match with ,mr4 ,norman ,playfair3 8,driving very poor4 ,put a ball through a man's hat and had to pay five shillings40 ,young ,freddie1 then only eighteen years of age1 went to old ,tom ,morris to complain of his ill-luck in the matter1 but ,tom answered him wisely1 8,ah1 ,master ,freddie1 ye may be vera thankful that it's only a hat1 and no' an oak coffin ye hae to pay for40 ,even now1 when the sad happenings of the ,south ,african ,war1 which at the time so wrung our heart-strings with misery1 have been somewhat mellowed by time1 the great consoler1 it is impossible to glide into this channel of reminiscence without feeling that the pleasure of it is touched with melancholy that the body that held that noble soul should be resting among the trees by the banks of the ,riet ,river4 ,,vi ,there is nothing like the winds of ,march for testing the golfer in every department of his play4 ,quite timid golfers are sometimes heard to say that they don't mind rain2 but if a man does not mind big winds1 regards them both from the sporting and scientific standpoints1 and manages to make some respectable golf while they are in charge of the air1 he is a worthy player1 and he may make his mark some day4 ,it often happens that you can apply test after test to two different golfers1 and they will both answer equally to them2 but the wind test will separate them at once4 ,the man who can play the real game in a high wind1 and use it to his advantage at every opportunity1 knows golf as others do not4 ,he is a finished player1 and he rather likes the days of ,march for the rich sport that they afford--the real big game of the links4 ,the other man1 when he hears the wind playing like a ,german band round the side of the house as he tries to get himself off to sleep at night1 thinks to himself that he will have to give up the idea of golf in the morning4 ,he should not4 ,even if he never learns the scientific treatment of wind in golf1 he would find his game improved generally and made more powerful by playing it at times like these under severe difficulties1 and it is worth playing in a wind if only to taste the sweet joys of golfing in a calm afterwards1 just as there is one point of satisfaction in getting wet through on the links because the change afterwards is so delicious4 ,you always find that a golfer is very much the better for a short season on a very windy course4 ,when he goes back to his home course1 very likely inland and protected1 driving seems such a simple1 easy thing1 and he lets out at his tee shots with a freedom and a certainty which make for a greater boldness and strength in his game4 ,north ,berwick is one of the windiest courses4 ,you do get wind there in the spring months1 and there are hundreds of golfers who testify to the good that a short stay there has done to their game4 ,they have simply got to learn to golf in all kinds of winds4 ,it is like throwing a non-swimmer into seven feet of water with only a thin piece of rope round his middle4 ,he very soon invents a way of making greater security and comfort for himself4 ,stay at ,north ,berwick long enough1 and it may affect your style for life4 ,mr4 ,robert ,maxwell has a peculiar punching1 but withal very powerful style1 which is attributed to his upbringing at ,north ,berwick4 ,a man disposed to probe very deep down for causes and effects might arrive at the conclusion that the reason why1 speaking very generally1 there are better players and better courses1 and more of each on the east coast of ,scotland than on the west1 is because it happens that the links there are more exposed1 and there are more windy days upon them than on those on the other side of the country4 ,not that there are not big winds very frequently to be dealt with in the neighbourhood of ,troon and ,prestwick1 which surely have their full share1 and it was at a championship at ,prestwick that old ,willie ,park delivered himself of his famous remark1 8,guid ,god6 ,when ,i get ma club up ,i canna get it doon again60 so strongly was the wind blowing on that occasion4 ,,vii ,in the spring the professionals come tumbling on to the stage of golf once more with their happy welcome cry1 8,here we are again40 ,sometimes in the middle of the summer season people are apt to say that we get at least enough of these professional competitions1 and that it would be agreeable if we had a little more time to think of our own golf in all its varied charm1 instead of our attention being invited day by day to the many permutations and combinations of 8the quartette0 in exhibition matches1 and the aspirations of such as ,jones among those next to them4 ,but what a dull season it would be if ,vardon and ,braid were not up against ,taylor and ,herd somewhere or other--it does not matter where--just as in the olden time1 or ,herd and ,braid did not show once again at the little course of ,slocum-on-,mudbury that there was something wrong with their running in that never-to-be-forgotten foursome when four hundred sovereigns were at stake4 ,and then when ,rowland ,jones is included in one of these foursome combinations1 we say1 quite pleased1 8,ha1 ,jones is coming on6 ,jones is going to assert himself60 ,one day ,jack ,white is in again--that happy-hearted ,jack1 who came by a great championship in #aijd at ,sandwich1 where records were falling in every round--and then we say to ourselves very good-naturedly1 8,i hope ,jack will get on to his drive again in one of these matches60 ,or the fourth man may be ,tom ,vardon1 and that is very interesting1 because ,tom is a great big sportsman who is stuffed tight with the effervescing joy of life4 ,if it is ,andrew ,kirkaldy1 as it is occasionally1 we rub our hands and observe1 8,grand matchplayer is ,sam6 ,now we shall see how a foursome should be played6 ,good as the best is ,sam60 ,the fact of the matter is1 that these professional matches and competitions are now a fast and integral part of our golfing system4 ,we may think that we could do without them1 and in the summer-time we rail constantly against them1 and say that they never would be missed4 ,but how we should miss them6 ,golfing life would not be the same if there were not occasions to make such almost daily observations as those just quoted4 ,the season would be without salt1 and our little amateur combats would seem to be lacking in an unknown stimulus that was always there before4 ,then what a void in golfing life would there be if there were not constant occasion to express admiration for the supremacy and the prowess of the triumvirate--,harry ,vardon1 ,braid1 and ,taylor4 ,when we are too frequently told of the achievement and the skill of the heroes of the olden time1 it is well to think of what the triumvirate has done and still can do4 ,perhaps not many golfers1 even among those who pay faithful attention to such matters1 have a proper sense of the amazing record of these three men4 ,i had occasion to analyse it lately1 and ,i believe not in any other sport have the periods of three such champions coincided as they have done in golf during the last few years4 ,it is a strange thing that the fates should have pitchforked ,braid1 ,vardon1 and ,taylor into the arena at the same time1 each man being so much above all outside the three4 ,it is as if ,ormonde1 ,donovan1 and ,flying ,fox had been in the same race for the ,derby4 ,in one sense it seems a waste of exceptional talent on one period1 to the possible impoverishment of another1 but golf spectators and players should appreciate the advantage of the times in which they live1 for it is unlikely that three such golfers will ever be to the fore at the same time again after these three have gone their way1 and it is as certain as anything that a hundred years from now the golf world will speak reverently of the great triumvirate of the early days of the twentieth century4 ,it will certainly be remembered that after this triumvirate had been established eleven years in each other's company1 they wound up a championship first1 second1 and third against the biggest field that had ever contested a championship1 this being at ,muirfield in #aijf4 ,three times in those eleven years the triumvirate collectively achieved the highest possible distinction in this way1 the first being in #aijj1 which was ,taylor's year1 the second in #aija1 when ,braid won1 and the third in #aijf1 when ,braid was again successful4 ,taylor was the first of the three to show activity1 and he won the championship in #ahid and #ahie4 ,not until #ahif was the triumvirate definitely constituted1 as it were1 by the whole three1 ,vardon1 ,taylor1 and ,braid appearing in the championship at the same time4 ,in that year ,vardon finished first1 ,taylor second1 and ,braid sixth4 ,in the following year ,braid1 in the second place in the lists1 was the foremost man of the three4 ,then there was a remarkable run1 for the triumvirate found the winner in seven of the next nine years4 ,vardon scored twice running to begin with2 then ,taylor and ,braid2 in #aijb ,vardon and ,braid tied for second place2 the next year ,vardon was first again2 ,taylor and ,braid tied for second position in #aijd1 and this was followed by two championships for ,braid4 ,only three times in eleven years did the triumvirate let the championship go out of their small circle1 and it may be mentioned that the three men who beat them on these respective occasions were ,mr4 ,hilton in #ahig1 ,herd in #aijb1 and ,jack ,white in #aijd4 ,adding up the records of positions and scores of all golfers who took part in these championship competitions when the triumvirate did1 and making1 so to speak1 one long championship of it1 the triumvirate lead the way1 and the rest--the very best of them--are absolutely tailed off4 ,the scores registered in the championships1 added up1 afford the following result3 ,harry ,vardon1 #cdbf2 ,james ,braid1 #cddf2 ,j4 ,h4 ,taylor1 #cded4 ,herd fittingly comes fourth with #cebg1 and then there is an enormous gap between him and the fifth man4 ,taylor would1 of course1 be in a different position if we counted in the two early championships that he won1 and let it be said for ,taylor that1 including this year of #aijg1 he has been second for the championship four times in succession and five in all--a magnificent record such as stamps him as the most brilliantly consistent champion of all time4 ,but it is a heartbreaking record for ,taylor all the same1 and this great and popular player has all golfers' sympathy4 ,golfers are not like the brooks of poets2 they cannot go on for ever4 ,we shall look to see the great men of to-day playing fine golf in twenty years from now1 and upon occasion they will play such rounds as will make us say1 8,that was just as in the olden time60 ,but their average of merit must diminish1 and probably all the premier three1 or at least two of them1 have passed the high-water mark of their ability and their tide of supremacy is receding4 ,who1 then1 is to succeed them8 ,for years past we have been looking for likely and worthy successors4 ,there are many fine golfers on the links1 and occasionally great things are prophesied of some of them2 but disappointment almost invariably follows4 ,the times do not seem to be breeding any more ,vardons1 ,taylors1 or ,braids4 ,a triumvirate of the future is not yet in the making4 ,our grandparents and other good people constantly tell us that there are as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it1 and it might seem a foolish thing to suggest that we shall never again have such a band of supreme artists at the game as those whose works we enjoy witnessing in these days4 ,but are not the chances heavily against there being again in our time simultaneously three more men of such outstanding ability as these three1 each one of whom would be the sole man of his generation if it were not for the other two8 ,cricket did not produce three ,graces at the same time2 billiards had only one ,roberts4 ,you could not imagine three ,graces and three ,roberts4 ,but we have had them in golf in late years4 ,one is inclined to think that the fact is that the men who are great to-day were trained in a severer and more heroic school than their successors will be1 and they had each a spark of genius which the conditions of the time fanned into the full flame of glory4 ,we cannot expect three more of them to come along at the same time2 but we might expect and do want one more1 someone who shall be an acknowledged chief of the game1 someone whom we shall be glad to see win the championship1 as we cannot be so glad when it is won by a golfer than whom there is no one more unlikely ever to win it again4 ,i am no believer in these things going in a round of comparative mediocrity4 ,what seems to be the matter with most modern aspirants is that they have not that touch of genius which is so evidently possessed by the men who have been making golfing history during the past decade4 ,they may drive well1 play their irons well1 putt well1 and they may do many grand holes and accomplish numerous brilliant rounds1 breaking many records4 ,at times they may beat the champions and past champions4 ,but they are not the same golfers4 ,watch them play a round and you can see the difference4 ,they have not the same genius4 ,they are merely ordinary human golfers1 though good ones at that2 they are palpably suffering too much from mere human weakness4 ,you see them trying hard1 trying so very hard4 ,the triumvirate do not seem to try4 ,it is just there4 ,there is one of them who tries less than any golfer who has ever been born1 and he does more when trying less than those others trying hard4 ,yes1 it is just there--the genius for the game4 ,,viii ,we may set it down with some conviction that ,william ,shakespeare was a born golfer4 ,it does not matter that golf was as rare in the glorious days in which he lived as are eagles in twentieth-century ,britain4 ,we do not say that he played golf1 had seen it played1 or had ever heard of it4 ,so far as we are aware1 there is no evidence to support any such propositions4 ,yet he was a born golfer1 and if the game had come his way he would have played it1 and one doubts not that he would also have excelled in it2 so that it is well that it was after his time1 or ,england would not have been proud in the possession of such work of his as is the envy of all other nations4 ,for1 of all the classic writers whose work we read1 there is none who gives such evidence in almost every line of it that he was possessed of a perfectly ideal golfing temperament1 of a philosophy that seems constantly to have a subtle and most perfect application to the life of the links4 ,through and through it is the real golfer's philosophy1 that which is the best suited to the intensity of the game1 to its deep humanity1 and that which serves for the complete appreciation and full joy of the game4 ,you may read all the other poets1 from ,homer and ,virgil to ,byron and ,tennyson1 without ever a thought of the links obtruding upon your study2 but it is no evidence of a vagrant mind1 or one that is indifferent to the sweetest music of words1 that not three consecutive minutes can hardly ever be spent in reaching ,shakespearian lines without the fancy being touched by the perfection of the philosophy and sentiment when applied to the peculiar pleasures and pains of the golfer4 ,only one other classic writer with whom we are familiar can give such solace to the troubled player1 such wise counsel to him who errs or is in doubt1 such chastening admonitions to those who have offended against the spirit of the game and whose consciences are disturbed4 ,that is ,marcus ,aurelius1 and we pass on the volume of his rules of life to all those players who from time to time seek their homes at night weary and depressed after a day on the links1 when all has been for the worst and despair broods darkly over the soul4 ,after all1 the golfer who is indifferent to the ills he sometimes1 nay often1 suffers1 and can in an hour completely forget the tragedies of two rounds1 is somewhat too phlegmatic1 and there will always be denied to him the higher ecstasies by which the men of finer and more nervous temperament are uplifted4 ,we do not set it against a man that when he has done discredit to his capabilities1 he should show many signs of inward turmoil and display much active vexation towards innocent persons and things on seeking his home4 ,he may rail against the arrangements of his household1 and he may appear peevish to the members of his family1 and find new faults in their manners and conduct4 ,if they are the kind1 sympathetic people that they so often are1 they will bear with him and wait patiently for the passing of the cloud4 ,on the morrow the good game may be back in all its fulness and richness1 and then at eventide there will trip lightly homewards a happy and withal a penitent golfer1 who will not be slow to confess his fault and to make a full measure of amends4 ,the colour of life will have changed from the dull grey to the red of roses4 ,and how much thinner and poorer would be the days of our golfing life did they not contain such constant change and yield to us such a variety of emotion6 ,but it is the days of sorrow rather than the days of gladness that teach us the great lessons that all worthy golfers should learn1 and they should not neglect the cultivation of the philosophic spirit for which the best opportunities are then afforded4 ,so it is likely the stricken player may find a deep and wholesome contemplation in his lonely privacy at the end of the day1 by meditating with ,marcus ,aurelius on the morals of life and events4 ,he will tell you that 8you have suffered a thousand inconveniences from not being contented with performing what your capacity was given you to perform10 and so1 by such a little hint as this1 he will lead you home to the simple truth that your proper game is not your best game1 and that much of the misery that obtains in the world of golf is due to the universal habit of too high appraisement of the quality of one's play4 ,but it is ,shakespeare who teaches us best to be good golfers1 and the secret of the perfect application of his sentiment and philosophy to the golfer's life is that his writings are so intensely human1 and that of all the diversions of man there is none that so much stirs in him the simple instincts1 reduces him to the simplest human elements4 ,a round of golf will sometimes bare faults and qualities in a man that have been hidden from the time of their formation in his early years4 ,it is to the man who constantly undergoes this fierce analysis that ,shakespeare will most appeal4 ,let the golfer test his text and see the perfection of the result4 ,the quotation selected for the first day of the year for a ,shakespearean calendar that was hung up in a golfer's den was-- 8,like a bold champion1 ,i assume the lists1 ,nor ask advice of any other thought ,but faithfulness1 and courage40 ,could a golfer take a better motto8 ,,ix ,no class of man looks forward to the spring with keener anticipation than the golfer4 ,overburdened with his winter's discontent1 he fancies it as a time of sunshine1 of dry courses1 of sprouting young grass that holds up the ball on the suburban links and gives us the first good brassey lies that we have had for some months1 of the frequent retirement of the energetic worm1 of the quickening of the greens1 of the leafing of the trees and the hedgerows1 and the brightening of the face of ,nature4 ,the golfer is generally a strongly human man1 who is not careless of natural beauties as are too many in these increasingly prosaic and strenuous days4 ,perhaps he likes the coming of the springtime best of all1 because he is then enabled to play his game in the best degree of comfort4 ,he is less hampered with heavy clothing1 and his hands and wrists keep warm without any cumbersome artificial assistance4 ,and then also he is persuaded1 and he is evidently right1 that the balls fly very much better in the spring sunshine than they ever did through the heavy and often murky atmosphere of the winter days4 ,even the golf ball welcomes the coming of spring1 and given that it is properly struck it gets a better and longer flight through the air when it is dry and light1 and it runs better on the dry turf when it comes down1 so that the player finds himself being given encouragement that helps him wonderfully on to his game4 ,and so the man who usually goes by the name of the ,average ,golfer believes all through every autumn and winter that he comes on to his game best of all in the spring1 and that that is the only time of the year when he really does play his best1 his real game4 ,the only time when he does not believe that he plays his best game in the spring is in the spring4 ,the fact is that the conditions of springtime are rather made up of a set of contradictions of a very aggravating character1 and they often play the devil with the game of this ,average ,golfer1 the system of which is not too firmly consolidated4 ,this person1 one takes it1 is a man of medium young to middle age1 a great enthusiast1 of good means1 one more or less constantly engaged in business1 having a fair number of social obligations to attend to in evenings1 and a golfing handicap of somewhere between six and twelve4 ,this man is possibly afflicted with a troublesome liver1 and this organ has a peculiar and most aggravating way of asserting itself in the springtime as it has at no other season4 ,then it is up to all kinds of tricks1 the entire physical system of the man is disarranged and thrown out of gear1 and the result is that when all ,nature is smiling and the larks are piping as though their little throats would burst with the fulness of their melody1 the erstwhile hopeful golfer is in a wretched state of mind1 trying new stances for his drive1 new ways of gripping1 a swing much longer or much shorter than usual1 and manuvring with his strokes in all other kinds of ways1 in the vain hope that he might be permitted to drive at least as well as he did in ,january1 instead of foundering one ball in three and lifting up one of the others high towards the heavens4 ,but there is compensation in the increased hopefulness of spring4 ,the game may be poor1 weaker than it was hoped to be4 ,but it will mend2 it will surely mend4 ,,men ,,and ,,things ,i ,for one reason1 if not for more1 a ,liberal ,government is popular with golfers of true feeling--because it gives ,mr4 ,arthur ,balfour1 the ex-,prime ,minister1 more to the links than when he is burdened with the care of ,ministerial office4 ,in the days of the sweet idleness of ,opposition we find him at play on a golf links here and on another one there2 now opening a new course and delighting the assembled players with a little speech1 which is rich in the spirit of the game2 and at some other time enjoying a foursome with some old political friend1 or with ,j4 ,h4 ,taylor or ,james ,braid as his partner4 ,as ,mr4 ,balfour is the better1 as he will tell you1 for being a golfer1 so is golf the happier for his intimate association with it2 and some people who do not know and cannot understand1 not being of golf1 think we make over-much of a statesman's interest in our pastime1 as if the great of the land were not bound closely up with other sports4 ,good and earnest-minded golfers feel that they are kin to this player1 because he is himself a pattern of the man imbued with the best sense of the honour and glory of the game4 ,he is loyal to it1 he has the sentiment of it1 and he has seen through to the inner recesses of its charm4 ,thus he is not ashamed1 as no good golfer ever is1 of abandoning himself entirely to its delights1 of setting all his emotions and his thoughts free to race and frolic in the joy of the links1 and of allowing the high dignity of the great statesman to sink away into the simple naturalness of the earnest golfer4 ,so we like this late ,prime ,minister not because of his political rank1 but because he loves his game and does his best by it1 and is at all times an example to the acolytes who come forward in nervous ignorance of the great meaning of golf4 ,then it is less interesting to consider what style of player ,mr4 ,balfour is1 than what kind of man he shows himself to be amid the trials and the triumphs of the links1 where1 it is indisputably held1 a man's entire human nature1 despite all efforts at repression1 is forced up to the surface for all to see4 ,here1 then1 we see the real ,mr4 ,balfour as he is never seen on the ,front ,bench at ,westminster4 ,there are no mashie shots to foozle1 and no drives to top into the bunker in the ,house of ,commons1 to make a man feel that life is yet a feeble1 disappointing thing4 ,to the ,parliamentarian1 the nearest thing in pleasure to laying a long approach shot 8dead0 against the hole is a successful speech1 or the engineering of a majority on a division which is something above par1 and these are dull things in comparison4 ,mr4 ,balfour1 then1 as we have studied him many times at this testing game1 is a man of many and quickly changing emotions1 of a temperament somewhat highly strung and nervous1 and capable of enormous enthusiasms and alternative depressions4 ,there is nothing that is phlegmatic about this ,ministerial golfer4 ,there is something of the schoolboy left in him4 ,one day ,i saw him driving from the tee and getting a beauty1 so that his ball was cleanly flicked for the best part of two hundred yards in a straight line to the hole4 ,it is not in human nature to wait for tardy praise in such ecstatic moments1 and he1 his face aglow with pleasure1 turned about to his opponent1 exclaiming1 8,i do push them away1 don't ,i80 ,on the other hand1 there are times when he is sadly mindful of failure1 and he is much too serious a golfer ever to forget the most evil things he has done4 ,one time we saw him playing in a foursome--his favourite form of golf--with ,mr4 ,eric ,hambro as his partner1 and after foozling his approach in a deplorable manner1 he called out wearily to his partner1 8,do you know1 ,hambro1 ,i once did that kind of thing for a whole fortnight60 ,it must have been the blackest fortnight in the right honourable gentleman's career4 ,he is something of a philosopher on the links1 and when he makes a bad stroke he sometimes explains how it came about to those who are near him1 or to the course and the sky1 if he is momentarily isolated4 ,this1 indeed1 is one of the very few respects in which the ,prime ,minister falls from what we may regard as the standard of the ideal golfer4 ,he is inclined to reach too hastily at a conclusion1 and some say to speak too much4 ,some masters have held that the perfect golfer plays in absolute silence1 and ,mr4 ,balfour is not an absolutely silent golfer1 though in his case he is none the less earnest4 ,it has been stated that never on the links does he make use of any other ejaculation than 8,dear me60 but this statement1 besides being untrue1 is absurd1 and is not complimentary to him as a golfer4 ,let him miss a shot or do anything which he ought not to have done1 and the human man comes out above the statesman1 though1 of course1 nobody has ever heard ,mr4 ,balfour commit himself to any unbecoming remark4 ,but in the production of effect from the minor expletives he is most skilful4 8,botheration60 is the commonest of his ejaculations1 and as he says it whilst witnessing the descent of his little white ball into a yawning bunker1 one1 as an old golfer1 sometimes realises that the most satisfactory results in this respect are not always produced from the use of the strongest materials4 8,oh1 this is indeed shocking60 is another favourite form of expression1 which1 as he says it1 speaks a volume upon the agony of the mind4 ,for the rest he is just a good1 determined golfer1 who is a first-class sportsman1 never giving any quarter on the links1 and never expecting any4 ,you never see ,mr4 ,balfour pick up his ball whilst there is still the remotest chance left of his dividing the hole with his opponent1 and he would reject with scorn1 like every other true golfer1 the suggestion that he takes his golf for the sake of the exercise only4 ,it is because he is thus keen that other and better players find it a constant pleasure to match themselves against him1 or to become his partner in a foursome4 ,they know then that they are out for golf4 8,big0 ,crawford1 his old-time favourite caddie1 who keeps a ginger-beer tent alongside the eighth green at ,north ,berwick1 flies the ,scottish standard from the top of it when ,mr4 ,balfour is on his most beloved course4 ,a ,russian grand duke1 who did not know the truth1 once navely suggested to ,crawford that the flag was flying as a compliment to him1 the ,russian4 8,na1 na1 sir10 said ,crawford1 8begging your pardon and with great respect1 but it's for one greater than you40 8,who is looking after ,mr4 ,balfour80 they whispered one time at ,st4 ,andrews1 when the right hon4 gentleman was playing himself into the captaincy of the ,royal and ,ancient ,club1 and was then ,chief ,secretary for ,ireland1 and regularly attended by plain-clothes detectives in case of accident4 8,i am looking after ,mr4 ,balfour60 ,crawford said when he overheard4 8,i'm enough40 ,and he would have been4 ,,ii ,it should not be set against a golfer for foolishness or faddism that he gives pet names to some of his favourite clubs that have served him well through many hard campaigns1 and between him and which there has grown up a very close degree of intimacy1 for some of the greatest players have given this rank of name to their trusted clubs4 8,my driver10 even 8,my best driver0 or 8,my old driver10 is a cold term to apply to that fine head and shaft that you think have no equals on the links--at least for you4 ,all drivers may be called drivers2 shall we have no other name for the champion that has roamed with us and played with us over courses all the way from ,dornoch to ,westward ,ho68 ,call him 8,bill0 if you like1 and 8,bill0 is a very good name2 or if your fancy leans that way1 and she is slender and whippy1 you may call her 8,bess40 ,but better keep to human names4 ,there is a man who calls his baffy 8,jumbo10 and it does not seem a nice name4 ,i have a golfing friend who has a driver that he calls 8,ephraim10 and it is one of the most wonderful drivers ever seen1 with such a long shaft that it needs a giant to wield it1 but its owner is something of a giant too4 ,when ,i hear him ask for ,ephraim ,i know that mighty schemes are afoot1 and1 straining my eyes to the far distant green1 ,i wonder that even old ,ephraim should ever be called upon to make such efforts4 ,but ,ephraim has a way with him that makes for success4 ,he is not to be used often1 and then when he is he does his job well4 ,that is ,ephraim4 ,and do not many of us know the famous golfer who has a dear wooden putter who goes by the name of ,fanny8 ,fanny has done fine duty in championships ere this1 and her master knows her every whim and mood4 ,she is a delicate creature is ,fanny1 and she is not so young as she used to be1 and ,mr4 ,john1 her master1 never takes her out in these days when it is wet4 ,,iii ,many golfers carry in their minds a fairly clear picture of a club that they regard as their ideal4 ,they have some notion as to its looks1 the shape of the head1 and the length and the thickness of the shaft4 ,particularly do they know what that club feels like in their hands as they grip it to make the shot for which it1 and it alone1 is perfectly adapted4 ,they have never seen such a club1 and they fear sometimes that they never will4 ,some old favourite of theirs has some of the points that are possessed by this ideal1 but it has not got them in the same ripe perfection1 and it has obvious faults which at times have cost their master dearly4 ,there is no reproachful word to say against that old favourite4 ,it is a good club1 and it has done a fine service on the links1 and as for its imperfections1 are they not what its maker gave to it1 trifling imperfections1 too1 which we are generously disposed to overlook when considering that fine record of service4 ,but it is not the ideal club2 it does not feel like that club that we sometimes handle in our imagination1 and then enjoy a glorious sense of power as with no other4 ,it is a pleasant thing to treasure in the mind such a club as this2 but let it stop at that4 ,if one grand delusion in which there is nothing harmful1 and which on the whole but makes for good1 as most ideals do1 is not to be destroyed1 never set out to reduce that club1 now made of but filmy thought1 to cold iron or clumsy wood4 ,it will not be the same1 be the fancy ever so exact4 ,the first efforts will bring forth results that will be far poorer in quality than those made by old favourites of whom we have spoken1 and it will be as if the favourites have jealousy and resent these new-born interlopers1 so that they will for the time being cease to give their best work to the man who is so plainly discontented1 and who1 being so1 is lacking in confidence4 ,and the faults that are in those first models that come thus from the mind only increase and aggravate the more as attempts are made to repair them4 ,it is a ,will-o'-the-wisp1 indeed1 is this ideal club1 be it driver or brassey or cleek or iron1 and it may lure the golfer to a shocking fate4 ,let us cling to the old favourites and be kind and generous to them4 ,it has been said1 and it is no doubt true1 that the perfect wife has never yet been born1 and some men may reflect upon the advantages of life if they had a perfect wife such as one whom they have painted in their fancy4 ,but in their honesty they will turn their thoughts away from such conceits1 and let them dwell upon the manifold excellences of the wives they have1 who have hearts that beat1 and who1 kind and patient and generous1 have those human weaknesses which would be faults in the ideal1 but which only seem to give to the being the greater human completeness and even perfection4 ,thus1 with this tolerant affection and appreciation1 must we look upon our favourite clubs1 and leave the ideal to lie unmaterialised and worthless in the mind1 a pretty thing to think about1 but impossible4 ,once there was a man who made a grand effort to materialise the ideal that he had cherished through many seasons4 ,it was a brassey4 ,some twenty brasseys had he had made1 but none of them was quite the thing that he craved4 ,there was something wanting1 and thus his shots had not the sting that they ought to have1 or that he thought they should possess4 ,but1 so often disappointed1 he let alone his search for the ideal for a while1 and made good friends with one of the real4 ,but he could not forget the ideal brassey1 and it grew more and more definite in his imagination4 ,he would look at it there with a smile on his face as he would be going home in the train1 and he would handle it and make with it that long carry against the wind that no club of wood and brass in his hands had ever made4 ,then he took the professional clubmaker into his confidence1 and in odd moments after rounds1 in the shop they would sometimes talk of this great club1 but neither would venture to suggest that it should be made1 though they spoke of it as if it were made4 ,they would pick a new one from the stand1 and the idealist would say1 8,now1 ,solomon0--he always called it ,solomon--8has a shade more hook than that1 and there is a little sharper angle to his nose40 ,the worthy clubmaker entered fully into the spirit of the fancy1 and seriously1 and he would answer1 8,ay1 sor1 but ,sawlaman wasna made by my apprentice60 ,another day the golfer would recount the story of his play at a fateful hole1 and of the narrow margin by which a fine long shot failed to clear the hazard4 ,it was a moving theme1 and after a moment of silence the maker of clubs would say in summary1 8,ay1 ay1 sir2 it was a pity ye no had ,sawlaman in yer bag60 ,yes1 it was ,solomon that was wanted1 just ,solomon4 ,then one day the player fell to temptation again1 and1 stirred as of yore by his foolish hopes1 he resolved that he would pluck ,solomon from the stronghold of his fancy4 ,it was a desperate thing to do1 a mad and a reckless thing1 a defiance of the spirit world of golf4 ,he told the clubmaker of his resolve1 and begged that he would give his closest attention to the details of the commission and his personal care to the execution thereof4 ,the clubmaker1 a good human man1 was afraid4 ,awe-stricken1 he said1 8,ye'll no have ma try to make ,sawlaman--a real ,sawlaman1 sir4 ,i couldna do it6 ,i couldna do it6 ,i canna make a ,sawlaman60 ,but the player had steeled himself to his resolve2 and so for days and days old ,sandy laboured in his shop1 and head after head was shaped and rejected1 and stick after stick was shaved and thrown away4 ,it was a weary task4 ,then the golfer went away for a stay at another links1 and a month later he returned1 and on passing ,sandy's shop he was beckoned in4 8,yes1 yes1 ,sandy6 ,got him8 ,got him80 ,in ,sandy's face there was written a look that was half of disappointment and half of pride4 ,he whispered1 8,not ,sawlaman1 sir1 not ,sawlaman2 he'll never be seen on the links this life4 ,but ,i've got ,david1 and here he is60 ,and ,david1 with a black varnished head1 most beautifully shaped1 a fine greeny hickory shaft scared on1 and a feel and a balance when handled1 and a lie to the ball that spoke well for power and clean hitting4 ,the golfer fondled the club for a while1 for he was pleased with it1 but he could see1 despite his pleasure1 that it was no ,solomon and that the great ideal had not been realised1 and he knew now that it never could be realised2 for while he was conscious that this club was wanting in some of the points that made ,solomon so great1 his imagination failed him to discover them4 ,it was a grand club1 but it killed a great hope2 and there was something of sadness in the manner of taking it over4 8,never mind1 ,sandy10 said he4 8,it was a fine try1 a very fine try2 and ,i'll tell you what we will do4 ,we shall never see ,solomon1 the real ,solomon2 but let us have something to remind us of him1 and then we will never talk of him1 the real one1 again4 ,we will call this one1 not ,david1 but ,solomon4 ,he shall be the ,solomon10 and so he is to this day1 and in his name he marks the renunciation of that great ideal4 ,and some very fine things he has done1 for he is a most worthy club4 ,,iv ,the #ast of ,september is a fine date for the golfer1 for it seems to mark for him the beginning of the period of play which is the best of the whole year4 ,the summer heats are cooling1 the tints of ,nature are turning to beautiful golds and browns and crimsons1 and with a little rain the turf begins to yield more to the foot and the club1 and play is pleasanter than it was in the dog days4 ,we would have no sorrows to mar the pleasure of such a day2 but the golfer need only be braced to skill and worthiness by the reminder that this date has a little black edge round it in his calendar1 for on that day there died one who was certainly one of the greatest golfers who ever lived4 ,that was ,allan ,robertson4 ,it will always be a difficult matter to compare the golfers of a living generation with those of a dead one1 or to estimate the relative quality of the golfers of two different generations1 both of them of the long distant past4 ,we have no standards that are carried on from decade to decade and century to century1 and while men do not change1 their implements do1 and the courses on which they play1 while1 what with the alterations in implements and courses1 the methods are much changed1 so that it is quite the same game no longer4 ,therefore it is impossible and futile to make any comparison between the man we have to-day and whom we like to think is the greatest golfer who ever handled a club1 and some of the great heroes of the past4 ,that is a question that can never be settled4 ,what we do know1 and we can think it for our modern satisfaction1 is that there are of necessity many more fine players in these days than ever there were before1 and there are dozens for every one that there was in the days of ,allan ,robertson and young ,tom ,morris4 ,therefore it must be much harder to assert supremacy in these days than formerly1 and all the greater is the feat of doing it not once1 but many times4 ,if some of the old golfers triumphed as often1 or nearly1 we can say for the men who live in our time1 that1 in the numerical weight of their conquest at all events1 theirs are by far the greater achievements1 and they must have that credit4 ,as in all other matters1 it happens that estimates of the merits of things of the past are necessarily indefinite2 they vary from time to time4 ,one generation will have it this old-time celebrity was the greatest in his line2 while the sons of that generation make hero-worship of another master1 and say that he was the best4 ,so it is in golf4 ,one time there will be a feeling that young ,tom was incomparably the best of the golfers of the early period of the game4 ,then by and by a little of this enthusiasm will fade1 and it will be agreed that there was no one better than ,allan ,robertson4 ,sometimes a wave of feeling will roll over these discussions in favour of good old ,tom1 and of late years poor ,bob ,ferguson has been having justice done to the magnificent skill that he displayed when he was in his prime4 ,now1 taking a mental vote from all the authorities one can remember to have spoken or written on these weighty matters1 it seems to result in ,allan and young ,tom coming out at the top4 ,bob ,ferguson is too near our time for his merits to be properly appraised4 ,our grandchildren may better be able to give his due to the man who won three championships in succession1 and tied for a fourth4 ,but there can be no doubt that ,allan was a really great player in every way4 ,like ,bob ,ferguson1 and like ,harry ,vardon in our own day1 the beauty of his achievement lay largely in the concealment of his effort1 and this is the perfection of style4 ,it has been handed down to us as indisputable1 that the easiness of his style was its most remarkable feature1 and that he never1 never seemed to hit hard at the ball4 ,his swing was a long but a gentle one1 and his clubs were light4 ,he was the first man to cultivate in its perfection that fine cleek play from long range up to the hole that in our day has been accomplished with such magnificent effect by ,vardon4 ,the #gi that he did at ,st4 ,andrews in #aheh--;he was then just turned forty-three years of age1 having been born in the year of ,waterloo--was then and for a long time later regarded as a most superlative achievement4 ,that time he was out in #dj and home in #ci1 winding up with a #d and a #c4 ,that great things could be and were done in those days1 even reckoning their merit on the most exacting modern standard1 may be realised from the circumstance that1 taking the best scores at each hole in all ,allan's rounds on the old course1 which he kept1 and making up a composite round from them1 that round works out to the strange total of #ef1--out in #bg and home in #bi4 ,in this strong essence of ,robertsonian golf the ingredients1 in the order of the eighteen1 are1 #c #c #c #c #d #d #c #a #c to the turn1 and #c #b #c #d #d #c #c #d #c on the way back4 ,allan was a great golfer1 and a fine exemplar in every respect1 for he was a great-hearted player who never knew when he was beaten1 was always cheery and with a smile1 and he possessed the very perfection of a golfing temperament1 as most1 though not all1 great players do4 ,that was why everybody found it such a delight to play with him1 and why he and old ,tom1 who had also a fine temperament1 were as a foursome pair just as strong and invincible as men could be imagined to be4 ,that lionlike finish of theirs to their historic match with the ,dunns deserves all the celebrity it has achieved1 and will for ever hold1 not so much because it was an exciting thing and a great match1 but because it was a triumph of the golf temperament over another that was not quite so good4 ,allan had the spirit of the game within him2 he had the true soul of a golfer1 and his most casual utterances constantly indicated how he saw right through to the back side of the game4 8,it's aye fechtin' against ye0 was a common observation of his1 and there is only too much truth in that simple remark1 that the game is hardly ever with you1 that it is fighting against you the whole way round4 ,he had no greater admirer than his famous pupil4 ,an 8awfu' good player0 was ,allan to ,tom4 8,puir ,allan60 soliloquised ,tom once1 when his old master was no more4 8,the cunningest bit body o' a player1 ,i dae think1 that iver haun'led cleek an' putter4 ,an' a kindly body1 tae1 as it weel does fit me to say1 an' wi' a wealth o' slee pawky fun aboot him40 8,they may toll the bells and shut up their shops at ,st4 ,andrews1 for their greatest is gone10 somebody said when he died4 ,he had golfed all his life from the time when he first knew that he was alive4 ,his father and grandfather were golfers1 and the first things that he played with as a child were golf clubs that were made for him4 ,v ,surely we must account old ,tom ,morris as one of the wonders of the sporting world1 as he is indubitably in that relation to the world of golf4 ,how many times have we heard that the light of that long and happy life was flickering towards its extinction1 but the rumour has no sooner been spread than ,tom comes forward in some activity to give it full denial4 ,long may he continue to do so2 every time that we hear he is sick upon his bed may a telegram come to us from ,st4 ,andrews to say that again he is sitting in the chair outside his shop1 watching the couples as they come forward in their turn to hole out on that beloved eighteenth putting green1 which1 with the clubhouse of the ,royal and ,ancient beyond it1 has during recent times comprised almost the entire circle of his daily vision4 ,each time ,i go to ,st4 ,andrews ,i find him still cheery1 and indeed it seems to me a little cheerier than the last time that ,i saw him taking the sun in his chair4 ,there is the cheery respectful greeting and the felicitous remark that it is 8a gran' day for a roond10 and in the next moment he turns his head to mutter a grumble towards those 8boys10 who are idling away a few spare minutes outside ,forgan's shop1 and are giving evidence of the freshness of the life that is in them1 to which ,tom1 a stickler for decorum in all connected with golf1 however humbly or indirectly1 demurs4 ,like most others who are running up the score of their life's round towards the ninety mark1 he is prone to tell you that times have much changed1 and that the boys were more sedate in the days when he was one of them4 ,that is as it may be4 ,but despite all the antics of the boys1 and the little irritations that they give to old ,tom1 he remains a cheery ,tom to the last1 just as he has always been4 ,his life throughout has been imbued with an optimism which has always been the most attractive feature of his character4 ,every good golfer is an optimist4 ,i deny that it is possible to be a good golfer in the best sense and not be an out-and-out optimist4 ,another fine thing about ,tom1 and one that has always endeared him to the golfing world1 is the fact that there has never been anything in the least niggardly in the gratitude which he extends towards the game with which his life has been bound up4 ,suggest to ,tom that there is anything better in life than golf1 and you have done the first thing towards raising up a barrier of reserve between him and you4 ,listen to how he spoke of the game of his heart on a ,new ,year's ,day twenty-one years back from now1 when even then he was by way of becoming an old man4 8,an' it hadna been for gowff10 he said to the patron who greeted him in the customary form for the first day of the year1 8,i'm no sure that at this day1 sir1 ,i wad hae been a leevin' man4 ,i've had ma troubles an' ma trials1 like the lave2 an' whiles ,i thocht they wad hae clean wauved me1 sae that to #8lay me doun an' dee'--as the song says--lookit about a' that was left in life for puir ,tam4 ,it was like as if ma vera sowle was a'thegither gane oot o' me4 ,but there's naething like a ticht gude gowing mautch to soop yer brain clear o' that kin' o' thing2 and wi' the help o' ma ,god an' o' gowff1 ,i've aye gotten warsled through somehow or ither4 ,the tae thing ta'en wi' the tither1 ,i haena had an ill time o't4 ,i dinna mind that iver ,i had an unpleasant word frae ony o' the many gentlemen ,i've played wi'4 ,i've aye tried--as ma business was1 sir--to mak' masel' pleesant to them2 an' they've aye been awfu' pleesant to me4 ,an' noo1 sir1 to end a long and maybe a silly crack--bein' maistly about masel'--ye'll just come wi' me1 an' ye'll hae a glass o' gude brandy1 and ,i'll have ma pint o' black strap1 an' we'll drink a gude ,new ,year to ane anither1 an' the like to a' gude gowffers40 ,sportsman1 in the best sense1 ,tom has always been1 and he was a worthy predecessor of the men who are to-day at the head of the ranks of the professional golfers4 ,that is a pretty story that is told of ,captain ,broughton's challenge to ,tom to hole a putt for #ej4 ,as everybody knows1 ,tom was once famous as the man who missed the very shortest putts1 to whom there was duly delivered1 when he was at ,prestwick1 a letter which was addressed only to the 8,misser of ,short ,putts1 ,prestwick40 ,on the occasion under notice ,tom was playing to the ,high ,hole on the old course at ,st4 ,andrews1 and had got into sore trouble1 so that he was playing two or three more when ,captain ,broughton happened to pass by and became a witness of what was happening4 ,tom1 be it noted1 always belonged to golfers of that fine and sportmanlike persistency1 who would never give up a hole while there was a single spark of hope remaining alight4 8,oh1 pick up your ball1 ,tom1 it's no use60 said the ,captain half chidingly4 8,na1 na10 answered ,tom1 8,i might hole it60 8,if you do ,i'll give you #ej10 retorted the ,captain1 and it seemed a very safe retort too4 8,done60 responded ,tom1 and thereupon made one more stroke with his iron club1 and lo6 the ball hopped on to the green1 and glided on and on towards the hole1 hesitated as it came nearer to it1 curled round towards it1 crept nearer and nearer until it was on the lip--and down6 ,he had holed6 ,then said the triumphant ,tom1 8,that will make a nice little nest-egg for me to put in the bank10 and the ,captain looked very serious and went his way4 ,a few days later the ,captain came along with the #ej1 and with a smile and a compliment offered it to ,tom as the fruits of his achievement2 but ,tom declined absolutely to take a penny of it4 8,i thank ye1 ,captain1 and ,i'm grateful to ye all the same2 but ,i canna tak' the money1 because1 ye see1 ye wisna really meaning it1 and it wisna a real wager40 ,and to that he stuck4 ,,vi ,there are alarms and excursions in the ball business daily1 and the player takes a devoted interest in them all4 ,the trade is striving with might and main to put ten yards on to the drive of little ,tomkins1 and poor old grandfather1 who began his golf at sixty1 may think as he goes off to sleep at night that perhaps by the morning there will be a new ball on the market which will enable him to get his handicap down to #bj4 ,the good inventors are doing all that they can for him4 ,they are trying everything and each thing in all possible different ways4 ,the other day a great professional was taking stock of his shop1 and he found that he had twenty-seven different varieties of rubber-cored balls in hand4 ,and many golfers feel that they must try them all and each new one as it comes out4 ,the evolution of the golf ball is one of the most wonderful things of its kind4 ,all of us who have played golf for more than five years can plume ourselves on the fact that we lived in golf in the earlier era of the gutta2 it is strange to think that possibly half of the present golfing population cannot say that1 so quickly has the game been coming on of late4 ,but not one golfer in five thousand of those living now played in the days of the feather-stuffed ball1 which was the pioneer4 ,it had the game to itself up to #ahdh1 which was the year that the gutta came in4 ,st4 ,andrews was the great centre of manufacture of the 8featheries10 and in the shop of ,allan ,robertson alone there were some three thousand a year made4 ,of course three thousand rubber-cores would be nothing in these days1 but making a ball was a big job then1 and they were expensive1 costing about four shillings each4 ,and a single topped shot with an iron finished them absolutely6 ,the ballmakers bought the little leather cases ready made from the ,st4 ,andrews saddlers1 a small hole being left to stuff the feathers in4 ,the feathers were boiled1 and it took a large hatful to stuff a ball tight with them4 ,mr4 ,campbell of ,saddell is believed to have taken the first gutta balls to ,st4 ,andrews1 and when he did so there was consternation everywhere4 ,they thought the trade in the featheries would be ruined1 and that anyone could make the new balls4 ,so an attempt was made to boycott them1 and it is even said that ,allan ,robertson bought up all the lost balls that were found in the whins and destroyed them by fire6 ,tom ,morris was working in his shop then1 and they quarrelled so violently the first day when ,tom used a gutta that they parted for ever4 ,tom himself tells the story in this way3 8,i can remember the circumstances well4 ,allan could not reconcile himself at first to the new ball at all1 just in the same way as ,mr4 ,john ,low and many other golfers could not take to the ,haskell when it first appeared4 ,but the gutta became the fashion very quickly1 as the rubber-cored ball has done1 so what could we do8 ,one day1 and it is one that will always be clearly stamped on my memory1 ,i had been out playing golf with a ,mr4 ,campbell of ,saddell1 and ,i had the misfortune to lose all my supply of balls1 which were1 you can well understand1 very much easier lost in those days1 as the fairway of the course was ever so much narrower then than it is now1 and had thick1 bushy whins close in at the side4 ,but never mind that4 ,i had1 as ,i said1 run short of balls1 and ,mr4 ,campbell kindly gave me a gutta one to try4 ,i took to it at once1 and as we were playing in1 it so happened that we met ,allan ,robertson coming out1 and someone told him that ,i was playing a very good game with one of the new gutta balls1 and ,i could see fine1 from the expression of his face1 that he did not like it at all1 and when we met afterwards in his shop1 we had some high words about the matter1 and there and then we parted company1 ,i leaving his employment4 ,there are two big bushes out there in ,allan's old garden4 ,well1 one of them was planted by him and the other by me1 just about that same time1 so they cannot be young bushes now40 ,but by #ahej the guttas were in general use and nobody was much the worse4 ,it is odd to reflect that golfers were very near the rubber core several times during the fifty-four years that the gutta held office4 ,as we were told in the big law case1 an old lady made balls that were wound with rubber thread to make them bounce more2 but1 nearer to our rubber-core1 there were two golfers who at different times and places are said to have made what was to all intents and purposes just the same ball in principle that we use to-day1 but not so thoroughly made and perfected4 ,one of these golfers used to make them and give them to his friends4 ,but there was no advertising and not so much enterprise in the way of companies with big capital in those days1 and these inventors let their chance go by4 ,what a chance6 ,there were millions1 and millions again1 in their idea4 ,none the less the ,americans deserve the credit for being the men who gave us the rubber-cored ball as we know it4 ,but for their belief in it1 and their enterprise1 there would have been no rubber-cores to-day1 and perhaps far fewer golfers4 ,let me tell the real story of how they came by their idea and their determination4 ,in the early summer of #ahih1 ,mr4 ,coburn ,haskell was the guest of ,mr4 ,wirk1 one of the magnates of the ,american rubber industry1 at his house in ,cleveland1 ,ohio1 and both being golfers1 they golfed all day and talked golf during dinner and afterwards4 ,it was these dinner conversations that brought about the ,haskell ball1 revolutionised the game1 and made an industry which is the most thriving of all connected with sport4 ,both gentlemen agreed that they wanted a better ball than the gutta1 something that would go farther4 ,at last1 after many sittings1 one of them observed that something might be done by winding rubber under tension4 ,winding it without such tension would result in the ball being too soft4 ,this idea was elaborated during the next night or two1 and then ,mr4 ,wirk hurried away to his factory1 obtained some rubber strands1 and he and ,mr4 ,haskell spent nearly a day in winding1 by their own hands and in secret1 the first ball of the new era4 ,they covered it with gutta-percha and gave it to a professional to try1 without informing him of the nature of what he was trying4 ,they watched anxiously for the result1 and with the very first shot that the man had with it he carried a bunker that had never been carried before1 beating the best drive that had ever been made on that course by many yards4 ,then the two makers smiled happily at each other4 ,they knew that they were 8on a good thing40 ,it took more than two years to invent a machine to do the winding1 and some time longer to perfect the process4 ,then the ,haskell killed the gutta in a season4 ,before that ,britain supplied ,america with all her balls4 ,afterwards she sent none2 but the makers of the ,haskell bought #cj1jjj dozen that had been sent over1 for the sake of the gutta-percha of which they were made1 and at the bare price of that material4 ,in the first five months of #aijc the ,american people shipped #dj1jjj dozen of their balls to this country4 ,so were the tables turned4 ,now they ship very few indeed1 as we make our balls ourselves4 ,instead1 they are threatening ,american golfers as to what will happen