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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/37136-8.txt b/37136-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5e89d95 --- /dev/null +++ b/37136-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12225 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Happy Golfer, by Henry Leach + +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 Happy Golfer + Being Some Experiences, Reflections, and a Few Deductions + of a Wandering Golfer + +Author: Henry Leach + +Release Date: August 19, 2011 [EBook #37136] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HAPPY GOLFER *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Bergquist, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE HAPPY GOLFER + + _BEING SOME EXPERIENCES, REFLECTIONS, AND + A FEW DEDUCTIONS OF A WANDERING PLAYER_ + + BY HENRY LEACH + + AUTHOR OF "THE SPIRIT OF THE LINKS," "LETTERS OF A MODERN GOLFER," ETC. + + + MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED + ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON + + 1914 + + COPYRIGHT + + + + + CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER I + + THE SEVEN WONDERS OF GOLF, AND THE ABIDING MYSTERY OF THE GAME, + WITH A THOUGHT UPON TRADITIONS AND THEIR VALUE 1 + + CHAPTER II + + THE UBIQUITY OF THE GAME: WITH AN ADVERTISEMENT FOR THE COMMUNITY + OF GOLFERS, AND A NOTE UPON THE EFFECT OF ST. ANDREWS SPIRITS 28 + + CHAPTER III + + THE TRAGEDIES OF THE SHORT PUTT, AND A CONTRAST BETWEEN CHILDREN + AND CHAMPIONS, WITH THE VARIED COUNSEL OF THE WISEST MEN 56 + + CHAPTER IV + + OLD CHAMPIONS AND NEW, AND SOME DIFFERENCES IN ACHIEVEMENT, WITH A + SUGGESTION THAT GOLF IS A CRUEL GAME 88 + + CHAPTER V + + A FAMOUS CHAMPIONSHIP AT BROOKLINE, U.S.A., AND AN ACCOUNT OF HOW + MR. FRANCIS OUIMET WON IT, WITH SOME EXPLANATION OF SEEMING + MYSTERIES 110 + + CHAPTER VI + + THE BEGINNINGS OF GOLF IN THE UNITED STATES, AND EXPERIENCES IN + TRAVELLING THERE, WITH AN EXAMPLE OF AMERICAN CLUB MANAGEMENT 140 + + CHAPTER VII + + THE PERFECT COUNTRY CLUB AND THE GOLFERS' POW-WOW AT ONWENTSIA, + WITH A GLIMPSE OF THE NATIONAL LINKS 166 + + CHAPTER VIII + + THE U.S.G.A. AND THE METHODS OF THE BUSINESS-MAN GOLFER, WITH A + REMARKABLE DEVELOPMENT OF MUNICIPAL GOLF 199 + + CHAPTER IX + + CANADIAN COURSES, AND A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT AT TORONTO, WITH MATTERS + PERTAINING TO MAKING A NEW BEGINNING 226 + + CHAPTER X + + GOLF DE PARIS, AND SOME REMARKABLE EVENTS AT VERSAILLES AND + CHANTILLY, WITH NEW THEORIES BY HIGH AUTHORITIES 251 + + CHAPTER XI + + RIVIERA GOLF, AND WHAT MIGHT BE LEARNED FROM LADIES, WITH A + CONSIDERATION OF THE OVERLAPPING GRIP 277 + + CHAPTER XII + + ABOUT THE PYRENEES, AND THE CHARMS OF GOLF AT BIARRITZ AND PAU, + WITH POSSIBILITIES FOR GREAT ADVENTURE 302 + + + CHAPTER XIII + + THE GAME IN ITALY, AND THE QUALITY OF THE COURSE AT ROME, WITH A + SHORT CONSIDERATION OF THE VALUE OF STYLE 324 + + CHAPTER XIV + + THE AWAKENING OF SPAIN, AND SOME MARVELLOUS GOLFING ENTERPRISE IN + MADRID, WITH A STATEMENT OF GOLFERS' DISCOVERIES 339 + + CHAPTER XV + + THE SUPERIORITY OF BRITISH LINKS, AND A MASTERPIECE OF KENT, WITH + SOME SYSTEMS AND MORALS FOR HOLIDAY GOLF 364 + + CHAPTER XVI + + THE OLD DIGNITY OF LONDON GOLF, AND ITS NEW IMPORTANCE, WITH A WORD + FOR THE CHARM OF INLAND COURSES 392 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE SEVEN WONDERS OF GOLF, AND THE ABIDING MYSTERY OF THE GAME, WITH A +THOUGHT UPON TRADITIONS AND THEIR VALUE. + + +The first of the seven wonders of golf is a mysterious fascination that +it sets towards mankind, from which, overwhelming and enduring, no +people are immune. The game seizes men of all ages, of every +nationality, all occupations, dispositions, temperaments--all of them. +The charm acts upon men and women alike. Sometimes we have suspected +that males are more whole-hearted golfers; but there are circumstances +of quick recurrence to cause a doubt, and even were there none the +fancied difference would be capable of explanation. It has nearly become +an established rule that they golf the most who golf the last, for there +is no man of the links so keen, so simple and humble in his abandonment +to the game, as he who but lately held aloof and laughed, with many a +gibe upon the madness of the class. Savages have attempted golf and +found they liked it, and the finest intellects are constantly exercised +upon its difficulties. So this diversion, pastime, game has become a +thing of everywhere and everybody as no other sport of any kind has ever +done. The number of people who play no golf decreases daily, and events +of the last ten years have shown that its supremacy as the chief of +games is sure. It is clear, indeed, that, so far as the numbers attached +to it are concerned, it is still only at its beginning, in toddling +infancy. A few years hence its intimate part in general life will be +better realised; even now you do not so frequently ask a man of movement +and intelligence whether he plays golf or not as what his handicap may +be and what kind of ball he likes the best. No other game or sport +exercises anything like such power of fascination upon its people as +this. A tennis-player may leave tennis if he must; the cricketer often +voluntarily gives up cricket for no compelling reason; a man of the +hills and moors may cease to care for shooting; and one who has made an +automobile speed like the wind along the roads may sell his car and be +motorist nevermore. But the golfer will and must always golf, and never +less but more while strength permits. Men who go to the sea in ships +take golf clubs with them; I have known golfers carry their materials +into deserts, and one of the greatest and noblest explorers the world +has known took them with him to one far end of earth. Surely this is a +very remarkable thing, a feature of life that is strange as it is +strong, and it is not nonsense to suggest that this is no ordinary game +and cannot be considered as a game like others. Somewhere in a +mysterious way it touches the springs of life, makes emotions shake. It +grips; it twitches at the senses. Why? + +No person has yet answered that question well and with decision, though +many have attempted to do so in written words, and ten thousand times +and more have players in their talk touched upon the lasting problem, +and then, with that natural human avoidance of the impossible, have +shuffled off to some topic more amenable. Here, it seemed, was one of +the mysteries of life, and these are such as it is better not to meddle +with. So through neglect and our timidity the problem has seemed to +deepen. It has become the Great Mystery. Wonder and awe are thick about +it. Men who were innocent and have turned to golf do not give a reason +why; they are silent to the questioner. They say that he too will see in +time, and then they golf exceedingly. Surely, then, this Great Mystery +of its fascination is the first of the seven wonders of golf; and it is +appropriate enough that a game that covers the world and embraces all +mankind should have special and well-separated wonders numbering seven +like the seven others of the earth at large: the traditions of the game, +its amazing ubiquity, St. Andrews, the short putt, the achievements of +golfers, and the rubber-cored ball are the other six. Each has its +well-established place, and between the seventh of the group and the +eighth, being chief of the thousand minor wonders, there is a wide +separation. + + + * * * * * + +It is not for one poor atom in a great and complex golfing world to put +forward with any look of dogma a suggested solution to this subtle +mystery which the philosophers have probed so long and fruitlessly. He +will subscribe with others in a consoling renunciation to the view that +it is not for human mortals, who should be happy with delights that are +given them, to tear down veils from the faces of hidden gods. But as a +theory--shall we say?--he may advance an explanation which is +satisfying to one who has wondered as much as any others and inquired as +often during many years, while yet it still leaves a place for mystery +and a suggestion of eternal doubt. And the chief difference between this +theory and others that have preceded it is that this is what might be +called Collective while the others have commonly been theories of single +ideas. Philosophic research towards the solution of the mystery +hitherto has been almost exclusively based upon the supposition of there +being one peculiar unknown cause for the amazing fascination, a +magnificent _x_, something that in our present imperfect state of +knowledge could hardly be imagined, but which has been vaguely conceived +to be connected in some ways with the senses--and maybe the spirit. We +have known that in some mysterious and it has seemed almost supernatural +way the emotions have been stirred, most deeply shaken, by the pursuit +of golf, and the case has seemed so inexplicable that the existence of +an overwhelming unknown factor for the cause has been suspected. Here +investigation has naturally faltered. I myself for long enough was +inclined to the possibility of the single-cause theory being correct, +and with devotion was attached to that "Hope" suggestion which satisfied +most requirements and went far towards an explanation of all the +mysteries. That this doctrine, whose merits shall be considered, is +largely correct, that it does account for much of the mystery, I am well +convinced; but we who have studied in the latest schools of philosophy +are now unwilling to believe that it accounts completely for everything, +that, in fact, this hope, which the circumstances of the game cause to +flame continually in the golfer's mind like the great human passion that +it is, is the one and only Force of golf, though it is almost certainly +the major force of a group and dominates the others. Our new idea for a +solution to the grand mystery is that there is a number of forces or +causes of widely different character but associated in complete harmony +for the production of strong emotional effects in the mind of the +subject--emotions of the simplest and most natural character, but, like +others touching at the mainsprings of life, in their action most +intense. In a simple, unanalytical, and rather unphilosophical way, the +game of golf has often been compared to the game of life, just indeed as +other games and pursuits have been pointed for comparisons with the +process of human existence. So we have been exhibited as starting in +life at the teeing ground, abounding in hope and possibility. The +troubles, ills, and worries that have soon afflicted us have been found +their counterparts, all the analogies made to suit the careful people +who play short of hazards and enjoy a smooth existence, the bold +adventurers who brave long carries and like best the romantic road, the +deep bunkers of misfortune, the constant menace of the rough for those +who hesitate upon the straight and narrow way, the unexpected gifts of +Providence when long putts are holed, the erratic inclination of the +poor human when the little ones are missed. But now we find that in a +far deeper and more consequential way this sympathy between golf and +life exists, and that in this gentle play there is a repetition in +lighter tones of the throbbing theme of existence. + +In the strong action upon the emotions which takes place during the +practice of the game there are effects which are purely physical and +others which are largely mental and spiritual. The physical thrills of +golf are above the comprehension of any man or woman who has not played +the game. We are certain that in the whole range of sport or human +exercise there is nothing that is quite so good as the sublime +sensation, the exquisite feeling of physical delight, that is gained in +the driving of a golf ball with a wooden club in the manner that it +ought to be driven. This last provision is emphasised, for this is a +matter of style and action, and the sensuous thrill is gained from the +exertion of physical strength in such a mechanically, scientifically, +and physically perfect manner as to produce an absolute harmony of +graceful movement. It is as the satisfaction and thanks of Nature. +Sometimes we hear sportsmen speak of certain sensations derived from +particular strokes at cricket, others of an occasional sudden ecstasy in +angling, and one may well believe that life runs strong in the blood +when a man shoots his first tiger or his first wild elephant. But the +feelings of golf are subtler, sweeter, and that we are not stupidly +prejudiced or exclusive for the game may be granted if it is suggested +that we reach some way to the golf sensations in two other human +exercises, the one being in the dancing of the waltz when done +thoroughly well and with a fine rhythmical swing, and the other when +skating on the ice with full and complete abandon. In each case it is a +matter of perfect poise, of the absolute perfection of co-ordination of +human movement, of the thousands of little muscular items of the system +working as one, and of the truest rhythm and harmony being thus +attained. We come near to it also in some forms of athletics; we have it +suggested in the figures of the Greek throwing the discus. In golf there +is an enormous concentration of this effect in the space of a couple of +seconds--not too long to permit of becoming accustomed to it, not too +short for proper appreciation. In this brief time, if the driving is +properly done as Nature would have it, the emotional sensation is +tremendous. Again one insists on the method and manner, for, especially +in late years, ways of driving have been cultivated as the result of the +agreeability of the rubber-cored ball, in which the physical movements +are restricted and changed, and nearly all of the thrills are lost. It +is still, even then, a fine thing to drive a good ball; there is +peculiar satisfaction and a sense of smooth pleasure felt in doing so; +but it is not that great whole-body thing that is enjoyed when there is +the long swing and the full finish. That is why, even if style be so +difficult to attain and there are ways of playing which are far easier +to cultivate and more certain of their good results, it is worth all the +pains and study expended in acquiring it, and a hundred times again, for +the pleasure that comes afterwards. In the winning of holes or in the +making of low scores the driving may be a comparatively unimportant part +of the play, as it is said to be, though a certain high standard of +efficiency is demanded continually; but it will always be the favourite +part of the game because it appeals so much to those physical emotions, +stirs them up so violently, rouses the life of the man, and lifts him +for a moment to a full appreciation of the perfection of the human +system. Some of these emotions are experienced in a minor key when +playing the short game, as we call it, particularly in finely-made +pitching strokes with iron clubs. Here there are restraint and +sweetness; it is as if we listen to the delicacy of Mendelssohn after +the strength and stateliness of Beethoven. Undoubtedly there are keen +physical sensations enjoyed in this part of the play. When it comes to +the last and shortest strokes, to the putting, only a faint trace of +action upon the physical emotions remains, and the pleasure and +satisfaction--if any--that are gained are purely mental. So in the short +space of five minutes, in playing one hole of fair length, we may run +along a full gamut of emotions, and herein is a great part of the joy of +golf. + + + * * * * * + +This, however, would be insufficient. The strong, self-controllable man +would not, in their absence, crave for these emotions. But other +influences are at work to kindle and continue the golfing fever in him. +For the highest and deepest pleasure of civilised and cultivated man a +combination of the best physical and mental emotions--with a little +disappointment and grief--is essential; one without the other is always +unsatisfying. Here, foremost among the mental experiences, so powerful +as to have a certain physical influence, is our Hope. The major force of +all life is hope. It is life itself, for without it the scheme of human +existence would collapse. To look forward, to anticipate, to hope for +better things, and believe in them--that is the principle of life. It is +for that reason that the atheist comes so near to being an +impossibility. An incredible he is. He asserts himself not only as an +ignorer of gods but as a rejecter of Nature, and his position is +untenable, impossible. He endeavours to place himself outside the scheme +of creation. Without hope man could not and would not continue. He would +give up. Motive would have vanished, and motive is essential to action. +We strain analogy to no extravagance when we hold that it is the same in +golf. It is pervaded with hope, lives on it, is played with it, depends +upon it throughout in its every phase. At the beginning of the day's +play a man hopes for great achievement. He does not ignore the +possibilities, and rarely, whatever his temperament and disposition, +does he wait for events, content in a manner of perfect wisdom to take +things as they come. He anticipates, and in the human way he builds +castles made of thoughts, and in his calculations overlooks existing +facts and past experience. Thus are charm, eagerness, and romance given +to life and the game. Never yet was golfer who did not believe that now +his great day might come. + +So on the first teeing ground there is hope in the highest. Should the +first stroke be successful the hope is stimulated; if the stroke is bad +the hope is intensified. In the one case something more of the human +power of man, the strong right arm and the fingers deft, is poured into +the physical and temperamental boiler where the forces are being +generated. The success has increased probability, the man can a little +the more stand by himself, his independence increases, and his hope has +a rock of fact beneath it. In the other event, the first drive having +been a failure--as, alas! with the wearinesses of waiting and the +anxieties they engender, first drives so often are--the hope is +intensified by the addition of highly concentrated faith. The element of +the practical indefatigable man is slightly reduced, and in its place +there is filled the sublimer, grander essence of spirituality that is so +far above the merely human. The hope is not the less. Providence is +brought into the schemes, and the heart lives well. If the second shot +is a good one there is more of the human given to the hope and the +spiritual is a little subdued again; if the stroke should fail there is +something like another mute appeal subconsciously made to Providence. + +These are the hopes of strokes. There are the hopes for holes; the hopes +for days; the hopes for seasons, each series being units made of +collections as years are made of months and days are made of hours. One +who loses the first hole hopes to win the second, and is even insincere, +for the encouragement of his hope, in saying and trying to believe that +to lose the first hole does not matter and is often an advantage. If the +second is lost there is a coming equality in the match imagined for the +fourth or fifth. Three or four down at the turn, even five, and the man +still lives and hopes (he is no golfer if he does not), and there have +been magnificent struggles made when players have been six down with +seven to play, or have even been dormy five to the bad. He who has only +lost the first hole holds his hope in a state that is highly charged +with belief in his own human capacity; he who is dormy down when the +match is far from home still keeps hope, is buoyed well with it, but he +does his best in a half-cheerful, half-nervous way, knowing that the +time for supreme human endeavour has passed, and he gives the matter +over to kind Providence, submitting that his deserts are good. So one +who has played badly in the morning hopes for success in the afternoon; +and where is the man who, having made poor shots all the day and lost +holes and matches by them, does not fall to sleep at night consoled and +peaceful in reflecting upon a discovery that will make full amends upon +the morrow? After the failures of a summer season hopes arise for better +fare when cool autumn makes the play more pleasant; when there has been +one whole bad year there is hope enough that the game will mend in the +time that follows. + +In this way it is hope all through, hope always, in the beginning and +the end and in the small things with the great. Hope is the most human, +most uplifting of all the emotions. Banish this emotional quality from +the human mind and the golf clubs would be disbanded, for the game would +cease to be golf for another day. The charm would have gone completely. +Only the nature of the hope sometimes varies as we have shown, and the +most wonderful feature of this wonder of golf is the sublimely simple +way in which the man of a match, when all seems lost, when the cause +seems wholly ruined, when by nothing human does it seem that a situation +hanging upon a thread so thin can possibly be saved, believes in the +future still. Providence still exists for him. Every human reckoning +would show that he approaches the impossible, and yet he sees it not, +but only the narrow way of escape to success beyond. And there is +infinite satisfaction to the soul, much that is splendidly destructive +of utter materialism, in realising that often the seeming human +impossibility is broken and Providence pulls us through. In golf we +often ask for miracles, and sometimes we obtain them. It seems to me +that the golfer has one satisfying motto, and only one, and it is _Spero +meliora_. What is the use of the "far and sure" that the ancients have +bequeathed to us? Nearly meaningless it is. And if those words of hope +are emblazoned on his coat of arms, the golfing man should have the +Watts picture of "Hope" in his private chamber, courageous Hope +straining for the faintest note that comes from the one lone string that +remains on the almost dismantled harp. + + + * * * * * + +Such strong exercises of emotions, physical and soulful, accounting, as +we may believe, for much of the fascination of the game, are supported +by others, subtler but also of large effect. There are the aggravations +of the game. It suggests an object that no man has ever completely +achieved and never will do, since none has ever arisen to a state of +skill and consistency when he plays perfect golf and plays it always, +though such success may nearly be achieved at other pastimes. And it is +not given to the player to know why the skill he feels himself possessed +of does not bear its fruit. He is left in wonderment and aggravation. +The game goads, it taunts, it mocks unmercifully. Old Tom Morris +expressed the simplest overwhelming truth when he said it was "aye +fechtin' against us." It does so from the first hour, the first minute +of the golfer's existence as such, when he misses the ball which it had +seemed so easy to strike. Then, his vanity wounded, he attacks, and the +lifelong feud begins. What always seems so easy becomes the nearly +impossible. There is always something new to learn, always another scrap +of explanation of mystery to be gathered, and the player is always +groping and being taught. But he moves forward only to fall back again, +and the simple consolation he has from this ever-recurring process is +that the tide of discovery, when it rolls back, returns a little higher +up the beach with the next wave and in the long succession there is a +gain. But this process is not so regular as the running of the tide, not +so much a matter of calculable natural law, and therein is the +disappointment and the aggravation. A man retires to his rest at night +feeling himself a good and well-satisfied golfer with rapid advancement +certain, and lo! the morning will be little spent when he is shown to +himself as one of the poorest and most ineffectual players. The mystery +of this reaction is quite insoluble; only the cold fact is clear, +convincing. No more tantalising will-o'-the-wisp is there than form at +golf. It is a game that lures a man, it coquets with him, trifles with +his yearnings and his hopes, and flouts him. So does it excite him, and, +hurting his pride, stirs his ambition and his desire to obtain the +mastery. The spirit of adventure and conquest is aroused, and the strong +man who has failed in no undertaking before declares that he will not +fail in this. And so, with his everlasting hope, he perseveres and will +not give in. But it is the game that wins. + +It appeals to the emotions of the primitive man in another way that may +often be unsuspected. In essence it is the simplest and the most natural +of games. It is indeed a game of Nature, and it is played not on the +smoothest surfaces with white lines drawn upon them, but upon plain +grass-covered earth, a little smoothed by man but still with abounding +natural roughness and simplicity. Here on the links are space and +freedom such as are afforded to people, especially those of towns and +cities, rarely in present times. The tendency in all life now is to +confine itself closely. We live in small spaces, with many walls and +low roofs; we move through thronged streets and by underground railways. +Things are not the same as when there was the Garden of Eden and the +open world outside it. His confinement is a wearing oppression to the +modern man, though he may not always suspect it. Because it emancipates +and gives us back a little of our lost freedom is the chief reason for +the popularity of motoring, and it was to attain more freedom still that +man made up his mind to fly and now flies accordingly. We cannot +entirely escape from this unnatural confinement which modern conditions +of life have forced upon us, but for a little while at intervals, +through the medium of this sport, we may experience the sense of space, +of freedom, of the something that comes near to infinity. Unconscious of +this cause, a golfer on the links is uplifted to a simpler freer self. +He has a great open space about him, the wilder the better, and the open +sky above. He takes Nature as he finds her, accepting her every mood, +and that is why this game is and must be one for all weathers. There is +the ball upon the tee. Hit it, golfer, anywhere you please! Hit it far, +no limit to the distance! Strike with all your strength! Until in the +game the time for wariness comes, as with the hunter upon his prey, see +no limitations, accept all consequences. The golfer's freedom has a +flavour that other people rarely taste. + +Emotions serve the human system better than comforts and conveniences, +for these emotions are the pulse of life and the conveniences are mere +aids to existence. Golf, being complete, has its advantages of +convenience as well as its thrilling emotions, and when the players +reason to their relatives and their friends upon the good of the game, +shaping their excuses for a strange excess, they exhibit with a limited +sincerity the real advantages and conveniences. The game may be played +anywhere and everywhere. It is the same in principle, the same in rules, +the same in actions; but yet again it is like a new thing everywhere, +and it is always fresh. There is a golf course wherever a man may go; +and there is a new experience for him always. He needs only one man to +play with him; or indeed, if there is no such man available, he may play +with the game itself as his implacable opponent, fight it in the open +and without the medium of a human opponent to break the shocks for him. +If variety is the spice of life, then here is spice enough. Then it +gives us such companionship as can be gained by few other means, for it +brings us to inner intimacy with the man we play, bares his hidden +nature to us, strips from him all those trappings of manner and +suggestion by which in the ordinary social scheme every person plays a +part as on a stage and rarely is well discovered. No man plays a part in +golf; his individuality, in all its goodness and weakness, is unfolded +in the light. He is known entirely and for his own true self. The game +gives us fresh air and the most splendid exercise. These are enormous +advantages in golf, and we extol them in defence of our enthusiasm and +they are accepted; yet, honest to ourselves, we know that we do not play +golf because of fresh air and exercise, and indeed we only think of them +as gain when, in the slavery to which we have been subject, our emotions +for a day have been shivered and shocked by failure. It has the +advantage that we can play it when the period of life for other games +has passed, and we can play while life leaves to us but a flick of +vigour. Some of the meanest men, who are barely worthy of being in this +excellent community where the sense of brotherhood is so good, have been +gross enough to say that golf serves their professional and commercial +purposes thoroughly well--as indeed it may--by giving them intimacy with +valuable and helpful friends. These are men who would buy their idols +and sell them for a profit of five per cent. The advantages of golf are +there; but they are the accident of circumstances, or not perhaps the +accident but simply like the scheme of Nature in supporting what is good +with good itself; but they do not and cannot in any measure explain the +mystery of the fascination of the game, for that mystery lies in the +emotional, the spiritual, the psychological, and not in anything that is +just material. Golf is something of a passion, and passions are of the +blood and have nothing to do with conveniences and rules of life for +health and plain advantage. + + + * * * * * + +The traditions of golf are the second of its wonders. All things that +are old have certain traditional sentiment clinging to them, and it +makes a good flavouring to life, for it is suggestive of age and time +and continuity and eternity. Had golf no traditions now, those emotional +effects in its subjects might be produced the same, but yet the sport +would not be the same rich colourful thing that we know it to be, but +something grosser. And again we could stand for golf and say that no +other sport can testify to its past and present worth and greatness with +such excellent tradition. Three only can rank in the same class, and +those are cricket, hunting, and the turf. Their traditions indeed are +rich, they uphold their sports to-day, and they abound in those rare +stories which, even if they have lost nothing with time, make fine +things for the listening now and have the tendency always to promote a +better sporting spirit. But three things are essential to good +traditions, the first being acts, the second persons, and the third +places, and the last of the three is far from being the least important, +because birds do not love their nests more than traditions do the plots +of earth where are their homes. They cannot live in space; there they +would lapse to a state of film and would fade away. Give them abiding +places, real solid ground upon which their delicate ghostly structures +may rest, and they have a substance which gives them a fine reality. If +a character of the past were invented, given a real name, all his +manners and customs, his feats and follies carefully described, even his +father and mother most properly identified, and a statement made of the +provisions in his will for those who followed after him, that would +still be likely to linger on as a character merely, a possibility of the +past but a thing of no account, not an influence. He could not be +placed. If we give ourselves a licence to roam the earth in search of +golf, we like to think of the good men of the old traditions as being +comfortably settled, as being at special places where, in our fireside +fancies on winter nights when the winds are moaning and the rains are +lashing against the window-panes, we can see them and sit down with +them. The wandering hero of tradition does not suit. And here is a great +virtue of the people of our golfing traditions: we can catch them tight, +nail them fast. We have special plots of land--the majestic links of +Scotland, the old course of Blackheath, almost every yard of which +might, if speechful, tell a story of some old golfer of the past. The +old golfers trod those links some time in their earthly days. We know +the shots they played, where balls pitched and how they ran, the bunkers +where they had disasters, their amazing recoveries and the putts that +they holed and missed--for even the golfers of tradition missed their +putts at times. We know where those golfers walked, and so the +traditions are of the links and the men with the links, and the links +are the same now as once. Let us then hope fervently that they may +remain the same, though a hundred kinds of new balls, each farther +flying than the one before it, should be invented, and such courses +should be declared to be weakened and out of date. It is easy enough to +invent a character, but it is not so easy to invent a links and then +declare that by sea encroachments on the coast it has been swallowed up +and has gone. The tale is weak and unconvincing. But invent your +character, and then produce your place, and say: "He was here; his feet +were on this teeing ground; here he took a divot; it was in this bunker +that he was caught," and there is nothing more that is needed for +complete conviction. + +Having seen a little of the way in which certain potential and probable +traditions of the future are now being made, I have a suspicion about +some of the amazing histories of the past that have been reported to us. +Such suspicions are developed in the minds of those who have themselves +been parties to some exaggerations of things done on certain links, and +have lived to see those exaggerations improved upon by further tellers, +and of a rich story, with scarcely a base of fact, being thus +established in history and made ready for a monument. Having our plots +of land, with their permanent marks and milestones, it is easy to do it +so, and all golfers cannot be commended for complete veracity, though +their lies are tolerably honest of their kind, being, like their shots, +made subconsciously, and the cause, being companionable conduct, is a +good one. Listeners believe in them and so make them three-parts truth. +Cricket and racing have had their splendid men, and they have had +certain sorts of places, but nothing homelike, merely round patches of +smooth land with rails and grand stands, to which traditions can never +cling like ivy to the crumbling tower. The ghost men of these old +traditions were fine creatures; well did they do their work; they fought +and won; but they seem lonesome creatures. They lack location, and they +have no family histories and traditions of their own. They are mere +particles of the past. Nearly all the men of our great traditions are +heroes of fine countenance and rich character, brilliant in their +individuality, with that proper touch of pride and arrogance blended +with the finest old conservatism, which all good traditions should +enjoy. Only the ancients of the chase are good company for them. + + + * * * * * + +It seems to me that our traditions and their associate legends might be +separated into five periods. There is the primeval, the prehistoric, the +most royal and ancient, the early Scottish, and the late gutty periods. +Of the primeval there is no more to be said than there is of primeval +man. We know the latter was born, that he did work of sorts, that he ate +and slept, that in his way he lived and perhaps he loved, while +certainly he died. Of the primeval golfers we are solid in the belief +that they had clubs and balls, for they must have had, and they had +holes or marks, for they could not have done without them. We suspect +them of stymies, for only the weight of tradition has held the stymie to +us still, and for its power this tradition must be far extended. Almost +certainly they made their first clubs from the branches of trees, but +there was nothing grand in that, for Harry Vardon and brother Tom, +Edward Ray as well, all three beginning their golf in their native +Jersey, did the same, and they played with stone marbles for their +balls, played in the moonlight too. There would seem here to have been a +tendency towards a throw-back in Jersey golf; but Vardon and his +associates have made an ample advance since then. Good Sir Walter +Simpson, in his deep researches, leaned to a more exact and defined +theory or tradition of the primeval golf, and he gaily marked for it a +beginning and a place. It is attractive and it is reasonable, and this, +with the theory of the spontaneous and inevitable origin of the game in +many places in the early times of man, theories with living detail +thickening on them, come near in quality to real tradition. Sir Walter, +you may remember, supposed a shepherd minding his sheep, who often +chanced upon a round pebble and, having his crook in his hand, he would +strike it away. In the ordinary way this led to nothing, but once on a +time, "probably," a shepherd feeding his sheep on the links, "which +might have been those of St. Andrews," rolled one of these stones into a +rabbit scrape, and then he exclaimed, "Marry! I could not do that if I +tried!"--a thought, so instinctive is ambition, as Sir Walter says, +which nerved him to the attempt. Enter the second shepherd, who watches +awhile and says then: "Forsooth, but that is easy!" He takes a crook in +his hand, swings violently, and misses. The first shepherd turns away +laughing. The two fellows then perceive that this is a serious business, +and together they enter the gorse and search for round stones wherewith +to play their new game. Sir Walter Simpson was a terrible man, and he +must needs work into this excellent romance the declaration that each +shepherd, to his surprise, found an old golf ball, every reader knowing +that they "are to be found there in considerable quantity even to this +day." Then these shepherd-golfers deepened the rabbit scrape so that the +balls might not jump out of it, and they set themselves to practising +putting. The stronger shepherd happened to be the less skilful, and he +found himself getting beaten at this diversion, whereupon he protested +that it was a fairer test of skill to play for the hole from a +considerable distance. When this was settled it was found that the game +was improved. The players, says the theorist, at first called it +"putty," because the immediate object was to putt or put the ball into +the hole or scrape, but at the longer distance the driving was the chief +interest, and therefore the name was changed to "go off" or "golf." In +the meantime the sheep, as sheep will do, had strayed, and the shepherds +had to go in chase of them. Naturally they found this a very troublesome +and annoying interruption, and so they hit upon the great idea of making +a circular course of holes which enabled them to play and herd at the +same time. By this arrangement there were many holes and they were far +apart, and it became necessary to mark their whereabouts, which was +easily done by means of a tag of wool from a sheep, fastened to a stick, +which, as is remarked, is a sort of flag still used on many Scottish +courses in much the same simplicity as by those early shepherds. And Sir +Walter wrote with reason that since those early days the essentials of +the game have altered but little. + +After the time of these first shepherds there were doubtless more +shepherds, and the bucolics in general would be given to the game. Yet +it should never be understood that even in its origins this game was one +that was practised chiefly by persons of low intellectual strength. +Indeed it was not. In the ancient classics there are references to ball +games that bear close resemblance to primitive golf, and then when games +began to appear in Holland and France that had golf in them, even though +they were not golf, it was not the common people always who were most +attracted. And in passing, it must be said, that while golf as we have +it now is British--Scottish, if you like--and there is enough authority +and substance in the claim for the satisfaction of any pride seeing that +the laws of St. Andrews have been for ages back the laws of the world at +large, it is too much to believe that a game so simple in its +essentials, so obvious and so necessary and so desirable, should have +had an exclusive origin in any one country, to be copied by the others. +The elements of golf must have come up spontaneously in many different +parts of the world, although they were without rule, organisation, and +might not have been known as a game or anything like that by those who +employed them. But it was there, as eating and kissing were; and it fell +to the lot of those canny and most discerning Scots to regularise it, as +it were, to declare it a game and give it definiteness, and in due time +to set up laws and a government, all of which were just what they should +be and the best conceivable. It might not have been such a good game as +it is now had it not been nurtured at St. Andrews, Leith, and +Musselburgh, and in those other early cradles of the pastime; but I +cannot believe that if there had been no land north of Newcastle there +would have been no golf, and we should be moaning now in vague +discontent for a mysterious something lost to life. + + + * * * * * + +I may adduce some circumstances from most ancient history and tradition +which have not been applied to this question hitherto, but should have +been, for they seem to be apposite and remarkable. In these days +Ireland, with a fine spirit, is struggling for better golfing +recognition, and should have it. When a game is for the world, what is +the Irish Channel? The country has some very splendid links, and has +produced some players--if few of them--of the finest quality; but a +people who exhibit frequently a fine appreciation of the spirit of the +golfing brotherhood, and to the wandering player extend a hospitality of +which it can only be said that it is Irish, are treated coldly in +championship dignity being withheld from their courses and their not +being admitted to the higher councils of the game. I remember with +gratitude a very early acquaintance with the golf of Newcastle in County +Down, that glorious course in the shadow of the Mourne Mountains, and +with Portrush in the north, while about Dublin there are links that fear +no comparison with the best of other lands. The ordinary records may +indicate that there was no golf in Ireland until 1881, when what is now +the Royal Belfast Club was formed; but listen to a story which is +brought to me in some spirit of triumph by a friend, Mr. Victor Collins, +a golfer, who practises his game, for the most part, not on any mainland +but out on the Arran Isles, west of the Irish coast, out on little +Inneshmor, where he lives when he is not in London, and where he has a +small course of just a few sporting holes for his own delight, one which +would have been as agreeable to the golfers of the prehistoric period as +it is now to a modern gentleman who occasionally becomes a little tired +of over-civilisation and likes to retreat to simplicity and Nature. It +is a considerable change from Stoke Poges to Inneshmor, but only a poor +soul would not like it for a period. In London one evening we talked of +golf and Inneshmor, and he told me a legendary story, the documentary +narrative of which he has since produced in the form of an extract from +"O'Looney's unpublished MS. translation of the 'Tain bo' Cuailgne' in +the Irish Royal Academy, Dublin." Knowing little of these matters, I +quote Mr. Collins direct in saying that this is the most famous of Irish +epics, and describes the war Queen Maeve of Connacht, assisted by her +vassal kings of the rest of Ireland, waged against Ulster to obtain a +bull which was reputed to be a finer animal than the one she herself +possessed. The central hero of Ulster was the famous Cuchullain, the +greatest of all Irish heroes, in truth an Irish Achilles. Fergus, +ex-king of Ulster, who had taken refuge with Maeve, tells her who are +the champions against whom her armies will have to contend, and these +lines occur in the course of his terrifying account of Cuchullain, whose +age at the time of this expedition was between six and seven: "The boy +set out then and he took his instruments of pleasure with him; he took +his hurly of creduma and his silver ball, and he took his massive +Clettini, and he took his playing Bunsach, with its fire-burned top, and +he began to shorten his way with them. He would give the ball a stroke +of his hurly and drive it a great distance before him; he would cast (? +swing) his hurly at it, and would give it a second stroke that would +drive it not a shorter distance than the first blow. He would cast his +Clettini, and he would hurl his Bunsach, and he would make a wild race +after them. He would then take up his hurly, and his ball, and his +Clettini, and his Bunsach, and he would cast his Bunsach up in the air +on before him, and the end of the Bunsach would not have reached the +ground before he would have caught it by the top while still flying, and +in this way he went on till he reached the Forad of the plain of Emain +where the youths were." This young Cuchullain does appear to have been +appreciably better than scratch. Apparently he was going to attend +something in the nature of a club gathering, and his way of getting +there was much in the nature of cross-country golf with a touch of trick +in it; for there are professionals to-day who make a show in their idle +moments of pitching up a ball and catching it with their hands. My +informer tells me that Cuchullain was not confining his attention to +golf alone, but doing feats of jugglery as well in order to while away +the journey. "The description of driving the ball before him," he +remarks, "evidently contains the germ of golf. Some years ago I saw in +an illustrated paper a reproduction of a picture of a tombstone from +some place in Ulster dating to the twelfth century. It was the tombstone +of a Norseman. On it were a double-headed sword, the sign of his +profession, and below it the perfect representation of a cleek and a +golf ball, his favourite amusement. It would be interesting to make a +serious search in old Irish records for further information on the game. +'Clettini' is from an Irish word for 'feather.' It was evidently a +feathered javelin he hurled. 'Creduma' means 'red metal,' that is brass. +Hurly of creduma therefore comes curiously near the quite modern +brassey. Bunsach is a very obscure word. In middle Irish there was such +a word, but it meant a kind of dagger." This discovery opens up an +excellent speculation. + + + * * * * * + +The periods of the traditions of course impinge upon each other and +softly blend, so that the game some way or other seems to go back +continuously from now to the beginning. We have in the most royal and +ancient period the Stuart kings playing their golf, and Charles the +First hearing of mighty troubles to his throne perpending while he was +golfing on the links of Leith; of James the Second with his court +playing the golf at Blackheath and sowing seeds that were to bear +amazing fruit in the south at a far-off date; of Mary Queen of Scots +golfing with her favourite Chastelard at St. Andrews. There was +Archbishop Hamilton, who signed the authority that was given to the +Provost and magistrates of St. Andrews to put rabbits on the links, +which authority recognised the rights of the community to the links, +more especially for the purpose of playing at "golff, futball, schuteing +at all gamis, with all other manner of pastyme." This was a kind of +ratification of a Magna Charta of Golf. There was Duncan Forbes, of +Culloden, first captain of the Gentlemen Golfers, now known as the +Honourable Company, in 1744. A marvellous man was Duncan Forbes, Lord +President of the Council, and we know that he played for the Silver Club +in 1745--for the last time, probably, because just then the rising of +the clans obliged him to set out for the north, where he exerted himself +to the utmost to prevent them from joining the cause of the Young +Pretender. And here in passing let it be written that there is good +cause to think that Bonnie Prince Charlie himself was the first to play +real or Scottish golf on the continent of Europe, for he is believed to +have had a course made for himself when in Italy, and was once found +playing in the Borghese gardens, so Mr. Andrew Lang once told us. There +was the wonderful William St. Clair, of Roslin, so much skilled at golf +and archery that the common people believed he had a private arrangement +with the devil. Sir George Chalmers painted a picture of him, which is +possessed by the Honourable Company, and Sir Walter Scott wrote that he +was "a man considerably above six feet, with dark grey locks, a form +upright, but gracefully so, thin-flanked and broad-shouldered, built, it +would seem, for the business of war or the chase, a noble eye, of +chastened pride and undoubted authority, and features handsome and +striking in their general effect. As schoolboys we crowded to see him +perform feats of strength and skill in the old Scottish games of golf +and archery." And from there the tale passes on with life and colour to +the beginnings of the Royal and Ancient Club; to the activities of the +early members like Major Murray Belshes, and the interest of William +the Fourth, whose gift medal is played for at St. Andrews to this day; +to such fine gentlemen of the old school as the late Lord Moncrieff and +the Earl of Wemyss; to the professionals also like the Morrises and +Allan Robertson, and old Willie Park. So on along from the ages past to +such as Frederick Guthrie Tait, who gave to the modern history of golf +something that glows as well as the best of the old traditions. + +Now it may be said that these traditions and all the others, like them +and unlike, make the game no better, and that they add nothing in yards +to our driving from the tee. After a consideration I will not agree +either that they make the game no better or that they add nothing to the +driving. The spirits of a romantic history are a continual influence. +They give a dignity to the game which is felt right through it. Only the +golfer knows how true this is. Men who look upon it lightly as a pastime +before they know anything of it, learn upon their initiation, and not +only learn but feel, that there is all that is mysterious, wonderful, +and awe-inspiring in the game and its past, a new and deep respect is +created, and there is no more beginner's lightness and nonsense. Age and +solemnity, and many ceremonies great and small, have given to golf some +of the attributes of a religion, and with membership of it there comes +responsibility. When a new Nonconformist chapel has the same exalting +influence upon the mind and sentiment of a person of intelligence and +sympathies as an ancient cathedral with all its tombs and relics, and +the dim pillars among which echoes seem to float and mingle with spirits +of the past and the great eternity, or when the dining-room of a flat in +Knightsbridge inspires and dignifies its company like the banqueting +hall of some ancient castle, I will perhaps agree that the traditions of +golf are of no practical effect beyond that of merely preserving the +game from vandalism and giving it a place above the others. Often when +reflecting thus one feels that in duty to the game one's policy in +matters should be "St. Andrews, right or wrong." But yet one could wish +that these mighty traditions were not at times invoked for improper +purposes. There is too much free and unintelligible talk about them in +these modern times. They are wantonly applied to base uses; a man will +urge the traditions in his favour and against his opponent when he +attempts some vile procedure. When a crafty person is beaten in +argument, he cries, "The traditions!" and people who speciously, and +with insincerity, condemn what we may call the modern advancements of +the game will murmur that the rubber-cored ball and clubs with steel +faces are not according to "the traditions." Truly they are not, and +those old traditions had nothing to do with gutties either; but Duncan +Forbes would have rejoiced in the possession of a modern driver and +mashie niblick. It is too often and absurdly assumed that the ancients +used the tools they had because they were the best conceivable and most +appropriate, just right in practical quality and proper sentiment. They +were merely the best that had been discovered up to then. The Stuart +kings might have had a happier time had they possessed some rubber +Haskells to coax and lead them on. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE UBIQUITY OF THE GAME; WITH AN ADVERTISEMENT FOR THE COMMUNITY OF +GOLFERS, AND A NOTE UPON THE EFFECT OF ST. ANDREWS SPIRITS. + + +The ubiquity of this game--being the third of the seven wonders--is +remarkable, for it is played everywhere by everybody. No other sport has +ever achieved such universal favour, and we may be sure that none will +ever do so, because, apart from the fascination it exercises upon the +people of different countries and different races, it is so strong in +its simplicity--the stick, the ball, the mark, and, with them being +given, the object plainly suggested. It has already been suggested that, +in its essentials golf being obvious, it must have been practised from +the earliest times. Everywhere the simpler emotions of man are the same, +and so everywhere the game must make the same appeal when it is +understood. So here, strange as it is still, we have a nearly satisfying +explanation. What is yet wonderful beyond it is the fact that the +regulated game with the rules and restrictions that have been agreed +upon and codified by the high authorities at St. Andrews are everywhere +accepted, and even in such embellishments it is the same game +everywhere. Nothing can approach it in this universality. Yet that also +is nearly explicable. + +By a process of continuous thought and deduction from observation the +people of St. Andrews, past and present, have gained a code of +regulations which seems most completely to satisfy the requirements of +the case. It has often been urged against the numerous and lengthy laws +we have that they suffer from too many niceties and too many +complications, and that they represent a remarkable evolution of +man-made intricacy from the one simple governing principle that the ball +shall be struck by the stick, and that if the object be not achieved by +the first blow it shall be struck again from the place where it then +lies. In that simple principle there is all golf, and by it the game +must surely have been played at the beginning. But it is the disposition +of man to depart from the most absolute simplicity in the direction of +what he regards as improvement upon it, and therefore bare principles +get covered up with fancy wrappings, while again there is in the human +species an immovable distrust of each other and a tendency towards the +setting up of safeguards and protections--laws. When this is done in +different places, and by different peoples, the results also are almost +certain to be widely different; and with the assistance of time and +further development two peoples might at length produce two games which, +originating in the same basic principle, might be in appearance, +materials, and actions quite dissimilar. Nearly all ball games, indeed, +must have had much the same original principle. Golf, as we know it, has +had its integrity preserved, and has established its amazing +universality because, despite the numerous and lengthy laws, the spirit +of the game has been so completely preserved in them. Between absolute +simplicity, the one natural law of golf, as we might call it, as just +enunciated, and a lengthy, confusing, and sometimes even contradictory +code there can be little compromise, and perfection and completeness in +golfing law are impossible, because no two courses are alike, no two +shots are quite the same, and there can be no end to new situations +until there is an end of the world and man. It sometimes seems that St. +Andrews, indefatigable, pursues an impossible finality, and thereby +makes difficulties for itself. That through ages and generations it has +produced a code of laws, and defined the principles of a game that is +accepted all over the world, and causes the same game to be played +wherever the sun may shine, is not merely an achievement in intelligence +and discernment, but something that suggests a grand inspiration. These +are times of change, when old systems of the world are being abandoned +and new ones being set in their places. It may happen, though it is as +unlikely as it is undesirable, that St. Andrews itself as a governing +body will fall; but nothing that ever happens to the game in the future +can equal the marvel of its foundation and establishment by this +authority and its associates. + + + * * * * * + +It is not without good reason that they call golf the world game now. It +has alighted upon every country, and wherever it has touched it has +seized. The yellow man likes it; the black man in some places has to be +kept away from it, because it is found that he grows too fond of it. One +day when I was golfing at the Country Club, near Boston, they showed me +a most primitive kind of club that was kept with some other relics in a +glass case. It had been fashioned from the branch of a tree, and with +this crude implement a nigger boy in one of the southern states had not +long previously driven a ball over two hundred yards. Other games are +for their own countries, like the country's foods, and they would +neither be suitable nor adaptable elsewhere; but in its nature golf +will do for all, and it has the same subtle attraction for everybody, so +that what was once thought to be the "golf craze" of the British people +only became the craze of the Americans too, then of the French, now of +the Germans and others, and of really everybody. Its qualities and +conveniences make it the only possible world game. At present in some +countries it is confined to a few people of unusual distinction or +circumstances, but it has been found in old and recent history that, +following a beginning of this kind, the game in a new land has never +languished, but that presently it has extended from the pioneers, who +were probably from abroad, to the native people, and from the upper +classes to the middle, and then to the lower. In France at the present +time we see the game being started among the general French, and I have +news that the statesmen have begun to play; yet a little while since the +golf of Gaul was carried on by British only. + +Recently some of us were looking over the map of the world for odd +countries that might be golfless, and it appeared then that there were +but four: one being the Balkan States, considering them in the piece, +another was Afghanistan, a third was Persia, and, scattering the +attention over the islands of the earth, one reflected that no golf in +Iceland had been heard of. But shortly afterwards this brief list of +lone golfless places was reduced to one. To a little gathering of +friends one night an adventurous gentleman was describing the +excitements of a day's rough golf that he had had one time when near to +Reykiavik, and, if the course was to some extent made for the occasion, +little enough did that matter then. There were some real holes, and the +pioneer declared one of them to be the longest and most sporting he had +ever played; and we knew he had played some good ones. So Iceland came +into the fold. It was discovered during the recent wars that there was +golf here and there in those worrying Balkans. Then lo! the land of the +Afghans was also delivered to the game, and it was the Ameer himself who +was chiefly responsible, thus emulating the rulers of many other lands. +He had heard of golf, had seen it, realised it, and had been fascinated. +Thereupon he had a short course prepared for him in the neighbourhood of +Kabul, and began to practise with royal assiduity at his driving, +pitching, and putting. Humble, doubtful, and yet loyal subjects observed +this done from a respectful distance, and they wondered. After a little +while they perceived that it was a game, and that the chief of Afghans +invariably sought with his little ball the holes that were placed upon +the course. Being practical people, they conceived that they might turn +the game and their royal master's fondness for it to their advantage, +and thereupon began to deposit in the holes at night such petitions as +they had difficulty in getting placed before the royal eyes by any other +means. They believed that by their new system the Ameer was sure to see +and read what was intended for him. Yet it proved that he was somewhat +angered by this manner of approach, and gave orders that all petitions +found in his golfing holes should be burned unread. The petitioning +parties had not understood how seriously the game he played was taken, +nor the deep effect it had upon the mind and the disposition of the +player, else they would surely have moved craftily and warily with their +prayers, and then they might have gained imperial favour. Had they seen +their ruler miss his drive, foozle his second, put his third into the +pond, slice among the trees with his fifth--even Ameers being penalised +a stroke for lifting from the water--and eventually reach the putting +green in nine, three more strokes then being needed, they would have +been stupid Afghans had they not at a convenient moment taken their +petitions from the holes, or withheld them if they had not placed them +there. But when an Ameer hits a good one from the tee, when his ball +flies fast and straight from his royal brassey (and rulers also laugh +when a topped ball runs a bunker!), when by enormous luck he lays an +approach quite close to the hole, and afterwards the putt is truly +played--why, many an Afghan might pray for the release of a brother from +prison in Kabul, and the brother, pardoned, might be raised to office in +the palace, perhaps to be an executioner. Now, if the petition had been +submitted when the sovereign had done his hole in twelve, the brother +might have died as arranged, perhaps the petitioner also, and who knows +but that the neglectful greenkeeper, for not having seen that all holes +for the day were free of pleas, would not have joined the departures for +another world. Wandering players may look forward now to some future +golf in Afghanistan. Have we not heard of the Shah at the game? If it +cannot be proved, Persia must be left in an Asiatic golfless solitude, +with the gibe against her that even celestial China has her courses, and +that they are everywhere save in the Persia where Omar was, and in fine +worldly philosophy bade us take good pleasures while we may. + +Golf's vast ubiquity is illustrated in another case recalled by this +reference to kings who play. Miss Decima Moore of the theatres has a +love for roving far which has led her to many raw places of the earth +for hunting and shooting and adventurous exploration when she has tired +of the footlights and has longed for Nature with no mask at all. Then, +being golfer too, she has wandered with her bag of clubs into many +distant lands, and one morning in London, just back from Central Africa, +she told me of some strange experiences of a golfing woman. She has +played the game up in Uganda, and explained the quality of the play of +King Daudi Chwa, who is a ruler of those parts. Even once before, a +colonial bishop had informed me of the golf of this dusky king. He had +had some holes laid out for himself, so I was instructed, and when not +engaged in duties of his kingly office, which were seemingly not +onerous, he devoted himself earnestly to the reduction of his handicap +and to lowering his record for his private course--upon which strangers +in those parts are always welcome to a game. The bishop said that his +Majesty drove an excellent ball, played his irons well, and putted with +a good instinct for line and length, and the actress backed the bishop's +story. In the region of the Victoria Nyanza there are no Sunningdales to +be found, but the royal course of nine holes is considered a creditable +thing. The king, who was lately in England and played a little here, +will be glad to see any golfers who may go that way, and it may be his +pleasure to call one of his holes by a name of theirs as, with a good +African grace, he called one "Decima" when our English lady played it. + + + * * * * * + +These wandering golfers do bring home great stories, and others send +them. A friend, poor Tom Browne, who is dead, the clever artist in black +and white, sat with me once at lunch in the Adelphi, and we talked of +golf in distant lands and many things concerning it, for in the morning +he was going eastwards to China and Japan. He said he should play as +much as possible, and he did. While at the table he drew a sketch on a +piece of paper and passed it to me with a smile. It was a picture of +himself leaving on a golfing holiday to those very foreign parts, with +numerous bags of clubs, cases of spare clubs guaranteed for all +climates, and innumerable large boxes piled up all round him, each one +labelled "One gross of best balls." Poor Tom always did take his clubs +with him to foreign lands, and on this occasion he made good, as one +might say, on that little sketch he drew at lunch by the places he +played at afterwards, and queer drawings he sent to me of the courses +and the people at them. He wrote from Tien-Tsin that the one they had +there was just outside the town and was a flat plain covered with +Chinese graves, the course being really nothing but one huge graveyard. +"The Chinamen," he said in his letter, "plant their graves anywhere that +suits them, and they consist of raised-up mounds which enclose the +coffins. Off the graves the ball will bounce at all kinds of angles. +Sometimes after heavy rains the mounds fall to pieces and expose the +coffins. The golf club can remove any of these graves by buying them at +four taels a coffin, and when a grave is bought in this way the native +takes the coffin away, buries it somewhere else, and the grave is then +flattened down. Fore-caddies are employed on this course. The 'greens' +consist of baked mud, as is usual in these eastern parts, and are +generally circular in shape. Chinese caddies do not understand the game +and think that the foreign devils who play it are surely mad. They +continually ask the players, 'When will you finish hitting and following +that ball about?' And they have a local rule at Tien-Tsin that 'a ball +lying in an open grave may be picked out and dropped without penalty.'" + +This graveyard golf, as I know, is not at all peculiar to Tien-Tsin, for +not long ago I had a letter from a British official at Chiankiang on the +Yangtse River, in which he told me that they had just begun to play the +game out there on a course covered with crater-like excrescences, these +Chinese graves again, and he declared that they made the most excellent +hazards. It should be added for their credit's sake, golfers being +considerate people and mindful of others' feelings, that they carefully +ascertained in this case that no Chinese sentiment was injured by play +in these cemeteries, if they are to be called by such a name. Again, I +recall that a little while since the golfers who have a course in the +Malay peninsula went down to it one morning and found a Chinaman digging +up the remains of a deceased relative from one of the putting greens, +intending to remove them to China; because it is a common thing, as I am +told, when a Chinaman dies abroad, for his people to inter him +temporarily if they can and give him another burial in his native land +when opportunity chances. There has been a great move in things in this +country lately. The Government has changed; the people, according to +some trade returns that I have seen, are taking extensively to smoking +English cigarettes and wearing unlovely English clothes. So it is +inevitable that in their vast multitudes they will one day come into +golf, for a little advancement towards modern ways often leads to +strikes and golf. One fears to think that when China has a championship +her people may compete in such a costume as is favoured by some of the +oldest and best Scottish professionals (and if asked for a name we shall +mention good Sandy Herd as a captain of the class), who always wear dark +trousers and a light-grey jacket to their golf. There must be some +virtue in this unconventional arrangement of tints; for so many of the +great are attached to it. + +In other parts of Asia there is golf that is peculiar, especially in +India where it flourishes to the extent of forty or fifty clubs, +including those of Calcutta and Bombay, which are not merely the oldest +in India but rank high in seniority among the golf clubs of the world. +Both were well established before 1860, at which time there were only +two or three in England, and the game was all but unknown in America. +Despite the fact that it was born in 1842 and was really an Indian +offshoot of the famous Royal Blackheath Club, the Royal Bombay remains a +little primitive in the matter of its course. It is a golf course for +one part of the day and something else for the remainder, and it is +perhaps the only course in the world which is dismantled daily. The fact +is that it is situated on what is called the "maidan," an open space +near to the European business quarter, and the golfers, having no +exclusive possession of it, are not allowed to play after half past ten +in the morning and are required, when they have done, to remove their +hazards. This obviously necessitates unconventional obstacles, and the +club has had to resort to movable screens, varying from four to ten feet +high, which are put up when play begins and taken away again when it is +finished. Having become accustomed to this sort of thing it ceases to +annoy, and in Bombay the course is considered good and sporting, and the +greens are well attended. Then up on the hills at Darjeeling there is +the highest golf course in the world, for it is situated at an elevation +of more than eight thousand feet above the level of the sea on the +abandoned cantonment of Seneshal. Scenery often does not count for very +much with golfers, and the better the golfer the keener he is on the +game and the less does he care at times about the surroundings of the +course. Yet, as I am told, it would be a dull poor soul that was not +moved by the views from the Darjeeling course, with Mounts Everest and +Kinchinjunga, both nearly thirty thousand feet high, in one direction +and the plains of Bengal in another. But perhaps the most curious of the +Indian courses is that of the Royal Western India Club, upon which is an +idgah, or kind of temple, some thirty feet in height and fifty long, +with bastions at either end and minarets in the middle. This idgah +serves the double duty of club-house and a hazard also, for it has to +be driven over from the tee on the way to the eleventh hole, and many +are the marks on its walls that were made by balls that were hit too +low. The course has another peculiarity in that it possesses seventeen +holes only, no amount of ingenuity being enough to scheme out an +eighteenth on the land available, so one of them has to be played twice +over to make up the usual eighteen. This club has its course at Nasik, +and mention of the idgah reminds one that the Royal Bangkok Club of Siam +used to have an old and very imposing Siamese temple for a club-house. A +little while since, when travelling northwards from Marseilles through +France, I met, in the restaurant car of my P.L.M. train, an officer just +going home on leave from India, and he assured me that he had found no +place in the country where there was no golf, and he gave me some good +examples of the ingenuity and enthusiasm of the golfers there. Thus at +Multam, for the betterment of their sanded putting "browns" they keep +them oiled all over, so that the ball runs evenly along them, and at a +reasonable pace. There is an attendant to each green, who smooths over +the track that is made by every ball when putted. And my companion told +me also that in the season at Gulmurg in Kashmir, where they have two +courses, there is such a crowd of golfers that it is difficult to +arrange starting times for all of them. + +As one would expect, the game is played in Japan, and there is a highly +flourishing club at Kobe, whose course is on the top of a high mountain +at Rokkosan. It is a splendidly interesting course when reached, with +views that can only be second in magnificence to those of Darjeeling; +but for the occasional visitor the chief pleasure would seem to lie in +the reaching, rather, perhaps, than in golfing on it afterwards, for the +players have to go by rickshaw to the foot of the Cascade Valley and +are then carried up the mountain slope by coolies for an hour and a +half, when at last the tees and bunkers come to view. + +Thus it is indicated what great work must have been done by the pioneers +of golf. They have been fine adventurers and explorers. In their +strength of purpose, their resourcefulness, their enterprise and daring, +and in their joy of doing beginnings, they have had some of the burning +zeal and the quick inspirations of the voyagers of Elizabethan time. +They too were discovering a world anew. When a golfer reaches a place +afar where there is no course, his first and most natural impulse is to +make one. Sir Edgar Vincent, keen player, told me once how he and that +most distinguished amateur and ex-champion Mr. J. E. Laidlay, had a +considerable hand in the starting of golf in Egypt, where it is now as +well established as the Pyramids and Sphinx. Sir Edgar went to Cairo, +and with him took his clubs, but on arrival found there was no course +whereon to play, and there was Laidlay disappointed in the same way. So +they twain obtained shovels and other implements of labour, enlisted the +service of native helpers, and went out into the desert, making there +the first golf course of Egypt. But theirs was not the distinction of +hitting the first golf ball in that ancient land. Long before then a +Scottish golfing minister did it. There is no better enthusiast than +these ministers, about whom the best stories are told, as of the worthy +who was left muttering the Athanasian creed in the lowest depths of +hell, being the bunker of that name on the old course at St. Andrews, +and the other who felt he would have to give it up because he played so +ill and was so much provoked--not give up the game but alas! his +ministry. And so the Rev. J. H. Tait, of Aberlady, went for a golfing +holiday to Egypt long before the two gallants who did the spade work +there, lumbered himself up to the top of the great Pyramid, and then, +feeling in his pocket, curiously enough discovered an old golf ball +there. To tee it up, to address it with the handle end of his umbrella, +and to despatch it earthwards to Egyptian sand with the thwack of an +honest east-coast swing, was the labour of no more time than would be +needed to recite a verse of Psalms. + +A whole book having been written on Australian golf we may leave it +unconsidered here. Hardly an island but there is a links upon it. The +other day, when I had myself but just come back from foreign golfing +parts, I was mated for the game on a London course to one who told me he +had only then returned from Fiji, where his last game was at Suva and +was a foursome in which the local bishop, the attorney-general, the +chief trader, and himself were engaged. He explained the part that was +played by _mimosa pudica_, being the "sensitive plant," in the golf of +the Fiji islanders. When this herb is touched by anything, its leaves +droop and close upon the object, and, _mimosa pudica_ being all over the +fairway of the course, balls would be too often hidden and lost but for +the agile caddies who are sent in front to watch for them. In these days +one is hearing frequently of travellers' tales like this. + +Spain having been captured by the game, as I shall relate in time, there +is little need to dwell upon the other conquests of golf in Europe. In +Germany it is fast advancing, and the German Golf Association, which +publishes a German Golf Year-Book, is an enterprising body. The Kaiser +has encouraged the game, and has given land for it. At Baden Baden they +have given the most valuable prizes to professionals; at Oberhof, in the +Thuringen Forest, there has been made under the guidance of the Duke of +Saxe-Coburg one of the nicest courses a German need wish to play upon, +and the girl caddies in pretty uniform are the most picturesque alive. +In Norway and Sweden, in Denmark, and nearly everywhere there is golf, +and much of it. It flourishes in Italy, as is to be shown in a later +chapter. Even in Russia you may golf. Both St. Petersburg and Moscow +have their clubs and courses, and the Mourino Club, belonging to the +former, has its place near a small village some dozen miles from the +capital. The golf is good for Russia, but one does not quickly forget +the roughness of the road in reaching it. And down at the bottom of that +side of the map there is golf at Constantinople too! The game is done on +the _yok maidan_ just outside the city, _yok_ being Persian for "arrow," +and _maidan_ the word for "plain," the fact being that it was on this +land that the sultans and their suites in days gone by were accustomed +to practise archery, and there are still on the plain many stone pillars +erected to the memory of great shots that were made. The +English-speaking colony had some difficulty to gain permission to golf +on this ground, and, having no exclusive rights in the matter, are +harassed by many worries. It is used largely for drilling soldiers, and +is described as being "a favourite resort for Jews on Saturdays, for +Greeks on Sundays, and for Turks on Fridays." The golfer may need to +delay his stroke while a long string of camels passes through the +fairway, and again he may have difficulty in persuading a party of +Turkish ladies, closely veiled, taking the sun on one of the putting +greens, to retire therefrom for a little while. Yet the game is much +enjoyed by the officials of foreign Governments in Constantinople, and +the turf on the _yok maidan_ is good. + +In the rich remembrances of the game there is little that is mournful; +but one sad moment comes when I read a letter reminding me that golf +was once played "farthest south," where man does not abide save briefly +for exploration and adventure, where there is eternal ice and snow. +Captain Robert Scott, the glorious British hero of the Southern Pole, +whose friendship I enjoyed, was a golfer too. One of many letters of a +personal kind I had from him, just before he set out on his last +magnificent but fatal expedition, was addressed from the Littlestone +Golf Club. He asked me to send to the ship a certain piece of golfing +literature, believing that "members of the expedition would read it with +interest and, I hope, with benefit to their handicaps!" He had taken +some clubs and balls up there into the Antarctic on his previous +expedition, when farthest south was reached. On one of the last days he +spent in London I had some talk with him on different matters, and we +joked about ways of playing Antarctic shots. We were in his office in +Victoria Street then. "Good-bye!" he said in parting, "And you must come +to meet me on my return!" And if none met him coming back, yet we know +the game he played. + + + * * * * * + +The fact that there is golf nearly everywhere on earth will make it +appear to some minds, reasonably too, that here is a convenient +diversion for those travellers who like this sort of thing, something +with which they can fill up time when held up for a while in a distant +country and being impatient or weary. True, golf is good for that; but +the unsophisticated who imagine that this is the full relation between +travel and the game, and that this is the function of the courses +everywhere, suffer from a poor delusion, which is expensive. + +It is a modern necessity to the traveller. In these days we are a people +of wanderers; railways offer cheap journeys, steamships carry us over +seas at little cost, hotels are good and comfortable; and why should +those who like and have the hours not be always roaming and seeing the +open world? But travelling sometimes has its inconveniences and its +tedious days. Some wanderers unconsciously exert themselves towards +loneliness, and they do not love it when they have it. The joy of +meeting with a friend when one is half a globe away from home! With all +the travelling that is done in these days there has come a great +increase of loneliness. Golf has been set to destroy it. There are still +people who travel and do not golf, but they are fewer daily, and as each +new travel-golfer is established he wonders how he lived and moved and +was moderately well contented and satisfied before. His travelling was a +plain occupation then; now it makes more emotion and thrill, and, +positively, it is more educative. There was a time, when I was very +young, when I did not golf as I travelled abroad, partly because there +were few courses to play upon and no golfers to play with, for it is +only in recent times that the game has been established in every country +in the world; and as I look back upon those days it is hard to realise +that they were in this present life. They should have belonged to some +other existence, which in the course of time and nature was given up, a +reincarnation having followed ages after. + +The traveller who is golfless has often no friends at the places that he +visits. Some men and women have good capacity for making them at each +hotel they stay in; others have not. In any case these acquaintanceships +are exceedingly thin; the people do not really know each other; +oftentimes they say not what they think, and they have no common +interest. This kind of friendship with all its making of artificial +conversation is poor stuff at times. The golfless wanderer in his +travelling does one of two things; either he does hardly anything at all +or he goes to see the sights; and one suspects that much of the peering +through the gloom of dark cathedrals and the lounging in picture +galleries is done merely for the killing of time, and for the formal +recording of places that have been visited and sights that have been +seen. Some travellers are happiest when they have done their business +with the churches and the local castles and may leave by the next +train--one day nearer home and still working well! + +The case of the golfing traveller is very different. He has friends in +every big town in every country, and all await his coming to make +pleasure and happiness for him. He needs to scheme nothing in advance; +they are prepared for him always. The automatic management of this real +society of friends is most marvellously perfect. The wanderer, let us +say, is advancing towards a new place--one that he knows nothing of. +From the people about him now he may make inquiry as to which is the +golf hotel at his destination, for often there is one to which golfers +most resort, and, with his golf directory containing the names of all +the golf clubs in the world, and with some particulars and the +secretaries' addresses, away he goes complete and well prepared. His +corny hands and his bag of clubs are his passport to every links. By the +perfect system that we have, every man who is a golfer and a member of a +golf club is _ipso facto_ a travelling member of nearly every other golf +club in the world, and is admitted to full playing and other privileges +without delay on paying the trifling fees of temporary membership, +sometimes with even less than that. And one golf club seems very much +like another--just a branch of it; the atmosphere is the same, and the +men are the same. The stranger reaches his new destination, in England +or in India, in France or in America; he registers at his hotel; and as +soon as may be he seeks direction from the manager or the hall porter +as to the whereabouts of the golf club. There he goes. At once, then, he +is admitted to the local community of players, and they make much of +him. They arrange games for him, surround him with the most hospitable +companions, discover that he and they have many mutual friendships in +different parts of the world, and linger upon other common ground in +their memories of the third hole at one and the seventeenth at some +other place. How the talk goes on! This golfer arrived among the unknown +at ten in the morning, and at four in the afternoon he is tied to as +many good friends as man could need. They invite him here and there; +they take him to their homes; they make much of him. Stranger indeed! A +thin voice of a petulant cynic may be heard again. "Yes," says he, "but +in travelling one does not wish to spend all one's time in playing games +and lounging about golf clubs!" True; and the golfing traveller, though +he likes to visit courses in other countries, and finds it well to have +an object always and something good with which to fill the daylight +hours and keep his health in a well-balanced state, uses the game and +its people to greater advantage than even that. The golf community of a +place is always the most active and the most useful. There are the local +dignitaries, the people of influence and consequence, men who know +everything about the town, and can do most things. They can open doors +that are locked, and take you to the most secret places. And so the +golfing traveller, the first desire for the best of games being +satisfied, always finds that his new friends wish to help him. Perhaps +the ambassador is here, and ambassadors are serviceable men. All wise +people golf a little at the present time. They give their guest letters +of introduction; they tell him how to go about. They do much more than +that, for they get out their cars and take him. Places which seem +unfriendly to others are always friendly to the golfer. There is no +particular community, no society, no association, no brotherhood in the +world that is so real in its effectiveness, so thoroughly practical as +this of golf. A quarter of a million British golfers know that this is +true, and they know the reason why. + + + * * * * * + +From the consideration of this busy world of golf in general it is an +easy move in thought to the one wee spot of it from which it has to a +large extent developed, upon which the great scheme continually hangs, +being the fourth of our seven wonders of golf--ancient St. Andrews. In a +measure I developed this idea at the beginning of the consideration of +golf as the world game; but now for a moment regard the capital of golf, +not as the parliament place where the high statesmen do ponderously +deliberate and with stern visage that befits their lofty authority most +solemnly severally and jointly promulgate various laws and ordinances, +but as the wonder city of the golfing world where one gathers emotions +from a ghostly past, a city where golf is everything and nothing else is +anything, where golf is life. This is the aspect of St. Andrews, and the +only one, in which it is really great. We have much respect for our +rulers. They are wise men, and we believe that they maintain the spirit +of the game better than any other body of men could or would. They are +well born and trained in golf, and the atmosphere of St. Andrews keeps +them straight in the true golfing way. One who lived in an inland +manufacturing town or spent his days in the office of a colliery would +lose his golfing perspective early in middle age. But these excellents +of Fifeshire play a little, read a little, talk much and deliberate, +and the social and intellectual atmosphere keeps them strong in their +golfing sense always. The government of St. Andrews is really one to +respect and have faith in, but it is not the existing wonder of St. +Andrews. When you visit the place, such of these rulers as live there do +not impress you for anything save their good golf, their excellent and +pleasant manners, their keen wit, their fine sense in matters of +intellect, their tolerable aestheticism, their shrewd judgment in +political affairs, their sound advice on financial questions, their fine +epicurean taste, their kingly cellars, their magnificent hospitality, +and their charming women. In nothing else that I can think of do they +excel, and as minor deities, or as a college of cardinals with a captain +for pope, endowed with powers transmitted from a golfers' heaven, they +are failures. They are merely human, very good, and excellently +conservative. + +No sort of people make St. Andrews. Only in two circumstances are the +living humans of the place specially interesting. One is on the occasion +of the autumn meeting of the Royal and Ancient Club, when the cannon on +the hill is fired, when the new captain plays himself in with ceremony, +and when all the ancient rites are properly observed until far on in the +night. The other is in the attitude of the people generally towards this +game as a thing of life, their seeming feeling that it is nearly the +beginning and end of all things in this world. This may not be a proper +view, and it is for something of the kind, but yet long distant from it, +that the golfers of the south are chided and ridiculed for their +enthusiasm. That, again, is why the real golfer, heart and soul for the +game, who, if he would confess it, does let it take a larger part of his +life sometimes than is very good for him (but who knows what this fellow +would be doing if not golfing?), feels happy when at St. Andrews, feels +that at last he has come to his real home. For here the people look upon +him just as merely right and normal because he is a golfer and nothing +but a golfer--and a man with a little money to spare. His chief +peculiarity is not that he stammers or is deaf or is a total abstainer, +that he is a peer of the realm or mayor of his town or a professor of +Greek, but that he addresses his ball with the heel of his club or pulls +a little always. The place is attuned to his feeling of life; it is in +sympathy with him. It is either a fine day for the game--as most days +are--or it is no day at all. If we lose our match it does not matter +what the papers say of politics or Germany; if we win it, the papers +matter less. The caddies know that you are a golfer and what is your +handicap; and if you are the real thing that is enough for them. Be not +a golfer at heart or a namby-pamby person hanging to the game, and their +contempt is rarely hidden. In the hotels they know what golf means to +people; the chambermaid on calling you in the morning may tell you the +direction the wind is blowing, knowing that it matters more than any hot +water. The men in the club-makers' shops are sorely concerned in your +domestic difficulties about the length of the shaft of your driver and +your quarrel with an iron. They know what it is; they are kindly, +worldly-wise doctors, who are the constant recipients of the confidences +of poor sufferers. They will try to put you right. All the +advertisements on the walls are of golf; the notices in the shop windows +are of golf matches and competitions. The streets are called after golf, +the taverns have golf names. Yes! golf is in all the air and all the +earth and all the people of this ancient city with its far-seen spires. + +But yet even these things do not give to St. Andrews its ineffable +charm; if they are all that the wanderer notices he is not the real man +of the game after all, nor is the splendid quality of the holes on the +old course and on the new enough either, great as is that quality. The +wanderer missed St. Andrews if these things were all that were +discovered. He should understand that here we feel that the Swilcan Burn +is greater than the Dardanelles; Asia is a trifle when we survey the +vast extent of the fifth putting green, and little enough do we worry of +hell when with a fine long shot with the brassey we can carry "the +devil's kitchen" on the way to the fourteenth green. Here the game is in +the air; we breathe it, feel it. And the reason why is because the +spirits are in the air, the spirits of the ancients who at St. Andrews +laid the foundations of this game, served for its traditions, set it up +and shaped it to the good service of men, and gave their stamp to every +inch of this great old course. Do not misunderstand. These men, I do +believe, were often very ordinary simple human beings; they may have +been no better than we are. There is a possibility that they were worse. +They may not have been worthy to be canonised as they have been; but let +us not inquire upon these matters, for we should not peer too closely at +the gods. What matters is that in the first place undoubtedly they were +in at the game before we were, in at it the first of all, were evidently +uncommonly shrewd people, and for their discovery of golf and their +presentation of it to us their perpetual dignity was well won. It +matters also that we have many volumes of good stories about them, and +none that is in any serious sense against them. On legend and anecdote +they win well. And, third, whatever they were, we believe them to have +been these great men, we set them up in our imagination as such, we +recreate them to our fancies and desires, and they seem somehow to +respond. + +So we imagine, believe, and are well satisfied, and therefore the +spirits of golf take advantage and seem always to hover in the air of +the old grey city, brooding upon the links, contented that things are +moving as well as they are, and that what they began prospers so finely, +though they wail a little, one would imagine, about what the +rubber-cored ball has done, and the wraith of old Allan Robertson turns +round to the ghost of the elder Morris, murmuring, "D'ye mind, Tammas, +the awfu' trouble that we bodies had wi' ane anither when the gutty ba' +kem hither to St. Andrews, and I caught ye, ma servin' man, ye ken, +playin' gowff, as ye wad say, wi' Campbell of Saddell and wi' the gutty, +and me a maker o' the featheries tae!" + +"Aye, I ken weel eno'," croons the shade of Old Tom, "and I'm telling +ye, Allan, man, that I was fower up on Mr. Campbell at the eleventh +hole, and I was playin' ma very best, and wi' ma second shot at the +fourteenth, eh mon alive----" + +"Na, na, Tammas, nane o' yer rantin' aboot the shots as ye played at St. +Andrews, when ye spent the best pairt o' yer time ower theer at +Prestwick, and ye never could mak' up a scoor from a' yer ither scoors +as wad come to 56 like mine. Ye ken that, Tom! And dinna forget, ma +laddie, as I was goin' to tell ye, that when I saw ye wi' that awfu' new +ba' as wad ruin every bit body o' us I tell't ye straight, ma man, as ye +must go, and never a bit o' wark did ye do in ma shop again." + +And then Tom, good-natured old ghost as he is, and loving his Allan +still, just answers, "Puir Allan, ye always were a cunnin' body o' a +man, and a guid man tae, and fun aboot ye a' the time!" + +And all this about ghosts and the times they have in the air over St. +Andrews old links may look like nonsense, but those who do not believe +it, or do not feel that they believe it by mental adoption, have not +been to St. Andrews properly, and do not understand her. + + + * * * * * + +The most utterly non-golfing and sceptical person may be convinced in +another way, by matters not of ghosts and fancies but of laws and +prisons, that St. Andrews is all golf and is not as other places are. +There are laws of the town approved by Act of Parliament, by which it is +made illegal to practise putting on the eighteenth green or to play on +the course with iron clubs only, the penalty for offences in these +matters being a fine or imprisonment. Where else is there a place where +a golfer may get fourteen days for depending for all his long shots on +his driving iron or his cleek? Clearly, the law is made for the good of +the precious turf and the teeing grounds of the old course, and that it +is not law made to be looked and laughed at is proved by the fact that a +Prime Minister himself was once warned for infringing it. One time when +at St. Andrews I made an examination of the complete bye-laws in which +these prohibitions are included. They are embraced in the St. Andrews +Links Act, which was passed in 1894, and in the Burgh Police Act of +Scotland, which was made law two years earlier. The regulations for the +use of the old and new golf courses make up these bye-laws, and they are +twenty-one in number. Following them are four "general regulations for +the whole links as defined by Schedule I. of the Links Act," and at the +finish there is a clause about penalties, wherein it is said that "any +person who shall contravene any of the foregoing bye-laws shall be +liable, on conviction, in a penalty not exceeding one pound for each +offence, and, failing payment, to imprisonment for any period not +exceeding fourteen days." There it is, the law, and it is that last +clause with its sting that gives the point to the whole story. + +Now let us look at these bye-laws and see how careful we must be when we +go to the great city of golf, and for what we may be fined a pound or +lodged in a Fifeshire gaol for a full fortnight, during which our game +might go to rack and ruin. + +In the first place it is set down that "no person shall play cricket, +football, or any game other than golf upon the golf courses." Surely +nobody who ever went to St. Andrews would wish to play any other game, +but here we have it plainly set forth that the golf of St. Andrews will +bear no rivals, and it must be remembered that the great putting green, +on which the fifth and thirteenth holes are made, is big enough for +several cricket pitches, and also that the large flat space along which +a fairway for the first and eighteenth is situated might be made into +various football grounds. But what sacrilege! It is well that men may be +sent to prison if they ever committed it. Then you may be punished by +law if you do not begin your match at the first teeing ground, but no +doubt some thousands of people in their time have risked chastisement +for this offence. "No player shall, in teeing his ball, raise the turf +of the teeing ground." There is sand there for him who wants it, and he +must not make his tee in the prehistoric way. After this there are some +points of etiquette which are made matters of law. Elsewhere, if we +disregard the etiquette of the game as set forth at the end of the +rules, we are merely told about it by other people and regarded as very +badly-mannered golfers, but at St. Andrews the sovereign or fourteen +days needs to be considered. Thus "no player shall play from the tee +until the party in front have played their second strokes and are out +of range, nor play to the putting green till the party in front have +holed out and moved away." And again, "players looking for a lost ball +must allow any other match coming up to pass them," and "every caddie, +and every player unaccompanied by a caddie, shall replace any turf that +may be accidentally removed by the player's club, and shall press it +firmly with the foot." Then we may be fined or sent to prison if, when +practising, we drive a ball off a putting green, that is, within twenty +yards of a hole, and the eighth clause is that which is known to all +men--"To prevent destruction of the turf of the golf courses, play or +practice with iron clubs alone is prohibited." Also, "no practice is +allowed over the first and eighteenth holes of the Old Course, nor shall +any practice be allowed over any part of the golf courses so as to +obstruct or delay players." + +Upon all this, it is enacted that when playing with three or more balls +we must allow those who are only playing two, as in an ordinary single +match, to pass us on being requested to do so, that we must let a match +through if we do not play the whole round but cut in somewhere, that we +must not pierce the ground with any golf club support nor with the flags +from the holes, nor must we drive towards any person without calling out +"Fore!" and waiting until he gets out of range. No man when at St. +Andrews is allowed "to play the short game at the regular golf holes, +except when engaged in a regular game of golf," and, as said, "no +practising is allowed on the eighteenth putting green." There are five +other bye-laws, mostly long, but the only other one which is specially +interesting is that which is designed to preserve the integrity of the +Swilcan Burn, which has played its part so thoroughly and drastically at +times of great competitions. No other golf stream is protected by an +Act of Parliament in the way that this one is, and its high dignity is +unimpeachable. We are warned, under the usual penalty of a fine or +imprisonment, that "no one shall wade in the Swilcan Burn, so far as it +flows through the Old Course, nor shall any one, except players or +caddies in search of their ball, do anything to cause its waters to +become discoloured or muddy." There are surely times when we feel that +we could not do anything to make the Swilcan Burn appear uglier than it +does at those times. + +Why a distinction should be made between the "bye-laws" and the "general +regulations," four in number, is not quite clear, but it would appear +that the penalties of fine and imprisonment may be inflicted if the +latter are disobeyed as well as the former. If that is so, we begin to +wonder when we see the warning that "no one shall use profane language +upon the links to the annoyance of the lieges." Let us then hope, for +the sake of the law and our respect for it, that the lieges are not +habitually in the neighbourhood of the putting green when putts are +being missed that should not be. But it is good to see that there is a +kind of general warning that "no one shall annoy or interfere with any +one exercising a legitimate use of the links," which means, of course, +playing golf. We golfers, according to these bye-laws and the Act of +Parliament which supports them, may be sent to prison for doing so many +things that it is excellent to know the common people may be cast there +also if they meddle with us when we play the game in our own good way, +and manage by thought and attention to avoid infringement of the many +cautions which the fathers of St. Andrews have prescribed for our +welfare and that of their dear old course. The Sheriff of Fife has set +it down that he "allows and confirms" these bye-laws, the Secretary of +Scotland has officially approved of them, and the staff employed by the +Green Committee are authorised to see that they are obeyed, especially +those about replacing turf, playing with irons only, and practising at +the first and eighteenth holes. Contemplating these enactments, we +conclude that St. Andrews is the best and proper place for the +upbringing of the golfer's son. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE TRAGEDIES OF THE SHORT PUTT, AND A CONTRAST BETWEEN CHILDREN AND +CHAMPIONS, WITH THE VARIED COUNSEL OF THE WISEST MEN. + + +The case of an earth so well explored by golfing travellers having been +considered as the third of the wonders of the sphere, and the +peculiarity of St. Andrews as the fourth, there is a clear suggestion as +to which is the next or fifth wonder of the series. Inevitably one +recalls the tearful situation of the mighty hunter in a story which is +passed in company as fact. He declared he had encountered all the +manifold perils of the jungle, had tracked the huge elephant to its +retreat, and had stood eye to eye with the man-eating tiger. It is +believed that he had done all these things. Then he added, "And never +once have I trembled until I came to a short putt." For me one of the +most remarkable things I have seen in golf was at an Open Championship +meeting at St. Andrews when, watching and musing by the side of the +eighteenth green, I saw four of the greatest players of this or any +other time come up to it in the competition one by one and have putts of +less than eighteen inches at that hole. Three of the four missed! In the +old days, at all events, when the greens were not quite as they are now, +but became very glassy and slippery with much wind and constant play +upon them, I believe there were more short putts missed on the old +course at St. Andrews than on any other two courses in the world, and +the task of holing the little stupids on that home green was a most +tormenting ordeal. + +So, with the broken-hearted explorer, and the tragedy of St. Andrews, +there is pointed to us for the next wonder of the game the missing of +the short putt. And I do believe, and so must others, that the missing +of such a short putt as it seems humanly impossible for any man, having +the control of his limbs and being _compos mentis_, to miss is one of +the most remarkable features of any game, and one that would be +completely and absolutely inexplicable did it not in itself offer a most +splendid illustration of the full effect of strain of mind on physical +action, of the pressure of great responsibility on an over-anxious man. +It embraces nearly the whole psychology of golf. The short putt largely +explains the game, and it is testimony to the soundness of this view, +and the rightful selection of this as a permanent wonder, that the +general public would never believe the truth as we know it, that it is +possible for the greatest players with what is to them, for the time +being, almost as much as their lives depending on it, to miss putts so +little that no walking baby properly fed would miss. The general public, +with its vast stores of common sense, would not believe the fact; it +would ridicule it and treat the whole suggestion with contempt, and it +might in a sense be right; but then the general public has not been +fighting its way round a golf course against another and very truculent +general public, driving, playing seconds and thirds, getting bunkered +and recovering, and encountering all manner of difficulties and dangers, +and then had its fate for the day depending on a short putt at the +eighteenth green! By psychology of the game, as just mentioned, we mean, +of course, the way in which the mind and the emotions act and react upon +the physical system and its capacity, how doubts and fears are +engendered, and things from not seeming what they are become really +different, so far as the attitude of the player to them is concerned. +Thus, as has been well said, a putt of ten inches on the first green is, +as one might feel, a putt of thirty inches--though still in fact of the +same length--when that green is not the first but the thirty-seventh, +and that on which a long-drawn-out match is being finished. + +One summer's day, on a course in France, a little party of us were +discussing the slow and sure methods of certain Americans then in +Europe--if, really, they were quite so sure as they were slow. Indeed +they hustled not. The point was put forward by one of us that there is a +moment in waiting when inspiration and confidence come together, or at +least come then as well as ever they can or will, and that if the +hesitation is prolonged beyond that moment, the result is inevitably +loss of faith, increasing doubt and timidity, and a distorted view of +the situation arising from fear of fate. Half the difficulties of golf +are due to the fact that the player has an abundance of time to think +about what he is engaged to do and how it should be done. In that time +hopes and fears and many emotions race through his mind, and tasks which +were originally simple become every moment harder. In no other game has +the player such ample leisure in which to think, to be careful, to be +exact, and to decide upon the proper action, and thus responsibility is +heaped upon him for what he does as it is in no other sport or +recreation. He is oppressed with a mighty burden. That which he does he +is entirely responsible for, and it can never be undone. It follows that +this game has an extensive and peculiar psychology such as is possessed +by no other. I shall proceed to tell a little story, dramatic in its +circumstances, abounding in significance. It embraces the meanings and +mysteries of golf. + + + * * * * * + +The strange case of Sir Archibald Strand is one that caused much excited +attention among the members of the golf community in general some months +ago, and it is still discussed in the club-houses. Sir Archibald Strand, +Bart., is a fair example of the thorough, enthusiastic, middle-aged +player, who treats golf as something rather more than a game, which is +as it should be. He is one of tolerably equable temperament, a good +sportsman, and a man of strong character and physique, who did a long +term of military service in India. Nowadays he spends an appreciable +portion of his time in golfing, and a fair part of the remainder in +contemplating the enduring mysteries and problems of the links. The game +worries him exceedingly, occasionally it leads him to unhappiness, but, +on the whole, he feels he likes it. He is a member of several London +clubs, including Sunningdale, Walton Heath, Mid-Surrey, Coombe Hill, and +Woking, and of his seaside clubs those he most frequents are the Royal +St. George's at Sandwich, and Rye. His handicap is 5, and generally he +is what we consider and call a good reliable 5. + +He and his opponent, to whom, as a matter of discretion and confidence, +we must refer as Mr. A., had just ended their match at Mid-Surrey one +pleasant day, and Sir Archibald was trying his last putt over again as +golfers often do. It was a putt of two feet. He had missed it before; +but now, of course, he rolled the ball in every time. A question arose +about circumstances altering cases, as they so commonly do in golf, and +of responsibility weighing heavily on the mind that hesitates; and Sir +Archibald declared that nobody in good health could be such a fool as to +miss a two-feet putt like that, if he really examined the line +thoroughly, and took the proper pains. Just then the open champion of +the period was passing by the green, and they called him up and asked +his views upon the missing of two-feet putts. Taylor denied that a man +was a fool for missing them. He mentioned the psychology of the +business, and very forcibly argued that a two-feet putt was a very +difficult thing, that the more important it was the more difficult it +became, and that the longer one thought about it the more impossible did +it seem to hole it. "Ah!" said he, with the solemn countenance he +assumes when discussing the terrors of this game, and the deep emphasis +he makes when he admits the difficulties it creates for him, "Ah!" he +murmured, "if I had never missed any putts of one foot, let alone the +putts of two! I tell you, sir, the two-feet putt, when it has to be +done--mind you when it has got to be done--is one of the most difficult +things in the world to do, and never mind the fact that your babies can +do it all the time! Take that from me, sir!" This was a touch of the +real Taylor, the true philosopher, one who knows the game. + +Mr. A., who is sometimes aggressive in manner, brought the matter in +discussion to a pretty point at once. "Look here, Strand," said he, "I +will tell you what I will do. I will place this ball here, so, exactly +two feet from the hole, and I will give you a fortnight, but not less +than a fortnight, to hole that putt. You are not to practise it here at +this hole on this green in the meantime; but you may place the ball in +position if you like, and look at it. And a fortnight to-day, at ten +o'clock in the morning, you must make the putt, and I will bet you +fourteen guineas, being a guinea a day for waiting, that you do not hole +it. We will have the position of the hole properly marked, so that a +fortnight hence it shall be in the same place." + +The champion said he would tell Lees, the greenkeeper, and that should +be done. Strand, with a laugh, accepted the wager, and the matter was +settled. + +The events that followed were curious. In the club-house there was then +little disposition to attend to the accounts of the proceedings that +were furnished by both parties. The men who had finished rounds were too +much occupied with their own troubles or joys. + +At his club in town that evening, Sir Archibald, over dinner, related +the circumstances of the wager to a few friends, with an appearance of +considerable satisfaction with himself, and seemed a little surprised +that the other members of the party did not at once approve of his +proceeding as sound and businesslike. + +"Of course, you know, Strand, my good man," said Mr. Ezekiel Martin, a +successful stockbroker, "these putts are missed sometimes, and I don't +suppose it makes it any easier for you by waiting a fortnight. It's like +carrying over in the House till one is a very tired bull." + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Sir Archibald, "I could go out now and hole that +putt nineteen times out of twenty in the dark!" + +"I believe you could," answered Martin, "but doing it in the dark, when +you cannot see the hole and realise all the imaginary difficulties, is +very different from doing it in broad daylight; and putting now, on the +spur of the moment, as it were, is very different from putting when you +have a whole fortnight to think about what you are going to do." + +"I don't see it," replied Sir Archibald, yet he began to feel a little +uneasy. On returning home that night, instead of going to bed at once he +went into his study, laid a tumbler on its side on the carpet, and +putted from a measured two feet for about half an hour. He holed most +of them, and tumbled into bed feeling that Martin had been "pulling his +leg," as people say. In the morning he engaged a gardener to smooth down +a piece of his lawn, planting in a little putting-green turf, and he had +a hole made in it, and a circle with two feet radius drawn round the +hole, so that he could putt from every point. When this work was done, +he spent an hour in practising there, and succeeded well. He only missed +about one in ten. He tried seven different putters, with approximately +equal results. In the afternoon he went down to Mid-Surrey, played a +match, and lost it by missing a short putt at the home hole. After tea, +he went out on to the eighteenth green, found the spot where the hole +was the day before, examined it carefully, and saw that there were +slight differences in the texture of the grass round about, and that +there was a little depression to the left side. He had not noticed this +before. However, said he to himself, it would be easy to make allowances +for these things, but he began now to doubt whether thirteen days ahead +he would use his wry-necked putting cleek or bolt the putt with an +aluminium putter. Where there are troubles of that kind it is often +better to make short work of the putt by the bolting way, and have an +end of it. At home that evening he did more putting practice on the +carpet, and did not hole them quite so well. Lady Strand, who +understands her husband thoroughly, and is the sweetest, gentlest +sympathiser, coaxed him to telling her the trouble, for she saw that one +existed. With perfect wisdom she suggested that he should wipe the +fourteen guineas from the current account as already lost, and face the +task as one who had all to gain and nothing to lose. Of course, her +husband said, it was not the money, but the frightful jackass he would +look if he missed the putt. + +He went to his club in town the next day instead of going to golf, and +took with him a book containing a chapter on putting, by Willie Park. He +stretched himself out on a Chesterfield in a corner of the library, and +gazed at two spots on the carpet which he had measured as being two feet +from each other. Eventually, he decided that that was not good for him, +since equal distances in furnished rooms, as is well known, look longer +than they look outside. He lunched with a few friends, and brought up +the subject again. + +"Give him the money and have done with it, Strand. You are sure to +lose!" said the brutish Martin. + +"I wish I had not to wait for a fortnight," murmured Strand. + +"Ah! He knew! The other man knew!" rejoined Martin. "He knows the game +of golf! What I cannot understand is why he did not give you a year and +make it 365 guineas. You would have sold out in six weeks at £200!" + +Sir Archibald wrote a letter to Mr. A. that evening, intimating that he +would probably have to leave town the week after the next. He hinted +that it might be convenient if they got their wager out of the way +beforehand, and if he putted a week from then. Mr. A. replied that he +was sorry it would not be convenient for him to attend then, and that +the signed terms of the contract had better be abided by. + +Sir Archibald bought two new putters on the following day, and in the +afternoon he had Taylor out for an hour, and they went practising on the +putting lawn just outside the garden gate. Sir Archibald was putting +very well then; but he insisted that it would be a good thing to change +the ball he was using, which was rather lively. After he had done with +Taylor, he went to look at the place on the eighteenth green where he +would have to putt, and it seemed that the coarse grass had fattened up +considerably with the rain that had fallen, and that the sand below it +was distinctly gritty. It began to seem that he would have to run the +ball in at the right side of the hole. He asked Lees some questions +about the grasses on that green, and was sorry he could not take a +little Mid-Surrey turf home with him. He was feeling a little tired when +he reached his home that night, and as it was Thursday he suggested to +Lady Strand that they should go to Folkestone for the week-end, and not +bother at all about golf, which they did accordingly. He found it +delightful to linger on the leas and not be worried with the game. + +This kind of thing continued and became worse and worse again during the +days that followed. There was practice, thought, and purchase +continually, and unfortunately the proportion of missed putts at two +feet, both on the carpet, on the practice lawn, and on the greens at +Mid-Surrey, Coombe Hill, and Woking, began to increase. At putts of +three feet, four, and five, Sir Archibald was marvellous, and, of +course, he never missed the very little ones; but the two-feet putts +bothered him all the time. He attributed it to his liver; and he was +certainly looking worn. Matters were not improved by such inconsiderate +remarks as were made by Martin, Evans, and others, whenever he had a +two-feet putt to do, such as "Now, Strand, that's just your distance!" +It was only a joke; but in the circumstances it was not perhaps in good +taste. + +On the evening of the twelfth day Strand, after deliberation, wrote a +letter to A. in which he said he feared he would not be able to go down +to the course at the appointed time, and intimated that, according to +the terms of the wager, he would hand over the fourteen guineas to him +when next they met. Before posting this letter he went and did a little +practice in the dusk on the lawn outside the house. He seemed to get +them down with some confidence on this occasion, and Lady S., watching +him, called out cheerily, "Silly boy! as if you could really miss! Now +what shall I buy with the fourteen guineas?" + +So Strand tore up the letter and went to bed for rest. + +On the night before the appointed day he slept badly. He was putting in +his mind until three o'clock in the morning. Then he rose, went in his +pyjamas into the study, made a line on the top of his aluminium putter +indicating the striking point, and went back to bed, but did not sleep. +For some time he tried an imaginary humming of the "Jewel Song" from +_Faust_, and repeated a few lines from Scott's "Lady of the Lake"--old +dodges of his for assisting distraction and sleep--but they did not +serve, nor did a fixed vision of millions of balls falling in an endless +stream from the mouth of a pump and disappearing instantly through a +golf hole in the ground. + +At five-thirty he rose again and took his bath. He hesitated as to what +golfing suit he should wear. Finally, for the sake of complete ease, and +that there should be nothing to attract his eye from the ball, he put on +some dark-blue flannels. + +He looked at his breakfast, pecked at a sole, and at nine-fifteen, +feeling distinctly unwell, he took a taxi for the course. He had one +great consolation upholding him. At five minutes past ten it would all +be over. He felt that he knew how glad a condemned criminal must be that +at five minutes past eight on a certain morning--or a minute or two +earlier with a little luck--a black flag would be hoisted on the prison +pole. + +At seven minutes to ten he drank a large brandy and soda and went out to +the eighteenth green. Mr. A. and a few others were there to see the +business properly carried out. Taylor placed the ball exactly two feet +from the hole, which was cut in the proper place. He had his watch in +his hand. + +Sir Archibald bent down and examined the putt with great care. He +essayed to pick up what seemed to be a "loose impediment" on his line, +but saw that it was not loose. The putt seemed very difficult now, and +he wished he had brought his plain putting cleek out with him, but it +was too late. + +At ten o'clock exactly, Taylor said, "Now, Sir Archibald, will you +kindly putt?" + +Sir Archibald Strand looked like a man who had been hunted down. He made +one swift glance around him, but saw no escape, so he pulled himself +together, smiled a little sadly, and said to himself, "Don't be a fool, +Archie!" Then he faced the putter to the ball; the club was trembling +slightly. He swung it back much too far, checked it in the return swing, +and came on to the ball in a nervous, stupid sort of way, doing little +more than touch it. The ball took a line to the right of the hole, and +did not run more than fourteen inches. + +You may have thought that Sir Archibald used unfortunate words and was +dismayed. He did not. A look of established happiness and placid +contentment spread upon his countenance, as a streak of sunlight might +flash across a plain. "Ha!" he sighed in relief. He took from his pocket +a cheque for fourteen guineas already made out, and handed it to Mr. A., +and then joyfully exclaimed: "Thank heaven, it is finished! Now, my +friends, we will honour this unusual occasion in a suitable manner at +your convenience, and this afternoon I leave for Sandwich for a week of +golf. And no letters are being forwarded." + + + * * * * * + +Let us now enter consideration of this matter in a proper frame of mind, +seriously and not looking contemptuously upon the problem of holing +even the very shortest of putts as no problem at all after the affected +manner of the inexperienced and uninformed general public. Let us +approach it cautiously and in an analytical spirit. We should take the +evidence of expert witnesses upon happenings in their careers, in our +endeavour to discover the real truth. We have already remarked upon the +case of the hunter who shot tigers and cringed at putts, and of the +great champions who all missed them on the eighteenth green at St. +Andrews, when they were playing for nothing less than the championship. +We have also contemplated the circumstances of the distressed baronet +who was given a fortnight in which to hole a two-feet putt, suffered +intolerable agonies during the period, and was only restored to +happiness when he had failed at the stroke. Now let us pay regard to the +experience of a little child only six years old, who was completely +successful at many putts in succession, at distances of from one to six +feet, all the most perilous situations. This remarkable demonstration +was witnessed by the proud parents, by a great professional, and by +myself. + +The child is a boy, and not, as has been stated, a winsome little girl. +There is, if I may say it without offence, nothing remarkable about his +parents. They are excellent kindly-mannered people, of tolerable +middle-class education, simple in their manner of life, and of no +pronounced tastes in any direction. The father is in a large timber +business in the Midlands, and has probably an income of about six +hundred pounds a year. His handicap is 14. He is not a very keen golfer, +and seems to spend a fair amount of his time in his garden. A total +abstainer, he smokes little, and has no strong tastes in art and +literature; but he once told me that in addition to much Scott and a +sufficiency of Dickens he had read one of my books on golf. That is the +father. As to the mother, she is just one who might be called in the +north a nice little body. She is a thoroughly good housewife, +domesticated, affectionate, and if she does not play golf she +sympathises with it. These are people who are tolerably satisfied with +their state. They live in a pleasant house, employ two maidservants, and +have no motor-car. Here, surely, is nothing to suggest the creation of +genius. Yet they are the parents of this remarkable child who did, with +no hesitation, with confidence, certainty, and frequency, what the +mighty hunter, the champions, the bold but misguided baronet, and you +and I have failed to accomplish. + +There is a man of wit and wisdom, Andrew Kirkaldy, who, when you inquire +of him what is the most difficult thing in golf, responds with no +hesitation that it is to hole "a wee bit divvle of a putt that long!" +and so saying he will hold his hands four feet apart. Occasionally he +may vary the phraseology, not to its advantage, but the meaning and +effect remain the same. Andrew is solid on four feet. But authorities +differ a little in this matter of measurement. Some will reduce the +distance to thirty inches; others have it that the yard putt is the most +trying; I have heard eighteen inches put forward. But it all amounts to +much the same thing, that what looks ridiculously easy is very, very +difficult. Now this tender little child, who knew nothing of the fears +and dangers of this awful game, placed the ball at a distance of two +feet from the hole on a curly and slippery green, and with a sublime +aplomb hit it straight to the middle of the hole--the first putt of his +life and a good one. Then he putted from a yard and holed it again, then +from Kirkaldy's distance and played the stroke just as surely and +successfully, and then repeated them many times, never faltering, never +failing. We who watched were a trifle sad, and perhaps ashamed. We knew +that with all our thought and skill and golfing learning, all our +strength and manhood, we could not do the same when at our games, and +that, the more we needed to do it by the importance of the golf that was +being played, the more difficult it was. Our selfish consolation was +that in time the little child would grow up and then he would not be +able to hole those putts, for then he would know that it was a difficult +thing to do, and would be embarrassed and defeated accordingly. For it +is the golfer's consciousness of imaginary difficulties that makes him +such a strange coward when this putting business is being done. He knows +that really the putting is easy, but he knows also that he must not +miss, that an inch lost here is as much of a loss as two hundred yards +in the driving--and he fears his fate. It is consciousness of the +stupidity of missing, nerves, fears, imagination, that make this missing +of short putts by the cleverest players, champions as much as any +others, the most remarkable thing that happens constantly in any game. +There is nothing like it. If it were not so easy, if there were good +excuse for failure, those putts would not be missed so frequently. In +putting, said Sir Walter Simpson, there is much to think about and much +more not to be thought of. "When a putter," he reflected, "is waiting +his turn to hole out a putt of one or two feet in length, on which the +match hangs at the last hole, it is of vital importance that he think of +nothing. At this supreme moment he ought studiously to fill his mind +with vacancy. He must not even allow himself the consolations of +religion. He must not prepare himself to accept the gloomy face of his +partner and the derisive delight of his adversaries with Christian +resignation should he miss. He must not think that it is a putt he would +not dream of missing at the beginning of the match, or, worse still, +that he missed one like it in the middle. He ought to wait, calm and +stupid, till it is his turn to play, wave back the inevitable boy who is +sure to be standing behind his arm, and putt as I have told him +how--neither with undue haste nor with exaggerated care. When the ball +is down, and the putter handed to the caddy, it is not well to say, 'I +couldn't have missed it.' Silence is best. The pallid cheek and +trembling lip belie such braggadocio." + + + * * * * * + +The truth is that the man who golfs will unceasingly think of the things +he should not think of, and that is what makes this easy putting so +difficult, and it explains why the innocent child, unthinking, finds the +business as simple and pleasant as swinging under the boughs of a tree +on a sunny day in June. While there is one quite easy way of doing +nearly every putt, there are perhaps a dozen more or less difficult ways +of missing it, and it is these that are uppermost in the golfer's mind +when the time of his trial comes, and so once more is vice triumphant +while angels are depressed. There is the hole, a pit that is deep and +wide, four and a quarter inches in diameter, and there is the little +ball, only an inch and a half through the middle, and the intervening +space between the two is smooth and even. It would seem to be the +easiest thing in theory and practice to knock the ball into the large +hole; but how very small does the hole then appear to be and how much +too big for it is the ball! But the golfer knows that he should hole +that putt, and that if he fails he will never, never have the chance +again. Should he putt and miss the act is irrevocable; the stroke and +the hole, or the half of it, are lost, and nothing that can happen +afterwards can remove that loss. Should he at the beginning of the play +to a hole make a faulty drive, or should his approach play be very +inaccurate, he knows that he may atone for these mistakes by special +cleverness displayed in subsequent strokes, and with the buoyant hope +that constantly characterises him he thinks he will. But the hope seems +often to desert him at the end; confidence lapses. The short putt is the +very last stroke in the play to that hole, and if it is missed there is +no further opportunity for recovery. In this way it does seem sometimes +that there is a little of the awful, the eternal, the infinite about +that putt. The player is stricken with fear and awe. He knows it is an +easy thing to do in the one proper way of doing it, but raging through +his mind are hideous pictures of a dozen ways of missing. Once upon a +time I put the question to a number of the greatest players of the age +as to what were their thoughts, if any, when they came to making one of +these little putts on which championships or other great affairs almost +entirely depended, and almost invariably their answer was that at the +last supreme moment a thought came into their minds and was expressed to +themselves in these words: "What a fool I shall look if I miss this +putt!" Those words exactly did Willie Park, the younger, say quietly to +himself just as he was about to make the last short putt of a round at +Musselburgh, which would or would not give him a tie for the +championship with Andrew Kirkaldy. He did not say that if he missed the +putt he would lose the championship. He said he would look a fool. + +The other day in a quiet corner of London, away from the game but, as it +happened, not from the thought of it, I had Harry Vardon with me engaged +in some serious talk in a broad and general way upon golfing men and +things. Ten years ago, when we were doing some kind of collaboration in +the production of a new book, he said to me very impressively and as one +who wonders exceedingly, "It is a funny game; let us impress that upon +them all, it is a very funny game," and now, having played perhaps five +thousand more rounds and won another Open Championship, he went forward +to the admission, "It is an awful game." He meant it, and one reason why +we like our Harry Vardon is because he too has always been awe-stricken +by this so-called game, and because there is no other man in golf who +sympathises better with the trials and tortures of the moderate player. +On this morning of spring he was telling me of another new and great +discovery he had made in putting methods, and in giving to me an account +of his pains, his sufferings in missing all the short putts he had +failed at in recent times--how dearly have they cost him!--he said it +was the two-feet putt that frightened him most of all, and declared +solemnly and seriously that he would rather have a three-yarder than +such a putt, and that he would hole the former oftener than the latter. +He said the two-feet putts frighten him, that as soon as he settles +himself down to the business of putting in such a case the hole seems to +become less and less. "I am overcome," says he, "with the idea that in a +moment it will be gone altogether. Then I am in a state of panic, and I +snatch at my putter and hit the ball quickly so that with a little luck +it may reach the hole before it goes away altogether and there is +nothing to putt at. When I have missed I see that the hole is there, and +as big as ever or bigger!" Vardon once tried putting left-handed, a +doctor having advised him to do so, and he found that the idea worked +splendidly, but he did not like the look of it. He believes after all +his sorrows that one of the greatest and best secrets of good putting is +to keep more absolutely still than do most golfers, who seem to think +it matters less in putting when it matters so much more. + + + * * * * * + +Now the golfer in his wisdom, ingenuity, and resource has tried every +way he can think of to solve this problem of nerves and doubts by +mechanical and other means. Those who would be successful in +competitions have retired to bed at nine o'clock in the evening for a +month, and some of them have sipped from bottles of tonics hoping that +physic would serve to give them strong nerve, steady hands and courage, +but such methods have not availed. For no part of this or any other game +have so many different kinds of instruments been invented, though the +little child could do the putts with the head of a walking-stick or a +common poker. Scarcely a week goes by in the season but some new kind of +putter is introduced to the expectant multitude of harassed players, and +now and then a thrill runs through the world as they receive a clear +assurance that at last some special device has been discovered which +will make their putting ever afterwards easy and certain. There is a +thrill as if a secret of long life had been found. But the chill of +disappointment follows quickly. Golfers have now tried all things known, +and more short putts are missed than ever. Hundreds of different kinds +of putters have been invented. They have been made with very thin +blades, and with thick slabs of metal or other substance instead of mere +blades. They have been made like spades, like knives, like hammers, and +like croquet mallets. They have even been made like putters. They have +been made of wood, iron, aluminium, brass, gun-metal, silver, bone, and +glass. Here in my room I have the sad gift of the creator of a forlorn +and foolish hope. It is a so-called putter made in the shape of a roller +on ball bearings which is meant to be wheeled along the green up to the +ball. Like some others it was illegal according to the rules. To such +extravagances of fancy the desperate golfers have been led in their +desire to succeed in this putting that the authorities have had to step +in for the defence of the dignity of the game to declare a limit to the +scope of invention in this matter. And yet I once knew a man who for a +long period did some of the best putting that you would ever fear to +play against with a little block of wood that had once served to keep +the door of his study ajar, to which had been attached a stick that was +made from a broom handle. This improvised putter was a freak of his +fancy at a time when he thought there might be some virtue in a return +to prime simplicity. Then Mr. James Robb, who has won the Amateur +Championship once and been in the final on two other occasions, has +putted all his life with a cleek that his sister won in a penny raffle +when he was a boy and gave to him. Likewise Mr. John Laidlay has also +putted uninterruptedly since he was a boy with a cleek that is now so +thin with much cleaning that his friends tell him he may soon be able to +shave himself with it. But these are the grand exceptions after all. +Such fine settlement and constancy are unknown to the average player. It +was but the other day that I learned that a friend of mine, one most +distinguished in the game and of the very highest skill, had used +fifteen different putters on the day of an important competition--three +in the morning's play, nine others in noonday practice, and three quite +fresh ones in the afternoon game. The same good man carried a choice +assortment of his own putters to a recent amateur championship meeting, +but at the beginning of the tournament made love to one of mine, +borrowed it, and used it until he was beaten--not a long way from the +end of the competition. Sometimes it seems that what is rudest in +design, almost savage, is now best liked when in our frenzy we have +ransacked art, science, and all imagination in search of the putter with +which we can putt as we would. There is the spirit of reaction; we would +return to the primitive. Putters that look as if they might be for +dolls, some of those stumpy little things made of iron on a miniature +aluminium-putter model, which some of the great champions have been +using, have hardly become popular. The crude and the bizarre, suggestive +of inspiration, please well. I shall not forget Jean Gassiat, good +golfer of France, coming up to me one championship day at Hoylake, +holding forward in his right hand, and with its head in the air, what +was evidently meant for a golf club, but which was as much unlike one as +anything we had ever seen. On the face of the player was spread the grin +of pleasure; wordlessly he suggested that at last he had found it, the +strangest, the most wonderful. In principle this new club, as it has to +be called for courtesy, is akin to the affair of the door-stopper and +the broomstick. It consists of a plain flat rectangular piece of wood +about four inches long, two inches wide, and three-quarters of an inch +deep, and its two-inch nose is cut quite square, while for a couple of +inches at the end of the shaft the grip is thickened to twice its usual +size. It is weighted and balanced by large and small lead bullets in the +sole. It is possible to frame a good argument in favour of a putter made +of anything; nothing is without some advantage. It could be said for a +ginger-beer bottle that it would insist on the ball being most truly hit +from the middle of the vessel as the ball ought to be hit, and, given +notice, one could prepare a statement of claim on behalf of an old boot +seeking to be raised to the putterage. So there are good things to be +said for this putter from France, and one of the best is that after +smiling upon it Jean Gassiat began to wonder, then thought, +experimented, and fell in love with this putter completely. Some weeks +later I saw him doing those marvels on the green as are only done when +man and putter have become thoroughly joined together, and Gassiat has +always to be taken seriously in these matters, for, like Massy, he is a +Basque, and, like the old champion, he is one of the most beautiful +putters, with an instinct for holing. This most remarkable invention, +without desiring its extinction in the least, one would say, surely +departs a whole world of fancy farther from the traditional idea of what +a golf club should be than the poor Schenectady of the Americans which +St. Andrews proscribed. It was not the idea of Gassiat, nor of any other +than the Marquis de Chasseloup-Laubat, a French sportsman of +thoroughness and a very keen golfer. Seeing what Gassiat was doing, +James Sherlock obtained one of these barbaric tools, and at this the +public came in. + + + * * * * * + +Every thinkable variety of putting method has been adopted. Bodies, +hands, feet have been placed in all positions, and the stroke has been +made in every conceivable way. Are there any two players who do it just +the same, or have the same advice to give? For a violent contrast take +two of the most able amateurs of the time, both of them long since +distinguished in the foremost competitions, Mr. John Low and Mr. H. S. +Colt. The former favours the wooden putter, and he has one of that kind +to which he is keenly attached, but he putts with all sorts of things as +the spirit moves him on consideration of special circumstances. He was +one of the early members of the thoughtful school of golf which has made +such a strong advance in recent times. Nearly always, however, you will +find him standing nearly upright when doing his putting, grasping a club +with a tolerably long shaft somewhere quite near to the top of the +handle. This erect attitude is that which our fore-fathers of the +traditions mostly favoured. Those splendid gentlemen, as we have agreed, +were fine golfers who conducted their game nobly, but it has always +seemed to me that they were an unimaginative lot. It never appears to +have occurred to them that because the club has a handle at the top was +no reason why they should grasp it up there instead of nearly at the +opposite end, as do a large body of the most enterprising and inquiring +amateurs these days. Of this advanced party the eminent architect is a +shining example, for he holds his putting cleek so far down, so near to +the ironwork, that the shaft seems useless, and in addition to this he +defies all teaching in putting by planting the heel of the club down on +the green and holding the hands so low that the toe of the putter is +cocked up, and with this toe he hits the ball, and, as it looks, he tops +it. But that putting of his is too much for most of the men who have to +play against it. When those who do not understand see men putting in +this way, or something like it, they say to themselves, and perhaps to +others, that they cannot see why the men do not have the unused part of +the shaft cut off so that it may not be in the way. But there they show +their deficiencies of knowledge, though one is not sure that all the men +who putt with a low grip quite know why they do so. They only know that +the method suits them, but the truth is often that in these cases the +balancing piece of the shaft above the hands acts as a steadier for the +piece below. A few students have carried this idea a point further by +having a piece of lead attached to the top of the handle to increase the +weight and the balancing influence of that part. Mr. Hammond Chambers is +one of them. The amateurs are the most original and peculiar in their +putting methods. For the most part the professionals, although adopting +widely different stances, hold themselves fairly well up when doing +their work on the green, and putt with an easy following-through stroke +as is recommended by the old masters. Strange that we should realise +that quite the most impressive, stylish, and beautiful putter of the +erect school is M'Dermott, the brilliant young American champion, who +stands straight up with his legs and heels touching, grips his putter at +the very end, and moving nothing but his club and hands, makes the most +delightfully smooth swing. The low-grip method is not at all conducive +to the gentle swinging, following-through putt, but encourages a sharp +little tap. + +All the old original philosophy and instruction in putting can be +summarised in a very few words, but hundreds of thousands would be +needed for discussion of the variations, most of which have been used +successfully at some time. The majority of advisers make a point of it +that the ball must be hit truly, but they would not all be agreed on +what that "truly" was except that it was hitting it as they meant to do. +What most of them have in mind is that there is on the face of the +putter a proper hitting point, from which the ball will run more +accurately and with less disposition to slide off the right line than +when hit with any other part, that being the point of balance or the +sweet spot which every iron club possesses, and this point should be +brought to the ball by an even swing from the back, and the swing should +be continued after impact by the steady smooth advance of the head of +the club along the line that it was making at the moment of striking. +Absolute steadiness of the body is quite essential, and lack of it--just +the most trifling and almost undiscernible lack--is responsible for more +putting failures than almost any other cause. Most of those who tell us +what to do in golf advise that we should keep the arms and forearms +quite still also, and putt entirely from the wrist. And yet even these +canons, as they are considered, are defied by large bodies of players. +There are thousands of golfers who putt from the toes of their clubs, +and believe in the method. They say they can feel the ball better and +direct it more surely. + +I quote again one of the first preceptors, Sir Walter Simpson, because I +think in most matters of feeling and practice he stands so well for the +old solid school of golf that has nearly died away. He insists on the +wooden putter, to begin with, and maintains that no good thing upon the +green can come out of iron, but therein he was mistaken and time has +cried him down. And then he writes: "I have just said there are, at +most, two or three attitudes in which good putting is possible. We are +nowadays inclined to be more dogmatic, and to assert that there is but +one. The player must stand open, half facing the hole, the weight on the +right leg, the right arm close to the side, the ball nearly opposite the +right foot. To putt standing square, the arms reached out, is as +difficult as to write without laying a finger on the desk." Had he lived +on to these more modern days he would not have been nearly so dogmatic +as that. Some of the very best putters do not play with the open stance, +but putt entirely from the left leg, that leg thrown forward and in +front and bearing all the weight, the right being merely hanging on +behind. Then they have the ball right opposite the left toe, and they +putt with a sense of strain which they believe in such circumstances is +conducive to delicacy. Tens of thousands of others could not putt in +this way, but those who can are very successful, and this is just +another indication of the danger of dogma in golf. As to the right arm +at the side, it may be said that there is now a fast increasing practice +on the part of those who bend down somewhat to their putting to rest the +right elbow or forearm on the right knee. J. H. Taylor experimented with +this idea on the very eve of the 1913 championship at Hoylake, his +putting for some time having been bad. He adopted it, won the +championship, and gave the new way of putting all the credit. + +Now see how high and deeply thinking authorities can differ about the +ways and means of doing this thing that the little child does so +thoroughly and well. "A great secret of steady putting is to make a +point of always 'sclaffing' along the ground," said the baronet. "The +best putters do this, although it is not evident to an onlooker, the +noise of the scrape being inaudible. To be sure of the exact spot on the +putter face which is invariably to come in contact with the ball, is, of +course, essential to the acquirement of accuracy. If you play to hit +clean, your putter must pass above the ground at varying heights, as it +is impossible to note how much air there is between it and the turf. In +the other way you feel your road. But the greatest gain from treating +putting as a sclaffing process is the less delicate manipulation +required when short putts are in question. At a foot and a half from the +hole the clean putter often fails, from incapacity to graduate inches of +weakness, whilst the sclaffer succeeds because he is dealing with +coarser weight sensitiveness." + +Now time and experience have showed us all that we cannot be dogmatic +about anything in golf except that the ball must be struck somehow, and +least of all may we venture to dogmatise in the matter of putting, and +we will only say now that the late Sir Walter has a heavy majority +against him on this suggestion that in doing the short putts it is well +to let the putter scrape along the grass when going forward to the ball. +It seems a small matter (that little man child never thought of it, but +I noticed he did not sclaff), yet a whole world of good and ill upon the +links is bound up with it. We shall set this happy golfer as he was, and +friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, against one of the great champions and +one of the finest putters who have ever handled clubs, and that is +Willie Park, the younger, who says, "One of the secrets of putting is to +hit the ball, and the ball only--a sclaffy style of putting is fatal; +and, with the object of making absolutely certain of avoiding it, rather +aim to strike the globe just the least thing above the ground. The ball +should be smartly tapped with the putter, the stroke being played +entirely from the wrists; and it should be neither struck a slow, heavy +blow, nor shoved, nor should it be jerked." + +Most golfers will be with Willie in this matter, and those who have not +tried already that way of putting, the sole of the club being kept clear +from the turf when the stroke is being made, might do so to their very +likely advantage. It is a point that a player of limited experience +might never think about, and I know many who have been converted from +bad putters to good ones by it. Some of the leading players of the +Hoylake school have long been addicted to a slight elaboration or +variation of this method. As they bring the club on to the ball they +lift it slightly so that at the moment of impact a peculiar running spin +is given to the ball, one that is not quite the same thing as is +imparted by merely topping it. The way appears to help the hole to +gather the ball when it arrives, but it is a method that needs natural +aptitude and much practice to make it quite safe in application. And +then again, right away to the contrary, I have witnessed in recent +weeks a way of putting by one or two of the best players in the country, +which is new, and which they declare to be most effective when dealing +with the small heavy balls that are now in vogue and which are so +difficult to manage, especially on very keen greens. We have all heard +of the push shot, generally done with cleeks and the more powerful +irons--and many of us have tried to play it as Harry Vardon does, and +the things that I have seen done and described as push shots by ordinary +amateurs have been very dreadful. But, no matter; the idea of the push +shot is to hit the ball a kind of downward glancing blow, the club +coming to ground after impact, the result being that the ball starts off +quickly and pulls up suddenly. The players to whom I have referred have +applied this stroke to their putting, coming on to the ball above the +centre and gently pushing the club through it, and in the circumstances +I have indicated there can be no doubt they have succeeded. Balls being +so tricky now, these matters are worth considering. + +You would perceive how boldly dogmatic was the writer of the early +classic on the question of stance. On that point there is just one more +word to say. The tendency seems to be increasing in these days towards +holding the feet closely together. It is a stance to which Harry Vardon, +after all his putting troubles, has nearly settled down, and many of the +best men on the green, Tom Ball for one, are given to it. But there is +no law, no recommendation even, only the most timid suggestion to be +made to any man in this matter. That way which suits him and gives him +confidence is the best, and one may find men putting marvellously well +when their stance and attitude seem to be so ungainly and difficult as +to cause them pain. + + + * * * * * + +The method of holding the club has, at least, as much to do with good +putting as anything else, and in this matter one may almost dare to +dogmatise. The majority of players hold their putters with the two hands +close together but detached from each other, in much the same way as +they hold their other clubs. All of them have heard of what they call +the Vardon grip, or the overlapping grip, by which, when the club is +held, the left thumb is brought into the palm of the right hand, and the +little finger of that right hand is made generally to ride upon the +first of the left hand. Many try this grip for their long shots, but few +persist with it, as they become convinced either that their hands and +fingers are not strong enough for it, or that before they could master +the method they would need to suffer too much in loss of the game that +they already possess. Therefore they renounce the overlapping grip +entirely. But if they would try it in putting they would experience none +of the difficulties with which they are troubled when applying it to +their wooden club shots, no sort of force having to be given to the +stroke, and almost from the first attempt they would enjoy an advantage. +It is a matter of the most vital importance in putting that the two +hands should not interfere with each other to the very slightest extent. +One of them should have the general management of the putting, and the +other, if detached from it, should do little save act in a very +subordinate capacity as a steadying influence. Everybody is agreed upon +that; it is absolute. But when we have the two hands separate, as with +the ordinary grip, there is always a danger of the subordinate asserting +itself too much, or at all events varying in the amount of work that it +does. It cannot be avoided; it is inevitable. This, we may be sure, is +the cause of much bad and uncertain putting. + +Join the two hands together, as with the overlapping grip, and we have +them working as one completely, and the risk of undue interference by +the subordinate vanishes. This is the best hint on putting that all our +counsellors have to give, and they one and all declare it will do more +than anything else to raise a man to the high level of excellence of the +innocent child. Sometimes we see men putting one-handed, and one may +believe that for medium and short putts this way is more certain than +the separate hands. Mr. Hilton once putted that way in the Amateur +International match, and I have seen many other good putters do well +with it. But it savours of freakishness, and, as a famous professional +said to the distinguished player who adopted the method, "God did not +give us two hands for one to be kept in a pocket while the putting was +being done." The simple truth is that the one-hand way approximates very +closely to the two-hand overlapping method. It is nearly the same thing, +the same principle--all the work being done from one point. Upon +thought, we often come to realise that what appear to be some of the +most freakish methods of putting have the same fundamental principle at +their base. Thus, take the case of Sherlock, who putts extremely well +and consistently. He almost alone, among players of the game, holds his +two hands wide apart on the handle of the putter, the left one +uppermost, of course. This looks very strange, and at the first +consideration it might seem that surely one hand will upset all the good +work and reckoning that is done by the other. But the simple fact is +that the left is so far away that it cannot interfere, and that is the +secret of the quality of this method. When the left is close up to the +right we cannot prevent it from meddling; we are unconscious of it when +it is doing so; but get it far away and we have it in subjection, and +all that it does in Sherlock's case is just to steady things up a little +while the right hand does the business of the time. + +Mr. Walter Travis, the most eminent American, than whose putting in the +Amateur Championship he won at Sandwich nothing better has ever been +seen since time and the game began, long since adopted a slight +variation of this overlapping grip, specially for his putting, which, I +think, has something to commend it. Instead of letting the little finger +of the right hand rest on the forefinger of the left, he reverses the +situation, and puts the forefinger of the left hand on the little one of +the right, thus leaving the right hand in full possession of the grip, +both thumbs being down the shaft. In the other way it is the left hand +that has hold of the club with all its fingers, and it will now be +remembered that while the left hand is the chief worker in driving and +playing through the green, the right is the one that most frequently +does the putting. + +Having thus mentioned Mr. Travis, one can hardly refrain from quoting +some of his instruction in this matter as he once conveyed it to me. "I +believe," said he, "that putting should always be done with one +hand--with one hand actively at work, that is. The left should be used +only for the purpose of swinging the club backwards preparatory to +making the stroke. When it has done that its work is ended and the right +hand should then be sole master of the situation, the left being merely +kept in attachment to it for steadying purposes. When only one hand is +thus employed the gain in accuracy is very great. Two hands at work on a +short putt or a long one tend to distraction. When the stroke is being +made the grip of the right hand should be firm, but not tight, and after +the impact the club-head should be allowed to pass clean through with an +easy following stroke. The follow-through should indeed be as long as it +is possible to make it comfortably, and, with this object in view, at +the moment of touching the ball the grip of the fingers of the left hand +should be considerably relaxed, so that the right hand may go on doing +its work without interruption. Never hit or jerk the ball as so many +players do. There is nothing that pays so well as the easy +follow-through stroke." + +Yet we find that there is less than ever of that easy follow-through +being done in these days, and putting may be no better for the fact, +almost certainly is not. These are days when old maxims are being +abandoned and new systems are being proclaimed season by season. Jack +White, a splendid putter and a magnificent heretic, lately declared that +it is time to get rid of what has been regarded as the most inviolable +of maxims, "Never up, never in," asserting that the determination to be +past the hole in putting, if not in it, leads with these lively balls we +now play with to far too many of them running out of holing distance on +the other side. His counsel, therefore, is that the ball should be +coaxed gently up to the hole with as much drag applied to it as can be. +Then for years past it has been recommended that one of the best ways of +managing the putting with these speedy balls is to have much loft on the +putter, and so in that way do something to create the drag; but lately a +change of opinion began to be made, and I am finding some of the best +players using putters that are perfectly straight in the face, believing +that by their agency they can putt more delicately and with a surer +judgment of strength. + +It is a little bewildering. Arnaud Massy, the French player who once +won the Open Championship, and who is better at the putts of from six to +ten or twelve feet than any man I know, says that he has come to believe +that Nature has planted deep down in us a sixth sense, and it is that of +putting. In the development of that sense lies the way to success. But +after all such meditations as this, I go back to the remembrance of that +wonderful little child who could never miss, and then from it all there +emerges the only real secret of success in putting. The child has a +quality which we elders do not enjoy, and never shall have it for any +length of time. He knows not the hardness of the world. Having innocence +and faith he looks trustingly upon it, and the old world and its four +and a quarter inch hole is a little ashamed, perhaps. The child has +Confidence. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +OLD CHAMPIONS AND NEW, AND SOME DIFFERENCES IN ACHIEVEMENT, WITH A +SUGGESTION THAT GOLF IS A CRUEL GAME. + + +If men who play games are not proud of their champions, of what then +shall they be proud? If we advance the proposition--which is done here +and now--that no other game or sport that was ever conceived and played +has produced such remarkable strength and mastery in its champions as +golf has done, the cynics will find that with the resources of the world +and history at their disposal this position of ours can be well +maintained, even though we have less than sixty years of championships +for our support. And let it be said also at the beginning that we of +golf declare to win, not with the Morrises or Parks, as might be +supposed--good men they were too--but with the moderns, and especially +with our Harry Vardon, our Taylor, our Braid, and the amateurs, John +Ball, Harold Hilton, and the Frederick Guthrie Tait of immortal and +beloved memory. I have long since grown accustomed to the mysterious and +the inexplicable in golf, and pass them by on their fresh occurrences in +these days as like the commonplace, something for which indeed there may +be some explanation and a simple one, but one which the gods, with their +humour and their teasing, are hiding from us. We who in this game have +fed so long on wonders are now disposed to overlook phenomena. We tire +of sensations and the extraordinary, and would revert to a smooth +placidity of plain occurrence. It is in such mood that we often +contemplate the records of the past, and then we dismiss them quickly +with the comfortable judgment that the Morrises were themselves, and, +being fixed on a permanent pinnacle, must not be disturbed. They have +become a creed. One might imagine little plaster figures of old Tom, his +left hand in his trousers pocket, thumb outside, and young Tom in +Glengarry bonnet all complete, to have been placed in some over-zealous +golfers' homes along with representations of Homer, Julius Caesar, +Shakespeare, Gladstone, and Cecil Rhodes, and no questions are to be +asked about them. It may be right to place them there, those early +champions of the game, but when sometimes steeled to sacrilege and +careless of all risk, I set myself to analyse the conditions and +circumstances in which they gained their immortal glory, I can give +reasons, ordinary worldly reasons, why they gained it; and can thereupon +pass them as satisfying every reasonable requirement of human champions +of the first degree. But with the others it is not at all like that. +Golf being the game it is, the repeated successes of those three great +players we call the "triumvirate," Taylor, Vardon, and Braid, at a time +when competition is so enormously severe, and when--this point being of +towering importance--the luck of the game, always considerable, is, +through a variety of circumstances, greater than ever, appear to me, +having seen most of them accomplished, and now looking upon the plain +printed records of indisputable fact, to have still some elements of +impossibility. One has a fear that three or four hundred years from now +the golfers of the period may not believe that these things did happen; +they may decide that we of this imaginative and progressive age, a +little fearful perhaps of greater wonders that might be accomplished in +the future, had prepared a little trick for posterity and had set forth +false records of what we had done, so absurd that their falsity was +self-evident, and so we were to be pitied for our simplicity. In our +humble way, and by stating the records of achievement in the coldest +way, admitting moreover that even to us of the time they appear +incredible, we do our best to gain favour and acceptance with our +descendants. Fifteen Open Championships to the triumvirate, and eight +Amateur Championships to Mr. John Ball himself. It is indeed impossible; +but it is one of those things in golf that are to be described in the +terms that Ben Sayers (who might have been given a championship by the +fates for services rendered and skill displayed before the era to which +he chiefly belonged was closed, as men are made lords when governments +give up) applied to the victory over him by Fred Tait on his own course +at North Berwick once by something like seven and six--"It's no +possible, but it's a fact!" All of us know one man--perhaps more than +one, but we do know one for certain--who nearly all the time that Mr. +Ball has been winning those championships might have been winning them +himself, has been almost good enough to do so. But he has won nothing, +and after all it may not be a matter of much surprise if we consider the +enormous odds against victory in a championship because of the luck of +the game, the fact that it is not like running or rowing, billiards or +chess, where strength and stamina, knowledge and skill, work out almost +exactly every time, but a game in which skill has this element of luck +blended so largely with it. But Mr. Ball, Amateur Champion eight times +over, and the triumvirate as well!--when "the truth stands out as gross +as black from white," with my eyes I can scarcely see it. These persons +have forbidden the caprice of chance that was set to worry them, they +have overthrown the laws of averages, they have annihilated the +weaknesses of flesh and blood, and they have laughed at fortune and at +fate which, defeated, have joined up with them. Then clearly they, with +the collection of champions in general for their garnishment, are to be +regarded as the sixth wonder of the game. + +It is now too late--as it always was too late--to make any fair +comparison between the great players of our own time and those who were +members in the early years of the Open Championship. There is not so +much argument now as to whether Harry Vardon is better than young Tom +Morris was, though such argument was common only ten or a dozen years +ago. How may you compare these men? Young Tommy won four championships +in succession, but there was only a handful of competitors each time, +and the opposition was feeble almost to nothing in comparison with what +it became a very few years later. Vardon, Taylor, and Braid have each +won the championship five times, and many of these victories were gained +against their own fellow-champions and the strongest opposition +conceivable. Yet though such as Vardon produce what are in a sense more +astonishing results in the way of scores, we are reminded that they have +far smoother courses to play upon and much improved clubs and balls. +Also they have better rivals to sharpen their game. From this one might +argue that it would be strange indeed if they were not better than young +Tommy was, that it is quite inevitable they should be. But our modern +champions have done more than fulfil the obligations laid upon them. +They have established an amazing supremacy at a period when golfers are +reckoned in the hundreds of thousands; young Tom was champion when there +were the hundreds without the thousands. His championship, at all +events, did not mean so much. The championships gained by our +triumvirate are proof beyond all possibility of doubt or question that +these men are the most exalted geniuses, that they have such a clear +superiority over all other golfers of their time as is, seeing the +circumstances of the case and knowing the waywardness of golf, almost +incredible. The success of the younger Morris proved, as some will hold, +only that he was quite the best golfer of a few eligible to compete for +the championship. + + + * * * * * + +After all, if comparison is fruitless and not properly practicable, this +speculation as to the merits of the geniuses of nearly fifty years ago +and now becomes enticing. One would like to reach some conclusion upon +it, but cannot. It would be fine material for a golfers' debating +society. Were I to regard myself as advocate for the moderns I should in +an agreeable and inoffensive way suggest that time has done nothing to +hurt the fame of young Tommy's skill. When what they call the golf boom +began and the great game percolated through the mass of ignorant +English, there was babble all at once about St. Andrews, and men of +southern towns just discovering that the right hand on the driver should +be the lower one whispered of the ancient city in a hypocritical manner +of respect and awe as if it were high up above the blue instead of a +day's journey up the northern lines from Euston or King's Cross. The +name of the place was taken in vain, and to this day there are neophytes +who lisp of "the Mecca of golf," as they say it, and its eleventh and +seventeenth holes, though they have never been in Fifeshire and maybe +never will. At the same time and by the same people there was +established the vogue of young Tommy Morris, as one might call it. It +was nearly sacrilege in the circumstances, for more people were living +then than are living now who had known young Tommy, and fervently +believed he was the best golfer who ever played the game. But what we +may call the Morrisian traditions were established in this way, and they +have laid a shoddy veneer on the really sound reputation of the young +champion that it never needed. So the proposition is advanced that +through ignorance and affectation and carelessness we posterity are +being abundantly generous to young Tom and his father--forgetting Allan +Robertson, such is the effect of championships, who was before them, and +of whom it was said when he died that they might toll their bells and +shut up their shops at St. Andrews, for their greatest was gone. We +posterity are of another golfing world completely from that in which +those early champions of St. Andrews lived and golfed. I have here in my +room a driver with which old Tom played, and I see that the other day +some rash fellows, unafraid of ghosts, took out from their receptacles +some clubs which had belonged to him and others and played a game with +them. But the handling of the old clubs and the looking on the picture +of Tom which he once signed for me cannot bring the feeling of his time +to ours, and I pass it on as a suggestion to our own posterity that our +judgment in this matter, as it has been made, is nearly worthless. + +It has been coldly stated that lies are told by golfers. That allegation +may be dismissed with no consideration, but it is certain that fancy +traditions of flimsy origin gather about golfing history and soon +establish themselves in the most remarkable manner. I know many +incidents of the past ten or fifteen years, things I myself have +witnessed, the truth of which has become completely obscured by masses +of imagined stuff that has gathered on them. To take a good example, +more than half the golfers in the world will tell you that Lieutenant +Fred Tait won a championship at Prestwick after wading into water at the +Alps to play a shot from there in the final; if they will look at the +records they will find that splendid Tait did not win that championship +at all, and they should be told that the shot that Mr. Ball made from +the wet sand in that same bunker was nearly as difficult and, in the +circumstances, more trying. Again, the victory gained by Mr. Travis at +Sandwich, so recently as 1904, is now already described in many +different ways, but one feature common to all of them is that the +American holed a putt of twenty yards on nearly every green, that his +driving was childlike in its shortness, and that he was smoking himself +to death at the time. Still later, the very next year, there was an +Amateur Championship at Prestwick, and I remember that Mr. Robert +Maxwell, after a hard struggle against young Barry--who won the +championship--had to loft over a stymie on the eighteenth green to keep +the match alive, and then at the nineteenth the student was left with a +short putt to win that hole and the match. I saw the play in that match +and saw the putt, and I believe it was one of about a couple of feet. It +was certainly too much to give in the circumstances, far too much, but +Mr. Maxwell, great lover of golf as he is, had even by that time begun +to tire of the strenuousness and the officialdom and the graspingness of +championship tournaments, and he waved his club in token of presentation +of the putt to his young opponent and generously shook hands with him. +The Scottish spectators did not like it at the time, because "oor +Bobbie" was their best and greatest hope, and it seemed like feeding the +devil with chocolates to give putts like this to English golfers. By the +time that we had returned to the club-house, only three hundred yards +away, it was being said that that putt was three feet long, by the +morning it had gone up to three feet six, and increasing gradually it +even touched the five-feet mark within the next few years. At that point +there was a reaction and, from what I can gather, the putt has settled +down in history at four feet. It was half as long. + +So I think that golf posterities are fickle bodies, and even the best of +them are not nearly so responsible and accurate in their judgments as is +believed by those people who trustingly say that they will await the +verdict of posterity. I remember that M. Anatole France urged that +posterity was not infallible, because he himself and all human beings +are posterity in regard to a long succession of works with which they +are imperfectly acquainted, and he quotes the case of Macbeth whose +reputation posterity has murdered, though Macbeth himself did no crime +at all. Macbeth was really an excellent king. He enriched Scotland by +favouring her commerce and industry. The chronicler depicts him as a +pacific prince, the king of the towns, the friend of the citizens. The +clans hated him because he administered justice well. He assassinated +nobody. And as M. France remarks, we know what legend and genius have +made of his memory. It is that way reversed with all our golfing +traditions, and so we must handle them carefully. It is a principle of +this game that no man can be a good golfer and a bad man, that those who +are bad at heart have not the human qualities necessary for being +golfers at all, cannot associate happily with the rest of the community, +and so they get themselves properly out of it betimes. Hence it happens +that of no golfer is there anything that is bad to be told. We have no +Macbeths in this sport of ours, though it embraces some pensive Hamlets, +and a number of the moderns would be golfing Romeos if their swings were +finished in the old free style. But if tradition had indeed given us a +foul Macbeth who improved his lie we should surely purify the +remembrance of him, believing that his immediate posterity had almost +certainly judged him wrong. + +This case which the advocate has set up against young Tom, with all this +blame cast on posterity, will seem a weak thing yet to some. If we were +counsel for the boy, who made a fine and a lovable figure in his day, +should we bandy with words like that, or put evidence direct and plain +before the tribunal, the evidence of those who saw? There are still a +few of them left, and for myself I should not have far to send to gain a +willing witness. I have a good and valued friend, Mr. Charles Chambers +of Edinburgh, member of a distinguished golfing family of many +generations, and a fine player himself, who was in the semi-final of the +first Amateur Championship. He saw young Tommy at the game, and played +it with him. And Mr. Chambers, once answering my plea for some of his +remembrances, said, "As a youngster at St. Andrews, I was a great friend +of young Tom, the champion, and on a summer evening often accompanied +him alone, when, with a club and a cleek, he played out as far as the +second hole. He was, I believe, the greatest golfer the world has ever +seen, those giants of the present day not excepted. His driving, which I +remember so well, was of the long, low, wind-cheating style so seldom +seen now, with great distance and carry. He never struck a ball anywhere +except on the centre of the club, and this was reflected in the faces of +his driving-clubs, which had a clear and distinct impression in the +centre, the wood above and below being clean and fresh as when last +filed. His putting was perhaps even more deadly, and in ordinary matches +I recollect he was seldom or never asked to hole out a yard putt. In +driving from the tee, his style may be described as an absolutely +correct circular sweep, with great accuracy and follow-through, and +this applied equally to his iron play. It was his custom to wear a broad +Glengarry bonnet, which very frequently left his head on the delivery of +the stroke.... Without doubt he succumbed to his private sorrows and a +broken heart." That is strong testimony, and the abiding conviction is +that young Morris was great indeed, but in the nature of things +comparisons cannot well be made between then and now, and are better +left undone. + + + * * * * * + +I am glad that we have thus condemned posterity, for we strengthen the +positions of our triumvirate and Mr. Ball at their only point of +weakness, which is that their successes have been so marvellous as to be +incredible to those heirs of ours who, not being of this period, will +not have witnessed them. Posterity may suggest that such persons could +not have lived, since none of us will hesitate to say that such +posterity will not itself produce a man to win three championships. Even +to win one twice is to make a proof of superiority such as in existing +circumstances seems nearly impossible. Any man, as one might say, may +win a championship; that would prove nothing save that he is as good a +golfer as any other, or nearly so; but to win two championships is to +prove that he is appreciably better than the others, that he is so much +better as to balance with his skill the chances of the game--the putts +he missed and the long ones that his opponents holed--that were flung +against him. During a period of nearly twenty years the success of +Taylor, Vardon, and Braid has been so complete, so overwhelming, so +dazzling, that among them they seem almost to have solved the problem of +perpetual victory. Each of these men is a genius, a great master of the +game; each of them, had he lived in an age apart from the others, would +alone have been enough to make a separate era in competitive golf; and +it is a strange freak of fate that they should have been pitchforked +into the arena at the same time. It is as if three Ormondes had been in +the same Derby, or three Graces at the crease, when at their best; +indeed, it is more wonderful than those things would have been. They +were born within thirteen months of each other; Vardon and Braid within +three months. The last-named is the eldest of the group; he was born at +Earlsferry, in Fifeshire, on 6th February 1870; Harry Vardon was born in +Jersey on 7th May 1870; and Taylor was born at Northam, in Devonshire, +within a mile of where Mr. Ball won his eighth championship, on 19th +March 1871. They are of different race; for Braid is a pure Scot, Taylor +is pure English, and Vardon, while, of course, we are proud to regard +him as belonging to us, is really half-French and half-English. They are +of different build, different temperament, and of very different style +in golf; but there they are. Among them they have won the Open +Championship fifteen times, and when one of them has succeeded it has +generally happened that the other two have been his most dangerous +rivals. There must be a limit to the period of success as there is to +human life, and for years people have murmured that these three are not +like the little brook that purls down the hill, and they cannot go on +for ever. And yet at the beginning of each new championship an instinct +settles in the public mind that they cannot be beaten. Considering what +the Open Championship is, what a fearful strain it exerts on +temperament, mind, body, and muscle, how a single slip may mean failure, +and then how many really magnificent golfers are in the lists, some of +them old champions themselves, this is a strange state of things. I +recall that when a championship was played at Muirfield in 1906 the +sceptics were then loud in their prophecies that a "new man" would +arise, and that the triumvirate would be cast down. And then? James +Braid was first, John Henry Taylor was second, and Harry Vardon was +third, though a hundred and eighty other players had done their best to +beat them! Taylor, the Englishman, although the youngest of the three, +was the first to score success. He and Vardon both made their initial +appearances in the Open Championship at Prestwick in 1893, and on that +occasion the 75 that Taylor did in his first round stood as the lowest +made in the competition, although he did not win. At his second and +third attempts in the championship he took first place each time, and on +the second of these occasions an Englishman's victory was at last +accomplished at St. Andrews, the Scottish headquarters of the game. He +won there again in 1900, and is the only Englishman who has ever won the +Open Championship on this hallowed piece of golfing ground. A year after +the others began, James Braid entered the lists, and very quickly then +did these three establish their triple supremacy. An injured hand kept +Braid out of the great event in 1895, but since then each of the men has +played in every championship, and among them have won fifteen times out +of twenty-one. At the "coming of age" of the triumvirate in 1913, when +it was twenty-one years after Taylor and Vardon started in the event, +Taylor, the first to score in it, won his fifth and became "all square" +with his friends. That was a remarkable occurrence. Since 1894, when +Taylor won his first championship, there have only been five years when +one or other of the triumvirate has not won the cup. In 1897 Mr. Hilton +got it; in 1902 Sandy Herd, playing with the rubber-cored ball on its +introduction, scored; in 1904 Jack White was the winner, both Braid and +Taylor having a putt to tie with him on the last green; in 1907 Massy, +the Frenchman, triumphed; and in 1912 the hope of Edward Ray was +realised. And in each of these years one of the triumvirate was second. + + + * * * * * + +But if each of the triumvirate is a phenomenon and collectively they are +super-phenomena, in what terms then are we to describe Mr. John Ball, +and how shall we account for his eight amazing championships? Mr. Harold +Hilton, as all the world understands very well, is a great master of the +game, a magnificent golfer who knows it through and through, and a +tremendous fighting man. There has hardly been anything in all golf's +history so splendid as his coming again and winning two more Amateur +Championships when he had seemed almost done for ever, and very nearly +winning an Open Championship as well. But if after considering the +professionals at their stroke game, we are now to think of the amateurs +in their match-play championship, it is John Ball who is the wonder man. +The luck of the game that was emphasised in the consideration of score +play is surely greater in the match. At all events, the professionals +themselves to a man declare that the score play makes the better test, +and therefore is the fairer. If that is so, there is, inferentially, +more luck to be conquered by a good man in the amateur event, and Mr. +Ball has eight times beaten his fields and beaten all the luck against +him. Twenty-four years after winning his first Amateur Championship at +Prestwick he wins his eighth at Westward Ho! and, for all the great +players that the game has yielded, no other man has gained more than +half those wins, and only Hilton has done that. Surely it is a mystery +very profound as to how he has won so often. And yet it is less of +mystery if we accept the proposition that he who plays golf for the sake +of golf and fears not to be beaten is the most dangerous of opponents. +Mr. Ball's early championships were won by his own skill and his perfect +temperament; undoubtedly some of the later ones, which through +increasing numbers of opponents have or should have been harder to win, +have been gained because he cared little whether he won or not, and +because his opponents feared to lose, and feared the more as they felt +their impending fate when they had the master of Hoylake laid against +them. To a little extent they have beaten themselves, and Mr. Ball has +done all the rest. Has there been more than one of his championships in +recent times that he has keenly desired to win, that being the one he +gained at St. Andrews in 1907, because he wished to be victor at the +headquarters where he lost long years before, after a tie with Mr. +Balfour Melville? At eight o'clock on the morning after he won his +seventh at Hoylake I saw him in the garden at the back of his house +giving his chickens their morning meal. It was as if nothing had +happened. How many other men would have been feeding chickens so early +in the morning after winning an Amateur Championship? Has he finished +winning, I wonder? There is a cause to suggest that he has not. He won +for his seventh the only championship ever played in Devonshire, and he +has won the event on all the regular amateur championship courses on +which it is played but one, and that is Muirfield, which has been +something of a _bête noire_ among courses so far as he is concerned. +Once there he suffered one of the biggest defeats of his career, in the +international match, and then in the championship he went down in a +surprising way to a youngster of Dornoch. Shall he not add Muirfield to +his list? + +Despite a certain beauty of his style and the ease and elegance with +which he plays the game, Mr. Ball's golf is strongly individual to +himself. There are many pronounced mannerisms in it, and they are of a +kind that if any one tried to copy them, he might find his game being +injured rather than improved. They are the ways of the genius who cares +nothing for convention. Few can drive a better ball. At the outset of +his career he was a long driver. His first big match away from his +native Hoylake was one against Douglas Rolland. It was a home-and-home +affair in England and Scotland, and Rolland was greatly celebrated in +those days for the length he gained with wooden clubs. Yet he outdrove +Mr. Ball but little in that engagement. He obtains his length not to a +large extent from run, as most men get it now, but by a ball that starts +on a beautiful line, makes a very long carry, and leaves it at that, +with a little pull to finish with. It has seemed that he has had more +control over his wooden club play than almost any amateur except another +of fame who was bred in the same great school. An outstanding +peculiarity of his method is the way in which he grips his club, which +is done not in the fingers and lightly as by other men, but by a good +firm grip in the palms of his hands with the fingers facing up. He makes +small use of the thumb and the first two fingers of his right hand. His +stance is an open one. His play with his iron clubs again is +unconventional. Even for his shortest shots he swings his clubs, meaning +that he makes less of a jerky hit at the ball than others do, and he +resorts less to cutting the stroke than other great men. But what a +master of judging of heights and distance he is! To see him just plop +the ball over a bunker in the way and then watch it run the necessary +distance afterwards is to understand what marvellous properties of +control can be invested in such perfect human golfing machinery. +Another of his peculiarities is that he carries no niblick in his bag, +and I think he never has carried one. He has certainly not had one in +any of his recent championships. And among many other of his +characteristics is that peculiar gait with the bent knees that, because +of their climbing over the hilly links, golf seems to develop in men +(Harry Vardon has it), his extreme modesty in manner, and the splendid +excellence of his sportsmanship. Some one once set forward a curious +theory that children born in the winter-time are likely to become better +golfers than others; their temperaments are supposed to be favourably +affected by the prevailing rigour of the weather conditions! It is, +anyhow, a curious fact that a very large proportion of our best players +were born in mid-winter months, and of them all John Ball is the +greatest, and he, if you please, was born on a day so far removed from +midsummer as Christmas Eve. + + + * * * * * + +There has been lately a sort of revival of the game of attempting to +punch another man so very hard that he can stand up no longer to make +the smallest punch in answer. He has to be battered and pounded until he +is made practically lifeless for a period of ten seconds, and then the +other man is given the money. This is what we call the "noble art of +self-defence," but, obviously, it is nine parts of such defence to +reduce the other man to such a jellified condition that no more defence +is needed. When well played it is a good game. Now golf never has been +called a "noble" game at all. It is "royal" and it is "ancient," and it +leaves its qualities to speak for themselves, as most eloquently they +do. The boast has indeed been made for golf that, while in so many other +English sports something flying or running has to be killed or injured, +golf never calls for a drop of blood from any living creature. It is +then inferred that it is a gentle game, as in some ways it really is. +Also it has been demonstrated that it is a game at which elderly men may +play and play quite well, as was proved in a recent year when golfers +who are becoming older than they like to think of won so many of the +trophies. But the result of this boom in the noble art of squashing +another man for a prize of a few thousand pounds and the brave words +that some of the lovers of this sport sometimes use, telling us that +things like this made English hearts so strong, nearly giving us to +understand that Sayers and his like had some influence on the fortunes +of the British Empire, is that a kind of reflection is cast upon some +other sports for their mildness and their timidity. Girls do not fight +in rings and nearly kill each other, but girls can play golf and do, and +they even play with men. + +Let us consider the proposition that golf is a game that needs a greater +and a stronger heart than any other game. It demands fine manliness, +such determination as strong Englishmen are made of, and courage of the +best. The strain of a severe golf competition on the men who win, or +nearly, is enormous. No weakling has ever won success at golf, and never +will. The truth is that it is such a game that if the charge is made +that it is a brutal sport we can barely stand for its defence. For there +is cruelty in golf, cold hurting cruelty in this game. If now you +hesitate, consider. The difference between the effect of boxing and the +effect of golf on the human system is that golf hurts more and the pain +is more enduring, for it is psychological. That may seem like an +attempted escape from the proposition, because it may be suggested that +maiden aunts can and do bear such psychological pain at golf, and bear +it well. But we discuss real golf of the championship kind, and match +play wherein two good and keen players are really playing against each +other, parry and thrust as it is in championship golf, with the issue in +even balance most of the time, not taking sevens and eights and so being +nearly indifferent to what the other may do until the clerking takes +place on the putting green and the state of things is calculated. + +Golf, as we know, is a game for the emotions. We agree that it plays +upon them continually, and chiefly through the medium of the supreme +emotion, hope. While this hope is the most uplifting of emotions, it is +also, with the strain it makes, by far the most exhausting. Now every +golfer knows that in the real game if a good stroke is made by one party +the gain is not only in the extra nearness to the hole that his own ball +obtains, but also by the "moral effect" the shot has on the other man. +This other may have been in a good state of hope before; now he receives +a sudden shock--and it is indeed a shock sometimes when in a second, as +the result of the other's effort, his hope is reduced to fear or +complete dejection. Do you think the man who made the shot does not know +that? He knows it well. There! he knew! The dejected man has foozled, +and the hole has gone. This bout is ended. There is a rest of a few +seconds, and then the contestants start again and smash each other on +the mind, just as they did the other time. Some may suggest that the +effect of these mental hurts is small, that they draw no blood, and that +they are not to be compared with a left hook on the jaw which sends a +boxer toppling. To that there are replies to make. In the first place it +has to be remembered that a match at golf between two good players (we +do not now write of habitual foozlers in whom the golfing emotions +cannot, in the nature of things, be well developed) is taken very +seriously indeed, and therefore the emotional effect is greater than +might be supposed by one who does not play. Second, the effect is +cumulative, and every golfer knows again how intensely depressing is the +continual fight against a relentless opponent who scores with nearly +every stroke and never lets one's hope burn bright again. Bang goes +every shot of his on the sensitive temperament of his foe, and that is +exactly why temperament has all to do with success at golf. It is the +man who can stand punishment who wins; no other sort ever has won in +greater golf, or ever will. And then again, if it is suggested that +mental pain is after all not such a hard thing to bear with courage as +pain of body, let us ask which has the longer effect, remembering also +that, with full respect to boxing people, the golfer is a man of keener +feelings. In championships how often has a man who has had a punishing +match in a morning round, one that has gone to the nineteenth hole or +after before victory has come to him, won again in the afternoon? Not +frequently. If you had merely with a fist blow knocked that man +senseless for a little while before his lunch, he might have been +readier for his golfer opponent in the afternoon. It is notorious that +some of the finest play in championships has been accomplished by men +who were enduring much physical suffering at the time. And again, how +exactly is the effect of the winning putt on the defeated man like that +of the knock-out blow. His last hope is extinguished with the suddenness +of vanished consciousness. So this psychological pain is a very +discomforting thing. The law recognises it, and herein the law is surely +not an ass. We have the legal cruelty of the divorce court. Husband who +tells his wife he dislikes her new hat or gown is held to have been +cruel as though he had smacked her pretty face, or something worse than +that. He could kiss away a red mark from a dimpled cheek, and surely if +permitted he would do so, but nothing could change the judgment on the +hat. And in golf the mental injury is more real than that. + +Never was more absurdly untrue suggestion made against this game than +that it is not like others where men play directly against each other +and foil each other's shots, that it is a game in which each man plays +his own ball independent of the other. Each stroke we make has effect on +the stroke made by the opponent. That effect may be discounted by the +opponent's own strength and resource, but yet it is produced. In no +other game does a man play right and hard on to his opponent as in +match-play golf, for it is a game in which the whole temperamental +strength of one side is hurled against the strength of the other, and +the two human natures are pressing bitterly and relentlessly against +each other from the first moment of the game to the last. It is the +whole man, mind and body. That is the meaning of the temperamental +factor in golf, and that is why a great match at golf is great indeed. + +Yes, it is a cruel game, one in which the primitive instincts of man are +given full play, and the difference between golf and fisticuffs is that +in the one the pain is of the mind and in the other it is of the body. + + + * * * * * + +A climax in our wonderment has been reached, and though a volume could +be written on the romance of the rubber-cored ball, the seventh of the +wonders of the game and the most modern, the story after all is known. +Golf would have gained on its old degree of popularity if there had been +no such invention and men had continued to play with gutties; but that +the golf boom as we know it would have been created, that the game +would have risen to be the enormous thing it is, giving pleasure to +hundreds of thousands of people all the world over, there is much reason +to doubt. One night in the early summer of 1898 Mr. Coburn Haskell sat +at dinner with a magnate of the American rubber industry, at the house +of the latter in Cleveland, Ohio. They were both golfers, and naturally +they talked golf during their meal. They agreed that a kindlier ball +than the harsh and severe gutty was needed, and they thought that surely +it might come through rubber. Eventually they settled on the idea of +rubber thread wound under tension to give the necessary hardness, and an +experimental ball was made accordingly. With the very first shot that +was made with that first of rubber-cored balls a professional player to +whom it had been given to try carried a bunker that had never been +carried before! From that moment the great revolution was begun, the +most extraordinary that has ever taken place in any game. There were +set-backs, it was a little slow in starting, but its success was sure. +In 1902, when Sandy Herd won an Open Championship with the new ball, +after prejudice had held it back in Britain previously, the gutty was +done for, and it quickly disappeared from the links. + +And oh, the ravings and the riotings of argument there have been about +that ball since then! And the hundreds of thousands of pounds that have +had to be spent on courses to make them suit it! Never was there such a +giant commotion nor such a costly one caused in any sport before. We +need not argue any more whether it has improved the game or spoiled it. +These discussions are for the schools. It has anyhow made the game in +the modern popular sense, and now we are informed that of this little +white ball, that was first invented at the dinner-table on those Ohio +summer nights, half a million are used on British courses in one week +in a busy season, and a million pounds' worth are bought and consumed by +golfers in a year. Then you may be sure that more than a million +dollars' worth are driven and putted on the courses of the United +States. Marvellous little ball! Indeed you are the seventh wonder of +your game. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A FAMOUS CHAMPIONSHIP AT BROOKLINE, U.S.A., AND AN ACCOUNT OF HOW MR. +FRANCIS OUIMET WON IT, WITH SOME EXPLANATION OF SEEMING MYSTERIES. + + +Abiding wonders of the past, perplexities of the present, the greatness +of the game where it is still greatest, have been among recent thoughts; +and yet one is conscious all the time that something which sure enough +comes near to being the eighth wonder of it all has lately happened, and +will for long enough be high in the minds of this community, something +that will never cease to be discussed and will always be regarded as a +matter for argument and speculation. Only because it is so very new, so +utterly modern, so contrary to much of our olden faith, so inharmonious +with the smooth story that we have learned and liked, has a witness +hesitated to give it a forward place well won. Yet do we not know that a +hundred years from now, when so much of golfing history yet unmade will +have been piled on to the dusty records that we hold, this new wonder +will still be a theme for club-house talk, and if by then matches are +played with the people of other planets, will they not wish to know in +Mars how this strange break came about? Then there shall be as many +readings and explanations of the mystery of Brookline and of Ouimet as +there have been of the moods of sad Prince Hamlet. So from the old +traditions, the famous players, the ancient links, the scene may move to +new America. + + + * * * * * + +To the Fourth of July there shall now be added the Twentieth of +September. In the year of nineteen hundred and thirteen it fell upon a +Saturday, and that day at Brookline, near Boston in Massachusetts, was +dripping wet. Clouds had run loose for two whole days and nights before, +unceasingly, and still sent their torrent down. When, dull and +splashing, the morning broke, with expectation in the air, it seemed +that this had been planned by fate for a day of wretchedness and misery, +one that might with convenience afterwards be blotted out from memory +and considered as a _dies non_. But good Americans will now recall no +clouds, no rain, no damp, no mud when they remember the Twentieth of +September. I too, though my feelings then were more of wonder and real +admiration than of joy which my own patriotism could not sanction, shall +be glad to remember in time to come that then I was at Brookline and was +one of only two or three from Britain who saw the amazing thing that was +done that day, the most remarkable victory ever achieved in any golf +championship anywhere at any time. It was something to have seen; it is +a distinction to have the remembrance. On that day Francis Ouimet, a boy +of twenty, bred to the game on the cow pastures of Massachusetts, played +Harry Vardon and Edward Ray, great champions of British golf, for the +championship of the United States--and won. They three had come through +the great ordeal of a full championship and tied for first place +together. They played, not against blank possibility as men, knowing not +the exact nature of their task, have to do in Open Championships where +the test is play by score and each is against all others, having then +some fears stilled by sweet hope which is ever the golfer's sustenance, +but in sight of each other, together, one with another, man against man, +ball against ball, seeing what was being done, knowing what had to be +accomplished next. Could there ever again be such a three-ball golf? It +is one of the compensations of having been so very wet at Brookline on +that awful day that one knows that for the wonder and the drama of the +thing it can never happen more, not ever. If such facts could be +repeated, the wonder would be missing and the drama gone. + +An American and two Englishmen. These championships are mainly matters +for individuals after all; the "international element," of which we read +so much in newspapers, is not generally so deeply felt as we try to +think it is. Golf, not being a game of sides as other games are, and, if +it comes to that, not generally a game in which national peculiarities +exert an influence, hardly lends itself to international treatment. +Players who feel internationally before a contest relapse to +individualism completely when they are pitching to the green and putting +to the hole. Do not tell me that in the throes of a six-feet putt that +shall win or lose a day a man thinks of his trusting country and not of +his tortured hopeful self. It is not possible in the combination of golf +and human nature, and there is no blame to the men. But on the Twentieth +of September international feeling in the game of golf did for once rise +high, and became a very real thing. What of individualism had been +maintained by Vardon and his companion during that week had nearly +disappeared on the nineteenth, when the tie was made, and there was +hardly a trace of it when the curtain went up on the fifth act of the +amazing drama of Brookline, none at all when it was rolled down again. +This point is now emphasised because when I write of the wonder of the +thing I have to show that not only was this Brookline boy, of no +championship whatever save one of Massachusetts, pitted against two of +the greatest golfers of the home country of the game, but that, the +international feeling being now alive and intense, he for America was +opposed to those two of England, and therefore in a very full degree he +was playing their better ball. The boy was playing the better ball of +Vardon and Ray! He beat them! A long time has now elapsed since the +dripping day when I saw him do it, and wonders have a way of softening +with age, yet to me now that achievement is as wonderful as it was when +new, and so it will remain. The American golfers are justified in their +pride and their exultation upon the result of that event, and there is +nothing whatever to be said against it. No such feat had ever been +performed before, or has been since. I shall describe the circumstances +which led up to this amazing triumph, and what ensued. + + + * * * * * + +Only once before had British players gone across the Atlantic to take +part in the Open Championship of the United States, and that was in 1900 +when Harry Vardon and J. H. Taylor did so. At that time Taylor was the +Open Champion, Vardon having finished second to him in that year's +tournament at St. Andrews. American golf was then comparatively a baby, +and practically all the opponents of the British pair were players who +had been born and bred in the home country and had gone out to America +as professionals there. Good as some of them were, they were no match +for their visitors, who had the competition comfortably to themselves +and finished first and second, Vardon becoming champion. Much happened +in the next thirteen years. Most significant was the breeding of an +American champion on American soil, a "native born," in J. J. M'Dermott, +who tied for first place in 1910, but then lost to Alec Smith on playing +off, and tied again the next year when he won, and again in 1912. About +the same time two other native players in Tom M'Namara and Michael Brady +came to the surface from the raw mass of rough golfing material that was +taking shape under the American sun. Both are good men, and from my +knowledge of them I like their manner and their style; but M'Dermott, +despite some serious faults of which he has been made aware, is +undoubtedly a marvellous golfer for his age. I think he has to be +considered as the most wonderful prodigy the game has so far known. At +twenty years of age, when he came over to Muirfield as American champion +to compete for the great Open Championship, he was even then a most +accomplished golfer, high in the topmost rank. Not tall in stature but +well and lithely built for a golfer, he has a full, easy, and graceful +swing. It is round like most of the American swings--but not so round as +it used to be--and M'Dermott is often afflicted with what is commonly +known as the American hook, being a most persistent tendency to pull the +ball. It is remarkable also that he has been in the habit of using +wooden clubs of most abnormal length, and it has been a wonder to me how +he has controlled them as well as he has done. The history of the Open +Championship, marked with so many crosses for tragedies and the +blighting of fair hopes, embraces few incidents more pathetic than the +driving of three balls into the Archerfield woods by M'Dermott in the +event of 1912 at Muirfield, and his failing to qualify in consequence. +But he was only twenty then. The first expedition made by a native +American to this country in quest of Open Championship honours +consequently failed. In the following year we saw him again at Hoylake, +and with him his brother natives, M'Namara and Brady, and some of the +Scoto-Americans also. M'Dermott did the best of the three, and his play +for nine holes one morning was very nearly perfect. His swing was a +little more compact than before; it was beautifully timed, and his +straight-up style of putting with his heels touching and his grip upon +the end of the shaft was most attractive. He found the conditions on the +last day too severe for him, as nearly all except Taylor, the champion, +did; but he made a fine display and became the first real American +player to get into the prize list of the Open Championship, which he did +with a score of 315--eight more than Taylor--which made him tie for +fifth place. M'Dermott undoubtedly excels in temperament. + + + * * * * * + +Here was a menace. It was felt that America was making very good in +golf. And there came vaguely into the minds of British golfers the idea +that a demonstration of their strength should be made in this new +country, for satisfaction and for the sake of national pride. Yet, with +their conservatism, our British golfing people are slow to move in +matters of this kind. They are content with the game, and perhaps wisely +so. But there was the feeling that something should be done. With +initiative demanded, Lord Northcliffe, who had become a keen lover of +the game, made a characteristic movement unobtrusively, as the result of +which Harry Vardon and Edward Ray were sent across the Atlantic to test +the strength of American golfers in their own Open Championship. Vardon +was then five times Open Champion of the world; Ray was the holder of +the title. Two other Europeans sailed the seas with the same object in +their minds, one of them being Wilfrid Reid, the clever little +professional attached to the Banstead Downs club near London, a man who +had gained international honours constantly and has much fine golf in +him, and the other Louis Tellier, the professional of the Société de +Golf de Paris at La Boulie, Versailles. Four good men; two great +champions; one the greatest golfer the world has known. They seemed to +be enough. Their design was to win the American championship. + + + * * * * * + +Those who were not at Brookline during the week that followed, and only +received a result that was amazing and inexplicable, were ready enough, +perhaps not unnaturally, to suggest that this course of the Country Club +could not have afforded a proper test, that it was so far different from +a good British course, so mysteriously American, that the native players +must have been favoured by it, and the superior skill that the British +golfers possessed had no opportunity for an outlet. As I say, this was +not an unreasonable supposition in the light of the amazing events that +occurred; but it was entirely wrong. There are few courses in America +that are better than this one, and to this judgment I would add that +though there are inland courses in England that are superior there are +not many. Judged upon the best standard of inland courses in Britain I +would call it thoroughly good. + +It has seven holes of over four hundred yards each, one of them being +five hundred and twenty, and, the total length of the round being 6245 +yards, it was good enough in this respect. It has three short holes, +well separated, and some of its drive-and-iron-holes are quite +excellent. The Brookline course differs from many others in America in +the quick and varied undulations of its land--heaving, rolling, twisting +everywhere--and thus calling for adaptability of stance, and careful +reckoning of running after pitching at every shot. By this feature the +play is made as interesting as it should be, but often is not. Only two +of the holes on the course are quite flat and plain, and these are +novelties. They are the first and eighteenth, which take straight lines +parallel to each other through the great polo field alongside the +club-house. Polo is a considerable feature of the scheme of the Country +Club, and its comparatively small territory is not to be interfered with +for the sake of the golfers who have so much more of Massachusetts for +their delectation. Yet it is necessary to play through this polo field. +Consequently we start the round at one end of it and play a hole of 430 +yards right along past the grand stand. Then away we go out into the +country, over the hills and along the dales, and through the trees and +cuttings where rocks were blasted, and, after many adventures, return to +the smooth plain land of the polo field as to the straight run home at +the end of a steeplechase, and play along positively the plainest +410-yard hole I have ever seen. The tee is at one end of the polo field, +with the grand stand in the middle distance on the left. There is not a +bunker along that field, but there is rough grass on the left of the +part designated for the fairway, and there is the same with a +horse-racing track as well on the right. At the far end of the field, +near to the club-house, the race-track, of course, bends round and comes +across the line of play. Just on the other side of that track the ground +rises up steeply for three or four yards, and then up there sloping +upwards and backwards is the putting green. Thus the race-track becomes +a hazard to guard the green, and the green is on a high plateau with big +trees all round it. The hole is there all complete, with hardly a thing +done to it by man, and it is one of the most remarkable examples I have +seen of a piece of ready-made golf of the plainest possible description, +resulting in something fairly good. It is 410 yards long, and if the tee +shot is a little defective the attempt to reach the green with the +second is going to be a heartbreaking business. With a good drive that +second shot, played with a cleek perhaps, or the brassey may be needed, +has to be uncommonly well judged and true. The margin for error is next +to nothing. At the first glance at it I thought that this eighteenth +hole was very stupid, but it is a hole that grows a little upon you, and +the original impression has been withdrawn from my mind. It was the last +hope of Vardon and Ray, and it failed them. The fairway at Brookline is +far better than on the average American course, and if one says that its +putting greens are among the very best in America, the greatest possible +compliment is paid to them. + +There have been many touches of romance in the history of golf at the +Country Club, but none more remarkable than that associated with the +construction of the comparatively new ninth, tenth, and eleventh holes, +two long ones with a short one between them, which are among the nicest +holes in all America. For some years after the beginning of this +century, when golf at Brookline had become a very big thing, these holes +did not exist, their predecessors being embraced in the other parts of +the course. But, for the crossing that they involved, those predecessors +had become dangerous, and it was determined to take in a new tract of +land, and to make three new holes upon it. It was a tremendous +undertaking, for "land" was only a kind of courtesy title for the wild +mixture of forest, rock, and swamp into which a man might sink up to his +neck, but for which about 25,000 dollars had to be paid, while another +thirteen or fourteen thousand dollars had to be spent in making it fit +for golf and preparing the holes, so that these three cost an average of +about thirteen thousand dollars a hole, or roughly £2500 as we may say +if we are English. At the ninth as much rock had to be blasted as some +one afterwards used to make a wall two hundred yards long, and the best +part of a yard in thickness. The tenth hole is a very delightful short +one, with the green in a glade far below the tee. They call it "The +Redan," because Mr. G. Herbert Windeler (long resident in America, but +English in nationality still, despite his past presidency of the +U.S.G.A.), who is largely responsible for the golf at Brookline, and +designed and superintended the construction of these holes, had the +famous piece of golf at North Berwick in his mind when he planned this +one, but before the end he departed far from the original conception, +and all for the good of the hole. When it was being made the place for +the green needed raising from the swamp, and nearly two thousand loads +of broken rocks were deposited there; and after soil to a depth of +eighteen inches had been laid upon the stone foundation a splendid +putting green was made. With all its variety, this is not a course of +such intricacy and such mystery as St. Andrews is, to need long weeks of +study and practice to understand every shot upon it. You may play St. +Andrews from childhood to old age and yet be puzzled and mistaken +sometimes, but Brookline is more candid than that, and it is to its +credit that with all its variety you may be completely acquainted with +it in a very few days. Let me say then that the suggestion that Mr. +Ouimet had a distinct advantage in a knowledge of the course obtained in +his childhood, and maintained thenceforth by frequent practice on the +course near to which he lived, is quite nonsense. He had no advantage +whatever. Vardon and Ray had practised there for several days in +advance, and if they did not know all about it that there was to know it +was their own fault. They did know, and local knowledge, which counts +for far less with great golfers than men a little their inferiors, had +nothing to do with the issue. + + + * * * * * + +Now consider the other circumstances, that the proper meaning and +significance of the result may be understood, and that neither too much +merit shall be awarded, nor too much blame. There were about a hundred +and sixty competitors, and I would call the field a strong one, but of +course not nearly so strong as the field for our Open Championship. Such +men as two of the triumvirate were missing, and a highly respectable +company of past champions, while there were no such English amateurs in +the list as Mr. Graham, Mr. Lassen, and Mr. Michael Scott to make an +occasional disturbance. But there were other amateurs. Compared to a +British open championship field it was weak at the top and weak in the +middle. Everybody who goes to our open championships knows that there, +for three parts of the trial, there are comparative nobodies bobbing up +from nowhere and creating all kinds of excitement by breaking the +records of the courses, and fixing themselves up elegantly at the top of +the list. There they sit like civilians on an imperial dais, but always +they topple off before the end. Not one of them has ever remained to the +finish, so that if the American entry was weak in this respect, +Americans might argue that it did not matter anyhow since this middle +part was not the one to count. Yet it always has its effect. But then +the Americans may also point out that they too had their middle men who +came to the front and created disturbances, only quitting the heights in +time to make room for the winner and his attendants. There was young +M'Donald Smith, and there were Barnes and Hagin, who had come up out of +the wild west--and one of them, saying it respectfully to his splendid +golf, looked a cowboy too--and were distinct menaces until the last +rounds came to be played. Then in estimating the strength of this +American field remember that M'Dermott, who is undoubtedly high class, +and was in the prize list at the Open Championship at Hoylake, was not +nearly a winner here, and remember also that imported players of the +high quality of Tom Vardon and Robert Andrew were not in it either. +Altogether it is my judgment that the field was stronger than imagined +in England, yet not nearly so strong as ours. Following a favourite +American practice of reducing to percentages every estimate, however +necessarily indefinite, such as even the comparative charms of wives and +sweethearts, I would give the strength of a British field the hundred, +and I would give sixty-five to this of America. I knew that I should +fall to that percentage system some time, and now I have. For its strong +variety, and for its flavour of cosmopolitanism, it was an interesting +entry. The professionals all over the States--and the amateurs, too, for +that matter--came up to Brookline from north, south, east and west, for +what they felt was a great occasion, and over the border from Canada +they came as well. Up from Mexico came Willie Smith, the Willie who was +teethed in golf at his Carnoustie home, and whom we never shall forget +as he who broke the record--and holds it with George Duncan still--for +the old course at St. Andrews in the very last round that was played at +the beginning of an Open Championship meeting there a few years ago. It +was really a wonderful field, and its units presented a wealth of +material for study and contemplation in matters of style and method +during the first day or two. And yet for all the variety of players I +doubt whether there was so much difference in ways as we see in a big +championship at home. The American golfing system is a little plainer, I +think. Of course it was by far the largest entry that had ever been +received for the American open event, and this fact necessitated a +departure to some extent from established American custom, and one which +we of Britain with unenviable experience of many processes in qualifying +competitions could not congratulate the Americans on having to make. +However, the numbers were not so large as to cause such trouble, even +with a qualifying competition, as we experience in England and Scotland, +and consequently a two-days' affair worked it smoothly through, the +field being divided into two sections, and each man playing his two +rounds off in one day and getting done with it. It was settled that the +top thirty players in each section, and those who tied for the thirtieth +place, should pass into the competition proper for the championship, +which, as here and elsewhere, consists of four rounds of stroke play, +two on each of two successive days. + +The United States Golf Association always manages its championships very +well indeed with no more red tape than is necessary, but with an +exactness of method which might serve as a fine lesson to some other +great golfing countries that I have in mind. In this present case Mr. +Robert Watson, President for the year of the U. S. G. A., after all his +splendid work as secretary of the Association, was in charge of all the +arrangements and as administrator-in-chief was the most energetic man +during the whole of the week at Brookline. It was fitting that in his +year of presidency, so well deserved, there should be this ever +memorable happening to mark the season out from all others. Mr. Herbert +Jacques, Mr. G. Herbert Windeler, and Mr. John Reid, the new secretary +of the U. S. G. A., were in the nature also of generals of the +headquarters staff, and they laboured constantly in an upper room late +at night working out the details of business when other persons on whom +responsibility was more lightly cast, with cocktails to help, might be +pondering over the tense problem as to what was going to happen next. +The general idea of the system was much the same as we have it in +Britain, as there is hardly much scope for variety in matters of this +kind. + + + * * * * * + +Now--Ouimet. It is easy for the Americans and others to compose anthems +about him now, but little enough did they know or think of this +Massachusetts boy until they saw that he was really winning, and then +the remark that I heard of an ex-American champion to him in the +dressing-room shortly after it was all over, "Well done, Francis, and +there are lots more in the country like you!" was not only lacking in +compliment and taste, but was not true. America is by no means full of +Ouimets, and never will be. I had met him at Chicago in 1912, and heard +of him next in a letter that I received just before starting for America +in the following summer, which gave me particulars of what happened in +the match in the closing stages of the Massachusetts State Championship +between my old friend, Mr. John G. Anderson, and Mr. Ouimet, in which it +was stated that Mr. Ouimet had done the last nine holes in that match as +follows--yards first and figures after: 260 yards (4), 497 yards (3), +337 yards (4), 150 yards (2), 394 yards (3), 224 yards (3), 250 yards +(3), 320 yards (3), 264 yards (3). So he did the last six holes in 17 +strokes, and no wonder that poor John remarked, "I have never played in +any match in my life where I did the last six holes in three over 3's +and lost four of them, as I did on this occasion!" Of course Mr. Ouimet +became State champion, and I determined to have a good look at him as +soon as I got on the other side of the Atlantic. On the day after my +arrival in New York I was down at the Garden City Club, the Amateur +Championship taking place there the following week, and at lunch time +Mr. Anderson, who was at another table with Ouimet, called me over. +"Well, Mr. Ouimet, I suppose you have a big championship in your bag +this season," was just the proper thing to say, and he answered +something about doing his best, but feeling he might be better at stroke +play. "Then," said I, "there is the Open Championship to take place in +your own golfing country," and with that we tackled the chicken. He is a +nice, open-hearted, modest, sporting golfer, and was only twenty years +old in the May of his great championship year. Tall, lithe and somewhat +athletic in figure and movement, he takes excellent care of himself in a +semi-training sort of way. He abstains from alcohol entirely, and though +he smokes a few cigarettes when "off duty" he rarely does so while +playing, having the belief that the use of tobacco has a temporary +effect on the eyesight, such as is not conducive to accuracy of play. He +agreed entirely with a suggestion I put to him, in conversation, that +most golfers make the mistake of playing too much and lose keenness in +consequence, and he thinks that the American players in general are by +no means at such a disadvantage as is sometimes imagined. The winter +rest gives them extra keenness in the spring and summer, and that is +everything. He does not play at all from November to April, but keeps +himself fit with skating and ice hockey, while during the season he only +plays one round three times a week, and two full rounds on Sundays. +Business considerations--he is engaged at a Boston athletic store--have +something to do with this system, no doubt, but he thinks it sound. I +looked at his bag of clubs; there are no freaks in it. It comprises ten +items, an ivory-faced driver, a brassey, six irons including a jigger +and mashie niblick, and two putters, one being of the ordinary aluminium +kind and the other a wry-neck implement, the latter being most used. As +to his style of golf, its outstanding characteristics are three: it is +plain, like the style of most American golfers, and free from any +striking individuality; it is straight; and it is marvellously steady +and accurate. A marked feature of most of the American players is that +their swing is very round and flat, and that they get a pronounced hook +on their ball. Mr. Ouimet's swing is rather more upright than that of +most of the others, he keeps an exceedingly straight line and has full +length--as much as Vardon. I said he had no peculiarities, but there is +just this one, that he grips his club with what is called the +interlocking grip. This is a way of grasping the club that some +professionals employed during the early period of general transition +from the plain grip to the overlapping. Mr. Ouimet's little finger of +the right hand just goes between the first and second of the left hand, +while the left thumb goes round the shaft instead of into the palm of +the right hand. Such a grip may suit a man who uses it, but it can +hardly have any advantages. I note as a further peculiarity that the +right forefinger is crooked up away from the shaft, so that the tip of +the finger only comes to the leather at the side. This has to some +considerable extent the effect of throwing that finger out of action, +and as a means of reducing the right hand's power for evil is not to be +condemned. Many other players have sought some such method of crippling +the very dangerous hand. + +But after all it is not the shots he plays, good as they are, dependable +as they always seem to be, as the qualities of temperament with which +they are supported. He has a golfing temperament of very peculiar +perfection, wanting perhaps in imagination but remarkably serviceable to +his game. He seems to have the power to eliminate entirely the mental +oppression of the other ball or balls; he can play his own game nearly +regardless of what others play against him. From the mere sporting point +of view he misses something in the way of emotions perhaps, those rare +emotions which some of us derive when we are fighting hard to keep our +match alive and at a crisis become hopelessly bunkered; but he gains +enormously in strokes and successes. When he settles down to his match +or round, he can concentrate more deeply than any other man I know or +have heard of. He sees his ball, thinks what he should do with it, and +has the course and the hole in his mental or optical vision all the +time, just those and nothing else. The other balls do not exist, and the +scores that are made against him do not exist either. He has told me +that in important golf, and indeed in that most mightily important +play-off against Vardon and Ray, he was wholly unaware until it came to +the putting what his opponents had done, and generally he had not seen +their balls after they had driven them from the tee. Vardon and Ray +pounded away as hard as they could, but their shots had no more effect +on Ouimet than the patting of an infant's fist would have on the cranium +of a nigger. He just went on and did better. Andrew Kirkaldy once said +of Harry Vardon at the beginning of his career that he had the heart of +an iron ox, and that is like Ouimet's. This championship will always be +something of a mystery; but in this statement about the Ouimet +temperament there is the nearest thing to a solution of it that can ever +be offered. I know that what I say is the simple truth, partly from +observation, partly from inquiry, and partly from Mr. Ouimet's +statements to me. He said he was unaware of the presence of the crowd on +the fourth day when he made the tie until he was in the neighbourhood of +the seventeenth green. + +See how interesting he becomes despite the plainness of his game. When +such achievements as his of the 20th of September are made they rarely +suffer from any want of added romance. On the day in question Mr. +Ouimet, champion as he had become, told me in a talk we had, how he +began the game when he was about four years of age. He was a French +Canadian by blood, but his parents had come over the border and their +little family settled at Brookline close to the sixteenth green of the +Country Club. His elder brothers played a kind of golf, and he watched +them and began to practise himself on some pasture land near his home. +Then he became a caddie at Brookline, played the game more seriously +than before, with three clubs that a member of the Country Club gave to +him, and at sixteen years of age won, at the second attempt, the +championship of his school. They make a feature of school championships +in America. This story was attractive enough, but the next day, reading +the American papers, one gathered that there was some of the romance of +a Joan of Arc about this boy of Brookline. His mother said that when +Francis was a little boy of six or seven he would cross the road and sit +for hours fascinated by watching the members of the Country Club at the +game. Then he wanted to become a caddie, and maternal objections did not +avail. He became a caddie. His mother also said that he learned much of +the game then, and would always try to get engaged by the strongest +players, and he would copy as well as he could their best strokes. He +passed from the grammar school to the Brookline High School, but his +mind was more on golf than on his books. The mother used to hear noises +up in his room at night. Once she was frightened by what she heard, and +went to his room at midnight fearing that he was sick. She found him +putting on the floor, and he then confessed that he had often done that +kind of thing before. On that occasion he had thought while in bed of a +new grip and wished to try it. He did not care to wait until the +morning. The parents desired their son to get all advantage from +education that he could, but after two years at the high school he +insisted on leaving and was engaged at a Boston store where golf goods +are dealt in. All that and more was said of him. + + + * * * * * + +In a narrative of this kind circumstances and reasonable deductions are +everything, and shots are next to nothing, for there is little enough to +be said about a ball in the air or its place of stopping. Only one man +knows the truth about a golf stroke as it is played, and that is the man +who plays it. Very often even the most expert observers are quite wrong +in their inferences and judgments. I have explained most of the +circumstances already. On the first of the two qualifying days, Mr. +Ouimet came very near to taking first place in the list, for he had a +score of 152, and only Harry Vardon beat him, and by one stroke only, as +the result of a long putt on the last green of all. The weather was fine +and the greens were fiery on that Tuesday. Next day there was more wind +and there were indications of a change of weather coming. Autumn gusts +were breaking the leaves from the tree-tops. That day Ray headed the +qualifying list with 148, Wilfrid Reid was next to him with 149, +M'Dermott was 161 and Mr. Travers was 165. This was good business for +England, even though it yielded nothing but a little temporary prestige. +Then came Thursday, and in the early morning and up to a little while +after play began there was much rain, and the greens were considerably +slowed down. They were, indeed, reduced to a soaking state in time, and +Tom M'Namara told me that once or twice he had actually, instead of +putting, to root his ball with a niblick out of the greens, into which +they had buried themselves on pitching. But Brookline stood the weather +test very well. + +First rounds are seldom eventful; the value of the play done in them +seems to be discounted by the circumstance that there are three more +rounds to come. M'Dermott did a 74 in this round, Vardon and Reid 75's, +Mr. Ouimet 77, and Ray 79, but even M'Dermott was three strokes behind +the leaders. In the afternoon round Ray recovered brilliantly with a 70, +Vardon and Reid both did 72's, and Mr. Ouimet 74; and at the end of this +first proper day Vardon and Reid were at the head of the list with +aggregates of 147, Ray was next with 149, while Mr. Ouimet was seventh +with 151. Again the British invaders looked well in their place, and +that night they were strong favourites for the championship. "America +has a fight on hands," "Little left but hope," and such like, were the +headings in newspapers. As I lay in bed at the Country Club that night, +I heard the rain pour ceaselessly down. It rained all through the night +and alas! all the next day as well, and the great events of that Friday +were watched through a heavy downpour. In their third rounds Vardon did +78, Ray 76, and Mr. Ouimet, who was playing nearly a whole round behind +the others, and with wonderful steadiness, did a 74: and so it came +about that with the competition three parts done, all these three were +at the top with aggregates of 225. Now was the time for the Englishmen's +efforts if they were to be made. To their own chagrin they could not +make them when they needed. Ray took 43 to the turn, in his fourth +round, Vardon, whose putting all the week was distinctly moderate, and +the chief cause for his inefficiency, took 42, and though both finished +better, their two 79's were bad and seemed to have cost them the +championship. Vardon certainly thought they had, and took a very gloomy +view of things. I spoke to him a little while after he had finished, and +he said he was sorry and that they could not win then. His putting had +let him down, he said, as he had been afraid it would, though he felt +that the rest of his game had never been played better. "There are three +or four out there who will beat us," said the melancholy Vardon. It +looked like that, but the American hopes one by one failed to +materialise. Hagin fell out; Barnes fell out; M'Dermott fell out. +Goodness! it was going to be a tie between Vardon and Ray after all, and +these two Englishmen would play off here at Boston for the American +championship! Hereupon said Englishmen came out to see what was +happening, and looked happy again. They smiled. Then men came running +and breathless from distant parts with tidings of Ouimet. He had had a +worried way to the turn, but had improved afterwards, so rumour said. I +went along with our British champions to pick him up at the fourteenth +green, and there when he came along, we found that if he did the last +four holes in a total of one under par he would tie with the leaders, +or, in other words, if he did the miraculous and practically impossible +he might be permitted to have a game next day. + +I shall never forget watching that boy play those last four holes; that +was the real fight for the championship. Their respective lengths and +par figures are 370 yards (4), 128 yards (3), 360 yards (4), 405 yards +(4). They were stiff pars, too, you will see, with nothing given away, +especially as the turf was soaking. At one of those holes he had to gain +a stroke on par if he were to tie, and the others must be done in par. A +slip anywhere would surely be fatal. It seemed that that slip was made +with the second shot at the fifteenth, for he was wide of the green on +the right and had to pitch from the rough, but he was dead with his +third and got the 4 after all. At the sixteenth he holed a three yards' +putt for the 3 and still was level with par. The much-wanted stroke was +given to him at the next hole, which is a dog-legged thing bending to +the left, with rough and bunkers to be avoided. He played it with good +judgment always, and this time, on the green with his second, he holed a +nine-yards putt for a 3. Thus he was left to get the home hole in 4 to +tie, and by holing a five-feet putt with not a second's hesitation, just +as if everything in golf had not seemed to depend upon it, he tied. +Jupiter! + + + * * * * * + +According to American golfing law and precedent the tie had to be +decided by one extra round, all three playing together. I have no fault +to find with this arrangement; perhaps the result would have been the +same if two rounds had had to be played. I know, however, that Vardon +thought it would have been better and proper if each had played +separately, with a marker. Most people thought that as Ouimet was almost +playing the better ball of the two Englishmen he could not possibly win. +Theoretically he was sure to have slept badly overnight and to be in a +terrible state of nerves in the morning. They might see him top his +first tee shot and be three strokes to the bad on the first green. +Really I had no such ideas, and when I saw him hit his first drive as +well, cleanly and straight as any drive ever need be made, I had no +doubts about his having slept. Vardon drove the straightest ball and +then deliberately played short of the muddy race-track in front of the +green, but Mr. Ouimet boldly took his brassey, went for the carry, and +just did it. The hole was done in 5 each, and the second in 4 each; but +at the third Ray, who had driven too much to the right and had a bad +stance below his ball, only just got to the corner of the green, a long +way from the pin, with his second, and then took three putts, thus +dropping a stroke behind the others. At the fourth and fifth, at the +latter of which Mr. Ouimet put a spoon shot out of bounds through his +club slipping in his hands, but recovered splendidly with the same club, +the score remained the same. Then at the sixth, a drive and pitch up a +hill, Vardon approached to within three yards, and the others to within +six yards of the pin, Vardon holing his putt and Mr. Ouimet (who decided +on consideration to concentrate on his 4) and Ray just missing. So +Vardon was then one stroke better than the American, and the latter +still one less than Ray who, by a better run up from the edge of the +green at the seventh, scored over both his opponents. At the eighth +there was a dramatic episode, for Mr. Ouimet laid a low approach +stone-dead and holed for a 3, while Ray ran down a twelve yards' putt +for another 3, Vardon being beaten here though getting a perfect par 4. +All were level and the excitement and suspense intense. Something was +expected to happen at the ninth, the longest hole on the course, and a +great, romantic piece of golf. It is a long, heaving hole carved through +rock, and partly built on a swamp, and away in the far distance is a +high plateau green which, seen through the rain and mist, looked like a +ghostly thing in the clouds. Here Vardon slashed out for length, but +with a hook sent his ball into the woods. Yet he recovered well, and +after stress and strain by all three this tortuous hole was done in five +each. The parties were all level at the turn with 38 strokes each. +Immediately afterwards Mr. Ouimet went to the front, and was never +deprived of the lead. The tenth hole is the short one named "The Redan," +with a heavily bunkered green low down in a valley below the tee. Each +tee shot was right, but Vardon and Ray were poor on the green and took +three putts, while the American was down in one less. Vardon looked +serious now, and Ray was fidgetty. There were three 4's at the eleventh, +and then Mr. Ouimet reached the twelfth green with his second, four +yards from the pin, Vardon and Ray being just off on opposite sides. +They both took five to hole out. Mr. Ouimet, by boldness, might have +gained two strokes here, but he was a trifle short with his putt and was +satisfied with a profit of one. This was followed by Vardon holing a +three-yard putt and getting a point back, but at the fourteenth there +were ominous signs of the British game collapsing, for Vardon went into +the woods again, Ray shot off wildly to the right with his second, and +they were both well out of it with 5's, like Mr. Ouimet whose brassey +shot went too low to clear properly a bank in front. Mr. Ouimet told me +that at this stage he felt he was going to win. Not one of the three had +been bunkered so far, but at the fifteenth Ray was caught and, needing +two strokes for recovery, was virtually done for. + +The last stage of the struggle lay between Vardon and Mr. Ouimet. Both +got 3's at the short sixteenth. Vardon was looking anxious and worried, +for most brilliant play on his own part could not save him now, and he +could only hope that Mr. Ouimet would come by disaster. Instead of that +he himself, trying to cut the corner of the dog-legged seventeenth too +finely in an effort to gain distance, was bunkered. Ray, in wild +desperation, had hurled himself with terrific force at the ball on the +tee in an impossible attempt to carry straight over the bunkers and the +rough in a straight line to the green. As to Mr. Ouimet, he just played +an easy iron shot to the green dead on the line of the pin and holed a +six-yard putt for 3 and a gain of two clear strokes. It was really +finished then, and in the circumstances the playing of the last hole was +a formality. Mr. Ouimet did it steadily for par 4; Vardon was caught in +the race track before the green and took 6, and Ray holed a fruitless +putt for 3. Mr. Ouimet was champion, and there was an end of it. Seeing +that history was made, let me set down the scores:-- + + FIRST HALF + + Ouimet 5 4 4 4 5 4 4 3 5--38 + Vardon 5 4 4 4 5 3 4 4 5--38 + Ray 5 4 5 4 5 4 3 3 5--38 + + SECOND HALF + + Ouimet 3 4 4 4 5 4 3 3 4--34--72 + Vardon 4 4 5 3 5 4 3 5 6--39--77 + Ray 4 4 5 4 5 6 4 5 3--40--78 + +Mr. Ouimet's score exactly equalled that of the better ball of Vardon +and Ray. + + + * * * * * + +I shall say no more about what happened immediately afterwards than that +the American crowd gave a hearty demonstration of the fact that they +were very pleased indeed. A considerable sum of money was raised by a +collection for Mr. Ouimet's little caddie, Eddie Lowry, who was a +wonder of a mite and inspired the new champion throughout the week with +all sorts of advice. He would tell him in the mornings to take time over +his putts as it was then only ten o'clock and he had until six at night +to play; would remind him again at a suitable moment that America was +expecting great things from him, and, above all, whispered gently to him +on handing him his club for each shot that he must be careful to keep +his eye on the ball! It is declared, moreover, that at the beginning of +the tie round he assured his master that a 72 would that time be +forthcoming. Little Eddie Lowry had his share of glory. + +And now what about it all? How is it to be explained? Vardon and Ray +generously and properly admitted they were beaten fairly and squarely on +their merits. They could not say otherwise. I believe that Vardon came +to the conclusion at the end of his American tour that he played worse +golf at that championship than anywhere else, but on that final day on +which everything depended he did not play so badly as he may have +thought, and his putting was better than usual. I would not like to +guarantee either Englishman to do much better in the same conditions at +any time. On the other hand, Mr. Ouimet was blessed with no special +luck, except that negative kind of luck that kept his ball out of +trouble always, and made two putts invariably sufficient. His driving +was as long as Vardon's, and he was the straightest of all, while he +missed some putts by half-inches. He played a bold game too, and the +only semblance of timidity was in occasionally being a trifle short with +long putts, while Vardon and Ray, desperate, but in proper principle, +were giving the hole every chance and often running past it. Mr. Ouimet +seemed to general his own game so thoroughly well. Talking to me +afterwards, he explained completely his policy at every shot in the +match, and showed himself to be a thinker of the finest strain. He was +all for running approaches instead of pitched ones that day, because he +feared the ball embedding itself in the soft turf, and also felt that +when running it would be more likely to shed dirt that it picked up and +leave him a clean putt. Everything was considered and well decided, and +in his argument one could find no flaw. And he insisted that he just +played his own game and never watched the other balls. "Looking back on +it all," said he, "I think it was just this way, that Vardon and Ray +rather expected me to crack, not having the experience for things like +this as they had, and when the time went on and I did not crack but went +along with them, I think it had an unfavourable effect on them. That is +the way I reason it out, because when you expect a man to crack and he +doesn't, you lose a little of your sureness yourself. I began to feel +that the championship was coming to me when we were about the fourteenth +hole, for Ray then seemed to be going, and he was swinging rather wildly +at the ball." I think that Mr. Ouimet's explanation was tolerably near +the truth. Some of the secret history of this championship may never be +written, but I know that Harry Vardon realised when it was too late that +he had been paying insufficient attention to what Mr. Ouimet was doing, +and what the possibilities were in that direction. At the beginning he +felt that the real contest lay between him and Ray, never dreaming that +Mr. Ouimet could hold out against them. Therefore he concentrated on +Ray, as it were, and when he had Ray beaten he realised too late that +there was some one else. It may have made no difference, but a thousand +times have we had demonstrated to us the capacity of our champions for +playing "a little bit extra" when it is really needed. Anyhow it was +Vardon's own mistake, if it was one, and he is very sorry for it. + +A consideration of great importance is the way in which this victory was +confirmed, as it were, by the other events of the week. It does not +generally happen that the men who distinguish themselves in preliminary +qualifying competitions go through winners of championships afterwards. +Men can rarely play their best for six rounds in succession, and, the +law of averages being at work all the time, they would rather perform +indifferently in the first test, so long as they qualify, than beat all +the others. I do not recall a case where the champion would have been +champion if all six rounds had been counted in, instead of the four of +the competition proper. But this time at Brookline we had seven rounds +played, and the astonishing fact is that, if all seven rounds were +counted in, Mr. Ouimet would still be at the top with a score of 528 +against Ray's 530 and Vardon's 532. I think that this is a point which +has not been much realised, and it is one of importance in dealing with +the idea that a fluke victory was achieved. You can hardly have a fluke +victory in four stroke rounds; much less can you have one in seven. Now +I would suggest that if Vardon and Ray had dropped behind in the +scoring, and had occupied other places than they did in the final +aggregates, there might have been some good support for the fluke +theory. Their defeat by several people would have needed far more +explanation, because it would have been clear that, for some reason, +they were beaten by golfers inferior to themselves. Conditions and +climate would have become considerations of greater importance. But +merely the fact that these men finished second and third in such a big +field indicates that there was little fluke anywhere, for this was a +marvellous vindication of form in competition, in a game where form is +so much affected by fortune. And, finally, the fact that Mr. Ouimet beat +these men in the play-off when he had them both there in sight, playing +stroke against stroke with him, and not an invisible field without any +definite menace as in the previous play, was quite enough to stamp him +as the most thoroughly deserving champion of that week. British golfing +pride will force the suggestion to many minds that such a thing, proper +as it was on this occasion, could never happen again; that if the +championship were replayed in the same conditions Mr. Ouimet would be +beaten. But of how many champions could it be said that if they had to +play the event over again a week or a month later, the luck of the game +being what it is, they would repeat their triumph? Reflecting once more +that this was but a boy of twenty, and the real greatness of our players +being what it is, I am more amazed than ever at what has happened. It +was an American victory and America takes the credit, but, again, the +United States are by no means full of Ouimets. I look upon him as a +first-class prodigy, such as the game has never known before, produced +in the country where such a golfing prodigy was most likely to make his +appearance. He accomplished what had never been done before, and what I +feel sure will never be done again, and because it was such an historic +happening, and there were so few from England there to see it as I did, +I have told the tale in full. Nobody believes that Mr. Ouimet is as +great as Harry Vardon and Edward Ray. He could not be. But also I do not +think that any one else could do what he did at Brookline on that +occasion. I found, a long time after the occurrence, that many wise +American golfers, reflecting dispassionately if still proudly upon it, +gave a certain satisfaction to their reason by suggesting as a final +explanation that a miracle had happened. That is a good way out of our +difficulties, and for my own part I accept it, for it is the only +explanation that will stand all tests. A miracle happened at Brookline +on that Twentieth of September. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE BEGINNINGS OF GOLF IN THE UNITED STATES, AND EXPERIENCES IN +TRAVELLING THERE, WITH AN EXAMPLE OF AMERICAN CLUB MANAGEMENT. + + +There is little done to solve the mysteries of golf's beginning by +pressing into the farthest recesses of American golfing history. Only by +such little twinklings in the darkness of the almost prehistoric period +of the game do we begin more to suspect that, being such a natural and +simple thing, an almost inevitable kind of pastime despite its man-made +intricacies and laws, and all its heartenings and maddenings, it came up +of itself in different places, when man had reached full intelligence +and the desire to play properly other games than such as bowls. Those +Indian braves who wandered and hunted and fought over that magnificent +land when in its virgin state must have tried to knock something like a +ball, or a stone, in the direction of a particular mark, and that would +be a game for them. I remember hearing that several years ago a visitor +to one of the reservations found several of the red men playing golf of +a kind, with real clubs and balls. "Purple Cloud" was the champion of +the braves. Then in the autumn of 1903 another white wanderer looked in +upon the Indians in the reservation at Montana and reported that he had +witnessed a very spirited game. Golf, said he, is much better suited to +the Indian of to-day than his old game of lacrosse. He noticed very few +subtleties in the game. When the champion, "Spotted Horse," drove off, +there was a long stretch of clear prairie, with only here and there a +shrub, so that the game resolved itself into a chase of the ball for a +couple of miles and a return, the one who did it in the fewest strokes +being the winner. He saw some really capital drives, several well over +three hundred yards, he thought. The only thing that was very new and +characteristic about these red men's golf, so far as he could see, was +that the spectators "made a most infernal row all the time that the play +was in progress." When a brave took his stance for a tee shot, it was +looked upon as the signal for a perfect bedlam of yells and howling, +which should have disconcerted the player but did not do so. And with my +own eyes have I seen the modern Indians playing for the American +championship, and it might be claimed that though laws be made at St. +Andrews, and interpretations thereof in the council chamber of the white +men at New York, this after all, in essentials, is a game that is native +of the soil. Yet the history of such a game down the Indian line must be +hazy as the history of the braves themselves, and we must leave it now +with this ample recognition. + +But though in names and other matters there is a Scottish flavour in +some of the records of the earliest American golf, and when it became a +real and growing thing it was obviously imported, one is sometimes +inclined to think that the Simpsonian theory of the spontaneous +generation of golf, or what approximated in essentials to golf, must +have applied to America as to other countries. A stick, a ball, a mark, +and there is the principle of golf fully indicated. + +In a primitive way also it was played in America in the seventeenth +century, and, as in the homeland, some of the earliest references to it +that remain take the form of warnings of the punishments accruing to +players who departed from such severe restrictions as were imposed. It +was not proclaimed what advantages would be yielded men who played, as +is done to-day, but what grievous penalties they should suffer if they +played it when and where they should not, and alas! the times and places +that were forbidden appeared to be many in proportion to those when the +game might be enjoyed by those who liked it. Then as now, and in America +as in happy England, those who were not of golf were against it, and +bitterly. There were jealousies then as ever since. There were those +often-quoted Laws and Ordinances of the New Netherlands of 1659 in +which, because of a complaint by the burghers of Fort Orange and the +village of Berwyck about the damage done to their windows and the danger +to which they were exposed of being wounded by persons who played golf +along the streets, the golfers were threatened of consequences to come. +Then clearly the game was played in South Carolina in 1788, for at that +time an advertisement appeared in a local newspaper thus: "Anniversary +of the South Carolina Golf Club will be held at Williams's Coffee House +on Thursday, 29th instant, when members are requested to attend at 2 +o'clock precisely, that the business of the Club may be transacted +before dinner." Here there is a clear indication of the close connection +maintained between the playing of the game and the social ceremonies +about the dinner-table that were held by the golfers on the same day in +the way that was practised by the early golfers of the Scottish centres +and of Blackheath. For many years afterwards these meetings of the South +Carolina Golf Club were held at the club-house on what was known as +"Harton's Green," which is now in the heart of Charleston. Perhaps this +was the first golf club-house in America, and if that were so it shared +the fate of pioneer establishments in many other places where towns have +widened and gathered in the outlying lands. There is also preserved in +the archives the form of invitation that was sent to Miss Eliza Johnston +to attend the ball of the Savannah Golf Club at the Exchange hall in +that city in December 1811. And then American golf seems to have lapsed +and slept like Van Winkle in the Catskills until the time of the great +regeneration came near the end of last century. One does not come now to +make a history of American golf, but only to indicate that new and +republican America also has something in the way of golf traditions. + + + * * * * * + +The real beginning of American golf was made, as you may know, out at +Yonkers up the Hudson, and Mr. John Reid, the elder, is rightly regarded +as the father of American golf. Such recognition being of long standing +and his claims being incontestable, he was again publicly and officially +proclaimed as such at the silver jubilee celebration that was held in +New York on November 19, 1913. That was twenty-five years from the time +when the game was really set going in the States. One night I sat over a +log fire in a club-house in Massachusetts and heard the story of the +foundation by his father from the lips of Mr. John Reid, the younger, +secretary of the United States Golf Association. He told me how his +father and Robert Lockhart, who went to the same school in Scotland, +came to America together; how Lockhart who, as a buyer of goods, had to +pay periodical visits to his homeland, talked of the strange game that +was played there; how Mr. Reid became interested and asked for clubs and +balls to be brought across the water; how he tried the swings and +strokes in a field by their house at Yonkers, the son "fielding" for +the father; how the captain of a steamer was persuaded to bring another +set of clubs over with him, and how irons were thereafter cast in +America. Then he told me how other people, few but keen, were attracted +to this new pastime that the Reids were trying, and how the first little +club was formed here at Yonkers in November 1888, and called the St. +Andrews Golf Club. They were as the golfing fathers. I learned how the +members came to be known as the Apple Tree Gang because of the tree near +to the first hole on which they hung their coats; how six holes were +laid out at the beginning on Mr. Reid's land, his house being used as a +club-house; how he gave a medal which was the first prize ever put up +for competition in America--and it was for an annual thirty-six holes +stroke competition--and how it was won for eleven years, three in +succession, by Mr. George Sands. Those were days of consequence. From +that little beginning the St. Andrews Golf Club of Yonkers, after many +changes and enlargements, has risen to a place of importance and honour +in American golf. + +These little histories and traditions of American golf do become +attractive as one probes more deeply into them. It was in Massachusetts +that the most remarkable thing that has ever taken place in the history +of the game on the other side of the Atlantic, or anywhere +perhaps--meaning, of course, the Ouimet triumph--happened lately, and I +have been much attracted to the story of the beginning of golf in that +part of the American world, and not less so when I see that the start +was made such a very little while before the birth of the boy who won +that great championship at Brookline. American golf and Ouimet have +grown up together. One finds that in the summer of 1892 a young lady +from Pau went on a visit to Mr. Arthur Hunnewell, at Wellesley, Mass., +and took with her a set of golf clubs and balls. They had been playing +the game for a long time past at Pau, but it was only just being started +in other parts of France. After Yonkers it had been reproduced at +Shinnecock and one or two other places, but so far Massachusetts had not +known it. The girl showed Mr. Hunnewell how the clubs were used, and +some relatives of his, owning adjacent estates and being fond of outdoor +pastimes, watched and were won quickly to the game. On the first of June +Mr. Hunnewell wrote down in his diary, "F. B. arrived to-day from +Europe"; and on the fifteenth of September, "We are getting quite +excited about golf." A fortnight later he wrote that "J. B. is here and +plays golf all day." I calculate it as a coincidence worth remark that +twenty-one years afterwards, to the month and to the week, Mr. Ouimet +won the great championship. + +Many of Mr. Hunnewell's friends were invited to come and attempt the +game at his place, which they did accordingly and fell in love with it. +He had fashioned a course of seven holes of moderate length over +undulating lawns and some park-land. The actual holes consisted of +five-inch flower-pots sunk in the turf, and the hazards were avenues, +clumps of trees, beds of rhododendrons, an aviary, a greenhouse, and an +occasional drawing-room window, as it is facetiously remarked by Mr. +Lawrence Curtis, who became the first secretary of the golf committee of +the Country Club, and to whose account of these happenings I am indebted +for my notes upon them. Mr. Curtis, seeing the fascination that the game +exercised upon all who became acquainted with it, wrote a letter to the +executive council of the Country Club informing them of it, suggesting +that it was a pastime that might very well be brought within the scope +of the club, and that the cost of an experimental course need not +exceed some fifty dollars. The suggestion was backed by several members +and the council agreed, the course being laid out in the spring of the +following year. The home hole was placed on a lawn in front of the +club-house which was soon discovered to be a very dangerous place for +it, so that it had to be removed. Almost immediately the game became a +strong attraction at the Country Club, new members came along in droves +because of it, and it has flourished ever since. The example of this +powerful club was followed at the Essex County Club at Manchester, then +just being begun. Mr. Herbert Leeds, now so closely and honourably +associated with Myopia, won the Country Club's championship in 1893 with +a score for eighteen holes of 109, Mr. Curtis being next with 110; and +that summer a Country Club side won a team tournament that was played at +Tuxedo against the St. Andrews and Tuxedo Clubs. And afterwards all went +very well indeed. + +And while I write in this way of the grand pioneering work that was done +in those days when champions of the present time were being born and +trained, I am reminded of a conversation I once had with Mr. Edward +Blackwell, in which he told me of his going out to California in 1886 +and staying there for six years. His people had bought some land in +those western parts, and he and his two brothers went out there to +convert it from barley to a vineyard. Mr. Blackwell is a very great +golfer to-day, but considering the gutty ball and circumstances in +general, he was, relatively to his contemporaries, as great then. Only +about a week before he sailed for California a match was arranged +between him and Jack Simpson, who had gained the Open Championship the +previous year, and Mr. Blackwell won that match at the last of the +thirty-six holes that were played. Out in California there was plenty +of hard work to do on the land and good sport with the gun, but, of +course, there was no golf. Mr. Blackwell's thoughts frequently turned +towards it, and he missed it very much. He considered the possibilities +and found that they were practically non-existent, for the country round +about was too hopelessly rough for laying out any sort of holes. So he +never saw a golf club and never hit a ball during those six years, but +for all that he won the King William IV. medal at the autumn meeting of +the Royal and Ancient Club immediately on his return. Then he went back +to California and did not see club or ball for another five years. Some +of us could almost wish he had made some sort of course out there in +California and become the first golfer of that far west, for he would +have been so good to have been a pioneer, and golf has flourished there +exceedingly since then. California sends men to championships. It would +have given a special piquancy to that fateful amateur championship final +at Sandwich in 1904 when Mr. Blackwell was his country's last hope +against America's Mr. Walter Travis, and as it happened he was not quite +equal to the occasion, for the American captured four holes at the start +with his amazing putting, and he won by as many at the end. + +That was a great day for American golf, a kind of consummation it was, +and I shall never forget the queer sensation that filled the atmosphere +on the St. George's course, nor the dumb feeling, not exactly of dismay +but of incomprehension, there was at the end. As to the first of these +sensations I believe that nearly everybody felt--without knowing why +exactly, for comparatively few had noticed his play until he got to the +fourth or fifth rounds and was appreciated as dangerous--that the +American player was nearly sure to win, that nothing could stop him from +winning. It was a conviction. Certainly Mr. Travis's wonderful putting +had created a very deep impression, but if he had been a British player +I think the feeling would have arisen that putting like that, which had +been continued for the best part of a week, would be sure to give out +before the end. Take the case, for instance, of Mr. Aylmer in the +championship of 1910 at Hoylake. He had been putting in the most amazing +manner all the time, and holing them from everywhere, but nobody had any +confidence in his ability to beat Mr. John Ball in the final, and he +collapsed utterly. Of course, Mr. Aylmer then had not the tremendous +fighting power and pertinacity of Mr. Travis in match play, qualities of +their kind which I have only seen equalled by a successor of his in the +American championship roll, Mr. Jerome Travers, and to beat Mr. Ball at +Hoylake is a different matter from beating Mr. Blackwell at Sandwich. +But then they were saying that Mr. Aylmer could not go much farther even +when he was only at about the third round, and as for Mr. Ball at +Hoylake there was a considerable feeling among golfers about that time +that the old champion could not go on defying the law of averages any +longer, and that there could be no more championships for him. I confess +that I rather shared this view, held in a superstitious sort of way, but +now that Mr. John has clapped another championship on to that Hoylake +affair, we have given him up. There is no reason why he should not win +another eight! However, when the Scot and the American teed up that +fateful morning there was a disposition to be sorry for Mr. Blackwell, +and a kind of hope that the end might be painless. In the circumstances +Mr. Blackwell's performance in losing nothing more after losing four of +the first five holes was as good as it could be. He kept the pump +working splendidly. + +The truth is that he was by no means so gloomy as his friends about his +prospects, as he told me afterwards. He said he thought he had a good +chance of winning, and did not believe he would get beaten. He wished, +however, that the tees had been farther back so that his long driving +would have given him a better advantage. Two things about his opponent +impressed him very much, one, of course, being his astonishing putting +and the other his silence. But then, of course, one does not work one's +way into a final of a championship for conversational purposes, or for +debating the merits of the sixth sub-section of one of the rules of +golf. When the deed was done completely Mr. Blackwell joined the +converts who departed from the old prejudice and raided Tom Vardon's +shop for Schenectady putters, with which they practised, and marvelled +as the sun was setting on the first day that any but a British player +had won a British golf championship. With that victory the first era in +modern American golf, not counting the prehistoric times of golf in +Charleston and the Indians' games, came to an end. America had made +good. Now she became a power. + +The second era lasted nine years and was one in which she gradually came +to be taken more seriously. She suffered a set-back of sorts when Mr. +Harold Hilton won the American Amateur Championship at Apawamis in 1911, +but there were some circumstances attending that victory at the +thirty-seventh hole which were rather galling to the Americans, and they +behaved well in saying so little about them. Mr. Hilton ran away with +the match in the final, as it appeared, and Mr. Fred Herreshoff in the +afternoon was offered about the most forlorn hope that golfer ever had +to lighten his way for him. He brightened it up and made it thoroughly +serviceable, and was distinctly unlucky in being beaten at the extra +tie hole when Mr. Hilton's bad second shot cannoned off the famous rock +to the right and went kindly to the putting green instead of getting +into a hopeless place. It has been said that even if Mr. Hilton's shot +was lucky, Mr. Herreshoff played the hole so badly that he hardly +deserved to win it even if he was hardly treated by losing. But it is +forgotten that it was match play, and that what one man does affects the +other's game, and Mr. Herreshoff told me once, long after, that the +American crowd, which is supposed erroneously to be many shots to the +advantage of an American playing against an Englishman, on that occasion +misled and upset him. It cheered for Mr. Hilton at the wrong time and +for the wrong thing, and led to Mr. Herreshoff making a hash of a most +fateful stroke. This era of American golf came to an end with the +amazing victory by Mr. Ouimet at Brookline. + +The present state of things is very remarkable, and I have found the +study of it very interesting during two long golfing expeditions through +the United States, when I have visited many of the chief American clubs, +met and made friends with men who are at the head of American golf and +the most distinguished players, and in every way gained a good practical +knowledge of the amazing progress of the game in this country. The +Englishman who visits America and is not a golfer suffers a loss that he +must regret always afterwards. To strangers in general the Americans in +their own country are kindly and hospitable. That touch of carelessness +and arrogance which is sometimes noticed in the wandering American when +he is "doing Europe" is not in evidence among good Americans when they +are at home, always provided that the Englishman has the good sense and +manners--which one regrets to say is not always the case--to remember +that when in the house of his host it is not good taste to praise his +own for its superiority in divers ways. Pay the American now and then, +and with proper delicacy, that little compliment that is so very well +deserved about the magnificence of his achievement in making a country +like that in such a short space of time, and about the excellence of +many of his established systems. It is a compliment that can and should +be paid with the most absolute sincerity. The American has the right to +be proud of his own country, and we should be proud of the American, for +that his blood is much the same as ours--trite observations, no doubt, +but commonly disregarded. Then with all his fancy hustle and his +tarnation smartness, the American is at bottom rather a sentimental man +(perhaps it is because he has to be so very businesslike most times that +he is liable to a sharp reaction at any good chance) and he is touched +with signs of genuine good feeling towards him and an appreciation of +what he has done. Thereupon in a softened voice he will tell of his +weaknesses, and of his appreciation of the greatness of mother England, +and he will play the host in a more thorough and warm-hearted way than +any other man on earth will or can. The ordinary non-golfing visitor may +find out many of these things, and have his own good time in his simple +way, but even in the freest countries there are often social omissions, +accidents, and disasters when there is not good common ground for +meeting and friends in waiting, and it is very possible to go to America +and fail in the way of holiday. The man who visits as a golfer, enters +at once into joys of existence and the most friendly companionship. I +have visited clubs in many parts of the country, and have made good and +abiding friends among countless golfers, and it is but a poor expression +of my feelings to say that I am very appreciative and deeply grateful. +If, therefore, for anything whatever I should criticise the golf of the +country I hope that American golfers will believe that in my comments +there is no trace of adverse prejudice. + +It is difficult to estimate how many players of this game there are in +the country at the present time, and whatever figures were fixed upon +would soon be made inaccurate through the rapid increase that is going +on all the time--more rapid by far than is the case in Britain. I have +seen it estimated that there are six or seven hundred clubs in the +States at the present time, with a total membership of about a hundred +and fifty thousand. The Americans say that they will double their +golfing population in the next five years. + + + * * * * * + +It is impossible for a person who has not crossed the Atlantic to +imagine the United States as the country and people really are. I found +it easier to imagine Italy and Spain and oriental Morocco before ever I +went to those places, than I did to conceive a picture of the country +and the life of our own blood relations in this new America. All the +fraternising with Americans in London and elsewhere, our reading of +their newspapers and their books, printed in the words of our own +language, pictures and photographs of the Statue of Liberty in New York +Harbour, of the sky-scrapers in the background and the Fifth Avenue that +glitters on a summer's day, all the pictures of Boston and Washington, +or of the boulevards and business activities of Chicago, will not help +any one to preconceive those places exactly. The atmosphere and the life +and the ways of the people are a little beyond the imagination of the +untravelled western man. In the same way I do not think that British +golfers who have not been to the United States can understand the +American's present-day attitude towards the game; certainly those who +have not been to America should not judge upon it as they are often +inclined to do. It is good, sound, and in its every aspect it is +exceedingly interesting. + +Wandering through the country I have visited many clubs and courses. If +we would have much golf in America we must move quickly as the Americans +do, and think as little of travelling all night as they think, for it +would be too much waste of time to make the long journeys that have to +be made by precious daylight. As a rule the golfer at home protests +against being asked to play anything like his best game after a night in +a railway train. I remember Mr. H. E. Taylor, who is not possessed of +the strongest constitution in the world, told me that he had set off +from Charing Cross one morning in the winter, arrived at Cannes in the +south of France at breakfast time on the next morning, cleaned himself +and put on his golfing shoes, and then gone along to the golf course out +at La Napoule to win a scratch gold medal. Again I recall that Mr. +Hilton once travelled all night from Hoylake to Muirfield and broke the +record of the course there on arrival, playing two more rounds the same +day. However, men like these are exceptions to most rules. + +But a golfer may cure himself of more of his weaknesses and +susceptibilities than he may think he can--all that are imaginary and +not really of the temperament. A man who hates wind and avoids it would +learn to play well and bravely in it if he had always to take his golf +on an exposed part of the eastern coast. The ability or otherwise to +play in wind is largely a matter of temperament. So it is with the +journeys. I had either to golf, and golf for me tolerably well, in the +intervals of scampering from one part of the country to the other, or I +had to spoil the whole expedition. I managed it somehow. + +Arriving in New York for the first time early on a Sunday morning, I +fixed myself up at my appointed quarters, rang up a golfer on the +telephone, and then, according to arrangement, proceeded to track a man +down at his club on the Fifth Avenue with the object of playing in the +afternoon. I walked into Fifth Avenue from a cross street, and my first +glimpse of it is one that will not soon be forgotten. It was a glorious +morning, the sun shining hot and white, and New York, for the only time +in its hustling week, was comparatively quiet. There was no traffic and +few people just then in the Fifth Avenue, quite one of the most majestic +and wonderful thoroughfares in the world despite its plain simplicity. +But it was not the whiteness, not the glittering cleanliness, not the +real splendour of this Fifth Avenue with all its newness, that struck +the first impression on my mind. Upon the moment that this wandering +British player of the most meditative of games emerged from somewhere +round about West 36th or 37th, into the big avenue, there whizzed along +it, right in front, a motor funeral which was doing a fine fifty miles +an hour clip along the smooth and open thoroughfare. There was just the +hearse with glass panels, the coffin plainly exhibited inside, and the +chauffeur on the seat, with another man beside him who might have been a +mourner. Holding life a little more cheaply in America than we do, they +grieve a little less for those who lose it, which is not to say that +they are heartless or unsympathetic, but more practical. This funeral, +done with petrol instead of horses, was positively going north at the +rate of fifty miles an hour. It was moving just as fast as I saw any car +ever go in the United States, and I could not help reflecting that the +spirit of the good American, viewing the last journey of its separated +corpus, must feel a certain satisfaction that it was hustlingly done and +that no time was wasted. _Finis coronat opus!_ Inspired, I played on +two different courses in New York on the same afternoon. + + + * * * * * + +English people hear much about railroad travelling being far better in +the United States than it is in our own country. It is--and it is not. +The comfort and conveniences of the cars in the daytime are much in +advance of anything we have. The men's smoking cars, the observation +cars, the parlour cars, are delightful and enable us thoroughly to enjoy +the journeys. Although they standardise so many things in America, they +cease their standardisations when considerations of personal comfort and +peculiarities have to be considered. It never occurred to me until I +travelled my first thousand miles in America that it is a hardship that, +no matter what our girth may be, nor the length of our bodies and legs, +we must all of us at home, though we pay for our first-class +accommodation, sit in standardised seats which are all the same and +attached to each other. In the American railroad car running on a +long-distance journey there are seats of different sorts, some are high +and some are low, and they are detached. This makes much difference. In +the dining-cars the tables and chairs are all loose, and one does not +have to squeeze into them with the feeling that one is being locked into +one's place as we do in England. And the dining arrangements on the +American cars are far superior to what they are elsewhere. But if the +American system gains by day the British system makes up for much of the +lost comfort at night, and that is when the American, golfer and +non-golfer, does most of his long-distance travelling. The Pullman day +cars are converted into sleepers by the dark-skinned attendants +(uncommonly good railroad car servants these niggers make), and by an +almost magical transformation the lounging car is made into a sleeper +with about two dozen berths, a dozen on each side, half uppers and half +lowers, and an alley down the middle. The chief difference between the +upper berths and the lower is that the uppers have to be reached by a +short stepladder and are not convenient to fat, gouty, or unathletic +persons, while those who wake early and like to look upon the prairie, +or what once was that, have a window at the bottom as the people in the +top have not. The berths are covered in with thick green curtains which +button together. We may leave our boots outside for the attendant to +brush in the morning, but our other clothes and traps must go along to +bed with us, and be stowed away at the bottom of the berth, or in the +little netting that hangs alongside. And here I must timidly state in +evidence that there are not separate cars for the sexes; in America all +go together, and the ladies and the men occupy the same cars. The ladies +generally go off to bed earlier than the men. Whether they do or not, we +all climb into our respective berths, fasten up the curtains, and +undress in the very limited space at our disposal, a process which seems +to me must be the same as that by which acrobatic performers wriggle +themselves out of chains and ropes with which their limbs and bodies +have been tied up fast. After a time we become expert. What is most +difficult to become accustomed to is the horrible jolting, and the +painfully sudden stopping of the trains in the middle of the night. +Their permanent ways are not laid so finely as the magnificent lines +along our coasts from London to Scotland. Their rails are not fixed in +chairs laid on the sleepers, but are pinned down straight on to the +wood. This makes much difference. The cars shake exceedingly. Then the +drivers at night have to be wary and stop quickly at times, and no +doubt they do right not to reduce their speed gradually for the sake of +the men and women who are asleep behind them, but instead to stop with a +suddenness that could only be improved upon by a collision. However, I +say again, that we find ourselves accustomed to it all in time. + +I shall not forget my first experience of a thousand-mile golfing +journey from the New York Central Station to Chicago. A few golfers were +in a party going westward for the championship at Wheaton in Illinois, +and we discussed the game from the time of starting in the late +afternoon until we had passed Albany, about ten, when we moved into our +sleeping quarters. My bag of clubs had to go to bed with me, and they +lay alongside all the night; there was no room for them underneath. I +had to sleep with one hand on the bag to prevent them from attacking me +or going overboard into the avenue, so much did that wretched train +rattle and shake as it hurtled its way through the darkness, with the +big bell in the front of the engine jangling mournfully all the time. +And what a wild, sad note it is that is struck by the bells on these +American engines, suggestive of the loneliness of the open country +through which they speed, now and then making a big noise with a sort of +foghorn. I am much attached to my clubs, and they are the chosen +favourites of a vast number that go with their master everywhere, and +are carefully watched and tended, but the intimacy that was sprung upon +us then was too much, and I invented another arrangement for the next +travelling night. James Braid, very wise man indeed, tells me that long, +deep nights of placid slumber are the best things in the world for the +golfer who would keep steady his hands and nerves and clear his eyes so +that he may play the best game of which he is capable. But no British +golfer could sleep at the beginning of his American experiences in such +circumstances. I was just falling into some sort of a doze in the small +hours of the morning when the train pulled up sharply at a station which +I discovered to be Schenectady, where the famous putter that disturbed +the peace of two nations was born. Next, one realised that we were +within a mile or two of the Niagara Falls, and so on with jolting and +banging and sudden stopping all the night. By and by daylight came and +then we had a long day of travelling through the heart of America to +Chicago. + +Some may suggest that all this about railroad travelling in the country +where there is more of it than any other has little to do with golf, but +it has all to do with it, for the thorough golfer in America, whether a +citizen or British, must needs spend a large part of his time in the +train, and if he would have the maximum amount of golf, much sleeping +must be done behind the green curtains in the darkened cars. The +travelling done by the American golfer, therefore, is a surprising +thing, but a few months of it is a fine and valuable experience for the +British golfer afterwards. No longer, since I have been across the +Atlantic, do I consider it a far way from London to the links of +Dornoch. St. Andrews and North Berwick have come pleasingly near to me. +All the world has shrunk, and I feel I have my foot on every course--or +soon may have. + +Though it be a thousand miles from New York to Chicago, and these are +the two great golfing centres of the east and west, it is a fact, as I +know well, that the golfers in the two places visit each other for a +weekend's golf almost as frequently and with as little fuss as would be +the case with golfers in London who go down to Sandwich. They take the +"Twentieth Century Limited" from New York on Friday afternoon, and on +Saturday morning they are at Chicago. They flash out on a local train to +Onwentsia, Midlothian, Glen View, Wheaton, Exmoor, or one of those +places, play all day, start play again at eight o'clock on Sunday, +finish their couple of rounds early in the afternoon, catch the fast +train back to New York, and are at their office on Monday morning as if +they had spent the week-end pottering about the garden. I am not +concerned with the question as to whether they are prolonging their +lives by these acts; nor are they concerned. In the meantime they appear +to be in the best of health, and are certainly in the highest of +spirits. + + + * * * * * + +With this talk of journeys we seem in fancy to be in Chicago now, so let +us consider the leading club of the busy district in the heart of +America. The course of the Chicago club is at Wheaton, some twenty-five +miles out on the North Western line, and this is the foremost club of +the Central States, and west in the sense of being west of the east, for +all golfing America is divided into two parts, the east and the west, +Chicago being the capital of and held chiefly to represent the west, +which holds some close rivalry with the east, where New York is +headquarters. The west out California way is just the far and other +west, and is in another world. The Chicago club is exclusive and +dignified. The most solid men in the city support it, and they see that +everything is good. It is not an ancient institution, but it has some of +the characteristics of solidity and strength of age and sound +experience. Chicago is not an old city, but, as the proud citizens like +to tell you, about a hundred years ago there was no Chicago at all, but +just a few wigwams of Indians and some huts and things round about a +creek. Since then the place has been once burnt down, and yet it is now +the fourth largest city of the world, while in its tenseness of +commercial industry it is the foremost of all. If all the ages past in +Chicago only amount to a hundred years, then one-fifth of all time as +known to Chicago history, which represents the life of the Chicago Golf +Club, is comparatively long indeed. + +In 1892 a small golf club was started for the first time round about +Lake Forest, but the promoters had only about sixteen acres of ground. +In the following year, when the World's Fair was held, a number of +foreign visitors were in Chicago and asked for golf, as travellers will +do, though the great golf boom had not yet then set in. Mr. Charles B. +Macdonald came in with the movement, ground was searched for, and the +Chicago Golf Club was organised at Belmont, some twenty-two miles out of +the city. When the Fair was over in the following spring, only about +twenty members were left to the club, and the outlook did not seem +splendid. But once begun, in either place or man, golf is a very hard +thing to kill. The twenty die-hards asked their friends to come and see +the place and try the game. They did so, and those men of Chicago knew +at once that they had discovered the real thing. A hundred and thirty +members were quickly obtained. The inevitable result followed. They +wanted more and better golf, and they wanted it to belong to them and +not to be on leased ground, so in 1894 the club met and authorised the +purchase of two hundred acres at Wheaton, twenty-four miles out from the +city, a fine course was laid out, a splendid club-house was built, and a +really great club was established. Here and now we may gain a very fair +idea of the difference in cost to the player between American golf and +British. No better club could be selected for the purpose of +exemplification than this one. It so happened that a few days before I +arrived there, its club-house was burnt down, with all its contents and +appurtenances, and from the wreck only a single one of the club-books +of rules and regulations was rescued. I took possession of it while I +made some notes upon the terrace of the only part of the building that +was saved. + +The first paragraph in the book, being Section 1 of Article 1 of the +bye-laws, states that "this club is incorporated under the laws of +Illinois as Chicago Golf Club, and its corporate seal is a circular disc +bearing the words, 'Chicago Golf Club,' the figure of a golf player, and +the motto, 'Far and Sure.'" To become a member of the club the applicant +must be over eighteen years of age; he must have not more than one +adverse vote cast against him by the governing body; and he must pay an +entrance fee of not less than a hundred dollars or £20. The resident (or +full) membership of the club is limited to 225, and the annual +subscription is 75 dollars or £15, half of which is payable at the +beginning of the year and half at midsummer. Now this subscription is +much higher than that of any golf club in Great Britain, and the fact is +only partly attributable to the circumstance that everything in America +is more expensive than it is in England. The higher subscription is +necessitated because the membership is kept down so low as 225, and that +is done in order that there may be no overcrowding of the course. In +England such a club, being situated within thirty miles of a great city +and having the best course round about, would probably admit at least +five or six hundred members, with the result that on the fine and busy +week-end days the course would be hopelessly blocked and there would be +no pleasure for anybody. This is certainly so in the case of two or +three of the most popular clubs in the outer London golfing area, and +one may come to a speedy decision that in this matter the American way +is by far the better. Ladies who are over sixteen years of age and the +immediate relatives of a member are permitted to have the privileges of +the course, subject to the rules of the Green Committee, on payment of +ten dollars a year. There is another class, "summer members," who are +not to exceed fifteen in number, and who pay 150 dollars for one summer +season's play. There is practically no play in the winter, the climatic +conditions being too severe. The other rules as to membership are much +the same as those which obtain in the case of British golf clubs. + +Among the "house rules," it is stated that the club-house generally will +remain open until midnight, and the café, which is the British +equivalent of the smoke-room with bar, until one o'clock in the morning, +which is a lateness of hour almost unheard of in England, but then it +has to be remembered that such club-houses in America are mostly +residential. "Juniors" are not allowed in the café. The warning is given +that smoking and the lighting of matches in the locker or dressing room +are absolutely prohibited, and that a fine of ten dollars will be +imposed on any member violating this rule. Fires in club-houses in +America being so numerous is the cause of this rule, which is rigorously +applied. Then it is perceived that no member makes any payment +whatsoever in cash in the club-house. He signs a check or bill, an +account of his expenditure is kept, and it is served to him fortnightly. +Payment must then be made within ten days, failing which the member is +suspended. Some interesting items are to be found among the ground +rules. One says that in medal play competitions new holes must be +assumed to have been made on the morning of a competition, unless +otherwise stated by the Green Committee; and another that a member +playing a round, and keeping score other than in club competition must +allow parties playing pure match-play to pass. The Americans are not +content with merely requesting a player to replace the divots of turf +that he cuts up in play. They say: "Divots of turf cut up by players +must be carefully replaced and pressed down. A fine of one dollar will +be imposed on any member violating this rule. All members are earnestly +requested to report any member who violates this rule to the Green +Committee." Caddies are paid "from the time of their employment until +the time they are discharged, to be determined by an electric clock, at +such rate per hour as may be determined by the Green Committee." There +is nothing that is inexpensive about a club of this class, and let it be +understood that there are few second-class golf clubs in the States +where the fees are small. A day's golf at a good club is cheap indeed at +five dollars. When one goes to stay there for a night or two one finds +that the statutory price for breakfast is a dollar, for lunch 1.25, and +for dinner 1.30 upwards. When I returned to England it appeared that +golf and all pertaining to it was cheap, almost to the gift point. + +The course at Wheaton is good, although there are some in America that +are better. It is plain, its holes sometimes lack strength, but it is +well tended and its putting greens are quite perfect. Its fairway is not +perfect, any more than the fairways of other American courses are. The +climate will hardly permit of their being so. It bakes them up and makes +them hard, and the inevitable result is little knobs and depressions +which give cuppy lies, and turf which for all its greenness is not by +any means comfortable to the feet in comparison with the yieldingness of +our British turf. The Americans cannot help this; if it were practicable +to treat every inch of their turf for climatic troubles all through the +day and night they would perhaps do it. It is practicable to treat their +putting greens thoroughly, and the result is that, taking them all +round, they have undoubtedly got the best putting greens in the world. +I mean, without reservation, that the average of the best courses in +America is higher than the average of the best in our own country, and I +say it with some regret that they have a score of courses in the United +States with greens far superior to those on the old course at St. +Andrews the last time the Amateur Championship was played there, those +greens being then not what they used to be. I think much of the credit +for the high quality of the greens at Wheaton is due to the splendid +work of David Foulis, the professional and greenkeeper there. Need I say +that David is a Scot, and a very true Scot too, who still loves his old +homeland better than any other, and is glad when the wandering golfer +from it gets his way. Chicago may seem a strange place to visit for +facts of old golf history, and yet here I added some details to the +histories of the people and their golfing ways of fifty years and more +agone, for Foulis has his father living with him out in Illinois, and +Foulis the elder was at work with old Tom Morris in the great days when +the Open Championship was young, and stirring are the stories that he +can tell you, as he did to me in David's shop, of old Tom and Allan +Robertson, and the other giants of those times, carrying one in mind and +spirit far away from the land round about the big lake of Michigan to +the old grey city which was old more than a hundred years ago. + +I took away with me as a memento from David Foulis a club that he has +invented, and which for a special purpose I can commend. It is a kind of +mashie niblick, David claiming to be the inventor of this type of club, +but it is different from others in that it has a perfectly straight, +flat sole and a concave face. I, like others, found that by the use of +this club I saved some dollars, for it enabled me to pitch the ball from +a hard lie on to the hard greens and make it stay close to the hole +when nothing else would serve the purpose. The ordinary mashie niblick +with curved sole is not perfect for baked and iron-hard courses, as it +is not easy to get well hold of the ball when taking it cleanly as must +often be done in such circumstances, and the margin for error is +painfully small. The flat-soled club is essentially one for taking the +ball cleanly, and somehow that hollow face does impart extra backspin to +the ball. It lifts it up and drops it dead as no other club that I have +handled will of itself ever do. + +But let me write that the Americans are not given to fancy and freak +clubs as some people suppose they are. There is nothing freakish about +this article of which I write, and for the most part the implements that +the American players employ are the simplest. And just to complete my +generalising remarks on American courses, which naturally vary greatly, +let me say that commonly they are not so severely bunkered as are the +best of ours, particularly from the tee. They do not demand either such +long or such straight driving as our best courses do, and I think that +the Americans realise now that this is the case and that they need +stiffening up. They are doing that already. There are some very good +holes at Wheaton, and the short hole at the ninth is about the most +tantalising water hole I have encountered. It is all water from the +teeing ground to the foot of a high plateau on which the green is +situated, and it is about a hundred and ten yards across the pond. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE PERFECT COUNTRY CLUB AND THE GOLFERS' POW-WOW AT ONWENTSIA, WITH A +GLIMPSE OF THE NATIONAL LINKS. + + +Round Chicago there is now a great belt of golf which is thickening +rapidly. More hundreds of acres are being claimed for the game +constantly, and one hears in these parts of the most splendidly equipped +club-houses being built to replace others at the cost of very many +thousands of dollars. Activity in the increase of golf is feverish. But +even here maturity has its charm, as it always must have in golf, and +the most delightful resorts in Illinois are those which are the oldest. +Such as Onwentsia, Exmoor, Midlothian, Glen View are excellent. + +I am glad I went to Onwentsia. Most British golfers who have never been +and will never go across the Atlantic have heard something, even if but +the name, of the Onwentsia club. It seems to suggest American golf, and +there is a look of some mystery about the name. Onwentsia is by no means +like the others, and there are good reasons why. Here on a wall of mine +are two feathers of eagles fastened crosswise; below them an Indian's +pipe of peace with its silken tassel. They were sent to me across the +sea from Onwentsia by some members a while after I had been there, and +they are a reminder not only of happy days but of the characteristics of +Onwentsia, for the name of the place is an Indian one. Here were the +redskins before all others, and then the white men and golfers came, and +still it is almost as if the soil were redolent of the Indian trail. The +club perpetuates in a manner considered suitable the memory and legend +of the braves; my eagles' feathers are such as a "Running Driver" or +"Mighty Mashie" might have worn in their fighting days, and they adorned +our modern Onwentsians on the day of their Indian feast! Let me explain. +Lake Forest, where is Onwentsia, is a very charming suburb of Chicago, +at the side of Lake Michigan. Its name suggests its character; it is +well wooded, and one of the kind friends that I made there, Mr. Slason +Thompson, drove me in his car in the dusk of a balmy evening for miles +through the beautiful public grounds. The Onwentsia Club, as it is +called, is a close fraternity of the best people of these parts. It is a +country club in a large sense. It is a hunt club, it is a polo club with +a splendid ground, it is a tennis club, and it is a golf club, and it +need hardly be said that the golf is a very strong feature, the +predominator of the institutions. Now the Onwentsian golfers, zealous +and good, have their own manners and customs, and, particularly they +have one custom which has a fame all over America, and it has spread +even beyond the seas. If it be not sin to mention them together +Onwentsia has one great day of celebration as the Royal and Ancient Club +has one. Towards the end of September the Royal and Ancient Club calls +its members together for the autumn gathering at St. Andrews, and there +on that occasion, as has been related, many ancient and solemn +ceremonies of great dignity are performed. The captain "plays himself +in," guns are fired, in the evening at the banquet new members kiss the +silver club and swear their loyalty, and much more in that splendid and +time-honoured way is done. America is true to St. Andrews golf in its +law, but Lake Forest, far out toward the west, is not the same as +Fifeshire, and the Onwentsia Club at Lake Forest is not like the Royal +and Ancient. It is not a question of which is the better; they are +different, and when I was in Illinois, at any rate, Onwentsia was to me +a very entertaining place. And I do not say this merely because +Onwentsia, near to Lake Michigan, is so charmingly situated; because the +club is such a delightful place, perfect in equipment, with a luxurious +club-house, and inside it a huge swimming pool and many shower-baths, +making one sometimes a trifle regretful upon the bareness of our British +golfing-houses. It is just because when I first reached there the great +golfing gathering at St. Andrews was nearly due and the golfers at +Onwentsia were having theirs. When I dined with Mr. Thompson that +evening at his charming house overlooking the great lake, and we smoked +cigars on the lawn overhanging it, he told me why on everything that +concerned the club there was the same sign, the head of an Indian brave +with the big feather in it, and why they were just going forward to the +great annual pow-wow. If you would do it properly you should pronounce +Onwentsia in the soft, crooning Indian way. Murmur it slowly and gently, +and mount the cadence high upon the second syllable; then, after a +suspicion of a pause, lower the notes gradually to the end. If you said +it in the right way an old Iroquois brave would know that you were +referring to "a country gathering," for that is the meaning of the term. +In days of old the Iroquois trailed over all these parts where now the +course is laid. Here were their wigwams; here lingered their squaws with +the little papoose, while the red men hunted and fought. That is why the +golfers of Onwentsia have their pow-wow once a year. + +The pow-wow is an invitation golf tournament lasting two days, and it is +open only to those members who are of a certain age or over (it was +thirty-nine when I was there) and their guests, one guest per member. In +order to preserve complete the familiar friendliness of the gathering +and to maintain its traditions undisturbed by new influences, the age +limit is increased from year to year to keep the new and young men out. +The call to the pow-wow, which is written anew for every festival, gives +us the key to the nature of the function, and I quote from one of them: + + On the banks of Skokie water, + By the water flecked with golf balls, + Stands the wigwam, the Onwentsia, + The great wigwam of the Pow-wow. + Come ye forth, ye Jol-li-gol-fas, + Come ye forth and come ye quickly + To Onwentsia, the big wigwam, + To Onwentsia, the big Pow-wow, + In the Moon of Falling Leaflets, + Ere the trees are red with autumn, + Come in trains, the Puf-choo-choo-puf; + Come in motors, Aw-to-bub-buls; + In the 'bus, old Shuh-too-get-thah, + To Onwentsia, to the Pow-wow. + Here's the bartend, Wil-lin-mix-ah, + The head waitress, Goo-too-loo-kat, + The great golfer, Hoo-beets-boh-ghee, + And the caddy, Skip-an-fetch-it, + Waiting all to do you honour. + Leave your war club, Tom-ah-haw-kus, + Bring the peace sticks, Dri-vah-nib-lix; + Leave your toilsome reservations + And the dust of smoky cities + For the Pow-wow in the wigwam; + Bring the peace pipe, Swee-too-suk-kat, + Taste the bowl, Hi-baw-laf-tah; + Play the game, Roy-al-skoch-wun, + All the morning in the sunlight, + All the afternoon, till evening + Spreads the feast of squab and chicken + 'Mid the joy of good companions + Gathered in the spreading wigwam + Of Onwentsia for the Pow-wow. + +Lasting for two days, with one great night in between them, it happens +that the first session of play is conducted in a state of high +anticipation and with much joyful shaking of hands and exhibitions of +brotherly attachment, and the second session with a feeling as of a +slowly receding past. Only those who attend the feast in the big wigwam +are eligible to play in the numerous competitions to which are attached +such an abundance of prizes that it is difficult for the golfing brave +to go empty-handed back to his gentle squaw. A law indeed has had to be +made that he shall not take more than two of the trophies away with him. + +At eight o'clock on the morning of the first day the play begins. There +is a thirty-six holes medal competition for the Sum-go-fah trophy (the +"Indian" titles are changed from year to year), and at the end of +eighteen holes the numerous competitors are grouped into sections of +eight, according to the place in the returns--first eight, second eight, +and so on for separate match-play competitions for the Sko-ki-ko-lah +prizes. The prize for the first eight is the Mis-sa-sko-kih, for the +second the O-ma-go-li, for the third the Hit-ta-sko-kih, for the fourth +the Sti-mi-gosh, for the fifth the Bum-put-tah, for the sixth the +Went-an-mis-tit, for the seventh the Top-an-sli-sah, for the eighth the +Let-mih-tel-you, and for the ninth the Dub-an-duf-fah. Then there is a +competition for the Bun-kah-bun-kah prize, which is embraced within the +Sum-go-fah, being for the best eclectic score made in the two rounds, or +"choice score" as they prefer to call it in the States. Two-thirds +handicap is allowed. Likewise there is the Noh-bak-num-bah prize, which +is by medal play with an age handicap, the handicap being determined by +the years of the contestant above or below forty. By such play, whether +it is successful or not, do the braves qualify for the feast, and at +half-past seven there is the call to the big and happy wigwam. The +great dining-room is indeed made by fitting and decoration to appear as +one great wigwam, and there are some of the adjuncts of the life of the +old Iroquois. The golfing braves stride eagerly, joyfully, chatteringly +in. Reddened are the golfers' faces; wrapped around them are their +blankets, from their hair stick big black feathers; long pipes of peace +are held before them. Then there are strange but toothsome dishes; they +taste the "Hi-baw-laf-ta-tah"; happiness and contentment increase; there +are toasts and shouts and whoops. The successors of the Iroquois hold +their pow-wow well. At the beginning of the morning, when the moon is +riding through the fleecy heavens of Illinois, softly they steal away, +and in the distance now and then there may be heard the same lone cry +that once resounded through the forest when Iroquois were on the trail. +But at nine in the morning more competitions begin, and are most +thoroughly attended. There are tournaments for the Bus-tis-tik-sah, the +Boo-li-bus-tah, the Strok-a-hol-ah, the Heez-noh-mut-sah, the +Ho-pu-get-it, the Get-sa-loo-kin, the He-za-pee-chah, the +Wil-lin-loo-sah, the Oh-you-papoose, and other cups. Some of the prizes +go to the players doing certain holes in the lowest gross score during +the tournament, the Wil-lin-loo-sah is captured by the man who does the +four rounds worst of all on the two days, and an Onwentsia medicine +pouch, the nature of which may be guessed by golfers with little +difficulty, remembering British practice, is awarded to the brave who +does a particular hole in one stroke. It is all very remarkable, +wonderful, interesting, and thoroughly American, and not the ragged +corner of a paper dollar the worse for it either. Happy Onwentsia! + + + * * * * * + +At the Glen View Country Club they have a special autumn festival also +which has a character of its own. The motto of Glen View is "Laigh and +lang"--low and long--which is a good variation on the monotonous "far +and sure." And about Glen View there is a Scottish flavour; in manners +and customs for a very brief season in the golden days of the fall there +is wafted from the far distant Highlands a breath of Scotland. Here they +call their festival the "Twa Days," and it is carried through with a +fine spirit. There are competitions in number and kind to satisfy +everybody, and the social side of the affair is excellent. + +Glen View, again, is not like the others either. I spent some days there +as the guest of the club, and nowhere have I had a more pleasurable +time. It came after an exceedingly strenuous, rushing period at other +places, and towards the end of one of the hottest spells of weather that +they had known for many summers in those burning parts. Glen View is a +pretty name, but it is not prettier than the golf course there, which is +one of the most charming I know. It reminded one in some ways of +Sudbrook Park in the early summer, always, as I think, one of the most +delightful inland courses in the south of England; but Glen View, with +its sleepy streams, is nicer. It may not be up to "championship +standard" in its architectural features, but it might be made so. Yet if +such a change would remove much of the character of Glen View, I, in my +selfishness, knowing that on some future morning I shall again take the +9.35 from Chicago on the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad, and +alight at the station which is called "Golf," hope for my high pleasure +that there will be none such made. When a club once becomes infatuated +with the championship idea its contentment and happiness depart, and +Glen View is best as it is. The holes have character. The greens are +placed in the most beautiful nooks and corners, great belts of trees +surround the course, and a stream winds snake-like through the grounds. +At about every third hole there is a large barrel which is filled every +morning with fresh spring water, into which a large block of ice is +placed. When you play in a shade temperature of nearly a hundred +degrees, as I have done at this place, you appreciate these barrels. +They have a natty way of naming their holes at Glen View. The first is +called "The Elm," the second "High Ball," the third "Sleepy Hollow," and +the next in order are "Polo," "Lover's Lane," "Old Hickory," "The Round +Up," "Trouble," "Reservoir," "Westward Ho!" "The Grove," "Sunset," "The +Bridge," "The Roost," "Spookey," "The Orchard," "Log Cabin," and "Sweet +Home." The course is 6279 yards long, and every one of these yards is a +pleasure to play along. Visitors do like this place. In one year +recently there were 3550 of them who paid a dollar a day for the +privilege of playing. The members of the club pay one hundred dollars a +year subscription, and nowadays it costs about five hundred dollars for +admission. Every member must be the possessor of a hundred-dollar share +in the club, and these shares are now at a premium of about five times +their par value. At few other places in the golfing world is there such +a nicely appointed club-house as there is here. One could put two or +three of the largest dining-rooms that our golf clubs possess into the +one of Glen View, and the furnishing is finely and tastefully done in a +Flemish style. Some of the golfing prints with which we are most +familiar hang upon the walls. Other pictures of value keep them +company, and there is a large crayon drawing done on the spot by my old +friend, the late Tom Browne, who once came here with his bag of clubs. + +The café at the Glen View club is an interesting institution. The club +has one of the cleverest cocktail mixers in America, and the printed +list of available liquid refreshments that is laid upon the tables +suggests a little consideration. The American golfers, for the most +part, do not drink very much, and what they do drink has little effect +upon them, thanks to the heat and much perspiration; but they do like +novelties and the variety. So on this list--which, mind you, includes no +wines, which are quoted on a separate sheet--there are scheduled no +fewer than 147 different kinds of refreshments. There are thirteen "soft +drinks," eight different lemonade mixtures, eleven sorts of mineral +waters, thirteen beers and ales, six rye whiskies, seven Bourbon +whiskies, eleven Scotch and Irish whiskies, thirteen varieties of +cocktails, two "toddies," three "sours," three "rickies," three +"cobblers," six "fizzes," two "flips," seven "punches," three "smashes," +and thirty-six "miscellaneous." The last is a most interesting section. +It includes the "Prairie Oyster," the "Millionaire," the "Pousse +l'Amour," the "Sam Ward," the "Russian Cooler," the "Japanese Cooler," +the "Golfer's Delight," the "Angel's Dream," the "Ladies' Puff," and the +"Glen View High Ball." Nearly all of these cost twenty or twenty-five +cents each. + +One may be most pleasurably lazy at Glen View. The club-house has some +forty bedrooms, with a fine equipment of shower and other baths, and the +usual telephone service to all the bedrooms with a complete telephone +exchange downstairs. The service and comfort are as good as they can be. +I liked the lounges and the shady verandahs, with rocking-chairs to tip +one away to a short dream on a hot afternoon of purling brooks on +English hills and woods in Wales. Yet when I awake I am satisfied. There +is no hurry here. In the mornings one would hear the men rising at six +o'clock and splashing themselves about in the bath department, and +generally becoming very active all at once. Some time later I would join +them at breakfast, and see them depart very early for their businesses +at Chicago. When they had gone one could settle down, and there were +ladies to chatter with or to play Chopin or something else on the piano. +It is necessary to take things a little easily during the early and hot +part of the day, because soon in the afternoon the men come back from +Chicago, and they are all energy and rush as if they had not spent a +howling morning in the "Pit" or one of the other great business centres. +One has to fall in with their schemes of activity, which endure until +the evening meal, taken in an easy way of _en famille_ in the restaurant +of the club, luscious green corn to begin with and the most appetising +dishes later, with laughter and gossip always. And later in the evening +David Noyes and I might sit in the dark on the verandah, and under those +stars of Illinois speak of the differences between English people and +the Americans as we respectively saw them. We understood each other and +could be frank. "The worst of America," said I, "is that it has no soul, +and the Americans have none either." "Well," said he; "but we have big +hearts." Agreed. He is a leading broker in the "Pit" at Chicago, the +great wheat market of the world, and one morning he took me there and I +met many golfers I knew round about those four screeching masses of men +who make of this place a babel and such an exhibition of raw fighting +human nature as, with all its differences, I can only compare with the +same brilliant and yet ugly show that is made in the rooms of the +Casino at Monte Carlo. It is raw life on the strain at both places--hot +seething life. The reposeful Glen View is needed for the people who +barter there. + + + * * * * * + +Massachusetts is a fine golfing land, and it rose to the heights in +1913. After gaiety in New York, and amazement at Chicago, you should go +to Boston. And really they who live there have reason for their pride. +There is no other town or city in the United States or Canada that has +anything like such an English flavour as this in the New England. There +are times when we wander along the great thoroughfare, Washington +Street, or turn up one of the side avenues like Boylston, that the +American idea for a moment ceases to press closely upon us, and when we +pass the old churches, wander through historic chambers Georgian in +their style, look into the Faneuil Hall, or into the old-fashioned +market, or go down to the shipping in the docks where our Boston man +will surely take us, that we may see the place of the "tea party," as +they call it now, which had vast consequences to the States and England +when taxes were made and were rejected--then in the New England we feel +the old one there. And, of course, the wandering Englishman is taken out +to Bunker Hill as well. Though with all Americans their spirit of +independence is an obsession, and it seems sometimes that they like to +think of themselves as a new race of people come up out of nothing or +from heaven, owing nothing to any other race, yet at Boston I suspect +they are a trifle glad that they and their city are not like the others, +but are something more English in their way. There is a difference in +the atmosphere. A certain ease is possible, a culture is apparent. +Streets and shops do not look as if they had been cut out by machinery +at the same time that the streets and shops of a dozen other cities were +being cut, and all life is not mathematically arranged and standardised. +If an American university is not at all like either Oxford or Cambridge, +still Harvard is an influence, and Harvard is at Cambridge, a near +suburb of Boston. The result of it all is that we feel something of the +old atmosphere of home and are stimulated. Boston grows upon us very +rapidly. The father of one of my good American friends, Mr. John G. +Anderson, who has gone on golfing expeditions with me in England, +Scotland, France and the United States, is a Scot with a great love for +his home country, and our rambles round old Boston have been of a +peculiarly interesting kind. And when in Boston, and the car of a friend +comes along to the Touraine in the morning, we throw the clubs in the +back of it, and get up with just that feeling of having a sporting day +ahead that one develops in the country at home and hardly anywhere else. + +There are many courses round about Boston, and there are four of them, +all quite different from each other, of which I shall have a clear +recollection always. Two have very special places of their own in +American golf, one being The Country Club of Brookline already +described. Massachusetts itself will not be called a "state" like other +states, but is a "commonwealth," and The Country Club is not the Boston +Country Club or the Brookline Country Club, but The Country Club, and +visitors who would be appreciative and make no _faux pas_ are +recommended to keep the point in mind, the reason being that this one, +with its charter of incorporation away back in the eighteenth century, +was the first of all the country clubs in America, and is dignified +accordingly. + +They do blow the place up in America when they determine to make a golf +course. Forest and rock are of no more hindrance to any idea or scheme +than a few daisies might be. I was strongly impressed with this view of +things when I was out one day at the Essex County Club at +Manchester-by-the-Sea, another of the outer-Boston courses. "Come to +golf at Essex in the morning; you will see something of the way in which +we do our golf in America that you have never seen before." Such was the +substance of an invitation from Mr. George F. Willett, one of the most +ardent and admirable leaders of the golfing movement in the Eastern +States. So in the morning golf at Essex, twenty miles out of Boston, was +the programme of the day, and by half-past ten we were on the first tee +preparing to drive from an eminence down towards low land in front. The +terms of the invitation were amply justified. Towards noon, when we +might be somewhere about the thirteenth or fourteenth hole, a great roar +and crashing sound came from the other side of the course in the +locality of the fifth hole, and looking towards it there was to be seen +a rising cloud of smoke, with masses of earth and splintered rocks being +hurled high into the air. A moment later and there was another deafening +bang and more earth, more rocks, and various stumps of trees were shot +up towards the sky. Bang! bang! bang!--ten times in the space of a few +seconds was this surprise repeated, and it began to seem that we must be +on Olympian links and that Jove himself or Hercules was bunkered. "It's +only Ross's men tinkering away at the new fourth," said my man +unconcernedly, as he ran down a long putt. A couple of minutes +afterwards we rounded a bend of the course, and as we did so some wild +yells were heard and a number of the Italian workmen were seen running +fast in our direction and then stopping suddenly to hide themselves +behind trees. Three more big bangs, more smoke, flying earth, flying +rocks and roots, and then as my partner played his brassey he +soliloquised that he had added, unintentionally, a touch of slice to the +stroke and was in the pot on the right. As to the noises, our part of +the course, I was assured, was perfectly safe. The three explosions were +made by Ross's Italians at the new fifth. Thirteen of them in five +minutes was perhaps a little unusual, but they were all over now, and, +as could be seen, the Italians, with sundry calls to each other, were +moving back towards the place they had sprinted from. The object of this +concentration of noise and disturbance in five minutes, it was +explained, was to give the full body of workmen plenty to do as soon as +they resumed after their midday meal. + +The truth is, that golf at Essex, when I was first there, was undergoing +a great and most wonderful transformation, regardless of cost, +regardless of the magnitude and seeming impossibilities of the task, +regardless of everything, but caused by the insatiable desire of the +American golfer to have courses that are as good as they can be. To +satisfy this desire he is everywhere pulling Nature to pieces and +reconstructing her, doing his work deftly and skilfully, and with a good +eye for pleasing effect. At the finish you might think that, save for +the putting greens and bunkers, it was all the simple work of the mother +of earth herself in her gentler moods, smooth swards for rocks, and +chaste glades where forests were. This transformation and extension of +American golf and the way it is being done is most amazing. All the old +courses are being lengthened and greatly improved, and new ones of +first-class quality are being made in large numbers. When it is desired +to make changes and extensions on a British course the work that has to +be done is not generally of a very formidable character. Some tolerably +smooth sort of land is frequently available, and alternatives to +existing holes may be planned. But even so, the question of expense +seems often to be a fearsome thing, and a year or more of thought and +yet another year for action are commonly needed. A thousand pounds or +two thousand seems to be a mighty sum to spend, but for all that we +think that in the south, at all events, we are doing our golf on a very +grand scale in these days. And when I think of St. George's Hill and +Coombe Hill and others of their kind I know we are doing it on a very +fine scale. But the case of America at present is most specially +remarkable. In the Eastern States particularly, the courses have had for +the most part to be carved out of virgin forests. Tens of thousands of +tons of rocks have had to be blasted, and hundreds of acres of swamps +drained before the fairways could be laid and sown with grass. Such work +is having to be done now for the extensions and improvements, and it is +wonderfully done. The committees appear to take about a week to think +about it, a day to decide, and then in two or three months, with the +help of dynamite, tree-fellers, and hundreds of foreign workmen, the new +scheme is carried through. The cost is not considered till afterwards, +and then it never worries, but it is enormous. Here at Essex, the chief +work that was being done was the addition of a total of 175 yards only +to the fourth and fifth holes, which were to be given new numbers, and +this little bit of lengthening, with the tree-felling, the splendid +draining of a swamp, and the use of 400 lbs. of dynamite on the rocks, +was costing 10,000 dollars or £2000. Some other alterations and new +constructions were being done, and the course, one of fine undulations, +well-planned bunkering, magnificent putting greens, and glorious +scenery, was being brought to perfection. The work was being carried out +under the direction of Mr. Donald J. Ross, the chief superintendent of +the club and course, who was once a Dornoch man. He thinks out his +construction schemes in the grand way, and he is going about America +blowing hundreds of acres of it up into the air and planting smooth +courses upon the levelled remains. Shortly before this, they called him +up to a mountainous place at Dixville Notch, in New Hampshire, to plan a +new nine-holes course that had to be cut out of solid rock, at a cost of +£10,000. No golfer had ever been to that place, and the first had yet to +arrive when the promoters wrote hurriedly to Mr. Ross, not long back +home, saying: "We are convinced that it will soon be necessary to have a +longer course, and are very desirous that you will come at once to lay +one out on Panorama Hill." It will cost £20,000, but that does not +matter. Golf is demanded everywhere in America, and it must be supplied. +A little extra space was required for play by the Rhode Island Country +Club at Narragansett, so, with Ross's help they took forty acres from +the sea, and are now playing the game where a year previously the waves +were rolling. Again, this remarkable golf engineer a little while since +finished his work on the very first course that has been laid out in +Cuba. I do not know what the future of American golf will be, but its +present is a bewildering, astonishing thing. + + + * * * * * + +"Yes, but wait until you see Myopia!" I was not glad to leave Essex, but +I was happy to go from there to the Myopia Hunt Club a few miles distant +(and may I never forget that glorious ride in Mr. Willett's big car, +along the winding road fringed with silver birches and autumn-tinted +foliage, past placid little lakes, through some of the country of +chastest charm in New England!), for Myopia is America's golfing pride. +Besides, it is one of the few American courses that have a wide +international reputation. Remember the astonishment when Andrew +Kirkaldy, a St. Andrews golfer, if ever there was one, a man believing +in the old course of Fifeshire as a Mussulman believes in Mecca, came +back from an American tour and declared to British people that Myopia +was the best course in the world! So we approach one American golf +course with wonder and a certain awe. There are other reasons for doing +so if we only knew them beforehand. Traditions and old dignity are +strongly attached to it, and this Myopia is such a club for high feeling +and exclusiveness as would do credit to any institution we have at home, +golf or otherwise. It is, at the very least, as difficult to become a +member of Myopia as of the Royal and Ancient. If I dared I would say it +is more so. Myopia, I am told, will use the black ball with joy when +there is a candidate at the doors. It might be easier in some +circumstances for a man to become the President of the United States +than to become a member of the Myopia Hunt Club. The dignity of Myopia +exudes from the timbers of its long, quaint club-house. The ceilings are +low, while the walls are panelled and are really old, for in quite early +days of New England this, or part of it, was a farm-house. + +The name of the club in this case has nothing to do with golf, nor with +the name of a place, for the place is Hamilton. Myopia is a technical +term for near-sight. The original members despised the game, and as for +letting it influence them in their choice of name of the club, such a +thing is inconceivable. Originally, and for long afterwards, and +primarily even now, Myopia is a hunt club; it prides itself on being so, +and when anybody asks one of the old hunting members if they do not +possess a good golf course there, he might say he supposed they did play +some game with that name there sometimes. In the early days, I believe +that many of the members wore coloured glasses for some reasons +connected with their sight, and it was through this that the name of the +club was given. Golf was a very late addition, and some of the old +hunting-men, whom you will see moving about the club-house in real and +unaffected riding costume as hardly anywhere else in America, feel a +little sore about it still, and it is even now the fact that the hunting +section keep to themselves in one part of the club and the golfers to +themselves in their part, with such as Mr. Herbert Leeds and one or two +others in both. Mr. Leeds showed me some of the old prints on the walls +illustrating the race meetings that had taken place there in almost +prehistoric times, and some mementoes of the early days of the golf +club, together with the score card of George Duncan's record round on +the course. I hope you realise that Myopia is not an ordinary golf club; +I did so within a minute of my arrival there. + +The course is not like others in America. It is almost more of the open +heathland sort of course than any other I have tramped over while in the +country. It is a little barer, seemingly a little wilder than most of +the others, and none the worse for that. Its putting-greens are capital, +and at some of the holes, if not all, I have certainly trodden on turf +that is better than anything else that my feet have touched on that side +of the Atlantic. I remember that I nearly shouted with delight to my +partner when I came upon the first stretch of it--green and soft and +velvety. But it was not all like that, and in some respects I do think +that, splendid as the course is, praise of it has been a little +overdone. Yet on the other hand it is certainly a course that grows on +the constant player there, and reveals new subtleties to him every time +of playing. That after all is the test of a great course. +Architecturally many of the holes are splendid. I do not quite like the +idea of the man having to drive uphill at the first hole, but the +tee-shot has most decidedly to be placed--to the left--or the player has +the most fearful approach that he might ever dream of after the most +indigestible dinner. The fourth hole is a splendid one of the dog-leg +kind, a drive and an iron with the green very well bunkered, and some +very low land to the left which is a constant attraction to the +weak-minded ball. Then for my own part I liked the tenth very much, for +a big drive has to be done over some high ground with a bunker away to +the right that draws hard at sliced balls, while the green is one of the +nicest and most prettily guarded. I lingered about it for some time in +an admiring way. The last hole also has infinitely more in it than +appears at the first glance, for here again a big bunker jutting into +the edge of the green and to the right is a strong factor, especially +when the pin is behind it; and if the hero does not place his tee-shot +to the left, and within a very little space there, too, he will be +sorry. It is 6335 yards round the course. In the club-house over the +tea-cups, on the occasion of my first visit, I pondered upon the +marvellous excellence of Duncan's record round, and paid some most +sincere compliments to Mr. Leeds for the quality of the golf +architecture of Myopia, for it is he, after close study of the best +British models, who has been chiefly responsible for it. + +A day and night at the Brae Burn Country Club at West Newton, near +Boston, left a warm glow lingering in my mind. Here if anywhere in +America there is country charm and social delight. Nowhere is the idea +of the complete and happy social community of the country club better +developed. The course is a fine one, and here also, at the time of my +first visit, extensive works were being carried out, and some splendid +new holes over heaving land were in the process of formation. They have +since been completed and the course has now risen to the highest +standard. The putting-greens are in the nicest and most beautiful +places, belts of trees line the fairway at several of the holes; there +are others in open country, and the short ones are uncommonly good. A +new one that they were making then, calling for a drive from a height +down to a pocket-handkerchief kind of green is one that I hope to be +puzzled at in the play within a few weeks of the moment when I write. I +had the happiness then to nominate the situation of a new bunker at one +of the new holes, and sure I am that a momentary vexation will be the +result when I play that hole, for I, too, in America, have found that I +develop the American hook, which seems to be in the climate and the +soil. It was on this course that Harry Vardon in his all-conquering tour +in America in 1900 sustained his only defeat. Our dinner-party in the +club-house in the evening is an unforgettable reminiscence. It was a +good-fellowship golfing party such as this game only can bring about. +Mr. Harry L. Ayer, Mr. E. A. Wilkie, Mr. George Gilbert, Mr. C. I. +Travelli, good Anderson and self talked our golf, British and American, +to the full extent of a good ability. One of the topics was club +captaincy, and the discussion we had may lead to the creation of the +office at Brae Burn and elsewhere, for it is a curious thing that the +American clubs have never thought of creating captains, and this +community was rather pleased with the idea. It is an office that a golf +club needs. If the captain is the right man, if he is chosen for his +past service, for his present strength, and for his tact and quality as +man and golfer, he can do much for a club, and his appointment is a +recognition that a club needs for its best and most faithful men. + + + * * * * * + +The country round about New York abounds in interesting golfing places, +and if inclination were followed there should be descriptions given of +Nassau, of Apawamis (not forgetting the rock to the right of the first +green there which an English ball most usefully struck when the +thirty-seventh hole was being played in the final of the American +championship, Mr. Fred Herreshoff, finalist, being loser thereby), of +Garden City, Baltusrol, and many other good golfing places in these +parts. Garden City is a name familiar to golfers in Britain, because it +is the place where Mr. Walter J. Travis came from when he won the +championship at Sandwich. If it lacks some of the boldness of feature of +some of the later American courses, yet this is a fine testing course, +thoroughly--and so deeply!--bunkered, and with splendid putting-greens, +and all the place round about is very pleasant. And now I am very +anxious to see Piping Rock, as I soon expect to do. + +There are good reasons for making a journey by the Pennsylvania railroad +from New York to Washington. One must pay the visitor's homage to the +seat of American government and experience the feeling of being at the +heart of the States, with its magnificent buildings and its historical +remembrances. It is an intensely interesting place. At the White House +there is Mr. President Wilson who is a golfer, as ex-President Taft was, +and remains one of the keenest in the land. Mr. Taft will write +enthusiastically about the game, and make speeches about it when he +thinks it proper. "My advice to the middle-aged and older men who have +never played golf," he says, "is to take it up. It will be a rest and +recreation from business cares, out of which they will get an immense +amount of pleasure, and at the same time increase their physical vigour +and capacity for work as well as improve their health." And he also +says, "Preceding the election campaign in which I was successful, there +were many of my sympathisers and supporters who deprecated its becoming +known that I was addicted to golf, as an evidence of aristocratic +tendencies and a desire to play only a rich man's game. You know, and I +know, that there is nothing more democratic than golf, and there is +nothing which furnishes a greater test of character and self-restraint, +nothing which puts one more on an equality with one's fellows--or, I may +say, puts one lower than one's fellows--than the game of golf. If there +is any game that will instil in one's heart a more intense feeling of +self-abasement and humiliation than the game of golf, I should like to +know what it is." One who was in office there told me something of his +enthusiasm for the game. I asked him how often Mr. Taft had played when +he was there in the golfing season. The answer was that Mr. Taft used to +play every day, positively every day, and some of those who played with +him indicated to me what a very thorough and determined golfer he was. +It might be said of the ex-President that he has spent more time in +bunkers than most citizens, because he has generally insisted on playing +out, no matter how many strokes have been needed. He has been playing +now for sixteen years, and is quite one of the oldest American golfers +in point of service to the game. Nothing can take away from him the +distinction of having been the first President of the United States to +play what they have determined shall be their national game. + + + * * * * * + +I had a happy experience when one day I left New York, where it was most +swelteringly hot, and went up into the Green Mountains of Vermont for +golf at the Ekwanok Country Club. A friend, Mr. Henry W. Brown of +Philadelphia, who had played with me at my favourite Brancaster in +Norfolk once, had heard I was somewhere in America and sent a letter to +me directed to a chance address, which, being a golfing kind of +address, found me with little delay. "Come," said Brown, "to +Manchester-in-the-Mountains in Vermont. You ought to see our quite +famous Ekwanok course, and I can promise you some fine mountain air, +good golf, and a hearty welcome. If you will tell me what train you will +come by, I will meet you with the car at Manchester Station." A moment's +hesitation dissolved in firm decision and action, which took the form of +a taxi-cab to the New York Central Station, and the north-bound train +which left at twenty minutes to one in the afternoon. Then along we went +by the Hudson river, up which I had sailed from Albany a year before, +past the Palisades, past Poughkeepsie and the Catskill Mountains, +through Troy and Albany, and as the daylight waned we were mounting +upwards through the hills of sweet Vermont. At a quarter to eight the +train reached Manchester, Brown and his car were waiting there, and we +sped along the main street to his home. + +It seemed that the silver moonlight was shining not upon an earthen road +but glistening on snow. Little villas like chalets and chateaux of +Switzerland lined the way and the people living in them could be heard +in their laughter and song, for the dinner time was just gone by and +yellow light shone from the windows, making that happy contrast with the +coldness of the moonshine, that speaks of home and comfort. We passed +the great hotel where five hundred people are constantly gathered +together in the summer time from all parts of the States, and indeed +from places far beyond the States, for there are Britons in numbers +here, and travellers from Africa and the deep southern lands, making +such a cosmopolitan gathering of its size for drawing-rooms and bridge +parties and the usual orderings of social gatherings as is not easily to +be matched. And there is an amazing vivacity among all these people, for +two reasons, one being that the American spirit at its best pervades, +and the other that it is Ekwanok, the heartening, the vigour-making, the +youth-restoring. In New York and Chicago at the end of the day one is a +little apt to think of the wear and tear of life and the fading capacity +of a good constitution; high up in the mountains of Vermont, in the +shadow of the hills of Equinox, one revels in fresh youth again and has +no more envy for the lad of twenty. And that again is a reason why +Ekwanok is not like the other golfing places of America, and another +following upon it is that this is, so far as I have discovered, the only +truly golfing holiday resort in all the States, a place to which people +go for the pleasure of the happy game and for hardly anything else, a +place that lives and thrives on golf. From far and wide the Americans +come to it and leave all their work behind, and are happy and leisurely +as you rarely see them at other times. In Britain we have a very large +number of resorts that are for holiday golf alone, and more are coming +all the time, but this is a feature of golf that America in general has +yet to know. If it comes to that, Manchester-in-the-Mountains is not so +very high (that is a rather curious association of English +ideas--Manchester and mountains, dingy streets with the smoke-thickened +atmosphere of the Lancashire city and the big bold hills of God), but +here is the mountain scent, enlivening, heartening. The house of my +host, Breezy Bank as it is called, is set at the foot of one big +mountain and looks across the green valley, where the golf course lies, +out toward another--a delightful abode. A log fire burned red on the +big hearth, a kind hostess gave us welcome, and after a supper that +embraced fresh green corn (it is the essence of the enjoyment of green +corn that it should be taken quickly from the growing to the kitchen), +we talked, over cigars and coffee, golf from one end of the game to the +other, and right across it, and handled clubs, until bedtime came. Brown +is keen, and he has sound views on the influence of the game on national +character. + +Next morning, with sunlight and breeze, we went along to the course, so +near that a ball could have been driven to it from the lawn of Breezy +Bank, where the master has been known to practise mashie shots by +moonlight, and I was joined in foursome with Mr. Walter Fairbanks of +Denver, Colorado, against B. and his son Theodore. What then happened is +of no consequence; the tale may be told in Colorado but not in England. +But the course--it is splendid, and reflects an infinity of credit upon +Mr. James L. Taylor, the first in command, who has for the most part +designed it, has constantly improved it, and has made it what it is. All +the holes have abundant character. They are up and down, straight and +crooked, interesting always, with a good fairway that gives fine lies to +the ball, and putting-greens of the smoothest sort. We drove first down +a hill with a slanting hazard that made awful menace to a slice, then up +again and away out to the far parts, with some very pretty short holes. +The gem of the collection of eighteen is the seventh, which has been +called, and with some fitness, the King of American Holes. A great, +fine, lusty piece of golf it is, 537 yards from the tee to the green, +and every shot has to be a thoughtful, strong, and well-directed shot, +with no girl's golf in it anywhere. It is a down drive from the +high-placed tee, and the land below heaves over in a curious twisted way +that demands very exact placing of the ball. Then there is a strong and +straight second to be played over a high ridge in front into which big +bunkers have been cut. Afterwards there is plain country to a +well-protected green. It is a great hole, a romantic one, and is well +remembered. Some of the drive-and-iron holes that follow are splendid +things, and this course was very well chosen for the Amateur +Championship Meeting in 1914. When we were leaving it at the end of that +day, the sun had just gone down behind big Equinox Hill, but presently +and by surprise he sent a last good-bye. Round the mountain side a +golden bar of light was cast, and it spread along the olive-coloured +hill across the shadowed valley like a clean-cut shining stripe or a +monotinted rainbow. These were the glorious Green Mountains of Vermont! +We tarried until the sun went right away, and took with it that parting +beam, and, sighing, we passed along. + + + * * * * * + +I have left to the last of these few remembrances, what is in many +respects the greatest of American courses--the National Golf Links at +the far end of Long Island. In recent times it has probably been more +discussed than any other course on earth. A while since a number of very +wealthy, ambitious, and determined golfers put their heads and their +money together, and decided on the establishment of something as near +perfection as they could reach. In pursuit of this idea they have so +far, as I am informed, spent about two hundred thousand dollars, and are +in the act of spending many more thousands. They have their reward in a +magnificent creation, as great in result as in idea, or nearly. All the +people in the golf world have heard by this time of this National Links, +and have no doubt wondered upon it, and the extent to which the +extraordinary scheme that was developed a few years ago has been +realised. It has been referred to as "the amazing experiment," and "the +millionaires' dream," and so forth. Undoubtedly in its conception it was +the grandest golfing scheme ever attempted. It came about in this way. +America, with all its golf and money and enthusiasm, was without any +course which might be compared with our first-class seaside links, the +chief reason for her deficiency being that nowhere on either of her +seaboards could be discovered a piece of land which was of the real +British golfing kind. But at last a tract was found nearly at the end of +Long Island, about ninety miles from New York, which was believed to be +nearly the right thing. It was taken possession of by a golfing +syndicate, and they determined there to do their very best. The question +of expense was not to be considered in the matter. A member of the +syndicate, Mr. Charles B. Macdonald, an old St. Andrews man, and one of +wide golfing knowledge and experience, went abroad to study, photograph, +and make plans of the best holes in Great Britain and on the continent. +The whole world of golf was laid under tribute to assist in the creation +of this wonder course. After exhaustive consideration a course was +decided upon which was to embrace, in a certain reasonable measure, +features of such eminent holes as the third, eleventh, and seventeenth +at St. Andrews, the Cardinal and the Alps at Prestwick, the fifth and +ninth at Brancaster, the Sahara at Sandwich, the Redan at North Berwick, +and some others. The scheme was modified somewhat as the work +progressed, but in due course the National Golf Links, a string of +pearls as it was intended to be, was opened. Many different reports have +been circulated as to the quality of the course, and the extent to which +the object has been achieved. It has been described both as a failure +and as a magnificent success. + +I preferred to go there alone and see things for myself without +explanations and influences. A certain penalty had, however, to be paid +for this enterprise. I shall not soon forget my journey to the +Shinnecock Hills out at the end of the Island, nor the journey back +again. It was on a glorious Sunday morning in October that I went to the +Pennsylvania station and took train there for Shinnecock, which was a +three-hours' journey along the line. In getting out at Shinnecock I was +nearest to the course, but there were no cars waiting there, and the +tramp that had to be made across country for two or three miles was one +that might have suited an Indian brave better than it suited me, +although I have an instinct and a desire always to find things and ways +out for myself rather than be told and led. It was nearly noon; the sun +was high, and it was burning fiercely. The so-called path was something +of a delusion. It was more of a trail through a virgin bush country with +a tendency to swamp here and there, and occasionallv one was led to a +cul-de-sac. I could see the National Golf Links a little way ahead all +the time. There was a big water cistern standing out against the +sky-line, and there were some smoothly laid out holes, but grapes were +never more tantalising to any fox than those holes are to the wanderer +who tries to get there from Shinnecock along a route over which a crow +might fly, and who determines that he will discover the elusive secrets +of the National Links, however dearly the expedition may cost him. +However, the enterprise succeeded, and the journey back from the course +to the Southampton station was also accomplished despite the prevailing +difficulties, and, with the sense of something having been attempted and +done, we rode home on the Pennsylvania, and were back in New York by the +same night--about the hardest day's golf business I have ever done. + +A certain disappointment is inevitably threatened when one visits a +course of this kind about which one has heard so much beforehand. An +ideal is established in the mind which cannot possibly be realised, and +it is the fault of nobody. We do not know exactly what it is that we +hope to see, but it is something beyond the power of man and Nature to +achieve. But the National is a great course, a very great course. It is +charmingly situated, most excellently appointed, and bears evidence of +the most thorough and intelligent treatment by its constructors. Any +preliminary disappointment there may have been soon wears away as the +real excellence of the course and its difficulties are appreciated. Had +we heard nothing of this copying, and did we not make comparisons +between new and old in the mind, through which that which is new does +not often survive, we should glory in the National at the first +inspection of it. And the fact is, that the comparisons we suggest ought +never to be made, though I, for one, was not aware of that till +afterwards. Absolute copying was never intended; only the governing +features of the British holes, the points that gave the character and +quality to them, were imitated so far as could be done. That has been +done very well, and some of the holes are very fine things. Those the +design of which is based on such gems as the sixth at Brancaster and the +eleventh at St. Andrews are very well recognisable. I should like to +write much more about this course; it is a strong temptation. If I +thought less of it and did not realise its greatness as I do, I should +yield to the desire, and yielding, might rashly criticise as well as +praise. But there is an imperative restraint. Upon a moderate course, or +even a very good one, you may sometimes, if sufficiently self-confident, +judge in one day's experience. But there are courses which, not because +they grow upon you as we say, but because they command a higher respect +at once than is given to others, which do not permit of such +presumption. I saw the National on one day only, though I hope to see it +many times again, and to gain courage for comment upon it. Now, with cap +in hand, I can only signify my respect and full appreciation that here +is something that is by no means of an ordinary kind, the accomplishment +of a magnificent enterprise, and no doubt the achievement of a great +ideal. But I shall say, at any rate, that a links more gloriously +situated than this one in Peconic Bay, with pretty creeks running into +the land here and there, and hill views at the back, could hardly be +imagined. The view as I beheld it from different parts on that peaceful +sunny Sunday afternoon is one that I never shall forget. It is the ideal +situation for a national course. + + + * * * * * + +To Mr. Macdonald thus belongs the credit for the initiation of what we +may call the higher golf in America. In the last few years this movement +has made strides as long and rapid in the United States as it has done +in England, and above all other countries in the world America, which is +so much dependent on her inland golf, having scarcely any other, is the +country for this movement to be carried to its ultimate legitimate +point. The day for very plain and purely and obviously artificial +construction of inland golf courses is gone, the original inland system +in all its stupidity and its surrender to difficulties has become +archaic. It has come to be realised in this business that man may +associate himself with Nature in a magnificent enterprise, and only now +is it understood that this golf course construction is, or may be, a +really splendid art. Landscape gardening is a fine thing in the way of +modelling in earth and with the assistance of trees and plants and +flowers and the natural forces, while engineering across rivers and +mountains is grander perhaps; but in each of these the man takes his +piece of the world from Nature and shovels it and smashes it, and then, +according to his own fancy and to suit his own needs, he arranges it all +over again. But in the making of a golf course, while we have indeed to +see that certain requirements of our own are well suited, knowing how +particular and hyper-critical we have become, yet we wish to keep to +plain bold Nature too, and we want our best work to be thoroughly in +harmony with her originals. I believe that if we could express it +properly to ourselves, we wish now to make our golf courses look as if +they were fashioned at the tail-end of things on the evening of the +sixth day of the creation of the world--just when thoughts had to be +turning to the rest and happinesses of the seventh. And so the great +architect now takes a hundred acres or more of plain rough land and +forest, hills and dales among it, and with magnificent imagination +shapes it to his fancy. The work he now does will endure in part, if not +in whole, for ages hence, and so it is deeply responsible. It is a +splendid art; I do not hesitate to say it is a noble art. + +Mr. Colt, with his great thoughts and his splendid skill, has done fine +work in several parts of the United States. The new courses of the +Mayfield Country Club, and of the Country Club of Detroit, are splendid +things. But Mr. Macdonald's creations--for more of them now follow upon +the original at Southampton--are destined to be leading influences in +the new American golf course construction. I have had some interesting +talk with him upon these matters, and am glad to find that he is artist +and creator enough to have the full strength of his own original +opinions in this matter, especially as in some ways his ideals differ +from those commonly accepted in Britain. I have been so much interested +in his views, and I think that these views are destined to have such an +enormous influence upon American golf in the future, that I have asked +him for some brief statement of them, an enunciation of his creed as an +architect of courses, and he has kindly made it to me in writing, as +follows:-- + +"To begin with, I think the tendency to-day is to overdo matters +somewhat, making courses too long, too difficult, and with too much +sameness in the construction of two-shot holes. To my mind a course over +6400 yards becomes tiresome. I would not have more than eight two-shot +holes, and in constructing them I should not follow the ideas or fancies +of any one golf architect, but should endeavour to take the best from +each. While it is the fashion now to decry the construction of a hole +involving the principles of the Alps or seventeenth at Prestwick, I +favour two blind holes of that character--one constructed similar to the +Alps, and another of the punch-bowl variety of hole some fifty yards +longer than the Alps. It is interesting now to read the 'best hole' +discussion that took place in 1901. The leading golfers of that time +were almost unanimous in pronouncing the Alps at Prestwick the best +two-shot hole in the world. The eleventh at St. Andrews and the Redan at +North Berwick were almost unanimously picked as the best one-shot holes. + +"To my mind there should be four one-shot holes, namely, 130, 160, 190, +and 220 yards. These holes should be so constructed that a player can +see from the tee where the flag enters the hole. The shorter the hole +the smaller should be the green, and the more closely should it be +bunkered. The most difficult hole in golf to construct interestingly is +a three-shot hole, of which I would place two in the eighteen, one 520 +yards and the other 540. The putting greens at these holes should be +spacious. + +"This leaves us four drive-and-pitch holes--280, 300, 320, and 340 yards +in length. These should have relatively small greens and be closely +bunkered, one or two of them having the putting greens open on one side +or corner so as to give a powerful, long, courageous driver, who +successfully accomplishes the long carry, the advantage of a short run +up to the green. The size and contour of the putting green and the +bunkering should depend upon the character and length of the hole. The +principle of the dog's hind leg can be made a feature of several holes +advantageously. The gradients between the tee and the hole should be +made use of in bunkering. Whenever it is possible it is best that the +bunkers should be in view. A number of the holes should be built with +diagonal bunkers, or bunkers _en echelon_, so constructed that the +player who takes the longer carry shall have an advantage over the man +who takes the shorter carry. The hazards for the second shot should be +so placed and designed as to give a well-placed tee shot every +advantage--in other words, should make a man play his first stroke in +relation to the second shot. There should be at least three tees for +every hole, to take care not only of an adverse or favourable wind, but +also of the calibre of the player. It is necessary on a first-class golf +course to have short tees for the poorer players, otherwise they are +everlastingly in the bunkers. The lengths which I give should be +measured from the middle of the middle tee to the middle of the putting +green." + +There is so much knowledge and good suggestion in this statement, and +the matter is of such high consequence, that every player of the game +should think well upon it. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE U. S. G. A., AND THE METHODS OF THE BUSINESS-MAN GOLFER, WITH A +REMARKABLE DEVELOPMENT OF MUNICIPAL GOLF. + + +People in England or Scotland do not quite understand what a splendid +thing for American golf is the United States Golf Association. It is so +absolutely necessary for the game in America that I am sure there would +be little that is like golf there now if there had been no U. S. G. A., +with its loyalty and attachment to St. Andrews. There would be few +Americans coming to play on the links of the homeland of the game, and +there would be no British golfers wandering happily among the American +courses. American golf would have become as much like the old game as +American college football is like the football that is played at Oxford +and Cambridge, which is to say that it is not at all like it. America is +not a country small in space like our own happy islands. There it is in +its millions of miles, new everywhere, and with little communities of +golfers so far apart as New York and San Francisco, Massachusetts and +Arizona, and isolated golfers in the loneliest places trying to bring +others to their pastime for the matches they would have. What should all +these people, away from all the influences of the home of the game, hot +with the spirit of freedom, unrestrained by laws and conventionalities, +eager to do things better than they have been done before--what should +they care for St. Andrews and traditions, and the preservation of the +unity of the game? As sure as eagles fly, and stars are bright, they +would have made it to suit themselves in every community. Here they +would have abolished the stymie, in another place they would have +changed the size of the hole, away in Texas they might have permitted +the introduction of the "mechanical contrivance," and soon there would +have been a hundred golfs in the States, and not a real one among them. +Just when this possibility, without being an immediate probability, was +arising the U. S. G. A. came into existence. It joined all the golfers +of America together in a republic for the preservation of the unity of +the game, and for the promotion of its welfare in the spirit that the +game had been cultivated in the homeland. And being thus given power, it +has ruled with a strong hand. It has kept American golf in order as +nothing else could have done, and as a governmental machine, I who have +made some close examination of it, regard it as perfect, which is not to +say that we need such a thing in Britain. In America I have had the +pleasure of the intimate acquaintance of Mr. Robert Watson, Mr. Silas H. +Strawn, Mr. G. Herbert Windeler, Mr. William Fellowes Morgan, Mr. Harry +L. Ayer, Mr. John Reid, junior, and many others of the leaders of the +Union, and better men for the direction of such a game as golf, in whose +hands it is quite safe, there could not be. They hold the right spirit +of the game, and they are wise men, conservative in their golfing ways. +Mr. Windeler indeed is an old British golfer like Mr. Macdonald, who was +one of the original gathering that established the U. S. G. A. In the +December of 1894 the representatives of five of the leading clubs met +and framed the constitution of the U. S. G. A., and Mr. Theodore A. +Havemeyer, of the Newport Club, was chosen president. + +The constitution of the U.S.G.A. is an interesting study. There are two +classes of members, active and allied, and the difference is that the +active members, who exercise control, are clubs that have been steadied +by age and experience, and have acquired dignity. The definition in the +constitution is made thus: "Any regularly organised club in the United +States, supporting and maintaining a golf course of at least nine holes, +and whose reputation and general policy are in accord with the best +traditions and the high ideals of the game, shall be eligible to +election as an Active Member." Then, as to the Allied Members, it is +said that--"Any regularly organised club of good reputation in the +United States shall be eligible to election as an Allied Member." There +are far more allied members than there are active members, and the +former are only admitted to the latter when they have thoroughly proved +their worth. Thus the allied clubs have always an ambition before them, +and they can only achieve it by conducting their golf on the best and +oldest plan. At every meeting of the Association each active club is +entitled to be represented by one voting delegate whose appointment has +to be certified in advance by his club to the secretary of the +Association. Allied clubs have no voting privileges, but all members of +active and allied clubs have the right to attend all meetings of the +Association, and to participate in the discussion of any question. The +active clubs pay thirty dollars a year for subscription, and the allied +clubs pay ten. Article IX. of the Constitution gives the Association its +power and authority. It says: "The acceptance of membership in the +Association shall bind each club to uphold all the provisions of the +Constitution, bye-laws, and other rules of the Association; and to +accept and enforce all rules and decisions of the Executive Committee +acting within its jurisdiction. Any club failing in its obligations as +above set forth may be suspended or expelled by a two-thirds vote of the +Association, or by a two-thirds vote of all members of the Executive +Committee; provided such club shall have been given due notice of the +charge or charges preferred against it, and an opportunity to be heard +in its own defence. Any club thus suspended or expelled by vote of the +Executive Committee may appeal from its decision to the delegates at any +annual or special meeting of the Association." + + + * * * * * + +After this about the machinery of American golf, consider the men. There +are three classes of golfers in the United States, corresponding to some +extent to similar classes in Britain, but they are rather more sharply +defined than with us. There is the class that regards the game as a +sport for competition, almost as a form of athletics, being mainly but +not exclusively the younger class; there is the business-man class that +believes in it as the ideal, and indeed the only recreation satisfying +the needs of the times as a relaxation from the strain of life and work, +and a means of promoting physical and mental efficiency, such people +being as with us the largest section and the mainstay in one sense of +the game; and there is the humbler class who play upon the public +courses. + +I do not believe after the closest observation and most impartial +consideration that the best American golfers are yet quite so good as +ours, but in recent years they have been rapidly lessening the gap that +has existed, their thoroughness, determination, and efficiency are most +wonderful, and if they had our courses and climate they might become +better than we are. They think they will anyhow. As it is they are +handicapped by lack of full-blooded seaside courses, and a climate that +is by no means ideal for the game; and although by their zeal they have +to some extent discounted that handicap, I feel that they can only +neutralise it altogether and go beyond it by the production of the +occasional genius. The good Americans seem to me mostly to play what we +could call a plain, straight game. American courses are for the most +part without any sharp undulations; there is nothing in America like our +rolling seaside links. Therefore the players are not taught or induced +to be making allowances for this and that in all the days of their golf +from their youth upwards, and they have not the sea-coast winds to lead +them in the same way as we have. So they have good reason to play +straight to the hole, and never to depart from doing so without the most +obvious and pressing cause. It follows from this that the American +players have fewer "scientific" or "fancy" strokes at their disposal, +and those who have visited this country have been remarked upon for the +plain simplicity of their iron play. They seem to standardise their +shots. But assuming that this is their principle or their system, it +enables them to concentrate keenly and with fine effect on accuracy. +Delicacy of touch, splendid judgment of distance, and perfection of +execution are strong characteristics of the American players, who do not +need to be reminded that there are no bunkers in the air. It is the +straight game of the Americans with all its accuracy that is paying in +their matches against us. At the same time I think that the comparative +weakness of the Americans in wooden club play is a serious handicap to +them, and their courses need to be tightened up to improve it. That +"American hook" of theirs is a dangerous thing sometimes, and their +round flat swings are looked upon by some of our best British +authorities with much suspicion. + +But there is one most important way in which they are scoring over us. +They are beating us in temperament, concentration, and determination, +and in the capacity to make the very most of their own game, so that not +a shot of it is wasted. This means very much. A man may be plus five, +but of such a temperament and such ways that he habitually wastes two or +three holes in a match through negligence or slackness. The Americans do +not waste holes in this way. They waste nothing. The game of which they +are capable is produced nearly every time at full quality and is made as +effective as it possibly can be. The utmost pains are taken over every +stroke; the man blames himself for nothing after it is made. His +concentration is enormous; he is often inclined to race through the +green, but his capacity for being slow and meditative, when necessary, +is great; and most noticeable again is his persistence, which is another +way of making the most of a game that a man possesses. Of course all +these remarks are applied to the two classes of players in a very +general way. There are many exceptions among the Americans and there are +many among our players, but that they do indicate the tendencies in the +two countries I am certain. The American game may not be as scientific +and complete as ours, but its more serious exponents do make the most of +it as ours do not, and probably the high importance that is attached to +the numerous first-class tournaments they have over there has something +to do with it. They believe in competitions more than we do. + + + * * * * * + +This matter of consideration and concentration is one to which every +player should give closer attention. His success is largely dependent +upon it. He may think he concentrates enormously as it is, more than on +anything else, but often he deceives himself. Not one man in ten gets as +much in effect out of his game as it is capable of. He walks to his ball +and plays some kind of a shot, with a more or less hazy idea of what it +is that he wishes to do. When he finds his object has not been +accomplished he suddenly remembers something, and it is a case of "I +should have known," or "If I had only thought," or "What a pity I did +not look." With such people a round of golf is a succession of regrets, +and it is the simple truth that the majority could do far better with +their game if they did not waste so much of it by carelessness, +thoughtlessness, and a sort of distraction which allows their minds to +wander to other things than the stroke in hand, and sometimes by their +conversation too. When a man has played a stroke he has quite sufficient +to occupy his mind for the next minute or two in considering how he +shall play the next one, and the many features of the case that will be +presented to him. + +It is a remunerative resolution to make at the beginning of the season, +to think deeply upon all the points of match play, and then exploit the +art of it with some thoroughness. It is not difficult. All who have +attended the Amateur Championship meetings and have been close observers +of what happens there can remember how even players of the very first +class in this most important of tournaments let themselves get beaten by +inferior players simply because they do not make the most of their game. +They forget things, do not think enough, and play strokes carelessly +because at the time of doing so they seem to feel it does not matter. No +stroke should ever be played as though it were not the most important of +the game--as it might turn out to be. The old maxim that if a thing is +worth doing at all it is worth doing well, applies with tremendous force +to match-play golf. Many a time when the result of a stroke played +exactly as intended, is not what was anticipated, through some of the +circumstances not having been taken into consideration, the mistake that +was made is obvious then. The man excuses himself by saying that he +cannot see and think of everything, but nine times out of ten he should +have seen. The most fatal mistake, however, that many players make in +the early part of the season when their match-playing qualities have not +been properly revived, is in their letting matches slip, in not pressing +home advantages that they gain, and, above all, being too indifferent +upon the future in the early part of a match, and too careless when they +get a lead. All this sounds very simple, very obvious, but it often +takes the best part of a season to drive the lessons home into the minds +of golfers who are losing matches through their weakness in fighting +quality. + +Now here are one or two samples of points in regard to which the golfer +constantly neglects to display his cunning and is the loser thereby. +Assuming that in the general way you can get as much length when it is +wanted as the other man, always try to make him play the odd to you. You +do so naturally with your tee shots and many of the others, but are not +really thinking at the time that you are wanting him to play the odd. +The man who is playing the odd, even from a very little way behind the +other, is at a much greater moral disadvantage than is often suspected, +and if the other man always noticed things as much as he should, he is +at a greater practical advantage than he realises, for if his opponent +fails he can see the cause of it, this remark applying especially to +what happens in the short game. How many putts have gone wrong that +never need have done had the man who made them watched what happened +when his adversary putted first! Then, again, on this point of making +the other man play the odd the case is constantly recurring where both +men are obliged to play short of some hazard, or to take a particular +line to a hole which is not the straight one. The man who goes second +will find it very much to his advantage if he tries to squeeze so +closely up to the point of danger as to be just nearer to it than the +other, the latter then having to play the odd and being then more +inclined to press with it and perhaps to miss it. The man who is playing +the odd is in a sense taking a shot into the unknown; the other man +knows everything. That is just the difference. Another stupid mistake +that many men make is to try experimental or fancy shots, perhaps with +clubs that are unfamiliar to them, just because the other man has played +two more. How many thousands of holes have been lost through that! The +experimental shot fails, the other man makes a good one, the +experimenter suddenly finds he has to fight for it, and a minute or two +later is watching his adversary take the honour from the next tee. +Again, what matches could have been won that were lost if the players +had only shown half the sense that Mr. Hilton did in the Amateur +Championship of 1912 at Prestwick, in picking his places for putting, as +it were, always, whenever possible, running up so that he would have to +putt uphill instead of down, the former being far the easier kind of +putting. Nowadays there are inclines on every green and round about the +hole, and a flat putt is a comparative rarity. But the average man never +thinks of these inclines until he has to play along them. The time for +most thinking about them is when making the stroke before, so that the +putt may be along the easiest line to the hole. This is not a question +of skill; it is simply one of sense. A man can play short of the hole +or past it, or to the right or left, and there will be one point from +which the putting will be easier than the other. It may often happen +that it would pay better to be four yards past the hole than two short +of it, for you will not only have had the chance of holing, but the putt +back may be an uphill one. + +But with it all, the habit must be cultivated of thinking as much as +possible in advance--thinking quickly and acting with decision. +Questions of the value of practice swings have arisen lately. We have +seen rather too much of these practice swings in some quarters. We may +believe in the practice swing--just one or at most two. A man may be an +experienced golfer, and he may have played a certain stroke nearly a +million times before, but golf is essentially a game of fears and +doubts, and apart from just setting the right muscles in a state of +complete preparation for the task in hand a practice swing gives one a +little confidence. The shot is shaped; there is nothing to do but repeat +the stroke that has been made; it can be done. To that extent the +practice swing may be thoroughly recommended. But some members of the +young American School go farther than this, and it is questionable +whether they are wise. For one thing the delicate muscles and the +nervous system that are concerned with the stroke in hand are easily +tired, and if the shot is a long one needing power the odds are against +its being done so well after five practice swings as after one. Show me +the man who can drive his best and straightest after five practice +swings on the tee. Then there is the hesitation and doubt that are +induced. I believe that in most cases these players are really waiting +for an inspiration. They are not ready for the stroke they have to play. +Jack White in once confiding to me some of the secrets of his +successful putting, said that when he went about on the green examining +the line back and front, he was simply trying to gain time and nothing +more. "I want to feel that I want to putt," he said, "and while I am +waiting for that feeling coming on I can hardly stand motionless on the +green or look up at the sky." It is that way with these Americans; they +are waiting for an inspiration. But it does not always seem to be +responsive, and they wait too long. A moment must come when they are as +ready for the shot as ever they will be in their lives; if they let it +pass nothing but doubts and hesitations can follow, and that is the +danger to the player of excessive slowness. He begins to fear his fate +too much. And also one round of golf played like this makes a fearful +mental strain, and how often do we see that men who win their morning +matches by such methods look very tired and lose easily in the +afternoon. + +The case of Mr. Ouimet, who has so suddenly become a great power in +American golf, has already been considered, and Mr. Walter Travis's high +position was established long ago. Apart from these two, the new star +and the old one, and the young professional M'Dermott, there are two +others who hold a higher place in the opinion of the golfers of their +own country and ours than any other players do, and those are Mr. +Charles Evans, junior, of Chicago, and Mr. Jerome D. Travers, foremost +players of the west and east as they respectively are. In every way Mr. +Evans is a very delightful golfer. When we saw him at Prestwick in 1911 +he was even then a brilliant player, and one who impressed British +golfers as no other had ever done since Mr. Travis had won at Sandwich, +and he had then an advantage which the winner of our championship had +not--he had his whole golfing life before him. Since that time he has +undoubtedly improved. He has become physically stronger, experience has +helped him, and he has greater resource and skill. And despite the fact +that he has not yet won an American championship, there is this to be +said for him, that in the sense of accomplishment, in variety of stroke, +perfection of it, in playing the game as it was meant to be played, as +we say, he is still, for all his failures, the best amateur golfer in +the United States at the present time. But Mr. Evans is a man of very +keen and somewhat too sensitive temperament. He is inclined sometimes to +fear his fate unduly. Yet whenever we are inclined to judge him a little +harshly for his temperament, let it be remembered that fortune has dealt +him some cruel hurts, and that it is not a quality of human man to bear +himself indifferently to perpetual adversity. When he was the last hope +of his country at the championship at Sandwich in 1914, and striving +gallantly, his opponent went to the turn in a record score of 31. To be +merely sorry for "Chick" in such circumstances is inadequate; along with +him we smiled at the absurd extent to which his ill-luck spitefully +pursued him then. Even though it had to be counted, it was unreal. He +must be a champion some time. + +One of the greatest tragedies of his life, so far, was that he suffered +in the appalling Amateur Championship at Wheaton, Illinois, in +1912--appalling by reason of the terrible heat that players and all +others, including my unlucky but still deeply interested self, were +called upon to bear. It has come to be nearly a settled understanding in +Britain that the championships must be attended by weather quite +ridiculously and most uncomfortably unseasonable. Thunderstorms and +lightning, gales and floods--these are the accompaniments of the great +golf tournaments of the year in the summer months of May and June, and +matters seemed to reach a climax in 1913 when the progress of the final +match of the Amateur Championship at St. Andrews had to be suspended +because of the terrific storm which flooded the putting greens until +there were no holes to putt at, and when in the Open Championship at +Hoylake shortly afterwards Taylor had to play his way to victory through +a gale against which ordinary people could hardly stand up. Almost does +it appear that the American climate is disposed to follow the bad +British example in times of championships, seeing what happened at +Brookline in the same season; but it was very different at Wheaton in +the year when Mr. Hilton failed to retain the American Amateur +Championship he had won the season before at Apawamis, and when Mr. +Travers beat Mr. Evans in the final by seven and six. Mr. Norman Hunter +and some others, Americans, were burned out of that championship by a +temperature which at times was more than a hundred in the shade, and +while some players conducted their game beneath sunshades that they +carried, most of them had towels attached to their golf bags for +body-wiping purposes. There was no escape from the heat anywhere, night +or day, and no consolation in anything, unless it were that in the city +of Chicago a few miles distant the people were reported to be even worse +off than we were, and deaths were numerous. Well did we call that the +blazing championship, and when I am asked, as is often the case, which +of all championship experiences I recall most vividly, my remembrances +of events in Britain, far more numerous as they are, give way to an +American pair, the hot one at Wheaton in 1912, and the wet one of the +British debâcle at Brookline a season later. But the sun at its worst +could not diminish the enormous interest that there was in that Wheaton +final, for the draw and the play had brought about the ideal match, from +the spectators' point of view, and even that of the players too, Mr. +Travers of the east and Mr. Evans of the west, and finely did the +Americans show their appreciation of what had come to pass by wagering +incredible numbers of dollars upon it and watching it in thousands. That +time it was thought that Mr. Evans would win, and he was three up at the +turn in the morning round, but he lost two of the holes before lunch, +and I am sure that the reason why he fell such an easy victim to Mr. +Travers in the afternoon was that he grieved too much for the loss of +those holes, and feared his fate when he need not have done. I know that +Mr. Travers in that second round played golf of the most brilliant +description that nobody could have lived against; but did Mr. Evans +encourage him to do so? This matter of temperament might seem to be a +fatal consideration for ever, being one of Nature and seemingly +unalterable, were it not that we have had cases of fine golfers with +weak temperaments who, perceiving their desperate state, have resolutely +and with patience changed those temperaments, or curbed their influence +as we should more properly say. The best modern instance of such a +change being made is that of George Duncan, and never fear but that +"Chick" will soon come to his own as well. + +Mr. Jerome Travers is undoubtedly one of the strong men of golf to-day, +a big piece of golfing individualism. At twenty years of age he won the +American Amateur Championship, in 1912 I saw him win it for the third +time, and the following year he won it again at Garden City. In his own +golfing country he must be one of the hardest men in the world to beat. +He plays the game that suits him and disregards criticism. He began to +play when he was nine years old. A year later he laid out a three-holes +golf course of his own at home--first hole 150 yards, second 180, third +apparently about the same, back to the starting-point. There were no +real holes--to hit certain trees was to "hole out." For hour after hour +this American child would make the circuit of this little course, and +day after day he would work hard to lower his record for these three +holes. At thirteen he started playing on a proper nine-holes course at +Oyster Bay. At fifteen he became attached to the Nassau Country Club, +and there, chiefly under the guidance of Alexander Smith, to whose +qualities as tutor he pays high tribute, his game improved. His swing +was wrong at the beginning. "Shorten your back swing, and take the club +back with your wrists. Swing easily and keep your eye on the ball." That +was Smith's advice to him, and he says it served him well. He began to +place the right hand under instead of over the shaft, and that added +more power to his stroke, and then he discovered that taking the club +back with his wrists or starting the club-head back with them, increased +its speed and gave him greater distance. Then it was practice, practice, +practice for an hour at a time at every individual stroke in the game. +He would play the same shot fifty times. He putted for two hours at a +stretch, placing his ball at varying distances from the hole, trying +short putts, long ones, uphill and downhill putts, and putts across a +side-hill green where the ball had to follow a crescent-like course if +it had to be holed out or laid dead. During the championship at +Apawamis, when he was playing Mr. Hilton, he had what everybody declared +to be an impossible putt of twenty feet, downhill over a billowy green, +and he holed it because he had practised the same sort of putt before. +In the next championship at Wheaton he did an "impossible" bunker shot +and laid the ball dead from the foot of the face of the hazard because +he had practised that shot also. Next to the Schenectady putter +belonging to Mr. Travis his driving iron is, or should be, the most +famous club in all America. It is a plain, straight-faced iron with a +round back, and is heavy, weighing sixteen ounces. It has a long shaft +and a very rough leather grip, and was forged at St. Andrews. This and +his other irons are kept permanently rusty. He carries very few +clubs--five irons, a Schenectady putter, a brassey and a driver, but, as +Mr. Fred Herreshoff, who turns caddie for him in the finals of +championships, says, the two latter are for the sake of appearances +only. He believes in the centre-shafted Schenectady putter, illegal here +but allowed in America, as in no other. He calls for a very low tee, one +that is only just high enough to give him a perfect lie, "the duplicate +of an ideal lie on the turf." He plays his drives off the right foot, +which is about three inches in advance of the left, the ball being just +a shade to the right of the left heel, because in that position he finds +it easier to keep the eye on the ball without effort, and in the strain +of a hard match or competition every simplifying process like this is +valuable. + +But the most remarkable thing about his preparation for driving is his +grip, which is unique. He does not employ the overlapper. He likes the +right hand to be under the shaft; but this is the main point--that the +first fingers are almost entirely free of the shaft, with the tips +resting on the leather, curled inside the thumbs. Both thumbs are +pressed firmly against the sides of the first joints of the second +fingers, forming a locking device which prevents any possible turning of +the shaft. He is an utter believer in this detaching of the first +fingers from the club, and declares he could not play in any other way, +his theory being that it permits better freedom of the wrists and +enables him to get greater power into the stroke without deflecting the +club-head from its proper sweep in the swing to the ball. With his +driving iron he is a supreme master, and with it alone he has played a +round of a difficult course in America, Montclair, in 77. When I +watched him win his third championship I decided that in whatever else +he might excel he had a finer temperament for match play than almost any +other player I had seen. Silent, imperturbable, not a trace of feeling +in his countenance, he seemed to be mercilessly forcing his way to +victory all the time. Only once since he became established as a +champion kind of golfer have his nerves ever failed him, and that was on +an occasion of supreme importance, and yet one when the strain upon +nerves was not, or should not have been, unduly severe. I saw him lose +his match to Mr. Palmer at Sandwich in 1914, and there was something +nearly as mysterious about that occurrence as there was about the +victory of Mr. Ouimet at Brookline--far more than there was about the +defeat of the latter at Sandwich by Mr. Tubbs, for then Mr. Ouimet +simply played a poor but not a timid game. But in the Palmer-Travers +match the American for the first time for years was afraid. Half way +round, all the watchers were saying so, saying his nerves were catching +at his shots. Knowing the man, having seen so much of him in America, I +could not believe it then; but before the round was ended the truth was +clear. His nerves had failed, and it was responsibility that had caused +them to do so. He could not possibly have played so poorly otherwise. It +was not the real Travers who played that day. + + + * * * * * + +The middle-aged business-man golfer is an important individual in the +general golfing scheme of things in the United States. He is that +elsewhere, but he stands out most in America. Well enough does he know +how the game is good for him. The early American golfers (those of from +ten to twenty years ago) adopted the game enthusiastically, because it +answered exactly to certain requirements they had in mind in regard to +creating and preserving physical fitness. The American business man +leads a quick life and a hard one and, in recent years particularly, his +pursuit of this physical fitness has become something of a craze with +him, for the reason that through it he seeks to bring the human machine +to the highest point of working efficiency and, at the same time, enable +the human man to derive more enjoyment and satisfaction from the +pleasures of life. This is not a vague, subconscious idea in the +American; it is a clear, definite scheme, adopted by thousands and +thousands of those who have devoted themselves to the game. Hence their +generous support and excellent enthusiasm. The country swarms with men, +two-thirds way through an ordinary lifetime, who have only been playing +the game for five or six summers and no winters--for in very few places +in the northern parts of the United States is any play possible between +the late fall and the spring--and who can play a good six-handicap game, +British reckoning, for in America they have a system of handicapping +according to which scratch is the lowest, and their six handicap is +about equivalent to our two or three. The majority of our middle-aged +men seem to resign themselves to the idea that in no circumstances can +they ever become really good players, and they pretend they are +satisfied to make their way round the links merely for the sake of the +health and exercise that they obtain from so doing. Perhaps in a sense +they are wise, but still it is certain that more than half of the joys +and pleasures of golf are missed by those who never feel any improvement +being made, who never rise above a steady mediocrity, and who never feel +the thrills of playing above their ordinary form. + +The business-man golfer is seen at his best at the country clubs near +to the great cities. There is nothing elsewhere which for its healthy, +honest pleasures and the satisfaction it yields is comparable to the +American country club and the life that is pursued there. It gives to +the busy man the ideal relaxation he could not obtain in any other way. +I spent several days at one of these country clubs, a railroad journey +of an hour or so from Chicago, and the experience was illuminating. The +American business-man golfer works in the city for part of the day in +the summer and spends the rest of his time at the country club, where +the predominating features of the life are golf, rest, and sociability. +These country clubs are provided with a large number of bedrooms, and +are surrounded with cottages, nicely equipped, which generally belong to +them and are let for periods to the members. The vitality of the man of +whom we are thinking is enormous. He is out of his bed at the club at +about six o'clock in the morning, and goes through a process of shower +baths, with which the establishment is splendidly appointed. By seven +o'clock he is dressed in the thinnest flannels, and sits down to +breakfast with thirty or forty other members at 7.15. At this time he is +jacketless, and all in white. A large glass of iced water is laid before +him to begin with, and then the half of a grape fruit or a cantaloup, +with a piece of ice stuck in the middle, is presented as the first +course. These things, as we get them in America, are very delicious. At +once an argument begins round the table about the qualities of different +balls and clubs, and I am closely questioned about the way we do things +in England. Next, there is oatmeal porridge laid before us, with tea or +coffee, and the men begin to match themselves for the afternoon round. +Mr. A says he will play Mr. B for a certain stake, but the latter finds +he is already engaged to play Mr. C for a higher one. Eventually, +Messrs. A, B, and C agree to play a three-ball match for still more +dollars. Such extensive wagering is not the rule, but it is frequent. +After the porridge, bacon and eggs, calf's liver and bacon, or something +of that kind, is served with a baked potato, a little more iced water +may be called for, and there is marmalade with toast and sweet cakes, +and, then at a quarter to eight, all get aboard the club motor-omnibuses +and are whizzed away to the railroad station, light jackets very likely +carried on their arms. + +Before nine o'clock they are hard at work in the big city. Some early +birds were even there by eight o'clock. They work very hard, no dawdling +of any kind, and by one or two o'clock they have finished for the day +and are off back to the golf club as fast as they can go. Frequently +they are back in time to lunch there. Soup, some meat done in American +fashion, an American salad, blueberry pie, iced water, and a glass of +cold tea with a lump of ice in it and a piece of lemon, finishing up +with a large supply of ice cream, and then a big cigar, are what the +American golfer goes out to play upon. The caddie whom he takes out to +carry his clubs costs him tenpence an hour--always paid by the hour, +during which he is in the golfer's service, and not by the round. By +this time the player is in thinner and lighter clothes than ever, and he +has been cooled down by more shower baths. His round is played very much +as it might be done in England. He is very keen on his game. But he +takes a little more time on the consideration of his stroke when once he +has reached his ball than we do, and he is most deeply painstaking. +Towards the end of the match he may develop an idea for playing the +enemy for a number of dollars a hole for the remainder of the round, and +when it is all over, everybody is quite satisfied with everything. More +shower baths, a lounge, and a cigar, and then a long American dinner, +with vegetables very fancily done, corn cobs, sweet salads, plenty of +iced water, ice creams, "horses' necks"--ginger ale with lemon and +ice--and so forth. Long arguments on the verandah upon the respective +merits of British and American golf, and at ten o'clock this busy golfer +of the United States gets himself off to bed. He never sits up late. He +sleeps, of course, with his windows wide open, with a wire netting +arrangement to keep out the flies and mosquitoes, and as he falls away +to his slumber he feels that golf is the best of games, that America is +the chief of countries, and that this is the most agreeable of all +possible worlds. Here I have been writing in general terms, but I should +add that each and all of my details are taken from the life, from +personal experience at one of the best of these country clubs. + + + * * * * * + +There are some interesting characters in American golf as everywhere, +and the very wealthy golfer in the States is often to be considered. Mr. +John D. Rockefeller, the "Oil King," is, as all of us know, an extremely +rich man. He is also a business man, if ever there was one. And he is +extremely fond of golf. His case may have as little to do with the +matters just discussed as you may think, but I shall present it as I +found it out. A few years gone Mr. Rockefeller, who has a capacity for +giving advice of a very shrewd and worldly character, announced his +intention of retiring from the presidency of the Oil Trust and of +devoting a fair part of the remainder of his life to playing golf. Since +then he has discovered that it is easier to make a million dollars than +to hole a five-yard putt, for the Rockefeller millions now make +themselves and the putts are as unholeable as ever. His methods of +playing, and his moralisings on the game, are not like those of any +other man. Readers must judge for themselves as to whether they have +anything to learn from them; I think they may have something. Take this +case for an instance. One day when playing the game he made a very good +shot on to the green, and, ever ready to draw a moral from the game of +golf which would apply to the greater game of life, turned to his +companions and said: "Waste of energy I regard as one of the wanton +extravagances of this age. Rational conservation of energy and +temperance in all things are what the American nation must learn to +appreciate." Mr. Rockefeller is now seventy-five years of age, and he +was nearly sixty before he first began to play. He became an enthusiast +at once, and, as with most other men, his golf aggravated him, goaded +him, tantalised him, and made him ambitious and determined. He began to +find things out and to invent new ideas as rapidly as any of us have +ever done. He said the game changed his life. Made him happy. Brought +back his youth to him. His friends when they played with him declared +that he was not a cantankerous old man, but a really charming fellow. +Golf was doing him good. It was making a new man of him, as it does of +all others. But he did not get on at it as quickly as he thought he +ought to do. He found that there were rather more things to remember in +a very short space of time when making his shot than he had ever had to +remember before, and that for the first time in his life he was liable +to forgetfulness on the most important occasions. Then he acted on the +business man's principle of getting others to do things for him. He got +others to do the remembering. For a time whenever he went to play a +match he had three caddies attending on him; even now he generally has +two. He employed them for other purposes than carrying clubs. When he +was about to make a stroke No. 1 Caddie stepped up to him and said +respectfully but firmly: "Slow back, Mr. Rockefeller, slow back!" He +might otherwise have forgotten to take his club slowly back from the +ball at the start of the swing. This adviser having moved away, Caddie +No. 2 went forward and said: "Keep your eye on the ball, Mr. +Rockefeller, keep your eye on the ball!" Then, in turn, Caddie No. 3 +advanced and spoke warningly: "Do not press, Mr. Rockefeller, do not +press!" So, reminded of the common faults, the Oil King made his stroke +and did not commit them, but was guilty of several others, and realised +a little sadly when the ball did not travel as it should that he needed +a hundred caddies for warning, and not three. Still, there is some good +sense in this method, and the man who made it a strict rule to say to +himself always, just before a stroke, what Mr. Rockefeller hired the +boys to say to him would make fewer bad shots than he does. + +Mr. Rockefeller has a very nice course of his own on undulating land at +Forest Hill, on the edge of Cleveland, Ohio, and there he has parties to +play with him constantly. He is fond of cycling, and instead of walking +after his ball when he has struck it, he takes his cycle on to the +course with him, jumps on to it, and wheels himself along to the place +from which the next shot must be made. By this means he not only saves +much time, and gets more golf in an hour than we do, but considers that +he derives more physical benefit from the combination than he would from +golf and walking. More than this, he knows exactly how far he has hit +the ball every time, for he counts the number of turns of the pedals he +has to make in cycling from point to point, and calculates accordingly. +He does not lose his temper when he makes a bad shot or a series of +such, as some have suggested, but he is quite ecstatic when he makes a +good one; and, despite his seventy-five years, has been known to leap +high into the air when the result of his efforts has been specially +good. He is a most thoughtful player, and takes the utmost care always +to note effects and to try to attach causes to them. "Now gentlemen," he +has said, "that was really a very good stroke that I made then. You +observe that I am learning to make better use of my left arm. It was +that Scotchman who told me of the trick, but somehow I have never been +able to use it advantageously until now." He has a large number of clubs +in his bag, including all the most usual implements, while two or three +have been made according to his own special ideas. One of his caddies +also carries a large sunshade to hold over him while playing when the +weather is uncomfortably warm, and it is the duty of this boy also to +give a hand at pushing the bicycle when the line to the hole is uphill +and Mr. Rockefeller finds the pedalling too much for him unaided. So you +see that there is nothing that is conventional about Mr. John D. +Rockefeller and his golf. You would hardly expect it. + + + * * * * * + +Now for the public or municipal golf in America; it is one of the strong +features of the game in the United States that impressed me most. The +average player in Britain, where the municipal golf movement is making +slow headway, may be surprised to know that there is such a thing across +the Atlantic; let him understand, then, that public golf in America is +far ahead of public golf in Britain. Some Americans of great golfing +experience, not confined to their own country, have not hesitated to say +that they will "make America the greatest golfing country in the world." +If we disregard such a challenge, there are yet circumstances and +forces in operation in America of which serious notice must be taken, +and the first of them is this great movement that is progressing in +favour of municipal golf. The whole vast country is taking to it. The +leaders of the people are appreciating the necessity of it and preaching +it. They say that the times are desperately strenuous, that an antidote +is needed, an ideal relaxation for body and nerves, a perfect recreation +and diversion, and that, having tried everything and thought of other +possibilities, they have come firmly and decisively to the conclusion +that golf is the only recreation that meets the requirements of the +times. Therefore they say that it must be provided for everybody, for +the "common people," and given to them absolutely free with every +inducement put forward for them to play it. The result is that public +golf in America is already advanced to such a state as is almost +incredible to those who have not seen it there. I have seen it. In New +York, Boston, Chicago, Kansas, Louisville, Milwaukee, Elgin, Toledo, and +a host of the smaller places, there are good public courses. In the +large cities there are often two or three. Chicago has now three and a +fourth was being made when I was there last, a fine long course in the +Marquette Park. Two of the existing courses are in the Jackson Park, one +being eighteen holes and the other nine. The third is in Garfield Park. +The full-sized course in Jackson Park is quite an excellent thing. The +turf and the putting greens are well tended, the views are pleasant, and +the play is absolutely free to all who obtain the necessary permit from +the Parks Commissioners. The regular player may have the use of locker +and dressing-rooms in the pavilion, and good meals may be obtained at a +reasonable cost. How shall we wonder then that the Americans take kindly +to this game and are becoming overwhelmingly enthusiastic at it, or that +more than a hundred thousand games are played on one single course at +Jackson Park alone in the course of a year? Though for the best part of +the winter there is snow on the ground and play is impossible 105,000 +games were played on the long course at Jackson Park during 1912 up to +the beginning of October, and the news just reaches me that on one day +at the very beginning of this season of 1914 nearly 900 tickets were +given out! On a fine morning in the summer there will often be a little +crowd of players waiting at the first tee for their turn to start at the +dawn of day, and as many as two hundred have been counted there at seven +o'clock in the morning. Having finished their game on ordinary mornings +these people go off to their work, and they "hustle" all the more for +the shots that they have played and hope to play again before the +falling of the night. It is the same in the Franklin Park at Boston, in +Van Cortlandt Park in New York, and everywhere. In this matter these +Americans have sense. If public golf in England is ever to be a good and +useful thing we must do as the Americans do, and if we do not the people +will be the poorer, and we shall be sorry. Corporations must provide +free golf, and they must be satisfied with the good done to the people, +and not take the narrow view that the balance-sheet must show a direct +profit apart from the indirect one that is certain. They must also put +their courses in central and convenient places where people will be +attracted to them, and which will not take the greater part of the time +available to reach them. The game must be played in central parks which +will then become more useful than they have ever been so far, and for +the first time will be a real joy to the people who pay for them. I may +be an enthusiast in golf, but I have gone deeply into this matter and +studied it in its every bearing, and I know that I am right. + + + * * * * * + +And the Americans are gaining in another matter--they are bringing their +young boys into the game. I have been to preparatory schools where they +have their own little courses and their school championships. The boys +like it, the masters encourage it, and the grown-up players admire the +youngsters' enthusiasm. This is the way that "prodigies" are produced. +In England we do not encourage the boys to play golf. The head-masters +of schools say that it is a selfish game and that it is bad for them. I +wonder how much these principals have thought of the moral qualities +that must exist in the good golfer who knows how to play a losing match +and perhaps save it, and how long in real argument before an impartial +tribunal the contention would hold that it would be better for the young +boy to stand for hours in the deep field at cricket on a hot summer's +day than for him to learn to play golf and learn to keep a tight hold of +himself when the whole scheme of things might seem to be breaking up. +Cricket and football are great games, and they are splendid things for +boys, but that golf is inferior to them in what it does for character I +deny, and if the comparison is pressed the golfers with me can put +forward an invincible case. Anyhow the fact is there that young America +is getting golf and young England is not, and that will make a +difference some time some way. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +CANADIAN COURSES, AND A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT AT TORONTO, WITH MATTERS +PERTAINING TO MAKING A NEW BEGINNING. + + +Towards the end of an afternoon in September, rounds being done, I stood +with Mr. George Lyon (who is a kind of John Ball of the Dominion of +Canada, having won the championship of his country seven times) on the +heights where stands the club-house of the Lambton Golf and Country Club +in Ontario, and we looked across the valley along which the course is +traced to the woods on the opposite side where there were some fiery +crimson spots to be seen as if burning amid the mass of foliage that was +olive or tinting down to brown. They were the maple leaves of Canada, +the emblem of the new land, of which it is prophesied that it shall be +the greatest country of the earth. In early days the Canadians dabbled +with the lacrosse which the Indians played, and some of the invaders, +too, brought their cricket with them and taught it to others whom they +found there. Then the people who are near to the borders of the United +States, and are somewhat impressed with the American ways of doing +things, have been cultivating an interest in baseball for its +spectacular properties. Rounders revised is well enough for those who +are within shouting distance of Buffalo and for places like Toronto, but +I could never believe that such a game or pastime, whatever its +merits--and I know that it has many--could suit such a very serious, +contemplative, cold, and earnest people as the Canadians are. I regard +the nature of these people, as I have had the opportunity of considering +it, as more serious and intense than that of any other, and I know only +one recreation beyond those that are the simplest and most essential, as +of roaming in the untamed country, fishing, shooting, and hunting, that +is agreeable to such a nature. They also know it; they have declared for +a national game. + +There is this to be said at the beginning for Canadian golf and its +courses, that the general atmosphere of the game in this great country, +rough and often bare and primitive as still it is, seems to be much +nearer the atmosphere of golf in Britain than that of any other country +different from us. One misses the sea-coast links, courses are long +distances apart, fine players are comparatively few, for the men of +Canada are still so busy and so earnest that they have not even time to +play, but yet there is a fine chain of the game all the way from St. +John's to Vancouver. There is more of the peculiarity of British +sporting instinct in the Canadian than in any other person out of the +British Isles; he likes what we like, and he likes it in the same way +and for the same reasons. Except that the coldness, like that of the +Scot, is sometimes too much exhibited in him, and that even on suitable +occasions he is reluctant to demonstrate his enthusiasms, so serious he +is, so deep he looks, I have found him to be a splendid opponent with an +agreeable persistency, and a most desirable partner in a foursome. Here +in Canada there are trestle tee-boxes, a few--but only a few--of the +club-houses are built and equipped in the manner of the Americans, +betokening an existing prosperity and a provision for that greater one +which is felt to be as sure as the fruit and the corn of the following +season; but otherwise golf seems much like what it is at home, and +especially do we feel like that when we reach the old places where the +game first took root out there. There is a Canadian Golf Association to +rule the affairs of the game in the country with a certain subservience +to home and St. Andrews as the Dominion holds to Westminster, and such a +ruling authority is necessary in a new and wide country like this where +so much pioneering is being done, just as it is necessary in the United +States and in Australia. The chief function of such an authority is to +keep the game together, hold it compact and maintain it in even +uniformity with the game elsewhere. There is no blame to the Canadians +because they have not associated themselves with the subtle and +insoluble mysteries of the British handicapping system, but have +followed the American lead in this matter and put their best champions +at scratch. Otherwise they are full British still, and even if they have +their doubts upon the wisdom of the edict of St. Andrews which banned +centre-shafted clubs and the Schenectady putter of American origin, they +have remained loyal to the law without dissenting as the Americans did. +So in Canada you may not use the Schenectady. You may putt with it on +one side of the Niagara Falls but not on the other side. + +It is fortunate that a ball cannot be played across the Falls, or over +those whirling Rapids, or some puzzling international complications +might arise. The adventures are called to mind of two great scientists, +the late Professor John Milne, who made such a fine study of earthquakes +and could feel them in the Isle of Wight when they were taking place in +Asia, and Professor Sims Woodhead, the eminent Cambridge pathologist, +when they went to the meeting of the British Association for the +Advancement of Science when it was held in South Africa. They travelled +to the Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River, and there they contemplated +a mighty carry of a hundred and sixty yards over roaring, foaming water. +The keen golfer is always prepared, for the emergencies of the game are +constant and attractive, and Mr. Milne produced driver and ball, and, +with a fine nerve and eyes that were controlled most marvellously, +delivered a golf ball from one side to the other for the first time +since the world began. The pathologist admired the achievement and +emulated it. He also carried the Falls of the Zambezi. It were better +that these greedy men had left it at that and been well satisfied. +However, they came to think they might go on with this majestic carry +continually, and generous Fortune chided them. Crocodiles took the balls +that they drove into the Zambezi. + + + * * * * * + +Let us take a look at Lambton. From my room in Toronto I rang up Lyon, +whom I had met several times in England, and asked him to guess the name +of the caller; he gave the name without hesitation, though he had no +more reason to know that I was in Canada than in Tasmania. So quite in a +matter-of-fact way we met on the following day in a Grand Trunk car +starting from the Union station, and inquired of each other as to the +ball that each was using. The journey from Toronto is one of only a few +minutes, and soon after the stopping of the train the feet may tread on +some of the nicest golfing turf that is to be found out of England, and +the reason is palpable, for here are the big bunkers of the proper kind +made of real yellow sand, which is natural to the place. When they need +new sand bunkers at Lambton they cut them open and there they are. So +sandy is the place that sometimes they have a difficulty in making the +grass grow properly, and one result of these favourable natural +conditions is that the course is better bunkered than most others on the +American continent. Tee shots and approaches must be played well, and at +the very first green the hint is given that the short game must be well +done. The fourth hole is one of the jewels of Canadian golf. The teeing +ground is on a height, and below it is a series of descending plateaux +like giants' steps until the level is reached. When he has made a very +passable drive the player is called upon with a very proper second to +carry the Black Creek which guards the green and is coiled like a snake +about it. The shot must have fair length and it must be very straight as +well. Normally the hole is 365 yards long, so that in mere distance it +is not a terrible thing, but when medals are being played for its length +is stretched out to the four hundred yards. At the sixth the stream +which they call Humber comes into the reckoning. It is a nice two-shot +hole, and the seventh is an excellent short one with the inky creek here +again. With the stump of a tree protruding from the water, large leafy +growths upon the surface, a general sleepiness and the green in a +sequestered corner beneath a shading hill, this is quite one of the most +attractive of water holes. It is a strong hole, too, with fear about it, +for the carry is one of 165 yards, and I was told that when Miss Rhona +Adair, now Mrs. Cuthell, several times lady champion, was in these parts +some years ago she twice did the carry and a third time her ball skimmed +the water and reached the green after all. This was good work for a +lady, especially as I rather fancy she must have been using the gutty +ball at that time. + +The greens at Lambton are generally excellent, and they have adopted a +means for keeping them in good order which, though it has been tried in +other parts of America, has not to my knowledge been employed elsewhere. +I have heard objections raised against it, but the results at Lambton +are uncommonly good. Nearly all the greens here are kept properly +moistened by a process of sub-irrigation, and are never watered on the +surface. Below the green there is a deep bed of cinders, and over this +and about eighteen inches from the grass there is a network of water +pipes made of a hard porous clay, "weeping clay" they call it, the +entire under-surface of the greens being covered with them. At the +corner of each green there is a feed pipe connecting with this network, +and once a day the water supply is laid on to it and all the pipes under +the green are loaded. The heat of the sun then slowly draws the water +through the porous pipes and up to the surface, and the results of the +process are uniformly good. Lambton is a fine institution altogether. +There is a short ladies' course as well as the other, a fine toboggan +chute down the slope in front of the club-house, and the latter is in +all respects an admirable place, well fitted with baths, bedrooms, and +public apartments that are elegant and comfortable. This place has +something to do with Toronto life of to-day. There are seven hundred +members, and now it costs a new one the equivalent of six hundred +dollars in his first year. He has to get a hundred-dollar share in the +club to begin with, and these are at such a premium that he has to pay +five hundred dollars for one. On one of the walls of the club-house is a +life-size portrait of the champion of the country in a characteristic +attitude with his brassey under his arm. + + + * * * * * + +The case of Toronto is very interesting. The club, which takes the name +of the city and is one of the oldest in the country, was started in +1876, and completely reorganised some eighteen years later. The pretty +little course that it had until lately was on the outskirts of the city, +with an old and quaint farm-house, which had from time to time been +enlarged, for a club-house. As to the course, it was quite nice. It was +very undulating, ravines, gullies, and belts of trees being prominent +everywhere. The turf was good, and some of the holes were excellent. In +the club-house there were fine trophies and some old prints, and a plan +of the old course at St. Andrews, with a photograph of old Tom Morris +attached to it, signed "From Tom Morris, to the members of the Toronto +Golf Club, 1896." Everything belonging to this old course was sweetly +mellow, and one's visit there made a pleasant experience. But it met a +fate which has been common enough near London but rare elsewhere. The +speed of Toronto's expansion brought it about, and, owing to the +encroachments of the builders, the club had to move. I was there at the +parting, and it was a sad one. Its members, however, being a very +wealthy and enthusiastic body of gentlemen, determined to make for +themselves a new home which should be as good as anything that could be +done, and their ambition was fulfilled. Etobicoke! It is one of the +wonders of the west, and I was the first wandering British player to set +his foot upon it. + +Etobicoke is several miles out from Toronto, and here with the money +that the club obtained from the sale of the old course they bought 270 +acres of what was virgin land, being for the most part covered with +trees at the time. This they had cleared, ploughed, and properly +prepared, and Mr. Harry Colt came out from England to lay out the +course. His finished work, as I have seen it, must rank as one of his +masterpieces. As on so many of the Colt courses there is something of a +Sunningdale look about the holes, and nearly all are extremely good. A +very fine short one is the fourth and one with which the architect +himself was much in love when he had completed the design from the +natural materials that were at his hand; and the tenth is a wonder of +its kind, the hindmost tee being on a hilltop from which a glorious view +of the course is to be had, with Lake Ontario beyond it, while some way +lower down the slope are second and third tees, making the distance +shorter. The soil is sandy, the turf is good, and the course must be +considered to rank as first class absolutely. Mr. W. A. Langton, who +went over it with me, said he believed they had come into possession of +what would be the finest golf course in America when it has matured, and +his judgment may be right. + +Many parts of the world were laid under tribute for the making of this +course at Etobicoke where the club is still called by the good old +simple name, the Toronto Golf Club. It was designed, as I have said, by +an English architect, and in order to give a grass to the course that +would stand the rigours of the climate better than the ordinary grasses +with which courses in North America are generally sown, seeds were +obtained from Finland. Then nearly all the rough work of construction +was done by Bulgarians and Roumanians, these immigrants being splendid +for work of this kind. They were paid at the rate of about seven +shillings a day, and they lived in huts which they made on the ground +and saved the greater part of the money that they earned. A little over +£16,000 or 80,000 dollars were paid for the land, and about the same +amount was spent on its preparation and completion as a course; while +£20,000 or 100,000 dollars were spent on the building and equipment of a +splendid club-house, embracing the utmost comfort and convenience, with +about fifty bedrooms. This is a members' club, and the club has all the +members and money that it needs, and it is not a speculative enterprise +in any way whatever. But British golfers must surely pause with wonder +when they hear of a place like Toronto spending £50,000 on a new golf +course! Such is the enthusiasm of the Canadian for the game, that while +this enterprise was afoot a six-holes course was being constructed +alongside it, at a cost of £10,000, for a gentleman who intended to +build a house near by to which he might ask his friends. + + + * * * * * + +One pleasant day when staying at Montreal I went out to Dixie, a few +stations along the Grand Trunk line, where there is the course of the +Royal Montreal Club, to be regarded now as the oldest properly +established club in the Dominion. This one alone has that title of Royal +which Queen Victoria gave it permission to use in 1884. In its early +days the course was in Mount Royal Park, overlooking Montreal. Out here +at Dixie a certain flavour of the old spirit and good strong sporting +simplicity of the game are tasted. The course is somewhat flat and +parky, and big banks of bunkers stretch across the fairway, making the +general style of the architecture very much of the Victorian, but the +undulations and unevennesses of the banks and hollows are redeeming +features. Some of the holes are good and the putting greens are +excellent, but generally the course suffers from the absence of testing +second shots. There is a magnificent view up the river from the seventh +tee. A house agent might honestly declare that the club-house is +commodious and comfortable. It was made before it was the fashion to +erect palaces on golf courses, and sheet-iron bulks largely in its +composition; yet it is cosy enough inside, and contains many relics of +peculiar interest. In a glass case there are some ancient clubs with +which members played in the early days, and a leather belt for which +they competed, the names of the winners being written on the inside. + +There are many other courses in Montreal and round about it. There is +the Beaconsfield Club with its place situated some way up the river, +reached by the G. T. R. at Point Claire. The part of Fletcher's Fields +in Mount Royal Park, on which the Royal Montreal Club first played, is +now in the occupation of the Metropolitan Club, and is only about five +minutes' ride by car from the centre of the city. On the eastern slope +of Mount Royal is the course of the Outremont Club, which, at the time +of my visit, was about to go forward to a new and great enterprise; +while on a plateau at the western end of Mount Royal are the nine holes +of the West Mount Club, most charmingly situated, with fine views of the +city and the river. + +At Ottawa there is a course which ranks high among the very best on the +continent. It is different in character from that at Dixie, for here +there are ravines and gullies, and the land is strongly undulating +everywhere. The bunkers and other hazards are natural, the putting +greens are smooth, and the subsoil is of sandy loam. It is on the other +side of the Ottawa River, beyond Hull, and owing to its being exposed to +a broad reach of the stream it is seldom that there is not much wind +blowing across it. And there are courses all the way from east to west +of this wonderful, blossoming Canada. We find that wherever we wander in +the Dominion we are not much distant from a golf club. Even when on a +day I sailed across Lake Ontario and made the Gorge Valley trip to the +Niagara Falls there was golf near by had it been wanted. Winnipeg, +Edmonton, Calgary, round and about the Rockies, and up them +too--everywhere the game is played. I was told that when the course at +St. John, New Brunswick, was started in 1897, Mr. H. H. Hansard, who +made the opening stroke, holed from the tee in one. Holes in one have +been done in many curious circumstances, but surely this is one of the +most interesting of all. Compare the excellent beginning of St. John +with what happened the other day when a new course was being started +here at home. I am sorry to say that the municipal dignitary upon whom +the chief responsibility was cast missed the ball the first time, and +also the second, but contrived to move it from the tee at the third +attempt. + +A note has just reached me from a friend in the Dominion saying that out +on the Gulf of Georgia, on the coast of Vancouver, they are reaching +forward to a golf ideal. They have planned and started there a new town, +which they have called Qualicum, of which the golf course is the central +feature. They have laid out a fine one along the shore, one that has +splendid natural qualities, and they are doing their best to make it +understood that here is a golf city if ever there was one, for they have +christened the streets and roads by such names as St. Andrews Road, +Berwick Road, Portrush Road, Rye Road, Sandwich Road, and Dollymount +Road; and there are others with the names of Hoylake, Sunningdale, and +all the rest of our British best. + +Friends whom I consulted in the matter declared there was no golf in +Quebec, little but French people, French talk, and French games of two +generations back, the Canadian French not yet having adopted the sport +to which so many of the Parisians have attached themselves with great +earnestness. I was barely satisfied with such denials, and when, after +another night on the C. P. R., I found myself on a glorious Sunday +morning on those famous heights of Quebec, whence the view is one of the +most magnificent in the world, I set about investigating the matter all +alone. I can hardly say why, but somehow I strongly suspected the Plains +of Abraham, the big, bare piece of land on the heights overlooking the +St. Lawrence, on which Wolfe and Montcalm, more than a century and a +half ago, fought that great fight, and died. I have always found it as a +most remarkable thing that where great battles have been waged, and big +encampments made, golf courses in a great number of cases have been laid +out there later. Sure enough, then, the game was here on the Plains of +Abraham. I had just been looking upon the pillar with the simple +inscription, "Here died Wolfe victorious," and had walked for the length +of two or three good drives towards the citadel end of the plain, +called, I think, the Cove Fields, when putting greens came to view, with +sticks not two feet long and bits of red rag attached to them in the +holes. The greens and the teeing grounds were rough as could be, and +there were no proper bunkers on the course, but plenty of trouble for +all that, the ground being coarse and stony. The public could roam about +the place just as it pleased, and did so, and there did not seem to be +anything to prevent any one from playing the game on this course. It +looked just like public golf on common land, and though it is a far cry +from Blackheath to Quebec, there is something in the nature and +character of this golfing ground at the historic Canadian port to remind +one of England's oldest and crudest course. I discovered afterwards that +the Quebec Golf Club, a club without a club-house, had acquired the +rights to play on it; that this club is one of comparatively early +origin; that its members are clearly primitive in their tastes, but +sincere and earnest; and I am led to the belief that the course has +another point of similarity with Blackheath, being the oldest now in +existence on the American continent. It is said that a daughter of old +Tom Morris, who married a Mr. Hunter and went to America, was largely +responsible for the beginning of golf at Quebec. Men and boys were +playing on it on this beautiful Sunday morning when the bells in +countless steeples of Quebec and at St. Levis on the other side of the +St. Lawrence were ringing their music through the stillest air. I sat +down on the edge of the course overlooking the precipitous depths to the +river, far down below, where the smoke from a warship at anchor came +lazily from the funnels, and looked for long enough to gain an undying +impression of one of the grandest panoramas in the world, seen at its +most peaceful and its best. Nature had a grand inspiration when she made +Quebec as now we find her. + + + * * * * * + +This marvellous country is a rare place for making the new beginning. +Everything is so raw, so suggestive, so encouraging to earnest failures +who would, like Omar, if they could, conspire with fate, shatter the +existing scheme of things and "remould it nearer to the heart's desire." +Canada is indeed a fine place for hope for the future. I met several men +in the country who told me, that on leaving England and Scotland, they +had perforce, with all the hard work before them, to give up the game +for a long period; while another reason was, that those having been much +earlier days, there were fewer courses there. So years after, when the +fortunes had been made, they came back to golf again, and they were +making another new beginning, and felt a certain gladness as they +remembered some of the faults and the torments of the old game with all +its vast imperfections. In everything they would start over again as if +it were all quite new, and they knew nothing about it. Generally they +have made successes of their second golfing lives on earth in this way, +but yet they have found that they needed to act warily and be on their +guard always against old enemies, for golf poisons are marvellously +subtle and enduring things; and it has been found that when once a man +contracts a habit that is bad it will last for ever, whether he plays +the game continually or not, and the worse the habit the more incurable +it is. The best that can be done is the application of a system of +subjection, by which the disease is kept under, and does not pain or +hinder. But men who have fallen into bad and hopeless complications with +their golf, and found that it never could be improved any more, have +tried to begin it all over again as left handers--the most drastic +change--and even that has failed. They have then realised that the only +way to die happy is to give up the game for a matter of half a +generation and start again, with the determination to keep the head +still, to begin the back-swing with the wrists, and not to start +pivoting on the left toe as soon as the driving is begun, as if it were +necessary to do this thing, as so many of the teachers have suggested, +to the ruin of their pupils, for the unsteadiness it has produced. One +learns to do this pivoting after an hour's practice at the game, and can +pivot well when nothing else can be done at golf. But it takes years and +years sometimes to get rid of such a stupid custom. The left heel must +rise, but let it rise as little as may be, and of its own accord. Its +rising should be always a result of something, and not a cause of +something else. + +What is needed at a beginning, or a fresh start in any golfing life, is +a thorough grasp of essential principles. Considering the subject the +whole way through, we may feel that there are really only two essential +and compulsory principles applicable to all cases, instead of two +hundred or more as the bewildered player is often led to imagine. These +two are, first, that the eye must be kept upon the ball until it has +left the club; and, second, that in addition to the still head there +must be one fixed and practically motionless centre in the human system +while the stroke is being made. It is neglect, generally accidental, of +one or both of these principles that causes most of the bad shots that +are made. Let us remember that. Never, or hardly ever, should we neglect +these principles, and if we do not our handicap is almost sure to come +down, not only because so many bad shots will be avoided, but because +the exactness, certainty, and quality of all the strokes will be +steadily improved as they cannot be when hampered by neglect of the +principles. The eye makes the connection between the captain in the +brain and the engineers of the physical system. It is the speaking-tube +or the telegraph apparatus. There can be no union without it. But, as we +all know, it is not such an easy thing to keep the eye on the ball as it +ought to be kept on it, and the more anxious the player the more liable +is he to err in this matter. As to the fixed centre--somewhere in the +interior of the waist--we should reflect that the golfing swings, when +carried out properly, consist of the action and movements of thousands +of different muscles, operating in different ways, different directions, +and at different times. Perfect harmony and correlation among them all +is necessary if the general result is to be smooth and exact. Make no +mistake about it, the golfing swing, with all its complications and the +acute precision that is necessary for its good and proper effect, is one +of the most wonderful things of which the physical system is capable. +When I reflect upon it I think it is marvellous that the human man can +make it as he does. To obtain harmony among all these thousands of +movements there must be one centre from which they are all regulated. If +we think it out we see that this is so, and then we appreciate the +importance of what is too baldly described as keeping the body still, as +we have perhaps never done before. As a point of truth, the body as a +whole cannot be kept still, but there must be one centre that must be +fixed from the moment that the club addresses the ball until the latter +has left its place after impact. The captain in the brain, the eye, and +the fixed head and centre are the great trinity who manage the whole +concern. Only one man who has neglected this law has ever raised himself +to eminence in golf, and that man is Edward Ray, who has done it by mere +physical strength. When the fixed centre is held secure a great host of +evils which constantly cause failure are avoided--swaying of the body, +collapse of the legs, improper foot work, dropping of the right +shoulder, falling forward, and more of such a kind of fatal faults. + + + * * * * * + +In the biggest dictionary that I can find neither the word "futurism" +nor "cubist" is given a place, and yet these words, meaning certain +movements, are probably on the tongues of art folks with much frequency +in these times. In the same way the word "subconsciousism" and +"subconsciousist" are not in this or any other dictionary; but they may +yet be coined and made legitimate to fill certain vacancies, and they +represent definite golfing systems. The principle of subconsciousism in +essence, then, is that of showing a visionary picture to the mind for a +moment, banishing it, and, in a certain measure, forgetting all about +it, and then going on with the game as if the incident had been closed. +But the mind retains its record more or less vaguely always; and the +picture thrown on the mental screen makes an impression there which +stays; and that impression is an influence upon the succeeding physical +actions. Subconsciously the player does something--it may be little or +much--to imitate the movements in the mental picture that he saw. He +cannot avoid it; the influence upon him cannot be wholly resisted. If, +as it were, he saturates his mind with impressions of this kind, of the +strokes he would like to play, of the way he would like to play them, he +will gradually and almost surely begin to play them just like that. It +has been recognised for ages that the best golf is that which is played +entirely subconsciously, that is to say without conscious effort, and +without thinking in detail of the stroke that has to be played. When a +man is "on his game" he has none of this thinking to do, and does none. +There seems to be only one way of playing the shot, and that way is +unavoidable to him and quite natural. He does not need to shuffle about +to find his proper stance, and he is not anxious about any part of his +swing. The moment a clear consciousness of detailed action asserts +itself, and the man does think about the movements of his swing, and +does shuffle about for his stance, he goes off his game, and the +stronger the consciousness the more he goes off. These points are +disputed by nobody. A little while since a new writer on the game +declared that the golfer at the beginning of his swing thought of the +advice of one professional; half way up he thought of the suggestion of +another; at the top he remembered the recommendation of a third man; and +coming down, the hint of a fourth flung itself into a mind that must +have been working with amazing rapidity in the most difficult +circumstances. What the result of such strokes is was not suggested; +but if any number of golfers carried out their scheme of swinging in +this way we should know exactly why it is that so much bad golf is +played. As a matter of truth nobody has ever been able to mix up his +plans in such a manner; but the statement suggests the extreme of +consciousness, and fear with it also. With subconsciousness there is no +fear, no hesitation, and no doubt. + +Now we can show how our subconsciousism, when unaided and not encouraged +(there is nearly but not quite a contradiction in terms here), has had +its effect upon the player hitherto. If a man watches the play of any +golfer much better than himself, say a first-class professional, very +closely for some time he takes a little of that man's style into his own +system without knowing it, and, it may be, without making any conscious +effort to imitate it. He is much more likely to succeed in this way than +by making any deliberate attempt to copy. Again, you will often find +players telling you, that after a week of watching a championship +meeting, and without having paid attention to any player in particular, +certainly without attempting to imitate any one, they find on resuming +their own game that a new influence is upon it; that in particular they +address the ball in a more businesslike way, with more confidence; that +their swing is less flabby, and that they play their iron shots with +much greater sense of wrist, and with more firmness. This has been +noticed over and over again, and it is a most interesting result of the +influence of impressions involuntarily recorded on the mind. Consider +another way in which the impression acts. A player may be removed from +the game through illness or some other reason for a time, and during +that period he works some of the problems of golf out in his mind, and +constantly pictures a new and particular way of playing a stroke that +has troubled him. When he returns to the links he plays the stroke like +that without any effort to do so, or perhaps without even thinking of +it. Another remarkable example of subconsciousism was afforded to me +recently by a good golfer, who said that to develop a certain stroke +which he had found beyond his best efforts--conscious efforts--he had +three enlarged photographs made of that stroke as executed properly by a +first-class man, one showing the beginning, the other the top of the +swing, and the third the finish. He had these pictures placed alongside +each other on one of the walls of his room, and there they were all the +time, not to be avoided. He made no effort to study them, but his mind +simply absorbed them, and then subconsciously he found the stroke coming +to him until in the end he played it just like that. In these matters +subconsciousism is shown to be at work without being understood or at +all suspected. + +Having this valuable agency at command the next thing is to apply it, +and make it of more thorough practical effect without permitting it to +change to interfering and dangerous consciousness. In the cases that +have already been cited certain methods are plainly suggested. Here is +another which has, as I know, proved amazingly effective at times. The +player, we may say, is not driving as well as he should, or in the way +he would like to do. At the moment of taking his place on the +teeing-ground he runs through his mind, as it were, a cinematographic +picture of his favourite model player doing the drive. He sees, in +imagination, the man taking his stance, swinging the club back, down on +to the ball again, and finishing. He just sees it once, and bothers +about it no more. Then he sets about his own drive without any further +reference to the mental picture that his mind has absorbed. The mind +does the rest. The drive may not be made in the ideal way that was +imagined. It may be done in the old way. It may even be foozled. But +there has been an influence at work, and if that influence is always +employed in the same way the good result will come in time, always +provided--and this is important--that the model is one that is suitable +to the player, and can be copied by him. It would be useless for a man +who is far past forty, very fat and very short, with no athletic quality +in him at all, to take Harry Vardon and his graceful lithesome swing for +his mental cinema show. + +Another way in which practical subconsciousism may be made exceedingly +valuable is by imagining a place to which the ball has to be delivered +without looking at it when it ought not to be looked at, as when a very +short running or pitching approach has to be made. The very best of men +often find it impossible to keep the eye fixed on the ball until the +stroke is done. A little while since there was the case of one of the +finest amateur golfers of the time flopping his ball into the bunker +guarding the green of the first hole at Sandwich from the bank thereof, +when, if he had played an easy shot and kept his eye at rest, he would +almost certainly have avoided this trouble, and then won the St. +George's Cup for which he was playing. I remember an exactly similar +case in the final of the Amateur Championship of 1908, at Sandwich, when +Mr. Lassen, who did win, knocked his ball into the big bunker in front +of the old tenth green there from the top of the cliff overlooking it. +What is needed in such cases, or in like cases when presented to +inferior players, is something to keep the mind's eye contented, and it +has been found to serve if a picture of the hole is flashed into the +mind just before the stroke is made. This is what is certainly done, +though unintentionally, when putting. The man does keep his eye on the +ball when making his stroke this time; but yet it is most desirable that +his mind should retain a very clear and exact impression of the place +where the hole is, the distance of it, and the features of the green in +between. In other games that may be compared with golf, the player has +his eye on the object at the moment of striking; in billiards the very +last glance is given at the object ball, and the eye is on it at the +moment the stroke is made. That is because the player is sure of his way +of striking, as in putting he is not. If you try a method of putting +which was once attempted by some players, but was severely and properly +discountenanced by the authorities, of lying down on the green and +putting with the end of the club, billiard fashion, you will find that +then the eye is on the hole when the stroke is made. In golf, the +player's eye being wanted for the ball, a last look is given at the +hole, and the picture of it is kept on the mind when the stroke is being +made, and it influences the application of strength more than the player +often realises. + +This application of strength is always done subconsciously, and here +again there is a part of professional teaching which does not recognise +the fact when it ought to do. The teachers tell us that to strike the +ball a certain distance with an iron, the club chosen should be swung +back to a certain point, that to get twenty yards more it should be +swung upwards so many more inches or degrees, for a farther distance so +much more swing should be made, and so on, throwing the onus of swinging +the proper distance on to the conscious effort of the player. By a +moment's thought it will be realised that players do not consciously +regulate the lengths of their swings in this way, that they could not do +so, and that any deliberate stopping of their swing at a certain +carefully calculated point would be ruinous to the stroke in hand. What +is done is, that an estimate of the distance to which the ball has to +travel is made; this is taken into the mind, and the mind, having much +experience, influences the swing so that it is quite subconsciously made +of the proper length, or at all events the length that the mind +suggested. In this way the swing is certainly made short for short +shots, and longer as the greater distance is needed; but it is wrong to +suggest that the matter is carefully and consciously arranged by the +player. The truth is that not one player in a thousand could tell you, +when about to make a swing with an iron club, exactly how far he intends +to swing, or having made the shot successfully, how far he did swing. +His mind subconsciously arranged the whole affair. + +An interesting case was quoted to me some time since of the success a +man achieved in lofting over stymies, and the reason why. This person +never seemed to miss. He related that he found previously that his +failures were due to looking at the other ball too much when in the act +of making the stroke. He then found that he succeeded frequently when he +did not look at either that ball or his own but at the hole itself. +Doing this enabled him to carry his club through, failure to do which is +the chief cause of missing these shots. But he did not altogether +believe in this system, which seemed dangerous, and he compromised by +keeping his eye fixed on his own ball, but at the same time imagining +the hole and seeing mentally his ball dropping into it. Since then his +success has been wonderful. In much the same way and by the same +principle it will be found that the best way in the world to encourage a +good follow-through, and to stop jerky hitting with wooden clubs, is to +look at the ball properly and yet imagine it a couple of inches farther +on. + +The principles of this subconsciousism suggest one earnest +recommendation to the player who is bent on making a change in a faulty +or ineffectual style, and it is that such change is better brought about +gradually and in the way of a coaxing influence rather than by a quick +drastic alteration. Thus the player whose swing is too upright and who +wants to obtain a flatter one, or he who desires to change from a long +swing to a short one, or the other way about; or again he who would +bring the ball more over to the right foot (one of the most difficult of +all changes to make for a player accustomed to have it nearly opposite +the left toe, but a desirable one in these days when the rubber-cored +ball shows no disinclination to rise as the gutty did); all these +players would do better to make their changes slowly and gradually and +by way of subconscious influence. If the ball is moved three inches to +the right all at once the entire swing is upset and the whole driving +arrangement is likely to go to pieces. But when done in the other way +the gradual change is not noticed, and when the ball gets to the desired +position it would be as difficult to play it from the old one, as the +new one would have been, if assumed suddenly. It is sometimes said of +golf that the most exasperating part of the whole thing is, that the +more you try to succeed in it the more you fail. There is more truth in +that sad reflection than may have been fancied, and a fine moral in it +too. To "try" in this case means to make conscious effort. + + + * * * * * + +After all, in this teaching about subconsciousism we are merely going +back again to Nature, to simplicity, and to an original idea that there +is undeveloped golf in all of us just because all the movements of the +game are so natural, and natural because they are so true and +rhythmical. In everything Nature encourages always the best in a man, +and she likes most the graceful movement, the perfect poise, the equal +balance. The easier, the more natural, and the more rhythmical our +movements are in golf the more successful will be the efforts always. +The undeveloped golf is always in the system, and with fair +encouragement or a hint that is sufficiently obvious the instinct will +surely lead a young subject to its cultivation on good lines. Man when +old becomes awkward and contrary, and so the aggravations of the game +arise. + +I have always maintained that if we placed a young boy who had never +seen or heard of golf on a desert island and left him there with means +for his subsistence for a few years, together with a set of golf clubs +and a few boxes of balls, the people who might be wrecked on those +lonely shores thereafter would find him playing a good scratch game and +in want of nothing but a caddie, for which part the arriving boatswain +might be indicated. But these wrecked miserables, with their shiverings +and their grumblings, would jar unpleasantly upon the happy peace of +this purely natural golfing youth, in all the ecstasy of the discovery +of his own world. Probably he would wish the others--all except the +boatswain--to leave him there when a white sail of relief was seen upon +the horizon. A pretty speculation arises instantly. Suppose at the same +time we had placed upon another desert island four thousand miles away +another raw child, innocent of the simplest, vaguest thought of what +golf is or could be, and left him also with clubs and balls and +directions for obtaining fresh meat and fresh water when the human +desires in food were felt. He would surely take to the game in the same +way as the other boy did, practise it and probe into its mysteries with +just the same enthusiasm, would become a good scratch player also, and +would probably make use of the same simple expression of condemnation +when a shipload of people uncivilised to golf were wrecked that way. But +here is the point: this second scratch desert-island boy would probably +be just as good as the first scratch desert-island boy, no better and no +worse, and if they were to play for the Championship of the Most Lonely +Islands, nothing is more likely than that their excellent match would +have to go to the thirty-seventh hole or beyond it. They would, being +good material to begin with, attain approximately equal results so far +as playing the holes in a certain number of strokes is concerned, and +each youth's system would be perfect for himself, but between the two +there would be the very widest differences, and the basic principles +that were common to the games of both players would be so encrusted with +masses of individual detail and coloured with temperamental attitude +that they would be scarcely discernible. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +GOLF DE PARIS, AND SOME REMARKABLE EVENTS AT VERSAILLES AND CHANTILLY, +WITH NEW THEORIES BY HIGH AUTHORITIES. + + +In front of the red brick club-house of the Royal Liverpool Golf Club at +Hoylake, a citadel which by its tower and clock commemorates the great +achievements of Hoylake's famous son, John Ball, there was assembled +late in the afternoon of Friday, the 21st of June 1907 (being the +forty-seventh year of the Open Championship), a large gathering of +golfing persons who by their speech and demeanour suggested some of the +vivid unrealities of a stage crowd near the footlights. They had a +self-conscious and somewhat artificial bearing towards each other. They +muttered and beckoned. They gave the impression of being a little uneasy +and nervous. Friends among them who essayed to conduct a conversation +found themselves at a loss for appropriate comments upon what had +happened and made remarks which had no clear or relevant meaning. +Professor Paterson, wearing the red rosette, came from the house and +stood before the little table bearing a silver cup which had been held +by the line of champions all the way from the time of Morris, the +younger, and a familiar friendly figure in chequered garments moved +about in a manner of official preparation. What had happened had indeed +been dramatic; but the drama had had the living circumstance of full +reality. We could not discuss constructions and readings, and suggest +other endings. Here was the one gross fact, that Arnaud Massy, a Basque, +the professional attached to the leading club of Paris, a strong bonily +built man with no British blood in his being, had just made himself the +possessor for the year of that historic championship cup, which hitherto +had never been taken out of the United Kingdom. This was something which +the gathering did with difficulty absorb into their golfing minds. They +were good sportsmen, and they cheered because they knew that this Massy +was a fine fellow and a good champion; but it was all a little +dream-like, and there was a spell that needed to be broken. + +Massy, the victor, with a big smiling face came forward. The gold medal +was delivered to him. There was a little silence, a few muttered +incoherent words, and then this splendid Massy threw up his hands into +the air and shouted out with a full blast from his lusty lungs, "Vive +l'entente cordiale!" The tensity was broken; the people cheered easily, +naturally, and whole heartedly; they accepted Massy as the true and +proper successor to James Braid in the Open Championship, and wished him +thoroughly well--even though he were a Frenchman or a Basque. He had +done the right thing. + +This foreign player (never forgetting that he was trained to the game at +Biarritz, which in golf is mostly British, though it lies under the laws +of France) was brought to England and Scotland by Sir Everard Hambro, +and was improved in golf at North Berwick with Ben Sayers assisting him. +He well deserved to win that championship, and it should not be +overlooked that, so to say, he has confirmed his victory by making a tie +for the championship again since then. He is the only man outside the +great triumvirate who has done so much as twice to reach the top of the +list in modern times. He was well on his own very good game. There was a +crispness about his play with his wooden clubs that indicated the man +who for the time being had full confidence and could hit his hardest. +And Massy's putting, especially in the case of the most difficult and +fateful of all putts, those of from five to nine feet--putts for the +missing of which there is the fullest excuse, for whose holing there is +enormous gain--had been splendid for a long time before and was most +excellent then. At those putts of the kind I remark upon I do not think +that Massy in accuracy or confidence has his equal in the world. He +strokes the ball into the hole as though it were the simplest thing to +do; easily and gracefully he putts it in. In other ways he makes a fine +figure of a golfer. Military training in France has given him a stiffer, +straighter build than most great golfers have, for this game tends a +little to a crouching gait and posture. Massy marches from the tee to +the ball that has gone before with a quick, regular step of the +right-left-right military way, and when he comes up with the ball he +does a right wheel round, presents his club, and plays his second with a +quickness and lack of hesitation in which he is second only to George +Duncan. Particularly in putting is Massy a man of inspirations and quick +impulse. And I must not now forget that there is in the world a charming +little lady who is called Mlle. Hoylake Massy, which is her proper name. +Providence is disposed often to be kind and generous to the strong and +those who have well deserved, and that week Mme. Massy gave to the man +who was even then making himself the champion a sweet little daughter. +Having won the championship, the next question was one of christenings, +and, said Massy to his wife, "Voila! Surely she shall be called our +little Hoylake!" Which she was accordingly, Mme. Massy, rejoicing in her +husband's success, like the good, happy little woman of Scotland that +she is, having cordially agreed. + +And in France there were rejoicings among the golfers. My friend, M. +Pierre Deschamps, fine and keen sportsman (and the "father of golf in +France," as we call him for the grand work he has done in establishing +the game so well at La Boulie, where he is president of the Société de +Golf de Paris, and encouraging it with all his heart and energy +elsewhere in his country), rose and made a remarkable declaration that +golf was to be the "national game of France." The national game of +France, our Scottish golf of English development, started, as some still +will have it, in Holland, played in some sort of way as _jeu de mail_ +even in France, practised in Pekin, called the "national game" also, as +I have heard it, in America--now it was to be naturalised and made the +"national game of France!" Ubiquitous golf indeed! M. Deschamps, whose +words are careful if they are quick, as befits one who is in the +diplomatic service of his country, sat down and wrote an essay on golf +in general, and Massy's success in particular, and, addressing the new +champion as if he were before him, said: "Et maintenant à vous la +parole, mon cher Massy; continuez votre brillante carrière, jouissez de +votre belle gloire dont nous sommes tous fiers, comme Golfeurs et comme +Français; à cette heure, où tant de links s'ouvrent chez nous, pour +répondre aux besoins d'enthousiastes sportsmen, puissent d'autres +professionels de notre race suivre votre example, unique encore dans les +fastes du 'Royal and Ancient Game,' et contribuer à faire de ce sport un +jeu national dans notre beau pays de France!" That was written. In +victory you may be magnanimous, and M. Deschamps at this time would +graciously waive all questions of origins and growths; he must have felt +that then it mattered little that a kind of golf called _chole_ had been +played ages back by the people of the north, and that it was possible +the Scots had copied from them. It was enough that Arnaud Massy was "le +Champion du monde." + + + * * * * * + +Disregarding all those doubts about the _jeu de mail_ and the game of +_chole_, and considering only the real thing as we know it, taking its +time from the stone temple by the Fifeshire sea, it was away back in +1856 that the game was first played on the soil of France, and that was +in the south by the Pyrenees at Pau. Yet at that time only the wintering +British were concerned. Forty years went on before the French themselves +made a fair beginning with the game. In 1896 the Société de Golf de +Paris was established, and it has been a splendid success. To-day in +prestige and influence it stands for the headquarters of the game in the +country, though since it was begun there have sprung up many clubs of +great pretensions, with good courses, nice club-houses, distinguished +memberships, and unlimited francs. Yet La Boulie holds her queenship +still. Excellent golfing places have been made at Chantilly, Le Pecq, +Compiègne, Fontainebleau. Out on the north-west coast at such resorts as +Le Touquet, Dieppe, Deauville and Wimereux by Boulogne the game is +established. Long years back I played at pretty open Wimereux when there +was but a nine-holes course there, and not the excellent one of eighteen +that has now been made. Shall it not be considered as a happy token that +golf links are commonly found on old battlefields and at places where +armies have encamped? Sometimes this is just because the soldiers play +the game when they are abroad; sometimes it is because entrenchments are +bunkers all prepared; but oftenest it is just coincidence. Whatever it +be or why, it is the fact that there is golf where armies and battles +have been in Egypt, in South Africa, in the United States and Canada, +and at many places. Where there was the fury of flying shells there is +now only the peaceful hum of the rubber ball. One recalled when first at +Wimereux that here the great Napoleon had encamped with his grand army, +the same as was to cross the Channel to defiant isles and make a +conquest of them. But playing neither the first hole nor the last do we +need any reminder of what great Bonaparte wished to do, for by us there +towers aloft the monument that he had erected to that successful +invasion of Albion that never did take place. Hereabouts is indicated +the place where the master-general in full satisfaction with the +progress of things, and in remembrance of great achievements, +distributed his military favours. And here all along are deep +grass-covered trenches, and larger, rounder, shallow pits that once +might have been kitchens or stables. All these that now are bunkers and +hazards are where Napoleon camped and waited. And on a fine day our +white-cliffed Albion is in full view. Sometimes there may even be a sigh +as one reflects that the Corsican little dreamt of what should be done +with his camping land when a hundred years were gone, that those +sportsmen of Britishers would be playing their game about there, taking +their divots and holing their putts, and striving for golden tokens +given for competition by the mayor and municipality of adjacent +Boulogne! It was not for no reason that Arnaud Massy called aloud "Vive +l'entente cordiale!" In the heart of the country there have been more +golf clubs and courses formed, and they are supported now mostly by the +French. At Rouen and Rheims the game may now be enjoyed. It is +spreading. M. Deschamps may yet be soundly justified. And indeed when we +take our clubs to Paris we feel that he should, and heartily do +wandering players echo the cry of Massy, who by his victory signalised +the fact that French golf had grown from babyhood to the strength of +independence, and was now to be considered as an entity. There is a +subtle sweetness about a golfing expedition in Paris that there is about +a little holiday for the game at no other place. One is not here +suggesting that it is better for golf and other matters to go to Paris +than elsewhere, only that it is quite different, intensely enjoyable, +and easily convenient. We breakfast in comfort in London, read the +newspaper afterwards, go through the pack of clubs to see that the +roll-call is rightly answered, and with time enough for everything move +along to Victoria. Had we dawdled less we might have gone much earlier +from Charing Cross. We meet quite casually other golfers in our +compartment on the South-Eastern, and inquire with no astonishment as to +which of the Parisian courses will be scarred by their irons before +their trip is done. From Dover or Folkestone we have a quick and +comfortable crossing; we discover some people who are bound for Le +Touquet and tell us of the excellent changes there, and then on the +comfortable railway of the Nord we are swung happily into the heart of +France, and are in the capital before the sun has set on a summer's day, +and with time yet to go out to La Boulie, which is by Versailles, or +Chantilly, and stretch our English arms and legs in preparation for +matches of the morrow. We are at home as golfers without delay. + +What one feels about golfing in Paris now is that while there is always +that elevation of the spirits, that sense of extra life, that little +superfineness of feeling that are induced by a sojourn in the capital by +those who feel themselves somewhat akin to her, and there is a certain +subtle difference in the golfing ways and systems, such as we not merely +find but wish for, golf at Paris and the world over is really very much +the same--the same not merely in the playing of the shots as in the +general scheme of things, the going and the coming, the _tout ensemble_. +We settle ourselves comfortably in a big hotel in the Rue de +Castiglione, and next morning we fling away the sheets before eight as +alive as any Parisian _ouvrier_. The _café complet_ disposed of, the +next question is that of clubs and balls. If it is a fine day and there +is time for the walking, we may stride through the corner of the gardens +of the Tuileries, across the corresponding corner of the Place de la +Concorde, over the bridge and into the station to the left by the side +of the Seine and down the steps to the platform, where there always +awaits us at the most convenient time what is in essence largely a +golfers' train. Our golfing people are in full evidence. You cannot +mistake their kind in a train of France any more than you can when they +journey from Charing Cross to Walton Heath. They pervade. So on to the +other end of the journey at Versailles, and there the carriages await +us, and the brake for those who like it, and we are bowled and rattled +along through that place which has seen much of the makings and undoings +of France, and on to La Boulie, where we hasten to the first tee, +fearful of any waiting. Or, alternatively, we take a taxi-cab that is +outside the hotel in Paris, and let loose through the Parisian streets +with it, across the Place Vendôme, past the Opera, away along to the +Gare du Nord with our inimitable Parisian taxi-man hurtling round the +corners with all the fury of a charioteer in the races of ancient Rome, +making us reflect that it is well there will be a rest of an hour +before being called upon to do the first putting at Chantilly. So we +perceive that the going and the coming are very much what they might be +in England, with just that difference that gives a piquancy, while, +after a day on the course, it is found to be quite excellent to have the +gaiety of Paris at one's disposal. Those who have tried it generally +agree that golf de Paris makes the finest change of the game, the most +exhilarating that may be had by the player of the south of England, who +is not too far removed from Charing Cross or one of the ports. It may be +444 miles from our metropolis to St. Andrews, and 383 to North Berwick, +but it is only 259 to Paris, and despite the sea the journey lasts a +much shorter time than the dash to the north by the fastest trains. We +do not compare the golf of Paris with the golf of our historic and +beloved seats of the game, but the courses of France, as inland courses, +are good, and we think again of the virtues of the change complete, of +the _tout ensemble_. Good things have come out of France in the days of +long ago and in recent times; golf that is nearly of the best order +rises in it now, and when we see Mr. Edward Blackwell and some others of +the great men of the auld grey city who are most particular about all +golfing things playing themselves on the slopes of La Boulie, over the +plains of Chantilly, and through the forest of Fontainebleau, we know +that things are moving tolerably well. + + + * * * * * + +Upon our initiation at La Boulie, our curiosity is stirred and attention +is attracted to many things. Perhaps M. Deschamps, or such a good +sportsman as the Baron de Bellet--whose son, M. François de Bellet, has +won the Amateur Championship of France, while Mlle. de Bellet is the +best of the lady players in the country--would conduct a guest about the +place and show him many things that would interest him, and many more +that as a golfer he would most honestly admire. La Boulie is not a great +course despite all the championships that have been played upon it, but +the Société de Golf de Paris, which has a membership of 750 at a +subscription of about £10, is quite a great institution. Yet, let me +hasten to say that in the first remark I was judging La Boulie on the +highest inland standard, and even then the judgment must be qualified by +the statement that if not great in the best sense La Boulie is good and +is quite interesting. At one time it suffered much from the nature of +its soil and turf, but greenkeeping science, the francs of France, and +the loving and most assiduous care of M. Deschamps, have changed much if +not all of that. In the summer time it is quite one of the most +beautiful courses I can think of with its wealth of trees, in which the +nightingales sing soon after the golfers have done, and its majestic +undulations, which come so near to being mountainous that herein, with +so much climbing to be done and so many uphill and downhill shots, is +one of the greatest faults of the course. But everything is well done at +La Boulie, and human ingenuity and thoroughness are well applied. M. +Deschamps is a fine humanitarian, and exerts himself constantly for the +welfare of the caddies, who are as good for their business as any +caddies in the world. It was a happy idea on his part to have these boys +trained under a semi-military system as he has them now. They are all +housed in a building near to the first tee under the care of the club; +they have to observe regulations of duty and life which are good for +them, and they are dressed in a boy-scout khaki uniform with touches of +red to brighten it, and the principles of boy-scoutism are worked into +their young lives. This is excellent, and indeed it is the truth that +already we have a little to learn in golf from France. By the way, one +of the curious laws of the country--curious as it seems to us, though +soundly sensible--is that boys are not allowed, when under about fifteen +years of age, to carry more than a certain weight in the way of work, +and this prohibits caddies from carrying a bag of clubs of more than +fair extent. As a matter of detail you will find that the weight +quantity allowed works out to something like ten clubs of an average +mixture, but happily for some good friends of mine there is no weighing +at the first tee and no officers of the Republic there to see it done. +They threaten to arrest us at St. Andrews if we play the game with iron +clubs only, and they have the power through bye-laws ratified by +Government to do so and send us to prison. Is it possible that a +wandering player in happy France should be lodged in a modern Bastille +for that on one eager day he defied ill omen and the law by carrying +thirteen clubs in his bag, as both James Braid and Edward Ray have done +when winning championships, the weight limit being exceeded and all the +unhappiest consequences following? M. Deschamps took the initiative in +founding the Golf Union of France, which is based completely on the +American system and is likely to be a strong force in the golf of the +future. + + + * * * * * + +To the best of my knowledge they have only one plus-handicap amateur in +France, being M. François de Bellet, who is rated at plus 1 at two or +three clubs, but I have examined the handicap books at different places +and find that there are a few scratch men, and that the number of +players who have single figure handicaps is quite good in proportion to +the whole, and is increasing. The fears we had that the French +temperament was not good for the game prove to be unfounded; while the +French enthusiasm is equal to anything that we know. There are cases of +golf fever in France that are every degree as bad--or as good--as those +we find here at home. + +One muggy winter morning, when a friend and I teed up at the beginning +of the round at La Boulie, we could with difficulty see the flag on the +first green, short as was the hole. We surmised that we might be the +only players; but, no, many holes ahead, having started early, was a +match going on between a baron of France and one of his rivals. The +baron was taking the game with exceeding seriousness, and the +information was given to me that he played two rounds on the course +every day of his life. "Saturdays and Sundays?" I asked my caddie. +"Toujours!" was the answer. "Even if it rains?" I pursued. "Toujours!" +the boy answered with emphasis. "Or snows or is foggy?" I persisted, and +then the carrier of clubs replied a little impatiently and with +finality, "Toujours!" intending to convey that in all circumstances +whatsoever the indefatigable baron played his two rounds a day, and +independent witnesses confirmed the statement of the boy. This surely is +the French counterpart of what is considered to be the finest case of +golf enthusiasm that Britain has produced, being that of old Alexander +M'Kellar who played on Bruntsfield Links in the brave days of old and +was known for his ardour as "the Cock o' the Green." He also would play +always; when snow covered the course he begged and implored some one to +become his opponent in a match, and if nobody obliged he would go out +alone and wander the whole way round, playing his ball from flag to +flag, the greens and holes being hidden. At night he would sometimes +play at the short holes by the dim glimmer of a lamp, and golf by +moonlight was his frequent experience. Once upon a time his suffering +wife thought to shame him by taking to the links his dinner and his +nightcap; but he was too busy to attend to her. M'Kellar is long since +dead, but something of his soul survives in England--and in France. And +there are old and experienced golfers in France. There are Parisians who +are members of the Royal and Ancient Club of St. Andrews, and I have met +others who could argue most deeply with me upon the peculiarities and +merits of many British courses from Sandwich and Sunningdale to Montrose +and Cruden Bay. I took tea at Fontainebleau with M. le Comte de +Puyfontaine, who exercises a kind of governorship over the course, and +he told me that he learned his golf twenty-three years ago at a place +near Lancaster, and that since then he has played in many parts of the +United States and elsewhere. + + + * * * * * + +I have endeavoured to make the point that the French are worthy and +thorough, that the Parisian golf and golfers must be taken seriously, +and that it is a pleasure to go among them with our clubs. Their courses +are nearly good enough for anything, and they are all different from +each other in type and characteristics. Fontainebleau is cut out of the +forest, and silver birches line the fairway, while some of the great +boulders which are peculiar to the place stand out as landmarks near the +putting greens--but not so near as to be useful to the erratic player. +Holes of all kinds are at Fontainebleau, and some of them make pretty +puzzles in the playing. The teeing ground for the third is high up on a +hill and the view is charming, but that may be of less account than the +circumstance that the carry is farther than it looks, and the hole is a +long one. The fifth is a catchy dog-leg hole, which the caddies of +Fontainebleau do not call a _jambe du chien_, as you might expect them, +but a "doc-lac." Soon the game will be Gallicised completely. The ninth, +being a drive and a peculiar pitch, is a strange hole which worries the +pair of us exceedingly. It looks one of the simplest things, but there +is an inner green and an outer one, as one might say, and the former is +on a high plateau. There is a secret about it which we did not discover +in three full days. The tenth is a fine long hole, with a guard to the +green that might have been brought up from the Inferno, and so on to the +end in great variety. I like Fontainebleau. Chantilly has less character +but more length. It is a better test of wooden club play, but not of +pretty work with the irons in approaching. Yet it is well bunkered, the +fairway is smooth and dry, as it is at Fontainebleau, all through the +winter, and the putting greens are most excellent, fast and true. If +most parts of the course are a little flat, there is a great ravine +about the middle of it which gives a touch of the romantic and helps to +the enjoyment. The turf at La Boulie does not winter so well as it does +at the other places, though the club has spent many thousands of francs +in applying real sea-sand to it for its improvement; but in the spring, +the summer, and the autumn, golf here at Versailles is a fine pleasure. +Yet some will say that, much as I tempt them, they would not after all +go to France for golf, that indeed they could never confess to others +that they had been to Fontainebleau and Versailles and Chantilly for +their game. But why may they not take their game and their historical +views and reflections on the same days, as they may do better in France +than elsewhere; though when we play at St. Andrews or at Sandwich, where +Queen Bess visited, and Westward Ho! we wonder again how strangely this +royal and ancient game does attach itself and cling to the old places of +celebrity, and especially those whose fame was made for them by kings. +It is curious. The keen golfer is a man of thought and sense. We play on +a morning at Fontainebleau, and in the afternoon we wander through the +rich galleries of the wonderful palace where many kings of France held +magnificent court, a place where the great Napoleon loved to rest a +while between campaigns. There are relics of the Emperor in many +chambers; and it was at the chief entrance here that he bade his last +good-bye to the old guard and went lonely away, an emperor no more. The +wonders and the glories of Versailles are known even to those who have +never crossed the Channel; Chantilly has had its great romances of +history also. The old castle was put up in the ninth century; here the +Condes lived in fine state, and in the seventeenth and eighteenth +centuries the place was very famous. The good French have endeavoured to +make their courses suit their places. Sometimes we seem to look even on +these playgrounds for a touch of art, a little delicacy, a fineness and +a high quality, and we think in just that way of the golf de Paris when +the train of the Nord runs us homewards again. + + + * * * * * + +The seaside golf in the northern and north-western parts of France is +coming to be an important thing in the general scheme. Personal +association and its seniority above all except Dieppe have led me +already to mention Wimereux, but the golf of Wimereux is not the queen +of the game of northern seaside France. In all honesty we must crown the +slightly younger Le Touquet, on the other side of Boulogne, with that +distinction. Here you may have one of the most charming changes of the +game, and the most wholesome, delightful rearrangement of your general +daily living system. Go to Etaples from Boulogne, then spin in the car +through that splendid forest, skimming by Paris Plage and its casinos +and evidences of lightness of life, and so through to Touquet, where +there is a course for golf that is most excellent in every respect, +lengths and character of holes, sandy nature of soil, quality of putting +greens--everything. Some of the holes are a little tricky; but the +course in general has been enormously improved in recent times, and it +well deserves the championship dignity that has now been accorded to it. +The girl caddies there are the best of their kind. I remember a little +Marie for such an intuition regarding clubs to be used as I remember no +other assistant: and after playing for a day through these avenues of +fir trees with the great banks of silver sand in the distance, shutting +off the sea, then dawdling among the coloured lights at Paris Plage +listening to the music after dinner, and in the night sleeping in an +upper room near to the links, and hearing at the last moment of +consciousness the wind music floating in from the surrounding trees, one +feels that this is almost an enchanted land, with the spirits of +happiness and pleasure controlling a joyful cosmos. + +Dieppe is good, and it is quite different. Here the golf is some +seventeen years of age, the whole system of things is well matured and +settled, and the golfing season goes along with a fine swing from the +beginning to the end. It was Willie Park who first laid out this course, +but it has been much altered and lengthened since then, and now there is +a fine club-house and all that a player might wish for, and especially +one who likes to contend in competitions. There is something for such +challengers to do all the time; I know few other golfing places where +there are so many competitions in August and September, and yet they are +no nuisance to the people who say they hate such things. At Etretat the +game has been making excellent progress lately; at Deauville by +Trouville, where you bathe always except when you do not golf or sleep +or eat, it has been long established, and the course there has recently +been raised very high in quality; and at Cabourg and Havre, in the same +region, there are courses also. There are at Etretat thirteen holes, and +yet you may play a lucky round, and I am reminded that in the long ago, +when golf near the sands of Picardy was first being thought of, a wise +man of Cabourg sent for an English course architect, and, displaying to +his view one nice field, said, "Voila! Make me a hole! Two if possible!" +But they know much better now than that, and Cabourg has its full +eighteen. To golf, to lie down and sleep, to splash and tumble in the +sea, to seem to do so much and yet to do so little except make a few +drives and miss some putts--it is all a very happy holiday that you may +enjoy at these places. + + + * * * * * + +The championships of France, which began in a small and gentle way, have +lately risen to be very important events, and they gain a most +wonderfully cosmopolitan entry. In 1913, which was the greatest year for +championships in general that the game has ever known--Taylor winning +his fifth Open at Hoylake, Mr. Hilton his fourth Amateur, Mr. Travers +his fourth American Amateur, Ouimet beating Vardon and Ray in the +American Open--the championships of France did indeed rise to the first +class, and in both events, the Amateur at La Boulie and the Open which +was held for the first time at Chantilly--and the first for it to be +taken away from the mother course at Versailles--produced some most +exciting business. I have never seen a more extraordinary final in its +way than that in the amateur event at La Boulie on this occasion, when +Mr. E. A. Lassen came to grips with Lord Charles Hope--and such grips +they were! I was led to describe it at the time as a dramatic affair of +four periods and a spasm, and that is just what it was. Lord Charles +Hope, though not physically strong, has acquired a fine game, and in the +first period of this thirty-six holes match we witnessed him playing +some quite beautiful golf and exercising the most complete +self-possession and steadiness, gradually piling up a big lead of holes +upon his more experienced opponent, who has been once Amateur Champion +of Britain and a finalist another time, and seeming to make himself a +certain winner. The duration of this period was one whole round, and at +the end of it Lord Charles had five good holes to his advantage. The +second was a period of peace, in which we watched Lord Charles keeping a +tight hold on his most valuable gains, while Mr. Lassen, if losing +nothing more, was gaining nothing when it was absolutely necessary he +should be gaining quickly if he was not to be the loser of the day. Time +was flying and holes were being done with, and fewer of them being left +for play and recovery. This period terminated at the turn in the second +round, with Lord Charles Hope still four to the good and "still +winning." The third period lasted from the tenth to the fourteenth holes +in this round, and in it the man who had seemed to be very well beaten +threw a new life into his game, tightened it up, made it exact, certain, +and aggressive, while at the same time his opponent seemed to collapse +entirely, his driving becoming soft and uncertain and his short game +nervous. The Yorkshire player won four of these five holes and at the +fourteenth he was level with his man. Never was there a more +extraordinary illustration of the truth that no match is lost until it +is won; to some extent it recalled that amazing championship at Hoylake, +when Mr. Sidney Fry so nearly gained the title after being at one time, +as it appeared, hopelessly beaten by Mr. Charles Hutchings. Now it was +surely Mr. Lassen's match; but in the crisis Lord Charles Hope came +again and fought every inch of the way home. In this period every hole +was halved to the end of the round, so that after the statutory +thirty-six had been played the state of things was as at the beginning +of the day. No business had been done, and each man might be said to +have had his tail up quite as much as the other. The spasm followed. The +thirty-seventh had to be played. Mr. Lassen teed up his ball, said to +himself that he must keep it to the left as there was the dread +out-of-bounds on the right that had been a constant trouble to him, +swung, struck, and to his dismay saw the little white ball bearing +slowly but surely to the right after all. It did not reach the trees, +but, almost as bad, it fell into the big deep bunker out that way, and +made recovery difficult. Lord Charles Hope seized his advantage. A good +ball shot straight down the middle of the fairway, and the hole and the +match were his. An extraordinary game indeed that was. + +In the Open Championship at Chantilly there was an entry that was nearly +good enough for a championship on British soil. Vardon and Ray, out +across the Atlantic, were missing, but otherwise the class was as +numerous and good as need be, and there were a few of the best British +amateurs. George Duncan won, as he had won the "News of the World" +tournament the week before, and so made it clear that he had come into +his own at last. These two were his first really big victories in +classic open events, and they were brilliantly and indeed easily gained. +But it was not Duncan's victory, so well deserved as it was, that makes +this championship at Chantilly worth a place in golfing history. It was +something else that very nearly happened. Among the competitors was an +amateur in Mr. H. D. Gillies, who at different times in recent seasons +has shown an immense capacity. At St. Andrews in the Amateur +Championship only a few months before he had made a brilliant display. +Now, here, he did a thing which to the best of my belief and after a +searching of all the records had never been done before, and that was in +an open championship competition of the first order, decided by four +rounds of stroke play and with the best players of the world arrayed +against him, he as an amateur led the whole field for three consecutive +rounds. Mr. Ouimet in America did not lead for three rounds, no amateur +had led for three rounds in any open championship before, and it is not +often that any professional has done so either. Mr. Gillies has enormous +powers for concentration and effort, and, as one might say, he can +strain himself at the game until he nearly drops. In his third round he +had a wicked piece of bad luck which cost him two most valuable +shots--not the sort of bad luck that one gets through finding a +specially nasty place in a bunker, but the much worse variety which is +the result of a grave error in course construction. After one of the +finest drives one might wish to see, at a hole just after the turn he +found his ball lying on a road which had to be treated as a hazard, and +from here he was bunkered. He knew that Duncan was pressing him hard, +and that he had not a stroke to spare. Still by an enormous effort he +kept his lead, and at the end of the third round it looked as if it +would still be a lead of two strokes, when alas! on the home green he +lost a stroke in putting. Instead of having a lead of two over the +terrible George for the last round he had now a lead of only one. There +is not much difference between one and two--it may all be accounted for +by the very smallest of putts--but in a case of this kind the moral +effect is very great. You see, when you lead by two strokes you realise +that you can afford to lose one of them and still be leading, but when +you only have an advantage of one there is the cold truth that you +cannot afford to lose anything at all or the lead will go--the lead that +Mr. Gillies had held all the time. One may be sure that he felt this, +for coming off that home green some one said to him quietly, "You still +lead, Gillies," and he turned with a little melancholy and responded, +"Yes, but one stroke is not much to lead Duncan by, is it?" The effect +was visible at the first tee in the afternoon. He knew the +responsibility. He took an infinity of pains, far too much. He addressed +his ball until he was sick of looking at it any more, and then he topped +it into the bunker in front of him. Good-bye, Open Championship of +France! But there it was, a brilliant achievement for all that, and if +he had won, as once he seemed likely to do, no man could have done +justice to the golf history of that year with amateurs Ouimet and +Gillies as Open Champions. + + + * * * * * + +Surely Mr. Gillies is one of the most interesting studies in the game at +the present time. Born in New Zealand, he became a boat-race Blue at +Cambridge, and is the only one who has won a high position in +first-class golf. Now he is a surgeon in Upper Wimpole Street, already +with a high reputation as a specialist in matters affecting throat, +ears, and other organs of the head. He is evidently a man of immense +will-power, with a most enviable capacity for concentration and for +obliterating from his mind completely what is not essential to the +business of the moment. He will work at his profession continuously for +a week or a month and only just remember golf, and then he will suddenly +appear in a great competition, perhaps a championship, and be a golfer +and nothing else whatever. That is as it should be, as it is always +supposed to be in golf, but few men can exchange themselves to this +extent. When he won the St. George's Cup at Sandwich he had not touched +a club for ages, but somebody insisted on motoring him down there for +the occasion. He had no idea of going to Chantilly, but was at Wimereux +when an entry form was sent along to him there, and he said to Mrs. +Gillies, "Let us go and watch the professionals," but they watched him +instead. He is always going to courses he has not seen, and when he has +not been playing golf for a long time, and then doing wonders on them. +Tall and athletic in build, in demeanour he is solemn, and I have heard +it said that his attitude at times somewhat suggests that he is about to +put his opponent on the operating table--which in a sense he often does. +He belongs to the hard thinking and slow playing school. Although he has +a keen temperament, and is a man who at his best plays largely from +inspiration, yet he is much of what we call a mechanical golfer, and is +very measured and deliberative in his movements. He has studied and +satisfied himself about what are the essential principles of this +mysterious game, and he applies them to the best of his intense ability. +He keeps himself steadier on his feet than almost any other player I can +recall. Those who have had the necessities of pivoting on toes drilled +into them from their first day at golf should make close observation of +the Gillies way and see how well that way pays. He swings his club +backwards but a little way and very slowly, but finishes the swing at +great length. As is often the case with players of his attitude towards +the game, his iron strokes are plain and they can be depended on. + +But the most interesting feature of his system and his principles is the +remarkable steadiness with which he holds his head during the making of +his stroke. We understand very well that of all principles this is the +most imperative, and that he who disobeys it is completely lost. When we +have foozled we know well that the presumptive cause was a little +movement of that most restless and anxious head. We know also that head +movement disturbs the general balance, and induces body movement, and +have not troubled to consider why. A reason seems vaguely obvious, but +Mr. Gillies knows more about matters of the head than other people, and +from his surgical knowledge he has come by one of the most interesting +theories that have been propounded in connection with this game and +believes in it absolutely, which is one reason why he has decided that, +when driving, whatever happens his own head shall be absolutely +motionless. This is not a matter for a layman to explain or guess at, +and so I have gone to Mr. Gillies himself and begged from him his +theory. He says to me, then, that he has always felt that keeping the +eye on the ball is certainly the key to the situation, but in recent +times he has realised that the importance of so doing is really in +keeping still the delicate balancing organs of the head when executing +the shot. These organs or semicircular canals are intimately connected +with the eye, and also give one the sense of position. The least +movement of the head upsets the fluid in these canals, so that the sense +of position is more or less lost, according to the amount of movement. +Without the sense of position the stroke is almost sure to fail. "I take +it," he says, "that your visual memory is good enough to remember the +position of the ball, if you shut your eyes just before hitting it; but +if you move the head at the moment you cannot hit the ball correctly. +Swaying the head in putting, as Tom Ball does, is probably not very +disturbing owing to the movement being so slow that the fluid in the +canals does not get jerked. At the same time I can understand him +requiring a great deal of practice to perfect the sway." To the layman +this theory is very remarkable, and it is impressive for two reasons, +one being that it is backed by expert scientific knowledge, and the +other that it is emphasised by successful application. + + + * * * * * + +And if Mr. Gillies is one of the most interesting figures that have +arisen in amateur golf in recent times, most certainly George Duncan is +the most interesting of the newer professionals. Here is an artist at +the game if you will, the greatest genius of golf that has come up since +Harry Vardon rose to fame. I am convinced that in the new period that is +beginning with the inevitable decline, to some extent at all events, of +the old triumvirate, George Duncan will be far and away the most +conspicuous figure. He is a great golfer, and is in every way admirably +fitted for supremacy. A more fascinating player to watch and study and +think about afterwards has never driven a ball from the tee. + +When he first came out it was declared that he was the fastest golfer +who had ever lived. It was said that he walked up to his ball and hit it +away before anybody had time to realise that he had taken his stance. He +was likened unto hurricanes, lightning, and racehorses. I remember that +Mr. Robert Maxwell, being once partnered with him, in an Open +Championship I think, remarked afterwards that it was the most violent +and disturbing experience of fast golf he had ever known. All this was +true. Duncan never seemed to find it necessary to think as we do, and +not merely we with all our doubts and hesitations, but those far better +than we are, men who have won championships. He dispensed with all +alternatives, those fatal alternatives that ruin our own game. We often +fail because there are not only so many ways of doing the same thing in +golf, but because we try to think of too many of them when we have a +stroke to play and change from one to another and then to a third, until +our increasing indecision can be no longer tolerated and some sort of +shot has to be played. Analyse your own emotions and experiences, and +you will discover that this vacillation has been the cause of many +disastrous failures. But George Duncan never suffered in this way. He is +a man of lightning decision, of peculiarly sound and valuable +inspiration, and he is one who, having once decided, does not swerve +from his determination no matter what may be the allurements in the way +of alternatives. Duncan does not know the alternative. He has no use for +it. He does not recognise it. He believes that first thoughts in golf +are best, and he abides by them. He decides and he acts. And he does all +such thinking as is necessary for his decision while he is walking from +the place where he played his last stroke to the place from which he +will play his next, so that when he reaches his ball there is nothing to +do but get to business without any waste of time. All these were +features of the early Duncan just as they are of the present one, and +they have been developed and perfected during the ten or dozen years +that he has been out in the professional world. + +But the Duncan of the early period had a fault of temperament in that he +would go wild. He would at the moment of crisis lose his head, think of +impossibilities and try to do them. He would lose his grip of his game. +Elation and despondency would alternate too quickly in his mind. He +would be careless; he would forget consequences. Who that ever saw it +will ever forget the way in which he let the Open Championship at St. +Andrews in 1910 slip from his grasp in that terrible last round? He had +done rounds of 73, 77, and 71, the third being then and still the record +of the course. Another 77 would have given him the Championship. Instead +of that he did an 83. The next year at Sandwich he did very much the +same sort of thing in his third round. It has seemed that in each of the +last four or five years he was good enough to win the Championship, and +that it was largely his own fault that he did not do so. That is why we +used to say of him that ambition should be made of sterner stuff, that +these weaknesses of his temperament were inexcusable and must be stamped +out. + +Duncan has cured that fault of temperament now. He has stamped it out. +The other day when he and I were discussing his predecessor in the same +flesh, he said, "All that is past and done with. It is gone behind me. +There is no more of it. I am quick still. I shall always be quick +because that is I, Duncan, my nature. I cannot be anything else. And why +should I not be quick? Are there not too many slow golfers in the world? +But for the rest of it I am steady now. I feel hold of myself and the +game. I do not forget." Championships should come quickly to him now. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +RIVIERA GOLF, AND WHAT MIGHT BE LEARNED FROM LADIES, WITH A +CONSIDERATION OF THE OVERLAPPING GRIP. + + +One who will only play on summer days is a little less than half a +golfer after all. Golf at the full demands resource, good heart, some +courage, and a settled nerve, and it is of its principle that in the +matter of places, times, and weather the game shall be taken as it is +found. Hence the real golfer should not only tolerate the play in the +bad seasons when there are howling winds and drenching rains, and much +of life seems damp and sad, but he might be expected even to feel some +occasional satisfaction in it. One who can hold himself up to the big +wind and drive a ball that whistles through it to the full drive length, +then play a good second and all with fine allowance and good wind work +with his irons, so that the game works out well enough for any day, is +one whose contentment is a state to be envied. Rarely does one feel the +thrills of the golfing life better than when playing well in a lashing +wind, with clothes that soak and stick; the sense of mastery is +magnificent. Yet of such luxuries of winter golf one may sometimes tire. +The strong would be gentle again; and sunshine comes well after storms +and leaden skies. Swearing in December that this winter shall see us +stay at home the season through, playing on our east coast links +throughout, January finds us hesitate, and in February, if we wait till +then, there is a journey being made away through France to the sweetness +of life by the blue Mediterranean Sea. It is an unforgettable change. We +have spoken wrongly when sometimes after, at the end of a winter season, +we have declared we tired of it. Never. + +We have returned to London weary at the end of a January day from +Sunningdale or Walton Heath, or it may have been just back along on the +underground from the Mid-Surrey course at Richmond, which seems as well +in winter as any, and much better than most others. But London is murky +and dirty. It is cold, it is windy, there is a drizzling rain, and the +streets are very dirty. It will be three-quarters of an hour before we +may be seated at the dinner table. Oh, we become a little tired of this! +Troubles never come singly, and probably on such a day a match or +matches have been lost. Those who are not of the community do not +understand what worries make up the full agony of this game, and that is +why the loss of two matches was considered by the gentle lady with her +friend at tea to be the cause complete of the horrid din as of breaking +furniture in the hall, the barely-stifled awful words, the yelping and +limping of the little dog that suggested some sudden and unexpected +injury, and the general impression that was conveyed throughout the +household of havoc and disaster. "It is nothing," said gentle Fanny of +the perfect understanding as, with her toes in pink satin on the fender, +she poured another cup for Mrs. Larcombe. "Really, it is only George, +who, I can tell, has lost _both_ his matches, dear!" + +But it was not the matches only. It was the waiting lone and weary for +Marmaduke at the beginning of the day; it was the lame excuse of +Marmaduke for his tardiness; it was the aggravating manner of the man +throughout and the stupidity of the caddie; it was the stickiness of the +greens; it was something wrong with the fateful golfer's lunch that made +it all worse in the afternoon; the slicing that was more frequent and +farther into the rough; the pitch shots that were topped still more; and +the putts that ever lipped and stayed outside. It was the luck that went +viler all the time, the cruelty of circumstance, the misery of it all; +and after the twin defeat the sad discovery and reflection that if one +little thing--perhaps only the pressure of a finger--had been remembered +about some big things that were wrongly done, it might all have been +avoided. It is realised again that of all the sad thoughts the saddest +is: "It might have been." It is then that the agony of golf is +experienced; it is then that the golfer is not happy. And it is then, on +the retreat to town, that one may seem to hear the Mediterranean call, +and see a vision of a sun glistening on a flowered and song-laden land +where golf is played. Take the chance, unhappy man; make the change then +if you can. + +The strongest emotions often arise from the widest and most sudden +contrasts. Our beautiful English summer comes to us too slowly and +gradually through the vicissitudes of spring for the fullest delight. +One may step out from the mist and drizzle of a London street into the +greater darkness of a theatre, and it is all blank and gloom and +nothingness, but there is a quick expectancy. A few moments, and there +is the tinkling of a bell, the curtain is rolled up, and there is a +blaze of light with a pretty picture, perhaps, of summer with a full +suggestion of Arcadia. Music and song, love and gladness, and younger +again is the heart in years. Thus for a while the load is lightened. It +is like that when one wanders to the Riviera for golf in the depth of +England's winter. We leave London when it rains and is cold and heavily +depressing; the spirit is weary from the trials of the season. Charing +Cross--the Channel--Paris, hardly less gloomy than her sister +Londres,--the plunge into the rumbling darkness of the fast train on the +P. L. M.--sleep and dreams. And in the morning the bell rings and the +curtain of the new and sunny world rolls up, and it is glorious summer. +Nothing in the way of change of scene is quite so good as this. Those +who do not know the Riviera may try to imagine it, but in the clearest +vision they cannot approach the grand reality of this sudden change. +Marseilles--Toulon--Hyères--Costebelle; and there is the sunshine, the +flowers, and the game. A rest of a day, quiet slumber through the night, +and in the morning drowsily one hears a beat, beat, beat upon the +window-panes, and, not being then awake to Hyères, or Costebelle, it +seems perhaps but the dismal tapping of the London rain. But later it is +discovered to be the tapping of the leaves and rosebuds on the glass. +Breakfast on the terrace, the contenting cigar whose smoke rises +wreathingly through a still atmosphere upwards to the blue, and then an +effort to lift oneself from a summer languor. Clubs in possession again, +a walk for a little way along a rose-fringed road, and then a plunge +through a coppice along a broken stony path that thousands of golfers +have trod before. Through a field of narcissi, through the planted +violets, past a little vineyard on to the plain below--there the golf +course is. Then play the game all day, and mount to the hotel again when +the afternoon is nearly spent. But in the earlier afternoon at +Costebelle I would rather climb back through the little wood after my +single round, enjoy this perfect illusion of summer, and read and rest +in laziness. Tints of lemon and citron come into the sky when the sun +falls to its setting. Out beyond the plain is the sea and then the Iles +de Hyères, or the Iles d'Or as they have been called, because the sun +will shine upon them when it has left the mainland for the +day--Porquerolles, Portcros, Titan, Bagaud, and Roubaud--a +pearly-coloured group. You may make a short journey to them, to the blue +Mediterranean which is so very blue. There is the delicate blue of the +sapphire, and the richer blue of the turquoise. There is the wide blue +of the Italian skies, and a wonderful blue in some women's eyes. But +there is no blue that is so deep, so glorious, so soulful as that of the +Mediterranean Sea, as in fancy I see it now. We gaze upon it and are +content. All is so peaceful and pleasant. Over the hills comes a booming +sound; it must be naval gunnery at Toulon. Grim realities of life and +strife press even into this sweet scene. Yet they are French guns, and +they are not meant for England either. I love Costebelle. For the simple +sunny happiness of the life that is led there it is incomparable. + + + * * * * * + +And this happiness in scene and sun, be sure, is the greater part of the +golf on the French and Italian Riviera. There is often much doubt by +those who have not been there upon the quality of Riviera golf. It +varies. It once was poor; it was bad. It is now much improved, and it is +improving still as the demand for it has quickened, as the people of +southern France who depend so much upon their British visitors have come +to realise the full meaning of "the golf boom" and the education and +bettered tastes of the golfing people who leave Britain in the winter +time. It is now, as golf of the inland kind, quite tolerably good, which +is to say that in degree it might rank fairly well up in the second +class of British inland golf. It is no better than that; it is +sometimes not so good. Climatic difficulties on the Riviera are somewhat +desperate. In the summer there is a continuous baking heat, and this is +followed by days of warmth and nights of frost, and in such confusion of +temperatures the golf courses have to be grown afresh for every season. +Until recent times the putting greens needed to be newly sown and +cultivated for every winter season, and I believe that it was at Nice +that Mr. Hay-Gordon, secretary of courage and discernment as he is, +first gave battle to the destructive climate and determined he would +hold his putting greens--which at Nice are better than at almost any +other place in southern Europe--right through the suns of summer and +keep them on from one season to another. At Nice, again, thanks to gold, +and thought, and enterprise, they have what the guardians of other +Riviera courses do much envy, a magnificent supply of water, and this is +lavished upon the turf through the dry time when the golfers are back at +their homelands. The experiment of Nice, which was a fateful one, proved +successful, and since then it has been copied by other clubs out that +way, and greens are kept on and are much the better for it. In the old +days it was a painful thing, as I remember it, to tread upon those +tender new-born blades of grass, thin and scarce they were, and unfit +for such usage as golfers give. It is far better now. Then also the +construction of the courses has been much improved; but it must be +remembered again that conditions and circumstances do not encourage or +even agree with ideas of length and bunkering as we of Britain entertain +them. Yet these things do not matter. We need no six thousand yards and +no bottle-neck approaches when we wander southwards to the sun. Life +shall be taken simply then; the press of existence shall be relieved, +the game shall be made a little gentler than at other times, the nerves +shall not be unduly tried. So we discover that there is a virtue in what +is little more than five thousand yards, a generous amplitude of short +holes, and enough to satisfy of those that can be done with a driver and +an iron of sorts. In a mood of ease and languor, when even strong men +who like the game find joy in a mixed foursome, we come to admire the +Riviera system; and we may find men at nights hard in argument upon the +points and delicacies of the fifth hole or the fifteenth, the +aggravations of the sixth and the sixteenth, when they would disdain to +think of such like in their golfing life at home. That comes of the +influence of the sun; it soothes and satisfies, and it makes +contentment. + +Then there is this good thing to be said for the Riviera golfing way, +that it yields a very full variety, and it might well be advertised that +it embraces something to suit all tastes. Not only does it vary in the +kind of course, but in the way of life that is attached to it. The +manner of living at Hyères and Costebelle is more of the English country +kind and more sporting healthily open-air, with less of the flummery of +fashion, than it is at other Riviera places, not meaning by that that +there is not enough of good music and social entertainment for evening +hours. The sea is a distance off, and there is next to nothing of +promenading. Here we live well and are happy, and the sun is very warm. +R. L. S. lived at "La Solitude" at Hyères, and he loved it. The golf in +some respects is as good as elsewhere on the littoral; in some ways it +is even a little better. There is the course of Hyères flanking one side +of the quaint old town, and there is Costebelle with the chief hotel on +the hillside on the other, and its golf course on the plain below. +Hyères is a gentle course, pretty, smooth and nice, and much improved +in recent times. The turf is good for southern France, and some of the +holes are remembered, as where we play through an avenue of trees with +silver bark. Golf is younger at Costebelle and it is quite different, +but if one were led to make comparisons, as from which we shall refrain, +it might be said that often youth is no harmful thing. Golf architecture +had already advanced to a science when this course was first made, the +first planning being done by Willie Park, and such as Mr. John Low have +advised upon its improvement since, while M. Peyron has lavished much +money and attention upon it too. Even if there are still some rawnesses +apparent, golf at Costebelle comes near to being the real thing. Then it +is a good point in favour of this end of the Riviera that here we have +the golf almost at the door of our hotel as it is scarcely to be had at +any other place. It is something to walk down to the first tee, and +pluck a rose by the wayside as we go. + + + * * * * * + +That of Cannes is a pretty course. The Grand Duke Michael has done much +for it and here he is a king. Society is high at Cannes, the people come +along to La Napoule, six or seven miles from the town, in their +motor-cars in a long procession, and it is the proper place for the +luncheon party and such social entertainments as go well with a +verandah, sunshine, and the flowers. One would go to the golf club at La +Napoule even though one did not golf; many do--perhaps too many. Those +who eat and chatter, kiss hands and smile, but never take a divot are +losers of something that is heartening. A river runs through this +golfing land, and twice we cross it by a famous ferry worked by hands +upon a rope that is stretched across the stream. On one side of the +river there are twelve holes laid and on the other there are six; but +the six may be considered to be better than the twelve for the pleasure +that they yield. First we play three of the batch of twelve, and then we +are floated to the precious six. Here there are big sand bunkers of a +natural kind, and they are nicely placed. The fairway is tolerably good, +and there are putting greens in pretty places. + +If this were all it would be good; but the course of Cannes gains a +splendid charm from its magnificent situation which cannot be ignored. +There is a promise of beauties to come when we approach the club-house +by that long avenue of golden mimosa; later there are glimpses of almost +heavenly scenes. If the golf at these continental places is gentler than +at home, such things as scenery may count for a little more. I have +never had full sympathy with the suggestion that the golfer cares +nothing for scenery or sparkling air except when he is off his game and +then falls back upon them for compensation. There is not only hypocrisy +in this, but in suggesting the player to be scarcely above the savage it +is unfair to a healthy taste that has had some training in appreciation +of natural beauties. One does not dwell upon cloud effects nor let the +mind loose upon a panorama when the strokes are being done and there is +a man to beat, but sunlight and sweet scenes have always their strong +effect subconsciously, and it would be a pity if they had not. I shall +not place the course of Cannes at La Napoule in that warring and jealous +company, many clubs strong they are, each of which claims that it is the +most beautifully situated in the world. I have played upon three or four +of such courses, and indeed their claims have appeared to be strong. It +is enough that Cannes is very beautiful. It will be well if there are a +few moments for waiting caused by a slow-going match in front when your +ball has been placed on its little pinnacle of sand on the fourth teeing +ground, for spread out in the distance there is a glorious panorama of +the snow-capped Maritime Alps, on whose last spur there lies glistening +white in the sunshine the little town of Grasse where sweet perfumes are +distilled and where, as they say, twelve tons of roses are crushed to +make a quart of essence. Grasse rests on that hillside like a linen +sheet dropped there by the gods. When we have done this hole and face +about, there are the pearly-tinted Esterels ahead. Hereabouts the holes +are chiefly laid out through avenues of fir trees, and here and there, +especially when one is approaching the eighth green, the picture is one +that bears some suggestion of an Italian charm. Elsewhere in the round +the Mediterranean is presented, as once when we look across the bay in +which Cannes is placed to Cap d' Antibes at the opposite corner from La +Napoule. By comparison some of the concluding holes are a little dull in +looks; but when we play them in the afternoon the sun is setting behind +the Esterels in front, and then there is indeed a sunset to be seen. + +Again, the course of the Nice club is at Cagnes some miles out from the +town. It is different from the others of the Riviera, and it has its +special advantages. I recall an example of one of them which was the +more impressive since it was made on the occasion of my first visit to +the course. That was years ago, and we had been held up at Nice for five +days and five nights by continuous and heavy rain during the whole of +that long time, and it was in February too. Such a spell of Riviera wet +seems almost incredible, but it happened, the oldest inhabitants, for +the credit of their country, declaring that such a thing had never been +before since the world as they knew it had begun. When this kind of +thing happens on the Riviera there is only one thing to do, and that is +go to the casinos; and it was bad for us in every way that this rain +came down like that even if it was good for the Casino Municipal and +the others at Nice and for M. Blanc at the adjacent Monte Carlo. When +the five days and five nights had been endured, when the heart had grown +sick of what happened at the tables, when our thoughts had turned to +Sicily and Egypt--for during this period of the flood I had made one +voyage (we should call it a voyage though the journey was done by +motor-car along that glorious Grand Corniche) to the Riviera of Italy, +and there at Bordighera and San Remo (and what a pretty little course it +is at Arma di Taggia) found it to be raining still--the sun came out +again and the question of golf arose to life. But surely, it seemed, +golf would be impossible for some time; courses would need to dry. +However, we argued that a stroke with a driving mashie is better than no +play, and so we took the car at the Place Masséna and soon were out at +Cagnes, and there we played on a course that was as dry as any course +need ever be though the rain had been pelting down to within three or +four hours before. In one or two hollow places there were little pools +of casual water, but otherwise the state of things was such that we +might sit upon the grass when the opposition was badly bunkered and +needed time for his recovery. Others knew that Nice recovers quickly, +for when we were out in the middle of the course we espied some figures +a couple of long holes away, and about the attitude of one of them there +was something strangely familiar. There was a manner of walking on the +course not so much stiff as small and quite precise, and there was a +club being carried vertically, head high up as if it were a gun and the +carrier were one of a line of infantry. I can recall only one man who +sometimes walks with his club like this--not that there is anything +against it--and, knowing him, I still regret that opponent had not +courage to accept a wager of anything from five francs to fifty that I +could name the man at that distance of seven hundred yards, having no +knowledge that he I had in mind was on the Riviera at all. It was Mr. +Arthur Balfour, ex-Prime Minister, who, chafing for lack of golf after +his own five days' shutting up, had motored over from Cannes at the +moment that the rain held up. + +There is a certain plainness about many of the holes at Nice, but others +are interesting. The first is appetising, the eighth is a mashie shot +over a belt of trees, and the ninth is one of the longest I know, quoted +on the cards at 605 yards and stretching away to the west, parallel with +the sea-shore, and quite close to it so that a highly extravagant slice +might deliver one's ball to the Mediterranean. However, we get there +very quickly, and the hole is not so long as figures make it seem, for +there is much run on the ball at Cagnes. One of the prettiest holes +follows this one. The sociabilities here are excellent, and Nice itself, +being rather a place of tumultuous excitement and very much within the +Monte Carlo zone and influence, you may find it a beneficial thing in +many ways to get out to the golf club as frequently as you can. + +In recent times they have effected a great improvement to the course at +St. Raphael, and up at La Turbie, overlooking Monte Carlo, and in one of +the finest situations conceivable, they have made a new one with +considerable luxury of appointment. The climatic difficulties which they +had to encounter here, at a height of nearly two thousand feet, were +such that they had not dreamt of, much less reckoned upon, and for a +time an appreciable portion of the money was being lost on the greens +that was being gained through the reds and blacks in the casino down +below, the two organisations not being without association with each +other. The construction of this course stands out as one of the great +engineering feats of golf. The top of the mountain on which it was +determined that it should be made was a bare rocky waste. There was not +even the necessary soil to grow the grass on. It was determined to take +up the soil from a neighbouring valley, and three hundred men were +employed to do the work. There was no railway, no horse or mule traction +would get the stuff properly up that hillside, and so it was carried in +baskets on the backs of those three hundred men. Next, rocks were +blasted, the soil was spread, seeds were sown, and a result was awaited +with anxiety. Then came down some tremendous rains, and down the +hillside that soil was washed away, and most of the carrying up had to +be done all over again. But labour and perseverance conquered, and at +last the grass was made to grow, and the plain truth is that here now +they have a course that for the Riviera is quite passably good, and most +extraordinarily beautiful in its situation, the Alps being in the +picture on three sides of it, and the Mediterranean down below on the +fourth. On a fine day Corsica can just be seen. Now it is clearly +indicated that the man who would demonstrate a perfect alliance with +happy fortune must accomplish a grand double event. He should break the +bank at Monte Carlo in the morning, and he should hole in one at La +Turbie in the afternoon. + +This course and that of Sospel are a new and separate feature of Riviera +golf. Formerly the whole strength of the golf of the littoral lay at its +western end, and it was down near to the level of the sea. Now Monte +Carlo and Sospel, chiefly Sospel, have moved the balance a little nearer +to the east. Sospel is agreeable; and here again the construction of the +course and its improvement to its present good state stand for a great +triumph of skill and perseverance. Sospel is some thirteen miles behind +Mentone in a valley of the Alpes Maritimes, and it is a quaint old +place. If one never golfed at all, the journey there with all its +thrills and excitements, and the picturesque little town that is at the +end of it, are well worth a day of the time of any man. That journey may +be made by motor-car, or now by tram, and one may safely say that there +is no other golfing journey of its kind that can compare with it. As to +the course, it possesses turf which is as good as anything to be found +in the vicinity of the Mediterranean, and though the round is only a +trifle over five thousand yards, and there is no hole of so much as four +hundred, it is nice golf for all that, and the wooden club is needed +frequently for the second shots. + +Here and there by this Mediterranean sea new courses are being made. +They have one at Grasse. There will be others soon. The truth is that +dawdling on the Riviera has gone quite out of fashion, and it has come +to be understood at last that this wine-like air and the golden sunshine +are better than the dim light and dank atmosphere of the gaming rooms. A +few persons who go to the Riviera in the winter seem to be nervously +afraid of giving up much of their time to golf. I have heard them say to +themselves and others: "Is not the golf of London better than anything +by the Mediterranean, and why then do we pay hundreds of francs to come +here merely to play golf, and almost forget that we are in the south of +France?" You will not forget that you are by the blue sea to the south +of Europe. Not only is the glory of this part of the world in winter +better understood and better appreciated by those who golf than by those +who don't, but by far the most is made of their time by the players of +the game. I do not see what is the use of going to the Riviera unless +one golfs. + + + * * * * * + +It may seem a strange reflection, but it is the truth, that when at the +Riviera for any length of time in the winter, and especially when at +such a place as Hyères, one is inclined more to a thorough overhauling +of one's game, a study of its weaknesses and a determination upon +certain improvements, than at any other time. A good explanation is, +however, possible. At holiday time like this one has the play +continually. One is detached from all the workaday considerations of +life at home. And then again one is thrown among new golfing friends +from all parts of the world, people of infinite golfing variety and all +charged with their own new ideas. We see every kind of style and every +degree of skill, and if much of the style is bad and the skill is often +deficient, there is something always to be learned or suggested. And it +has been found as a matter of practical experience that at such places +the majority of people fall to thinking of their ways of driving, often +because their driving at the beginning out there is very bad, and that +in turn is often due to the difficulty at first of sighting the ball +properly in the pellucid atmosphere. But the whole system of driving is +overhauled, and one would dare to suggest that proportionately to the +number of players involved there are more conversions made from the +plain grip to the overlapping on the Riviera in the season than anywhere +else. Only this very morning as I write--a bitter cold morning when I +shiver in proximity to an east coast links, and sigh for the passing of +a few days more when the Channel shall be crossed and a glad journey +south made on the P. L. M.--a letter comes up to me from a friend at +Hyères demanding that all possible information printed and otherwise +shall be transmitted on the subject of the grip, for there is a drastic +revolution to be made in the case of one anxious golfer! In this matter, +one of the most important in all practical golf as it surely is, there +is a suggestion of great value to be made. + +The advantages of this grip as they are being discovered by more +converts than ever before, are greater driving power owing to wrist work +being easier, and also the fact that the left arm and hand pull the club +through better and drive the ball as it ought to be driven, the +overlapping reducing the right hand to a low subjection. No matter how +good and careful the player may be, he who uses the two-V grip is +certain sometimes to be in trouble with his right hand, which will +constantly attempt to establish a lordship over the left, which when +done is fatal to the good swing and the straight ball. Straight driving +along a good, low trajectory, getting a ball with plenty of run on it, +might almost be said to be characteristic of the overlappers, who are +certainly off their drive less frequently than their brethren. These +being the advantages of overlapping, how is it to be gained by those who +have all along been addicted to the plain two-V way of gripping, and now +find it impossible after many trials to convert themselves, these trials +having been made in the most obvious way by hard practice on the teeing +ground and with a brassey through the green? This is a good question to +ask, but the answer is too often disappointing. Those who have started +their golfing lives as old-fashioned two-V men seem fated to remain as +such. As it happens, I believe I have come by the simplest and most +effectual way of making the conversion; at all events, it is one that +has never failed, though it has been tried in very many cases. It is +simplicity itself. Nearly every man who tries to adopt this grip does so +with his driver. It is natural, because it is for the driving that he +most wants the grip, and he never thinks about it for anything else. In +these experiments, however, he feels in constant danger of missing the +ball--and sometimes does miss it--is most extremely uncomfortable, +entirely lacking in confidence, and sooner or later comes to the +conclusion that the overlapping grip, whatever its merits, is not for +him. The sure and certain way is to begin with the putter, which is easy +and also valuable, because the experience of the best players is that +the overlapping grip improves one's putting at least as much as it does +one's driving. You may become accustomed enough to this way of gripping +the putter on the first day to try it in the most important match or +competition. After two or three weeks of this way of putting, let the +grip be tried for short running-up approaches, which will be +satisfactorily accomplished after a very little practice, and then, +after another week or two, let it be used for short lofted shots. The +crisis comes when a swing of such length has to be made that the head of +the club has to be raised more than elbow-high. A difficulty will be +experienced at this stage, but it will soon be overcome, and when it is +the way to overlapping with the driver is opened. Within a week the man +is a complete and happy convert. + +On the general question of grips and gripping, which is high in the +minds of golfers preparing for their season's campaign and setting their +bags in order, one does feel that points of detail are not generally +considered as they should be. In many cases the grip has really more to +do with the effectiveness of a club than the head thereof, and yet +perhaps not more than one golfer in four is properly suited. In general +the grips are too short, too thick, and their thickness is too uniform. +A very thick grip tends to take weight from the head, to spoil the feel +and balance of the club, and to reduce the sense of control over it, +but thickness in moderation is good for weak hands and fingers. Thin +grips throw the weight into the head, give extra control, and improve +the feel, but in excess need strong hands and fingers. The professionals +nearly all use quite thin grips, their hands and fingers being very +strong. But remember that the right hand and its fingers are stronger +than the others, and also that that hand has less work to do in +gripping, while as it is mainly concerned with steadying and guiding it +is best suited by thinness of grip. Clearly, then, the grip should be +thicker for the left hand than for the right, should, in fact, taper. +This morsel of theory is overwhelmingly justified in practice, and that +is what we mean when we say that most grips are too uniform in +thickness, for they are nearly as thick for the right hand as for the +left, and end suddenly with a kind of step just beyond the place where +the right forefinger is applied. For hands of moderate strength let the +circumference at the top for the left hand be 2-11/16 in. in diameter, +and at the place where the right forefinger holds on let it be 2-1/2 in. +From this point let it taper off gradually for about 4 in. until the +leather has nothing underneath it, and then half an inch of wrapping on +the bare stick brings the grip, as it were, to fade away into nothing. +The full length of a grip of this kind may be about 12-1/2 in., and the +tapering conduces greatly to the improved feel of the club and to a look +that somehow makes for confidence. In the case of iron clubs the length +and the decreased thickness towards the bottom are very good when taking +a short grip of the club. + + + * * * * * + +Matters appertaining to ladies' golf also come more prominently before +the average male player of the game when he is on the Riviera with the +sun than they do at other times. He sees more of it for the reason that +his home exclusiveness cannot be tolerated there, and he sees much to +make him think, even though the best lady players of the game do not +often go that way. After watching a ladies' championship for the first +time I left the place with some deep reflections. The idea that men have +anything whatever to learn from ladies in regard to golf may seem +preposterous, but it is not so. There may be a thousand times as many +good men golfers as there are lady golfers who are as good, but there +are just a few of the latter who are very good indeed, far better than +they are generally supposed to be, and their style and methods are very +well worth studying. When great events are stirring in golf the leading +Scottish newspapers regularly print leading articles upon them, of so +much general importance are they considered. After the ladies' +championship in question, I read a leading article in a Glasgow daily +newspaper, and it said that it was evident that if Miss Ravenscroft and +Miss Cecil Leitch were to enter for the Amateur Championship and were to +maintain their best Turnberry form the result would be disconcerting to +those who hold that the scratch man can give the equally competent woman +golfer half a stroke or thereabouts. With this I agree. The game of +girls who can drive 250 yards, who can win 330-yard holes in threes to +other girls' fours, who can do nine holes in 37, and so forth, needs to +be taken quite seriously. The real importance of the matter is just +this, that the best of these girls have arrived at a result which is +superior to that attained by the average man golfer, and they have +reached it by a system and a method which are practised by comparatively +few male players. Their golfing principles and styles are quite +different. Is there nothing we can copy from them? Surely. + +Now we hear very much about 300-yard drives, which one is half given to +understand have become the regular thing with the most modern balls; but +we know, as a matter of fact, that the average man does not drive +anything like this distance, and that he would give a part of his income +to be able to drive as far as some of the very best girls do at the +championships. They achieve their distance not at all by hard hitting, +for they hit quite gently, but by long, free swinging, perfect timing, +and especially by full following through, that is to say, they swing in +just the same way as it was necessary for the best men players to swing +in the days of the gutty ball. They finish their swings with the club +head and shaft right round their backs and their hands well up; I saw +some of them who made nearly as perfect models of the golf swing as +Harry Vardon does in the picture made of him by Mr. George Beldam and in +the statuette by Mr. Hal Ludlow. Their style was most excellent and it +was a fine thing to see. Necessity has caused it. These girls have not +the strength of arm, wrist, and fingers to get a good length in the same +way that men get, or try to get it now; the rubber-cored ball has not +made the game so easy for them that they can dispense with an inch of +the fullest swing that they can make. They seem to use their wrists but +little, and all their movements are as smooth and harmonious as they can +be. In this way they drive many yards farther than the average man +golfer does. In the Amateur Championship you will not see one man in +three drive the ball in this way now. Short swinging, imperfect +following through, and a jerky, snappy kind of hitting have become +almost general now that the balls can be so easily driven by the +exercise of mere wrist power. The result is that good style in driving +has become very rare among men. From the point of view of results +obtained this is well enough for men who play in championships; they +drive much farther than the best girls do, though I do not think that +they are generally so straight. But the average golfer, consciously or +unconsciously, copies his superiors, and most of them have now no style +and do not know the sensuous pleasure that is obtained from a full +swing, a clean hit, and the complete finish which seems to give a thrill +to every nerve in the system. Then, if these men with all their jerks +and wrist strain still do not get that length to which they may think +they are entitled--as most of them do not--would it not be worth while +to go back to the old way of better style and practise most assiduously +at the full swing until they get it right? The very best girls show +evidence of fine schooling in this matter. They hit the ball with +marvellous cleanness. In a large proportion of cases the advice to male +players in these days to swing short and hit hard is sound so far as +mere results are concerned. But all men are not so strong in the forearm +as they may think, and they do not get the length they seek, while +another thing to remember is that the long complete swing when once +mastered is less frequently thrown out of gear than the short one, which +is a very difficult thing to keep in order. + +Then there is something to notice also in the preliminaries to the drive +as the really good girls go through them. Not all players suspect what a +deep influence the preliminary waggling of the club has on the +subsequent swing. The influence is enormous, and the way that the +majority of male players waggle is one that directly encourages jerky +hitting. You will find that they tighten their wrists as they lay the +club to the ball and move the head of the club back in two or three +short, quick movements, rarely letting the head go forward over the +ball. This is strongly conducive to a fast back-swing, a fast on-swing, +and no follow through. It makes for the hard hit pure and simple. Now +many girls who get long balls by big swings keep their wrists very loose +in the waggling and allow the head of the club to swing easily backwards +and forwards like a pendulum two or three times, four or five feet in +front of and behind the ball each time, so that when the real swing is +entered upon it is almost a continuation of the waggle and is made at +much the same pace. This is a direct encouragement to the long swing, +long follow through, and smooth rhythm of the entire movement. Between +the man's waggle and his swing when done in the manner described there +is no sort of connection whatever, and the driving is always much the +poorer for the fact. + +Again, in the putting the ladies' play is full of morals for men. I do +not hesitate to say, after an immense amount of observation, that the +putting of many of the girls at their championship is quite as good as +most of that we see in the men's Amateur Championship. They are deadly +with the short putts up to two yards, and they hole the long ones with +astonishing frequency. They come to their conclusions speedily as to +what is the proper thing to do, and, having done so, they make their +strokes with no further hesitation. We see very little tedious and +laborious examination of the line, and, we may be sure, that they are +the gainers for it. In the men's Amateur Championship the wearisome ways +of some of the competitors are notorious. They study the line +meditatively from north, south, east, and west, convince themselves of +the existence of influences which do not in reality exist at all, next +they hang over the ball with their putter addressed to it until one +suspects them of having fallen into a cataleptic state, and then they +miss the putt. The girls putt with a great confidence and accuracy. Of +course these eulogiums refer only to the best of the lady golfers; +between them and the others there is a very big gap, and it would be +ridiculous to pretend that the average championship girl is yet within +miles, as it were, of the corresponding man. But she has ways that the +average man might often copy to advantage. Miss Cecil Leitch, who is +surely the finest mistress of golfing method and style that her sex has +ever yielded to the game, and is splendidly worthy of the championship +that at last, after much waiting, she won at Hunstanton in the summer of +1914, comes as near to being a perfect model as any one I can think of. +She has graced a masculine way in golf with some feminine delicacy, and +there is art, there is science, and there is rhythm in all her golfing +movements. And she is splendidly accurate. Her iron play is a thing to +be admired, and one might say of her as one cannot of all players who +have been many years at the game, whatever may have been their success, +that she is indeed a golfer. + + + * * * * * + +And whoever is the champion of any particular period may be interested +to know that at no time and place is he ever so much appreciated as away +from his own country during the time when it is so wet and cold at home +that people play comparatively little--less perhaps than they should do. +As masters indeed they are properly regarded, and most dissectingly +discussed are the champions when their disciples are abroad; and it is a +good thing too, for if there must be influences on the game of humble +players, let them come from the heights. In this matter many of us have +always regarded John Henry Taylor as quite one of the best of models, +despite what any one may say about a lack of beauty in his style. +Taylor, five times champion, is indeed a very great master of this game, +and he has special advantages as a model in that first he is deeply +practical and can explain everything he does correctly (I know some of +the greatest players who explain, but incorrectly, that is, they do not +even know what they do themselves), can reason, and is almost, as one +might say, a medium between the inspired play of Vardon and the +mechanical way of Braid. He is one of the most thoroughly practical +golfers who have ever played, and perhaps he has taught more other +golfers than any one who has ever lived. I believe that to be the case. +Taylor plays his wooden clubs with a round swing, and to-day some great +authorities are disposed to condemn that style of swing utterly and +declare that only the upright one is the real thing. But what about +Hoylake in 1913? Then Taylor won his fifth championship, and he did it +chiefly, as I believe, by his magnificent driving, done in such +circumstances of terrible weather as would have made it next to +impossible for any ordinarily good player to drive at all. Above +everything, Taylor's golf is effective, and it is effectiveness we want. + +Once he explained in an interesting way how he viewed his own driving +and how he gained the power that he does with his comparatively short +swing. He is what we may call an open-stancer, and he insists that +stance and character of swing must be adapted to each other in a special +way, that for the open stance only a round-the-body swing is suitable, +and that when a man plays an upright sort of swing with a square stance +his right elbow must inevitably leave his side, and that is one of the +worst and most frequent faults in driving, though one often little +suspected or appreciated. If he stood square, says the champion, he +feels he would lose direction; if his swing were upright he thinks he +would lose distance, and if his right elbow were allowed to leave his +side, then he is sure he would lose power; and direction, distance, and +power are the three essentials of good driving. So he is all for the +open stance and flat swing, and one of its chief merits and necessities +is that in the back-swing the wrists do not permit the head of the club +to move outwards and backwards in the line of flight behind the ball as +it has been preached they should do, but begin to circle the club round +at once, and by this means the right elbow is kept to the side. The +importance of this elbow movement is very great. It might be safe to say +that more than half the golfers of to-day do it wrongly and suffer +accordingly. Taylor urges, of course, that the initial turn of the +wrists at the very beginning of the swing is extremely important; and +then as to the arm movement, he emphasises that the right elbow should +be kept close to the side and should move round the side irrespective of +any movement of the body. That makes for a smooth flat swing, and a +sense of enormous gain in power is certainly the result. He says that he +feels a gain of half as much power again by this movement in comparison +with an upright swing. The initial wrist movement induces it. He warns +those who think of trying to flatten their swing, and so gain some of +the power which he certainly has, against allowing excessive body +movement to which they will be very liable. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +ABOUT THE PYRENEES, AND THE CHARMS OF GOLF AT BIARRITZ AND PAU, WITH +POSSIBILITIES FOR GREAT ADVENTURE. + + +It is not a bad thing to be at the Gare d'Orsay in Paris on a night in +early February, seeing a porter attach to one's baggage a scarlet label +with the words "Pyrenees--_Côte d'Argent_" printed diagonally across it +on a bright yellow band. It indicates a journey southwards to the sun, +to a corner of the Bay of Biscay where there are Biarritz and St. +Jean-de-Luz and Pau, and the Pyrenees queening over all. Golf was played +in these parts some ages back; indeed it was here that the foundations +of continental winter golf were laid long before any stir was made +elsewhere. It is not always warm at Biarritz; often it is windy; +sometimes it is very cold; but generally it is genial and pleasant, +constantly sunny, and there is something about the place that conduces +to a strong and healthy sporting feeling. It is a matter of taste. I am +not here to write down that from the golfing point of view it is either +better or worse than the Riviera. They are not the same. They have bad +holes at each, and some good ones at both. Biarritz, which is one of the +most popular golfing winter resorts in existence and retains its great +popularity in spite of its rivals (really when I was there lately in the +month of February they told me they had already taken £700 in fees that +month, though there was then still a week to go), has some holes which, +as we think upon them at home in England, seem quite shockingly bad. +They are not so much bad as nearly improper. And yet when we are at +Biarritz we do love these holes, as do the great players without +exception, and as lief would we suggest the filling up of the Cardinal +bunker at Prestwick and the flattening of that range of Himalayas at the +same glorious golfing place as touch an inch of the face of the Cliff +hole at Biarritz. The course has the gravest faults, but it is very +enjoyable to play upon in February, and in the winds that blow there one +needs to be playing uncommonly well to get round in figures reasonably +low. On the other hand, the golf at Nivelle by St. Jean-de-Luz and Pau +is among the winter's best in Europe. There is indeed much difference +between the coast of silver and the coast of blue, and the contrast +comes out strongly in the golf. There is less of music and flowers and +softness of life, less languor at Biarritz than at Cannes and Nice and +other Riviera places. The games are everything, and the easy strolls and +the social dalliances are much less. In the morning we seldom see the +young ladies in fine costumes bought in Paris. They flit fast about the +streets and along up the Avenue Edouard VII. in short skirts and the +simplest _semi-négligé_ dress, each with a brightly coloured +jersey-jacket of a very distinctive colour--a brick red, a sulphur +yellow, a cobalt blue, something that does not hide itself. Every one is +keen and openly admits it. And the golf club beyond the lighthouse is a +great institution, and it is splendidly governed by Mr. W. M. Corrie, +the honorary secretary. + +Biarritz golf is distinctly peculiar. The course is a short one; it +offers a generous continental supply of holes that can be reached with a +good shot from the tee (but they must be good and well-directed shots, +for the guards of the greens are exacting), and the turf and putting +greens are as good as one has any right to expect them to be in the +south of France. These are generalities. Now the course, like the old +Gaul of Caesar, is in three parts. We begin the play and go on for some +seven holes on a flat tableland; then we plunge down over the cliffs to +the level of the sea, come up again to the tableland at the thirteenth +hole, and so finish on the level. One may leave the first part of the +play out of consideration. It is neat, but one often feels the desire to +be "getting down below," where there is better sport and much scope for +skill and enterprise. At last we come to a teeing ground on the edge of +the steep white cliff which is some hundred and thirty feet in height. +It is a drive-and-iron hole that is before us, and quite a pretty thing, +a hole that for feature and natural beauty it would not be easy to +improve upon. To a part of the underland, where the drive must be +placed, has been given the name of "Chambre d'Amour," and tales for +sorrow and weeping are told of it, of lovers being caught by the tide +and dying there. The green is away in a corner of the course, tucked up +in the shadow of a towering lighthouse, and the bounding waves of Biscay +come rolling almost to its very edge. If we are not convinced that it is +technically perfect, this is at all events a charming hole, one of the +most picturesque we can find in France, At the lighthouse we turn about, +play some plainer things along the level of the sea, and then come to a +piece of golf which is famous all over the world. The ascent to the +higher surface has to be made at the thirteenth, and it is done at what +is known to every one as the Cliff hole. + +Nearly all who have never even seen it have heard of the Cliff hole of +Biarritz, have studied pictures of it, and speculated upon its peculiar +difficulties. No hole on the continent of Europe has nearly such a +reputation; indeed, it is perhaps the only one with a special celebrity. +I have been asked questions about it in America. I have seen and played +it, examined it thoroughly, and thought it out. It is a queer thing, +quite different from any other hole I know. It needs such a shot to play +it properly as is not demanded elsewhere. And yet it requires absolute +skill, the proper shot must be played and played thoroughly well, and it +is practically impossible to fluke it. Why, then, should this not be +reckoned a good golfing hole? The circumstances are these: The teeing +ground is on the lower level, and it is only some fifty yards from the +base of the cliff. The ground in between is rough and stony. The cliff +here is about forty yards in height, and, if not vertical in the face, +bulges outwards frowningly at the top, while a thin stream of water +trickling down at one side seems to add a little more to the +fearsomeness of the thing. At the top edge of the cliff there is grassy +ground sloping quickly upwards for about a dozen yards until a line of +wire is reached, and there the green begins. The fact that the green +(which is tolerably large and in two parts, an upper and a lower) then +slopes downwards away from the player does not make matters easier. +Beyond it is another precipice, but wire netting is there to save the +ball from this, and there is some wooden palisading to keep it out of +trouble on the left. Then there is a local rule saying that if the ball +reaches the top of the cliff, but does not pass the wire, it must be +teed again, with loss of distance only, the man not being allowed to +play it from the tee side of the wire. (He would do so at peril of +toppling over the cliff!) But all these things do not make this awful +hole much easier in the play. One day I sat on the edge of the cliff and +watched the people playing it, and the ball that reached the green and +stayed there was a rarity. It can be done. Braid and Taylor and Vardon +would do it all the time, and it is no trick shot that is wanted. You +might hit hard at the ground in front of the wire and make the ball +trickle on, but that would call for more than human accuracy. Or you +might sky your ball up to the heavens and let it fall straight down on +to the green, and that would be superb. But champion Taylor would take +his mashie and play, perhaps, some fifteen yards above the cliff with +all the cut that he could put upon the ball, and then he would be +putting for a two. A difficult hole follows, but after that the work is +easier. + + + * * * * * + +With a pair of prism glasses looking Spainwards to the left, we may just +discern the quaint and quiet little town of St. Jean-de-Luz. It is one +of the best of the winter places for golf, for health and sunshine, and +no nonsense. The little town is thoroughly Basque, and the player in his +hours away from the game will have a good satisfaction in wandering +about it and peering into such places as the old thirteenth-century +church which is a perfect specimen of the religious architecture of the +Basques, and such a thing in churches as you would not see elsewhere. It +was here that Louis XIV. came for his wedding two and a half centuries +back. And in this locality we have three courses to play upon--three! +There is the old one of St. Barbe, which is a nine-holes affair, and has +one hole--the third--called the "Chasm," which is a very strong piece of +golf, for the drive is over a deep fissure in the rocks, with the sea +running in below. St. Barbe is the second oldest course in France--Pau +being the oldest--and there are some fears, perhaps exaggerated, that it +may not be in existence for many years more. Another of the three is the +course of the St. Jean-de-Luz club at Châlet du Lac, and this also is +one of nine holes. Until a little while since there were twelve, but +then three were captured by the terrible builders, who seem to oppress +the golfers all over the world; but the club received some compensation +in having a new and neat little club-house erected for them at the +landlord's expense. And here also they make the claim that "the scenery +surrounding the course is probably the finest to be obtained from any +course in Europe." Certainly it is very good. The nine holes are very +tolerable in golfing quality. Here and there the driving must be very +straight. A pull, for instance, at the third, will deliver the unhappy +ball to the Bay of Biscay, and the sea will bang it about the rocks for +a long time after. At the fifth, again, one must respect the ocean when +approaching. Generally, however, the holes are somewhat easy, and do not +worry so much as to hinder appreciation of the surrounding views, which +are indeed magnificent. Out one way is the grand panorama of the +snow-topped Pyrenees, and the light and colour effects upon them change +at nearly every hour throughout the day. Below is the pretty harbour and +town of St. Jean-de-Luz. Away to the west is the great expanse of the +Atlantic, framed here at the course with a wildly rocky coast, and up +along to the north is a rough fringe of shore, the innermost corner of +the Bay of Biscay, which leads the eyes out to the most distant point, +where a cluster of buildings gleams in the sunlight, and the tall, white +lighthouse beyond them indicates that the place is Biarritz. + +But Nivelle, the course that rises up from the bank of the broad river +of that name, is the chief course of the group and quite a wonder of +golfing France. When I first saw it and inquired upon its origin I felt +that here was something which was undoubtedly among the best in Europe, +and yet only five or six years ago all the land, except a small piece +which is occupied by two of the eighteen holes, was bare soil on which +cabbages, turnips, and other edibles were being grown. Listen to the +story of the creation of Nivelle. One day Mr. Frank Jacobs, the +secretary of the St. Jean-de-Luz Club, and a Spanish doctor, went +exploring the country round, and they hastened to Count O'Byrne to tell +him that there was ground on the banks of the stream Nivelle which +looked to have the possibilities of such a full-sized golf course as was +needed then. He agreed with them. They were men of keen discernment; for +even then while a little of that land was pasture the rest was under +cabbages and other growths. It was ascertained that a hundred and sixty +acres could be bought for six thousand pounds, but such a sum of money +was not at hand. Count O'Byrne told the local hotel-keepers the truth +that unless there was a first-class golf course there St. Jean-de-Luz +would lose in the race for winter popularity, and he asked them to +guarantee the money in the first place, a company to relieve them +afterwards. They did so accordingly, and the land was secured; but the +farmers could not be turned off at once, and some time was lost thereby. +When they came to make the course they followed an interesting and, as +we would think, an extraordinary procedure. The farmers, recovering from +their grief and resentment, gave up to the incoming golfers a priceless +secret. They said that if they would leave the bare land alone to look +after itself it would from its own sources grow for them the most +beautiful grass for their purposes that they could ever dream of on the +happiest summer's night. So the Count and his comrades gathered their +men about them, the land was raked and smoothed out, and then they +borrowed the town roller, being the heaviest thing of the kind in the +district, to flatten it down. And so they left it and waited. Sure +enough up came the tender blades of grass, and in a season there was a +thick coating there, fine, beautiful turf, and I can answer for it that +it is nice to the touch of the feet and excellent for the game. The +climate in these parts is most times a little moist and better for the +production and preservation of golfing turf than that of the Riviera. +The hotel-keepers were soon relieved of the full responsibility by a +company floated for ten thousand pounds, the capital afterwards being +increased to twelve thousand, but they were so much enamoured of the +project, believed in it so utterly, that they and the tradesmen took up +as many shares as they could get. But some great personal driving force +was needed, and it was found. A Dundee gentleman, a keen golfer and a +great lover of this sweet spot in France, Mr. W. R. Sharp, came forward +and increased his commanding interest in the club and the course, and he +has done wonders for them. That he is president of the club is a good +thing for the club. Now there is a charming club-house; Arnaud Massy, +once open champion, has a pretty villa for himself close by, some +hundred and forty golfers are playing on the course at the busy +time--and play goes on all through the year--and only four years after +the course was opened the company was able to pay a dividend. So I say +that this is a miracle of golf. + +Of course, the story is not complete at this. Fine turf and a prosperous +club do not necessarily make good holes. But St. Jean-de-Luz has holes +as good as most in Europe. They would even be good on a first-class +inland course in Britain. They are, thanks to the broad undulations of +the land, good in character. The round is opened with a fine two-shotter +of a full four hundred yards, with an incline against the player from +the tee. The drive must be properly placed, and that is the case nearly +all the way round. The second is a pretty short hole; the third presents +a fearsome drive across a yawning quarry; at the fourth the return over +it is made in the progress to the longest hole, one of five hundred and +fifty yards, and so on to the end, some of the middle holes being very +good, the seventeenth a fine full one-shot hole, and a good drive and +iron of three hundred and eighty yards downhill to terminate. The view +from the seventeenth and eighteenth tees, the town of St. Jean-de-Luz +shining in the sun, the Nivelle pressing itself into it, and the pretty +harbour white-flaked with the waves, is peaceful and pleasant, and it +gives that sense of "going home" which one always likes to have when +playing the last holes of a round. + + + * * * * * + +The game itself is not everything in the golfing life; it attaches other +occupations and diversions as necessities to itself which are all added +to the sum of "a day's golf" and make of it a thing of adventure and +time packed with variety of deed and thought. There is the meeting and +the parting; the lunch time and--everything! Chiefly there is the +journey, and has it been properly considered how golf and the car have +been linked together for a magnificent combination of sporting joy? In +the remembrances of every player there must be happy and stirring +episodes of motoring to and from the game. I have hundreds of them, +apart from all those countless pretty spins on the outskirts of London +town. Motoring for golf is an entirely different thing from motoring for +nothing. + +The golf-motoring out from Paris to Fontainebleau and the other places +round the capital of France is unforgettable, and always will there be +clear cut in my mind the details of an expedition I once made to this +Nivelle, St. Jean-de-Luz, at a time when lounging golfless in the north +of Spain. It is not frequently that we go crossing frontiers in +motor-cars and having our clubs examined with wonderment and irritating +inquiry by officers of the _douane_ twice in the day, going and +returning, for just two rounds of the best of games. Nor is it a common +thing that in one day English golfers should speed along in a German car +from Spain to France and from France back again to Spain to play on a +splendid course with French and Scottish opponents--a considerable +mixture, if you like. I was idling at San Sebastian when the aforesaid +Mr. Sharp, with such thought and kindness as golfers display towards +each other, gave greeting and said, "Come to Nivelle again for a day of +play." But how? It was thirty miles away, and those trains, with changes +at Irun and Bayonne, would be most fearfully slow. "Bother the trains!" +said Sharp, "what are motors for, and particularly what may be my own +car for? Say the time when you will have risen and bathed and taken your +_café complet_, and it will have gone over to San Sebastian by then." So +it came about that it was waiting at the door of my hotel at eight +o'clock in the morning. Coats were buttoned up, pipes were lighted, and +when the first quarter was being chimed from the church steeples we were +already doing our thirty to forty miles an hour through the hilly +suburbs of San Sebastian. There are such hills in Spain and France +between San Sebastian and St. Jean-de-Luz as you can hardly think of; +but the speed dial showed that we flashed up some of them at thirty and +darted down the other side at sixty-five. Great hills to the left with +jagged skylines and strange formations as go by such names as "Camel's +back"; and such sweet vales with mountains framing them over on the +right! Hereabouts is some of the prettiest scenery of Spain, and I hope +not to forget how on that glorious morning the mists of the new day +dissolved in the warming sunlight, and the opalescent gossamer that had +clung about those peaks of Spain gave place to strong blues and greys, +and then to shimmering rose. At Irun, on the Spanish side of the +frontier, the car's papers had to be shown, then we bowled over the +dividing river, and at Hendaye the Frenchmen asked their questions and +did their looking into things. Then up a steep hill for the last, and in +a few minutes we were gliding down into St. Jean-de-Luz, all of this +heartening business done within the hour. At the end of the day, two +rounds done, when the sun was setting, I was swung again over those +Spanish tracks, and just when the light had completely failed and a few +spots of rain came beating upon the glass the sixty horses in the Benz +had done their duty. I opened the casement of my room at the Maria +Christina; soft sounds from the sea floated in, and soothed one to a +pensive mood. + + + * * * * * + +The case of the golf of Pau is curious. Here, so far away from Britain, +far from Paris, four hours even from the coast at Biarritz, inland and +hugging closely to the Pyrenees, we have positively one of the oldest +golf clubs in the whole world. At the beginning there was Blackheath, +and then there were the Edinburgh Burgess, the Honourable Company, the +Royal and Ancient, Aberdeen, and two or three other clubs. Golf, growing +up, made its first leap across the seas to Calcutta in 1829, and +seventeen years afterwards it settled in Bombay. It first landed in +Europe in 1856, and was definitely and thoroughly established at Pau, +and has remained there flourishing ever since. This circumstance is the +more curious when we reflect that at that time there was no golf about +London except at Blackheath. The Royal Wimbledon and the London Scottish +Clubs were then unborn. Such great institutions now as the Royal +Liverpool Club at Hoylake and the Royal North Devon at Westward Ho! were +undreamt of, and a boy child might have been born to a golfer at Pau and +grown almost to middle age before the Royal St. George's Club at +Sandwich was begun. Scots, of course, were at the bottom of all this +pioneering work. The early Blackheath golfers were Scots; they carried +the game to Westward Ho!; they fostered it in India, and some of them +went off with it to Pau, where they liked to spend the winter in the +warm sunshine and in air which for sweet softness is almost +incomparable. Over the fireplace in the smoking-room of the club-house +is a picture of three of the founders of the club, who were still living +in 1890--Colonel Hutchinson, Major Pontifex, and Archbishop Sapte. +Another of those founders was Lieutenant-Colonel J. H. Lloyd-Anstruther. +Thus it happens that the charm of age and long settlement hang upon the +golf of Pau as they do upon no other golf club in Europe. Here, as not +elsewhere, you feel impressed upon you the dignity of golf, realise that +it is not a thing of to-day or of yesterday, and there are almost the +same deep pleasure and elevation of spirit and feeling when you come to +such a place after wandering among newnesses elsewhere as there are in +abiding for a while at St. Andrews or North Berwick in October, the +crowds then being gone away, after a course of southern golf of the most +recent preparation. + +The club-house at Pau is of the kind you would expect to discover at a +good club of long and honourable standing up-country in England. The +attributes of age and tradition are to be found within it. On a wall is +a painting twelve feet long depicting the leading golfers of Pau in +1884, assembled on the course, and it was done by that Major Hopkins who +did such work, now celebrated, concerning the earliest golfers at +Westward Ho! gathered by their iron hut. In this picture of Pau there +are some eminent golfers shown, such as Colonel Kennard, not long since +dead, who was field-marshal of the Royal Blackheath Club; but the artist +leads the eye to the gaunt figure of Sir Victor Brooke, a tam-o'-shanter +on his head, addressing the ball on the tee in the way of a determined +man. Sir Victor, for four or five years captain of the club, was the +lion of the golf of Pau in those days, and when a match book, now lying +musty in a corner, was started his was the first entry that was made in +it. The course is beautifully situated on the Billère plain, a mile or +so to the west of the middle of the town; and in the unusual absence of +a friendly car it is a pleasant walk through a shaded avenue of lofty +beeches in the splendid Parc du Château. + +One is a little puzzled to estimate the quality of this course, being +faced with a kind of semi-official printed statement that "Pau is +undoubtedly the best course on the continent" which to some degree is +intimidating. The turf, grown on a dark, sandy soil, is excellent, and +more than fifty years of play upon it have given it the firmness and +crispness that we miss elsewhere. The holes are of good length, well +arranged, and not easy. Yet pancake was never flatter than the central +part of the course, and with the very dullest and plainest kind of +mid-Victorian bunkering--three low, straight grassy banks in line with +each other right across the fairway--the golf hereabouts is less good to +the eye, at all events, than it is to the spirit in the play. The first +hole, a long one, with a road running diagonally across near the green, +close to which there is a little cottage, somehow by its surroundings +recalls memories of old "Mrs. Forman's" at ancient Musselburgh, and the +second is a short hole of quality. From the fourth tee the line of the +course bends round to the right, and for half a dozen holes we are away +from that central part; there are ups and downs in the land that give +more colour to the golf, and here and there are clumps of bushes that +need consideration. All the time we are close to the bank of the River +Gave, and at length, near to a point where a wild stream plunges into +it, we cross to a spit of land between them and play a few holes there. +They are nice holes. The ground heaves and rolls, and there must be good +calculation and accuracy in approaching. Another stream runs through +this isolated part of the course, and the green of the fourteenth hole +closes to a point where two running waters nearly meet and there is a +rutty road alongside. It is a pretty green, the situation is cunning and +delightful, and that fourteenth hole is one of the best in France. Not a +doubt about it--Pau is very good in parts. But we turn up a note on the +golf in a little guide to Pau, and read: "Owing to the nature of the +soil and their admirable preservation, the links at Pau compare +favourably with the course at St. Andrews, in Scotland, where the +conditions are almost ideal." O, Pau! + + + * * * * * + +Now Pau is one of those places where the golf, excellent and admired, is +not domineering, as one might say. You take it, you enjoy it, and yet +you live in an easy contentment after your game without raving about it. +It is a delightful little of a most happy and contenting whole. That is +because Pau of all places on this planet makes one feel rested, +contented, peacefully, languorously happy, and that is a most blessed +state at which to arrive after a long season's course of tubes and +taxi-cabs, noises and disturbances, crushes and crashes, late nights +and far too early mornings, and, yes--for they also come with the burden +of the Londoner--heavily bunkered five-hundred-yard-holes near our +excellent London town. The air is famous for its sweet soothing +properties. It wraps itself round your tired limbs, it steals into your +nervy senses, and it comforts you. Pau lets you quietly down, rests you, +gives you sleep, stills those jagged nerves that twitched so much in +town. Every one says so, and it is true. One morning I gossiped on the +course with Mr. Charles Hutchings, the wonderful man who won the Amateur +Championship at Hoylake in 1902, and who has known what nerves are +since. He told me he has now been wintering at Pau for the last twenty +years, and it is the only place that is any good to him. "Before I come +to Pau, and even when I am at Biarritz," said he, "my nerves are like +this"--and he slowly passed his right hand up along his left arm from +the hand to the shoulder--"and when I am at Pau they are like this," he +added, and he smoothed the arm back again from the shoulder to the +fingers. It was as if he had been stroking a cat the wrong way and the +right one--that was the idea. Biarritz, so very bracing, certainly makes +you jumpy, and many of us have played far better at Pau than at +Biarritz; in fact, we find that at Pau we can hit the ball as cleanly +and with as much confidence as anywhere. + +That reflection leads us when gazing abstractedly upon those Pyrenees, +which are so good for thought, to consider the effect of climate upon +one's game. Undoubtedly the effect is great, and yet it is neither +appreciated nor properly considered. After working hard for a spell in +town we say we will go for a weekend's golf, and, when we can, we choose +a highly bracing place, because we believe it is good for us and "bucks +us up." But do you remember how often the golf that we play at such +places is so extremely disappointing? The "bucking up" seems to have +failed. Take Deal, for example. There is hardly a course in the world +that I like and admire as much as this; but that strong air of Deal +upsets the game of nearly every man at the beginning. Pau is supposed to +be a little relaxing, but, except for the fact that we do not eat so +much as at Biarritz, we hardly notice it. It soothes us, quietens us +down, reduces our boiler and engine arrangements to low pressure, and +_voila!_ our game comes on, and it does so because the question of +playing well or ill by a man who knows the game is nearly always a +question of the steadiness of his nerves, and there are fine shades of +this steadiness that we do not always realise. That is why we play well +at Pau, and it makes us think sometimes that the relaxing places have +not had full credit for their golfing quality hitherto. + +There is a general conspiracy among all things at Pau to rest and soothe +the tired man. There are the bells. How can they affect the golf? you +ask. See, then. We know of the fame in song of "The Bells of Lynn" and +those of Aberdovey too; but it seems to me that the bells of Pau should +have an equal celebrity. They are excellent. Alongside the hotel at +which I stay at Pau a fine church steeple towers up, and there is in it +a splendid belfry with skilful ringers to use it. Sometimes their +performances wake us before our proper time in the morning, which is the +first effect. Then on some days and nights the ringers practise a kind +of bell music, which holds one spellbound. It begins slowly and quietly +with a few hesitating notes in the bass. Soon there is an answering echo +in the treble, and then it all gradually increases in time and volume +until in three or four minutes a veritable torrent of stormy music is +crashing out from the tower and flinging itself out to the Pyrenees. +And then it is as if the crisis passes, the bell music dies away again, +and at the end there is but the thin little tinkle of a treble bell +sounding lonely in the night. There are other fine belfries in the town; +but, more than that, there are little churches all along the hill that +frames our course on its northern side, and these have good bells as +well, and they all chime the hours and the quarters--and all at +different times! When one set of chiming begins just as you reach the +green, you know that listening for the others will so much distract you +that three or four putts may be needed, while the other man, being very +phlegmatic, is down in two for a win again. There is one of these +churches with its bells which has cost me many holes; its chime for the +quarters is exactly the first four notes of the good old tune, "Home to +Our Mountains." It strikes once for the quarter, twice for the half, +three times for the three-quarters, and four times for the full hour, +and, with the other two quick notes of the line missing, it always seems +incomplete, and always irritates. If I am just about to swing when these +bells begin to chime I see a catastrophe before me. + +If there were no Pyrenees there would be no golf at Pau; I doubt if +there would be Pau. Those glorious hills, beyond which are the castles +and gold of Spain, make an almost matchless view, and they are so +strong, so insistent, that they seem to dominate us in every +consideration. If you should tell me that mountains that are more than +twenty miles away can have nothing to do with the golfer's life and +game, I ask you to go to Pau and be surprised. Those far-away hills give +us rest, and they calm us to those moods of reflection to which, as +golfers, we are so well inclined. From the window of my favourite room +at Pau, I look right out on to the majestic chain, and have the best +view of it that is to be had. Below is the Boulevard des Pyrénées, more +than a mile in length. Beyond there is a valley, and beyond that the +Pyrenees rise up to one long wonderful white-topped line. Looked at in +this way they seem so very near, and yet their nearest point is more +than a dozen miles away, and there are peaks four thousand feet in +height which seem within easy walking range, and yet are distant forty +miles. From one end to the other we look out upon a length of some +thirty miles of these peaks, and indeed the effect is most enchanting. +This is the view that I get at its very best from my little window high +above the boulevard, and it is the view that brings scores of thousands +of pounds of English money to be spent in the winter and the spring at +Pau. It is a view that never palls, for it is never the same. To our +eyes those great Pyrenees are always changing--kaleidoscopic in variety +of shapes and colours. There are mysteries of the light and atmosphere +about them which make for perpetual curiosity and wonderment. In the +morning when we rise our first thought is as to what the Pyrenees will +look like to-day, and gazing out from our little window we see them all +done up afresh in new colours and shapes by Nature. They change as the +hours pass, and then one is curious to know what new surprise the sunset +will have in store. Sometimes in the morning they stand out bold in +black and white, just as if they were plain and simple Pyrenees. In the +middle of the chain two great points of peaks rise up from all the rest, +and they are in the straight line out from the lofty window where I sit. +They are the Grand Pic and the Petit Pic du Midi d'Ossau, and they are +the pet favourites of all of us who gaze out southwards to the range +beyond which the Spaniards dwell. The greater peak curls over a little +at the top towards the lesser one, that seems always to be snuggling up +close to it, and they look to us always to be like a lover hill and his +timid lady. Another morning all these mountains will be of a sapphire +blue. Next day they may be rosy red. But the best effects are those of a +phantom kind. Now and then those Pyrenees seem to have gone away to a +hundred miles beyond, and we see them rather dimly, but still with their +outlines well defined. They look like ghost mountains, and in +imagination we can peer through them to a nothingness beyond. Yet more +curious, there are mornings, fine and bright in Pau, with everything +shining in the sunlight, when there are no Pyrenees at all! There is +that little low range of hills in front, with the chalets and the +chateaux all plainly to be seen, and the light seems as good as ever it +was in southern France; but the Pyrenees, where have they gone? Not a +trace of them is left, and we are lonely, disconsolate. It is as if a +jealous Providence had wrapped them up in the night and carried them off +to another land where their eternal solitude would not be hindered by +the touring man and woman. But they come back again by night, and their +gradual reappearance is a thing for happy contemplation. Yet for the +greater glory and richness of colour the evening sunset effects are the +best of all. Then from the corner at the right the setting sun shines +along the hidden valley between the little hills and mountains beyond, +and it is as if in that unseen place below, millions of fierce lights +had been set burning and shining up the Pyrenees as rows of hidden +electric bulbs are sometimes used to throw a soft, weird glow upon a +ceiling and cause it to be reflected back again beneath. Then the +Pyrenees are as an ethereal vision; their base is like a golden band and +their tops like filmy gossamer, so that these seem to us to be not +mountains of the world at all, but high hills of heaven itself. And away +in the west the sun sets in a burning Indian red, and the thin crescent +of a new moon, with an attendant star, rises in the firmament. It is +this that I look upon from my own crow's nest at Pau when my tramping of +the day is done. + + + * * * * * + +One day at Pau a voice was raised in our little party and it said, "Let +us get up closer to those splendid Pyrenees"; but another said, "Where +should we get our golf?" It was answered that there was golf everywhere, +and there must be some right alongside those white-capped peaks. +Argelès! We remembered. It was advertised and well recommended as a good +course, "open all the year round," and laid in the most delightful +situation, the Pyrenees going up from its very edge. The prospect +sounded well. We decided at night that on the morrow we would proceed +with our bags of clubs to Argelès, and the porter at our hotel gave full +directions for getting there, which made it seem a very simple business. +It appeared that it was about thirty miles from Pau to Lourdes, and with +the journey two-thirds done we were to change trains there. But, short +as the distance was, it was to take us two hours. Our train would start +at twenty minutes to nine in the morning. The match of the day, with +four golfers implicated, was accordingly made overnight, and +anticipation of the joys of Argelès became keen. All this was well, but +when three of us had slept and were mightily refreshed, certain hitches +and accidents began to happen. The fourth party to our contract still +slumbered heavily at a quarter-past eight, and being then reminded, by +sundry taps, of the prevailing circumstances, he muttered indistinctly +that he was not to be tempted from his situation by the opportunity of +playing two rounds on any course in Paradise. So we left him snoring, +piglike, there, and we were only three. + +We got to Lourdes and descended from the train. Troubles arose +forthwith. The station-master blandly observed, and as it seemed with a +hardly hidden smile (how is it that non-golfers of all classes always do +seem to be made happy upon the contemplation of a golfer being suddenly +robbed of his game?), that there was no train from there to Argelès +until the afternoon, the service which the hotel porter had in mind not +beginning until three days later. By the same token the return train +which we reckoned on was non-existent, and he expressed doubts about our +sleeping that night at Pau if we persisted in what he could not help +regarding as a very mad enterprise born of too much enthusiasm. We +thanked him, and went out into the streets of Lourdes to see what could +be done. Truly, we were only ten miles from Argelès, even if the road +was through the mountains. And it was a fine day. + +Suddenly, and as it seemed from nowhere, up came carriages from all +parts of the compass, each drawn by a pair of horses, the coachmen all +loudly soliciting the favour of driving us to Argelès, which they +explained was fifteen miles away--a deliberate exaggeration. The first +man to whip up to us asked for twenty francs for the single journey, and +the others were amazed at his impudence. Another offered to take us for +fifteen, and a third cabby came down at once to twelve. Then they all +did so, and the market seemed to settle at that price, a great gathering +of coachmen surrounding us and expatiating on the superior merits of +their various horses and the comfort of their vehicles. It was a great +spectacle, this golfers' carriage market at Lourdes! At last the first +man to make an offer to us, suddenly, in a mood of desperation, came +down to ten francs, and we closed with him, not so much because of the +saving of an odd franc or two, but because his pair of bays certainly +did seem to have more fast trotting in them than any of the others. It +was such a glorious journey down the valley of Argelès as golfers seldom +make, huge, rocky, snow-capped mountains rising up from either side of +the winding road. Leaving Lourdes there were two high hills on the left, +one surmounted with a single cross and the other with three crosses of +"Calvary" standing out clearly against the sky. Then, later, from the +bottom of the valley a stumpy hill suddenly rose up in the middle, an +old keep of mediaeval times on the top of it, and after that the great +peak of the Viscos, with the pass to Gavernie on one side of it and that +to Cauterets on the other were presented. Soon afterwards we rattled +down the little main street of Argelès, and lunched at the chief hotel. +There was then a ten minutes' drive to the course, and our coachman--a +local fellow, and not the one who drove us from Lourdes--stopped at +various cottages on the way and shouted out inquiries as to whether +Adolphe or Marie or Jeanne was at home. He was getting caddies for us, +as he explained there would be none otherwise. Eventually from different +places we picked up three--two little girls and a boy--who hung on to +the back of the vehicle and proceeded with us to the appointed place. +The course has great possibilities, but as yet they are thinly +developed. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE GAME IN ITALY, AND THE QUALITY OF THE COURSE AT ROME, WITH A SHORT +CONSIDERATION OF THE VALUE OF STYLE. + + +The other day, when we sat on the deck of a little steamer plying on the +lake of Como, contented in warm spring sunshine with a sublime panorama +of blue water and white-topped Alps, I was led to recall some of the few +remarks which a shrewd and pungent commentator on life and men, the late +Henry Labouchere, had made about our game, and, as he was not himself a +golfer, and not the most tolerant of men despite his certain breadth of +mind, it may be guessed that they were not complimentary to the game. We +had left Varenna, and the little ship was paying its dutiful respects to +Bellagio and Menaggio and such like places of an Italian fairyland. +Hereabouts, as I remembered, Mr. Labouchere had lived in the proper +season, and it came about some seven years back that a golf course--and +a nice course too--was established near by, and the local hotel-keeper, +in proper enterprise, ran a conveyance each day regularly at a certain +time from his door to the club-house. Radical as he was--if he really +was--Mr. Labouchere disliked this disturbance of the old peace and +harmony of his lakeland retreat, and affected to see something vulgar in +it. This wit and cynic, who once, answering an inquiry, said that he +liked a certain lady of his acquaintance well enough but would not mind +if she dropped down dead in front of him on the carpet, certainly wished +that golf had never grown into the human scheme of things, and he +complained loudly of its invasion here. He suggested that Italy was now +passing to the dogs. Had he lived a little longer he would surely have +played at Menaggio, and we could have assured him then that golf in +Italy was long before his time, and would certainly be of good help to +the country for long after. It is one of the curious facts of golfing +history that the game was played in Italy before any golf club, except +one, was definitely established in Scotland, the only exception being +the Edinburgh Burgess Golfing Society, and lo! it was played there by a +Scot, and a Scot so good as the bonnie Prince Charlie himself. When I +first went to the Villa Borghese in Rome, I remembered, on approaching +it through the park, that when Lord Elcho went there in 1738 he found +the Prince playing in the gardens. Many courses now exist in different +parts of this beautiful Italy, and the country has begun to take its +place in the great forward movement in European golf. It has begun +slowly; but now, as I have seen it, does really advance. + + + * * * * * + +A little fable is quickly told. A wise father had sent his son, for the +good of his mind, to Rome, and when the boy returned he asked him what +he thought of the city that is called eternal. Harold then answered, "I +think, sir, that the lies at Rome are very good." Do not judge Harold +harshly upon this answer, as you may be inclined to do. He might have +come to know less of Rome had he not discovered that the lies on the +Campagna were so good, and that the legions of mighty Caesar which were +exercised there had left no enduring marks of their galloping behind +them. He might not have gained so many good Roman friends to tell him +helpfully of the wonders of the city. And if golf is a little thing, and +the contemplation of Rome is so enthralling, yet, be it murmured, the +golf of Rome is one of the wonders of the golfing world. I have found it +so. As it was to me, so it will prove a revelation to all golfers who go +to Rome and have as yet no knowledge of the course that is there. For +the full-bodied character of the holes, caused by natural land +formations, and for their variety and interest, I do not hesitate to say +that there is no course on the continent of Europe which is better, and +I support this statement with another, that while I can hardly recall +any hole where a bad shot will go unpunished or a good one without +reward, yet in the whole round there is not a single artificial bunker. +Nature has seen to all the tests and difficulties. Of what other course +can this be said? Golf at Rome was begun in 1898, and ever since then +there have been some fine golfing men working to what they were sure +would be a successful end, chief among them being Mr. R. C. R. Young, +who in the capacity of honorary secretary has been largely responsible +for the general management of the club. Lately the round has been +extended from nine holes to eighteen, Mr. Young and Doig, the +professional, having done the planning of the new holes, and with this +the golf of Rome enters upon a new era. The club flourishes, the golfing +community, partly Roman, partly British, and partly American, is +zealous, and the people there have come to believe that even the most +serious, studious, and high-minded folk who go to Rome to steep +themselves in living history of the past need for their refreshment some +antidote to ruins. "St. Peter's, and the Colosseum, the Forum and the +baths of Caracalla," said one of them to me, "will bring the foreigners +to Rome, but only golf will keep them there!" Count this for weakness +in man, and for his utter modernity if you like; but it is the truth. +Consequently the golf of Rome is entering upon a new forward movement. I +think that when the public in distant places comes to realise that the +golf of Rome is half as good as it really is, thousands and thousands +more will go to Rome than do so now, to play upon the Campagna, and +during the time to gather to their souls a scent of the glory of the +ancient mistress of the world. I have a vision of Rome becoming a +headquarters of continental golf in the near future. + +On a morning after some days among the ruins--such a glorious morning, +with the Italian sun burning gold amid a heavenly blue--two noble Romans +came in their chariot for a barbarian wanderer at his hotel at half-past +nine. They were not real Romans, but Augustus could have played their +part of host no better, and a forty-horse-power car moved us towards the +Campagna more speedily than the best of chariots. Away we went by the +foot of the Equilinus, down the Via Emanuele Filiberto, through the gate +of St. John Lateran in the Aurelian wall, and then straight on. In a few +minutes we were at Acqua Santa and inside the club-house. Of all the +club-houses in the world, this is surely one of the most curious and +interesting. It is an old farm-house, skilfully adapted to its purpose, +and we shall be sorry if in the course of time and a grand extension of +the golf at Rome it is given up for anything more palatial and +conventional. Here in an upper room we take the necessary nourishment in +a simple way, and among other liquid refreshments there is the real +_acqua santa_ itself, a pleasantly bitter and quite delicious water that +is drawn from a spring by a farm-house at a corner of the course. In +days gone by the water was considered, perhaps not without good reason, +to have splendid curative properties, and popes of Rome came to it and +blessed it accordingly. I believe that one of them derived some healing +benefit from it. And now, as we think of popes and cardinals, we recall +that one of the latter, Cardinal Merry del Val, had some kind of a +course in his private grounds, and so far he has been the only cardinal +golfer. Once before he died a scheme was afoot for a visit by him to the +course at Acqua Santa. In a good and sensible and honest way the golf +club of Rome is already a considerable social centre. Perhaps some day +the King of Italy--already patron of the club--will join himself to the +majority of kings and become a golfer too. A leading member of the +famous historical family of Colonna, Don Prospero Colonna, is president, +and a number of the most eminent people of Rome are among the members. +Princes and princesses, counts and countesses, ambassadors of nearly all +countries, and American millionaires may be found playing the game +regularly at Acqua Santa. The keenest golfer of them all is Dr. Wayman +Cushman, who is handicapped at plus 4, an American who spends half his +year in Maine and the other half in Rome, where he plays golf nearly +every day. The Americans are strong in the golf of Rome, and some of the +young Italians are showing excellent form. There is one of them, Don +Francesca Ruspoli, educated in England and son of a Roman father and +American mother, of whom great golfing things are expected. + +Really this is an excellent course; but the full merit of it will hardly +be appreciated in the first round or the second, for the wonderful views +and the special points of interest in them will constantly interfere +with concentration on the strokes and thought upon the scheme for +reaching the putting green. Standing upon the first teeing ground and +pondering for a moment upon the carry to be made across the little +valley in front, the panorama begins at once to suggest its superior +claims. Leftwards are the Apennines, opalescent in the morning mist, +capped with snow upon their peaks. There are the Alban Hills, where the +shepherds were born who followed Romulus on the Palatine, and at the end +of the range is Monte Cavo, on the top of which are the ruins of the +temple of the god of the Latin races, living in the Latium, the ground +between the mountains and the sea. On the wine-yielding bosom of these +shining hills there lies sparkling white in the morning sun the village +of Frascati. There are the Sabine Hills with Tivoli, and away in another +direction there is Mount Soracte, well said to look out there like a +wave in a stormy sea. Up into our middle distance on the left-hand side, +on the fringe of the course, are the splendid ruins of the Claudian +aqueduct which stretch right across the Campagna, one lonely pile coming +close up to our sixteenth green alongside which the Via Appia Nuova +stretches, with two famous umbrella pines helping on the scene. + +There is so much for a beginning, and more views press upon us as we +advance along the course. The play is opened with a good hole of drive +and iron length, the second brings us back again with a drive and a +pitch, and then away we go to the left with one of the cunningest +seconds to be played across twin streams, making this third hole of Rome +one of the most exacting in the way of approach that is to be found in +Italy or even in the whole of Europe. When we come to the sixth we play +up to the summit of a high tableland, and as we ascend the hill we pluck +from the turf some of the freshest, prettiest crocuses that have ever +grown, the course being as nearly thick with them in March as North +Berwick is with daisies in the month of May. And from these heights what +a view again over towards the city of Rome! Out along that way there is +the tomb of Cecilia Metella, Crassus' wife, and away on the boundary +there is the church of St. John Lateran and the great dome of St. +Peter's. If golf is a royal and ancient game, here is a setting for it. +Near to the eighth hole we turned aside to the ruins of an ancient Roman +villa, and Santino, my little Italian caddie, with finger excavation, +gathered some morsels of polished marble which may have touched the feet +of Roman ladies in those great days of old. The line of the tenth comes +close to one of those deep-cut streams that flow to feed the hungry +Tiber, and in some ways this hole reminds us of the fourth at Prestwick +where the Pow Burn insinuates itself close to the golfer's way. At our +backs when we stand on the eleventh tee is a cave that might serve for +robbers but which really makes an excellent shelter, and it was related +that a few weeks before my time in Rome three ambassadors, being the +British, the American, and the Austrian, were seen to sit in there and +shelter. And who then shall say that, if "only a game," golf has no +possibilities and powers in such high crafts as diplomacy? The twelfth +is an excellent hole, and so are they all. The sixteenth takes us +winding round a big bend between a hill and a stream and then faces us +full to the putting green, which has the Claudian ruins for a +background. The play concludes with a seventeenth which has a putting +green very shrewdly placed, and an eighteenth where the second shot is +played through a little valley, these ending holes abounding in golfing +beauty and character. + +There is to be said of this course, and in the most sober and +well-considered judgment by one who has seen golf in many lands, that +there is scarcely an inland course anywhere that seems more naturally +adapted to the game. Each hole has strong character of its own; I could +remember them all after but a single round. Some time soon they will +make an attempt at Acqua Santa to carry their putting greens on from one +season to the next, and then they will get a thickness and trueness and +quality that greens can gain in no other way. The golfers of Rome are +keen, and they have energy and enterprise. A great future awaits this +club and course, and I believe that when more money is spent on it, as +will be soon, it will be in nearly every thinkable way the most +attractive course on the Continent. The mood that gathers about one when +in Rome tends to taking the game rather more seriously and thoughtfully +than at the Mediterranean resorts; it becomes a real recreation, the +refreshing change. The club's nearness and convenience to the city are +very good. It is but a few minutes' journey by either train or tram from +the heart of Rome to the club-house, near which there is a special +golfers' railway station. + + + * * * * * + +A Franciscan friar was the first to point out to me the situation of the +nine holes of Florence--nine plain fair holes, though they have nothing +of architectural beauty in them, not a trace of feeling, nothing of the +mediaeval glow of spirit that separates this city from all others in the +world, hardly a touch of imagination in their two or three thousand +yards. Yet they serve their modern purpose well. For six days and six +nights the rain had poured down upon the dripping Firenze from +inexhaustible clouds; the saucer in which the city is laid emptied its +floods into the Arno until, dirtier and more turbulent than usual, the +big stream tumbled itself violently through the bridges. We wandered +through the Uffizi Galleries and the Pitti Palace and the Bargello of +courtyard fame. There is nothing in the world like sweet Florence, and +it is a hopeless soul that feels no spark of artistic fire crackle for +at least one inspiring moment when the glories of this city that was +born and lived to the human expression of beauty are contemplated. But +an incessant rain provokes a bold defiance; there almost seemed to be a +weakness in such constant shelter, and I remembered a suggestion that +was sent to me from a far distance--"Go up to Fiesole if you can." So in +the car I went to Fiesole. We went out of the town and by San Gervasio, +and wound past San Domenico, and twisted our way up the hill until, with +five miles done, or it may have been a little more, the old Etruscan +town, with the fragment of an ancient wall, was reached. At the very +summit, where once a Roman castle stood, there is the Franciscan +monastery. A brother in his umbrian gown looked meditatively outwards +from the porch, and he was gracious and friendly when I told him I would +like to go inside. From a loggia within we looked out upon one of the +finest panoramic views of its kind. The rain had ceased. Grass was seen +upon the Etruscan hills, tentacles of the Apennines came clear again +through dissolving mists, and a golden light flamed up in the western +sky. And in its peaceful hollow there lay Florence, the palace of art, a +mediaeval jewel glistening there like a mosaic in white and terra cotta, +with its great duomo in many-coloured marbles lording it over the +lowlier piles. Florence! Sweeping the valley with a glance, the monk +turned towards the north-east and, leaning upon a wall, he pointed with +his right hand and said, "Pisa!" Over there was the city of the leaning +tower and the baptistery with the amazing echo. But in the nearer +distance there was a square patch of vivid green, and I traced its +situation along there by the course of the Arno, by the Cascine, and +other landmarks, and made nearly sure of what it was. The thought was +incongruous at the time, nearly inexcusable, but yet there is little in +golf that is vulgar after all, and it could not be denied that there was +the golf course out that way. By some careful questions I gained +confirmation from the friar. I told him I looked for a place, a special +place, whose locality I described precisely. And he held out his hand +again. The golf course was nearly in the line of Pisa. + +While so many things in Florence are four or five hundred years old at +least, the golf course is only fifteen. Still, fifteen years makes a +good maturity in these times, and Italy, if its courses are few, has +some distinctions among them. Many continental courses depend for their +attraction on their setting. Those of Florence and Rome have the most +perfect setting conceivable, but while the course of Rome could live on +its merits had there been no Rome, the course of Florence never could. +Yet the city helps it out, and, though poor be the holes, here we have +indeed one of the most enthusiastic little golf communities one might +ever wish to mix among. The club is captained by Mr. J. W. Spalding, +head of the great athletic business firm, who has ceased to live in +America and lives now wholly in Florence, which he would hardly do were +it not for this golf course, on which he plays nearly every day. Mr. +Spalding is a fine example of the keen and determined golfer. A few +years ago, in a terrible motor-car smash in Italy, he lost completely +the sight of one eye. As soon as the surgeons and the doctors let him +loose again he hurried to his favourite course at Florence and--think of +it!