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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Complete Golfer [1905], by Harry Vardon
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Complete Golfer [1905]
+
+Author: Harry Vardon
+
+Release Date: February 17, 2009 [EBook #28107]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMPLETE GOLFER [1905] ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steven Gibbs, Greg Bergquist and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE COMPLETE GOLFER
+
+
+
+
+ THE
+ COMPLETE GOLFER
+
+
+ BY
+ HARRY VARDON
+
+ OPEN CHAMPION, 1896, 1898, 1899, 1903
+ AMERICAN CHAMPION, 1900
+
+
+ WITH SIXTY-SIX ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+ SECOND EDITION
+
+
+ METHUEN & CO.
+ 36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
+ LONDON
+
+
+
+
+ _First Published           June 1905_
+
+ _Second Edition            June 1905_
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+Many times I have been strongly advised to write a book on golf, and now
+I offer a volume to the great and increasing public who are devoted to
+the game. So far as the instructional part of the book is concerned, I
+may say that, while I have had the needs of the novice constantly in
+mind, and have endeavoured to the best of my ability to put him on the
+right road to success, I have also presented the full fruits of my
+experience in regard to the fine points of the game, so that what I have
+written may be of advantage to improving golfers of all degrees of
+skill. There are some things in golf which cannot be explained in
+writing, or for the matter of that even by practical demonstration on
+the links. They come to the golfer only through instinct and experience.
+But I am far from believing that, as is so often said, a player can
+learn next to nothing from a book. If he goes about his golf in the
+proper manner he can learn very much indeed. The services of a competent
+tutor will be as necessary to him as ever, and I must not be understood
+to suggest that this work can to any extent take the place of that
+compulsory and most invaluable tuition. On the other hand, it is next to
+impossible for a tutor to tell a pupil on the links everything about any
+particular stroke while he is playing it, and if he could it would not
+be remembered. Therefore I hope and think that, in conjunction with
+careful coaching by those who are qualified for the task, and by
+immediate and constant practice of the methods which I set forth, this
+book may be of service to all who aspire to play a really good game. If
+any player of the first degree of skill should take exception to any of
+these methods, I have only one answer to make, and that is that, just
+as they are explained in the following pages, they are precisely those
+which helped me to win my five championships. These and no others I
+practise every day upon the links. I attach great importance to the
+photographs and the accompanying diagrams, the objects of which are
+simplicity and lucidity. When a golfer is in difficulty with any
+particular stroke--and the best of us are constantly in trouble with
+some stroke or other--I think that a careful examination of the pictures
+relating to that stroke will frequently put him right, while a glance at
+the companion in the "How not to do it" series may reveal to him at once
+the error into which he has fallen and which has hitherto defied
+detection. All the illustrations in this volume have been prepared from
+photographs of myself in the act of playing the different strokes on the
+Totteridge links last autumn. Each stroke was carefully studied at the
+time for absolute exactness, and the pictures now reproduced were
+finally selected by me from about two hundred which were taken. In order
+to obtain complete satisfaction, I found it necessary to have a few of
+the negatives repeated after the winter had set in, and there was a
+slight fall of snow the night before the morning appointed for the
+purpose. I owe so much--everything--to the great game of golf, which I
+love very dearly, and which I believe is without a superior for deep
+human and sporting interest, that I shall feel very delighted if my
+"Complete Golfer" is found of any benefit to others who play or are
+about to play. I give my good wishes to every golfer, and express the
+hope to each that he may one day regard himself as complete. I fear
+that, in the playing sense, this is an impossible ideal. However, he may
+in time be nearly "dead" in his "approach" to it.
+
+I have specially to thank Mr. Henry Leach for the invaluable services he
+has rendered to me in the preparation of the work
+
+ H.V.
+
+ TOTTERIDGE, _May 1905_.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+GOLF AT HOME                                                         1
+
+The happy golfer--A beginning at Jersey--The Vardon family--An anxious
+tutor--Golfers come to Grouville--A fine natural course--Initiation as a
+caddie--Primitive golf--How we made our clubs--Matches in the
+moonlight--Early progress--The study of methods--Not a single lesson--I
+become a gardener--The advice of my employer--"Never give up golf"--A
+nervous player to begin with--My first competition--My brother Tom
+leaves home--He wins a prize at Musselburgh--I decide for
+professionalism--An appointment at Ripon.
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+SOME REMINISCENCES                                                  11
+
+Not enough golf--"Reduced to cricket"--I move to Bury--A match with
+Alexander Herd--No more nerves--Third place in an open competition--I
+play for the Championship--A success at Portrush--Some conversation and
+a match with Andrew Kirkaldy--Fifth for the Championship at
+Sandwich--Second at the Deal tournament--Eighth in the Championship at
+St. Andrews--I go to Ganton--An invitation to the south of France--The
+Championship at Muirfield--An exciting finish--A stiff problem at the
+last hole--I tie with Taylor--We play off, and I win the Championship--A
+tale of a putter--Ben Sayers wants a "wun'"--What Andrew thought of
+Muirfield--I win the Championship again at Prestwick--Willie Park as
+runner-up--My great match with Park--Excellent arrangements--A welcome
+victory--On money matches in general--My third Championship at
+Sandwich--My fourth at Prestwick--Golf under difficulties.
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE WAY TO GOLF                                                     25
+
+The mistakes of the beginner--Too eager to play a round--Despair that
+follows--A settling down to mediocrity--All men may excel--The sorrows
+of a foozler--My advice--Three months' practice to begin with--The
+makings of a player--Good golf is best--How Mr. Balfour learned the
+game--A wise example--Go to the professional--The importance of
+beginning well--Practise with each club separately--Driver, brassy,
+cleek, iron, mashie, and putter--Into the hole at last--Master of a bag
+of clubs--The first match--How long drives are made--Why few good
+players are coming on--Golf is learned too casually.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE CHOICE AND CARE OF CLUBS                                        37
+
+Difficulties of choice--A long search for the best--Experiments with
+more than a hundred irons--Buy few clubs to begin with--Take the
+professional's advice--A preliminary set of six--Points of the
+driver--Scared wooden clubs are best--Disadvantages of the socket--Fancy
+faces--Short heads--Whip in the shaft--The question of weight--Match the
+brassy with the driver--Reserve clubs--Kinds of cleeks--Irons and
+mashies--The niblick--The putting problem--It is the man who putts and
+not the putter--Recent inventions--Short shafts for all clubs--Lengths
+and weights of those I use--Be careful of your clubs--Hints for
+preserving them.
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+DRIVING--PRELIMINARIES                                              52
+
+Advantage of a good drive--And the pleasure of it--More about the
+driver--Tee low--Why high tees are bad--The question of
+stance--Eccentricities and bad habits--Begin in good style--Measurements
+of the stance--The reason why--The grip of the club--My own method and
+its advantages--Two hands like one--Comparative tightness of the
+hands--Variations during the swing--Certain disadvantages of the two-V
+grip--Addressing the ball--Freaks of style--How they must be compensated
+for--Too much waggling--The point to look at--Not the top of the ball,
+but the side of it.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+DRIVING--THE SWING OF THE CLUB                                      64
+
+"Slow back"--The line of the club head in the upward swing--The golfer's
+head must be kept rigid--The action of the wrists--Position at the top
+of the swing--Movements of the arms--Pivoting of the body--No
+swaying--Action of the feet and legs--Speed of the club during the
+swing--The moment of impact--More about the wrists--No pure wrist shot
+in golf--The follow-through--Timing of the body action--Arms and hands
+high up at the finish--How bad drives are made--The causes of
+slicing--When the ball is pulled--Misapprehensions as to slicing and
+pulling--Dropping of the right shoulder--Its evil consequences--No trick
+in long driving--Hit properly and hard--What is pressing and what is
+not--Summary of the drive.
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+BRASSY AND SPOON                                                    78
+
+Good strokes with the brassy--Play as with the driver--The points of the
+brassy--The stance--Where and how to hit the ball--Playing from cuppy
+lies--Jab strokes from badly-cupped lies--A difficult club to
+master--The man with the spoon--The lie for the baffy--What it can and
+cannot do--Character of the club--The stance--Tee shots with the
+baffy--Iron clubs are better.
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SPECIAL STROKES WITH WOODEN CLUBS                                   85
+
+The master stroke in golf--Intentional pulling and slicing--The
+contrariness of golf--When pulls and slices are needful--The stance for
+the slice--The upward swing--How the slice is made--The short sliced
+stroke--Great profits that result--Warnings against irregularities--How
+to pull a ball--The way to stand--The work of the right hand--A feature
+of the address--What makes a pull--Effect of wind on the flight of the
+ball--Greatly exaggerated notions--How wind increases the effect of
+slicing and pulling--Playing through a cross wind--The shot for a head
+wind--A special way of hitting the ball--A long low flight--When the
+wind comes from behind.
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE CLEEK AND DRIVING MASHIE                                        98
+
+A test of the golfer--The versatility of the cleek--Different kinds of
+cleeks--Points of the driving mashie--Difficulty of continued success
+with it--The cleek is more reliable--Ribbed faces for iron clubs--To
+prevent skidding--The stance for an ordinary cleek shot--The
+swing--Keeping control over the right shoulder--Advantages of the
+three-quarter cleek shot--The push shot--My favourite stroke--The stance
+and the swing--The way to hit the ball--Peculiar advantages of flight
+from the push stroke--When it should not be attempted--The advantage of
+short swings as against full swings with iron clubs--Playing for a low
+ball against the wind--A particular stance--Comparisons of the different
+cleek shots--General observations and recommendations--Mistakes made
+with the cleek.
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+PLAY WITH THE IRON                                                 112
+
+The average player's favourite club--Fine work for the iron--Its
+points--The right and the wrong time for play with it--Stance
+measurements--A warning concerning the address--The cause of much bad
+play with the iron--The swing--Half shots with the iron--The regulation
+of power--Features of erratic play--Forced and checked swings--Common
+causes of duffed strokes--Swings that are worthless.
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+APPROACHING WITH THE MASHIE                                        118
+
+The great advantage of good approach play--A fascinating
+club--Characteristics of a good mashie--Different kinds of strokes with
+it--No purely wrist shot--Stance and grip--Position of the body--No
+pivoting on the left toe--The limit of distance--Avoid a full swing--The
+half iron as against the full mashie--The swing--How not to loft--On
+scooping the ball--Taking a divot--The running-up approach--A very
+valuable stroke--The club to use--A tight grip with the right
+hand--Peculiarities of the swing--The calculation of pitch and run--The
+application of cut and spin--A stroke that is sometimes
+necessary--Standing for a cut--Method of swinging and hitting the
+ball--The chip on to the green--Points of the jigger.
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+ON BEING BUNKERED                                                  131
+
+The philosopher in a bunker--On making certain of getting out--The folly
+of trying for length--When to play back--The qualities of the
+niblick--Stance and swing--How much sand to take--The time to press--No
+follow-through in a bunker--Desperate cases--The brassy in a
+bunker--Difficulties through prohibited grounding--Play straight when
+length is imperative--Cutting with the niblick.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+SIMPLE PUTTING                                                     141
+
+A game within another game--Putting is not to be taught--The advantage
+of experience--Vexation of missing short putts--Some
+anecdotes--Individuality in putting--The golfer's natural system--How to
+find it--And when found make a note of it--The quality of instinct--All
+sorts of putters--How I once putted for a Championship--The part that
+the right hand plays--The manner of hitting the ball--On always being
+up and "giving the hole a chance"--Easier to putt back after overrunning
+than when short--The trouble of Tom Morris.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+COMPLICATED PUTTS                                                  150
+
+Problems on undulating greens--The value of practice--Difficulties of
+calculation--The cut stroke with the putter--How to make it--When it is
+useful--Putting against a sideways slope--A straighter line for the
+hole--Putting down a hill--Applying drag to the ball--The use of the
+mashie on the putting-green--Stymies--When they are negotiable and when
+not--The wisdom of playing for a half--Lofting over the stymie--The
+run-through method--Running through the stymie--How to play the stroke,
+and its advantages--Fast greens for fancy strokes--On gauging the speed
+of a green.
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+SOME GENERAL HINTS                                                 160
+
+Too much golf--Analysis of good strokes--One's attitude towards one's
+opponent--Inaccurate counting of strokes--Tactics in match play--Slow
+couples on the course--Asking for halves--On not holing out when the
+half is given--Golfing attire--Braces better than belts--Shoes better
+than boots--How the soles should be nailed--On counting your
+strokes--Insisting on the rules--Play in frosty weather--Chalked faces
+for wet days--Against gloves--Concerning clubs--When confidence in a
+club is lost--Make up your mind about your shot--The golfer's
+lunch--Keeping the eye on the ball--The life of a rubber-core--A clean
+ball--The caddie's advice--Forebodings of failure--Experiments at the
+wrong time--One kind of golf at a time--Bogey beaten, but how?--Tips for
+tee shots--As to pressing--The short approach and the wayward
+eye--Swinging too much--For those with defective sight--Your opponent's
+caddie--Making holes in the bunkers--The golfer's first duty--Swinging
+on the putting-greens--Practise difficult shots and not easy ones, etc.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+COMPETITION PLAY                                                   177
+
+Its difficulties--Nerves are fatal--The philosophic spirit--Experience
+and steadiness--The torn card--Too much hurry to give up--A story and a
+moral--Indifference to your opponent's brilliance--Never slacken when
+up--The best test of golf--If golf were always easy--Cautious play in
+medal rounds--Risks to be taken--The bold game in match play--Studying
+the course--Risks that are foolishly taken--New clubs in
+competitions--On giving them a trial--No training necessary--As to the
+pipe and glass--How to be at one's best and keenest--On playing in the
+morning--In case of a late draw--Watch your opponents.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+ON FOURSOMES                                                       188
+
+The four-ball foursome--Its inferiority to the old-fashioned game--The
+case of the long-handicap man--Confusion on the greens--The man who
+drives last--The old-fashioned two-ball foursome--Against too many
+foursomes--Partners and each other--Fitting in their different
+games--The man to oblige--The policy of the long-handicap man--How he
+drove and missed in the good old days--On laying your partner a
+stymie--A preliminary consideration of the round--Handicapping in
+foursomes--A too delicate reckoning of strokes given and received--A
+good foursome and the excitement thereof--A caddie killed and a hole
+lost--A compliment to a golfer.
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+GOLF FOR LADIES                                                    198
+
+As to its being a ladies' game--A sport of freedom--The lady on the
+links--The American lady golfer--English ladies are improving--Where
+they fail, and why--Good pupils--The same game as the man's--No short
+swings for ladies--Clubs of too light weight--Their disadvantages--A
+common fault with the sex--Bad backward swings--The lady who will find
+out for herself--Foundations of a bad style--The way to success.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE CONSTRUCTION OF COURSES                                        205
+
+Necessity for thought and ingenuity--The long-handicap man's course--The
+scratch player's--How good courses are made--The necessary land--A long
+nine-hole course better than a short eighteen--The preliminary survey--A
+patient study of possibilities--Stakes at the holes--Removal of natural
+disadvantages--"Penny wise and pound foolish"--The selection of teeing
+grounds--A few trial drives--The arrangement of long and short
+holes--The best two-shot and three-shot holes--Bunkers and where to
+place them--The class of player to cater for--The scratch man's
+game--The shots to be punished--Bunkers down the sides--The best putting
+greens--Two tees to each hole--Seaside courses.
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+LINKS I HAVE PLAYED ON                                             219
+
+Many first-class links--The best of all--Sandwich--Merits of the Royal
+St. George's course--Punishments for faults and rewards for virtue--Not
+a short course--The best hole--The Maiden--Other good holes--Prestwick
+an excellent course--The third and the ninth holes--The finest hole
+anywhere--Hoylake--Two or three tame holes--A means of improvement--Good
+hazards and a premium on straight play--St. Andrews--Badly-placed
+bunkers--A good second hole--The finest one-shot hole to be found
+anywhere--An unfair hole--The best holes at Muirfield--Troon--North
+Berwick--Cruden Bay--Dornoch--Machrihanish--A splendid course at Islay--The
+most difficult hole I know--Gullane--Kilspindie--Luffness--Links in
+Ireland--Portrush--Portmarnock--Dollymount--Lahinch--Newcastle--Welsh
+courses--Ashburnham--Harlech--On the south and south-west coasts--The
+rushes at Westward Ho!--Newquay--Good holes at Deal--Littlestone--Rye--The
+advantage of Cromer--Brancaster--Hunstanton--Sheringham--Redcar--Seaton
+Carew--St. Anne's--Formby--Wallasey--Inland
+courses--Sunningdale--A splendid course--Another at Walton
+Heath--Huntercombe--London links--Courses in the
+country--Sheffield--Manchester--Huddersfield--"Inland" courses at the
+seaside--A warning.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+GOLF IN AMERICA                                                    232
+
+Good golf in the United States--My tour through the country--Mr.
+Travis's victory in our Amateur Championship--Not a surprise--The man
+who played the best golf--British amateurs must wake up--Other good
+Americans will come--Our casual methods of learning golf--The American
+system--My matches in the States--A good average--Driving well--Some
+substantial victories--Some difficult matches--Course
+records--Enthusiasm of the American crowds--The golf fever--The king of
+baseball takes to golf--The American Open Championship--A hard fight
+with J.H. Taylor--A welcome win--Curious experiences in Florida--Greens
+without grass--The plague of locusts--Some injury to my game--"Mr.
+Jones"--Fooling the caddies--Camping out on the links--Golf reporting in
+America--Ingenious and good--Mistakes made by non-golfing
+writers--Lipping the hole for a hundred dollars.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+CONCERNING CADDIES                                                 245
+
+Varieties of caddies--Advice to a left-handed player--Cock-shots at
+Ganton--Unearned increments--An offer to carry for the fun of the
+thing--The caddie who knows too much--My ideal caddie--His points--The
+girl caddie--A splendid type--Caddies' caustic humour--Some specimens of
+it--Mr. Balfour's taste in caddies--When the caddie is too anxious--Good
+human kindness--"Big Crawford"--"Lookin' aifter Maister Balfour"--An
+ingenious claim--A salute for the Chief Secretary--A story of a
+distressed clergyman--Sandy Smith--The clothes he wore--An excess of
+zeal--The caddies' common-sense--When his lot is not a happy one.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+REFLECTIONS AND RECOLLECTIONS                                      259
+
+Good golf to come--Giants of the past--The amateurs of to-day--The
+greatness of "Freddy" Tait--Modern professionals--Good sportsmen and
+good friends--A misconception--The constant strain--How we always play
+our best--Difficult tasks--No "close season" in golf--Spectators at big
+matches--Certain anecdotes--Putting for applause--Shovelling from a
+bunker--The greatest match I have ever played in--A curious incident--A
+record in halves--A coincidence--The exasperation of Andrew--The coming
+of spring--The joyful golfer.
+
+
+APPENDIX (Rules of the Game)                                       267
+
+
+INDEX                                                              279
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+PORTRAIT                                                     _Frontispiece_
+
+PLATE                                                                  PAGE
+
+I. My set of clubs                                                       48
+
+II. The grip with the left hand                                          58
+
+III. The overlapping grip                                                58
+
+IV. The overlapping grip                                                 58
+
+V. The overlapping grip                                                  58
+
+VI. Driver and brassy. The stance                                        66
+
+VII. Driver and brassy. Top of the swing                                 66
+
+VIII. Driver and brassy. Top of the swing from behind                    66
+
+IX. Driver and brassy. Finish of the swing                               66
+
+X. How not to drive                                                      72
+
+XI. How not to drive                                                     72
+
+XII. How not to drive                                                    72
+
+XIII. How not to drive                                                   72
+
+XIV. Driver and brassy. Stance when playing for a slice                  86
+
+XV. Driver and brassy. Top of the swing when playing for a slice         86
+
+XVI. Driver and brassy. Finish when playing for a slice                  86
+
+XVII. Driver and brassy. Playing for a pull. Stance                      90
+
+XVIII. Driver and brassy. Top of the swing when playing for a pull       90
+
+XIX. Driver and brassy. Finish when playing for a pull                   90
+
+XX. Driver and brassy. Stance for a low ball against the wind            96
+
+XXI. Driver and brassy. Stance for a high ball with the wind             96
+
+XXII. Full shot with the cleek. Stance                                  102
+
+XXIII. Full shot with the cleek. Top of the swing                       102
+
+XXIV. Full shot with the cleek. Finish                                  102
+
+XXV. Full shot with the cleek. Finish                                   102
+
+XXVI. The push shot with the cleek. Stance                              106
+
+XXVII. The push shot with the cleek. Top of the swing                   106
+
+XXVIII. The push shot with the cleek. Finish                            106
+
+XXIX. A low ball (against wind) with the cleek. Stance                  106
+
+XXX. A low ball (against wind) with the cleek. Top of the swing         106
+
+XXXI. A low ball (against wind) with the cleek. Finish                  106
+
+XXXII. Faulty play with the cleek                                       110
+
+XXXIII. Faulty play with the cleek                                      110
+
+XXXIV. Faulty play with the cleek                                       110
+
+XXXV. Faulty play with the cleek                                        110
+
+XXXVI. Faulty play with the cleek                                       110
+
+XXXVII. Full iron shot. Stance                                          114
+
+XXXVIII. Full iron shot. Top of the swing                               114
+
+XXXIX. Full iron shot. Finish                                           114
+
+XL. Play with the iron for a low ball (against wind). Stance            114
+
+XLI. Play with the iron for a low ball (against wind). Top of the swing 114
+
+XLII. Play with the iron for a low ball (against wind). Finish          114
+
+XLIII. Mashie approach (pitch and run). Stance                          122
+
+XLIV. Mashie approach (pitch and run). Top of the swing                 122
+
+XLV. Mashie approach (pitch and run). Finish                            122
+
+XLVI. Mistakes with the mashie                                          122
+
+XLVII. Mistakes with the mashie                                         122
+
+XLVIII. Mistakes with the mashie                                        122
+
+XLIX. Running-up approach with mashie or iron. Finish, with stance
+  also indicated                                                        122
+
+L. A cut approach with the mashie. Stance                               122
+
+LI. A cut approach with the mashie. Top of the swing                    122
+
+LII. A cut approach with the mashie. Finish                             122
+
+LIII. The niblick in a bunker. Top of an ordinary stroke when it is
+  intended to take much sand                                            136
+
+LIV. "Well out!" Finish of an ordinary stroke in a bunker when
+  much sand is taken                                                    136
+
+LV. Another bunker stroke. Top of the swing when intending to
+  take the ball cleanly and with a little cut                           136
+
+LVI. Finish, after taking the ball cleanly from a bunker                136
+
+LVII. Putting                                                           146
+
+LVIII. Putting                                                          146
+
+
+DIAGRAMS.
+
+Trajectory of ball when a distant slice is required                      89
+
+Trajectory of ball in the case of a quick slice                          90
+
+Method and effect of pulling into a cross wind from the right            94
+
+The push shot with the cleek                                            106
+
+Putting with cut on a sloping green                                     154
+
+Nails in golfing boots and shoes                                        167
+
+Points to look at when addressing the ball                              170
+
+
+
+
+THE COMPLETE GOLFER
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+GOLF AT HOME
+
+     The happy golfer--A beginning at Jersey--The Vardon family--An
+     anxious tutor--Golfers come to Grouville--A fine natural
+     course--Initiation as a caddie--Primitive golf--How we made our
+     clubs--Matches in the moonlight--Early progress--The study of
+     methods--Not a single lesson--I become a gardener--The advice of my
+     employer--"Never give up golf"--A nervous player to begin with--My
+     first competition--My brother Tom leaves home--He wins a prize at
+     Musselburgh--I decide for professionalism--An appointment at Ripon.
+
+
+I have sometimes heard good golfers sigh regretfully, after holing out
+on the eighteenth green, that in the best of circumstances as to health
+and duration of life they cannot hope for more than another twenty, or
+thirty, or forty years of golf, and they are then very likely inclined
+to be a little bitter about the good years of their youth that they may
+have "wasted" at some other less fascinating sport. When the golfer's
+mind turns to reflections such as these, you may depend upon it that it
+has been one of those days when everything has gone right and nothing
+wrong, and the supreme joy of life has been experienced on the links.
+The little white ball has seemed possessed of a soul--a soul full of
+kindness and the desire for doing good. The clubs have seemed endowed
+with some subtle qualities that had rarely been discovered in them
+before. Their lie, their balance, their whip, have appeared to reach the
+ideal, and such command has been felt over them as over a dissecting
+instrument in the hands of a skilful surgeon. The sun has been shining
+and the atmosphere has sparkled when, flicked cleanly from the tee, the
+rubber-cored ball has been sent singing through the air. The drives have
+all been long and straight, the brassy shots well up, the approaches
+mostly dead, and the putts have taken the true line to the tin. Hole
+after hole has been done in bogey, and here and there the common enemy
+has been beaten by a stroke. Perhaps the result is a record round, and,
+so great is the enthusiasm for the game at this moment, that it is
+regarded as a great misfortune that the sun has set and there is no more
+light left for play. These are the times when the golfer's pulse beats
+strong, and he feels the remorse of the man with the misspent youth
+because he was grown up and his limbs were setting before ever he teed a
+ball.
+
+Well, at least I can say that I have not missed much of the game that I
+love with a great fondness, for I played a kind of prehistoric golf when
+I was a bad boy of seven, and off and on I have played it ever since. It
+was fortunate for me that the common land at Jersey was years ago the
+ideal thing for a golfing links, and that golfers from abroad found out
+its secret, as they always do. If they had failed to do so in this case,
+I might still have been spending my life in horticultural pursuits. For
+I was born (on May 9, 1870) and bred in Jersey, at that little place
+called Grouville, which is no more than a collection of scattered
+cottages and farmhouses a few miles from St. Heliers. Both my parents
+were natives of Jersey, and my father, who was seventy-four on the 5th
+of last November, has been a gardener there all his life, holding the
+proud record of having changed his place of employment only once during
+the whole period. There was a big family of us--six boys and two
+girls--and all, except one of my sisters, are still alive. My brothers
+were George, Phil, Edward, Tom, and Fred, and I came fourth down the
+list, after Edward. As most golfers know, my brother Tom, to whom I owe
+very much, is now the professional at the Royal St. George's Club at
+Sandwich, while Fred is a professional in the Isle of Man. In due course
+we all went to the little village school; but I fear, from all that I
+can remember, and from what I have been told, that knowledge had little
+attraction for me in those days, and I know that I very often played
+truant, sometimes for three weeks at a stretch. Consequently my old
+schoolmaster, Mr. Boomer, had no particular reason to be proud of me at
+that time, as he seems to have become since. He never enjoys a holiday
+so much in these days as when he comes over from Jersey to see me play
+for the Open Championship, as he does whenever the meeting is held at
+Sandwich. But when I did win a Championship on that course, he was so
+nervous and excited about my play and my prospects that he felt himself
+unequal to watching me, and during most of the time that I was doing my
+four rounds he was sitting in a fretful state upon the seashore. I was a
+thin and rather delicate boy with not much physical strength, but I was
+as enthusiastic as the others in the games that were played at that
+time, and my first ambition was to excel at cricket. A while afterwards
+I became attached to football, and I retained some fondness for this
+game long after I took up golf. Even after my golfing tour in America a
+few years ago, when quite at my best, I captained the Ganton football
+team and played regularly in its matches.
+
+One day, when I was about seven years of age, a very shocking thing
+happened at Grouville. All the people there lived a quiet, undisturbed
+life, and had a very wholesome respect for the sanctity of the Sabbath
+day. But of all days of the week it was a Sunday when a small party of
+strange gentlemen made their appearance on the common land, and began to
+survey and to mark out places for greens and tees. Then the story went
+about that they were making preparations to play a game called golf.
+That was enough to excite the wrathful indignation of all the
+tenant-farmers round about, and without delay they began to think out
+means for expelling these trespassers from the common land. A tale of
+indignation spread through Grouville, and these golfers, of whom I
+remember that Mr. Brewster was one, were not at first regarded in the
+light of friendship. But they soon made their position secure by
+obtaining all necessary authority and permission for what they were
+about to do from the constable of the parish, and from that day we had
+to resign ourselves to the fact that a new feature had entered into the
+quiet life of Jersey. The little party went ahead with the marking out
+of their course, though indeed the natural state of the place was so
+perfect from the golfer's point of view that very little work was
+necessary, and no first-class golf links was ever made more easily.
+There were sand and other natural hazards everywhere, the grass was
+short and springy just as it is on all good sea-coast links, and all
+that it was necessary to do was to put a flag down where each hole was
+going to be, and run the mower and the roller over the space selected
+for the putting green. Rooms were rented at a little inn hard by, which
+was forthwith rechristened the Golf Inn, and the headquarters of the
+Jersey golfers are still at the same place, though a large club-room has
+been added. That was the beginning of the Royal Jersey Golf Club. The
+links as they were when they were first completed were really
+excellent--much better than they are to-day, for since then, in order to
+prevent the sand being blown all over the course by the strong winds
+which sweep across the island, the bunkers have in most cases been
+filled with clay, which has to a great extent spoiled them.
+
+When everything was ready, more of these golfers came across from
+England to play this new game which we had never seen before, and all
+the youngsters of the locality were enticed into their service to carry
+their clubs. I was among the number, and that was my first introduction
+to the game. We did not think much of it upon our first experience; but
+after we had carried for a few rounds we came to see that it contained
+more than we had imagined. Then we were seized with a desire to play it
+ourselves, and discover what we could do. But we had no links to play
+upon, no clubs, no balls, and no money. However, we surmounted all these
+difficulties. To begin with, we laid out a special course of our very
+own. It consisted of only four holes, and each one of them was only
+about fifty yards long, but for boys of seven that was quite enough. We
+made our teeing grounds, smoothed out the greens, and, so far as this
+part of the business was concerned, we were soon ready for play. There
+was no difficulty about balls, for we decided at once that the most
+suitable article for us, in the absence of real gutties, was the big
+white marble which we called a taw, and which was about half the size of
+an ordinary golf ball, or perhaps a little less than that. But there was
+some anxiety in our juvenile minds when the question of clubs came to be
+considered, and I think we deserved credit for the manner in which we
+disposed of it. It was apparent that nothing would be satisfactory
+except a club fashioned on the lines of a real golf club, and that to
+procure anything of the sort we should have to make it ourselves.
+Therefore, after several experiments, we decided that we would use for
+the purpose the hard wood of the tree which we called the lady oak. To
+make a club we cut a thick branch from the tree, sawed off a few inches
+from it, and then trimmed this piece so that it had a faint resemblance
+to the heads of the drivers we had seen used on the links. Any elaborate
+splicing operations were out of the question, so we agreed that we must
+bore a hole in the centre of the head. The shaft sticks that we chose
+and trimmed were made of good thorn, white or black, and when we had
+prepared them to our satisfaction we put the poker in the fire and made
+it red hot, then bored a hole with it through the head, and tightened
+the shaft with wedges until the club was complete. With this primitive
+driver we could get what was for our diminutive limbs a really long
+ball, or a long taw as one should say. In these later days a patent has
+been taken out for drivers with the shaft let into the head, which are
+to all intents and purposes the same in principle as those which we used
+to make at Grouville.
+
+By and by some of us became quite expert at the making of these clubs,
+and we set ourselves to discover ways and means of improving them. The
+greater elaboration of such brassies as we had seen impressed us, and we
+also found some trouble with our oak heads in that, being green, they
+were rather inclined to chip and crack. Ultimately we decided to sheathe
+the heads entirely with tin. It was not an easy thing to make a good job
+of this, and we were further troubled by the circumstance that our
+respective fathers had no sympathy with us, and declined upon any
+account to lend us their tools. Consequently we had no option but to
+wait until the coast was clear and then surreptitiously borrow the tools
+for an hour or two. We called these tin-plated drivers our brassies, and
+they were certainly an improvement on our original clubs. Occasionally a
+club was made in this manner which exhibited properties superior to
+those possessed by any other, as clubs will do even to-day. Forthwith
+the reputation of the maker of this club went up by leaps and bounds,
+and he was petitioned by others to make clubs for them, a heavy price in
+taws and marbles being offered for the service. The club that had
+created all this stir would change hands two or three times at an
+increasing price until it required the payment of four or five dozen
+marbles to become possessed of it. But the boy who owned the treasure
+was looked upon as the lord of the manor, and odds were demanded of him
+in the matches that we played.
+
+We practised our very elementary kind of golf whenever we could, and
+were soon enthusiastic. I remember particularly that many of our best
+matches were played in the moonlight. The moon seemed to shine more
+clearly at Jersey than in England, and we could see splendidly. Four of
+us would go out together on a moonlight night to play, and our little
+competition was arranged on the medal system by scores. Usually a few
+marbles were at stake. To prevent the loss of taws one of us was sent
+ahead to watch for their coming and listen for the faint thud of their
+fall, while the other three drove from the tee. Then the three came
+forward while the watcher went back to drive, and I am sorry to say that
+our keenness in those days led us to disregard certain principles of the
+sportsman's code of honour which we appreciated better as we grew up.
+What I mean is that the watcher was often handicapped in a way that he
+little suspected, for when he went back to the tee, and we went forward
+and found that our balls were not always so well up as we had hoped, we
+gave them a gentle kick forwards; for in the dim light we were able to
+do this unknown to each other. But in legitimate play we often got a 3
+at these fifty-yard holes, and with our home-made clubs, our little
+white taws, our lack of knowledge, and our physical feebleness all taken
+into consideration, I say we have often done less creditable things
+since then.
+
+After such beginnings, we progressed very well. We began to carry more
+and more for the golfers who came to Grouville; we found or were given
+real balls that took the place of the taws, and then a damaged club
+occasionally came our way, and was repaired and brought into our own
+service. Usually it was necessary to put in new shafts, and so we burnt
+holes in the heads and put in the sticks, as we did with clubs of our
+own make; but these converted clubs were disappointing in the matter of
+durability. It happened once or twice that golfers for whom we had been
+carrying gave us an undamaged club as a reward for our enthusiasm, and
+we were greatly excited and encouraged when such a thing happened. I
+used to carry clubs about twice a week. I remember that Mr. Molesworth
+and Dr. Purves, both well known in the golfing world, were two players
+for whom I very often carried, and only the other day when I saw the
+former at the Professional Tournament at Richmond, watching the play, I
+was able to remind him of those times and of a particular shot he once
+played. We young caddies were very eager to learn the game thoroughly,
+and we were in the habit of watching these golfers very closely,
+comparing their styles, and then copying anything from them that seemed
+to take our fancy. I may say at once, in reply to a question that I am
+often asked, and which perhaps my present readers may themselves be
+inclined to put, that I have never in my life taken a single golfing
+lesson from anyone, and that whatever style I may possess is purely the
+result of watching others play and copying them when I thought they made
+a stroke in a particularly easy and satisfactory manner. It was my habit
+for very many years after these early days, until in fact I had won the
+Open Championship, to study the methods of good golfers in this way, and
+there are few from whom one is not able to learn something. I cannot say
+that the play of any one man particularly impressed me; I cannot point
+to any player, past or present, and declare that I modelled my style on
+his. It seemed to me that I took a little from one and a little from
+another until my swing was a composition of the swings of several
+players, and my approach shots likewise were of a very mixed parentage.
+Of course when I took a hint from the play of anyone I had been watching
+it required much subsequent practice properly to weld it into my own
+system; but I think that this close watching of good players, and the
+borrowing from their styles of all information that you think is good,
+and then constantly practising the new idea yourself, is an excellent
+method of improving your golf, though I do not recommend it as the sole
+method of learning, despite the success which I personally have
+achieved. However, this is a matter for later consideration.
+
+As we were such a large family and my father's means were very limited,
+there was the necessity which is common in such cases for all of the
+boys to turn out early in life and do something towards helping the
+others, and accordingly I went to work when I was thirteen. Some time
+afterwards I became gardener to the late Major Spofforth of Beauview,
+who was himself a very keen golfer, and who occasionally gave me some of
+his old clubs. Now and then, when he was in want of a partner, he used
+to take me out to play with him, and I shall never forget the words he
+spoke to me one day after we had played one of these matches. "Henry, my
+boy," he said, "take my advice, and never give up golf. It may be very
+useful to you some day." Certainly his words came true. I can only
+remember about these games that I was in the habit of getting very
+nervous over them, much more so than I did later on when I played
+matches of far more consequence. I joined a working men's golf club that
+had been formed, and it was through this agency that I won my first
+prize. A vase was offered for competition among the members, the
+conditions being that six medal rounds were to be played at the rate of
+one a month. When we had played five, I was leading by so very many
+strokes that it was next to impossible for any of the others to catch me
+up, and as just then my time came for leaving home and going out into
+the greater world of golf, the committee kindly gave me permission to
+play my last round two or three weeks before the proper time. It removed
+all doubt as to the destination of the prize, which has still one of the
+most honoured places on my mantelpiece. At that time my handicap for
+this club was plus 3, but that did not mean that I would have been plus
+3 anywhere else. As a matter of fact, I should think I must have been
+about 8 or 10.
+
+By this time my younger brother Tom had already gone away to learn
+club-making from Lowe at St. Anne's-on-Sea. He played very much the same
+game of golf as I did at that time, and it was his venture and the
+success that waited upon it that made me determine to strike out. While
+Tom was at St. Anne's he went on a journey north to take part in a
+tournament at Musselburgh, where he captured the second prize. Thereupon
+I came to the conclusion that, if Tom could do that, then I too with a
+little patience might do the same. Indeed, I was a very keen golfer just
+then. At last Lowe was summoned to Lord Ripon's place at Ripon, near
+Harrogate, to lay out a new nine-holes course, and Tom wrote to me
+saying that they would be wanting a professional there, and if I desired
+such an appointment I had better apply for it without delay. I did so,
+and was engaged. I was twenty years of age when I left home to assume
+these duties.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+SOME REMINISCENCES
+
+     Not enough golf--"Reduced to cricket"--I move to Bury--A match with
+     Alexander Herd--No more nerves--Third place in an open
+     competition--I play for the Championship--A success at
+     Portrush--Some conversation and a match with Andrew Kirkaldy--Fifth
+     for the Championship at Sandwich--Second at the Deal
+     tournament--Eighth in the Championship at St. Andrews--I go to
+     Ganton--An invitation to the south of France--The Championship at
+     Muirfield--An exciting finish--A stiff problem at the last hole--I
+     tie with Taylor--We play off, and I win the Championship--A tale of
+     a putter--Ben Sayers wants a "wun'"--What Andrew thought of
+     Muirfield--I win the Championship again at Prestwick--Willie Park
+     as runner-up--My great match with Park--Excellent arrangements--A
+     welcome victory--On money matches in general--My third Championship
+     at Sandwich--My fourth at Prestwick--Golf under difficulties.
+
+
+No true golfer is satisfied with a little of the game, if there is no
+substantial reason why he should not have much of it. I was greenkeeper
+as well as professional to the Studley Royal Golf Club, Ripon; but golf
+did not seem to have taken a very deep root there up to that time. There
+was so little of it played that I soon found time hang heavily upon my
+hands, and in the summer I was reduced to playing cricket, and in fact
+played more with the bat than I did with the driver. There were one or
+two good players on the links occasionally, and now and then I had some
+good games with visitors to the place. One day after such a match my
+opponent remarked very seriously to me, "Harry, if you take my advice
+you will get away from here as quickly as you can, as you don't get half
+enough golf to bring you out." I took the advice very much to heart. I
+was not unduly conceited about my golf in those days, and the
+possibility of being Champion at some future time had taken no definite
+shape in my mind; but I was naturally ambitious and disinclined to waste
+any opportunities that might present themselves. So, when I saw that the
+Bury Golf Club were advertising for a professional, I applied for the
+post and got it. It was by no means a bad nine-holes course that I found
+at Bury, and I was enabled to play much more golf than at Ripon, while
+there were some very good amateurs there, Mr. S.F. Butcher being one of
+the best. I was now beginning to play fairly well, and the first
+professional match of my life was arranged for me, Alexander Herd of
+Huddersfield being my opponent in this maiden effort, upon the result of
+which a stake of a few pounds a side depended. Herd was by that time a
+famous player and accomplishing some very fine golf, so that on paper at
+all events the unknown Bury professional had no chance whatever. So
+indeed it proved. It was fixed that we were to play thirty-six holes,
+home and home, Herd having the privilege of playing on his own course
+first. I forget how many he was up at Huddersfield, but it was so many
+that I had practically no chance of wiping out the difference when I
+brought my opponent to Bury, and in the end he won quite easily. "Sandy"
+Herd, as we all call him, and I have had many great matches since then,
+and many of them of far greater consequence than this, but I shall never
+forget this beginning. Neither in those days, nor in the others that
+soon followed, when it became clear that I had a chance of becoming
+Champion, was I ever in the least troubled with nervousness. I was
+completely cured of my early complaint. Moreover, I have not known what
+it is to be nervous even in a Championship round when my fate depended
+upon almost every stroke, and particularly on those at the last few
+holes. The feeling that was always uppermost in my mind was that I had
+everything to gain and nothing to lose. It is only when a man has
+everything to lose and nothing to gain that he should become uneasy
+about his game. When you have won a few prizes and there are critical
+eyes upon you, there may be some excuse for nerves, but not before. All
+young players should grasp the simple truth of this simple statement;
+but it is surprising how many fail to do so. No stroke or game ever
+seemed to cause me any anxiety in those young days, and my rapid success
+may have been in a large measure due to this indifference.
+
+In 1893 I decided that I would enter for the Open Championship, which in
+that year was played for at Prestwick, and I went north in company with
+my brother Tom, stopping on our way to take part in the tournament at
+Kilmalcolm, which was attended by most of the other professionals. I did
+fairly well in this, the first open competition for which I entered,
+being bracketed with poor Hugh Kirkaldy for third place. But I failed in
+the Championship competition, as, of course, I fully expected to do.
+That was Willie Auchterlonie's year, and I was some way down the list. I
+started in great style, and, though I broke down badly later on, there
+was just the consolation left for me that after all I did better than my
+partner, Willie Campbell.
+
+There were some curious circumstances attending the first big success of
+any kind that I achieved. This was at Portrush in Ireland, shortly after
+the Championship meeting, and the competition was a professional
+tournament. I was drawn against Andrew Kirkaldy in the first round, and
+his brother Hugh was one of the next pair, so it seemed that the two
+Kirkaldys would meet in the second round. Andrew assumed that that would
+happen, as he had every right to do, and he was heard to remark that it
+was rather hard luck that the brothers should be set against each other
+in this manner so early in the competition. The night before the
+match-play part of the business commenced, I was walking down one of the
+streets of Portrush when I encountered Andrew himself, and in his own
+blunt but good-humoured way he remarked, "Young laddie, d'ye think y're
+gaun to tak the money awa' with ye? Ye've no chance, ye ken." I said
+nothing in reply, because I felt that he spoke the truth. Next day a
+heavy gale was blowing, and I started very cautiously. The first hole
+was on the side of a hill, and when my ball lay a yard from the flag and
+I had the next stroke for the hole, it was trembling in the wind and
+threatening every moment to start rolling. So I waited for it to steady
+itself, and my waiting exasperated Andrew to such an extent that at
+length he exclaimed, "Man, d'ye ken I'm cauld? Are ye gaun to keep me
+waiting here a' nicht?" Then I took the putt and missed it, so the hole
+was halved. However, I set about my opponent after that, and had begun
+to enjoy the game immensely by the time we reached the turn. At this
+point two of the holes ran parallel to each other, and as we were
+playing one of them we passed Hugh and his partner going up to the
+other. "Man, Andrew, hoo's the game?" called out brother Hugh. "Man
+alive, I'm five doon!" Andrew replied in tones of distress. "Ma
+conscience!" muttered Hugh as he passed along. Andrew was more than five
+down at the finish of that game, and in the second round I had the
+satisfaction of removing the remaining member of the Kirkaldy family
+from the competition, while in the semi-final I beat an old Open
+Champion, D. Brown. But in the final, Herd defeated me on the last
+green, and so I had to be content with the prize given for runner-up.
+Shortly afterwards I won another prize in a tournament at Ilkley, this
+time accounting for Herd as well as my brother Tom and many other
+well-known players. Tom was professional at Ilkley, and the course there
+was a very difficult nine holes.
+
+I did better in the competition for the Open Championship in the
+following year when the meeting was held at Sandwich, playing a
+particularly good game on the second day, when my 80 and 81 were one of
+the two lowest combined returns. At the finish I was fifth, and felt
+very pleased to occupy the position, for the excellence of the golf that
+I witnessed was a surprise to me. From Sandwich the professionals went
+on to Deal, where a tournament was held, in which I managed to secure
+second place. It was Herd who beat me once again. At St. Andrews in the
+1895 Competition, I returned the lowest score in the first round, but
+could only tie for the ninth place at the finish. My old friend, J.H.
+Taylor, who made his first essay to capture the blue ribbon of golf at
+Prestwick at the same time that I did, was the winner at both this and
+the previous Championship meeting. A few months later I left Bury for
+Ganton; Tom, who had been over there with some Ilkley players at the
+Yorkshire meeting, having heard that they were in need of a new
+professional, and written to me at once with advice to apply. Between
+leaving Bury and going to Ganton I had three weeks of good golf at Pau,
+in the south of France, the great and unexpected honour being paid me of
+an invitation to form one of a small party of professionals for whom a
+series of matches and competitions had been arranged there. Taylor,
+Herd, Archie Simpson, Willie Auchterlonie, and Lloyd, the local
+professional, were the others. Professional golfers when they are out
+together usually manage to have a pretty good time, and this occasion
+was no exception. Knowing a little French, I was once appointed cashier
+and paymaster for the party, but I did not know enough of the language
+to feel quite at home when large figures were the subject of discussion,
+and I remember that the result was an awkward incident at Bordeaux on
+the return journey. We were called upon to pay excess fare for the
+luxury of travelling in the express, and, failing to understand the
+ticket collector, I was filling his hand with francs, one by one,
+waiting for him to tell me when he was in possession of the required
+amount. But he needed more and more, and the situation was becoming
+embarrassing, when the guard whistled and the train moved off. If it had
+not been for that intervention we might still have been paying him
+excess fare. I went to Ganton immediately on my return, and in the
+spring of that year, 1896, a match between Taylor and myself was
+arranged on my new course, when I had the satisfaction of winning.
+
+I was looking forward very keenly to the Open Championship that year. It
+was at Muirfield, and it took place only four or five weeks after this
+encouraging victory over Taylor. In the meantime I had been a little off
+my game, and when I teed my first ball at Muirfield it seemed to me that
+I was as likely to make a bad drive as a good one, and I was equally
+uncertain with all the other clubs in my bag. But as it happened I was
+fortunate enough to be playing well during the competition, and was
+close up at the end of the first day, with Taylor in the next place
+above me. The next day I was again playing well, and the result was
+exciting. Taylor was doing his rounds only a few holes in front of me,
+and late in the contest it became apparent that the issue would be left
+between us. I did not know exactly what I had to do to win until about
+four holes from the finish, when someone, who had seen Taylor putt out
+at the last green, came up to me and told me what number of strokes was
+still left to me to play if I were to tie with him. When I came to the
+last hole I had set me what I think was the most anxious problem that
+has ever come my way since I first took up golf. I had five strokes left
+to play in order to tie with Taylor and give me the right to play off
+with him for the Championship, and four left with which to win it
+outright. It is a fairly long hole--a drive and a good brassy, with a
+very nasty bunker guarding the green. Thus, while it was an easy 5, it
+was a difficult 4, and the bold golfer who made his bid for the low
+figure might possibly be punished with a 6. My drive was good, and then
+I had to make my choice between the bold game and the sure one. A
+Championship hung upon the decision. The prospect of being the winner in
+less than five minutes was tempting. The brassy would give me the
+Championship or nothing. The iron would admit me to the privilege of
+playing off with Taylor another day. I hesitated. I think I would have
+taken the iron in any case; but just when I was longing for an
+inspiration, my eye wandered among the spectators some sixty or seventy
+yards in front of me, and I caught sight of my friend James Kay of
+Seaton Carew making frantic efforts to attract my attention, and
+pointing with his hand to the ground on the near side of the bunker as a
+hint to play short. That settled it. I played short, got my 5, and tied
+with Taylor with a total score of 316.
+
+The play-off was full of interest and excitement. Taylor and I were
+granted permission to take part in a tournament at North Berwick before
+we settled the question between us. When at length we teed up again at
+Muirfield, I felt as though I were fit to play for anything, and started
+in a way that justified my confidence, for I picked up a useful lead of
+five strokes in the first half-dozen holes. After that Taylor settled
+down to most brilliant golf, and brought my lead down to a single
+stroke; but at the end of the first round I was two to the good. To my
+exasperation, this lead disappeared with the very first stroke that I
+made after lunch. There is a wood running along the left-hand side of
+the line of the first hole on this course. With my cleek shot from the
+tee I pulled the ball into this dismal place, and by the rule in force
+at the time I lost two strokes and played again from the tee, Taylor
+holing out in 3 to my 5. However, at this crisis I came out again and
+won a stroke at each of the next three holes, and only lost one of them
+from that point to the seventeenth. Two strokes to the good and two
+holes to go--that at least seemed good for the Championship. On the
+seventeenth green, my brother Tom, who was carrying my clubs for me,
+took a lot of trouble to point out the line of a putt the whole length
+of the green, but something prompted me to take an entirely different
+course, and I holed the putt, gaining another stroke. There we were,
+Taylor and I, at that last hole again, but this time we were together,
+and I had a big advantage over my good friend on this occasion. There
+was more mental golf to be played, and though Taylor's ordeal was the
+more trying, neither of us had any difficulty in coming to a decision.
+My course was clear. With a lead of three strokes I had to play for a 5,
+as on the previous occasion, because it was certain to give me the
+Championship. Taylor's only chance was to blaze away with both his
+driver and his brassy, and trust to getting his second shot so well
+placed on the green as to secure a 3, which, in the event of my dropping
+a stroke through an accident in the bunker or elsewhere and taking 6,
+would enable him to tie. I obtained my 5 without difficulty, but
+Taylor's gallant bid for 3 met with an unhappy fate, for his second shot
+was trapped in the bunker, and it took him 6 to hole out. And so with a
+score of 157 to Taylor's 161, I was Open Champion at last, and for the
+first time in my life I felt some emotion as a golfer. I was too dazed
+to speak, and it seemed as if my feet had taken root on the eighteenth
+green, for I don't think I moved for several minutes.
+
+There is a little tale I want to tell about that Championship,
+illustrating the old saying that golf is a very funny game, and giving
+some point to a recommendation that I shall have to make later on. Never
+in my life have I putted better than I did in those two rounds. If, when
+I had a putt the whole length of the green, I did not actually rattle it
+into the tin, I laid it stone dead on the lip of the hole; on no green
+did I take more than two putts. Yet in the various rounds I had played
+on several days before my putting had been very indifferent. How came
+this remarkable change? It seems to me that it was entirely due to a
+chance visit that I paid to Ben Sayers's shop when I was at North
+Berwick in the interval between tieing with Taylor and playing the
+deciding rounds. I told the clubmaker who was in charge that I was off
+my putting, and wanted a new putter. Hitherto I had been playing with
+one of the bent-necked variety. While I was looking about the shop my
+eye was attracted by an old cleek that lay in a corner--a light and
+neglected club, for which nobody seemed to have any use. The strange
+idea occurred to me that this would make a grand putter, and so I told
+the man to take out the old shaft and put a new and shorter one in, and
+when this process had been completed I determined to experiment with it
+in the play-off with Taylor. I fancied this new discovery of mine and
+had confidence in it, and that was why I got all those long putts down
+and achieved the golfer's greatest ambition. But though I keep it still
+and treasure it, I have never played with that putter since. It has done
+its duty.
+
+I must tell just one other story concerning this Muirfield Championship.
+Among the favourites at the beginning of operations were Ben Sayers and
+Andrew Kirkaldy, and a victory on the part of either of them would have
+been most popular in the North, as it would have settled the cup on the
+other side of the Tweed. Ben was rather inclined to think his own
+prospects were good. Someone asked him the day before the meeting who
+was the most likely Champion. "Jist gie me a wun' an' I'll show ye
+wha'll be the Champion," he replied, and he had some reason for the
+implied confidence in himself, for he knew Muirfield very well, and no
+one had better knowledge of how to play the strokes properly there when
+there was a gale blowing over the course, and pulling and slicing were
+constantly required. But neither Ben nor Andrew was as successful as was
+wished, and not unnaturally they thought somewhat less of Muirfield than
+they had done before. Therefore it was not fair to ask Kirkaldy, after
+the competition had been completed, what he really considered to be the
+merits of the course. I was standing near him when a player came up and
+bluntly asked, "What d'ye think o' Muirfield now, Andrew?" Andrew's lip
+curled as he replied, "No for gowff ava'. Just an auld watter meedie.
+I'm gled I'm gaun hame." But the inquirer must needs ejaculate, "Hooch
+ay, she would be ferry coot whateffer if you had peen in Harry Fardon's
+shoes."
+
+There was an exciting finish also to the 1898 Championship, which was
+held at Prestwick. The final struggle was left to Willie Park and
+myself, and at the end of the third round, when Willie was three strokes
+to the good, it seemed a very likely victory for him. In the last round
+I was playing a hole in front of him, and we were watching each other as
+cats watch mice the whole way round the links. I made a reckoning when
+we reached the turn that I had wiped out the three strokes deficit, and
+could now discuss the remainder of the game with Park without any sense
+of inferiority. I finished very steadily, and when Park stood on the
+last tee just as I had holed out, he was left to get a 3 at this
+eighteenth hole to tie. His drive was a beauty, and plop came the ball
+down to the corner of the green, making the 3 seem a certainty. An
+immense crowd pressed round the green to see these fateful putts, and in
+the excitement of the moment, I, the next most concerned man to Park
+himself, was elbowed out. I just saw his long putt roll up to within
+about a yard of the hole, which was much too dead for my liking. Then,
+while Park proceeded to carry out his ideas of accomplishing a
+certainty, I stood at the edge of the crowd, seeing nothing and feeling
+the most nervous and miserable man alive. Never while playing have I
+felt so uncomfortable as during those two or three minutes. After what
+seemed an eternity there rose from all round the ring one long
+disappointed "O-o-o-h!" I didn't stop to look at the ball, which was
+still outside the hole. I knew that I had won the Championship again,
+and so I hastened light-heartedly away. I must admit that Park was
+playing an exceedingly fine game at that time, and it was only the fact
+that I was probably playing as well as ever I did in my life that
+enabled me to get the better of him. The day after winning the
+Championship I gained the first prize in a tournament at the adjoining
+course of St. Nicholas, and thereafter I frequently took part in
+competitions, winning much more often than not.
+
+But the most important event, and the biggest match I ever had with
+anyone, was my engagement with Willie Park, who, not altogether
+satisfied at having missed the Championship by a putt, challenged me to
+play him home and home matches, thirty-six holes each time, for L100 a
+side. There was some difficulty in arranging final details, but
+eventually we agreed to play at North Berwick and Ganton, North Berwick
+first. I have never seen such a golfing crowd as there was at North
+Berwick the day we played there. All golfing Scotland seemed to be in
+attendance, and goodness knows how many people would have been watching
+the play if it had not happened that the lukewarm golfers went instead
+to Edinburgh to see the Prince of Wales, who was visiting the capital
+that day. As it was, there were fully seven thousand people on the
+links, and yet this huge crowd--surely one of the very biggest that have
+ever watched a golf match--was perfectly managed, and never in the least
+interfered with a single stroke made by either Park or myself. The
+arrangements, indeed, were admirable. In order to keep the crowd
+informed of the state of the game at each hole, two flags were made, one
+being white with a red "P" on it, and the other red with a "V" worked on
+in white. When Park won a hole the flag with his initial was hoisted,
+and the "V" was sent up when I won a hole, both flags being waved when
+it was a half. At each teeing ground a rope three hundred yards long was
+stretched, and fourteen constables and a like number of honorary
+officials took control of it. In order to prevent any inconvenience at
+the dyke on the course, a boarding, forty feet wide and fifty yards out
+of the line from the tee to the hole, was erected, so that the crowd
+could walk right over. Mr. C.C. Broadwood, the Ganton captain, acted as
+my referee, and Lieutenant "Freddy" Tait served in the same capacity on
+behalf of Park. One of the most laborious tasks was that undertaken by
+the two Messrs. Hunter, who acted as forecaddies, and did their work
+splendidly. In two practice rounds that I played before the great
+encounter opened I did 76 each time, and I felt very fit when we teed up
+on the eventful morning. And I played very steadily, too, though my
+putting was sometimes a little erratic, and Park is one of the greatest
+putters who have ever lived. The early part of the game was very
+extraordinary in that the first ten holes were halved in 4, 5, 4, 4, 4,
+4, 4, 5, 4, 4. Then Park drew first blood, but in the end I finished two
+up on the day's play. When Park came to Ganton three weeks later, I beat
+him on the two matches by 11 up with 10 to play. Naturally he was
+disappointed, but he was very sportsmanlike. He was acknowledged to be
+the greatest match-player of his time. I do not care for myself to lay
+any more stress on the importance of this match, or of the value of my
+own achievement; but those who have taken up golf quite lately can have
+no conception of the stir that it caused. It was the event of my
+lifetime.
+
+The remembrance of this encounter brings forward the question of big
+money matches generally, which several people have declared they would
+like to see renewed. Fifty years ago they were common enough, and there
+are great stories told of foursomes between Allan Robertson and Tom
+Morris on the one side and the brothers Dunn on the other for a stake of
+L400, and so on. The sightseers of golf ask why there are no such
+matches now. I think it is because golf professionals have to work too
+hard for the money they earn, and they do not care for the idea of
+throwing it away again on a single match. They do not receive large
+"benefits" or gate money, as do professionals in other branches of
+sport. So they deem it best to be careful of their savings. Besides,
+such matches tend to create bad feeling among the players, and we
+professionals are such a happy family that we distrust any scheme with
+such a tendency. Moreover, golf at the present time is a delightfully
+pure game, so far as gambling is concerned--purer than most others--and
+such matches would very likely encourage the gambling idea. That would
+be a misfortune. I contend that after all, for the best and fairest and
+most interesting trial of strength there is nothing like a good
+tournament where each player has to test himself against all comers.
+Every man plays to win, the golf is generally good, and what more is
+wanted?
+
+When I won the Championship again in the following year at Sandwich, my
+success was chiefly due to my brassy play, which was better than it ever
+was before or has been since. From my brassy strokes the ball was often
+enough laid dead near the hole; certainly my second shots were always
+the winning shots. The game seemed very easy to me then, and I gained
+the Championship for the third time with less difficulty than on either
+of the two previous occasions. In 1900 I made a long tour in America,
+and won the American Championship. Concerning these events I desire to
+write at some length in a later chapter. The greatest success which I
+have ever achieved in face of difficulties was when I again became Open
+Champion at Prestwick in 1903. For some time beforehand I had been
+feeling exceedingly unwell, and, as it appeared shortly afterwards,
+there was serious trouble brewing. During the play for the Championship
+I was not at all myself, and while I was making the last round I was
+repeatedly so faint that I thought it would be impossible for me to
+finish. However, when I holed my last putt I knew that I had won. My
+brother Tom was runner-up, six strokes behind, and, glad as I was of the
+distinction of having equalled the record of the two Morrises in having
+won the Championship four times, I could have wished, and did wish, that
+Tom had been the victor. In all the circumstances I was very much
+surprised that I did so well. The last day's work was an enormous
+strain, yet on the following day I played in a tournament at Irvine, won
+the first prize, and broke the record of the course. It is wonderful
+what golf can be played when one's mind is given to the task, whatever
+the adverse factors in the case may be.
+
+However, these are the events of recent golfing history, and I have no
+desire to inflict upon my readers a narrative of any more of them. As
+nearly as I can reckon, I have up to date won the first prize in
+forty-eight first-class tournaments, and by being four times British
+Open Champion and once American have still that record to my credit. And
+I hope to play many of my best games in the future, for it takes longer
+to kill the golf in a man than it does to breed it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE WAY TO GOLF
+
+     The mistakes of the beginner--Too eager to play a round--Despair
+     that follows--A settling down to mediocrity--All men may excel--The
+     sorrows of a foozler--My advice--Three months' practice to begin
+     with--The makings of a player--Good golf is best--How Mr. Balfour
+     learned the game--A wise example--Go to the professional--The
+     importance of beginning well--Practise with each club
+     separately--Driver, brassy, cleek, iron, mashie, and putter--Into
+     the hole at last--Master of a bag of clubs--The first match--How
+     long drives are made--Why few good players are coming on--Golf is
+     learned too casually.