if they catch them playing on ,american courses with ,british balls4 ,of the little ball that was thought out over the dinner table in ,ohio on those hot summer evenings there are now half a million used in a week in the busy season on ,british courses1 and some fifteen millions1 at a cost of about a million pounds1 in the course of the season6 ,but yet not one man in a thousand who looks upon his beautiful white rubber core when it is new knows what and how much is inside it4 ,in one ball there are #aib yards of thread1 the whole of which is stretched to eight times its original length1 so that1 as it is in the ball1 there are #aecf yards of it--nearly a mile4 ,this thread has to be wound round something4 ,it has commonly been wound round a tiny piece of wood2 now1 in the case of some balls1 it is being wound round little bags of gelatine and things like that4 ,some people are under the delusion that in the case of such balls the whole centre is gelatine1 and that there is no rubber4 ,,vii ,the man who has the courage to enter upon a medal round or a match with a keen opponent and play with a cheap1 or cheaper1 ball1 is a rarity1 and an admirable one4 ,faith goes for a long way in these matters4 ,give a man the most expensive ball on the market to play with1 and he feels that he has got something which will do justice to his capabilities1 and occasionally let him off with light penalties for some of his errors4 ,let him have a cheap ball and he is uneasy1 with the idea that nothing is likely to go right for him4 ,when he has faith in his ball--his expensive ball--he plays accordingly1 that is to say1 he plays with confidence1 and the probabilities are1 of course1 that in such case he will play better than he would otherwise do1 especially if he makes a good start4 ,if he has not so much faith in his ball--because it is cheap--he will not play so well1 because he will play without confidence4 ,this is really a truism which is emphasised over and over again on the links every day4 ,as this player cannot test his balls accurately and show for a certainty which one is better than others1 he has naturally faith in the more expensive1 because it ought to be better1 whether it is or not4 ,so one comes quite logically to the conclusion that the most expensive balls are the best4 ,now suppose that the makers of any of our leading brands of florin balls were at this stage to reduce the price of their specialities to a shilling each4 ,what would be the attitude of these golfers to that ball8 ,they would say to themselves1 or suspect1 that these makers were taking something out of the quality of their wares1 and if they suspected that1 they would almost certainly find innumerable happenings in their next match1 which in their opinion would give the utmost possible support to their theory4 ,every drive that fell short of the proper standard would be put down to the makers of the ball2 this really very funny golfer would shake his head and say that it was a great pity1 and so forth1 but that he would have to give up this shilling ball1 of which at two shillings he was so very fond4 ,and he would do it4 ,but all the time there may not be a particle of difference between the old two-shilling ball and the new shilling one4 ,once again one is tempted to the fancy that there is a good future for a reasonably good ball to be sold at five shillings4 ,it would not be a popular ball1 because there is a large proportion of players to whom this one would at last be too expensive2 but all who could afford to play with it by making some little sacrifice1 such as by cycling to the links instead of going by train1 by carrying their own clubs two or three times a week instead of employing a caddie1 or1 simpler still1 by reducing the weekly or monthly allowance for domestic purposes to the lady of the household because of the hard times1 would certainly do so4 ,and as the rich golfers would play with it also1 it would have a good sale1 and if it cost no more to make than the florin balls it would be very profitable to the manufacturers4 ,all the ordinary golfers would play well with it4 ,they would feel that they had the very best1 that at last they could do themselves justice4 ,they would have confidence4 ,queer world this of golf6 ,,viii 8,the course is black with parsons10 was said one fine ,monday at the outset of his game by a man who had been kept waiting for a most unconscionable time while a minor canon and a plain vicar had been worrying away in bunkers on opposite sides of the first short hole4 ,in this observation there was some evident exaggeration1 but it is being borne in upon us every day how more and more popular is this diversion becoming with the cloth1 as indeed it should and might be expected to be1 since golf makes its greatest appeal to those of the most thoughtful and philosophical temperaments1 such as clergymen should possess4 ,excellent is this association1 and it is a poor and threadbare humour that is constantly fancying the cleric in such exasperation with his game that ordinary modes of expression are insufficient for him4 ,having heard of the worthy divine who was horribly bunkered and in a heel-mark at the ,redan at ,north ,berwick1 to whom the most excellent of caddies1 8big0 ,crawford observed1 8,noo1 gin an aith wad relieve ye1 dinna mind me02 and of the other one who was reported as repeating the ,athanasian ,creed at the bottom of 8,hell0--the bunker of that name on the ,st4 ,andrews course--one would wish to go no farther with such stories4 ,the celebrated ,bishop ,potter of ,new ,york was playing golf on the course at ,saranac1 and he made a mighty attempted drive that topped the ball1 and another one that tore up the turf1 and yet a third that almost missed the ball1 and each time he uttered a soothing 8,sh-sh-sh-sh-sh60 ,but the caddie was himself a golfer of a very stern and human school1 and in his great annoyance he exclaimed1 8,man alive6 sh-sh-sh-sh won't send that ball where you want it to go to60 ,the ,rev4 ,silvester ,horne1 who is one of the keenest of the clerical golfers1 and has been known to captain a side of parsons occasionally1 once drew up a system of conduct to be observed by brother clergymen when playing the game1 and a very excellent system it was1 with severe adjurations against the doing of many things such as are common with the ordinary golfer1 and certain small licences permitted to make the path a trifle less difficult than it might otherwise be4 ,there was a worthy rector who was given to golf1 and was somewhat sensitive upon the subject of the large scores that were made by his foozling4 ,he had a pretty way2 he did not count his score himself1 though who knows what subconscious ideas he may or may not have formed as to its dimensions8 ,but be that as it may1 he would say to his caddie as at last he flopped the ball on to the green at the short hole1 8,now1 my boy1 how many have ,i played this time80 ,the caddie1 being official counter to the rector1 would say at once1 8,six1 sir60 ,then the reverend gentleman would stop suddenly in his march forwards1 and would turn upon this miserable little boy with a severe and awful frown1 and would say1 or almost shriek1 8,six6 six6 six6 ,whatever are you saying1 my boy8 ,have you been watching the game8 ,do you really mean six80 ,the caddie was utterly cowed4 8,n--n--no1 sir10 he would stammer1 8,i'm very sorry2 ,i m--m--mean five60 8,ha6 ,that is better10 his reverence smiled4 8,yes1 no doubt it is five2 five1 certainly4 ,let it be five4 ,but0--and this very seriously--8my boy1 it is of the greatest importance to count the strokes correctly at this game1 and let this be a warning to you4 ,take great care with the counting40 ,and yet it was six4 ,but1 tell us1 why is it that the clergyman1 with all his magnificent opportunities1 is so seldom anything like a good player1 so often has a handicap deep down in the teens8 ,you may see him on the links six days a week1 and yet he goes on from year to year no nearer to the degree of scratch1 still driving his short and very wayward ball with that nervous1 fearful stance of his1 that slow1 hesitating swing4 ,i can almost tell the clergyman on the tee1 however he may be disguised1 he is such a doubter4 ,yet1 with his opportunities1 the ,church ought to be by way of finding a candidate for the championship4 ,can it be that the philosophical temperament in excess kills keenness and makes a man content in his own little kingdom of foozling and shortness-- 8,contented if he might enjoy ,the things that others understand40 ,there can be no other explanation4 ,but it is to be set down perhaps to the clergyman's credit that he is so often unorthodox in his methods4 ,on the links he is the broadest-minded man alive1 and he is tolerant of all things4 ,why1 if ever in ,london one wants to be reminded of just the way in which the ,barry swing is done1 one might seek out none other than the ,bishop of ,london1 for if ever a man performs that fall-back1 bent-kneed swipe it is ,dr4 ,ingram1 as photographs will prove4 ,if this is to be1 then an archbishop might play no stymies1 and how then shall a curate become a champion8 ,,ix ,we have not that form and ceremony in the management of our golf clubs that our ancestors had1 nor is there so much idea and sentiment employed4 ,golf in these days seems often to be regarded too much as a work-a-day affair1 so that at few places besides ,st4 ,andrews is there any real preservation of the old feeling4 ,else1 the true spirit dominating1 why should there not still be chaplains to all the old-established golf clubs8 ,how much the chaplain counted for in the great golfing days of old may be gathered from the minute of the ,honourable ,company which they made when settling an appointment to the office4 ,the club then had its home at ,leith1 the date being #agfd1 and it was entered in the book--8,the ,captain and ,council1 taking into their serious consideration the deplorable situation of the ,company in wanting a godly and pious ,chaplain1 they did intreat the ,reverend ,doctor ,john ,dun1 ,chaplain to the ,right ,honourable the ,earl of ,galloway1 to accept the office of being ,chaplain to the ,golfers2 which desire the said ,doctor1 out of his great regard to the ,glory of ,god and the good of the ,souls of the said ,company1 was ,religiously pleased to comply with4 ,therefore the ,company and ,council ,did and ,do hereby nominate1 present1 and appoint the said ,rev4 ,doctor ,john ,dun to be their ,chaplain accordingly4 ,the said ,reverend ,doctor did accept of the ,chaplaincy1 and in token thereof said ,grace after dinner40 ,whether the general company of golfers is at present in as 8deplorable situation0 as the ,honourable ,company was at this time1 is a nice point which need not be inquired into4 ,x ,in a day when the young school of golfers is making such a determined advance it is often difficult to make distinctions of merit and to determine who are the most promising and who will most probably become the really great golfers of the future4 ,we are a little too much inclined to get into the way of saying that this man is likely to be an amateur champion of the future1 and that that player is almost a certainty for the high honours of the game4 ,when people talk in this irresponsible fashion they forget several things--that competition now is many times keener than it was in the days when the ,balls and the ,taits and the ,hiltons first became champions1 and when it was quite safe to prophesy beforehand that they would be1 and that in the future it will be keener still2 that there is more luck than ever in the game and in the selection of champions1 and that if the honour is to be denied to such a fine player as ,mr4 ,john ,graham1 who has forgotten more about the game than some of the younger school know1 nobody should say that others are likely to be champions2 and that because a man does some fine golf for a week or two it does not follow that he is a fine golfer4 ,the game no doubt is easier now than it used to be1 and it is more difficult for fine distinctions in merit between players to be reproduced in the balance of holes2 but still in the long run knowledge and skill will tell1 and those men of the younger school who are deeply thoughtful and scientific golfers will in the end separate themselves from those of their rivals whose methods are more of the slapdash order4 ,with all the advance of the young school1 and its scores of men with high plus handicaps1 each of whom is declared to be good enough to win the championship if it finds him on his day1 one would seriously hesitate to suggest that there are more than five or six young players at the present time who show any promise at all of becoming as good golfers as ,ball and ,hilton and ,laidlay have been4 ,the remainder may be only the veriest trifle their inferiors1 and the difference may be so small that it may constantly be not indicated in the results of competitions1 or it may even show a balance to the credit of the players whom we are regarding as the inferior ones4 ,but in the long run the minority1 who know more about the game1 will triumph1 and will be separated from the general ruck4 ,with all the talk that there has been about the levelling up of the players as the result of the rubber-cored ball1 depend upon it that in twenty years from now we shall still have a high table in golf1 at which will sit the acknowledged masters of the game1 just as some of those whose names we have mentioned have sat at this table for the past decade or two4 ,,xi ,perhaps it would be as well for the golf of some of us if now and again a time of quiet and inactive thought were enforced4 ,it is certain that many men feel much the better in their game for having been deprived of play for a time1 greatly irritated as they have been4 ,the fact is that he who is a faithful golfer often plays it mentally when real shots on the links are denied to him4 ,it turns out that this mental golf is of a very thorough order2 never is the player so analytical and severely critical of his methods as then1 and never does he grope more patiently or more intelligently for the hidden light that is the source of success4 ,it is simple fact that men have discovered grave faults in their play in this way1 such as they never suspected during the whole season that they had been committing them in real play on the links4 ,and in the same way others have come upon great secrets of fine details of method1 making for the improvement of their game1 which they would never have encountered at golf on a course4 ,the chief1 if not the only reason1 and one that is quite good enough to be convincing1 for this somewhat peculiar state of affairs is1 that this is essentially practice and experimental golf1 in which the player is constantly wondering and trying something new2 while the golf that he plays with clubs and balls on the green grass is far too often exclusively match-play or score-play golf1 and that is regarded at the time as too responsible a thing to permit of any experiment4 ,the old ways may be bad ways1 and no doubt many of them are2 but we must stand by them on occasions of this kind1 we say to ourselves1 when the wise precept of an old player-friend flashes across our mind1 the opponent being one up with three to go1 and a very vindictive fellow4 ,it is evident1 then1 that we do too much of this match and score play1 and that the consequence is that we are never given time and the opportunity for thought and practice and the working out of experiments and ideas that might prove of the utmost moment4 ,our game runs along a little old-constructed channel1 and it gets clogged with fault4 ,when we go out to golf for the day1 no other possibility presents itself to our minds than that of the two rounds1 one before luncheon1 and the other one after1 with living opponent or opponents1 and always upon such occasions we must trust to the old ways to pull us through4 ,how much would it make for future improvement if one of the rounds1 or a long afternoon1 were devoted to simple lonely practice with one club1 or at most two1 in which new ideas might be tried1 theories considered1 and different and perhaps more effective ways to salvation worked out4 ,spend an hour thus in close communion with one's cleek or iron1 and what an intimacy is established that never would have been otherwise6 ,there used to be suspicion1 distrustfulness1 fear1 and neglect--and what may follow upon such relations save utter failure8--but now there is friendship1 and an appreciation of capabilities and qualities that bodes ill for the arrogance of the opponent who has seen so many failures with this cleek or iron1 that he has come to think that when it is unbagged it is time for him to be adding one more hole to his score4 ,the man who never does any of this practice golf never gives himself a chance of learning how to play more than one stroke with one club1 and when there is only one stroke to a club it is not generally a very good or very reliable stroke1 as can easily be shown4 ,thinking thus1 we perceive the value of influenza and the minor illnesses1 and come to realise the truth of the remark by one earnest golfer1 that the thing that of all others had most improved his game of golf was a severe attack of typhoid fever1 which all but summarily terminated his career4 ,when this man told us that he emerged from that disquieting experience a new and better golfer1 and one more thorough1 the observation seemed cryptic to the point of absurdity1 and it was not taken very seriously4 ,but it is certainly true that a very earnest golfer will think long and hard upon all points of his game during a dull period of enforced rest and idleness such as comes at sickness1 and then all the sins of omission and commission loom up in his troubled mind1 and he corrects the faults that he knows now1 as probably he would not admit before1 went to the undoing of his game4 ,the entire position is revised2 in the early days of convalescence we send downstairs to the study for some favourite volumes1 and we look up ,vardon1 ,braid1 or ,taylor on a subtle point of which we have been making mental examination4 ,the thoughtful studies of ,mr4 ,john ,low are a stimulant at such times4 ,such introspection is a fine thing and most fruitful1 and little wonder after all that the player does indeed return to health a wiser and a more complete golfer1 who will now go farther in skill upon the links than ever he would have done in the old1 narrow1 careless days4 ,what follows is a story that bears somewhat upon the moral that we have been thinking over4 ,there was a man who was in want of a shot that would come between the driving iron and the wood1 and he could not find one4 ,of the cleek he had no good word to say2 he could not play it4 ,of driving mashies he had several1 and some of them were well enough at times1 and at others they were like the cleek1 so that what with his driving mashies and his cleeks1 this man was in constant jeopardy when there was a shot of a hundred and sixty or seventy yards to play1 and so he was unhappy in his game4 ,it happened that one of his driving mashies was one that had been gifted to him upon a day by a great player1 who said1 8,i pick this from all that ,i have seen2 may ,i never play more if it is not a perfect club60 ,the man tried it1 and it seemed to him that the head wanted more ballast1 and after a little while he allowed the club to be gathered to his fine collection of idle relics1 saying to himself consolingly1 8,what suits one man does not suit another40 ,thus it came to pass that the perfect club that a champion player declared he would love to play a long-short hole with to save the life of himself or his dearest friend1 lay for months and years in a dark cupboard4 ,in the even cycle of this golfer's life the time of torment came round once again1 and1 as it had seemed before1 it was more desperate than it had ever been4 ,there appeared to be no remedy4 ,all the tricks had been tried1 and all the clubs generally put into commission had been experimented with1 and there was no good result4 ,and then a strange thing happened4 ,things were at about their worst1 when1 as sometimes was the case1 this poor tormented golfer awoke in his bed very early one morning in summer4 ,the sun had not long broken the darkness2 it was about three o'clock4 ,being a man who went to bed betimes and who was early refreshed1 he did this time1 as on others1 lie in long thought upon the events of life and his own affairs1 the perfect stillness of the time conducing to effective contemplation4 ,and1 as was inevitable1 the chain of reflection brought him round to the prevailing worry of the game1 and for half an hour or so he considered this grave problem from every conceivable point of view1 and subjected each iron instrument that was concerned with it to the severest cross-examination1 from which none emerged with an unspotted reputation4 ,it is not always in the human golfer to attach entire blame to flesh and blood1 and wholly exonerate inanimate iron4 ,pride must have its place1 even in the times of adversity4 ,this man was self-assured that one reason for his failure--not the whole reason1 perhaps2 but still one reason--was that all his searchings and purchasings had yet left him without the club that he really needed1 that one which was resting somewhere in a shop or in another man's bag1 that was the affinity of his game1 the thing that was meant for him and which one day might come his way4 ,he had a vague instinct of what the feel of that club would be like1 of the shape of its head1 its balance1 and the length of the shaft4 ,when he encountered it he would know it at once for the long-sought-for club4 ,then1 as by a gift of the gods1 an idea flashed through his mind and caused him to start up1 thoroughly roused from the dreamy state of lethargy4 ,that club6 ,that old despised club that had come to him from the champion with such a glowing recommendation1 wasted entirely6 ,that was the club that was wanted2 it must have been one of the most irresponsible and illogical moments of his golfing lifetime when it was rejected4 ,did it not conform to that ideal that was vaguely felt in the mind8 ,as he handled it in imagination now1 did it not seem quite perfect1 that above all other clubs its true motto was 8,far and sure40 ,when a golfer makes discoveries of this kind about his old clubs1 that1 poor things1 cannot speak for themselves and tell him what he is doing wrong1 he is man enough to own his previous mistakes1 and this player owned them4 ,he was all contrition1 repentance1 humility4 ,he wished to abase himself before the champion club and promote it to the captaincy of his bag4 ,therefore when there is no sound to be heard save the chirruping of the birds and the creaking of stairs1 see this inspired golfer leave his room1 clad in a dressing-gown1 at half-past three in the morning1 and go forward to the ransacking of a rubbish cupboard in search for the wanted club4 ,and there it was found at last1 a little rusty1 the marks of privation from golf and of severe neglect written plainly upon its face1 but sure enough that same grand club that had lived in the remembrance until at last it was appreciated4 ,yes1 it was just as it had been imagined to be4 ,it was the perfect club2 it would do what all others had failed to do4 ,happy club in which there is placed such belief and confidence1 for the less likely is it ever to disappoint6 ,in his mood of repentance the man gets a little emery and brightens up the blade until the first shafts of the morning sunlight glint upon it4 ,being a handy man with a tool or two1 he takes out the tack at the end of the grip and unwinds it1 laying it back again in some way to suit the fancy of the time4 ,and then the grip is waxed1 and the club is ready1 and it is laid to a ball on the hearth-rug1 and how that ball could be hit1 with a fine1 low1 skimming flight that would yield much length1 and the stroke1 having been something of a push1 would dump the ball at the end of it just down beside the flag6 ,it is no use4 ,let it be four o'clock or twelve1 why should the conventions keep us off the links when these exalted moods are upon us8 ,the golfer hurries through a bath1 puts his clothes about him1 and with the whole world of golf save this one unit still asleep1 even unto the most watchful greenkeeper1 he hurries down to the course with a few balls and just this one club1 this one fine club4 ,and there the truth of it all is realised4 ,it is the club that was wanted1 and the shots that come from it are just as perfect as shots by this man will ever be4 ,the balls are fired off up to the first green one by one1 and it is found then that such are the virtues of this club of exquisite balance that it is a splendid thing to putt with6 ,it is a glorious morning4 ,the pearly sky seems to speak well of weather prospects for the day when it opens out1 and there is not wind enough to curl a wavelet on the sea1 which simply makes a little soothing creamy lapping on the pebbles4 ,how grand is the fine expanse of the course in this morning freshness1 and is there not something of rugged beauty in that huge sandy projection which marks the short hole far out8 ,this indeed is the time of day for the golfer to be abroad4 ,happy man who is in this mood1 having found that which was lost4 ,the golfing life is not the same4 ,a little thought and much confidence1 and see to what they will carry you6 ,make the most of them1 you happy fellow1 for they may not last--they may not last6 ,,the ,,queer ,,side ,i ,probably it is true that golf carries its votaries farther in enthusiasm than does any other game or sport4 ,it is characteristic of the golfing enthusiasm that it does but increase as time goes on1 and that not in the case of one man in twenty does it show any diminution1 while the game is such a jealous mistress that it is rarely the convert to golf maintains any regular association with other sports unless he is of such complete leisure that it is impossible for golf alone to fill up his hours4 ,practically every golfer1 therefore1 is a keen enthusiast1 and though we dislike to hear the phrase come from the lips of those who are not of us1 we have to confess that there is some justification for the extremity of this enthusiasm being described as 8golf fever02 for indeed at times it provokes the player to the doing of many things which in the cold light of reason afterwards would not be regarded as completely rational4 ,we are all enthusiasts2 but who was the greatest enthusiast who ever was8 ,an impossible question to answer1 of course1 if for no other reason than that the limit appears to have been reached by hundreds2 but tradition can always settle matters of this kind in its own way1 and it has determined for us who was the keenest golfer1 and has seen to it1 moreover1 that his memory shall be safely perpetuated4 ,thus we have old ,alexander ,m,kellar as the patron saint of the man who likes to get his three and four rounds a day in the summer-time1 and is miserable unless he has a club in his hand in his resting hours4 ,it is something to have become regarded as the keenest golfer1 for it goes without saying that every other worldly consideration of every description whatsoever must have been sacrificed to the attainment of that vast distinction4 ,such a man must have really earned the title of 8,cock o' the ,green10 which was given to ,m,kellar1 and with that title his fame will be handed down through the generations as it is affixed to an historic print4 ,this picture of the old worthy1 who indeed was fairly 8mad0 on the game1 was first circulated more than a hundred years ago1 and has become one of our most cherished golfing antiquities4 ,his enthusiasm brimmed over when in the act of play1 and 8,by the la' ,harry1 this shall not go for nothing60 as he used to say involuntarily when addressing the ball1 became something of a catch-phrase in his district4 ,he did his golf from ,edinburgh1 and ,bruntsfield ,links was his playing ground4 ,how often does one find that they are the keenest golfers who do not take up the game in their youth8 ,it may be true that generally the man who does not swing a club as a child has not such a good chance of becoming a player with pretensions to championship form as have those who made such early acquaintance with the game2 but do we not find that these men become the fondest and most thorough players1 making up in enthusiasm and real enjoyment what they lack in skill8 ,thus there is a grand compensation after all1 and let us weep no more for the golf that we missed in our schooldays2 for some of those who played it then are they who now find their greatest ease of heart for some weeks of the year at fishing1 shooting1 or some other sport in which something has to be killed4 ,and so the 8,cock o' the ,green0 did not begin his golf at all until he was quite a middle-aged man1 and all likelihood of his ever becoming a really finished player had completely vanished4 ,and he was of comparatively humble means4 ,he had saved a little money1 such as went for some justification for his constant idleness2 but his wife found it necessary to keep a tavern in ,edinburgh when they went to live there4 ,m,kellar gave no hand in the management of this tavern2 he had no time for anything but golf1 and bitter were the upbraidings that he had to endure from his worthy and industrious dame as a consequence4 ,mrs4 ,m,kellar may indeed be set down as the first that we know anything about of that long line of sufferers who go by the name of golf-widows4 ,this lady might have borne her isolation better if it had not been the fact that she was somewhat mocked for it1 and found the name of her lord a byword in every neighbour's house and at every street corner for his over-indulgence in the game of golf1 fair 8cracked0 on it1 as everybody took him to be4 ,she tried to shame him once1 but had much the worse of the experiment4 ,she thought to make him a butt for the laughter of his companions by taking to the links one day his dinner and his nightcap4 ,but when she arrived there he was in the throes of a hard-fought match1 and when she offered him the meal he answered her kindly1 but with some touch of impatience1 that she might wait if she chose until the game was completed1 when he would attend to her1 but that for the time being he had no leisure for dinner4 ,and the game went on4 ,so she came to loathe the very name of golf1 and was scarcely civil to the tavern customers who were players and friends of her good man4 ,but one day she had a sweet revenge upon him4 ,she set out for a journey to ,fife1 and was expected to be away for at least a day4 ,no sooner was her back turned than hospitable ,m,kellar went forth to bid his golfing friends to his house1 which1 when its lady was in residence1 they might in no wise enter4 ,a fine feast was prepared1 and the party was a merry one1 when the door opened1 and there stood1 with a countenance drawn with suppressed wrath1 ,mrs4 ,m,kellar1 who had been obliged to return1 through the ferry being impassable as a consequence of the severe weather that prevailed4 ,every morning the 8,cock o' the ,green0 hurried through his breakfast1 and away he went to ,bruntsfield ,links with all the haste possible1 never returning home again until night had fallen4 ,sometimes1 indeed1 he did not come then1 if there were any good golfing excuse for not doing so4 ,many were the times when he was discovered playing at the short holes by the dim glimmer of a lamp1 and a moonlight night was an almost irresistible temptation to him4 ,heat and cold did not diminish his ardour2 and in the winter1 when the snow covered the course1 he would do his utmost to persuade an opponent to share a round with him2 and if he failed he would go out alone and wander the whole way round playing his ball from flag to flag1 the greens and holes not being discoverable4 ,like all keen golfers he loved the foursome1 and preferred to be tested by it if he could find a partner of any quality whatever4 ,one day he was in ,leith and fell in conversation with some strangers there1 glass-blowers they were1 and1 as always1 the subject turned upon the game1 and from the game in general to the prowess of the 8,cock o' the ,green0 in particular4 ,the men of ,leith affected to think little of his play1 and challenged him to a match1 upon which moment a ,bruntsfield youngster made his appearance4 8,by gracious1 gentlemen60 exclaimed ,m,kellar1 8here is a boy1 and we will play you for a guinea60 ,the match took place1 and victory lay with ,m,kellar1 who was so excited when the last hole had been played that he ran post haste to the shop of the clubmaker1 screaming1 8,by gracious1 gentlemen1 the old man and the boy have beat them off the green60 ,the artist ,kay1 who made the picture of him1 went out on to the links one day to draw it from the life unbeknown to the hero1 and when he came to know about it afterwards he was sorely disappointed that he had not been given the opportunity of posing4 8,what a pity60 he lamented4 8,by gracious6 ,if ,i had but known ,i would have shown him some of my capers60 ,perhaps it was as well he did not4 ,when he won his match he would sometimes be so mad with joy that he would dance round the hole for a minute4 ,such delight was pure1 for though he did wager a little on his matches he did not risk more than he could well afford to lose1 and it was the game he tried to win and not the little that he bet4 ,on ,sundays1 when there was no golf to be played1 he fulfilled the duties of doorkeeper to an ,episcopalian church1 and held the plate4 ,douglas ,gourlay1 the famous ballmaker1 one day put a ball into the plate by way of joke1 guessing what would happen4 ,he was right1 ,m,kellar's golfing cupidity was too much for him4 ,his eyes glistened1 and in an instant the ball was transferred to his pocket4 ,poor old ,m,kellar6 ,weak enough he may have been1 but he did love his game as absolutely nothing else in life1 which for him ended nearly a century since4 ,,ii ,it is an ancient game2 but let no man think yet that we have realised a fair part of the curious situations that may arise on the links when the golfer hits a ball1 or that we have a full appreciation of the possibilities of their complexity4 ,very quaint are some of the difficulties that twice a year are presented to the ,rules of ,golf ,committee sitting at ,st4 ,andrews for the special purpose of discovering solutions thereto4 ,from far ,manawatu once there came a plaintive cry for help4 ,these ,new ,zealand golfers confessed that in all the holes on their greens there is an iron box with a small flag on the top to mark the holes4 ,in an inter-club match the caddie of one of the players before leaving the green1 when replacing the box1 put it into the hole1 flag downwards1 exposing a sharp point on the top4 ,one of the next two players1 when approaching to that hole1 landed his ball on the top of the box in the hole1 and it remained there4 ,then the arguments began1 and not until a letter had sailed the seas from the ,antipodes1 and the ,royal and ,ancient ,club had sent her answer back to this outpost of her empire of golf1 did they subside4 ,the man who had executed this wonderful shot had held that he could reverse the box and put it into its proper position and claim the hole4 ,it hurt ,st4 ,andrews to think that away there in ,new ,zealand1 left to their own resources1 they should give themselves up to such queer-fangled contrivances as hole flags with boxes on them4 ,if a bit of cloth and a stick of sorts is good enough for the old course1 why should ,manawatu want what these ,royal and ,ancients sarcastically referred to as 8mechanical contrivances08 ,the high authority begged leave to observe that the ,rules of ,golf did not provide for such 8mechanical contrivances10 and the ,new ,zealanders were recommended to make local rules to suit them4 ,you may always tell from the form of the answer when the ,st4 ,andrews lip has curled at the question that has been asked of it4 ,nowadays the committee can hear the mention of a hedge without a rise in its temperature2 but when the secretary1 in reading out the problem of the moment1 has to say 8mud0 there is uneasiness still4 ,the committee move in their chairs1 they fidget1 they scowl1 somebody mutters 8,tut1 tut60 and they all cough to hide their agitation4 8,mud0 is the word you must not say4 ,i have not seen the committee in this agitation2 nobody except its own members has1 for it is a very private committee2 but this sudden disturbance can be imagined most clearly4 ,yet these inconsiderate golfers will keep on mentioning mud1 and ,st4 ,andrews answers them back with as much asperity as is consistent with the preservation of its own dignity4 ,one time in a matter of this kind they gave a snubbing to a ,kentish course4 ,the club there1 in all seriousness and innocence1 propounded a very pretty point4 8,playing in a foursome10 they said1 8,a is left by his partner's approach shot a six-inch putt for the hole2 but ,a's ball pitched in a small piece of wet mud left on the edge of the green 7presumably from the boot of a player in front74 ,a small piece of this mud clung to the ball1 and was on the side of the ball ,a had to strike4 ,a played the stroke1 and the ball and the mud stuck to his putter1 and the head of the putter and the ball on it were exactly above the hole40 ,this was surely a most delightful situation6 ,see how pretty is the combination of this foursome pair1 and how they do play each the game to suit the other1 thus3 8,his partner then with his putter tapped the ball off ,a's putter and it fell into the hole40 ,a charming incident6 8,did ,a or his partner lose or halve the hole1 and would ,a have been within his rights in shaking the ball off into the hole1 or what should they have done80 ,said the ,committee to the secretary1 8,tell these good people that the ,committee have no experience of such tenacious mud1 and such a contingency should be provided for by the local rules10 and then they hurriedly spoke of the weather and the wind and the state of the eighteenth green1 and how the ,major got a bonny #c there the night before--anything to get this taste of ,kentish mud out of their ,st4 ,andrews mouths4 ,a point of some curious interest was that which arose in the course of medal play on the course of the ,higher ,bebington ,club some time ago4 ,a player had one of those most tantalising putts a yard in length to play1 and1 like many a man before him1 he missed it6 ,in his aggravation at the circumstance he snatched back his ball1 and1 without having holed it out1 he replaced it where it was before1 in order to try his putt over again1 to satisfy his amour propre that the holing of such a putt was not beyond his mortal capacity4 ,this is an old way of attempting to gain some small crumb of satisfaction from a very disappointing business4 ,at the second attempt he holed that putt1 but his partner then told him that he was obliged to disqualify him from the entire competition for not having holed out when making his putt4 ,the competitor agreed that he had done wrong1 and accepted this fate2 but some time later1 when he had fully thought over the business1 and read up the rules1 he protested4 ,yet his committee maintained that he really should be disqualified1 and after much argument the seers of the ,royal and ,ancient were begged to give their decision4 ,and it was a very interesting decision4 ,the high court held that ,rule #aj of stroke competitions applied1 and that1 therefore1 if the player replaced his ball directly behind the spot it occupied after he had missed the putt1 the penalty was two strokes only1 the second putt thus counting as in the competition1 though it is fairly clear that the competitor never intended it for it4 8,but10 said the committee1 8otherwise he was disqualified40 ,those who discover feelings and frames of mind behind the mask of simple sentences would be moved to say1 in this case1 that in that last simple sentence ,st4 ,andrews was trying to cover up somewhat the absurd position to which the rules brought this case2 for it was clear that the essence of the problem in relation to the law was as to whether the player replaced his ball behind the spot where it first stopped1 which came simply to this--,was he short of the hole the first time1 or did his ball run to either side8 ,if he was short1 then he was saved1 and he is allowed to go on under penalty of two strokes2 but if he over-ran the hole--which from the golf point of view was better than to be short--or if he went to either side1 then he would be disqualified4 ,that ruling has grown since then4 ,pity the club committees in their constant troubles4 ,was ever committee so sorely beset as that which had come1 by devious means1 to knowledge of the faults of its members1 and when honour seemed to forbid that the knowledge should be acted upon1 though otherwise would an injustice be done to the sinless golfers4 ,it was in ,county ,sligo4 ,a medal competition had been played1 and when all was over the members of the committee--as such high officers constantly solicitous for the welfare of things will--wandered through the rooms and the corridors of the club4 ,and it came to pass that one of them overheard a conversation that he was not supposed to overhear1 between two members of the club1 in which it was alleged that certain competitors had played on the putting greens before starting4 ,the committeeman knew then that these men should be disqualified2 but how was he to act8 ,he told his colleagues1 but they likewise were sore in mind as to whether they were justified in taking notice of the fact that had thus come to their knowledge4 ,were they bound to investigate this matter1 and prove it one way or the other1 or was it sufficient if they waited for someone to lay a formal objection8 ,in their despair they appealed to ,st4 ,andrews2 but this again is one of the nice points that the chief authority would rather others settled for themselves1 and they said accordingly1 that the committee must use their own discretion as to whether it was a case for their interference4 ,upon other occasions the committee at ,st4 ,andrews has been called upon to indicate the proper course of procedure when a ball1 after being played1 lodged in the turned-up part of a player's trousers4 ,it has been somewhat navely asked by ,kenmare whether1 in a mixed foursome1 when the lady missed the ball off the tee1 she should 8try0 again1 or whether her gallant partner should rid the tee of that persistent ball4 ,it had to tell the ,county ,down ,club that a player could not carry a special flat board round with him from which to make his tee shots2 and it has had to straighten out some quite frightful mix-ups in ladies' competitions4 ,sometimes it happens that some casual decision of this sort serves a good purpose in bringing the portion of the golf world that has been somewhat inclined to wander1 back to its duty in the observance of the strict letter of the law1 as in the autumn of #aijf1 when on the appeal of ,aldeburgh it declared how1 when in long grass or anything of the kind1 the player was only entitled to move so much of the obstruction as would enable him to find his ball in the first instance1 and was not entitled to arrange things so that he could see it while attempting to play it4 ,a player is not so entitled to a full view of his ball1 though he will sometimes tell you that he is4 ,,iii ,that which was regarded by our ancestors as a most amazing feat1 namely1 holing with the tee shot1 has become exceeding common4 ,one week not long ago it was done in five different parts of the country1 and in three other separate weeks there were four cases reported4 ,why this increase1 then1 of doing holes in #a8 ,the reason is simple after all4 ,it is not that it is any easier to do the trick than it used to be4 ,probably it is rather harder1 since it is more difficult to flop the rubber-cored ball down plump on the green at the short holes than it used to be in the days of the late lamented gutta1 and a good deal harder to make it sink down into the hole as it ought to do when it gets there1 instead of running around it and then away1 and generally behaving badly4 ,if it were any easier to do than it was formerly1 would not the champions be doing it8 ,but they are not4 ,harry ,vardon has still only one hole in #a to his credit1 and while ,braid gets his #b's very often1 the #a's don't come his way4 ,the simple reason for the frequency is the great increase of golf4 ,everybody plays golf now and is always playing1 and in such circumstances somebody must always be holing in #a1 or very nearly4 ,that is the simple fact1 and the man who now performs this feat is no longer worthy of a paragraph all to himself in the morning newspaper4 ,he will simply go along with half a dozen others in the weekly list4 ,still there is room for distinction in holing in #a yet1 and the men who crave for such notoriety need not despair4 ,if every man can hole in #a1 obviously the proper thing to do is to find some particular way of doing it that every man cannot equal1 or at least is not likely to do4 ,for example1 ,j4 ,s4 ,caird1 the ,newcastle-on-,tyne professional1 was out playing the other day1 when in the course of his game he took the fifteenth in #a in a very strange way4 ,he popped his ball up into the air with his mashie1 and down it came plump into the hole1 falling clean into the tin and never bouncing out again6 ,fancy pitching into the hole in #a6 ,luckily the caddie was standing there and took out the flag in time1 and one cannot be surprised that he was so overcome with the strangeness of the thing that happened1 that his imagination was fired until he saw something of the supernatural in it1 and believed that his eyes had witnessed more than they really had4 ,at all events1 to the players and to the people afterwards he described in the most circumstantial and convincing manner how the ball at one time seemed to be flying far past the green1 but how when just above him it came to a sudden stop in mid-air and then fell vertically into the hole6 ,why were we not told the name of this ball8 ,another advance on the simple feat of holing in one stroke is to do it twice within a year4 ,the first man to do this was ,mr4 ,l4 ,stuart ,anderson1 who took the tenth and fifteenth at ,balgownie 7,aberdeen7 in #a in #ahie4 ,since then ,i have heard of three other men having done it1 one at ,fort ,anne1 another at ,bristol1 and the third at ,tunbridge ,wells4 ,mr4 ,anderson1 by the way1 who is now the secretary of the ,royal ,portrush ,club1 holds the record for the greatest number of times that one man has done a hole in #a2 and here again is another suggestion to the ambitious one-stroke man4 ,mr4 ,anderson has done it seven times4 ,he began by doing it at the expense of his sister1 ,miss ,blanche1 at ,north ,berwick1 which perhaps did not matter much1 as sisters are indulgent1 and wound up for the time being by doing it 7the seventh at ,tavistock7 in the presence of and in a match against a parson1 which1 to say the least1 was indelicate4 ,i have heard of a lady who has done this thing four times4 ,another out-of-the-way feat is to hole in #a just when you hear that someone else has done so4 ,one ,april evening1 when the course at ,heaton ,moor had not the appearance of stirring events happening upon it1 such as would go down into history as records1 two of the members of the club1 not playing together1 did two different holes in #a each4 ,at ,christmas time in #ahii a most remarkable feat was performed by ,mr4 ,p4 ,h4 ,morton1 celebrated in his day as a ,cambridge bowler1 who took the first hole on the ,meyrick course at ,bournemouth twice in one day1 morning and afternoon1 with his shot from the tee4 ,it is a better achievement than usual to take a tolerably long hole in one stroke1 and1 in this class1 honours at present are with ,mr4 ,j4 ,f4 ,anderson1 who with a wind behind him and playing on a frost-bound course got the ninth at ,st4 ,andrews in a single shot1 and the ninth measures #bgg yards4 ,it must be accounted excellent also to do the trick one-handed1 as did an amateur with the promising name of ,willie ,park when playing to the eleventh on the relief course at ,troon4 ,mr4 ,park had to do it with one arm or not at all1 for he has only one1 and he was certainly to be congratulated on the fact of his unfortunate state not preventing him from graduating as a hole-in-oner4 ,men who seem to have an abnormal sense of humour say that it is killing to do a hole in #a when the other man is giving you a stroke4 ,the other man has then to do it in nothing to halve1 or #a less than nothing to win1 and the situation is delightful4 ,i have authentic information of this situation having arisen1 and it was rendered all the more interesting from the circumstance that the man giving the stroke was an ,open ,champion1 and the other party was a lady4 ,it was at the twelfth hole at ,walton ,heath1 and one need not hesitate to say that the man who was giving the stroke was ,james ,braid1 who thought awhile on the wonders of this most interesting world1 and then took a short cut to the next tee without troubling to play the short hole4 ,concerning the coincidence connected with the name of ,park1 just noticed1 it may have been perceived that two of our greatest heroes in these matters are of the name of ,anderson4 ,this coincidence can be carried a long step farther1 for perhaps the most valuable hole in #a ever gained was by another ,anderson1 and that was ,jamie1 the champion4 ,he was playing for the championship at ,prestwick and making his last round4 ,he knew he was very close up1 and that he had nothing to spare4 ,he was playing the next to the last hole on the course as it used to be--not as it is--and was just about to hit his tee shot when a girl standing close by remarked to her father that the player had teed his ball outside the teeing ground1 and that accordingly1 if he played his shot from there1 he would be disqualified altogether4 ,jamie heard1 looked1 and quietly removed his ball and placed it within the limited space4 ,then he made his shot and holed out in #a1 and very properly he raised his cap to the little girl and said1 8,thank you1 miss60 for she had done him a very good turn indeed4 ,a few minutes later he was in possession of the ,championship ,cup4 ,that was in #ahgh4 ,it is clear that the ,andersons are the men who do the holes in #a1 particularly as another of them1 ,mr4 ,w4 ,w4 ,anderson1 once in #ahic worked most gradually and systematically up to a hole in #a at ,north ,berwick by taking the fourth in #c1 the fifth in #b1 and the sixth in the minimum #a4 ,one in #a and three in #f6 ,the worst of these tricks is that you don't get anything for doing them2 you must pay instead4 ,the injustice of this arrangement has been borne in to many minds1 notably to that of ,mr4 ,balfour4 ,the right honourable gentleman has never holed in #a1 but he has done a hole in two strokes when he received a stroke from his opponent at it1 and his caddie ingeniously argued with him that this was exactly the same thing--#b #a #a4 ,it was ,point ,garry out at ,north ,berwick1 and ,mr4 ,balfour was playing with ,tom ,dunn4 8,i am astonished60 said ,mr4 ,balfour1 pretending that he was4 8,am ,i to pay you for looking at me doing this8 ,should ,i not rather receive the money for performing the feat80 ,but he paid4 ,there is one hole in the world where you do get paid for achieving a #a1 that is if you happen to do it at either the ,easter1 ,whitsuntide1 or ,autumn meetings4 ,this is what is called the 8,island ,hole0 on the course of the ,royal ,ashdown ,forest ,club in ,sussex4 ,it is an excellent hole1 and a gentleman who played it on one occasion fell so much in love with it that he endowed it with a sum of #e1 the accumulated interest on the sum to go to the competitor at any of the meetings named who should do this trick of getting it in #a4 ,ever since the endowment was made the interest has been growing and growing1 and nobody has qualified for it4 ,money accumulates so fast once it gets a fair start1 that we can imagine this interest some day amounting to a fortune1 and then what a scene there will be at the ,island ,hole at ,easter when the golfer1 having been training at the ,redan1 the ,maiden1 and a few like holes for a whole month previously1 comes here with weird clubs and balls made of lead1 and has greed written in large characters across his face4 ,the moral of the hole in #a is excellently stated by a great master of the game4 ,it demands not only a perfect shot but a perfect fluke4 ,it is a case of the gods giving to them that have1 and those that have not are cast into the bunker in front of the green4 ,,iv ,curious1 indeed1 are some items in the list of the feats of golf4 ,in the game heroic there is testimony to the pluck1 perseverance1 and enthusiasm of ,mr4 ,j4 ,w4 ,spalding1 who in the spring of a recent season came by an awful motor smash in ,france and lost an eye1 but had no sooner risen from the hospital bed and been sent to ,italy to recuperate than he was at his golf again1 playing himself back with his single eye to the game of scratch quality that he enjoyed before1 and--good for you1 ,mr4 ,spalding--but a few weeks went by ere one more scratch medal came his way4 ,nor shall we forget how a popular champion struggled home to the seventy-second green at ,prestwick while the blood was oozing from his lungs4 ,there are feats of other kinds1 as those which count as freaks1 poor things enough but wondered at by some4 ,what shall we say of the ,pittsburg golfer who wagered four thousand dollars that he could play a ball over four and a half miles of the city streets in one hundred and fifty strokes8 ,beginning at five o'clock in the morning1 he did this thing in one hundred and nineteen strokes1 but lost a thousand dollars in damage done to property on the way4 ,that man found an emulator in ,london who undertook to play a ball from ,ludgate ,circus to a fountain basin in ,trafalgar ,square4 ,there are men who like to drive fine balls from the glass faces of other people's expensive watches1 and others who prefer the tamer sport of driving from the eggs of hens4 ,there was the man of ,sandwich1 who1 with a champagne bottle as his only 8club10 played1 and--,oh1 shame upon it6--beat a neophyte who carried a full bag of the most improved clubs4 ,there was the old-time golfer who lofted balls over the spire of ,st4 ,giles' ,cathedral in ,edinburgh1 and another who tooled his gutty from ,bruntsfield ,links to the top of ,arthur's ,seat4 ,better and more purposeful was the practice which ,mr4 ,laidlay used to undertake before championships1 when1 with ,jack ,white for caddie1 he would play a ball from the first tee at ,north ,berwick to the ,roundell ,hole at ,gullane1 six miles away1 by way of the ,eel ,burn ,hole1 the sands along the shore1 the neighbourhood of the fishermen's cottages1 and away over ,muirfield and the rough country to the top of the hill1 playing from whatever lie his ball chanced to find1 and once doing this course in a total of ninety-seven strokes4 ,v ,do we not sometimes hear one sort of sportsmen make it a complaint against golf1 that the player does not run any personal risk of injury to his life or his limbs8 ,some of these men will tell you that you only arrive at real sport when such dangers are incurred4 ,it may be so1 but we shall not on that account seek to increase the risks of golf4 ,it is one of the glories of the game that it is such fine sport and commands the wild enthusiasm of the best sportsmen1 though it threatens the life neither of the player nor any of the living creatures made by ,god that give the fulness to ,nature1 and add1 though it may be unconsciously1 to the golfer's joy as he strides over the links on a fine morning4 ,in other sports1 when man goes wandering over the hills1 he takes his gun with him that he may kill something4 ,leave him alone with ,nature1 and as the lord of creation he is impelled to go forward to the attack on the lesser beings4 ,in golf alone does he roam over the country and by the side of the sea with never a thought of what he may kill passing through his mind4 ,he has a great joy in his own life1 and he is all benevolence and wishful for the happy life of others4 ,things have been killed--accidentally--at golf4 ,many luckless birds have got in the way of tee shots1 and even a fish lost its life on a golf course1 and is now in a glass case in the clubhouse at ,totteridge4 ,by some devious means it got on to the course one day when there had been heavy rains and much overflowing all about4 ,and--let it be whispered to the shooters and the mighty hunters6--men have been maimed1 and even killed on golf links1 though we pray that1 despite the extra sport1 there may be no more of them1 and that the single pain of the game may be the skin-blisters and corns that sometimes will come up at the bottom of the left forefinger and elsewhere4 ,i did not think better of golf as a sport when one day1 in playing my way outwards on the ,north ,berwick links1 a ball from a hidden tee came upon me unawares and carried the pipe that ,i was smoking away with it for some twenty or thirty yards1 while ,i stood to wonder what was happening4 ,and even by his own deeds may a man court perils1 for we heard the other day that one was playing at ,ravenscar when he took a full mashie shot with the object of clearing a stone wall2 but the ball struck the wall and rebounded with great force against his head4 ,and from his head it rebounded again over the wall1 so it was said2 and it was not astonishing to hear that the player was slightly stunned6 ,if adventure in the form of fierce conflict with wild beasts and reptiles is what the full-blooded sportsman wishes1 he may have it4 ,a member of the ,royal ,sydney ,club played his ball down a hole1 and he put his hand down it to see if he could recover the ball4 ,he seized hold of something soft and drew out a venomous brown snake--which he hurriedly pushed back4 ,i am told by my golfing directory that at ,umtala1 in ,rhodesia1 8the course consists of nine holes4 ,in addition to other hazards1 lions are occasionally in evidence40 ,i happen to have had some private confirmation of this report1 and it is told me that if ever a golfer in ,umtala indulged himself in such a freak as golf by candlelight1 as players have been known to do elsewhere1 he might not complete the game that he had projected1 for the king of beasts is accustomed to prowl over the land at night1 and picks up any little living thing that he may find about4 ,in other respects there is something quaint about this golf at ,umtala1 for ,i am informed that in the daytime the course is frequented by crows with white bands round their necks1 which go by the name of 8,free ,kirk ,ministers40 ,they are thieves1 and now and again they swoop down and fly away again with the ball4 ,they are fine pioneers of the game in ,south ,africa1 and it deserves to prosper there4 ,they have needed strong hearts and much patience and forbearance4 ,i have been to golf with a man who has lately come back from a short visit there1 and he says that their 8greens0 look as if they were covered with millions of garnets2 and poor as the putting may be from some points of view1 it can be performed with marvellous accuracy1 and the people of the ,colonies deny that anybody loves the game more than they do1 or is more enthusiastic in it than they are4 ,their trials are uncommon and severe1 but they become accustomed to them4 ,at ,wynberg1 or some place like that1 there is a lake to carry at a short hole1 and one knows what sometimes happens when there is a water hazard between the tee and the green1 one shot away4 ,here the avoidance of it is not made any the easier1 because a long line of ,kaffir boys is formed up on the near side of the lake1 stripped1 with eyes aflame with eagerness1 and wildly gesticulating with their arms and hands1 and jostling and scolding at each other while they seem to be appealing 8,me6 me6 me60 to the golfer on the tee4 ,away the ball goes from the tee1 and at the slightest indication that it was struck with dangerous inaccuracy1 splash go all the ,kaffir boys into the water4 ,it is very much like the game of throwing sixpences overboard when your ship of voyage is at anchor off some ,eastern port4 ,,vi ,rummaging through a second-hand book shop in ,oxford ,street one day1 ,i came upon an old volume of sporting anecdotes published far back in #ahfg1 and long since out of print and forgotten4 ,turning over the pages in the evening1 and encountering therein many stories of doughty deeds by river and on field and moor1 ,i came at last upon what must evidently be the original version of the story which has been more briefly told by others of the golf match at night for #ejj a hole1 and ,i cannot do better than quote it direct from the book4 ,one of the contributors was quoting from a letter he had received from a well-known sporting friend of his1 in which this gentleman gave him a short description of golf1 about which nobody else belonging to the book appeared to know anything4 ,in his prefatory remarks concerning the game the correspondent said3 8,the game of golf is quite a ,scotch game2 it is played at ,blackheath1 ,wimbledon ,common1 and a few other places in ,england2 but the players are always ,scotchmen4 ,it is a game requiring a good eye and great skill2 and people who get over the first difficulties of the game are generally quite as fond of it as the ,english are of cricket40 ,with no disparagement of the attractions of cricket1 one would be inclined to say that in these days the ,english who get over the first difficulties of the game of golf1 and even those unfortunates who do not get over those difficulties1 are much fonder of it than the said ,english are of cricket4 ,then1 concerning that great match1 the correspondent writes3 8,lord ,kennedy and the late ,mr4 ,cruickshank1 of ,langley ,park1 were good players1 and had frequent matches for large sums of money2 but the most remarkable match ever played by them came off during the ,montrose race week many years since4 ,at the race ordinary they got up a match of three holes1 for #ejj each hole1 and agreed to play it then and there4 ,it was about ten or half-past ten p4m4 and quite dark4 ,no light was allowed except one lantern placed on the hole1 and another carried by the attendant of the player1 in order that they might ascertain to whom the ball struck belonged4 ,we all moved down to the golf course to see this curious match4 ,boys were placed along the course1 who were accustomed to the game1 to listen to the flight of the balls1 and to run to the spot where a ball struck and rested on the ground4 ,i do not remember which of the players won the odd hole2 it was won1 ,i know1 by only one hole4 ,but the most remarkable part of the match was1 that they made out their holes with much about the same number of strokes that they usually did when playing in daylight4 ,i think1 on an average1 that they took about five or six strokes in daylight1 and in the dark six or seven4 ,they were1 however1 in the constant habit of playing over the ,montrose course40 ,surely this must be accounted one of the most extraordinary games of golf we have heard of4 ,,vii ,in days gone by the position of the lady in the great world of golf was something of a doubtful quantity1 but there can be no question that she is now an established institution1 and that she will stay4 ,there have been men who have said that golf is not a lady's game1 and many who still stoutly maintain that it is at all events only a game for very young ladies who have not taken upon themselves any serious domestic cares4 ,but it makes little difference what they say4 ,for the first time in history a married lady won the ,ladies' ,championship in #aijf4 ,the ladies have a golf union of their own1 which is the kind of thing that a large section of rebellious men have been sighing for for many years1 but are apparently still far from getting4 ,moreover1 they have an inter-county championship1 which again is what men say they ought to have1 but cannot get4 ,some of the oldest but least common golf traditions have reference to women1 and it seems to be the fact that one of the first monarchs in ,england or ,scotland who ever sought pleasure and relaxation in trundling a golf ball over the links was ,mary ,queen of ,scots1 and that she played on golfing ground no less celebrated than ,st4 ,andrews4 ,this was in #aefc4 ,during that winter ,mary occupied a house in ,south ,street1 and it is generally believed that she yielded to the spell of the place and played golf on the links with ,chastelard1 the favourite1 who was subsequently beheaded4 ,although the evidence that she did thus play at ,st4 ,andrews is not conclusive1 it is very likely that she did so1 for it is quite certain that she played at ,edinburgh and elsewhere1 and it is variously quoted as a specimen of her heartlessness on the one hand and of her enthusiasm for the game on the other1 that she was found playing it only a few days after the murder of her husband4 ,it is suggested that the golfing ancestors of the present lady players were fish girls1 and the evidence on the point is comprised in a minute of the ,royal ,musselburgh ,golf ,club1 dated #adth ,december #ahaj1 which reads thus3 8,the club to present by subscription a handsome new creel and shawl to the best ,female ,golfer who plays on the annual occasion on #ast ,january next1 old style 7#abth ,january1 new71 to be intimated to the ,fish ,ladies by ,william ,robertson1 the officer of the club4 ,two of the best ,barcelona silk handkerchiefs to be added to the above premium of the creel4--7,signed7 ,,alex4 ,g4 ,,hunter1 ,captain40 ,but the modern golfing ladies absolutely ignore all this ancient history1 and1 in a manner1 started afresh with a ,year #a on the inception of their championship1 like the ,french people did at the time of their big ,revolution4 ,what happened before did not count4 ,thus1 from their point of view1 they arrived at a sort of millennium straight away1 having no brakes of custom and conservatism on their wheel of progress4 ,consequently it is no business of the modern writer to argue as to whether the fair sex ought or ought not to play golf2 the fact is there that they do1 and that more of them do so every week4 ,and they do it very whole-heartedly4 ,in the box-rooms of the houses of golfing ladies are sundry old tennis racquets with their stringing limp1 despised and rejected1 and their once favourite croquet mallets have been cut down in the shaft and are now used for odd jobs of carpentering about the house4 ,it is said that the golfing girl does not care a jot what she wears on the links or--mirabile dictu6--what she looks like1 so long as she has boots or shoes on with which she can get a firm stance1 or upper arrangements which enable her to swing with ease4 ,thus one hears that she has enormous nails in her footgear1 wears the loosest of ,irish homespun costumes1 and wouldn't be seen in a picture hat4 ,and she is a fine1 robust1 healthy creature1 who loves the game as much as anyone4 ,the great professionals say that she is a splendid pupil--better even than the men4 ,harry ,vardon holds that the ,american ladies--whom he has studied on their native links--are better and more thorough than ours2 but he thinks that ours are very good when they roll up their sleeves and give up the big hats4 8,they seem 7ladies in general1 that is7 to take closer and deeper notice of the hints you give them1 and to retain the points of the lesson longer in their memories10 says ,vardon1 and ,james ,braid concurs in the judgment4 ,the only drawback to all this big hitting1 hard tramping1 and devil-may-care spirit of the girl on the links is that1 according to ,miss ,may ,hezlet1 one of the queens of the links1 it enlarges the hands and feet6 ,but think of the freedom6 ,when the ladies play among themselves--as they generally do--they employ1 according to report1 a golfing vocabulary of their own1 which1 though unconventional1 let it be said in haste1 is quite proper4 ,elsewhere than in happy ,england1 the blessedness of whose sporting girls has been sung by ,gilbert of the ,savoy1 it may not be the same2 indeed it appeared in the newspapers a little while since that the minister of a fashionable church in ,halifax1 ,nova ,scotia1 declared from his pulpit one ,sunday that information had reached him that 8women who went to church on ,sunday1 went to golf on ,monday and swore like troopers60 ,when this was brought to the attention of the ,english ladies1 they said that the information that had been given to the reverend gentleman was very likely true1 as those ladies probably played such a very bad game4 ,in ,england there was no occasion to make use of such expletives as were suggested1 and a 8,dash60 and 8,oh1 you naughty1 naughty little ball0 were generally found sufficient to meet the exigencies of the most trying situations4 ,at one time there seemed to be some considerable rivalry and jealousy1 quite characteristically feminine1 between the ,british and ,american lady golfers4 ,but ,miss ,rhona ,adair as was went over to the ,states and won all her matches1 the strain of the effort--believing that she really had the credit of her country at stake--being1 so it was authoritatively said1 largely responsible for the breakdown in her health that ensued4 ,then the ,americans sent over a big team of ladies to try to capture our ,ladies' ,championship with one of them4 ,the battlefield was at ,cromer1 and such a scene was there as one by one the ,american flags were hauled down6 ,at the end of the meeting the ,british lioness held undisputed possession of the field1 and she placed the ,cup on her tea table4 ,,viii ,perhaps there is more to be said for keeping one's score for the round when playing a match than is allowed by many people who occasionally discuss this matter with some heat4 ,it may be agreed at once that the golfer who consistently subordinates the importance and interest of his match to his anxiety regarding his aggregate score is to be condemned1 and more than ever so when his reckoning of his figures is done openly and audibly1 and when he is guilty of remarking1 for example1 a splendidly fought match being all square at the eighteenth tee1 that he has a #d left for #gi1 showing in what direction his strongest ambition lies for the time being4 ,such a person is an undesirable opponent1 and a nuisance on the links4 ,in match play the match is the thing1 and those who do not want the match1 but only the score1 should go out alone with their caddies4 ,yet at the same time it must be remembered that a man's scores for the round are often the only real indication that can be afforded him of knowing what exactly is his form for the time being1 and how well or badly he is playing1 and it is eminently desirable that he should from time to time be posted with this knowledge1 which in either case should act as an incentive towards the improvement of his game4 ,a man may be winning all his matches with two or three holes to spare1 and if he is of a placid temperament and not given to any closely discriminating analysis of the details of his own game1 he may often be living in a fool's paradise with regard to the quality of his golf and the accuracy of his handicap4 ,it may be true that handicaps are provided chiefly for match-play purposes1 and that if a man can win half his matches with the handicap that is given him1 there is not much cause for fault-finding2 but1 after all1 handicaps are supposed to represent the relative strengths of all players1 even though they do not1 and it is reasonable to expect that the holder of a certain handicap should be able to go round his course1 say1 one time in three or four at a net score that would come out at par4 ,one must doubt whether the average seven or eight handicap man does this1 which1 of course1 leads to the usual conclusion that the general tendency in medium handicaps in these days is to make them too flattering4 ,and1 again1 when a player finds himself winning his match with so much ease that the match itself has really very little interest for him1 if any at all1 when he is playing well and his opponent's game has gone completely to the dogs1 it is surely pardonable for him to concentrate his chief attention upon his score for the round1 so long as he does not do it obtrusively1 and does nothing to indicate to his opponent that he has other things in mind besides the question as to whether he shall achieve victory at the twelfth or thirteenth hole4 ,it is simply a matter of common sense and good manners1 and all scores should be kept mentally1 and should not be spoken of until the round is over4 ,the keeping of a score will often urge a man to greater effort and the display of greater skill in a particular emergency1 and will thus tend to the improvement of his game4 ,nearly all players of great skill and long experience agree that there is nothing in the world like much score play for the betterment of the golfer4 ,it strengthens the sense of responsibility1 and of the need for the utmost concentration of thought and effort upon every shot that is made1 and when a golfer has taught himself to do this he has gone a long way towards the achievement of that severe self-discipline which is an essential characteristic of the good and sound player whose game has always to be feared4 ,it is because they have not that self-discipline and have not cultivated that sense of responsibility1 that the majority of amateurs are absolutely terrorised by a card and rendered incapable even of playing anything like their real game4 ,they do not so much fear to make a bad shot when it will only mean a lost hole1 which may be won back five minutes later2 but it is a different thing when the bad shot may cost three strokes1 which have to enter into the final reckoning4 ,yet the bad shot is equally bad in either case and ought to be equally regretted1 but is not4 ,and if an amateur does not keep some mental account of his score when engaged in matches1 he has scarcely any other opportunity of practising medal play1 since it is not customary and is not desirable that pairs should go out together matched with each other on the strokes for the round and not on holes4 ,apart from the objections which have been urged against it1 and which it has been suggested may not be quite so well founded as some people appear to think1 one is inclined to fancy that in many cases one of the drawbacks to the continual counting of one's score is the inclination that is bred in the player to self-deception1 and in the course of our golf we come across many curious instances of it4 ,the simplest and most frequent is the waiving of the lost stroke for a stymie4 ,if the player's ball is within two feet of the hole when the stymie is laid him1 it may be legitimate enough for him to reckon that if he had been engaged in pure score play he would have holed the putt that he was in the actual circumstances unable to hole1 and therefore to deduct a stroke from the actual number taken on the round4 ,but in the weakness of their human nature many who are thus engaged in score counting go much farther than this in giving themselves the benefits of doubts4 ,it is difficult or impossible for them to draw any line between that which it was very likely they would do and that which they might possibly do4 ,if for the purposes of their score they give themselves the two-feet putt which they would have holed but for the stymie1 then surely there can be no objection to giving themselves a thirty-inch putt1 and if that1 then one also at a yard1 and a yard and a half--two yards1 three yards1 four4 ,and1 pursuing this process of self-cheating1 you will find the golfer submitting it to himself that he may count it as one stroke to get down1 when he is fifteen or twenty feet from the hole1 on the reasoning that many a time in his life before he had holed such putts1 and was certain to do so again1 so why not this time8 ,this is but one of the many frauds that players are brought to practise upon themselves in their yearning for a good round4 ,have we not known them to give themselves a four or five feet putt when their opponents had already given up the hole1 because1 though they had the time and opportunity for making the stroke1 they were afraid that they might miss it1 and so spoil that nice score which they were building up8 ,they say to themselves that if they did putt it they would be certain to succeed1 so what matter4 ,and worse still is the case of the man who goes up to his ball in such a circumstance and putts at it1 perhaps with one hand1 pretending to himself that he is not trying6 ,yet if the ball goes in he feels a wholesome satisfaction of having done his duty by his card2 and if it does not go in he still counts it as having done so1 because it would have done if he had tried properly4 ,there is also the case of the other man who1 having missed such a putt by half an inch1 perhaps unluckily1 makes a bargain with himself that if he can do that putt immediately and successfully four times one after the other1 he will count it to him after all1 having thus proved that it was well within the scope of his ability1 and that his first failure was an accident and not likely to occur again4 ,and ,i have heard of men who1 counting their scores1 and having obtained a lie of most exceptional badness after a good shot1 have declined to include in their mental reckoning the fruitless stroke that followed1 on the ground that the chances of their getting such a lie in a medal round were a thousand to one against6 ,strangest case of all1 ,i once played with a man who told me at the end of his round what a good score he had done1 and proceeded to detail the figures #d #e #e #c1 etc4 8,but10 ,i said1 8you were in the bunker at the first hole and took #f40 8,yes10 he said1 8but in counting my score ,i always give myself a #d at the first hole1 no matter what ,i take2 because1 don't you see1 if ,i were out to make the best return possible1 as if trying to break a record1 ,i could play the first hole two or three times1 if necessary1 until ,i got my par #d1 and then go on with that round4 ,i would be giving up the round each time when ,i failed1 and starting a fresh round2 so1 you see1 the #d at the first is always certain1 and so ,i always count it1 whatever ,i do40 ,i saw1 8,oh1 what a tangled web we weave ,when first we practise to deceive10 even to deceive ourselves4 ,thus does this score counting and this yearning for one's record round breed a moral cowardice in such men4 ,there is only one score to count1 and that is the one which would be passed according to the rules of stroke play4 ,if golfers must count scores they must be just to themselves1 and they must not even temper their justice with any mercy1 for the laws of golf are inexorable1 and in them there is no mercy4 ,,ix ,there are many who hold that the most exasperating opponent of all is he who is afflicted with an amazing indecision when about to make his very shortest putts4 ,for a minute he will stand with his putter to the ball as if in abject fear of his fate1 and surely at such a time there are strange fancies flying through his brain4 ,they must be like the fancies of a drowning man4 ,it was agreed among a company of his friends that these must be the jerky thoughts of such a man whom they well know when he was engaged gloomily upon the dreaded task of putting a ball that lay eighteen inches from the hole1 the little patch of putting green that intervened being perfectly smooth and level3-- ,this is a very simple job1 ,and when ,i have holed the ball ,i shall be certain of my half-crown4 ,still1 ,i must be careful4 ,it is very easy to miss these short putts2 ,and ,i have missed many thousands1 costing me ,many pounds--scores of pounds4 ,and now that ,i am up against it1 ,and looking at this putt1 ,it does not seem quite so easy as it did at first4 ,it will require most careful management--a most delicate tap1 ,and very accurate gauging of strength4 ,one needs to be very cool and deliberate over these things4 ,one's nerves1 and stomach1 and liver must be in prime condition4 ,i wish ,i had not been out to dinner last night4 ,was it ,willie ,park or ,ben ,sayers ,who said that the man who could putt could beat anybody8 ,i believe him--,willie or ,ben4 ,this is really a most awkward putt4 ,the green looks slower than the others4 ,it is very rough4 ,why don't the committee sack the greenkeeper1 ,who ought to be a market gardener8 ,it is like a bunker between ,my ball and the hole4 ,such very rough stuff4 ,one1 two1 three--six--nine--why6 ,there are eleven big blades of grass ,sticking up like the rushes at ,westward ,ho6 ,the grass becomes so very stiff and wiry in this very hot weather4 7,yes1 it is too hot to putt properly47 ,my ball will never break through this grass4 ,it is one of the hardest putts ,i have ever seen1 ,i wish ,i had more loft on my putter4 ,i was an ass not to bring that other one out from my locker1 ,where it is eating its head off 7so to speak74 ,i think1 also1 that a little cut would do this putt a lot of good4 ,but how8 ,the green slopes from the left2 ,yet it seemed to slope from the right4 ,also1 it goes downwards to the hole4 ,this is a perfect devil of a putt6 ,i know my stance for putting is not good1 ,but ,harry ,vardon says that every man has his own stance1 ,so perhaps it is all right4 ,but ,i had better move my left foot2 it seems in the way4 ,i see that two--four--six--seven of the pimples on this ball ,are quite flat4 ,nobody can putt with a ball like that4 ,a man ought to be allowed to change his ball ,even on the green at times like this4 ,i must allow for those pimples4 ,confound that fellow ,brown6 ,he seems to be waiting4 ,and he is smoking his dirty shag so much ,that ,i can hardly see the hole for smoke4 ,if ,i lose this hole ,i shall lose the match4 ,i am quite with ,johnny ,low in his new idea for handicapping1 ,when he says some of us should be allowed to play ,our bad shots over again4 ,in that case ,i would have one good smack at this ball ,to get the strength and the hang of ,everything4 ,and ,i am certain--yes1 ,i am quite absolutely certain-- ,that ,i would hole the ball next time4 ,however1 what does it matter8 ,better men then ,i have missed such putts1 ,and ,i am not a chicken--live a hard life--lot of work-- ,office to-night--awful day to-morrow4 ,and as the wife was saying-- ,let me see4 ,oh6 hang this putt6 ,he can have his half-crown if he wants it1 ,but ,i am going to have one good smack ,at this ball4 ,now-- ,no1 that was wrong4 ,now1 yes1 yes-- 99 99 99 99 99 ,my godfathers6 ,and my godmothers6 ,i have missed that putt again6 ,when the ball came to a standstill it was just an inch and a half short of the hole1 and considerably to the left of the proper line to the middle4 ,x ,some of those cantankerous people who have no sympathy with games1 and but a limited confidence in the wise precept that the healthy mind is most frequently to be found in association with the healthy body--practical people they like to call themselves--will sometimes ask you what is the good of golf4 ,it is generally useless to attempt to humour them by advancing the proposition that it returns a dividend of fifty per cent4 in mental and physical efficiency1 and seventy-five in the general happiness of the subject4 ,what are really the least convincing examples of the practical value of golf are the most effective in argument against such folks4 ,with them it may count a word in favour of the game that a man once playing it found that his ball from a full drive came to rest on a sixpence which had evidently dropped through a hole in the pocket of a previous player4 ,here1 indeed1 was a material practical gain6 ,they will be impressed also with the possibilities of the game when they are told a little story of how a man1 who was not in quest of art treasures at the time1 discovered an old master accidentally1 and entirely through the medium of his golf4 ,it was in this way4 ,a ,montreal art dealer was playing the game on a country course one day in #aijc1 when he sliced a ball so badly that away it went through the window of a cottage hard by4 ,thereupon there came out from it an old lady1 a ,french ,canadian1 who was possessed of remarkable power of speech1 of which the golfer was given much evidence4 ,presently1 when her attack was somewhat exhausted1 the poor golfer offered to recompense her for the damage done to the window2 but then it was put to him that the broken glass was not the only casualty4 ,the ball1 after passing through the window1 had continued its course of destruction by breaking the glass that covered the picture2 and without making any examination of the nature of this damage the player agreed that he would give a matter of a pound for the picture besides paying for the broken window4 ,this soothed the feelings of the lady of the cottage1 and she pressed upon him the picture1 for the damage to which he had paid so handsomely4 ,he took it away with him1 and at home in the evening he was led in a spirit of curiosity to make some examination of it1 when1 to his astonishment1 he discovered that it was a ,dutch interior by ,teniers1 which he sold a few days later for #ejj4 ,to the credit of this golfer be it said1 he sent a cheque for half the amount to the cottager4 ,this is an excellent story to tell to the absurd and practical people1 and a true one4 ,it might be of service to add to it an account of a shot that was played on one occasion by a gentleman of no less scientific importance than ,professor ,john ,milne1 who is known as a great seismologist1 the man who is most in evidence when earthquakes are troubling4 ,when the earth is still the ,professor will leave his instruments in the ,isle of ,wight to their own care for a period1 and he will wander away to the links for some golf4 ,to what great feat has the golf of this professor led him8 ,why1 he of all men became the first to drive a golf ball across the ,victoria ,falls on the ,zambesi ,river--a hundred and sixty yards of roaring1 foaming water4 ,that was when the ,british ,association went for its annual meeting to ,south ,africa1 and ,professor ,sims ,woodhead1 the celebrated ,cambridge pathologist1 was so much impressed by the achievement1 that he too attempted to drive the ,zambesi1 and succeeded4 ,but these are the things that may be done by ,professors once1 and not always4 ,two more balls were teed on the bank1 and the ,professors smote them with their clubs1 but those balls were claimed by the ,zambesi1 and perchance they have been digested by the crocodiles4 ,now here you have something done by golf which was not golf1 but which marked the advance of civilisation into the dark regions of the ,african continent4 ,our practical friends must allow this to the credit of the game1 not only for the achievement in itself1 but for the possibilities that it suggests1 for is not a picture at once conjured up of the resourceful golfer driving a ball from the shore to a sinking ship1 when all other means of establishing communication therewith had failed8 ,to the ball there will be tied a silken thread1 and the thread will help a string across1 and the string will drag a rope4 ,thus must we plead for golf6 ,while in these serious aspects of the battle of life the game is thus to come to our aid1 it shall be of similar service also in the gentler paths4 ,once upon a time a maker of golf balls told me how he had suspected a rival of putting cores from old balls made by him ,a into all so-called new ones made by the rival ,b4 ,therefore ,a for a little while wound a tiny piece of tissue paper with the rubber of his cores1 and on the paper there was written ,a's name and address4 ,some time later the tissues came home again through the medium of the balls that bore the name of ,b4 ,there was this damning evidence of the pilfering of the cores4 ,this story is not told as a hint to the trade1 but surely it will convey one to ingenious persons who wish for a mode of secret communication with others which will be sure and safe4 ,may it not be that some ,romeo of to-day has already come by the device of lofting a ball or two on to the balcony of the fair ,juliet1 who in the seclusion of her chamber may be discovered in operation upon the cover with hair-pins and fire-irons1 and presently in raptures upon the endearments expressed in the billet doux of her ,romeo8 ,perhaps it will not avail us as golfers to tell our practical friends that the principles of the application of physical force which have been taught us in the game1 as of the steady body1 the fixed centre of movement1 and of the hand being under the constant leadership of the eye1 have benefited us not merely in the playing of other games1 such as billiards and tennis1 but in the attainment of greater proficiency in some of the most practical and useful of domestic occupations1 so that the man of all others who may be depended upon to hang up the pictures in a new house as pictures should be hanged1 is the golfer who has got his handicap down to #f4 ,we will tell also to the critic of our game that it affords a scope for a kind of humour that is of occasional service to some wits and others4 ,it helps them to raise a laugh over the tea-cups when they say that they will take the odd or two more in sugar4 ,we do not like this jugglery with the terms1 and it is only to be excused in such exceptional cases as when the doctor tells the new golfer that his temperature is #ii and the patient inquires anxiously as to what the bogey is2 or when1 in discussing the frowning fortunes of some unfortunate acquaintance who has had a hard time in life1 and is called upon for severe labour in his last days1 it is said of this poor chap that he is playing the nineteenth hole and has made an indifferent drive4 ,but1 in seriousness1 we like our golf to be kept sacred to itself1 and unassociated with the generally duller pursuits of this workaday world4 ,,xi ,is there not a considerable superstition of the links8 ,even great players have old clubs that they carry about with them1 not so much for their practical value as for the luck of the thing1 as they fancy it2 and a man once said at ,prestwick that he always carried in his bag a queer-shaped iron1 though he never used it in these days4 ,this was because on one famous occasion many years before1 when he was seven down with eight to play1 and won the match by a brilliancy that did not belong to him1 he could only account for it by the circumstance that this club had somehow found its way into his bag by accident4 ,as a small acknowledgment to the gods1 and a hint that such favours would be welcome in the future1 he vowed that he would carry that club with him on the links for evermore1 but that never would he play with it4 ,and he keeps his vow most steadfastly1 to the irritation of the burdened caddie4 ,some sentiment clings to that cleek belonging to ,mr4 ,edward ,blackwell1 which1 it has been said1 is 8shaped like an old boot10 but which1 as we all know1 has done work upon which any cleek might be congratulated4 ,and is it not declared that before ,mr4 ,travis set out to play in the championship at ,sandwich1 ,ben ,sayers lent to him for mascot his favourite spoon8 ,other golfers have other fancies4 ,some have it that it is unlucky to go out to play without a supply of money1 for then surely shall the half-crown be lost2 and others fear that it might go hardly with them if they had not the company of their favourite pipe4 ,on severely important occasions1 ,andrew ,kirkaldy will hie himself beforehand to his tobacconists in ,st4 ,andrews and buy himself a new pipe for luck4 ,does not special fortune attach to special golfing clothes1 and is not the light grey jacket that which brings most luck8 ,think of all the fine players who jacket themselves in this way with darker wear below1 which is out of the usual order4 ,mr4 ,hilton has a jacket which goes always with him as the lamb went with ,mary1 and has thus played its part in championships innumerable4 ,this is a jacket that has won its place in golfing history4 ,the superstitions about the winning of certain holes are stupid and general4 ,why is it such an unfortunate thing with some people to win the first hole8 ,and yet do they always try to win1 and do not bemoan their fate if they lose4 ,a trifle more reason1 perhaps1 is there in the old couplet3 8,two up and five to play1 ,never won a match1 they say40 ,but of course matches have been won when the winner was two up with five to go1 hundreds and thousands of them4 ,there is one man of high championship rank who has a list of exceptions to this rule1 which he applies for his own consolation when the fates decree that he shall be two holes to the good as he stands upon the fourteenth tee4 ,if it suits him1 he will put it that the spell will not work if it happened that he fluked the thirteenth with a long putt2 and he holds upon suitable occasion that it has nothing to do with a foursome4 ,one may suppose that the essence of the idea is that the man who is two up at this state of the game is just short of being in nearly the strongest position possible1 and is sometimes a little inclined to be slack in consequence2 and then1 if he loses the next hole1 and is only one up with four to go1 a sudden fear seizes him3 he feels that he must fight for his life1 becomes flurried1 presses--and then the rest of the tale is soon told4 ,but the best and the worst of the proverb lies in its recitation by the man who is down when his opponent1 bold in confidence1 is taking the honour at the fourteenth4 ,it must be held as an unfortunate thing to play a ball into a graveyard1 and it is better1 perhaps1 that one's attention should not be called to the memorial stone hard by the eleventh tee at ,deal1 which tells of a foul murder committed upon some fair maiden at this spot in the long ago when ,deal was unacquainted with the game that has given her fame4 ,we hear that the most famous lady players carry charms when engaged in their most important games4 ,she who won fame as ,miss ,rhona ,adair is said to have invariably worn a particular ribbon with a gruesome device of skull and crossbones upon it whenever she very much wanted to win her match4 ,white heather is supposed to be a most potent charm1 and it has been told as a secret that some ladies decline to wash their hands between rounds1 though luncheon comes in the interval1 lest evil should befall them afterwards4 ,,the ,,wandering ,,player ,i ,the golfers and other people who know nothing of ,st4 ,andrews are often inclined to fancy that some of the enthusiasm professed by those who have a tolerable golfing acquaintance with it is affected1 because it 8is the proper thing10 and because it harmonises with the feelings of many revered members of the old school of the game4 ,perhaps such scepticism is pardonable1 particularly when it is known that there have been many hundreds of golfers who have gone to ,st4 ,andrews once and failed to be impressed by it1 and have not hesitated to declare their doubts about its supremacy on their return to their native links4 ,these people belong to one of three classes4 ,the first is the smallest of the three1 consisting of good golfers of sound discrimination1 whose idiosyncrasies of taste lead them honestly to the conclusion that ,st4 ,andrews is greatly overrated1 and that it has superiors in various other greens4 ,the second and largest batch is composed of men who lack both the necessary golfing knowledge and the true golfing spirit4 ,the third consists of those who have not had sufficient time to know1 for verily ,st4 ,andrews is1 to a large extent1 a cultivated taste1 and there are many worthy golfers to whom its first appeal has not been entirely convincing4 ,there is a more or less vague something that attracts instantly1 but the rest only comes to the ,southron stranger after two or three1 or even more1 visits of fairly long duration4 ,the ,english golfer does not generally love ,st4 ,andrews at first sight1 but he shows that interest in her which leads him to talk about her and awakens the suspicions of his friends4 ,then he may speak of her with indifference1 but he goes back to her again and again1 and at last one day1 when he returns to his home after one of these visits1 he feels an exquisite soreness at heart1 a sweet longing1 a strange exaltation1 and he knows that a change has come over his golfing life1 that he is at last in love with ,st4 ,andrews1 and that he cannot do without her4 ,forthwith his plans for future golfing expeditions are changed and modified4 ,he must now always think of ,st4 ,andrews4 ,if he is a man of leisure he must go there at least once a year1 and even if he has but little time to spare he will be going to ,scotland once in a twelvemonth with his bag of clubs1 and must so arrange his itinerary that he shall touch ,leuchars ,junction going or coming1 and shall run down that little strip of railway which makes to the golfer the finest travelling in the world1 for two or three days of heartening play on the premier links4 ,all golf is good1 but there is something subtle about the ,st4 ,andrews golf which makes it not quite like the other1 and the man who learns to love it1 though the love come in his riper years1 when the emotions are slow of action and may be weak in result1 is faithful to it for the rest of his golfing days4 ,probably no man has been able completely to define the charm of the place4 ,its charm is of its golf1 for though it has some natural beauty1 and is greatly historic and of celebrity for its ruins1 it casts no enduring spell over the man who does not know the use of a driver4 ,the constant talk of it and its tradition has something to do with the charm1 no doubt4 ,the stranger1 who has never struck a ball there1 feels something of nervous ecstasy as he hears the brakes go on the train that slows down on its approach to the station4 ,there1 during the last two minutes of his journey1 is a view of the links1 the ,swilcan ,burn1 the players going out to the second and approaching the seventeenth--and there goes a ball on to that famous road6--just like the fathers of golf used to do in the olden days as it is written in the books4 ,then1 walking in ,st4 ,andrews1 one seems to breathe golf as never before4 ,all the men and boys one sees are players or caddies2 there is a knot of men at the street-corner talking about the #gf that one of the professionals did in his evening round2 there are many golf shops2 it is all golf4 ,on the walls1 and in the hotels and post offices1 there are displayed official notices1 giving the warning that those who play on the course with irons only1 or who practise putting on the eighteenth green1 may be fined #bjs4 or--wonderful enactment6--be sent to prison for a period4 ,a personage of no less consequence than a ,cabinet ,minister1 this being ,mr4 ,asquith1 has been stopped under this rule4 ,the pipes that one hears seem to be skirling a song of the greatness of the game and the glory of the men who used to play it here in the olden days4 ,above all1 one comes instantly by a deep sense as of walking on hallowed ground1 of being one of the heirs to a great heritage in golf1 and to a great responsibility4 ,life and the game are stronger things than they used to be4 ,that same subtle oppression of soul is felt as when one has a first glance at the ,pyramids or at the tomb of the great ,napoleon in the ,invalides4 ,these things stand for what was a great might1 and in its golf ,st4 ,andrews is truly mighty4 ,and so it comes that the spirit of the game seems to brood over this hallowed spot1 and stirs the golfer with fine imaginings and gives to him great impulses4 ,it is all so different from anything else4 ,on the evening of his first day he knows that ,st4 ,andrews is not like the other places1 and when1 after his first rest1 he kisses the morning1 he is glad and he is exalted1 because he is at ,st4 ,andrews1 and there is not a man or woman in the place who will not talk to him of the game that he loves and sympathise with him in his ardour4 ,the golfer has come home at last4 ,it is difficult to describe the merits of the wonderful old course4 ,it is there4 ,the people who do not know it cannot be made to understand1 and the people who do know it have not to be told4 ,it would be hard for anybody to prove that it is not the best1 if the severest1 test of scientific golf4 ,nothing but scientific golf will avail the player here4 ,of late years people have been railing against the bunkers on the course1 and the increase thereof2 but after all it is to be remembered that the placing of the majority of these bunkers has been the result of the aggregate of thought of some of the best golfers in the world for a period of scores of years1 and they must be considered in the spirit that ,mr4 ,john ,low suggests1 that no bunker can really be unfair4 ,it is there to be avoided1 and it is the best shot that avoids it4 ,no doubt this view might lead to awkward conclusions if pressed in some cases1 but it is apparently sound as a general principle of scientific golf1 as apart from the mere pastime and the sensual passion for hard hitting4 ,if a bunker is in the middle of the course at just the distance of a good drive1 it is obviously the duty of the driver to play to one side or the other and avoid it2 and that is just the characteristic of proper play at nearly all of the ,st4 ,andrews holes1 that the tee shot has not only to be cleanly played1 and at the proper strength and so forth1 but that over and above all these things it has to be so accurately placed as on no other course4 ,position means everything at ,st4 ,andrews1 and the number and variety of the undulations of the course1 the constant bunker1 and the extreme diversity of the glorious putting greens and the approaches thereto1 bring it about that a man may play a hole a thousand times and it has something new to offer him every time1 and he might play rounds on this course all the time from his childhood to his old age1 and those of his last years would be riper with interest than any that went before4 ,here1 indeed1 is a course for character2 there is nothing like it4 ,,ii ,hoylake is new in comparison1 but ,hoylake is old for ,england1 and it is the leader of golf in the southern section of the kingdom4 ,hoylake has fine traditions of its own which it would not exchange for those of any other centre or club1 and while it has always had the most perfect respect for the dignity and the conservation of the game1 it has occasionally shown a commendable disposition towards useful progress4 ,it was the ,royal ,liverpool ,club at ,hoylake that took the initiative in the establishment of the ,amateur ,championship and the international matches2 and at other times it has impelled ,st4 ,andrews towards unwilling1 but necessary1 action4 ,the club may look back with pride upon the earnestness and dignity of its pioneers4 ,they were true golfers of the old and most worthy school1 and when they began the game there they had1 as in some other old places1 to take a pinch of sand out of the hole that they had just putted into in order to make a tee for their next drive4 ,by some it is said that it was the establishment of the links at ,westward ,ho6 that gave the idea for making a golf course at ,hoylake to the ,liverpool golfers4 ,some of the people of ,west ,kirby played there about the middle of the last century1 and the ,rabbit ,warren1 as the present links was then called1 was used for golf about #ahfe4 ,the ,royal ,liverpool ,club was established four years later1 and for twenty-six years1 before the building of its present handsome clubhouse1 was housed in the ,royal ,hotel4 ,in those days the course began on the hotel side1 but with the change of residence there was some necessary changing of the order of the holes1 the old first becoming the present last1 the old second being now numbered the first1 and the old last is the present seventeenth4 ,the land of the links is leased from ,lord ,stanley of ,alderley1 whose ancestors acquired it in the time of ,queen ,elizabeth2 and it is significant of the increasing richness of ,hoylake1 due largely to its golf1 that the assessment upon the club by the union overseers1 which used to be #afe1 was recently raised to #ejj4 ,in the quality of the golfers that it has produced ,hoylake can challenge the whole world of golf4 ,it alone has found an amateur winner for the ,open ,championship--two of them4 ,it bred the inimitable ,mr4 ,john ,ball1 who has six times won the ,amateur ,championship--#ahhh1 #ahij1 #ahib1 #ahid1 #ahii1 and #aijg--;and is good enough to win it again2 and he won the ,open ,championship in #ahij1 thus holding both titles at the same time1 being the only golfer who has ever done so1 and quite likely who ever will4 ,a brass tablet in the entrance-hall and the clock over the clubhouse commemorate this achievement4 ,mr4 ,harold ,hilton1 winner of the ,open ,championship in #ahib and #ahig1 and the amateur event in #aijj and #aija2 and ,mr4 ,john ,graham1 junr41 one of the finest products of ,hoylake1 despite his insistence that he is a ,scottish golfer when it comes to ,international rivalry1 is now at the top of his game1 and is good enough to win one ,championship and very nearly another4 ,so true is it that a fine course will breed fine players4 ,of the quality of ,hoylake there can be no two opinions4 ,it is one of the very best courses in the world1 and by common consent it and ,deal are the two best in ,england4 ,hoylake is far better than it looks4 ,the first hole is generally cited as being one of the best two-shot holes to be found anywhere1 and it is always good1 no matter where the wind is4 ,the course looks easy4 ,if you play thoroughly well it may not be difficult1 but if you do not play well it rends your miserable game asunder4 ,what the possibilities for failure are1 were exemplified in a grossly exaggerated manner in the final for the ,amateur ,championship in #aijf1 when the finalists halved the sixth hole1 which goes by the name of the ,briars1 in #i6 ,they lost their heads1 and a player needs his head at ,hoylake4 ,the course is famous for its putting greens4 ,they are fine now2 but they are not what they used to be1 for in the old days they were so magnificent that it used to be said by everybody that it was a sin to walk upon them4 ,the water has in late years been drawn from the land for the purposes of wells1 and this has made a difference4 ,st4 ,andrews and ,hoylake--a noble pair6 ,,iii ,choosing a companion for a golfing holiday is at all times a serious business1 and the light and thoughtless manner in which some young people perform the task is1 in the interests of their own future golfing welfare1 deplorable4 ,young people are mentioned advisedly1 for you do not find the old golfers making their selections hastily1 and they do not live to regret those that they make as do the hot-blooded youths who are swayed by the fancies of a moment4 ,these select at haste1 and often enough they repent bitterly before the golfing trip is over4 ,the same nice discrimination should be exercised in the choice of such a companion as would be1 or ought to be1 in the choice of a wife1 and many of the points that have to be taken into consideration are similar4 ,as a general principle1 youth should not mate with age for the purposes of many days' golf in their own exclusive company away from home1 when the twain are cast upon their own joint resources and have their pleasure and their welfare bound up with each other4 ,it is a good thing that there should have been a long and tolerably thorough acquaintance beforehand1 and there should be some approximate equality in playing ability4 ,the partners to this important contract should be satisfied above all things that not only are their ideas and ideals concerning the good game largely alike1 and their tastes outside the game agreeable to each other1 but that their temperaments agree to the point that they can make the necessary allowances for each other's waywardness of conduct1 when in the interests of continued concord it becomes imperatively necessary that this should be done4 ,trials of this kind will have to be endured1 and it is well that there should be a firm resolution beforehand to bear with each other's weaknesses1 satisfied always of the high value of the man4 ,some old golfers have said1 and wisely1 that it is a good thing to go away on a golfing holiday with a man and never to golf with him--to get the game with others1 and to talk of it with the companion of the trip at breakfast in the morning and at dinner when the play for the day is over2 and there can be little doubt that in this maxim there is much wisdom1 though it is not necessary to carry the recommendation to the extreme4 ,too much familiarity with the game of one man breeds some contempt for it1 even though it be a game that is more remunerative in holes than that possessed by the other2 and while there are no rivals like old rivals1 still1 if their rivalry is uninterrupted it becomes dull and uninteresting4 ,,iv ,there is an old golfer who says that it cost him many weeks of failure1 and many hundreds of pounds1 to come by that experience in conducting a golfing holiday as enabled him to make a complete success of such always afterwards4 ,for the benefit of others of the smallest experience1 who are liable to err grievously1 he offers the following precepts3-- 8,however keen one may be1 and however much one may enjoy the excellent golf that is obtained on a good seaside course1 it is a great mistake to play too much during a short holiday1 and failure to appreciate this fact has completely spoiled more golfing holidays than any other cause4 ,the early keenness is followed by carelessness1 and after a while the game becomes somewhat of a taskmaster4 ,then one's game suffers severely1 and even a strong physical constitution is hardly equal to three rounds a day kept up constantly4 ,yet that is what many holiday golfers try to do1 and when they have finished their vacation they are sick of the mention of golf1 and wish they had gone fishing or shooting instead4 ,my advice is never to play more than two rounds a day1 and to play no golf at all on two days of the week2 whilst1 if the holiday lasts a month1 the man will be all the better for a four or five days' rest in the middle of it4 ,he will then enjoy all his golf1 and the entire holiday will be much more of a success4 8,on a holiday course1 where there are many visitors1 one sees a greater variety of clubs and golfing implements than anywhere else1 and numerous novelties of a more or less attractive character4 ,however favourably many of these ideas may strike you1 do your best to resist the inclination to invest in them1 because1 if you once begin doing this1 you will have a dreadful quantity of rubbish to take home4 ,a golfer who thinks several times before he buys a new club when he is at home1 somehow seems to be a very irresponsible creature when he is holidaying1 and will purchase wonderful brasseys1 niblicks1 and putters at the slightest provocation4 8,as soon as you get on to your holiday seaside course1 don't make the mistake of beginning to play for larger money stakes than you are accustomed to do on your home links1 even when you are invited to do so and you may feel it difficult to refuse4 ,comparatively small beginnings in this direction have a way of developing before the holiday is far advanced into gambling on the game to an extent that the player cannot afford4 ,apart from this important view of the matter1 the pleasure of playing the game is completely ruined4 ,a ball on the match is enough for anybody1 no matter what balance he may have at his bank1 and in starting a golfing holiday a man will be wise to make up his mind in advance that he will not play for more4 8,when you are a complete stranger and alone1 and you beg the club steward that he will find you matches1 do not hesitate when he offers you an opponent1 even though the latter's handicap is either too large or too small to give you the most enjoyable match4 ,take him on at once1 and be thankful4 ,the steward1 who is always an obliging fellow1 has a rather difficult task in suiting everybody1 and you should be greatly obliged for the favour he does you in supplying you with any kind of match4 8,if you are a long-handicap foozler1 make your start for the round either very early in the morning or very late1 say nine o'clock or half-past eleven4 ,either of these times is just as good as half-past ten1 and you will miss the crowd1 have a clear course1 and spare yourself the anxiety of being a constant annoyance to the scratch men behind you if you started at the busy time4 ,you will play a much better game4 8,at the commencement don't announce your handicap as either more or less than what it is at home1 whatever your views upon the accuracy of the latter may be4 ,if you say your handicap is more than it really is1 you are grossly dishonest and a cheat1 though some misguided players do so without any full sense of the grave responsibility of their action4 ,on the other hand1 many players with the best of motives say they are several strokes less than they really are1 for the purpose of seeing what they can really do at a shorter handicap1 and thus1 as they put it1 pull their game out4 ,they also do it with the object of getting better matches1 but their sins will find them out4 ,they may very likely lose most of their matches1 and their opponents1 perhaps1 will not care to play with them again1 wanting something more to do4 ,besides1 they may run up against some of their own club fellows1 and then they may look rather foolish4 8,don't give your newly-made opponent-friend a long account of your many brilliant performances on your home course1 particularly if the account is by way of being an excuse for your falling off on the present occasion4 ,the probability is that he will take a large discount off your story1 and in any case he doesn't care an old gutta what you do at home4 8,also1 don't make the shocking mistake of discussing with him the play and the manners of other visitors to the course with whom you have been having matches1 or whom you have otherwise encountered on the green4 ,it is very bad form1 and1 besides1 after you have been denouncing some person or other1 your companion may inform you that he is a friend of his4 8,don't ask permission of your opponent to take your wife or your sister or your mother round the links with you to watch the match1 even with the proviso that she shall keep at a convenient distance from you both4 ,like the good fellow he is sure to be1 he will say at once that he will be delighted1 and will be most agreeable4 ,but would you be delighted1 and would you play your best game in such circumstances8 ,would not the presence of a lady stranger rather irritate you1 however gallant you might desire to be8 ,and what if all the players on the links did this kind of thing8 ,the proper place for ladies who do not play golf is the seashore4 8,do please remember that as a visitor to the links1 even though you are made a temporary member1 you have no right to be there1 and are only admitted to the course by the courtesy of the members4 ,this is a point in manners which is far too often neglected1 and when the neglect is carried to an extreme the golfer may find his application for temporary membership refused another season4 ,there must be no arrogance in your conduct in the clubhouse or on the green4 ,do not complain about the food or about the state of the course4 ,you are not obliged to eat or to play there1 and the members have got on very well in the past without you1 and will doubtless survive your departure4 8,likewise remember that others who are playing on the course have at least as much right to do so as you1 even if in your opinion they do not play such a high-class game as you do4 ,therefore don't get into the habit of calling out #8,fore6' to the couple in front unless it is absolutely necessary to do so1 and don't complain loudly that people who take four putts on the green have no business to come to such good courses and interfere with the play of others4 8,assume that your opponent1 though you do not know him well1 is both a gentleman and a sportsman1 as it is extremely likely is the case1 and don't allow any contrary idea to enter your mind unless the evidence in favour of it is overwhelming4 ,then say nothing about your suspicions1 but simply make a convenient excuse when he