+
+
+There are different ways of learning to play the great game of golf,
+each of which enjoys its share of patronage. Here as elsewhere, there
+are, of course, the two broad divisions into which the methods of doing
+all things are in the first instance classed--the right way and the
+wrong way--and, generally speaking, the wrong way has proved the more
+popular and is accountable for much of the very bad golf that one sees
+almost every day upon the links. There are two mistakes to which the
+beginner is much addicted, and to them is due the unhappy circumstance
+that in so many cases he never gets his club handicap down to single
+figures. Before he has ever played golf in his life, but at that
+interesting period when he has made up his mind to do so, and has bought
+his first set of clubs, he is still inclined to make the same error that
+is made by so many people who know nothing of the game, and loftily
+remark that they do not want to know anything--that it is too absurdly
+simple to demand serious thought or attention, and can surely need no
+special pains in learning to play. Is not the ball quite still on the
+tee before you, and all that is necessary being to hit it, surely the
+rest is but a question of strength and accuracy of aim? Well, we need
+not waste time in discussing the opinions of the scoffers outside, or in
+submitting that there never was a game less easy to learn than golf. But
+the man who has been converted to golf most frequently has a vestige of
+this superstition of his heathen days lingering with him, and thus at
+the outset he is not inclined to waste any time, as he would say, in
+tuition, particularly as it happens that these new converts when quite
+fresh are invariably most delightfully enthusiastic. They have promised
+themselves a new sensation, and they are eager to get on to the links
+and see how much further than the two hundred yards that they have heard
+about they can drive at the first attempt or two. Then comes the
+inevitable disappointment, the despair, the inclination to give it up,
+and finally the utter abject despondency which represents the most
+miserable state on earth of the golfer, in which he must be closely
+watched lest he should commit murder upon the beautiful set of clubs of
+which at the beginning he was so proud, and which he spent his evenings
+in brightening to the degree that they resembled the family plate. Then
+after this passage through purgatory come the first gleams of hope, when
+two holes in succession have been done in only one over bogey, and a 24
+handicap man has actually been beaten by 3 up and 2 to play--a conquest
+which, if it is the first one, is rarely forgotten in the golfer's
+lifetime. After that there is a steady settling down to mediocrity.
+There is afterwards only an occasional fit of despair, the game is for
+the most part thoroughly enjoyed, there are times when, after a round in
+which driving and putting have been rather better than usual, the golfer
+encourages himself over his cup of tea with the fancy that after all he
+may some day win a medal and become a senior; but in the main the
+conviction forces itself upon him that it is impossible that he can ever
+become a really fine player. He argues that this is not at all his own
+fault. He points out to himself that circumstances are too strong for
+him. He considers that he is not very young--at least not so young as
+many of the experts of his club who have been golfing ever since they
+were boys. His limbs have not that suppleness which makes the scratch
+player. His eye is not so keen as theirs. Besides, he is a business man
+who has to give up so much of his time to the earning of his daily bread
+that it is impossible he should ever devote himself to the game with
+that single-mindedness which alone can ensure proficiency. He must take
+himself as he finds himself, and be satisfied with his 18 handicap.
+These are the somewhat pathetic excuses that he makes in this mood of
+resignation. Of course he is wrong--wrong from the beginning to the
+end--but there is little satisfaction in that for the earnest lover of
+the game who would see all men excel, and who knows only too well that
+this failure is but a specimen of hundreds of his kind--good golfing
+lives thrown away, so to speak. If a man is not a cripple, if he suffers
+from no physical defect, there is no reason why he should not learn to
+play a good game of golf if he goes about it in the right way. There is
+indeed a one-armed golfer who plays a very fair game, and one may admit
+all these things without in any way suggesting that golf is not a game
+for the muscles and the nerves and all the best physical qualities of a
+well-grown man. No great amount of brute force is necessary, and
+fleetness of foot, which men lose as they grow old, is never wanted; but
+still golf is a game for manly men, and when they take it up they should
+strive to play it as it deserves to be played.
+
+Now I know what severe temptation there will be to all beginners to
+disregard the advice that I am about to offer them; but before
+proceeding any further I will invite them to take the opinion of any old
+golfer who, chiefly through a careless beginning (he knows that this is
+the cause), has missed his way in the golfer's life, and is still
+plodding away as near the limit handicap as he was at the beginning.
+The beginner may perhaps be disposed to rely more upon the statement of
+this man of experience and disappointment than on that of the
+professional, who is too often suspected of having his own ends in view
+whenever he gives advice. Let the simple question be put to him whether,
+if he could be given the chance of doing it all over again from the
+beginning, he would not sacrifice the first three or six months of play
+to diligent study of the principles of the game, and the obtaining of
+some sort of mastery over each individual shot under the careful
+guidance of a skilled tutor, not attempting during this time a single
+complete round with all his clubs in action, and refusing all
+temptations to play a single match--whether he would not undergo this
+slow and perhaps somewhat tedious period of learning if he could be
+almost certain of being able at the end of it to play a really good game
+of golf, and now at this later period of his career to have a handicap
+much nearer the scratch mark than his existing one is to the border-line
+between the senior and the junior? I am confident that in the great
+majority of cases, looking back on his misspent golfing youth, he would
+answer that he would cheerfully do all this learning if he could begin
+again at the beginning. Now, of course, it is too late, for what is once
+learned can only with extreme difficulty be unlearned, and it is almost
+impossible to reform the bad style and the bad habits which have taken
+root and been cultivated in the course of many years; and if it were
+possible it would be far more difficult than it would have been to learn
+the game properly at the beginning.
+
+My earnest advice to the beginner is to undergo this slow process of
+tuition for nothing less than three months, and preferably more. It is a
+very long time, I know, and it may seem painfully tedious work, simply
+knocking a ball backwards and forwards for all those months; but if he
+does not accept my suggestion he will have harder things to try his
+patience during many years afterwards, while, if he takes my advice, he
+may be down very near to scratch at the end of his first year, and he
+will be very thankful that he spent the period of probation as he did.
+He will constantly be giving a half to players who have been playing for
+more years than he has months, and he will be holding his own in the
+very best golfing company. He will be getting the finest delight out of
+the game that it is possible to get. It is said that the long handicap
+man gets as much pleasure out of the game as the short handicap man. As
+the former has never been a short handicap man he is evidently not
+qualified to judge. The scratch man, who has been through it all, would
+never change his scratch play for that of his old long-handicap days--at
+least I have never yet met the scratch man who would. No doubt the noble
+army of foozlers derive an immense amount of enjoyment from the practice
+of their game, and it is my earnest prayer that they may long continue
+to do so. It is one of the glorious advantages of golf that all, the
+skilled and the unskilled, can revel in its fascinations and mysteries;
+but there is no golfing delight so splendid as that which is obtained
+from playing the perfect game, or one which nearly approaches it. The
+next best thing to it is playing what one knows to be an improving game,
+however bad, and the golfer whose play has been incorrectly established
+has not often even the knowledge that his game is improving. He declares
+more often than not that it gets worse, and one is frequently inclined
+to believe him.
+
+Now the middle-aged man may say that he is too old to go in for this
+sort of thing, that all he wants is a little fresh air and exercise, and
+as much enjoyment as he can get out of playing the game in just the same
+sort of way that the "other old crocks" do. He would rather play well,
+of course, if it were not too late to begin; but it is too late, and
+there is an end of it. That is the way in which he puts it. So large a
+proportion of our new converts to golf belong to this middle-aged class,
+that it is worth while giving a few special words of advice to them. Mr.
+Forty and Mr. Forty-Five, you are not a day too old, and I might even
+make scratch men of you, if I were to take you in hand and you did all
+the things I told you to do and for as long as I told you. Given fair
+circumstances, there is no reason why any man should despair of becoming
+either a scratch player or one who is somewhere very near it, and it is
+as easy to learn to play well as it is to learn to play badly.
+
+So I advise every golfer to get hold of the game stroke by stroke, and
+never be too ambitious at the commencement. I have heard it stated on
+very good authority that when Mr. Balfour first began to play he
+submitted himself to very much the same process of tuition as that which
+I am about to advise, and that under the guidance of Tom Dunn he
+actually spent a miserable fortnight in bunkers only, learning how to
+get out of them from every possible position. The right honourable
+gentleman must have saved hundreds of strokes since then as the result
+of that splendid experience, trying as it must have been. He is in these
+days a very good and steady player, and he might be still better if
+parliamentary cares did not weigh so heavily upon him. I may humbly
+suggest that the way in which he began to play golf was characteristic
+of his wisdom.
+
+Therefore, when the golfer has become possessed of his first set of
+clubs, let him proceed to the shop of a good professional
+player--presumably it will be the shop where he bought his clubs--and
+let him place himself unreservedly in the hands of this expert in the
+game. Most professionals are good players and good teachers, and the
+golfer cannot go far wrong in this matter if he allows himself to be
+guided by his own instincts. I say that he should place himself
+unreservedly in this man's hands; but in case it should be necessary I
+would make one exception to this stipulation. If he thinks well of my
+advice and desires to do the thing with the utmost thoroughness from the
+beginning, he may request that for the first lesson or two no ball may
+be put upon the ground at which to practise swings. The professional is
+sure to agree that this is the best way, though he encounters so few
+beginners who are prepared to make all the sacrifices that I have
+suggested, that he might have hesitated in recommending this course of
+procedure himself.
+
+A golfer's swing is often made for good or ill in the first week of his
+experience. His first two days of practice may be of the greatest
+importance in fashioning his style. If, when he takes his first lesson
+or two and makes his first few swings, he has a ball on the ground
+before him which he is trying to hit, all his thoughts will be
+concentrated on what appears to him to be the necessity of hitting
+it--hitting it at any cost. No matter what he has been told about the
+way to swing, he will forget it all in this moment of anxiety, and swing
+anyhow. In such circumstances a really natural and proper swing is
+rarely accomplished, and, before the golfer is aware of the frightful
+injustice he has done himself, his future prospects will probably have
+been damaged. But if he has no ball before him he will surely learn to
+swing his club in exactly the way in which it ought to be swung. His
+whole mind will be concentrated upon getting every detail of the action
+properly regulated and fixed according to the advice of his tutor, and
+by the time he has had two lessons in this way he will have got so
+thoroughly into the natural swing, that when he comes to have a ball
+teed up in front of him he will unconsciously swing at it in the same
+manner as he did when it was absent, or nearly so. The natural swing, or
+some of its best features, will probably be there, although very likely
+they will be considerably distorted.
+
+At the same time the young golfer must not imagine because he has
+mastered the proper swing when there is no ball before him, that he has
+overcome any considerable portion of the difficulties of golf, for even
+some of the very best players find that they can swing very much better
+without a ball than with one. However, he may now taste the sweet
+pleasure of driving a ball from the tee, or of doing his best with that
+object in view. His initial attempts may not be brilliant; it is more
+than likely that they will be sadly disappointing. He may take comfort
+from the fact that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred they are so.
+But by and by a certain confidence will come, he will cease, under the
+wise advice of his tutor, to be so desperately anxious to hit the ball
+anyhow so long as he hits it, and then in due course the correctness of
+swing which he was taught in his first two days will assert itself, and
+the good clean-hit drives will come. There will be duffings and toppings
+and slicings, but one day there will be a long straight drive right away
+down the course, and the tyro will be told that the professional himself
+could not have done it better. This is one of the most pleasurable
+moments in life.
+
+His system of practice thereafter should be upon the following lines. He
+should continue to practise diligently with his driver until he gets
+these good, long balls nearly every time, sternly resisting the
+temptation even to so much as look at any of the other nice new clubs
+that he has got in his bag, and whose mysteries he is exceedingly
+curious to investigate. It may take him a week or a fortnight or a month
+to master the driver; but he should do it before he gives a thought to
+any other club. When he can use the driver with confidence, he may take
+out his new brassy and go through the same process with that, until he
+feels that on a majority of occasions, from a fairly decent lie, he
+could depend upon making a respectable brassy shot. He will find
+unsuspected difficulties in the brassy, and in doing his best to
+overcome them he will probably lose to some extent the facility for
+driving which he had acquired. Therefore, when he has become a player
+with his brassy, he should devote a short space of time to getting back
+on to his drive. It will not take him long, and then he should take out
+both the clubs he has been practising with and hammer away at the two
+of them together, until after a large amount of extra practice he finds
+that he is fairly reliable in driving a ball from the tee to begin with,
+and putting in a creditable second shot with his brassy from the lie
+upon which he found his ball.
+
+During this second stage of learning he must deny himself the pleasure
+of trying his iron clubs just as rigorously as he restrained himself
+from the brassy when he was practising drives only; but when the driver
+and the brassy are doing well, he may go forward with the cleek. He will
+not find this learning such dull work after all. There will be something
+new in store for him every week, and each new club as it is taken out of
+the bag will afford an entirely new set of experiences. After the driver
+and the brassy it will be like a new game when he comes to try cleek
+shots, and in the same way he will persevere with the cleek until it is
+evident that he really knows how to use it. The driver, the brassy, and
+the cleek may then be practised with on the same occasion, and if he has
+made the best use of his time and is an apt pupil, he will find himself
+now and then, with these three shots taken in turn, getting beyond the
+green at some of the longest holes. Next it will be the turn of the
+iron, and so in due season he will be able to practise with the driver,
+the brassy, the cleek, and the iron. The mashie will follow, and then
+the five of them together, and at last he may have an afternoon on the
+green trying his skill with a putter, and listening for the first time
+to the music of the ball--no such music as this to the golfer's ear,
+though it consists of but a single note--as it drops into the tin and is
+holed out at last.
+
+He is at work now with all the clubs that are usually necessary to play
+a hole; but at the risk of seeming over careful I would warn him once
+more against going along too fast, and thinking that even at this stage
+he is able to embark on match play with all the days of studentship left
+behind. When he takes out his full set of clubs, he will find, in using
+them as occasion demands, that he is strangely erratic all of a sudden
+with one or two of them. Let him have half an hour's practice once more
+alone with these troublesome fellows until the old order of things has
+been restored. Let him treat all other offenders in the same manner. He
+must be determined that there shall not be a club in his bag that shall
+be allowed to play these tricks with him. Let one day's hard labour be
+the invariable penalty, until at last they are all obedient in his
+hands, and the joyful day comes when he feels that he can pick any tool
+out of his golfing bag and use it skilfully and well, and that after
+examining a ball in any lie, at any distance from the hole, or with any
+hazard before him, he knows exactly how it should be played, and feels
+that he has a very reasonable chance of playing it in that way and
+achieving the success that such a shot deserves. Such a stroke will not
+be brought off correctly every time; the golfer has not yet been born
+who always does the right thing in the right way. But the more one
+practises the more frequently will he succeed. Following Mr. Balfour's
+good example, the beginner may do worse than spend a few days trying the
+most difficult strokes he can discover on his links, for in actual play
+he will find himself in these difficult places often enough to begin
+with, and a little special study of such shots at the outset will prove
+a very valuable investment of time. The ball should be thrown down
+carelessly at different places, and should be played from the spot at
+which it settles, however uninviting that spot may be.
+
+When he has secured a fair command over all his clubs, from the driver
+to the niblick, the golf student may play a round of the links; but he
+should do so only under the watchful eye of the professional, for he
+will find that in thus marching on from hole to hole, and perhaps
+getting a little excited now and then when he plays a hole more than
+usually well, it is only too easy to forget all the good methods in
+which he has been so carefully trained, and all the wise maxims he
+knows so well by heart that he could almost utter them in his sleep. Let
+him play a few rounds in this way, and in between them devote himself as
+assiduously as ever to practise with individual clubs, before he thinks
+of playing his first match. He must settle his game on a secure
+foundation before he measures his strength against an opponent, for
+unless it is thus safeguarded it is all too likely that it will crumble
+to ruins when the enemy is going strongly, and the novice feels, with a
+sense of dismay, that he is not by any means doing himself justice. Of
+course I am not suggesting that he should wait until he has advanced far
+towards perfection before he engages in his first match. When he has
+thoroughly grasped the principles and practice of the game, there is
+nothing like match play for proving his quality, but he should not be in
+haste thus to indulge himself. Any time from three to six months from
+the day when he first took a club in hand will be quite soon enough, and
+if he has been a careful student, and is in his first match not overcome
+with nerves, he should render a good account of himself and bring
+astonishment to the mind of his adversary when the latter is told that
+this is the first match of a lifetime.
+
+During the preparatory period the golfer will be wise to limit his
+practices to three or four days a week. More than this will only tire
+him and will not be good for his game. I have only now to warn him
+against a constant attempt, natural but very harmful, to drive a much
+longer ball every time than was driven at the previous stroke. He must
+bring himself to understand that length comes only with experience, and
+that it is due to the swing becoming gradually more natural and more
+certain. He may see players on the links driving thirty or forty yards
+further than he has ever driven, and, wondering why, he is seized with a
+determination to hit harder, and then the old, old story of the foozled
+drive is told again. He forgets that these players are more experienced
+than he is, that their swing is more natural to them, and that they are
+more certain of it. In these circumstances the extra power which they
+put into their stroke is natural also. To give him an exact idea of what
+it is that he ought to be well satisfied with, I may say that the
+learner who finds that he is putting just two or three yards on to his
+drive every second week, may cease to worry about the future, for as
+surely as anything he will be a long driver in good time.
+
+In the course of this volume there are several chapters describing the
+way in which the various strokes should be played, but I am no believer
+in learning golf from books alone. I do not think it likely that the
+professional teacher who is giving the pupil lessons will disagree with
+any of the chief points of the methods that I explain, and, read in
+conjunction with his frequent lessons at the beginning of his golfing
+career, and later on studied perhaps a little more closely and
+critically, I have hope that they will prove beneficial. At all events,
+as I have already suggested, in the following pages I teach the system
+which has won Championships for me, and I teach that system only.
+
+It is perhaps too much to hope, after all, that any very large
+proportion of my readers will make up their minds to the
+self-sacrificing thoroughness which I have advocated, and undertake a
+careful preparation of from three to six months' duration before really
+attempting to play golf. If they all did so we should have some fine new
+players. It is because they do not learn to play in this way that so few
+good players are coming to the fore in these days. One is sometimes
+inclined to think that no new golfer of the first class has come forward
+during the last few years. In my opinion it is all due to the fact that
+nowadays they learn their game too casually.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE CHOICE AND CARE OF CLUBS
+
+     Difficulties of choice--A long search for the best--Experiments
+     with more than a hundred irons--Buy few clubs to begin with--Take
+     the professional's advice--A preliminary set of six--Points of the
+     driver--Scared wooden clubs are best--Disadvantages of the
+     socket--Fancy faces--Short heads--Whip in the shaft--The question
+     of weight--Match the brassy with the driver--Reserve clubs--Kinds
+     of cleeks--Irons and mashies--The niblick--The putting problem--It
+     is the man who putts and not the putter--Recent inventions--Short
+     shafts for all clubs--Lengths and weights of those I use--Be
+     careful of your clubs--Hints for preserving them.
+
+
+The good golfer loves his clubs and takes a great and justifiable pride
+in them. He has many reasons for doing so. Golf clubs are not like most
+other implements that are used in sport. A man may go to a shop and pick
+out a cricket bat or a billiard cue with which he may be tolerably
+certain he will be able to play something approaching to his best game
+when he is in the mood for playing it. The acquaintance which is begun
+in the shop is complete a few days later. But a man may see a golf club
+which he strongly fancies and buy it, and yet find himself utterly
+incapable of using it to good advantage. He may purchase club after
+club, and still feel that there is something wanting in all of them,
+something which he cannot define but which he knows ought to exist if
+his own peculiar style of play is to be perfectly suited. Until he finds
+this club he is groping in the dark. One driver may be very much like
+another, and even to the practised eye two irons may be exactly similar;
+but with one the golfer may do himself justice, and with the other court
+constant failure. Therefore, the acquisition of a set of clubs, each
+one of which enjoys the complete confidence of its owner, is not the
+task of a week or even a year. There are some golfers who do not
+accomplish it in many years, and happy are they when at last they have
+done so. Then they have a very sincere attachment to each one of these
+instruments, that have been selected with so much difficulty. It is not
+always possible to give reasons for their excellence, for the subtle
+qualities of the clubs are not visible to the naked eye. Their owners
+only know that at last they have found the clubs that are the best for
+them, and that they will not part with them for any money--that is, if
+they are golfers of the true breed. In these days I always play with the
+same set of irons. They are of different makes, and to the average
+golfer they appear quite ordinary irons and very much like others of
+their class. But they are the results of trials and tests of more than
+one hundred clubs.
+
+Therefore no golfer in his early days should run away with the idea that
+he is going to suit himself entirely with a set of clubs without much
+delay, and though his purse may be a small one, I feel obliged to
+suggest that money spent in the purchase of new clubs which he strongly
+fancies, during his first few years of play, is seldom wasted. Many of
+the new acquisitions may be condemned after a very short trial; but
+occasionally it will happen that a veritable treasure is discovered in
+this haphazard manner. With all these possibilities in view, the
+beginner, knowing nothing of golf, and being as yet without a style to
+suit or any peculiar tastes that have to be gratified, should restrain
+himself from the desire to be fully equipped with a "complete outfit" at
+the very beginning of his career. Let him buy as few clubs as possible,
+knowing that it is quite likely that not one of those which he purchases
+at this stage will hold a place in his bag a year or two later. As he
+can have no ideas at all upon the subject, he should leave the entire
+selection of his first bag to some competent adviser, and he will not
+generally find such an adviser behind the counter at a general athletic
+outfitting establishment in the town or city, which too often is the
+direction in which he takes his steps when he has decided to play the
+game. In these stores the old and practised golfer may often pick up a
+good club at a trifling cost; but the beginner would be more likely to
+furnish himself with a set which would be poor in themselves and quite
+unsuited for his purpose.
+
+The proper place for him to go to is the professional's shop which is
+attached to the club of which he has become a member. Nearly all clubs
+have their own professionals, who are makers and sellers of clubs, and I
+know no professional who is not thoroughly conscientious in this part of
+his business. It pays him to give the completest satisfaction to his
+clients, and particularly to the members of his own club. This
+professional is also a first-class golfer, who knows all, or nearly all,
+that there is to be known about the game, and who in his time has had
+imposed upon him the difficult task of teaching hundreds of beginners
+their first steps in golf. Thus he knows better than any man the erratic
+tendencies of the golfing initiate and the best means of counteracting
+them. Experience has given him the faculty for sizing up the golfing
+points of the tyro almost at the first glance, and therefore he can
+supply him at the beginning with those clubs with which certainly he
+will have most chance of success. He will suit his height and his build
+and his reach, and he will take care that the clubs in the set which he
+makes up are in harmony with each other and will have that lie which
+will best suit the player who is to use them. And even though, when the
+beginner gathers knowledge of the game and finds out his own
+style--which neither he nor the professional can determine in
+advance--some of them may gradually become unsuitable to him, they are
+nevertheless likely to be in themselves good clubs.
+
+A beginner may at the outset limit himself to the purchase of six new
+clubs. He must have a driver, a brassy, a cleek, an iron, a mashie, and
+a putter. At an early opportunity he may add a niblick to this small
+set, but there is no need to invest in it at the outset, and as this
+club is one which is least likely to require change, it is best that it
+should not be bought until the player has some ideas of his own as to
+what is wanted. By way of indicating what will be needful to make this
+set complete for the purposes of good golf, when the player has obtained
+a fairly complete experience, I may mention the instruments that I take
+out when playing an important match. I have two drivers, one brassy, a
+baffy or spoon, two cleeks (one shorter than the other), an iron,
+sometimes one mashie, sometimes two (one for running up and the other
+for pitch shots), a niblick, and sometimes two putters (one for long
+running-up putts and the other for holing out). This selection may be
+varied slightly according to the course on which the match is to be
+played and the state of the weather, but in general principles the
+constitution of the bag remains the same, and a player who is equipped
+with such a set ought to be able to play any hole in any way, and if he
+cannot do so it is his own skill that is lacking and not an extra club.
+We may now consider in order a few of the points of these clubs. I shall
+have occasion, when dealing with the method of play with each of them,
+to call attention to many points of detail which can only be properly
+explained when indicating particular objects which it is desired to
+achieve with them, so for the present I shall confine myself chiefly to
+general features.
+
+Take the driver to begin with, and the preliminary word of advice that I
+have to offer concerning the choice of this club is at variance with the
+custom of the present moment, though I am confident that before long the
+golfing world will again come round to my view of the matter--not my
+view only, but that of many of the leading amateur and professional
+players. One of the problems which agitate the mind of the golf-club
+maker deals with the best and most effectual method of attaching the
+head of the club to the shaft. For a very long period this was done by
+what we call scaring or splicing, the neck of the club having a long
+bevel which was spliced with the shaft and bound round for several
+inches with black twine. Latterly, however, a new kind of club has
+become the fashion with all but the oldest and most experienced players,
+and it is called the socket driver. The continuation of the neck of this
+club is shorter than in the case of the spliced driver, and instead of
+there being any splicing at all, a hole is bored vertically into the end
+of the neck and the shaft fitted exactly into it, glued up, and finally
+bound round for less than an inch. This club certainly looks neater than
+the old-fashioned sort, and the man who is governed only by appearances
+might very easily imagine that it is really more of one piece than the
+other, that the union of the shaft with the head has less effect upon
+the play of the club, and that therefore it is better. But experience
+proves that this is not the case. What we want at this all-important
+part of the driver is spring and life. Anything in the nature of a
+deadness at this junction of the head with the shaft, which would, as it
+were, cut off the one from the other, is fatal to a good driver. I
+contend that the socket brings about this deadness in a far greater
+degree than does the splice. The scared or old-fashioned drivers have
+far more spring in them than the new ones, and it is my experience that
+I can constantly get a truer and a better ball with them. When the wood
+of the shaft and the wood of the neck are delicately tapered to suit
+each other, filed thin and carefully adjusted, wood to wood for several
+inches, and then glued and tightened up to each other with twine for
+several inches, there is no sharp join whatever but only such a gradual
+one as never makes itself felt in practice. Moreover, these clubs are
+more serviceable, and will stand much more wear and tear than those
+which are made with sockets. Sometimes they give trouble when the glue
+loosens, but the socketed club is much easier to break. On club links
+generally in these days you will probably see more socketed drivers and
+brassies (for these remarks apply to all wooden clubs) than those that
+are spliced; but this is simply the result of a craze or fashion with
+which neat appearance has something to do; and if you desire to convince
+yourself that I am right, take note of the styles of the drivers used by
+the best players at the next first-class amateur or professional
+tournament that you witness. The men who are playing on these occasions
+are ripe with experience, and so long as they get the best results they
+do not care what their clubs look like.
+
+The head of the club should be made of persimmon or dogwood--both very
+hard and full of driving power. Usually the bare face of such a club is
+good enough for contact with any ball on any tee, but the time will come
+when the golfer, developing innumerable fads and fancies, will reach the
+conclusion that he must have an artificial face of some kind fitted on
+at the place of contact with the ball. Or such an artificial face may
+become necessary by reason of the wear and tear on the face of the
+driver. Why forsake the old leather face? There is an idea abroad in
+these days that it is too soft and dead for the purposes of the new
+rubber-cored ball; and the impression that the latter likes the very
+hardest surface it is possible to apply to it has resulted in horn,
+vulcanite, and even steel faces being fitted to drivers and brassies. I
+do not think that in actual practice they are any better than leather,
+though some golfers may persuade themselves that they are. If a man, who
+is a good and steady driver, makes several drives from the tee with a
+club which has a leather face, and several more with another possessing
+a steel or vulcanite face, I am confident that he will on the average
+get at least as far with the leather as with the other, and I shall be
+surprised, if the test is fair and reliable, if he does not get further.
+I have leather faces on my drivers, and I think that latterly I have
+been driving further than I ever did. A point of objection to the
+harder surfaces, which at times is very serious, is that the ball is
+very much more liable to skid off them than off others, and thus the
+golfer may often blame himself for shots that look like a mixture of
+foozle and slice when the fault is not his at all, but that of the
+peculiarity of the club with which he is so much in love. On the other
+hand, it must be admitted that he scores over his opponent with the
+leather-faced club when the weather is wet, for the leather is then
+liable to soften and becomes very dead.
+
+Never select a club because it has a long head, but let your preference
+be in favour of the shorter heads. The beginner, or the player of only
+moderate experience, puts it to himself that it is a very difficult
+thing always to strike the ball fairly on the face of the club, and that
+the longer the face is the more room he has for inaccuracy of his
+stroke. But he is wrong. Whatever the length of the face, unless the
+ball is hit fairly and squarely in the centre, it will not travel
+properly, and the effect is really worse when the point of contact is a
+little off the centre in a long-faced club than when it is the same
+distance removed from the centre of a short face. Moreover, despite this
+fact, which will soon become apparent to the golfer, the knowledge that
+he has a long-faced driver may very easily get him into a loose way of
+playing his tee shots. He may cease to regard exactness as
+indispensable, as it always is. The tendency of late years has been to
+make the heads of wooden clubs shorter and still shorter, and this
+tendency is well justified.
+
+The question of the whip or suppleness of the shaft must generally be
+decided by individual style and preference; but I advise the beginner
+against purchasing a whippy driver to start with, whatever he may do
+later on. He should rather err on the side of stiffness. When a man is
+well on his drive, has a good style, and is getting a long ball from the
+tee every time, it is doubtless true that he obtains better results from
+a shaft with a little life in it than from a stiff one. But the
+advantage is not by any means so great as might be imagined, and many
+fine players drive their best balls with stiff clubs. It must always be
+remembered that when the stroke is not made perfectly there is a much
+greater tendency to slice with a supple shaft than with a stiff one, and
+the disadvantages of the former are especially pronounced on a windy
+day. It is all a matter of preference and predilection, and when these
+are absent the best thing to do is to strike the happy medium and select
+a shaft that is fairly supple but which still leaves you in the most
+perfect command of the head of the club, and not as if the latter were
+connected with your hands by nothing more than a slender rush.
+
+Weight again is largely a matter of fancy, and there is no rule to the
+effect that a slender player should use a light club and one of powerful
+build a heavy one; indeed, one constantly finds the slim men employing
+the most ponderous drivers, as if, as it were, to make up for their own
+lightness, while heavy men will often prefer clubs that are like
+pen-holders to them. Once more I suggest the adoption of the medium as
+being generally the most satisfactory. I have a strong dislike to
+drivers that are unusually light, and I do not think that anyone can
+consistently get the best results from them. They entail too much
+swinging, and it is much harder to guide the club properly when the
+weight of the head cannot be felt. Of course a club that is strongly
+favoured by a golfer and suits him excellently in all respects save that
+it errs on the side of lightness, can easily be put right by the
+insertion of a little lead in the sole.
+
+Little need be said in this place about the selection of the brassy.
+Whatever may be the amount of whip in the shaft of the driver, the
+brassy should not possess any undue suppleness, for it has heavier and
+rougher work to do than the club which is used for the tee shots, and
+there must be very little give in the stick if satisfactory results are
+to be obtained when the ball is lying at all heavily. The head and the
+face should be small; but in other respects the pattern of the driver
+should be closely adhered to, for it is one of the principles of my
+tuition that when the golfer takes his brassy in his hand to play his
+second shot, he should be brought to feel as nearly as possible that he
+is merely doing the drive over again. Many authorities recommend that
+the shaft of the brassy shall be an inch or so shorter than that of the
+driver; but I can see no necessity for its being shorter; and, on the
+other hand, for the reason I have just stated, I think it is eminently
+desirable that it should be exactly the same length. On this point I
+shall have more to say in another chapter. Care should be taken that
+both the brassy and the driver have exactly the same lie, that is to
+say, that when the soles of both clubs are laid quite flat upon the
+ground the shafts shall be projecting towards the golfer at precisely
+the same angle. If they have not the same lie, then, if the player takes
+up the same stance at the same distance from the ball when making a
+brassy shot as when he struck the ball from the tee with his driver, the
+sole of the club will not sweep evenly along the turf as it comes on to
+the ball, and the odds will be against a good shot being made.
+
+I am a strong believer in having reserve drivers and brassies, even if
+one is only a very moderate golfer. Everybody knows what it is to suffer
+torture during the period when one is said to be "off his drive," and I
+think there is no remedy for this disease like a change of clubs. There
+may be nothing whatever the matter with the club you have been playing
+with, and which at one time gave you so much delight, but which now
+seems so utterly incapable of despatching a single good ball despite all
+the drastic alterations which you make in your methods. Of course it is
+not at all the fault of the club, but I think that nearly everybody gets
+more or less tired of playing with the same implement, and at length
+looks upon it with familiar contempt. The best thing to do in such
+circumstances is to give it a rest, and it will soon be discovered that
+absence makes the heart grow fonder in this matter as in so many others.
+But the reserve clubs which are taken out while the first string are
+resting should be in themselves good and almost as exactly suitable to
+the player's style as the others. It is a mistake to take up a club
+which has been regarded as a failure, and in which one has no
+confidence. Therefore, I suggest that so soon as the golfer has really
+found his style and is tolerably certain about it, and the exact kind of
+club that he likes best, he should fit himself up with both a spare
+driver and a spare brassy, and give them each a turn as occasion
+demands. It is hardly necessary to add that whenever an important game
+is being played, considerable wisdom will be exercised if the reserves
+are taken out in the bag along with the clubs with which it is intended
+to play, for though breakages are not matters of everyday occurrence,
+they do happen sometimes, and nothing would be more exasperating in such
+a contingency than the knowledge that for the rest of the game you would
+be obliged to play your tee shots with your brassy or your brassy shots
+with your cleek.
+
+The driving cleek, for long shots, should have a fairly straight face
+with very little loft upon it. It should have a thick blade, should be
+fairly heavy, and its shaft should be stout and stiff. This makes a
+powerful club, with which some fine long work can be accomplished. I am
+inclined to think that one reason why so many players find it extremely
+difficult to get good work out of their cleeks, is that they use them
+with heads too thin and light. A large proportion of the cleeks one sees
+about are too delicate and ladylike. It is sometimes expected of a cleek
+that it will despatch a ball for, say, a hundred and sixty yards, and no
+club will do that, no matter how skilful the golfer who wields it may
+be, unless there is sufficient weight in it. A second cleek, which will
+be found in the bag of the experienced golfer, will have a thinner
+blade and much more loft upon it, but in other respects will be very
+much like the other one, though not nearly so heavy. This instrument is
+for the shorter cleek-shot distances, which are just so long that an
+iron cannot reach them.
+
+There is great diversity in irons, and the player may be left in the
+first place in the hands of his professional adviser, and afterwards to
+his own taste, with the single hint from me that undue lightness should
+at all times be avoided. Of the two mashies which the complete golfer
+will carry out with him on to the links, one, for pitching the ball well
+up with very little run to follow, will have a deep face, will be of
+medium weight, and be very stiff in the shaft. I emphasise the deep face
+and the rigidity of the shaft. This mashie will also have plenty of loft
+upon it. The other one, for use chiefly in running up to the hole, will
+have a straighter face, but will otherwise be much the same. However,
+not all golfers consider two mashies to be necessary, and I myself
+depend chiefly upon one. Of the niblick it need only be said that it
+must be strong, heavy, and well lofted.
+
+I have stated that the golfer may carry two putters in his bag; but I
+mean that he should do so only when he has a definite and distinct
+purpose for each of them, and I certainly do not advise his going from
+one kind to the other for the same sort of putt. There is great danger
+in such a practice. If he is doing very poor putting with one club, he
+will naturally fly for help to the other one, and the probability is
+that he will do just as badly with that. Then he returns to the first
+one, and again finds that his putts do not come off, and by this time he
+is in a hopeless quandary. If he has only one putter he will generally
+make some sort of a success of it if he can putt at all, and my private
+belief is that the putter itself has very little to do with the way in
+which a golfer putts. It is the man that counts and not the tool. I have
+tried all kinds of putters in my time, and have generally gone back to
+the plainest and simplest of all. I have occasionally used the aluminium
+putter. It has much to recommend it to those who like this style of
+implement, and Braid always does very well with it. The Travis or
+Schenectady putter, which was so popular for a short time after the
+Amateur Championship last year, owing to the American player having done
+such wonderful things with it, I do not succeed with. When I try to putt
+with it I cannot keep my eye away from its heel. But the fact is, as I
+have already indicated, that you can putt with anything if you hit the
+ball properly. Everything depends on that--hitting the ball
+properly--and no putter that was ever made will help you to hole out if
+you do not strike the ball exactly as it ought to be struck, while if
+you do so strike it, any putter will hole out for you. The philosophy of
+putting is simple, but is rarely appreciated. The search for the magic
+putter that will always pop the ball into the hole and leave the player
+nothing to do will go on for ever.
+
+One other observation that I have to make on clubs in general is, that I
+think it is a mistake to have the shafts any longer than is absolutely
+necessary. Some golfers think that an iron or a cleek is just the right
+length for them when there are still a few inches of stick projecting
+inwards, towards their bodies, when they have made their grip. Why that
+spare stick? It cannot possibly be of any use, and may conceivably be
+harmful. It is surely better to have it cut off and then to grip the
+club at the end of the handle. A larger sense of power and control is
+obtained in this manner. My own clubs seem to most golfers who examine
+them to be on the short side, and this is a convenient opportunity for
+giving a few details concerning my favourites, which may prove of
+interest to the readers of these notes. I should prefix the statement
+with the observation that I am 5 feet 9-1/4 inches in height, and that
+normally I weigh 11-1/2 stones. Young players who might be inclined to
+adapt their clubs to my measurements should bear these factors in mind,
+though I seem to be of something like average height and build. Here,
+then, are the statistics of my bag:--
+
+ Club.                 Length.           Weight.
+ Driver                  42    inches    12-3/4 oz.
+ Brassy                  42      "       12-1/2  "
+ Driving mashie          38      "       14-1/2  "
+ Driving cleek           37      "       13-1/2  "
+ Light cleek             37      "       13-1/2  "
+ Iron                    35-1/2  "       15-1/4  "
+ Mashie                  36-1/2  "       15-1/4  "
+ Niblick                 37      "       19      "
+ Putter (putting cleek)  33-1/2  "       15      "
+
+Each measurement was made from the heel to the end of the shaft.
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE I._ MY SET OF CLUBS]
+
+I have two explanations to make concerning this list of dimensions. I
+have included the driving mashie, of which I have said nothing in this
+chapter. It is an alternative club, and it is better that it should be
+discussed exclusively in its proper place, which is when cleek shots are
+being considered. Again, on making a critical examination of these
+measurements, the golfer of a little experience will promptly ask why my
+mashie is an inch and a quarter longer than my iron. It is longer
+because one has sometimes to play high lofting shots over trees and the
+like, and in such cases the loft of the mashie is necessary and a
+considerable amount of power as well--hence the extra stick.
+
+As I have said, the collection of a set of clubs that conform in
+essentials to their owner's ideal is a very slow and often an expensive
+process. A club that was bought in the shop for six shillings might have
+cost its owner six sovereigns when the many unsatisfactory and discarded
+articles that were bought while this one perfect gem was being searched
+for are taken into account. Therefore it behoves the man who is to any
+extent satisfied with his clubs to take a proper pride in them and look
+well after them. I like to see a golfer play with bright irons, and
+shafts that give evidence of tender and affectionate care. It jars upon
+one's nerves to see rusty irons and mashies which have evidently not
+been cleaned for months, and which are now past hope. Such a man does
+not deserve to have good clubs, nor to play good strokes with them. But
+many golfers, even when they have a tender and careful regard for the
+excellent merits of their favourites, seem to imagine that the beginning
+and end of their duty towards them is to keep their irons bright and
+free from the slightest semblance of rust. More often than not the shaft
+is never given a thought, and yet a perfect shaft that just suits the
+man who has to play with it is one of the rarest and most difficult
+things to discover. It would be difficult to replace it, and to keep it
+in its best condition it needs constant care and attention. An
+unreasoning golfer may play with his clubs on wet days, see that the
+irons are brightened afterwards, and store his collection in his locker
+without another thought concerning them. And then some time later when
+he is out on the links snap goes one of his shafts, and "Confound that
+rotten wood!" he exclaims. But it is not a case of rotten wood at all.
+When shafts are constantly allowed to get wet and are afterwards merely
+wiped with a rag and given no further attention, all the life dries out
+of the wood, and they are sure to break sooner or later. It should be
+your invariable practice, when you have been out on a wet day, first to
+see that your shafts are well dried and then to give them a thoroughly
+good oiling with linseed oil, applied with a rag kept specially for the
+purpose. This will keep them in excellent condition. The tops of the
+club heads may be oiled in the same way; but extreme care should be
+taken that not a drop of oil is allowed to touch the face of the wooden
+clubs. It would tend to open the grain, and then, when next you played
+in the wet, the damp would get inside the wood and cause it gradually to
+rot. I counsel all golfers when playing in wet weather to have covers or
+hoods attached to their bags, so that the heads of their instruments may
+always be kept in shelter. This will do much for their preservation,
+and at the same time add materially to the satisfaction of the player,
+for he can never feel that he has the means to do himself justice on the
+tee when the head of his driver is in a half soaked state. No player,
+whatever his abilities as a golfer, should refrain from exercising this
+precautionary measure because he has seen only the very best players
+doing so, and because he fancies it may be regarded by his friends as
+affectation. The fact that it is chiefly the best players who do these
+things only indicates that they know better than others what is due to
+their clubs and how to look after them. There is no affectation in
+copying their methods in this respect.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+DRIVING--PRELIMINARIES
+
+     Advantage of a good drive--And the pleasure of it--More about the
+     driver--Tee low--Why high tees are bad--The question of
+     stance--Eccentricities and bad habits--Begin in good
+     style--Measurements of the stance--The reason why--The grip of the
+     club--My own method and its advantages--Two hands like
+     one--Comparative tightness of the hands--Variations during the
+     swing--Certain disadvantages of the two-V grip--Addressing the
+     ball--Freaks of style--How they must be compensated for--Too much
+     waggling--The point to look at--Not the top of the ball but the
+     side of it.
+
+
+It has been said that the amateur golfers of Great Britain are in these
+days suffering from a "debauchery of long driving." The general sense of
+Mr. Travis's remark is excellent, meaning that there is a tendency to
+regard a very long drive as almost everything in the playing of a hole,
+and to be utterly careless of straightness and the short game so long as
+the ball has been hit from the tee to the full extent of the golfer's
+power. A long drive is not by any means everything, and the young golfer
+should resist any inclination to strive for the 250-yard ball to the
+detriment or even the total neglect of other equally important, though
+perhaps less showy, considerations in the playing of a hole. But having
+said so much, and conveyed the solemn warning that is necessary, I am
+obliged to admit that the long driver has very full justification for
+himself, and that the wisely regulated ambition of the young player to
+be one is both natural and laudable. The long drive, as I say, is not
+everything; but to play well it is as necessary to make a good drive as
+to hole a short putt, or nearly so, and from the golfer who does not
+drive well a most marvellous excellence is required in the short game if
+he is to hold his own in good company, or ever be anything more than a
+long-handicap man. The good drive is the foundation of a good game, and
+just as one and one make two, so it follows that the man who drives the
+longer ball has the rest of the game made easier and more certain for
+him. This apart, there is no stroke in golf that gives the same amount
+of pleasure as does the perfect driving of the ball from the tee, none
+that makes the heart feel lighter, and none that seems to bring the glow
+of delight into the watching eye as this one does. The man who has never
+stood upon the tee with a sturdy rival near him and driven a perfect
+ball, the hands having followed well through and finished nicely up
+against the head, while the little white speck in the distance, after
+skimming the earth for a time, now rises and soars upwards, clearing all
+obstacles, and seeming to revel in its freedom and speed until at last
+it dips gracefully back to earth again--I say that the man who has not
+done this thing has missed one of the joys of life. I have heard the
+completest sportsmen say that there are very few things in the entire
+world of sport that can be compared with it, and none that is superior.
+
+So now let us get on to our drive.
+
+In the first place, the driver must be selected, and the hints I have
+already given upon the choice of clubs will serve tolerably well in this
+respect. Let it only be said again that the golfer should do his utmost
+to avoid extremes in length or shortness. One hears of the virtues of
+fishing-rod drivers, and the next day that certain great players display
+a tendency to shorten their clubs. There is nothing like the happy
+medium, which has proved its capability of getting the longest balls.
+The length of the club must, of course, vary according to the height of
+the player, for what would be a short driver for a six-foot man would
+almost be a fishing-rod to the diminutive person who stands but five
+feet high. Let the weight be medium also; but for reasons already
+stated do not let it err on the side of lightness. The shaft of the club
+should be of moderate suppleness. As I have said, if it is too whippy it
+may be hard to control, but if it is too stiff it leaves too much hard
+work to be done by the muscles of the golfer. Practising what I preach,
+my own drivers are carefully selected for this delicate medium of
+suppleness of shaft, and when a stick is found that is exactly perfect
+it is well worth great care for ever. Also I reiterate that the head of
+the club should not be too large; driving is not thereby made any
+easier, and carelessness is encouraged. The face should not be quite
+vertical: if it were, only the top edge and not the full face would be
+seen when the stance had been taken and the club head was resting upon
+the tee in its proper place. There must be just so much loft that the
+face can be seen when the golfer is ready and in position for the swing.
+But avoid having too much loft filed on the club as a fancied remedy for
+driving too low and getting into all the bunkers. You do not fail to get
+the ball up because there is not sufficient loft on the club, but
+because you are doing something wrong which can easily be remedied;
+while, on the other hand, be very careful of the fact that, as you add
+loft to the face of the driver so at the same time you are cutting off
+distance and losing both power and the delightful sense of it. When the
+weather is wet, it is a good plan to chalk the face of the club, as this
+counteracts the tendency of the ball to skid from it.
+
+Tee the ball low, rejecting the very prevalent but erroneous idea that
+you are more certain of getting it away cleanly and well when it is
+poised high off the ground. The stroke that sweeps the ball well away
+from the low tee is the most natural and perfect, and it follows that
+the ball, properly driven from this low tee, is the best of all.
+Moreover, one is not so liable to get too much underneath the ball and
+make a feeble shot into the sky, which is one of the most exasperating
+forms of ineffectual effort in the whole range of golf. Another
+convincing argument in favour of the low tee is that it preserves a
+greater measure of similarity between the first shot and the second,
+helping to make the latter, with the brassy, almost a repetition of the
+first, and therefore simple and comparatively easy. If you make a high
+tee, when you come to play your second stroke with your brassy, you will
+be inclined to find fault with even the most perfect brassy lies--when
+the ball is so well held up by the blades of grass that the best
+possible shot with this far-sending club should be the result. If you
+are favoured with an ordinary brassy lie, you imagine the ball to be in
+a hole, exclaim that you are badly cupped, and call out vexatiously for
+an iron. This is the regular result of playing from a high tee, whereas,
+when the low one is systematically adopted, the difference between the
+play with the driver and with the brassy from a good lie is
+inconsiderable, the brassy is used more frequently, and the results are
+regularly better. As I have already suggested, one of the principles of
+my long game is to make the play with the brassy as nearly similar to
+that with the driver as possible, and a low tee is the first step in
+that direction.
+
+There are wide variations in the stances adopted by different players,
+and extremes of one sort or another are usually the result of bad habits
+contracted in the early stages of initiation into the mysteries of the
+game. Sometimes the ball is seen opposite the toe of the left foot; at
+others it is far away to the right. Either of these players may get long
+balls constantly, but it is in spite of the stance and not because of
+it, for they are contending against a handicap all the time, and have
+unconsciously to introduce other mannerisms into their play to
+counteract the evil which a bad stance inevitably brings about. It is
+certain that if they had driven in the easier way from their youth
+upwards, they would in their golfing prime have been getting longer
+balls than those with which they are after all apparently satisfied. But
+I have already admitted generally, and here again admit in a specific
+instance, the dissatisfaction, and even danger, that is likely to
+accrue from an attempt to uproot a system of play which has been
+established in an individual for many years. One can only insist upon
+the necessity of starting well, and plead earnestly to any readers who
+may not yet be far advanced in their experience of the game, to see that
+their play is based on wise and sure foundations. There is nothing of my
+own discovery or invention in my stance for the drive. It is simply that
+which is theoretically and scientifically correct, being calculated,
+that is, to afford the greatest freedom of movement to the arms, legs,
+and body in the swinging of the club, so that the strength may be
+exerted to the fullest advantage at the right moment and continued in
+its effect upon the ball for the longest possible period.
+
+First, then, as to distance from the ball. The player should stand so
+far away from it that when he is in position and the club face is
+resting against the teed ball, just as when ready to strike it, the end
+of the shaft shall reach exactly up to his left knee when the latter is
+ever so slightly bent. In this position he should be able, when he has
+properly gripped the club, to reach the ball comfortably and without any
+stretching, the arms indeed being not quite straight out but having a
+slight bend at the elbows, so that when the club is waggled in the
+preliminary address to the ball, plenty of play can be felt in them. I
+must now invite the player who is following me in these remarks to give
+his attention simultaneously to the photograph of myself, as I have
+taken my stance upon the tee for an ordinary drive (Plate VI.), with the
+object of getting the longest ball possible under conditions in all
+respects normal; and to the small diagram in the corner of the picture
+giving all the measurements necessary to a complete understanding of the
+position. I may point out again that my height is 5 feet 9-1/4 inches,
+and that the length of my driver from the heel to the end of the shaft
+is 42 inches. My stature being medium, the majority of players who
+desire to follow my suggestions will be able to do so without any
+altering of the measurements given in these diagrams; and, indeed, until
+any variation in height one way or the other becomes considerable, there
+is no necessity to vary them. Remember that in this and all subsequent
+illustrations the line marked A points to the direction in which it is
+desired that the ball should travel, and that the B line over which the
+player stands is at right angles to it. Those who wish at this moment to
+examine the stance in the most practical manner, and to compare it with
+that which they have been in the habit of playing from, need hardly be
+informed that at the corners of nearly every carpet there are
+rectangular lines either in the pattern or made by borders, which may be
+taken to represent those in the diagram, and a penny placed at the
+junction will stand for the ball. It will be observed that, for the most
+lucid and complete exposition of the stances, in this and all subsequent
+cases, the diagrams have been turned about, so that here the player has,
+as it were, his back to the reader, while in the photographs he is, of
+course, facing him. But the stances are identical. The diagrams have
+been drawn to scale.
+
+It will be noticed, in the first place, that I have my toes turned well
+outwards. The pivoting which is necessary, and which will be described
+in due course, is done naturally and without any effort when the toes
+are pointed in this manner. While it is a mistake to place the feet too
+near each other, there is a common tendency to place them too far apart.
+When this is done, ease and perfection of the swing are destroyed and
+power is wasted, whilst the whole movement is devoid of grace. It will
+be seen that my left foot is a little, but not much, in advance of the
+ball. My heel, indeed, is almost level with it, being but an inch from
+the B line at the end of which the ball is teed. The toe, however, is
+9-1/2 inches away from it, all measurements in this case and others
+being taken from the exact centre of the point of the toe. The point of
+the right toe is 19 inches distant from the B line, and while this toe
+is 27-1/2 inches from the A line the other is 34 inches from it, so that
+the right foot is 6-1/2 inches in advance of the left. After giving
+these measurements, there is really little more to explain about the
+stance, particularly as I shall show shortly how variations from it
+almost certainly bring about imperfect drives. Theoretically, the reason
+for the position is, I think, fairly obvious. The right foot is in
+advance of the left, so that at the most critical period of the stroke
+there shall be nothing to impede the follow-through, but everything to
+encourage it, and so that at the finish the body itself can be thrown
+forward in the last effort to continue the application of power. It
+would not be in a position to do so if the left foot were in front to
+bar the way. The position of the ball as between the right foot and the
+left is such that the club will strike it just at the time when it is
+capable of doing so to the utmost advantage, being then, and for the
+very minute portion of a second during which ball and club may be
+supposed to remain in contact, moving in as nearly as possible a
+straight line and at its maximum speed.
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE II._ THE GRIP WITH THE LEFT HAND]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE III._ THE OVERLAPPING GRIP]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE IV._ THE OVERLAPPING GRIP]
+
+[Illus ration: _PLATE V._ THE OVERLAPPING GRIP]
+
+Now comes the all-important consideration of the grip. This is another
+matter in which the practice of golfers differs greatly, and upon which
+there has been much controversy. My grip is one of my own invention. It
+differs materially from most others, and if I am asked to offer any
+excuse for it, I shall say that I adopted it only after a careful trial
+of all the other grips of which I had ever heard, that in theory and
+practice I find it admirable--more so than any other--and that in my
+opinion it has contributed materially to the attainment of such skill as
+I possess. The favour which I accord to my method might be viewed with
+suspicion if it had been my natural or original grip, which came
+naturally or accidentally to me when I first began to play as a boy, so
+many habits that are bad being contracted at this stage and clinging to
+the player for the rest of his life. But this was not the case, for when
+I first began to play golf I grasped my club in what is generally
+regarded as the orthodox manner, that is to say, across the palms of
+both hands separately, with both thumbs right round the shaft (on the
+left one, at all events), and with the joins between the thumbs and
+first fingers showing like two V's over the top of the shaft. This is
+usually described as the two-V grip, and it is the one which is taught
+by the majority of professionals to whom the beginner appeals for first
+instruction in the game. Of course it is beyond question that some
+players achieve very fine results with this grip, but I abandoned it
+many years ago in favour of one that I consider to be better. My
+contention is that this grip of mine is sounder in theory and easier in
+practice, tends to make a better stroke and to secure a straighter ball,
+and that players who adopt it from the beginning will stand a much
+better chance of driving well at an early stage than if they went in for
+the old-fashioned two-V. My grip is an overlapping, but not an
+interlocking one. Modifications of it are used by many fine players, and
+it is coming into more general practice as its merits are understood and
+appreciated. I use it for all my strokes, and it is only when putting
+that I vary it in the least, and then the change is so slight as to be
+scarcely noticeable. The photographs (Plates II., III., IV., and V.)
+illustrating the grip of the left hand singly, and of the two together
+from different points of view, should now be closely examined.
+
+It will be seen at once that I do not grasp the club across the palm of
+either hand. The club being taken in the left hand first, the shaft
+passes from the knuckle joint of the first finger across the ball of the
+second. The left thumb lies straight down the shaft--that is to say, it
+is just to the left of the centre of the shaft. But the following are
+the significant features of the grip. The right hand is brought up so
+high that the palm of it covers over the left thumb, leaving very little
+of the latter to be seen. The first and second fingers of the right hand
+just reach round to the thumb of the left, and the third finger
+completes the overlapping process, so that the club is held in the grip
+as if it were in a vice. The little finger of the right hand rides on
+the first finger of the left. The great advantage of this grip is that
+both hands feel and act like one, and if, even while sitting in his
+chair, a player who has never tried it before will take a stick in his
+hands in the manner I have described, he must at once be convinced that
+there is a great deal in what I say for it, although, of course, if he
+has been accustomed to the two V's, the success of my grip cannot be
+guaranteed at the first trial. It needs some time to become thoroughly
+happy with it.
+
+We must now consider the degree of tightness of the grip by either hand,
+for this is an important matter. Some teachers of golf and various books
+of instruction inform us that we should grasp the club firmly with the
+left hand and only lightly with the right, leaving the former to do the
+bulk of the work and the other merely to guide the operations. It is
+astonishing with what persistency this error has been repeated, for
+error I truly believe it is. Ask any really first-class player with what
+comparative tightness he holds the club in his right and left hands, and
+I am confident that in nearly every case he will declare that he holds
+it nearly if not quite as tightly with the right hand as with the left.
+Personally I grip quite as firmly with the right hand as with the other
+one. When the other way is adopted, the left hand being tight and the
+right hand simply watching it, as it were, there is an irresistible
+tendency for the latter to tighten up suddenly at some part of the
+upward or downward swing, and, as surely as there is a ball on the tee,
+when it does so there will be mischief. Depend upon it the instinct of
+activity will prevent the right hand from going through with the swing
+in that indefinite state of looseness. Perhaps a yard from the ball in
+the upward swing, or a yard from it when coming down, there will be a
+convulsive grip of the right hand which, with an immediate
+acknowledgment of guilt, will relax again. Such a happening is usually
+fatal; it certainly deserves to be. Slicing, pulling, sclaffing, and the
+foundering of the innocent globe--all these tragedies may at times be
+traced to this determination of the right hand not to be ignored but to
+have its part to play in the making of the drive. Therefore in all
+respects my right hand is a joint partner with the left.
+
+The grip with the first finger and thumb of my right hand is exceedingly
+firm, and the pressure of the little finger on the knuckle of the left
+hand is very decided. In the same way it is the thumb and first finger
+of the left hand that have most of the gripping work to do. Again, the
+palm of the right hand presses hard against the thumb of the left. In
+the upward swing this pressure is gradually decreased, until when the
+club reaches the turning-point there is no longer any such pressure;
+indeed, at this point the palm and the thumb are barely in contact. This
+release is a natural one, and will or should come naturally to the
+player for the purpose of allowing the head of the club to swing well
+and freely back. But the grip of the thumb and first finger of the right
+hand, as well as that of the little finger upon the knuckle of the first
+finger of the left hand, is still as firm as at the beginning. As the
+club head is swung back again towards the ball, the palm of the right
+hand and the thumb of the left gradually come together again. Both the
+relaxing and the re-tightening are done with the most perfect
+graduation, so that there shall be no jerk to take the club off the
+straight line. The easing begins when the hands are about shoulder high
+and the club shaft is perpendicular, because it is at this time that the
+club begins to pull, and if it were not let out in the manner explained,
+the result would certainly be a half shot or very little more than that,
+for a full and perfect swing would be an impossibility. This relaxation
+of the palm also serves to give more freedom to the wrist at the top of
+the swing just when that freedom is desirable.
+
+I have the strongest belief in the soundness of the grip that I have
+thus explained, for when it is employed both hands are acting in unison
+and to the utmost advantage, whereas it often happens in the two-V grip,
+even when practised by the most skilful players, that in the downward
+swing there is a sense of the left hand doing its utmost to get through
+and of the right hand holding it back.
+
+There is only one other small matter to mention in connection with the
+question of grip. Some golfers imagine that if they rest the left thumb
+down the shaft and let the right hand press upon it there will be a
+considerable danger of breaking the thumb, so severe is the pressure
+when the stroke is being made. As a matter of fact, I have quite
+satisfied myself that if the thumb is kept in the same place there is
+not the slightest risk of anything of the kind. Also if the thumb
+remains immovable, as it should, there is no possibility of the club
+turning in the hands as so often happens in the case of the two-V grip
+when the ground is hit rather hard, a pull or a slice being the usual
+consequence. I must be excused for treating upon these matters at such
+length. They are often neglected, but they are of extreme importance in
+laying the foundations of a good game of golf.
+
+In addressing the ball, take care to do so with the centre of the face
+of the club, that is, at the desired point of contact. Some awkward
+eccentricities may frequently be observed on the tee. A player may be
+seen addressing his ball from the toe of the driver, and I have even
+noticed the address being made with the head of the club quite inside
+the ball, while in other cases it is the heel of the club which is
+applied to the object to be struck. The worthy golfers who are
+responsible for these freaks of style no doubt imagine that they are
+doing a wise and proper thing, and in the most effectual manner
+counteracting some other irregularity of their method of play which may
+not be discoverable, and which is in any case incurable. Yet nothing is
+more certain than that another irregularity must be introduced into the
+drive in order to correct the one made in the address. To the point at
+which the club is addressed it will naturally return in the course of
+the swing, and if it is to be guided to any other than the original
+place, there must be a constant effort all through the swing to effect
+this change in direction, and most likely somewhere or other there will
+be sufficient jerk to spoil the drive. In the case where the ball is
+addressed with the toe of the club, the player must find it necessary
+almost to fall on the ball in coming down, and it is quite impossible
+for him to get his full distance in such circumstances.
+
+A waggle of the head of the club as a preliminary before commencing the
+swing is sometimes necessary after the stance and grip have been taken,
+but every young golfer should be warned against excess in this habit.
+With the stance and grip arranged, the line of the shot in view, and a
+full knowledge of what is required from the stroke, there is really very
+little more that needs thinking about before the swing is taken. One
+short preliminary waggle will tend to make the player feel comfortable
+and confident, but some golfers may be observed trying the patience of
+all about them by an interminable process of waggling, the most likely
+result of which is a duffed shot, since, when at last the stroke is
+made, the player is in a state of semi-catalepsy, and has no clear idea
+of what he is going to do or how he is going to do it.
+
+In addressing the ball, and during the upward and downward swings until
+it has been safely despatched, the sight should be kept riveted, not on
+the top of the ball, as is customary, but upon the ground immediately to
+the right of it (see diagram on p. 170). To the point where the gaze is
+fixed the head of the club will automatically be guided. That is why you
+are told to keep your eye on the ball. But you do not want to hit the
+top of the ball. So look to the side, where you do want to hit it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+DRIVING--THE SWING OF THE CLUB
+
+     "Slow back"--The line of the club head in the upward swing--The
+     golfer's head must be kept rigid--The action of the
+     wrists--Position at the top of the swing--Movements of the
+     arms--Pivoting of the body--No swaying--Action of the feet and
+     legs--Speed of the club during the swing--The moment of
+     impact--More about the wrists--No pure wrist shot in golf--The
+     follow-through--Timing of the body action--Arms and hands high up
+     at the finish--How bad drives are made--The causes of slicing--When
+     the ball is pulled--Misapprehensions as to slicing and
+     pulling--Dropping of the right shoulder--Its evil consequences--No
+     trick in long driving--Hit properly and hard--What is pressing and
+     what is not--Summary of the drive.
+
+
+Now let us consider the upward and downward swings of the club, and the
+movements of the arms, legs, feet, and body in relation to them. As a
+first injunction, it may be stated that the club should be drawn back
+rather more slowly than you intend to bring it down again. "Slow back"
+is a golfing maxim that is both old and wise. The club should begin to
+gain speed when the upward swing is about half made, and the increase
+should be gradual until the top is reached, but it should never be so
+fast that control of the club is to any extent lost at the
+turning-point. The head of the club should be taken back fairly straight
+from the ball--along the A line--for the first six inches, and after
+that any tendency to sweep it round sharply to the back should be
+avoided. Keep it very close to the straight line until it is half-way
+up. The old St. Andrews style of driving largely consisted in this
+sudden sweep round, but the modern method appears to be easier and
+productive of better results. So this carrying of the head of the club
+upwards and backwards seems to be a very simple matter, capable of
+explanation in a very few words; but, as every golfer of a month's
+experience knows, there is a long list of details to be attended to,
+which I have not yet named, each of which seems to vie with the others
+in its attempt to destroy the effectiveness of the drive. Let us begin
+at the top, as it were, and work downwards, and first of all there is
+the head of the golfer to consider.
+
+The head should be kept perfectly motionless from the time of the
+address until the ball has been sent away and is well on its flight. The
+least deviation from this rule means a proportionate danger of disaster.
+When a drive has been badly foozled, the readiest and most usual
+explanation is that the eye has been taken off the ball, and the wise
+old men who have been watching shake their heads solemnly, and utter
+that parrot-cry of the links, "Keep your eye on the ball." Certainly
+this is a good and necessary rule so far as it goes; but I do not
+believe that one drive in a hundred is missed because the eye has not
+been kept on the ball. On the other hand, I believe that one of the most
+fruitful causes of failure with the tee shot is the moving of the head.
+Until the ball has gone, it should, as I say, be as nearly perfectly
+still as possible, and I would have written that it should not be moved
+to the extent of a sixteenth of an inch, but for the fact that it is not
+human to be so still, and golf is always inclined to the human side.
+When the head has been kept quite still and the club has reached the top
+of the upward swing, the eyes should be looking over the middle of the
+left shoulder, the left one being dead over the centre of that shoulder.
+Most players at one time or another, and the best of them when they are
+a little off their game, fall into every trap that the evil spirits of
+golf lay for them, and unconsciously experience a tendency to lift the
+head for five or six inches away from the ball while the upward swing is
+being taken. This is often what is imagined to be taking the eye off the
+ball, particularly as, when it is carried to excess, the eye,
+struggling gallantly to do its duty, finds considerable difficulty in
+getting a sight of the ball over the left shoulder, and sometimes loses
+it altogether for an instant. An examination of the photograph showing
+the top of the swing (Plate VII.) will make it clear that there is very
+little margin for the moving of the head if the ball is to be kept in
+full view for the whole of the time.
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE VI._ DRIVER AND BRASSY. THE STANCE]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE VII._ DRIVER AND BRASSY. TOP OF THE SWING]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE VIII._ DRIVER AND BRASSY. TOP OF THE SWING. FROM
+BEHIND]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE IX._ DRIVER AND BRASSY. FINISH OF THE SWING]
+
+In the upward swing the right shoulder should be raised gradually. It is
+unnecessary for me to submit any instruction on this point, since the
+movement is natural and inevitable, and there is no tendency towards
+excess; but the arms and wrists need attention. From the moment when the
+club is first taken back the left wrist should begin to turn inwards
+(that is to say, the movement is in the same direction as that taken by
+the hands of a clock), and so turn away the face of the club from the
+ball. When this is properly done, the toe of the club will point to the
+sky when it is level with the shoulder and will be dead over the middle
+of the shaft. This turning or twisting process continues all the way
+until at the top of the swing the toe of the club is pointing straight
+downwards to the ground. A reference to Plate VII. will show that this
+has been done, and that as the result the left wrist finishes the upward
+swing underneath the shaft, which is just where it ought to be. When the
+wrist has not been at work in the manner indicated, the toe of the club
+at the top of the drive will be pointing upwards. In order to satisfy
+himself properly about the state of affairs thus far in the making of
+the drive, the golfer should test himself at the top of the swing by
+holding the club firmly in the position which it has reached, and then
+dropping the right hand from the grip. He will thus be enabled to look
+right round, and if he then finds that the maker's name on the head of
+the club is horizontal, he will know that he has been doing the right
+thing with his wrists, while if it is vertical the wrist action has been
+altogether wrong.
+
+During the upward swing the arms should be gradually let out in the
+enjoyment of perfect ease and freedom (without being spread-eagled away
+from the body) until at the top of the swing the left arm, from the
+shoulder to the elbow, is gently touching the body and hanging well
+down, while the right arm is up above it and almost level with the club.
+The picture indicates exactly what I mean, and a reference to the
+illustration showing what ought not to be the state of affairs generally
+when the top of the swing is reached (Plate XI.), should convince even
+the veriest beginner how much less comfortable is the position of the
+arms in this instance than when the right thing has been done, and how
+laden with promise is the general attitude of the player in the latter
+position as compared with his cramped state in the former. I think I
+ought to state, partly in justice to myself, and partly to persuade my
+readers that the best way in this case, as in all others, is the most
+natural, that I found it most inconvenient and difficult to make such
+extremely inaccurate swings as those depicted in this and other
+photographs of the "How not to do it" series, although they are by no
+means exaggerations of what are seen on the links every day, even
+players of several years' experience being constantly responsible for
+them.
+
+In the upward movement of the club the body must pivot from the waist
+alone, and there must be no swaying, not even to the extent of an inch.
+When the player sways in his drive the stroke he makes is a body stroke
+pure and simple. The body is trying to do the work the arms should do,
+and in these circumstances it is impossible to get so much power into
+the stroke as if it were properly made, while once more the old enemies,
+the slice and the pull, will come out from their hiding-places with
+their mocking grin at the unhappy golfer.
+
+The movements of the feet and legs are important. In addressing the ball
+you stand with both feet flat and securely placed on the ground, the
+weight equally divided between them, and the legs so slightly bent at
+the knee joints as to make the bending scarcely noticeable. This
+position is maintained during the upward movement of the club until the
+arms begin to pull at the body. The easiest and most natural thing to do
+then, and the one which suggests itself, is to raise the heel of the
+left foot and begin to pivot on the left toe, which allows the arms to
+proceed with their uplifting process without let or hindrance. Do not
+begin to pivot on this left toe ostentatiously, or because you feel you
+ought to do so, but only when you know the time has come and you want
+to, and do it only to such an extent that the club can reach the full
+extent of the swing without any difficulty. While this is happening it
+follows that the weight of the body is being gradually thrown on to the
+right leg, which accordingly stiffens until at the top of the swing it
+is quite rigid, the left leg being at the same time in a state of
+comparative freedom, slightly bent in towards the right, with only just
+enough pressure on the toe to keep it in position.
+
+To the man who has never driven a good ball in his life this process
+must seem very tedious. All these things to attend to, and something
+less than a second in which to attend to them! It only indicates how
+much there is in this wonderful game--more by far than any of us suspect
+or shall ever discover. But the time comes, and it should come speedily,
+when they are all accomplished without any effort, and, indeed, to a
+great extent, unconsciously. The upward swing is everything. If it is
+bad and faulty, the downward swing will be wrong and the ball will not
+be properly driven. If it is perfect, there is a splendid prospect of a
+long and straight drive, carrying any hazard that may lie before the
+tee. That is why so very much emphasis must be laid on getting this
+upward swing perfect, and why comparatively little attention need be
+paid to the downward swing, even though it is really the effective part
+of the stroke.
+
+Be careful not to dwell at the turn of the swing. The club has been
+gaining in speed right up to this point, and though I suppose that,
+theoretically, there is a pause at the turning-point, lasting for an
+infinitesimal portion of a second, the golfer should scarcely be
+conscious of it. He must be careful to avoid a sudden jerk, but if he
+dwells at the top of the stroke for only a second, or half that short
+period of time, his upward swing in all its perfection will have been
+completely wasted, and his stroke will be made under precisely the same
+circumstances and with exactly the same disadvantages as if the club had
+been poised in this position at the start, and there had been no attempt
+at swinging of any description. In such circumstances a long ball is an
+impossibility, and a straight one a matter of exceeding doubt. The odds
+are not very greatly in favour of the ball being rolled off the teeing
+ground. So don't dwell at the turn; come back again with the club.
+
+The club should gradually gain in speed from the moment of the turn
+until it is in contact with the ball, so that at the moment of impact
+its head is travelling at its fastest pace. After the impact, the club
+head should be allowed to follow the ball straight in the line of the
+flag as far as the arms will let it go, and then, having done everything
+that is possible, it swings itself out at the other side of the
+shoulders. The entire movement must be perfectly smooth and rhythmical;
+in the downward swing, while the club is gaining speed, there must not
+be the semblance of a jerk anywhere such as would cause a jump, or a
+double swing, or what might be called a cricket stroke. That, in a few
+lines, is the whole story of the downward swing; but it needs some
+little elaboration of detail. In the first place, avoid the
+tendency--which is to some extent natural--to let the arms go out or
+away from the body as soon as the downward movement begins. When they
+are permitted to do so the club head escapes from its proper line, and a
+fault is committed which cannot be remedied before the ball is struck.
+Knowing by instinct that you are outside the proper course, you make a
+great effort at correction, the face of the club is drawn across the
+ball, and there is one more slice. The arms should be kept fairly well
+in during the latter half of the downward swing, both elbows almost
+grazing the body. If they are properly attended to when the club is
+going up, there is much more likelihood of their coming down all right.
+
+The head is still kept motionless and the body pivots easily at the
+waist; but when the club is half-way down, the left hip is allowed to go
+forward a little--a preliminary to and preparation for the forward
+movement of the body which is soon to begin. The weight is being
+gradually moved back again from the right leg to the left. At the moment
+of impact both feet are equally weighted and are flat on the ground,
+just as they were when the ball was being addressed; indeed, the
+position of the body, legs, arms, head, and every other detail is, or
+ought to be, exactly the same when the ball is being struck as they were
+when it was addressed, and for that reason I refer my readers again to
+the photograph of the address (No. VI.) as the most correct position of
+everything at the moment of striking. After the impact the weight is
+thrown on to the left leg, which stiffens, while the right toe pivots
+and the knee bends just as its partner did in the earlier stage of the
+stroke, but perhaps to a greater extent, since there is no longer any
+need for restraint.
+
+Now pay attention to the wrists. They should be held fairly tightly. If
+the club is held tightly the wrists will be tight, and _vice versa_.
+When the wrists are tight there is little play in them, and more is
+demanded of the arms. I don't believe in the long ball coming from the
+wrists. In defiance of principles which are accepted in many quarters, I
+will go so far as to say that, except in putting, there is no pure wrist
+shot in golf. Some players attempt to play their short approaches with
+their wrists as they have been told to do. These men are likely to
+remain at long handicaps for a long time. Similarly there is a kind of
+superstition that the elect among drivers get in some peculiar kind of
+"snap"--a momentary forward pushing movement--with their wrists at the
+time of impact, and that it is this wrist work at the critical period
+which gives the grand length to their drives, those extra twenty or
+thirty yards which make the stroke look so splendid, so uncommon, and
+which make the next shot so much easier. Generally speaking, the wrists
+when held firmly will take very good care of themselves; but there is a
+tendency, particularly when the two-V grip is used, to allow the right
+hand to take charge of affairs at the time the ball is struck, and the
+result is that the right wrist, as the swing is completed, gradually
+gets on to the top of the shaft instead of remaining in its proper
+place. The consequence is a pulled ball,--in fact, this is just the way
+in which I play for a pull. When the fault is committed to a still
+greater extent, the head of the club is suddenly turned over, and then
+the ball is foundered, as we say,--that is, it is struck downwards, and
+struggles, crippled and done for, a few yards along the ground in front
+of the tee. I find that ladies are particularly addicted to this very
+bad habit. Once again I have to say that if the club is taken up
+properly there is the greater certainty of its coming down properly, and
+then if you keep both hands evenly to their work there is a great
+probability of a good follow-through being properly effected.
+
+When the ball has been struck, and the follow-through is being
+accomplished, there are two rules, hitherto held sacred, which may at
+last be broken. With the direction and force of the swing your chest is
+naturally turned round until it is facing the flag, and your body now
+abandons all restraint, and to a certain extent throws itself, as it
+were, after the ball. There is a great art in timing this body movement
+exactly. If it takes place the fiftieth part of a second too soon the
+stroke will be entirely ruined; if it comes too late it will be quite
+ineffectual, and will only result in making the golfer feel uneasy and
+as if something had gone wrong. When made at the proper instant it adds
+a good piece of distance to the drive, and that instant, as explained,
+is just when the club is following through. An examination of the
+photograph indicating the finish of the swing (No. IX.) will show how
+my body has been thrown forward until at this stage it is on the outward
+side of the B line, although it was slightly on the other side when the
+ball was being addressed. Secondly, when the ball has gone, and the
+arms, following it, begin to pull, the head, which has so far been held
+perfectly still, is lifted up so as to give freedom to the swing, and
+incidentally it allows the eyes to follow the flight of the ball.
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE X._ HOW NOT TO DRIVE
+
+_In this case the player's feet are much to close together, and there is
+a space between the hands as there should never be, whatever style of
+grip is favored. Also the right hand is too much underneath the shaft.
+The result of these faults will usually be a pulled ball, but a long
+drive of any sort is impossible._]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XI._ HOW NOT TO DRIVE
+
+_In this case the left wrist instead of being underneath the handle is
+level with it--a common and dangerous fault. The left arm is
+spread-eagled outwards, and the toe of the club is not pointing
+downwards as it ought to be. The pivoting on the left toe is very
+imperfect. There is no power in this position. Sometimes the result is a
+pull, but frequently the ball will be foundered. No length is
+possible._]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XII._ HOW NOT TO DRIVE
+
+_This is an example of a bad finish. Instead of being thrown forward
+after the impact the body has fallen away. The usual consequence is a
+sliced ball, and this is also one of the commonest causes of short
+driving._]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XIII._ HOW NOT TO DRIVE
+
+_Here again the body has failed to follow the ball after impact. The
+stance is very bad, the forward position of the left foot preventing a
+satisfactory follow-through. The worst fault committed here, however, is
+the position taken by the left arm. The elbow is far too low. It should
+be at least as high as the right elbow. Result--complete lack of power
+and length._]
+
+
+
+I like to see the arms finish well up with the hands level with the
+head. This generally means a properly hit ball and a good
+follow-through. At the finish of the stroke the right arm should be
+above the left, the position being exactly the reverse of that in which
+the arms were situated at the top of the swing, except that now the
+right arm is not quite so high as the left one was at the earlier stage.
+The photograph (No. IX.) indicates that the right arm is some way below
+the level of the shaft of the club, whereas it will be remembered that
+the left arm was almost exactly on a level with it. Notice also the
+position of the wrists at the finish of the stroke.
+
+Having thus indicated at such great length the many points which go to
+the making of a good drive, a long one and a straight one, yet abounding
+with ease and grace, allow me to show how some of the commonest faults
+are caused by departures from the rules for driving. Take the sliced
+ball, as being the trouble from which the player most frequently
+suffers, and which upon occasion will exasperate him beyond measure.
+When a golfer is slicing badly almost every time, it is frequently
+difficult for him to discover immediately the exact source of the
+trouble, for there are two or three ways in which it comes about. The
+player may be standing too near to the ball; he may be pulling in his
+arms too suddenly as he is swinging on to it, thus drawing the club
+towards his left foot; or he may be falling on to the ball at the moment
+of impact. When the stance is taken too near to the ball there is a
+great inducement to the arms to take a course too far outwards (in the
+direction of the A line) in the upward swing. The position is cramped,
+and the player does not seem able to get the club round at all
+comfortably. When the club head is brought on to the ball after a swing
+of this kind, the face is drawn right across it, and a slice is
+inevitable. In diagnosing the malady, in cases where the too close
+stance is suspected, it is a good thing to apply the test of distance
+given at the beginning of the previous chapter, and see whether, when
+the club head is resting in position against the teed ball, the other
+end of the shaft just reaches to the left knee when it is in position,
+and has only just so much bend in it as it has when the ball is being
+addressed. The second method of committing the slicing sin is
+self-explanatory. As for the third, a player falls on the ball, or sways
+over in the direction of the tee (very slightly, but it is the trifles
+that matter most) when his weight has not been properly balanced to
+start with, and when in the course of the swing it has been moved
+suddenly from one leg to the other instead of quite gradually. But
+sometimes falling on the ball is caused purely and simply by swaying the
+body, against which the player has already been warned. When the slicing
+is bad, the methods of the golfer should be tested for each of these
+irregularities, and he should remember that an inch difference in any
+position or movement as he stands upon the tee is a great distance, and
+that two inches is a vast space, which the mind trained to calculate in
+small fractions can hardly conceive.
+
+Pulling is not such a common fault, although one which is sometimes very
+annoying. Generally speaking, a pulled ball is a much better one than
+one which has been sliced, and there are some young players who are
+rather inclined to purr with satisfaction when they have pulled, for,
+though the ball is hopelessly off the line, they have committed an error
+which is commoner with those whose hair has grown grey on the links than
+with the beginner whose handicap is reckoned by eighteen or twenty
+strokes. But after all pulling is not an amusement, and even when it is
+an accomplishment and not an accident, it should be most carefully
+regulated. It is the right hand which is usually the offender in this
+case. The wrist is wrong at the moment of impact, and generally at the
+finish of the stroke as well,--that is, it is on the top of the club,
+indicating that the right hand has done most of the work. In a case of
+this sort the top edge of the face of the club is usually overlapping
+the bottom edge, so that the face is pointing slightly downwards at the
+moment of impact; and when this position is brought about with extreme
+suddenness the ball is frequently foundered. If it escapes this fate,
+then it is pulled. A second cause of pulling is a sudden relaxation of
+the grip of the right hand at the time of hitting the ball. When this
+happens, the left hand, being uncontrolled, turns over the club head in
+the same manner as in the first case, and the result is the same.
+
+I have found from experience that it is necessary to enjoin even players
+of some years' standing to make quite certain that they are slicing and
+pulling, before they complain about their doing so and try to find cures
+for it. In a great number of cases a player will take his stance in
+quite the wrong direction, either too much round to the right or too
+much to the left, and when the ball has flown truly along the line on
+which it was despatched, the golfer blandly remarks that it was a bad
+slice or a bad pull, as the case may be. He must bring himself to
+understand that a ball is neither sliced nor pulled when it continues
+flying throughout in the direction in which it started from the tee. It
+is only when it begins performing evolutions in the air some distance
+away, and taking a half wheel to the right or left, that it has fallen a
+victim to the slice or pull.
+
+There is one more fault of the drive which must be mentioned. It is one
+of the commonest mistakes that the young golfer makes, and one which
+afflicts him most keenly, for when he makes it his drive is not a drive
+at all; all his power, or most of it, has been expended on the turf
+some inches behind the ball. The right shoulder has been dropped too
+soon or too low. During the address this shoulder is necessarily a
+little below the left one, and care must be taken at this stage that it
+is not allowed to drop more than is necessary. At the top of the swing
+the right shoulder is naturally well above the other one, and at the
+moment of impact with the ball it should just have resumed its original
+position slightly below the left. It often happens, however, that even
+very good golfers, after a period of excellent driving, through sheer
+over-confidence or carelessness, will fall into the way of dropping the
+right shoulder too soon, or, when they do drop it, letting it go
+altogether, so that it fairly sinks away. The result is exactly what is
+to be expected. The head of the club naturally comes down with the
+shoulder and flops ineffectually upon the turf behind the tee, anything
+from two to nine inches behind the ball. Yet, unless the golfer has had
+various attacks of this sort of thing before, he is often puzzled to
+account for it. The remedy is obvious.
+
+I can imagine that many good golfers, now that I near the end of my
+hints on driving, may feel some sense of disappointment because I have
+not given them a recipe for putting thirty or forty yards on to their
+commonplace drives. I can only say that there is no trick or knack in
+doing it, as is often suspected, such as the suggestion, already alluded
+to, that the wrists have a little game of their own just when the club
+head is coming in contact with the ball. The way to drive far is to
+comply with the utmost care with every injunction that I have set forth,
+and then to hit hard but by the proper use of the swing. To some golfers
+this may be a dangerous truth, but it must be told: it is accuracy and
+strength which make the long ball. But I seem to hear the young player
+wail, "When I hit hard you say 'Don't press!'" A golfer is not pressing
+when he swings through as fast as he can with his club, gaining speed
+steadily, although he is often told that he is. But it most frequently
+happens that when he tries to get this extra pace all at once, and not
+as the result of gradual improvement and perfection of style, that it
+comes not smoothly but in a great jerk just before the ball is reached.
+This is certainly the way that it comes when the golfer is off his game,
+and he tries, often unconsciously, to make up in force what he has
+temporarily lost in skill. This really is pressing, and it is this
+against which I must warn every golfer in the same grave manner that he
+has often been warned before. But to the player who, by skill and
+diligence of practice, increases the smooth and even pace of his swing,
+keeping his legs, body, arms, and head in their proper places all the
+time, I have nothing to give but encouragement, though long before this
+he himself will have discovered that he has found out the wonderful,
+delightful secret of the long ball.
+
+Two chapters of detailed instruction are too much for a player to carry
+in his mind when he goes out on to the links to practise drives, and for
+his benefit I will here make the briefest possible summary of what I
+have already stated. Let him attend, then, to the following chief
+points:--
+
+_Stance._--The player should stand just so far away from the ball, that
+when the face of the driver is laid against it in position for striking,
+the other end of the shaft exactly reaches to the left knee when the
+latter is slightly bent. The right foot may be anything up to seven
+inches in front of the left, but certainly never behind it. The left toe
+should be a trifle in advance of the ball. The toes should be turned
+outwards. Make a low tee.
+
+_Grip._--As described. Remember that the palm of the right hand presses
+hard on the left thumb at all times except when nearing and at the top
+of the swing. The grip of the thumb and the first two fingers of each
+hand is constantly firm.
+
+_Upward Swing._--The club head must be taken back in a straight line for
+a few inches, and then brought round gradually--not too straight up
+(causing slicing) nor too far round in the old-fashioned style. The
+speed of the swing increases gradually. The elbows are kept fairly well
+in, the left wrist turning inwards and finishing the upward swing well
+underneath the shaft. The body must not be allowed to sway. It should
+pivot easily from the waist. The head must be kept quite still. The
+weight is gradually thrown entirely on to the right leg, the left knee
+bends inwards, the left heel rises, and the toe pivots. There must be no
+jerk at the turn of the swing.
+
+_Downward Swing._--There should be a gradual increase of pace, but no
+jerk anywhere. The arms must be kept well down when the club is
+descending, the elbows almost grazing the body. The right wrist should
+not be allowed to get on to the top of the club. The head is still
+motionless. The left hip is allowed to move forward very slightly while
+the club is coming down. The weight of the body is gradually transferred
+from the right leg to the left, the right toe pivoting after the impact,
+and the left leg stiffening. The right shoulder must be prevented from
+dropping too much. After the impact the arms should be allowed to follow
+the ball and the body to go forward, the latter movement being timed
+very carefully. The head may now be raised. Finish with the arms well
+up--the right arm above the left.
+
+_Slicing._--This may be caused by standing too near to the ball, by
+pulling in the arms, or by falling on the ball.
+
+_Pulling._--Usually caused by the head of the club being turned partly
+over when the ball is struck, or by relaxing the grip with the right
+hand.
+
+I can only agree with those who have followed me so patiently through
+these two chapters, that to drive a golf ball well is a thing not to be
+learned in a week or a month.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+BRASSY AND SPOON
+
+     Good strokes with the brassy--Play as with the driver--The points
+     of the brassy--The stance--Where and how to hit the ball--Playing
+     from cuppy lies--Jab strokes from badly-cupped lies--A difficult
+     club to master--The man with the spoon--The lie for the baffy--What
+     it can and cannot do--Character of the club--The stance--Tee shots
+     with the baffy--Iron clubs are better.
+
+
+When to your caddie you say "Give me my brassy" it is a sign that there
+is serious work to be done--as serious and anxious as any that has to be
+accomplished during the six or seven minutes' journey from the tee to
+the hole. Many golfers have a fondness for the brassy greater even than
+for the driver, and the brassy shot when well played certainly affords a
+greater sense of satisfaction than the drive--great as is the joy of a
+good drive--because one is conscious of having triumphed over
+difficulties. When the ball is lying very well when it has to be played
+through the green, the driver is naturally taken, but when the lie is
+very low, approaching even to a cuppy character, the brassy is called
+for so that an effort may be made to pick the ball up cleanly and
+despatch it to the full distance. Again, the stroke with the brassy must
+always be a first-class one. One that is a little inferior to the best
+may place the player in serious difficulties. On the other hand, the
+brassy seldom flatters its user, though in the hands of a master player
+it is perhaps the club that will gain a stroke for him more often than
+any other, the last bunker being surmounted and the green reached
+without any need for a short approach with an iron club. Therefore the
+golfer must make up his mind to attain excellence with the brassy, for
+mediocrity with it will always handicap him severely.
+
+I have already insisted that the method of play, the stance, the swing,
+and all the rest of it, should be the same with the brassy as with the
+driver, and that I do not believe in allowing the slightest difference,
+the only result of which can be to increase the difficulty of the brassy
+shot. Given a ball through the green lying fairly well, a level piece of
+earth to stand upon, and a practically unlimited distance to be played,
+then the brassy stroke is absolutely identical with the drive, and if
+the ball is sufficiently well teed, or its lie is clean enough, there is
+no reason whatever why the driver should not be taken for the stroke.
+Obviously, however, as the lie which you get for your second shot
+depends on chance, and must be taken as it is found, there are times
+when a variation from the standard method of driving will be necessary,
+and it is to the process of play on these occasions that I shall chiefly
+direct my remarks in this chapter.
+
+First, however, as to the brassy itself. Its shaft should be slightly
+stiffer than that of the driver, for it has much harder and rougher work
+to accomplish, for which the whippy stick of a slender driver would be
+too frail. In a desperate case, when the ball is lying in an apparently
+impossible place, the brassy is sometimes taken, in the hope that the
+best may happen and the situation be saved. That is why the brassy has a
+sole of brass which will cut away obstructions behind the ball as the
+head of the club is swept on to it. It often happens that you must hit,
+as it were, an inch or two behind the ball in order to get it up.
+Therefore let the shaft be strong. It should be exactly the same length
+as that of the driver, and not a half inch or an inch shorter, as is
+often recommended. I do not accept any argument in favour of the shorter
+shaft. The golfer having driven from the tee needs to be persuaded that
+he has again what is practically a driving shot to make for his second,
+and thus to be imbued with that feeling of experience and confidence
+which makes for success. When the clubs are of the same length there is
+equal familiarity in using them; but if he is given a shorter club to
+play his brassy shot with, he feels that there is something of a novel
+nature to be done, and he wonders how. The face of the brassy should be
+a little shorter than that of the driver, to permit of its being worked
+into little depressions in which the ball may be lying; but this
+variation of the construction of the head should not be carried to
+excess. Obviously there needs to be more loft on the face of the club
+than on that of the driver.
+
+The stance for the brassy stroke (see Plate VI.) is generally the same
+as for the drive, and for reasons already stated my recommendation is
+that, so far as circumstances will permit,--we are not on the teeing
+ground when we are playing the brassy,--it should always be the same. If
+the player feels it to be desirable, he may stand an inch or two nearer
+to the ball, and perhaps as much behind the ball when he wishes to get
+well underneath so as to lift it up. The swing should be the same, save
+that more care should be taken to ensure the grip with the hands being
+quite tight, for as the club head comes into contact with the turf
+before taking the ball, the club may turn in the hands and cause a slice
+or pull unless perfect control be kept over it.
+
+A more important question is, where and how to hit the ball. If it is
+lying fairly well, it is only necessary to skim the top of the turf and
+take it cleanly. There is no necessity in such a case, as is too often
+imagined by inexperienced players, to delve down into the turf so that
+the ball may be lifted up. If the stroke is played naturally, in the way
+I have indicated, the loft on the face of the brassy is quite sufficient
+to give the necessary amount of rise to the ball as it leaves the club.
+But if, as so often happens, the ball is just a trifle cupped, a
+different attitude must be adopted towards it. It is now desired that
+the club should come down to the turf about an inch behind the ball, and
+with this object in view the eyes should be directed to that point, but
+as in addressing the ball the said point may be covered by the head of
+the club, the sight should be set, not really on to the top of the club
+head, but to an imaginary spot just at the side of the ball, so that
+when the club is drawn back the turf and the point to look at come into
+full view and retain the attention of the eyes until the stroke has been
+made. When the club is swung down on to that spot, its head will plough
+through the turf and be well under the ball by the time it reaches it,
+and the desired rise will follow. Swing in the same manner as for the
+drive. The commonest fault in the playing of this stroke comes from the
+instinct of the player to try to scoop out the ball from its
+resting-place, and in obedience to this instinct down goes the right
+shoulder when the club is coming on to the ball. In the theory of the
+beginner this course of procedure may seem wise and proper, but he will
+inevitably be disappointed with the result, and in time he will come to
+realise that all attempts to scoop must fail. What the club cannot do in
+the ordinary way when pushed through the turf as I have indicated,
+cannot be done at all, and it is dangerous to the stroke and dangerous
+to one's game to trifle with the grand principles.
+
+When the ball is really badly cupped, a moment must be given for
+inspection and consideration, for the situation is an awkward one. At
+the first glance an iron club is usually suggested, but there are many
+times when the golfer prefers to take the brassy if there is a
+reasonable chance of its proving effective. In a case of this sort the
+ordinary methods of brassy play must necessarily be departed from. What
+is wanted is a jabbing-out stroke, and to effect it properly the sight
+must be set (as before) and the club come down on a spot almost two
+inches behind the ball. There must be no timidity about hitting the
+ground or anxiety about the follow-through, for in this case the
+follow-through, as we have understood it so far, is next to an
+impossibility, and must not be sought for. In the upward swing the club
+should be taken out straighter than usual, that is to say, the club head
+should be kept more closely to the A line, and it should not be carried
+so far back as if an ordinary shot were being played. Obviously the club
+must be held with an absolutely firm grip, and for the proper execution
+of a shot like this the shaft should be exceptionally strong and stiff.
+If there is the least suggestion of whip in it the ball is not
+extricated in the same way, and moreover there is sometimes a danger of
+breaking a slender stick. However, if the golfer only carries one brassy
+in his bag--and the average player will seldom carry two--this stroke
+might as well be risked, when the necessity for it arises, with the
+brassy that is carried for all-round work.
+
+Beyond these few observations there is little more to be said about
+simple brassy play, although it is so difficult to master thoroughly, so
+supremely important to a good game, and so full of variety and interest.
+In the use of no club is constant and strenuous practice better rewarded
+by improvement in play and strokes gained.
+
+The man with the spoon is coming back again to the links, and this seems
+to be the most convenient opportunity for a few remarks on play with
+this club--the baffy, as it is frequently called. One rarely mentions
+the spoon without being reminded of the difficulty as to the
+nomenclature of golf which beset a certain Frenchman on his first
+introduction to the game. "They zay to me," he complained, "'Will you
+take ze tee?' and I answer, 'Ah, oui,' but they give me no tea, but make
+a leetle hill with the sand. Then they zay, 'Will you take the spoon?'
+They have give me no tea, but no matter. I answer again, 'Ah, oui,
+monsieur,' but they give no spoon either. So I give up the thought of
+the tea, and play with the new club that they do give to me." However,
+that is neither here nor there. The baffy, or spoon, is a very useful
+club, which at one time was a great favourite with many fine players,
+and if it has of late years been largely superseded by the cleek, it is
+still most valuable to those players who are not so skilful or reliable
+with this latter instrument as they would like to be. The baffy demands,
+for the achievement of such success as it can afford, a fairly good lie,
+and when this is given it is a tolerably easy club to play with. A good
+lie is essential because of its wooden head and long face, which prevent
+it from getting down to the ball when the latter is at all cupped, as
+the cleek would do, or as the brassy may be made to do when the jab shot
+is played. The baffy with its long face cannot be burrowed into the turf
+so easily, nor can it nick in between the ball and the side of the cup,
+but it makes a bridge over it, as it were, and thus takes the ball right
+on the top and moves it only a few yards. A cleek would take the turf
+and the ball and make a good hit. Therefore, when the lie is not
+reasonably perfect, the baffy is of little use, though in favourable
+circumstances it is a useful stick. The shaft should be slightly longer
+than that of the cleek, but appreciably shorter than that of the brassy,
+and it should be fairly stiff. Its face, as already remarked, is much
+longer than that of the brassy, and it is given several degrees more
+loft.
+
+The method of play with the spoon is very much the same as with the
+brassy, with only such modifications as are apparently necessary. For
+example, the club being shorter, the feet will be placed slightly nearer
+to the ball; and although the baffy calls for a fairly long swing, the
+player will find that he is naturally indisposed to take the club head
+so far round to his back as he was with the other and longer wooden
+clubs. In other respects, the upward and downward swing, the grip, the
+follow-through, and everything else are the same. With many players the
+club is a particular favourite for the tee shot at short holes of, say,
+140 to 160 yards length with a tolerably high bunker guarding the
+green--a type of hole very frequently encountered, and which simply
+calls for steady, sure play to get the bogey 3. The baffy does its work
+very well in circumstances of this kind, and the ball is brought up
+fairly quickly upon the green; but the man who is skilled with his irons
+will usually prefer one of them for the stroke, and will get the coveted
+2 as often as the man with the spoon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SPECIAL STROKES WITH WOODEN CLUBS
+
+     The master stroke in golf--Intentional pulling and slicing--The
+     contrariness of golf--When pulls and slices are needful--The stance
+     for the slice--The upward swing--How the slice is made--The short
+     sliced stroke--Great profits that result--Warnings against
+     irregularities--How to pull a ball--The way to stand--The work of
+     the right hand--A feature of the address--What makes a pull--Effect
+     of wind on the flight of the ball--Greatly exaggerated notions--How
+     wind increases the effect of slicing and pulling--Playing through a
+     cross wind--The shot for a head wind--A special way of hitting the
+     ball--A long low flight--When the wind comes from behind.
+
+
+Which is the master stroke in golf? That is an engaging question. Is it
+the perfect drive, with every limb, muscle, and organ of the body
+working in splendid harmony with the result of despatching the ball well
+beyond two hundred yards in a straight line from the tee? No, it is not
+that, for there are some thousands of players who can drive what is to
+all intents and purposes a perfect ball without any unusual effort. Is
+it the brassy shot which is equal to a splendid drive, and which,
+delivering the ball in safety over the last hazard, places it nicely
+upon the green, absolving the golfer from the necessity of playing any
+other approach? No, though that is a most creditable achievement. Is it
+the approach over a threatening bunker on to a difficult green where the
+ball can hardly be persuaded to remain, yet so deftly has the cut been
+applied, and so finely has the strength been judged, that it stops dead
+against the hole, and for a certainty a stroke is saved? This is a most
+satisfying shot which has in its time won innumerable holes, but it is
+not the master stroke of golf. Then, is it the putt from the corner of
+the green across many miniature hills and dales with a winding course
+over which the ball must travel, often far away from the direct line,
+but which carries it at last delightfully to the opening into which it
+sinks just as its strength is ebbing away? We all know the thrilling
+ecstasy that comes from such a stroke as this, but it has always been
+helped by a little good luck, and I would not call it the master stroke.
+There are inferior players who are good putters. Which, then, is the
+master stroke? I say that it is the ball struck by any club to which a
+big pull or slice is intentionally applied for the accomplishment of a
+specific purpose which could not be achieved in any other way, and
+nothing more exemplifies the curious waywardness of this game of ours
+than the fact that the stroke which is the confounding and torture of
+the beginner who does it constantly, he knows not how, but always to his
+detriment, should later on at times be the most coveted shot of all, and
+should then be the most difficult of accomplishment. I call it the
+master shot because, to accomplish it with any certainty and perfection,
+it is so difficult even to the experienced golfer, because it calls for
+the most absolute command over the club and every nerve and sinew of the
+body, and the courageous heart of the true sportsman whom no difficulty
+may daunt, and because, when properly done, it is a splendid thing to
+see, and for a certainty results in material gain to the man who played
+it.
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XIV._ DRIVER AND BRASSY. STANCE WHEN PLAYING FOR A
+SLICE]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XV._ DRIVER AND BRASSY. TOP OF THE SWING WHEN
+PLAYING FOR A SLICE]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XVI._ DRIVER AND BRASSY. FINISH WHEN PLAYING FOR A
+SLICE]
+
+I will try, then, to give the golfers who desire them some hints as to
+how by diligence and practice they may come to accomplish these master
+strokes; but I would warn them not to enter into these deepest
+intricacies of the game until they have completely mastered all ordinary
+strokes with their driver or brassy and can absolutely rely upon them,
+and even then the intentional pull and slice should only be attempted
+when there is no way of accomplishing the purpose which is likely to be
+equally satisfactory. Thus, when a long brassy shot to the green is
+wanted, and one is most completely stymied by a formidable tree
+somewhere in the foreground or middle distance, the only way to get to
+the hole is by working round the tree, either from the right or from the
+left, and this can be done respectively by the pull and the slice. Of
+the two, the sliced shot is the easier, and is to be recommended when
+the choice is quite open, though it must not be overlooked that the
+pulled ball is the longer. The slicing action is not quite so quick and
+sudden, and does not call for such extremely delicate accuracy as the
+other, and therefore we will deal with it first.
+
+The golfer should now pay very minute attention to the photographs (Nos.
+XIV., XV., and XVI.) which were specially taken to illustrate these
+observations. It will be noticed at once that I am standing very much
+more behind the ball than when making an ordinary straight drive or
+brassy stroke, and this is indeed the governing feature of the slicing
+shot as far as the stance and position of the golfer, preparatory to
+taking it, are concerned. An examination of the position of the feet,
+both in the photograph (XIV.) and the accompanying diagram, will show
+that the left toe is now exactly on the B line, that is to say, it is
+just level with the ball, while the right foot is 25-1/2 inches away
+from the same mark, whereas in the case of the ordinary drive it was
+only 19. At the same time the right foot has been moved very much nearer
+to the A line, more than 10 inches in fact, although the left is only
+very slightly nearer. Obviously the general effect of this change of
+stance is to move the body slightly round to the left. There is no
+mystery as to how the slice is made. It comes simply as the result of
+the face of the club being drawn across the ball at the time of impact,
+and it was precisely in this way that it was accidentally accomplished
+when it was not wanted. In addressing the ball there should be just the
+smallest trifle of extra weight thrown on the right leg; but care must
+be taken that this difference is not exaggerated. The golfer should be
+scarcely conscious of it.
+
+The grip is made in the usual manner, but there is a very material and
+all-important difference in the upward swing. In its upward movement the
+club head now takes a line distinctly outside that which is taken in the
+case of the ordinary drive, that is to say, it comes less round the body
+and keeps on the straight line longer. When it is half-way up it should
+be about two or three inches outside the course taken for the full
+straight drive. The object of this is plain. The inflexible rule that as
+the club goes up so will it come down, is in operation again. The club
+takes the same line on the return, and after it has struck the ball it
+naturally, pursuing its own direction, comes inside the line taken in
+the case of the ordinary drive. The result is that at the moment of
+impact, and for that fractional part of a second during which the ball
+may be supposed to be clinging to the club, the face of the driver or
+brassy is being, as it were, drawn across the ball as if cutting a slice
+out of it. There is no means, so far as I know, of gauging how
+unthinkably short is the time during which this slicing process is going
+on, but, as we observed, when we were slicing unintentionally and making
+the ball curl round sometimes to an angle of ninety degrees before the
+finish of its flight, it is quite long enough to effect the most radical
+alteration in what happens afterwards. In that short space of time a
+spinning motion is put upon the ball, and a curious impulse which
+appears to have something in common with that given to a boomerang is
+imparted, which sooner or later take effect. In other respects, when a
+distant slice is wanted, the same principles of striking the ball and
+finishing the swing as governed the ordinary drive are to be observed.
+What I mean by a distant slice is one in which the ball is not asked to
+go round a corner until it is well on its way, the tree, or whatever it
+is that has to be circumvented, being half-way out or more, as shown in
+the diagram on opposite page. This is the most difficult kind of slice
+to perform, inasmuch as the ball must be kept on a straight line until
+the object is approached, and then made to curl round it as if by
+instinct. In such a case the club should be drawn very gradually across,
+and not so much or so suddenly as when the slice is wanted immediately.
+
+[Illustration: TRAJECTORY OF BALL WHEN A DISTANT SLICE IS REQUIRED.]
+
+[Illustration: TRAJECTORY OF BALL IN THE CASE OF A QUICK SLICE.]
+
+When the tree or thicket that stymies you is only twenty or thirty yards
+away, the short sliced shot is not only the best but perhaps the only
+one to play, that is to say, if it is first-class golf that is being
+practised and there is an opponent who is fighting hard. Take a case for
+exemplification--one which is of the commonest occurrence. There is a
+long hole to be played, and some thirty yards from the point which will
+be reached by a good drive, but well away to the right there is a spinny
+of tall trees. The golfer is badly off the line with his drive, with the
+result that he now has the trees in the direct line between him and the
+hole which is the best part of a hundred yards from the other edge of
+the wood, or say a hundred and forty from where the ball is lying. He
+might by a wonderfully lofted shot play the ball over the obstacle, but
+he would have to rise at such an angle that any length would be an
+impossibility, and he would be short of the green. The only alternative
+to the slice would be to accept the loss of a stroke as inevitable, play
+away to the right or left, and then get on to the green with the next
+one. Thus in either case a valuable stroke is lost, and if the enemy is
+playing the correct game the loss may be most serious. The short or
+quick slice comes to the rescue admirably. Turn the ball round the
+spinny, give it as much length as you can in the circumstances, and if
+the job has been well done you will be on the green after all with the
+highly comforting sensation that for once you have proved yourself a
+golfer of the first degree of skill, and have snatched a half when the
+hole seemed lost. The diagram here presented illustrates the best
+possibilities of a quick slice. I can explain in a line exactly how this
+is done, but I cannot guarantee that my readers will therefore be able
+to do it until they have practised, and practised, and practised yet
+again. Instead of hitting the ball with the middle of the club face as
+in playing for the distant slice as already explained, hit it slightly
+nearer the heel of the club. Swing upwards in the same way, and finish
+in the same way, also. Taking the ball with the heel results in the
+slice being put on more quickly and in there being more of it, but I
+need hardly observe that the stroke must be perfectly judged and played,
+and that there must be no flaw in it anywhere, or disaster must surely
+follow. As I say, it is not an easy shot to accomplish, but it is a
+splendid thing to do when wanted, and I strongly recommend the golfer
+who has gained proficiency in the ordinary way with his wooden clubs, to
+practise it whenever possible until at length he feels some confidence
+in playing it. It is one of those strokes which mark the skilled and
+resourceful man, and which will win for him many a match. Beyond the
+final admonition to practise, I have only one more piece of advice to
+give to the golfer who wants to slice when a slice would be useful, and
+that is in the downward swing he must guard against any inclination to
+pull in the arms too quickly, the result of his consciousness that the
+club has to be drawn across the ball. Whatever is necessary in this way
+comes naturally as the consequence of taking the club head more outwards
+than usual in the upward swing. Examine the photographs very carefully
+in conjunction with the study of all the observations that I have made.
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XVII._ DRIVER AND BRASSY. PLAYING FOR A PULL.
+STANCE]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XVIII._ DRIVER AND BRASSY. TOP OF THE SWING WHEN
+PLAYING FOR A PULL]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XIX._ DRIVER AND BRASSY. FINISH WHEN PLAYING FOR A
+PULL]
+
+Now there is the pulled ball to consider; for there are times when the
+making of such a shot is eminently desirable. Resort to a slice may be
+unsatisfactory, or it may be entirely impossible, and one important
+factor in this question is that the pulled ball is always much longer
+than the other, in fact it has always so much length in it that many
+players in driving in the ordinary way from the tee, and desiring only
+to go straight down the course, systematically play for a pull and make
+allowances for it in their direction. Now examine Plate XVII. and the
+accompanying diagram illustrating the stance for the pull, and see how
+very materially it differs from those which were adopted for the
+ordinary drive and that in which a slice was asked for. We have moved
+right round to the front of the ball. The right heel is on the B line
+and the toe 4 inches away from it, while the left toe is no less than
+21-1/2 inches from this line, and therefore so much in front of the
+ball. At the same time the line of the stance shows that the player is
+turned slightly away from the direction in which he proposes to play,
+the left toe being now only 26-1/2 inches away from the A line, while
+the right toe is 32 inches distant from it. The obvious result of this
+stance is that the handle of the club is in front of the ball, and this
+circumstance must be accentuated by the hands being held even slightly
+more forward than for an ordinary drive. Now they are held forward in
+front of the head of the club. In the grip there is another point of
+difference. It is necessary that in the making of this stroke the right
+hand should do more work than the left, and therefore the club should be
+held rather more loosely by the left hand than by its partner. The
+latter will duly take advantage of this slackness, and will get in just
+the little extra work that is wanted of it. In the upward swing carry
+the club head just along the line which it would take for an ordinary
+drive. The result of all this arrangement, and particularly of the
+slackness of the left hand and comparative tightness of the right, is
+that there is a tendency in the downward swing for the face of the club
+to turn over to some extent, that is, for the top edge of it to be
+overlapping the bottom edge. This is exactly what is wanted, for, in
+fact, it is quite necessary that at the moment of impact the right hand
+should be beginning to turn over in this manner, and if the stroke is to
+be a success the golfer must see that it does so, but the movement must
+be made quite smoothly and naturally, for anything in the nature of a
+jab, such as is common when too desperate efforts are made to turn over
+an unwilling club, would certainly prove fatal. It follows from what has
+been happening all the way through, that at the finish of the stroke the
+right hand, which has matters pretty well its own way, has assumed final
+ascendancy and is well above the left. Plates XVIII. and XIX. should be
+carefully examined.
+
+The pulled ball is particularly useful in a cross wind, and this fact
+leads us naturally to a consideration of the ways and means of playing
+the long shot with the wooden club to the best advantage when there are
+winds of various kinds to test the resources of the golfer. Now,
+however, that this question is raised, I feel it desirable to say
+without any hesitation that the majority of golfers possess vastly
+exaggerated notions of the effect of strong cross winds on the flight of
+their ball. They greatly overestimate the capabilities of a breeze. To
+judge by their observations on the tee, one concludes that a wind from
+the left is often sufficient to carry the ball away at an angle of
+forty-five degrees, and indeed sometimes, when it does take such an
+exasperating course, and finishes its journey some fifty yards away from
+the point to which it was desired to despatch it, there is an impatient
+exclamation from the disappointed golfer, "Confound this wind! Who on
+earth can play in a hurricane!" or words to that effect. Now I have
+quite satisfied myself that only a very strong wind indeed will carry a
+properly driven ball more than a very few yards out of its course, and
+in proof of this I may say that it is very seldom when I have to deal
+with a cross wind that I do anything but play straight at the hole
+without any pulling or slicing or making allowances in any way. If
+golfers will only bring themselves to ignore the wind, then it in turn
+will almost entirely ignore their straight ball. When you find your ball
+at rest the aforementioned forty or fifty yards from the point to which
+you desired to send it, make up your mind, however unpleasant it may be
+to do so, that the trouble is due to an unintentional pull or slice, and
+you may get what consolation you can from the fact that the slightest of
+these variations from the ordinary drive is seized upon with delight by
+any wind, and its features exaggerated to an enormous extent. It is
+quite possible, therefore, that a slice which would have taken the ball
+only twenty yards from the line when there was no wind, will take it
+forty yards away with the kind assistance of its friend and ally.
+
+[Illustration: METHOD AND EFFECT OF PULLING INTO A CROSS WIND FROM THE
+RIGHT.]
+
+However, I freely admit that there are times when it is advisable to
+play a fancy shot when there is an excess of wind, and the golfer must
+judge according to circumstances. Let me give him this piece of advice:
+very rarely slice as a remedy against a cross wind. Either pull or
+nothing. If there is a strong wind coming from the right, the immature
+golfer who has been practising slices argues that this is his chance,
+and that it is his obvious duty to slice his ball right into the teeth
+of that wind, so that wind and slice will neutralise each other, and the
+ball as the result will pursue an even course in the straight line for
+the flag. A few trials will prove to him that this is a very
+unsatisfactory business, and after he has convinced himself about it I
+would recommend him to try pulling the ball and despatching it at once
+along a line to the right directly against that same wind. When the pull
+begins to operate, both this and the wind will be working together, and
+the ball will be carried a much greater length, its straightness
+depending upon the accuracy of allowance. The diagram explains my
+meaning. But I reiterate that the ordinary shots are generally the
+easiest and best with which to get to the hole. The principle of the
+golfer should be, and I trust is, that he always wants to reach the hole
+in the simplest and easiest way, with a minimum of doubt and anxiety
+about any shot which he is called upon to play, and one usually finds
+that without these fancy shots one comes to the flag as easily as is
+possible in all the circumstances. Of course I am writing more
+particularly with the wind in mind, and am not recommending the ordinary
+shot when there is a tree or a spinny for a stymie, in contradiction to
+what I have said earlier in this chapter.
+
+However, there is one kind of wind difficulty which it is certainly
+necessary to deal with by a departure from the ordinary method of play
+with the driver or the brassy, and that is when the wind is blowing
+straight up to the player from the hole, threatening to cut off all his
+distance. Unless measures are taken to prevent it, a head wind of this
+description certainly does make play extremely difficult, the
+comparative shortness of the drive making an unduly long approach shot
+necessary, or even demanding an extra stroke at long holes in order to
+reach the green. But, fortunately, we have discovered a means of dealing
+very satisfactorily with these cases. What we want to do is to keep the
+ball as low down as possible so as to cheat the wind, for the lower the
+ball the less opportunity has the breeze of getting to work upon it. A
+combination of two or three methods is found to be the best for
+obtaining this low turf-skimming ball, which yet has sufficient driving
+power in it to keep up until it has achieved a good length. Evidently
+the first thing to do is to make the tee--if it is a tee shot--rather
+lower than usual--as low as is consistent with safety and a clean
+stroke. The player should then stand rather more in front of the ball
+than if he were playing for an ordinary drive, but this forward position
+should not by any means be so marked as it was in the stance for the
+pulled drive. A reference to Plate XX. and the diagram will show that
+now we have the ball exactly half-way between the toes, each toe being
+twelve inches to the side of the B line, while both are an inch nearer
+to the ball than was the case when the ordinary drive was being made.
+But the most important departure that we make from the usual method of
+play is in the way we hit the ball. So far we have invariably been
+keeping our gaze fixed on a point just behind it, desiring that the club
+shall graze the ground and take the ball rather below the centre. But
+now it is necessary that the ball shall be struck half-way up and before
+the club touches the turf. Therefore keep the eye steadily fixed upon
+that point (see the right-hand ball in the small diagram on page 170)
+and come down exactly on it. This is not an easy thing to do at first;
+it requires a vast amount of practice to make sure of hitting the ball
+exactly at the spot indicated, but the stroke when properly made is an
+excellent and most satisfying one. After striking the ball in this way,
+the club head should continue its descent for an instant so that it
+grazes the turf for the first time two or three inches in front of the
+spot where the ball was. The passage of the club through the ball, as it
+were, is the same as in the case of the push shot with the cleek, and
+therefore reference may usefully be made to the diagram on page 106,
+which illustrates it. A natural result of the stance and the way the
+stroke is played is that the arms are more extended than usual after the
+impact, and in the follow-through the club head keeps nearer to the
+turf. So excellent are the results obtained when the stroke is properly
+played, that there are many fine players, having a complete command over
+it, who systematically play it from the tee whether there is a wind to
+contend against or not, simply because of the length and accuracy which
+they secure from it. Braid is one of them. If the teeing ground offers
+any choice of gradient, a tee with a hanging lie should be selected, and
+the ball is then kept so low for the first forty or fifty yards that it
+is practically impossible for the wind to take it off the line, for it
+must be remembered that even when the wind comes dead from the front, if
+there is the slightest slice or pull on the ball to start with, it will
+be increased to a disconcerting extent before the breeze has done with
+it.
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XX._ DRIVER AND BRASSY. STANCE FOR A LOW BALL
+AGAINST THE WIND]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XXI._ DRIVER AND BRASSY. STANCE FOR A HIGH BALL
+WITH THE WIND]
+
+When the wind is at the back of the player blowing hard towards the
+hole, the situation presents no difficulty and needs very little
+consideration. The object in this case is to lift the ball well up
+towards the clouds so that it may get the full benefit of the wind,
+though care must be taken that plenty of driving length is put into the
+stroke at the same time. Therefore tee the ball rather higher than
+usual, and bring your left foot more in a line with it than you would
+if you were playing in the absence of wind, at the same time moving both
+feet slightly nearer the ball. Plate XXI. will make the details of this
+stance quite clear. The ball being teed unusually high, the golfer must
+be careful not to make any unconscious allowance for the fact in his
+downward swing, and must see that he wipes the tee from the face of the
+earth when he makes the stroke.
+
+Though in my explanations of these various strokes I have generally
+confined myself to observations as to how they may be made from the tee,
+they are strokes for the driver and the brassy,--for all cases, that is,
+where the long ball is wanted from the wooden club under unusual
+circumstances of difficulty. Evidently in many cases they will be more
+difficult to accomplish satisfactorily from a brassy lie and with the
+shorter faced club than when the golfer has everything in his favour on
+the teeing ground, and it must be left to his skill and discretion as to
+the use he will make of them when playing through the green.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE CLEEK AND DRIVING MASHIE
+
+     A test of the golfer--The versatility of the cleek--Different kinds
+     of cleeks--Points of the driving mashie--Difficulty of continued
+     success with it--The cleek is more reliable--Ribbed faces for iron
+     clubs--To prevent skidding--The stance for an ordinary cleek
+     shot--The swing--Keeping control over the right
+     shoulder--Advantages of the three-quarter cleek shot--The push
+     shot--My favourite stroke--The stance and the swing--The way to hit
+     the ball--Peculiar advantages of flight from the push stroke--When
+     it should not be attempted--The advantage of short swings as
+     against full swings with iron clubs--Playing for a low ball against
+     the wind--A particular stance--Comparisons of the different cleek
+     shots--General observations and recommendations--Mistakes made with
+     the cleek.
+
+
+It is high time we came to consider the iron clubs that are in our bag.
+His play with the irons is a fine test of the golfer. It calls for
+extreme skill and delicacy, and the man who is surest with these
+implements is generally surest of his match. The fathers of golf had no
+clubs with metal heads, and for a long time after they came into use
+there was a lingering prejudice against them; but in these days there is
+no man so bold as to say that any long hole can always be played so well
+with wood all through as with a mixture of wood and iron in the proper
+proportions. It may be, as we are often told, that the last improvement
+in iron clubs has not yet been made; but I must confess that the tools
+now at the disposal of the golfer come as near to my ideal of the best
+for their purpose as I can imagine any tools to do, and no golfer is at
+liberty to blame the clubmaker for his own incapacity on the links,
+though it may frequently happen that his choice and taste in the matter
+of his golfing goods are at fault. There are many varieties of every
+class of iron clubs, and their gradations of weight, of shape, of loft,
+and of all their other features, are delicate almost to the point of
+invisibility; but the old golfer who has an affection for a favourite
+club knows when another which he handles differs from it to the extent
+of a single point in these gradations. Some golfers have spent a
+lifetime in the search for a complete set of irons, each one of which
+was exactly its owner's ideal, and have died with their task still
+unaccomplished. Happy then is the player who in his early days has irons
+over all of which he has obtained complete mastery, and which he can
+rely upon to do their duty, and do it well, when the match is keen and
+their owner is sorely pressed by a relentless opponent.
+
+First of these iron clubs give me the cleek, the most powerful and
+generally useful of them all, though one which is much abused and often
+called hard names. If you wish, you may drive a very long ball with a
+cleek, and if the spirit moves you so to do you may wind up the play at
+the hole by putting with it too. But these after all are what I may call
+its unofficial uses, for the club has its own particular duties, and for
+the performance of them there is no adequate substitute. Therefore, when
+a golfer says, as misguided golfers sometimes do, that he cannot play
+with the cleek, that he gets equal or superior results with other clubs,
+and that therefore he has abandoned it to permanent seclusion in the
+locker, you may shake your head at him, for he is only deceiving
+himself. Like the wares of boastful advertisers, there is no other which
+is "just as good," and if a golfer finds that he can do no business with
+his cleek, the sooner he learns to do it the better will it be for his
+game.
+
+And there are many different kinds of cleeks, the choice from which is
+to a large extent to be regulated by experiment and individual fancy.
+Some men fancy one type, and some another, and each of them obtains
+approximately the same result from his own selection, but it is natural
+that a driving cleek, which is specially designed for obtaining length,
+having a fairly straight face and plenty of weight, will generally
+deliver the ball further than those which are more lofted and lighter.
+Making a broad classification, there are driving cleeks, ordinary
+cleeks, pitching cleeks, and cleeks with the weight in the centre. For
+the last-named variety I have little admiration, excellent as many
+people consider them to be. If the ball is hit with absolute accuracy in
+the centre of the club's face every time, all is well; but it is not
+given to many golfers to be so marvellously certain. Let the point of
+contact be the least degree removed from the centre of the face, where
+the weight is massed, and the result will usually be disquieting, for,
+among other things, there is in such cases a great liability for the
+club to turn in the hands of the player.
+
+As an alternative to the cleek the driving mashie has achieved
+considerable popularity. It is undoubtedly a most useful club, and is
+employed for the same class of work as the cleek, and, generally
+speaking, may take its place. The distinctive features of the driving
+mashie are that it has a deeper face than that of the cleek, and that
+this depth increases somewhat more rapidly from the heel to the toe. By
+reason of this extra depth it is often a somewhat heavier club, and
+there is rather less loft on it than there is on the average cleek. When
+you merely look at a driving mashie it certainly seems as if it may be
+the easier club to use, but long experience will prove that this is not
+the case. In this respect I think the driving cleek is preferable to
+either the spoon or the driving mashie, particularly when straightness
+is an essential, as it usually is when any of these clubs is being
+handled. It frequently happens that the driving mashie is used to very
+good effect for a while after it has first been purchased; but I have
+noticed over and over again that when once you are off your play with
+it--and that time must come, as with all other clubs--it takes a long
+time to get back to form with it again,--so long, indeed, that the task
+is a most painful and depressing one. Five years ago I myself had my
+day with the driving mashie, and I played so well with it that at that
+time I did not even carry a cleek. I used to drive such a long ball with
+this instrument, that when I took it out of my bag to play with it, my
+brother professionals used to say, "There's Harry with his driver
+again"; and I remember that when on one occasion Andrew Kirkaldy was
+informed that I was playing a driving mashie shot, he was indignant, and
+exclaimed, "Mashie! Nay, man, thon's no mashie. It's jest a driver."
+Then the day came when I found to my sorrow that I was off my driving
+mashie, and not all the most laborious practice or the fiercest
+determination to recover my lost form with it was rewarded with any
+appreciable amount of success. After a time I got back to playing it in
+some sort of fashion, but I was never so good with it again as to
+justify me in sticking to it in preference to the cleek, so since then I
+have practically abandoned it. This, I am led to believe, is a fairly
+common experience among golfers, so the moral would seem to be, that you
+should make the most of your good days with the driving mashie, that at
+the first sign of decaying power with the club another and most thorough
+trial should be given to the deserted cleek, and that at this crisis
+that club should be persevered with in preference to the tool which has
+failed. The driving mashie usually demands a good lie if it is to be
+played with any amount of success. When, in addition to the lie being
+cuppy, the turf is at all soft and spongy--and these two circumstances
+are frequently combined--the ball very often skids off the face of the
+club, chiefly because of its perpendicularity, instead of rising nicely
+from the moment of impact as it would do when carefully played by a
+suitable cleek. Of course if the turf is firm there is much greater
+chance of success with the driving mashie than if it is loose. But one
+finds by long experience that the cleek is the best and most reliable
+club for use in all these difficult circumstances. Even the driving
+cleeks have a certain amount of loft on their faces which enables them
+to get nicely under the ball, so that it rises with just sufficient
+quickness after being struck. And there is far less skidding with the
+cleek.