asks you for another match4 8,if a point of difficulty occurs in the course of your match1 do not squabble with your opponent about the rules or stubbornly maintain your own position against his arguments4 ,it is better to waive your point and even lose a hole than do so4 ,you are unlikely to convince him1 and it is quite possible that you yourself are in the wrong4 ,besides1 you will score most heavily by gracefully waiving what you feel is your right4 ,he will feel that afterwards4 8,when you are leaving at the end of your holiday1 do not forget to tender your best thanks to those to whom they are due4 ,when you get home again don't tell untruths about the great things you have done while on your holiday4 ,the people to whom you tell them will not believe you4 ,indeed1 you must be very careful as to how you tell the good part of the truth40 ,v ,when you are one of a special party that sets out for a sojourn at some place1 solely for the reason of the golf that it affords1 and when in due course1 the time having been well and enjoyably spent on the links1 your friends determine that they will return home or depart to some other place for golf1 do not on any account yield to an impulse to stay behind them1 on feeling that you could enjoy still a little more play1 and persuading yourself that among the people you know who are staying in the place you may make up good matches4 ,there will be no further enjoyment1 for all the days that follow will suffer in comparison with those full ones that were spent when those bosom companions helped to the happiness in every hour4 ,the course will not be the same2 there will be a ghostly silence about the rooms of your lodging place1 and the atmosphere of the town or village may seem unfriendly or at least indifferent2 whereas before1 in the independence of your association1 you had not cared what it was1 but formed a vague impression that the people were pleasantly conspiring to add to the comfort and the pleasure of this expedition4 ,on the first morning afterwards it does really seem that all the people who had stayed there had gone also1 and not merely the three who had come with you4 ,you breakfast perhaps alone in a vast apartment4 ,the head waiter seems to mix a great sympathy with his attentions1 suggesting that he appreciates the loneliness and the misery of your bereavement4 ,out of this wretched place to the clubhouse1 and there is no one there1 and the obliging secretary or steward is unable to give any definite information as to the prospects of a morning match4 ,you take out a young professional1 and1 well though he plays1 a poor thing is this match with him in comparison with those that were of the days before1 when you knew always the thoughts and fears that were passing through the mind of your opponent1 and knew almost as well as your own1 the clubs with which he played his shots1 and exactly how they did their work4 ,the ghosts of your friends seem to walk in front of you down the fairway leading to every hole1 and as you leave the putting green and go forward moodily to the next tee1 there is the shadow form of one of them pointing with his club to the exact spot where you remember his ball was teed yesterday1 and you feel momentarily a happier man as you think you can see his characteristic swing and the glint of joy that comes into his eyes as he finds he has made the carry that it needed a strong heart to attempt with this wind blowing back from the green4 ,you do not wish to appear inconsiderate1 and not to show yourself as a man of proper feeling and a good sportsman in the presence of another who can hardly display any open resentment at your attitude1 but you cannot help this walking moodily and listlessly to the tee1 as if not caring anything for the game that is in progress4 ,there is no familiar talk on the old familiar topics4 ,it is a relief when the match is ended1 and you feel less pain at being beaten at the thirteenth hole than you have done for a long time4 8,i can get a good match for you this afternoon1 sir10 says that excellent steward when you go back into the clubhouse4 8,oh1 thanks very much1 ,brown10 you say1 8but it doesn't matter4 ,i think ,i shall go back this afternoon40 ,and by the afternoon train you go1 and as you are whirled along the seashore and through the open country and the tunnels1 a first thought is that yesterday at the same time those three merry fellows were running along the same course1 and were perhaps seated in that very carriage4 ,they have gained a day on you in everything4 ,next time1 my friends1 we will all go back together4 ,,vi ,the customary classification of our golf courses into the inland and seaside groups is crude and inadequate4 ,apart from that there are many inland courses1 and still more seaside courses1 that differ from each other more than some in the one class differ from the others in the second one4 ,the golfer of experience comes subconsciously to put all the courses that he knows well into different groups1 those in each group having some distinguishing characteristic that specially appeals to his fancy or his style of play4 ,the student of golfing architecture has no difficulty in separating the links that we know best into four or five clearly distinguished classes1 or schools as we might call them4 ,the contour and peculiarities of the country over which the course is laid are largely instrumental in determining the class to which each one belongs1 but the hand of man makes the final decision1 and so it is that on many good courses we have the quality exposed and the temperaments suggested of the great golfing architects of dying and dead generations4 ,it may be that they had very unpliable materials with which to work2 but after all in the planning of most holes there are two or three alternatives4 ,one designer would determine that the golfers on his course should play over a high sand hill1 while another would have inclined to avoiding it or fashioning another hole from another tee which would take the player round it4 ,one of the foremost of these schools of golf architecture is the ,heroic4 ,the name has only to be given1 and every golfer of experience knows at once what links he would select as belonging to it--links with a fine length and needing a strong arm and a brave heart for successful play upon them1 links which are broad and bold in their characteristics1 never easy1 and terribly difficult when ,nature is in a tantrum mood4 ,there are not so many drive and pitch holes on such courses1 and when one is encountered the pitch calls for the most thoughtful golf4 ,there are long1 bare1 bunkered holes that chill the blood of the nervous golfer as he goes forth from the tee with a glance at the brasseys in his bag4 ,it seems as if he wanders into a vast space1 a wilderness where the littleness of man is emphasised4 ,as a leading example of golfing architecture of the ,heroic school1 ,i would select the fine course at ,deal1 and another noble specimen is ,prestwick4 ,there is a disposition in these times to make some new inland courses on such models so far as limited natural opportunities permit1 and much the best of those that have been created so far is ,walton ,heath1 where it is really ,heroic golf all the way from the first tee to the home green4 ,a school which has yielded many fine courses is the ,romantic4 ,the lights and shades of such courses are in high contrast1 and their colouring is rich4 ,hazards1 big and full of character of their own1 abound at almost every hole2 there are rocks or sandhills everywhere1 and likely enough the course is set in a frame of rich scenery surrounding4 ,some people would describe such courses as being 8very sporting40 ,when one thinks of the ,romantic school1 and of the great days of adventure that one has spent when paying homage to its dead masters1 one thinks of ,troon and of ,north ,berwick2 and if of this type one must select one that is away from the sea1 there is ,sunningdale which clearly belongs to it1 though its features are not so highly developed4 ,the ,braid ,hills course is certainly attached to the ,romantic school4 ,the architects who were of this school1 and the men who most admire their work1 are warm-blooded1 human players1 who like risks and the overcoming of them1 and who would have their pulses throb with the joy of life when they play on the links4 ,they like1 as it is said1 to be called upon to take their lives in their hands at every stroke of their play4 ,this is great golf4 ,as to which of all the schools provides the truest golf it is hard to say1 since few men would agree on what is the truest golf4 ,but quite likely the links of the sthetic school would be most frequently mentioned in this connection4 ,there has been a subtle art at work in the planning of every hole4 ,the architects have taken their patch of land1 and1 scorning all convention1 have been inspired by great impulses in the selection and arrangement of the line of play4 ,they have had moods and caprices1 but they have been men of great genius1 born and bred in a high atmosphere of the game4 ,like all other men of great independence of thought and action1 they court and receive severe criticism2 but at the end of it all the greatness1 the superbness of the work is admitted1 and its fame will for ever endure4 ,there is character in it at every glance1 but it is not such as is obtrusive1 as at ,troon4 ,here there is the perfect art that conceals art1 and it is a testimony to its perfection that men go on discussing it for ever and ever1 just as they still think and worry over the emotions that passed through the mind of ,hamlet1 and are not all agreed upon them4 ,how many different readings1 as it were1 can one not give to a hole at ,st4 ,andrews--almost any hole on the old course4 ,st4 ,andrews is the masterpiece of the sthetic school--profound1 ingenious1 intricate4 ,here and there we see a little of the influence of the ,heroic school2 the ,romantic has had less4 ,but always the sthetic school is a law unto itself1 and its finished work is not to be likened to that of any other4 ,hoylake is of this school1 though the example is not so pure and unaffected by the two great rival branches of architectural art as ,st4 ,andrews4 ,nevertheless it is distinctly sthetic1 and there is no other course that is worthy of inclusion in this particular class4 ,we have another school1 which should be called the ,victorian4 ,it has many merits1 and it is very prolific4 ,it represents a sober and industrious kind of golf1 but it is utterly lacking in any inspiration4 ,it is as business like and exact as you please1 a six-o'clock-sharp morning-dress kind of golf4 ,it conduces to good habits1 and will make some good golfers4 ,but on the whole it is rather prim and dull1 and one never feels the blood running in the veins when contemplating it4 ,muirfield is one of the ,victorian school1 and there are one or two of the satellites of ,hoylake1 on its own seaboard1 that are of it also4 ,sandwich has much of the ,victorian element in it2 but it is redeemed by the strong influence of other schools1 as by the extreme romanticism of the ,maiden4 ,the suburbs in their own small way went over to ,victorianism entirely at the outset1 partly because their circumstances exerted such an irresistible tendency in that direction4 ,a drive over one bunker and a pitch over the next one is ,victorianism in its crudest form2 but perhaps after all the suburbs are lucky in being able to attach themselves to any school4 ,i am told that the ,victorian school has had paramount influence in ,america4 ,,vii ,of the links we know1 those by the sea1 to which do we return for the tenth or the twentieth time joyously as to a delightful friend in a charming home8 ,instantly we murmur the name of dear ,north ,berwick4 ,the old player has conviction in this immediate choice by instinct1 though the question is not one which he answers lightly4 ,in his heart he has corners for many old loves1 and as he brings each one up for contemplation and counts her many charms1 he thinks that surely she is the fairest of them all4 ,but inevitably when they have all been passed in review his fancy brings him back to one1 and he clings to the remembrance of her1 confessing that she is not like the others4 ,there is a subtlety in her charm1 a fascination in her manners1 an 8altogether0 which cannot be resisted4 ,she is gentler than ,st4 ,andrews1 a sweet innocent maiden wading with bare feet among the rocks of the ,haddington coast1 whom you love to tease and toy with2 while my lady of ,fifeshire is colder and of great dignity and compelling attractions4 ,it is a fine sea at ,north ,berwick1 and though in the play one may think little enough of the sea1 it is good to have the wavelets kissing the pebbles hard by an occasional green1 and to hear their soothing lapping4 ,the sound is grateful to the hard-tried nerves4 ,there are few parts of the ,north ,berwick course where one cannot see a little of the ocean1 while here and there1 such as at ,point ,garry and ,perfection1 the greens are placed in enchanting spots4 ,then the air is like wine4 ,at ,north ,berwick one is in ,east ,lothian1 in the centre of the finest golfing country in the world4 ,in two or three weeks one may tire of the same links1 the monotony of the same round1 the same bunkers1 the same greens4 ,here there are many others at hand1 and all within the shortest of journeys4 ,chiefly there is ,gullane the grand4 ,when you are at ,gullane you may think it is better than ,north ,berwick as a place to stay and holiday in4 ,it is quieter1 quainter1 more old fashioned1 a trifle more like the country1 and the golf is glorious4 ,such is the turf on old ,gullane1 that one feels that one should never tread upon the greens save in stockinged feet4 ,and the man who has not captured the eighth and ninth up the hill in #d's1 and then on the summit stood hard by the ,roundell to survey the finest panorama to be seen on a golf course1 and taste the finest air1 has something yet to know of the utmost pleasures of a golfer's existence4 ,then there are ,muirfield1 and ,archerfield1 ,kilspindie1 and all the rest of them1 so near that strong men have played on the whole collection in one day4 ,but when you go back to ,north ,berwick in the evening you think you will stay there still4 ,you like the comfort of the place1 and the green1 and you want your ,bass ,rock4 ,it is the place to conjure up a mental picture of some great events of days gone by1 as3 ,it is nearly sixty years ago1 and there is tense excitement on the seven-hole course1 as it was in those far-off days4 ,a great foursome is being played1 and there is #djj at issue4 ,old ,tom and ,allan ,robertson are on one side1 and the ,dunns are against them on the other4 ,they have played over two other greens and are even1 and now they are to decide4 ,the ,dunns have had a great lead1 but at the second last hole in the fifth and last round the game is square4 ,then the ,dunns' ball lodges behind a stone1 and the brothers are in a frenzy1 and lose their heads in several vain endeavours to extricate it4 ,old ,tom and ,allan are dormy1 and the #djj goes to them at the last hole4 ,this picture fades away1 and another framed in mournful black comes up in its place4 ,old ,tom and his boy1 the great ,young ,tom1 are on the green1 matched against old ,willie ,park and ,mungo ,park4 ,some news comes4 ,it is bad news4 ,it is taken to the green1 and the others bow their heads for a moment but say nothing to the boy4 ,but as soon as may be they take him off the links1 and put him in a sailing boat to sail across the water with ,old ,tom1 his father1 to ,st4 ,andrews on the ,fifeshire coast4 ,and there he reels as he looks upon the pallid face of his much-beloved wife1 her head laid upon a pillow1 and the eyelids closed in death4 ,young ,tom's own death-warrant was signed that moment4 ,the golfing history of ,north ,berwick is full of the romance of the game4 ,,viii ,in many sequestered places there are fine courses that the golfer in general knows little of4 ,demand of him suddenly that he shall tell you of a far-away seaside links where you may rest and play for a little while until the city calls you back1 and by force of habit he will begin to murmur pleasantly about his ,carnousties and his ,gullanes and all the rest4 ,they are excellent1 most excellent2 but we call for change1 and where for the old wanderer is the change that is good enough8 ,when he appeals to you1 send him down in a cab to ,paddington1 bidding him take a ticket to ,porthcawl1 changing at ,cardiff1 for you may know that in the evening he will be happy1 and that upon the next day the joy of life will have come again to a weary worker4 ,porthcawl is a place that rests the man and gives balm to his troubled spirit4 ,there is a fine links and the open ,atlantic1 and the ,cymric spell is cast upon the sojourner--the feeling that one has relapsed from the severity of complicated civilisation for a little while to the peace and the simplicity of old ,gwalia1 the land of the real ,briton4 ,one day ,i was turning the pages of a small guide-book to ,south ,wales1 when ,i noticed that the topographer1 in writing of ,porthcawl1 said somewhat complainingly that the coast round about there was 8extremely desolate40 ,beyond hinting that there were more rocks about it than were good for any well-ordered coast1 he preferred not to go into details4 ,he was describing things for the benefit of that curious person who is generally called 8the tourist10 and he seemed to feel this was no place for him to linger with his charge4 ,so in apologetic manner he gave his reader a small assortment of the usual kind of facts as an excuse for having mentioned ,porthcawl at all4 ,he told him1 for example1 that the novelist1 ,r4 ,d4 ,blackmore1 who was a word scene-painter of breadth and effectiveness1 placed the action of his 8,maid of ,sker0 in this region of ,porthcawl1 and if he had had consideration for the golfer he would have added that there are landmarks of the story to be seen from all parts of the links4 ,the tourist was further informed as to a local church1 was acquainted with the curious fact that here there is a well of fresh water which rises and falls in a puzzling manner according to the going out and coming in respectively of the tide1 and was supplied with some useful and indispensable knowledge about the character of the shipping with which the port had to deal4 ,and then1 as it was felt that the tourist must not tarry longer in such a place1 he was hurried on to some other1 where there were piers and bands1 and a variety of historic remains for contemplation and study in serious moments4 ,generally the requirements of the golfer are in inverse ratio to those of the tourist1 and it is tolerably safe to predict that when a coast is described as 8extremely desolate10 it represents a fine piece of golfing country4 ,it is one of the good things of golf that it has come into our civilisation to use up all utterly barren and waste tracts of coastwise land1 and that generally the more barren and waste the better they are for golf4 ,are not some of the best links there are in ,britain situated on coasts that are to the non-golfing mind1 uneducated to the beauty and charm of testing1 full-blooded and yet scrupulously fair holes1 quite naked of all attraction8 ,and what an excellent arrangement of circumstances it is6 ,the neighbourhood of ,prestwick is sometimes by way of being 8boomed0 as a health resort1 a place that affords a fine tonic to the lungs1 and ,i believe the claim is well justified2 but not all people would describe this spot in ,ayrshire as being 8interesting10 and there is certainly no kind of relation between the quality of the coast scenery and the inestimable grandeur1 from the golfing point of view1 of the ,cardinal1 the ,himalayas1 and above all of the glorious seventeenth1 the ,alps4 ,and consider ,sandwich4 ,no tourist of discrimination has been seen1 or will be1 on these reclaimed wastes that have already given us one championship course1 and lately a new links1 which is of superlative quality4 ,and the 8extremely desolate0 coast at ,porthcawl which did not please our guide-book man1 is found on acquaintance to be an excellent example of ,nature's impressionist seascape work1 with savage rocks abounding4 ,even the name of ,porthcawl smacks of coves and pirates1 of breezes and big seas4 ,porthcawl sticks out so that there is nothing in the world between it and the ,united ,states of ,america except the ,atlantic ,ocean4 ,its golf links are on the very margin of the sea1 contiguous to those black1 sharp rocks--so near1 indeed1 that a really badly-hit ball may sometimes be sent dancing at all kinds of fantastic angles from one to another1 until it comes to rest in an inaccessible place whence it will never be disturbed4 ,sometimes in the severer seasons1 the sea1 with the full1 unbroken force of the ,atlantic behind it1 will be sent smashing along over the rocks1 and even over the golf links too1 until some of the bunkers are laden with salt water4 ,porthcawl is fine1 and it is a fine change1 and there are holes on the course that have a boldness and a vigour that stir the pulse of the golfing man4 ,we play over the wall and up the hill to the turn1 and there is ,south ,wales and its ocean frame spread out at our feet1 making us linger upon a glorious scene and sigh a little as we drive down the hillside to the first hole in4 ,,ix ,it is fine golf that is to be had now on ,kent's eastern seaboard1 and each time one comes down into this neighbourhood with one's bag of clubs1 the more one is strengthened in the conviction as to its equal excellence with any other golfing district in the world1 and the abundance of its fine prospects for the future4 ,the magnificent character of the golf1 chiefly that which is enjoyed under the authority of the ,cinque ,ports ,club at ,deal1 is becoming better known and appreciated year by year1 and even now the feeling is general that here is one of the finest links that were ever made for a championship to be played upon4 ,the sister course of the ,royal ,st4 ,george's ,club is practically joined up to it1 and now a little farther along the bay in the direction of ,ramsgate is the new course of the ,prince's ,club1 and a very fine course too4 ,so here we have stringed together along a small stretch of coast three of the very best courses that are to be found in the whole world of golf--one which is actually a championship course1 a second which is perhaps by way of being so1 and a third which may soon be mentioned in the same connection4 ,there is enough good golfing land left in ,pegwell ,bay to make a fourth course1 and some day not very far distant it may be made4 ,nature has here given to the golfer every natural advantage that it is possible to afford him in the preparation of those seaside links1 the contemplation of which brings the light of pleasure into his eyes4 ,golf is great in our modern scheme of things1 and some have said1 without irreverence1 that they see the shaping hand of ,providence in short holes of such sporting quality as the ,maiden and the ,sandy ,parlour1 in those glorious last four holes at ,deal1 and in all that bumpy ground to be covered in approach play which calls for such an abundant exercise of the wits of the thoughtful golfer1 and inevitably recalls to him some of the best characteristics of ,st4 ,andrews4 ,so much1 indeed1 does all this place look as if it were made for golf1 and intended to be a capital of golf1 that a man with whom ,i played there once was led1 while we were waiting at one of the tees1 to the remark that if golf had never been invented it would surely have come to be so as soon as intelligent men had wandered hereabouts1 so direct is the suggestion that is made by the nature and the contour of the land4 ,one finds it difficult--nay1 even impossible--to think of a better stretch of golfing land in the whole of ,england or ,scotland1 or anywhere where there are three links of this quality joined up to each other1 so that1 if so whimsically disposed1 a golfer might play on from one to the other1 and make a triple round of fifty-four holes4 ,here1 then1 is a place which is eminently adapted to become a leader among golfing centres1 and it would surprise no one if1 at an early stage of the further evolution of golf and golfing matters1 it came to be regarded as the chief of all4 ,it is not to be overlooked that it enjoys the inestimable advantage of proximity to ,london4 ,when ,london takes a fancy to such a thing as golf she likes to be its master1 and will leave nothing undone to assert her supremacy4 ,she has taken to golf1 and ,scotland already knows with what masterful zeal she is pursuing it4 ,these seaside links of eastern ,kent are to all intents and purposes ,london links1 in that they are nearer than any other to ,london1 and are fed almost exclusively from the capital4 ,and a further advantage that the place possesses is in the fine bracing air with which it is enveloped1 air which for its invigorating properties is hardly to be excelled anywhere in ,great ,britain4 ,when the wind comes from the south-east with moderate strength1 as it so often does down there1 it is a fine thing for the golfer1 and a stimulant not only to himself but his game4 ,the locality begins to feel1 as one might say1 like a great golfing centre4 ,you know how ,st4 ,andrews and ,carnoustie and ,north ,berwick 8feel0 like that4 ,the intelligent interest of the non-golfing people in the towns and villages round about is being awakened in the game1 and they are all discovering in some way or other how they may make themselves to benefit by it4 ,particularly is this the case with regard to a certain good class of private hotels and boarding-houses catering specially1 if not exclusively1 for golfers4 ,in all the great centres of the game one finds these places in abundance1 and every player of experience knows how1 in many respects1 they are often to be preferred to the big hotels4 ,then we find a leading thoroughfare called ,golf ,road1 houses called ,golf ,villas1 establishments named ,golf ,bakeries and ,golf ,laundries1 all of which little details are a sign that the game is coming to be regarded in the district as an 8industry10 and the district is wise in arriving at such an understanding in good time4 ,moreover1 one would be inclined to say that the standard of play down here is at least as high1 taking it all round1 as it is at any other big golfing centre4 ,there are foozlers on every links1 but more men with very short handicaps1 men who have really come to grips with the game1 are playing round ,pegwell ,bay than in most parts1 chiefly because1 whether member or visitor1 the expense of playing is considerable1 and the play itself is difficult1 and the long-handicap men have discovered that there is not much fun in paying high rates for the privilege of spending week-ends in bunker practice4 ,and yet another attribute of the large and important golfing centre does this neighbourhood possess1 in the good quality of the caddies which in the course of many seasons it has at last developed4 ,a man once said that if he saw the caddies beforehand he could tell what kind of golf was played in a place1 and though this may have been going too far1 there was a germ of truth in the idea4 ,mediocre links and mediocre players never produce good caddies1 and the reverse argument generally holds good2 and everybody knows that a good race of caddies is not to be produced in a couple of seasons4 ,oftentimes it needs at least a generation4 ,but the caddies at ,deal and ,sandwich nowadays are excellent1 and this is not such an unimportant matter as some people might imagine it to be4 ,x ,when you think of it1 there is no inconsiderable portion of our golfing lives that is spent in travelling to and from the links that are far from home1 by railway and by motor-car1 and if one falls into a reflective mood there are many experiences1 some curious and some trying1 that are to be called to mind in connection with these journeys4 ,on the whole1 perhaps1 the reflection does not make for much joy1 except in the knowledge that these are things of the past and are not likely to be repeated4 ,when the assemblies for the championships are being made1 there is less talk of current form than there is of adventures in travelling4 ,oh1 the horrors of a wait at ,dumfries in the small hours of a cold morning1 when the mistake has been made of trying to get to ,prestwick that way6 ,turned out from the comfortable1 warm1 snug sleeping-car at ,carlisle1 even the blanket and pillow that were vouchsafed to you on parting from the express are begrudged you now at this most icy1 inhospitable ,dumfries4 ,with that curious1 dirty1 dazed feeling as of being a boiled owl1 you watch the men throw the mails into the van that is to take them and you on to ,ayr1 and listen to them joking about the events of the previous night as if it were now really morning4 ,you tell everybody what you think about ,scottish common sense in not having a fire in any waiting-room and no place available for any refreshment1 and the ,scots themselves are too courteous to say what they must think of your common sense for a golfer in making this journey in this weird way4 ,then you get into a smelly1 dirty carriage1 and with jerks and jolts the train drags itself out of the station and slowly away along the line4 ,stop1 stop1 stop every two or three miles1 but at last it is ,ayr1 and the worn-out golfer1 cursing himself for his folly and others for their heathenism1 gets out and steps forth into the land of ,burns4 ,but it is yet only a little past five o'clock1 and all ,ayr is fast asleep1 and there are no fires1 no refreshments1 and no ways of getting to ,prestwick just yet4 ,this is to be a golfer6 ,but all things end sometime except eternity1 and at last you are at ,prestwick1 and the finest thing you ever did in your life was then to keep your first ball straight and uninfluenced by the gravestones in the churchyard1 and to squeeze a heartening if a little fluky #c at this first hole4 ,my reader1 be assured that the night train through ,carlisle1 and changing there and at ,dumfries1 is not the way to go to the west coast of ,scotland where are ,prestwick and ,troon4 ,run through to ,glasgow and down again1 as indeed everybody but those crazy people who are always finding new ways of doing things1 always do4 ,but generally night-travelling is an excellent thing when you get used to it1 and it spares a day to golf4 ,it is a fine thing to pack your bag of clubs away lovingly in your berth after a dinner at the ,london terminus1 and before you turn off the light you look at them and think a 8,good-night60 to them in a cheery way as of old and trusted companionship4 8,off again1 my friends60 you seem to say4 8,we have done this sort of thing before1 eh8 ,we know what we are going to do1 you and ,i1 eh8 ,yes1 you are the fellows4 ,bonny boys1 you are6 ,where8 ,didn't you know8 ,why1 ,north ,berwick1 of course6 ,now1 bye-bye6 ,let's sleep4 ,play in the morning40 ,and then you switch off the light1 and slip away into dreamland where there are glorious holes on seaside courses1 and presently there is a big thump on the door and that dream is spoiled and dispelled by a man's gruff voice4 ,but the next moment is one of those most worth living4 ,the dream is realised or is in the realisation1 for the caller brings you to your joyful senses by declaring that in fifteen more minutes you will be wheeling into ,edinburgh4 ,in those dreams which were helped by a soothing lullaby from the wheels below1 the ,london was slipping away four hundred miles from the tail of the train1 and here is ,golf1 its own rare land4 ,and what feats one can perform on a motor-car6 ,and does4 ,just finished our putts on the home green at ,st4 ,andrews1 and the sun going down1 and up comes one of our impulsive party and says it is ordered that we go to ,gullane to-night by car6 ,goodness6 ,but it has to be1 and in half an hour we are bowling along those ,fifeshire roads1 and we are ferried across from ,burntisland in the gloom and run into ,edinburgh4 ,good supper1 some talk in a tone of suppressed excitement as if great adventures are afoot--as they are--and history is being made1 and then we hoot-hoot away into the blackness of the night4 ,and it is black farther on4 ,and the blacker it is the faster that dare-devil man at the wheel makes her go4 ,running along roads the width of the car and stone walls on either side1 while branches of trees are almost scraping the tops of our heads1 and one might swear the speed-gauge has its finger on the fifty4 8,mrs4 ,forman's60 you say to the man beside you1 to show you are not thinking of the awful risks as we dash by ,musselburgh4 ,farther on a cap is lost in the black and windy night1 but nobody complains4 ,it is enough that all survived that terrible twist round the corner at ,gosford4 ,aberlady6 ,that is a fine thing to hear4 8,will you stop here to-night1 or come on to ,gullane80 ,it is the end4 ,you have indeed come through a great ordeal1 and it is a great thing to be standing there in the night with your bag of clubs under your arm1 and to be able to answer a greeting as it ought to be1 and to let your thoughts slip away soon to the golf of the morning that is coming4 ,,xi ,but it is clear to me that the golfer who wishes to go golfing1 and at the same time to live the richest and most adventurous life of the traveller1 needs to take himself abroad and roam from course to course in ,eastern and ,central ,america4 ,he will encounter many incidents that will interest and enliven him1 as did the four eminent ,british professionals who some time since made a golfing expedition from here in the winter-time in search of ,mexican treasure--dollars that were offered in open competition at ,san ,pedro4 ,they told me a great tale of their adventures on their return1 and1 as ,i have reason to believe1 a strictly accurate one4 ,andrew ,kirkaldy1 ,alexander ,herd1 ,jack ,white1 and ,rowland ,jones were the treasure-hunters1 and dashing fellows they seemed as they boarded a special express at ,new ,york4 ,having started thence at five minutes to eleven one ,wednesday morning1 the train reached ,st4 ,louis at #a4cj on ,thursday1 having been much delayed by a wreck on the ,wabash in which fourteen persons were killed and injured4 ,this news added greatly to the discomfort of the four ,british golfers4 ,they lunched at the ,planters' ,hotel1 went round the city1 saw a performance at the theatre1 and boarded the train again at half-past eight in the evening4 ,thereafter ,messrs4 ,kirkaldy1 ,herd1 ,white1 and ,jones were brought to realise some of the possibilities of travelling in through trains along the ,american ,continent4 ,they were in the last car of the train1 and after the journey had been resumed about half an hour1 there was a negative kind of happening in the form of a gradual slowing down and then a final stop of the train--or rather1 as it proved1 of the carriage4 ,after waiting a little while in patience the party put their heads out of the window1 and then they came to realise the horrible truth4 ,their carriage had become uncoupled1 and the train had gone on and left them6 ,here was a state of things6 ,there was no other train to get them through in time4 ,hundreds of pounds were to be picked up at ,san ,pedro1 and they would not be there to pick them up as they had intended4 ,the prizes would have been a gift for them1 and either 8,andra0 or ,rowland ,jones would have become an open champion of sorts at last4 ,when these thoughts had chased each other through the minds of the great ,british quartette for half an hour1 someone got up aloft1 and1 like the widow ,twankey--or ,sister ,anne was it8--in the pantomime1 said that he thought he saw something coming4 ,immediately afterwards he confessed he was mistaken1 but he had scarcely admitted the mistake when the original statement was renewed with vigour4 ,there was something1 and eventually it was made out as a railway train4 ,the four great ,british golfers were saved for ,mexico1 and they would yet win championships and dollars--at least they might do1 as they might now prefer to put it4 ,it seemed that after the train had parted company with its last carriage1 in about a quarter of an hour somebody in the moving section happened to notice the circumstance1 and remarked that it was rather curious that a carriage should be left down the line in that manner1 and that there should be no fuss made4 ,the matter being reported to the officials on the train they decided to put back and see if they could find the carriage containing1 among others1 the party of four great ,british golfers4 ,as we have already seen1 they did so4 ,then the whole train moved on again towards ,mexico1 and 8,andra0 went to sleep in his berth dreaming1 perhaps1 of the old course at home and of his doing the home hole in #b4 ,the four ,british golfers found things rather dull for the next two days1 for nothing in particular happened while they were running through fifteen hundred miles of woods and prairie4 ,on ,saturday morning they got out of the train at ,san ,antonio1 ,texas1 in time for breakfast1 and the same evening they reached ,laredo1 the ,mexican border1 where their luggage was examined4 ,spanish being the prevailing language1 this process proved rather troublesome1 especially as the officials had varying and peculiar views as to the goods on which duty should be paid4 ,some of the party had to pay it on their golf clubs1 and others escaped4 ,the train had hardly got going again when it was pulled up on account of an obstruction in front1 and it was three hours before a further advance was made1 the impediment being a freight-train which had run off the track4 ,by this time ,kirkaldy was sighing for a ride on the ,north ,british1 and ,white was hoping that he might be allowed the privilege of making his last journey on earth on the beautiful ,south-,western4 ,but there was more adventure to come4 ,the four great ,british golfers had heard awful tales of ,mexicans and what they were capable of1 but they understood the place was more civilised now--must be1 as there was golf there4 ,in the dead of night1 while the famous quartette were wrapped in slumber1 when ,white found himself back on to his drive1 when ,herd had nothing but good luck for a whole season1 when ,jones was pipping one ,braid for the championship nearly every time1 and when the fourth of the party of ,british golfers was doing a round on the links in ,elysium in eighteen under par--there were robbers going through the car6 ,they were real robbers1 such as are commonly found on these trains in these parts4 ,they went through the train 8in the most approved style10 as it was said of them1 and before the first streaks of the ,mexican dawn had lit up the sky there were many men in that golfing train who were much poorer than when they went to sleep4 ,one of the ,boston amateurs going to the same tournament lost six hundred dollars1 his gold watch1 and trunk checks1 and several others found that various sums of money belonging to them had disappeared4 ,and how fared the four ,british golfers8 ,was it for fear of him1 for respect1 or for admiration1 that the ,mexican robber did not concern himself at all with the great ,british golfer8 ,in due course they landed at ,mexico ,city on ,monday morning4 ,the four ,british golfers were much impressed by the peculiar dress of the ,mexicans1 which they even found to be affected by the caddies4 ,andrew spoke a few preliminary words of greeting to the boys1 but they only smiled1 not understanding ,scotch4 ,but they showed a strong disposition to be good friends1 an attitude which1 as was subsequently discovered1 was not entirely because they were great golfers4 ,caddies are much the same the wide world over4 ,of the further pursuit of the treasure by the four great ,british golfers1 and of their many disappointments1 the story has been already told4 ,,xii ,a celebrated golfer1 being in one of his lighter moods1 discussed with me the future association of aeroplanes and golf1 and he observed that when the flying machines came they would be such boons and blessings to the golfing fraternity above all others as nobody imagined at the present time4 ,he opined that no sooner did the flying machine become workable and reliable than every golfer who considered himself at all thorough1 and took any proper care of his game1 would think it his bounden duty to possess one4 ,it would be as necessary to the playing of his true game as the nails in the soles of his boots and shoes1 and he would be just as seriously handicapped without the one as the other4 ,this was a startling proposition2 but though it was a great exaggeration of an idea1 the idea itself was sound1 and was based on the wisest and most generally-accepted philosophy4 ,it was submitted that the aeroplane would be very good for golf1 inasmuch as it would do less towards putting a man off his game at the beginning of the day than any other form of locomotion from his place of residence to the golf course4 ,it is a disturbing reflection that practically everything that one does in these days that is not golf tends to injure one's golf4 ,nothing has ever been discovered that with any consistency and regularity will improve it1 except golf2 the effect is always adverse1 and perhaps this trying jealousy of the game adds something to its general fascination4 ,usually a more or less lengthy journey has to be made from the golfer's home to the first tee1 and it is this which is so much calculated to disturb his playing temperament4 ,no matter how you make this journey it must be bad for your game1 and the only difference between one way and another is in the degree of badness4 ,when a man has risen from his bed in the morning1 thoroughly roused himself1 and noticed that it is a fine day1 he is at his best for golfing4 ,after that all things put him off4 ,some authorities are very adverse to the cold bath1 and others have even said that one's breakfast ought not to be regarded as an absolutely loyal friend4 ,but it is the journey to the links--with all its delays1 irritations1 inconveniences1 and joltings--that does the most damage4 ,frequently this journey is a mixture of cabs1 omnibuses1 and trains4 ,at one point or another you have very likely to run for either the omnibus or the train1 and this is certain to do something towards putting you off4 ,it may be only a little1 but it is this trifle added to other similar trifles that make up a total sufficient to bring disaster to your driving and putting4 ,if you do not need to run anywhere1 you have to wait1 and this irritates and does harm4 ,then the great vibration of the cab and the omnibus most seriously affect the nervous system4 ,the golfer may not be conscious of it1 but the effect is there4 ,how true this is may be judged by taking the extreme case of the motor-bicycle4 ,a year or two ago large numbers of golfers who could not afford motor-cars went in for the cheaper kind of machine1 but to a man they found them quite fatal to golf1 and particularly to their putting1 the vibration having reduced their nerves to such a state that delicacy of touch on the putting green was next to impossible4 ,ordinary bicycles are nearly as bad4 ,in many respects motor-cars have great advantages1 and have become very popular with golfers1 but they are far from being the ideal form of locomotion4 ,here1 again1 there is vibration1 and if you have anything in the nature of a fright on the road you may generally reckon that your game for the day is damaged to the extent of a number of strokes that varies with the individual4 ,having all these things and many more in mind1 the superiority of the aeroplane1 from the golfer's point of view1 becomes evident4 ,it will take you from your door to the first tee1 and1 as there are no roads to jolt upon1 one conceives that in the perfect aeroplane there will be no vibration1 and1 barring the effects of his breakfast1 the golfer will be transported to the links in as nearly as possible the ideal state in which he rose from his bed4 ,,xiii ,some footpaths count for very much in the playing of a hole1 and at times call for and produce fine shots that would never be made if there were no path there4 ,so sometimes they are good to the game2 but generally they are merely an aggravation4 ,you could hardly call a path or a road famous1 but if you were asked which were the most notable you would probably call to mind first of all the path that goes across the first and eighteenth holes at ,st4 ,andrews1 which is distinguished from others because of the devil-may-care spirit in which the general public defy injury and death by the way they saunter along it when such men as ,edward ,blackwell are standing on the first tee1 and it is also a path among paths1 because it has led to the cultivation of the most magnificent voice ever heard on any golf course4 ,the man who has not heard ,starter ,greig fire his blast of warning through the hole in his box down the fairway--with a clap1 and a bang against the horizon1 for all the world like a discharge from a small brass gun--is still ignorant of one of the minor wonders of the golf world1 and has a very inadequate perception of the possibilities of calling 8,fore60 ,likewise1 one would say that of all roads--as superior to mere paths--that which skirts the seventeenth green on the same old course is the most remembered by the majority of good golfers--remembered sadly4 ,how many golfers have had their brightest hopes dashed by that road when within sight of home and victory it would be a sorry task to count1 but there lingers in my mind a dreadful scene when ,j4 ,h4 ,taylor's ball went there in the course of the #aije championship meeting1 from a not by any means unworthy shot1 and of his trying1 time after time1 to get it back to the green1 until when he had done so his nerves were tingling as would have been those of any man4 ,the paths and roads of ,blackheath are altogether probably responsible for the making of a bigger and more enduring piece of golfing history than any others4 ,other footways may have despoiled great players of deserved honours1 but thus their effects are chiefly destructive1 and it cannot be claimed for them that they have made anything for the game4 ,but the ,blackheath paths and roads have been constructive in their effect upon the game1 for they made the brassey4 ,there is a fair consensus of opinion that this most necessary of modern clubs was first introduced on this course as a consequence of these paths and roads that had to be played from1 and also partly on account of the gritty nature of the turf4 ,in those days of the use of the brassey1 when a ,blackheath golfer appeared on a ,scottish course1 the caddies knew his headquarters at once4 8,he comes frae ,blackheath10 they would say with some deprecation4 8,there's naething but gravel pits and stones at ,blackheath40 ,,xiv ,however humble its merits may be1 it is well that a man should be faithful always to his mother course1 respectful of her1 and that he should not speak and very tardily admit to himself the blemishes of her features4 ,for it is always for him to remember that she1 and she alone1 gave the game to him that has yielded him so much happiness1 and he owes to her a debt that he can never repay1 save in constancy and gratitude4 ,therefore it is to be reckoned as a good thing in a golfer that1 wherever the necessities and vicissitudes of life may take him to live1 and for whatever other courses he may in mature years find a fondness and become attached to by membership1 he should1 if he can do it1 always remain an associate of his first club1 and should from time to time display some public attachment to its course1 even though it be at some inconvenience to himself4 ,it is a little act of filial homage that should not be neglected4 ,at such times he will be kind to her and will not chide her for her weaknesses4 ,he will humour her good-naturedly4 ,the sixteenth may be a better hole on another course1 but do not say so now4 ,think how rich did that sixteenth here seem in those far-off days when the teething to the clubs was first being done4 ,what terrors had its bunkers6 ,what a big1 lusty1 and not to say a brutal one1 did it seem then2 but now to the time-worn golfer1 if the truth must be whispered for once to himself1 that old sixteenth seems something of a milksop1 and can be played in ten different ways with a half-hearted drive and something of a mashie or iron4 ,how happy we were despite the constant troubles in those olden days1 when we were always with our mother links1 and knew no others6 ,the old men of golf came and told us of the great courses that they had encountered in their travels--such wonderful holes1 such amazing bunkers1 such marvellous putting greens6 ,these travellers' tales were pleasant to listen to1 and they fired the imagination2 but after all we returned with some content to our mother links4 ,and then1 what golfer does not remember the day1 particularly if he was then no longer a child in years1 when he went away for the first time from that course and paid a visit to one of those celebrated of which so much is written in the books and on which so many fine matches and championships are played8 ,this is always an epoch1 and a stirring one in every golfing life4 ,there are many wild emotions in the man when for the first time he takes his club to play a shot on this foreign course of so much renown4 ,if he is an intelligent man1 and an impartial one1 he sees the merit and the glory1 and he admits it without reservation4 ,he feels that now he has gone out into the great world1 and that there are more wonders in it than even his utmost fancy had suspected4 ,he is like the ,queen of ,sheba who went to see the magnificence of ,solomon1 confessing then that it was a true report that she had heard in her own land1 though she believed not until her eyes had seen1 when she knew that the half had not been told her4 ,out alone on this wonderful course the feeling of loneliness and helplessness will come upon this immature player4 ,truly the half had not been told to him1 and in mortal agony in some 8,hell0 or other1 or in a ,devil's ,kitchen or a ,punchbowl1 or it may be in the sandy wastes of a ,sahara or in a crevasse on the heights of the ,alps or the ,himalayas--how1 then1 will he be reminded of the tender indulgences of his mother links1 of her constant kindness1 and of the way in which she humoured his youthful caprice and smiled patiently upon him when he was fretful6 ,perhaps she was too indulgent1 and the maternal laxness did something towards the spoiling of the child for the manhood that was to follow4 ,but no matter1 let the golfer always be kind and well disposed to his mother links4 ,,the ,,sunny ,,season ,i ,one hears it said sometimes by versatile and thorough-going sportsmen1 that of all the sweet sensations to be discovered and enjoyed occasionally in the whole world of sport1 the hitting of a perfect tee shot is one of the best1 one of the only two or three best4 ,these men are probably right1 for the hitting of a really spanking ball from the tee1 when one feels the complete absence of a grating or a jerking anywhere in the system1 showing that the whole of the most complicated movement has worked round the centre with the accuracy of a watch1 and that every ounce of available power has thus been put into the drive to the greatest advantage--this is a fine thing to feel1 and the pity is that the joy of it is so fleeting1 and that the memory of it has entirely gone a few minutes later when some succeeding shot has not been quite so good4 ,but is there not another feeling which comes to a man in the game sometimes which is even more uplifting1 much more so8 ,it lasts longer1 and it is fuller1 richer4 ,the man is then transformed1 etherealised2 he is no longer a thing of this crawling1 walking world2 and he is not a mere man on the links as he used to be1 happy1 indeed1 for the most part1 but very human1 with many adversities to encounter1 as generally in this world4 ,the man is raised for a while to the higher state1 and his golfing soul floats in ,valhalla when he is suddenly permitted to play many holes in succession better than he had ever played holes before--everything perfect1 and a little more than perfect1 which means fortunate all the way from the tee to the flag4 ,it is one of those days which have been dreamt about and regarded as impossible1 when the marvellous coincidence has occurred of the man being 8on0 everything at the same time1 and of everything going right when he was thus on them4 ,aforetime it has been that when he was on six things a seventh has led him astray1 and there has always been a seventh at least1 if not another too4 ,the factor of evil could never be cancelled4 ,but this time it is1 and it is as if the gods1 smiling benevolently on the lucky and successful player1 determine that he shall be happy to the utmost1 and therefore they allow him all the good fortune that is theirs to give4 ,the most perfect balls are driven from the tee1 the most impossible carries are accomplished2 there is a delightful crispness about the approaches1 and the six-feet putts are holed with precision and confidence2 while here and there1 to the utter demoralisation of the arch enemy par1 to say nothing of the poor man who is the human victim of it all1 the long putts go down as well4 ,it is1 perhaps1 given to most players to be stirred with this indescribable joy once or twice in their lives--seldom more than that4 ,it is not until three or four holes have been played that the full realisation of what is happening comes to the favoured player1 and it is then that he is rapidly etherealised4 ,his joy may last for another four or five holes2 it will seldom endure a round4 ,i have seen men when they have been in this state and under this most extraordinary influence1 and they have not then been as they are at other times4 ,their inward ecstasy shines outside them4 ,there is a curious nervous smile on their faces1 and their eyes gleam4 ,their steps are short and hurried4 ,they seldom speak1 and when they do there is a touch of incoherency in their remarks4 ,it is best that they should not be spoken to4 ,they are suffering from a curious dementia of exaltation4 ,they have help from ,olympus1 and history is being made4 ,when ,i have seen it done ,i have once or twice made a close study of the behaviour of the man1 and ,i know that it is as ,i have written4 ,one of the most memorable occasions on which ,i witnessed this super-exaltation was during an ,open ,championship at ,sandwich1 when records were being made1 and when at last a fine amateur player seemed to set out towards the making of one more4 ,hole after hole was played with that combination of perfection and fortune1 and at last the man fell under the influence1 and you could see it in possession of him as he went tripping along4 ,you knew that1 phlegmatic as a golfer must be who aspires to the greatest achievements1 and as this one often was even in the hour of crisis1 his heart was now beginning to beat4 ,soon afterwards it was all over2 there was an amazing catastrophe on a fiery putting green and four or five putts were needed there4 ,three years later ,i saw the same man with the exaltation in him again at ,muirfield1 when he went through to a great achievement4 ,i shall not forget the look of that man when he was doing these things4 ,it is a chilly descent when the spell is broken1 and it is all earth and clay again1 but in the reaction there is no suffering4 ,a happy reason comes to the rescue of the throbbing player1 and he is reminded that such things are not to be for always1 lest golf should not be what it is4 ,,ii ,when the sun shines the putting greens get keen4 ,there is an old saying that driving is an art1 iron play a science1 and putting is the devil4 ,just that--the devil4 ,i agree entirely1 and ,i have ascertained that the greatest exponents of the game are in sympathy with the suggestion4 ,well may the writers of text-books of the game declare1 when they come to the chapter on putting1 that there is really nothing to say1 and that they must leave the reader to find out the whole business by instinct and practice1 as there are no rules to be laid down for his guidance4 ,what would be the use of their pretending that they can really teach putting when1 if they had to hole an eight-feet putt for a championship1 the odds would be slightly against them8 ,in ,june #aije1 while ,i was smoking my pipe on the top of the bank on the far side of the home green at ,st4 ,andrews1 ,i was being provided at intervals of no great length with much food for reflection and philosophy1 better than which no man who ever talks or writes of golf could wish for4 ,the ,open ,championship was being played for1 and there duly came along ,vardon1 ,braid1 ,taylor1 and ,herd1 all more or less favourites for the event in progress1 and it is a real fact that of these four men three of them missed putts at this home hole of less than a yard4 ,i think the average length was about eighteen inches2 one of them was not more than a foot1 and the way in which the ball was worked round to the far side of the hole without going in was wonderful--quite wonderful4 ,it will be noticed that ,i give four names and mention only three misses4 ,this is because even the greatest players are sometimes very tender on this subject of missing short putts1 and to spare them any annoyance ,i do not name the particular individuals who failed4 ,it is enough that one of them1 and one only1 did not4 ,the history of every man's golf is covered with metaphorical gravestones as the result of all the short putts he has missed4 ,every season the whole course1 and the result of almost every event of importance1 would be changed if one or other of the parties did not miss some of these apparently unmissable putts4 ,one need go no farther back than last year's ,amateur ,championship meeting4 ,i saw ,mr4 ,john ,graham miss a two-feet putt in his match with ,mr4 ,robb on the fourteenth green4 ,this was the all-important match of the whole tournament1 and in the light of what happened afterwards it was made to appear that the missing of this putt cost ,mr4 ,graham the best