+
+This question of skidding calls to mind another feature of iron clubs
+generally, and those which are designed for power and length in
+particular, which has not in the past received all the consideration
+that it deserves. I am about to speak of the decided advantage which in
+my opinion accrues from the use of iron clubs with ribbed faces in
+preference to those which are smooth and plain. Some golfers of the
+sceptical sort have a notion that the ribs or other marking are merely
+ornamental, or, at the best, give some satisfaction to the fancy; but
+these are certainly not their limits. The counteraction to skidding by
+the ribbed face is undoubtedly very great, and there are certain
+circumstances in which I consider it to be quite invaluable. Suppose the
+ball is lying fairly low in grass. It is clear to the player that his
+iron club, as it approaches it, will be called upon to force its way
+through some of the grass, and that as it comes into contact with the
+ball many green blades will inevitably be crushed between the face of
+the club and the ball, with the result, in the case of the plain-faced
+club, that further progress in the matter of the follow-through will be
+to some extent impeded. But when the face of the club is ribbed, at the
+instant of contact between ball and club the grass that comes between is
+cut through by the ribs, and thus there is less waste of the power of
+the swing. The difference may be only small; but whether it is an ounce
+or two or merely a few pennyweights, it is the trifle of this kind that
+tells. And, of course, the tendency to skid is greater than ever when
+the grass through the green, or where the ball has to be played from, is
+not so short as it ought to be, and the value of the ribbed face is
+correspondingly increased.
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XXII._ FULL SHOT WITH THE CLEEK. STANCE]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XXIII._ FULL SHOT WITH THE CLEEK. TOP OF THE
+SWING]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XXIV._ FULL SHOT WITH THE CLEEK. FINISH]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XXV._ FULL SHOT WITH THE CLEEK. FINISH]
+
+Now we may examine the peculiarities of play with the cleek, the term
+for the remainder of this chapter being taken to include the driving
+mashie. It will be found that the shaft of the cleek is usually some
+two to four inches shorter than the driver, and this circumstance in
+itself is sufficient to demand a considerable modification in the stance
+and method of use. I now invite the reader to examine the photograph and
+diagram of the ordinary cleek shot (Plate XXII.), and to compare it when
+necessary with Plate VI., representing the stance for the drive. It will
+be found that the right foot is only 21-1/2 inches from the A line as
+against 27-1/2 when driving, and the left toe is only 24 inches from it
+as compared with 34. From this it appears that the left foot has been
+brought more forward into line with the right, but it is still behind
+it, and it is essential that it should be so, in order that the arms may
+be allowed a free passage through after the stroke. The feet remain
+about the same distance apart, but it should be noticed that the whole
+body has been moved forward some four inches in relation to the ball,
+the distances of the right and left toes from the B line being
+respectively 19 and 9-1/2 inches in the case of the drive and 15 and 12
+in that of the cleek shot. The stance in the case of all iron clubs
+should be studied with great care, for a half inch the wrong way seems
+to have a much greater power for evil than it does in the case of wooden
+clubs.
+
+The handle of the cleek is gripped in the same manner as the driver, but
+perhaps a little more tightly, for, as the club comes severely into
+contact with the turf, one must guard against the possibility of its
+turning in the hands. Ground the club behind the ball exactly in the
+place and in the way that you intend to hit it. There is a considerable
+similarity between the swings with the driver and the cleek. Great care
+must be taken when making the backward swing that the body is not lifted
+upwards, as there is a tendency for it to be. When pivoting on the left
+toe, the body should bend slightly and turn from the waist, the head
+being kept perfectly still. Thus it comes about that the golfer's system
+appears to be working in three independent sections--first from the feet
+to the hips, next from the hips to the neck, and then the head. The
+result of this combination of movements is that at the top of the swing,
+when everything has happened as it should do, the eyes will be looking
+over the top of the left shoulder--just as when at the top of driving
+swing. The body should not be an inch higher than when the address was
+made, and the right leg will now be straight and stiff. When the club is
+held tightly, there will be practically no danger of overswinging; but,
+as with the drive, the pressure with the palms of the hands may be a
+little relaxed at the top. The backward swing must not be so rapid that
+control of the club is in any degree lost, and once again the player
+must be warned against allowing any pause at the top. In coming down the
+cleek should gain its speed gradually, so that at the time of impact it
+is travelling at its fastest pace, and then, if the toes are right and
+the shoulders doing their duty, the follow-through will almost certainly
+be performed properly. The right shoulder must be carefully watched lest
+it drops too much or too quickly. The club must, as it were, be in front
+of it all the way. If the shoulder gets in front, a sclaffed ball is
+almost sure to be the result, the club coming into contact with the turf
+much too soon. If the stroke is finished correctly, the body will then
+be facing the flag.
+
+So much, for the time being, for the full shot with the cleek.
+Personally, however, I do not favour a really full shot either with the
+cleek or any other iron club. When the limit of capability is demanded
+with this or most other iron clubs in the bag, it is time to consider
+whether a wooden instrument should not be employed. Therefore I very
+seldom play the full cleek shot, but limit myself to one which may be
+said to be slightly above the three-quarters. This is usually quite
+sufficient for all purposes of length, and it is easier with this limit
+of swing to keep the wrists and the club generally more under control.
+Little more can be said by way of printed instruction regarding the
+ordinary cleek shot, which is called for when the distance to be played
+falls short of a full brassy, or, on the other hand, when the lie is of
+too cuppy a character to render the use of the brassy possible with any
+amount of safety.
+
+[Illustration: THE PUSH SHOT WITH THE CLEEK.]
+
+Many players, however, who are young in experience, and some who are
+older too, seem to imagine that the simplest stroke, as just described,
+is the limit of the resources of the cleek, and never give it credit for
+the versatility which it undoubtedly possesses. There is another shot
+with the cleek which is more difficult than that we have just been
+discussing, one which it will take many weeks of arduous practice to
+master, but which, in my opinion, is one of the most valuable and
+telling shots in golf, and that is the push which is a half shot. Of all
+the strokes that I like to play, this is my favourite. It is a half
+shot, but as a matter of fact almost as much length can be obtained with
+it as in any other way. It is a somewhat peculiar shot, and must be
+played very exactly. In the first place, either a shorter cleek (about
+two inches shorter, and preferably with a little more loft than the
+driving cleek possesses) should be used, or the other one must be
+gripped lower down the handle. A glance at Plate XXVI. and the diagram
+in the corner will show that the stance is taken much nearer to the ball
+than when an ordinary cleek shot was being played, that particularly the
+right foot is nearer, and that the body and feet have again been moved a
+trifle to the left. Moreover, it is recommended that in the address the
+hands should be held a little more forward than usual. In this half shot
+the club is not swung so far back, nor is the follow-through continued
+so far at the finish. To make a complete success of this stroke, the
+ball must be hit in much the same manner as when a low ball was wanted
+in driving against the wind. In playing an ordinary cleek shot, the turf
+is grazed before the ball in the usual manner; but to make this half or
+push shot perfectly, the sight should be directed to the centre of the
+ball, and the club should be brought directly on to it (exactly on the
+spot marked on the diagram on page 170). In this way the turf should be
+grazed for the first time an inch or two on the far side of the ball.
+The diagram on this page shows the passage of the club through the ball,
+as it were, exactly. Then not only is the ball kept low, but certain
+peculiarities are imparted to its flight, which are of the utmost value
+when a half shot with the cleek is called for. Not only may the ball be
+depended upon never to rise above a certain height, but, having reached
+its highest point, it seems to come down very quickly, travelling but a
+few yards more, and having very little run on it when it reaches the
+turf again. When this shot is once mastered, it will be found that these
+are very valuable peculiarities, for a long approach shot can be gauged
+with splendid accuracy. The ball is sent forwards and upwards until it
+is almost overhanging the green, and then down it comes close to the
+pin. I admit that when the ball is hit in this way the shot is made
+rather difficult--though not so difficult as it looks--and, of course,
+it is not absolutely imperative that this method should be followed.
+Some good players make the stroke in the same way as the full shot, so
+far as hitting the ball is concerned, but in doing so they certainly
+lose the advantages I have pointed out, and stand less chance of scoring
+through a finely placed ball. I may remark that personally I play not
+only my half cleek stroke but all my cleek strokes in this way, so much
+am I devoted to the qualities of flight which are thereby imparted to
+the ball, and though I do not insist that others should do likewise in
+all cases, I am certainly of opinion that they are missing something
+when they do not learn to play the half shot in this manner. The
+greatest danger they have to fear is that in their too conscious efforts
+to keep the club clear of the ground until after the impact, they will
+overdo it and simply top the ball, when, of course, there will be no
+flight at all. I suggest that when this stroke is being practised a
+close watch should be kept over the forearms and wrists, from which most
+of the work is wanted. The arms should be kept well in, and the wrists
+should be very tight and firm. It should be pointed out that there are
+some circumstances in which it is not safe to attempt to play this
+stroke. When the club comes to the ground after impact with the ball,
+very little turf should be taken. It is enough if the grass is shaved
+well down to the roots. But if the turf is soft and yielding, the club
+head will have an inevitable tendency to burrow, with the result that it
+would be next to impossible to follow-through properly with the stroke,
+and that the ball would skid off, generally to the right. The shot is
+therefore played to greatest advantage on a hard and fairly dry course.
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XXVI._ THE PUSH SHOT WITH THE CLEEK. STANCE]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XXVII._ THE PUSH SHOT WITH THE CLEEK. TOP OF THE
+SWING]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XXVIII._ THE PUSH SHOT WITH THE CLEEK. FINISH]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XXIX._ A LOW BALL (AGAINST WIND) WITH THE CLEEK.
+STANCE]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XXX._ A LOW BALL (AGAINST WIND) WITH THE CLEEK.
+TOP OF THE SWING]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XXXI._ A LOW BALL (AGAINST WIND) WITH THE CLEEK.
+FINISH]
+
+Many people are inclined to ask why, instead of playing a half shot with
+the cleek, the iron is not taken and a full stroke made with it, which
+is the way that a large proportion of good golfers would employ for
+reaching the green from the same distance. For some reason which I
+cannot explain, there seems to be an enormous number of players who
+prefer a full shot with any club to a half shot with another, the result
+being the same or practically so. Why is it that they like to swing so
+much and waste so much power, unmindful of the fact that the shorter the
+swing the greater the accuracy? The principle of my own game, and that
+which I always impress upon others when I have an opportunity, is,
+"Reach the hole in the easiest way you can." The easier way is generally
+the surer way. When, therefore, there is a choice between a full shot
+with one club or a half shot with another, I invariably ask the caddie
+for the instrument with which to make the half shot. Hence, apart from
+the advantageous peculiarities of the stroke which I have pointed out, I
+should always play the half cleek shot in preference to the full iron,
+because, to my mind, it is easier and safer, and because there is less
+danger of the ball skidding off the club. In the same way I prefer a
+half iron shot to a full one with the mashie. If the golfer attains any
+proficiency with the stroke, he will probably be very much enamoured of
+it, and will think it well worth the trouble of carrying a club
+specially for the purpose, at all events on all important occasions.
+
+There is another variety of cleek shot which calls for separate mention.
+It is played when a low ball is wanted to cut its way through a head
+wind, and for the proper explanation of this useful stroke I have
+supplied a special series of photographs from which it may be studied to
+advantage. As will be seen from them, this stroke is, to all intents and
+purposes, a modified half or push stroke, the most essential difference
+being in the stance. The feet are a trifle nearer the ball and
+considerably more forward, my right heel as a matter of fact being only
+2-1/2 inches from the B line. Take a half swing, hit the ball before the
+turf as in the case of the push, and finish with the shaft of the club
+almost perpendicular, the arms and wrists being held in severe
+subjection throughout. The ball skims ahead low down like a swallow, and
+by the time it begins to rise and the wind to act upon it, it has almost
+reached its destination, and the wind is now welcome as a brake.
+
+Having thus dealt with these different cleek shots separately, I think
+some useful instruction may be obtained from a comparison of them,
+noting the points of difference as they are set forth in the
+photographs. An examination of the pictures will at once suggest that
+there is much more in the stance than had been suspected. In the case of
+the full cleek shot it is noticeable that the stance is opener than in
+any of the others, and that the body is more erect. The object of this
+is to allow freedom of the swing without altering the position of the
+body during the upward movement. I mean particularly that the head is
+not so likely to get out of its place as it would be if the body had
+been more bent while the address was being made. It ought not to be, but
+is the case, that when pivoting on the left foot during the progress of
+a long upward swing, there is a frequent inclination, as already pointed
+out, to raise the body, so that the position of the latter at the top of
+the swing is altogether wrong, and has to be corrected in the downward
+swing before the ball is reached. When, as often happens, this is done
+too suddenly, a sclaff is the result. Therefore an obvious
+recommendation is to stand at the ball with the same amount of erectness
+as there will be at the top of the swing. And remember that when you
+pivot on the left toe, the lift that there is here should not spread
+along to the head and shoulders, but should be absorbed, as it were, at
+the waist, which should bend inwards and turn round on the hips. Once
+the head has taken its position, it should never move again until the
+ball has been struck. Mind that you do not fall away from the ball when
+the club is about to come into contact with it. I have observed a
+considerable tendency in that direction on the part of many young
+players. I have pressed several of these points home in other places,
+but the success of the stroke is so bound up with a proper observation
+of them that I think they cannot be too frequently or too strongly
+insisted upon.
+
+If we take one more glance at all the different cleek stroke
+photographs, we shall see that in each case the toes are turned well
+outwards. I find that unless they take this position the player has not
+the same freedom for turning upon them. In the case of full shots the
+weight is more evenly divided upon both feet than in the case of others.
+Thus, when the stance for a half or three-quarter cleek shot is taken,
+the weight of the body falls more on the right leg than on the left. As
+you have not to swing so far back, you are able to maintain this
+position. You could not do so if a full stroke were being taken; hence
+you would not then adopt it. Again, one allows the wrists and muscles
+less play in the case of half shots than in full ones. There is more
+stiffness all round. This, however, must not be taken to suggest that
+even in the case of the full shot there is any looseness at the wrists.
+If there were, it would be most in evidence just when it would be most
+fatal, that is to say, at the moment of impact. The wrists must always
+be kept severely under control. It will also be noticed from the
+photographs, that at the top of the swings for both the full shot and
+the half shot the body is in much the same position, but when the low
+shot against the wind is being played it is pushed a little forward. I
+mention these details by way of suggesting how much can be discovered
+from a close and attentive study of these photographs only. Little
+things like these, when not noticed and attended to, may bother a player
+for many weeks; while, on the other hand, he may frequently find out
+from a scrutiny of the pictures and diagrams the faults which have
+baffled him on the links. In this connection the "How not to do it"
+photographs should be of particular value to the player who is in
+trouble with his cleek. Look at the faulty stance and address in Plate
+XXXII. At the first glance you can see that this is not a natural
+stance; the player is cramped and uncomfortable. The grip is altogether
+wrong. The hands are too far apart, and the right hand is too much under
+the shaft. The body would not hold its position during the swing, and in
+any case a correct swing would be impossible. Yet this photograph does
+not exaggerate the bad methods of some players. In Plate XXVII. we have
+the player in a stance which is nearly as bad as before; but it is
+evident that in this case the body has been lifted during the upward
+swing, and the left hand is rather too much on the top of the shaft.
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XXXII._ FAULTY PLAY WITH THE CLEEK
+
+_The stance in this case is very bad. The whole of the weight is on the
+left leg instead of being evenly divided. The hands are too far apart,
+and the right hand is far too much underneath the shaft. Moreover the
+player is bending too far towards his ball. He must stand up to his
+work. The almost certain consequence of this attitude is a foozle._]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XXXIII._ FAULTY PLAY WITH THE CLEEK
+
+_Some very common and very fatal defects in the swing are illustrated
+here. It is evident that both the body and the head have been lifted as
+the club has been swung up, and the whole arrangement is thus thrown out
+of gear. Both hands are in wrong positions (compare with XXIII) with the
+result that the toe of the club is pointing sideways instead of to the
+ground. Result--the player is likely to strike anything except the
+ball._]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XXXIV._ FAULTY PLAY WITH THE CLEEK
+
+_Here at the finish of the stroke the position of the arms is
+exceedingly bad. They are bent and huddled up towards the body, plainly
+indicating that they did not go through with the ball. There was no
+power in this stroke, nothing to send the ball along. Therefore length
+was impossible, and a foozle was quite likely. Compare with XXIV._]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XXXV._ FAULTY PLAY WITH THE CLEEK
+
+_The mistakes here are numerous, but less pronounced than before. The
+stance is not accurate, but it is not bad enough to be fatal in itself.
+The play is very uncomfortable with his left arm, which is in a badly
+cramped position. The hands are too far apart and the left wrist is too
+high. The result is rather doubtful. Quite possibly the ball will be
+pulled. Anyhow a good shot is out of the question._]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XXXVI._ FAULTY PLAY WITH THE CLEEK
+
+_In the case of this finish the player has fallen away from the ball
+instead of going forward with it as in XXIV. It is evident that the club
+has been drawn across the ball. Result--a slice._]
+
+
+Evidently it will take some time to bring the cleek completely into
+subjection. There is, of course, no such thing as an all-round club in
+golf, but the nearest to it is this one, and the man who is master of it
+is rarely in a serious difficulty. He can even play a respectable round
+with a cleek alone, and there is no form of practice less wearisome,
+more diverting, or more eminently valuable and instructive, than that
+which is to be obtained on a fine afternoon by taking out the cleek and
+doing a round of the course with it from the tee to the hole in every
+case, and making use of all the different strokes that I have described
+in the course of this chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+PLAY WITH THE IRON
+
+     The average player's favourite club--Fine work for the iron--Its
+     points--The right and the wrong time for play with it--Stance
+     measurements--A warning concerning the address--The cause of much
+     bad play with the iron--The swing--Half shots with the iron--The
+     regulation of power--Features of erratic play--Forced and checked
+     swings--Common causes of duffed strokes--Swings that are worthless.
+
+
+When I mention that useful iron-headed club that goes by the simple name
+of iron, I am conscious that I bring forward a subject that is dear to
+the hearts of many golfers who have not yet come to play with certainty
+with all their instruments. For the iron is often the golfer's favourite
+club, and it has won this place of affection in his mind because it has
+been found in the course of long experience that it plays him fewer
+tricks than any of the others--that it is more dependable. This may be
+to some extent because with the average golfer such fine work is seldom
+required from the simple iron as is wanted from other clubs from time to
+time. The distance to be covered is always well within the capabilities
+of the club, or it would not be employed, and the average golfer of whom
+we speak, who has still a handicap of several strokes, is usually
+tolerably well satisfied if with it he places the ball anywhere on the
+green, from which point he will be enabled to hole out in the additional
+regulation two strokes. And the green is often enough a large place, so
+the iron is fortunate in its task. But it goes without saying that by
+those who have the skill for it, and sufficiently realise the
+possibilities of all their tools, some of the finest work in golf may be
+done with the iron. When it is called for the player is within easy
+reach of the hole. The really long work has been accomplished, and the
+prime consideration now is that of accuracy. Therefore the man who feels
+himself able to play for the pin and not merely for the green, is he who
+is in the confidence of his iron and knows that there are great things
+to be done with it.
+
+The fault I have to find with the iron play of most golfers is that it
+comes at the wrong time. I find them lunging out with all their power at
+full shots with their irons when they might be far better employed in
+effecting one of those pretty low shots made with the cleek at the half
+swing. It is not in the nature of things that the full iron should be as
+true as the half cleek, where there is such a reserve of strength, and
+the body, being less in a state of strain, the mind can be more
+concentrated on straightness and the accurate determination of length. I
+suspect that this full shot is so often played and the preference for
+the iron is established, not merely because it nearly always does its
+work tolerably satisfactorily, but because in the simple matter of looks
+there is something inviting about the iron. It has a fair amount of
+loft, and it is deeper in the face than the cleek, and at a casual
+inspection of its points it seems an easy club to play with. On the
+other hand, being a little nearer to the hole, the average player
+deserts his iron for the mashie much sooner than I care to do. Your
+10-handicap man never gives a second thought as to the tool he shall use
+when he has arrived within a hundred yards of the hole. Is he not then
+approaching in deadly earnest, and has he not grown up in golf with a
+definite understanding that there is one thing, and one only, with which
+to give the true artistic finish to the play through the green?
+Therefore out of his bag comes the mashie, which, if it could speak,
+would surely protest that it is a delicate club with some fine breeding
+in it, and that it was never meant to do this slogging with long swings
+that comes properly in the departments of its iron friends. I seldom use
+a mashie until I am within eighty yards of the hole. Up to that point I
+keep my iron in action. Much better, I say, is a flick with the iron
+than a thump with the mashie.
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XXXVII._ FULL IRON SHOT. STANCE]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XXXVIII._ FULL IRON SHOT. TOP OF THE SWING]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XXXIX._ FULL IRON SHOT. FINISH]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XL._ PLAY WITH THE IRON FOR A LOW BALL (AGAINST
+WIND). STANCE]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XLI._ PLAY WITH THE IRON FOR A LOW BALL (AGAINST
+WIND). TOP OF THE SWING]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XLII._ PLAY WITH THE IRON FOR A LOW BALL (AGAINST
+WIND). FINISH]
+
+The iron that I most commonly use is nearly two inches shorter than my
+cleek. It follows that the stance is taken slightly nearer to the ball;
+but reason for moving closer to our A line is to be found in what I
+might describe as the more upright lie of an iron as compared with a
+cleek. When the lower edge of the club is laid evenly upon the level
+turf, the stick will usually be found to be a trifle more vertical than
+in the case of the cleek, and therefore for the proper preservation of
+the natural lie of the club the golfer must come forward to it.
+Consequently I find that when I have taken my stance for an iron shot
+(Plate XXXVII.), my right foot has come forward no less than 8-1/2
+inches from the point at which it rested when I was taking a tolerably
+full shot with the cleek. The left foot is 3-1/2 inches nearer. Thus the
+body has been very slightly turned in the direction of the hole, and
+while the feet are a trifle closer together, the ball is rather nearer
+to the right toe than it was when being addressed by the cleek. Those
+are the only features of the stance, and the only one I really insist
+upon is the nearness to the ball. The commonest defect to be found with
+iron play is the failure to address the ball and play the stroke through
+with the sole of the club laid evenly upon the ground from toe to heel.
+When the man is too far from the ball, it commonly follows that the
+blade of the club comes down on to the turf heel first. Then something
+that was not bargained for happens. It may be that the ball was taken by
+the centre of the iron's face, and that the upward and downward swings
+and the follow-through were all perfection, and yet it has shot away to
+one side or the other with very little flight in it. And perhaps for a
+week or two, while this is constantly happening, the man is wondering
+why. When, happily, the reason is at last made apparent, the man goes
+forward to its correction with that workmanlike thoroughness which
+characterises him always and everywhere, and lo! the erring ball still
+pursues a line which does not lead to the green. At the same time it may
+very likely be noticed that the slight sense of twisting which was
+experienced by the hands on the earlier occasion is here again. The
+truth is that the first fault was over-corrected, and the toe of the
+club, instead of the heel, has this time had the turf to itself while
+the ball was being removed. Obviously, when either of these faults is
+committed, the club head is twisted, and nothing is more impossible than
+to get in a perfect iron shot when these things are done. I am making
+much ado about what may seem after all to be an elementary fault, but a
+long experience of the wayward golfer has made it clear to me that it is
+not only a common fault, which is accountable for much defective play
+with the iron, but that it is often unsuspected, and lurks undiscovered
+and doing its daily damage for weeks or even months. The sole of the
+iron must pass over the turf exactly parallel with it.
+
+There is nothing new to say about the swing of the iron. It is the same
+as the swing of the cleek. For a full iron the swing is as long as for
+the full cleek, and for the half iron it is as long as for the half
+cleek, and both are made in the same way. The arms and wrists are
+managed similarly, and I would only offer the special advice that the
+player should make sure that he finishes with his hands well up, showing
+that the ball has been taken easily and properly, as he may see them in
+the photograph (Plate XXXIX.), which in itself tells a very good story
+of comfortable and free play with the club, which is at the same time
+held in full command. The whole of the series of photographs of iron
+shots brings out very exactly the points that I desire to illustrate,
+and I cannot do better than refer my readers to them.
+
+When it is desired to play a half iron shot that will give a low ball
+for travelling against the wind, the same methods may be pursued as
+when playing the corresponding shot with the cleek.
+
+When one comes to play with the iron, and is within, say, 130 yards of
+the hole, the regulation of the precise amount of power to be applied to
+the ball becomes a matter of the first importance, and one that causes
+unceasing anxiety. I feel, then, that it devolves upon me to convey a
+solemn warning to all players of moderate experience, that the distance
+the ball will be despatched is governed entirely by the extent of the
+backward swing of the club. When a few extra yards are wanted, put an
+additional inch or two on to the backward swing, and so on; but never,
+however you may satisfy yourself with excuses that you are doing a wise
+and proper thing, attempt to force the pace at which the club is
+travelling in the downward swing, or, on the other hand, attempt to
+check it. I believe in the club being brought down fairly quickly in the
+case of all iron shots; but it should be the natural speed that comes as
+the result of the speed and length of the upward swing, and the gain in
+it should be even and continuous throughout. Try, therefore, always to
+swing back at the same rate, and to come on to the ball naturally and
+easily afterwards. Of course, in accordance with the simple laws of
+gravity and applied force, the farther back you swing the faster will
+your club be travelling when it reaches the ball, and the harder will be
+the hit. Therefore, if the golfer will learn by experience exactly how
+far back he should swing with a certain club in order to get a certain
+distance, and will teach himself to swing to just the right length and
+with always the same amount of force applied, the rest is in the hands
+of Nature, and can be depended upon with far more certainty than
+anything which the wayward hands and head of the golfer can accomplish.
+This is a very simple and obvious truth, but it is one of the main
+principles of golf, and one that is far too often neglected. How
+frequently do you see a player take a full swing when a half shot is all
+that is wanted, and even when his instinct tells him that the half shot
+is the game. What happens? The instinct assumes the upper hand at the
+top of the swing, and the man with the guilty conscience deliberately
+puts a brake on to his club as it is coming down. He knows that he has
+gone too far back, and he is anxious then to reduce the speed of the
+club by unnatural means. But the principles of golf are not to be so
+lightly tampered with in this manner, and it affords the conscientious
+player some secret satisfaction to observe that very rarely indeed is
+anything of a success made of shots of this sort. A duffed stroke is the
+common result. In such cases the swing is of no more value than if it
+had not taken place at all.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+APPROACHING WITH THE MASHIE
+
+     The great advantage of good approach play--A fascinating
+     club--Characteristics of a good mashie--Different kinds of strokes
+     with it--No purely wrist shot--Stance and grip--Position of the
+     body--No pivoting on the left toe--The limit of distance--Avoid a
+     full swing--The half iron as against the full mashie--The
+     swing--How not to loft--On scooping the ball--Taking a divot--The
+     running-up approach--A very valuable stroke--The club to use--A
+     tight grip with the right hand--Peculiarities of the swing--The
+     calculation of pitch and run--The application of cut and spin--A
+     stroke that is sometimes necessary--Standing for a cut--Method of
+     swinging and hitting the ball--The chip on to the green--Points of
+     the jigger.
+
+
+There is an old saying that golf matches are won on the putting greens,
+and it has often been established that this one, like many other old
+sayings, contains an element of truth, but is not entirely to be relied
+upon. In playing a hole, what is one's constant desire and anxiety from
+the tee shot to the last putt? It is to effect, somehow or other, that
+happy combination of excellent skill with a little luck as will result
+practically in the saving of a whole stroke, which will often mean the
+winning of the hole. The prospect of being able to exercise this useful
+economy is greatest when the mashie is taken in hand. The difference
+between a good drive and a poor one is not very often to be represented
+by anything like half a stroke. But the difference between a really good
+mashie approach stroke and a bad one is frequently at least a stroke,
+and I have known it to be more. Between the brilliant and the average it
+is one full stroke. Of course a stroke is saved and a hole very often
+won when a long putt is holed, but in cases of this kind the proportion
+of luck to skill is much too great to give perfect satisfaction to the
+conscientious golfer, however delightful the momentary sensation may be.
+When a man is playing his mashie well, he is leaving himself very little
+to do on the putting green, so that, if occasionally he does miss a
+putt, he can afford to do so, having constantly been getting so near to
+the flag that one putt has sufficed. When the work with the mashie is
+indifferent or poor, the player is frequently left with long putts to
+negotiate, and is in a fever of anxiety until the last stroke has been
+made on the green. It often happens at these times that the putting also
+is poor, and when this is the case a sad mess is made of the score.
+Therefore, while I say that he is a happy and lucky man who is able
+constantly to save his game on the putting greens, happier by far is he
+who is not called upon to do so. In this way the skilled golfer
+generally finds the mashie the most fascinating club to play with, and
+there are few pleasures in the game which can equal that of laying the
+ball well up to the pin from a distance of many yards. One expects to
+get much nearer to it with this last of the irons than with the cleek or
+the simple iron, and the more nearly the flag is approached the greater
+the skill and experience of the player. Here, indeed, is a field for
+lifelong practice, with a telling advantage accruing from each slight
+improvement in play.
+
+First a word as to the club, for there is scarcely an article in the
+golfer's kit which presents more scope for variety of taste and style.
+Drivers and brassies vary a little, cleeks and irons differ much, but
+mashies are more unlike each other than any of them. So much depends
+upon this part of the game, and so much upon the preferences and
+peculiarities of the player, that it is unlikely that the first mashie
+in which he invests will go alone with him through his experience as a
+golfer. To his stock there will be added other mashies, and it is
+probable that only after years of experiment will he come to a final
+determination as to which is the best for him to use. In this question
+of the choice of mashie it is necessary that taste and style should be
+allowed to have their own way. However, to the hesitating golfer, or to
+him whose mashie play so far has been somewhat disappointing, I give
+with confidence the advice to use a mashie which is very fairly lofted
+and which is deep in the blade. I can see no use in the mashie with the
+narrow blade which, when (as so often happens when near the green) the
+ball is lying in grass which is not as short as it might be, often
+passes right under the ball--a loss of a stroke at the most critical
+moment, which is the most exasperating thing I know. Again, for a last
+hint I suggest that he should see that his shaft is both stiff and
+strong. This instrument being used generally for lighter work than the
+other iron clubs, and the delicacy and exactness of it being, as a rule,
+the chief considerations, there is a natural tendency on the part of the
+golfer sometimes to favour a thinner stick than usual. But it should be
+borne in mind that there should be no trace of "give" in the shaft, for
+such would be all against the accuracy that is wanted, and a man when he
+is playing the short approach shot wants to feel that he has a club in
+his hand that can be relied upon in its every fibre. Moreover, gentle as
+is much of its work, even the mashie at times has some very rough jobs
+to accomplish. So let the stick be fairly stiff.
+
+Of mashie shots there is an infinite variety. In this stroke not only
+are the lie of the ball and the distance it has to be sent controlling
+factors in the way it has to be played, but now the nature and qualities
+of the green which is being approached constitute another, and one which
+occasions more thought and anxiety than any. Generally all mashie shots
+may be separated into three groups. There is what we may call the
+ordinary mashie shot to begin with--meaning thereby a simple lofted
+stroke,--there is the running-up mashie shot, and there is the special
+stroke which applies extra spin and cut to the ball. There are very
+pronounced differences between these strokes and the ways of playing
+them. One is often told that "all mashies should be played with the
+wrist." I beg to differ. As I have said before, I contend that there is
+no such thing as a purely wrist shot in golf--except on the putting
+green. If anybody really made up his mind to play his mashie with his
+wrist and his wrist alone, he would find the blade of his club in
+uncomfortable proximity to his face at the finish of the stroke, and I
+should not like to hazard a guess as to where the ball might be. The
+fact of the matter is, that those who so often say that the mashie must
+be played with the wrist never attempt to play it in this way
+themselves. They are merely misled by the fact that for the majority of
+mashie strokes a shorter swing and less freedom of the arms are
+desirable than when other iron clubs are being employed. An attempt has
+been made to play a pure wrist shot in the "How not to do it"
+photograph, No. XLVIII., and I am sure nobody ever made a success of a
+stroke like that.
+
+The stance for the mashie differs from that taken when an iron shot is
+being played, in that the feet are placed nearer to each other and
+nearer to the ball. Comparison between the photographs and diagrams will
+make the extent of these differences and the peculiarities of the stance
+for the mashie quite clear. The right toe is advanced until it is within
+11 inches of the A line, the ball is opposite the left heel, the left
+foot is turned slightly more outwardly than usual. As for the grip, the
+only observation that it is necessary to make is, that if a very short
+shot is being played it is sometimes best to grasp the club low down at
+the bottom of the handle, but in no circumstances do I approve of the
+hands leaving the leather and getting on to the wood as players
+sometimes permit them to do. When the player is so desperately anxious
+to get so near to the blade with his hands, he should use a shorter
+club. It should also be noticed that the body is more relaxed than
+formerly, that there is more bend at the elbows, that the arms are not
+so stiff, and that there is the least suspicion, moreover, of slackness
+at the knees. The whole attitude is arranged for ease, delicacy of
+touch, and extreme accuracy, whereas formerly simple straightness and
+power were the governing considerations. To the eye of the uninitiated,
+many of these photographs may seem very much alike; but a little
+attentive study of those showing the stances for the iron and mashie
+will make the essential differences very apparent. In the address the
+right knee is perceptibly bent, and all the weight of the body is thrown
+on to it. In the backward swing the right knee stiffens and the left
+bends in, the left foot leaning slightly over to facilitate its doing
+so. There is a great tendency on the part of inexperienced or uncertain
+players to pivot on the left toe in the most exaggerated manner even
+when playing a very short mashie stroke. Unless a full shot is being
+taken, there should not only be no pivoting with the mashie, but the
+left heel, throughout the stroke, should be kept either touching the
+ground or raised only the least distance above it. In the backward swing
+the right knee is stiffened and the left knee bends in towards the ball,
+simply in order to let the club go back properly, which it could hardly
+do if the original pose were retained. It is particularly requisite
+that, though there is so much ease elsewhere, the club in the case of
+these mashie shots should be held quite tightly. They are not played
+with the wrists alone, but with the wrists and the forearms, and a firm
+grip is an essential to success.
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XLIII._ MASHIE APPROACH (PITCH AND RUN). STANCE
+(_Distance 70 to 80 yards from the hole._)]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XLIV._ MASHIE APPROACH (PITCH AND RUN). TOP OF THE
+SWING (_Distance 70 to 80 yards from the hole._)]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XLV._ MASHIE APPROACH (PITCH AND RUN). FINISH
+(_Distance 70 to 80 yards from hole._)]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XLVI._ MISTAKES WITH THE MASHIE
+
+_The hands are too far apart. Whatever method of grip is favoured at
+least the right thumb should be down the shaft to guide it in the case
+of this delicate shot. The face of the club is turned in slightly from
+the toe, and the face also is too straight up and is not allowed its
+natural angle. The toe of the club is likely to come on to the ball
+first, and that will cause a pull. In any case the club cannot be guided
+properly, and there can be no accuracy._]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XLVII._ MISTAKES WITH THE MASHIE
+
+_Here in this upward swing the body is being held too stiffly. It is not
+pivoting from the waist as it ought to do. Besides the hands being too
+far apart, the left one is spoiling everything. It is out of control and
+is trying to get above the shaft, instead of being underneath it at this
+stage. The result will either be a foozle or a pulled ball. The face of
+the mashie will not be straight at the moment of impact._]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XLVIII._ MISTAKES WITH THE MASHIE
+
+_This is merely a "wrist shot," such as is often recommended, and which
+I say cannot possibly give a good result. There is no mere wrist shot.
+The result of an attempt of this kind is always very doubtful. In any
+case, even when the ball is fairly hit, there can be no length from the
+stroke._]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE XLIX._ RUNNING UP APPROACH WITH MASHIE OR IRON.
+FINISH, WITH STANCE ALSO INDICATED]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE L._ A CUT APPROACH WITH THE MASHIE. STANCE]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE LI._ A CUT APPROACH WITH THE MASHIE. TOP OF THE
+SWING]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE LII._ A CUT APPROACH WITH THE MASHIE. FINISH]
+
+When considering the nature of the backward swing, the question arises
+as to how far it should be prolonged, and I have already declared myself
+against making long shots with the mashie. It is my strong conviction
+that a man is playing the best and safest golf when he attempts nothing
+beyond eighty yards with his mashie, using an iron or a cleek for
+anything longer. It is very seldom that I play my mashie at a distance
+of over eighty yards, and the limit of the swing that I ever give to it
+is a three-quarter, which is what I call an ordinary mashie stroke, and
+should be sufficient to do anything ever to be attempted with this
+club. But some golfers like taking the fullest mashie stroke that they
+can, and, when hesitating between the use of an iron or the lofting
+club, they usually decide in favour of the latter. "I think I can reach
+it with my mashie," they always say, and so they whirl away and commit
+the most frightful abuse on a splendid club, which was never intended to
+have its capabilities strained in order to reach anything. Instead of
+saying that "they think they can reach it with their mashie," these
+golfers should try to decide that "a half iron will not carry them too
+far." It is easier and safer. Whenever a ball has a distance to go, I
+believe in keeping it fairly low down, as low as the hazards will
+permit, believing that in this way by constant practice it is possible
+to ensure much greater accuracy than in any other way. No golfer has
+much control over a ball that is sent up towards the sky. The mashie is
+meant to loft, and it is practically impossible to play a long shot with
+it without lofting the ball very much and exposing it to all the wind
+that there is about. As very little driving power has been imparted to
+the ball, what wind there may be has considerably more effect upon it
+than upon the flight of other balls played with other iron clubs.
+
+The line of the backward swing should be much the same as that for the
+half shot with the cleek, but the body should be held a little more
+rigidly, and not be allowed to pivot quite so much from the waist as
+when playing with any of the other clubs which have been described. The
+downward swing is the same as before, and in the case of the ordinary
+stroke which we are speaking of, the turf should be hit immediately
+behind the ball. As soon as the impact has been effected, the body
+should be allowed to go forward with the club, care being taken that it
+does not start too soon and is in front.
+
+The great anxiety of the immature player when making this stroke is to
+get the ball properly lofted, and in some obstinate cases it seems to
+take several seasons of experience to convince him completely that the
+club has been specially made for the purpose, and, if fairly used, is
+quite adequate. This man cannot get rid of the idea that the player
+lofts the ball, or at least gives material assistance to the club in
+doing it. What happens? Observe this gentleman when he and his ball are
+on the wrong side of a hazard which is guarding the green, and notice
+the very deliberate way in which he goes about doing the one thing that
+he has been told hundreds of times by the most experienced players can
+only be attended by the most disastrous and costly failure. He has made
+up his mind that he will scoop the ball over the bunker. He will not
+trust to his club to do this important piece of business. So down goes
+the right shoulder and into the bunker goes the ball, and one more good
+hole has been lost. He doesn't know how it happened; he thinks the
+mashie must be the most difficult club in the world to play with, and he
+complains of his terrible luck; but by the time the approach shot to the
+next hole comes to be played he is at it again. There is nobody so
+persistent as the scooper, and the failure that attends his efforts is a
+fair revenge by the club for the slight that is cast upon its
+capabilities, for the chances are that if the stroke had been played in
+just the ordinary manner without any thought whatever of the bunker, and
+if the ground had been hit just a trifle behind the ball, the latter
+would have been dropped easily and comfortably upon the green. Some
+golfers also seem to imagine that they have done all that they could
+reasonably be expected to do when they have taken a divot, and even if
+the shot has proved a failure they derive some comfort from the divot
+they have taken, the said divot usually being a huge slab of turf, the
+removal of which makes a gaping wound in the links. But there is nothing
+to be proud of in this achievement, for it does not by any means imply
+that the stroke has been properly made. To hit the ball correctly when
+making an approach with the mashie, it is necessary to take a
+little--just a very little--turf. This is so, because the ball will not
+fly and rise properly as the club desires to make it do, unless it is
+taken in the exact middle of the club, which has a deeper face than
+others. I mean middle, not only as regards the distance from heel to
+toe, but between the top edge of the blade and the sole. A moment's
+consideration will make it clear that if the stroke were to be made
+quite cleanly, that is to say, if the club merely grazed the ground
+without going into it, the ball would inevitably be taken by the lower
+part of the blade near to the sole and much below the centre where the
+impact ought to be. Therefore it is apparent that, in order to take it
+from the centre, the blade must be forced underneath, and if the swing
+is made in the manner directed and the turf is taken just the least
+distance behind the ball--which, of course, means keeping the eye just
+so much more to the right than usual--all that is necessary will be
+easily accomplished. Apart from the loft, I think a little more accuracy
+is ensured by the removal of that inch or two of turf.
+
+Now there is that most valuable stroke, the running-up approach, to
+consider. When skilfully performed, it is often most wonderfully and
+delightfully effective. It is used chiefly for short approaches when the
+ground outside the putting green is fairly good and there is either no
+hazard at all to be surmounted, or one that is so very low or sunken as
+not to cause any serious inconvenience. When the running-up shot is
+played in these circumstances by the man who knows how to play it, he
+can generally depend on getting much nearer to the hole than if he were
+obliged to play with a pitch alone. It is properly classified as a
+mashie shot, but there are golfers who do it with an iron. Others like a
+straight-faced mashie for the purpose; and a third section have a
+preference for the ordinary mashie, and play for a pitch and run. These
+are details of fancy in which I cannot properly interfere. The stance
+for the stroke differs from that for an ordinary mashie shot in that the
+feet and body are further in front, the right toe, for instance, being
+fully six inches nearer to the B line (see Plate XLIX.). The club may
+be gripped lower down the handle. Moreover, it should be held forward,
+slightly in front of the head. The swing back should be very straight,
+and should not be carried nearly so far as in playing an ordinary mashie
+stroke, for in this case the ball requires very little propulsion. This
+is one of the few shots in golf in which the right hand is called upon
+to do most of the work, and that it may be encouraged to do so the hold
+with the left hand should be slightly relaxed. With the right hand then
+fastening tightly to the handle, it comes about that the toe of the club
+at the time of the impact is slightly in front of the heel, and this
+combination of causes tends to give the necessary run to the ball when
+it takes the ground. The work of the right hand in the case of this
+stroke is delicate and exact, and it must be very carefully timed, for
+if it is done too suddenly or too soon the result is likely to be a
+foundered ball. The club having been taken so straight out in the
+backward swing, the natural tendency will be to draw it very slightly
+across the ball when contact is made, and the blade, then progressing
+towards the left foot, should to finish be taken a few inches further
+round towards the back than in the case of an ordinary mashie shot. One
+cannot very well compare the two in words, however, for the finishes are
+altogether different, as an examination of the illustration of the
+finish of the running-up stroke will show. In this case the swing stops
+when the shaft of the club is pointing a little to the left of the
+direction of the ball that is speeding onwards, the blade being on a
+level with the hands. It will be observed that at the finish the right
+hand is well over on the handle. This is the kind of stroke that the
+practised and skilful golfer loves most, for few others afford him such
+a test of calculation and judgment. It will not do to make the stroke
+haphazard. Before the blade of the club is moved for the upward swing, a
+very clear understanding should have been formed as to the amount of
+pitch that is to be given to the ball and the amount of run. They must
+be in exactly the proper proportion to suit the circumstances, which
+will vary almost every time the stroke is made. Nearly everything
+depends on the state of the land that is to be traversed. The fact of
+the matter is, that this shot is really a combination of lofting and
+putting with many more uncertain quantities to be dealt with than when
+one is really putting on the green. When one has decided where the pitch
+must be, the utmost pains should be taken to pitch there exactly, which,
+as the distance will usually be trifling, ought not to be a difficult
+matter. An error of even a foot in a shot of this kind is sometimes a
+serious matter. When properly done it is an exceedingly pretty shot, and
+one which brings great peace to the soul of the man who has done it.
+
+And now we come to that exquisite stroke, the approach, to which much
+cut and spin have been applied for a specific purpose. It is a shot
+which should only be played when circumstances render it absolutely
+necessary. There are times when it is the only one which will afford the
+golfer a good chance of coming well through a trying ordeal. When we
+play it we want the ball to stop dead almost as soon as it reaches the
+turf at the end of the pitch. If there is a tolerably high bunker
+guarding the green, and the flag is most awkwardly situated just at the
+other side, it is the only shot that can be played. A stroke that would
+loft the ball over the bunker in the ordinary manner would carry it far
+beyond the hole--too far to make the subsequent putting anything but a
+most difficult matter. Or, on the other hand, leaving out of the
+question the hole which is hiding just on the other side of the hazard
+protecting the green, it often happens in the summer-time, when greens
+are hard and fiery, that it is absolutely impossible to make a ball
+which has been pitched on to them in the ordinary manner stay there.
+Away it goes bouncing far off on to the other side, and another approach
+shot has to be played, often by reason of a hazard having been found,
+more difficult than the first. If there must be a pitch, then the thing
+to do is to try to apply a brake to the ball when it comes down, and we
+can only do this by cutting it. There are greens which at most seasons
+of the year demand that the ball reaching them shall be cut for a dead
+drop, such as the green laid at a steep angle when the golfer has to
+approach it from the elevated side. A little cut is a comparatively easy
+thing to accomplish, but when the brake is really wanted it is usually a
+most pronounced cut, that will bring the ball up dead or nearly so, that
+is called for, and this is a most difficult stroke. I regard the
+ordinary mashie as the best club with which to make it, but there are
+some good golfers who like the niblick for this task, and it is
+undoubtedly productive of good results. However, I will suppose that it
+is to be attempted with the mashie.
+
+The stance is quite different from that which was adopted when the
+running-up shot was being played. Now the man comes more behind the
+ball, and the right foot goes forward until the toe is within 8 inches
+of the A line, while the instep of the left foot is right across B. The
+feet also are rather closer together. An examination of Plate L. will
+give an exact idea of the peculiarities of the stance for this stroke.
+Grip the club very low down on the handle, but see that the right hand
+does not get off the leather. This time, in the upward swing let the
+blade of the mashie go well outside the natural line for an ordinary
+swing, that is to say, as far away from the body in the direction of the
+A line as is felt to be comfortable and convenient. While this is being
+done, the left elbow should be held more stiffly and kept more severely
+under control than the right. At the top of the swing--which, as will be
+seen from the picture of it (Plate LI.), is only a short half swing, and
+considerably shorter than that for an ordinary mashie shot--neither arm
+is at full length, the right being well bent and the left slightly. When
+this upward swing has been made correctly, the blade of the mashie
+naturally comes across the ball at the time of impact, and in this way a
+certain amount of cut is applied. But this is not the limit of the
+possibilities of cutting, as many golfers seem to imagine, nor is it
+sufficient to meet some of the extreme cases which occasionally present
+themselves. To do our utmost in this direction we must decide that
+extremely little turf must be taken, for it is obvious that unless the
+bare blade gets to work on the ball it cannot do all that it is capable
+of doing. The metal must go right underneath the ball, just skimming the
+grass in the process, and scarcely removing any of the turf. It is also
+most important that at the instant when ball and club come into contact
+the blade should be drawn quickly towards the left foot. To do this
+properly requires not only much dexterity but most accurate timing, and
+first attempts are likely to be very clumsy and disappointing. But many
+of the difficulties will disappear with practice, and when at last some
+kind of proficiency has been obtained, it will be found that the ball
+answers in the most obedient manner to the call that is made upon it. It
+will come down so dead upon the green that it may be pitched up into the
+air until it is almost directly over the spot at which it is desired to
+place it. In playing this stroke a great deal depends on the mastery
+which the golfer obtains over his forearms and wrists. At the moment of
+impact the arms should be nearly full length and stiff, and the wrists
+as stiff as it is possible to make them. I said that the drawing of the
+blade towards the left foot would have to be done quickly, because
+obviously there is very little time to lose; but it must be done
+smoothly and evenly, without a jerk, which would upset the whole swing,
+and if it is begun the smallest fraction of a second too soon the ball
+will be taken by the toe of the club, and the consequences will not be
+satisfactory. I have returned to make this the last word about the cut
+because it is the essence of the stroke, and it calls for what a young
+player may well regard as an almost hopeless nicety of perfection.
+
+There is another little approach shot which is usually called the chip
+on to the green, but which is really nothing but the pitch and run on a
+very small scale. It is used when the ball has only just failed to
+reach the green, or has gone beyond it, and is lying in the rougher
+grass only a very few yards from the edge of it. It often happens in
+cases of this sort that the putter may be ventured upon, but when that
+is too risky a little pitch is given to the ball and it is allowed to
+run the last three or four yards to the hole. An ordinary iron will
+often be found the most useful club for the purpose.
+
+Latterly a new kind of club has become fashionable in some quarters for
+approaching. They call it the jigger, and, having a longer blade than
+the ordinary mashie, its users argue that it is easier to play with.
+That may be true to a certain extent when the ball is lying nicely, but
+we are not always favoured with this good fortune, and I have no
+hesitation in saying that for inferior or cuppy lies the jigger is a
+very ineffectual instrument. The long head cannot get into the cups, and
+the accuracy that is always called for in approaching is made
+impossible. If a jigger must be carried in the bag, it should be merely
+as an auxiliary to the ordinary mashie.
+
+Such are the shots with the mashie, and glad is the man who has mastered
+all of them, for he is then a golfer of great pretensions, who is to be
+feared by any opponent at any time or place.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+ON BEING BUNKERED
+
+     The philosopher in a bunker--On making certain of getting out--The
+     folly of trying for length--When to play back--The qualities of the
+     niblick--Stance and swing--How much sand to take--The time to
+     press--No follow-through in a bunker--Desperate cases--The brassy
+     in a bunker--Difficulties through prohibited grounding--Play
+     straight when length is imperative--Cutting with the niblick.
+
+
+This is a hateful subject, but one which demands the most careful and
+unprejudiced consideration, for are not even the best of us bunkered
+almost daily? There is nothing like the bunkers on a golf links for
+separating the philosophic from the unphilosophic among a golfing crowd,
+and when a representative of each section is in a bunker at the same
+time it is heavy odds on the philosopher winning the hole. There are two
+respects in which he differs from his opponent at this crisis in his
+golfing affairs. He does not become flurried, excited, and despondent,
+and give the hole up for lost with a feeling of disgust that he had
+committed the most unpardonable sin. He remembers that there are still
+various strokes to be played before the hole is reached, and that it is
+quite possible that in the meantime his friend may somewhere lose one
+and enable him to get on level terms again. When two players with plus
+handicaps are engaged in a match, a bunkered ball will generally mean a
+lost hole, but others who have not climbed to this pinnacle of
+excellence are far too pessimistic if they assume that this rule
+operates in their case also. The second matter in which the philosophic
+golfer rises superior to his less favoured brother when there is a
+bunker stroke to be played, is that he fully realises that the bunker
+was placed there for the particular purpose of catching certain
+defective shots, and that the definite idea of its constructors was that
+the man who played such a shot should lose a stroke as penalty for doing
+so--every time. It is legitimate for us occasionally to put it to
+ourselves that those constructors did not know the long limits of our
+resource nor the craftiness we are able to display when in a very tight
+corner, and that therefore, if we find a favourable opportunity, we may
+cheat the bunker out of the stroke that it threatens to take from us.
+But this does not happen often. When the golfer has brought himself to
+realise that, having played into a bunker, he has lost a stroke or the
+best part of one, and accepts the position without any further ado, he
+has gone a long way in the cultivation of the most desirable properties
+of mind and temperament with which any player of the game can be
+endowed. This man, recognising that his stroke is lost, when he goes up
+to his ball and studies the many difficulties of its situation, plays
+for the mere purpose of getting out again, and probably putting himself
+on the other side in that one stroke which was lost. It does not matter
+to him if he only gets two yards beyond the bunker--just far enough to
+enable him to take his stance and swing properly for the next shot.
+Distance is positively no object whatever, and in this way he insures
+himself against further loss, and goes the right way to make up for his
+misfortune.
+
+Now, what does the other man do in like circumstances? Unreasonably and
+foolishly he refuses to accept the inevitable, and declines to give up
+the idea of getting to a point a hundred yards or more in front with his
+next shot, which he would have reached if he had not been in the bunker.
+He seems to think that the men who made the bunkers did not know their
+business. Having been bunkered, he says to himself that it is his duty
+to himself and to the game to make up for the stroke which was lost by
+supremely brilliant recovery under the most disheartening
+circumstances. He insists that the recovery must be made here in the
+bunker, and thereafter he will progress as usual. It never occurs to him
+that it would be wiser and safer to content himself with just getting
+out the hazard, and then, playing under comparatively easy and
+comfortable conditions, to make his grand attempt at recovering the lost
+stroke. He would be much more likely to succeed. A stroke lost or gained
+is of equal value at any point on the route from the tee to the hole,
+and it is a simple fact, too often never realised, that a long putt
+makes up for a short drive, and a mashie shot laid dead for a previous
+stroke from which the ball was trapped in the bunker. But the
+unphilosophic gentleman, who is ignorant of, or tries to resist, these
+truths, feels that his bunkered stroke must be compensated for by the
+next one or never. What is the result? Recklessly, unscientifically,
+even ludicrously, he fires away at the ball in the bunker with a cleek
+or an iron or a mashie, striving his utmost to get length, when, with
+the frowning cliff of the bunker high in front of him and possibly even
+overhanging him, no length is possible. At the first attempt he fails to
+get out. His second stroke in the hazard shares the same fate. With a
+third or a fourth his ball by some extraordinary and lucky chance may
+just creep over the top of the ridge. How it came to do so when played
+in this manner nobody knows. The fact can only be explained by the
+argument that if you keep on doing the same thing something is sure to
+happen in the end, and it is a sufficient warning to these bunkered
+golfers that the gods of golf have so large a sense of justice and of
+right and wrong that by this time the hole has for a certainty been
+lost. The slashing player who wants to drive his long ball out of the
+bunker very rarely indeed gets even this little creep over the crest
+until he has played two or three more, and is in a desperate state of
+lost temper. An alternative result to his efforts comes about when he
+has played these three or four more, and his ball is, if anything, more
+hopelessly bunkered than ever. All sense of what is due to the game and
+to his own dignity is then suddenly lost, and a strange sight is often
+seen. Five, six, and seven more follow in quick succession, the man's
+arms working like the piston of a locomotive, and his eyes by this time
+being quite blinded to the ball, the sand, the bunker, and everything
+else. As an interesting feature of what we might call golfing
+physiology, I seriously suggest that players of these habits and
+temperament, when they begin to work like a steam-engine in the bunker,
+do not see the ball at all for the last few strokes. The next time they
+indulge in their peculiar performance, let them ask themselves
+immediately afterwards whether they did see it or not, and in the
+majority of cases they will have to answer in the negative. When it is
+over, a few impious words are uttered, the ball is picked up, and there
+is a slow and gloomy march to the next tee, from which it is unlikely
+that a good drive will be made. The nervous system of the misguided
+golfer has been so completely upset by the recent occurrences, that he
+may not recover his equanimity until several more strokes have been
+played, or perhaps until the round is over and the distressing incidents
+have at last passed from his mind.
+
+This has been a long story about a thing that happens on most links
+every day, but the moral of it could hardly have been emphasised
+properly or adequately if it had been told in fewer words, or if the
+naked truth had been wrapped up in any more agreeable terms. The moral
+obviously is, that the golfer on being bunkered must concentrate his
+whole mind, capabilities, and energies on getting out in one stroke, and
+must resolutely refrain from attempting length at the same time, for, in
+nine cases out of ten, length is impossible. There are indeed occasions
+when so light a sentence has been passed by the bunker on the erring
+ball that a long shot is practicable, but they are very rare, and come
+in an entirely different category from the average bunkered ball, and we
+will consider them in due course. On the other hand, there are times
+when it is manifestly impossible even to get to the other side of the
+bunker in a single stroke, as when the ball is tucked up at the foot of
+a steep and perhaps overhanging cliff. Still the man must keep before
+himself the fact that his main object is to get out in the fewest
+strokes possible, and in a case of this sort he may be wise to play
+back, particularly if it is a medal round that he is engaged upon. If he
+plays back he is still in the running for his prize if his golf has been
+satisfactory up to this point, for an addition of two strokes to his
+score through such an accident, though a serious handicap, is seldom a
+hopeless one. If he does not play back his chance of victory may
+disappear entirely at this bunker. His instinct tells him that it
+probably will do so. Which then is the wiser and better course to take?
+
+Now, then, let us consider the ways and means of getting out of bunkers,
+and take in our hands the most unpopular club that our bags contain. We
+never look upon the niblick with any of that lingering affection which
+is constantly bestowed on all the other instruments that we possess, as
+we reflect upon the splendid deeds that they have performed for us on
+many memorable occasions. The niblick revives only unpleasant memories,
+but less than justice is done to this unfortunate club, for, given fair
+treatment, it will accomplish most excellent and remunerative work in
+rescuing its owner from the predicaments in which his carelessness or
+bad luck in handling the others has placed him. There is little variety
+in niblicks, and therefore no necessity to discourse upon their points,
+for no professional is ever likely to stock a niblick for sale that is
+unequal to the performance of its peculiar duties. It has rougher and
+heavier work to do than any other club, and more brute force is
+requisitioned in employing it than at any other time. Therefore the
+shaft should be as strong as it is possible for it to be, and it should
+be so stiff that it will not bend under the most severe pressure. The
+head should be rather small and round, with plenty of loft upon it, and
+very heavy. A light niblick is useless.
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE LIII._ THE NIBLICK IN A BUNKER. TOP OF AN ORDINARY
+STROKE WHEN IT IS INTENDED TO TAKE MUCH SAND]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE LIV._ "WELL OUT!" FINISH OF AN ORDINARY STROKE IN
+A BUNKER WHEN MUCH SAND IS TAKEN. THE BALL MAY BE SEEN RISING ABOVE THE
+BUNKER]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE LV._ ANOTHER BUNKER STROKE. TOP OF THE SWING WHEN
+INTENDING TO TAKE THE BALL CLEANLY AND WITH A LITTLE CUT]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE LVI._ FINISH AFTER TAKING THE BALL CLEANLY FROM A
+BUNKER]
+
+It is difficult to advise as to the stance that should be taken for a
+niblick shot in a bunker, inasmuch as it so frequently happens that this
+is governed by circumstances which are quite beyond the golfer's
+control. He must learn to adapt himself in the best possible manner to
+the conditions in which he finds himself, and it will often happen that
+he is cramped for space, he may be unable to get a proper or comfortable
+place for one or both of his feet, or he may be obliged to stand with
+one foot--generally the left one--considerably above the other. But when
+there are none of these difficulties besetting him, it may be said that
+generally the stance most suited to a stroke with the niblick is similar
+to that which would be taken for a long shot with an iron, except
+perhaps that the player should stand a little nearer to the ball, so
+that he may be well over it while making his swing. The most important
+respect in which the swing differs from that of the iron is that the
+club is brought up much straighter. By this I mean that the head of the
+club should not be allowed to come round quite so much, but throughout
+its course should be kept as nearly as possible overhanging what we have
+been calling the A line. The swing, indeed, is much more of what I call
+an upright character than that of any other stroke in the game, and at
+the top of it, the blade having passed over the right shoulder and the
+golfer's head, the shaft should be nearly horizontal and right over the
+back of the head, an example of which may be seen in Plate LIII., where
+I have a fairly good lie, but am rather badly bunkered for all that,
+being only a couple of feet from the base of a high and tolerably steep
+bank.
+
+If there is such a thing as an average bunker shot, this is the one, and
+I am now describing the method of dealing with cases of this and similar
+character. There must be no thought of hitting the ball cleanly with the
+club in a case of this kind, or in any other than the most exceptional
+situations or emergencies when bunkered. The club must hit the sand, and
+the sand must move the ball, but the iron blade of the niblick must
+hardly ever come into contact with the ball. To prevent its doing so,
+and to ensure the blade getting underneath sufficiently to lift the ball
+up at the very sharp angle that is necessary if it is to surmount the
+obstruction in front of it, the sand should be struck at a point fully
+two inches behind the ball. If the sand is exceedingly light and dry, so
+that it offers very little resistance to the passage of the club, this
+distance may be slightly increased, or it may be diminished if the lie
+in the bunker is very heavy, consisting of gravel or clay. It is on this
+point, so far behind the ball, that the eye must, of course, be sternly
+and rigidly fixed, and it is a duty which the beginner frequently finds
+most difficult to fulfil. In the downward swing the club should be
+brought on to the spot indicated with all the speed and force of which
+the golfer is capable. At other times he may have had a yearning to
+press, which he has with difficulty stifled. He may make up for all
+these ungratified desires by pressing now with all the strength in his
+body, and the harder the better so long as he keeps his eye steadily
+fixed on that point behind the ball and is sure that his muscular
+efforts will not interfere with his accuracy. After all, the latter need
+not be quite so fine in this case as in the many others that we have
+already discussed, for an eighth of an inch one way or the other does
+not much matter in the case of a niblick shot where there are two inches
+of sand to plough through. Swing harder than ever on to the sand, with
+the knowledge that the swing will end there, for a follow-through is not
+desired and would in many cases be impossible. When the heavy blade goes
+crash into the sand and blows it, and the ball with it, up into the air
+as if the electric touch had been given to an explosive mine, the club
+has finished its work, and when the golfer is at rest again and is
+surveying the results of his labours--with his eyes, let us hope,
+directed to the further side of the hazard--the blade will still remain
+in the cavity that it has made in the floor of the bunker. If any
+attempt were made to follow through, it is highly probable that
+sufficient sand would not be taken to make the ball rise up soon enough.