chance he ever had in his hard and deserving golfing lifetime of winning the blue ribbon of the game4 ,mr4 ,robb himself fancied that ,mr4 ,robert ,andrew would be the ultimate winner of the championship that time at ,hoylake1 but on the eighteenth green in one of his rounds ,mr4 ,andrew missed a putt of less than a foot for the match1 and then had to go on to the nineteenth hole1 where he was a well-beaten man4 ,and in the final tie of all1 if ,mr4 ,lingen had never missed a short putt1 who knows but what he would have been the champion of the year after all8 ,therefore we may take it as established that the very greatest players cannot do the very shortest putts with anything approaching to certainty1 when it is of the very greatest importance that they should do so4 ,they are no better at this game than quite moderate players1 and the chances of their holing such putts decrease according to the importance of the occasion--that is to say1 the more necessary it is to hole the putt in order to promote one's success in the encounter in progress1 the less likely is one to do so4 ,this is one of the fundamental principles of the thing4 ,anybody can hole a putt of four or five feet when it doesn't matter1 and when there is no particular credit in doing it4 ,it is when it does matter that you cannot do it4 ,the hole is #d in4 wide1 and the ball is about #a in4 in diameter4 ,you may use anything from an umbrella to a lawn-roller in order to putt that little ball into that huge pit1 and yet at that distance of three or four feet you cannot do it--that is1 as often as you ought to do4 ,training and practice are no use4 ,do not beginners always do these putts well8 ,that is because they do not know how difficult they are4 ,they will by and by1 and then they will begin to miss them6 ,at home ,i have a little baby girl1 and sometimes she gets one of my putters out of the corner1 and begs for the loan of a ball4 ,make a sort of hole on the carpet1 or even go out on to the lawn and play at a real hole in the real way1 and that little thing will hole the putts of a yard and two yards every time6 ,she never bothers about any particular stance or anything of that kind1 and takes no count of the blades of grass or where she ought to be looking at the much-talked-of 8moment of impact40 ,she just putts1 and down goes the ball every time6 ,it is wonderful1 one of the most wonderful things in sport that ,i have ever seen6 ,here she does that1 and we others who know so much about these things1 cannot do them--at least1 not with the same certainty4 ,here is another point4 ,it may need only an exceedingly delicate stroke to putt a ball properly1 yet if you take the clumsiest1 horniest-handed labouring man--say a road-mender or a railway navvy1 who had never either seen or heard of golf before--he would never miss those three to five feet putts4 ,again it is because he does not know how really difficult they are4 ,it is said that a mighty hunter of great renown1 a man who had bagged all the big game of ,india in great variety1 once declared in an agony1 8,i have encountered all the manifold perils of the jungle1 ,i have tracked the huge elephant to his retreat1 and ,i have stood eye to eye with the man-eating tiger40 ,all of which was quite true--he had4 ,then he added1 8,and never once have ,i trembled until ,i came to a short putt40 ,i have thought the matter out1 and ,i suggest the reason4 ,it is one of the prettiest points in psychology that one will encounter in the whole of a long lifetime of the most careful thought and study4 ,you don't really want any mind at all for putting purposes4 ,the whole thing is too simple1 and instead of a mind and brains being any use for the purpose in hand1 they are a positive disadvantage1 and are continually getting in the way4 ,,iii ,consciousness is often fatal in putting1 and it is the conscience making a coward of the man that makes him miss his putt4 ,to hole a three-feet putt over a flat piece of green is really one of the easiest things in the world2 there can be no doubt about it4 ,but while there is one ridiculously easy way of doing the putt1 there are about a dozen more or less difficult ways of missing it1 and these dozen are uppermost in the mind of the golfer when he comes to his effort4 ,thus the missing of the short putt represents the greatest triumph of matter over mind that is to be found in the whole range of sport1 or1 so far as ,i know1 in any other pursuit in life4 ,but why should a man be given to these morbid thoughts of the ways of missing1 and why should he not be of hopeful1 courageous disposition1 and attack the hole boldly and with confidence1 instead of remembering these dozen ways of missing8 ,that is what non-golfers ask4 ,it is an easy question to set2 but there is another factor in the situation that has to be mentioned4 ,there is the sense of responsibility1 and this sense of responsibility is probably greater in a man when he is making a putt of from three to five feet than it is in the case of any other man at any time in any other sport1 because he will never1 never have the chance again that he has got this time4 ,if he putts and misses1 the deed is irrevocable1 the stroke and the hole or the half have been lost1 and nothing that can happen afterwards can remove the loss4 ,if a man makes a bad drive1 or if his approach play is weak1 he can atone for these faults by being unusually clever with the subsequent stroke in the play to the hole1 and he thinks he will4 ,but the short putt is the very last stroke in that play1 and if it is missed there is no possible atonement to be made4 ,thus there is something of the awful1 of the eternal1 of the infinite about the putt2 the man is awe-stricken2 he knows it is easy1 but he is conscious of those dozen ways of missing4 ,so he misses4 ,i have put the question to a number of the best-known players of the day as to what were their precise thoughts--if any--when they came to making the final putt of a great match1 which in many cases gave them a championship4 ,their answer almost universally was that their thought was1 8,what a fool ,i shall look if ,i miss this putt60 ,thus they knew that they ought not to miss it1 but they were burning with consciousness of the fact that they were terribly liable to do so4 ,so matter triumphs over mind4 ,,iv ,can anything in a mechanical sort of way be done to overcome this awful difficulty8 ,i fear not1 though one or two new putters are invented every week1 and some of them are acclaimed as being the philosopher's stone for which we have been looking4 ,the golf world began to buzz as if its mainspring had got loose when ,mr4 ,travis won the championship at ,sandwich with that ,schenectady putter--the most epoch-making putter of all4 ,but where is it now8 ,very few people use it4 ,putters have been made of every conceivable shape and of every possible material4 ,counting all variations1 there are thousands of kinds of putters4 ,they have been made with the heads bent back1 forwards1 and sideways4 ,some of them have had very thin blades1 and others have had thick slabs instead of blades4 ,they have been fashioned like knives1 hammers1 spades1 croquet mallets1 spoons1 and riddles1 and some even like putters2 and they have been made of iron1 gun-metal1 steel1 aluminium1 nickel1 silver1 brass1 wood1 bone1 and glass4 ,i have here beside me a putter made in nickel1 and consisting of a large roller1 running on ball bearings6 ,it is no good4 ,the simplest are the best4 ,we cannot obtain will-power by machinery or mechanical appliances4 ,mr4 ,james ,robb tells me that the putter he always uses is an ordinary cleek which he got when a boy4 ,his sister won it in a penny raffle1 and having no use for it herself she gave it to him1 and he has putted with it ever since4 ,three times has he putted his way to the final of the championship1 and once has he won it4 ,again1 ,mr4 ,j4 ,e4 ,laidlay conveys the information to me that when he was a boy at ,loretto ,school he came by the first golf clubs he ever had in his life in his second or third term1 these being a cleek and a brassey4 ,that cleek-head has been his putter ever since1 and it is getting so light with wear that his friends are beginning to tell him that it will soon do for him to shave with4 ,harry ,vardon won his first championship with a putter which was not a putter at all1 but a little cleek that he had picked up only the day before in ,ben ,sayers' shop at ,north ,berwick4 ,he fancied it as a putter1 and he has never putted better than on that day at ,muirfield4 ,he has never used it since1 and now he has taken to the aluminium putter4 ,and do you know that just before the famous championship at ,sandwich1 ,mr4 ,travis was using a putting cleek that he1 too1 had got at ,north ,berwick1 and it was his intention to putt with it in the tournament8 ,but he was not putting very well in practice at ,st4 ,andrews1 and one of his compatriots then introduced to him for the first time in his life the ,schenectady1 which1 after one successful trial1 was forthwith commissioned for ,sandwich4 ,what a subject for a great historical painting to be hung up in the ,temple of ,golf that we shall have some day--8,emmett introducing the ,schenectady to ,travis1 #aijd40 ,i think it was ,emmett2 if it wasn't1 then it was ,byers4 ,anyhow1 golf history was changed in consequence of that introduction1 for ,i am sure that ,mr4 ,travis would not have won at ,sandwich with his ,north ,berwick putting cleek4 ,it wasn't the ,schenectady that did it1 but it was the player's then confidence in the ,schenectady4 ,he had1 for the time being1 got that little devil of golf in chains1 and putting had become a great joy4 ,v ,golf is a jealous sport1 and often takes it ill when any of its patrons devote their attention occasionally to other diversions of the open air1 and exacts from them such a penalty in failures and aggravation when they come back to their true love as is calculated to make them hesitate before committing further offences4 ,perhaps it is natural in a way that golf1 which has so much of wild nature about it1 should be least inclined to brook the rivalry of games of the namby-pamby order4 ,fine field sports such as shooting and fishing do not put you off your golf1 in fact we have generally concluded that a few days' fishing sandwiched in a golfing holiday rather does good to your game4 ,perhaps it stimulates your thinking qualities1 and if you are not reflecting upon the other and the better way in which you might have played the seventeenth hole the day before1 when you should be noticing the significant manuvres of something in the water1 all is well4 ,but a game that golf cannot and will not tolerate acquaintanceship with upon any consideration1 is croquet4 ,the royal and ancient one has decided apparently that it will not recognise it in any way whatever1 and that it will give a bad time to any golfer who potters about on a lawn with hoops and bells and wooden sledgehammers4 ,and it does so4 ,there is no more sure way of disturbing your putting than an hour or two's croquet4 ,this putting poison is most deadly efficacious1 and its effects sometimes last for a couple of days4 ,the man has not yet been born who can putt well after a game of croquet4 ,croquet is really putting1 but putting with a big heavy ball after the style of a cannon ball1 and it has to be putted on a woolly green of rough grass in which a golf ball would do something towards burying itself4 ,your accommodating eye and touch soon become accustomed to the big ball and the mallet1 and you begin to putt through the hoops exceeding well1 feeling then that you hold an advantage over others through usually having to manage a smaller ball under more difficult circumstances4 ,but the awkward part of the business is that the eye and touch won't go back again so readily to their golfing adjustment1 and while they are out of it some funny things are likely to happen4 ,at such times the golf ball looks impossibly small1 and1 while one is overcome with the idea that it will need remarkably delicate management1 one finds it impossible to wield the putter as it should be4 ,here is the story of a recent happening3 ,a and ,b are keen rivals on the links--so keen that there is always great haggling when it comes to adjusting the odds for a match1 ,b usually giving ,a three strokes4 ,on the present occasion ,a informed ,b that he would be glad to play him a match on the afternoon of the following day4 ,b wanted to know why they could not make a full day of it and play in the morning as well1 but ,a pleaded that he had to take part in a tom-fool croquet match to which he was committed at the house where he was staying4 ,they settled the terms of the next afternoon's encounter at the same time1 and ,b said that as ,a would be playing croquet in the morning he would be willing to give him five strokes4 ,this was really foolish of him2 but no matter4 ,a thought something1 but said nothing4 ,the golf match was duly played on the following day1 and1 to the mortification of ,b1 the croquetter putted like an angel the whole way round1 won his match by #f and #e1 won the bye1 and1 holing a ten-yarder to wind up with1 took the bye-bye as well4 ,b was naturally in a most unhappy state of mind1 and moaned that he had never before known a man to be able to putt after playing croquet1 and that it was because of this that he had given ,a two extra strokes on that dismal day4 8,croquet6 croquet60 exclaimed ,a1 8but ,i haven't been playing croquet60 ,b stood aghast4 8,you haven't60 he shrieked2 8then what the dickens were you doing this morning80 8,oh10 said ,a1 8,i took the hint from what you said yesterday1 and cried off the croquet match4 ,i spent an hour instead in practising putting on the carpet1 and stuffed the fire-irons underneath to make undulations60 ,there are one or two very good morals in this pathetic little story4 ,if you need to putt perfectly you should do nothing with your hands1 and as little as possible with the remaining parts of your physical construction for a whole day beforehand4 ,the fact is that everything puts you off your putting1 but some things more than others1 which is another reason for that old saying that putting is the devil4 ,an old golfer has said that the ideal preparation for really fine putting is to lie in bed for twenty-four hours with your wife to feed you with a spoon4 ,a few hours' penmanship is certainly fatal to one's putting1 and typewriting is worse4 ,a man may depend upon it that if he goes in for a motor-car and drives it1 he will henceforth be about three or four strokes worse on the greens than he used to be1 which accounts for the anxiety of so many golfers to sell their new cars4 ,and oh1 that my best golfing enemy would buy a motor-cycle6 ,a player once told me that he could not putt in the afternoon after having found it necessary to beat his dog at lunch-time2 and it has been observed to be quite a bad thing for one's putting to use a walking-stick in one's ordinary pedestrianism4 ,the putting muscles and nerves are the most delicate1 subtle things in the whole of animal creation1 and the pity is that circumstances generally preclude their more careful preservation during the periods in one's life when they are not needed for holing-out purposes4 ,,vi ,now the society season is most alive4 ,the golfing society--without a course of its own and consisting generally of men who have some other common interest1 usually business or professional1 apart from their love for the game--is becoming an increasingly popular institution in the south1 and some people who have had to find fault with the constitution and general scheme of such bodies1 have now to confess that their protests have been completely without avail1 and that1 for good or ill1 these combinations have settled permanently with us4 ,considering the circumstances of the time and the great advance in the popularity of the game1 they must be regarded as a natural evolution4 ,after all1 those people who regard the society as a kind of new-fangled notion and an undesirable development1 need to have it pointed out to them that it is the oldest kind of golf community1 and that nowhere does it flourish more than in the great ,scottish centres of the game4 ,for example1 a great majority of the clubs of ,edinburgh are not clubs at all1 as the term is understood in the south1 but merely golfing societies1 made up often of men with another common interest1 and the only difference between them and the southern societies is that they have a public course to play upon and are dependent upon the kind favour of nobody for the playing of the game2 whereas in the south there are no public courses1 and the societies have necessarily to crave the permission of clubs for the courtesy of their greens on the days when they wish to go out to play their matches and competitions4 ,perhaps some day there will be public courses in the south on which the societies may play4 ,on the other hand1 it has been suggested that the societies combined are even now almost strong enough to obtain and keep up a course of their own4 ,in these days the societies' subscriptions are seldom more than five or ten shillings1 but the majority of members would be agreeable to pay a guinea for the pleasures that they receive1 and on such an increase it ought not to be a difficult matter to devise some scheme for the establishment of a society course4 ,alternatively1 it is suggested that the societies might do something towards giving a substantial financial backing to some club or other that is in a bad way in this respect1 on the condition that they had the use of that club's course on midweek days for all genuine competitions and matches4 ,against this it has to be considered that one of the charms of society golf1 as it is conducted in the south at the present time1 is the opportunities that are given to members of visiting and playing over courses which are unfamiliar to them and which are not generally accessible1 and of organising expeditions of members to these courses in the way of having a good day out together4 ,all those who have experienced this pleasure know that it makes one of the most delightful variations from the ordinary routine of a golfer's life4 ,there is no reason to suppose that clubs generally1 or any club in particular1 are hostile to the society idea and practice1 and we have not yet heard of any case in which a club has declined permission to a society to play its match or competition on its course4 ,so far from that being the case1 the most important clubs of all1 with the best courses1 have shown a marked amiability in the matter4 ,still1 from time to time there have been people who have suggested future difficulties1 and even hinted at an abuse by societies in general of the good nature and courtesy of the clubs2 and in view of the fact that in two years from now there will probably be ten societies for every two that are at present in existence1 just as even now there are about five times the number that there was two years since1 it will be as well if the clubs think the matter out and decide upon their policy1 and1 so far as they are able to do so1 or regard it as politic1 to announce it4 ,when they do come to consider the matter1 they will do well to do so on the broad basis of the common good1 and to remember that an enormous factor in bringing about the increase in the popularity of golf1 and in affording the great delights that golfers of the present day derive from the game1 has been the principle of the community of interests which is generally agreed upon4 ,when a man becomes a member of a 8recognised golf club0 in these days1 he becomes ipso facto a kind of provisional member of all other golf clubs1 that is to say1 upon the payment of certain small fees and on a proper introduction--that of the secretary of his own club being commonly regarded as sufficient--he has some claim upon the courtesy of any other club whose green he may like to visit4 ,the members of a club that extends these privileges to strangers obtain those of a like kind from other clubs1 and thus to the individual player there is opened up the entire variety of all the golf in the country4 ,how much would our pleasure in the game be reduced if this variety were not available1 and we were compelled to play exclusively upon the courses of clubs of which we were full members6 ,in this matter we have the principle of the community of golfers' interests in full play1 and it seems that the proper recognition of the society and its right to the privileges that it seeks will be only another form of the same principle1 and one scarcely less advanced than that which obtains at present4 ,for already a fair proportion of the members of a club are members also of one or other societies1 and the time is coming when it will be the exception for the club golfer not to be a member of a society4 ,when this time arrives1 it will evidently be necessary to apply this principle referred to1 partly for the general good and enjoyment1 and partly because any club that did not1 and that withheld privileges to societies that were granted them by other clubs1 would place all its own members who belonged to such societies in a very unpleasant position4 ,two rules seem to be called for4 ,the first is1 that in order that this principle shall always act fairly1 and that no man shall get what he is not in a sense entitled to1 it shall be enacted that each member of a society shall also be a member of a club in the district in which the society chiefly carries on its operations4 ,the second is1 that in all cases of society visits to clubs' courses1 full green fees shall be paid1 and that in no pecuniary sense shall the society be under any obligation to the club4 ,the whole question is really one of very great importance1 and those who are at the head of club and society affairs would do well to be giving to it their serious consideration1 for nothing would be more unfortunate than the creation of any misunderstanding which might lead to trouble in the future4 ,,vii ,the other day there was a little house-party of golfers for a week-end1 and it was a most delightful gathering in all respects--fine weather1 a rattling good seaside links1 with putting greens that inspired the soul of the player to fine flights of genius1 and a host of the very best golfing type1 in whom is embodied all the best traditions and sportsmanship of the game4 ,sternly contested singles in the morning of the first day1 with the yellow autumn sun shining and that pleasant nip in the air that braces the golfer to great efforts when he takes the wood out of his bag2 a hard-fought foursome in the afternoon2 and then as they dressed to go down for dinner on the evening of the first day1 they reflected upon the magnificent opportunities of the golfing life and the poor state of those who were not such as they were then4 ,dinner1 the glass of old port1 piquant stories of the links and the recounting of brave deeds in fine matches1 and then by and by the testing of various putting theories on the carpet--,o6 the happy1 happy golfer4 ,forty years upon the links had one by one only served to increase the host's enthusiasm for the game of games4 ,in all things he was the golfer first and the ordinary individual afterwards4 ,like all experienced players1 he was inclined to be dogmatic and1 as some would say1 old-fashioned4 ,but when you say that a golfer is old-fashioned you are paying him a very high compliment2 you are placing his portrait in an exclusive gallery of the old masters of the game who built it up and endowed it with traditions such as are the envy of all others4 ,the old-fashioned golfer nearly always belongs to the best type of the fine old ,english or ,scottish gentleman4 ,but this host had still original ideas of his own1 and sometimes within the walls of his own house he will tell of them1 or let them slip by accident1 which he might very much fear to do when in the company of his colleagues of the ,royal and ,ancient on the occasion of his bi-annual pilgrimages to ,st4 ,andrews4 ,so on the second morning1 when the party was at breakfast and eager to arrange the matches of the day1 its curiosity was somewhat stirred by the remark that he made to madame as she was lading the blue cups with tea1 that last night he 8went round in #gh40 ,the lady of the house nodded and smiled1 asked sympathetically if he had had any luck at the short holes1 and was assured that he had taken #c to one and #d to the other1 but had got his #gh by the aid of a grand--yes1 by gad1 a really corking #c at the last hole6 ,on the whole1 it was gathered he was driving well1 but his iron play was not all that it might have been--putting splendid4 ,now nothing had been heard before of any such fine performance as this1 as surely there would have been if1 as it appeared1 it was of such recent date4 ,the company was stirred with a desire for knowledge as to the when and the how1 so that they might not be laggard in their compliments upon the making of such an evidently pretty piece of golf4 ,a #c at the eighteenth1 too6 ,if that was the same eighteenth the flag upon whose putting green we could just see from the window now1 it was a #c to be spoken of with admiration and profound respect4 ,and so one at the table murmured that they had a desire for knowledge upon this #gh1 which so evidently interested the chief1 but he pooh-poohed the curiosity1 and said that the recounting of that particular round would do better for a wet day than for a morning when all were so keen to be playing the real golf4 ,the 8real0 golf2 so there was a qualification imparted to that round of #gh1 and now they would not be denied4 ,come6 come6 ,and so they had the secret out4 ,it appeared that though he looked so well and hale1 the chief was not one of those happy beings who after their days upon the links go to rest at night and drop clean away into a dreamless sleep4 ,there is usually a preliminary period of insomnia1 which is an unpleasant relic of some hard times that he had abroad in the middle years of his life4 ,it is an effort with him to 8drop off10 and many and various have been the devices that in his time he has employed for wooing ,morpheus to his nightly service4 ,for a long time he played the old game of shepherdry4 ,when the candle was extinguished and his head was laid upon the pillow1 he set up before him an imaginary hedge1 a big thick hedge which divided one large field from another1 and in this hedge there was just one small gap through which one sheep could pass at a time1 or two by squeezing when in a hurry4 ,why the sheep should be driven from one field into the other no man can say2 but on countless nights by many poor sufferers from too much wakefulness1 millions upon millions of sheep have been driven through this same gap in the hedge4 ,through it they are hurried in their ones and twos in a seemingly never-ending line4 ,there is no limit to this flock1 and it is of the essence of the trick that is being played against the enemy1 insomnia1 that the shepherd shall attend most strictly to his duties1 and never for a single moment shall let his thoughts wander to other and more real affairs4 ,and so at last the active brain gives way1 and as the tail-end of one big sheep is seen disappearing through the gap a thick haze comes down upon the fields1 and the shepherd and his sheep are lost until the morning4 ,the chief was shepherd for some years1 and it was only by the odd accident of dwelling fondly for a few minutes1 as he laid himself down in bed1 upon the fine things he had done in one great match that day that he came by a change of nightly occupation4 ,with the links laid out before him on the inner side of his eyelids1 he played every shot again1 and if the truth must be told1 he played some of them twice1 and in this way he proved to his own immense satisfaction that1 soul-satisfying as had been his play that day1 his round was morally at least three strokes better than it had worked out4 ,he played his round from the first tee to the eighteenth green on the eyelid links once1 and so pleasant was the play that1 like the gourmand golfer1 he must needs play it again1 shot by shot2 and a third time he set out with his clubs4 ,but this time he was tiring4 ,the two mental rounds that had gone before had told their tale1 and he was constantly finding his wayward ball in the rough1 and making sometimes fine recoveries with his iron clubs1 and sometimes taking two to get clear again4 ,you see he always played the game4 ,perfection in golf is not given to any man1 and even in the eyelid game one must pull and slice at times1 must now and again socket with the irons1 and take one's eye off the little white ball4 ,and so it happened that at last the tired brain surrendered1 and upon the fifteenth green1 with the match still unfinished--one up and three to go--he fell asleep4 ,thenceforth the shepherdry was given up1 and he took on the eyelid golf instead4 ,two rounds he played every night1 and every time he played the game1 refusing to allow himself things he had not clearly seen himself do1 and not taking unto himself the power of doing miracles or of always playing the perfect golf4 ,in that there would have been great monotony1 just as there would be if we always played perfect golf in our real life upon the links4 ,he never made a carry in this nightly imagination that he had not made in daylight1 never laid an iron shot dead1 or holed a putt the like of which he had not done with real club and ball4 ,some nights he would be off his game1 and his score would run far up into the nineties1 and he would be badly beaten4 ,on those nights he might go to sleep a little sooner than usual4 ,on others he would be playing the best game of his youth4 ,in general he found the occupation much more pleasant and agreeable to his tastes than the shepherdry1 and it is a curious thing1 which one must believe since he said so1 that these night rounds1 with all their thoughts and their minor anxieties1 actually did something towards the improvement of the real game that was played in the daytime4 ,the player now and then obtained new and good ideas1 and he was taught to be a little more thoughtful than perhaps he had been in the past4 ,by and by the secret of this play became too much for him to keep1 so he unfolded the story of his eyelid games to the lady partner of his life1 who1 since the real service that they did to him was evident to her sympathetic mind1 treated it with becoming seriousness4 ,this was the explanation of the #gh that was spoken of at breakfast-time that morning1 and in it there is a hint that might sometime prove of service to those who1 like the host of that week-end1 are sometimes troubled for want of that ability to loose their thoughts to sleep4 ,,viii ,one does not see ,st4 ,andrews at its best at a time of a championship1 or at any other time when there are great crowds in the streets and on the courses1 and swarming round about the clubhouse and outside the shops of the clubmakers overlooking the eighteenth green4 ,it is not its natural self then2 it is at its worst4 ,i do not like it when the trippers pour in from ,glasgow4 ,one cannot resist the suspicion that many of them are not as good golfers as they ought to be1 and that they love ,st4 ,andrews for what they save by her1 being the only course in the world on which a man may play for nothing2 with a kindly ,corporation and a great club spending large sums of money upon it4 ,to keep those marvellous greens in their fine state they employ a genius among greenkeepers1 who is ,hugh ,hamilton1 who is the successor of ,tom ,morris1 who was the successor of ,allan ,robertson4 ,it may seem strange to some that the play should be made without any charge1 but ,st4 ,andrews would not be the same1 and would lose rather than gain in dignity1 if it were not free4 ,the time to see it at its best is in the spring1 and it is fine again in the late autumn1 when the mere holiday-makers have gone back to their cities and workshops4 ,the only time when a crowd is bearable at ,st4 ,andrews is on the autumn medal day1 and then1 indeed1 it is as if the tradition and the sanctity of the place are intensified4 ,this surely is the great ,celebration ,day of golf4 ,with its dignity1 ceremony1 tradition1 crowds1 and excitement1 it is really very much like a ,lord ,mayor's ,day4 ,old folks who may have never played1 wee bairns who are only just beginning to think they will play when they can walk a little better1 are all straining to excitement because it is the club's medal day1 the day of the ,royal ,medal1 and of the captain's playing himself in1 and of the firing of the guns4 ,from north1 south1 east1 and west--many of them from ,london--the members of the ,royal and ,ancient ,club foregather for the occasion4 ,there is a hushed solemnity overhanging the place4 ,something is about to be done that used to be done in the days of the grandfathers and the great-grandfathers1 and the men on the links on this occasion feel themselves to be the descendants--as often enough they are in blood--of the great golfers of old who made the early chapters of the history of the game4 ,the playing-in to the captaincy is a great ceremony1 for this captaincy of the ,royal and ,ancient ,club is the highest honour to be achieved in the game4 ,no man who is not of the highest character and of the greatest golfing integrity is ever chosen for this high office4 ,to be captain of the club is quite comparable to being ,lord ,mayor of ,london4 ,amateur champions have been captains1 but no man may be captain because he has been amateur champion4 ,it is an understanding that the captain shall win the ,silver ,club1 given by the club a century and a half ago1 and the ,gold ,medal1 which was presented by ,queen ,adelaide in #ahch1 when she expressed the wish that the captain would wear it on all public occasions1 as he does at the club meetings2 and to make sure of the coincidence of the captaincy and the winning of these trophies it is ordained by custom that the captain-elect shall have no opponents in the round that he is supposed to play2 and1 furthermore1 to make his path to victory as smooth and easy as possible1 he is merely called upon to tee up his ball on the first tee in front of the clubhouse1 to drive it off1 and then he is supposed to have played his round and to have gained his victory4 ,thus this simple historic ceremony of teeing up and driving off for the ,silver ,club and the ,royal ,adelaide ,medal is a great function4 ,crowds gather to witness it1 and a line of men and boys is stretched out along the course from the tee1 often giving to the hero of the moment an all too narrow margin for error in his stroke4 ,it is ordained that this ceremony shall be performed at the exact stroke of ten o'clock in the morning1 and when the hand of the clock on the clubhouse points to that hour a military person fires a small cannon on the foreshore and--crack6--the captain-elect drives his ball1 and he thus advances to the topmost height of honour4 ,the boys rush for the ball1 which1 being gained by one of them1 becomes an heirloom in his family4 ,and then the real competition begins at once1 and the new captain may take part in it if he wishes4 ,the prize now is the ,gold ,medal with the green riband1 which was given by ,king ,william ,,iv4 in #ahcg4 ,the ,king himself decreed that it should be challenged and played for annually1 and1 writing from ,st4 ,james's ,palace1 he expressed 8his satisfaction in availing himself of this opportunity to evince his approbation of that ancient institution40 ,two by two the great golfers of the time go out to play for it1 and excitement is keen as the day wears on4 ,the last couple having holed out on the eighteenth green1 the cannon is fired again to indicate that for one more year the ,royal ,medal has been won and lost1 and all is over so far as the outdoor proceedings of the meeting are concerned4 ,in the evening is the feast1 when the new captain achieves the full measure of his dignity4 ,hoary traditions surround his presidency at all meetings4 ,in days of old1 in the century before last1 captains were fined pints and magnums of claret for certain delinquencies4 ,at this feast the captain and ex-captains sit at the high table1 in red coats1 with all the ancient insignia of the club laid out on the table before them4 ,silver clubs are set there1 to one of which each of all the long line of captains has fastened a silver ball1 with his name and the date of his captaincy engraved upon it4 ,the winner of the ,king ,william ,,iv4 ,medal is toasted1 and he is called up from his place that the captain with solemn ceremony may invest him with the medal1 hanging it round his neck4 ,then1 upon occasion1 new members of this ancient club have been called up before the captain1 who1 holding one of the silver clubs before them1 calls upon them to kiss it and to swear honour and obedience to the laws and customs of the club and the game4 ,and then great golfers of the old school may sing old ballads1 and an evening of happiness goes on1 and if there are no trains to be caught in the morning1 matches are made to-night4 ,this is ,st4 ,andrews4 ,,ix ,the sowing of seed upon a course may seem a dull business1 and the average golfer leaves the consideration of all such matters to those whose duty it is to attend to them1 and contents himself with his play on the resulting turf2 but in this indifference he misses much that is interesting1 and occasionally some most pleasant humours1 as witness the true story of what happened on a suburban links4 ,a very thorough club manager had bought many bags of two different kinds of seed1 which were to be used by an intelligent workman for the benefit of the course1 according to a scheme already devised and discussed4 ,one kind of seed was that which would produce long1 thick grass of a very coarse character1 and which would grow with big and almost indestructible roots under the very worst of circumstances4 ,it was intended that this should be sown under the many trees that abounded on the course4 ,it was not only to be grass that would thrive under the most disadvantageous circumstances1 but it was meant also to be 8rough10 which might some day do something to stimulate the power of language among those golfers who just now might play from underneath the branches of those trees with their putters4 ,the other seed was that which would make grass of the very finest texture4 ,it needed a delicate1 well-groomed soil for its sustenance1 and its prime object was to produce putting greens that would give great joy to golfers on their game4 ,so the contents of some bags were to be scattered underneath the trees1 and the contents of the others were to be spread over the putting greens1 and the manager rested and refreshed himself with tea while this1 as he thought1 was being done1 and he talked pleasantly to me of the various excellences of the course and the way in which difficulties of soil and situation had been conquered4 ,and then there broke in upon us an emissary from the man who had been sowing the seed1 who came to say1 8,please1 sir1 there's been a sort of accident happened1 and it's like as ,william has been and mistaken and gone and planted the putting green seed under them trees1 and he's planted the seed as'll make the long grass on some of the putting greens4 ,and we want to know1 sir1 what we must do60 ,what1 indeed8 ,x ,when ,october comes we bid her a very loyal and joyful welcome1 for we have come to regard her as the queen of months for golf4 ,no soul so serene as that of the golfer as he tees the ball on a bright ,october morning4 ,it sometimes seems to us of the links that we are glad of every change in the seasons4 ,when it is spring1 we look forward to the coming of summer1 and then we sigh for the autumn1 and in turn are glad even to sink back to the adventures and trials of the heroic golf that we are called upon to play in the winter-time4 ,and yet it is seldom through discontent that we thus anticipate the changing of the seasons1 but rather that we1 as golfers1 do so highly appreciate the glorious variety which is afforded to us by the system of ,nature4 ,constantly happy in our game1 while we are playing it1 the season is for the moment forgotten1 and it is only in the intervals of holes or rounds that we are roused to the eternal transformation that is proceeding4 8,with thee conversing ,i forget all time2 ,all seasons and their change1 all please alike40 ,but there is nothing sweeter than the bright ,october morning on the links4 ,a fragrant smell of moist earth rises up1 and it is as if that very scent is a rare stimulant to the golfer after the heat of summer4 ,there is a fine spring in the turf as we tread upon it1 and1 quite revelling in it1 we find that we must needs go tripping light-heartedly along the links until the problems of the play at a couple of holes have sobered us down4 ,we like even to see the dewdrops lingering on until starting time1 taking advantage of the laggard autumnal sun4 ,the film of mist that is hanging a few holes out1 and the suspicion of a nip in the air1 are fine4 ,and then there are the glorious tints of autumn1 the yellows and the crimsons and the browns1 blended as only one ,artist knows how to blend them1 and1 amidst the happiness of it all1 the pathos of the scene comes in upon us as we listen to the faint crackle of falling leaves4 ,the heart of every golfer is touched by all these changes1 for whatever may have been his previous disposition and his tastes in life1 each one becomes in time something of a ,nature lover1 and acquires a knowledge and interest in some of the simpler features of her work4 ,for1 of all games1 golf is the game which is most closely allied with simple ,nature4 ,a little ball1 a stick1 a small hole1 and the open country at her wildest and roughest1 and there you have your golf4 ,then what is deeper than the soul's content of the golfer when he finishes the afternoon round just as the red sun is dipping away to other lands1 and by the time he and his clubs are cleaned1 the twilight is already changing into the evening gloom1 and the thing that it seems best to do is that which is one of the happiest in the golfer's day1 which is to sit by a bright fire and talk with one's enemy of the links of all the good and the bad golf that has been played since the morning4 ,come night1 we have had our day1 and this talk by the fire1 while the white mists gather again upon the links outside1 is yet more cheering to the heart of the golfer than all the evenings of summer4 ,,the ,,professor ,,on ,,the ,,links ,i 8,the problem of the golf ball's flight is one of very serious difficulty40 ,that is what was said to a gathering of savants by ,professor ,peter ,guthrie ,tait1 one of the most brilliant scientists of the latter part of the last century1 and the only man who has probed deeply into the real science of the game of golf4 ,he was a wonderful man in many respects4 ,he applied his marvellous scientific knowledge and powers of investigation to everything that came his way4 ,one day he would be extracting cube roots from the most unsuspected quarters1 and another he would be analysing the character and formation of the ripples on the surface of a viscous liquid4 ,a few flourishes of the knife of science1 a sharp explosion with one of his specially prepared formul--consisting of the most wonderful combinations of the 's1 the 's1 the 's1 and the 's--and the common but stubborn thing of everyday life was made to yield up its innermost secrets1 so that thenceforward it was regarded in a quite different way from that which it had been in the past4 ,nothing was sacred from the application of the ,professor's science1 and golf was not2 but to the credit of the game be it said that some of its scientific problems baffled this great man of science as nothing else that he had ever tackled before so seriously had done4 ,he spent weeks1 months1 and even years1 in occasional periods1 upon it2 he employed the most intelligent men of science with marvellous powers of reckoning as his assistants1 he bombarded the game with the most terrible formul that even he had ever invented2 but golf still held the upper hand and retained some of its secrets1 while it often smiled derisively at the ,professor when it had sent him a long way along a false path4 ,the ,professor would not give up4 ,he returned always to the attack1 and golf and he came to closer grips4 ,he did1 indeed1 obtain many wonderful secrets from its possession1 and he found out more about it--all of it very wonderful and very interesting--than any man had ever done before1 or possibly ever will do again4 ,now and again he told his learned brethren of the difficult nature of the task that he had entered on4 ,before he died he had found out most things1 but golf still held some secrets from him4 ,many of the things that he knew1 and the way in which he found them out1 were never published to the golfing world4 ,he issued one or two papers of a quite popular character1 and very elementary2 but they did not contain a tithe of what he had discovered or say how he had discovered it4 ,here we will try to tell the golfer a little of what the ,professor found out about the things that happen when the ball is driven from the tee4 ,they will interest him1 and perhaps cause him some surprise4 ,only those conclusions will be given which he proved beyond question1 and the truth of them must generally be taken for granted1 as it may be safely1 since the professor's lines of study would take a volume to expound with any lucidity1 and even then a considerable scientific knowledge on the part of the reader would first of all be necessary4 ,,ii ,it should be said that1 while the ,professor played a little golf himself1 and was much in love with ,st4 ,andrews as a resort1 what led him in the first place to make his investigations was watching the play of his famous golfing son1 ,fred ,tait4 ,a few idle1 fanciful conjectures on the flight of the ball that was sent skimming through the air from ,freddie's driver led to a more serious calculation1 and then1 like a siren1 the great mystery of golf drew him on4 ,but early in his investigations he committed himself to the statement that nobody could drive a golf ball that would have a carry of more than #ahj or #aij yards without exerting at least three times the strength that is generally exerted by a strong man when driving2 that is to say1 that a carry of such distance was practically impossible4 ,but this statement was no sooner before the public than young ,fred proved the fallacy of it1 by celebrating his twenty-third birthday by driving a record ball which had considerably more carry than that4 8,stuff6 ,humbug60 said the ,professor2 but the fact was there1 and when the golf world came to know about it1 they asked the ,professor what was the use of all his calculating--and to this day that error is chiefly what is remembered by the general public about his investigations4 ,this incident may have been largely responsible for the fact that thereafter he only once or twice let the golfers into the secrets of what he was doing and had found out1 reserving the story of his investigations for learned bodies who were most closely concerned about them4 ,the mistake that he made1 which was exposed to him by his son1 set him out on a new line of thought1 and showed him vaguely where his error was1 though not the nature of it4 ,and the discovery which he made at the outset was a startling one1 and it may cause some astonishment to the player of to-day who will reflect upon it for a moment4 ,the steadiest1 most constant1 and most persistent force with which we are generally acquainted is the force of gravity4 ,it is always there2 it acts unceasingly upon everything4 ,to defeat gravity1 therefore1 is almost for a while to suspend the working of ,nature4 ,suddenly it burst upon the mind of the ,professor that the golf ball was made as it were to defeat gravity1 and so in a sense it does4 ,he found this out by observing the time of flight of the ball1 and discovering that it was nearly twice as long as it ought to be1 if gravity had free and unfettered play4 ,this is to say1 that if gravity were allowed to act in the usual way on the ball from start to finish1 as it acts on other things1 it was quite inevitable by all the laws of nature and science that a drive of #bjj yards would be completed in three and a half seconds4 ,if a man threw a ball so as to describe as nearly as possible the same trajectory as a golf ball1 and to stop at the same spot1 it would only take three and a half seconds4 ,but the golf ball takes six and a half seconds6 ,somehow or other it was clear that gravity was being beaten all the way4 ,if it were not so1 it would be impossible for the golf ball to remain in the air so long while it was accomplishing such a short flight4 ,that was the great mystery that the professor had to solve1 and he solved it at last4 ,it may be said here1 in passing1 and will be more fully explained another time1 that he found out that it was due to the rotation given to the ball by the club1 and the nature of the stroke when it was struck from the tee1 a rotation which in many ways was responsible for some most extraordinary happenings2 all of which the golfer will be a much wiser man for having knowledge of4 ,but before he could go thoroughly into the mystery of this rotation he had to make many other preliminary investigations1 and some of the results of these may be quoted4 ,one of the ,professor's first efforts was in the direction of finding out the speed with which the ball left the club2 and it was a long time--years1 in fact--before he came to any definite understanding on the point2 so difficult did he find the investigation1 despite all the experiments he made1 the formul that he applied to them1 and the scientific instruments that he brought to bear on the problem4 ,he had a very capable observer1 ,mr4 ,t4 ,hodge1 making examinations of the flight of balls driven in actual play at ,st4 ,andrews1 by the help of the instrument known as the ,bashforth ,chronograph1 with which the speed of bullets is measured2 and1 what with the results arrived at in this way and others1 he came to the conclusion that the initial speed of the ball was over #ejj feet a second1 which speed1 of course1 was lost very quickly as the resistance of the air was encountered4 ,with this as his starting-point1 he made many deductions2 but subsequently he found that he was wrong in the original assumption4 ,a vast number of calculations and experiments followed4 ,in a cellar he constructed a complicated pendulum arrangement1 to the bob of which there was attached a large screen with a thick clay surface1 and against this he got several well-known golfers to drive their hardest1 and made the most minute calculations as to the effect upon the pendulum4 ,the clay was scattered in all directions1 damage was done1 and the golfers complained that under such circumstances they were not able to drive their best4 ,the pendulum and the strangeness of the whole arrangement 8put them off40 ,some time afterwards he constructed an improved pendulum1 the clay screen being fixed on to lengths of clock spring1 and when this was placed in a doorway the golfers were again set to drive at it4 ,what with one thing and another the ,professor at last came to the final and definite conclusion1 that the ball started from the club at a speed1 in the case of a good drive1 of about #bdj feet a second1 but that in the case of exceptional balls it sometimes was as much as #cjj or even #cej feet per second4 ,this1 of course1 was with the gutta ball2 and the resiliency and initial speed of the rubber-cored ball being certainly much greater1 it is fair to believe that the average initial speed of a well-driven ball in these days is quite #cjj feet a second2 or1 to put it in another way1 over two hundred miles an hour4 ,great as this speed appears1 it might be mentioned incidentally that the muzzle velocity of a bullet from a ,maxim gun is generally about #bjjj feet a second1 or about seven times as fast4 ,,iii ,while he was at work on these reckonings he dispelled one fallacy1 which1 notwithstanding1 is commonly held by golfers to the present day4 ,most players think that when driving and following through well the ball hangs on the face of the club1 as it were1 for long enough for the club to do something in the way of guiding it4 ,how brief is the time in which the actual stroke is made for good or ill was proved conclusively in a very striking manner1 and that time was set down--the whole time of impact--as that in which the club1 moving at #cjj feet a second1 passed through about four times the linear space by which the side of the ball was flattened4 ,putting this space down1 nowadays1 at about in41 and reckoning the time that it would take the club going at the speed indicated to cover that small distance1 we have the fact that the duration of impact is only about #a_/gjjjth of a second1 and that that is the whole time that the golfer has for the guiding of the ball6 ,as the ,professor said1 8the ball has1 in fact1 left the club behind before it has been moved through more than a fraction of its diameter02 and in the case of the gutta1 with the smaller extent to which it flattened on the club1 he came to the conclusion that the duration of impact was far less than that which has just been mentioned4 ,incidentally in this connection he took occasion to expose another of the golfer's fallacies as to the effect of wind on the flight of the ball1 in the following words3 8,it is well to call attention to a singularly erroneous notion very prevalent among golfers1 namely1 that a following wind carries a ball onwards6 ,such an idea is1 of course1 altogether absurd1 except in the extremely improbable case of wind moving faster than the initial speed of the ball4 ,the true way of regarding matters of this kind is to remember that there is always resistance while there is relative motion of the ball and the air1 and that it is less as that relative motion is smaller1 so that it is reduced throughout the path 7of flight7 when there is a following wind4 ,another erroneous idea somewhat akin to this is that a ball rises considerably higher when driven against the wind1 and lower if with the wind1 than it would if there were no wind4 ,the difference 7whether it is in excess or deficit will depend on the circumstances of projection1 notably on the spin7 is in general very small2 the often large apparent rise or fall being due mainly to perspective as the vertex of the path is brought considerably nearer to or farther from the player40 ,and ,professor ,tait was led to make a definite pronouncement on the particular kind of weather in which a ball will fly best and farthest4 ,what golfers do not generally realise is that the atmospheric resistance to the flight of their ball is much greater than in simple proportion to its speed2 it is as the square of the speed4 ,this is to say1 that if one ball is driven twice as fast as another to begin with1 the resistance to that ball is four times as great as it is to the slower one4 ,it is this fact which makes it so difficult to get extra length1 beyond a good length1 on to a ball1 no matter what improvements are made in the ball4 ,therefore1 on the weather question the ,professor set it down that1 8,of course1 other circumstances being the same1 the only direct effect is on the co-efficient of resistance4 ,if this be taken as proportional 7roughly7 to the density of the air1 it may vary1 in this climate1 to somewhere about #aj per cent4 of its greatest value1 and the drive is accordingly shortest on a dry1 cold winter day with an exceptionally high barometer4 ,the longest drive will1 of course1 be when the air is as warm and moist as possible1 and the barometer very low40 ,but he probed most deeply into the mysteries of the flight of the golf ball when he came suddenly to understand the rotation which was subjected to it by the club1 and it is of interest and importance to every golfer that he should understand it also4 ,the starting-point of the wonderful investigations that he made is contained first in the simple fact that when an object is poised in the air there is equal atmospheric pressure upon it at all points2 and second1 that1 as several of the most eminent scientists before him1 from ,newton onwards1 had found out1 when a sphere rotates in a current of air the side of the sphere which is advancing to meet the current is subject to greater pressure than is that which is moving in the direction of the current2 and a step further in this argument is that1 as the result of this extra pressure1 if a spherical ball be rotating1 and at the same time advancing in still air1 it will deviate from a straight path in the same direction as that in which its front side is being carried by the rotation4 ,therefore1 when a ball is sliced1 it is made to spin round so that its front side moves round constantly to the right1 and1 in accordance with the law just mentioned1 there is a greater atmospheric pressure on the left side than on the right1 and1 consequently1 the ball is pushed away to the right--as we see it4 ,when it is pulled1 the spin is in the opposite direction1 and the extra pressure is from the right1 and so it is sent away to the left4 ,when the ball is topped the spin on the front side is downwards1 and the ball ducks--the extra pressure this time being in the same direction as gravity2 and when under-cut is applied1 and under-spin follows1 the front side of the ball is spinning upwards1 and the extra pressure is from below and against gravity4 ,when this conclusion was first briefly stated1 golfers resisted the suggestion that when driving they imparted any under-spin to the ball2 but the ,professor stuck to his point1 and proved it beyond doubt1 and it is in this way that the ball takes six and a half seconds over its flight instead of the three and a half that it would otherwise do2 and he proved1 moreover1 that if there was no under-spin imparted to it when driving it would only travel about half the distance that it usually does4 ,the greater the under-spin the greater the upward pressure1 and this conclusion leads to others very interesting4 ,,iv ,golfers are in the way of saying that this