+
+However, the more one reflects upon bunkers and niblicks, the more does
+one feel that the circumstances must govern the method of playing each
+of these strokes, and there is no finer field for the display of the
+golfer's judgment and resource than this. The next best accomplishment
+to the negative one of avoiding bunkers is that of getting out again
+with the least waste of strokes and distance; and, indeed, I should say
+that the man who is somewhat addicted to being bunkered but invariably
+makes a good recovery, is at least on level terms with another who is in
+trouble not quite so frequently but who suffers terribly when he is. The
+golden rule--I say it once again--is to make certain of getting out; but
+now that I have sufficiently emphasised this point, I am ready to
+consider those few occasions when it appears a little weak and
+unsatisfactory. Certainly there are times, as we all know, when the
+enemy, having had matters his own way at a hole, it will not be of the
+slightest use merely to scramble out of a bunker in one stroke. The case
+is so desperate that a stroke that will carry the ball for perhaps 100
+or 120 yards is called for. Such a necessity does not affect my rule as
+to making certain of getting out, for in practical golf one cannot take
+any serious account of emergencies of this kind. But there are times
+when every player must either attempt the shot that most frequently
+baffles his superiors, or forthwith give up the hole, and it is not in
+human nature to cave in while the faintest spark of hope remains. In
+thus attempting the impossible, or the only dimly possible, we are
+sometimes led even to take the brassy in a bunker. In a case of this
+sort, of course, everything depends on the lie of the ball and its
+distance from the face of the bunker. When it is a shallow pot bunker,
+the shot is often practicable, and sometimes when one is bunkered on a
+seaside course the hazard is so wide that there is time for the ball to
+rise sufficiently to clear the obstruction. But the average bunker on an
+inland course, say four feet high with only six feet of sand before it,
+presents few such loopholes for escape. The difficulty of playing a shot
+from a bunker when any club other than the niblick, such as the brassy,
+is chosen with the object of obtaining length by hitting the ball clean,
+is obviously increased by the rule which prohibits the grounding of the
+club in addressing. To be on the safe side, the sole of the club is
+often kept fully an inch and a half above the sand when the address is
+being made, and this inch and a half has to be corrected down to an
+eighth in the forward swing, for of all shots that must be taken
+accurately this one so full of difficulty must be. In making his
+correction the man is very likely to overdo it and strike the sand
+before the ball, causing a sclaff, or, on the other hand, not to correct
+sufficiently when the only possible result would be a topped ball and
+probably a hopeless position in the hazard. It is indeed a rashly
+speculative shot, and one of the most difficult imaginable. It comes off
+sometimes, but it is a pure matter of chance when it does, and the lucky
+player is hardly entitled to that award of merit which he may fancy he
+deserves.
+
+When the situation of the bunkered ball is unusually hopeful, and there
+does really seem to be a very fair prospect of making a good long shot,
+I think it generally pays best to play straight at the hazard, putting
+just a little cut on the ball to help it to rise, and employing any club
+that suggests itself for the purpose. I think, in such circumstances,
+that it pays best to go straight for the hazard, because, if length is
+urgently demanded, what is the use of playing at an angle? Again, though
+there is undoubtedly an advantage gained by taking a bunker crossways,
+and thus giving the ball more time to rise, the advantage is often
+greatly exaggerated in the golfer's mind. When a ball is bunkered right
+on the edge of the green, it is sometimes best to try to pick it up not
+quite but almost cleanly with the niblick or mashie, in the hope that
+one more stroke afterwards will be sufficient either to win or halve the
+hole, whereas an ordinary shot with the niblick would not be likely to
+succeed so well. If, after due contemplation of all the heavy risks, it
+is decided to make such an attempt, the stroke should be played very
+much after the fashion of the mashie approach with cut. I need hardly
+say that such a shot is one of the most difficult the golfer will ever
+have occasion to attempt. The ordinary cut mashie stroke is hard to
+accomplish, but the cut niblick is harder still. I have already given
+directions for the playing of such shots, and the rest must be left to
+the golfer's daring and his judgment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+SIMPLE PUTTING
+
+     A game within another game--Putting is not to be taught--The
+     advantage of experience--Vexation of missing short putts--Some
+     anecdotes--Individuality in putting--The golfer's natural
+     system--How to find it--And when found make a note of it--The
+     quality of instinct--All sorts of putters--How I once putted for a
+     Championship--The part that the right hand plays--The manner of
+     hitting the ball--On always being up and "giving the hole a
+     chance"--Easier to putt back after overrunning than when short--The
+     trouble of Tom Morris.
+
+
+Putting in golf is a game within another game. While I am not prepared
+to endorse the opinion that is commonly expressed, that a golfer is born
+and not made, I am convinced that no amount of teaching will make a
+golfer hole out long putts with any frequency, nor will it even make him
+at all certain of getting the short ones down. But it will certainly put
+him in the right way of hitting the ball, which after all will be a
+considerable gain. Experience counts for very much, and it will convert
+a man who was originally a bad putter into one who will generally hold
+his own on the greens, or even be superior to the majority of his
+fellows. Even experience, however, counts for less in putting than in
+any other department of the game, and there are many days in every
+player's life when he realises only too sadly that it seems to count for
+nothing at all. Do we not from time to time see beginners who have been
+on the links but a single month, or even less than that, laying their
+long putts as dead as anybody could wish almost every time, and getting
+an amazing percentage of them into the tin itself? Often enough they
+seem to do these things simply because, as we should say, they know
+nothing at all about putting, which is perhaps another way of saying
+that their minds are never embarrassed by an oppressive knowledge of all
+the difficulties which the ball will meet with in its passage from the
+club to the hole, and of the necessity of taking steps to counteract
+them all. They are not afraid of the hole. The fact is that putting is
+to a far greater extent than most of us suspect purely a matter of
+confidence. When a man feels that he can putt he putts, and when he has
+a doubt about it he almost invariably makes a poor show upon the greens.
+Do I not know to my cost what it is to feel that I cannot putt, and on
+those occasions to miss the most absurdly little ones that ever wait to
+be popped into the hole without a moment's thought or hesitation? It is
+surely the strangest of the many strange things in golf, that the old
+player, hero of many senior medal days, victor in matches over a hundred
+links, will at times, when the fortunes of an important game depend upon
+his action, miss a little putt that his ten-year-old daughter would get
+down nine times out of ten. She, dear little thing, does not yet know
+the terrors of the short putt. Sometimes it is the most nerve-breaking
+thing to be found on the hundred acres of a golf course. The heart that
+does not quail when a yawning bunker lies far ahead of the tee just at
+the distance of a good drive, beats in trouble when there are but thirty
+inches of smooth even turf to be run over before the play of the hole is
+ended. I am reminded of a story of Andrew Kirkaldy, who in his young
+days once carried for a young student of divinity who was most painfully
+nervous on the putting greens, and repeatedly lost holes in consequence.
+When Andrew could stand this reckless waste of opportunities no longer,
+he exclaimed to his employer, "Man, this is awfu' wark. Ye're dreivin'
+like a roarin' lion and puttin' like a puir kittlin'." But the men whose
+occupations are of the philosophical and peaceful kind are not the only
+ones who may be fairly likened to Andrew's "puir kittlin'" when there
+are short putts to be holed. Is there not the famous case of the
+Anglo-Indian sportsman, one of the mightiest of hunters, who feared
+nothing like the hole when it lay so near to him that his tears of agony
+might almost have fallen into it? It was this man who declared, "I have
+encountered all the manifold perils of the jungle, I have tracked the
+huge elephant to his destruction, and I have stood eye to eye with the
+man-eating tiger. And never once have I trembled until I came to a short
+putt." Yet with such facts as these before us, some people still wonder
+wherein lies the fascination of golf. How often does it happen that an
+inch on the putting green is worth more than a hundred yards in the
+drive, and that the best of players are confounded by this circumstance?
+It is very nearly true, as Willie Park has so often said, that the man
+who can putt need fear nobody. Certainly a player can never be really
+great until he is nearly always certain to hole out in two putts on the
+green, and to get down a few in one. The approach stroke has been well
+played when the ball comes to rest within four or five feet of the pin,
+but what is the use of that unless the ball is to be putted out more
+often than not in one more stroke?
+
+For the proper playing of the other strokes in golf, I have told my
+readers to the best of my ability how they should stand and where they
+should put their feet. But except for the playing of particular strokes,
+which come within the category of those called "fancy," I have no
+similar instruction to offer in the matter of putting. There is no rule,
+and there is no best way. Sometimes you see a player bend down and hold
+the putter right out in front of him with both wrists behind the shaft.
+This is an eccentricity, but if the player in question believes that he
+can putt better in this way than in any other, he is quite justified in
+adopting it, and I would be the last to tell him that he is wrong. The
+fact is that there is more individuality in putting than in any other
+department of golf, and it is absolutely imperative that this
+individuality should be allowed to have its way. I believe seriously
+that every man has had a particular kind of putting method awarded to
+him by Nature, and when he putts exactly in this way he will do well,
+and when he departs from his natural system he will miss the long ones
+and the short ones too. First of all, he has to find out this particular
+method which Nature has assigned for his use. There ought not to be much
+difficulty about this, for it will come unconsciously to his aid when he
+is not thinking of anybody's advice or of anything that he has ever read
+in any book on golf. That day the hole will seem as big as the mouth of
+a coal mine, and putting the easiest thing in the world. When he stands
+to his ball and makes his little swing, he feels as easy and comfortable
+and confident as any man can ever do. Yet it is probable that, so far as
+he knows, he is not doing anything special. It may happen that the very
+next day, when he thinks he is standing and holding his club and hitting
+the ball in exactly the same way, he nevertheless feels distinctly
+uncomfortable and full of nervous hesitation as he makes his stroke, and
+then the long putts are all either too short, or too long, or wide, and
+the little ones are missed.
+
+I don't think that the liver or a passing variation in temperament is
+altogether the cause of this. I believe it is because the man has
+departed even by a trifle from his own natural stance. A change of the
+position of the feet by even a couple of inches one way or the other may
+alter the stance altogether, and knock the player clean off his putting.
+In this new position he will wriggle about and feel uncomfortable.
+Everything is wrong. His coat is in the way, his pockets seem too full
+of old balls, the feel of his stockings on his legs irritates him, and
+he is conscious that there is a nail coming up on the inside of the sole
+of his boot. It is all because he is just that inch or two removed from
+the stance which Nature allotted to him for putting purposes, but he
+does not know that, and consequently everything in the world except the
+true cause is blamed for the extraordinary things he does. A fair
+sample of many others was the clergyman who, having missed a short putt
+when playing in a match over a Glasgow links, espied in the distance on
+an eminence fully a quarter of a mile away from the green, an innocent
+tourist, who was apparently doing nothing more injurious to golf than
+serenely admiring the view. But the clerical golfer, being a man of
+quick temper, poured forth a torrent of abuse, exclaiming, "How could I
+hole the ball with that blockhead over there working his umbrella as if
+it were the pendulum of an eight-day clock!" When this is the kind of
+thing that is happening, I advise the golfer to try variations in his
+stance for putting, effecting the least possible amount of change at a
+time. There is a chance that at last he will drop into his natural
+stance, or something very near it, and even if he does not there is some
+likelihood that he will gain a trifle in confidence by the change, and
+that will count for much. And anyhow there is ample justification for
+any amount of manoeuvring of the body and the feet when one is off
+one's putting, for at the best, to make use of something like an
+Irishism, the state of things is then hopelessly bad, and every future
+tendency must be in the way of improvement. There is one other
+suggestion to make to those golfers who believe what I say about the
+natural stance, and by this time it will have become more or less
+obvious to them. It is that when they are fairly on their putting, and
+are apparently doing all that Nature intended them to do, and are
+feeling contented in body and mind accordingly, they should take a sly
+but very careful look at their feet and body and everything else just
+after they have made a successful long putt, having felt certain all the
+time that they would make it. This examination ought not to be
+premeditated, because that would probably spoil the whole thing; and it
+usually happens that when one of these long ones has been successfully
+negotiated, the golfer is too much carried away by his emotions of
+delight to bring himself immediately to a sober and acute analysis of
+how it was done. But sometime he may remember to look into the matter,
+and then he should note the position of everything down to the smallest
+detail and the fraction of an inch, and make a most careful note of them
+for future reference. It will be invaluable. So, as I hold that putting
+is a matter of Nature and instinct, I make an exception this time to my
+rule in the matter of illustrations, and offer to my readers no diagram
+with stance measurements. From the two photographs of myself putting in
+what I had every reason to believe at the time was my own perfectly
+natural stance, they may take any hints that they may discover.
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE LVII._ PUTTING]
+
+[Illustration: _PLATE LVIII._ PUTTING]
+
+In the matter of putters, of which there is an infinite variety and a
+new one invented almost every month, I believe in a man playing with
+just that kind that he has most confidence in and which he fancies suits
+him best. Whether it is a plain gun-metal instrument, a crooked-necked
+affair, a putting cleek, an ordinary aluminium, a wooden putter, or the
+latest American invention, it is all the same; and if it suits the man
+who uses it, then it is the best putter in the world for him, and the
+one with which he will hole out most frequently. In no other sense is
+there such a thing as a best putter. The only semblance of a suggestion
+that I will presume to offer in this connection is, that for very long
+putts there is something to be said in favour of the wooden and
+aluminium putters, which seem to require less exertion than others, and
+to enable the player to regulate the strength of the stroke more
+exactly. For the shorter ones, I like the putting cleek best. But even
+these are matters of fancy, and what a great deal even the vaguest, most
+unreasoning belief in a putter has to do with the success with which it
+is manipulated I have as good a reason as anyone to understand, since I
+owe my first Championship largely to the help of a putter which I had
+never used before, and which was really not a putter at all, but, as I
+have explained elsewhere, simply a little cleek which I picked up
+accidentally in a professional's shop on the eve of the struggle, and in
+which I had a new shaft fixed to my own liking. On that occasion I
+putted with this instrument as the winner of a championship ought to
+putt, but I have never been able to do any good with it since, and in
+these days it is resting idly in my shop, useless but quite
+unpurchasable for any money. I do believe that it is a good thing to be
+the possessor of two putters, with both of which you have at one time or
+another done well, and in which you have unlimited confidence. Don't
+carry them both in the bag at the same time, but keep one safe in the
+locker, and when the day comes, as it surely will, when you are off your
+putting, take it out on to the links for the next round and see what you
+can do with it. Your weakness on the green may no more have been the
+fault of the other putter than the tourist was the cause of the
+clergyman missing the little one at Glasgow, but very much will be
+gained if you can persuade yourself that it was.
+
+It is to a certain extent possible to be definite in remarking upon the
+grip. Some good golfers clasp their putters tightly with both hands;
+others keep the left hand loose and the right hand firm; and a third
+selection do the reverse, each method being justified on its day. But in
+this part of the game it is quite clear that the right hand has more
+work to do than the left. It is the right hand that makes the stroke,
+and therefore I consider that it should be allowed plenty of play, and
+that the left wrist should be held more loosely than the right. For my
+part I use the same overlapping grip in putting as in all the other
+strokes, making just this one small variation, that instead of allowing
+the right thumb to fall over the shaft, as when driving or playing
+through the green, I place it on the top of the shaft and pointing down
+it. This seems to me to make for accuracy.
+
+In playing what we may call an ordinary putt, that is to say, one
+presenting no difficulties in the way of stymies, slopes of the green,
+or anything of that kind, I think it pays best in the long run to make a
+point of always hitting the ball with the middle of the face of the
+club, although, I believe, Willie Park, one of the greatest of putters,
+always hits the ball off the toe of the club and comes in to the hole
+from the right-hand side of it. Other players consistently and by design
+half top the ball when they are putting. There should be no sharp hit
+and no jerk in the swing, which should have the even gentle motion of a
+pendulum. In the backward swing, the length of which, as in all other
+strokes in golf, is regulated by the distance it is desired to make the
+ball travel, the head of the putter should be kept exactly in the line
+of the putt. Accuracy will be impossible if it is brought round at all.
+There should be a short follow-through after impact, varying, of course,
+according to the length of the putt. In the case of a long one, the club
+will go through much further, and then the arms would naturally be more
+extended. In the follow-through the putter should be kept well down, the
+bottom edge scraping the top of the grass for some inches. It is easy to
+understand how much more this course of procedure will tend towards the
+accuracy and delicacy of the stroke than the reverse method, in which
+the blade of the putter would be cocked up as soon as the ball had left
+it.
+
+Before I close my remarks on the simple putt, I feel that it is a duty
+to repeat once more those wise maxims relating to putting that have been
+uttered some tens of thousands of times already. "Never up, never in."
+There is nothing so true, and the number of matches and medals that have
+been lost through the reckless and foolish disregard of this rule must
+be enormous. The hole will never come to you; therefore make up your
+mind that you will always go to the hole, and let it be an invariable
+practice to play for the back of the tin so that you will always have
+just a little in hand. The most deadly accuracy and the nicest
+calculations are all wasted if the ball is just half a turn short of the
+opening, and there is nothing in the whole of the play between one tee
+and the next more exasperating than the long putt which hesitates and
+stops on the very lip of the hole. There is another very good reason for
+always playing very well up to the hole, which may not have occurred to
+all golfers who read these lines. Suppose that in the exercise of this
+rule about always being up at any cost, too much has been put into the
+ball, and, refusing to die when it ought to do, it skips over the hole
+and comes to a standstill several inches beyond. "That's the result of
+being up!" exclaims the irritated golfer. But he feels at any rate that
+he has given the hole the chance for which it asked, and has a far
+greater sense of satisfaction and of duty done than if the ball had
+stopped a foot or more short of the place that was made for it. This may
+be the reason why an eighteen-inch or two-feet putt back to the hole
+from the far side always seems easier and is less frequently missed than
+a putt of the same distance from the original side, which is merely
+making up for the shortage in the first putt. Whether that is the reason
+or not, there is the fact, and though they may not have considered the
+matter hitherto, I feel confident that on reflection, or when they take
+note of future experiences, most of my readers will admit that this is
+so. It is a final argument for playing to the back of the hole and never
+being short. One of the greatest worries of the glorious life of old Tom
+Morris was that for a long time when in the middle of his career he was
+nearly always short with his long putts, and his son, young Tom, used
+wickedly to say that his father would be a great putter if the hole were
+always a yard nearer. Tom, I believe, was always conscious of his
+failing, and made the most strenuous efforts to correct it, and this
+only shows what a terrible and incurable habit this one of being short
+can become, and what necessity there is for the golfer to exercise his
+strength of mind to get rid of it in his early days, and establish the
+practice of being up every time. Often enough he will run over, but
+sometimes the kind hole will gobble the ball, and on the average he will
+gain substantially over the nervous, hesitating player who is always
+short.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+COMPLICATED PUTTS
+
+     Problems on undulating greens--The value of practice--Difficulties
+     of calculation--The cut stroke with the putter--How to make
+     it--When it is useful--Putting against a sideways slope--A
+     straighter line for the hole--Putting down a hill--Applying drag to
+     the ball--The use of the mashie on the putting green--Stymies--When
+     they are negotiable and when not--The wisdom of playing for a
+     half--Lofting over the stymie--Running through the stymie--How to
+     play the stroke, and its advantages--Fast greens for fancy
+     strokes--On gauging the speed of a green.
+
+
+Now we will consider those putts in which it is not all plain sailing
+from the place where the ball lies to the hole. The line of the putt may
+be uphill or it may be downhill, or the green may slope all the way from
+one side to the other, or first from one and then the other. There is no
+end to the tricks and difficulties of a good sporting green, and the
+more of them the merrier. The golfer's powers of calculation are now in
+great demand.
+
+Take, to begin with, one of the most difficult of all putts--that in
+which there is a more or less pronounced slope from one side or the
+other, or a mixture of the two. In this case it would obviously be fatal
+to putt straight at the hole. Allowances must be made on one side or the
+other, and sometimes they are very great allowances too. I have found
+that most beginners err in being afraid of allowing sufficiently for the
+slope. They may convince themselves that in order to get near the hole
+their ball should be a yard or so off the straight line when it is
+half-way along its course, and yet, at the last instant, when they make
+the stroke their nerve and resolution seem to fail them, and they point
+the ball but a few inches up the slope, with the result that before it
+reaches the hole it goes running away on the other side and comes to a
+standstill anything but dead. Putting practice on undulating greens is
+very valuable, not so much because it teaches the golfer exactly what
+allowance he should make in various cases, but because it helps by
+experience to give him the courage of his convictions. It is impossible
+to give any directions as to the precise allowance that should be made,
+for the simple reason that this varies in every case. The length of the
+putt, the degree of slope, and the speed of the green, are all
+controlling factors. The amount of borrow, as we term it, that must be
+taken from the side of any particular slope is entirely a matter of
+mathematical calculation, and the problem will be solved to satisfaction
+most frequently by the man who trains himself to make an accurate and
+speedy analysis of the controlling factors in the limited amount of time
+available for the purpose. The putt is difficult enough when there is a
+pronounced slope all the way from one particular side, but the question
+is much more puzzling when it is first one and then the other and then
+perhaps a repetition of one or both. To begin with, there may be a slope
+of fifteen degrees from the right, so the ball must go away to the
+right. But a couple of yards further on this slope may be transformed
+into one of thirty degrees the other way, and after a short piece of
+level running the original slope, but now at twenty degrees, is reverted
+to. What in the name of golf is the line that must be taken in a
+tantalising case of this kind? It is plain that the second slope if it
+lasts as long as the first one more than neutralises it, being steeper,
+so that instead of borrowing from the first one we must start running
+down it in order to tackle the second one in good time. But the third
+slope again, to some extent, though not entirely, neutralises the
+second, and this entirely upsets the calculation which only included the
+first two. It is evident that the first and third hold the advantage
+between them, and that in such a case as this we should send the ball
+on its journey with a slight borrow from the first incline with which it
+had to contend. As I have just said, in these complicated cases it is a
+question of reckoning pure and simple, and then putting the ball in a
+straightforward manner along the line which you have decided is the
+correct one.
+
+But there are times when a little artifice may be resorted to,
+particularly in the matter of applying a little cut to the ball. There
+is a good deal of billiards in putting, and the cut stroke on the green
+is essentially one which the billiard player will delight to practise.
+But I warn all those who are not already expert at cutting with the
+putter, to make themselves masters of the stroke in private practice
+before they attempt it in a match, because it is by no means easy to
+acquire. The chief difficulty that the golf student will encounter in
+attempting it will be to put the cut on as he desires, and at the same
+time to play the ball with the proper strength and keep on the proper
+line. It is easy enough to cut the ball, but it is most difficult, at
+first at all events, to cut it and putt it properly at the same time.
+For the application of cut, turn the toe of the putter slightly outwards
+and away from the hole, and see that the face of the club is kept to
+this angle all the way through the stroke. Swing just a trifle away from
+the straight line outwards, and the moment you come back on to the ball
+draw the club sharply across it. It is evident that this movement, when
+properly executed, will give to the ball a rotary motion, which on a
+perfectly level green would tend to make it run slightly off to the
+right of the straight line along which it was aimed. Here, then, the
+golfer may arm himself with an accomplishment which may frequently prove
+of valuable service. He may dodge a stymie or circumvent an inconvenient
+piece of the green over which, without the cut, the ball would have to
+travel. But most frequently will the accomplished putter find the cut of
+use to him when there is a pronounced slope of the green from the
+right-hand side of the line of the putt. In applying cut to the ball in
+a case of this kind, we are complicating the problem by the introduction
+of a fourth factor to the other three I have named, but at the same time
+we are diminishing the weight of these others, since we shall enable
+ourselves to putt more directly at the hole. Suppose it is a steep but
+even slope all the way from the ball to the hole. Now, if we are going
+to putt this ball in the ordinary manner without any spin on it, we must
+borrow a lot from the hill, and, as we shall at once convince ourselves,
+the ball must be at its highest point when it is just half-way to the
+hole. But we may borrow from the slope in another way than by running
+straight up it and straight down again. If we put cut on the ball, it
+will of itself be fighting against the hill the whole way, and though if
+the angle is at all pronounced it may not be able to contend against it
+without any extra borrow, much less will be required than in the case of
+the simple putt up the hill and down again. Now it must be borne in mind
+that it is a purely artificial force, as it were, that keeps the ball
+from running down the slope, and as soon as the run on the ball is being
+exhausted and the spin at the same time, the tendency will be not for
+the ball to run gradually down the slope--as it did in the case of the
+simple putt without cut--but to surrender to it completely and run
+almost straight down. Our plan of campaign is now indicated. Instead of
+going a long way up the hill out of our straight line, and having but a
+very vague idea of what is going to be the end of it all, we will
+neutralise the effect of the slope as far as possible by using the cut
+and aim to a point much lower down the hill--how much lower can only be
+determined with knowledge of the particular circumstances, and after the
+golfer has thoroughly practised the stroke and knows what he can do with
+it. And instead of settling upon a point half-way along the line of the
+putt as the highest that the ball shall reach, this summit of the ascent
+will now be very much nearer to the hole, quite close to it in fact. We
+putt up to this point with all the spin we can get on the ball, and when
+it reaches it the forward motion and the rotation die away at the same
+time, and the ball drops away down the hill, and, as we hope, into the
+hole that is waiting for it close by. Now, after all this explanation,
+it may really seem that by using the cut in a case of this kind we are
+going about the job in the most difficult manner, but when once the
+golfer has made himself master of this cut stroke, and has practised
+this manner of attacking slopes, he will speedily convince himself that
+it is the easier and more reliable method--certainly more reliable. It
+seems to be a great advantage to be able to keep closer to the straight
+line, and the strength can be more accurately gauged. The diagram which
+I have drawn on this page shows relatively the courses taken by balls
+played in the two different styles, and will help to explain my meaning.
+The slope is supposed to be coming from the top of the page, as it were,
+and the plain curved line is the course taken by the ball which has had
+no cut given to it, while that which is dotted is the line of the cut
+ball. I am giving them both credit for having been played with the
+utmost precision, so that they would find their way to the tin. I submit
+all these remarks as an idea, to be followed up and elaborated in much
+practice, rather than as a definite piece of instruction, for the
+variety of circumstances is so bewildering that a fixed rule is
+impossible.
+
+[Illustration: PUTTING WITH CUT ON A SLOPING GREEN.]
+
+One of the putting problems which strike most fear into the heart of the
+golfer is when his line from the ball to the hole runs straight down a
+steep slope, and there is some considerable distance for the ball to
+travel along a fast green. The difficulty in such a case is to preserve
+any control over the ball after it has left the club, and to make it
+stop anywhere near the hole if the green is really so fast and steep as
+almost to impart motion of itself. In a case of this sort I think it
+generally pays best to hit the ball very nearly upon the toe of the
+putter, at the same time making a short quick twitch or draw of the club
+across the ball towards the feet. Little forward motion will be imparted
+in this manner, but there will be a tendency to half lift the ball from
+the green at the beginning of its journey, and it will continue its way
+to the hole with a lot of drag upon it. It is obvious that this stroke,
+to be played properly, will need much practice in the first place and
+judgment afterwards, and I can do little more than state the principle
+upon which it should be made. But oftentimes, when the slope of the
+green is really considerable, and one experiences a sense of great risk
+and danger in using the putter at all, I strongly advise the use of the
+iron or mashie; indeed, I think most golfers chain themselves down too
+much to the idea that the putter, being the proper thing to putt with,
+no other club should be used on the green. There is no law to enforce
+the use of the putter, but even when the idea sometimes occurs to a
+player that it would be best to use his mashie on the green in
+particular circumstances, he usually rejects it as improper. On a steep
+incline it pays very well to use a mashie, for length in these
+circumstances can often be judged very accurately, and, the ball having
+been given its little pitch to begin with, does not then begin to roll
+along nearly so quickly as if the putter had been acting upon it. There
+are times, even when the hole is only a yard away, when it might pay
+best to ask for the mashie instead of the instrument which the caddie
+will offer.
+
+Upon the very difficult and annoying question of stymies there are few
+hints that I can offer which will not suggest themselves to the player
+of a very little experience. The fact which must be driven home is that
+some stymies are negotiable and others are not--not by any player or by
+any method. When the ball that stymies you dead is lying on the lip of
+the hole and half covering it, and your own is some distance away, the
+case is, to all intents and purposes, hopeless, but if you have only got
+this one stroke left for the half, you feel that an effort of some kind
+must be made, however hopeless it may be. The one chance--and even that
+is not always given--is to pass the other ball so very closely that
+yours will touch the rim of the hole and then, perhaps, if it is
+travelling slowly enough, be influenced sufficiently to tumble in. Luck
+must necessarily have a lot to do with the success of a stroke of this
+kind, and the one consolation is that, if it fails, or if you knock the
+other ball in--which is quite likely--things will be no worse than they
+appeared before you took the stroke. If, in the case of a dead and
+hopeless stymie of this kind, you had two strokes for the half and one
+for the hole, I should strongly advise you to give up all thoughts of
+holing out, and make quite certain of being dead the first time and
+getting the half. Many golfers are so carried away by their desire to
+snatch the hole from a desperate position of this sort, that they throw
+all prudence to the winds, attempt the impossible, and probably lose the
+hole at the finish instead of halving it. They may leave themselves
+another stymie, they may knock the other ball in, or they may be
+anything but dead after their first stroke,--indeed, it is when defying
+their fate in this manner that everything is likely to happen for the
+worst.
+
+The common method of playing a stymie is by pitching your ball over that
+of your opponent, but this is not always possible. All depends on how
+near the other ball is to the hole, and how far the balls are apart. If
+the ball that stymies you is on the lip and your own is three yards
+away, it is obvious that you cannot pitch over it. From such a distance
+your own ball could not be made to clear the other one and drop again
+in time to fall into the tin. But, when an examination of the situation
+makes it clear that there is really space enough to pitch over and get
+into the hole, take the most lofted club in your bag--either a highly
+lofted mashie or even a niblick--and when making the little pitch shot
+that is demanded, apply cut to the ball in the way I have already
+directed, and aim to the left-hand side of the tin. The stroke should be
+very short and quick, the blade of the club not passing through a space
+of more than nine inches or a foot. The cut will make the ball lift
+quickly, and, with the spin upon it, it is evident that the left-hand
+side of the hole is the proper one to play to. Everything depends upon
+the measurements of the situation as to whether you ought to pitch right
+into the hole or to pitch short and run in, but in any case you should
+pitch close up, and in a general way four or five inches would be a fair
+distance to ask the ball to run. When your own ball is many yards away
+from the hole, and the one that makes the stymie is also far from it as
+well as far from yours, a pitch shot seems very often to be either
+inadequate or impossible. Usually it will be better to aim at going very
+near to the stymie with the object of getting up dead, making quite
+certain at the same time that you do not bungle the whole thing by
+hitting the other ball, or else to play to the left with much cut, so
+that with a little luck you may circle into the hole. Evidently the
+latter would be a somewhat hazardous stroke to make.
+
+There is one other way of attacking a stymie, and that is by the
+application of the run-through method, when the ball in front of you is
+on the edge of the hole and your own is very close to it--only just
+outside the six inches limit that makes the stymie. If the balls are
+much more than a foot apart, the "follow-through method" of playing
+stymies is almost certain to fail. This system is nothing more than the
+follow-through shot at billiards, and the principles upon which the
+strokes in the two games are made are much the same. Hit your own ball
+very high up,--that is to say, put all the top and run on it that you
+can, and strike the other ball fairly in the centre and fairly hard. The
+object is to knock the stymie right away over the hole, and to follow
+through with your own and drop in. If you don't hit hard enough you will
+only succeed in holing your opponent's ball and earning his sarcastic
+thanks. And if you don't get top enough on your own ball you will not
+follow through, however hard you bang up against the other. This is a
+very useful stroke to practise, for the particular kind of stymie to
+which it applies occurs very frequently, and is one of the most
+exasperating of all.
+
+Most of these fancy putting strokes stand a very poor chance of success
+on a very slow green. Cut and top and all these other niceties will not
+work on a dull one. It is the sharp, fiery green that comes to the
+rescue of the resourceful golfer in circumstances such as we have been
+discussing. It seems to me that golfers in considering their putts very
+often take too little pains to come to an accurate determination of the
+speed of the greens. There are a score of changing circumstances which
+affect that speed, but it frequently happens that only a casual glance
+is given to the state of the turf, and the rest of the time is spent in
+considering the distance and the inclines that have to be contended
+against. The golfer should accustom himself to making a minute survey of
+the condition of things. Thus, to how many players does it occur that
+the direction in which the mowing machine has been passed over it makes
+an enormous difference to the speed of the particular piece of the green
+that has to be putted over? All the blades of grass are bent down in the
+direction that the machine has taken, and their points all face that
+way. Therefore the ball that is being putted in the opposite direction
+encounters all the resistance of these points, and in the aggregate this
+resistance is very considerable. On the other hand, the ball that has to
+be putted in the same direction that the machine went has an unusually
+smooth and slippery surface to glide over. It is very easy to see which
+way the machine has gone. On a newly-cut green there are stripes of
+different shades of green. The points of the grass give the deeper
+tints, and therefore the machine has been coming towards you on the dark
+stripes, and along them you must putt harder than on the others.
+
+The variety of the circumstances to be taken into consideration render
+putting on undulating greens very attractive to the man who makes a
+proper and careful study of this part of the game, as every player ought
+to do.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+SOME GENERAL HINTS
+
+     Too much golf--Analysis of good strokes--One's attitude towards
+     one's opponent--Inaccurate counting of strokes--Tactics in match
+     play--Slow couples on the course--Asking for halves--On not holing
+     out when the half is given--Golfing attire--Braces better than
+     belts--Shoes better than boots--How the soles should be nailed--On
+     counting your strokes--Insisting on the rules--Play in frosty
+     weather--Chalked faces for wet days--Against gloves--Concerning
+     clubs--When confidence in a club is lost--Make up your mind about
+     your shot--The golfer's lunch--Keeping the eye on the ball--The
+     life of a rubber-core--A clean ball--The caddie's
+     advice--Forebodings of failure--Experiments at the wrong time--One
+     kind of golf at a time--Bogey beaten, but how?--Tips for tee
+     shots--As to pressing--The short approach and the wayward
+     eye--Swinging too much--For those with defective sight--Your
+     opponent's caddie--Making holes in the bunkers--The golfer's first
+     duty--Swinging on the putting greens--Practise difficult shots and
+     not easy ones, etc.
+
+
+The following are detached suggestions, each of which, I think, is of
+value and importance. In most cases they are such as I have not had an
+opportunity of making in any other chapter; but in a few others they are
+repetitions of former injunctions, for the sake of further emphasis:--
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Don't play too much golf if you want to get on in the game. Three rounds
+a day are too much for any man, and if he makes a practice of playing
+them whenever he has the opportunity, his game is sure to suffer. He
+often says that his third round is the best of the day. But what about
+the first next morning? Two rounds a day are enough, and these two
+rounds on three days of the week are as much golf as is good for any
+player who does not want to become careless and stale.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Remember that the player who first settles down to the serious business
+of a hard match has the advantage. In a majority of cases concentrated
+purpose is the secret of victory.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+You must be thoughtful if you want to get on in golf. Most players when
+they make an exceptionally good stroke gaze delightedly at the result,
+and then begin to talk about it to their opponent and the caddie. They
+rarely give a thought as to exactly how they did it, though it must be
+obvious that for that good result to have been obtained the stroke must
+have been played in a particularly correct and able manner. Unless by
+pure accident, no good ever comes of a bad stroke. When you have made a
+really wonderfully good shot--for you--bring yourself up sharply to find
+out exactly how you did it. Notice your stance, your grip, and try to
+remember the exact character of the swing that you made and precisely
+how you followed through. Then you will be able to do the same thing
+next time with great confidence. Usually when a player makes a really
+bad stroke you see him trying the swing over again--without the
+ball--wondering what went wrong. It would pay him much better to do the
+good strokes over again in the same way every time he makes them, so as
+to impress the method of execution firmly upon his mind.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Don't praise your own good shots. Leave that function to your partner,
+who, if a good sort, will not be slow in performing it. His praise will
+be more discriminating and worth more than yours. And don't say spiteful
+and unkind things about his good shots, or be continually talking about
+his luck. If you do he will hate you before the game is over.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+When a hole is being keenly contested, and you look as though you are
+having the worst of it, try not to appear pleased when your opponent
+makes a bad stroke or gets into serious trouble, however relieved or
+even delighted you may feel. It is human nature to feel the better for
+your opponent's mistake in a crisis of this kind, but it is not good
+manners to show that you feel it. And, however well you may know your
+friend, it is not half so funny as you think it is to laugh at such a
+time or shout out that you rejoice. It is simply bad taste, for your
+opponent at that time is suffering from a sense of keen disappointment,
+and is temporarily quite unable to appreciate jokes of this kind. He is
+inclined to think he has been mistaken in you all along, and that you
+are much less of a gentleman and a sportsman than he had imagined.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+If he is playing several more in a vain endeavour to extricate himself
+from a bunker, do not stand near him and audibly count his strokes. It
+would be justifiable homicide if he wound up his pitiable exhibition by
+applying his niblick to your head. It is better to pretend that you do
+not notice these things. On the other hand, do not go out of your way to
+say that you are sorry when these misfortunes happen. Such expressions
+imply a kind of patronage for which your opponent will not thank you,
+and he knows all the time that you do not really mean it, and therefore
+infers that you are a hypocrite. The best golf is that which is played
+in comparative silence.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+At the beginning of a match do not worry yourself with the idea that the
+result is likely to be against you. By reflecting thus upon the
+possibilities of defeat one often becomes too anxious and loses one's
+freedom of style.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Take more risks when you are down to your opponent than when you are up
+on him. If you play a difficult shot successfully, the circumstance will
+probably have some effect upon the other man.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+It is a mistake continually to exercise extreme caution. One's play is
+severely cramped by an excess of care.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Try, whenever possible, to make matches with opponents who are at least
+as good, if not better than yourself. This will do your game more good
+than playing with an inferior player against whom you will always be
+liable to play in a careless manner.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Always make an effort to improve your game, and do not content yourself
+with the idea that you go out on the links for the exercise only. It is
+no more difficult or less pleasant trying to play better than it is to
+go on continually in the same old way.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+When making a match, do not try to get a greater allowance of strokes
+than that to which you are entitled on your handicap, alleging to your
+opponent that the said handicap is an unfair one. Your opponent may
+think you are a little too "keen"; and if he grants your improper
+request, and you should then win the match, he may think some other
+things besides.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Remember that more matches are lost through carelessness at the
+beginning than through any other cause. Always make a point of trying to
+play the first hole as well as you have ever played a hole in your life.
+The favourite saying of some players, "I never try to win the first
+hole," is the most foolish thing ever said in connection with the game
+of golf. Win as many holes as you can in the early part of the game.
+They may be useful for you to fall back upon later on.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Try to avoid an unnecessary expenditure of nerve force by treating your
+adversary--with all due respect to him--as a nonentity. Whatever
+brilliant achievements he may accomplish, go on quietly playing your
+own game. There is always the probability that sooner or later he will
+make enough mistakes to bring him back to you. It is the steadier player
+who plays his own game from the first tee to the last green, and who
+never allows himself to be upset by anything that happens, who wins the
+match.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Never hurry when playing a match or a medal round, or indeed any kind of
+golf. Haste will affect your nerves and spoil your play. The record for
+playing a round in the shortest possible space of time is not worth the
+holding. Take time enough, but don't be unnecessarily slow.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+If from any cause whatever you are playing a very slow game, don't miss
+an opportunity of inviting the couple behind you to pass. It will please
+them, and will be far more comfortable for you. But if your match is
+behind a slow one, do not be offensive in pressing upon the match in
+front by making rude remarks and occasionally playing when they are
+within range. You do not know what troubles they are enduring. Remember
+the story of the old player, who, on a ball being driven past him by the
+couple behind, sent his caddie with his card to the offender, and with
+it the message, "Mr. Blank presents his compliments, and begs to say
+that though he may be playing slowly he can play a devil of a lot more
+slowly if he likes!"
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Be careful that you always stand on the proper side of the tee when your
+opponent is preparing to drive. At this most anxious moment for your
+friend do not be practising your own swing or move about or talk. You
+would be intensely annoyed with him if he did these things when you were
+driving. If he lost the match through a foozled drive, he would be
+justified in saying that you did not play the game.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+In playing through the green, avoid as far as possible getting in your
+opponent's line of sight when he is making his stroke. Also do not stand
+so near to him that he can see you through the corner of his eye when he
+is taking his swing.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Do not get into the habit of asking for a half on the putting green when
+in your own opinion you are lying dead and have one stroke left for the
+half. You may not be as dead as you think, and your opponent may not
+consider you are dead at all. He naturally wonders why you ask for the
+half when it would be so easy to putt the ball. It would be excusable if
+he were to offer to make you a present of the ball you have on the
+match. These propositions about the giving of halves should invariably
+come from the other side. Besides, when you have asked for a half and
+your opponent says "No; putt it out," you not only look foolish, but you
+are so irritated that you may very likely miss the putt. Then you will
+look more foolish than ever, and the next thing you will lose is the
+match.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+But when your opponent of his own free will says, "I will give you
+that," meaning the little putt for the half, show your appreciation of
+his confidence in your putting by picking up the ball and saying no more
+about it. Don't insist on putting the ball into the hole either with one
+hand or in any other way. You are sure to be playing carelessly; and
+suppose you fail to hole? Your opponent said he gave you the half, and
+yet you failed afterwards to get it when you insisted on playing. Of
+course you have a right to the half that he gave you, but you will have
+an uneasy conscience, and your friend will be sorry that he was so
+generous. Also, when you have carelessly missed a six inch putt for the
+half, do not remark to your opponent, as some players do, "Of course, if
+you insist upon it, I will give you the hole." It is no question of
+insistence; it is the rule of the game. I say, stick to the rules of
+the game.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Never use long headed clubs. The shorter headed clubs are easier to play
+with and are more accurate.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Do not wear too tightly fitting clothes. Particularly be careful to see
+that there is plenty of spare cloth under the arms. Tightness here,
+where there should be the utmost freedom, means the wholesale ruination
+of what would otherwise have been good strokes.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Always use braces in preference to a belt round the waist. I never play
+with a belt. Braces seem to hold the shoulders together just as they
+ought to be. When a man plays in a belt he has an unaccustomed sense of
+looseness, and his shoulders are too much beyond control. It is a
+mistake to imagine you can swing better with a belt than with braces.
+For the same reason I do not advise a golfer to play without his coat,
+even on the warmest day, if he wants to play his best game.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Whenever possible, use shoes for golfing instead of boots. They allow
+more freedom to the ankles, and make it much easier to pivot on the
+toes. Keep the leather of your boots and shoes soft and pliable. Apply
+dubbin to them in the winter.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Take care that there are plenty of nails on the soles of your boots and
+shoes, and that they are in good condition and the heads not worn away.
+Nails in this state are almost useless, and create a great tendency
+towards slipping. Aluminium nails, though very light, wear away too
+quickly, and have a tendency to drop out. I do not like big nails of any
+description, nor do I favour small ones arranged in clusters. Those that
+I prefer have round heads about the size of a small pea, and are fluted
+down the sides. I have the soles and heels of my boots freely studded
+with these, and always according to the same system. There are
+twenty-five nails on the sole of each boot and fourteen on each heel,
+and they are arranged as in the accompanying diagram. It will be
+observed that there are plenty of nails in the fore part of the sole on
+which the pivoting is done, and where there is the greatest tendency to
+slip.
+
+[Illustration: NAILS IN GOLFING BOOTS AND SHOES.]
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Do not get into the habit of counting your strokes from the beginning of
+the round in every match that you play, in the hope that each time you
+may be able to beat your own record for the course. If you do so, and
+play one or two bad holes to begin with, you will suffer from a sense of
+disappointment which may have a bad effect upon your play for the
+remainder of the game.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Obtain a thorough knowledge of the rules of the game, always play
+strictly according to them, and adhere rigidly to the etiquette of golf.
+When you insist upon the rules being applied to yourself, even to your
+own disadvantage, you are in a stronger position for demanding that your
+opponent shall also have the same respect for them. When play is always
+according to the rules, with no favour shown on either side, the players
+know exactly where they are. When the rules are occasionally overthrown,
+difficulties and dissatisfaction constantly ensue.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+When playing in frosty weather, do not take it for granted that because
+the greens are hard they are also fast. Unless the greens were
+exceedingly smooth when the frost began, they will be covered with an
+abundance of little frozen knobs and pimples which greatly retard the
+progress of the ball.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+In wet weather it is a good thing to carry a piece of chalk in your
+pocket, and to rub the face of the driver and brassy with it each time
+before making a stroke. It prevents the ball from skidding.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Unless you have a very good and special reason for doing so, do not play
+in gloves. The grip is seldom so secure and exact as when it is effected
+with the bare hands.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Always use the club that takes the least out of you. Play with an iron
+instead of forcing your shot with a mashie. Never say, "Oh, I think I
+can reach it with such and such a club." There ought never to be any
+question of your reaching it, so use the next more powerful club in
+order that you will have a little in hand. It will be easier, and the
+result will be much better, or at least it ought to be.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Never use thick handle grips. They place weight at the wrong end of the
+club. I like the thinnest I can get. I do not advise playing with rubber
+grips if they can be avoided. On a wet day they might be the cause of a
+lost match.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Always use spliced in preference to socketed clubs. They are better in
+every way.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Do not be tempted to invest in a sample of each new golfing invention as
+soon as it makes its appearance. If you do you will only complicate and
+spoil your game and encumber your locker with much useless rubbish. Of
+course some new inventions are good, but it is usually best to wait a
+little while to see whether any considerable section of the golfing
+public approves of them before rushing to a shop to order one.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+If you have completely lost confidence for the time being in any
+particular club, even though it may be one with which you have performed
+brilliantly in days gone by, leave it out of your bag altogether for a
+short season and try to forget all about it. The day will come before
+very long when you will feel that it is once more the very club you are
+wanting to make your game perfect, and you will rejoice to renew its
+acquaintance when you take it out of your locker. We can see too much of
+even our best friends.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Always make up your mind definitely and finally before taking up your
+stance what club you are going to use and exactly the kind of shot that
+you want to play with it. When you have taken up your position but still
+ponder in a state of uncertainty, it is very probable that your mind
+will be affected by your hesitation, and then your swing and the result
+thereof will be bad.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+There are fewer certainties in golf than in any other game, and dogged
+pluck is rarely so well rewarded as on the links.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+If you are playing golf in the afternoon, do not lunch any more heavily
+that you feel to be necessary. A heavy lunch tends to take the keenness
+out of a golfer, and at the same time it has--what very few people
+suspect--a very serious effect upon the eye and its capacity for work.
+The golfer's eyes often give way to the strain that is put upon them
+long before his limbs.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+When we talk about keeping the eye on the ball, we do not mean the top
+of the ball. Your object is not to hit the top of the ball with the
+bottom of your club. For an ordinary stroke keep your attention fixed on
+the grass immediately behind the ball. This should result in the sole of
+your club sweeping evenly along the turf and taking the ball just as it
+ought to be taken. But there are special occasions, as when a low shot
+against the wind is wanted (fully explained in previous chapters), when
+it is desirable to hit the ball rather higher up. The eye should then be
+fixed on the edge of the ball just half-way up from the bottom to the
+top. The accompanying diagram shows exactly the points to be looked at
+when playing the different strokes. You may get in good strokes when
+looking at the top of the ball, but it is only because you have
+accustomed yourself by long experience to make a small allowance for so
+doing. The practice is theoretically bad, and it is mainly the reason
+why beginners top their balls so frequently. Of course when you look
+down the side of it in the manner indicated, you have the ball always in
+view.
+
+[Illustration: POINTS TO LOOK AT WHEN ADDRESSING THE BALL--(I.) FOR AN
+ORDINARY STROKE; (II.) FOR A PUSH SHOT.]
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+The life of a rubber-cored ball does not always last as long as its
+shell, and its best driving capacity has often disappeared when there is
+scarcely a scratch upon it. Therefore, if you are playing in an
+important match with a ball that has already been used at a large number
+of holes, it may be advisable to put down a new one when long work with
+the driver and brassy is a vital necessity. A close watch for loss of
+shape should also be kept on these rubber-cored balls. They vary very
+much in this respect, and not only is it impossible to putt well with a
+ball that is not perfectly round, but it never flies so well as one
+which is quite true.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Always use a clean ball, and carry a sponge to keep it clean with. It
+detracts from the pleasure of a game more than you may imagine if your
+ball is always dirty and cannot be seen from a distance. Besides, the
+eye is less strained when a clean white ball is played with, and there
+is less likelihood of foozled strokes. Moreover, your dirty ball is a
+constant irritation to your opponent.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Don't act upon the advice of your caddie when you are convinced in your
+own mind that he is wrong. If you do so, you will very likely play the
+stroke hesitatingly and without confidence, and the result in these
+circumstances is seldom satisfactory. It is not impossible that the
+caddie knows less about the game than yourself, and, on the other hand,
+his views as to the best thing to do in a particular situation are often
+regulated by what he has seen the scratch men do at such times. You may
+not be a scratch man.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+When playing in a foursome, never forget that you have a partner. If you
+are the inferior player, make a rule, when in any doubt, of asking him
+what he would prefer you to do.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+When you are addressing the ball, and a conviction forces itself on your
+mind just before making the stroke that your stance or something else is
+radically wrong, do not be persuaded that it is best to get the stroke
+done with notwithstanding. In such circumstances it is almost certain to
+be a failure, and you will wish then that you had taken a fresh stance,
+as you knew you ought to have done, and made a proper job of it, even at
+the risk of annoying your partner by fiddling about on the tee.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+At a crisis in a match, some golfers, fighting desperately for victory
+or a half, give themselves up when on the tee to hideous thoughts of all
+the worst ways in which they have ever made that particular drive and of
+the terrible consequences that ensued. This is fatal. A golfer must
+never be morbid. If he cannot school himself to think that he is going
+to make the best drive of his life, just when it is most wanted, he
+should try not to think of anything at all.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Don't try experimental shots on a new system when your opponent is
+dormy. It may be quite true that those you make on the old system are
+very bad, but you had better stick to them until the end of this match
+at any rate.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Do not attempt to play two kinds of golf at the same time; that is to
+say, if you are playing for a medal, do not keep up a hole-to-hole match
+with your partner. You will become confused, with no clear idea of what
+you are trying to do, and you will probably win neither the medal nor
+the match. If you feel that you must match yourself in some manner with
+the man who is going round with you, back your net return against his.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Because you do a hole in bogey, or even sometimes in one stroke less, do
+not always take it for granted that you have therefore played perfect
+golf. Some bogeys are very easy, and some shots are very fluky. A man
+may miss his drive, run a bunker, and hole out with his mashie, beating
+bogey by a stroke. But he would be well advised not to say anything
+about it afterwards, lest he should be asked for details. Not the
+smallest credit attaches to him for this remarkable performance.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Always play from a low tee, except when the wind is behind you.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+See that your head remains rigid, from the moment when you have finally
+taken up your position and are ready for your swing, until you have
+struck the ball.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+In addressing, always oppose to the ball that part of the face of the
+club with which you want to hit it.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Go slowly back, but be quick on the ball. But do not swing back too
+slowly or you will lose control over your club. Gain speed gradually.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+At the finish of the swing for a full shot, the right heel should be
+well up and the toe pointed downwards. The chest should then be facing
+the hole. But these and all similar movements should be quite natural.
+If they are forced they are useless and dangerous, and only indicate
+that your methods and your swing are altogether wrong. In such a dilemma
+study the photographs in this volume, particularly those that show you
+how you ought _not_ to do the various strokes. If these do not provide
+you with a cure, consult the professional at your club.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Don't press, but note the definition of pressing in Chapter VI. You can
+hit hard without pressing, which really means jumping at the ball. When
+your swing is working to perfection and you are full of confidence, you
+may let yourself go as much as you please. It is not true, as some
+golfers say, that a gently hit ball will travel as far as one which has
+been hit with much more force, but otherwise in precisely the same
+manner.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+You must be particularly on your guard against pressing--real
+pressing--when you are two or three holes down, and are becoming anxious
+about the match. Perfect confidence and a calm mind are necessary for
+the success of every stroke.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Keep your eye on the side of the ball, particularly when you are near
+the hole and perhaps playing a little chip shot on to the green. There
+is a tendency at such a time, so great is the anxiety of the golfer to
+know whether he is laying himself dead or not, to take the eye from the
+ball and direct its attention to the pin before the downward swing is
+complete and the stroke has been made. But I do not approve of keeping
+the eye fixed upon the place where the ball lay, so that the grass is
+seen after the ball has departed. Keep your eye on the ball until you
+have hit it, but no longer. You cannot follow through properly with a
+long shot if your eye remains fastened on the ground. Hit the ball, and
+then let your eye pick it up in its flight as quickly as possible. Of
+course this needs skilful timing and management, but precision will soon
+become habitual.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+When you hit the small of your back with the head of your club in the
+upward swing, it is not so much a sign that you are swinging too far
+back as that your wrists are enjoying too much play, that you are not
+holding your club with sufficient firmness, and that your arms are
+thrown too much upwards. Try a tighter grip. Remember that the grip with
+_both_ hands should be firm. That with the right hand should not be
+slack, as one is so often told.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+If your eyesight is not good and you are obliged to resort to artificial
+aids when playing the game, wear spectacles rather than eye-glasses, and
+specially made sporting spectacles in preference to any others. It is of
+the utmost importance that the glasses should not only be perfectly
+steady at all times, but that the rims should not be so near to the
+centre of vision as to interfere with it under any circumstances. The
+sporting spectacles which I recommend are similar to those used for
+billiards and shooting. The rims and the glasses are circular and not
+oval in shape, and they are unusually large--about 1-1/2 inches in
+diameter. By the use of them the player is afforded a field of vision as
+wide as with the naked eye, so that practically he is not conscious that
+he is wearing glasses at all. The eye is a factor of such immense
+importance in the proper playing of golf, that this is a matter to be
+strongly insisted upon. My own eyesight is perfect, and I have never had
+occasion to resort to artificial assistance of it, but I adopt these
+suggestions from players of experience who have worn these glasses and
+upon whose judgment I can rely.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+If you have no caddie, do not order your opponent's caddie about as if
+you were paying for his services. Any assistance that he may give you is
+an act of courtesy extended to you by your opponent.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Always fill in afterwards every hole that you make in a bunker. If all
+players do that, both you and the others will benefit constantly.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Make a point of seeing that your caddie always replaces your divots, or
+replace them yourself if you have no caddie. This, as we all know, is a
+golfer's first duty. If your ball at any time came to rest in a hole
+where a divot had not been replaced, you would be extremely annoyed,
+would say hard things about the other players on the links, and would
+declare that the course was badly kept.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Never practise swinging on the putting green. It is not good for the
+green, and the greenkeeper who takes a pride in the results of his work
+is not usually in the best of tempers when he sees you at this little
+game.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+When carrying your own clubs, do not throw the bag down on the greens.
+If you do so the toes of the iron clubs are certain to make marks, which
+neither improve the greens nor the game of the players who follow you.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Never try your shots over again when there are other players behind you.
+It makes your partner uncomfortable, and he feels that he ought to
+apologise on your behalf to those who are kept waiting.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+When practising, use the club that gives you the most trouble, and do
+not waste your time in knocking a ball about with the tool that gives
+you the most satisfaction and with which you rarely make a bad stroke.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+COMPETITION PLAY
+
+     Its difficulties--Nerves are fatal--The philosophic
+     spirit--Experience and steadiness--The torn card--Too much hurry to
+     give up--A story and a moral--Indifference to your opponent's
+     brilliance--Never slacken when up--The best test of golf--If golf
+     were always easy--Cautious play in medal rounds--Risks to be
+     taken--The bold game in match play--Studying the course--Risks that
+     are foolishly taken--New clubs in competitions--On giving them a
+     trial--No training necessary--As to the pipe and glass--How to be
+     at one's best and keenest--On playing in the morning--In case of a
+     late draw--Watch your opponents.
+
+
+It is the same game whether it is match or medal play, and the same
+whether you are merely engaged in friendly rivalry with an old friend,
+with half a crown or nothing at all but the good game itself at stake,
+or testing your skill and giving rein to your ambition in a club or open
+tournament with gold medals and much distinction for the final victors.
+But, same game as it is, how convinced have we all been at times that it
+is a very hard thing to play it always in the same way. How regularly
+does an evil fate seem to pursue us on those days when we are most
+desirous of doing ourselves full justice. Five times in a week will a
+golfer go round the course and beat bogey, reckoning after each
+performance that he has only to repeat it on Saturday to win the prize
+which he covets, with several strokes to spare. Then Saturday comes, and
+a sad falling off is there. By the time the sixth or seventh hole is
+reached, the all-important card has perhaps been torn up into little
+pieces and flung contemptuously into a convenient ditch.
+
+Of course much of this sort of thing is due to nervousness, and there
+is no game in which full control of the nerves and extreme coolness are
+more necessary than in golf. Let the player be as keen as he likes--the
+keener the better--but if he is apt to become too anxious at the
+critical stage of a round or match, he is not the man who will ever win
+prizes in great competitions. He who is the most composed when in
+difficulties and when the game is going against him, and who treats each
+fresh trouble as it comes along as a part of the ordinary day's work to
+be surmounted in the best manner possible, is the player who will most
+frequently come out the conqueror. In many cases the tendency to fall
+into a highly nervous state at the smallest provocation will disappear
+with time and lengthening experience. Each year of golf should bring
+increasing steadiness, and the steadier a golfer becomes the more
+frequently will he do his best scores when they are most wanted. And so
+I must leave it to time and practice and the proper cultivation of the
+best methods to bring the ambitious beginner along into the front rank
+of his contemporaries. But still there are some useful hints which I may
+offer him and which may facilitate his progress towards the acquisition
+of medals and cups.
+
+To begin with, there is a little sermon to be preached on that torn
+card. "Nil desperandum" should always be the motto of the competition
+player, and it is a motto that will probably pay better in golf than in
+any other game. I think it is very likely that some scores of monthly
+medals have been lost through a too precipitate destruction of the
+scoring card when everything seemed to be going the wrong way. Every
+player should remember that it is indeed a perfect card that is without
+a blemish, and that on the other hand there are few rounds played by a
+man who knows anything about the game that are bad all through. But some
+men, because they have the misfortune to be debited with a couple of 8's
+in the first four or five holes, forthwith give up the ghost and rend
+their cards into small pieces with many and varied expressions of
+disgust. Thereafter they play well, and at the conclusion of the match
+are inclined to think that they were rather in too much of a hurry to be
+out of the competition in its early stages. If they had made a fine card
+for fourteen or fifteen holes from the beginning, they might have taken
+two 8's towards the end much less seriously to heart. They would have
+said to themselves that at all events there were many very fine holes,
+and the misfortunes which came later were not sufficient to spoil their
+chances of success. Well, then, when these annoyances happen near the
+beginning, why not take a philosophical view of them and say that as
+they had to come it was best that they should come quickly and be done
+with, and then go on playing hole after hole coolly and properly until
+at the end it is found that the early misfortunes have been amply
+retrieved? I am aware that this is very simple advice, and that it
+appears like a string of platitudes, but it is extremely sound and yet
+it is ignored on every medal day. Never, never tear up your card, for
+golf is indeed a funny game, and no man knows what is going to happen
+when it is being played. There are numberless historic instances to
+support this counsel, but I will quote only one which came under my
+personal observation recently, and which to my mind is one of the most
+remarkable of all. It occurred at a London club. Six players were left
+in the final round for a cup competition, and the conditions of playing
+in this final were that a medal round should be played on two different
+Saturdays. On the first Saturday three of the players tore up their
+cards, and so only three remained to fight out the issue on the second
+Saturday. On this occasion one of the remaining three tore up his card
+very early, and soon afterwards a second did so, each being unaware of
+the other's action, the third player being likewise ignorant of the fact
+that his rivals had disappeared from the contest, and that now, being
+the only man left in, he could make any return he liked and become the
+possessor of the cup. Presently he also fell into grievous
+difficulties, and was on the point of tearing up his card like the
+others, when the player who was marking for him stayed his hand. He had
+some idea of what had happened, and, bad score as his man's was, he
+insisted on its being completed, with the result of course that he was
+hailed as the winner of the tournament. He at all events would for the
+rest of his golfing days respect the moral which I have here endeavoured
+to convey; and what must have been the reflections of the other
+competitors who threw up the sponge, when they discovered afterwards
+that if they had kept plodding along they would still have had an
+excellent chance!