ball 8flies well0 or that the other ball 8does not fly well40 ,sometimes it is imagination born of lack of form2 but when great players concur it is not imagination4 ,some balls are obviously better than others--made of better material1 better elastic thread1 and more carefully constructed4 ,there is an evident reason why such balls should fly better than others2 that is to say1 why they should go off the club more quickly1 keep their place in the air longer1 and travel farther4 ,but then there are many balls of absolutely first-rate quality--and maximum price--that vary considerably in their flying properties1 and it very commonly happens that even balls out of the same box1 made at the same time and in the same way and of the same stuff1 vary also4 ,one frequently finds one or two 8bad0 balls in a box1 and one or two very good ones4 ,the excellent player very soon knows when he has come by the good ones and the bad ones4 ,now why1 under such circumstances1 should these balls vary so8 ,what is it that makes them vary8 ,golfers in general do not know4 ,often enough they put it down to 8pure cussedness02 others1 to an idea that it is due to some accidental flaw in the manufacture4 ,it is neither the one nor the other4 ,the scientific explanation is really a very simple one1 and it was set forth very lucidly by ,professor ,tait4 ,the perfect ball--using the adjective in its most absolute sense--is that which has its centre of gravity1 that is to say its centre of weight1 dead in the centre of the ball1 the centre of measurement4 ,it is by no means to be assumed that these two centres must necessarily coincide4 ,for them to do so exactly is an ideal state1 and while matter and man are what they are1 and subject to their constant1 even though slight1 deviations1 it is unattainable4 ,but when a ball is properly cored and properly covered1 most carefully and by the most exact machinery1 the two centres come very near together1 and generally1 to all intents and purposes1 do coincide4 ,that they do not always do so exactly is merely because the greatest human effort is incapable of achieving the scientific ideal1 and it must constantly happen that1 despite all that effort1 the distances between the two centres vary a little4 ,practically no effort can prevent it1 particularly when the exigencies of circumstances demand that balls should be turned out weekly in tens of thousands1 and at a price of not more than two shillings each4 ,now and again the separation of the centres will be greater than normal--accidental again--and then you get a really bad ball1 with much bias upon it4 ,when the centre of weight is not at centre of measurement1 it means that the ball in effect is heavier on one side than the other1 biassed1 and that is practically equal to its being not round4 ,suppose you inserted a small piece of lead just inside the cover of a ball and closed it up again1 shaping it as perfectly as it was before4 ,the effect of this would be to remove the centre of weight very far towards that side1 and you would have a great exaggeration of the difference between the two centres that commonly exists4 ,if you laid that ball on a table it would promptly roll round until the weighted or biassed side were underneath4 ,if you floated it in water it would wobble about until eventually it did the same thing2 and if you floated it in air it would wobble again1 and such wobbling would obviously be detrimental to its straight and even flight4 ,there you have it4 ,the farther the two centres are from each other--from the ideal state of absolute coincidence--the greater must be the tendency towards a wobbly or uneven flight1 and diminished rotation1 and consequently towards a short flight4 ,in the case of many balls other than golf balls1 these variations are very considerable4 ,you have an extreme example when a football is out of shape1 and it can be seen to make zigzags in the air4 ,but the flight of footballs1 or even cricket balls1 is not such a delicate and susceptible thing as the flight of a golf ball at its far greater pace4 ,professor ,tait pointed out two very simple ways of finding out whether a golf ball had its two centres approximately coincident1 and whether in consequence it ought to and would fly well4 ,the first was by floating it in a bath of brine or mercury and noticing whether it wobbled or turned over4 ,many golfers are acquainted with this test1 and employ it in a cruder and less decisive form by floating the ball in water4 ,while a ball that had a fairly considerable separation between its two centres might not show any wobbling movement when floated in water1 and consequently might not completely establish its claim to be properly centered and of good flying capacity so far as this part of its properties was concerned1 the presumption would be greatly in its favour4 ,on the other hand1 that which did show any perceptible wobble in water would be self-condemned at once1 and would undoubtedly be a bad flyer and a danger to the game of the good golfer4 ,the second test is one of comparison1 and is exceedingly simple4 ,you cannot compare the flying capacities of two or more balls by driving them with golf clubs1 for however near to exact similarity you may think the strokes to have been1 there is certain to have been an appreciable scientific and mathematical difference1 such as would make a proper comparison impossible4 ,but you may give practically exactly the same initial impetus in exactly the same circumstances to two or more balls by shooting them in the same direction from a crossbow1 when the string is always pulled out to exactly the same point4 ,here you will have the balls flying under the simplest possible conditions1 with no spin to complicate the flight and interfere with the comparison1 and anyone who takes the trouble to make this experiment will find that some balls will regularly fly farther than others when shot forward in this manner4 ,if the size and the weights are the same1 these balls are better centered and better flyers1 and it is an easy matter for any player to establish a standard by this test1 and to judge of the perfection of any particular ball at a moment's notice4 ,of course such a test takes no account of the resiliency of the ball2 but then1 as every player knows1 there is a clear difference between good resiliency and good flying properties4 ,in the old days of the gutta1 when so much depended upon the even quality of the material all through the ball--and these were1 of course1 the days when ,professor ,tait made his investigations and experiments1 and drew his conclusions--the variations between centres were greater than they are now1 though not so great as in the early period of the rubber-core1 when the winding and covering machinery were imperfect4 ,rubber-cored balls have lately begun to be covered by winding very thin strips of the covering material round the core in just the same way that the core itself is wound1 and this should greatly conduce towards more accurate centering4 ,an understanding of the foregoing will help the player towards an appreciation of some of the chief points of a good ball1 and he will see how extreme is the necessity for perfect winding machinery and for the most careful supervision of the process4 ,nobody calls for a hand-made ball in these days3 he wouldn't get it if he did2 and it wouldn't be any good if he got it1 for the chances would be enormously against its being so well centered as one made by machinery4 ,v ,now1 however good the ball might be1 the chances would be against a perfect stillness upon any axis during flight2 that is1 of course1 when no initial spin was imparted to it by the way in which the stroke was played4 ,it would very likely turn just a little upon an axis1 and that little would unsteady and injure its flight1 inasmuch as the wobble would be from side to side alternately4 ,this difficulty can be got over by imparting an initial spin to the ball which will always be the same all through its flight1 and which will thus stop the wobbling4 ,in a word1 rotation will steady the flight4 ,this idea was originally at the bottom of the rifling of the barrel through which a bullet is projected2 certainly it was the fundamental principle of the rifling of the old #cb-pounders4 ,better to make the ball rotate on an axis that you know about than that it should wobble on one you do not know about1 they said2 and so the tubes were rifled inside1 the balls were made to rotate1 and their flight was made steadier and therefore longer4 ,in the very earliest days of his investigations upon the flight of the golf ball1 ,professor ,tait thought of the application of this idea to the game4 ,a rotation should be given to the ball to steady its flight and make it longer4 ,a moment's thought on the part of those whose rudimentary scientific knowledge is a little rusty1 will indicate that there are three definite and clearly distinguished axes of rotation4 ,one is a vertical one1 and it is chiefly upon that axis that the golf ball rotates when it is pulled or sliced1 or upon an axis that has something of the vertical element in it4 ,then there is the horizontal axis1 which is at right angles to the line of flight2 and this is the axis upon which it rotates when either under-spin or top has been applied to it4 ,and1 thirdly1 there is the horizontal axis1 which is parallel with the line of flight4 ,this is the axis upon which the rifle bullet spins4 ,at first ,professor ,tait was inclined to the idea that the last-named would be the ideal axis for the rotation of the golf ball1 but it happens to be the one upon which it is impossible to make it rotate when struck by a golf club4 ,however1 in this detail of his preliminary theorising he was wrong1 due entirely to his not having then investigated the virtues of under-spin as always given to a ball when well driven1 and not having come by the great discovery that this under-spin helped the ball to resist gravity and prolong its flight as nothing else could4 ,how exactly under-spin does this1 we have just seen1 and readers will now have a very definite perception of the qualities of a ball and the importance of rotation1 and though the chief advantage of rotation is in resisting gravity1 it is an incidental advantage of it1 as will now be understood1 that the flight of the ball is thereby steadied1 and a very slight inaccuracy in centering made of less consequence than it would otherwise be4 ,but remember that a considerable inaccuracy in centering will interfere with the rotation1 and therefore the bad flying ball can still be distinguished1 because it will fly badly4 ,,vi ,now1 in continuation of this brief and simple exposition of some of the points of the ,professor's theorising--backed up by constant practical experiment--upon the merits of under-spin in prolonging and lengthening the flight of the ball which created excited comment in the world of golf at the time1 much smaller as that world was then than it is now1 it may be mentioned that it was his fair conclusion that good driving lay not in powerful hitting1 but in the proper apportionment of good hitting with such a knack as would give the right amount of proper spin to the ball4 ,thus1 while a player who gave no spin to his ball might attain a carry of #acf yards1 another one who hit his ball with just the same force1 giving it the same initial speed1 but also a moderate amount of under-spin1 would get a carry of #ahj yards4 ,of course there would be a great difference between the trajectories of the two flights4 ,by an experiment on a small scale he showed very conclusively what under-spin did4 ,by shooting a ball from a very weak bow1 but with the string just below the middle of the ball1 so as to impart a slight spin1 he made the ball fly point blank to a mark thirty yards off4 ,when he drew the string to the same distance1 but applied it to the middle of the ball1 it fell eight feet short4 ,it had no under-spin the second time4 ,another point is extremely interesting4 ,some golfers no doubt think that in driving they have to cock their balls up in the air1 so to speak2 that is to say1 that they have to aim at an upward trajectory from the beginning4 ,as a matter of fact they have to do nothing of the kind1 and as a matter of common knowledge the best balls1 as driven by a ,vardon or a ,braid or any other first-class player1 always 8start low0 and keep a path quite close to the ground for some distance1 after which they begin to rise4 ,if there were no under-spin the ball could not keep this horizontal path for the time that it does2 still less could it begin to rise afterwards4 ,it is the under-spin that does it1 and the theoretically perfect drive is the one that is hit straight forward with practically no initial elevation or incline4 ,the character of the stroke gives to the ball the necessary under-spin and power to rise1 and the way in which the club comes on to the ball in a stroke so perfectly executed makes any considerable initial elevation impossible1 just as it is not wanted4 ,but mark1 that if the golfer has not acquired the proper knack of driving--i4e4 the proper knack of imparting just the right kind and right amount of underspin--then he will need some initial elevation in order to keep his ball in the air2 and so he has to depart intentionally from the proper principles of driving1 and deliberately cock up his ball1 even though slightly4 ,how his driving suffers in consequence may be gathered by taking the extreme case of no under-spin at all1 upon which ,professor ,tait says3 8,when there is no rotation there must be initial elevation1 and even if we make it as great as one in four1 the requisite speed of projection for a carry of #bej yards would be #aabj feet per second1 or about that of sound40 ,now1 as the actual speed of projection in the case of a fine drive by a first-class player is not more than #cej feet per second1 the reader may have some idea as to how hard he would have to hit if he were dispensing with rotation4 ,of course 8a carry of #bej yards0 is extremely long1 and is rarely if ever done in the absence of a helping wind from behind1 but the ,professor had just been speaking of the practicability of such a carry 8in still air40 ,even though it be abnormal1 the vast disparity between an initial speed of the ball of #cej feet per second and one of #aabj feet will make the point clear4 ,,vii ,the most interesting question arises1 that if the well-driven ball starts off almost horizontally and then begins to ascend1 what is the line of its flight or its trajectory8 ,golfers generally have the crudest notions on this point4 ,for the most part they seem to assume that the trajectory is represented by an even segment of a circle1 having its vertex or highest point just about half-way along4 ,this is absolutely wrong4 ,even if there were no spin at all1 this would not be the case1 the vertex being much nearer the end of the flight than the beginning of it1 as in the case of the rifle bullet4 ,on the other hand1 many players on seeing a ball well driven constantly remark on what they think is after all a fancy of theirs1 that when the ball has gone a long way it suddenly seems to take a new lease of life1 and to rise up in the air before moving down towards earth4 ,they will be surprised to know that it is not fancy1 that the ball does rise4 ,the fact is that the line of flight of a well-driven ball with under-spin1 from its starting to its highest point1 is partly concave upwards1 and this fact is only evident to the eye when it has travelled some distance4 ,such a ball is in effect the pull or the slice turned round from the flat in an upward direction4 ,eventually gravity gets the better of the ball and pulls it down4 ,with the help of the formul that he prepared after several years' study of the matter1 and with the assistance of ,mr4 ,wood1 whom he regarded as the quickest and most accurate reckoner of abstruse scientific quantities that he had ever encountered1 the professor calculated exactly the trajectories of golf balls driven under many different circumstances4 ,among them he showed the short line of the flight of a ball to which no initial rotation or under-spin was imparted4 ,while the other balls were started off almost horizontally1 it was necessary in this case to give the ball an initial elevation of #ae degrees--that is to deliberately hit it upwards at that angle--in order to make it rise at all4 ,regarding this trajectory ,professor ,tait said most significantly that it is 8characteristic of a well-known class of drives1 usually produced when a too high tee is employed1 and the player stands somewhat behind his ball4 ,notice particularly how much the carry and time of flight are reduced1 though the initial speed is the same4 ,the slight under-spin makes an extraordinary difference1 producing1 as it were1 an unbending of the path throughout its whole length1 and thus greatly increasing the portion above the horizon40 ,the run of this ball on alighting is greater than in the other cases1 owing to there being no backspin1 but it cannot make up for the short flight4 ,concerning another short drive of the same class1 ,professor ,tait remarks3 8,in spite of its #ej per cent4 greater angle of initial elevation1 the carry of the non-rotating projectile is little more than half that of the other1 and it takes only one-third of the time spent by the other in the air4 ,but the contrast shows how much more important 7so far as carry is concerned7 is a moderate amount of under-spin than large initial elevation4 ,and we can easily see that initial elevation1 always undesirable 7unless there is a hazard close to the tee71 as it exposes the ball too soon to the action of the wind where it is strongest1 may be entirely dispensed with40 ,a question which may have been in the reader's mind for some time is as to whether1 since the effect of under-spin is to make the trajectory turn upwards as it were1 excessive under-spin would not result in the ball taking an absolutely upward trajectory and then curling over and right round4 ,in actual practice so much under-spin could not be put on to a golf ball as would enable it to get the better of gravity and other circumstances to this extent1 but theoretically such an evolution would be described if the conditions were equal to it4 ,professor ,tait says3 8,the kink can be obtained in a striking manner when we use as a projectile one of the large balloons of thin rubber which are so common4 ,we have only to #8slice' the balloon sharply downwards in a nearly vertical plane with the flat hand40 ,it must be remembered that in the case of a very bad slice the ball sometimes does actually curl right round towards the finish of its run4 ,,viii ,there are many other incontrovertible and very interesting conclusions arrived at as the result of the reckoning of this distinguished scientist which one would like to discuss if there were room for it4 ,it is enough to say at the finish that while these reflections will serve to give the golfer a more intelligent view of the scientific aspect of the game and its mysteries1 and very likely even tend to a change in his policy in some departments1 he will not be led towards any disbelief in the standard methods of good driving or to any deliberate seeking or regulation of under-spin1 the fact being that more than a century of play and groping about in unscientific darkness brought the player to the discovery of the way in which the longest ball could be obtained1 i4e4 to the way in which translatory force and rotation were blended to the best effect4 ,the stance and the swing1 when properly performed with a proper driver1 bring about that blend1 though generally the player has been blissfully unconscious of the part they have played in conveying rotation to the ball4 ,a pregnant paragraph by the scientist may be quoted at the end3 8,the pace which the player can give the clubhead at the moment of impact depends to a very considerable extent on the relative motion of his two hands 7to which is due the #8nip'7 during the immediately preceding two-hundredth of a second1 while the amount of beneficial spin is seriously diminished by even a trifling upward concavity of the path of the head during the ten-thousandth of a second occupied by the blow4 ,it is mainly in apparently trivial matters like these1 which are placidly spoken of by the mass of golfers under the general title of knack1 that lie the very great differences in drives effected under precisely similar external conditions by players equal in strength1 agility1 and 7except to an extremely well-trained and critical eye7 even in style40 ,i should explain that all these things were told by ,professor ,tait1 not in simple language to an assembly of golfers1 but in complicated terms to a learned body of scientists1 and ,i have thus endeavoured to explain his meaning in a manner that all can understand1 and in some cases--as in that of the question of the proper centering of the rubber-cored ball to carry it forward to its application to the new conditions of play that have been introduced since his life and studies came to an end4 ,,ix ,what is the longest possible drive by our best driver under the best conditions8 ,that is a question which it is impossible to answer1 simply because the best conditions cannot be defined4 ,in practical golf they are an impossible ideal1 and one never knows how far in certain existing circumstances that ideal is approached4 ,this brings us to see the futility of comparing one drive with another1 or even of regarding any particular drive as the best on record1 in the sense that it was the best that had ever been accomplished1 just because it was the longest that had been measured4 ,the very slightest difference in the conditions1 or in the circumstances of the run of the ball1 may cause one drive to be what some people would call a record1 and another1 equally good in execution and strength1 to be comparatively poor4 ,for example1 think of what enormous importance is the nature of the place on which the ball gets its first pitch4 ,let it pitch against an incline ever so slight1 or against a knob in the ground no bigger than a pigeon's egg1 and the sting of the shot is plucked4 ,as in the case of so many other arguments1 this one as to the overwhelming influence of conditions in long driving1 and record driving1 is best set forth by the reductio ad absurdum1 and it is sufficient to point out that if a child tapped a ball off a tee on to a tolerably steep and smooth incline1 the ball would run to the edge of the world unless stopped by a change in the conditions4 ,it is more to the point--but not much more--to consider how far a ball might be driven under conditions which might be described an nearly ideal1 but strictly fair in the sense that the force of gravity by means of an incline1 or wind1 should not assist in the propulsion of the ball1 while on the other hand neither wind nor slope should be adverse to it4 ,to create such nearly ideal conditions1 under which we would solve this question as to the longest possible drive1 we would need to enclose a long shed or gallery1 down which the ball was to travel1 so that it should be entirely protected from wind influence1 and then we should have to lay a special fairway of some smooth1 hard substance that would afford the least imaginable resistance and friction to the ball when running4 ,asphalte would be good for this purpose1 but polished marble or granite would be better1 and if some millionaire enthusiast desired to solve this longest-possible-drive question these are the conditions that ,i would recommend to him4 ,now1 then1 how long would that gallery need to be8 ,how far could that ball be driven8 ,in the open1 on perfectly level and on smooth slippery turf1 which after wind and warmth is at its fastest1 such as one gets often at ,st4 ,andrews1 a drive that approached #cbj yards would at the same time be approaching very near record for fair conditions4 ,we have this to work on4 ,how many yards should we have to put on for the perfect pitch and the perfectly level1 hard1 smooth1 and frictionless floor in our driving gallery8 ,when you come to think it over in this way1 it is rather a pretty problem4 ,of course1 in the absence of the millionaire and the gallery1 there is no satisfactory answer1 though ,professor ,tait would have made a close estimate possibly4 ,but put the question to the next party of golfers among whom you happen to be included1 and see what widely varying answers you will get4 ,in the meantime one may suggest #ejj yards4 ,,the ,,fabric ,,of ,,the ,,game ,i ,we boast constantly of the traditions of our game of golf1 and well may we do so1 for they are glorious1 and they bring with them a great responsibility for their perpetuation4 ,some day in the distant future a far-off generation may be moved to build a ,temple of ,golf4 ,there is the nucleus of the idea already within the house of the ,royal and ,ancient ,club4 ,in stone and on canvas it will tell the story of the great deeds of the heroes of the past as it is told in the national palaces and halls of ,england and of ,france4 ,in the path that will lead from the gates to the doors of the temple there will be a giant monument of the fairest hero of them all4 ,it will show in white marble a lithe-limbed player at the finish of a ,st4 ,andrews drive with his features alight with the full joy of the game at the richest time of his youthful manhood--a fine1 a happy1 a lovable face4 ,on one side of the pedestal there will be depicted the trophies of the links4 ,on the other side there will be a terrier1 of whom it shall be indicated that his name was 8,nails40 ,on the back of the pedestal there will be a group of golfers1 representing in them the golf world far and wide1 and they will be showing by their manner and their actions that they are acclaiming their hero1 and that they esteem him for his golfing and manly worth and all his noble qualities4 ,and on the front of the pedestal there will be cut a scene of war1 with the ,riet ,river flowing by1 and in the shade of the trees on the bank there will lie a prostrate figure with a smile still left on the happy face4 ,it will tell that a great soldier-golfer has done his duty1 and that from the ,african veldt his soul has gone forward to the consummation of its greatness4 ,no words will need to be carved on this monument of glory4 ,it will bear the simple inscription1 8,f4 ,g4 ,tait4 ,died #aijj10 and the men who gaze upon it in the far-off time will bare and bow their heads1 and will walk silently into the temple4 ,there will be things to wonder at within4 ,there will be the ,hall of ,kings4 ,giant canvases will show ,charleses and ,jameses playing their game of golf on the links of ,leith1 and there will be ,mary ,queen of ,scots with clubs in her hand on ,st4 ,andrews course4 ,further on there will be ,king ,william ,,iv4 and his consort ,adelaide1 giving their countenance to the game on historic occasions2 and then there will surely be another picture with the simple title 8#ahfc10 upon which will be recognised the ,prince of ,wales1 who became ,king ,edward ,,vii41 being then in office as captain of the premier club4 ,paintings of more modern date will show ,kaiser ,wilhelm giving some encouragement to the golfers of the ,fatherland1 and the ,king of ,spain first wooing a ,british princess on the course of ,biarritz1 and then paying his royal respects1 but still humble and sincere1 to the game itself at ,san ,sebastian4 ,kings and queens1 princes and princesses1 golfers all1 and earnest ones1 players of a right royal and ancient game4 ,there will be a ,hall of ,founders1 in which will be immortalised the great men who in the early times laid the foundations of the game1 and of its most historic institutions4 ,the largest frame in the room will hold a painting bearing the title 8,magna ,charta1 #aeec10 and the picture will depict a scene in which the ,provost and ,magistrates of ,st4 ,andrews are granting leave to ,archbishop ,hamilton to place rabbits on the links at ,st4 ,andrews4 ,the ,archbishop is writing his signature to the parchment which1 with the authority of the chapter1 ratifies and approves the rights of the community to the links1 more especially for the purpose of 8playing at golff1 futball1 schuteing at all gamis1 with all uther maner of pastyme40 ,there will be a fine picture of a man of noble countenance1 a wig upon his head and robes around him1 as he is seated in his chair with his hand upon a table where rests a mace4 ,this is ,duncan ,forbes of ,culloden1 ,lord ,president of the ,court of ,session1 and first captain of the ,gentlemen ,golfers--now going by the name of the ,honourable ,company--in #agdd4 ,a great man was ,duncan ,forbes1 and he played for the ,silver ,club4 ,a poet of his own time sung of him3 8,yea1 here great ,forbes1 patron of the just1 ,the dread of villains1 and the good man's trust1 ,when spent with toils in serving humankind1 ,his body recreates1 and unbends his mind40 ,there is evidence that he played for the club in #agde1 and it is believed that this must have been his last round1 for the rising of the clans just at that time compelled him to set out for the north1 where he exerted the utmost of his influence to prevent them from joining the cause of the ,young ,pretender4 ,there will be a picture of ,francis1 fifth ,earl of ,wemyss1 ancestor of great players1 himself playing the game at ,gosford1 and there will surely be recovered for that ,temple the canvas that we know1 showing one of the most famous and the most worthy of the fathers of golf1 and another captain of the ,company1 ,william ,st4 ,clair of ,roslin1 of whom it was said that his skill at golf and archery were such that the common people thought that he must be in league with ,satan4 8,a man considerably above six feet1 with dark-grey locks1 a form upright1 but gracefully so1 thin-flanked and broad-shouldered1 built it would seem for the business of war or the chase1 a noble eye1 of chastened pride and undoubted authority1 and features handsome and striking in their general effect4 ,as schoolboys we crowded to see him perform feats of strength and skill in the old ,scottish games of golf and archery40 ,that is what was written of ,william ,st4 ,clair of ,roslin by ,sir ,walter ,scott1 and ,sir ,george ,chalmers painted the picture of him addressing a golf ball1 the picture that they must have in the ,temple4 ,and there will be many others1 all telling of the excellence and the dignity and even the skill of those great golfers of the first age of the game4 ,then there will be a ,hall of ,science1 and there will be a fresco on the wall showing the great ,professor ,tait with compasses and instruments calculating strange curves1 many golf balls strewn about the ground4 ,and there will be one main ,gallery of ,masters1 and there will be perpetuated the names and forms and feats of the men who went farthest in their skill at the noble game4 ,there will be ,allan ,robertson and old ,tom ,morris in a great foursome1 and there will be a young man with a wild look of fear on his face1 stepping into a boat at ,north ,berwick to be sailed across the water to ,st4 ,andrews1 where a loved one lay dying4 ,there will be ,jamie ,anderson and ,bob ,ferguson1 triple ,champions1 and there will be ,john ,ball1 ,open and ,amateur ,champion at once and six times ,amateur ,champion4 ,he will be painted mounted on a charger going to the war4 ,there will be many masters besides4 ,in the centre there will be three statues grouped together4 ,one of them will be sculptured on an ,athenian model4 ,it will show a fine player at the finish of his drive1 and there will be on the base the simple inscription 8,style40 ,that will be ,harry ,vardon4 ,another will show a man of stern countenance with thick wrists tightened upon a mashie1 and that will be named 8,accuracy40 ,the man is ,taylor4 ,and the third of these figures will show a man of solemn look1 like that upon some ancient busts4 ,that will be 8,perseverance10 and surely the people will know that it is ,james ,braid that is meant4 ,the famous ,triumvirate6 ,those future golfers will walk their way through these halls and through the gallery of the ,temple of ,golf that will be raised1 and a great awe of the game will come upon them4 ,it is as if generations1 ages of great golfers will look hard but not unkindly at these passers-by1 and will seem to cry aloud1 8,we made it6 ,we made it6 ,preserve it6 ,preserve it60 ,not the game alone1 but its glory--its tradition4 ,,ii ,there are many full-blooded golfers who1 if in the light of knowledge and experience they could have their choice to live their golfing lives over again1 with the special advantage of picking their own period and place for play1 would hold up their hands for ,leith and the closing years of the seventeenth century4 ,they could be greatly earnest about their golf in those days1 and there was colour and richness about it4 ,here it was that ,king ,charles was playing his game when the news came to him1 according to famous tradition1 of the insurrection and rebellion in ,ireland4 ,and another future ,king of ,england is generally believed to have played great games on ,leith links1 and perhaps the most interesting monument of ancient golf that remains to us to-day is still to be found in ,edinburgh1 commemorating a great game that was once played1 in which ,james1 ,duke of ,york1 afterwards ,james ,,ii41 had a hand4 ,this house is that old one in ,canongate which is numbered #gg1 on the north side a little above ,queensberry ,house4 ,on the wall above what at one time was the doorway of this house there is a stone bearing this inscription in ,latin3 8,cum victor ludo scotis qui proprius esset ter tres victores post redimitus avos patersonus humo tunc educebat in altum hanc quae victores tot tulit una domum02 and1 separately1 there is the line in ,english1 8,i hate no person10 which effectually settles the name of the man most concerned1 as the letters of these words are nothing more than an anagrammatical transposition of the letters of the name of ,john ,patersone1 who is the hero of the story of the great game4 ,high up1 near the top of this five-storey building1 is another tablet bearing a coat of arms1 on which there are three pelicans and three mullets1 while for crest there is a dexter hand grasping a golf club1 and the motto is 8,far and sure40 ,the point of the story is that this house was built by a poor cobbler out of a share of the proceeds of a wager won by the ,duke on a foursome1 in which he1 the cobbler1 was his partner4 ,the generally accepted story1 in which there is no hole to be picked1 is that one day1 during their attendance at the ,scottish ,court1 two ,english noblemen1 who had played a little golf in their time1 had a discussion1 in which the ,duke of ,york joined1 as to whether it were more of an ,english or a ,scottish game4 ,eventually it was determined that the question1 so far as their own satisfaction was concerned1 should be decided by an appeal to the game itself1 that is to say1 the ,englishmen1 who affected to be of mind that it was an ,english game1 agreed that they would play the ,duke and any other ,scotsman that he would choose to partner him for a large stake of money4 ,the ,duke conceived that he could do himself a little good in the affair1 since his acceptance of such a challenge and his standing forward in the name of ,scotland would be good for the sustenance of his claim to the character of a ,scot1 and would please the people of the country4 ,so the match being made1 the ,duke sent out agents to scour the town in search of the best partner for him that they could find1 and when found he was to be brought forward1 irrespective of his circumstances or his station in life4 ,eventually the man whom they selected for this onerous task was the poor shoemaker who went by the name of ,john ,patersone4 ,he was very fearful as to how he should perform with so much responsibility depending upon him2 but the ,duke was evidently a good golfer1 to the extent that he encouraged his partner and did his utmost to make him feel comfortable1 whereupon ,patersone braced himself for the struggle and said that he would do his best4 ,the ,duke and the cobbler were easily victorious1 whereupon the former gave his partner the half of the stake that he had won1 and with this money the house in ,canongate was built1 the ,duke himself causing the escutcheon1 bearing the arms of the family of ,patersone1 to be fixed in the wall4 ,,iii ,it must be seen to that the canker of commercialism is never permitted to eat its way into the game1 for if it were the game would be ruined1 as other games and sports have been ruined in that way4 ,it is not that there is any serious danger of golf coming by such a fate1 for its people are too well imbued with what might be called the moral sporting sense1 and have too much discrimination to permit themselves to be deceived by the insidiousness of the temptations of the commercial adventurer4 ,but it is well that the situation and its weaknesses should be fully realised1 so that all players and lovers of the game1 of high and low degree1 and of long experience and short1 may be fully alive to them1 and so on their guard4 ,and it must be considered1 at the outset of any reflection upon such matters as this1 as the most simple and elementary principle1 and that which is most indisputable1 that there is money in everything in which masses of people take an interest1 and the greater the interest the more money is there in it--money for the adventurers who come forward to feed that interest in whatsoever guise they may come4 ,golf has become a passion with a large section of mankind1 and therefore there is much money in it for those who will humour this passion1 and there are many evidences that the outside world is not unappreciative of this circumstance4 ,it is said by some of the best judges of golf1 that the rubber-cored ball has spoiled the game4 ,that is a matter upon which opinions to some extent differ2 but at all events it can hardly be held that the new ball has improved the game1 that is to say1 that it has made it any better game than it used to be1 though it may be admitted that1 by making it easier to play1 it has resulted in greater enjoyment being given to a vast number of people than would have been if it had never been introduced4 ,but1 in any case1 why have we the rubber-cored ball in practically exclusive use at the present time1 when the feeling of the golf world on its first introduction was overwhelmingly against it8 ,it is due entirely to commercialism1 to that and to nothing else4 ,if enterprising business men who cared for their bank accounts first and their golf afterwards1 had not seen that there were fortunes in the rubber-cored ball if it were forced on the players1 there would have been no rubber-cored ball to-day4 ,the golfing public was quite compelled to use it1 though it may not have been realised at the time1 and one result was that the game had to pass through a period of unrest and inconvenience lasting for three or four seasons1 while courses were being altered and lengthened1 the new ball was being improved1 and its various manufacturers were engaged in the attempt to exterminate each other1 and there was a foolish interest generated in the breaking day by day of the record scores of courses4 ,all this upheaval was due entirely to the introduction of an alien element into the spirit of the links1 the element of commercialism4 ,of course one must admit that it is this commercialism that brings about many of the greatest aids to our completer civilisation and comfort1 and it has not to be regarded as an enemy to all things4 ,it is the moving spirit of progress and improvement2 but it is not generally welcome to golf1 because we want neither progress nor improvement in the actual game of golf1 but simply the game as it has been handed down to us4 ,in this matter we are entirely and wisely conservative4 ,with the rubber ball in vogue1 the case now is that a great industry has been built up1 in which there are hundreds of thousands of pounds of capital involved1 and in the outer zone of golf there is a desperate war being waged by rival manufacturers4 ,the golf world has to take care that this war is kept where it is1 and perhaps all the better if it goes on4 ,generally such a thing is to the benefit of the golfer2 but all the time there are guerilla raids into the inner zone1 and while the amateur player has not been in any way affected by this commercialism1 that can hardly be said of all others associated with the game4 ,business is not sport1 and sport is not business1 and to a certain extent the legitimate interests of the golfer and the ball manufacturer are opposed in this matter4 ,just as it was with bicycles in their 8boom0 days1 and as it is with motors now1 it is to the interests of manufacturers to get their specialities used on important occasions1 and when successes are likely to be made with them4 ,the certificate of merit which is thus given is very valuable and is talked about4 ,the less thoughtful public says to itself1 8,surely1 then1 this thing is better than others10 and buys it accordingly4 ,such a conclusion is not logical1 and1 of course1 is quite unwarranted4 ,successes achieved with it certainly indicate that there cannot be anything wrong with an article1 but they do not prove superiority4 ,they could only do that if it were established beforehand that the human element in the equation were either inferior or not more than equal to the human elements in opposition4 ,it is the same as if they were to advertise and make a great point of the fact that the winner of the ,derby was saddled with a particular make of saddle4 ,but in the racing world they believe primarily in their horses4 ,the case with golf at present is not in the least serious4 ,one may feel sure there is no danger of amateur players giving way to money temptations of any sort1 or temptations in kind either4 ,the sporting sentiment of the game is too strong for that4 ,if it were not for that the fear for the safe future of golf would be great4 ,every sport that has been attacked in this way has been killed from the point of view of good health and purity4 ,there is another possible contingency1 though as yet a remote one1 in which commercialism may infringe injuriously upon the game1 and that is in exploiting it as a spectacle and charging 8gate money0 to the public4 ,some people say that golf is not a game that can be used as a spectacle like football and cricket2 but that is not entirely true4 ,the interest that is created in cricket and football matches is largely of an artificial and manufactured character4 ,a good drive at golf is quite as fine a thing to look at as a snick to the boundary on the cricket field4 ,where the difference comes in from the public point of view at present is in the fact that in the case of an important cricket match the public are brought to understand that an enhanced value is attached to each stroke1 and therefore there is the more interest in watching it played4 ,would there not be at least as much public interest in watching a great player attempt to hole a curly two-yard putt if a championship or a side wager of a couple of hundred pounds were depending on it8 ,the temperament of the spectator counts for something in this question of what is a good game for a spectacle1 and it has to be remembered that the temperaments of the ,british sporting crowds have been trained towards cricket and football4 ,fifteen years ago there was not more than a tenth of the number of spectators at the big football matches as there are in these days1 though there were practically as many of them played4 ,and that golf has an attraction1 which might very easily become an overpowering one for the spectator1 was proved when the international foursome between the leading professionals for #djj was played in #aije1 when1 on three courses in different parts of the country1 there was an average attendance of spectators of about ten thousand each day4 ,that was simply because the match had been talked about and a special interest had become attached to it4 ,on one of these courses 8gate money0 was charged1 and again in #aijf1 on the occasion of another professional foursome1 a charge for admission to the course to see the play was made by the local club4 ,it has been mutely understood as a principle that no such charges should ever be made1 being a violation of the spirit in which golf is played--the spirit that suggests that the game is for the men who play it1 and for nobody else--and it can be fancied that the success of the 8gate0 on these occasions may have put ideas into the minds of enterprising commercial people1 as indeed it is known it did4 ,there is the danger1 then1 that some time an attempt may be made to hold golf matches as a show4 ,if it were successful it would mean a complete upheaval of the game4 ,if the professionals found that they 8drew0 to the extent of hundreds of pounds at a time1 they would naturally be discontented with moderate fees for playing4 ,they would demand shares of the gate2 they would receive perhaps hundreds for playing on important occasions1 and the modest1 unassuming working professional1 as we know him now1 would exist no longer1 the cohesion between the two sections in our little state of golf would be loosened1 amateurism might suffer if only by the sense of mediocrity that would be thrust upon it1 and the game would not be the same4 ,all the tricks of trades would come into golf at once--8signing on10 bartering1 bluffing1 and even cheating4 ,considering the enormous 8boom0 in golf that is going on at present1 and the millions of money that are spent on it in one way and another1 it is wonderful that it has retained its purity1--not wonderful1 perhaps1 when you take the moral sporting quality of the golfer into consideration1--but still wonderful on an ordinary reckoning4 ,its continued purity may have given rise to an exaggerated sense of security4 ,certainly none of us can believe in the possibility of its sinking to the state which has just been suggested2 but it is better to realise that the facts are as stated1 and that there is the chance of such a thing happening at some future time1 so that at the first sign of the enemy's advance the golf world may be armed and ready to attack and kill it4 ,it is one of those evils that will come insidiously when it does come1 and will have gained a hold before we are aware of its presence4 ,another feature of this increase of commercialism in relation to golf is in the realisation of the magnetic power of the game by promoters of building estates1 and private persons who exploit the game in one way or another1 chiefly through the medium of new courses4 ,in these cases there is no great harm done1 but they are an infringement in some sense of the principle that the game should not be played for the benefit of other people4 ,everywhere speculators in estates are making golf courses first and building houses afterwards2 and the other day1 when such a course1 made with this object1 was established not far from ,london1 there were 8press views0 and all the other accompaniments of the launching of a commercial undertaking1 while it was announced that to promote its future success matches would be arranged between leading professionals1 and efforts would be made to enlist the sympathy of the public in them--to the advantage of the speculators who were sinking their money in the development of this estate4 ,we do not like the look of this4 ,here the game is to be played not for the sake of the game altogether1 but for these proprietors of land and houses4 ,it is most obvious commercialism4 ,and it is certainly not golf4 ,some golfers may say that after all they are not very much affected by this sort of thing so far1 and are not likely to be4 ,is it worth while bothering about8 they may ask4 ,a man who has the true spirit of the links within him will not ask the question1 nor will he think that this writer has laboured the warning that is hereby conveyed4 ,of all the things in golf that matter the most for its future welfare1 this is the most important1 for it might conceivably be a question of life and death with the game1 and it is time that the whole of the golf world understood and appreciated1 and then at every opportunity henceforth1 in small matters as well as in large ones1 set itself against all influences that are not for the good of the game4 ,it is right and proper that the makers of golfing goods should practise their commercialism to the utmost extent of their capacity outside the area of the game1 but not inside our doors4 ,it is ultimately to the advantage of the players that they should do so4 ,but except those who make these goods1 we deny that others who do not play have the right to make money out of our game1 if they might spoil it for ourselves in so doing4 ,,iv ,just lately certain desperadoes1 whom one need hardly say had no connection with the premier club1 held a bogey competition over the new course at ,st4 ,andrews4 ,a while previously some others were reported to have held a similar contest over the old course itself1 which was worse4 ,here in ,st4 ,andrews it is almost held as a sin merely to mention the name of bogey1 or even to refer to it somewhat indefinitely as 8the ,colonel40 ,all know that the ,royal and ,ancient ,club will have nothing whatever to do with the idea of bogey competitions1 and though they are common enough in these days1 you generally find the best class of golfers of the old school fighting shy of the idea1 and to the best clubs1 quite apart from the ,r4 and ,a41 the idea is still taboo4 ,the standpoint which these clubs and these men take is that ordinary match-play is the true golf1 and when it comes to needing a variation from it for special purposes1 there is the score game in reserve4 ,these two1 they say1 are ample for all purposes1 and any other forms of golf that may be invented are not real golf2 they are more or less of travesties1 they are needless complications1 and for the most part they are the inventions of faddists1 which1 if universally sanctioned by the community1 would lead to the production of other fads even worse1 so that innumerable fantastic changes would be rung on this fine1 simple game of golf to its undoing1 since it cannot possibly be better than1 or even so good as1 in its simplest form4 ,already in some parts of the country there are four-ball foursomes against bogey being played1 and some wild ideas for new-fangled competitions have been sent across the ,atlantic to us from ,america4 ,that is why bogey is never so much as mentioned at ,st4 ,andrews1 and why the surest way that the ,southron1 on making his first visit to the classic headquarters of the game1 may be made to feel uncommonly small and to wish that he had not been so inquisitive1 is to ask on playing the first hole--which often enough leaves you a pretty stiff carry over the ,swilcan ,burn from your tee shot1--whether it is a bogey #d or #e4 ,the town authorities notify you by printed placard that they have the power by by-law to fine you for playing on the old course with iron clubs only1 and also for practising putting on the eighteenth green1 and one would never be much surprised if it were made a matter of ten shillings and costs1 or a week in default1 for playing there against old bogey4 ,certain it is that there are many good golfers there who would be glad to hear of such a penalty4 ,the experienced man who tries to take a broad view of this minor question of golfing politics generally comes to the conclusion that the anti-bogeyists are quite right1 and that we do not want any complications in the game1 and he takes it particularly in mind that the bogey system is entirely the result of the modern craze for pot and medal hunting1 since it was designed solely and exclusively as a new form of competition4 ,one would not dream nowadays of going out to play a game with a friend1 each man playing his holes against bogey4 ,therefore there is nothing friendly and nothing sociable in the idea1 and it is not golf1 and it is condemned all the more inasmuch as its special object is to release erring players from the penalties of their errors1 such as they would have to pay for in stroke play4 ,it is therefore an encouragement to mediocrity4 ,at the same time our broad-minded critic would agree that this bogey has been in for a good many years now1 has outlived the attacks that have been made upon it1 and has certainly established a place for itself in the golfing scheme of things which nothing seems likely to disturb4 ,you generally find that as a golfer gets on in experience he cares less and less for bogey play1 if he ever cared for it at all2 but the new generation like it apparently1 and will have it4 ,therefore we must tolerate it4 ,it is a matter of some satisfaction to notice that more and more do clubs begin to make a standard reckoning of the value of their holes on the par system instead of the bogey4 ,there is no sort of sense in saying that the bogey of a particular hole is #d or #e1 or anything else that it may be put down at4 ,the majority of 8bogey #e's0 are real #d's1 and it is difficult to see what is the object of placing a standard value on a hole unless that standard represents faultless play by a good man1 as the par figure does1 and not such play as may include two half-spoiled shots or one completely foozled one1 as the bogey figure frequently allows4 ,it is often the case that at a 8bogey #e0 on a suburban course a good player can make a complete bungle of his second shot and still do the #e with some ease4 ,what1 then1 is the use of this sort of valuation of the holes on various courses8 ,so what with his somewhat surreptitious appearance at ,st4 ,andrews1 and many violent attacks that have been made upon him1 some men saying with withering sarcasm that they think they have heard of him before somewhere1 the poor old ,colonel has been having a rather exciting and not entirely happy time of it in recent seasons1 and one feels a certain amount of pity for him1 recognising that he really has given much pleasure to many players4 ,in this sympathetic mood one may listen patiently to the story of his career4 ,he has seen considerable service now1 for he became attached to golf at the beginning of its boom days4 ,the origin of the association was curious4 ,although some have it that bogey was born at ,elie1 a ,coventry gentleman1 ,mr4 ,hugh ,rotherham1 is more generally believed to have been the first to come by the germ of the idea4 ,this was in ,december #ahij1 when what was called the scratch score of the ,coventry course was taken1 and there was given to each hole a figure which was supposed to represent the scratch value4 ,this was called the 8ground score10 and some six months later1 when the idea had become well assimilated1 ,mr4 ,rotherham offered a prize for a competition in which the players would play against this ground score2 while in the autumn of the same year the club put up a challenge cup for annual competition on the same lines4 ,thus already the idea was established1 but not the name4 ,about this time some of the members of the ,coventry club went as a party to ,great ,yarmouth1 where the idea was explained to ,dr4 ,thos4 ,browne1 ,r4,n41 honorary secretary of the club4 ,he thought well of its possibilities and advantages1 and1 taking considerable interest in it1 wrote to various prominent golfers asking them their views of the advisability or otherwise of introducing this 8ground score0 into the general routine of competition golf4 ,for the most part the replies were favourable4 ,now one day ,dr4 ,browne went out to play against a friend of his1 ,major ,charles ,a4 ,wellman1 on this system1 and that winter the 8bogey man0 song was the hit of the pantomimes in the music-halls4 8,hush6 ,hush6 ,hush6 ,here comes the ,bogey man6 ,so hide your head beneath the clothes1 ,he'll catch you if he can60 were the words of the refrain that gave a creepy feeling to the little children of the day4 8,he'll catch you if he can60 ,there was the idea of bogey in golf1 and it flashed across the mind of ,major ,wellman when he was playing this game and getting caught by bogey4 8,why10 said he to ,dr4 ,browne1 8this player of yours is a regular bogey man40 ,in that chance remark a considerable piece of golfing history was made1 for bogey was made for golf4 ,dr4 ,browne thought this name was excellent1 and should be adopted1 as it was by the ,great ,yarmouth ,club4 ,a little while afterwards he went on a golfing holiday to the south coast1 and playing one day at the course of the ,united ,service ,club at ,alverstoke in ,hampshire1 he informed his hosts that he had brought with him a friend who was a very modest1 quiet fellow and a steady golfer1 who played a uniformly good but never a brilliant game4 ,he prayed that he might be permitted to introduce him to the ,united ,service ,club as an honorary member1 and accordingly1 in the continuance of his little pleasantry1 he presented him1 in the way of an explanation of the 8bogey man game10 to the late ,captain ,seely ,vidal1 ,r4,e41 who was honorary secretary of the club1 and to ,dr4 ,walter ,reid1 ,r4,n4 8,capital60 they said2 they would certainly have the bogey man as a golfer1 and after working out a score for him for that course they went out to play with him4 8,stay60 said ,captain ,vidal at the moment of starting4 8,we must proceed in a proper service way4 ,every member of this club has a proper service rank4 ,our new invisible member1 who never makes a mistake1 surely ought to be a commanding officer4 ,he must be a colonel40 ,and then saluting1 he added1 8,colonel ,bogey6 ,we are delighted to find you on the links1 sir4 ,i couldn't well say see you40 ,after that1 wherever ,dr4 ,browne went in the course of his golfing pilgrimages1 he introduced 8his friend0 in the name of ,colonel ,bogey4 ,several bogey matches were played at the ,united ,service ,club1 and they were reported in the papers1 with some explanation of the new system4 ,so the ,coventry1 ,great ,yarmouth1 and ,united ,service ,clubs had all a hand in the establishment of the idea1 and ,dr4 ,browne1 ,major ,charles ,wellman1 and ,captain ,seely ,vidal were ,bogey's godfathers in his baptism4 ,is is quite