+
+Similarly in match-play competitions, do not get into the way of
+thinking that your chance is hopeless just because your opponent becomes
+two or three up on you, or even more than that, early in the game; and,
+above all, do not alter your style of play in consequence. Nothing pays
+like your own best and steadiest game and a stolid indifference to all
+the brilliant things that your opponent is doing. It is unlikely that he
+will keep on doing them all through the game, and when the reaction
+comes you will speedily make up the leeway. There are many ups and downs
+in a game of golf; and when the players are at all evenly matched, and
+neither has lost his head, early differences have a way of regulating
+themselves before the game is very far advanced. No doubt it is
+disconcerting to be three down after only three have been played; but
+are there not fifteen still to come? But it often appears that an even
+greater danger awaits the inexperienced golfer than that of funk when
+things are going against him, in that he is too frequently apt to become
+careless when he has obtained a trifling advantage. Never slacken your
+efforts when you are two or three holes up, but continue to play with
+all your might and with an extreme of cautiousness until at last you are
+one more up than there are holes still to play, for not until then are
+you sure of victory. When a man has once held a good lead, but by
+playing carelessly has allowed his opponent to get on level terms with
+him again, the moral effect upon him is usually extremely bad. When this
+has happened he is inclined to regard himself not as still on equal
+terms with his opponent, but as having suffered a great loss and being
+in grave danger of defeat. And this feeling is the prelude to actual
+defeat and the bitter self-accusations that must inevitably follow. I
+may have seemed to labour these simple points, but every old golfer will
+bear me out in saying that a proper regard for the essence of this
+advice is the first necessity for the man who covets honours in the
+golfing world.
+
+I say that all golf is the same, and no matter whether it is match or
+medal play, the simple object is to hole out each time in the fewest
+number of strokes; but the fact that a single bad hole counts far more
+heavily against you in a medal round, where all the strokes are added
+together at the finish, than in match play, where the bad hole is simply
+one of eighteen, and in which there is only one man to be beaten, of
+whose performances you are a spectator, instead of an invisible
+field--this difference generally calls for a change in tactics,
+particularly on the part of the player who knows to a nicety his own
+capabilities and limitations. Score play is not, of course, so generally
+interesting as match play, and for this reason will never be so popular;
+but from my point of view it is the best golf and the best test of golf;
+indeed, in these respects I think there is really no comparison between
+the two systems. Score play tests the qualities of both the golfer and
+the sportsman. If he makes a bad hole and drops two or three to bogey,
+he must not lose his temper, which proceeding is both useless and fatal,
+but must screw up his determination, and realise that if he can snatch a
+stroke from bogey at the next two or three holes, all will be just as
+well as ever. He must always be hopeful. If we never made a bad hole,
+were never set any difficult task, always did just what we tried to
+do--well, what then would be the use of playing golf? We should very
+soon ask ourselves this question, and as there would be no satisfactory
+answer to it, we should cease to play. The difficulties and the
+annoyances of golf are after all the things that make the game so
+attractive and render it so subtly fascinating.
+
+But all the same, when you are playing a medal round in a competition,
+give due consideration beforehand to this overwhelming fact, that bad
+holes do tell more heavily against you than in match play, and that when
+they are made they are not over and done with, but are on permanent
+record as faults to be atoned for before the round is completed. When
+the score player sends his ball into a bunker, takes two to escape, and
+holes out in eight strokes instead of in five, his punishment is not
+completed at this stage, as in match play. The case is held over in view
+of what his future conduct may be. He is, in fact, ordered to come up
+for judgment if called upon. Now, to avoid the pain and anxiety of all
+this, I suggest to the player who takes out a card in a score
+competition, that he should make up his mind at the beginning of the
+round that from the first hole to the finish he will be more than
+usually cautious. By this I do not mean to say that he should always
+play the strict safety game, for the man who invariably plays for safety
+and nothing else will soon find his card running up very high. Certain
+risks must be taken; but do not accept the very doubtful risks. In match
+play, I say always play the bold game. Go for everything that you can.
+If there is a bunker somewhere about the limit of your best possible
+carry, go for it. If you have a long putt for the hole, give the hole a
+chance, and either be in or beyond. But I do not suggest that these
+things should also be done in score-play competitions. If the hole is
+guarded by a bunker, and you have reason to fear that you cannot carry
+that bunker, it is in these circumstances a thousand times better to
+play short than to take the risk of putting your ball into it and
+making a serious blot upon your card. Similarly, when on the putting
+green, and there is a long distance between your ball and the hole,
+bring your mind to realise that it is really of less importance that you
+should hole out in one stroke than that you should do so in not more
+than two, and therefore concentrate your whole energies on placing
+yourself dead for the second putt. Therefore I say, accept a risk now
+and then when there is a fairly good prospect of success, and when the
+reward for it will be commensurate with the danger that was incurred.
+
+The last-named is an important clause. The course should be studied hole
+by hole for medal play, and the competitor should come to an exact
+understanding with himself as to the things that must be done and what
+things need not be done. Thus it frequently happens that a player,
+seeing a bunker some distance in front of him but yet not quite out of
+his range, goes for it as a matter of course. Obviously he must incur a
+certain amount of risk, and it may happen that even if he carries it in
+safety he may not be better off at all than if he were ten or fifteen
+yards on the playing side. In either case it may be an easy shot to the
+green, and it may even happen that of the two the longer one would be
+the easier for this particular golfer. But it is quite likely that he
+never took any account of that when taking the risk of the bunker. Now
+this man is to be remonstrated with, for, with the best intentions, he
+has displayed not courage but folly. He must realise that all bunkers
+are not of necessity to be carried with long shots. If all golfers
+played the same game, and always their best game, and, moreover, if all
+bunkers were placed in the proper places for bunkers, then it would be
+their duty to go for them every time. But either through the very good
+or the very bad shots that have gone before, we find that these carries
+vary very much, and, besides, the bunkers on all courses are certainly
+not placed exactly where they ought to be, and so for reckoning up the
+proper mode of play in order that the hole may be captured in the
+fewest possible number of strokes, they can sometimes for all practical
+purposes be disregarded.
+
+A golfer is often in an anxious state of mind when the day of a
+competition in which he wishes to do well arrives, and he is painfully
+conscious that he is completely off his play with one or other of his
+clubs, and has an abiding fear that it will bring him to grief. When he
+feels like this about the club, it will probably do so. Now the question
+is, whether at this crisis he shall take out a new one with which he is
+entirely unfamiliar and trust to luck with it, or put his faith once
+more in the instrument which of late has repeatedly spoilt his game. He
+is usually advised that in such circumstances he should not indulge in
+any risky experiments, and that it is madness to take a new and untried
+club out with him when it is more or less imperative that he should play
+one of his best rounds. But I am not by any means sure that this advice
+is well founded. No golfer plays well with a club in which he has
+completely lost confidence. It may not be the fault of the club at all;
+but there is the fact. On the other hand, the player is always possessed
+of a certain amount of hope when he takes a new implement in his hands.
+He has convinced himself beforehand, or at least ought to have done,
+that its points are just what he most admires, and that he is likely to
+do well with it. And so he probably will, even if it is only for a round
+or two. It is the confidence trick again. What I suggest, therefore, is
+that when this grave uncertainty exists about the kind of performance
+that will probably be made with one of the articles in the bag, and
+there is a new and good substitute ready at hand, the latter should not
+be disregarded because of a kind of instinct that in a big fight it is
+best to stick to the old weapons. Take the new one out with you, but do
+not call it into service for the first hole or two. During this
+preliminary stage give the old but disappointing favourite another
+chance to show that it will not desert you in the hour of need; but if
+it fails to rise to the occasion and you blunder with it during the play
+at the first and second holes, pass sentence upon it forthwith and
+relegate it finally to your bag. Then at the third hole let the new one
+have its trial. Over and over again have I found this method succeed
+most wonderfully, and I am a particular believer in it in connection
+with putters. A golfer may have been putting badly for a long time, but
+directly he takes a new putter in his hand he feels that a great change
+for the better has been effected, and forthwith he begins to astonish
+himself by holing out from almost anywhere, or at least always getting
+his ball dead the first time. There is no accounting for these things.
+They seem very absurd. But there they are, and no doubt it will be
+agreed that a medal or a cup is worth a new putter any time.
+
+I do not believe in any sort of training for important golf matches. It
+is not necessary, and it generally upsets the man and throws him off his
+game. If he is a smoker let him smoke all the time, and if he likes an
+occasional glass of wine let him take it as usual. A sudden stoppage of
+these luxuries causes a feeling of irritation, and that is not good for
+golf. The game does not seem the same to you as it was before. For my
+part I am neither a non-smoker nor an abstainer, and I never feel so
+much at ease on the links and so fully capable of doing justice to
+myself as when smoking. But at the same time I believe in the most
+complete moderation. Only by the constant exercise of such moderation
+can that sureness of hand and eye be guaranteed which are absolutely
+necessary to the playing of good golf. On one occasion when I had a
+championship in view I stopped the tobacco for a short period
+beforehand, and I am bound to confess that the results seemed excellent,
+and perhaps some day I may repeat the experiment. But there was nothing
+sudden about the abstinence in this case, and by the time the big days
+came round I had become thoroughly accustomed to the new order of
+things, and the irritation had passed away. However, these are matters
+which every man may be left to decide for himself according to his own
+good common sense, and the only object I had in introducing them was to
+counsel the avoidance of sudden whims and freaks, which are never good
+for golf.
+
+Another question is how much or how little golf should be played
+beforehand when a man desires to give himself the best chance of playing
+his best game on a certain specified day. That depends largely upon how
+much golf he is in the habit of playing in the ordinary course. If he is
+a man who plays regularly, almost every day when it is fine, I think he
+will generally do far better for himself by abstaining altogether for a
+day or two before the competition. Then, when he goes out to play in it,
+he will experience a zest and keenness which will be very much in his
+favour. There is no danger that in this brief period of rest he will
+have forgotten anything that he knew before, but, on the other hand, he
+will have a greatly improved capacity for taking pains, and every stroke
+will be easy to him. His confidence will be refreshed. If he continues
+to play his round or two rounds every day right up to the date of the
+competition, he will undoubtedly be "over-golfed," will have a great
+tendency to fall into errors, and will be generally careless. But if the
+would-be prize-winner is a man who has usually to content himself with
+week-end golf, it would be all in his favour if he could put in a day or
+two of practice before taking part in the big event. There will be no
+possibility of his becoming stale by so doing.
+
+When a competitor has the choice of playing his round either in the
+morning or the afternoon, I strongly advise him to select the former and
+get the thing over as soon as possible. I am positive that his chances
+of success are usually greater when he does so, especially if, in case
+of his electing to play in the afternoon, he has nothing particularly to
+occupy his mind and attention in the interval except his prospects in
+the forthcoming contest. Golfers are freshest and keenest in the
+morning, their bodies and limbs are most vigorous and anxious for work,
+and--a very important consideration--their eyes are most to be depended
+upon. And it is not an unimportant consideration that there is no
+indigestible lunch to interfere with the perfect ease of mind and body
+which are necessary to the making of a good card.
+
+But often, particularly in the case of important open competitions, the
+times of starting are decided by lot, and the competitor, on arriving at
+the course, finds that he has to accept the disadvantages of a late
+draw, and must endure a period of waiting for his turn to tee up. It is
+best to dispose of these wearisome periods not in hanging about the tee
+or in the vicinity of the club-house, but by going out with one of the
+early couples, watching their methods, and making note of the exact
+manner in which their best holes are played. If the course is a strange
+one, the information which the watcher thus derives will be invaluable
+to him when he comes to play his own round, for he will now be possessed
+of the most excellent hints as to difficulties which demand special
+efforts to avoid, and of particular strokes which it is in the highest
+degree necessary to play well. Not until he has watched the play of
+others in this manner will the enormous significance of the position of
+a particular bunker be made clear to him; he will discover the great
+danger of being short with certain strokes, and of overrunning the green
+at various holes. By thus watching other competitors' play he will
+probably learn more about the nature and peculiarities of the course and
+the way it is playing on this particular occasion, than if he were doing
+a round with his own clubs. Therefore, if there is time to be killed,
+this is most decidedly the way in which to kill it, and I may add that
+it is the method which I myself adopt on every possible occasion. I know
+that in championships and tournaments I have reaped great advantage in
+watching closely the play of my fellow-competitors, their triumphs and
+their failures, while waiting for my own turn to begin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+ON FOURSOMES
+
+     The four-ball foursome--Its inferiority to the old-fashioned
+     game--The case of the long-handicap man--Confusion on the
+     greens--The man who drives last--The old-fashioned two-ball
+     foursome--Against too many foursomes--Partners and each
+     other--Fitting in their different games--The man to oblige--The
+     policy of the long-handicap partner--How he drove and missed in the
+     good old days--On laying your partner a stymie--A preliminary
+     consideration of the round--Handicapping in foursomes--A too
+     delicate reckoning of strokes given and received--A good foursome
+     and the excitement thereof--A caddie killed and a hole lost--A
+     compliment to a golfer.
+
+
+I think it is to be regretted that the old-fashioned foursome, in which
+the respective partners play together with the same ball, has so
+completely lost favour of late, and that it has been superseded to a
+large extent by the four-ball foursome. To my mind the old foursome
+provided a much more interesting and enjoyable game than its successor,
+and tended much more to the cultivation of good qualities in a golfer.
+It seems to me that this new four-ball game is a kind of mongrel
+mixture. It is played, I presume, because men feel that they would like
+to have a game of partners and yet are unwilling to sacrifice half the
+strokes of a round, as they do in the old game, and also because the man
+who is on his game desires all his power and brilliancy to count, and
+that they may not be interfered with by the possibly erratic procedure
+of his partner. But this is a selfish spirit, and quite opposed to that
+which should properly animate the men who play in combination. When a
+golfer is thus anxious for the display of his skill, surely an ordinary
+single-ball match is the proper thing for him. The four-ball foursome,
+I admit, has much to recommend it when the partners are equally matched,
+when both are really good players--more likely to do a hole in bogey
+than not--and when the course is clear and there is no prospect of their
+protracted game interfering with other players who may be coming up
+behind. When a short-handicap man is mated with a long one, the place of
+the latter in a foursome of the new kind is to my thinking not worth
+having. Is it calculated to improve his golf, or to afford him
+satisfaction of any kind whatever, if he plays his ball round in what is
+for him very good form, and yet only contributes the halving of a single
+hole as his share of the victory of the combination? Very likely after
+such a game he will feel that he must fall back once more on that old
+excuse of the golfer for a disappointing day, that at all events he has
+had the fresh air and the exercise. The tasting of the pure atmosphere
+and the working of limb and muscle are splendid things, enough to
+justify any day and any game, but no golfer is heard to put them in the
+forefront of the advantages he has derived from his day's participation
+in the game unless the golf he has played has been miserably
+disappointing. This new foursome is also a selfish game, because it is
+generally played with too little regard for the convenience and feelings
+of other golfers on the links. It is very slow, and couples coming up
+behind, who do not always care to ask to be allowed to go through, are
+often irritated beyond measure as they wait while four balls are played
+through the green in front of them, and eight putts are taken on the
+putting green. The constant waiting puts them off their game and spoils
+their day.
+
+Another objection that I urge against this kind of game is, that even
+when there is nobody pressing behind and there is no particular reason
+for hurry, there is a natural tendency on the part of each player to
+make haste so that he shall not delay the other three. This is the case
+all the way through the green, and particularly when the hole is
+reached and the putters are taken out. Then everybody's ball seems to be
+in the way of the others, there is continual lifting and replacing, more
+hurrying, and then, to make matters worse, there is a doubt as to what a
+man should do in order to help his side--whether he should hole out in
+one or two, or whether there is any use in holing out at all.
+Consequently his mind is in a confused state of reckoning and doubt when
+he makes his putt, and poor putt it is likely to be in such
+circumstances. Frequently, when a blind hole is being played, it needs a
+few minutes' close examination to decide which ball is which after the
+drive, unless each has been carefully marked to distinguish it from the
+others. As a final indictment against this species of golf, I would say
+that even when the partners are equally matched and both good players,
+there is still a tendency for their individual play to be spoiled,
+inasmuch as there is the feeling constantly present in the mind of each,
+that even if he does happen to do a bad hole it will not matter very
+much after all, as the other man is sure to come to the rescue. When it
+happens that just the same thought enters the brain of that other man, a
+lost hole is likely to be the result. Decidedly this is not the sort of
+game to improve the golfer's play.
+
+The four-ball foursome is so very like two single matches that there is
+little special advice to offer concerning the playing of it. One of the
+few special points to be observed by the player who is taking part in
+such a match is that, without being unduly selfish and grasping, he
+should as frequently as possible avoid being the last man of the four to
+make his drive from the tee. The man who drives last is at a very
+obvious disadvantage. In the first place, if he has seen the other three
+make really good drives, he is too much tempted to try to beat them all,
+and the usual result of such temptation is a bad stroke. On the other
+hand, if he has seen two or three foozles, it is quite possible that he
+will follow the bad example that has been set him. Thus, whatever has
+happened before, the last man has no real encouragement offered to him.
+In addition to these objections, when three men have driven from the tee
+they are somewhat impatient to be moving on and playing their second
+shots, and in this mood they have little care for what happens to the
+last drive. They have already had quite enough of driving. The fourth
+man is quite conscious of this impatience on their part, even though it
+may not be openly expressed by the smallest sign. So he is in a hurry to
+oblige, and his effort is then disappointing. I seldom hit my best ball
+when I am driving fourth in a four-ball foursome. Of course somebody
+must drive last, but not necessarily the same man every time. All that I
+wish to suggest is, that a player should not be too self-sacrificing,
+and should not, with too much modesty about his own prowess on the tee,
+always volunteer to drive after his partner.
+
+The old-fashioned or two-ball foursome makes a really fine and enjoyable
+game. It brings golfers together on even more intimate and friendly
+relations than usual. Partners in a foursome see very deep down into the
+human nature of each other. They are overwhelmingly conscious of each
+other's faults and weaknesses. They are enormously dependent upon each
+other. At the same time I do not think that even this kind of foursome
+is the best thing in the world for the improvement of a man's game, and
+I advise the young player to resist the temptation to take part in too
+many foursomes, to the neglect of ordinary match play in singles. For
+one thing, the partners, of course, only get half as much golf as they
+would if they were playing a round in a single match, and for another,
+they are too constantly anxious to play their best game. The sense of
+responsibility is frequently a little too much for their nerves, and you
+often see a man, a most dogged and persistent player in an ordinary
+match, who is a consistent failure in foursomes, and who in this style
+of game ought to be rated at six strokes higher handicap than his
+allowance for ordinary purposes. One feels in a foursome that one must
+be so very careful, and take so much extra pains, and when that feeling
+is uppermost in the mind while the stroke is being made, the result is
+often disastrous.
+
+It is unwise to interfere unduly with a partner's system of play while a
+match is in progress. He may be missing his drive because his stance is
+wrong or his swing is faulty, but the state of affairs would probably be
+worse than ever if an attempt were made to put him right while the game
+is going on. The hint will be more useful when the match is over. And if
+he has a particular fancy for playing his brassy, when experience tells
+you that an iron club should be taken, it will not generally pay to make
+the suggestion at the time. The man naturally takes the club with which
+he has most confidence and with which he believes he can make the shot
+that is wanted. It is fatal to interfere with confidence of this kind,
+and to substitute for it the hesitation and doubt which inevitably take
+possession of the man when he takes in his hands a weapon with which he
+rarely does well, and which, whatever you may tell him, he is convinced
+is utterly inadequate for the purposes of the situation. Let each man
+play the various strokes that have to be made in a foursome in his own
+way without interference, for nothing but chaos and a lost match can
+follow upon the enforcement upon each other of individual ideas and
+methods.
+
+This, of course, is not saying that each man should not play his game so
+that it may fit as well as possible into that of his partner. He may
+play with the club he particularly fancies, and play it in his own way,
+but there should be some sort of a general understanding about what he
+is going to do and the exact effect which his performance is likely to
+have upon the way the hole is played if everything happens according to
+programme. This makes it very desirable that the partners in a foursome
+match to which any importance is attached, should have more than a
+passing knowledge of each other's play, and of individual weaknesses and
+excellences. One partner may be particularly good at making a fairly
+full iron shot, but shaky indeed when it comes to a little pitch with
+the mashie over the bunker that guards the green. It is clear, on
+reflection, that the chief part in this playing up to each other's game
+should be taken by the man who has the longer handicap, and is therefore
+the weaker all-round player. The scratch man, being a wise and
+experienced golfer, will naturally place his nervous 18-handicap friend
+in as few difficulties as he can, and will constantly exert himself to
+leave him a comparatively simple shot which he may be depended upon with
+some certainty to accomplish in a workmanlike fashion. But the junior
+player must remember that it behoves him to be the most careful and
+considerate in matters of this kind, for in an emergency it is generally
+the senior who must be depended upon to win the hole or pull the match
+out of the fire. Let him, therefore, impose upon himself a considerable
+measure of self-sacrifice, playing up to his partner for all he is
+worth, contented in the knowledge that he is doing the proper thing, and
+that, though he is sinking his own individuality and doing much of what
+can only be described as donkey work, he is being considerably honoured
+by being invited to play in such superior company. It is not always the
+place of the junior partner to take risks; that is the prerogative of
+the senior. There may be a particular carry on the course which the
+young player is always doubtful about, but which when playing alone he
+constantly makes an attempt to accomplish, and very properly so. But if
+his effort is as often as not a failure--with the result that he is
+badly bunkered and the hole is lost--it would be madness for him to
+attempt the carry when he is playing in a foursome with a far better man
+than himself as his partner. He must depart from his usual custom, and
+play short for safety. It will be a great relief to his partner. Not
+lately, but in the early years of my experience, I have seen this
+principle carried to a curious excess. When there was a difficult carry
+from the tee, and an inferior player and short driver had the turn to
+make the stroke, I have seen his partner instruct him to miss the ball
+altogether--not tap it off the tee, but miss it. Thus the other man,
+presumably a good driver, had the ball left teed for him. These men
+reckoned between them that on an average it would prove of more
+advantage to be well over the far hazard in two strokes, than to take
+the risk of being short with the tee shot and possibly not getting over
+with the second or even the third. However, there is no doubt that
+performances of this kind were a violation of the spirit of golf. It is
+the game to hit the ball, and it is unsportsmanlike to try to miss it.
+Nowadays the golfing world quite realises that this is the case.
+
+In the same way, in playing through the green and in putting, it must be
+the constant object of the junior to play the safety game and to feed
+his skilful partner with as many as possible of those strokes at which
+he is best. Do not let him try for a desperately long second, emulating
+the example which his partner set him on the tee, in the hope that he
+may land the ball on the green. He is not expected to do anything of the
+kind. If he should happen to be successful, his partner would know that
+it was not his usual custom, that he had played beyond himself, and that
+therefore there was something of the fluke in the stroke after all. He
+would be much more likely to fail and foozle, and then what a miserable
+golfer would he be! His obvious duty is to play a simple, easy stroke
+which will be practically certain of placing the ball in such a position
+that his partner will have no difficulty in getting on the green with
+his third. And on the putting green, when anything over ten feet
+distance intervenes between the ball and the hole, while always giving
+the latter a chance, he should remember that his first duty is to lay
+the ball dead. If he holes out, well and good, but his partner insists
+first of all that the ball should be laid dead. At this crisis, also, he
+should be particularly careful that he never commits the unpardonable
+sin of laying himself, or rather his partner, a stymie. Of all the
+stymies in the world, that which has been laid you by your own partner
+in a foursome is the most exasperating.
+
+Of course, for the proper blending of each partner's game with that of
+the other, it is advisable, or rather necessary, that before the first
+stroke in the match is taken there should be some kind of general
+understanding about the policy that is to be pursued. First
+consideration is given to the turn in which the tee shots are to be
+taken, and the drives are so arranged that the better player takes them
+at a majority of the tees where good drives are most wanted. But it
+seems to me that very often an arrangement of this sort is arrived at
+without sufficient consideration. For example, it frequently happens
+that a long-handicap man is a very good driver indeed, better in fact
+than the man who is his partner and has a handicap of many strokes less.
+And in the same way it commonly occurs that a short-handicap man may be
+decidedly weak with his short approaches. On the average of the play
+from the tee to the hole the senior player may be fully so much better
+than the other as the difference in their handicaps suggests, but it by
+no means follows that in particular features of the game there is the
+same difference. Therefore the wise partners will adapt themselves to
+each other, so that they will get all the good out of themselves and
+leave untouched that which is bad. And when this compact is completed
+and honourably adhered to, there are at hand the makings of a victory.
+
+When four players have decided among themselves to play a foursome, and
+there are wide differences in their respective handicaps, there is often
+considerable difficulty in arranging the best partnerships. It is good
+to be guided by mutual preferences, for preference means confidence, and
+that is everything in foursome play. But at the same time it is always
+advisable to sort out the players in such a manner that there is as
+little as possible of giving and receiving strokes. For example, where
+there is a scratch man, two 9's (or a 6 and a 10), and an 18, the best
+and most enjoyable match is always likely to result from a combination
+of the scratch man with the 18 against the two players of medium
+handicaps, although the scratch man, if a selfish player, may not be
+disposed to saddle himself with the unreliable person at the other end
+of the scale. It is a point to be borne in mind that the 18 man, if,
+despite his handicap, he is a real and conscientious golfer, is more
+likely to play above his handicap than the scratch man. It is much
+easier for an 18-handicap player to perform like a 12 than it is for a
+scratch man to play like a plus 3. In my opinion the arranging of
+strokes to be given and received in foursome play is far too delicate
+and complicated. In ordinary single-match play handicapping does not
+always work out very well, and it is often made to look foolish in a
+foursome. Far better is it than adding up and dividing by clumsy
+fractions, and then finding that one party gets five strokes or eight,
+that the players should take a broad view of their respective merits,
+and then decide that they will either play on level terms or that a
+third or a half shall be given and received. The best foursome of all is
+one played on level terms, and an effort should always be made, and even
+a point strained here and there, to effect such partnerships as will
+make this arrangement feasible.
+
+A really good foursome, when the partners play harmoniously and the
+holes are well fought out, is a splendid diversion from the ordinary
+game of golf. The interest and excitement of each member of the party
+often seems to affect the others, and to lead up to an intense mutual
+keenness which is often superior even to that experienced in single
+play. There is a wholesome satisfaction in the community of interests.
+The winning of a hole is coveted as it was never coveted before. Have
+you heard what should be a classical story about the foursome? The match
+was all square on the sixteenth green, and one excited Scot stood by
+while his partner made a drive upon which the fortunes of a hard-fought
+game might rest. The caddies had been sent forward. The tee shot was
+pulled, and the ball went twisting round in the direction of the
+driver's boy. It struck him and he fell flat upon the ground. The
+driving partner dropped his club, and, with his face turned pale,
+muttered hoarsely to his friend, "Tonalt, I've kilt the caddie!" But
+Donald's mind was fixed upon other matters than the mere question of
+life and death, and with many excited gestures and a shriek of despair
+he exclaimed, "Then, tamn it all, we've lost the hole," as under Rule 25
+they had.
+
+At the end of this chapter I will make the simple remark, that you can
+pay a golfer no higher compliment than to say that he is a good foursome
+player, for such a one must not only be a good golfer and a steady one,
+but a man of the serenest and even most delightful temperament. You must
+always feel that you could not play in the company of such a man too
+often, either with him or against him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+GOLF FOR LADIES
+
+     As to its being a ladies' game--A sport of freedom--The lady on the
+     links--The American lady golfer--English ladies are
+     improving--Where they fail, and why--Good pupils--The same game as
+     the man's--No short swings for ladies--Clubs of too light
+     weight--Their disadvantages--A common fault with the sex--Bad
+     backward swings--The lady who will find out for
+     herself--Foundations of a bad style--The way to success.
+
+
+Some people say that golf is not a ladies' game, and from time to time
+one hears of something in the nature of dissensions within the family
+circle when there are wives and sisters anxious to take up the sport
+which palpably affords their male relatives one of the greatest
+enjoyments of life, and when there are husbands and brothers who, it is
+said, advance arguments which for number and ingenuity would do credit
+to a King's Counsel, designed to show the absurdity and the futility of
+the desire expressed. It is a question upon which it would be out of
+place for me here to take any side, though it seems to me that there is
+something to be said for the complete separation of the men's golf from
+the ladies' golf, particularly in the case of large clubs and crowded
+courses. Golf is essentially a sport of freedom. Restraint of even the
+most trivial and conventional character in regard to manners and customs
+is irksome when there are holes to be played and tight matches to be
+pulled out of the fire. I like to see a lady go out on the golf links in
+whatever costume she thinks fit to wear for her own comfort and good
+play, and generally to do as she likes, as if there were nothing but
+Nature and a little white ball and the hole with the flag in it in all
+the world. I have a great admiration for the American lady golfer, whom
+I have several times had the opportunity of studying on her native tees,
+and the other day I read the perfectly true story of an American
+clergyman making a scathing attack from the pulpit one Sunday upon lady
+golfers, of whom he numbered many in his congregation. The reverend
+gentleman exclaimed that some of the lady members of his congregation
+attended divine service in the customary manner on the Sabbath, and then
+"swore like troopers" on the golf links on the Monday. The conduct of
+these ladies was no doubt exaggerated; but it appears as if it may have
+been reprehensible. However, it shows the keenness and the enthusiasm of
+the American lady golfer; and I am not at all sure that the answer of
+the English lady player, when she was asked if those bad words were ever
+uttered in this country, that the Englishwoman made fewer bad shots and
+had no occasion for an extended vocabulary, was entirely convincing. One
+hears that the ladies have coined new words for the expression of their
+disgust at the results of their strokes, and, on the other hand, that
+the limits of expletive which they permit themselves when bunkered
+consist of the chiding utterance, "Oh, you naughty, naughty little
+ball!" However this may be, I know not, and I would only remark, without
+presumption, to the ladies, as I have done in another place to their
+husbands and brothers, that golf is a game for thought and silence.
+
+Now, I am glad to see so many ladies taking up the game year by year,
+and thus giving the best possible answer to the question whether it is a
+real ladies' game or not. And furthermore, I am pleased to bear witness
+that the standard of ladies' golf in this country is improving every
+season, so that now it needs a fine man golfer to give a third to the
+best of the gentler sex. These good lady players, or some of them, are
+attiring themselves in these days as I like to see lady golfers
+attired, that is to say, there is evidence that they think a trifle less
+of fashion and dainty appearance than they do of security, comfort, and
+freedom of limb and muscle. But the majority of lady players do not
+attach the proper amount of importance to these considerations, and that
+is why one is sometimes a little doubtful as to the prospects of ladies'
+golf generally in this country in comparison with those of American
+ladies' golf. The American girls are adopting the game more
+whole-heartedly and thoroughly than their English sisters, and their
+devotion to it will tell. The lady of the States who is a golfer dresses
+for golf and for golf only. Very seldom do you see in America a lady
+golfer wearing a hat, or head covering of any description. When she has
+one, it is almost invariably a light tam o'shanter, or something very
+small and soft, which clings closely to the hair and does not get in the
+way of the swing of the club. She tucks up her sleeves like a man, and
+in the soles of her shoes she has plenty of goodly sized nails. And she
+does not look a tittle the worse for any of these things; indeed, the
+picture of the determined, strenuous, and yet charming lady golfer was
+one of the most attractive that I saw when in America. The average
+English girl does not appear willing to make so many sacrifices for golf
+as the American. She seems too often to say to herself that it is only a
+little game after all, and there is an end of it; and yet she is always
+desirous of getting on and reducing her handicap. I need hardly say that
+this is not the proper spirit in which to achieve success at golf. We
+see too many ladies on our links with big hats and no nails in their
+shoes. I have no faith whatever in their future as golfers. It is
+impossible to play good golf if one is not fitted out properly for the
+game, whether the player be lady or man. Few players of our sex would
+dream of going on to the links in a tightly fitting coat and
+smooth-soled shoes. But the ladies are more venturesome.
+
+After this brief lecture on attire, let me at once declare that there
+are many points about our English lady golfer that I greatly admire. It
+has been my privilege to teach the first principles of the game to many
+of them, and I am bound to say that for the most part I have found them
+excellent pupils--better generally than the men learners. They seem to
+take closer and deeper notice of the hints you give them, and to retain
+the points of the lesson longer in their memories. They are painstaking;
+and if she begins to play early enough in her life, adopts sensible
+methods, and is possessed of an average amount of athleticism, I can see
+no reason why any lady should not become a very fair golfer. Many
+somewhat spoil their prospects by concluding too hastily that they must
+play an altogether different game from that of their men friends, that
+they must have special clubs, special methods, and so forth. This is not
+the case. No doubt it is well for ladies to admit at once that they
+cannot drive as far as the men. But otherwise the man's game and the
+lady's game are the same in principle and in practice. As for the manner
+in which to play, I have not a single special piece of instruction to
+offer, and can only refer the lady neophyte to the previous pages, in
+which I have set forth as well as I am able the precise method in which
+each of the many strokes in golf should be played. I have merely to
+insist that they shall not deviate from these methods in one or two
+special matters in which they are advised or inclined to do.
+
+Ladies are frequently advised that they ought never to take a full
+swing. Of course in the foregoing pages I have frequently insisted that
+a golfer should avoid the absolutely full swing with all iron clubs,
+believing that he gets for the most part at least as good results with a
+good three-quarter swing. But those people who warn the ladies against
+the full swing, not only with their irons but with their wooden clubs
+also, advise the half swing because they say it is better for them for
+physical reasons, and that their results will be practically as good as
+if they had taken the three-quarter or the full. Now I am convinced
+that this is altogether wrong, and, without encouraging any of my lady
+readers to the development of a big swing and a slashing style, I do say
+that they will do well for themselves and for their golf if they will
+train themselves to the making of at least a full three-quarter. I
+believe that the half swing entails a severer strain upon the body when
+made under these circumstances than the full three-quarter, and that the
+body does altogether more work than is good for it, while the delusion
+is entertained by those who recommend the short swing that the opposite
+is the case. In this half swing the body seems to get too much in front
+of the club and to labour heavily, while in the three-quarter the arms
+do most of the work, as they ought to do, and the body comes in at the
+proper time for the remainder. Though in previous chapters I have
+strongly advised golfers to play a half shot with one club in preference
+to a full shot with one more powerful, I only do so obviously when the
+distance is fixed and the half shot will reach it. In playing from the
+tee it is an altogether different matter. In this case the distance is
+not fixed. The object is usually to drive as far as possible, so no half
+shots are wanted here.
+
+As a general rule, ladies make use of clubs that are far too light for
+them. Frequently they do so by advice, and then their own instinct
+suggests to them that they should employ weapons less weighty than those
+of their male relations. This would be very sensible and proper if the
+clubs which men make use of were the heaviest that they could swing with
+effect. But a man only uses a club of a certain weight, because
+experience has proved that it is the best and most effectual for its
+purpose, and usually he has a very great reserve of strength which could
+be employed with heavier clubs if necessary. There is no reason at all
+why ladies should not employ clubs of good average weight instead of
+featherweights. By so doing they would spare themselves a great amount
+of exertion, and they would certainly get better results, for it is
+always much more difficult to get good results with a light club than
+with one of medium weight. With the featherweight the swing is very
+liable to get out of gear. It is cut short, and is apt to wander out of
+its proper direction. There is, in fact, no such control over the club
+as there is when one can feel the weight of the head at the end of the
+shaft. A lady may require clubs a trifle shorter in the shaft, but this
+is the only difference which need exist, and it is not of itself
+sufficient to make any perceptible difference in the weight.
+
+So far as I have discovered, ladies have no special faults or weaknesses
+of their own, as distinct from other players, but I have found them more
+than usually addicted to inaccuracy in the backward swing, causing the
+toe of the club to be pointing upwards instead of downwards at the
+turning-point. This is the result of wrong action and loss of control
+over the wrists, and a study of my remarks on driving, where this matter
+is specially dealt with, should do much to obviate it. It is possible,
+however, that the lady's inferior strength of wrist, as compared with a
+man's, may have much to do with the fault, but even in that case it only
+needs caution and care to bring about a cure. I should say that fully
+three ladies out of every five whose play I have watched make this
+mistake, and it is a fault which has very serious consequences. I should
+advise all of them to make a periodical examination of the position of
+the club head at the top of the swing, as I indicated when discussing
+the drive, and if they find the toe is upwards they must make up their
+minds to get rid of this bad habit at any cost. If it has already become
+a part of the player's system, it will not be abolished without
+considerable difficulty. To begin with, she would try swinging back more
+slowly, as a too rapid backward swing has often much to do with it.
+
+Finally, I would suggest that any lady who aspires to be a really good
+golfer should take numerous lessons from those players superior to
+herself who are qualified to give them. I have already said that I have
+found ladies exceedingly good pupils, and when they set about learning
+the game in the right way, they often make really astonishing progress.
+But it must be confessed that in too many cases they do not treat the
+difficulties of the game with sufficient seriousness, and are inclined
+to think that they can get on best in their own way and by the adoption
+of their own methods. When once a lady has been given a couple of
+lessons in the swing for the drive, she often insists on finding out the
+rest for herself, and then a bad result is inevitable. All the practice
+and patience in the world will not make a good lady golfer if she does
+not learn the game in the right way. The simple fact is that, when a man
+sets about the game he admits its difficulties from the beginning, and
+goes about surmounting them in the right manner if he is really
+ambitious and covetous of a short handicap. But it often seems that
+ladies will not admit these difficulties, and persist in their attempt
+to make golfers of themselves unaided. Perhaps that is one reason why
+ladies do not always continue with the game with that increasing
+eagerness and enthusiasm which is an almost invariable characteristic of
+the man golfer. Learn properly, and practise much; and--well, yes, do
+the rest like a man, and not as if there were a special woman's way.
+That is the essence of my counsel to the lady aspirant on the links.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE CONSTRUCTION OF COURSES
+
+     Necessity for thought and ingenuity--The long-handicap man's
+     course--The scratch player's--How good courses are made--The
+     necessary land--A long nine-hole course better than a short
+     eighteen--The preliminary survey--A patient study of
+     possibilities--Stakes at the holes--Removal of natural
+     disadvantages--"Penny wise and pound foolish"--The selection of
+     teeing grounds--A few trial drives--The arrangement of long and
+     short holes--The best two-shot and three-shot holes--Bunkers and
+     where to place them--The class of player to cater for--The shots to
+     be punished--Bunkers down the sides--The best putting greens--Two
+     tees to each hole--Seaside courses.
+
+
+Many as are the golf courses with which the coast, the country, and the
+suburbs of the towns and cities of Great Britain are studded, they will
+no doubt be still more numerous as time goes on, and it is earnestly to
+be desired that in the laying out of links in the future, more thought
+and ingenuity may be exercised than has been the case in far too many
+instances during the past few years, when clubs have been formed and
+links have been made in a hurry. Certainly some are excellent, and I
+cast not the least disparagement upon them. I enjoy them. Frequently the
+hand of the master architect of golf is visible where one observes how
+shrewdly and exactly the hazards have been placed, and the peculiarities
+of the conformation of the country turned to the utmost account when
+useful, or cunningly dodged when it has been considered that they could
+be no good to the golfer. Without a doubt, generally speaking, those
+courses are the best which have been designed by good players, because
+none know better than they what makes the best golf. A man whose
+handicap is some distance removed from scratch, but who has played golf
+for many years, and thinks with good reason that he knows a fine course
+when he sees one, would nevertheless, in designing a new one, be led
+unconsciously to make holes which would be more or less suited to his
+own style of play. He might, indeed, in a most heroic spirit, place a
+bunker at a point which he knew would be more than usually dangerous for
+him, and he would feel a better and a braver man for this act; but a
+hundred of its kind would not prevent the course from being the ideal of
+the long-handicap man and not the ideal of the fine player. If plans
+were prepared for a new links over a particular piece of territory by a
+12-handicap man and a scratch player, it is highly probable that in the
+most material matters they would differ greatly, and it is fairly
+certain that a committee of the oldest and most experienced golfers
+would unanimously pick out the scratch player's plans from all the
+others as being the best and soundest, and that without knowing who had
+prepared them. Time and the aggregate of pleasure given to golfers of
+all degrees would justify the selection.
+
+Therefore, when a new club is established and a new course is to be laid
+out, I suggest that it is the wiser and the better plan to take time
+over it and to secure the best advice. A good links is not made in a day
+or a week. Perhaps the cleverest and most ingenious constructor could
+not in a whole year make one which was in all respects the best that the
+land could give. Almost every time that the course was played over
+during the first hundred rounds, a new thought for its improvement in
+some small detail would occur. The moving of a tee twenty yards to the
+right, the addition of a couple of yards to the end of one of the
+bunkers, the placing of a shallow pot bunker some eight or ten yards
+across at some particular point--all these and many other matters of
+equal significance will constantly suggest themselves. My experience
+tells me that the perfection of a good course is slowly attained. Like
+wine, it takes time for the richness of its qualities to mature.
+Therefore, when the committee of a new club in the country sits in
+conference with a plan of its newly-acquired land laid on the table, and
+decides unanimously that a tee shall be placed at a point marked A, a
+bunker along the line B, another bunker at C, and the hole at D, and so
+forth, I protest that they are doing poor justice either to themselves
+or to the game. But on many links made during the past few years--made
+in a hurry--the results of such mechanical methods are only too
+apparent. I hope that the few hints that I offer in this chapter may be
+of service to old clubs with improvable courses and new ones with none
+as yet, and to those fortunate individuals who contemplate laying out a
+course in their private grounds for the use of themselves and their
+friends. Private courses are increasing in number; and for my part,
+though I must obviously be guilty of prejudice, I can conceive of no
+more enjoyable acquisition to a country house than a nine-hole course,
+and assuredly the possessor of it will be envied and his invitations to
+week-ends much coveted.
+
+The question of the amount of land that shall be called into service for
+the fulfilment of a scheme for a new links is one that is usually
+outside the control of those who project it. They have to cut according
+to their cloth. I need only say here, therefore, that in a general way
+some thirty or forty acres of land are necessary to make such a
+nine-hole course as shall possess a satisfactory amount of variety, and
+not less than seventy acres for a full-sized eighteen-hole course, this
+as a matter of fact being the acreage of the South Herts Club's course
+at Totteridge, with which I am at present associated. By great economy
+of space and the exercise of unlimited ingenuity, courses might be made
+from a trifle less land, but they are better when they are made from
+more. Two or three hundred acres are sometimes utilised for a good
+links. Where land is very scarce, and there is no possibility of
+obtaining more of it, I earnestly advise private owners and committees
+to content themselves with a nine-hole course which will have plenty of
+length and good sporting quality about it, rather than sacrifice the
+good golf that is thus within their reach in a desire to possess a
+regulation eighteen-hole links that could only give complete
+satisfaction to ladies and children. Too many courses, with scarcely a
+brassy shot upon them, have been ruined by this greed for holes.
+
+When the land has been allotted to the purpose, a very thorough and
+careful survey should be made of all its features. This is not to be
+done in one morning. The land, no doubt, is very rough, and at the first
+glance it looks ill-adapted to the golfer's purpose. Many times I have
+had the task of making a course from materials which at first seemed so
+unpromising as to be hopeless. There should be no hurry at this time.
+Let those who are designing the links walk slowly and meditatively over
+nearly every square yard of the land at least two or three times before
+coming to any final decision as to where to place a single tee, bunker,
+or hole. An open mind is the best to begin with. After one or two of
+these preliminary surveys, some general idea of the possible formation
+of the links will begin to shape itself in the mind, and this having
+been done, it will be practically impossible for an intelligent person
+to make additional journeys over the land without being struck with an
+idea for a great improvement at one or other of the holes which he has
+fashioned in his mind. If it is possible, take two or three weeks over
+this slow process of creation of the links. They may be altered
+afterwards to some extent, but for good or ill their main features will
+probably remain as at the beginning, and may endure for centuries.
+Having secured to the mind this general and somewhat vague idea of the
+plan of the links, it is a good thing to plant a stake at each spot
+where it is proposed to make a hole; and when the land is all staked out
+in this manner, there is, as it were, a solid foundation upon which to
+build up the links. The location of the stakes can be inspected from a
+distance and from different points of view, and it will constantly
+happen on these occasions that for the improvement of one or other of
+the holes its removal to a different place will be suggested. Continue
+your walks, examining the stakes from north, south, east, and west, and
+moving them here and there until you begin to feel a trifle weary of the
+business, and confident that you have planned the best possible holes
+out of the country that you have to deal with. Then you may proceed with
+perhaps the more interesting but certainly the harder part of your task.
+
+It is useless to think about fashioning the links from the plan which
+will now have been formed, until those natural disadvantages of the
+land, which cannot be allowed to remain, have been removed. Gorse and
+rocks may have to be cleared, and it is essential that at this stage an
+effort should be made to rid the course of rabbits and other undesirable
+vermin if any should infest it. Rabbits help to keep the grass nice and
+short; but they make too many holes in the course, and there is no
+alternative but to regard them as the enemies of golf, and to make out
+the death warrants of them all accordingly. The quickest and surest way
+of getting rid of them is to search for every hole, apply the ferrets,
+stop up the holes afterwards, and to keep a watch for any that return.
+If only one or two are left here and there, they will play much havoc
+with the course in the future. From this point the way in which the work
+is proceeded with will naturally depend to a large extent on the length
+of the schemers' purse, and on their optimism or otherwise as to their
+future prospects; but I am sure that it is best to employ as many men as
+can be afforded at the outset, and so grapple with the execution of the
+plans in a thorough and determined manner. In the making of a golf
+course it is very easy to be "penny wise and pound foolish."
+
+The situation of the greens having been decided upon, the question as
+to the length of the holes, as to which some general impression will
+already have been formed, comes up for decision. A proposed teeing
+ground should be selected for each hole, the lengths of the holes then
+examined and compared, and the tees moved nearer or further back as
+seems desirable for the improvement of individual holes or the increase
+of variety. If at this stage there is any chance of finding a ball
+afterwards, it is a good thing to drive a few from each tee and play
+them with the brassy, cleek, irons, or mashie up to the green. If you
+drive half a dozen from each tee and play them through the green to the
+place where the holes will be, there will surely be one or two that have
+turned out excellently if you are a player of any skill whatever, and a
+study of the strokes which have been applied to these one or two, the
+point of pitching, and the final lie, will reveal the entire character
+of the hole you are making, and tell you plainly how it must be
+bunkered. In a nine-hole course I think there should be seven medium or
+long holes, and two short ones to break the monotony and test the golfer
+at all points. The situation of these short holes in the round will
+naturally be decided to a large extent by the land and other
+circumstances, but when the power of selection is left to the designer,
+I incline to the belief that Nos. 3 and 7 are the best for these
+dainties. I like a short hole to come early in the round, as at No. 3,
+because then a golfer who has made a bad start is given a chance of
+recovering before he is hopelessly out of the hunt. He has a better
+prospect of making such a recovery (or thinks he has, which is much the
+same thing) at a short hole than at a long one, and, being put in a good
+temper again, he will very likely go on very well for the next two or
+three, when he will be favoured with another short one. The plight of
+the player who has discovered at the beginning of a medal round that he
+is off his drive and brassy, and that six or seven holes have to be
+played before a little one is reached, is certainly not pleasant. I call
+a good short hole one that can be reached by good play at any time with
+an iron club, because it fails to be a short hole when it is necessary
+to take wood upon the tee in order to get to the green. In an
+eighteen-hole course you might have three or four short holes--I think
+three are sufficient--and it would be well to vary their length so as to
+test the capacity of the golfer with different clubs, and to bring out
+all his qualities of resource. For a fourth hole on the short side
+plenty of sporting chance would constantly be afforded by one of 200
+yards length. This could not be called a short hole, because under
+ordinary circumstances and on most days it would be too far for even a
+good driver to reach from the tee, but he would often be tempted to
+nerve himself to a superior effort, and an occasional strain of this
+kind is advantageous in the long run. Besides, when the wind was at his
+back he would frequently be successful, and on such occasions he would
+experience more pleasure and satisfaction from this particular tee shot
+than from any other of the whole round.
+
+The remainder of the course should be made up of a variety of two-shot
+and three-shot holes. The lengths should be varied as much as possible,
+and with limits of 370 yards, and, say, 530 to work between, it should
+surely not be so difficult as it appears to have been in so many cases
+of inland links to get fourteen or fifteen quite different holes. Those
+of from 230 to 330 yards, with which so many courses abound, are not
+good holes in my opinion, because they give an almost equal chance to
+the man who has driven well and the man who has driven badly. Take a
+common sort of hole, 280 yards in length. A player misses his drive, and
+his ball travels only for, say, 100 or 120 yards. He may still reach the
+green with his brassy, and should be able to do so. Now the man who
+drove well at this hole would need to make a second stroke with an iron
+club to reach the green, and would thus gain nothing from his better
+play. This is unfair, and what is unfair is bad. The good two-shot hole
+is one of the nicest and best holes on a course when it is really good.
+Its length is about 370 to 380 yards. Thus it will be perceived that a
+first-class drive from the tee must be followed up by a fine second, as
+straight as it is long, if the green is to be reached. The good player
+who has done all that he ought is thus rewarded by the clear gain of a
+stroke and the capture of a hole in 4, whilst the man who is a trifle
+weak with either his drive or his second, or has faltered to the
+slightest extent at either stroke, has for a certainty to use his mashie
+before he can call for the putter. When a two-shot hole is to be
+adjusted to this nicety of perfection, there is plainly not much margin
+for the variation of its length; but it is not necessary, nor is it even
+desirable, to demand continually such unerring skill from the golfer. My
+idea of a good three-shot hole is one that stretches for 500 to 530
+yards, three fine shots being wanted. For holes of much greater length
+than this I have no fancy. Perhaps no serious objection can be laid
+against an occasional hole of 550 yards length, but what is really
+gained by such long journeys? Certainly the true skill of the golfer is
+not being more severely tested. When we come to such monstrosities as
+holes of 600 yards in length, it is time to call out "Enough!" for by
+this time we have descended to slogging pure and simple, and the hard
+field work at which an agricultural labourer would have the right to
+grumble. So I repeat that the best hole for golfing is that good
+two-shotter which takes the ball from the tee to the green in two
+well-played strokes without any actual pressing. As for total length, it
+should be borne in mind that a links over 6000 yards long is considered
+a long one, and that there are championship greens, Prestwick and
+Muirfield, which are (or were until quite recently; there is a tendency
+to stretch everywhere since the rubber-cored ball became predominant)
+shorter than 6000 yards.
+
+In making the plan of the course, a point of interest and importance to
+decide upon is the direction in which the holes shall be played. Some
+golfers prefer that the first and succeeding holes shall lie to the
+right of the starting-point, while others like best to go out on the
+left-hand side, that is, to play round the course in the same direction
+as that pursued by the hands of a clock. It is largely a matter of
+fancy, but personally my choice is for going out to the left because I
+think in this case the holes are generally more difficult, and the
+boundary usually being near to the left, constant precautions must be
+taken against pulling. Another matter particularly to be remembered is
+that the first tee and the last green should be close together, and
+neither of them more distant from the club-house than is necessary. A
+wide separation of these points always seems to be contrary to the
+proper order of things.
+
+And now we come to the perplexing problem of bunkers and where to place
+them, and in this connection I would remark that it would be well not to
+regard the lengths of the holes, as so far arranged, as final and
+irrevocable, and not to establish permanent teeing grounds accordingly,
+for it must necessarily happen, as the bunkers come to be formed on the
+course, and more trial rounds are played, that one's ideas will undergo
+considerable change, and it is easier to lengthen a hole at this stage
+of the proceedings, by simply placing the tee further back, than it will
+be afterwards.
+
+It has been a great question with some committees of newly-established
+clubs or of older ones in search of new courses, as to whether, in
+laying out their greens and settling upon the location of all their nice
+new bunkers, they should keep more particularly in mind the excellences
+of the scratch player or the trials and troubles of the 12 to 18
+handicap men. On the one hand, the scratch player is the experienced
+golfer, the man who plays the true game as it should be played, and who
+finds no real enjoyment in so-called golf wherein he is never called
+upon to do more than tap the ball over an obstacle ninety or a hundred
+yards in front. Such links never put up a fight against him, and he
+finishes his listless round with something as near to the sense of
+weariness as it is possible for the golfer ever to experience. But these
+scratch players, in common with the men with all handicaps up to 5 or 6,
+are in a very heavy and hopeless minority in most clubs to-day. The bulk
+of the membership is made up of players of from 6 to 24, with a
+concentration of forces between 12 and 18. These men say, or at all
+events think, that as they run the club they have a right to be
+considered, and in their hearts the committee believe that they are
+justified. These men with long handicaps--some of whom have not even a
+desire to reduce them to any considerable extent, deriving the utmost
+pleasure in playing the game in their own way--can find no fun in being
+always and inevitably in the same bunkers, and regard driving from a
+tee, when they are either obliged to play short deliberately with an
+iron or be bunkered for a certainty with their driver, as the most
+dismal occupation with which a Saturday or Sunday sportsman could ever
+be afflicted. Therefore they cry loudly for shorter carries. They say
+the others are not fair, and from their particular point of view the
+remark is possibly justified. Even the young golfer who is determined to
+be a scratch man some day, though he is eighteen strokes from that
+pinnacle of excellence as yet, becomes rather tired in the long run of
+finding constant punishment waiting upon his valiant attempts to drive
+his longest ball, and thinks the committee should be reminded that there
+are others in the world besides the immediately coming champions. Amidst
+these conflicting desires, committees and course designers appear
+frequently to have attempted a compromise with no particular
+satisfaction to anybody. It is impossible to lay out a course to suit
+all the different players in a club, and my own most decided opinion is
+that the bunkers and other hazards should always be placed to test the
+game of the scratch player, and not that of the handicap man. A course
+that is laid out for the latter very often inflicts severe punishment
+on the scratch player, and it is surely hard that the man who has spent
+many years in the most patient and painstaking practice should be
+deliberately treated in this manner when the comparative novice is
+allowed to go scot free. Moreover, when a bunker is so placed that a
+long carry is needed from the tee, the handicap man will find his game
+much improved by playing on the course. At first he finds he cannot
+carry the hazard, and for a little while contents himself with playing
+short. But he soon tires of this timidity, takes more pains with his
+strokes, braces himself up to bigger efforts, and at last the day comes
+when his ball goes sailing over the obstruction. Afterwards the
+performance is repeated quite easily, and the views of one man as to the
+unfairness of that particular carry have undergone a radical change. It
+is better for the beginner that he should have a hard course to play
+over than an easy one, and, much as he may grumble at the beginning, he
+will in the end be thankful to those who imposed a severe experience
+upon him in his early days as a golfer.
+
+Therefore, if it is decided that there must be a bunker in the centre of
+the course in the line of the drive, I suggest that it should be placed
+at a distance of about 130 to 145 yards from the tee. The second bunker,
+if there is to be another stretching across the course with a view to
+imposing difficulties on second shots or guarding the green, should be
+rather less than this distance from the first, so that the man who has
+topped his drive and is short of the first hazard should still have a
+chance of clearing the next one with his second shot. Recovery ought
+never to be impossible. But really I am no believer at all in bunkers
+placed across the course. Certainly let there be one in front of the tee
+to catch the bad drive, and another to guard the green; but, generally
+speaking, the merely short ball carries its own punishment with it in
+the distance that has been lost and has to be made good again. The
+straight driver is not the man to be punished. It is the player who
+slices and pulls and has obviously little command over his club and the
+ball, and who has taken no pains to master the intricate technique of
+the drive, for whose careless shots traps should be laid. As often as
+not the bunker in the centre of the course lets off the ball with a bad
+slice or pull on it. So I say that bunkers should be placed down both
+sides of the course, and they may be as numerous and as difficult as the
+controlling authority likes to make them. But hazards of any description
+should be amongst the last features to be added to a newly-made golf
+links. Not until the course has been played over many times under
+different conditions, and particularly in different winds, can anyone
+properly determine which is the true place for a hazard to be made. At
+the beginning it may have been placed elsewhere in a hurry, and it may
+have seemed on a few trials to answer its purpose admirably, but another
+day under different conditions it may be made clear that it is in the
+very place where it will catch a thoroughly good shot and allow only a
+bad one to escape. I would not have insisted so much on this need for
+deliberation and patience, if it did not so often happen that as the
+result of placing the hazards on a new course in too much haste, they
+are found afterwards to be altogether wrong and have to be moved, with
+the waste of much time and money.
+
+There is little to the point that I can say about the making of the
+putting greens, as so much depends upon the natural conditions and
+opportunities. Sometimes there is nothing to do but to cut the grass
+short and pass the roller over it a few times and the green is made, and
+a first-class green too. At other times there is need for much digging,
+and the turf with which the carpet is to be relaid may have to be
+carried to the spot from a considerable distance. Particularly when so
+much trouble is being taken over the laying of the greens, do I beg the
+makers of courses to see that they are not made dead level and as much
+like a billiard table as possible, which often seems to be the chief
+desire. To say that a putting green is like a billiard table is one of
+the worst compliments that you can pay to it. By all means let it be
+true in the sense of being smooth and even, and presenting no lumps or
+inequalities of surface that are not plainly visible to the eye, and the
+effect of which cannot be accurately gauged by the golfer who has taught
+himself how to make allowances. But on far too many greens the man with
+the putter has nothing to do but gauge the strength of his stroke and
+aim dead straight at the hole. He derives infinitely less satisfaction
+from getting down a fifteen-yards putt of this sort than does the man
+who has holed out at ten feet, and has estimated the rise and fall and
+the sideway slope of an intervening hillock to begin with and a winding
+valley to follow, his ball first of all running far away to the right,
+then trickling across to the left, and finally wheeling round again and
+rolling into the tin. Only when there is so much calculation to be done
+and it is so precisely accomplished does the golfer practise the real
+art of putting, and taste the delights of this delicate part of the
+game. The other is dull and insipid in comparison. There is the less
+excuse for making the flat and level greens, inasmuch as even the
+beginners can appreciate the sporting quality of the others and enjoy
+practice upon them from the first day of their play. Let there be plenty
+of undulations, and then with the changing positions of the hole a
+player can practically never come to any particular green upon which he
+may have putted hundreds of times without having a problem set him
+entirely different from any that he has had to work out before. Greens,
+of course, are of all sizes, from fifteen to fifty yards square, and I
+beg leave to remark that large size is a fault in them, inasmuch as the
+bigger they are the less is the skill required in the approach shot.
+
+It is perhaps unnecessary for me to point out as a final word, that when
+tees have to be specially prepared and turfed, it is a decided
+improvement to a course to have two at different points for each hole,
+one nearer and more to one side than the other. Not only do these
+alternative tees enable each of them to be given a periodical rest for
+recovery from wear and tear, but they afford an interesting variation of
+the play, make it possible to impose a more severe test than usual upon
+the players when it is felt desirable to do so, as on competition days,
+and also in some measure to counteract the effects of winds. Of course
+when tees have not to be specially made there is endless variety open.
+
+It is obvious that the greater part of the foregoing remarks applies
+chiefly to the construction of inland courses. Seaside links laid over
+the dunes are made by Nature herself, and generally as regards their
+chief features they must be taken or left as the golfer decides. A new
+hazard may be thrown up here and there, but usually the part of the
+constructor of a seaside course is to make proper use of those that are
+there ready made for him, and which are frequently better than any that
+could be designed by man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+LINKS I HAVE PLAYED ON
+
+     Many first-class links--The best of all--Sandwich--Merits of the
+     Royal St. George's course--Punishments for faults and rewards for
+     skill--Not a short course--The best hole--The Maiden--Other good
+     holes--Prestwick an excellent course--The third and the ninth
+     holes--The finest hole anywhere--Hoylake--Two or three tame
+     holes--A means of improvement--Good hazards and a premium on
+     straight play--St. Andrews--Badly-placed bunkers--A good second
+     hole--The finest one-shot hole to be found anywhere--An unfair
+     hole--The best holes at Muirfield--Troon--North Berwick--Cruden
+     Bay--Dornoch--Machrihanish--A splendid course at Islay--The most
+     difficult hole I know--Gullane--Kilspindie--Luffness--Links in
+     Ireland--Portrush--Portmarnock--Dollymount--Lahinch--Newcastle--Welsh
+     courses--Ashburnham--Harlech--On the south and south-west
+     coasts--The rushes at Westward Ho!--Newquay--Good holes at
+     Deal--Littlestone--Rye--The advantage of
+     Cromer--Brancaster--Hunstanton--Sheringham--Redcar--Seaton
+     Carew--St. Anne's--Formby--Wallasey--Inland courses--Sunningdale--A
+     splendid course--Another at Walton Heath--Huntercombe--London
+     links--Courses in the
+     country--Sheffield--Manchester--Huddersfield--"Inland" courses at
+     the seaside--A warning.
+
+
+Of all the golf courses that have any pretensions to being considered
+first class, or even good second class, I can call to mind very few over
+which I have not played a round, and at a time when the reputations of
+so many of them are being severely overhauled, and their merits and
+demerits criticised, some expression of my own opinions may prove
+interesting alike to the golfers who know them well and to others who
+are looking forward with eagerness to the enjoyment of games upon them
+at future holiday times. Recent championships and big matches have
+resulted in such wonderful scores, that some golfers are inclined to
+ask despairingly whether we have any really first-class course at all;
+and links which in the past have been considered perfect are spoken of
+contemptuously as fit only for handicap men who want their golf made
+easy. If they attach any importance to my opinion, then let them be
+assured that we still have many links which come near to being perfect,
+and that, notwithstanding the advent of the rubber-cored ball, there is
+no reason to complain about them or agitate for great alterations. We
+have them in England, Scotland, and Ireland--perhaps more in Scotland
+than elsewhere, but that is chiefly due to accidental circumstances.
+
+I am constantly asked, when the discussions to which I have referred are
+taking place, which in my opinion is the best course in the world. Many
+considerations enter into such a reckoning; but, after making it
+carefully, and with full knowledge of the fact that my answer is at
+variance with many of the best authorities on the game, I say Sandwich.
+Then let me tell you why I consider the links of the Royal St. George's
+Club to be the best that are to be found anywhere. There is, in the
+first place, not a single tee shot in the round where good play must not
+be shown by the golfer if he wants to achieve success. There is scarcely
+a hole at which a player who only half hits his ball from the tee does
+not find himself in grave difficulties, demanding an unusually brilliant
+recovery and sterling play until he has holed out, if he is to have any
+chance of getting on level terms with his opponent again, assuming that
+the latter is playing the proper game. The bunkers are so placed that a
+good shot has to be made every time to carry them. On the other hand,
+you are always satisfied that virtue is properly rewarded at Sandwich,
+and that if your tee shot is hit truly and well you are certain to be
+nicely situated for your second. Elementary considerations as these may
+appear to be, there are many courses having the reputation of being
+first-class where this reward is not always so sure as it is at
+Sandwich. The greens on that course are in all cases well protected,
+and they abound in character and variety. Some critics say that the
+carries over the first bunkers from the tees are too long; but I do not
+agree with them. Without being a particularly long driver, anybody who
+hits his ball truly can carry any bunker at Sandwich that ought to be
+carried from the tee. Then at the Championships in 1904 everybody was
+declaring, with much knowledge that had come after the event, that the
+course was on the short side, as was proved, they said, by the
+phenomenal scores that were made in the Open competition. I do not
+agree. The scores made by two or three players were certainly low, but
+that was because they played exceptional golf. If I admit that the
+course is the merest trifle on the short side in going out, I hasten to
+add that a man must be playing perfect golf to get to the turn with a
+low score, while, unless his play does come within these narrow limits
+of perfection, he may find, grand player though he be, that he may
+easily run up a total for his nine holes that would look foolishly
+large. Coming in, there is certainly no shortness about the holes, and
+there is plenty of scope for the man who wants to open out his shoulders
+with his driver and his brassy, while there are hazards everywhere for
+the punishment of the balls that are not kept in the fairway. These are
+the chief considerations which lead me to give an emphatic vote in
+favour of Sandwich when I am asked which is the best course--that is to
+say, the best test of golf--that is to be found in the British Isles, or
+elsewhere so far as I know, and I ask to be given no more favourable
+opportunity of studying a golfer's points, than to see him play a round
+or two over the St. George's links.
+
+I should say that the third hole at Sandwich, although a short one, is
+in golfing quality one of the best of the eighteen, because it is so
+splendidly protected with bunkers and rushes everywhere, so that the
+player who would get on to the green from the tee does indeed need to be
+bold, and as accurate as he is bold. No faintness of heart, no doubtful
+stroke, will ever in the result be flattered by this third hole. The
+sixth or Maiden, famous everywhere, is very fine indeed, though it is
+not nearly so difficult as it used to be. The eighth is another beauty,
+well guarded by bunkers; a trifle on the short side if the wind is
+following, but a terror in length if the breeze is coming from the
+green. The ninth is good. The tenth calls for a perfect drive straight
+down the middle of the course, in default of which the second shot will
+abound with difficulty; and at the fifteenth another very straight tee
+shot is wanted. If there is a breath of wind to help the ball from the
+tee, a plucky player may then come to the conclusion that he has a
+chance of reaching the green with his second, and a fine shot will take
+him over the treacherous little bunker that guards it, giving him a 4 of
+which he may be proud in the best of company. These are the gems of
+Sandwich.
+
+Next to this course, I think that Prestwick with its Himalayas and its
+Alps is the finest that we have. It is an excellent test to apply to a
+would-be champion, although there have been complaints that this course
+also is short. Yet it is longer than it used to be, and it is merely the
+rubber-filled ball that makes it seem short. The third hole at Prestwick
+is one that stirs the soul of the dare-devil golfer, for, after he has
+despatched the ball safely and well from the tee, he finds a big, gaping
+bunker, the famous "Cardinal," ahead of him for his second--an ugly
+brute that gives a sickening feeling to the man who is off his game.
+Defy this bunker, be on the green with your brassy, put a 4 on your
+card, and you have done something which should make you happy for the
+morning. The ninth again is an excellent hole at which the straight
+driver is rewarded all the way, and, if he does his duty, is given a 5.
+I have no hesitation in giving my judgment that the seventeenth is the
+finest hole to be found on any links. I say so because it is the best
+specimen of a really perfect two-shot hole. If there is the slightest
+flaw in either the drive or the second stroke, all prospect of reaching
+the green in two vanishes into thin air. Mr. Laidlay once lost a match
+and an amateur championship because his second shot here was not quite
+good enough. A good tee shot well into the middle of the course, a
+second that is as clean as a shot can be and as straight as a bullet
+from a gun, with the gods of golf smiling approval all the way and
+particularly when your second is nearing the green--with all these you
+may ask for your putter for the third stroke. But there is a bunker
+before the green, a bunker just beyond the green, and rushes to the
+right and left, so that the second shot has indeed to be a beauty for
+its maker to be wholly satisfied. This is the sort of hole that all good
+golfers best like to play, because they know that the good shots are
+certain of their reward, and that not merely the bad shots but the
+indifferent ones are met with just penalties every time. It is said that
+no two golf strokes are ever alike, but there is just enough similarity
+about them to prevent individual strokes from living very long in
+history except in a few striking cases. Perhaps the most memorable shot
+ever played in golf was that made at this hole by the late Mr. Fred Tait
+when he was engaging with Mr. John Ball, jun., in the final tie of the
+Amateur Championship in 1899. The Scottish favourite was in the bunker
+guarding the green with his second, and it so happened that the bunker
+on this occasion was filled with rain water, in which the ball was
+floating. Mr. Tait chipped the ball out beautifully on to the green, and
+saved a hole which seemed a certain loss. It is hard to find many holes
+that are worthy of being put in the same class as this. Man cannot make
+such holes. They are there when he seeks out the land for the first time
+with his golf clubs.
+
+Hoylake is a good course. There are one or two holes on it that must be
+admitted to be very tame. If the land in the middle of the course which
+is at present out of bounds were taken in and made playable, these holes
+could be much improved. The hazards are good and plentiful, and a
+satisfactory premium is put upon straight play. The ninth is a nice
+hole, a really good drive helping the player considerably. The eleventh
+is another pretty one, neither long nor short, but just that length
+which a fine shot from the tee will reach, and accuracy is demanded by
+the rushes which seem all over the course as you stand to drive.
+
+I call St. Andrews a good course generally; but its bunkers are badly
+placed. They punish the man who is driving well more than the man who is
+driving badly, for they are generally the length of a good long drive.
+If this defect could be remedied, and if there were a few more bunkers
+at the sides to catch the pulled and sliced balls, then St. Andrews
+would be a fine links indeed. As it is, there are some excellent holes.
+The second is beautiful--beautiful if the flag is put in the centre of
+the green--because then a good second shot is rewarded as it ought to
+be. But it generally happens when big matches are being played there
+that the hole is placed in a corner, which frequently spoils the
+prospects of these good second shots. The seventh is good, calling for a
+most accurate second, and the eleventh is the finest one-shot hole to be
+found anywhere. The green is on a plateau with bunkers all about it, and
+if you overpitch it your ball will be in the rushes beyond. Many golfers
+swear by the seventeenth; but I am not one of them. I declare that it is
+a very unfair hole, and there is no encouragement here to be plucky. The
+player must be pawky all the way, for it is fully two to one against
+there being anything but punishment as the result of bold tactics. The
+man who tries to place his long shot on the green may try again and
+again, and he will be convinced that it is next to impossible to stop
+there when he reaches it.
+
+For some reasons I like Muirfield; but it does not enjoy so many
+advantages as the other championship courses. There are not so many
+sandhills. It is on the flat side, and at the first glance you might
+take it to be an inland course; but after a single round you are greatly
+impressed by the good golf that is to be obtained upon it. The turf is
+capital, some of the hazards are very fine, and on the whole I think it
+may fairly be regarded as a very good championship test of golf. The
+fourth, twelfth, and eighteenth holes all call for first-class seconds
+if the greens are to be reached.
+
+There are so many other good links in the north that a further selection
+becomes increasingly difficult. Troon, abounding in sandhills, is very
+fine, and the player needs to be very skilful to get round it in a low
+score. North Berwick is also good, and it is surprising to see how well
+the links are preserved considering the enormous amount of play to which
+they are subjected. There are many good holes at popular Carnoustie,
+with a fine length about them which calls for good brassy play, and
+which is calculated to bring out all the good points that a golfer has
+in him. Cruden Bay and Dornoch are enjoyable; but those who want to get
+the best golf in Scotland need not always go to those places that revel
+in reputation and where an inconvenient crowd may at most times be
+depended upon. Some of the gems of North Britain are hidden away in
+inaccessible corners, and the golfers who would reach them must make
+tedious journeys by land and sea. But he who is worthy of the game is in
+my opinion amply rewarded for these travelling labours, by the quality
+of the golf that is vouchsafed to him at his journey's end, and he is
+spared the annoyance of being obliged to book his starting time
+overnight and of having a couple of hours to wait upon the tee if he is
+a minute late in the morning. I believe that Machrihanish is one of
+these very fine but out-of-the-way courses, but it happens to be one
+over which I have not hitherto played. I can tell of another where the
+most glorious golf is to be obtained, and which I can strongly recommend
+to those on the lookout for a place at which to spend a golfing holiday.
+It is at Islay. There the air is grand, there is excellent
+accommodation to be obtained at the combined hotel and club-house, and
+as for the quality of the golf I do not hesitate to say that the course
+is in every respect fit for the championships to be decided upon it.
+There is one hole here, the third, which is the most difficult anyone
+can imagine. If I were asked to select one from all the thousands of
+holes that I have played in my time, I should pick this one out for
+difficulty. They call it Mount Zion, and I think it is a good name for
+it. You must make three very good shots to reach the green, and in the
+matter of accuracy the third needs to be a gem if any satisfaction
+whatever is to be got out of the whole business. The green is on a
+plateau, and it is protected by every contrivance that ingenious Nature
+has vouchsafed to the makers of courses. If you are short you are in a
+running stream; if you pull you go out of bounds; and if your ball
+trickles over the green, away it goes into the sea--tortures the most
+terrible for the erring ball. Yes, decidedly I think this is the hardest
+hole I have ever seen. The first time I played it I took 10 to hole out,
+and yet won it from a very fine professional player who is an
+ex-champion! I have never done a hole better in my life than when I once
+halved this with Taylor in 4 in the course of a match which Taylor won
+at the twenty-fourth hole. The seventh is also a very fine hole with a
+bunker in front of the tee, which is very similar to the Maiden at
+Sandwich. An old golfer who lives there told me he can remember the time
+when it was a rabbit scrape. Like all golfers who know them, I sing the
+praises of Gullane, Kilspindie, and Luffness.
+
+There is a variety of good golf to be obtained in Ireland also.
+Portrush, Portmarnock, Dollymount, Lahinch, and Newcastle (co.
+Down)--all these are fine links. For a place to visit for an enjoyable
+golfing holiday, when health is a governing consideration also, I should
+select Portrush as one of the very best, while golfers who wish to play
+at Portmarnock and elect to put up in a Dublin hotel have an experience
+of pleasant variety which I at all events have found very agreeable, for
+you have first the train, then the car, and last of all the boat to take
+in order to reach the course, and not an inch of the journey is
+wearisome. Of course this proceeding cannot be recommended to those
+golfers who prefer to sleep in close proximity to the first tee,
+regardless of all other pleasures that are to be obtained without any
+sacrifice of the game. The course I like best in Wales is that at
+Ashburnham, over which the Welsh Championship was last played for. It is
+one of those excellent natural links which require very little
+attention. The Royal St. David's course at Harlech is also very good.
+
+Coming back to England again, I agree with all others that splendid golf
+is to be obtained at Westward Ho! although there is one quite unique
+feature of this course of which some golfers, myself among the number,
+do not bear the pleasantest recollections. I refer, of course, to the
+rushes of a peculiar growth which are to be found there in such
+abundance. I can conceive no nightmare more horrible to a player than
+one in which during his hours of troubled sleep he is in imagination
+vainly trying to rescue his unhappy ball from the clutches of these
+famous rushes. They stand full five feet high, strong and stiff like
+stout twigs, and they have sharp and dangerous points which seem as if
+they might be made of tempered steel. A kind of blossom appears on them
+in the season as if to disguise their evil features. Any player who is
+unlucky enough to put his ball into them (and there are one or two holes
+at which even a good shot may find its way there) must always encounter
+a considerable risk of breaking his club in the endeavour to play out
+again. I believe that attempts have been made to grow these rushes
+elsewhere, but the seeds that have been carried away from their native
+Westward Ho! have never prospered. Perhaps some golfers may reflect that
+this is just as well, though with all their faults and dangers I
+certainly do not condemn them as a hazard. They are a novelty, and all
+things that come from Nature must be admitted without question into the
+game of golf. On the south coast there are several fine links. Newquay
+is excellent for a holiday, and the course of the Cinque Ports Club at
+Deal, now that it is eighteen holes, is very fine. I have not enjoyed
+recent acquaintance with it, but the short fourth hole which they call
+the Sandy Parlour struck me when I was last down there as being a very
+sporting little piece of golf. Both Littlestone and Rye are admirable,
+and I have pleasant memories of the latter, particularly in connection
+with a match I once played there with Mr. Fred Tait.
+
+Again, on the east coast of England there are courses in number which
+afford the best opportunities for enjoyable and skilful golf. Cromer is
+a mixture of inland and seaside. It is one of those seaside courses
+which don't look what they are, but some parts of it are good,
+especially those which lie through the sand dunes. The lower part is
+tame. However, the air is beautiful, and the golfer who makes his
+headquarters at this place enjoys the material advantage of having three
+or four other first-class links within easy reach. For example, there is
+Brancaster, which, though a long distance from any railway station, is
+worth any amount of trouble that may be expended on the journey. The
+turf is excellent, the hazards well placed, and the golfer who does not
+keep straight is penalised as he ought to be. It is a fine course. Then
+there is Hunstanton, which is also very good, and Sheringham too. Higher
+up there is golf at Redcar and Seaton Carew which none need despise. On
+the north-west coast there is more golf to be had that is well worthy of
+the name. St. Anne's and Formby are both capital, and fine golf is
+necessary to get round these courses at all well. Wallasey is highly
+satisfactory. Both my space and my memory are unequal to giving a
+complete list of all the seaside courses that should be commended, and
+the absence of any particular one from my little list does not imply
+that I rank it as inferior, although I have tried to mention all those
+that I consider the very best.
+
+So far I have said nothing about inland links, because the golfer who
+is going away from his own for a brief period for pleasure and
+improvement usually elects to play at the seaside, and wisely so, for,
+apart from the superior hygienic properties of atmosphere, there is no
+getting rid of the fact, however much we may be attached to some inland
+courses, that seaside golf, when it is the real thing, is entirely
+different from any other. It is better in every respect; in fact it is
+usually ideal. It gives more benefit to the mind and body of the
+overworked player, it pulls out his game and makes a golfer of him as
+nothing else can ever do, and it affords such variety of a true sporting
+character as nothing but Nature can provide. But in thus extolling the
+seaside game, I do not wish for a moment to be considered as disparaging
+the golf that is to be had almost everywhere throughout the country in
+these days. Inland golf is a necessity to all except the leisured people
+who have no occupation which chains them to cities and towns, and there
+is now so much of it that it has taken a dominant place in the golfing
+world. And if the inland turf does not possess those glorious qualities
+that distinguish the seaside article, and if the bunkers constantly bear
+evidence of having been carted to the place where they are situated, and
+if, moreover, the evenness of many green fields becomes somewhat
+monotonous, nevertheless the golf which is to be obtained at many of
+these places is thoroughly enjoyable, and at the same time as severe a
+test of skill as the most conceited player could ever wish for. Take
+Sunningdale, for instance. This course, in my opinion, is the best of
+all the inland links with which I am familiar, and it requires the very
+finest golf to get round it in anything like a decent score. Unless the
+golfer plays with his head as well as with his club, he will find
+himself in difficulties all the way. Walton Heath is another good
+example. Here also a capital player must be on the top of his game to
+get round in anything like bogey. Those who made this course have
+mastered the undesirable eccentricities of the rubber-cored ball as few
+others have done. This ball is too apt to despise the average inland
+bunker, particularly in the summer-time, and goes skipping over it as if
+there were no obstruction in sight. But it does not do that at Walton
+Heath, where they have made the bunkers so deep that the ball inevitably
+stops in, and there is nothing for it but to ask the caddie for the
+niblick and resign yourself to losing a stroke. I should like to see the
+managers of other courses take a leaf out of the Walton Heath book.
+Bunkers that were once quite deep in the old days of the gutty are in
+too many cases shallow and useless under the new conditions. I do think
+that the splendid state of the Walton Heath links is marvellous
+considering the short time that has elapsed since the club was formed. I
+have never played at Huntercombe, over which my old friend and opponent,
+Willie Park, has spent so much care and time and money, but I believe
+that it is similarly good, and I have heard golfers, for whose opinion I
+have the highest respect, declare enthusiastically that it is one of the
+best inland courses to be found anywhere, while the high hill air is
+splendid.
+
+Considering the many disadvantages under which they labour, particularly
+in the matter of soil, which is mostly of the clay variety, the links
+round about London may be considered good, and though the metropolitan
+golfer may not always appreciate the fact, during one period of the year
+he scores over all others. This is in the summer-time, when the hot sun
+has at last dried and burnt up the grass on many seaside links and made
+them slippery and difficult even to walk upon. At such time the grass on
+the London links is still usually quite fresh and green, and not until
+some weeks later does it yield to the scorching rays. For the most part,
+too, the London links are exceedingly well kept. Lees, the greenkeeper
+at the Mid-Surrey course at Richmond, is the best man for that duty that
+I know.
+
+I cannot attempt to give any adequate information about the hundreds of
+links that are now dotted about all over the shires. It must suffice to
+say, in confining myself to large centres, that I have pleasant memories
+of good golf that I have had on the fine course at Lindrick in the
+Sheffield district, and at Trafford Park near Manchester. This is indeed
+a very nice inland course, with gravelly soil and a capacity for keeping
+dry during the winter. At Timperley there is another good links. The
+Huddersfield course is a splendid one to play upon, and very tricky too.
+Its merits are indicated by the quality of golfers that it breeds. It
+has made several men who have won the Yorkshire championships, and in
+club matches the Huddersfield team is a very hard one to beat.
+
+There is one class of course of which I have not yet made any mention,
+and which I do not think it is necessary to do more than refer to. It is
+that mongrel kind which is both seaside and inland, but which is in the
+full sense neither, situated, that is, at a seaside resort, and may be
+in the very closest proximity to the sea, but with none of the
+properties of the real seaside course--no seaside turf, no sand dunes,
+no wild natural golf. These courses are usually elevated on cliffs. In
+many cases the golf that is to be obtained upon them is excellent, and I
+only wish to point out to unpractised golfers who are about to start for
+a holiday and have taken no advice, that if they are making for a
+seaside place and want that kind of golf which they have heard is to be
+had at Deal, Sandwich, Rye, Westward Ho! Littlestone, St. Andrews, North
+Berwick, and scores of other places, they should make quite certain that
+they are taking their railway tickets in the proper direction.
+Otherwise, when they arrive upon the links that they have chosen, they
+may fail to discover any difference between the course visited and that
+on which they are in the habit of playing when at home. I only mention
+the matter because I have known so many cases of severe disappointment
+arise through mistakes of this kind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+GOLF IN AMERICA
+
+     Good golf in the United States--My tour through the country--Mr.
+     Travis's victory in our Amateur Championship--Not a surprise--The
+     man who played the best golf--British amateurs must wake up--Other
+     good Americans will come--Our casual methods of learning golf--The
+     American system--My matches in the States--A good average--Driving
+     well--Some substantial victories--Some difficult matches--Course
+     records--Enthusiasm of the American crowds--The golf fever--The
+     king of baseball takes to golf--The American Open Championship--A
+     hard fight with J.H. Taylor--A welcome win--Curious experiences in
+     Florida--Greens without grass--The plague of locusts--Some injury
+     to my game--"Mr. Jones"--Fooling the caddies--Camping out on the
+     links--Golf reporting in America--Ingenious and good--Mistakes made
+     by non-golfing writers--Lipping the hole for a hundred dollars.
+
+
+I have a higher opinion of both the present and the future of golf in
+America than that which seems to be entertained by a large number of
+eminent players in this country. I think that American golf is very good
+at the present time--much better than it is given credit for being--and
+I am convinced that it will be still better in the future. I made a long
+golfing tour through the United States in 1900, when Englishmen for the
+most part regarded the game in that country with as much seriousness as
+they would have bestowed upon golf in Timbuctoo if they had heard that
+it was being played there. At that time it seemed to be taking a firm
+grip of our cousins, and I saw enough to convince me that America was
+coming on quickly, and that before long the old country would have
+reason to fear her. Everything that has happened since then has
+strengthened my belief, and the eyes of the British were at last fairly
+opened when the Championship was played for at Sandwich in June of last
+year, when, to the chagrin of our own leading amateurs, an American, in
+the person of Mr. Walter J. Travis, became the victor, and took back
+with him across the Atlantic the Amateur Championship Cup. So far from
+surprising me, that event was exactly what I expected. When I was in
+America I played against Mr. Travis once or twice, and though he was
+then in the improving stage and evidently not at the top of his career,
+I felt that he was a man who might very likely do great things in the
+future. Afterwards I followed his play with some curiosity and interest.
+I saw that in course of time he beat many good men whose form I
+understood precisely. I knew that he was one of the steadiest golfers I
+had ever seen--a man of fine judgment and marvellous exactness, who
+always played with his head, and was constantly giving the closest
+possible study to the game. I felt that when he came to play for our
+Championship he would make a very bold bid for it. When I heard that he
+was going to Sandwich last year, I made him my "tip" for premier
+honours, and before the first round was played I said to many friends,
+"Mark my words; if Travis gets anything like a fairly easy draw to start
+with he will go right through." And so he did. I saw him play on this
+memorable occasion, which will never be forgotten as long as any of the
+events of golfing history are remembered, and, in opposition to the
+opinions of other British critics expressed in many columns of print
+during the weeks following, it was and is my absolute conviction that
+his was the best golf played in that tournament, and that he thoroughly
+deserved to win. He played with his head the whole way through, and his
+golf was really excellent. It was only natural that our people should be
+very downhearted when they saw what had happened, for it seemed nothing
+else than a great disaster. I do not think that in the long run it will
+prove to have been so, for the inevitable effect of it was to wake up
+our British golf, which stood sadly in need of arousing. I think that
+amateur golf in this country has been steadily depreciating for some
+time, and at the present moment I think that the standard of merit of
+our best players is lower than in the days when Mr. Harold Hilton, Mr.
+John Ball, jun., and the late Mr. Freddy Tait were at their best. And
+despite the American shock, I cannot profess that the outlook at the
+present moment is particularly encouraging. There are other good golfers
+in the States besides Mr. Travis, and, frankly, I think that unless we
+wake up in this country the Cup will go there again. For the moment our
+numerical strength in the Championship tournament is in our favour. When
+there are only half a dozen Americans entered out of a total number of
+over a hundred, the odds are evidently against them, but an "American
+invasion" is threatened, and then we shall see what we shall see.
+
+The chief reason why it is difficult to feel optimistic about the
+prospects of amateur golf in this country is because the rising
+generation, upon whom we must depend for our future champions, do not
+take sufficient pains to make themselves masters of the game. They are
+too haphazard in learning it. The beginners on our side are too apt to
+say to themselves, "I will go and teach myself to hit a ball first, and
+then I will take a lesson," which is, of course, entirely wrong. Then
+one of their friends tells them to do a certain stroke in one way, and
+another tells them the opposite, and thus at the end of six months they
+have got into such a thoroughly bad style that it is the most difficult
+task in the world for a professional to set them right. Those who have
+the future of British golf at heart cannot afford to disregard or wink
+at these vagaries on the part of beginners, on whom we depend to
+constitute the national system in coming years. Now the national system
+of America is altogether different. They are not haphazard there. They
+seem to take a deeper interest in the game and its science, and they
+never think of trying to learn it by the chance methods which are so
+much in favour with us. They take the game with the utmost seriousness
+from the very beginning, and obtain the very best advice that they can.
+The professionals never have a minute to spare, and their
+engagement-books are constantly filled up for three weeks in advance, so
+that without that length of notice nobody stands a chance of getting a
+lesson for love or money. That is the way in which the people of America
+are learning to play golf, and it is the proper way. It is slow but it
+is very sure; and unless I am very much mistaken, there will in the
+future be other players coming across the Atlantic to take part in our
+championships who will be as great as Travis if not greater, and if we
+on our part do not forthwith begin to take our golf more seriously it
+may be a sad day for us when they do come.
+
+As I have said, American golf was only just budding when I made my tour
+through the country in 1900; but nevertheless I found that tour
+extremely interesting and enjoyable, and everywhere I was given the
+heartiest and most enthusiastic reception. Nobody even begrudged me the
+American Championship which I brought back with me, and nobody made any
+unkind criticisms of my play, or suggested that I did not in any way
+deserve the victory. My tour began in March and did not finish until the
+end of the year, but was interrupted for a short period at the beginning
+of the summer, when I made a flying trip home in order to take part in
+our own Open Championship. As it happened, the best that I could do was
+to finish second to Taylor, but I may add that this result was better
+than I expected, considering the sudden change of golf and climate that
+I experienced. I had to cover several thousands of miles in order to
+play the matches in which I took part in America. Of these matches I
+only lost two when playing against a single opponent, and each time it
+was Bernard Nicholls who beat me, first at Ormonde and then at Brae
+Burn. There was not a blade of grass on the course on which Nicholls won
+his first match from me, and I leave my readers to imagine what playing
+on a links consisting of nothing but loose sand was like. Altogether I
+suffered only thirteen defeats, but in eleven of them I was playing the
+best ball of two or more opponents, which was the task that was
+generally set me. I won over fifty matches and halved two. Some of my
+victories were somewhat substantial. At Point Comfort I beat Willie Dunn
+by sixteen up and fifteen to play, and at Scarsdale I got the better of
+the same opponent to the extent of fifteen and fourteen. Such wide
+margins naturally suggest opponents of inferior ability; but if I may
+modestly say so, I do not think that was wholly the case. I consider
+that at that time I was playing better golf than I had ever played
+before or have done since. As was the custom there, I used to go out on
+the links in the very thinnest and airiest costume. In Florida it was
+too warm to play with either coat or vest, so both were discarded and
+shirt sleeves rolled up. Generally, like my opponents, I wore no jacket,
+but a neat waistcoat with sleeves which helped to keep the arms
+together. In such attire one was afforded a delightful sense of ease and
+freedom which considerably helped one's golf. Then again, whether it was
+due to the fine dry atmosphere--as I think it was--or not, the ball
+certainly seemed to fly through the air with less resistance offered to
+it than I had ever experienced before. Never have I driven so well as I
+did with the old gutty in America in that year. Many of the
+professionals whom I met were men who were taught their golf in this
+country, and were players who would usually hold their own in the best
+of professional company. The American papers gave very lengthy reports
+of all the matches in which I took part, the headlines and what followed
+them being frequently very flattering. There was "The Golf King," and
+many such as that, in type nearly an inch deep. Perhaps I may, without
+offence, be permitted to quote from the account given in a leading daily
+newspaper of the second match in which I defeated Willie Dunn--at
+Scarsdale--which I only do for the purpose of showing that the
+conditions of play were sometimes really trying, and not at all
+conducive to big victories or record breaking. This paper said: "If it
+were necessary to dwell upon the extraordinary consistency of the
+champion's game, one has only to refer to his card for the four rounds
+(it was a nine-hole course) in yesterday's match, as his worst nine
+holes totalled forty-one and his best thirty-seven. If the turf could
+only unearth a thoroughbred as reliable as Vardon, poolrooms in Greater
+New York would be past history in very short order. Vardon's skill
+probably never underwent a severer test than in the match yesterday.
+Everything was against his exhibiting anything approaching championship
+form. He had not only to contend against a biting north-west wind, which
+temporarily got mixed up with a flurry of snow, but the course itself,
+from the character of the land, is about as difficult to score over as
+any in the country. The ground is one succession of 'kopjes,' while
+seven of the nine holes are 'on the collar' all the time, and at an
+angle of from twenty to thirty degrees. The course is only 2677 yards in
+playing distance. On paper this gives the impression of being nothing
+out of the ordinary, but confronted with it in actuality, it is about as
+hard a proposition as any victim of the golf habit could tackle. The
+only course one can compare with it here is Oakland, and the latter is a
+billiard table by the side of it. At the finish of the thirty-six holes
+Vardon said, 'I never felt so fagged out in my life. In fact I could
+play seventy-two holes on the other side every day for a week and not
+have been fatigued half so much.'" I do not remember that I ever
+committed myself to such an extravagant statement as this, but the
+course was certainly a very trying one that day. Yet on that occasion I
+lowered the eighteen holes record for the course. Altogether I beat most
+of the records of the courses during my tour. The first time I ever took
+my clubs out on American soil, on the course of the Lawrence Harbour
+Country Club, I reduced the record for the nine holes (held by Willie
+Dunn) from forty-one to forty. Yet the weather was so bad just then,
+and the clay greens were in such a state of puddle, that temporary
+greens had to be made on the fairway. I won my first match by nine up
+with eight to play. On one or two occasions I was obliged to beat the
+record in order to win my game. Thus, when playing on the Wheaton links
+at Chicago, Will Smith was three up on me at one time, but by beating
+the links record I won at the finish by two up with one to play. This
+was one of the very toughest struggles I had over there.
+
+There was no mistaking the enthusiasm of the American spectators. They
+came to the matches in great crowds--always a large proportion of
+ladies--and they seemed bent on learning all that they could from the
+play. Everybody seemed to be trying to practise my grip. All kinds of
+theories were invented to account for the manner in which my shots came
+off. On one occasion, after I had got in a good one with a cleek, an
+excited spectator jumped the ropes, ran up to a friend of mine and
+screamed, "Say, which arm did he do that with?" I looked to see if all
+my arms and legs were intact, or if there was anything that appeared
+unusual about them. I discovered afterwards that by "arm" he meant
+"club." Many places of business were closed for the afternoon when I was
+playing in certain districts, and on one occasion the Stock Exchange did
+so. A letter to one of the papers, concerning the extraordinary manner
+in which America was taking the golf fever, contained these
+sentences:--"I went into a leading business house to-day and found the
+three partners of the firm in a violent discussion. As I thought they
+were talking business I concluded that my presence was unnecessary, and
+started to edge away. Suddenly I noticed the head of the firm rush into
+his office and rush out again with a cane. As the words were heated I
+was just about to interfere when I saw a weapon appear on the scene, but
+the head partner wasn't looking for blood. Instead of hitting anyone he
+swiped the cane along the ground, and then I heard the words--'This is
+how Vardon holds it.' I wanted to make an appointment with one of the
+partners, but he told me that he wouldn't be in. However, I guess I'll
+meet him, because I'm going out to Dixie myself." The professionals and
+the golf shops suddenly began to do an enormous trade in sticks, and
+Bernard Nicholls, the only man who defeated me single-handed, preferred
+not to play me again for a long time. He said his victory had done an
+enormous amount of good to his business, and he did not want to spoil
+it. From numerous quarters I received all kinds of offers to "star" in
+one way or another, some very big fees being suggested. Would I become a
+store manager at a huge salary? Would I make an exhibition for so many
+hours daily of driving golf balls in a padded room in the city? And so
+on. I actually did accept an offer one day to do exhibition swings in a
+room in a Boston store. I was to start at 9.30 and continue until 5 each
+day, doing tee and other shots into a net for half an hour at a time,
+and then resting for an hour before taking the next turn. There was a
+fresh "house" of about two hundred people every time, and it was part of
+the bargain that my manager should stand by and explain everything. But
+he had had enough of it after one or two turns. Then I found it became
+terribly monotonous, and to interest myself I kept trying to hit a
+particular spot on the wall near the ceiling, until the stores manager
+came forward in a state of great excitement, declaring that only six
+inches from that spot was the tap of a patent fire extinguishing
+arrangement, and that if I hit it the room would be flooded by a series
+of waterspouts in less time than I could imagine! By four o'clock my
+hands were blistered badly, and at that stage I had had enough and went
+out. In the meantime I was the constant recipient of numerous presents
+of all kinds, and the invitations that I received to dinners were far
+too many for any professional golfer to accept. I do not mention these
+things with any desire for self-glorification. They are ancient history
+now, and nobody cares about them. But they serve to show the
+whole-hearted manner in which America was going in for golf, and the
+tremendous hold that it took on the people. We talk on this side of the
+"golfing fever" and of people "going mad" about the game. Believe me,
+the Britisher is a mere dallier in comparison with his American golfing
+cousin.
+
+An interesting incident happened when the American Championship was
+played for on the Wheaton course, when, as I was informed, the game of
+golf achieved the most notable victory that it had ever achieved in the
+United States. This was the complete surrender to it of the veteran
+champion and overlord of baseball, the American national game. How that
+came about I will leave one of the Chicago newspapers to relate:--"Cap.
+Anson surrendered to golf yesterday. The capitulation of the veteran of
+America's national game took place on the links at Wheaton during the
+race between Harry Vardon and J.H. Taylor. 'Cap.' says the game of golf
+is a go. He has stood out against it and ridiculed it ever since it
+began to get the people. Anson knows Charles S. Cox, Vardon's manager,
+and accepted an invitation yesterday morning to look in on the game. On
+the links he balked at the proposition of walking four miles in one trip
+around the course, but he lined up with the crowd to see Vardon drive
+off. The ball went higher than any fly 'Pop' ever saw in his life. It
+sailed 220 yards. Anson was first to start the applause with a 'Good
+boy. She's a homer.' Then he led the gallery to the first green. He was
+puffing when he pulled up at the eighteenth hole, but he felt better
+than if he had stolen second base. 'I'd like to take a crack at that
+golf ball,' he said. 'You can put me down for a trial the first chance I
+get. Wouldn't mind togging up in kilts just to give the Prince of Wales
+a run for his money.'" For the sake of giving prominence to it, this
+paragraph was put in a fancy border and let into the middle of the sheet
+of newspaper, so the Chicago people evidently attached some importance
+to the capitulation of the worthy captain, and I hope that by this time
+he has had many thousands of cracks at the golf ball and that his
+handicap is low.
+
+I was intent on making a bold bid for this American Open Championship.
+Victory in it seemed to be the one thing essential to make my trip the
+greatest possible success. My friend Taylor, who had just beaten me for
+the Open Championship at St. Andrews, had himself come over to the
+States, and was also a candidate for the premier honours of American
+golf. As it turned out, we had practically the whole contest at Wheaton
+to ourselves, and a rare good duel it was, at the end of which I was at
+the top of the list, but only two strokes in front of my English
+opponent, while he was eight in front of the next man. The system of
+deciding the championship was the same as on this side, that is to say,
+four medal rounds were played, two on one day and two on the next. At
+the end of the first day's play I was just one stroke better than
+Taylor, my score for the two rounds bring 157 to his 158, and on the
+second day I did 156 to his 157, so that on the whole event I was 313 to
+his 315. Taylor waited on the edge of the green while I holed out my
+last putt, and was the first to grasp my hand in sincere congratulation.
+Beautiful weather, the biggest golfing crowd ever seen in America up to
+that time, and a good links, made the tournament a great success. The
+partner who went round with me during this championship competition was
+Will Smith, the holder, who finished fifth.
+
+I had some curious experiences in the course of my journeyings about the
+country, and I am not sure that they were all good for my game. During
+the early months I was down in Florida away from the cold and the snow.
+I met some good golfers there. It was necessary to play an entirely
+different game from that to which we are accustomed in this country.
+There was no grass on the putting "greens." They were simply made of
+loose sand, sprinkled on the baked ground and watered and rolled. When
+there was a shortage of water and there was wind about, the fine part
+of the sand was blown away, and the surface of the "greens" then
+consisted of nothing but little pebbles. It was not easy to putt over
+this kind of thing, but I must not convey the impression that these sand
+"greens" were wholly bad. When properly attended to they are really nice
+to putt upon after you have become accustomed to them. It was impossible
+to pitch on to them, and one had to cultivate the habit of running up
+from a very long distance. Thus I got into the way of playing a kind of
+stab shot. The tees consisted not of grass but of hard soil, and one had
+to tee up much higher than usual in order to avoid damaging the sole of
+the driver. This provoked the habit of cocking the ball up, and as a
+corrective all the teeing grounds in Florida sloped upwards in front.
+Locusts were responsible for eating all the grass away from some
+courses, and I had a unique experience when I played Findlay at
+Portland. When we were on the putting greens, men had constantly to be
+beating sticks to keep the locusts off the lines of our putts. If it
+struck a locust the ball would come to a sudden stop. Acres and acres of
+land about there were without a single blade of grass. The locusts had
+eaten it all away. After we left Florida we reached some good courses,
+and resumed the old kind of play. It has often been suggested that the
+peculiar conditions of play in America, to which I was subjected for a
+long period, resulted in a permanent injury to my game as played at
+home, and in the light of reflection and experience I am persuaded to
+think that this is so. I have played well since then, have felt equal to
+doing anything that I ever did before, and have indeed won the
+Championship, but I think I left a very small fraction of my game in the
+United States.
+
+In the way of other novel experiences I might mention that on one
+occasion I played as "Mr. Jones." I wanted a quiet day, and did not wish
+a too attentive public to know where I was. Three friends joined me in a
+foursome, but when we went into the club-house after our game, another
+anxious golfer went up to my partner when I was standing by, and
+inquired of him whether he had heard that Vardon was playing on the
+links. My friend declared that he knew nothing of such a rumour, and I
+could hardly refrain from laughter as the anxious one went to pursue his
+inquiries in other quarters. Another time two other professionals and
+myself visited a course where we were unknown, and, hiding our identity,
+pretended that we were novices at the game, and begged of our caddies to
+advise us as to the best manner of playing each shot, which they did
+accordingly. We deliberately duffed most of our strokes at several
+holes, but this course of procedure tired us immensely, and so at last
+we abandoned it and began to play our natural game. Imagine the
+consternation and the indignation of those caddies! Each one of them
+threw down his bag of clubs, and, declining to carry them for another
+hole, walked sulkily off the course. On one occasion we camped out for
+the night on the links on which we were playing, and a very pleasant
+variation from the ordinary routine we found it.
+
+The American newspapers, to which I have frequently referred, do their
+golf reporting very well. Their journalism may be "sensational" or
+whatever you like to call it, but the golfing section of it was usually
+interesting, ingenious, and very intelligent and reliable. On the
+occasion of one match in which I played, a paper gave up nearly the
+whole of one of its pages to a large panoramic view of the links. The
+flight of my ball and that of my opponent, and the places where they
+stopped after every stroke, from the first to the last, were accurately
+marked. Thus the whole game was illustrated in a single picture in a
+very effective manner. As was inevitable, I was sometimes victimised by
+interviewers who wrote "interviews" with me which I had never accorded,
+containing most amazing particulars about my methods and habits.
+Occasionally a reporter was turned on to describe a game when he knew
+nothing about golf, and then the results were sometimes amusing. One of
+these writers had it that I "carried away the green with my drive."
+Another said I "dropped dead at the hole." When playing at Washington
+against two opponents, I happened to beat bogey at the first hole. One
+of the reporters was told of this achievement, but did not quite
+understand it. Going to the next hole, we were walking through a bunker
+when he came up to me and politely inquired if that--the bunker--was the
+kind of bogey that I had beaten. I was told a very good story of
+American golf reporting. A match was arranged between two well-known
+amateurs, one of whom happened to be a very rich banker. One reporter,
+who admitted that he "knew nothing about the darned game," arrived
+rather late on the course, and borrowed the "copy" of an experienced
+golfing journalist for information of what had already happened. When
+this "copy" was duly returned with thanks, the late-comer remarked to
+his obliging friend, "Say, you made a bad mistake in one part." "What
+was it?" the other asked. "Waal, you say that So-and-so 'lipped the hole
+for a half.'" "Yes, that is right." "Oh, go away; you don't mean to tell
+me that a rich man like that would be playing for a paltry fifty cents.
+I've altered it to 'lipped the hole for a hundred dollars.'" And I
+remember that once when I was playing the best ball of two amateurs, one
+of the reporters had been instructed by his chief to keep the best ball
+score. I happened to lose the match on the last green, but on looking
+through the paper the next morning I was surprised to see it stated that
+I was beaten by not one but many holes, making this defeat in fact the
+biggest inflicted on me during my tour. The paper said that it was. I
+could not make anything out of it for some time, until at last I
+discovered that the reporter had reckoned my score also in the best ball
+figures! Obviously I could not beat myself. The best I could do was to
+get a half, and that was how it came about that I never won a single
+hole in the "Harry Vardon _v._ Harry Vardon and two others" match.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+CONCERNING CADDIES
+
+     Varieties of caddies--Advice to a left-handed player--Cock-shots at
+     Ganton--Unearned increments--An offer to carry for the fun of the
+     thing--The caddie who knows too much--My ideal caddie--His
+     points--The girl caddie--A splendid type--Caddies' caustic
+     humour--Some specimens of it--Mr. Balfour's taste in caddies--When
+     the caddie is too anxious--Good human kindness--"Big
+     Crawford"--"Lookin' aifter Maister Balfour"--An ingenious claim--A
+     salute for the Chief Secretary--A story of a distressed
+     clergyman--Sandy Smith--The clothes he wore--An excess of zeal--The
+     caddies' common-sense--When his lot is not a happy one.
+
+
+The caddie is an indispensable adjunct to the game of golf, and for the
+most part he fulfils his functions very capably; but there are caddies
+of every imaginable variety, and their vagaries are such as to cause
+wonderment on the part of their employers sometimes, amusement at
+others, and not infrequently exasperation. Some of them know too much
+about the game, and others far too little, and I hardly know which of
+these classes is in the long run the worse for the golfers who engage
+them to carry their clubs.
+
+An incident of which I heard that happened to a well-known player on the
+North Berwick links, must have been very trying to him. On a busy day
+all the regular caddies had been engaged, and the fishermen were drafted
+into the club-carrying service. The player, having asked one of these
+fishermen if he knew anything about the game, and having been informed
+that he had only a little knowledge of it, resigned himself calmly to
+the inevitable, and told the man complacently that he would do. This
+player happened to be left-handed, and took up his stance on the first
+tee accordingly, whereupon the son of the sea at once adopted the part
+of tutor, and with some warmth and show of contempt exclaimed loudly, "I
+dinna ken much aboot the game, but ye dinna ken a wee bit. Mon, ye're
+standing on the wrong side of the baw! Awa' to the other side!" Golfers
+at the beginning of a round are proverbially susceptible to small
+influences, and when a player is accustomed to lean somewhat upon his
+caddie, as even some of the best occasionally do, I can well imagine
+that such a trivial matter as this is enough to mar a tee shot.
+
+There were some strange specimens of the caddie species at Ganton when I
+was there. "Make a tee, boy," said a golfer to one of them, evidently a
+novice, one day. The player had been waiting about for something under a
+minute, while his servant showed no sign of making the usual
+preparations for the tee shot. The boy did not seem to understand. "Make
+a tee, boy," exclaimed the player a second time sharply, but still there
+was no response, and then the man called for some sand, bent down and
+made the tee himself. At this the boy attributed the failure of his
+understanding to the player's limited powers of expression, and somewhat
+scornfully exclaimed, "Why, if you had told me it was a cock-shot that
+was wanted, I should have known what you meant!" On competition days at
+Ganton we had often to secure a number of lads who had never seen the
+game played before, and very interesting specimens of the youth of
+Yorkshire they often were. One day, I remember, a competitor pulled his
+ball very badly, and his caddie, who had gone on a little way in front,
+received it hard on a very tender part of his head. He was not seriously
+hurt, but much pained, and forthwith, excusably perhaps, he gave way to
+tears. To soothe him his employer presented him with half a sovereign.
+The tears suddenly ceased, the boy's face broke into a happy smile, and
+a moment later, when the two were trudging away towards the hole, the
+youngster ingenuously inquired, "Will you be coming out again this week,
+sir?"
+
+There is a kinship between this story and that of the caddie at North
+Berwick, son of the greenkeeper there, some years ago, when first he
+began to carry clubs. He was a very precocious little fellow, and the
+player for whom he had been engaged to carry for the day was a
+well-known golfer from the south. When the day's play was far advanced,
+and the time of reckoning was drawing nigh, the boy seized an
+opportunity of sidling close up to his patron and asking him, "D'ye ken
+Bob S----?" the said Bob being one of the notabilities of the links. The
+player answered that he had not the pleasure of Mr. Robert's
+acquaintance so far, and inquired of the boy why he asked such a
+question. "Weel," was the answer, "it's a peety ye dinna ken Bob S----.
+He's a rale fine gentleman, for he aye gies twa shillin' a roond for
+carryin' till'm; no like some that ca' themsels gentlemen, an' only gie
+a shillin'."
+
+But lest it should be imagined from the recital of these incidents that
+the caddie is invariably over-greedy, and that he has no soul for
+anything but the pecuniary reward of his service, let there by way of
+contrast be told the story of the boy who was willing to carry clubs for
+nothing--the one solitary instance of such a disposition to
+self-sacrifice that there is on record. This time the golfer was not a
+great one. He had his faults, and they were numerous, and for their
+conquest and suppression he came to the conclusion that it would be
+better if he went out alone over the links and wrestled with them
+determinedly. A caddie watched him going out thus solitary, and felt
+sorry, so he said to him, "I will carry your clubs for a shilling, sir."
+But the golfer replied, "No, my boy, not to-day, thanks; I will carry
+them myself." The golfer missed his drive, foozled his second, put his
+third into a bunker, and endured other agonies. The caddie had been
+following at a respectful distance, and when the ball had been duly
+picked up out of the bunker, he made a further appeal. "I will carry
+for ninepence, sir." "No, I do not want a caddie," was the answer again.
+"I will carry for sixpence, then." "No, go away." On the next tee the
+player, overcome by conflicting emotions, missed the ball altogether two
+or three times, and then was the caddie's opportunity, which he seized
+without hesitation. "I will carry for the fun of the thing, sir!"
+
+This is a digression, but I fear that digressions are inevitable when
+one enters upon the subject of caddies, and is persuaded to dip into
+one's recollection of caddie stories. The ignorant caddie is trying, but
+not less is the one who knows too much about the game, or thinks he
+does, and insists upon inflicting his superior knowledge upon you during
+the whole course of the round. Once when I was playing for the
+Championship, my clubs were carried by a caddie who swore horribly at me
+all the time, notwithstanding that from the beginning I was going
+strongly for the first place. That boy got on my nerves. I was
+approaching well, but my putting was certainly not so sure and confident
+as it might have been. "What the ---- is the good of shooting at the flag
+if you can't putt worth a d----!" he exclaimed in great disgust on one
+occasion when I had the misfortune to miss holing out a somewhat short
+putt. He has begged to be allowed to carry for me many times since then,
+but I have steadfastly refused his offer, for I would not be handicapped
+with him upon any consideration. The caddie I like best of all, and he
+who I am convinced is the best servant for the average golfer, is he who
+thoroughly understands the game, has a deep knowledge of the course that
+is being played over, knows exactly what club to give you upon any and
+every occasion, and limits his functions to giving you that club without
+being asked for it. This caddie is a silent caddie, who knows that words
+of his are out of place, and that they would only tend to upset his
+master's game. It will generally be found that he, above all others, is
+the one who takes a deep and sympathetic interest in that game. He
+never upon any consideration gives advice without being asked for it. On
+the other hand, he takes care that no act or omission of his shall ever
+cause his man the most momentary irritation, for he has sufficient
+knowledge of the golfer's temperament to know that these trifles are a
+constant source of bad holes. When the player is preparing for his shot,
+and his eye is wandering anxiously between the ball and the hole, he
+puts out his hand whilst still continuing his survey of the ground, and
+as he puts it out he feels it grasp the handle of the exact club that is
+wanted. There is little need to look at it. The caddie knew and acted.
+The stance is taken while the player is still in his thoughtful mood,
+the shot is made while his mind is still concentrated to the utmost
+extent on the difficult task in hand, and then, after a happy result,
+the player and this faithful, truly sympathetic caddie go quietly on
+their way. When you are on the green he never needs to be told to go to
+the pin. He is always there, standing at the hole as soon as the time
+has come to putt; and while, if the putt is a poor thing, he has nothing
+to say (for silence is more than ever welcome at such a time of sorrow
+and disappointment), he permits himself a few courteous words of
+congratulation if a great success has been achieved at the last stroke
+at the hole, and the crown been placed upon an effort that has been
+truly praiseworthy throughout. This is my ideal caddie, and I am
+prepared to make some concessions to have him always at my side during
+the most trying rounds that I have to play. If he always performs the
+duties I have named, promptly and quietly, I do not care whether he
+really knows much about the game or not. If a caddie does the round of a
+course often enough in the company of good golfers, he knows the club to
+use for every particular stroke, even though he may have no practical
+knowledge of the game, and I ask nothing more of him than that he should
+always hand that club to me without keeping me waiting for a single
+moment. These caddies are a rarer species than the others.
+
+I am no advocate of female labour, but I have often, after an
+experience of the girl caddie, been tempted to wish that there were more
+of them in the land, for they are uncommonly good. The little girl of
+humble lot seems, nine times out of ten, to possess all those qualities
+which go to the making of a good caddie--according to my standard of a
+good caddie--in a remarkable degree. Unlike some of her elder sisters,
+she never talks; but she always watches the game very closely and takes
+a deep interest in it. She is most anxious--if anything too anxious--to
+do her service properly and well, and to the most complete satisfaction
+of the gentleman who will reward her for it at the finish. She never
+keeps you waiting for your bag. The clubs are always there at your hand.
+If it is obvious to this little girl's simple intelligence that you want
+your brassy, she has it ready for you. If there is a doubt about the
+club, she does not make the mistake of offering you one on chance, as it
+were. She is too timid for that. She holds the bag before you and lets
+you choose yourself and carry all the responsibility on your own
+shoulders. The good boy caddie, whom I have referred to as my ideal,
+does that also. I said he was always waiting with the club ready, but if
+it is evident to him, as to the player, that it is a difficult question
+of judgment as to which particular club should be taken in somewhat
+puzzling circumstances, he allows the golfer to make his choice from the
+whole collection in the bag, making no suggestion of his own either by
+word or movement, unless invited to do so. Cannot every golfer recall
+numberless instances of bad shots and holes lost because in one of these
+moments of doubt, when his own inclination was leaning to the employment
+of one particular club, his caddie thrust another before him? Feeling
+that there must be something good in the caddie's recommendation, he has
+been tempted in spite of himself to use it. How frequently are the
+consequences disastrous in such circumstances as these, and how
+unenviable are the golfer's after reflections upon his own weakness!
+Yes, decidedly the girl caddie excels. I have seen her on many links up
+and down the country, and she is always good. In one of my last matches
+last season--at Luton--I had one to carry for me, and she was as good as
+any. Perhaps it may be urged by some players that it is not a good thing
+for girls to do this work. About that I have nothing to say. I only know
+that they do their duty well.
+
+A peculiarly caustic but half-unconscious humour is the characteristic
+of caddies everywhere, but particularly in the north, and while golfers
+continue to lack absolute perfection, and their ministering attendants
+to expect it from them every time, it will probably remain a
+characteristic. A fair specimen was the remark of his caddie to a player
+whose handicap was several strokes removed from scratch, and who, having
+become badly bunkered on one occasion, tried nearly every iron club in
+his bag in a vain endeavour to get out. The case was heartbreaking, and
+he turned despairingly to his caddie with the question, "What on earth
+shall I take now?" There was little encouragement in the answer, "Take
+the 4.5 train." There is a good story also of a certain Welshman of
+title who became enthusiastic over the game, though he did not excel at
+it. He conceived that it would be a good thing to make a tour of the
+famous Scottish courses with the object of improving his play, and in
+due season he arrived at a certain famous green, where he employed as
+his caddie an individual who had a considerable reputation for blunt
+candour. The turf suffered severely every time this player made use of
+his irons, and the caddie shook his head gloomily and sadly as he
+witnessed the destructive work that went on daily. At last there came a
+day when he could stand it no longer, and when the Welshman had taken a
+mighty swipe at the ball with a heavy iron and made a deep excavation
+for several inches behind it, the club carrier moaned painfully, "O
+lord, man, hae mercy on puir auld Scotland!" It is said that the golfer
+played no more on those links. It was on this same course that two
+players went out one morning to play, and found a friend waiting alone
+on the first tee, who said that he had fixed up a match with a certain
+Captain Blank, who would be coming along presently. The possibility of a
+foursome was considered, and a question was asked as to what kind of a
+player the Captain was, his partner replying, "Oh, he is excellent. He
+drives a good ball, plays his irons well, and is exceedingly useful at
+the short game; in fact, he is a first-rate all-round man." Expecting
+confirmation of this eulogium, he turned to his caddie and said, "You
+know the Captain's play well enough. Now, what sort of a player would
+you say he is?" The caddie replied scornfully, "Captain Blank! He canna
+play a shot worth a d----. He's nae better than yoursel'!"
+
+The fact is that no player is great in the eyes of his caddie, for on
+one occasion when two gentlemen who were very fair hands at the game
+were doing a round and being closely pressed by a couple behind, who
+seemed to be driving inordinately long balls, one of them observed that
+perhaps they had better let them go through as they seemed to be playing
+both well and quickly. "Na, na, naething o' the kind," interposed one of
+the caddies. "They're just twa duffers like yersels!" And great eminence
+in other fields counts for nothing with the caddie if his man cannot
+golf in good style. There is the story told by Mr. Balfour of the
+distinguished general, hero of many battles, who, having duly found his
+way into his twentieth bunker, was startled by a cry of irritation from
+his caddie, "Come, come, old gentleman, this will never do!" This great
+statesman-golfer relates another anecdote showing that caddies are much
+the same the whole world over. An English golfer was playing at Pau and
+had a French caddie attending upon him. He made one particularly fine
+approach shot, and, as golfers will at such times, he turned round to
+the boy with excusable vanity for applause. But the boy's English
+vocabulary so far comprised only two words which he had heard uttered
+on several occasions, but the sense of which he did not understand.
+Feeling sure, however, that they must be appropriate to this occasion,
+and desiring to be appreciative, he smiled pleasantly into the golfer's
+face and murmured, "Beastly fluke!" Mr. Balfour, by the way, has a
+particular and decided taste in caddies, for he has written that he can
+gladly endure severe or even contemptuous criticism from them; can bear
+to have it pointed out to him that all his misfortunes are the direct
+and inevitable result of his own folly; can listen with equanimity when
+failure is prophesied of some stroke he is attempting, and can note
+unmoved the self-satisfied smile with which the fulfilment of the
+prophecy is accentuated; but ignorant and stupid indifference is
+intolerable to him. The caddie, in the statesman's opinion, is not, and
+ought not, to be regarded as a machine for carrying clubs at a shilling
+a round, but rather occupies, or ought to occupy, the position of
+competent adviser or interested spectator. The caddie ought to be as
+anxious for the success of his side as if he were one of the players,
+and should watch each move in the game with benevolent if critical
+interest, being always ready with the appropriate club, and, if need be,
+with the appropriate comment.
+
+But I don't like to see this anxiety for the success of one's fortunes
+upon the links carried to excess. It is then a disturbing factor, and
+its humorous aspect does not always appeal to one as it should. Some
+golfers might be flattered when they come to know that their caddies
+have backed them to the extent of half the remuneration they will
+receive for carrying the clubs for the round. It is a touching
+expression of the caddie's belief in them. But after all this kind of
+thing does not help to make a good caddie. Apart from other
+considerations, it does not make the boy carry any the better because he
+is over-anxious about the result of the match, and, though some golfers
+might be inclined to ridicule the suggestion, it nevertheless is a
+disturbing element in one's game if one knows that even the caddie will
+be very deeply concerned if every stroke does not come off just as well
+as it ought to do. The caddie is not above letting you know of his
+wager; sometimes he will even tell you of it. Two golfers of some
+Highland celebrity were playing a match one day at Luffness, and after a
+hard round they came to the eighteenth tee all square and but this one
+hole to play. At this critical stage of the game the caddie of one of
+them approached his master and nervously whispered to him, "Please, sir,
+wad ye do your very best here, for there's money on this match." And the
+golfer did try to do his very best indeed, but he pressed and he
+foozled, and he lost the hole and the match. Sympathetically he turned
+to his caddie to ask him what was the amount of the lost wager that he
+might pay it for him and soften his disappointment. "It was a penny,
+sir," said the boy.
+
+But despite his constant sarcasm and his utter inability to tolerate
+anything except the very best in golf, there is after all much good
+human kindness in your caddie if he is worthy of the name. "Big
+Crawford" will always be remembered as a fine specimen. On the day when
+Mr. A.J. Balfour played himself into the captaincy of the Royal and
+Ancient club, a gentleman who was looking on, and who was well
+acquainted with the fact that when Mr. Balfour was in Ireland as Chief
+Secretary he never played a round of any of the Irish links without
+having plain-clothes detectives walking fore and aft, inquired very
+audibly, "Is there no one looking after Mr. Balfour now?" "Big Crawford"
+was carrying for him that day, and he heard the question. He turned with
+a look of severe pride towards the quarter whence it came, and answered
+it as loudly, "Aw'm lookin' aifter Maister Balfour." There was nothing
+more to be said. The chief of the Conservatives has certainly an
+enormous popularity with the caddies. He so evidently loves his golf so
+much, and he has great sympathy with them. He bears amiably with their
+weaknesses. He was one day playing a match with Tom Dunn, who was his
+tutor, at North Berwick, and by a mixture of skill and luck was enabled
+to hole out at "Pointgarry out" in two. It happened that he received a
+stroke from Dunn at this hole, and the caddie ingeniously pointed out to
+him that he was thus entitled to consider that he had done the hole in
+one. "How excellent!" he said. But in the same breath the caddie begged
+leave to remind him that it was customary for all good golfers to
+celebrate the performance of this particular feat by the bestowal of
+some special token upon their caddies. Mr. Balfour was amused. He
+tantalised the boy by observing that rather than that he should have to
+pay anyone for watching him do these great things, he surely ought to
+receive remuneration from all spectators for doing them. The boy felt
+that there was truth in this new view of things, and a sad look was
+stealing over his face, when the right honourable gentleman handed over
+to him the customary fee. Another time on the links, two officers, a
+Colonel and a Major, were playing in front of Mr. Balfour and his
+partner, when the latter were courteously invited to go through so that
+their enjoyment of the round would not be interfered with by any
+waiting. At the moment when Mr. Balfour was passing the others, he was
+surprised to hear a word of command called out by the Colonel's caddie,
+who happened to be a Lucknow veteran. "Attention! Eyes front! Shoulder
+arms! Present arms!" And thereupon each of the caddies took from his bag
+a driver and with it presented arms in proper soldierly style, Mr.