likely that the golfers of ,elie worked out a bogey of their own independently4 ,v 8,ever let the ,fancy roam1 ,pleasure never is at home40 ,so ,keats did sing4 ,and1 alas6 there are even strange golfers who are sighing always for newfanglements1 feeling that the things they cannot or must not have1 are much better than the things they are blessed with4 ,yet are the things that are in golf better than the things that might be if out-and-out ,progressives had their way1 and in this matter we shall sing a hymn of praise to the old school and its famous traditions1 being something of a brake on these ,progressives4 ,consider what were otherwise the possibilities of the game if it fell into the hands of innovators4 ,lately a story was printed and spread all about1 that in some secret fields a great champion was practising with a new ball of extraordinary manufacture1 with which he was constantly getting at least fifty yards farther with his drive than he could with the ordinary rubber-cored affair1 that is to say1 he was regularly driving from #bej to #cjj yards6 ,now1 some of us have heard of that ball before1 but shall believe in it only when we see it1 and shall then cry aloud for its extinction1 even if that dreaded ,golf ,union has to be established for the purpose1 as probably it would need to be4 ,but some people ask why it is wrong to sigh for more and more length in the drive2 why should not our old men drive all the long holes in two1 and our young men do them with a drive and a pitch1 and play the short holes with their putters8 ,they say there is enormous pleasure in length1 and that the rubber-core has given increased enjoyment to scores of thousands of players4 ,which is true1 the last4 ,but the more length you get the less golf there is in your play4 ,if length is all that is wanted1 why not go shooting instead of golfing8 ,you can shoot a bullet a whole mile1 and are not bothered to trudge after it4 ,fatal points against the #cjj-yard ball are1 that a large proportion of golfers would lose sight of it before it came to rest--and where would be their pleasure then8--and that it would upset the construction of all our courses1 since all the bunkers would be in the wrong places1 and the links would all be too short4 ,more land and huge sums of money would be needed by every club4 ,the clubs had one experience of this when the rubber-core came in2 depend on it they will not have another4 ,by all means improve our present sort of balls1 which is what makers are doing1 and incidentally they are making them go a little farther1 which is excusable4 ,but no more revolutions4 ,as it happened1 the story of the professional and the new ball was untrue4 ,the news of something that took place recently in golfing ,india came over the sea1 and the committees and members of very small clubs were fired with a new idea4 ,they are rather whimsical with their golf in our colonies and dependencies at times1 and it has been said facetiously that the ships that come home from there ought to be put in quarantine near ,st4 ,andrews for a while1 to make certain that there are none of these ideas on board4 ,the ,royal ,bombay ,club1 thinking possibly that bunkers in the same places always are monotonous1 and moreover that1 being in the same place1 they upset one's calculations so much when the wind changes1 went in1 according to report1 for movable bunkers6 ,they made them from hurdles1 and they could move them about the course according to the weather and the committee's fancy4 ,in some places1 as already hinted1 they have been trying a strange kind of game called 8a four-ball foursome against bogey10 being a blend of many things most objectionable to the old spirit4 ,this is the kind of golf that would be exceedingly popular if people generally went mad with the revolutionary idea and held executions in ,trafalgar ,square4 ,in the meantime it does not 8take on40 ,and a new kind of multi-match lately came over from ,america4 ,they play1 say1 six a side1 but only one ball to each side1 the whole dozen players starting off together4 ,they do not play alternately1 but each man is chosen for the team according to his special abilities4 ,one man is a specialist in long driving1 another in his brassey play1 a third with his irons1 a fourth with the short approaches1 a fifth with his niblick1 and a sixth with his putter4 ,when within fifty yards of the green the captain sings out for ,no4 #d1 and ,no4 #e is wanted when the ball is in a gutter4 ,a man might not have a shot to play the whole way round4 ,great skill would be needed in the selection of the team4 ,for a match on a short course the wise captain might leave out his brassey man and put in1 say1 a fisherman1 if there were many water hazards on that course4 ,but it is not golf1 and never will be4 ,from the same source there emanates another idea in competitions4 ,this is for stroke play1 and all the men who enter play the first hole1 one after the other4 ,those men who take most strokes to it retire from the competition4 ,the others proceed1 and there is the same weeding out process at the second hole1 and so on until there are only two players left1 and then the first man who wins a hole from the other wins the competition4 ,a possibility1 which is none the less dreadful because there is some good common sense in the idea from which it springs1 is that there will be examinations in the rules1 which all must pass either before being elected to full membership of a golf club or before being allowed to take part in competitions4 ,it is a certain fact that two golfers out of every three--at least--are hazy on many important points in the rules4 ,three ,british clubs have already held such examinations1 with startling results4 ,scratch men were plucked6 ,how curious it would be if the favourite for a championship were disqualified in this way4 ,of course the examiners would trip up the candidates by tricky riders to the rules1 and as my artist friend1 ,mr4 ,e4 ,w4 ,mitchell1 suggested1 good questions will be3 8,a is your ball1 ,b is your banker's ball1 and ,c is the hole 7all being within a circle ten inches in diameter74 ,play one off two and lose60 ,also1 8,what happens when a bull sits on your ball--7#a7 in match2 7#b7 in medal play80 ,as it is said1 there is no telling what we may have next1 particularly as a patent was recently applied for on behalf of a new club which had a sliding lid bottom1 covering a receptacle in the head of the club1 in which the golfer might keep his matches and his money6 ,,vi ,now and then a section of the golfing community has the appearance of fretting for a new government of the game4 ,the freedom that it has always enjoyed1 and in which it is superior to any other game that has a right to be compared to it for quality1 interest1 and popularity1 has become irksome4 ,it is felt that there can be disadvantages in too much freedom1 and so these people sigh to be placed under a yoke--a yoke of their own choosing1 but none the less stern and powerful and1 above all1 active4 ,these agitations1 if they are to be dignified with such a name1 commonly begin in the dullest days of winter1 when both links and livers are abnormally heavy1 and they flicker out again in the spring4 ,usually the establishment of a new county golfing union is the signal for the commencement of the argument in favour of the deposition of ,st4 ,andrews and the establishment of a new parliament of golf4 ,by this time county unions are no novelty4 ,the ,yorkshire and the ,nottinghamshire ,unions--and particularly the former--are now old-established and flourishing institutions2 but latterly this movement towards unions has much increased1 and ,warwickshire1 ,worcestershire1 ,gloucestershire1 and others have joined in it and settled their constitutions4 ,then there are in existence the ,welsh ,union1 the ,sussex ,union1 and various others of smaller activity4 ,the formation of these unions has been in itself a proceeding of some significance2 but the establishment of the new ,midland ,association is greater1 for here you have three or four unions making common cause for the furtherance of their own ideas and projects1 and becoming a compact1 circumscribed1 and very nearly autonomous community1 taking a considerable piece of the golfing map to themselves1 and embracing no small or unimportant section of the golfing population4 ,first you had the county unions2 now the grouping of these unions into associations4 ,obviously1 the next and easy step will be a combination of associations4 ,yorkshire and ,wales might come to an understanding with the ,midlands1 and before one could shout 8,fore60 there might be the whole country under the guidance1 not to say domination1 of a union of associations4 ,members of clubs would per se be affiliated to it1 and would give tacit allegiance to it4 ,that is simply a possibility of evolution4 ,so far the programmes of the unions and associations are simple and unpretentious4 ,they will start country competitions1 inter-county tournaments1 standardise handicaps1 regulate local rules1 and so forth4 ,unpretentious in a sense these matters are2 but yet they will make for much in the whole sum of golf procedure4 ,then there are no authoritative rules for bogey play which many people want2 the associations may make them for themselves1 and make them binding upon their members1 and give rulings upon points of dispute or difficulty that may arise in regard to them1 since ,st4 ,andrews will have nothing to do with bogey4 ,they will do all the many things that ,st4 ,andrews is too indifferent to do4 ,there you have it6 ,how about the coming of the day when1 old-established1 firm1 and powerful1 the combined associations find that they are doing nearly everything1 and that ,st4 ,andrews is doing almost nothing8 ,will it not be an easy thing1 and one which will suggest itself1 to cut the knot that ties them to the old and respected guardian of our golf1 and to go forth with a new and revolutionary programme of government1 which shall include even the very championships and the rules themselves8 ,this is not a fanciful speculation2 it is logical and--as some who have brought themselves to the serious study of the future would say--almost inevitable4 ,it would be according to the natural processes of history4 ,let them disclaim as they please1 be as loyal to the existing order of things as possible1 it is still the fact that these unions and associations are a menace to ,st4 ,andrews4 ,by evolution from them rather than by direct establishment is a ,british ,golfing ,union likely to come about1 if one ever does4 ,this is essentially a democratic movement4 ,with the vast influx of new players the feeling in golf is infinitely more democratic than it was five years ago1 and the people are now chafing at the indifference of ,st4 ,andrews and the championship group of clubs1 and are calling for a ruling body that will give them new and simpler laws1 that will regulate the championships better1 and hold them on a greater variety of courses1 organise inter-county competitions1 and so on4 ,st4 ,andrews--by which is meant the ,royal and ,ancient ,club--is the old and self-established1 almost hereditary ,house of ,lords that dozes and does not mind1 with no second chamber between it and the people4 ,the people say they want a representative and active ,house of ,commons4 ,this allegory works out perfectly to the point that ,ireland is fuming and fretting at the neglect with which she is treated4 ,shall the golfers' ,house of ,lords be mended or ended8 ,there are three parties in the great state of golf--the old ,tories1 who want things to remain as they are1 and who regard the ,st4 ,andrews ,house of ,lords as the finest form of government imaginable1 chiefly because it does not govern2 the reformers1 who want ,st4 ,andrews to become more active and to seek the co-operation of some of the leading clubs in the country2 and the democratic revolutionaries1 who want a new governing body elected by the people and the clubs4 ,the first party is in a hopeless minority1 and will always remain so4 ,the present state of affairs may go on for some time yet2 but the golf world is too big and important1 and the questions pressing upon it are too weighty1 for it to be regarded as permanent4 ,the ,royal and ,ancient ,club of ,st4 ,andrews is a most worthy1 distinguished1 and conscientious institution1 full of all the most blue-blooded traditions4 ,one may disagree with the idea that the ,club entertains of the duty and responsibility towards the great world of golf which time and circumstances have cast upon it2 but no golfer of understanding would speak disrespectfully of this ,club1 which in many respects is the finest institution of its kind in existence1 and is entitled to the very utmost veneration4 ,chiefly by its efforts there has been given a dignity to the game of golf which has had much to do with its established greatness4 ,every golfer everywhere owes a debt to the ,royal and ,ancient ,club4 ,yet as an authority nobody ever sanctioned it2 like ,topsy1 it simply grew4 ,of course1 it was wanted2 somebody had to make laws4 ,it is almost equally certain that the club never aspired to an active command over such an extensive golf world as there is at present1 and that its present disposition is that it 8cannot be bothered10 that the ,british golfers must take it as they find it1 or--do as they please4 ,to some extent allied with ,st4 ,andrews in the government of the game are the clubs who regulate the championship4 ,to some minds the ,royal and ,ancient and these other clubs that rule the championships1 have sometimes seemed to be in league with each other against the new spirit and new tendencies in golf1 and it is not surprising that the worm is turning4 ,the 8common people0 of the golfing world say that they have had enough of this sort of thing1 and all these airs and graces1 that they are in the majority--which is perfectly true--and that they will act4 ,now what shall be done8 ,shall the golfers' ,house of ,lords be mended or ended8 ,in course of time some change is inevitable1 democracy will have its way1 and all those who have the interests of the game most at heart must1 on reflection1 come to the conclusion that for the time being1 at any rate1 it will be for good if the ,house of ,lords is reconstituted on slightly more popular lines4 ,therefore it would seem to be desirable that the ,royal and ,ancient and its associates1 the golfing ,house of ,lords1 should recognise the feeling that is undoubtedly abroad in the country1 and should take the initiative now1 when it would lose nothing in dignity and gain everything in influence1 in establishing the government of golf on a firmer and more satisfactory basis than that on which it at present exists4 ,the rules need remodelling1 the system of the championships needs rearranging1 the question of county tournaments1 standardisation of handicaps1 and so forth1 call for some consideration1 and the interference of the commercial side of the game needs to be looked into4 ,st4 ,andrews alone and without a mandate has neither the will nor the power to grapple with all these difficulties4 ,on the other hand1 a democratically elected governing body would almost certainly be given far too much to something in the nature of vandalism1 and for a certainty golf under its authority would lose much of the dignity that is at present one of its very greatest charms4 ,what one has seen of the ways of even some big provincial clubs1 such as might have loud voices in a new democratic government1 and the tone that animates their game1 gives one no confidence that they would preserve its best traditions intact4 ,there would be a tendency towards unnecessary innovations and vulgarism4 ,nobody who has any adequate knowledge of the manner and system of golf as practised by the good old-fashioned clubs would care to risk placing the future of the game entirely in the hands of the revolutionaries4 ,the world of golf is not ready for a great revolution4 ,the fact is that we want as little legislation as possible1 but what there is should be good and adequate1 and the tendencies and needs of the times should be systematically considered4 ,the best solution to the difficulty1 perhaps1 would be for ,st4 ,andrews to relax a little from its aloofness1 recognise that circumstances impose a moral duty upon it1 and seek the assistance of a few of the chief clubs1 seaside and inland1 throughout the country1 who among them would form a kind of joint board to which all other clubs would declare their allegiance4 ,we should expect to find such inland clubs in the south as ,sunningdale1 ,woking1 ,mid-,surrey1 and ,walton ,heath represented on this board1 and it would approach all the questions of the time in a progressive spirit and do its best to remove existing grievances4 ,if the ,royal and ,ancient took the initiative in this matter1 it would gain in dignity and respect1 and would have the knowledge that it had done its duty4 ,if no such step is taken1 if matters are allowed to drift on as at present1 then a revolution of some kind is likely4 ,a point too frequently overlooked in these discussions is1 that the ,royal and ,ancient club is in its membership and constitution very fairly representative of golf throughout the country1 as is no other club4 ,the rights of its position at the head of the game are1 of course1 indisputable4 ,,winter ,i ,when the winds blow and the rains pour down1 we discover the true worth of the golfer4 ,the game has no season2 it allows no right of control to any weather4 ,it is for all places and for all times1 and in the law of the links it is clearly set down that he who is playing by strokes for a prize shall on no account whatsoever delay in the course of his round1 nor take any shelter1 though ,pluvius should pour out upon him from the heavens their entire holding of the most drenching rain4 ,if1 in defiance of the stern law of ,st4 ,andrews1 he does so take shelter1 though it be but for a minute under the scanty protection of leafless boughs1 he is to be visited with the extreme penalty4 ,whatever his score1 whatever the perfection of his golf1 he shall take no prize1 his card must be tossed aside as worthless1 and he is branded among his fellows as he who was afraid1 and as more fitted to putt on the hearthrug by the fireside at home in rivalry with his baby boy or girl1 than to take part in this now fierce game of men4 ,what is the law for medal competitions is1 in scarcely less measure1 the custom and tradition in matches4 ,once he has begun1 the golfer with the great heart must finish his game1 and generally he does so4 ,scotland sometimes turns up its nose at the ,english golf of the towns2 but round about ,london1 among all its 8effete civilisation10 there is seen in golf1 as in perhaps no other game1 that some fine ,british sporting hearts beat beneath starched linen and silken waistcoats2 and it is a thing to think about1 that the city man who on ',change at eleven o'clock in the morning was arrayed most spotlessly and was dealing in his thousands1 at three o'clock was driving his little golf ball through wind and blinding rain1 drenched to the skin1 cold1 miserable1 despondent with his #h's and #i's1 but still doing his duty as a golfer to his game4 ,so the authorities of ,st4 ,andrews will in no case countenance the mere fairweather golfer4 ,he must 8face the music40 ,but they do say--they said it when appealed to on one occasion--that the brave player is1 after all1 entitled to have a hole to putt at1 and if the green is under water it is better that there should be no competition4 ,it was the club of ,st4 ,duthus that made the appeal1 and the experiences of the members of that club on the day concerned were varied and curious4 ,one golfer played his ball on to a 8floating green10 and after vainly trying to dodge the sphere along the waters into the neighbourhood of the place where the hole was1 he picked it out and claimed the right to play again some other day4 ,but when that same day was far spent and the flood had to some extent subsided1 another player came along with his card to that green1 and1 having worked his ball to within three feet of the place where the hole was1 he deftly pitched it up into the air with his mashie and down it came on the water immediately covering the hole1 sank for a moment1 and came up again floating4 ,had he holed out8 ,st4 ,andrews declined to say4 ,they took shelter from this trying problem by observing that that green should not have been played on4 ,in very similar circumstances a player coaxed his ball to the place where the hole was1 and then debated within himself as to how he should hole out4 ,no club that he had would sink the ball1 but the law does not prescribe that golf must be played with standard clubs4 ,this resourceful fellow1 after due consideration1 took his bag from his caddie1 held it for a moment above the ball1 and then dumped it1 end on1 down on the floating sphere1 sinking it for a second4 ,but was not that a push8 ,and1 again1 when another man had played on to a floating green he discovered that the wind made a current1 and that it--,o generous current6--was slowly taking his ball towards the hole4 ,so he waited until it should do so1 but it was a slow process1 and somebody protested4 ,he claimed that his last stroke was still in progress all the time1 and that neither he nor anyone else had any more right to interfere with it than with a ball in flight4 ,however1 he was utterly cried down1 and his point was not settled4 ,thus some curious shots have been played on water2 and1 have a mind1 some great ones too4 ,one of the most classic shots of golf1 perhaps the most classic of them all1 was that which ,fred ,tait played in the championship from the water-logged bunker on the far side of the ,alps1 guarding the seventeenth green at ,prestwick4 ,at a moment of crisis he waded in with a forlorn hope1 and with a shot that will still be spoken of in a hundred years he saved a point that had seemed gone for ever4 ,the brave golfer is placed in a difficult position1 when his partner is smitten with craven fears of pneumonia and inflammation of the lungs supervening on the soaking that he is getting on the links4 ,what is he to do if in medal competition this fearing one says that he will go no farther1 but will hasten back to the clubhouse1 with its drying-room and its fire and warm refreshment8 ,the law says that no man shall delay in his round2 but how shall the card be marked if the marker goes off for his dry clothes and hot drinks8 ,ever generous to the brave1 ,st4 ,andrews has said that he whose heart is thus willing shall not be disqualified1 but shall be permitted to scour the links and the clubhouse in search of a new marker1 and if haply in the meantime the storm shall have ceased1 good luck to him1 and may his be the winning card4 ,but no false excuses4 ,did you hear of the historic case of the ,bury golfers who appealed to ,st4 ,andrews for a ruling after one fateful medal day on their rain-swept course8 ,the storm raged1 the winds blew1 and the rain drove through the players' garments to the most vulnerable parts of their body4 ,and then one man lost his ball4 ,the other espied a friendly hut and sought shelter there until his unhappy friend should find that which was lost4 ,when it was discovered its owner likewise went to the hut and stayed there for a little while4 ,why did that golfer seek that hut so8 ,he told ,st4 ,andrews that he went there because he had dirtied his face1 and his partner had a cloth wherewith it might be wiped6 ,they pleaded for qualification in their competition4 8,out upon you for golfers60 said ,st4 ,andrews angrily1 and so it was decreed4 ,,ii ,on a frosty day one is apt to damage clubs4 ,the clubmaker does not mind his patrons playing on steely courses4 ,the chances are that one man in a few will need something doing to his shafts or his wooden heads as the result of a day's play4 ,the list of casualties at sunset is considerable1 and somewhat reminds one of the early days when a golf club was a much less lasting thing than it is at present4 ,old golfers are agreed that the breakage of a club by any kind of player is a thing of infinitely rare happening in comparison with what it used to be only a very few years ago4 ,how is this8 ,it cannot be that beginners are any better or more careful than they used to be1 and one is very doubtful as to whether the clubs are made any better 7although1 perhaps1 a trifle more elegant71 or are endowed with any more strength than they were in the olden days when there were fewer of them to be made1 and when so much time was spent upon their individual perfection4 ,some people think that the socketed shafts that have become firmly established are less reliable than others1 and are more likely to give way under severe strain from misuse1 and yet how seldom do we really see a wooden club give way at the socket8 ,on the whole there can be no doubt that our modern clubs are thoroughly well made1 but that the real cause why we so seldom see breakages is the lighter work that the clubs have to do with the rubber ball than they were set to in the old days of the gutta4 ,in those old days the jar of impact was harder1 severer1 harsher1 and it sent a shiver through the wrapping of the club that1 often repeated1 made for an eventual snap4 ,certainly the decrease in the breakages seems to date exactly from the beginning of the use of the rubber ball4 ,i have just said that it cannot be that beginners are any better or more careful than they used to be1 but this is a statement that needs a trifle of qualification4 ,your modern beginner has heard from many and diverse authorities of the enormous difficulty of this game1 and of the necessity of treating it from the outset with the utmost possible respect2 but the neophyte of the olden days was often more of a slapdash1 full-blooded fellow1 who needed to have two or three strenuous rounds before the spirit in him was fairly broken and he became amenable to the reason of the links4 ,a wonderful story of a wild opening to a golfing career is that of ,lord ,stormont1 when he was initiated at ,blackheath some fifty years ago4 ,his lordship had taken too much weight to himself1 and ,sir ,william ,ferguson1 his doctor1 being consulted1 suggested that he ought to have more exercise1 and thought that this might best be administered in the form of golf4 ,sir ,william played golf himself1 and1 like all good doctors1 he recommended the game to lazy pale-faced people whenever he thought the occasion opportune4 ,he said to ,lord ,stormont1 8,go down to ,blackheath and put yourself in ,willie ,dunn's hands10 ,dunn then being professional at this historic course4 ,lord ,stormont had never seen a golf ball driven in his life1 but he took kindly to the idea and repaired to ,blackheath4 ,unfortunately he went there for the first time on a club day1 and on this day it was impossible for ,dunn to give him his services4 ,but he did as well as he could in the circumstances1 and selected his very best caddie1 one ,weever1 quite a capable teacher1 and intrusted him with the onerous duty of teaching the game of golf to ,lord ,stormont4 ,dunn sold his lordship a full set of good clubs by way of outfit1 and away the two went4 ,when the first round had been played1 the round at ,blackheath then1 as now1 consisting of only seven holes1 ,weever returned alone to the professional's shop1 with his pockets full of heads and his arms full of broken shafts4 ,my ,lord ,stormont had broken every one of his clubs1 and had sent his mentor back for a new complete set4 ,in the second round nearly all of these were broken also2 and when1 after so many trials and tribulations1 ,dunn espied the noble beginner returning from the seventh green1 he was in some anxious doubt as to how he should best make reference to the events of the day4 ,it was at least encouraging that ,lord ,stormont was smiling1 and so ,dunn ventured to observe1 8,i am very sorry1 my lord1 that such disasters have befallen you to-day in breaking so many clubs40 ,for answer the new golfer tapped ,dunn on the shoulder1 and said1 8,my dear fellow1 don't mention it4 ,i feel this game has done me already a great deal of good1 and it is going to do me still more4 ,have another set of clubs ready for me by ,thursday4 ,i shall be down then40 ,how many sets of clubs went to the making of the game of ,lord ,stormont no man knows4 ,,iii ,sometimes1 in the long and dark evenings1 golfers like to play their games in thought by the fireside1 and one may suggest to them a new kind of reflection and study which may prove at the same time interesting and not without educational profit1 particularly if such reflections are uttered in company and comparisons of views are made4 ,a golfer has no sooner come by some sort of a working knowledge of the different strokes of the game than he longs for adventures on strange courses1 to play at holes that are new and strange to him1 and--if it must be--to niblick his way out of bunkers that are more fearful than anything he ever encountered on his mother links4 ,this spirit is in every way commendable1 and the experience that results from it is one of the best means of gaining skill and steadiness at the game4 ,thus it happens that every player of two or three years' practice is acquainted more or less with several different courses in various parts of the country1 and it will generally happen that he has the kindest memories of certain holes on each1 and that1 in fact1 there are some of these holes which are his special favourites for their particular length and character4 ,now if by some impossible grant of nature it were to be ordained that a special course should be made up1 consisting of eighteen of his favourite holes1 due regard being paid to the proper requirements of a golf course as to variety of length1 which eighteen would he select for the purpose1 and why8 ,thoughts on these lines will help him towards an understanding of the points of a good course2 for the average player1 while he knows a good course when he sees it--or thinks he does--rarely troubles to dissect his general appreciation4 ,even those players whose game has been almost restricted to play on a few courses in the ,london or some other district1 may entertain themselves by piecing up a new and better course than any they know from the materials with which they are supplied in all the holes they have ever played over4 ,with the idea thus presented1 you may go on to making your own ideal course1 and that some basis of necessary requirements may be afforded1 it may be added that in the opinion of ,mr4 ,harold ,hilton such a course should include three short holes1 eleven holes requiring two shots to reach the green under ordinary conditions1 and four holes which require three shots to reach the green4 ,mr4 ,hilton adds that the short holes ought not to be more than #bjj yards long1 and that in the case of the four very extended holes the minimum of length should be #dgj yards4 ,the other holes he thinks should vary from #chj yards to #dcj yards4 ,in this connection it is noteworthy that ,mr4 ,hilton's selections are the ,redan at ,north ,berwick and the ,himalayas at ,prestwick for short holes2 the ,alps and the eighth at ,prestwick1 the sixth at ,hoylake1 the second at ,st4 ,anne's1 and the sixth at ,sunningdale for two-shot holes2 and the fourteenth at ,sandwich1 the seventeenth at ,st4 ,andrews1 and the ,cardinal at ,prestwick for long holes4 ,in another part of the world there is something now happening that gives a special point to these fancies4 ,it is nothing less than the attempt1 backed up by enormous energy and practically unlimited capital1 to make 8an ideal course10 combining all the best features of the particular holes that it is resolved to copy4 ,a club called the ,national ,golf ,club1 including among its members many of the best players and many of the richest men in the ,united ,states1 has been established1 and they have taken a big piece of territory on ,long ,island for the prosecution of their most ambitious scheme4 ,one of the moving spirits1 ,mr4 ,charles ,b4 ,macdonald1 well known to ,st4 ,andrews golfers1 and the first ,american amateur champion1 spent a long time in this country about a year or two back1 making a most exhaustive study of the best holes on our best courses1 and he went home to ,america with large parcels of most minute plans and photographs4 ,the land chosen on ,long ,island is a fine piece of country for golf1 and this is going to be--is being--so pulled about1 built up1 and given the general appearance of having been acted upon by several earthquakes1 to the end that the best possible copies of these holes shall be made4 ,although anything in the nature of an exact copy is manifestly impossible in a large proportion of cases1 despite all the powers of money and energy1 it is declared that at least the underlying principles which account for the superlative excellence of the holes chosen as models shall be faithfully and accurately represented4 ,it is prophesied that on these two hundred acres of land which have been bought at ,peconic ,bay1 there will be combined in one eighteen-hole round the best features of the most celebrated courses in the world2 in other words1 8a course that shall be the best in the world40 ,this is a vast ambition1 and one which only ,americans would find it easy to entertain4 ,let me mention what conditions ,mr4 ,macdonald made for the selection of these eighteen holes4 ,he decreed that there should be two short holes for iron shots1 between #acj and #afj yards in length2 two #ejj-yard holes2 two of the 8drive and pitch0 order1 #cjj to #cbj yards2 eight good two-shot holes1 #cej to #dgj yards2 and four long one-shot holes varying from #aij to #bej yards1 according to the contour of the ground1 the longer holes having the fair green falling towards the putting green4 ,these together would make up a course of about #fjjj yards in length4 ,,iv ,once a year there is a great foursome played between a ,colonel and a ,parson on the one side and an ,author and an ,m4,p4 on the other1 and they always look forward to it with great keenness4 ,it is a compact among them that the match shall be played every year that all four are alive and within the ,united ,kingdom4 ,this is one of the most delightful kinds of matches1 and no pleasure of reminiscence is so rich as that of golfers such as these in looking back over ten or twenty years of matches and comparing their recollections of them4 ,all earnest golfers should have some arrangement of the kind with their best friends4 ,it happened the other morning when this match was to be played1 that a great disappointment was in store for the little party1 as they took train from ,charing ,cross bound for that fine inland course some twenty miles away to which they were all most devoted4 ,heavy clouds of ominous complexion were above at nine o'clock1 and there was a suspicious look and feel about the atmosphere2 but1 like all good golfers1 these men were optimists all1 and would not mention to one another the fear that was in their hearts4 8,i daresay we shall have a very nice day after all10 murmured the ,parson1 and the ,colonel stated that he was nearly certain that the glass was rising when he last looked at it4 ,a fine fellow is your golfing optimist4 ,but when ,london had been left some ten miles behind1 the hideous truth was exposed beyond any denial4 ,it was snowing1 and the chill of it went to the hearts of the golfers4 8,oh1 this won't be much10 said the ,m4,p41 8and it is certain to melt quickly1 anyhow2 see how watery are the flakes40 ,but when they arrived at the course it was snowing more than ever1 and big dry flakes were whirling in eddies all about1 while the course already lay an inch beneath a white covering4 ,it was a bad case4 ,unless there was a great change in an hour or so there could be no golf that day1 and indeed the idea of it was already almost given up4 ,the four sat in the smoke-room looking exceeding glum4 ,attempts to make congenial conversation failed4 ,the ,parson felt that it was incumbent on him to cheer up his friends1 and after other kind efforts he bethought himself of what he considered to be an excellent story4 8,upon my word1 you fellows10 he said1 8,i nearly forgot to tell you of the most extraordinary occurrence that ,i have ever heard of1 and one in which a strange point of golfing law is involved4 ,the case must be sent to ,st4 ,andrews40 ,everybody was alert at this announcement4 ,it is an excellent thing to know that a poser of sorts is going to be put to that autocratic assembly in ,fifeshire4 8,splendid60 ejaculated the ,colonel1 8we must hear this story of yours1 ,septimus2 but ,i hope you are not going to pitch us that yarn you once told me about your wife's brother having once played a low push shot across a river1 and a salmon leaping at the ball as it skimmed across and being carried with it on to the bank6 ,we have heard that1 you know40 8,as ,i told you at the time10 responded the ,parson1 8,i only repeated what my wife's brother told me1 and ,i certainly did not say that ,i had seen the fish dragged on to the bank in that manner4 ,but this story was told me by my son ,richard1 when he was down from ,oxford last time1 and he declares the incident happened on the course at ,radley4 ,one of the men was engaged in a match1 and going to the tenth he played a beautiful run up from forty yards off the putting green1 that actually made the ball hit the pin and then it rolled into the hole2 but it had no sooner got into the hole than out it flew again1 and after it came a large frog6 ,it was clear that the ball had rolled on the back of the frog in the hole1 and that this frog1 startled1 no doubt1 jumped up and out of the hole1 ejecting the ball at the same time4 ,the ball came to rest on the green1 and my son's friend thereupon claimed that he had holed out40 ,for a few seconds there was a stony silence1 and then the ,colonel burst out with a loud guffaw4 8,my dear old boy10 he exclaimed1 8,i am sure that you will find that story1 or one very like it1 in the ,old ,testament somewhere if you look sufficiently4 ,it is as old as the hills6 ,you really should not tell us these things4 ,you know what the ,american did when he was told that story8 ,he put a recommendation in the suggestion book that the club should urge upon the ,st4 ,andrews authorities that they should make an addition to the rules to something like this effect3 8#8,if any frog1 toad1 snake1 or other reptile1 or a mouse1 rat1 weasel1 mole1 gopher1 or other vermin 7or in the case of casual water1 a pike1 pickerel1 perch1 pompano1 or other fish7 be in or near the hole1 its presence being established to the satisfaction of two independent witnesses1 such reptile1 vermin1 or fish must be removed before the next stroke is played1 under penalty of the loss of the hole4 ,should a player unwittingly play at the hole when such reptile1 vermin1 or fish is in it1 its presence being subsequently attested by the aforesaid independent witnesses1 and such reptile1 vermin1 or fish either hinder the ball from entering the hole or eject it therefrom1 the ball shall nevertheless be considered to have been duly holed1 and no penalty shall be incurred4' 8,still10 went on the ,colonel1 after this little pleasantry1 8you have given us a most excellent idea1 ,septimus4 ,now let each one of us think awhile1 and let us see who can present to our little company the stiffest poser in golf law4 ,each of us1 ,i suggest1 shall be allowed to look at the rules for the space of ten minutes1 no more and no less1 and shall then have ten more minutes for consideration of his problem4 ,what do you say1 boys80 ,all agreed that the idea was a most excellent one for the purpose of killing time and gathering knowledge about the rules4 ,it was decided that the company should vote1 if necessary1 on the answers1 and that while the ,parson should be at liberty to choose his own position in the recital in virtue of what he had done already1 the others should draw lots4 ,the reverend gentleman decided that he would go last1 and1 on lots being drawn1 the ,colonel was settled to present the first problem1 the ,author the second1 and the ,m4,p4 the third4 ,when the twenty minutes had expired the four assembled at the table1 and the ,colonel was called upon to present his queer case4 ,it was suggested to him that he should make it look as real as possible4 ,he submitted it as follows3 8,here is a nice point1 which ,i think an ,imperial ,conference might be called upon to determine4 ,general ,botha1 let us say1 has a little dog1 which takes some intelligent interest in the game of golf1 as do many other dogs4 ,he goes out to play a match with ,dr4 ,jameson1 and despite all rule and custom1 #8,bobs1' as the little dog is called1 is permitted to accompany them4 ,when approaching the fourth hole the ,doctor plays a lovely wrist shot with his iron which sends the ball on to the green1 trickling close up to the pin4 ,in one of his frisky moments that wretched dog scampers after it1 picks it up in his mouth before it 7the ball7 had stopped running1 and then begins playing about with it4 ,the dog drops the ball on to the green two or three times1 paws at it and plays with it1 and then1 seemingly struck by an inspiration1 rolls it into the hole4 #8,by ,jove6 ,that's my hole1 then1 ,botha6' exclaims the ,doctor1 although the ,general has laid his ball dead with his mashie with the like4 #8,how do you make that out8 ,let us be fair1 now that we are such good friends1' says ,botha4 #8,most certainly1' replies the ,doctor1 #8but you must see that as the ball went into the hole from that last shot of mine ,i holed from that shot4 ,of course it was a pity that your dog got up to his tricks1 but he is an outside agency1 and ,i don't see that it makes any difference to the result4' ,botha thinks awhile4 ,then he asks1 #8,did you watch 8,bobs0 closely while he had the ball8' ,dr4 ,jameson assented4 #8,then1' ,botha says1 #8there may be one circumstance in which you do not win that hole1 my friend1 and when we go to ,england we will discuss it with the authorities4' ,now what was passing through ,botha's mind1 and is his point a good one anyway80 8,excellent for you1 ,colonel10 said the ,m4,p4 after a moment's pause4 8,now1 gentlemen1 what must we do with ,botha1 for it is clear that we are the authority to whom he refers4 ,but then we have a right to know what it was that ,botha had in his mind at the finish of his little argument with ,dr4 ,jim4 ,you will tell us that1 ,colonel80 8,botha urges that he saw #8,bobs' let the ball come to rest when pawing it about40 8,and what does ,jameson say to that80 inquired the ,author4 8,oh1 ,jameson does not deny it4 ,he says that he did not see it1 but he thinks it very probable1 and he will certainly yield that point if it is material1 as he desires that the case should be settled strictly on its merits1 neither side taking any unfair advantage of the other40 8,it is a pity that they could not settle it on terms of equity10 said the ,parson4 8,i don't agree that equity has anything to do with the case10 observed the ,colonel at length4 8,it seems to me that ,botha's point settles it1 and that the ball must be played from the place where the dog allowed it to come to rest4 ,i don't think ,dr4 ,jim wins the hole at all4 ,rule #bb governs the case partly but not entirely4 ,by the way1 ,septimus1 when we turn up rules to settle these cases1 ,i think you should only look at those affecting the one in hand1 and not at other rules which have a bearing on the case you are to present4 ,you have had your ten minutes' study1 you know4 ,now it is clear that the ball was in motion when the dog seized it1 and if the dog then took it direct to the hole it all counted in the stroke4 ,this case does not come within the clause about the ball lodging in anything moving1 because the dog was not moving when it seized the ball4 ,once the dog let the ball stop on the green the stroke was ended4 ,therefore it is evidently a question as to whether it allowed it to come to rest or not1 and ,botha's evidence settles the matter4 ,what do you say1 ,william80 8,i entirely agree10 responded the ,m4,p4 8,and you1 ,jim80 8,i agree10 said the ,author4 8,i trust we can count on your support1 ,septimus80 said the ,colonel1 looking across towards the ,parson4 8,oh1 certainly10 he replied4 8,gentlemen10 said the ,colonel in his most official manner1 8it is determined that ,dr4 ,jameson did not hole out with that stroke4 ,i am informed that they putted out afterwards1 each in one more1 and therefore the hole was halved4 ,now1 my literary friend1 will you kindly present your case80 ,the ,author thereupon advanced his queer case as follows3 8,a very awkward point has arisen in the course of play on the links at ,valhalla4 ,shakespeare and ,bacon1 who are staying there at the present time1 got up very early one morning1 when the other golfers were asleep1 and went out for a match1 without caddies4 ,going to the seventh hole1 which is both a short one and a blind one--a thoroughly bad hole--the players were not aware that the greenkeeper was on the putting-green cutting a new hole4 ,they played their tee shots and then went forward to the green1 when they were surprised to find that the ball of each lay dead to a different hole4 ,the greenkeeper had taken the flag and the metal lining out of the old hole1 and had cut the slab of turf out of the new one1 but had not at that time placed the metal cup or the flag into the new one1 nor put the turf into the old one to fill it up4 ,bacon's ball lay dead to the new hole1 and ,shakespeare's to the old one4 ,each insisted on holing out at the hole to which his ball lay dead 7the holes were many yards apart71 and then the dispute began1 each claiming the hole4 ,shakespeare said that as the new hole was not finished the old one was still in commission4 #8,no1' said ,bacon1 #8not satisfied with cheating me out of my plays1 you now try to take my holes4 ,we have evidently been playing at new holes all the way out so far1 and we must continue to do so4 ,it is the new holes that count4' #8,but1' expostulated ,shakespeare1 #8there are more old holes on the course at the present time than new ones4 ,and this wretched greenkeeper will take two hours to finish his job4 ,must we dawdle behind him the whole way round8 ,let us ask the greenkeeper which hole was most like a hole at the time the balls came on to the green4' ,the greenkeeper1 however1 was very ill-tempered1 having been nearly hit by one of the balls1 and he declined to answer the question4 ,he said that people had no business to be playing on the course while holes were being cut1 no matter who they were4 ,eventually the parties gave up their match and went back to the clubhouse1 when they agreed to submit the point to some carefully constituted authority that would do its best to settle this most unfortunate and undignified quarrel between two eminently respectable persons of considerable standing40 ,the ,author looked about him after this deliverance4 8,h'm60 muttered the ,colonel1 8not bad for you1 ,jim40 8,it seems to me10 said the ,reverend ,septimus1 8that ,bacon certainly won if the new hole was full size1 despite its not having had the tin put into it40 8,oh yes1 it was full size10 interposed the ,author4 8,the old hole10 pursued the ,parson1 8was ground under repair1 but if the new hole was not full size ,shakespeare won40 8,of course10 remarked the ,author1 8the tin is only mentioned to indicate the state of transition40 8,i don't agree with ,septimus10 said the ,m4,p4 8,the rules do not provide for this contingency1 and it must be settled under the equity clause of ,rule #cf4 ,regarding it in this way1 it seems exactly six of one and half a dozen of the other1 and the best--indeed1 the only thing--to do is to regard the green as under repair1 and the hole as temporarily closed4 ,shakespeare and ,bacon should therefore call it a half and pass on4 ,if they had seen the flag before playing their tee shots it might have made a difference40 8,i am in entire accord with you1 ,william10 the ,colonel declared4 8,ditto10 said the ,author4 8,that was the ruling ,i had in my mind40 8,i think we ought to have another opinion10 persisted the ,parson1 8but for the present ,i desire to go with the majority40 8,now let us hear the character of the problem that our friend the hon4 member for ,north-,east ,fife has to present to this tribunal10 said the ,colonel1 with an expectant look to the quarter indicated4 8,my case is a somewhat singular one1 gentlemen10 the ,m4,p4 responded4 8,it is this3 8,a public road leading to the clubhouse crosses the line to the second hole1 and when ,john ,smith and ,isaac ,rosenstein were playing this hole it happened that ,isaac's bad slice landed his ball under the back seat of a motor-car standing still in the road1 said car1 curiously enough1 being the new one which ,rosenstein himself has bought this season1 and which1 it is suggested1 he likes to #8show off' with4 ,seeing where the ball had gone to1 and having the price of ten balls on the match1 a thought passed through his mind4 ,hailing the chauffeur in the car1 he exclaimed1 #8,you mitherable vellow6 ,did ,i not tell you to geep that car in the garage at the back of the clubhouse1 where it vould not be damaged4 ,be off vith you this very instant1 or ,i vill sack you6 ,quick6' ,and before ,john ,smith could speak the chauffeur was doing his forty miles an hour back to the clubhouse--with the ball still in the car4 ,smith and ,rosenstein then wrangled for hours1 the latter being greatly astonished because his opponent objected to his dropping a ball1 and that without penalty1 at the spot where he played his last stroke4 ,the points presented for argument are these3 7#a7 ,shall ,rosenstein drop without losing a stroke8 7#b7 ,shall he drop and lose stroke and distance8 7#c7 ,shall he not drop at all1 but lose the hole8 7#d7 ,shall he play the ball from where it lies under the seat of the motor-car in the club garage1 as1 if he loses on the first two counts1 he wants to do8 7#e7 ,what ought to have been done80 8,i trust that your friend ,rosenstein will not offer himself as a candidate for membership of this club10 observed the ,colonel with a smile1 8because you might tell him if he thinks of doing so that ,i have heard of this incident1 and ,i happen to be on the committee40 8,he is no friend of mine10 said the ,m4,p4 8,well then1 gentlemen10 the man of arms demanded1 8what is your pleasure that we should do in the affaire ,rosenstein80 8,i don't think there is very much doubt about that10 observed the ,parson1 8,we must be unanimous in this matter4 ,i think we may safely leave it to you1 ,colonel1 to make the award40 ,the ,m4,p4 and the ,author assented1 but it was understood that the former should have the privilege of sending the case back for re-trial if he disagreed4 8,then1 gentlemen10 said the ,colonel1 8,i give judgment as follows3 8,rosenstein loses the hole4 ,it was his duty to have played the ball from the place where it lodged in the car1 and there is a strong suspicion that he knew it6 ,he is not entitled to regard the car as an agency outside the match1 since he controlled the car and ordered it away4 ,by his own act he made it impossible for him to obey the rules4 ,he loses under ,rule #g1 and it may be mentioned that the ,rules of ,golf ,committee has already decided that a ball played into a motor-car must be played out of it1 or the hole given up4 ,clearly the ball lying in the car in the club garage does not lie where it did before40 8,i quite agree10 said the ,m4,p4 8,but should not something be done with ,rosenstein80 the ,parson asked4 8,that is for his own committee to determine10 the ,colonel replied4 8,we have no jurisdiction4 ,and now1 ,septimus1 ,i am sure that the tit-bit of this sitting of the court will be submitted by you4 ,we are anticipating that4 ,i beg to move that if your case is not so pointed and interesting as those already presented1 you shall be condemned to give such an order to the steward as will do something to stifle our disappointment1 and take the chill from our blood on this wretched day4 ,what do you think1 my colleagues80 8,it is an excellent and a most proper idea10 the ,author said1 and the ,m4,p4 concurred4 8,as you will10 the clergyman assented4 8,now the little problem that has arisen in my mind runs this way3-- 8,dives said to ,lazarus1 #8,these are days of charity1 my poor friend1 but the cases must be deserving4 ,the par of this course is #gd4 ,if you can get round in #fh ,i will give you one twentieth of what ,i have got4' ,lazarus wept tears of gratitude1 and forthwith began to take lessons and to practise exceedingly1 three rounds a day1 for his handicap was #bd4 ,and years passed by and he did not go round even in par2 but one day1 having great luck1 a sensation was caused about the links1 and the word was passed about that old ,lazarus had got a #d at the last hole to do #fh4 ,and he had4 ,but he took #c to get on the green1 and then had a #aj-yard putt for the #d and #fh1 which was not an easy matter1 particularly as the putt was downhill and there was a big slope from the left as well4 ,dives was watching and he smiled1 but ,lazarus was in sore trouble4 ,then he bethought himself of an idea1 and he placed a ball to the left of his own and he tried to putt it to a point exactly a foot to the left of the hole4 ,first he found that he borrowed too much1 and then too little1 and next that he was too strong1 but eventually he got it right exactly1 and his ball just got to a foot to the left of the hole4 #8,now1 ,i know1' he said1 and then he putted his proper ball1 and with great confidence1 and it went into the hole6 ,whereupon ,dives was much wroth1 and said1 #8,surely ,i will not give you a twentieth of what ,i have got1 for you have offended against the law and the spirit of the game1 and you did not go round in #fh1 but are disqualified4' ,lazarus said1 #8,master1 ,i have not offended against the law of the game1 and as for the spirit thereof ,i care not1 for having gained the twentieth of what you have got ,i shall never play it more4' ,and when they heard what ,lazarus said they were amazed1 and they said they must have some proper judgment upon it4 ,does ,lazarus come into his fortune after finding the line and strength of his putt in that fashion80 ,the ,parson seemed pleased with himself when he had finished his statement4 8,i believe the beggar's got off--,septimus1 ,i mean60 the ,m4,p4 ejaculated4 8,i am sure he has10 agreed the ,colonel4 8,now1 you see10 put in the ,author1 8the wretched ,lazarus did not tamper with the line of the putt4 ,he practised along what was to all intents and purposes that line2 but it was not the line1 or else he might have been caught4 ,he placed no mark and drew no line40 8,that is so10 muttered the ,colonel thoughtfully4 8,he clearly offended against the spirit of the game10 the ,m4,p4 observed4 8,you or ,i would not have done such a thing in any circumstances1 eh1 ,colonel80 8,of course not10 the ,colonel replied1 8but it has to be remembered that this was really almost a matter of life and death to the old man1 and in such a case he was perhaps not to be blamed for sticking to the strict letter of the law4 ,from our point of view the spirit is above the law2 but when it comes to a case of this kind1 with goodness knows how many thousands at stake1 a merciless fellow on the other side who is himself inclined to stick to the law exactly1 and when ,lazarus1 as he says1 intends to have done with the game1 why ,i am not sure that from his point of view--his1 mind you--he is to be condemned for throwing the spirit overboard4 ,his opponent would do so--in fact1 to all intents and purposes he does4 ,this has become a strictly business transaction4 ,the question is1 did he break the law80 8,you remember the ,rules ,committee's decision in the famous ,selkirk case in #aijf80 the ,m4,p4 asked4 8,it showed the ,committee's very proper anxiety to preserve the true spirit even to the extent of straining the interpretation of the rule about touching the line of the putt4 ,i believe some of them privately admitted that they were conscious of straining it2 but they were doing so in a very good cause1 and to my mind they were to be applauded rather than blamed4 ,in this case a foursome was being played1 and while one man was preparing to putt1 his partner stood two yards beyond the hole on the other side1 and from there pointed out the line of the putt1 incidentally letting his putter rest on the turf to do so--two yards beyond the hole4 ,the opponents claimed the hole on the ground that the line of the putt had been touched1 meaning that the line from the ball to the hole1 continued beyond the hole1 was still the line of the putt4 ,the case was sent to ,st4 ,andrews1 and the ,rules ,committee upheld the claim and gave the hole to the opponents--a remarkable decision60 8,h'm60 the ,colonel grunted4 8,of course1 give some golfers an inch and they will take a yard2 and supposing the putter had been laid on that line only two inches beyond the hole1 the green had been very keen1 and had sloped down to the hole from the back side4 ,if the ball had got to the point where the putter had rested it might conceivably have rolled back into the hole4 ,there would be splendid justification for the ,rules ,committee in a case of that kind1 and it would prove the wisdom of the ,selkirk decision4 ,of course every day of our lives we see golfers1 when studying their putts from the back side of the hole1 allowing their putters to rest on the green in the continuation of the line4 ,however1 ,lazarus seems to have been quite clear of any decision of this kind4 ,by no stretch of imagination can you call a line which is a foot to one side of the real line1 although parallel to it1 #8the line of the putt4'0 8,the ,americans have been tinkering with a proposed new set of rules10 the ,author said1 8and one of their suggested rules prohibits a practice swing anywhere except on the tee4 ,that would govern this case40 8,ah yes1 but what about our own code80 the ,colonel said4 8,the practice stroke is not forbidden10 the ,m4,p4 observed after careful reference to the rules1 8but ,i remember that on one occasion a very similar point was submitted to the ,rules ,committee1 and they said that such a thing was so obviously contrary to the spirit of the game that they had not thought it necessary to legislate upon the point4 ,and they have not done so1 and0-- 8,that is so1 and they were quite right10 the ,colonel interrupted hurriedly1 8because this is golf1 and we cannot have rules in our code to say that men must not cheat1 and the penalties for doing so4 ,it would be too much of a reflection on us as gentlemen and golfers4 ,but here is a most exceptional case1 where advantage is taken of the omission1 and ,lazarus appeals to the law and the law only4 ,he will stand by the law--the strict letter of it40 8,i believe he must have his money10 the ,author said4 8,it is the law10 said the ,m4,p4 8,i think so10 put in the ,parson4 8,then1 ,septimus10 the ,colonel concluded1 8will you kindly tell your friend ,lazarus that he may send a chartered accountant round to ,dives' headquarters to examine his financial position1 with a view to a proper apportionment of his estate on the basis of nineteen parts to ,dives and one part to ,lazarus8 ,and you had better tell the new record-holder at the same time that we don't like this sort of thing1 and we expect him to keep to his statement that he will not play the game again4 ,he will have the fever on him after that #fh1 and with a few thousands a year at his disposal he will be after getting into all the clubs4 ,i know these renunciations of golf4 ,i have renounced myself--hundreds of times60 ,at this moment the door opened and the steward entered to say that luncheon was ready4 8,splendid60 exclaimed the ,colonel4 8,gentlemen1 the court is closed60 ,v ,golf remained impossible in the afternoon1 and the ,m4,p4 filled up his time by working out some golf statistics with a view to indicating to the ignorant public what was comprised in a year of golf4 8,you see10 he said1 8sooner or later some of the very high authorities will find it to be necessary to take very serious notice of this game1 of the number of people whose time it claims1 of the land it engages1 of the capital sunk in it1 and of the enormous current expenditure upon it4 ,golf has really become a considerable factor in the social scheme of this country1 and this must be recognised by legislators4 ,i see that the ,union authorities at ,wirral have been giving some attention to the matter1 with the result that they have jumped on the ,royal ,liverpool ,club with an enormously increased assessment4 ,the process of milking the golfer will begin soon40 8,well10 said the ,colonel indulgently1 8if our little game is to become a matter of national importance1 you will be having questions asked about it in the ,house before long2 eh1 ,william80 8,it is odd that you should make that suggestion10 the ,parliamentarian responded1 as he began to rummage in the inside pocket of his coat1 8because ,i have a rather curious document here which amplifies it somewhat4 ,let me see--,i am sure ,i had it in my letter-case--well1 well6--,ah yes1 here it is6 ,i was going to say that one of the keenest golf youngsters we have got in this ,parliament is young ,norris1 whose constant object in life seems to be to pair off with one of the ,opposition down to ,sunningdale4 ,i believe he would rather win the ,parliamentary ,handicap next year than get a small ,government job4 ,well1 in the ,house he is always filling up his spare time with the development of some golfing idea or other4 ,the other night there was quite an angry discussion between him and another of his kidney upon the question as to whether1 if a ball were teed alongside the ,beaconsfield statue1 a ,massey or a ,braid could loft it over the ,houses of ,parliament and into the river1 and eventually the pair of them went out to see what sort of a shot it really would be4 ,the next night1 when somebody whispered to him that there would be a lot more sense in discussing a ,bill for the ,regulation of the ,rubber ,core than the measure that just then was occupying the attention of the ,house1 he got out some paper and concocted what he called a #8,forecast of a ,report of the ,parliamentary ,proceedings in #aiej1' and that is what ,i have got here4 ,just listen to this for question time3 8#8,,house ,,of ,,commons--,thursday 8#8,the ,speaker took the chair at #c4e4 8#8,,unrest ,,in ,,morocco 8#8,in answer to ,mr4 ,r4 ,kore 7#a71 the ,,secretary ,,of ,,state ,,for ,,foreign ,,affairs stated that no more rubber-cored balls would be shipped to ,morocco until some kind of guarantee had been given by the ,maghzen that ,british golfers would be treated with respect and every consideration extended to them in the pursuit of their game4 ,latest advices were to the effect that parties of ,moors had constantly collected round the ninth green at ,tangier and the third at ,mogador and had made faces at the players while they were putting1 causing them the most intense annoyance and completely ruining their play4 ,his ,majesty's ships ,baffy and ,niblick had been instructed to proceed to ,mogador without delay1 and left ,gibraltar on ,friday4 7,loud cheers from both ,government and ,opposition benches47 8#8,,mr4 ,a4 ,,gutta 7#aj73 ,is it a fact that ,germany has encouraged the ,moors in these acts of rebellion8 7,loud cries of 8,order407 8#8,,the ,,secretary ,,of ,,state ,,for ,,foreign ,,affairs3 ,the hon4 member must perceive that public considerations make it undesirable that any answer should be given to his question4 8#8,,mr4 ,,will ,,labor 7#dj73 ,will the right hon4 gentleman inform the ,house what are the handicaps of the ,british officials at present in ,morocco1 and will he state whether in his opinion the rebellious attitude of the ,moors has been caused to some extent by the inferior playing capacity of these servants1 which has been such as to excite the derision of the native population8 7,loud cries of 8,order0 and 8,withdraw407 8#8,,the ,,speaker3 ,the hon4 member must not cast aspersions on the handicaps of the public servants of ,his ,majesty's ,government4 8#8,,mr4 ,,labor3 ,i could give them all a stroke a hole6 78,oh1 oh407 8#8,,the ,,speaker3 ,i must ask the hon4 member not to persist in these reflections on the playing quality of the ,government servants in ,morocco1 and to withdraw what he has already said4 8#8,,mr4 ,,labor3 ,i withdraw4 ,no doubt they are all ,vardons4 78,order1 order407 8#8,,the ,,secretary ,,of ,,state ,,for ,,foreign ,,affairs3 ,it may interest the hon4 gentleman the member for ,woolwich1 to know that a cable received at the ,foreign ,office this morning stated that the ,british ,consul at ,mogador had just holed out with a mashie shot4 7,loud and prolonged cheering47 8#8,,great ,,britain ,,and ,,russia 8#8,in answer to ,mr4 ,t4 ,box 7#d71 the ,,prime ,,minister 7#g7 said that there was no development to report in the negotiations which were at present proceeding with the ,government of ,russia4 ,the ,british ,government had suggested that under clause #efc;,b of the ,hague ,convention the differences existing between the two ,governments should be decided by one professional foursome1 but ,russia had replied that this suggestion was obviously unfair1 unless the ,british ,government gave an undertaking not to select ,taylor and ,braid as their representatives4 ,in the absence of a friendly understanding on such lines as these1 there would be nothing for it but for the ,british ,government to pour golfers into ,russia with a view to winning all their monthly medals and cups1 and with such a possibility in view detachments of our best players had been mobilised and were now doing two practice rounds a day at ,sandwich and ,prestwick4 ,the transports ,stymie and ,bunker were in readiness1 each stored with ten thousand boxes of the best balls4 7,loud ,government and ,opposition cheers47 8#8,,the ,,boom ,,in ,,the ,,ball ,,trade 8#8,,mr4 ,r4 ,,tisan 7#bj7 asked whether it was true that the ballmakers of ,glasgow had been working twenty-four hours a day for the last six weeks1 and in some cases more4 8#8,,the ,,president ,,of ,,the ,,board ,,of ,,trade 7scratch73 ,in no case have these ballmakers been working more than twenty-three hours a day1 and they have been paid at the full twenty-four rate1 and are quite satisfied4 ,if ,great ,britain did not make and sell the balls1 ,america would4 8#8,,mr4 ,r4 ,,tisan3 ,but they have no time left for play4 8#8,,the ,,president ,,of ,,the ,,board ,,of ,,trade3 ,they play nine holes in the dinner hour instead of utilising it in the customary manner4 78,hear1 hear407 8#8,,no ,,stymies 8#8,in answer to ,mr4 ,foozleum 7#db71 the ,,minister ,,of ,,education 7#b7 stated that it was not true that the children in the schools at ,hoylake and ,westward ,ho6 were being taught to play no stymies1 or that they were systematically encouraged to play the score game to the neglect of true match play4 ,what had happened was simply this1 that there had been complaints that the last lot of mashies that had been received from ,taylor and ,forgan had not sufficient loft for very young players1 and that all attempts to loft over stymies with them had failed1 though the senior players experienced no such difficulties4 ,in the circumstances the teachers1 acting under authority of the ,board of ,education1 had thought it best to suspend stymies until more mashies came to hand4 ,as to score play1 the simple fact was that one or two of the senior students were going in for the ,open ,championship1 and had been doing a little practising in view of it4 ,it might interest the ,house to know that one of them1 ,smith by name1 had done a round of #ge at ,hoylake with a wind blowing straight upwards from the turf4 ,this was a splendid performance1 and showed the efficacy of the new ,education ,act which the ,government brought into force last year1 which made the use of the ,complete ,golfer compulsory in all elementary schools4 7,loud ,ministerial cheers47 8#8,,bills 8#8,the ,bogey ,amendment ,bill was read a third time and passed4 8#8,the ,women's ,handicaps ,bill was read a first time4 8#8,,championship ,,courses 8#8,the ,house then went into ,committee on the ,championship ,courses ,bill4 8#8,,mr4 ,,john ,,blumond 7scratch7 asked how much longer the just claims of ,ireland were to be ignored4 ,irish golfers were in such a state of irritation1 due to the way in which they were neglected1 that it was impossible for them to settle down to the improvement of their game1 with the result that ,irish driving was never so bad as at present1 and his suffering compatriots could not putt for nuts or potatoes4 ,,left ,,sitting4'0 8,rather good10 commented the ,author at the end of this recital4 8,wasn't it that young ,norris who circulated the jest that if he could play his mashie pitches properly he would be down to scratch and in the running for a small kind of office1 and that if he could get to plus #g he would be the ,president of the ,british ,republic80 8,that's the man10 the ,m4,p4 answered4 8,very nice sort of chap1 too4 ,we must bring him down here one day4 ,richardson took him down to ,rye for a week-end once1 but had to go back to town again without him at the end of a whole week40 8,ha60 said the ,colonel1 8but that's nothing in comparison with the true story of the non-golfer who went to ,sandwich for a week-end nine years ago1 and at the invitation of his friend experimented with the game1 and has been down there ever since1 playing it60 8,good man60 exclaimed the ,author4 8,but what about these statistics1 ,william80 the ,colonel inquired4 8,well10 said the ,m4,p41 8,i have calculated that at the present time there are over a million acres under golf in ,great ,britain1 and that a sum-total of about #d1gjj1jjj a year is now spent on the game in this country4 ,but you get the queerest results when you come to consider the balls that are used in a year1 and what happens to them40 8,proceed10 said the ,colonel4 ,,vi 8,now1 just consider the ball10 the ,m4,p4 responded4 8,pretty little pimpled thing1 isn't it8 ,stuffed full of delight6 ,full of promise for at least two hours' fine health-giving enjoyment6 ,we used to think a half-pound tin of our favourite tobacco was the most heartening sight to see2 but a box of new balls has it now4 ,one ball is such a tiny little thing4 ,you can hold sixteen of them in one hand6 ,i have seen a man hold eighteen1 and possibly that is the record4 ,giving a ball four rounds of life1 two men could play together morning and afternoon for more than a fortnight with the balls that are held in this hand4 ,but just see how many are needed by the great world of golf6 8,to begin with1 there are said to be #cjj1jjj golfers in this country4 ,it has been reckoned that at the height of the summer golfing season1 when the players are busy everywhere1 not less than #ejj1jjj balls are used up every week4 ,this1 indeed1 seems to be a most reasonable estimate--less than two balls per man per week1 with an enormous percentage of players out on the links four or five days a week4 ,it was semi-officially stated last ,june that one firm of makers1 and that not by any means the biggest1 was working night and day1 and turning out #ajj1jjj balls a week4 ,decidedly half a million is well within the mark4 ,taking the whole year round1 if you say one ball per golfer per week1 that is surely a very modest reckoning4 ,it is practically a certainty that it is an underestimate4 ,at that rate we have a grand total of #ae1jjj1jjj balls used up every year by the ,british golfers on ,british links4 ,fifteen millions60 8,good gracious60 the ,parson exclaimed4 8,one would hardly believe it60 8,yes1 let us see what we can do with these #ae1jjj1jjj besides play #f1jjj1jjj1jjj shots with them1 which is what may be done1 allowing four rounds to each ball and a hundred strokes to each round1 and what with foozlers1 women1 and children1 you will find that a hundred is a very fair average1 even if it is only the medal-winning score of the #bj-;handicap man4 8,seven balls go to the lineal foot1 and thus there are forty-nine of them in the square foot4 ,it seems hard to believe that all the balls of a year could1 if packed nicely together after the fashion of eggs1 be laid out in a fair-sized field of seven acres4 ,but stay6 ,i can give you some fancy idea of what this annual ball crop really means after all4 ,there are seven to the foot--in one little lineal foot you have sufficient balls to last a careful week-end player for a couple of months4 ,now1 bring out the army of caddies that there are in the country and set them to work teeing the balls up right against and touching each other in a line1 beginning with the first at ,charing ,cross1 or1 to be more appropriate1 on the ,mid-,surrey course at ,richmond4 ,then proceed northwards4 ,there will still be a few balls left in the pockets of the caddies when they have continued that long line of one year's balls right away through ,rugby1 ,stafford1 ,carlisle1 and over the ,border range to ,edinburgh1 and on to the ,braid ,hills course4 ,we can join the premier courses of two capitals with the balls of one year1 for the line we make is #dje miles long1 and at #aas4 or #abs4 a foot it would be considerably more expensive than the ordinary permanent way4 ,it is a wonderful line4 ,nine yards of it will last a busy golfer a whole year1 and he need never be reproached for putting down a dirty ball40 ,the ,hon4 ,member for ,north-,east ,fife was fairly warmed to his theme by this1 and he pursued enthusiastically3 8,there is some food for reflection in the incidental mention that ,i have just made that the ,british golfers play #f1jjj1jjj1jjj shots every year4 ,puck boasted some time ago that he could #8put a girdle round about the earth in forty minutes4' ,it might surprise this sprite to know that the ,british golfers could do the job in ten minutes1 which is the time we might give them to drive a dozen balls each from the tee4 ,if those were fair drives1 and were put end to end1 they would easily go round the world1 with a little to spare4 ,evidently1 then1 the ,british golfers go the distance of the circumference of the world many times over in the course of the year4 ,you may take it that the average player1 what with going off the line1 waddling about on the putting greens1 walking from green to tee1 and so on1 does a tramp of four miles in every round of eighteen holes that he makes4 ,at four rounds a week1 that is sixteen miles a week1 or eight hundred in the golfing year of fifty weeks1 a fortnight's holiday for illness1 dissipation1 and foreign travel1 being allowed in all these annual calculations4 ,so our #cjj1jjj ,british golfers in the course of the year walk and tool their balls for a matter of #bdj1jjj1jjj miles4 ,most of this abundant exercise would not be taken if there were no golf4 8,this #bdj1jjj1jjj of miles means that if the ,british golfers had a links round the middle of the earth they would collectively play #fj1jjj times round it in the course of the year4 ,they would be almost jostling and continually driving into each other4 ,there would be a shriek of #8,fore6' from the ,gulf of ,guinea to ,borneo1 and it would be wailed across the wide ,pacific4 ,it would prevent overcrowding and blocking at the short holes if a course were laid out to the sun and back1 and the ,british golfers were started off at five minutes intervals4 ,it would be nearly #ic1jjj1jjj miles to the turn1 and the same back1 and if the ,british golfers then did a short round to ,venus and home again1 putting on another #ej1jjj1jjj1 they would nearly have done their usual year's golf4 8,but this little glimpse into the fairyland of golf10 said the ,hon4 ,member in a tone of conclusion1 8has all come about through the contemplation of that simple-looking pimply little ball1 and it is time we wound up our consideration of it4 ,it has been said that there are #ae1jjj1jjj used in ,britain in the year4 ,suppose the average cost is #as4 #f;d41 which it probably is4 ,that means that the nice little sum of #a1abe1jjj is spent by the ,british golfer in the course of the year in golf balls40 8,prodigious60 exclaimed the ,parson4 8,well1 ,i don't know what you think1 ,william10 put in the ,colonel1 8but my recommendation is that all facts which indicate the extensiveness of this game1 and the enthusiasm of its followers1 such as some of those you have quoted1 had better be kept to ourselves4 ,on one day in ,april we shall be having a ,chancellor of the ,exchequer coming along with a fine scheme for paying the ,national ,debt off by means of golf4 ,and now1 boys1 we'd better be off4 ,next ,thursday1 we said1 didn't we8 ,and it's to be red balls then1 if necessary60 ,,vii ,when the short days1 wet and cold1 come on1 some golfers speak of the virtues of close seasons for games4 ,there never can be any regularly ordained close season in golf2 such is neither needed nor desired4 ,but now and then some men will try the imposition of such a season on themselves4 ,they oil and put away their clubs1 give away their stock of balls1 put everything connected with golf away into the box-room1 and settle down to a course of winter reading1 study1 and attention to those domestic and social matters which have for so long been sadly neglected4 ,all goes well for a week1 and then they think there will be no harm in getting out an aluminium putter and practising on the hearthrug for five minutes or so in the evening4 ,this is found to be a wonderfully interesting occupation1 and presently they unstore the mashie or well-lofted iron in order to practise negotiating stymies--a form of practice which cannot fail to be useful in the forthcoming season4 ,ten days later they ask themselves what is the use of being strong-minded and miserable1 they ring up somebody on the telephone1 and they catch the next train down to the course4 ,in the majority of cases the particular way in which the cold affects the members of the close-season party and crabs their shots1 is in reducing their wrists and hands to a state of numbness in which it is certainly difficult for anybody to play the game as it ought to be played4 ,such people may be recommended to adopt a very simple device1 which is in favour among the best and sturdiest players1 namely1 that of wearing knitted cuffs or mittens over those wrists and coming some way up on the hands4 ,mr4 ,hilton carries this idea to the extent of wearing a special kind of thick1 warm cuffs made of fur1 and the effect is to keep warm those important and much exposed veins in the wrists which feed the hands with blood4 ,the difference is wonderful2 but if it is still insufficient to enable the man to do what he considers justice to his game1 and if he is still miserable1 there is no harm in his imposing a close season upon himself4 ,but he must not talk like the fox who lost his tail1 and try to induce others to stop the game as well4 ,it is no use pretending that the game generally would be any the better for it4 ,but let us take the question as to whether a man's golf1 supposing it is normally good golf1 ever can be any better for a more or less lengthy stoppage1 and upon it ,i have taken the opinions of several different authorities1 with the result that1 though they do not all agree1 there is a strong balance in favour of keeping your golf going all the time if you want to improve or even maintain it at its best standard4 ,you will generally find that it is only the amateurs who ever get really stale4 ,the professionals rarely do4 ,mr4 ,horace ,hutchinson is apparently one of those who do not believe in giving up one's golf for any length of time4 ,he thinks the results are generally disastrous1 and he tells how on one occasion in his earlier days1 when he was reading for the ,bar1 he did not look at a golf club for some months1 with the result that when he resumed the game he found that he had forgotten a great deal of it1 had to relearn it1 and found even then that it was not the same good game that he had been bred up with4 ,he now counsels all who are going anywhere for a long holiday or anything of that kind1 on no account to go near a place where there is no golf course1 for the result will be that life will never be the same again as regards its golf4 8,you never play again10 he says1 8with the same confidence1 the same fearlessness1 the same certainty that you can control the ball and make it do what you tell it to do4 ,you may make something of the game afterwards1 but ,i am sure that you will lose immensely4 ,you do not play in the same instinctive way as before40 ,men like ,braid and ,vardon would not say 8,thank you0 for a month's holiday in which they could not play golf regularly1 despite the fact that they are always playing4 ,one recent winter ,harry ,vardon was sent to ,bournemouth for his health1 and they took good care to see that his clubs did not go with him1 and solemnly warned him that he must not play there1 for he might have been equal to borrowing somebody else's clubs4 ,then he would write to ,london in a most pathetic manner1 saying1 8,they won't let me have my clubs and play10 as if he were being deprived of food and the necessaries of life4 ,there are some exceptions to this rule of continual play that may be taken as proving it4 ,there is the case of ,andrew ,kirkaldy1 who1 after being second for the ,open ,championship in #ahgi1 went for to be a soldier1 was sent to ,egypt1 fought at ,tel-el-,kebir and other places1 came back in #ahhf1 and soon afterwards tied for the ,open ,championship4 ,mr4 ,edward ,blackwell had two separate spells of farming in ,california1 each lasting about five years1 during which periods he never saw a golf club or ball1 but each time he came home he regained his best form almost immediately1 and captured ,royal and ,ancient ,club medals4 ,but1 after all1 in golf every man must be to a large extent a law unto himself2 and the fact that he is so is one of the glories of the game4 ,,viii ,it is a glorious thing to play a game that one need never give up1 however long one may live4 ,and what is more1 the game can be played well by the veteran1 and he enjoys it almost as much as ever1 and does not merely take part in it for the sake of the fresh air and the exercise4 ,possibly if he had not been a golfer in his middle age1 and perhaps in his youth as well1 he would not be able to play any game1 even a fireside game1 by the time he was due to become an octogenarian4 ,for some years previously his pleasures would have been with the angels4 ,one cannot discover who is the oldest golfer1 but there are many still active on the links who are nearing ninety1 including a celebrated peer-patron of the game4 ,considering the matter from the other point of view1 we have the remarkable fact that nearly every professional golfer of note in these days 7and a large though decreasing proportion of amateurs7 began to play golf of some sort as soon as his baby intelligence had developed sufficiently to make him understand that if he hit a ball with a stick it would move4 ,they began to play as soon as they could walk1 and almost to a man they declare that the very first memories they have of anything in life are associated with playing some kind of childish golf1 and aping their elders in every possible way4 ,it is to the fact of their having done so that they attribute most of their success in their after life at the game4 ,as children they developed a free1 easy1 natural swing that has stood them in good stead ever since1 and it has become so rooted into their system that they are far less liable than other golfers who began much later1 to be constantly going off their game and dropping out of their proper swing4 ,harry ,vardon1 ,james ,braid1 ,j4 ,h4 ,taylor1 ,alexander ,herd1 ,willie ,park1 ,jack ,white1 and all the rest of them played golf as the very smallest children4 ,the two last-named both declare that they developed their extraordinary putting faculties when they were mere babies4 ,park1 a king of putters1 it is certain1 gained his extraordinary delicacy of touch1 and fine discrimination in selecting the line to the hole1 through practising as a very small boy with marbles on the stone or brick floor of his father's workshop at ,musselburgh1 a slight hollow in the floor being regarded as the hole4 ,he got a passion for such putting practice1 and at nights would surreptitiously borrow the key to the shop and hie there with some other boys for putting practice4 ,he says that he has never had such hard putting to do since1 and that when in due course he went out on the links to play the real game1 putting seemed very easy to him4 ,the first clubs that ,alexander ,herd ever used were glued together for him by his mother1 and his first golf was obtained in the streets of ,st4 ,andrews4 ,it was much the same with several of the best amateurs1 though from the evidence that one can obtain they do not appear to have been such keen golfers when babies as were the professionals4 ,mr4 ,hilton1 one of the most skilful amateurs of any time1 thinks he was about six when he first went forth to try to play with a full set of his father's clubs4 ,then1 practising all through their childhood and youth1 at what age did these men first begin to play first-class golf1 and to give signs of their future greatness8 ,from an analysis ,i have made of their own statements1 and the events of their careers1 ,i find that in nearly every case it was at about seventeen--just when their stature and physical powers had fairly fully developed4 ,in practically all cases men who were subsequent champions were good scratch players at this age4 ,but you will always find that it takes them many more years after this to make their game perfect--many years of the hardest and most persistent practice conceivable4 ,mr4 ,hilton came on very quickly1 being in championship form when he was twenty-two1 and ,taylor had fully matured by the time he was twenty-three4 ,but ,harry ,vardon was twenty-six1 and ,braid was thirty-one4 ,generally a man who is destined to play the great golf1 and who has been at it all his life1 does not begin to settle down to the steady brilliant game until he has passed twenty-five1 and from that point he usually improves a little until he is thirty1 at which he is at his very best4 ,thirty is the golden age for golf4 ,look back through history1 and see how formidable have been the great men at that age4 ,the fact may be useful evidence against those who sneer about the 8old man's game10 as showing how long it takes to attain perfect golf when everything is in your favour4 ,mr4 ,barry's victory in the amateur event when he was nineteen1 and those of ,mr4 ,travis and ,mr4 ,hutchings when these gentlemen were quite middle-aged 7anyhow1 ,mr4 ,travis1 the younger1 was forty-three71 have to be regarded simply as phenomena1 and as the exceptions which prove the rule4 ,the tale of the ages1 as gathered from all experience1 seems to be that the ideal golfer begins as a baby1 is scratch at seventeen1 a champion at twenty-five or twenty-six1 and perhaps again at thirty-two1 and that thenceforth he plays serenely on until at eighty-five or thereabouts he engages in a great foursome with other old warriors4 ,and1 taking it all round1 a very good time he has had4 ,,ix ,in the dampest and gloomiest days of the ,british winter1 the golfer's fancy often flies to ,riviera and ,egyptian courses2 and a while later the golfer follows his fancy1 so that he may have a dry game in the sunshine again4 ,golf in ,egypt is a thing to itself4 8,through the green0 it is mere sandy desert1 for bunkers there are chiefly mud walls1 and the putting 8greens10 which vary a little on the different courses1 are generally made of rolled mud4 ,yet this golf is eagerly participated in and most thoroughly enjoyed by the large ,british population4 ,they would not be without it for a thousand ,pyramids4 ,they have their competitions and they have a championship of their own4 ,egyptian golf has a curious history4 ,it is nineteen years since the game was first played in the ,land of ,pyramids--that is to say1 since two players drove from a tee and holed out on what they called a 8green02 but some time before that a ball was hit by a golfer4 ,the circumstances are remarkable and are worthy of the baptism of an ancient country like ,egypt to a ,royal and ,ancient game4 ,rameses ,,ii4 and ,cleopatra would have approved4 ,this is the true story4 ,a full-blooded ,scottish golfer1 imbued with all the best traditions1 and all the better for being a clergyman1 none other than the well-known ,rev4 ,j4 ,h4 ,tait of ,aberlady1 went for a holiday to ,egypt1 and duly climbed to the top of the ,great ,pyramid4 ,arrived there he rested1 and to do so the more effectually he put his hands into his pockets1 when1 curiously enough1 he felt a golf ball in one of them4 ,in a moment the golfer was ablaze in the parson1 and he determined that right there on the summit of the ,great ,pyramid of ,cheops he would play the game for the first time in ,egypt4 ,so he teed up the ball and addressed it most elaborately and conscientiously with his umbrella1 for1 of course1 he had no clubs with him4 ,there were none in ,egypt4 ,then he made a bonny ,st4 ,andrews swing3 the ball went spinning away through the fine desert atmosphere and was never seen again--by the man who hit it1 at all events4 ,there were some great jokes about this shot afterwards4 ,they said that in future days some old antiquary would find this ball in the desert sand1 and would try to make out the hieroglyphics 7the name of the maker1 ,tom ,morris7 upon it4 ,as they would then be indistinct it would be suggested that they stood for ,moses1 and the inference would be that the lawgiver of ,israel was a golfer4 ,some years after that a course was laid out near ,cairo4 ,the men who made that course and played the first golf were none other than ,mr4 ,j4 ,e4 ,laidlay1 twice ,amateur ,champion1 and ,sir ,edgar ,vincent1 who won the ,parliamentary handicap in #aije4 ,this was in #ahhh1 and ,sir ,edgar had only had one taste of golf previously1 that being in the previous summer1 but he thought it would be as well to take his clubs with him to ,egypt4 ,mr4 ,laidlay1 going to ,egypt also1 thought the same thing2 but when they got there they found there was no golf at all4 ,they did not know each other2 but ,sir ,edgar knew ,mr4 ,laidlay by reputation1 sought him out1 and they conferred together on the miserable character of the situation4 ,mr4 ,laidlay was famishing for some golf1 and stirred up a great enthusiasm in the other1 so they agreed that they would go out into the desert together and make a course4 8,we made a survey of the outskirts10 said ,sir ,edgar1 8and found the material to be of the most unpromising description--seven parts sand and one part scrub everywhere4 ,there was one comforting fact1 and that was that our bunkers were ready made1 for there were bunkers everywhere4 ,mr4 ,laidlay's enthusiasm overcame everything1 and by dint of hard labour and perseverance we soon had a nine-hole course laid out4 ,in this way we were certainly the pioneers of golf in ,egypt1 and1 as ,i believe1 in ,africa40 ,when ,mr4 ,laidlay went home again he entered for the ,amateur ,championship and won it for the first time4 ,one of the first converts to golf in ,egypt was ,lord ,cromer4 ,there are now nine clubs and courses in ,egypt4 ,at ,cairo the round usually consists of twelve holes1 although there are two more which are very seldom played4 ,it is desert golf1 and the 8greens0 are brown patches of puddled earth1 over which sand is sprinkled daily to true them up and slow them down a bit4 ,some say that the golf at ,helouan is the best in ,egypt1 and others prefer the ,assouan course1 in the making of which ,mr4 ,john ,low had much say and which he has visited since4 ,here the greens are made of rolled ,nile mud4 ,but most prefer the ,mena ,house course1 which is laid out on a bit of the very small area of grass there is in ,egypt1 which is so precious that players are requested to play only in rubber-soled shoes for fear of breaking it4 ,for part of each year the course is under water4 ,not only is there grass here1 but the course is laid out alongside the ,great ,pyramid1 the shadow of which is thrown across it4 ,this ,great ,pyramid--#b1jjj1jjj cubic feet of stone--gives golfers a queer feeling if they catch sight of it when swinging for their drive4 ,when ,napoleon was beginning the battle of the ,pyramids hereabouts1 he said to his men1 8,soldiers6 from the summit of yonder ,pyramid forty ages behold you40 ,that is so1 and the golfers may wish they did not4 ,they may think it is no game for spectators of this kind4 ,x ,many golfers1 like others who are not golfers1 have come to the conclusion that in the twentieth century it were better for them and their game to think and grow thin4 ,one of the most enthusiastic and determined says that success in the game depends chiefly on the stomach1 and one is half inclined to think that he is right4 ,he is1 to this extent1 that it is hard to play fine golf when the interior mechanism is in bad working order4 ,and it is quite apparent that we modern golfers1 like other people who are outside the pale of our noble game1 are not the possessors of such strong heads and tough digestive apparatus as our ancestors of the links used to be4 ,the man in the street dare not for his life walk into the ,cock ,tavern and call the 8plump head waiter0 to bring him a pint of port just because it is five o'clock1 as ,tennyson used to do as regularly and deliberately when he was ,fleet ,street way1 as if it were nothing more fortifying than tea that he demanded4 ,the modern man would be too much afraid1 lest perchance he should not know when it was six o'clock4 ,we are not like our forefathers1 and we can never be like them4 ,there is a queer tale of a comparatively modern golfer who drank deeply overnight1 so that his path to his bedchamber was one of tortuous difficulty1 but who1 nevertheless1 got up in the morning to win a championship2 and it is not many years since a picture was drawn for a text-book on golf in which it was suggested that 8the man to back0 was he who was sitting down to something in the nature of a ,porterhouse steak with a not very small bottle of wine at the side of his plate4 ,from a high moral point of view those ancestors of ours who bred inferior stomachs for us were1 of course1 wrong1 and yet they did many fine things on their pints of port4 ,they wrote great prose and verse1 they painted fine pictures1 their taste and skill in handicrafts were superb1 they won the battle of ,waterloo and the battle of ,trafalgar1 and they could--most undoubtedly they could--play golf4 ,having regard to the quality of their tools and the state of the upkeep of their links1 they made many fine rounds1 which showed that they had great skill1 that they had a fine steadiness of hand and eye1 and even that they upon occasion went in for thinking golf6 ,and of all the types of the modern ,britishers' ancestors1 give us for great courage at the board and for a capacity for high enjoyment according to his lights1 the golfing ancestor6 ,he was a rare fellow4 ,he went out to play his round by day1 and he foregathered the same evening with the others of his golfing society and celebrated the day as many persons say that a good day should be celebrated4 ,and it was a matter of duty with him too1 not merely inclination4 ,on the morning of the play and dinner days of some of the fine old ,scottish golfing societies1 it was the custom to send the boy of the club round to each member's house summoning him to the meeting1 and taking his name if he promised to be present at the evening meal4 ,the old golfers saw to it that the quality of all the fine things of which they partook was of the very best1 for leading features of their dinners were the gifts of various members of their own company1 and it was the common custom before each gathering was ended to make large provision for the next one in the way of promises of food and drink1 and these promises once made were exacted to the last ounce and drop1 under penalty of fines of dozens and cases of wines and spirits4 ,no club has richer traditions in this respect than the old ,north ,berwick4 ,the viands that its own company sent to its table for its constant meetings were fine things4 ,one time ,mr4 ,hay of ,rockville sent along a round of beef stewed in hock4 ,sir ,d4 ,kinloch sent ,shetland beef1 the ,duke of ,buccleuch contributed large quantities of venison and venison pasty1 while the ,earl of ,eglinton1 as an apology for his absence from one meeting when captain1 sent a fine buck4 ,as for liquids1 ,sir ,david ,blair presented the club at the start with three dozens of champagne1 and thereafter it became the custom to fine a member exactly that for any delinquency or omission on his part4 ,thus we have a minute on the books for #bcrd ,september #ahce1 which reads3 8,at dinner it was voted unanimously1 on the motion of the captain1 that ,mr4 ,john ,sligo be fined in a case of three dozen champagne for not sending a cook as proposed by himself1 by which means the turtle1 venison1 and other delicacies were entirely destroyed40 ,judging by the temper of these old ,north ,berwickers1 and of the importance that they attached to these things prandial1 one would have been inclined to congratulate ,mr4 ,sligo on the leniency with which his grave offence was treated4 ,whisky by the dozen and half-dozen came from ,campbell of ,glensaddell and ,macdonald of ,clanranald1 shrub from ,mr4 ,whyte-,melville1 rum from ,major ,pringle1 casks of beer and porter from various other members1 and so on2 claret1 withal1 which was presented in large quantities1 being the favourite drink4 ,even if one be but a drinker of tea and ginger ale1 there is some interest in reading of the exploits of the old-time golfers of ,edinburgh and ,musselburgh4 ,in the 8bett book0 of the ,honourable ,company1 under date of #dth ,january #agff1 there is the rule entered3 8,each person who lays a ,bett in the ,company of the ,golfers1 and shall fail to play it on the day appointed1 shall forfeit to the ,company a pint of wine for each guinea1 unless he give a sufficient excuse to their satisfaction02 and a most interesting entry in the minutes of #afth ,november #aggf tells us that 8this day ,lieutenant ,james ,dalrymple1 of the #dcrd ,regiment1 being convicted of playing five different times at ,golf without his uniform1 was fined only in ,six ,pints1 having confessed the heinousness of his crime40 ,to this minute1 signed by the captain1 there is appended a codicil1 stating1 8at his own request he was fined of ,three ,pints more40 ,always pints1 and never pounds or guineas4 ,the ,company even thought that it was a proper thing for it to pass a formal resolution adopting certain liquors as the club drink1 just in the same way as they would adopt a uniform4 ,thus1 on #aath ,december #aggi1 the sentiment of ,christmas being already abroad1 it was resolved and duly entered on the minutes1 that 8,port and ,punch shall be the ordinary ,drink of the ,society1 unless upon these days when the ,silver ,club and ,cups are played for4 ,at those meetings ,claret or any other ,liquor more agreeable will be permitted40 ,o1 say some1 for the days of famous ,jamie ,balfour1 secretary and treasurer of the ,company in #agic6 ,never was jollier golfer4 ,and never a man more honest1 more deservedly popular1 and loved by all his contemporaries than he1 as witness the fact that when1 alas6 he went to the links of ,valhalla before he reached the age of sixty1 the company mourned for him as golfers had never mourned before4 ,they met at a special meeting and dinner in the most solemn mourning1 with the ,captain in the chair and ,sir ,james ,stirling1 ,baronet1 ,lord ,provost of the ,city of ,edinburgh1 beside him1 and drank to ,balfour's memory in the most solemn of toasts4 ,jamie looked upon the wine when it was red2 he could see no virtue in self-denial4 ,he liked the sound of the drawn cork4 ,when he heard one drawn in any house that he happened to be in1 which gave an unusually sharp report1 he would call out1 8,lassie1 gie me a glass o' that60 not troubling to ask what the wine was1 but taking it for granted that for such a report it must needs be good of its class4 ,a story is told that a lady who lived in ,parliament ,close1 ,edinburgh1 was wakened from her sleep one summer morning by a noise as of singing1 when1 going to the window to learn what was the matter1 guess her surprise at seeing ,jamie ,balfour and some of his boon companions1 evidently fresh from an orgie1 singing 8,the ,king shall enjoy his own again0 on their knees around ,king ,charles's statue4 ,it used to be said that ,balfour could run when he could not stand still1 and the story is told that on one occasion1 going home late from a festive night1 he happened to tumble into the pit formed for the foundation of a house in ,st4 ,james's ,square4 ,a gentleman passing heard his wailing1 and1 going up to the spot1 was entreated by ,balfour to help him out4 8,what would be the use helping you out when you could not stand though you were out80 said the passer-by4 ,whereupon ,jamie retorted1 8,very true1 perhaps1 yet if you help me up ,i'll run you to the ,tron ,kirk for a bottle of claret40 ,and he did2 and having won the first bottle1 ,jamie exclaimed1 8,well1 'nother race to ,fortune's for another bottle of claret10 and he won that one also4 ,in its ancient days the ,royal and ,ancient ,golf ,club of ,st4 ,andrews was great on fines in wine4 ,it promoted conviviality on every possible occasion1 and1 indeed1 one of the first of its minutes that are now discoverable says1 under date #dth ,may #agff1 8,we1 the ,noblemen and ,gentlemen subscribing1 did this day agree to meet once every fortnight1 by ,eleven of the clock1 at the ,golf ,house1 and to play a round of the links2 to dine together at ,bailie ,glass'1 and to pay each a shilling for his dinner--the absent as well as the present40 ,it was some two or three years after this that means were devised for augmenting the dinner wine through the various social delinquencies of members4 ,thus1 on #dth ,september #aggi1 a resolution is passed as follows3 8,it is enacted that whoever shall be ,captain of the ,golf1 and does not attend all the meetings to be appointed throughout the year1 shall pay ,two ,pints of ,claret for each meeting he shall be absent at1 to be drunk at such meeting2 but this regulation is not to take place if the ,captain be not in ,fife at the time40 ,many years later1 in #ahah1 the wine tax on absentees was applied to members generally1 under interesting circumstances1 as indicated in the terms of the resolution that was passed1 which read3 8,the ,club1 taking into consideration that the meetings have of late been thinly attended by the ,members residing in town1 in consequence of several members giving parties on the ordinary days of meeting1 and thereby preventing those who would otherwise give their presence at the ,club1 from attending them1 ,do ,resolve1 that in future such ,members as shall invite any of their friends1 ,members of this ,club1 to dinner on the days of meeting1 shall forfeit to the ,club a ,magnum of ,claret for himself1 and one bottle for each ,member so detained by them1 for each offence1 and the ,captain and ,council appoint this ,resolution to be immediately communicated to ,general ,campbell40 ,on #afth ,september #ahbe a minute is entered1 8,which day the present ,captain1 having imposed on himself a fine of a ,magnum of ,claret for failure in public duty1 imposed a similar fine on the old ,captains present40 ,it is quite evident that in these rich old days the social side of golf was cultivated in a manner that makes the worthiest efforts in this direction in the twentieth century look mean in comparison4 ,the men of the old ,musselburgh ,club were great in conviviality4 ,here is a remarkable entry taken from their minute-book3 8,musselburgh1 #aath ,january #agic4--,the ,club met according to adjournment4 ,the meeting was so merry that it was agreed that matching and every other business should be delayed till next month40 ,on #aath ,may #agih1 when the ,club held its meeting1 the question was put as to whether the funds should be disposed of by the members present or delayed till the ,december meeting1 when it was resolved by a majority that the company then present should determine it4 ,thereupon it was put to the vote as to whether the funds should be drunk1 or part of them taken to 8give their ,myte to the ,voluntary ,subscription in aid of the ,government10 and it was carried unanimously that ,five ,guineas should be sent to this fund in the name of the ,club1 and that the remainder of the funds should be disposed of at the ,december meeting4 ,meeting at ,moir's on #afth ,february #ahaj1 the members 8,resolve1 ,that an annual subscription of ,one ,guinea be paid by each member1 from which fund the expense of the dinners is to be in future defrayed1 but all the expenses of liquors to be defrayed by the company present4 ,and any overplus at the end of each season to be sunk in a ,general ,gaudeamus40 ,the old records of the ,bruntsfield ,links ,golf ,club are similarly entertaining4 ,on #bgth ,april #ahbb1 8,captain ,kilgour informed the meeting that ,mr4 ,williamson had sent a small cask of spirits of his own manufacture as a present to the ,club4 ,the ,secretary was ordered to transmit the thanks of the ,society to ,mr4 ,williamson1 and to inform him that he was unanimously elected an ,honorary ,member40 ,on #bith ,june #ahdb we are told that 8a very large party dined at ,cork's1 and the evening was spent with more than stereotyped happiness1 harmony1 and hilarity4 ,a number of matches were made4 ,mr4 ,s4 ,aitken 7not1 of course1 when madness ruled the hour7 pledged himself if1 and when1 ,deacon ,scott married1 to present to the ,club half a dozen of wine1 and the like quantity to the object 7lovely1 of course7 of his choice6 ,this happy evening #8through many a bout of linked sweetness long drawn out1' partook of the transitory nature of all earthly things1 and1 as one of our poets says1 broke up60 ,after the meeting of the ,bruntsfield members on #agth ,december #ahdb1 8,a large party dined at ,goodman's1 and spent a very happy evening1 not the less so that some member1 to the company unknown1 made the handsome present of half a dozen of ,champagne4 ,mr4 ,brown1 after some very apposite remarks1 read an interesting paragraph from the ,bombay ,times of the #aith ,october last1 noticing certain proceedings of a ,golf ,club formed in the ,east ,indies1 which gave rise to much felicitous discussion1 and the appointment of a deputation1 consisting of the ,captain and ,mr4 ,paterson1 to meet and compete with the like1 or any number of the ,indian ,club1 the deputation to travel at the ,club's expense and by the new ,aerial ,transit1 which is expected to start early in ,february next40 ,they were in a happy mood that evening4 ,the minutes record that on #ahth ,october #ahde1 8,the ,club dined in the ,musselburgh ,arms ,inn1 and spent a very happy evening2 but the meeting having been prolonged beyond the period at which the omnibus 7in which seats had been taken7 started1 the members found it necessary to walk the greater part of the way to town40 ,rich1 indeed1 were those ancient days of golf6 ,,xi ,and so1 heigho6 another full year of golf has run to its end1 and we come to pause for a little while to reflect upon the new chapter that has been added to the long happy story of our play2 for1 indeed1 it is true of us golfers1 as it is of others1 that 8we spend our years as a tale that is told40 ,for some days now the links which have served us so faithfully and so well during all this year1 have been at rest1 asleep4 ,nature1 the gentle considerate nurse1 sometimes comes to the help of these precious acres of green turf in that season when their lot is the least happy1 fending away us tyrant masters while she lays them to repose and wraps up each teeing ground and putting green and all the way between in the thick mantle that she weaves herself4 ,perhaps the players do not always know that the grass welcomes this snow1 and is not1 as they might imagine1 stifled with it and reduced to such unconsciousness as to be near the point of death4 ,the snow both nourishes and warms the worn-out turf--collects and holds down for its sustenance all the available nitrogen in the atmosphere1 and then covers it with that thick cloak which generates only warmth beneath4 ,presently1 when the frosts cease and the snow melts and the grass lies bare again1 those who have recollection enough for the comparison will see that it is greener and stronger than it was before4 ,when there is a championship in prospect on ,st4 ,andrews links1 the wise and good greenkeeper there beseeches kind ,nature that of her infinite variety she will vouchsafe to his little patch of earth for some several days of winter a heavy fall of snow1 that in due course he may better serve up to his master golfers a links of such perfection of order as will please them to the utmost4 ,what shall he care if the old grey place is beleaguered by these storms of snow1 if the ,swilcan ,burn is almost covered up1 and if it would be as much as the life of the captain of the ,royal and ,ancient ,club were worth to try to find the line to the ,long ,hole8 ,hush1 you grumbling golfers6 ,the old course1 weary1 is at rest2 and patiently will the happy greenkeeper wait for its awakening4 ,there is something of pathos in the time and the scene1 as3 8,full knee-deep lies the winter snow1 ,and the winter winds are wearily sighing2 ,toll ye the church-bell sad and slow1 ,and tread softly and speak low1 ,for the old year lies a-dying40 ,how much does it mean to us1 does a year of golf6 ,in the last few moments of the year that you give up to golfing thought and reverie as you sit by the cheerful fire1 and perhaps1 according to the old fancy1 toy on the hearthrug for a while with the putter that you hold at convenience in the corner1 and the memento ball that you preserve upon the mantelpiece--at such time make a pleasant reflection upon all the joy and the gladness1 and the health and the adventure1 and the glorious rivalry and close comradeship that have been crowded into this short space of time6 ,above all1 think how much nearer in most blessed friendship has this year of golf drawn you to those who are most after your own heart6 ,there is no habit of man that can do more than golf towards such an end as this1 and it is in his abundance of the best friends that a man lives most happily and to the best purpose4 ,and the golfer has seen more of the year1 of the real year of ,nature so complex and so complete in its variety and balance1 than the other men who live in towns4 ,he braved it in the open lands through the bitter weeks of ,january and ,february1 and he was cheerful through the winds and rains that followed1 for as the rainbows spread across the sky he knew that the glorious spring had come1 most heartening time of all the golfing year4 ,then would he stamp his feet on turf grown firm1 and acclaim his ball with affection for its constant cleanliness4 ,the golfer1 even he of the town1 hears the change in the song of the birds1 he notices the newcomers among them2 he has interest in the leafing of the trees1 and lo6 the big sun of summer shines upon him4 ,and when can golfer be happier than when1 after droning lazily through a hot afternoon1 he plays an evening round upon the links in those most perfect conditions for pure delight8 ,surely it is hard to say which of those rounds is the best1 that of the spring morning1 the autumn morning1 or the one in the balmy evening of ,june4 ,and the golfer1 bold and lucky1 who once in a way makes his ripest play on some wild day in ,december when the wind from the sea comes like a blast across the links and all above is dripping scud1 would in his pride not grant that the golfer lived his life at the full on any of those other days of peace and calm4 ,so1 from the play in the long summer twilight1 we wander down the year1 through brown ,october to the greys that follow1 and the white curtain falls at last upon the exhausted season4 ,,index ,aden ,golf ,club1 #aj ,african coast1 golf on the1 #ab ,age for golf1 best1 #bic ,america1 golf in1 #ab ,american ladies' golf1 #ajj ,anderson1 ,jamie1 #hi ,antarctic1 golf in the1 #aa ,arabia1 golf in1 #aj ,archerfield golf course1 #adj ,architecture1 different classes of golf1 #acd ,argentine ,republic1 golf in the1 #aj ,asia1 golf in1 #aj ,australia1 golf in1 #aj ,austria1 golf in1 #i ,autumn meeting at ,st4 ,andrews1 #ahf ,axes of rotation1 #bji ,bagdad1 golf at1 #aj ,balfour1 ,jamie1 #cja ---- ,the ,rt4 ,hon4 ,a4 ,j41 as a golfer1 #cg1 #ij ,ball1 ,mr4 ,john1 #abd ,balls1 different kinds of1 etc41 #ed1 #eh2 price and quality of1 #ei2 rival manufacturers1 #aab2 points of good1 #bjc2 too far-driving1 #bdj2 used in a year1 #bhe ,barry1 ,mr4 ,a4 ,g41 #bic ,belgium1 golf in1 #i ,biassed balls1 #bje ,bicycles and golf1 #aeh ,blackheath golf course1 #aei ---- golfers1 #afj1 #bef ,bogey1 #bcd2 origin of1 #bcg ,boulogne1 golf at1 #h ,braid1 ,j41 #bf1 #bg1 #bic ,brassey1 an ideal1 #dd ,briars hole at ,hoylake1 #abe ,broughton1 ,capt41 #ec ,bruntsfield links1 #gg ---- ---- ,golf ,club1 #cjd ,buccleuch1 ,duke of1 #bii ,building estates and golf1 #bcb ,bunkers1 movable1 #bda ,caddies1 #adh ,csar's pits on golf courses1 #aa ,cairo1 golf at1 #bif ,calabar1 golf at1 #ab ,campbell1 ,mr41 of ,saddell1 #ee ,canada1 golf in1 #aj ,canary ,islands1 golf at the1 #h ,carnoustie golf links1 #ada ,carry from drive1 #aif ,chaplains to golf clubs1 #fd ,charm of the game1 #a ,china1 golf in1 #h ,cinque ,ports ,golf ,club1 #ade ,classification of courses1 #acd ,clergymen and golf1 #fa ,close seasons1 #bhh ,clubs1 names for1 #da2 ideal1 #db2 favourite1 #aad1 #aae ,cold weather1 #bhi ,colonies1 golf in1 #aj ,commercialism1 #bbf ,community of interests1 #agi ,companion for golfing holiday1 #abe ,companions of old players1 #dg ,competitions1 new1 #bdb ,county unions1 #bdd ,courses1 altering to suit new balls1 #bda ,crawford1 8,big10 #dj1 #fa ,croquet and golf1 #agd ,cruickshank1 ,mr41 of ,langley ,park1 #ig ,deal golf links1 #aaf1 #acf1 #ade ,dinners1 golfing1 #big1 #bii ,diplomacy and golf1 #ac ,disappointments1 #cc ,dog dropping ball in hole1 #bfe ,drive1 longest possible1 #baf ,driving1 ,prof4 ,tait on1 #bae ,dunn1 the brothers1 #ej ,east ,indies1 golf in the1 #aj ,ecstasy1 greatest1 in golf1 #afc ,eglinton1 ,earl of1 #bii ,egypt1 golf in1 #ab1 #bid ,enthusiasm1 greatest1 #gf ,errors1 popular1 #bja ,examinations in rules1 #bdc ,favourite holes and courses1 #beh ,feats of golf1 #ia1 #aaa ,ferguson1 ,robert1 #dh ,flight of golf ball1 #aid ,footpaths and roads1 #aeh ,forbes1 ,duncan1 #bba ,foursome1 a famous1 #adj ,france1 golf in1 #h ,frog in the hole1 #bfc ,frosty days1 #bee ,future1 concerning the1 #cj 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,sir ,edgar1 #bie ,walton ,heath golf course1 #aa1 #acf ,wandering player1 #aah ,warwickshire ,county ,union1 #bdd ,water shots1 #bec ,weather1 bad1 #bea ,wei-hai-wei1 golf at1 #h ,welsh ,union1 #bdd ,white1 ,jack1 #bf1 #bi1 #aeb ,wind in golf1 #bd ,winter1 #bea1 #cjf ,worcestershire ,county ,union1 #bdd ,yorkshire ,union1 #bdd ,printed by ,,morrison ,,gibb ,,limited1 ,edinburgh ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,inconsistent hyphenation retained4 ,errors in punctuation repaired4 ,pages #bb and #abh1 8slightest0 changed from 8slighest0 7without the slightest chance2 the slightest provocation74 ,page #bi1 8popular0 changed from 8populer0 7great and popular player74 ,page #cd1 8a0 inserted 7,could a golfer74 ,page #de1 8a0 inserted 7a good human74 ,page #ij1 8,point ,garry0 changed from 8,pointgarry0 7,it was ,point ,garry74 ,page #id1 8court0 changed from 8courts0 7may a man court74 ,page #aae1 8have0 inserted 7,other golfers have74 ,page #bbd1 8seventeenth0 changed from 8seventeeth0 7of the seventeenth century74 ,page #bdb1 8,they0 changed from 8,then0 7,they play1 say174 ,page #bfb1 8occurrence0 changed from 8occurence0 7the most extraordinary occurrence74 ,page #cje1 duplicated 8of0 deleted 7one of our poets74 ,page #cac1 8,sandwich0 changed from 8,sandwick0 7,prince's ,club1 ,sandwich74 ,page #cad1 8,wei-hai-wei0 changed from 8,wei-hai-,wei0 7,wei-hai-wei1 golf at74