+Balfour, who was Chief Secretary at the time, smiling with pleasure at
+the interesting compliment and acknowledging the salute. He has a
+remarkable memory for the caddies who have served him, and once, when on
+the tee, just about to engage in a foursome, he recognised one of his
+opponents' caddies as a boy who on a former occasion had carried his own
+clubs, and he nodded to him kindly. Naturally the caddie was immensely
+pleased, and turning to one of his colleagues he remarked, "Ye see hoo
+we Conservatives ken ane anither!"
+
+Another instance of the deep humanity of "Big Crawford," whom I have
+just mentioned, occurred on one occasion when he was carrying for an
+Edinburgh clergyman, who, in going for the Redan, had the misfortune to
+be badly bunkered, his ball, in addition to the other difficulties of
+the situation, lying in a deep heel mark. He was palpably in great agony
+of mind, all the greater in that he never uttered a word. Crawford crept
+quietly to his side and whispered gently, "What a peety! What a peety!
+But gin an aith wad relieve ye, sir, dinna mind me, dinna mind me!" and
+thereupon he discreetly retired for some little distance. Sandy Smith,
+another famous caddie, was one day carrying for a player who had the
+good fortune to be no fewer than six holes up on his opponent by the
+time the eighth hole was reached. At this green, something having gone
+wrong with the reckoning of the strokes, there was a mild dispute as to
+whether the hole had been won by Sandy's man or whether it had been
+halved. Eventually it was agreed that it was halved, but as the players
+moved away to the next tee, he who was six down being out of earshot in
+front, his opponent remarked to Sandy, "You know, Sandy, I still think I
+won that hole after all." Sandy seemed shocked at such a cold-blooded
+greed for holes, and reprovingly, very seriously, and sharply said to
+his employer, "Haud yer tongue, sir; haud yer tongue. Wad ye break the
+man's heart?" Sandy used to remark that "the finest gowffer on the green
+was Maister Edward Blyth," and it was not until he had expressed this
+opinion with an almost wearying frequency that his hearers suspected
+that there was some connection between his choice and the fact, which he
+admitted one day, that "his auld claes fits me best." Apparently he had
+the measure of every player on the course. "I'm wantin' a word wi' ye,
+Mr. Blyth," he said to his favourite one day. "What is it, Sandy?" "It's
+no' muckle, sir; it's jist this, ye ken. I'm wantin' an auld suit o'
+claes frae ye; ye're the only man hereaboot that'll fit me." But
+apparently there were others, for one day when a player for whom he was
+carrying asked him if he knew the Lord Justice-Clerk, who happened just
+then to be passing in a foursome, Sandy replied, "That's Lord Kingsbury,
+ye mean. O ay, he's a great freen' o' mine. Naebody kens his lordship
+better nor me. Thae's his breeks I've on."
+
+Golfers should, I think, sometimes be on their guard lest a too
+kind-hearted caddie, in an excess of zeal for his employer, should be
+tempted to transgress the laws of the game, or depart from strict
+truthfulness in his behalf. Sometimes it is done with a wonderful air of
+innocence and simplicity. Caddies have been known, when their employers
+have been in doubt as to exactly how many strokes they have played at
+certain holes, to give an emphatic, but none the less untruthful
+declaration, on the side of fewness. They mean well, but mistakenly, and
+it is better for everybody concerned, but particularly for the caddies,
+that they should be severely reprimanded when there is reason to doubt
+their good faith.
+
+And who shall say that another, and for our purposes the final
+characteristic of the average caddie of experience, is not a wonderful
+amount of solid worldly common-sense of a variety specially adapted to
+golf? And what golfer is there who has not at one time or another had
+the advantage of it? But he may at the time have been unconscious of the
+assistance. There is the historic case of the caddie on the Scottish
+links who warned a beginner, dallying too much on the tee, that he
+"maunna address the ba' sae muckle." Forthwith the southern tyro,
+greatly exasperated at his own failures, burst out, "So far as I know I
+haven't said a word to the infernal thing, but the irritation of this
+beastly game is enough, and if I have any more of your confounded tongue
+you may repent it!" Then the caddie murmured to himself, "I dinna like
+'is look. I'll better get 'm roond as pleesant as possible." Could any
+advice have been more delicately worded than that of the caddie to the
+stout clergyman who with all his strength made a most mighty swing at
+his ball on the tee with the usual result--a foozle? "It'll nae do, sir;
+ye ken ye canna drive as far as that." "Wha--wha--what do you mean by
+such a remark? As far as what?" gasped the reverend but irate gentleman.
+"I jist mean, sir, that ye canna drive as far as ye wad like."
+
+Perhaps we shall never hear the best caddie stories, for is it not
+likely that a great abundance of them are made and told in the sheds
+after the day's play is over, and when the golfer's tools are being
+wiped and cleaned, and his irons burnished to a beautiful brightness? It
+is then that the caddie is in his happiest vein, his tongue and
+disposition untrammelled by the presence of the club members. "What're
+ye doin' cleanin' them clubs so grand?" asked one caddie of another, who
+was evidently bestowing unusual pains on the polishing of the set that
+were in his keeping. The caddie was in a thoughtful mood. He was the
+regular attendant of an old golfer who had had a most disastrous day.
+"I'm to clean 'em better than ever," he answered. "And when I've cleaned
+'em I've got to break 'em across my knee. And then I've got to chuck 'em
+in the bloomin' river." Sometimes, we see, if he is a simple-hearted,
+faithful caddie, his lot is not a happy one.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+REFLECTIONS AND RECOLLECTIONS
+
+     Good golf to come--Giants of the past--The amateurs of to-day--The
+     greatness of "Freddy" Tait--Modern professionals--Good sportsmen
+     and good friends--A misconception--The constant strain--How we
+     always play our best--Difficult tasks--No "close season" in
+     golf--Spectators at big matches--Certain anecdotes--Putting for
+     applause--Shovelling from a bunker--The greatest match I have ever
+     played in--A curious incident--A record in halves--A
+     coincidence--The exasperation of Andrew--The coming of spring--The
+     joyful golfer.
+
+
+I think that every good golfer of experience reflects upon his past
+history with mingled pleasure and sorrow--pleasure when he calls to mind
+all the many glorious matches in which he has taken part, and sorrow
+when the thought arises that all that golf has been played and done
+with, and can never be played again. But we have all this abiding
+consolation, that even if we cannot retain our very best form to the end
+of our days, we can hope still to play a good game to the finish, and
+there is the heroic example of rare old Tom Morris to stimulate us in
+this hope. Much is given to golfers,--perhaps more than to the
+participators in any other sport,--but they are rarely satisfied. The
+wonderful fascination of golf is indicated in this eternal longing for
+more. Sometimes when I glance over the records of the history of the
+game, I feel a twinge of regret that it was not possible for me to play
+with, or even to see, such giants of the past as Allan Robertson, David
+Strath, the Dunns, Willie Campbell, Willie Park, senior, or the famous
+young Tom Morris. Golf is great to-day, but it must have been great in
+those days also, even if there was less of it than there is now.
+
+But I have had the good fortune to play with all the well-known amateurs
+and professionals of my own time, and it is pleasant to think that they
+are nearly all still alive, and that therefore I may sometime or another
+play with them again. There is one great exception--Mr. Fred Tait, who
+was killed in South Africa. I don't think anyone could ever have the
+smallest doubt about the reason for his enormous popularity. I had the
+delight of playing against him two or three times, and I thought that he
+was not only a very fine golfer indeed, but one of the very finest
+gentlemen that I could imagine. It is something for me to remember that
+I played in the last important match in which he figured before he went
+out to the war--an international foursome, England _v._ Scotland, that
+was played at Ganton, Willie Park and Mr. Tait representing Scotland,
+while Mr. John Ball, junior, and I were for England. From all the
+amateurs with whom I have ever come in contact I have always received
+the very greatest kindness and encouragement, and I do not know a single
+one with whom I would not like to play again some day or other. It has
+always seemed to me that there is something about golf that makes a man
+a good fellow whether he is amateur or professional.
+
+I wish to speak in the same way about my professional brothers as I have
+done about the amateurs. I have always found them all first-class
+sportsmen in the strictest and best sense of the word, and some of the
+best friends I have in the world are among them. There are some very
+fine players among the professionals of to-day. I have often watched and
+greatly admired the splendid skill of such friends and constant
+opponents as J.H. Taylor, James Braid, Alexander Herd, Jack White, and
+many others whose names would fill a page, not forgetting my own brother
+Tom. I have from time to time been indebted to many of them for various
+acts of kindness. There is a fine spirit of freemasonry amongst us
+professionals. Whenever we play against each other each of us does his
+level best to win, and gives no quarter with a single stroke, but it has
+been my invariable experience that when the match is over the loser is
+always the first to congratulate the winner, and to do it not as a mere
+matter of form but with the very utmost sincerity.
+
+And here I should like to say a few words with the object of removing a
+misconception which still seems to linger in the minds of followers of
+the game. "Dear me, Vardon, what a grand time you fellows have,
+travelling all over the country in this manner, and doing nothing but
+playing golf on the very best courses," is the kind of remark that often
+greets me when I have just returned from playing in one match or
+tournament, and am due to start for another in a day or two. But I am
+not sure that we have such a grand time as those who say these things
+seem to think. We enjoy it just because we enjoy everything connected
+with golf, and particularly the playing of it; but playing these
+exhibition matches is not quite the same thing as going away for the
+week-end and having a quiet round or two with a friend, however hard you
+may try to beat him. Some people entertain a fancy that we do not need
+to strain ourselves to the utmost in these engagements, and that
+therefore we take things easily. I can answer for myself, and I am sure
+for all my brother professionals, that we never take things easily, that
+we always play the very best golf of which we are capable, and that if a
+championship rested on each match we could not play any better. It must
+be remembered that when we are invited by any club to play an exhibition
+match, that club expects to see some golf, and thus it happens that the
+fear of a great responsibility is always overhanging us. We dare not
+play tricks with such reputations as we may have had the good fortune to
+obtain. We are always well aware that there are very good golfers in the
+crowd, who are watching and criticising every stroke that we make.
+Therefore we keep ourselves in the very best of condition, and do our
+utmost always to play our best. How difficult is our task when sometimes
+we are not feeling as well as we might wish--as must occasionally
+happen--I will leave the charitable reader to imagine. Has he ever felt
+like playing his best game when a little below par in either mind or
+body? This is where the really hard work of the professional's life
+comes in. There is no "close season" in golf, as in cricket, football,
+and other sports. When a cricketer plays indifferently, after two months
+of the game, his admirers cry out that he is stale and needs a rest. But
+there are eleven players on each side in a cricket match, and constant
+rests for all of them, so that to my mind their work is very light in
+comparison with that of the golfer, who enjoys no "close season," and
+has all the work of each match on his own shoulders. Surely he also must
+become stale, but such a state on his part is not tolerated. Again, one
+often hears that a certain match between professional players has been
+halved purposely--that is to say, that it was an arranged thing from
+start to finish. Such things may have happened in other sports, but take
+it from me that it never, never happens in golf. One man never plays
+down to another, whatever disparity there may be in their respective
+degrees of skill. It does not matter how many holes one is up on one's
+opponent; there is never any slackening until the game has been won. It
+makes no difference if the man you are playing against is your very best
+friend or your brother, and one has sometimes to pass through the trying
+ordeal of straining his every nerve to win a match when in his heart of
+hearts, for some particular reason, he would like the other man to win.
+I intrude these affairs of our own in these concluding reflections only
+for the purpose of indicating that, though we love our game and always
+enjoy it, professional golf is not quite the same thing as that played
+by amateurs, and must not be judged from the same standpoint. I think it
+is because of this continual sense of a great responsibility, and the
+custom and necessity of always--absolutely always--trying to play our
+very best game, that the leading professionals are constantly a stroke
+or two better than the most skilful amateurs, even though the latter
+practise the game quite as much, and have apparently just as much
+opportunity, or even more, of making themselves perfect.
+
+I have mentioned the spectators. I have generally found the crowds who
+follow a big professional match round the links both highly intelligent
+and exceedingly considerate. But sometimes we overhear some strange
+things said. Taylor and I were once fulfilling an important engagement
+together, and when my opponent had a particularly difficult shot to
+play, two ladies came up quite close to him and persisted in talking in
+a loud tone of voice. Taylor waited for a little while in the hope that
+their chatter would cease, but it did not. Then, in a feeling of
+desperation, he attempted to address his ball; but the task was
+hopeless. The conversation went on more loudly than ever, and he was
+doomed to certain failure if he attempted his stroke in these
+circumstances. So he stood up again, and looked round in the direction
+whence the voices came. "Oh," said one of the ladies then, "you can go
+on now. We've quite finished." We must be thankful for small mercies.
+James Braid and I were once playing down at Beckenham. At one of the
+putting greens we were both a long way from the hole. My ball was a
+trifle the more distant of the two, and so I played the odd, and managed
+to get down a wonderfully fine putt. Then Braid played the like and
+holed out also. These were two rather creditable achievements with our
+putters. When his ball had trickled safely into the hole, and the
+spectators were moving towards the next tee, Braid and I were amused,
+but not flattered, by the words of a man who was speaking to a friend in
+such a loud voice that we could all hear. "Oh," he exclaimed
+deprecatingly, "those fellows only do that sort of thing for the sake of
+the applause!" How happy we should be if we could always make certain
+of those long putts without any applause at all! It was with Braid also
+that I was playing in a match at Luton towards the close of last year,
+when I overheard a singular remark. I happened to be bunkered at the
+fourteenth, and took my niblick to get out, but lost the hole. We walked
+on together to the next tee, and Braid was taking his stance when we
+heard two gentlemen eagerly discussing and explaining the recent bunker
+incident. Evidently one of them was supposed to know something of golf
+and the other nothing at all. "You see," said the former to his friend,
+"there is really no rule in the matter at all. Vardon or any other
+player could have used a shovel in that bunker and have simply shovelled
+the ball over on to the other side." I was surprised that Braid got his
+next tee shot in so well as he did. And how very often have I heard the
+question asked in the crowd, "Why do those fellows chalk the faces of
+their clubs?" and how invariably has the answer been, "So that they can
+see afterwards where they hit the ball!" When I write my recollection of
+these things, I do not wish it to be imagined that I am making any sort
+of accusation against golf crowds generally. They are excellent from all
+points of view; but it must inevitably happen that there are some people
+among them who know little of the game, and others who do not appreciate
+what a trying ordeal a hard-fought match usually is.
+
+Such questions are often put to me as, "Vardon, what was the greatest
+match in which you ever played?" or, "What was the most extraordinary
+occurrence you have ever seen on the links?" and so forth. They are
+questions which it is difficult to answer, for is not nearly every match
+that we play brimful of incident and interest, and at the time do we not
+regard many of the incidents as most extraordinary? It would, then, be
+too serious a task to attempt a selection from such a huge mass. But,
+looking back over the last few years, it seems that my L100 match with
+Willie Park is that which remains uppermost in my mind, and the one
+that I am least likely to forget. There was more talking and writing
+about it than about any other match in which I have played. The
+"gallery" that followed this match was the greatest I have ever seen or
+heard of. And as I am questioned also about the curious and the singular
+in golf, I may say that there was a coincidence in this game that struck
+me at the time as being quite unusual. In a closely-fought match it is
+often interesting to notice how nearly each player's ball often follows
+the other. Frequently they are side by side within one or two clubs'
+length after the drives from the tee. But in the first stage of this
+match against Park, after he had driven a long ball from the tee at the
+eleventh hole, I drove and my ball pitched exactly on the top of his!
+The Messrs. Hunter were kindly serving in the capacity of forecaddies,
+and they were both positive upon this incident. My ball after striking
+his rebounded slightly, and then stopped dead about two feet behind. Its
+position rather affected my follow-through, so that I duffed my stroke
+and lost the hole. This record--if it was a record--was also the means
+of eclipsing what I believe was another record in first-class golf. The
+first ten holes in this match were halved, and it was the incident of
+which I have just been speaking and the duffed stroke that followed it
+that led to the breaking of the sequence.
+
+"Now, Vardon, how often have you holed out in one?" they ask me also,
+regardless of the fact that this event demands not only a perfect shot
+but a perfect fluke, and that the professional player is no more likely
+to accomplish it than anyone else. Well, I have only been guilty of this
+fluke on one occasion--and that was not so very long ago--and when it
+happened it was at a hole a little over two hundred yards in length. On
+one occasion, also, I have enjoyed the coincidence of holing out with my
+mashie approach at the same hole twice in one day. That was in the
+course of a tournament at Elie, in which I had the good fortune to
+finish first. As it happened, Andrew Kirkaldy, who hoped to end high up
+in the list, was my partner for the first round, and it came about also
+that he was watching me play when the holing-out process was
+accomplished for the second time. Then he lifted up his hands in horror
+and delivered himself of his famous remark, "Ye're enough to break the
+heart of an iron ox!" During the last round of this same tournament
+Andrew, who was playing some holes behind me, and was then himself in
+the running for the first place, was kept posted up by a friend as to my
+score for each hole. He did not seem to derive much encouragement from
+the reports, for when the last one was carried to him he asked the
+friend who brought it if he thought that there was nobody who could play
+golf besides Vardon, and intimated at the same time that if anyone else
+brought him any more of those tales he would strike him with his
+niblick! Of course we all know what a really fine fellow is Andrew
+Kirkaldy, and how much poorer the golf world would be without his
+presence and his constant humour.
+
+And now I think I have holed out on the last green and this long match
+is finished. After all it is better to play golf than to write or read
+about it. What anticipation is more gloriously joyful than that of the
+man who handles his driver on the first tee on a bright morning of the
+spring-time! He has all the round, and all the day, and all the spring
+and summer and autumn before him. And at this moment another spring is
+breaking brightly, and the golf that is before each of us promises to be
+as momentous and soul-satisfying as any that has gone before.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+THE RULES OF GOLF
+
+     _Authorised by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews,
+     revised by the Club to September 27, 1904, and in force at the date
+     of publication of this work._
+
+
+1. DEFINITIONS.--(_a_) The Game of Golf is played by two sides, each
+playing its own ball. A side consists either of one or of two players.
+If one player play against another the match is called a "single." If
+two play against two, it is called a "foursome." One player may play
+against two playing one ball between them, when the match is called a
+"threesome." Matches constituted as above shall have precedence of and
+be entitled to pass any other kind of match.
+
+(_b_) The game consists in each side playing a ball from a teeing-ground
+into a hole by successive strokes, and the hole is won by the side which
+holes its ball in fewer strokes than the opposite side, except as
+otherwise provided for in the Rules. If the sides hole out in the same
+number of strokes, the hole is halved.
+
+(_c_) The "teeing-ground" is the starting-point for a hole, and shall be
+indicated by two marks placed in a line as nearly as possible at right
+angles to the course.
+
+The hole shall be 4-1/4 inches in diameter, and at least 4 inches deep.
+
+(_d_) The "putting-green" is all ground within 20 yards of the hole,
+except hazards.
+
+(_e_) A "hazard" is any bunker, water (except casual water), sand, path,
+road, railway, whin, bush, rushes, rabbit scrape, fence, or ditch. Sand
+blown on to the grass, or sprinkled on the course for its preservation,
+bare patches, sheep tracks, snow, and ice are not hazards. Permanent
+grass within a hazard is not part of the hazard.
+
+(_f_) "Through the green" is any part of the course except hazards and
+the putting-green which is being played to.
+
+(_g_) "Out of bounds" is any place outside the defined or recognised
+boundaries of the course.
+
+(_h_) "Casual water" is any temporary accumulation of water (whether
+caused by rainfall or otherwise) which is not one of the ordinary and
+recognised hazards of the course.
+
+(_i_) A ball is "in play" as soon as the player has made a stroke at the
+teeing-ground in each hole, and remains in play until holed out, except
+when lifted in accordance with the Rules.
+
+(_j_) A ball has "moved" only if it leave its original position in the
+least degree, and stop in another; but if it merely oscillate, without
+finally leaving its original position, it has not "moved."
+
+(_k_) A ball is "lost" if it be not found within five minutes after the
+search for it is begun.
+
+(_l_) A "match" consists of one round of the links, unless it be
+otherwise agreed.
+
+A match is won by the side which is leading by a number of holes greater
+than the number of holes remaining to be played. If each side win the
+same number of holes, the match is halved.
+
+(_m_) A "stroke" is any movement of the ball caused by the player,
+except as provided for in Rule 3, or any downward movement of the club
+made with the intention of striking the ball.
+
+(_n_) A "penalty stroke" is a stroke added to the score of a side under
+certain rules, and does not affect the rotation of play.
+
+(_o_) The "honour" is the privilege of playing first from a
+teeing-ground.
+
+(_p_) A player has "addressed the ball" when he has taken up his
+position and grounded his club, or if in a hazard, when he has taken up
+his position preparatory to striking the ball.
+
+(_q_) The reckoning of strokes is kept by the terms--"the odd," "two
+more," "three more," etc., and "one off three," "one off two," "the
+like." The reckoning of holes is kept by the terms--so many "holes up,"
+or "all even," and so many "to play."
+
+2. A match begins by each side playing a ball from the first
+teeing-ground.
+
+The player who shall play first on each side shall be named by his own
+side.
+
+The option of taking the honour at the first teeing-ground shall be
+decided, if necessary, by lot.
+
+A ball played from in front of, or outside of, or more than two club
+lengths behind the marks indicating the teeing-ground, or played by a
+player when his opponent should have had the honour, may be at once
+recalled by the opposite side, and may be re-teed without penalty.
+
+The side which wins a hole shall have the honour at the next
+teeing-ground. If a hole has been halved, the side which had the honour
+at the previous teeing-ground shall retain the honour.
+
+On beginning a new match, the winner of the long match in the previous
+round shall have the honour, or if the previous match was halved the
+side which last won a hole shall have the honour.
+
+3. If the ball fall or be knocked off the tee in addressing it, no
+penalty shall be incurred, and it may be replaced, and if struck when
+moving no penalty shall be incurred.
+
+4. In a threesome or foursome the partners shall strike off alternately
+from the teeing-grounds, and shall strike alternately during the play of
+the hole.
+
+If a player play when his partner should have done so, his side shall
+lose the hole.
+
+5. When the balls are in play, the ball further from the hole which the
+players are approaching shall be played first, except as otherwise
+provided for in the Rules. If a player play when his opponent should
+have done so, the opponent may at once recall the stroke. A ball so
+recalled shall be dropped, in the manner prescribed in Rule 15, as near
+as possible to the place where it lay, without penalty.
+
+6. The ball must be fairly struck at, not pushed, scraped, nor spooned,
+under penalty of the loss of the hole.
+
+7. A ball must be played wherever it lies or the hole be given up,
+except as otherwise provided for in the Rules.
+
+8. Unless with the opponent's consent, a ball in play shall not be moved
+nor touched before the hole is played out, under penalty of one stroke,
+except as otherwise provided for in the Rules. But the player may touch
+his ball with his club in the act of addressing it, provided he does not
+move it, without penalty.
+
+If the player's ball move the opponent's ball through the green, the
+opponent, if he choose, may drop a ball (without penalty) as near as
+possible to the place where it lay, but this must be done before another
+stroke is played.
+
+9. In playing through the green, any loose impediment (not being in or
+touching a hazard) which is within a club length of the ball may be
+removed. If the player's ball move after any such loose impediment has
+been touched by the player, his partner, or either of their caddies, the
+penalty shall be one stroke. If any loose impediment (not being on the
+putting-green) which is more than a club length from the ball be
+removed, the penalty shall be the loss of the hole.
+
+10. Any vessel, wheel-barrow, tool, roller, grass cutter, box or similar
+obstruction may be removed. If a ball be moved in so doing, it may be
+replaced without penalty. A ball lying on or touching such obstruction,
+or on clothes, nets, or ground under repair or covered up or opened for
+the purpose of the upkeep of the links, may be lifted and dropped
+without penalty as near as possible to the place where it lay, but not
+nearer the hole. A ball lifted in a hazard, under such circumstances,
+shall be dropped in the hazard.
+
+A ball lying in a golf hole or flag hole, or in a hole made by the
+greenkeeper, may be lifted and dropped without penalty as near as
+possible to the place where it lay, but not nearer the hole.
+
+11. Before striking at a ball in play, the player shall not move, bend,
+nor break anything fixed or growing near the ball, except in the act of
+placing his feet on the ground for the purpose of addressing the ball,
+in soling his club to address the ball, and in his upward or downward
+swing, under penalty of the loss of the hole, except as otherwise
+provided for in the Rules.
+
+12. When a ball lies in or touches a hazard, nothing shall be done to
+improve its lie; the club shall not touch the ground, nor shall anything
+be touched or moved before the player strikes at the ball, subject to
+the following exceptions:--(1) The player may place his feet firmly on
+the ground for the purpose of addressing the ball; (2) in addressing the
+ball, or in the upward or downward swing, any grass, bent, whin, or
+other growing substance, or the side of a bunker, wall, paling, or other
+immovable obstacle, may be touched; (3) steps or planks placed in a
+hazard by the Green Committee for access to or egress from such hazard
+may be removed, and if a ball be moved in so doing, it may be replaced
+without penalty; (4) any loose impediments may be removed from the
+putting-green; (5) the player shall be entitled to find his ball as
+provided for by Rule 31. The penalty for a breach of this Rule shall be
+the loss of the hole.
+
+13. A player or caddie shall not press down nor remove any
+irregularities of surface near a ball in play. Dung, worm-casts, or
+mole-hills may be removed (but not pressed down) without penalty. The
+penalty for a breach of this Rule shall be the loss of the hole.
+
+14. (1) If a ball lie or be lost in water or in casual water in a
+hazard, a ball may be dropped in or as far behind the hazard as the
+player may please, under penalty of one stroke; but if it be impossible
+from want of space in which to play, or from any other cause, to drop
+the ball behind the hazard, the player may drop a ball at the side of
+the hazard as near as possible to where the ball lay, but not nearer to
+the hole, under penalty of one stroke. (2) If a ball lie or be lost in
+casual water through the green, or if casual water through the green
+interferes with the player's stance, the player may drop a ball, without
+penalty, within two club lengths from the margin directly behind the
+place where the ball lay, or from the margin nearest to the place where
+the ball lay, but not nearer to the hole. If the ball when dropped roll
+into the water, or rest so that the water interferes with the player's
+stance, it may be re-dropped, without penalty, as near to the margin as
+the nature of the ground permits, but not nearer to the hole. (3) In
+dropping a ball behind the spot from which the ball was lifted, the
+player shall keep that spot, or, in the case of water, the spot at which
+the ball entered, in a line between himself and the hole. Wherever it is
+impossible to drop a ball as prescribed in sections (1) and (2), it
+shall be dropped as near as possible to the place where it lay, but not
+nearer to the hole. (4) If a ball lie in casual water on a
+putting-green, a ball may be placed by hand behind the water without
+penalty. The penalty for a breach of this Rule shall be the loss of the
+hole.
+
+15. A ball shall be dropped in the following manner:--The player himself
+shall drop it. He shall face the hole, stand erect and drop the ball
+behind him from his head. If the ball when dropped touch the player he
+shall incur no penalty, and if it roll into a hazard it may be
+re-dropped without penalty. The penalty for a breach of this Rule shall
+be the loss of the hole.
+
+16. When the balls lie within six inches of each other on the
+putting-green, or within a club length of each other through the green
+or in a hazard (the distance to be measured from their nearest points),
+the ball nearer the hole may, at the option of either the player or the
+opponent, be lifted until the other is played, and shall then be
+replaced as near as possible to the place where it lay. If the ball
+further from the hole be moved in so doing, or in measuring the
+distance, it shall be replaced without penalty. If the lie of the lifted
+ball be altered by the player in playing, the ball may be placed in a
+lie as nearly as possible similar to that from which it was lifted, but
+not nearer the hole.
+
+17. Any loose impediments may be removed from the putting-green,
+irrespective of the position of the player's ball. The opponent's ball
+may not be moved except as provided for by the immediately preceding
+Rule. If the player's ball move after any loose impediment lying within
+six inches of it has been touched by the player, his partner, or either
+of their caddies, the penalty shall be one stroke.
+
+18. When the ball is on the putting-green, the player or his caddie may
+remove (but not press down) sand, earth, dung, worm-casts, mole-hills,
+snow, or ice lying around the hole or in the line of his putt. This
+shall be done by brushing lightly with the hand only across the putt and
+not along it. Dung may be removed by a club, but the club must not be
+laid with more than its own weight upon the ground. The line of the putt
+must not be touched, except with the club immediately in front of the
+ball, in the act of addressing it, or as above authorised. The penalty
+for a breach of this Rule is the loss of the hole.
+
+19. When the ball is on the putting-green, no mark shall be placed, nor
+line drawn as a guide. The line of the putt may be pointed out by the
+player's caddie, his partner, or his partner's caddie, but the person
+doing so must not touch the ground.
+
+The player's caddie, his partner, or his partner's caddie, may stand at
+the hole, but no player nor caddie shall endeavour, by moving or
+otherwise, to influence the action of the wind upon the ball.
+
+The penalty for a breach of this Rule is the loss of the hole.
+
+20. When on the putting-green, a player shall not play until his
+opponent's ball is at rest, under penalty of one stroke.
+
+21. Either side is entitled to have the flag-stick removed when
+approaching the hole, but if a player's ball strike the flag-stick
+which has been so removed by himself, or his partner, or either of
+their caddies, his side shall lose the hole. If the ball rest against
+the flag-stick when in the hole, the player shall be entitled to remove
+the stick, and if the ball fall in, it shall be deemed as having been
+holed out at the last stroke. If the player's ball knock in the
+opponent's ball, the latter shall be deemed as having been holed out at
+the last stroke. If the player's ball move the opponent's ball, the
+opponent, if he choose, may replace it, but this must be done before
+another stroke is played. If the player's ball stop on the spot formerly
+occupied by the opponent's ball, and the opponent declare his intention
+to replace, the player shall first play another stroke, after which the
+opponent shall replace and play his ball. If the opponent's ball lie on
+the edge of the hole, the player, after holing out, may knock it away,
+claiming the hole if holing at the like, and the half if holing at the
+odd, provided that the player's ball does not strike the opponent's ball
+and set it in motion. If after the player's ball is in the hole, the
+player neglect to knock away the opponent's ball, and it fall in also,
+the opponent shall be deemed to have holed out at his last stroke.
+
+22. If a ball _in motion_ be stopped or deflected by any agency outside
+the match, or by the forecaddie, the ball must be played from where it
+lies, and the occurrence submitted to as a "rub of the green." If a ball
+lodge in anything moving, a ball shall be dropped as near as possible to
+the place where the object was when the ball lodged in it, without
+penalty. If a ball _at rest_ be displaced by any agency outside the
+match, excepting wind, the player shall drop a ball as near as possible
+to the place where it lay, without penalty. On the putting-green the
+ball shall be replaced by hand, without penalty.
+
+23. If the player's ball strike, or be moved by an opponent or an
+opponent's caddie or clubs, the opponent shall lose the hole.
+
+24. When a player has holed out and his opponent has been left with a
+putt for the half, nothing that the player can do shall deprive him of
+the half which he has already gained.
+
+25. If a player's ball strike, or be stopped by himself or his partner,
+or either of their caddies or clubs, his side shall lose the hole.
+
+26. If the player, when not intending to make a stroke, or his partner,
+or either of their caddies, move his or their ball, or by touching
+anything cause it to move when it is in play, the penalty shall be one
+stroke. If a ball in play move, after the player has grounded his club
+in the act of addressing it, or, when in a hazard, if he has taken up
+his stand to play it, he shall be deemed to have caused it to move, and
+the movement shall be counted as his stroke.
+
+27. Except from the tee a player shall not play while his ball is
+moving, under penalty of the loss of the hole. If the ball only begin to
+move while the player is making his upward or downward swing, he shall
+incur no penalty for playing while it is moving, but is not exempted
+from the penalty stroke which he may have incurred under Rules 9, 17, or
+26, and in a foursome a stroke lost under Rule 26 shall not, in these
+circumstances, be counted as the stroke of the player so as to render
+him liable for having played when his partner should have done so.
+
+28. If the player when making a stroke strike the ball twice, the
+penalty shall be one stroke, and he shall incur no further penalty by
+reason of his having played while his ball was moving.
+
+29. If a player play the opponent's ball, his side shall lose the hole,
+unless (1) the opponent then play the player's ball, whereby the penalty
+is cancelled, and the hole must be played out with the balls thus
+exchanged, or (2) the mistake occur through wrong information given by
+the opponent or his caddie, in which case there shall be no penalty, but
+the mistake, if discovered before the opponent has played, must be
+rectified by placing a ball as near as possible to the place where the
+opponent's ball lay.
+
+If a player play a stroke with the ball of a party not engaged in the
+match, and the mistake be discovered and intimated to his opponent
+before his opponent has played his next stroke, there shall be no
+penalty; but if the mistake be not discovered and so intimated until
+after the opponent has played his next stroke, the player's side shall
+lose the hole.
+
+30. If a ball be lost, except as otherwise provided for in the Rules,
+the player's side shall lose the hole; but if both balls be lost, the
+hole shall be considered halved.
+
+31. If a ball lie in fog, bent, whins, long grass, or the like, only so
+much thereof shall be touched as will enable the player to find his
+ball; but if a ball lie in sand, the sand shall not be touched. The
+penalty for a breach of this Rule shall be the loss of the hole.
+
+32. If a ball be played out of bounds, a ball shall be dropped at the
+spot from which the stroke was played, under penalty of loss of the
+distance. A ball played out of bounds need not be found.
+
+If it be doubtful whether a ball has been played out of bounds, another
+may be dropped and played; but if it be discovered that the first ball
+is not out of bounds, it shall continue in play without penalty.
+
+A player may stand out of bounds to play a ball lying within bounds.
+
+33. A player shall not ask for advice from anyone except his own caddie,
+his partner, or his partner's caddie, nor shall he willingly be
+otherwise advised in any way whatever, under penalty of the loss of the
+hole.
+
+34. If a ball split into separate pieces, another ball may be put down
+where the largest portion lies; or if two pieces are apparently of equal
+size it may be put where either piece lies, at the option of the player.
+If a ball crack or become unfit for play, the player may change it on
+intimating to his opponent his intention to do so. Mud adhering to a
+ball shall not be considered as making it unfit for play.
+
+35. When no penalty for the breach of a rule is stated, the penalty
+shall be the loss of the hole.
+
+36. If a dispute arise on any point, the players have the right of
+determining the party or parties to whom it shall be referred, but
+should they not agree, either side may refer it to the Rules of Golf
+Committee, whose decision shall be final. If the point in dispute be not
+covered by the Rules of Golf, the arbiters must decide it by equity.
+
+37. An umpire or referee, when appointed, shall take cognisance of any
+breach of rule that he may observe, whether he be appealed to on the
+point or not.
+
+
+SPECIAL RULES FOR STROKE COMPETITIONS.
+
+1. In Stroke Competitions, the competitor who holes the stipulated
+course in fewest strokes shall be the winner.
+
+2. If the lowest scores be made by two or more competitors, the tie or
+ties shall be decided by another round to be played on the same day. But
+if the Green Committee determine that to be inexpedient or impossible,
+they shall then appoint the following or some subsequent day whereon the
+tie or ties shall be decided.
+
+3. New holes shall be made for Stroke Competitions, and thereafter
+before starting no competitor shall play on any of the putting-greens,
+nor shall he intentionally play at any of the holes nor on to any of the
+putting-greens, under penalty of disqualification.
+
+4. The scores for each hole shall be kept by a special marker, or by the
+competitors noting each other's scores. The scores marked ought to be
+called out after each hole, and on completion of the round the cards
+shall be signed by the marker, under penalty of disqualification, and
+handed in. Competitors must satisfy themselves before the cards are
+handed in that their scores for each hole are correctly marked, as no
+alteration can be made on any card after it has been returned. If it be
+found that a score returned is below that actually played, the
+competitor shall be disqualified. For the addition of the scores marked
+the Secretary or his deputy shall be responsible.
+
+5. If a competitor play from outside the limits of the teeing-ground,
+the penalty shall be disqualification.
+
+6. If a ball be lost (except as otherwise provided for in the Rules of
+Golf), the competitor shall return as near as possible to the spot from
+which the lost ball was struck, tee a ball, and lose a penalty stroke.
+The lost ball shall continue in play, if it be found before the player
+has struck another ball. The penalty for a breach of this Rule shall be
+disqualification.
+
+7. If a competitor's ball strike himself, his clubs or caddie, the
+penalty shall be one stroke.
+
+8. If a competitor's ball strike another competitor, or his clubs or
+caddie, it is a "rub of the green," and the ball shall be played from
+where it lies. If a competitor's ball which is at rest be moved by
+another competitor or his caddie, or his club or his ball, or by any
+outside agency excepting wind, it shall be replaced as near as possible
+to the place, where it lay without penalty.
+
+9. A competitor shall hole out with his own ball at every hole, under
+penalty of disqualification. But if it be discovered, before he has
+struck off from the next teeing-ground, or if the mistake occur at the
+last hole, before he has handed in his card, that he has not holed out
+with his own ball, he shall be at liberty to return and hole out with
+his own ball, without penalty.
+
+10. A ball may be lifted from any place under penalty of two strokes. A
+ball so lifted shall be teed if possible behind the place where it lay.
+If it be impossible to tee the ball behind the place where it lay, it
+shall be teed as near as possible thereto, but not nearer the hole. The
+penalty for a breach of this Rule shall be disqualification.
+
+11. All balls shall be holed out under penalty of disqualification. When
+a competitor's ball is within 20 yards of the hole, the competitor shall
+not play until the flag has been removed, under penalty of one stroke.
+When both balls are on the putting-green, if the player's ball strike
+the opponent's ball the player shall lose a stroke. The ball nearer the
+hole shall, on request of the player, be either lifted or holed out at
+the option of the owner, under penalty of his disqualification. Through
+the green a competitor may have any other competitor's ball lifted, if
+he find that it interferes with his stroke.
+
+12. A competitor, unless specially authorised by the Green Committee,
+shall not play with a professional, and he may not willingly receive
+advice from any one but his caddie, in any way whatever, under penalty
+of disqualification.
+
+A forecaddie may be employed.
+
+13. Competitors shall not discontinue play or delay to start on account
+of bad weather, nor for any other reason whatever, except such as is
+satisfactory to the Committee of the Club in charge of the competition.
+The penalty for a breach of this Rule is disqualification.
+
+14. Where in the Rules of Golf the penalty for the breach of any Rule is
+the loss of the hole, in Stroke Competitions the penalty shall be the
+loss of two strokes, except where otherwise provided for in these
+Special Rules.
+
+15. Any dispute regarding the play shall be determined by the Rules of
+Golf Committee.
+
+16. The Rules of Golf, so far as they are not at variance with these
+Special Rules, shall apply to Stroke Competitions.
+
+
+RULES FOR THREE-BALL MATCHES.
+
+In matches in which three players play against each other, each playing
+his own ball (hereinafter referred to as "a three-ball match"), or in
+which one player plays his own ball against the best ball of two players
+(hereinafter referred to as "a best ball match"), the Rules of Golf
+shall apply, subject to the following modifications:--
+
+1. Where, in a three-ball match, at any teeing-ground no player is
+entitled to claim the honour from both opponents, the same order of
+striking shall be followed as at the previous teeing-ground.
+
+2. Except as hereinafter provided, the side whose ball is furthest from
+the hole shall play first, but a ball lying nearer the hole and
+belonging to one of that side may, at their option, be played before the
+ball lying furthest from the hole. If a player play when his opponent
+should have done so he shall incur no penalty.
+
+3. If a player consider that an opponent's ball on the putting-green
+might interfere with his stroke, he may require the opponent either to
+lift or to hole out his ball at the opponent's discretion.
+
+4. If an opponent consider that the ball of another opponent might be of
+assistance to the player, he may require that it be either lifted or
+holed out at the other opponent's discretion.
+
+5. If an opponent consider that his own ball might be of assistance to
+the player, he is entitled to lift it or hole out at his discretion.
+
+6. If an opponent consider that the player's partner's ball might be of
+assistance to the player, he may require that it be either lifted or
+holed out at the player's partner's discretion.
+
+7. In a three-ball match, a ball on the putting-green, which is moved by
+another ball, must be replaced as nearly as possible where it lay.
+
+8. In a best ball match, if a player's ball move his partner's ball or
+an opponent's ball, the opponent shall in either case decide whether the
+moved ball shall be replaced or not.
+
+9. If in a three-ball match a player's ball strike or be moved by an
+opponent or an opponent's caddie or clubs, that opponent shall lose the
+hole to the player. As regards the other opponent, the occurrence is "a
+rub of the green."
+
+10. In a best ball match, if a player's ball strike or be moved by an
+opponent or an opponent's caddie or clubs, the opponent's side shall
+lose the hole.
+
+11. In a best ball match, if a player's ball (the player being one of a
+side) strike or be stopped by himself or his partner or either of their
+caddies or clubs, that player only shall be disqualified for that hole.
+
+12. In all other cases where a player would by the Rules of Golf incur
+the loss of the hole, he shall be disqualified for that hole, but the
+disqualification shall not apply to his partner.
+
+
+ETIQUETTE OF GOLF.
+
+1. A single player has no standing, and must always give way to a
+properly constituted match.
+
+2. No player, caddie, or onlooker should move or talk during a stroke.
+
+3. No player should play from the tee until the party in front have
+played their second strokes and are out of range, nor play up to the
+putting-green till the party in front have holed out and moved away.
+
+4. The player who has the honour from the tee should be allowed to play
+before his opponent tees his ball.
+
+5. Players who have holed out should not try their putts over again when
+other players are following them.
+
+6. Players looking for a lost ball must allow other matches coming up to
+pass them.
+
+7. On request being made, a three-ball match must allow a single,
+threesome, or foursome to pass. Any match playing a whole round may
+claim the right to pass a match playing a shorter round.
+
+8. If a match fail to keep its place on the green, and lose in distance
+more than one clear hole on those in front, it may be passed, on request
+being made.
+
+9. Turf cut or displaced by a stroke should be at once replaced.
+
+10. A player should carefully fill up all holes made by himself in a
+bunker.
+
+11. It is the duty of an umpire or referee to take cognisance of any
+breach of rule that he may observe, whether he be appealed to on this
+point or not.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+ Addressing the ball, 62, 81, 171, 173.
+
+ Alps at Prestwick, 222.
+
+ Amateur Championship. _See_ Championship.
+
+ Amateur golf in Great Britain, 233, 234.
+
+ America, golf in, 232, 234;
+   tour in, 235;
+   spectators in, 238;
+   novel experiences in, 242, 243, 244.
+
+ American Championship, 23, 235, 241.
+
+ Anson, American baseball player, and golf, 240.
+
+ Approach play. _See_ Mashie, play with the.
+
+ Arms, action of the, in driving, 67, 69, 72.
+
+ Ashburnham links, 227.
+
+ Auchterlonie, Willie, 13, 15.
+
+
+ Backward swing in the drive, 65, 68, 173, 174.
+
+ Baffy, possibilities of play with, 83;
+   stance for, 83.
+
+ Balfour, Mr. A.J., how he learned golf, 30;
+   anecdotes by, 252;
+   preference in caddies, 253;
+   and "Big Crawford," 254;
+   interesting compliment, 255.
+
+ Ball, clean, 170;
+   rubber-cored. _See_ Rubber-cored balls.
+
+ Ball, Mr. John, jun., 223, 234, 260.
+
+ Beckenham, incident at, 263.
+
+ Beginners, advice to, 25.
+
+ Beginning, Vardon's, at golf, 2, 4;
+   first clubs, 5;
+   first matches, 6;
+   how he learned, 8.
+
+ Berwick, North, 17, 21, 225, 245, 247, 254.
+
+ "Big Crawford," 254.
+
+ Birth, Vardon's, 2.
+
+ Blyth, Mr. Edward, 256.
+
+ Body action in following through, 71.
+
+ Boomer, Mr. (Schoolmaster), 3.
+
+ Boots and shoes, 167.
+
+ Braces and belts, 166.
+
+ Brae Burn, match at, 235.
+
+ Braid, James, 96, 260, 263, 264.
+
+ Brancaster links, 228.
+
+ Brassy, play with in Championship, 23.
+
+ ---- the, points of, 44, 49, 79.
+
+ ---- play with the, first attempts, 32;
+   occasion for, 78;
+   stance for, 79, 80;
+   from good lie, 80;
+   from cuppy lie, 80, 81.
+
+ Brewster, Mr., at Jersey, 4.
+
+ Broadwood, Mr. C.C., 21.
+
+ Brown, D., 14.
+
+ Bunkers and bunker play, 131;
+   mistakes in regard to, 133;
+   swing with niblick in, 136;
+   long balls from, 138;
+   filling holes in, 175.
+
+ Bury Golf Club, professional to, 12.
+
+ Butcher, Mr. S.F. (Bury), 12.
+
+
+ Caddie, advice of, 171;
+   opponent's, 175;
+   anecdotes of, 245 _et seq._;
+   the ideal, 248;
+   girls as, 249;
+   caustic humour of, 250;
+   human kindness of, 254;
+   excess of zeal of, 257;
+   sorrows of, 258.
+
+ Campbell, Willie, 259.
+
+ Care of clubs, 50.
+
+ Carnoustie, merits of course, 225.
+
+ Championship, the Amateur, 233, 234.
+
+ ---- the American, 23.
+
+ ---- the Open, 3, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 23, 248.
+
+ Cleek, the, varieties of and characteristics, 46, 49, 99.
+
+ ---- play with the, first attempts, 33;
+   versatility of, 99;
+   stance, 103;
+   swing, 104;
+   push shot with, 105;
+   shot for low ball against wind, 108;
+   comparison of different shots, 108.
+
+ Clothes for golf, 166.
+
+ Clubs, golf (implements), 37;
+   first purchases, 38;
+   limitations, 40;
+   care of, 50;
+   for different strokes, 168;
+   experiments in competitions, 184.
+
+ Competition play, disappointments in, 177;
+   steadiness in, 178;
+   continuing
+   with card, 179;
+   tactics in, 181;
+   caution in medal play, 182;
+   new clubs, 184;
+   time of play, 186;
+   watching opponents, 187.
+
+ Counting strokes, 167.
+
+ Course, studying in competition play, 183;
+   construction of. _See_ Links.
+
+ Cox, Mr. Charles S., 240.
+
+ Cricket, 3.
+
+ Cromer links, 228.
+
+ Crowds, great golfing, 21.
+
+ Cruden Bay links, 225.
+
+ Cupped lies, play from, 81.
+
+ Cut stroke, the, with the mashie, 127.
+
+
+ Deal, tournament at, 15;
+   merits of links at, 228.
+
+ "Debauchery of long driving," 52.
+
+ Despair, golfer's, 26.
+
+ Diagrams, explanation of, 57.
+
+ Divots, replacing, 175.
+
+ Dogwood heads, 42.
+
+ Dollymount links, 226.
+
+ Dornoch links, 225.
+
+ Driver, the, points of, 40;
+   scared and socketed clubs, 41;
+   heads of, 42;
+   length and weight, 49, 53;
+   loft on face of, 54.
+
+ ---- play with, first attempts, 32;
+   long balls with, 35, 36, 52, 75;
+   pleasure of, 53;
+   stance, 55, 56, 57;
+   the grip, 58;
+   the address, 62;
+   backward swing, 64;
+   follow-through, 71;
+   faulty driving, 72;
+   summary of advice, 77;
+   intentional pulling and slicing with, 85.
+
+ Dunn, Tom, 22, 30, 254, 259.
+
+ Dunn, Willie, 236, 237.
+
+ Dwelling at the tarn, 68.
+
+
+ Etiquette of golf, 161, 164, 165, 175, 277.
+
+ Excuses, golfer's, 26.
+
+ Experiments in golf, 172.
+
+ Eye on the ball, how and where to keep, 63, 65, 169.
+
+ Eyesight, defective, 174.
+
+
+ Faces, artificial, to wooden clubs, 42.
+
+ Findlay, American golfer, 242.
+
+ Finish of swing, 72, 173.
+
+ Florida, golf in, 236, 241.
+
+ Follow-through, the, in the drive, 71.
+
+ Football at Ganton, 3.
+
+ Formby links, 228.
+
+ Foursomes, partners in, 171;
+   old style, 188;
+   four-ball, 189;
+   tactics in, 190;
+   sociability of, 191;
+   mutual understanding in, 192;
+   junior partner in, 193;
+   handicapping in, 195;
+   classical story of, 196.
+
+ Freaks of style, 62.
+
+ Frosty weather, play in, 167.
+
+
+ Ganton, professional at, 15;
+   match with Willie Park at, 22;
+   caddies at, 246;
+   international foursome at, 260.
+
+ Gloves, 168.
+
+ Greens, putting, gauging strength of, 158;
+   etiquette and policy on, 165;
+   damaging, 175.
+
+ Grips, Vardon's overlapping, 59;
+   the two-V, 59;
+   tightness of, 60;
+   thickness of handle, 168.
+
+ Grouville, 2;
+   golf introduced to, 3.
+
+ Gullane links, 226.
+
+
+ Hands, right and left, grip with, 59, 60, 61;
+   variations of tightness, 61.
+
+ Harlech, links at, 227.
+
+ Head still, keeping the, 65, 172.
+
+ Herd, Alexander, 12, 14, 15, 260.
+
+ Hilton, Mr. Harold, 234.
+
+ Himalayas at Prestwick, 222.
+
+ Hints, general, 160.
+
+ Hoods for golf-bags, 50.
+
+ Hoylake, merits of course, 223;
+   best holes at, 224.
+
+ Huddersfield links, 231.
+
+ Hunstanton links, 228.
+
+ Hunter, the brothers, 21, 265.
+
+ Huntercombe links, merits of, 230.
+
+
+ Ilkley, 14.
+
+ Impact, moment of, 69, 70.
+
+ Improving one's game, 163.
+
+ Inland golf, 229.
+
+ Ireland, links in, 226 _et seq._
+
+ Iron, the, points of, 47, 49, 113.
+
+ ---- play with the, first attempts, 33;
+   time for, 113;
+   stance for, 114;
+   swing, 115;
+   relation of swing to distance, 116.
+
+ Islay, splendid links at, 225;
+   most difficult hole, 226.
+
+
+ Jersey, golf at, 2, 4.
+
+ Jersey Golf Club, Royal, 4.
+
+ Jigger, the, use of, 130.
+
+
+ Kay, James, 17.
+
+ Kilmalcolm, tournament at, 13.
+
+ Kilspindie links, 226.
+
+ Kingsbury, Lord, 257.
+
+ Kirkaldy, Andrew, 13, 14, 19, 142, 266.
+
+ Kirkaldy, Hugh, 13, 14.
+
+
+ Ladies, faults of, 71;
+   freedom on links, 198;
+   improvement of ladies' play, 199;
+   keenness of American, 200;
+   good pupils, 201;
+   same game as men's, 201;
+   swing for, 201;
+   clubs for, 202;
+   bad upward swings, 203;
+   need for tuition, 204.
+
+ Lahinch links, 226.
+
+ Laidlay, Mr. J.E., 223.
+
+ Lawrence Harbour (U.S.), match at, 237.
+
+ Leach, Henry, vi.
+
+ Learn golf, how to, 25.
+
+ Leather faces, 42.
+
+ Length of clubs, 48, 49.
+
+ Lie of clubs, 45.
+
+ Lindrick links, 231.
+
+ Links, on construction of, 205;
+   made in a hurry, 205;
+   long handicap men's links, 206;
+   time and study needed, 206;
+   maturing of, 206;
+   land required for, 207;
+   preliminary survey of, 208;
+   clearing of land, 209;
+   "penny wise and pound foolish," 209;
+   experimental drives, 210;
+   short holes, 210;
+   varieties of holes, 211;
+   too lengthy, 212;
+   direction of course, 213;
+   position of bunkers, 213;
+   class of player to suit, 213;
+   bunkers at the side, 215;
+   undulating greens, 216;
+   double tees, 217;
+   the best links, 219 _et seq._;
+   superiority of Sandwich, 220.
+
+ Littlestone links, 228.
+
+ Lloyd, Joseph, 15.
+
+ London links, 230.
+
+ Long heads, 43.
+
+ Lowe, George (St. Anne's-on-Sea), 9, 10.
+
+ Luffness links, 226, 254.
+
+ Lunch, golfer's, 169.
+
+ Luton, incident at, 264.
+
+ Machrihanish links, 225.
+
+ Maiden at Sandwich, 222.
+
+ Manchester links, 231.
+
+ Mashie, the, points of, 47, 49, 119.
+
+ ---- play with the, first attempts, 33,
+   value of good, 119;
+   varieties of, 120;
+   stance for ordinary shot, 121;
+   the swing, 122;
+   danger of scooping, 124;
+   taking a divot, 124;
+   the running-up shot, 125;
+   the cut stroke, 127;
+   stance for, 128;
+   points of, 129;
+   chip on the green, 129;
+   the jigger, 130;
+   mashie on the putting green, 155.
+
+ Mashie, the driving, 49, 100.
+
+ ---- ---- play with, 100;
+   difficulties of, 101.
+
+ Master stroke in golf, 85.
+
+ Match play, 171, 172, 180.
+
+ Medal play, 178, 181, 182, 183;
+   rules, 274.
+
+ Middle-aged golfers, 29.
+
+ Mid-Surrey links, 230.
+
+ Molesworth, Mr., at Jersey, 7.
+
+ Money matches, 22.
+
+ Morris, Old Tom, 22, 23, 149.
+
+ Morris, Young Tom, 23, 259.
+
+ Mount Zion at Islay, 226.
+
+ Muirfield, first Championship at, 16, 19;
+   merits of course and best holes, 224.
+
+
+ Nails in boots and shoes, 166.
+
+ Nervousness, 9, 12.
+
+ Newcastle (co. Down) links, 226.
+
+ Newquay links, 228.
+
+ Niblick, the, points of, 47, 49, 135;
+   swing with, in bunker, 136.
+
+ Nicholls, Bernard, matches with, 235, 239.
+
+ North Berwick. _See_ Berwick, North.
+
+ Novelties, avoidance of, 168.
+
+
+ Oakland (U.S.), 237.
+
+ Oiling clubs, 50.
+
+ One-armed golfer, 27.
+
+ Open Championship. _See_ Championship.
+
+ Opponent, one's attitude towards, 161.
+
+ Ormonde, match at, 235.
+
+ Over-golfed, 186.
+
+ Overlapping grip, 59.
+
+
+ Park, Willie, senior, 259.
+
+ Park, Willie, junior, 20, 21, 148, 230, 260, 264.
+
+ Pau, visit to, 15.
+
+ Persimmon heads, 42.
+
+ Photographs, vi.
+
+ Pivoting of the body, on the waist, 67.
+
+ ---- on the toes, 68.
+
+ Pleasures of golf, 1, 29, 32, 53, 266.
+
+ Point Comfort, match at, 236.
+
+ Pointgarry out, Mr. Balfour at, 255.
+
+ Portland (U.S.), novel experience at, 242.
+
+ Portmarnock, merits of links, 226.
+
+ Portrush, tournament at, 13;
+   merits of links, 226.
+
+ Practice, early system of, 32;
+   amount of, 35.
+
+ Pressing, 75, 173.
+
+ Prestwick, 13, 20, 23;
+   best holes at, 222.
+
+ Professional golfers, money matters, 22;
+   difficulties of, 261.
+
+ Professional tuition, 30.
+
+ Pulling, causes of, 67, 71, 73, and Plates X. and XI.;
+   method of intentional, 91;
+   in a cross wind, 92.
+
+ Purves, Dr., at Jersey, 7.
+
+ Push shot, the, 105;
+   advantage of, 106.
+
+ Putter, the, points of, 47, 49, 146.
+
+ Putting, a curious experience, 18;
+   first attempts, 33;
+   confidence in, 142;
+   no rule for, 143;
+   the natural stance, 144;
+   the grip, 147;
+   hitting the ball, 148;
+   the swing, 148;
+   on being up, 148;
+   on undulating greens, 150;
+   borrowing from slopes, 151;
+   the cut stroke, 152;
+   down steep inclines, 154;
+   use of mashie, 155;
+   playing stymies, 156;
+   running through, 157;
+   gauging strength of greens, 158;
+   etiquette and policy, 165.
+
+
+ Redan, the, 256.
+
+ Redcar links, 228.
+
+ Regrets, golfer's, 28.
+
+ Reserve clubs, 45.
+
+ Ribbed faces to iron clubs, advantages of, 102.
+
+ Ripon, golf at, 10.
+
+ Risks, on taking, 162.
+
+ Robertson, Allan, 22, 259.
+
+ Rubber-cored balls, life of, 170.
+
+ Rules of golf, 167, 267.
+
+ Running-up approaches, 125.
+
+ Rye links, 228.
+
+
+ St. Andrews, 15;
+   merits of course and best holes, 224.
+
+ ---- style of play, 64.
+
+ St. Anne's links, 228.
+
+ St. David's, Royal, links, 227.
+
+ St. George's Golf Club, Royal, Sandwich, 3.
+
+ Sandwich, 3, 14, 23;
+   the best course, 220;
+   reasons for selection, 221;
+   best holes at, 221, 222.
+
+ Sandy Parlour at Deal, 228.
+
+ Sayers, Ben, 18, 19.
+
+ Scared clubs, advantage of, over socketed, 41.
+
+ Scarsdale (U.S.), match at, 236.
+
+ Scotland, links in, 222 _et seq._
+
+ Seaside courses, advantages of, 229.
+
+ Seaton Carew links, 228.
+
+ Shafts of clubs, 43.
+
+ Sheffield links, 231.
+
+ Sheringham links, 228.
+
+ Shoes, golfing, 166.
+
+ Shoulder, right, movement of, 66;
+   dropping, 74.
+
+ Simpson, Archie, 15.
+
+ Skidding with iron clubs, 102;
+   with driver, 168.
+
+ Slicing, cause of, 67, 69, 72;
+   how to find, 73, Plate XII.;
+   method of intentional, 87;
+   distant slice, 88;
+   short slice, 89.
+
+ "Slow back," 64.
+
+ Smith, Will, American champion, 238, 241.
+
+ Smoking, on, 185.
+
+ Spectators at golf matches, 263.
+
+ Speed of the club, 69.
+
+ Spofforth, Major (Jersey), 9.
+
+ Spoon. _See_ Baffy.
+
+ Strath, David, 259.
+
+ Stroke competitions, rules for, 274.
+
+ Studley Royal Golf Club, Ripon, professional to, 11.
+
+ Stymies, playing, 156;
+   running through, 157.
+
+ Successes in competitions, 9.
+
+ Sunningdale links, merits of, 229.
+
+ Swaying during stroke, 67.
+
+ Swinging, first attempts at, 31.
+
+
+ Tait, Lieut. Fred, 21, 223, 234, 260.
+
+ Taylor, J.H., 15, 16, 240, 241, 260, 263.
+
+ Tee, the, for the ball, 54;
+   disadvantage of high tee, 55;
+   low tee with wind, 172.
+
+ Teeing grounds, 217.
+
+ Three-ball matches, 276.
+
+ Tightness of grip, 61.
+
+ Tobacco and golf, 185.
+
+ Trafford Park links, 231.
+
+ Training, on, 185.
+
+ Travis, Mr. Walter J., 233.
+
+ Troon, merits of course, 225.
+
+ Turf, replacing, 175.
+
+ Two-V grip, 59, 62.
+
+
+ Upward swing. _See_ Backward swing
+
+
+ V, two-, grip, 59, 62.
+
+ Vardon family, the, 2.
+
+ Vardon, Fred, 3.
+
+ Vardon, Tom, 3, 4, 9, 10, 15, 17, 23, 260.
+
+
+ Waggling the club, 63.
+
+ Wales, links in, 227.
+
+ Wallasey links, 228.
+
+ Walton Heath links, merits of, 229.
+
+ Washington (U.S.), match at, 244.
+
+ Weather, wet, care of clubs in, 50, 168.
+
+ Weight of body, how balanced, 67, 70.
+
+ Weight of club, 44, 49.
+
+ Westward Ho! merits of links, 227.
+
+ Wheaton links at Chicago, 238, 241.
+
+ Whip of shafts, 43, 44.
+
+ White, Jack, 260.
+
+ Wind, play in a, 92;
+   pulling in a cross, 94;
+   driving against, 95;
+   driving with, 96;
+   low tee with, 172.
+
+ Wrists, action of the, 66, 70.
+
+ ---- mistaken notions concerning, 70.
+
+
+ Yorkshire championships, 231.
+
+
+
+
+ _Printed by_
+ MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED
+ _Edinburgh_.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Complete Golfer [1905], by Harry Vardon
+
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