--at once he won the scratch gold medal. He is a scratch man now, and +plays as well as ever. + +These and many other things I learned on the day after the monk had +pointed out to me the direction of the nine holes of Florence, when I +went along to San Donato to make a closer view of them, to drive and +putt at them. The golfers of Florence are a good company, managed with +zeal by Signor Mavrogordato, in the capacity of honorary secretary. They +are as keen and interested in their game as if they were at Sandwich, +and they have a miniature club-house situated on a spot of land that has +a cemented water-filled moat all round it, those who would enter having +to pass over a little rustic bridge. The holes are plain with artificial +cross bunkers, and the architecture is of what might be called the low +Victorian school. One of the features of the course is a couple of tall +trees that stand up in the middle with thin straight trunks parallel to +each other, looking for all the world like Rugby football goal-posts. +One great advantage that this course has is that it is splendidly +convenient to the city. Take a tram-car No. 17 labelled "Cascine" from +one particular corner of the cathedral square, say "Golf" to the +conductor, pay him a penny for the fare, and the rest is inevitable. In +a quarter of an hour you will be deposited at a junction in the roads by +the barrier of Ponte alle Mosse, and two minutes' walk from there takes +you to the iron gates which give admission to the course. + + + * * * * * + +There is the beautiful bay at Naples, and Pompeii, and a short voyage on +the steamboat to the sweet isle of Capri; but golf has not yet come to +Naples, though it will do so soon. When we travelled down there from +Rome we were aboard a train that was taken by many of the Naples members +of the Italian Parliament who were going home for the week-end--the +"deputies' train" they often call that six o'clock from Rome. They had +been having a fearful week of it, wrangling about their recent Libyan +war and the cost of it, and their nerves were in rather a jagged state. +I fell into conversation with one of them, and he said that he wished +he were a golfer, as from all that he had heard and understood it was +the real and only thing for the soothing of a deputy after such +scrimmaging and scratching as they had been having in the Chamber that +weary week. He asked questions about our Parliamentary golfers, and was +informed about Mr. Balfour, Mr. Asquith, Mr. Lloyd George, and all the +others. I told this honourable member for Naples that nearly all our +Parliamentarians played the greatest game of all, and that the Mother of +Parliaments was all the better for it. He was impressed. He said there +should be golf at Naples by the time I went there again--even if it was +set there for the benefit of the tired members only! + +Above all things, Venice is a place for reflection, and when we are +there we think of all things we have seen and done in Italy, and shape +exactly the impressions that have been made. One time there were two or +three of us in a gondola. The crescent of a seven days' moon hung among +the stars in the Venetian night. The gentle regular plash that was made +by Giovanni Cerchieri, our gondolier (and be it said that his gondola is +the blackest and smartest and most finely dignified of all that glide on +the Grand Canal), as he swung backwards and forwards to his work behind +us, with a sigh or a murmur that might have swollen to a real boat-song +had we encouraged it, was nearly the only sound on the still waters. And +in this Venetian night, an hour after the coffee, we were in the mood of +men who feel that they are soon to return to the cold hard facts of +life. The rest of Venice might go to glory; we, soothed amid such ease +and comfort as might have satisfied a doge, turned our thoughts to the +links of home. There was nothing incongruous in the association of ideas +and facts. Venice we found to be splendid for meditation, and any place +with such a quality, like the top of a mountain, or the side of a +purling stream, is a fine one for golfing consideration and conjecture. +One man would talk of art, of pictures, and of sculpture; another would +stupidly keep to golf. And then a compromise was suggested, when it was +said that a question had once been asked as to whether there was such a +thing as style in golf! + +Any thoughtful player who ever had any doubt upon this matter--but, of +course, no thoughtful player ever could--would have it dispelled if he +went to Italy even though he never played a game, did not take his +clubs, and never saw a golf course there. It were indeed better for his +education in this matter that he should not play when on Italian ground, +for one would not expect to find on the courses there the best examples +of golfing style. The fact of style in golf would come home to him when +he wandered through the galleries and looked upon all the magnificent +sculptures that are among the matchless treasures of the country, though +there is no study of a golfing swing among them. I do not see how any +player of the game who is thoughtful and contemplative can go to Italy +and fail to be enormously impressed with the lessons that are silently +delivered from the sculpture in the galleries and museums of Rome, +Florence, and other cities. In hundreds of pieces here we see the +suggestion of beauty put forward in every movement and exercise of the +human body, and particularly when the frame is being brought to some +considerable physical effort, when the limbs are being placed upon the +strain, are grace and rhythm and style exhibited to us, and with them +there is the suggestion always of the extreme of power. There is +indicated the close relationship between exact and graceful poise, +perfect balance, and supreme controlled and concentrated force. The very +utmost efficiency is always suggested in all this artistic balance. As +the art is better and more appealing, so the suggestion of power is +increased and the marble almost seems to break with life. + +Considered in this way, what a fine thing is the "David" of Bernini in +the Borghese Gallery! But for our golfing suggestion some of the +discobolus models serve us better. Without ever having attempted to +throw a discus, one may very well understand that success at such an +exercise depends almost wholly upon perfect balance and accurate +concentration of force and true rhythmical movement, and in the models +in the Vatican and the National Museums in Rome and elsewhere we see how +it might be done. The discobolus of Myron, reconstructed as it has been, +and with the head made to face in the wrong direction, so they say, is a +magnificent thing. In the National Gallery of Rome they have made a +reconstruction from a fragment of another, and they have made the figure +to look sideways and half upwards to the discus held at arm's length +behind him ready for the throw, whereas in the Myron the face is to the +front and the eyes are down. (Though one may know nothing at all about +the ways in which the discs were really thrown, or what is the best way +to throw them, one is hardly convinced of the desirability of disturbing +the head in the back-swing of the arm and letting the eyes follow the +object in the hand. Surely concentration would be impeded and balance +suffer.) But in these images we see the intensity of the relation +between style and power, and we realise that if there were no style in +golf there ought to be, and the next moment, that of all modern games +golf is a game of style and nothing else. Perhaps you may play it +without style, but then it is not the same thing, and it can never be so +thoroughly effective and precise. Unconsciously, perhaps, James Braid +had style in his mind when he said that at the top of the swing the +golfer should feel like a spring coiled up to its fullest tension, +straining for the release. That is just what the discobolus suggests, +and the golfer gets the fullest enjoyment from the game, the supreme +physical thrills, when he feels this high tension for a moment and then +its even, smooth, and quick escape, and he cannot feel it so when he has +no style and all his movements and positions have not been made in +perfect harmony. Some may say that the actions of the discobolus were +probably not so very fine as the sculptors have made them out to be, and +that much of the shape is merely artist's fancy, but probably they are +fairly true to life. If they are not, one cannot contemplate them for +more than a few moments without feeling that life ought to be true to +them. The golfer in the suggestion of grace and power, as in the models +that have been cut of Harry Vardon at the top and end of his driving +swing, reaches some way towards the discobolus. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE AWAKENING OF SPAIN, AND SOME MARVELLOUS GOLFING ENTERPRISE IN +MADRID, WITH A STATEMENT OF GOLFERS' DISCOVERIES. + + +"When we were in Madrid----" I have sometimes begun in conversation, and +then invariably from one or more in the company there has been a quick +interruption with--"But there can be no golf in Madrid! You do not go to +Spain for golf!" But one who knows may answer that there is as good +reason to go there for it as to most other places out of Britain, that +in different parts of Spain there is fair golf to be had, that in Madrid +there is a new course which is excellent and embraces some of the +prettiest holes we would ever wish to play after passing by the +Pyrenees, and that I have found there Spanish gentlemen to play with who +have been among the happiest and most agreeable companions and opponents +I have encountered. In a reflection upon my own experiences I dare to +say that I would recommend a doubtful stranger to go to Spain only if he +is a golfer, for by the agency of the game will the life and facts of +the country be best presented to him, and mysteries be explained. The +magic passport of golf is indispensable in all such circumstances. The +truth is that it was golf that led me to Spain on my second visit to the +country, and I had then one of the most interesting and instructive +holidays I have had in my travelling life, during which I had the +opportunity of seeing something of the inside of Spanish life and +government, of discovering truth about the forces that work in the +regeneration of this old country, for really an awakening is taking +place, and one dares to say the firm establishment of golf is a symbol +of it. I had some interesting conversations with the Count Romanones, +who was then the Prime Minister, with his brother, who is the Duke of +Tovar, a man of broad sympathies who takes a leading part in many social +movements of high importance in Madrid, and with other persons of much +importance. These talks, with the open sight of all that was passing in +Madrid, made a deep impression. + +"You are a golfer, and we of Spain may give you some good golf to play!" +said the Prime Minister cordially when by invitation I called upon him +at his palace in the Paseo de la Castellana. He is a man of forcible +appearance and manner. The face is thin, and its lines of character are +strong--cold and strong. The aquiline features have something of +Spanish--no Italian--fierceness about them, and the Count makes a +piercing look which is considered discomforting to nervous strangers. +But he is a very attractive companion in talk; his verve, his vivacity +are wonderful. When discussing a subject in which he is interested his +whole being becomes aflame; eyes sparkle and features quiver; he beats +his fingers in the palms of his hands; he leans over towards you and +gesticulates like an artist in enthusiasm. A man of hot nervous energy, +one of keen purpose and determination is this statesman of Spain. He +suggested that the new sports of his country were symbolic of her great +awakening, of which he said he would talk to me that I might tell others +what Spain is now and what she would be. "Europe does not understand my +country," he remarked, "True, there has been little occasion to +understand her. But a change occurs. Spain at this moment is passing +through a most remarkable process of transition. You are right in a +suggestion you have made to me; unsuccessful wars do not cause +interminable loss and disasters. The war with the United States was not +all bad for Spain. We may have lost Cuba, but the development that has +taken place since then in our country at home, in its agriculture and +its mining, and again in its healthy natural feeling, has been enormous, +and is a good substitute for many islands." And then he went on in a +deeply interesting conversation to tell me of the great awakening of +Spain indicated in many different ways, and of all her political, +social, and other ambitions. + +The Duke of Tovar, who is also coming to take an interest in the golf of +Spain, smoked his cigar on a divan in his palace, and a Moorish boy +brought coffee to us. The Duke travels much, and brings things and +people back with him. I see that he has been an ambassador-extraordinary +to the Pope of Rome and has received the most gracious papal thanks. A +little of a statesman, he is much of an artist, and a marble bust of +Alfonso _rex_, his own sculpture, casts a shadow beside us. In +innumerable ways this Spanish nobleman associates himself with the life +of the people, goes among them, attends their meetings, and he began +telling me that one of the secrets of the new Spain was the important +fact of the nobles taking to business, becoming the promoters and +managers of industrial companies, as they were. He told me of dukes who +were doing things. One of the new movements, in which he has assisted to +his utmost and thoroughly believes in, is the boy scout movement, which +has caught on like wildfire in Madrid. Three thousand Spanish boys were +enrolled within a few weeks of the establishment of the system in the +city, and the Duke became a president of a section. All class +distinctions are avoided in this matter. "My son is going with the son +of the porter," said the Duke of Tovar. And he most certainly believed +in golf for the people, and would tell me stories of its beginning and +its development. + +As to Madrid, never was such a quick transformation accomplished in any +city of the world, save when 'Frisco perished and was made again, as is +being done here in the city on the plateau of Castile. The Spaniards +having decided on the regeneration of their country and on persuading +foreigners to come to it, have determined they must have a capital +befitting a first-class power. The result is that Madrid is being torn +to pieces and rebuilt. Everywhere there is a fever of building raging. +Think of it: but three years ago and there was not a single first-class +hotel in Madrid; now there are two fine ones. The Alcala, where the +Madrileños stroll and mount up the hill to the Puerta del Sol, the great +bare square where the idlers lounge, where the bull-fighting papers are +sold, where there are many offices for the sale of lottery tickets, +where there are cafés and yellow tramcars (run by Belgian companies, if +you please!) and much life but no gaiety until very late at night, is +soon to be deposed from being chief street of Madrid, for they are +making a new ideal street, very wide and one mile long, which is cut +straight through the heart of the city and is to be called the Gran Via +when it is done. Millions and millions of pesetas' worth of property +have been demolished to allow for the straightness of this street, which +is to ask for comparison with a part of the Fifth Avenue across the +water. Thirty-seven millions of pesetas were lately voted by the +Municipal Council for the removal of the cobble stones of Madrid, their +places to be taken by asphalte and wood. The cobbles of Madrid are +picturesque; they make good harmony with those antique watchmen who seem +to have been reincarnated from our own eighteenth-century London, +walking the slumberous streets at night, lanterns in their hands and +jangling bunches of giant keys suspended from their girdles, their +business being to open the outside doors of blocks of flats for +late-returning occupiers who in an unthinking languorous way of Spain +would carry no keys, but leave the affair of their homecoming to the +fortune of the night, the vigilance of the watchman, and the blessing of +Providence. But the cobbles are not convenient. They are seldom +repaired, and even in such a spacious public place as the Prado, which +is a kind of Hyde Park Corner, there are sometimes deep holes which fill +with water when it rains and make such pools as ducks might like and +dogs would drink, but which take a leg of mine some way upwards to the +knee when the night is dark. There was an old Madrid of which trills of +love and passion have been sung. Fevered lovers sang to ladies whose +lips were red, and whose skin was dark, as their hearts were +gay--voluptuous women. Guitars and flowers; blood and life. That Madrid +has nearly passed away. A few steep and narrow streets and some dirty +open spaces, with little of the delicate charm of age to recommend them, +are most of what is left of it in a quarter near to the royal palace. +The city of later times, the Madrid of to-day, is already and quickly +giving way to a third Madrid which will soon be made. + +In this that I have written I may seem to neglect my theme, and yet the +state of Spain does most closely concern the strange case of golf in the +country. Here is an answer to interrupters who are quick to say that one +does not go to Madrid for golf. When Spain was all romance and colour, +all dirt and laziness, it was no place for games like this. Bicycles +were not popular then because they had to be pedalled ceaselessly, or +the riders would fall: they, being as symbols of action, did not permit +of lounging or a little slumber. In the days of the first and second +Madrids, athletics could not be contemplated; the corrida was supreme +and solitary for Spanish "sport." Now there is an athletic movement. +There are many football clubs; there is a national cup competition and +the King has given the cup. Still the corrida flourishes, but it is +threatened. In the new movement for the third Madrid there are social +clubs such as we have in London. There is an inclination for strong, +healthy sport, and the King encourages it with all his royal might and +influence. Don Alfonso has been the good leader of the royal game in +Spain. The main point is that golf in these days is a token of a +healthier disposition and a new progress, and it is a strong influence +upon character. In the old Spain such a sport as this was quite +impossible; now it grows, and, to me as one who has considered the birth +and rise of golf in many countries, the case of Spain is deeply +interesting. When I went there I remembered what some of the thoughtful +and candid Americans had said about this game exerting a needed and +subtle influence upon their own national character. It is such +influences that are needed in Spain, and I shall go again among the +Madrileños to see this one in the working. Already they have courses, +nice and tolerable, in Barcelona, Bilbao, and many other provincial +places. When I went to San Sebastian, one of the most beautiful and +fully equipped seaside resorts in the whole world, the municipal +authorities assured me that they felt a fear that the bull-fights were +becoming a doubtful attraction to foreign visitors, and they were giving +their attention to the establishment of a municipal golf course. It +will be the first municipal golf course on the continent of Europe. + + + * * * * * + +Let me plunge to my revelation and state that Madrid, in New Castile, +land of the toreador, country where so much of the Middle Ages does yet +survive, where games till lately have been almost unknown, this Madrid +comes now to be possessed of such a first-class course as might be the +envy of many a British seaside resort. While I lingered in the city +Señor Fabricio de Potestad, one of the most active members of the +general committee of the Madrid Golf Club, and of its green committee +too, was a kind counsellor and guide. Just as might happen at home, +while at breakfast at the Ritz there came to me notice that the car was +waiting. Señor de Potestad, his clubs and mine inside the car, had the +golfer's expectancy upon a genial Spanish countenance, rubbed hands, and +declared it was a fine day for the game. We sped away from the Prado, +and considered handicaps and odds as golfers must. But first we went for +object lessons in the progress of Spanish golf. Three or four miles out +we reached the hippodrome where some nine years back the game was born. +Don Alfonso had been learning golf in England; he had striven with it in +a left-handed way while he wooed a British princess in the Isle of +Wight, and he gave a Spanish decoration then to the professional who +showed him how to hold his hands and where to put his feet. Then nine +simple stupid little holes were laid out in this hippodrome, and there +they still remain as relics of the earliest age in the golf history of +this country, the uncultured time when the ball was missed, the days +when a hole in nine might have been considered good and a seven enough +to make the soul of a great grandee quiver with a new found joy. Three +Spaniards stood forward with the King as the pioneers of Spanish golf, +and still they are among its leaders. There was a great sportsman, the +Duke of Alva, president of the club; there was the Marquis de Santa +Cruz, and there was the Señor Pedro Caro, perhaps the only Spanish +golfer of early times besides Don Alfonso himself who learned his +strokes and swings in England, where he was schooled, and who with the +Count de la Cimera and the Count Cuevas de Vera, cousin of my guide, is +one of the three best players of Spain. Two of them are Spanish scratch, +and the Count de la Cimera lately achieved the distinction of being the +first of his land to rise to the eminence of plus one. Thus you may +perceive that the golf of Spain is helped by the best people, and that +is not because it is fashionable, and it is not only because the King +has shown a liking for it, but because the Spaniards have found in it a +quick fascination, an awakening pastime, such a strong diversion from +the often heavy life of their country as they had not imagined. Had you +seen, as I did, the Duke of Aliaga bunkered one afternoon before a high +steep cliff in front of the eighteenth green on the second oldest course +of Madrid; had you seen him pensive as he felt the extraneous sorrows of +a Spanish nobleman of riches and high station; had you seen the gleam of +gladness in two Spanish eyes when the ball was heaved somehow to the top +in one (the gods may know how he managed it; but we said to him that it +was a splendid shot, and I do believe it was!) you would not doubt that +golf was meant for Spain as these people declare it was--"the thing of +all others that we needed," so they say. + +This second oldest course, the "old course" as they begin to call it +now, marks the transition period of Spanish golf. It is not the +primeval course of the hippodrome, but one which was made in 1907 at a +place apart and a little farther along the road. The land is worth a +million and three-quarters of pesetas now when Madrid has become so much +bigger than it was, and the course falls within the city zone; and as +the players became educated they yearned for something better, and they +moved again. But fond memories will cling for long enough to this old +course of Spain; with a little help from fancy one may look upon it even +now as a kind of old Blackheath of Spanish golf. There is a small +club-house with dining-room, dressing-rooms and all complete, in quite +the English way, on a spot of rising ground, and from the verandah we +may look over a part of the course, with a short hole to begin with and +some curious bunkering here and there, with a highly modern attempt to +adopt the system of humps-and-hollows bunkering that has been so well +established on inland courses at home. Somehow one gathers the +impression that the Spaniards have been striving all the time towards +some kind of indistinct ideal, realising that the sport they had +discovered was a great one and trying to improve their practice of it. +And I recall that it was J. H. Taylor, the old designer, the old +constructor, the quintuple champion, who was pioneer in the planning of +courses in Madrid, and he laid out this one of eighteen holes very well +for the early Spanish golfers. + +One of the curiosities of the course is the putting green at the +eleventh hole, which is quite round and is surrounded by an evenly +shaped earthen rampart. On seeing it for the first time the average +Englishman observes to the Spaniard who is with him, "How like a +bull-ring!" The remark is justifiable and it seems appropriate; but the +Spanish gentleman has heard it many times. Playing the bull-ring hole is +a satisfying experience, most exceedingly contenting. We play what we +shall consider a perfect approach shot to our Plaza de Toros hole. The +ball is pitched into the ring just over the near side of the barricade. +A big bound and it is by the hole side, a smaller skip and it is away to +the other side of the circle, and then there is one nervous little jump +up towards that enclosing height. The perplexed ball seems in our fancy +to claw up the steep slope, which is about four or five feet high; it +nearly reaches the top. We, the player, feel a little pitter-patter in +the heart. Is that little white bull of a ball of ours going to get over +the fence and spoil the thing? It should not; we pitched him as nicely +as human skill could ever pitch. He is vicious; but he is spent. The gay +life which he had at the beginning of the stroke is flickering out. He +cannot escape. Our cuadrilla of one, the little Spanish lad with the bag +of clubs, advances and hands the putter, taking back the mashie which +has done its business. The ball comes trickling back from the bank--back +and back, and it comes on to within some seven or eight feet of the side +of the hole. Then it falters and stops, done for. Meanwhile there is +another white bull of a ball only four feet away; this also had come +back from the bank, but a little more. I, as an espada, take my steel +putter for the finishing touch. I see the line, I have the momentary +hesitation, the nerves are tightened, and then I make the stroke, and +happily it is a good one. The ball has gone down. In truth both balls go +down, and "Four, señor!" and "Four--a half, _amigo_!" and the play to +the eleventh hole of old Madrid is done. Even if there is a slope to the +hole and there is the bull-ring rampart round it, we say that a four at +this piece of golf is good. We also argue out that bull-ring with our +consciences. I have seen nothing like it. It was clearly the object of +those who made it to pen the ball up towards the hole, to make the golf +a little easier, for it was found to be hard enough (as you and I have +found it hard enough at home) to catch the ball and keep it and lead it +to its hole. This hole, the rampart, seems to be a concession to the +frail humanity of man. Conscience murmurs chidingly, "You know, you +English golfer, that you should never have been so near to that Spanish +pin! You should have been bunkered, my friend, perhaps badly bunkered, +beyond the green!" But being in Spain, and doing as Spaniards do, we are +a little independent, have a freedom of idea, and with some peevishness +of manner, an arrogance, a way as of telling conscience to attend its +other business and get back to London--where in some places they do +place bunkers and hills upon the greens to keep the golfer, as it seems, +from holing out at all--I retort, "I played a good shot anyhow; I only +just pitched over the bull-ring fence; I pitched the ball up high and +let it drop straight down, and cut every leg from it that it ever had. +No man could do better with the ground so hard. It was right that the +ball should come back." + +I shall hope that with their attachment to a new love that is so +beautiful and good, the Spaniards will not give up their old course here +that has served them faithfully and brought on their game. Besides, it +is a course that is pretty in its situation. Away beyond, many miles +away, are those snow-topped Guadarrama Mountains, fine rough things. +Though it was March, and untruths are told about the wickedness of the +Spanish climate, we lunched with Señora Elena de Potestad in the open +outside the club-house in warm sunshine glistening on a pretty scene. +Señora Elena is quite the best lady golfer of Spain; but writing the +truth as she told it, the charming wife of my friend is not Spanish, but +is a Russian lady from Khieff. I suspect her of being the best Russian +lady golfer and the best Spanish too; it is curious. She has done the +first nine holes here at Madrid in something less than bogey. Next to +her on the championship list is the Marquesa de Alamoncid de los Oteros, +six strokes behind. Queen Victoria sometimes plays, and I have seen that +extremely popular lady of Spain, the Infanta Isabella, golfing here with +the professional and a maid of honour. The game is doing well with the +ladies of the peninsula; they like it. I had a gentle argument with the +Señora Elena, who seemed a little doubtful whether golf were quite a +ladies' game, for all her own skill and love for it. She pleaded the +other feminine occupations and interests, even the distractions, and the +difficulty of surrendering to the tyranny of golf. In her view it seemed +to be of the ladies' life a thing apart, while we have known it to be a +man's complete existence. + +As our speedy car skimmed the road on the way back to Madrid that night, +Señor Fabricio would talk of the good influence of the game, and the +special benefits that it might and did confer upon his hopeful +countrymen. "Twelve years ago," he reflected, "I might meet all my +friends at the corrida. All were for the bull fight--and the ladies too. +But now--if I went myself, as I do not--I should see none. They are all +for golf. At my club in Madrid we say one to another about the time of +lunch, 'Do you go to golf this afternoon?' It used to be, 'I suppose you +go to the corrida, eh?'" One thinks and wonders. + +I took tea in the lounge at the Ritz, and gossiped with a man who had +just come along from Portugal and told me of some exciting times they +had been having there. They had decided on having more golf, and were +about to make a municipal matter of it near Lisbon. Hitherto, as I knew, +they had had only one golf course in the whole country, and that was at +a place called Espinho, some eleven miles out from Oporto, and it was +said that bulls intended for the fights were fed up there and did their +roaming exercise on this course. It is not a comfortable idea. The new +course is out at Belem on the banks of the Tagus near to Lisbon, and +this is the exact place at which Vasco de Gama landed on returning from +his greatest voyage of discovery. It is an eighteen-holes course; it has +been well planned; and much money is being spent on it. The Portuguese +having started a new form of government and begun a new national +life--as they hope--have come quickly to the conclusion that they need +golf and much of it, for already a second course for Lisbon is being +arranged, and there are to be others in different parts of the country. +If King Manoel goes back, he will be prepared for them, for he has +cultivated a fair game at Richmond. + + + * * * * * + +In the evening we went to stroll among the cafés of Madrid, and +presently peered into the old parts of the city, where life is simple +and strong, where the humbler Madrileños resort, and there are dancing +entertainments of a strange kind. On a little stage there is some +jingling music worked out from a bad piano, and a troupe of girls with +some gypsies among them will make a dance that, for all its art and all +its naïveté, is somewhat coarse. Other girls will sit round them in a +semicircle and keep up a kind of barbarous wail, occasionally bursting +into a mock shout of approval. A song will follow, and a chorus with it, +and by and by the entertainers will descend and drink wine with the +people in the café, and all this will continue until the night is very +late. But out in the Puerta del Sol the lights are bright and there is +more gaiety than there has ever been. So we wandering golfers, reckless +of the game of the day that follows (after all we are to give a bagful +of strokes to these Spaniards and can beat them yet--but not always, one +remembers), turn in to one of the music halls which have three shows a +night, the third beginning at midnight, and we see La Argentinita dance, +see the rumba done. Then down the Alcala and over the Prado home. We +shall insist that this is a part of our golf in old Madrid; it is not +the conventional golfing holiday, as I try to show. Another day we will +run out for many miles to El Escorial (thanking the Duke of Tovar for +the offer of his car) and ruminate in this most sombre architectural +creation of the great Philip--palace, monastery and tomb in one--and +another day out to Toledo, a grand dead city of a long past of many +phases and eras, a mummified city it seems to be, with halls and places +that look sometimes as if they had but just been left by the rich grand +caballeros of the time when Spain was great. You can nearly see their +ghosts, gay in satins and crimson silks, leaning over flowered +balconies, singing, kissing, laughing, and always living. + +I dislike the corrida. It is horrible. Its time has gone. I had enough +of it once when south at Algeciras. But a Spanish golfing companion said +that it was a very special day, and for the experience, and as a matter +of being guest, I should go. There were eight bulls done instead of six, +and horses in proportion, and a county councillor of Madrid took us +behind all the scenes, into the hospital, into the matador's chapel, and +explained everything. He was a courteous gentleman. He said they would +have golf in Madrid, that the corrida would leave in time, but for the +present the people must have the corrida. It takes time to make great +changes, he said, even in Madrid--where it does take more time for +movements than anywhere else. But the point of this reference is the +harsh contrast that is indicated--our peaceful game of golf in which +nothing is killed, no blood spilled, nobody hurt, and yet, as we think, +the greatest, fullest sport of all, stirring the emotions better than +any corrida in Madrid or Barcelona, and this awful feast of blood and +death. I have seen golf in many places, but never in one where its +setting seemed so utterly impossible as here. And yet golf in Madrid is +strengthening, and by ever so little the corrida, so they tell me, is +weakening. That the game can begin and can hold and grow in such a place +is surely the utmost testimony of its power. Games like golf have some +work to do in Spain. It is because of such considerations, because of +the extraordinary environment in which this peaceful, excellent sport is +set, that I have found golf in Madrid such a remarkable and interesting +study, and have dwelt upon it and provoked the contrasts when I might. + +See contrast now again, yet more wonderful. The next morning broke +bright and blue, and Señor Fabricio was round betimes in the Prado with +his car. We were to go to the new course that day. We sped away on the +Corunna road for some four or five miles from Madrid, and then turned up +towards the higher land. All this was King's land; El Pardo it is +called. Here is the new golf course of Madrid, which takes the place in +the Spanish golfers' hearts and plans of the other one of which I have +already written, that with the bull-ring hole. This of El Pardo is part +of a great new sporting establishment, embracing a magnificent polo +ground, tennis courts, and all the advantages and appurtenances of a +thorough country club in the manner of those which began in America and +have since been copied in England, and more recently at Saint-Cloud near +Paris. + +Considered in some ways 1 am a little disposed to count this new golf +course of Madrid as the eighth or ninth wonder of the whole golfing +world, just as the Spaniards themselves set up a claim for El Escorial +to be ranked as the eighth of the world at large. There are sound +reasons for the nomination. I have shown that it might well have been +held that the Spanish people's character and dispositions were a soil in +which no good game might grow, and yet that it was being urged and +proved that there was a great process of regeneration going on and that +golf indeed had been given a very good start. Now we come to the +astonishing climax for the time being in this little story of contrasts. +Here, if you please, at El Pardo on the estates of Don Alfonso is just +one of the nicest, best, and most interesting courses for golf on which +the excellent game might ever be played. It is quite new and it is most +thoroughly up to date. It is a course of which good clubs in Britain +might be exceedingly proud. You and I would be glad to play there nearly +always, and we should have little fault to find. When I was there it was +only just being finished. Its history is a nice romance. The golfers of +Spain had risen to that state when they felt they needed something +better for the improvement and the enjoyment of their play than the +rough primitive course with the bull-ring hole which had ceased to +satisfy their needs and tastes. They were restive. Came Don Alfonso to +their comfort and their happiness. At El Pardo was the ideal golfing +land--wide undulating sweeps of lovely country, majestic undulations, +grand environment, with the splendid Guadarramas in full view. It was a +scene sublime. The land was wooded, trees would have to be felled, the +ploughshare would have heavy work to do; but that is how courses are +made to-day. Not in Don Alfonso's power was it to give the ground +outright, but he passed it to the golfers for a nominal rent of a +thousand pesetas a year, which, being converted to English reckoning, +would be some £37. There was land for the polo and the tennis hard by. +Estimates were procured, and it was discovered that to do the work of +felling and ploughing, sowing and construction, building and finishing, +a sum of just about twenty-two thousand pounds in English money would be +needed, and most of the money would go to England too. Then with zest +the golfers and other sportsmen of Madrid came forward, each one +subscribed according to his means and ability, and in a very little +while all that great fund of money was obtained, and it was in the bank +before the work was started. That was a splendid achievement; the golf +of Madrid deserves to prosper now. + +It was determined that with such a beginning everything should be done +most thoroughly afterwards. Thousands of trees had to be cut down, the +ground cleared, ploughed, and raked, and the putting greens sown. On +hardly any course in any country has the work of construction been done +more thoroughly. Then Mr. Harry Colt was brought from England to design +the holes, and he gave of some of his most cunning, most artistic work, +having a fine field for his quick imagination. The result is eighteen +holes as good and rich as Spanish holes need be. Some of the short ones +are as good short holes as I have seen. One with the green on a hog's +back, the seventh, is a most appetising thing. At the third there is a +quick slope on the left of the green and the approach is one of those +twisty things that are a strong feature of the Coltian style of +architecture, demanding a skill and calculation from the player that +many bunkers would not exact. There is a dog-leg hole for the fifth that +leads to a green partly framed in a corner of trees. Parts of Spain are +treeless, the great plain above which Madrid is placed, the long lone +sweep of land that you look down upon from the palace, down to the +Manzanares and beyond to a far horizon, is one of the most desolate +countries that my eyes have seen. But here at El Pardo there are trees +enough. Chestnuts and cork are everywhere, and the course has a look of +our sweet Sunningdale at home. Harrows, rakes, and spades have done +their work most wondrous well, and the nicest gradients have been given +to the putting greens. But there is something even more remarkable still +that has been done. Make it as you would, tend it as you might, but if +Nature were to be depended upon the loveliest course in all Spain would +have to perish, for the climate forbids. So the climate had to be +foiled. Water was needed, water everywhere, water always, always. The +Madrid golfers, wise beyond all British example, determined they would +have their water at the very beginning of things. Some way distant there +was a river or canal, and it was tapped for their supply. Great cemented +aqueducts were built to carry it across valleys; it was piped through +hills. The water in abundance was brought up here to the course; and it +was laid on to every teeing ground and putting green and to the entire +fairway so that everywhere, always, the water should be poured on, the +fine grass that grows should be kept always green, and the turf, which +is of full sandy kind, should be always golf-like and moist. That was a +splendid achievement. I enjoyed the round of the new course, delighted +in a pretty valley hole towards the end, and admired the enterprise of +the Spanish golfers exceedingly. They have golf in Madrid. As the +express climbed with me upwards back to France I reflected again on +these wild contrasts, and the struggle for light by Spain. + + + * * * * * + +As a pursuit golf differs from all others in that there is no +exclusively right way and no utterly wrong way of doing anything +connected with it. Those engaged with it are constantly, to use their +own expression, finding out what they are "doing wrong," and then with +great eagerness and activity and newly revived hope are setting forth to +repair their errors and place their game upon a new foundation. Yet +despite this eternal discovery of faults and remedies, only a little is +ever found out of the full truth that is hidden somewhere, by even the +very best of players, and herein lies the consolation of the humbler +people in that, if they know little, their superiors, being champions, +know only a little more compared with all that there is to be known. +Thus upon every disappointment an encouragement ensues. If these points +are considered it will appear that there are deep truths in them, while +at the same time they convey morals and point the way to a betterment of +one's game. And the most important point is that there is no one +exclusively correct way of doing anything, and this, with all the +circumstances surrounding the proposition, leads us inevitably to the +conclusion that this is no game for narrow-minded and conventional +people, who would always do as others do, and have not the will to +exercise their own convictions which, along with their admiration for +some of the tenets of the political party to which they do not belong, +are stifled in their consciences and put away. Golf is indeed a game for +extensive individualism, for the free exercise of convictions and for +continual groping along unknown channels of investigation in search of +the truth. Those who do not investigate and explore in this way miss a +full three-fourths of the intellectual joy of this pastime. And the +investigators must have the courage to reject things of information that +are offered to them, even when conveyed with the very highest +testimonials for their efficacy from the best champions of home and +foreign countries, while at the same time they should have the will to +put into exercise even the most fantastic scheme of their own +imagination. + +All dogmatic teaching in golf is wrong. There are two or three essential +principles as we have called them--the keeping of the still head, the +fixed centre in the body, the eye on the ball, and such like--which must +be obeyed under the certain penalty of failure, because these might be +said to be the laws of Nature as applied to golf, and have nothing to do +with the eccentricities of human method. But, these being properly +respected, there are innumerable ways of building upon them structures +of golf which, in the goodness of results in the matter of getting +threes and fours and winning the holes, are much the same at the finish. +One of the structures may be precise, another may be plain, a third may +be ornate, and a fourth may be rough and vulgar. Yet in efficiency and +in results they may be just the same, and in most cases the man is led +to his style of golf building largely by his own temperamental case. So +long as the essential principles are observed in each case, being the +same always but kept hidden in the recesses of the building, many things +may be done that the books do not teach. The books are valuable to the +utmost for their suggestions and for bringing the player back to his +base, as it were, when he has wandered too far in his explorations, +piled theory on theory and got his game into the most hopeless tangle. +For corrective purposes they are in this way quite essential. They stand +for the conventions and for the middle ways; they enable us to make a +fresh start. And the golfer is always making fresh starts. What is the +cherished belief of to-day is abandoned next week, the discovery just +made and looked upon as solving the last problem that keeps the handicap +man away from scratch, is found later to be a temporary convenience only +and to be dependent on something else in the system of a highly fleeting +and uncertain kind. These beginnings, this starting over again with +increased hope, add always to the pleasure. + +What players need to remember above all things is that the games of no +two men are quite alike, any more than the men themselves are quite +alike, and that among the very best the widest dissimilarities exist, +that the best game that any man can possibly play is not one copied from +others, but that game which is his very own, the one built up on his +physical, intellectual, and mental peculiarities. Every man has a game +of his own somewhere which is quite different from any other, and that +game, when he can play it, will be more effective than any other that he +could play. What he has to do, therefore, is to find out that game in +all its peculiarities, and this is what the explorer and investigator is +constantly trying to achieve. He is finding out the mysteries not of the +game in general, as he sometimes imagines, but of his own game, and the +more he discovers the better is he as a golfer. Surely there is proof +enough of the absolute soundness of this proposition in the fact that +the discoveries as they are made, meaning not those which are found +later to be worthless, but those which become established in the +permanent system and are invaluable, are often absolutely opposite to +those made in another case and which become permanent in the same way. +Why, even the champions differ more widely than any others--yet one +remembers that this should not be a matter of surprise, but something +that by this argument is quite inevitable. The champions have been +marvellously successful in the mining of their own golfing seams, and +that is the chief reason why they are champions. And all this helps to +make golf the game it is--the eternal finding out, the progress, with +its occasional set-backs, towards the discovery, the completion of the +golfing self. I have only met one man in my life who has golfed and +never found anything out, and that was Mr. John Burns, the Minister of +State, who assured me that once in the old days of the Tooting Bec +course he was persuaded by a number of political persons to go with them +to play the game there one day. He had never handled a golf club in his +life, but having some practical knowledge of cricket, felt that golf +could not offer any serious hindrance to him. Consequently he agreed to +take his part in a foursome, and in the progress of this match usually +drove the best ball, with the result that his side was well victorious. +There seemed nothing in his game that needed improvement. Herein we +observe Mr. Burns displayed many of the qualities of the highest +statesmanship, but he rose majestically in his determination that from +that day he would never play golf again, much as he liked it, and he +never has. He has these three distinctions--that he has played golf once +and once only in his life; that being a golfer, as all are who are once +initiated, he has never lost a match; and that he has never found +anything out. I shall hope to be present at the second game he plays, +the resolution having broken down, and then we shall see discoveries +made. + +But once again, "Golfer, know thyself" is the supreme moral drawn from +the experiences of the players who have golfed and studied most. Every +golfer worth the name has found out hundreds of things and hopes to find +many more; some of them are quite different from any of the other things +that have been found out; he has his own private collection, and in it +almost any person might find something that might with a little +alteration be added to his own. So I remember that when we came up out +of Spain, where the golfers are in that happy state that they have at +this present stage almost more to discover than any other golfers in the +world, a new spring season was beginning in the homeland of the game and +all players were looking over their stock of knowledge and seeing what +they had found out in the most recent times. It occurred to me then to +send out a demand to a number of good players whom I knew for their +enthusiasm, for their individualism and their strength of mind, and for +their conscientious investigations, and ask them what they had lately +discovered in an original kind of way which had beyond question +materially improved their game. The answers were enlightening, and some +of them, which I may quote, are worth pondering upon. One of the best +players of my acquaintance sent to say that he had made a discovery, +which, applied as a resolution, had done him more good than any other +half-dozen he had ever thought of. The essence of the new idea was that +on the teeing ground especially, and when approaching his ball through +the green, he would see to it that the stepping of the feet, the +movements of the arms, hands--everything involving action--should be as +slow and deliberate as possible, even the very speech itself, for the +reason that this slow sureness created an irresistible tendency in the +golfing action that was to follow, the back-swing was then slow and +deliberate, and the whole movement was harmonious and precise. The +probable value of this idea is suggested by the fact that the man who is +slow and deliberate in his waggling--not meaning one who prolongs it +unduly or does it in a hesitating way--generally does his swinging +better. Another player said the best discovery he had ever made was the +idea of imagining his weight during upswinging to be on his left foot +without really throwing it there, at the same time holding his legs a +little more stiffly than had been his wont and keeping his heels on the +ground as long as he could. By these things, which could all be grasped +in the one general idea of making himself conscious of his legs all the +time, he has come by a firmness and steadiness of system that have added +enormously to his driving capacity; in fact, it has converted him from +being a man who could not drive at all to a very good driver indeed. + +I remember that once I was watching Taylor teaching a scratch man and +giving him hints for curing some considerable cutting and slicing to +which he was addicted. The champion turned round to us and said that one +of them was the best tip he had ever suggested in his life. It is the +simplest thing. In addressing the ball he would have the patient turn +over the face of the driver until that face is positively hanging over +from the top, pointing to the turf, at such a fearsome angle--no limit +to it--as to make it seem impossible to do anything but smother the ball +when coming down on to it. The back-swing has to be begun with the face +in this threatening situation. The truth is that the nervous fear that +it inspires is the secret of the success of the method. The man believes +that if he comes down on to the ball like that there will be a horrible +disaster, and all the time in the down-swing he is subconsciously +(another to that long list of most important subconscious movements) +making corrections and allowances, and his wrists are doing a twist to +get the club right by the time of impact. It is this wrist action, with +the left hand managing it, that is wanted, and the arm action that it +induces. The club reaches the ball properly, and the ball goes off +without a slice. If sometimes it is smothered it does not matter; the +cure will take effect in time. But, you say, you do not want to go on +for ever addressing the ball in this seemingly grotesque way. No; but, +again subconsciously, when the ball is being hit and driven properly and +the arm and wrist action become natural, there is a sure tendency +towards a settling down to normal ways, and without the man bothering +about it any more the club will gradually get itself straight. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE SUPERIORITY OF BRITISH LINKS, AND A MASTERPIECE OF KENT, WITH SOME +SYSTEMS AND MORALS FOR HOLIDAY GOLF. + + +The chief and essential difference between golf in Britain and all other +places in the world, as everybody feels on coming home to it after +wanderings with clubs abroad, is that here in the home of the game it is +"the real thing" as nowhere else. Climate, soil, history and sentiment, +and the temperament of the people have combined to make golf here a +thing that foreign people who have never seen and enjoyed it cannot +imagine. It is not only that its excellence is so great, but its variety +so infinite; and perhaps it is because of that excellence and variety +that, human nature being in such a constant state of discontent, our +people in these days are so much concerned with problems of architecture +and the attainment of ideals which vary much with individuals and cause +incessant wrangling. It is when we are far away that we think most of +the magnificence of the courses on the western seaboard of +Scotland--Prestwick, Troon, and Turnberry among them, with Machrihanish +and Islay in more lonesome parts--of the wealth of golf in that East +Lothian district that is so amazingly crowded with fine links, of the +splendid strength of such as Hoylake and others in Cheshire and +Lancashire, of our own east coast with such jewels as Brancaster set in +it, of that marvellous trinity of courses on the Kentish seaboard, which +as a golfing land has surely not its match in the world--Sandwich, Deal, +and Prince's, in the group--of Littlestone and Rye along the southern +coast, and then in the west such a glorious golfing ground as Westward +Ho! And there is Wales with its pretty and excellent Porthcawl, +Ashburnham, and many more, and Ireland also with its great Dublin +courses, Portmarnock and Dollymount, and then sweet Newcastle in county +Down, and bold Portrush. + +Indeed there are no others like the British courses, and it is always a +tremendous speculation with any golfer of experience as to which he +likes the best. When he comes to make it he has to separate in his mind +the feelings of admiration and those of affection, for it commonly +happens, if the judgment is reasonably good, that one may have the +utmost admiration for some particular course, for its unimpeachable +architecture based so well on perfect theory and the attempt always to +make the punishment fit the crime and award stern justice, and yet not +greatly delight to play upon it because in a way that sometimes he can +hardly understand it does not give him his utmost pleasure. Here again +the inexplicable emotions settle it. But in that matter of "justice" +which seems so much to be the ideal of new architects, there comes the +reflection in the ordinary golfer's mind sometimes as to whether golf, +not really being a game of justice now, would be better if it were one, +whether with so much that is unfair and tantalising removed from it the +game would be half so good. Surely in no fine sport is there always +exact justice done, and if it be made an ideal is it not possible that +the nearer such ideal is approached the poorer may become the sport, not +perhaps in regular proportion but in approximate effect? Golf is a game +of Nature after all, and Nature in some ways does not always stick to +justice. One may ponder upon what Anatole France once said about this +justice. "In the vulgar sense," he wrote, "it is the most melancholy of +virtues. Nobody desires it. Faith opposes it by grace and Nature by +love. It is enough for a man to call himself just for him to inspire a +genuine repulsion. Justice is held in horror by things animate and +inanimate. In the social order it is only a machine, indispensable +doubtless, and for that reason respectable, but beyond question cruel +since it has no other function than to punish, and because it sets +jailers and executioners at work." And perhaps it may be said that golf +has little enough in principle to do with justice either; and we have +seen into what perplexities the good authorities of St. Andrews have +fallen by their vain endeavour to make a code of laws that would settle +the just dues of every golfer in every circumstance. Nature in her +variety has contrived to beat them all continually. Perhaps it may be +the same with the construction of courses, but the end of all golfers' +endeavour, however much it may be criticised, is the good of the game, +and it is generally achieved. + + + * * * * * + +Those who in the most dispassionate frame of mind have considered +carefully all the points that should count the most and detached +themselves as well as they might from their private and inexplicable +preference have generally come to the conclusion that there are three +courses in this great golfing country of ours that are somewhat better +than all the rest in their golfing quality. One of them is old St. +Andrews, another of them is middle-aged Westward Ho! and the third is +the youthful Prince's at Sandwich. Considered as the perfect course, +weighing point against point, a jury of the best critics might have +difficulty in coming to any other decision than that architecturally, +for the real magnificence of its golfing value, the great creation of +Mr. Mallaby-Deeley on the golfing land by Pegwell Bay is supreme. Here +ten years ago there was nothing but a barren waste of sandhills, just as +they had been, as it seemed, since the very beginning of +things--lonesome, useless, forgotten. Then it was realised that what was +good for nothing else was best of all for golf. Mr. Mallaby-Deeley saw +it and understood, and now hereabouts the land is comparatively +priceless so much is it coveted by the golfers, who also now understand +as they see. Other great courses have been the productions of a long +period of time, improvements continually on an original structure of the +crudest kind. Westward Ho! was not made in a season, nor in many +seasons. Only recently some of its most delightful touches have been +added to it. St. Andrews was the work of generations. But Prince's, +though it has been appreciably changed from its original design, was +like one great flash of inspiration, and as such is surely the most +amazing achievement in the architecture of golf. Mr. Mallaby-Deeley in +other ways has shown himself to be a man of immense imagination; but was +it ever better illustrated than in his making of Prince's? Our +admiration for the course may be not the less but greater because we +cannot play her properly. For my own humble part I love most the +championship course of the Royal Cinque Ports club at Deal near by. Here +there are charm and variety, and holes of the most splendid character. +If some find fault with them, what does it matter when they are so good +to play? The Royal St. George's course at Sandwich, again, is a most +beautiful thing; surely there is no other which gives such an infinite +pleasure to a greater number of capable players. But for sheer golfing +quality, Prince's truly is the queen of all. + + + * * * * * + +I have asked Mr. Mallaby-Deeley to tell me what his ideals are in this +matter, and in response he has made a statement of such interest and +value that it should be given at its length. He said that, premising +that for purposes of consideration we should regard "ideal links" as +having reference only to the sequence of holes, both as to ranges of +length, difficulty, and beauty of design, he submitted that the making +of such an ideal course, given suitable ground, depended then on three +things only, being knowledge, time, and money. St. Andrews and his own +Prince's come nearest to this ideal, but the former fails in that it is +too straight in and out, and also because one can pull all the way out +and all the way home again without falling into any trouble, the truth +being that the more one pulls the greater the possibility of safety in +doing so. Some say that if you do thus pull you cannot reach the greens, +but in these days that is not so. We have seen them reach those greens +after the most exaggerated pulling. Then he thinks that the set of St. +Andrews in the matter of prevailing winds is far from ideal, for so +often the wind is at one's back all the way out and against the player +all the way coming home, or the other way about. Again, no one can deny, +he says, that St. Andrews has three if not four very ordinary and +commonplace holes. Prince's, as now laid out, has in general opinion not +a single commonplace or uninteresting hole in the whole course, but it +has had the advantage of being laid out many years after St. Andrews, +and after the introduction of the rubber ball. A course comes nearer to +the ideal as its holes are placed to every variety of wind. In the early +days of Prince's at Sandwich the disadvantage of an in and out course +were soon discovered and an enormous amount of money was spent in +altering it to its present form, in which, with the single exception of +St. George's, it is the best in existence, the old course at Sandwich +being ideal in this respect. Mr. Mallaby-Deeley, looking upon his +Prince's in the supercritical way of a pleased but still insistent +creator, can see only one blemish in it, and that is that the two short +holes, being the third and the fifth--though the fifth is longer than +the third--come too close together. Any two holes on a course may +separately be extremely good, but coming together lack something of +perfection because of the repetition that instantly arises. He would +have the pin visible for every approach shot on his ideal links, and the +only exception he would make would be in the case of a full second shot +with a long carry over a high bunker to the end of it, for this to his +mind is a most interesting shot. Such an one, he points out, is that +presented at the sixteenth hole at Littlestone, and he would be +surprised to know that any one would ever think of altering that hole in +order to enable a player in the distance to see the pin. He also would +not agree to placing a bunker immediately at the back of the green, +which punishes the man who dares to be up and encourages "pawkiness." + +The visible pin is imperative at short holes; he will admit no +exceptions. But all who have been to Prince's have been most impressed +with the beauty and golfing perfection of the dog-legged holes there, a +couple of which are presented at the beginning of the round, immediately +introducing the stranger to some of the best delights of this course. He +would have dog-leg holes of both shapes in his round, those bending to +the right to worry the slicer, and those angled towards the left to help +the long driver who greatly dares. The first hole at Hoylake and the +second and eleventh at Prince's are dog-leg holes that he likes best. +But, he will tell you, by far the most vital matters to consider in +making any course with pretensions to being ideal are the position of +the greens and the bunkering through the course and near the hole, and, +though it is a consideration that is too often overlooked, it is nearly +as important to bear in mind from which quarter the prevailing wind +blows. He believes every shot from the tee to the hole ought to be of +equal importance, but in the case of the majority of the courses this is +not so. Despite the fact that on the tee the man has everything in his +favour, a perfect stance and a teed-up ball, he is given more space to +play into and a greater margin for inaccuracy than in the case of any +other shot. This, says the architect, is wrong. Surely it should be as +necessary on the ideal course to place the tee shot as any other. He has +turned the subject of ribbon bunkers very thoroughly over in his mind. +In a general way, he does not like them because of the varying winds. He +says, "_Tutiores ibis in medias vias_," is a safe and golden rule of +life, and it applies equally to ribbon bunkers which while they make +some holes mar many more. Most frequently on account of wind and other +things this form of hazard fails as a fair guard to the green for a hole +that is meant for two full shots. It is then wrongly placed, and would +generally be improved by the substitution of ear bunkers to catch sliced +and pulled shots thereto. The push shot is one of the most difficult in +the game to play, but it is one of the prettiest and most satisfactory +in accomplishment; but the ribbon bunker is often unfair to the man who +plays it. Yet the absence of such ribbon bunkers does not prevent the +man who likes to play his high mashie shots from still playing them. +Thus the absence of this form of bunker is fair to all, while if placed +very near the green its presence penalises the push-shot player. +But many a tee shot would be tame if it were not for the ribbon +bunkers some way ahead. In epitome he says to the student of +architecture--"Bunker your course so that every bad shot is punished; +place your bunkers so that every shot must be played and played well; +make the length of your holes such that if a shot is foozled it costs +you a stroke; guard your greens right and left, and even to the very +edge and into the green itself, if necessary, but this must of course +depend on the length of shot to be played; and at one-shot holes make +the green a very fort of surrounding bunkers, and guard the tee shot. Do +not leave it open as at the famous short hole at St. Andrews, a much +overrated hole. But above all things, make your bunkers fair; don't make +them impossible to get out of except by playing back." + +As to the lengths of the holes on his ideal course he would have about +twelve two-shot holes varying from 380 to 440 yards, and there should be +three one-shot holes of about 165, 180, and 200 yards respectively. +There would be two or three drive-and-iron holes of about 350 yards +each, but a drive-and-iron hole should be so constructed that if the +drive is missed it will be impossible for the man who missed it to sail +on the green with his next. There is a good example of this in the +fifteenth at Prince's, for although this hole is only a drive and an +iron the penalty for missing the drive is that it takes the player two +more shots to reach the green because of the nature of the ground in +front of the tee. And then he would have it a condition that the last +three holes should average about 400 to 420 yards each, and the +seventeenth and eighteenth should be made specially testing ones. This +is the ideal course, and, being such, it is not a place for foozlers. +But if it is properly and fairly constructed it will be easier and +pleasanter to play on than a course which is made difficult by the +simple method of making it unfair, for example by putting bunkers in the +wrong places, by cutting the hole in a ridiculous position on the +green, by punishing the man who is "up" (a new-fangled and absurd idea +of course construction) by placing the hole immediately in front of a +bunker at the back of the green, and by leaving the approach to the +green from a long shot rough or broken, and so unfair. It is easy to +make any course difficult, and so conducive to high scoring, by making +it unfair. This induces pawky play because the punishment for bold play +may be too severe. He is also of opinion (and there is a constantly +growing tendency to agree with him) that there is too much premium on +putting, and that it plays far too important a part in the game, +especially among first-class players and in first-class matches. He +thinks the hole should be six and a half inches instead of four and a +quarter. Under present conditions a putt missed by half an inch bears +the same punishment (although the rest of the hole through the green may +have been played faultlessly) as a hopelessly bad shot by one's opponent +through the green. + +Prince's supports its creator's arguments very well indeed, and one +enormous fascination of it lies in the fact that it is always suggesting +to you, always inviting you, always tempting you to do the more daring +thing, and hinting that, even though you failed, the suffering might not +be too much. In that, it seems to me, lies the chief charm of this +masterpiece of architecture. + + + * * * * * + +So when we come home from other lands, let us think of golfing holidays +in our own, and moralise from old experience. It is an aggravating +circumstance that while there is hardly anything in the way of change +and holiday that is so splendid as a golfing holiday, there is hardly +any kind that is so easily spoiled. The golfer is not dependent on the +weather, only to a small extent on his friends, he seldom knows limits +of time or space, yet he fails oftener in his pursuit of the perfect +happiness of a summer vacation than do the unsophisticated people who +kill the time of August and September in other ways, and that happens +because of the very fascination of the thing, and the enthusiasm and +excess to which it leads him on. In our working days limits are imposed +upon us; when we are loose and unrestricted all system and wise +restraint fly to pieces. It is not only that we often play too much on +holidays, but that during play and in the intervals between those spells +of action the imagination is at work too fast and makes riot upon +settled methods which have raised the game of the individual to some +more or less agreeable sort of quality. Excess and experiment are the +two evils that shatter so many golfing holidays, and yet the +contradictions of golf are such that we find there is something good to +be said both for excess and for experiment. But be all this as it may, +it is not until a man has gone through twenty golfing holiday campaigns +that he fully realises he has an education to serve in this matter, and +after twenty more he is able to start out on the forty-first in the +strong confidence that from the days and weeks before him he will +extract the full available supply of rich golfing delight. These remarks +do not well apply to the person of the thick phlegmatic temperament who +plays now with the same set of clubs that he started with ten years or +more agone, the which have not had their shafts varnished, nor their +grips attended since the time of their first swinging. This man is +without imagination, without feeling, and, with no blessing upon him, we +may let him wander away to play wherever he will, knowing that he will +always derive some great satisfaction from his pursuit and gain +mightily in health. He is not like most of us; he is as the man without +any religion; he is very material. He eats, he plays, he rests, he +sleeps. And he does very well in it all; and yet we of the majority who +think always, ponder deeply, worry exceedingly and are wracked with +doubts and conflicting theories, disappointed ever in fruitless +experiments, do not envy him. The material person does not go down into +the depths where we grieve and are in pain (how often do we go and +grieve!), but neither does he ascend to the heights of pleasure that are +scaled by successful experiment, by the sudden discovery of some +wonderful secret that seems to have unlocked the gates of the higher +golf and rendered us immune from failure for evermore. (Never mind what +happens in the morning!) We may suffer the depths for those hot moments +of life on the summits. + +This preamble is needed for warning. Golf is the great game of emotions, +and at holiday times those emotions are quickened, strung up and, flying +loose in riot, play the devil with our game. I am sorry to believe that +many young men who come back to their homelands from the golfing holiday +grounds in October do so with inward sighs and stifled sobs. They tell +us that they have had the most glorious time; they may foolishly give an +account of a round said to have been done in 74, and of many of the +longest holes that cost them only four strokes apiece, and we forgive +them for their words which we know are false, realising the pain of +their case and that their dissembling is in a small manner for the good +of the game. Their emotions have led them astray; they have been weak +and foolish; they have done the wrong things and they have left undone +all those which were recommended to them as right. They have played +three rounds a day, and they have bought new drivers and putters. And +some of them have actually changed their stances and had an inch cut off +a favourite shaft! Truly their emotions have led them wrong. Player! if +you would pass the placid holiday, kill those emotions and cast them +off. You may then take a golfing holiday from which you will derive that +magnificent material comfort and refreshment that your butcher and baker +do when they walk upon the promenade at Margate and, well fed, sleep at +times on the sunlit sands. You will really believe on your return to +labour in the town, that you have had a splendid time, but soon you will +cease to talk of it for you will find that there is very little to +remember. Time was passed; that was all. The man whose emotions played +old Harry with him does not forget. He has something indeed to remember, +for he lived very much in his month of play. So you will see that in the +scheme of golfing things as jointly ordained by Nature and kind +Providence, with the petty meddling of the man himself, there are +different processes of holiday, and each in its way is the best. As in +so many other affairs of golf there are contradictions abounding. But +let us, after such philosophy, move to some definite considerations, and +consider life and facts as they are presented to us. + + + * * * * * + +One of the doctors' papers was well laughed at a little while since for +suggesting that, on account of the nerve strain that it makes, golf is +not an ideal game for everybody, especially busy folks with few hours +and days for recreation. To quote: "If he takes his failures to play a +good game to heart, it is doubtful whether his health gains very much. +He has had, it is true, the advantage of a change of scene and +occupation, and has lived for a while in a healthier atmosphere, and, +if he had only been satisfied with his game, all these things would have +conspired to send him back to his work cheered and braced up. But he may +play very badly and become unduly worried thereat. A game that is +calculated to increase an irritability which has arisen out of a trying +week's work can hardly be said to be recreative, at all events to the +mind." The medical writer concluded impressively: "The game of golf, if +it does not go smoothly, presents so many points of analogy with the +tiresome eventualities of life that there can be little doubt that +persons of an irritable, gloomy, and worrying disposition would be +better if they did not seek their recreation on the links." The common +people sometimes look upon these pronouncements from the columns of the +professional paper as being like the essence of the wisdom and knowledge +of the whole of Harley Street. I remember, however, that when this was +published the golfers ridiculed and condemned it, and agreed to take +more golf and less medicine. It is not my function to advocate the +playing of less golf than is played, much less the stoppage of any of +it, but I dare to suggest that there was a germ of truth in what the +medical paper said. There are kinds of players who should take their +golf with restraint and caution, especially at holiday times. The truth +is that a vast proportion of golfing holidays are completely ruined +through a bad plan of campaign, or over-doing it, or both--commonly +both. We would say nothing to a doubter now about the selection of his +friends for his party; he should know that it is a matter demanding the +extremest care. A golfing holiday _à deux_ may expose all the least +beautiful parts of each man's character, and those who are not such +friends that they can comfortably bear each other's infirmities might do +better even to go on their golfing way lonely and without a partner. +There is much to be said for the freedom of this latter holiday +existence, and odd indeed would be the golfing place where there were +not many games for the solitary stranger to play. + +The night before the opening of the campaign, the eve of the journey +outwards, is a trying time to many men. I think of those who take loving +interest in their clubs, and have many of them, including a first-class +reserve, and perhaps a second-class reserve also, to the original set +that is in full commission. The man who has only seven clubs in the +world, and seems to take a pride in telling you that he has had them all +since the beginning of his golf, is in no difficulty. But with others +the trouble is how many clubs to take, and how many to dare to leave +behind. After the first selection it is seen that about five or six +drivers are put in the list, very many irons, and a large assortment of +putters. All the ex-favourites are to be tried over again and +experiments to be made with a number of others. It is found then that +too many clubs have been selected; but after the most painful and +difficult weeding out there may still be some twenty left, and these are +taken. It is a mistake. From the day of arrival at the holiday place the +man is in doubt as to what he will play with, and he mixes up his game +into a bad state of confusion through using different clubs almost every +day. It is a good rule, to which every golfer subscribes after twenty +campaigns, if not before, to take away the regular clubs as used every +day at home, not one less and only two more, being a spare driver and an +extra putter. In that way happiness and contentment lie. I would leave +out the driver did I not know the case of a man who so much grieved for +one he had left behind that he travelled three hundred miles back home +to get it! + +The little truth that there was in the indictment against the game by +the doctors' paper is that it is possible for some men, many of them, to +have too much of it, when it becomes bad for the men and bad for their +game, and holidays are rendered failures. There was a time when really +good golf could only be had at the seaside, or very far away from the +great centres of work and business. That is no longer the case, and the +situation is that the golf we are having all the time at home is hard +and strenuous, demanding great ability and thought. The golfing holiday, +then, might very well be made an easy one on a links where the holes are +simple, and--remembering another scare that was made by a doctors' paper +some time later--I believe that there is as happy golf to be had up on +the hills, and in the lonely country places, as on the margin of any +sunny sea. + +But it is the excess of golf that is played on holidays that spoils +everything in the case of the man of a somewhat nervous temperament, and +one who may not be as strong and beefy as the John Bull of the pictures. +Too many of these people seem to think that, as they have gone away for +golf, they should have as much of it as they can get, and play to excess +accordingly. Three rounds! Three rounds! One of the reasons why some men +play so much--as they put it to themselves--is that they wish to improve +their game, and they conceive that the holiday time is the best of all +in which to achieve that end. But experience shows that very seldom +indeed is a man's game improved at such a time; very frequently it is +injured, and that through the excess. When so much of it is played, +weariness, though half unconsciously, is induced, proper pains are not +taken at every stroke, carelessness becomes constant; then, with +deterioration, too many experiments are tried, and worst of all, that +terrible, and for the time being incurable, disease of staleness sets +in, and there is then an end to all happiness and enjoyment. There is +hardly any cure for staleness except complete abstention for a time. It +needs some strength of mind to carry out such a resolve, but he who +severely limits his golf at holiday times enjoys it the more, and he and +his health and his game are the better for it. A holiday system based on +wise restrictions is a splendid thing. Men of long experience have tried +many of them, and the best of all is this: Play two rounds on the first +day of the week, one on the second, two again on the third, one on the +fourth, two on the fifth, one on the sixth, and take a whole holiday +from the game on the seventh day. That is not too much nor too little. +Another point for remembrance is that on the days that are warm and long +the old convention of one round before lunch and another afterwards is +not a good one for the best and most enjoyable employment of the day. +Much better is it to play in the morning, rest pleasantly--sleep, +perhaps--in the afternoon, and play again in the cool of the evening, +when golf is the best of all--always provided your course is not laid +out in a straight line from east to west and back, for playing full +against a setting sun is a very tantalising thing. + + + * * * * * + +Mention has been made of staleness. In our minds there is awakened an +unhappy thought with which something had better be done for good +contentment's sake ere we pass along to the pleasant consideration of +this holiday golf. Staleness is the canker that kills many of these +expeditions that are planned with the happiest promise. It is a dread +golfing disease that rages on the links almost like an epidemic during +August and September. It spoils the game and happiness of every player +whom it attacks, and sometimes it cuts holidays short. It is nearly safe +to assume that when on holiday one golfer in every half-dozen is +afflicted with it, and some of the others are in danger. It consists in +the absolute incapacity of the player to produce a game that is within +very many strokes of his real form; in truth the game of a good man may +fall to the twenty-handicap level or lower, and each new effort on his +part to raise it up again only results in a worsening of the case. There +is no certain cure except isolation from the game and long rest. A +trouble that has the power, then, to ruin the golfing holiday, and often +does, must be considered very seriously. + +Here is the progress of a case for the details of which I can personally +vouch. I was a sympathetic witness of it. The man was playing well at +the beginning of the holiday season and went for a month to a fine east +coast links where there was no town, no village, and no society but that +of golfers, and nothing to do but golf, which was what he desired. For a +week he played well, doing two rounds every day, and sometimes three. +The weather was hot. At the beginning of the second week there were +signs of a failing game. His first anxiety soon increased; he changed +his ball, then began to make alterations in his stances and swings, and +at the end of the second week was all foozles, and getting worse. Soon +afterwards it was obvious that the cause of the whole thing was +staleness. The man tried the heroic remedy of loafing about his +quarters, golfless, for a couple of days, reading novels and pretending +to play bowls against himself. He also studied the stones in the old +graveyard near by. On the third day he went back to the links very +hopeful, but the case was as bad as before, and, desperate, he gave his +game a three days' rest after that. This also failed. Neither of the +resting spells was long enough. This being a man of keen nervous +temperament, who took his game very seriously and was very miserable, he +did the wisest thing by giving up his holiday and going home to work in +London. + +The primary cause of staleness is excess of play, resulting in +exhaustion of nervous and physical energy, which in turn produces +carelessness, decreases the capacity for taking the infinite pains that +are necessary to the game, and--important--brings about a failure in the +subconscious working arrangement between the mind and the physical +system that has everything to do with the proper accomplishment of the +various strokes. The movements of every golfing swing, as we have +agreed, are extremely complicated; they consist of hundreds of little +movements amalgamated into one great system, and while one is conscious +of the system, it is impossible for the parts of it to be anything but +subconsciously done, and they are made perfect by training and practice, +and by getting the brain and the physical construction to work together +exactly and with harmony. When staleness comes on, this working +arrangement breaks down and the player attempts the hopeless task of +trying to do consciously what can only be done the other way. I believe +that this is the true explanation of staleness. + +_Note 1._--The exhaustion of the nervous and physical energy is often +unsuspected, and is covered up by the enthusiasm for the game. _Note +2._--Excess of play does not mean only a frequent playing of three +rounds a day. Two rounds every day, as a regular thing, may be excess in +many cases. Much depends on the individual. A man of highly-strung +temperament will become stale much more quickly than a beefy, phlegmatic +person, who is commonly immune. _Note 3._--Staleness is very much more +easily induced, and develops more quickly and dangerously, in hot +weather than at other times, because the tax on the nervous energy and +the eyesight is so much greater then. + +Now here are the common symptoms and the results of staleness. Almost +the first real sign of it is swaying of the body. This is very slight at +first, and is rarely suspected; but it brings about a general collapse +of the swing and the entire golfing apparatus. A very hopeless sort of +tap is given to the ball on the tee, and it is driven perhaps only a +hundred and fifty yards. As everything seems to have been done properly, +the player is mystified, begins to experiment, and then worse troubles +come on. Shakiness of the legs, and much exaggerated knee and foot work, +often resulting in collapse of the right leg and the player getting up +on his toes, make up the next symptom; and another one that is a common +accompaniment of the beginning of staleness is falling or lurching +forward as the club is brought down on to the ball. Anything like a +proper swing is, in such circumstances, impossible. Bad timing begins +immediately; then there is overswinging and too fast swinging; and, of +course, the moving of the head and the taking of the eye from the ball, +those two faults that never miss an opportunity of coming in to add to +the woes of the worried golfer. + +What must the stale golfer do for his salvation and happiness? In the +first place, if he has had this thing before, he should be on his guard +against it and catch it in time. If taken at the very beginning an early +cure is quite practicable. The golf should be stopped at once for a few +days, and a rest and change, as complete as possible, taken. Then the +game should be resumed warily--one round a day. In addition to this, +some men will insist on having alterations made in their clubs. They +deceive themselves. One of the greatest champions of all times once, in +intimate conversation, laid down a rule to me with great seriousness, +and it is one never to be forgotten. He said: "Never make a change in +your regular clubs, and never buy a new one, unless it is a putter, when +you are playing badly. Only make changes when you are playing at your +very best. You may then play even better, knowing so well what you +want." Yet, warn them as much as you may, many men will make extensive +changes when they are stale and desperate. One plea to them then--the +change having failed, go back to the old clubs before changing again. +Never get far from your base, or you will be lost in doubt and +confusion. Let it be the same with methods as with clubs. If a new way +fails, let the sick man go back to the old one before experimenting +again. He should remember that that old one has served him well, and the +possibilities are that he will have to stand by it after all. Then the +stale golfer should try to encourage himself; he should try a new set of +opponents, play with men of longer handicap than himself, who normally +would never outdrive him, and so on. A change of links often works +wonders, but if the staleness has gone very far, and it matters little, +it is often wise to give up the golfing part of the holiday if one is in +progress. We have seen the advice given to play through a period of +staleness. This is a heroic measure, but it would not succeed in one in +six cases, and the suffering would be too great for the ordinary mortal. +We tell him to take few clubs away with him, and to be faithful to them, +and they will serve him well. And we tell him when his golf is ill not +to fly to the dangerous stimulant of a new club. And yet, where is the +man who does come back from his holiday without a new one in his bag, +one fond relic of those days that were so tightly packed with golf? We +bring them back with us, the names of their nativity upon them, as +hunters and explorers bring trophies from distant lands. Mutely they +testify for us. Sometimes when the holiday is done they are added, for +their merit and fine service, to the clubs in commission in the bag; +oftener they fall into the reserve; frequently they are given a purely +honorary office and sent off with a title to the golfer's own private +House of Lords as magnificent relics. + + + * * * * * + +A diary should be kept during the golfing holiday; indeed it should be +kept at all times. More such are made than the golfing world realises, +because they are often, to the uttermost degree, secret and private, and +that not merely for the reason that some diarists place themselves in +the confessional when they make their entries, but because, alas! they +are conscious of serving their own vanity by exaggeration of their best +achievements. It may be kept for one of two distinct reasons, or for +both of them, though the latter is not generally done. The two different +objects are entertainment and instruction. For the former, the small +things that are sold in shops will do. You write down, each time you +have been playing, where the game was had, who the other man was, and +what you beat him by; or the extent of the disaster if it was the other +way about. In the column devoted to "Conditions" you exaggerate the +force of the wind; and under "Remarks" you say you were driving and +putting splendidly when you won. If you lost, the space is left blank. +This record is in its own way valuable, because at a future time it will +refresh the memory concerning great golfing days of the past, and thus +furnish a real enjoyment. When a game of golf is played, and finished, +it is not done with. It is lodged in a great store of remembrance, with +full particulars attached to it, ripening with time, so that the +player's memories are among the best happenings of his golfing +possessions. All of us know that this is so, and it is as a kind of +catalogue that the little diaries serve their purpose well. + +The diary of analysis or instruction is a very different thing. The +object is to make a serial record of ideas and successful experiments, +faults and tendencies--most particularly tendencies--in order that on +periodical examination of it the player may derive useful lessons and +improve his game. One should get a good exercise book, bound nicely and +strongly, with morocco corners, and just enter up one's performances on +the plain paper according to any system that one may choose, giving +prominence to a line at the top of each entry, naming the day, the +place, and the man. I have seen diaries kept in this way, and they have +been very serviceable. But the man who is starting anything of this kind +must come to a definite agreement with himself to be absolutely honest +and sincere; and he must also be very introspective, and have keen +discernment for his own faults and constant observation for all that he +does at every stroke. Otherwise it were better that he merely kept the +diary of glorious remembrances. + +Let him, if he keeps a diary of fact, hold it secret from all the world; +but every night after his play put down in it the plain, real truth +about what happened; and let him see to it, after much thought upon +recent events, that he does properly know the truth. This point is +emphasised because men may be short with their putts, say on sixteen of +eighteen greens in one round, and yet not notice the frequency of the +same fault; or they may be pulling or cutting their putts all the time +and be oblivious, in the same way, to the circumstance. Or they may be +pitching their approaches too short of the greens, or slicing most of +their drives. The point is that the golfer's memory for his own +misdeeds is an exceedingly short one, and he rarely gets them tabulated +and analysed as he should. If he made an analysis of his play at the end +of the day, stated the truth about it in the book, and then examined +that book carefully once a week, he would learn something about the +causes that were preventing him from getting on in the game, and the +next step would suggest itself. Some would say that the making of +personal statistics in this way would be a very troublesome matter, and +they would be certain to tire of it soon. It is not so much a nuisance +as might be imagined; it becomes interesting, and it helps one's game. + +But if you are doubtful about this idea, do keep a diary of sorts +anyhow, for it is such a pity to let the golf that has been played die +out of memory. You may gather a notion of the value and interest of what +might be called played golf by reading through the match-book of another +man, like that of the late F. G. Tait, which is included in the +delightful and pathetic memoir that Mr. John Low wrote about him. Tait, +model of golfers, always filed the facts about his matches, but briefly. +Not many words were wasted in the "Remarks" column; what was said there +was the plain truth. Often it was "F. G. T. in great form," but the +recorder knew how to denounce himself. It does one good to read through +this diary of one who was soldier, hero, golfer, and darling of the +game. + + + * * * * * + +But not every man departs on a golfing holiday for a strenuous time of +continuous match-play with keen rivals who might be fine companions, and +who would keep him up at night with bridge, after a day's work on the +links was done. All sorts and conditions of men are included in this +comprehensive golfing world of ours; and some have most contemplative +moods, love solitude, and, alone with themselves and the game, probe +deeply into its mysteries and into their own weaknesses. It is to the +credit of the pastime that it accommodates itself most splendidly to +every disposition and mood and manner; and men of a lonely way have gone +solus on their holidays, and held themselves solus all the time, and +have come back again, well refreshed and satisfied. They have often +enough had fewer disappointments than the others. They have practised +extensively, and they have improved themselves as golfers. Practice is +indeed a feature of many golfing holidays. Here at such times we have +the full game at our disposal and nothing but the game, and now, if +ever, we can make ourselves to be better golfers. That is how we reason. +It is a matter to be considered carefully. + +Practice fails in most cases because the golfers concerned do not +concentrate upon their efforts with that keenness, thoroughness, and +determination they exhibit when playing a real match. The game is not +the same to them; they do not try so hard, however much, as one might +say, they try to try, and the result is there is such an excess of +looseness, carelessness, about their methods, that bad habits are born; +and these persons then had really better not be practising at all, for +thus they do harm to their game. This is one reason why one-club +practice is better in small quantities than in large ones. It is not +sufficiently interesting when kept up. What we should do, therefore, is +to make the practice interesting, and fortunately the circumstances of +the game afford wide scope for doing so. There is no other game that is +half so good in this way. Golf to many people's minds is not merely a +game to be played with others and against them; it is a study, a subject +for meditative research and exultant discovery. If others should regard +such terms as immoderate, golfers anyhow know they are fairly employed. +The essential difference that the presence of a man as opponent makes is +that a real game, hard and according to the law, has then to be played, +and there can be a winning or a losing of it. + +Well then, it is our business, in order to make solitary practice +interesting and valuable, to create a game for ourselves. It is easily +done, and there are some wise men who say that they would rather play +their solitary game, going round the links alone with all their clubs or +nearly, than they would play a match with a stranger who happened not to +turn out to be the right kind of golfing man. Many who start systems of +solitary competitive play against themselves in this way fail with them, +did they but know it, because they are not honest with themselves. +Having become very badly bunkered, and having taken three for recovery, +they must not call it one because they should have got out in one, had +they played the shot just right; nor, having missed a foot putt, must +they consider it as holed because if they had tried their uttermost they +could have holed it. We must see that it is of the essence of solus +play, and making it valuable, that the man should try his best and +should know and feel that he has no second attempt at the same stroke, +just as he has none in the real game when others are there. If he +permits himself second drives and putts, all the strokes are done +without the sense of responsibility, and the player then were better +indoors writing letters to his friends to come and match themselves +against him. Therefore let the first and the most inexorable rule in +one's solitary golf be that the shot once made must count, no matter +what its quality. What may be permitted--and this does not operate as an +exception to the rule--is that when a shot has been badly done another +ball may be played from the same place. One may learn something in this +way, but always must it be understood that the first ball must count; +and it is a good maxim that there should be no attempted repetition of a +successful stroke, for if it were done well again the man would be no +better off in mind or skill, and if it failed there would be an +unnecessary disappointment and uncertainty. + +Now, to consider ways of competing against oneself that will make +interesting the lonely game, and lift it to value too, every man of +thought might quite well devise some suitable system for himself; but we +may tell him of some that have been successful with many players, and of +a good principle to embrace in any new one, which is never to make the +test or competition too severe. I believe that golfers are improved more +by coaxing and flattery than by harsh measures and heavy defeats. It is +often said that the best way to improve is to play against better +players than ourselves, but there are limitations to that advice which +are not always sufficiently emphasised. The superior party ought not to +be too much superior, the different points of the game of the two men +should not be very widely contrasted, and the better player should be +giving to the inferior one so much allowance that the latter ought to +win as often as he loses, never letting it be forgotten that, when +handicaps are right and three-fourths of the difference is allowed, the +odds are really always in favour of the better player, as has been +proved over and over again. Even when a man is of long experience and +has been fashioned by nature in the heroic mould, it is impossible to +play his very best golf, and be improving on it, unless he "has his +pecker up." The pecker properly set makes happiness and confidence, and +it is only when such moods are engendered that the man is led on to +higher things, perceives the absence of limitation to his prospects of +improvement, and likens himself to the chrysalis of a Vardon or a Braid. +Above everything else, as we have agreed so often before, golf is a game +of hope. Crush the hope by setting the man a task that is beyond him and +you take away the joy of the game and kill the happy prospects. The +golfer who is winning will win again and play better. + +In these observations there have been some principles for practice laid +down that are seldom emphasised, but are of the most vital importance. +To make exact systems to suit them is, after all, a simple affair. Now +many men play round after round, counting their strokes, as if they were +playing in a medal competition, and comparing results at the finish, +always trying to break their own records. They may gain some benefit +from this play, but it often fails in interest, and consequently in +value, for the same reason that medal competitions do--because of the +continual occurrence of the one, or it may be two, very bad holes. The +percentage of cards that are turned from good to bad merely by one +disastrous hole must be very high, and when a man is playing a practice +round and does a nine at the second hole, it is difficult for him to +treat the remainder very seriously or be keen about them. The remedy is +simple. Let this system of playing and comparisons be that his aggregate +shall always be for sixteen or seventeen holes only, leaving the worst +to be eliminated. There is nothing unfair in doing so. The one bad hole +is frequently more the result of accident than of inability. At the +beginning of a system of practice play three holes may be dropped +regularly from the reckoning, then a week later two, the week after that +one only. Comparisons of form are more accurate and reliable when the +worst hole is eliminated, than when all eighteen are totted up. Then the +man may play the bogey game; but instead of opposing the set bogey of +the course and complicating the business with handicap strokes, let him +make a bogey of his own of such a kind that it represents not the +scratch man's proper game but his, so that when he is playing well he +ought to beat it, and it should be a tolerable match. In constructing +such a bogey, he might make allowance for his own special likes and +dislikes in regard to particular holes. Again, I have known men to +derive pleasure and improvement from a system of practice against the +ordinary bogey by which they merely reckoned the number of holes at +which they equalled or beat the phantom's figures, disregarding the +losses. There is a little difference between this and the ordinary +reckoning, and it is in the direction of encouragement if the player is +coming on. + +And then there is the interesting system that was first set forth by a +most eminent player who has been amateur champion more than once, by +which the practiser wins half-crowns for his good play and loses them on +his off days. He plays against bogey on terms that give him an equal +chance. Then he establishes a money-box with two sections in it, one +being for bogey and the other for himself, and into each section he +deposits four half-crowns, which is very little to pay for all the +enjoyment he is about to gain. When bogey beats him one of the +half-crowns is lifted out of the man's section into the ghost's, but +when flesh and blood prevail the coin comes back. The course of practice +is ended when one side or the other has got all the half-crowns. If +bogey has them there is something wrong with the game of the man, and he +had better start another series; but when the man is triumphant he may +depart for a holiday exultingly and spend the money on it, in the doing +of which he will probably win some more, his form being so much bettered +by his lonely practice. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE OLD DIGNITY OF LONDON GOLF, AND ITS NEW IMPORTANCE, WITH A WORD FOR +THE CHARM OF INLAND COURSES. + + +Perhaps in the middle ages of the game some rare old conservative of a +player at one of the great Scottish seats of golf was told by another +that a gentleman had just arrived by the coach from London and would +like a match in the morning, and it is distinctly possible, if he was +the excellent man we picture him, that he ejaculated, "And where, sir, +is London?" The manner would have been Johnsonian, if not the sentiment. +Should any one now be disposed to regard such lack of knowledge--though +I think you would find it was only what might be called judicial golfing +ignorance--or narrowness, or whatever it was, as merely stupid or a +little culpable, he may hesitate. The pride of dignity, arising from +conscious strength and superiority, was a fine thing among the Scottish +golfers, and certainly was to be admired. That spirit, that sturdy +consciousness of personal value, have helped to the making of a British +empire. And sometimes a golfer would wander in the north and be +discovered by the players there to have a wooden club with a brass sole, +and thereupon he might be good-humouredly mocked for being the +Blackheath golfer that he was, since it was on the famous course by +London that the brassey was first used. Since then London has given +other good things to golf, including many courses that are unequalled +among their kind and a number of players of high championship rank. And +sometimes there is more golf played in a day within twenty-five miles of +Charing Cross than there is in the whole of Scotland in a week, and much +of it is very good golf. But this is not a place for comparisons, and +particularly it is not meant for one in which the English gratitude to +Scottish benefactors for the gift of this remarkable game is to be +lessened from the full. It is only suggested that London golf is now a +thing of great account. That is coming to be understood; but one doubts +if the Londoners properly realise that the game in the metropolis has +rich history and traditions which make a match for those of nearly any +other place. Except that the great players of the game of different ages +were so little acquainted with it, Blackheath has golfing land as +historic as any, and the Royal Blackheath Club, with its origin in 1608, +is the oldest in the world. That is London. Some time since there was a +fashion for open-air shows of pageantry, and if the golfers had then +been so disposed they could have put forward a pageant of London golf +that would have embraced most picturesque and impressive tableaux. There +is King James the First of England and the Sixth of Scotland, keen +golfer indeed, playing the game at Blackheath in the company of some of +his nobles when the court was at Greenwich, and there is a charming +scene to be imagined in which the monarch gives his royal sanction and +authority to the Society of Golfers that is established at this place in +1608, as it is well believed to have been, and in varying forms to have +maintained its existence ever since, being to-day the Royal Blackheath +Golf Club, and highly respected. I think we should regard this King +James as being the very first of our London golfers, and he makes a +fine figure of a player for the distinction, keen enough in all +conscience. Five years before the reputed beginning of the Society at +Blackheath he appointed William Mayne to be the royal clubmaker, and a +few years later gave one named Melvill a monopoly of ball-making at four +shillings a time. Altogether this makes a good scene of golf. + +Here in the earliest days the course of Blackheath consisted of but five +holes, which was then considered the proper number, and was the same as +the Honourable Company had at Leith. Later there were seven holes +arranged, and though they are played in a different order, those seven +remain much the same to-day. It is to the discredit of London golfers as +a body, those golfers who make the most reverential pilgrimages to +northern shrines, that they have not, to the extent of one in a hundred, +ever been to the scene of the old Blackheath golf, or played a game +there on this hallowed ground, as they may at their will. It is the +story again of the prophet in his own country, the same failing as that +by which the majority of Londoners might be condemned for never having +visited the Tower of London. I believe I have met more golfers in +America who have been to Blackheath than I have met in England, for I +have encountered several who told me they had not cared to sail back +home until they had made the short journey down from Charing Cross to +the famous common. + +Apart from the sense of history and the sentiment of pilgrimage, +Blackheath, as a practical golfing proposition still surviving, should +interest every golfer intensely. Surely it is one of the most +interesting courses, one causing the deepest reflections, and one which, +even by play upon it, might have some good effect on a man's game. For +it is a chastening course, is our old Blackheath; one that makes +humility if course ever did, and one that gives us the best contentment +with our modern lot. Men who have played at Blackheath do not so +constantly complain of the weak effort of their greenkeeper, and his +governing committee, at their most favoured club. A little while since +the cry was raised that golf had become too easy--too easy! It was said +that the improving of the fairways and the smoothing of the putting +greens had taken all its early viciousness from the game. Conditions +have certainly changed, but when champions tell me that this maddening +game from time to time brings their nerves to the state of piano wires, +it may be reckoned as sufficiently difficult for the ordinary mortal. +But Blackheath is extraordinary and most educative. It is certainly hard +enough, though the modern bunker scientists have done nothing with it, +and in the ordinary sense it has no bunkers. New theories of bunkering +and the changing necessities of new kinds of balls trouble the +Blackheath golfers not at all, for the course belongs to London and not +to themselves, and they cannot do any engineering work upon it, as is +being accomplished continually on other courses. Of the seven holes that +are played the shortest is 170 yards, there is another of 230, a third +of 335, another of 380, another of 410, a sixth of 500, and the longest +is 540. The two very long holes come together, and though they are +virtually bunkerless you may be assured that they take an uncommon +amount of playing, and that he who gets them in five strokes each is +skilful and fortunate too. Here, as nowhere else, is one made to feel +that inferior shots bring their own punishment with them without any +artificial hazards. + +The common is quite flat, but it is intersected by various roads and +paths, and the greens are generally near to these walking ways. Variety +is given by the great gravel pits which are here, as they have been for +ages, although they are now smoothed and grassed over, and the biggest +of them has to be played through at both the long holes. What is known +as "Whitfield's Mount," a little clump of enclosed trees, is almost the +only relief from the bareness and flatness of this golfing common. The +lies are better than they used to be, but however kindly they may think +of them at Blackheath--and we must respect them for doing so--they are +not good. How could they be? The common is open for the children of +London, or any other place, to play upon, and for the grown-ups to +lounge about or walk over, which in abundance they do. It is primarily a +public common and only secondarily a golf course, and the vast majority +of those who walk upon it know nothing of the great game, except what +they occasionally see as they pass along. The golfers have no rights. +They have the greens, as they are called for compliment, smoothed a +little and made in some way to resemble greens; and there are holes of +sorts but not generally with flags in them, and there are no teeing +boxes. The fairway is as hard as might be expected, and consists for the +most part of bare places and tufts. There is no smoothness and evenness +of proper golfing turf about it. But one does not say this in an +unappreciative way. Not for a million balls or a permanent increase of +drive would we have Blackheath anything but what it is, for if it were +changed the charm would be gone. + +Let us go there and try the game. We must decide in advance that, like +Vardon, Braid, and Taylor we can play our real game before any gallery +in the world, and let our nerves and self-confidence be braced +accordingly, for those who play at Blackheath must undergo great +ordeals. A number of children, usually accompanied by a small dog, +discover us soon after our appearance on the course, and gather close +while our stroke is being made, very close. There is a little boy, +perhaps, one or two little girls, the baby, and the dog. We consider +most the baby at Blackheath. The boy, occasionally relieved by the elder +girl, is the spokesman of the party, and in tones indicative of complete +sympathy with the objects of the expedition, which are to strike the +ball and project it in the direction of the holes, he explains to the +remainder what is about to be done, what is done, and how we fail to do +what was intended. He corrects himself whenever he finds his information +to have been wrong. Willie having told little Liza something about the +performance that is pending, the child inquires about what will happen +if the gentleman does not hit the ball, and the gentleman, hearing, +develops fear. At this moment the dog, which has been lingering quietly +within a yard of the ball, shows signs of becoming restive, and is +inclined to smell at it. Finally it favours only a disconsolate bark. +Somehow we despatch that ball at last, and then Willie, Nell, Liza, +baby, Towser, and selves move on some way towards the hole, but not so +far as we should have done, because the ball happened to strike a +lamp-post; and on the way Liza desires to know if a golf ball would kill +anybody if it hit them, and wishes Willie to buy one some day. And a +human sweetness there is in these little Blackheath urchins after all! +This early innocence is a sublime and splendid thing, and when in like +circumstances you would scowl, you gentlemen from London, remember, if +you please, that Liza called you one, and she thinks you are. + +And the caddies! At Blackheath they have the most wonderful of all +caddies. The ways and manners and the character of the St. Andrews and +Musselburgh caddies are inferior. These Blackheath fellows are not like +the usual thing. They lean against the wall of the club-house and offer +their services to the stranger, declaring that it is a nice day for the +game, when a storm is gathering over the common. Generally the caddie +is given to laziness; they are a shiftless company. But see, though the +Blackheath caddie looks as indolent as any to begin with, he is in truth +one of the most active fellows within a hundred miles of Charing Cross, +as you very soon discover, after beginning the round with him. The old +red flag of traction-engine law obtains at Blackheath still. The golfer +is a dangerous person, death lurks in his flying ball, and so a man with +a scarlet banner must walk before the player to warn all people that he +is coming on. But we make the caddie do the ordinary work of carrying, +and teeing up, and red-flagging also, and he contrives in effect to be +in two places at the same time. He tees the ball, lays down the driver +by the side of it, and then runs ahead with a coloured handkerchief, +which is the red flag, and he waves it while on the run and the golfer +follows. So the caddie, leaving near the ball the club that is needed, +goes on again, and is always a shot ahead. Reaching the green he stands +by the hole until the golfer comes near enough to see it, and then the +man hurries away to the next tee, sets everything in a state of +preparation (and he carries a supply of sand in his pocket), and at once +is off again to the distance of a drive before the player has holed out. +The weakness of this system is that the caddie, by force of +circumstances, can know little or nothing of the progress of the match, +he is not one of the party, and he cares nothing at all about our good +shots. He lacks the sympathy of the real caddie, but he is marvellously +efficient all the same. If it is true, as we always say, that golf is +the same all over the world, I would suggest that if there is a place +where it is not the same it is at Blackheath, and that is why every one +should go there, and it should cease to be the fact that more London +golfers have been to Fifeshire than have been to play upon that historic +course. + + + * * * * * + +Take a glimpse into the rich past of Blackheath golf. Look into the old +bet-book of the club and see some entries there, and do not forget that +all bets were made on the understanding that all members of the club had +a share in the gains of the winner no matter whether the bets were made +in cash or kind. On Saturday, July 9 1791, "Mr. Pitcaithly bets Captain +Fairfull one gallon of claret that he drives the Short Hole in three +strokes, six times in ten--to be played for the first time he comes to +Blackheath--after the annual day. Lost and paid by Mr. Pitcaithly, the +10th September." A little while later "Mr. Christie bets Mr. Barnes one +gallon of claret that he drives from the Thorn Tree beyond the College +Hole in three strokes, five times in ten, to be decided next Saturday." +Mr. Christie in due course performed his driving feat and won his bet. +Then "Captain Welladvice, having left the company without permission of +the chair, has forfeited one gallon claret"; and "Mr. Turner bets Mr. +Walker one gallon claret that he plays him on Wednesday, the 12th inst., +four rounds of the green, and that Mr. Walker does not gain a hole of +him." Again, "Mr. Longlands bets Mr. Win. Innes, Sen., that he will play +him for a gallon of claret, giving Mr. Innes one stroke in each hole. +Four rounds on the green. Out and in holes to be played." One may well +understand that all the good claret that was thus available from these +gallant bets, together with what was bought and paid for in the ordinary +course, had a heartening effect upon those old golfers, with the result +that in the fine fancies that floated in the dining-hall of the "Green +Man" after dinner, drives seemed all endowed with unusual length, and +direction was always good. Again it is recorded that on an evening of +June "Captain MacMillan bets a gallon with Mr. Jameson that Captain +Macara in five strokes drives farther by fifteen yards than any other +gentleman Mr. Jameson may name of the Golf Society now present, to be +determined next Saturday"; and no sooner had Captain MacMillan +registered his bet than there came along Mr. Callender, who "bets Mr. +Hamilton one gallon that Mr. R. Mackenzie drives in five strokes farther +than Mr. H., to commence at the Assembly Hole and go on five strokes +running." Then Mr. Innes gets into a sporting mood, and he "bets Mr. +Wilson a gallon (a guinea) that he beats him, allowing Mr. Innes the tee +stroke with his wooden club, and after with his irons. Out and in--four +rounds." All these were in the latter days of the eighteenth century, +and all the time the happy golfers were filling up the bet-book of the +club, not with golfing bets any more than, or as much as, with bets +about events of the great war that was in progress; as, for instance, +when Mr. Satterthwaite "bets Mr. Callender a gallon of claret that +Admiral Nelson's squadron does take or destroy the French transports in +the harbour of Alexandria, or the major part of them." + +In the Knuckle Club and the Blackheath Winter Golf Club, forerunners of +the Blackheath Golf Club, the same happy state of affairs prevailed. The +Knuckle Club was a very remarkable institution. In form it was a secret +society. Each member had to be initiated, and had to learn certain signs +and answers to questions by which he would know brother members from +strangers. Also, the members wore orders or a kind of regalia, and there +were heavy fines if they allowed themselves to be seen outside the +club-rooms with these special tokens of their community about them. On +one occasion we have a member, named James Walker, heavily fined in +claret for being so thoughtless as to take home his order. The holder +of the golfing gold medal for the year was termed the Grand Knuckle, and +was the chief of the club, which boasted also a "Registrar," and various +other officials of much dignity of title. As the mystic element of the +club decreased, so the golfing strength and enthusiasm of it increased, +and it was by this process of evolution that in course of time the +mystery lapsed and the name was changed. Before the competitions of the +club took place advertisements were always inserted in the _Times_ and +the _Morning Chronicle_ of the period, and it must be remarked that play +in these competitions was usually conducted on the strictest lines. One +record in the minutes reads: "28th March, 1795. Medal Day. It being +stated to the club that Mr. Innes, one of the candidates for the medal +played for this day, lost his ball; the opinion of the club was desired +whether the loss of the ball put an end to the candidate's chance for +the honours of the day." The club determined that it did. So more than a +hundred years ago their medal rules were stricter than ours, in this +matter at any rate. "Scrutineers" always examined the medal cards after +dinner, and announced the winner. In the early part of last century +there seems to have been rather less of betting and a little more of +feasting. There were gifts of venison and turtle from the members, and +the supply of claret, varied now and then by champagne and choice +spirits, was very copious. Each time a child was born to a member, he +contributed a pound's worth of claret to the weekly or monthly dinner; +and whenever a member was married, the same thing was done. The golf of +Blackheath, and all connected with it, was then a highly picturesque +thing. The course was yet only a five-holes affair. The clubs of the +players were carried by pensioners of the Royal Naval Hospital, +Greenwich, in their quaint uniforms, and an allowance of beer was +regularly made to them by the club until 1832. The pensioners were +caddies until 1869. + +The Royal Blackheath Club was, and still is, most original and +interesting in many points of its constitution and government. To be +captain of this club, small one comparatively as it is now, is to fill a +high office, the honourable nature of which is duly impressed upon the +holder at the time of his election and installation, for he is elevated +with much ceremony and in much the same way as the captain of the Royal +and Ancient Club. The retiring captain sits in his chair at the meeting +for the last time, and thanks are offered to him by grateful members for +the good things he has done in his year. And then the captain-elect is +called by name by the secretary, who takes in his arms the silver club +which is the equivalent of the mace in Parliament, the symbol of power +and active authority, and places himself at the head of a procession +which is formed. The field-marshal, conducting the newcomer to the +chair, follows behind, and so they make their way to the head of the +chamber, where the field-marshal presents the new captain to the old +one. There are various little forms of ritual to be gone through; the +new captain makes a solemn declaration of loyalty and fidelity to the +club and his office, and, particularly, expresses his anxiety to +maintain its dignity, and then he commits himself irrevocably and +awfully to an undying oath--he kisses the club! All this is to-day just +as it was in the ancient days. Mention has been made of the +field-marshal of the club; no other club boasts a field-marshal, who +fills an office of most ineffable and incomparable dignity. Captains may +come and go, year by year; they do their work well; and they lay down +the club. But the field-marshal is above all captains, and he is in +office till he dies. He is a prince over captains. He is essentially a +golfer--not a mere ornament--and a good golfer, and one strong in the +true spirit of the game. Because a good field-marshal is not easily +found, he is made much of. The installation of a new one is a fine +ceremony. There is a solemn gathering, all the famous trophies and bits +of regalia are furbished up; there are speeches, forms, declarations, +questions, answers; and if it were a very coronation the thing could +scarcely be more serious. The silver club is held before the +field-marshal elect, and he is presented with the special medal of his +office, when he is finally addressed thus: "We expect and ask that you +will wear this medal at all golf meetings as your predecessors did; and +we have further to ask that you will in all time coming, while you are +spared in health, do all that in you lies to maintain and support the +rights and privileges of this ancient club; to maintain the honour and +dignity of the club; and should any attempts be made to interfere with +the rights of the club, that you will aid the executive in endeavouring +to put down such interference, so that the club may maintain the high +and honourable position that it ever has done, since its institution in +1608. Kiss the club!" The field-marshal kisses it, and thus he is +exalted among the highest in the whole world of golf. + +There are many eras with marked features to be noted in the history of +the club. Even now many of those features are still perpetuated. Dinners +are still held; dignity still is high. We have now heard much of the +old-time Blackheath golfers; but an era of vast consequence, not only to +Blackheath but to the game, is one that can still be remembered by some +old golfers, that of great activity which began just before the middle +of last century, and is only just now reaching its climax in the great +and universal "boom" in golf. It has already been suggested that +Blackheath led the way, and led it most effectively. For long after it +had done so it was still the premier club in England, and in playing +strength was the best. The club itself has few solid possessions--just a +few fine old club heirlooms--but many great memories. In a very modern +sense it is poor, having a comfortable but not a magnificent club-house, +and no splendid links of eighteen holes. But the Royal Blackheath Golf +Club is like a fine old English gentleman of the very best kind, +ignoring all new ways of thought and life, eschewing all sordidness, +clinging to the fine simple principles of wise fore-fathers. That is +just what it is, the fine old English gentleman whom the age has +outstripped. It is the Colonel Newcome of the clubs. + + + * * * * * + +And in that pageant of London golf that we suggested there are many +other picturesque and significant scenes. If we cannot be sure of the +places where the holes were cut, nor of the situation of the teeing +grounds, it is still certain, from documentary evidence, that a golf +course that was made at Molesey Hurst was only second, in point of +seniority, in England, to Blackheath itself, and it was very high up in +the list of the golf clubs of the world. Manchester came next in 1818. +There are concerned in the only existing record two people of no less +credit and renown than David Garrick, the actor, and the eminent Dr. +Alexander Carlyle, of Inveresk, who witnessed the Porteous riots, saw +the fight at Prestonpans, and amid these many excitements cultivated his +game to a fine point, was one of the keenest golfers of the eighteenth +century, and won the Musselburgh medal in 1775. Carlyle was like many +others of the Scottish parsons of those good times and the present, who +would take their golf clubs with them wherever they might wander, on the +chance of opportunity presenting itself. He came to London, and knowing +of Blackheath, the clubs came with him. Garrick at that time had a house +at Hampton which in recent days was occupied by the late Sir Clifton +Robinson, the organiser of the London electric tramway system. Garrick +asked John Home and a number of friends, including Carlyle, to dine with +him at Hampton and bring their golf clubs and balls with them that they +might play on the course at Molesey Hurst. When the six of them, who +were in a landau, passed through Kensington, the Coldstreams, who were +changing guard, observed their clubs, and gave them three cheers "in +honour of a diversion peculiar to Scotland." + +There might be a railway train in the pageant of London golf, one of the +early trains with engines of the Stephensonian style. The period would +be just after the accession of Queen Victoria, and there would be two +gentlemen travelling together from London to Aldershot, one of them +being Sir Hope Grant, a keen golfer, a member of the Royal and Ancient +Club, who held a military appointment at Aldershot, while the other +would be the Duke of Cambridge. It has been recorded that in matter of +companionship this journey was a very dull affair, for Sir Hope Grant +was moody, and failed to respond to the well-meant attempts of the Duke +to open conversation. He seemed troubled. But suddenly after long +silence he jumped up from his seat, rushed to the window of the +compartment and opened it. At this stage the Duke of Cambridge felt that +things could not be well with his companion, and jumping up after him, +grabbed him by the tails of his coat. A moment later they both sat down, +and looked at each other. "Well," said Sir Hope Grant, in the manner of +a man recovering from a great surprise, "that is a thing that you +seldom see near London; there were two men playing golf in a field out +there." + +And then in the pageant there would be represented the starting of golf +at Wimbledon in 1865, with the Blackheath emissaries all on fire with +the zeal of their enterprise. Wimbledon with its Royal Wimbledon and its +London Scottish, its famous holes and its windmill, and all the rest of +it, has played no small part in golfing history. At the beginning seven +holes were made as they had them at Blackheath, and did you ever hear +that at Wimbledon once there was a round that consisted of nineteen +holes, the longest round in number of holes in the world? Tom Dunn, who +was responsible for the extension of the course about 1870, told the +story, and so far as I am aware he only told it in America. We may +repeat it here in the words he used. The committee had asked him whether +he thought they might make a full-sized course on their land, and, +coming to the conclusion that they might, he was told to go on with the +work, and eventually was satisfied that he had made a good job of it. +The secretary of the period is said to have been somewhat imperfectly +acquainted with the game in general just then, and went to Dunn with the +inquiry as to how many holes they had on the old course at St. Andrews, +and was told. "The secretary thought a moment," said Tom, "scratched his +head and began to look wise. Then he approached very closely, and +nodding his head for me to bend my ear, he whispered in a hoarse voice, +'Tom, let us have one more!' 'Oh, that is impossible,' I replied. 'It +cannot be, for eighteen is the orthodox number.' 'I care not for that,' +replied the secretary, who was accustomed to have his own way, 'we will +have one more!' I was very young at the time and I would do anything +rather than offend the gentleman, for he had much influence, and I +wanted his goodwill; so I reluctantly submitted to the demand. The +committee met the next day, and I was asked if I had succeeded in making +an eighteen-holes course. I replied, with some hesitation, that I had +made a nineteen-holes course, and explained why I had done so. Well, you +never in your life saw a more excited lot of men. There was an uproar in +a moment, and all made a dive for the poor secretary, who never heard +the last of it." + + + * * * * * + +Within sight of Wimbledon now there is Coombe Hill, one of the best and +most recent achievements in the new metropolitan golf. Here is a +contrast indeed! One may sometimes wonder how those ill-tempered people +who grumble that golfers in these days take their game, and all about +it, too richly, and that fine club-houses do not make plus players--such +complainers still being eager for all the most modern comforts +themselves--would like to live their golfing lives for a season after +the early Wimbledon manner in all its great simplicity. The first +club-house those golfers ever had, if you would call it by the name, was +the old iron "shooting house," and it measured only eight yards by six. +It served the purposes of club-room, clothes-room and others. If its +floor space was small, its roof was high, and the members' clothes were +hung up on hooks, to the very top; and were lifted up to their proper +places, and reached down again by a pole. Most of the numerous members +had their private hooks, and a boy who worked the pole had a most +marvellous memory for the garments and their proper owners, so that when +a member, coming in suddenly, called for his jacket and his stockings, +up went the pole, and down came the goods without a moment's delay, and +all correct. This remarkable young person has his proper and +highly-developed successor in Gibbon, the house-steward at the present +Mid-Surrey club at Richmond, who, though he has nearly a thousand +members to consider, knows so well the particularities and possessions +of them all. Tom Dunn had his workshop in this iron shooting house, and +here he kept a fair stock of clubs and balls, and did his own repairs. +Presently some of the members suggested to him that it would be +agreeable if he stored some eatables and drinkables in his shop for +their sustenance and comfort, before and after rounds; and so he laid in +a stock of wines and spirits, sandwiches and eggs, and so forth, which +had of necessity to be laid out on his bench where there were varnish, +shavings, sawdust and pitch as well. Behold here the early London +golfer! It is an interesting historical fact, that when a few years +after its establishment, and just before the Tom Dunn era, the club +first thought of engaging a professional, the committee set it on record +that "they took a very favourable view of young Tom Morris's application +for the post." + +The people who accuse the moderns of being over fond of prizes in +competitions--and a nasty name they call them!--might be told the tale +of the old golfing baronet of Wimbledon, now dead, who once won five +shillings, being his half share of the third prize in the sweepstakes +attached to the monthly medal competition there. It was the first prize +that this keen but unfortunate golfer had ever won, and he begged the +permission of the committee to be allowed to add more money for a richer +keepsake. The consent of the authorities was graciously given, whereupon +the prize-winner purchased for himself a golden-eagle writing stand for +which he gave a hundred sovereigns, adding ninety-nine pounds fifteen +shillings to the prize-money. Friends, not being golfers, who called +upon him had the prize exhibited to them, and they said, "Goodness, +what a fine player you must be!" He felt he was, and that the prize was +worth the money. + +When the 'nineties of the last century were reached golf began to spread +in London, and such clubs as Northwood with its "Death or Glory" Hole, +Tooting Bec, and Mid-Surrey laid the foundation for the great London +golf that was soon to come. This Mid-Surrey club with its thousand +members, its financial turnover of thirty thousand pounds a year, its +hundred thousand rounds that are played on that excellent course in +twelve months without its showing hardly the wear of a blade of grass, +the twenty thousand lunches that are eaten by their members, the four +thousand pounds that were spent in one year lately on the improvement of +the course, is, I believe, the busiest golfing institution in the world. +It is well said that there is nearly always a couple driving off from +that first teeing ground near the rails in the Old Deer Park. And one +might add that as a place where golf is played in a plain but excellent +spirit, without any fancy trappings, the club here is one of the best +organised and managed in the world, and is a vast credit to the +secretary, Mr. J. H. Montgomerie, while the course, whose putting greens +are a match for any in existence, is a fine testimonial to that prince +of greenkeepers, Peter Lees, who was lately captured by the Americans +for a great new course on Long Island. Lees has been a great influence +in the development of modern golf in England, and I know that he will +make a great difference to American courses. And there is champion J. H. +Taylor as the club's professional. In a special way Mid-Surrey stands +for London golf. + +It has come to this, that we no longer fear to speak and write of the +great excellence of the London golf courses. Sunningdale at the +beginning of the present century opened up a new era not only in London +golf but in golf in general--the period of the inland courses of a far +higher class, better and more interesting in every respect than anything +that had ever been dreamt of before. Sunningdale was followed by +Huntercombe and Walton Heath, of which Sir George Riddell has assisted +to make such a magnificent success. There have come after them +Worplesdon, Burhill, Bramshot, Stoke Poges, Sandy Lodge, Coombe Hill, +St. George's Hill, and many others all belonging to the same class. Many +of us hold to the fancy that Sunningdale, the mother of the new sort of +courses, is still the best and most charming of them all. She is the +Berkshire jewel; magnificent. But comparisons are not easily made, for, +most remarkably and happily, these new modern inland courses that are +setting an example to the world and which the world is following +wherever it can afford it, vary enormously in character, in appearance, +in the precise sort of golf that they present and offer, whereas at the +beginning of inland golf we had the fancy, and the fancy truly led to +fact, that in the main all inland courses must be the same--plain, flat, +one cross bunker here, another there, and then the green. Not only the +architecture, but, far more than that in its beneficial effects, the +greenkeeping has been improved, soils are understood, they are fortified +and seeds are adapted to them, and results are achieved which not ten +years ago would have been regarded as impossible. The result is that we +have fairways and putting greens on some of our best inland courses near +London which are rarely excelled at the seaside, although nothing can +ever give to inland turf that firm springiness--a term slightly +paradoxical but one easily appreciated--which is the characteristic of +good seaside links. No longer is good inland golf to be despised. It has +charms all its own, and it has the distinction that golf as we know it +to-day would never have existed if it were not for the inland courses. +There are fewer hedges on them now than once there were, and no more +ditches than there should be. + + + * * * * * + +To a section of old conservatives it may seem a dreadful thing to say, +but it is the truth that one of the reasons why we love our golf of +London, praise it and rejoice in it, is because of its glorious trees. +We know courses on the coast where there is never a tree or a bush to be +seen, and never one to be avoided in the playing. The golfers who live +and play and die in those parts know nothing of the splendour of trees +and the leaves that come and go, and knowing nothing they will even +sometimes wrongfully say that no golf course ever should have a tree +about it. Golf is a game of Nature; allow it then all the best effects +that Nature can supply. Permit it the trees that the townsmen otherwise +so seldom see; cutting them down, hewing them away will not bring the +ocean nearer nor liken the course more to seaside golf. Trees belong to +the inland game as much as sandhills to the other, and when a question +of removal arises, let constructors and committees reflect that a golfer +can be made in a season and he perishes some time later, that a new hole +can be made in a week and may be altered the week after, that some shots +which are thought of might be hindered by the tree but that only one +shot in a dozen is likely to be of the kind that is considered--and that +the tree has taken ages to grow, and will live ages on, being more of +eternity than many generations of golfers. + +They may not always be conscious of the fact, but the people who live in +towns and are cooped in them constantly, abiding in flats, working in +gloomy chambers and travelling in underground railways, derive more than +half their golfing enjoyment from the vision of Nature, less adorned +than in the public parks, with which they become associated in their +golf--grass to tread upon, surrounding trees through which soft breezes +croon, and timid clouds creeping slowly underneath the blue. There is +nothing so good as the golf of the true seaside links; there could not +be. In this, the real thing, we have land formations that are impossible +on inland flatness; there are the wildness of dunes and bent that cannot +be reproduced artificially away from the coast; we have the perfect turf +that is ideal for the game and which has never yet been completely +imitated away from shore, and above all, through the rich variety of +situation and possibility, we have the course springing surprises on us +all the time. This is golf in the highest, the stern, cold, enthralling +game. London golf is a gentler thing, a little softer, but it has charms +that are all its own, and they are the charms of green Nature and the +delights of changing seasons. By the sea it is warm or it is cold, and +there is little difference else from the beginning of the year to the +end. But in London the golfer notices the seasons as he does nowhere +else, and they are everything to him and his happiness. And the trees +best tell him of the seasons, and it is then that he might exclaim, as +Ruskin did, "What a great thought of God was that when He thought a +tree!" + +In this way the two most beautiful seasons of the year, spring and +autumn, touching nearest the heart, creating inspirations and causing +reflection, the germinal and the fall, are the most splendid times for +golf in London, and at other inland places, and they are surely the best +seasons of all for the enjoyment and happiness of the game. But +particularly they are London's seasons. In the spring there is the time +for preparation, when all golfers are keen in a new life. Then the +leaves of the trees are opened, and are there prettier scenes on any +course than on some of those near London then? There is hardly to be +fancied a better day than could be had at St. George's Hill or on the +New Zealand course at Byfleet when the golden gorse is in bloom and +gives out its rich perfume, while the trees that line the fairway all +about are full to life again. Think, when May is come, of the glory of +Sudbrooke Park, Cassiobury, of Sunningdale, even of Neasden, Northwood, +and a hundred more. Then there comes the holiday time, and the seaside +links, and the golf of London rests until the autumn, and then it is +alive again; and let the faults of London golf be whatever they may, the +players are few who are not happy to return to the old courses of home. +Be they ever so poor they are their very own. + +This of all others is the most delightful golfing season. The white sun +of summer has been toned to gold, and the air is sweet and cool; the +turf is moist again. It is soothing; but there is a pathos in it all +that the golfer, sensitive and sympathetic observer as he has become, +must always feel. One may tramp a country lane and notice little, but +the men of this game have been trained to notice. Here present is the +season of the fall, the rest after achievement, when Nature closes in +upon herself and lapses to her sleep. She has done her season's work, +done it wisely, ever well. So the fires of heaven burn low again. Green +of the world turns russet and bronze, with flashes of scarlet and gold. +A smell of earth that is moist with autumn dew rises in the morning air. +When the round begins the sun warmth is not enough to dry away the +little globules of the dew, tears of the sobbing night, and the course +has a glittering sheen upon it. From drooping branches of beeches and +sycamores that half surround a putting green in a corner of the course, +crackling leaves are falling and some must be moved before the intruding +ball can be putted to its appointed place. As the little golfing company +moves along to the adjoining tee more of these spent leaves come +fluttering sadly down. But, a little sad as this may be, the golfer of +the towns, with summer memories of mountains and hills and deep lanes +still lingering in his mind, hearing the crooning of the summer seas and +the lapping of waves near northern putting greens, has his consolations. +He is grateful for the coppery leaves and the early dew, though they may +hinder play a trifle. They are as echoes from the north and east and +west. We see no dew in Piccadilly, and there are no mountains in the +Strand. + + +THE END + + +_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_. + + + + +BOOKS ON GOLF + + +THE SOUL OF GOLF. By P. A. VAILE. Illustrated. Extra Crown 8vo. 6s. net. + + _GOLF ILLUSTRATED._--"We can only say that we read it through + without finding a dull page, and that in our opinion it is a book + which will give hope to the duffer and new light even to the + advanced player." + +THE MYSTERY OF GOLF. By ARNOLD HAULTAIN. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. net. + + Mr. HENRY LEACH _in the EVENING NEWS_.--"Mr. Haultain's book answers + to all the tests to which it may be submitted, and I am strongly + disposed to regard it as the best book of its kind that has ever + been written." + +TRAVERS' GOLF BOOK. By JEROME D. TRAVERS. Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 8s. +6d. net. + + _FRY'S MAGAZINE._--"Mr. Travers' book is a valuable contribution to + golfing literature, and it should be bought and read by every + golfer." + +THE ART OF PUTTING. By W. J. TRAVIS and JACK WHITE. Illustrated. Crown +8vo. 1s. net. + + _GOLFING._--"Into little space Mr. Travis crowds many valuable hints + to the willing student.... It's a big shillingsworth, and those of + you who invest will find that is so." + + * * * * * + +GREAT LAWN TENNIS PLAYERS: THEIR METHODS ILLUSTRATED. By G. W. BELDAM +and P. A. VAILE. With 229 Action Photographs. Medium 8vo. 10s. 6d. net. + +GREAT BATSMEN: THEIR METHODS AT A GLANCE. By G. W. BELDAM and C. B. FRY. +With 600 Action Photographs. Medium 8vo. 10s. 6d. net. + +GREAT BOWLERS AND FIELDERS: THEIR METHODS AT A GLANCE. By G. W. BELDAM +and C. B. FRY. With contributions by F. R. Spofforth, B. J. T. +BOSANQUET, R. O. SCHWARZ, and G. L. JESSOP; and 464 Action Photographs. +Medium 8vo. 10s. 6d. net. + +LAWN TENNIS, ITS PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. By J. PARMLY PARET. With a +chapter on Lacrosse by W. H. MADDREN. Illustrated. Extra Crown 8vo. 8s. +6d. net. + + * * * * * + +BOOKS ON SPORT + + +HUNTING THE ELEPHANT IN AFRICA, AND OTHER RECOLLECTIONS OF THIRTEEN +YEARS' WANDERINGS. By Captain C. H. STIGAND. With Introduction by +Theodore Roosevelt. Illustrated. 8vo. 10s. 6d. net. + +THE ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER. By JAMES SUTHERLAND. Illustrated. +8vo. 7s. 6d. net. + +THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO, AND OTHER EAST AFRICAN ADVENTURES. By +Lieut.-Colonel J. H. PATTERSON, D.S.O. Illustrated. With a Foreword by +FREDERICK COURTENEY SELOUS. 8vo. 7s. 6d. net. Also Globe 8vo. 1s. net. + +IN THE GRIP OF THE NYIKA. Further Adventures in British East Africa. By +Lieut.-Colonel J. H. PATTERSON, D.S.O. Illustrated. 8vo. 7s. 6d. net. + +A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS IN AFRICA. Nine Years amongst the Game of the Far +Interior of South Africa. By FREDERICK COURTENEY SELOUS. Illustrated. +Extra Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. net. + +AFRICAN NATURE NOTES AND REMINISCENCES. By FREDERICK COURTENEY SELOUS. +With a Foreword by THEODORE ROOSEVELT and Illustrations by E. Caldwell. +8vo. 10s. net. + +A COLONY IN THE MAKING, OR SPORT AND PROFIT IN BRITISH EAST AFRICA. By +Lord CRANWORTH. Illustrated. 8vo. 12s. net. + +SPORT ON THE NILGIRIS AND IN WYNAAD. By F. W. F. 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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 Happy Golfer + Being Some Experiences, Reflections, and a Few Deductions + of a Wandering Golfer + +Author: Henry Leach + +Release Date: August 19, 2011 [EBook #37136] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HAPPY GOLFER *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Bergquist, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + + +<h1>THE HAPPY GOLFER</h1> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/deco.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + + +<p class="center">MACMILLAN AND CO., <span class="smcap">Limited</span><br /> +LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA<br /> +MELBOURNE</p> + +<p class="center">THE MACMILLAN COMPANY<br /> +NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO<br /> +DALLAS · SAN FRANCISCO</p> + +<p class="center">THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, <span class="smcap">Ltd.</span><br /> +TORONTO</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1>THE HAPPY GOLFER</h1> + +<h3><i>BEING SOME EXPERIENCES, REFLECTIONS, AND<br /> A FEW DEDUCTIONS OF A +WANDERING PLAYER</i></h3> + +<h2>BY HENRY LEACH</h2> + +<h3>AUTHOR OF<br /> "THE SPIRIT OF THE LINKS," "LETTERS OF A MODERN GOLFER," ETC.</h3> + + +<p class="center">MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED<br /> +ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON<br /> +1914</p> + + +<p class="center">COPYRIGHT</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table width="75%"> +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a></td><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Seven Wonders of Golf, and the abiding Mystery of the Game,<br /> +with a Thought upon Traditions and their Value</span> </td><td align="right">1</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a></td><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Ubiquity of the Game: with an Advertisement for the Community<br /> +of Golfers, and a Note upon the Effect of St. Andrews Spirits</span> </td><td align="right">28</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a></td><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Tragedies of the Short Putt, and a Contrast between Children<br /> +and Champions, with the varied Counsel of the Wisest Men</span> </td><td align="right">56</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a></td><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Old Champions and New, and some Differences in Achievement, with a<br /> +Suggestion that Golf is a Cruel Game</span> </td><td align="right">88</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a></td><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Famous Championship at Brookline, U.S.A., and an Account of how<br /> +Mr. Francis Ouimet won it, with some Explanation of seeming +Mysteries</span> </td><td align="right">110</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a></td><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Beginnings of Golf in the United States, and Experiences in<br /> +Travelling there, with an Example of American Club Management</span> </td><td align="right">140</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a></td><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Perfect Country Club and the Golfers' Pow-wow at Onwentsia,<br /> +with a Glimpse of the National Links</span> </td><td align="right">166</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a></td><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The U.S.G.A. and the Methods of the Business-man Golfer, with a<br /> +Remarkable Development of Municipal Golf</span> </td><td align="right">199</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a></td><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Canadian Courses, and a Great Achievement at Toronto, with Matters<br /> +pertaining to making a New Beginning</span> </td><td align="right">226</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a></td><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Golf de Paris, and some Remarkable Events at Versailles and<br /> +Chantilly, with New Theories by High Authorities</span> </td><td align="right">251</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a></td><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Riviera Golf, and what might be learned from Ladies, with a<br /> +Consideration of the Overlapping Grip</span> </td><td align="right">277</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</a></td><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">About the Pyrenees, and the Charms of Golf at Biarritz and Pau,<br /> +with Possibilities for Great Adventure</span> </td><td align="right">302</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</a></td><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Game in Italy, and the Quality of the Course at Rome, with a<br /> +Short Consideration of the Value of Style</span> </td><td align="right">324</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV</a></td><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Awakening of Spain, and some Marvellous Golfing Enterprise in<br /> +Madrid, with a Statement of Golfers' Discoveries</span> </td><td align="right">339</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV</a></td><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Superiority of British Links, and a Masterpiece of Kent, with<br /> +some Systems and Morals for Holiday Golf</span> </td><td align="right">364</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI</a></td><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Old Dignity of London Golf, and its New Importance, with a Word<br /> +for the Charm of Inland Courses</span> </td><td align="right">392</td></tr> +</table> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>THE SEVEN WONDERS OF GOLF, AND THE ABIDING MYSTERY OF THE GAME, WITH A +THOUGHT UPON TRADITIONS AND THEIR VALUE.</h3> + + +<p>The first of the seven wonders of golf is a mysterious fascination that +it sets towards mankind, from which, overwhelming and enduring, no +people are immune. The game seizes men of all ages, of every +nationality, all occupations, dispositions, temperaments—all of them. +The charm acts upon men and women alike. Sometimes we have suspected +that males are more whole-hearted golfers; but there are circumstances +of quick recurrence to cause a doubt, and even were there none the +fancied difference would be capable of explanation. It has nearly become +an established rule that they golf the most who golf the last, for there +is no man of the links so keen, so simple and humble in his abandonment +to the game, as he who but lately held aloof and laughed, with many a +gibe upon the madness of the class. Savages have attempted golf and +found they liked it, and the finest intellects are constantly exercised +upon its difficulties. So this diversion, pastime, game has become a +thing of everywhere and everybody as no other sport of any kind has ever +done. The number of people who play no golf decreases daily, and events +of the last ten years have shown that its supremacy as the chief of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> +games is sure. It is clear, indeed, that, so far as the numbers attached +to it are concerned, it is still only at its beginning, in toddling +infancy. A few years hence its intimate part in general life will be +better realised; even now you do not so frequently ask a man of movement +and intelligence whether he plays golf or not as what his handicap may +be and what kind of ball he likes the best. No other game or sport +exercises anything like such power of fascination upon its people as +this. A tennis-player may leave tennis if he must; the cricketer often +voluntarily gives up cricket for no compelling reason; a man of the +hills and moors may cease to care for shooting; and one who has made an +automobile speed like the wind along the roads may sell his car and be +motorist nevermore. But the golfer will and must always golf, and never +less but more while strength permits. Men who go to the sea in ships +take golf clubs with them; I have known golfers carry their materials +into deserts, and one of the greatest and noblest explorers the world +has known took them with him to one far end of earth. Surely this is a +very remarkable thing, a feature of life that is strange as it is +strong, and it is not nonsense to suggest that this is no ordinary game +and cannot be considered as a game like others. Somewhere in a +mysterious way it touches the springs of life, makes emotions shake. It +grips; it twitches at the senses. Why?</p> + +<p>No person has yet answered that question well and with decision, though +many have attempted to do so in written words, and ten thousand times +and more have players in their talk touched upon the lasting problem, +and then, with that natural human avoidance of the impossible, have +shuffled off to some topic more amenable. Here, it seemed, was one of +the mysteries of life, and these are such as it is better not to meddle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> +with. So through neglect and our timidity the problem has seemed to +deepen. It has become the Great Mystery. Wonder and awe are thick about +it. Men who were innocent and have turned to golf do not give a reason +why; they are silent to the questioner. They say that he too will see in +time, and then they golf exceedingly. Surely, then, this Great Mystery +of its fascination is the first of the seven wonders of golf; and it is +appropriate enough that a game that covers the world and embraces all +mankind should have special and well-separated wonders numbering seven +like the seven others of the earth at large: the traditions of the game, +its amazing ubiquity, St. Andrews, the short putt, the achievements of +golfers, and the rubber-cored ball are the other six. Each has its +well-established place, and between the seventh of the group and the +eighth, being chief of the thousand minor wonders, there is a wide +separation.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>It is not for one poor atom in a great and complex golfing world to put +forward with any look of dogma a suggested solution to this subtle +mystery which the philosophers have probed so long and fruitlessly. He +will subscribe with others in a consoling renunciation to the view that +it is not for human mortals, who should be happy with delights that are +given them, to tear down veils from the faces of hidden gods. But as a +theory—shall we say?—he may advance an explanation which is +satisfying to one who has wondered as much as any others and inquired as +often during many years, while yet it still leaves a place for mystery +and a suggestion of eternal doubt. And the chief difference between this +theory and others that have preceded it is that this is what might be +called Collective while the others have commonly been theories of single +ideas.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> Philosophic research towards the solution of the mystery +hitherto has been almost exclusively based upon the supposition of there +being one peculiar unknown cause for the amazing fascination, a +magnificent <i>x</i>, something that in our present imperfect state of +knowledge could hardly be imagined, but which has been vaguely conceived +to be connected in some ways with the senses—and maybe the spirit. We +have known that in some mysterious and it has seemed almost supernatural +way the emotions have been stirred, most deeply shaken, by the pursuit +of golf, and the case has seemed so inexplicable that the existence of +an overwhelming unknown factor for the cause has been suspected. Here +investigation has naturally faltered. I myself for long enough was +inclined to the possibility of the single-cause theory being correct, +and with devotion was attached to that "Hope" suggestion which satisfied +most requirements and went far towards an explanation of all the +mysteries. That this doctrine, whose merits shall be considered, is +largely correct, that it does account for much of the mystery, I am well +convinced; but we who have studied in the latest schools of philosophy +are now unwilling to believe that it accounts completely for everything, +that, in fact, this hope, which the circumstances of the game cause to +flame continually in the golfer's mind like the great human passion that +it is, is the one and only Force of golf, though it is almost certainly +the major force of a group and dominates the others. Our new idea for a +solution to the grand mystery is that there is a number of forces or +causes of widely different character but associated in complete harmony +for the production of strong emotional effects in the mind of the +subject—emotions of the simplest and most natural character, but, like +others touching at the mainsprings of life, in their action most +intense. In a simple, unanalytical, and rather unphilosophical way, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +game of golf has often been compared to the game of life, just indeed as +other games and pursuits have been pointed for comparisons with the +process of human existence. So we have been exhibited as starting in +life at the teeing ground, abounding in hope and possibility. The +troubles, ills, and worries that have soon afflicted us have been found +their counterparts, all the analogies made to suit the careful people +who play short of hazards and enjoy a smooth existence, the bold +adventurers who brave long carries and like best the romantic road, the +deep bunkers of misfortune, the constant menace of the rough for those +who hesitate upon the straight and narrow way, the unexpected gifts of +Providence when long putts are holed, the erratic inclination of the +poor human when the little ones are missed. But now we find that in a +far deeper and more consequential way this sympathy between golf and +life exists, and that in this gentle play there is a repetition in +lighter tones of the throbbing theme of existence.</p> + +<p>In the strong action upon the emotions which takes place during the +practice of the game there are effects which are purely physical and +others which are largely mental and spiritual. The physical thrills of +golf are above the comprehension of any man or woman who has not played +the game. We are certain that in the whole range of sport or human +exercise there is nothing that is quite so good as the sublime +sensation, the exquisite feeling of physical delight, that is gained in +the driving of a golf ball with a wooden club in the manner that it +ought to be driven. This last provision is emphasised, for this is a +matter of style and action, and the sensuous thrill is gained from the +exertion of physical strength in such a mechanically, scientifically, +and physically perfect manner as to produce an absolute harmony of +graceful movement. It is as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> the satisfaction and thanks of Nature. +Sometimes we hear sportsmen speak of certain sensations derived from +particular strokes at cricket, others of an occasional sudden ecstasy in +angling, and one may well believe that life runs strong in the blood +when a man shoots his first tiger or his first wild elephant. But the +feelings of golf are subtler, sweeter, and that we are not stupidly +prejudiced or exclusive for the game may be granted if it is suggested +that we reach some way to the golf sensations in two other human +exercises, the one being in the dancing of the waltz when done +thoroughly well and with a fine rhythmical swing, and the other when +skating on the ice with full and complete abandon. In each case it is a +matter of perfect poise, of the absolute perfection of co-ordination of +human movement, of the thousands of little muscular items of the system +working as one, and of the truest rhythm and harmony being thus +attained. We come near to it also in some forms of athletics; we have it +suggested in the figures of the Greek throwing the discus. In golf there +is an enormous concentration of this effect in the space of a couple of +seconds—not too long to permit of becoming accustomed to it, not too +short for proper appreciation. In this brief time, if the driving is +properly done as Nature would have it, the emotional sensation is +tremendous. Again one insists on the method and manner, for, especially +in late years, ways of driving have been cultivated as the result of the +agreeability of the rubber-cored ball, in which the physical movements +are restricted and changed, and nearly all of the thrills are lost. It +is still, even then, a fine thing to drive a good ball; there is +peculiar satisfaction and a sense of smooth pleasure felt in doing so; +but it is not that great whole-body thing that is enjoyed when there is +the long swing and the full finish. That is why, even if style be so +difficult to attain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> and there are ways of playing which are far easier +to cultivate and more certain of their good results, it is worth all the +pains and study expended in acquiring it, and a hundred times again, for +the pleasure that comes afterwards. In the winning of holes or in the +making of low scores the driving may be a comparatively unimportant part +of the play, as it is said to be, though a certain high standard of +efficiency is demanded continually; but it will always be the favourite +part of the game because it appeals so much to those physical emotions, +stirs them up so violently, rouses the life of the man, and lifts him +for a moment to a full appreciation of the perfection of the human +system. Some of these emotions are experienced in a minor key when +playing the short game, as we call it, particularly in finely-made +pitching strokes with iron clubs. Here there are restraint and +sweetness; it is as if we listen to the delicacy of Mendelssohn after +the strength and stateliness of Beethoven. Undoubtedly there are keen +physical sensations enjoyed in this part of the play. When it comes to +the last and shortest strokes, to the putting, only a faint trace of +action upon the physical emotions remains, and the pleasure and +satisfaction—if any—that are gained are purely mental. So in the short +space of five minutes, in playing one hole of fair length, we may run +along a full gamut of emotions, and herein is a great part of the joy of +golf.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>This, however, would be insufficient. The strong, self-controllable man +would not, in their absence, crave for these emotions. But other +influences are at work to kindle and continue the golfing fever in him. +For the highest and deepest pleasure of civilised and cultivated man a +combination of the best physical and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> mental emotions—with a little +disappointment and grief—is essential; one without the other is always +unsatisfying. Here, foremost among the mental experiences, so powerful +as to have a certain physical influence, is our Hope. The major force of +all life is hope. It is life itself, for without it the scheme of human +existence would collapse. To look forward, to anticipate, to hope for +better things, and believe in them—that is the principle of life. It is +for that reason that the atheist comes so near to being an +impossibility. An incredible he is. He asserts himself not only as an +ignorer of gods but as a rejecter of Nature, and his position is +untenable, impossible. He endeavours to place himself outside the scheme +of creation. Without hope man could not and would not continue. He would +give up. Motive would have vanished, and motive is essential to action. +We strain analogy to no extravagance when we hold that it is the same in +golf. It is pervaded with hope, lives on it, is played with it, depends +upon it throughout in its every phase. At the beginning of the day's +play a man hopes for great achievement. He does not ignore the +possibilities, and rarely, whatever his temperament and disposition, +does he wait for events, content in a manner of perfect wisdom to take +things as they come. He anticipates, and in the human way he builds +castles made of thoughts, and in his calculations overlooks existing +facts and past experience. Thus are charm, eagerness, and romance given +to life and the game. Never yet was golfer who did not believe that now +his great day might come.</p> + +<p>So on the first teeing ground there is hope in the highest. Should the +first stroke be successful the hope is stimulated; if the stroke is bad +the hope is intensified. In the one case something more of the human +power of man, the strong right arm and the fingers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> deft, is poured into +the physical and temperamental boiler where the forces are being +generated. The success has increased probability, the man can a little +the more stand by himself, his independence increases, and his hope has +a rock of fact beneath it. In the other event, the first drive having +been a failure—as, alas! with the wearinesses of waiting and the +anxieties they engender, first drives so often are—the hope is +intensified by the addition of highly concentrated faith. The element of +the practical indefatigable man is slightly reduced, and in its place +there is filled the sublimer, grander essence of spirituality that is so +far above the merely human. The hope is not the less. Providence is +brought into the schemes, and the heart lives well. If the second shot +is a good one there is more of the human given to the hope and the +spiritual is a little subdued again; if the stroke should fail there is +something like another mute appeal subconsciously made to Providence.</p> + +<p>These are the hopes of strokes. There are the hopes for holes; the hopes +for days; the hopes for seasons, each series being units made of +collections as years are made of months and days are made of hours. One +who loses the first hole hopes to win the second, and is even insincere, +for the encouragement of his hope, in saying and trying to believe that +to lose the first hole does not matter and is often an advantage. If the +second is lost there is a coming equality in the match imagined for the +fourth or fifth. Three or four down at the turn, even five, and the man +still lives and hopes (he is no golfer if he does not), and there have +been magnificent struggles made when players have been six down with +seven to play, or have even been dormy five to the bad. He who has only +lost the first hole holds his hope in a state that is highly charged +with belief in his own human capacity; he who is dormy down when the +match is far from home still keeps hope,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> is buoyed well with it, but he +does his best in a half-cheerful, half-nervous way, knowing that the +time for supreme human endeavour has passed, and he gives the matter +over to kind Providence, submitting that his deserts are good. So one +who has played badly in the morning hopes for success in the afternoon; +and where is the man who, having made poor shots all the day and lost +holes and matches by them, does not fall to sleep at night consoled and +peaceful in reflecting upon a discovery that will make full amends upon +the morrow? After the failures of a summer season hopes arise for better +fare when cool autumn makes the play more pleasant; when there has been +one whole bad year there is hope enough that the game will mend in the +time that follows.</p> + +<p>In this way it is hope all through, hope always, in the beginning and +the end and in the small things with the great. Hope is the most human, +most uplifting of all the emotions. Banish this emotional quality from +the human mind and the golf clubs would be disbanded, for the game would +cease to be golf for another day. The charm would have gone completely. +Only the nature of the hope sometimes varies as we have shown, and the +most wonderful feature of this wonder of golf is the sublimely simple +way in which the man of a match, when all seems lost, when the cause +seems wholly ruined, when by nothing human does it seem that a situation +hanging upon a thread so thin can possibly be saved, believes in the +future still. Providence still exists for him. Every human reckoning +would show that he approaches the impossible, and yet he sees it not, +but only the narrow way of escape to success beyond. And there is +infinite satisfaction to the soul, much that is splendidly destructive +of utter materialism, in realising that often the seeming human +impossibility is broken and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> Providence pulls us through. In golf we +often ask for miracles, and sometimes we obtain them. It seems to me +that the golfer has one satisfying motto, and only one, and it is <i>Spero +meliora</i>. What is the use of the "far and sure" that the ancients have +bequeathed to us? Nearly meaningless it is. And if those words of hope +are emblazoned on his coat of arms, the golfing man should have the +Watts picture of "Hope" in his private chamber, courageous Hope +straining for the faintest note that comes from the one lone string that +remains on the almost dismantled harp.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Such strong exercises of emotions, physical and soulful, accounting, as +we may believe, for much of the fascination of the game, are supported +by others, subtler but also of large effect. There are the aggravations +of the game. It suggests an object that no man has ever completely +achieved and never will do, since none has ever arisen to a state of +skill and consistency when he plays perfect golf and plays it always, +though such success may nearly be achieved at other pastimes. And it is +not given to the player to know why the skill he feels himself possessed +of does not bear its fruit. He is left in wonderment and aggravation. +The game goads, it taunts, it mocks unmercifully. Old Tom Morris +expressed the simplest overwhelming truth when he said it was "aye +fechtin' against us." It does so from the first hour, the first minute +of the golfer's existence as such, when he misses the ball which it had +seemed so easy to strike. Then, his vanity wounded, he attacks, and the +lifelong feud begins. What always seems so easy becomes the nearly +impossible. There is always something new to learn, always another scrap +of explanation of mystery<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> to be gathered, and the player is always +groping and being taught. But he moves forward only to fall back again, +and the simple consolation he has from this ever-recurring process is +that the tide of discovery, when it rolls back, returns a little higher +up the beach with the next wave and in the long succession there is a +gain. But this process is not so regular as the running of the tide, not +so much a matter of calculable natural law, and therein is the +disappointment and the aggravation. A man retires to his rest at night +feeling himself a good and well-satisfied golfer with rapid advancement +certain, and lo! the morning will be little spent when he is shown to +himself as one of the poorest and most ineffectual players. The mystery +of this reaction is quite insoluble; only the cold fact is clear, +convincing. No more tantalising will-o'-the-wisp is there than form at +golf. It is a game that lures a man, it coquets with him, trifles with +his yearnings and his hopes, and flouts him. So does it excite him, and, +hurting his pride, stirs his ambition and his desire to obtain the +mastery. The spirit of adventure and conquest is aroused, and the strong +man who has failed in no undertaking before declares that he will not +fail in this. And so, with his everlasting hope, he perseveres and will +not give in. But it is the game that wins.</p> + +<p>It appeals to the emotions of the primitive man in another way that may +often be unsuspected. In essence it is the simplest and the most natural +of games. It is indeed a game of Nature, and it is played not on the +smoothest surfaces with white lines drawn upon them, but upon plain +grass-covered earth, a little smoothed by man but still with abounding +natural roughness and simplicity. Here on the links are space and +freedom such as are afforded to people, especially those of towns and +cities, rarely in present times. The tendency in all life now is to +confine itself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> closely. We live in small spaces, with many walls and +low roofs; we move through thronged streets and by underground railways. +Things are not the same as when there was the Garden of Eden and the +open world outside it. His confinement is a wearing oppression to the +modern man, though he may not always suspect it. Because it emancipates +and gives us back a little of our lost freedom is the chief reason for +the popularity of motoring, and it was to attain more freedom still that +man made up his mind to fly and now flies accordingly. We cannot +entirely escape from this unnatural confinement which modern conditions +of life have forced upon us, but for a little while at intervals, +through the medium of this sport, we may experience the sense of space, +of freedom, of the something that comes near to infinity. Unconscious of +this cause, a golfer on the links is uplifted to a simpler freer self. +He has a great open space about him, the wilder the better, and the open +sky above. He takes Nature as he finds her, accepting her every mood, +and that is why this game is and must be one for all weathers. There is +the ball upon the tee. Hit it, golfer, anywhere you please! Hit it far, +no limit to the distance! Strike with all your strength! Until in the +game the time for wariness comes, as with the hunter upon his prey, see +no limitations, accept all consequences. The golfer's freedom has a +flavour that other people rarely taste.</p> + +<p>Emotions serve the human system better than comforts and conveniences, +for these emotions are the pulse of life and the conveniences are mere +aids to existence. Golf, being complete, has its advantages of +convenience as well as its thrilling emotions, and when the players +reason to their relatives and their friends upon the good of the game, +shaping their excuses for a strange excess, they exhibit with a limited<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +sincerity the real advantages and conveniences. The game may be played +anywhere and everywhere. It is the same in principle, the same in rules, +the same in actions; but yet again it is like a new thing everywhere, +and it is always fresh. There is a golf course wherever a man may go; +and there is a new experience for him always. He needs only one man to +play with him; or indeed, if there is no such man available, he may play +with the game itself as his implacable opponent, fight it in the open +and without the medium of a human opponent to break the shocks for him. +If variety is the spice of life, then here is spice enough. Then it +gives us such companionship as can be gained by few other means, for it +brings us to inner intimacy with the man we play, bares his hidden +nature to us, strips from him all those trappings of manner and +suggestion by which in the ordinary social scheme every person plays a +part as on a stage and rarely is well discovered. No man plays a part in +golf; his individuality, in all its goodness and weakness, is unfolded +in the light. He is known entirely and for his own true self. The game +gives us fresh air and the most splendid exercise. These are enormous +advantages in golf, and we extol them in defence of our enthusiasm and +they are accepted; yet, honest to ourselves, we know that we do not play +golf because of fresh air and exercise, and indeed we only think of them +as gain when, in the slavery to which we have been subject, our emotions +for a day have been shivered and shocked by failure. It has the +advantage that we can play it when the period of life for other games +has passed, and we can play while life leaves to us but a flick of +vigour. Some of the meanest men, who are barely worthy of being in this +excellent community where the sense of brotherhood is so good, have been +gross enough to say that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> golf serves their professional and commercial +purposes thoroughly well—as indeed it may—by giving them intimacy with +valuable and helpful friends. These are men who would buy their idols +and sell them for a profit of five per cent. The advantages of golf are +there; but they are the accident of circumstances, or not perhaps the +accident but simply like the scheme of Nature in supporting what is good +with good itself; but they do not and cannot in any measure explain the +mystery of the fascination of the game, for that mystery lies in the +emotional, the spiritual, the psychological, and not in anything that is +just material. Golf is something of a passion, and passions are of the +blood and have nothing to do with conveniences and rules of life for +health and plain advantage.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>The traditions of golf are the second of its wonders. All things that +are old have certain traditional sentiment clinging to them, and it +makes a good flavouring to life, for it is suggestive of age and time +and continuity and eternity. Had golf no traditions now, those emotional +effects in its subjects might be produced the same, but yet the sport +would not be the same rich colourful thing that we know it to be, but +something grosser. And again we could stand for golf and say that no +other sport can testify to its past and present worth and greatness with +such excellent tradition. Three only can rank in the same class, and +those are cricket, hunting, and the turf. Their traditions indeed are +rich, they uphold their sports to-day, and they abound in those rare +stories which, even if they have lost nothing with time, make fine +things for the listening now and have the tendency always to promote a +better sporting spirit. But three<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> things are essential to good +traditions, the first being acts, the second persons, and the third +places, and the last of the three is far from being the least important, +because birds do not love their nests more than traditions do the plots +of earth where are their homes. They cannot live in space; there they +would lapse to a state of film and would fade away. Give them abiding +places, real solid ground upon which their delicate ghostly structures +may rest, and they have a substance which gives them a fine reality. If +a character of the past were invented, given a real name, all his +manners and customs, his feats and follies carefully described, even his +father and mother most properly identified, and a statement made of the +provisions in his will for those who followed after him, that would +still be likely to linger on as a character merely, a possibility of the +past but a thing of no account, not an influence. He could not be +placed. If we give ourselves a licence to roam the earth in search of +golf, we like to think of the good men of the old traditions as being +comfortably settled, as being at special places where, in our fireside +fancies on winter nights when the winds are moaning and the rains are +lashing against the window-panes, we can see them and sit down with +them. The wandering hero of tradition does not suit. And here is a great +virtue of the people of our golfing traditions: we can catch them tight, +nail them fast. We have special plots of land—the majestic links of +Scotland, the old course of Blackheath, almost every yard of which +might, if speechful, tell a story of some old golfer of the past. The +old golfers trod those links some time in their earthly days. We know +the shots they played, where balls pitched and how they ran, the bunkers +where they had disasters, their amazing recoveries and the putts that +they holed and missed—for even the golfers of tradition missed their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +putts at times. We know where those golfers walked, and so the +traditions are of the links and the men with the links, and the links +are the same now as once. Let us then hope fervently that they may +remain the same, though a hundred kinds of new balls, each farther +flying than the one before it, should be invented, and such courses +should be declared to be weakened and out of date. It is easy enough to +invent a character, but it is not so easy to invent a links and then +declare that by sea encroachments on the coast it has been swallowed up +and has gone. The tale is weak and unconvincing. But invent your +character, and then produce your place, and say: "He was here; his feet +were on this teeing ground; here he took a divot; it was in this bunker +that he was caught," and there is nothing more that is needed for +complete conviction.</p> + +<p>Having seen a little of the way in which certain potential and probable +traditions of the future are now being made, I have a suspicion about +some of the amazing histories of the past that have been reported to us. +Such suspicions are developed in the minds of those who have themselves +been parties to some exaggerations of things done on certain links, and +have lived to see those exaggerations improved upon by further tellers, +and of a rich story, with scarcely a base of fact, being thus +established in history and made ready for a monument. Having our plots +of land, with their permanent marks and milestones, it is easy to do it +so, and all golfers cannot be commended for complete veracity, though +their lies are tolerably honest of their kind, being, like their shots, +made subconsciously, and the cause, being companionable conduct, is a +good one. Listeners believe in them and so make them three-parts truth. +Cricket and racing have had their splendid men, and they have had +certain sorts of places, but nothing homelike, merely round patches of +smooth land with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> rails and grand stands, to which traditions can never +cling like ivy to the crumbling tower. The ghost men of these old +traditions were fine creatures; well did they do their work; they fought +and won; but they seem lonesome creatures. They lack location, and they +have no family histories and traditions of their own. They are mere +particles of the past. Nearly all the men of our great traditions are +heroes of fine countenance and rich character, brilliant in their +individuality, with that proper touch of pride and arrogance blended +with the finest old conservatism, which all good traditions should +enjoy. Only the ancients of the chase are good company for them.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>It seems to me that our traditions and their associate legends might be +separated into five periods. There is the primeval, the prehistoric, the +most royal and ancient, the early Scottish, and the late gutty periods. +Of the primeval there is no more to be said than there is of primeval +man. We know the latter was born, that he did work of sorts, that he ate +and slept, that in his way he lived and perhaps he loved, while +certainly he died. Of the primeval golfers we are solid in the belief +that they had clubs and balls, for they must have had, and they had +holes or marks, for they could not have done without them. We suspect +them of stymies, for only the weight of tradition has held the stymie to +us still, and for its power this tradition must be far extended. Almost +certainly they made their first clubs from the branches of trees, but +there was nothing grand in that, for Harry Vardon and brother Tom, +Edward Ray as well, all three beginning their golf in their native +Jersey, did the same, and they played with stone marbles for their +balls, played in the moonlight too. There would seem here to have been a +tendency towards a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> throw-back in Jersey golf; but Vardon and his +associates have made an ample advance since then. Good Sir Walter +Simpson, in his deep researches, leaned to a more exact and defined +theory or tradition of the primeval golf, and he gaily marked for it a +beginning and a place. It is attractive and it is reasonable, and this, +with the theory of the spontaneous and inevitable origin of the game in +many places in the early times of man, theories with living detail +thickening on them, come near in quality to real tradition. Sir Walter, +you may remember, supposed a shepherd minding his sheep, who often +chanced upon a round pebble and, having his crook in his hand, he would +strike it away. In the ordinary way this led to nothing, but once on a +time, "probably," a shepherd feeding his sheep on the links, "which +might have been those of St. Andrews," rolled one of these stones into a +rabbit scrape, and then he exclaimed, "Marry! I could not do that if I +tried!"—a thought, so instinctive is ambition, as Sir Walter says, +which nerved him to the attempt. Enter the second shepherd, who watches +awhile and says then: "Forsooth, but that is easy!" He takes a crook in +his hand, swings violently, and misses. The first shepherd turns away +laughing. The two fellows then perceive that this is a serious business, +and together they enter the gorse and search for round stones wherewith +to play their new game. Sir Walter Simpson was a terrible man, and he +must needs work into this excellent romance the declaration that each +shepherd, to his surprise, found an old golf ball, every reader knowing +that they "are to be found there in considerable quantity even to this +day." Then these shepherd-golfers deepened the rabbit scrape so that the +balls might not jump out of it, and they set themselves to practising +putting. The stronger shepherd happened to be the less skilful, and he +found himself getting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> beaten at this diversion, whereupon he protested +that it was a fairer test of skill to play for the hole from a +considerable distance. When this was settled it was found that the game +was improved. The players, says the theorist, at first called it +"putty," because the immediate object was to putt or put the ball into +the hole or scrape, but at the longer distance the driving was the chief +interest, and therefore the name was changed to "go off" or "golf." In +the meantime the sheep, as sheep will do, had strayed, and the shepherds +had to go in chase of them. Naturally they found this a very troublesome +and annoying interruption, and so they hit upon the great idea of making +a circular course of holes which enabled them to play and herd at the +same time. By this arrangement there were many holes and they were far +apart, and it became necessary to mark their whereabouts, which was +easily done by means of a tag of wool from a sheep, fastened to a stick, +which, as is remarked, is a sort of flag still used on many Scottish +courses in much the same simplicity as by those early shepherds. And Sir +Walter wrote with reason that since those early days the essentials of +the game have altered but little.</p> + +<p>After the time of these first shepherds there were doubtless more +shepherds, and the bucolics in general would be given to the game. Yet +it should never be understood that even in its origins this game was one +that was practised chiefly by persons of low intellectual strength. +Indeed it was not. In the ancient classics there are references to ball +games that bear close resemblance to primitive golf, and then when games +began to appear in Holland and France that had golf in them, even though +they were not golf, it was not the common people always who were most +attracted. And in passing, it must be said, that while golf as we have +it now is British—Scottish, if you like—and there is enough<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> authority +and substance in the claim for the satisfaction of any pride seeing that +the laws of St. Andrews have been for ages back the laws of the world at +large, it is too much to believe that a game so simple in its +essentials, so obvious and so necessary and so desirable, should have +had an exclusive origin in any one country, to be copied by the others. +The elements of golf must have come up spontaneously in many different +parts of the world, although they were without rule, organisation, and +might not have been known as a game or anything like that by those who +employed them. But it was there, as eating and kissing were; and it fell +to the lot of those canny and most discerning Scots to regularise it, as +it were, to declare it a game and give it definiteness, and in due time +to set up laws and a government, all of which were just what they should +be and the best conceivable. It might not have been such a good game as +it is now had it not been nurtured at St. Andrews, Leith, and +Musselburgh, and in those other early cradles of the pastime; but I +cannot believe that if there had been no land north of Newcastle there +would have been no golf, and we should be moaning now in vague +discontent for a mysterious something lost to life.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>I may adduce some circumstances from most ancient history and tradition +which have not been applied to this question hitherto, but should have +been, for they seem to be apposite and remarkable. In these days +Ireland, with a fine spirit, is struggling for better golfing +recognition, and should have it. When a game is for the world, what is +the Irish Channel? The country has some very splendid links, and has +produced some players—if few of them—of the finest quality; but a +people who exhibit frequently a fine appreciation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> of the spirit of the +golfing brotherhood, and to the wandering player extend a hospitality of +which it can only be said that it is Irish, are treated coldly in +championship dignity being withheld from their courses and their not +being admitted to the higher councils of the game. I remember with +gratitude a very early acquaintance with the golf of Newcastle in County +Down, that glorious course in the shadow of the Mourne Mountains, and +with Portrush in the north, while about Dublin there are links that fear +no comparison with the best of other lands. The ordinary records may +indicate that there was no golf in Ireland until 1881, when what is now +the Royal Belfast Club was formed; but listen to a story which is +brought to me in some spirit of triumph by a friend, Mr. Victor Collins, +a golfer, who practises his game, for the most part, not on any mainland +but out on the Arran Isles, west of the Irish coast, out on little +Inneshmor, where he lives when he is not in London, and where he has a +small course of just a few sporting holes for his own delight, one which +would have been as agreeable to the golfers of the prehistoric period as +it is now to a modern gentleman who occasionally becomes a little tired +of over-civilisation and likes to retreat to simplicity and Nature. It +is a considerable change from Stoke Poges to Inneshmor, but only a poor +soul would not like it for a period. In London one evening we talked of +golf and Inneshmor, and he told me a legendary story, the documentary +narrative of which he has since produced in the form of an extract from +"O'Looney's unpublished MS. translation of the 'Tain bo' Cuailgne' in +the Irish Royal Academy, Dublin." Knowing little of these matters, I +quote Mr. Collins direct in saying that this is the most famous of Irish +epics, and describes the war Queen Maeve of Connacht, assisted by her +vassal kings of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> rest of Ireland, waged against Ulster to obtain a +bull which was reputed to be a finer animal than the one she herself +possessed. The central hero of Ulster was the famous Cuchullain, the +greatest of all Irish heroes, in truth an Irish Achilles. Fergus, +ex-king of Ulster, who had taken refuge with Maeve, tells her who are +the champions against whom her armies will have to contend, and these +lines occur in the course of his terrifying account of Cuchullain, whose +age at the time of this expedition was between six and seven: "The boy +set out then and he took his instruments of pleasure with him; he took +his hurly of creduma and his silver ball, and he took his massive +Clettini, and he took his playing Bunsach, with its fire-burned top, and +he began to shorten his way with them. He would give the ball a stroke +of his hurly and drive it a great distance before him; he would cast (? +swing) his hurly at it, and would give it a second stroke that would +drive it not a shorter distance than the first blow. He would cast his +Clettini, and he would hurl his Bunsach, and he would make a wild race +after them. He would then take up his hurly, and his ball, and his +Clettini, and his Bunsach, and he would cast his Bunsach up in the air +on before him, and the end of the Bunsach would not have reached the +ground before he would have caught it by the top while still flying, and +in this way he went on till he reached the Forad of the plain of Emain +where the youths were." This young Cuchullain does appear to have been +appreciably better than scratch. Apparently he was going to attend +something in the nature of a club gathering, and his way of getting +there was much in the nature of cross-country golf with a touch of trick +in it; for there are professionals to-day who make a show in their idle +moments of pitching up a ball and catching it with their hands. My +informer tells me that Cuchullain was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> not confining his attention to +golf alone, but doing feats of jugglery as well in order to while away +the journey. "The description of driving the ball before him," he +remarks, "evidently contains the germ of golf. Some years ago I saw in +an illustrated paper a reproduction of a picture of a tombstone from +some place in Ulster dating to the twelfth century. It was the tombstone +of a Norseman. On it were a double-headed sword, the sign of his +profession, and below it the perfect representation of a cleek and a +golf ball, his favourite amusement. It would be interesting to make a +serious search in old Irish records for further information on the game. +'Clettini' is from an Irish word for 'feather.' It was evidently a +feathered javelin he hurled. 'Creduma' means 'red metal,' that is brass. +Hurly of creduma therefore comes curiously near the quite modern +brassey. Bunsach is a very obscure word. In middle Irish there was such +a word, but it meant a kind of dagger." This discovery opens up an +excellent speculation.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>The periods of the traditions of course impinge upon each other and +softly blend, so that the game some way or other seems to go back +continuously from now to the beginning. We have in the most royal and +ancient period the Stuart kings playing their golf, and Charles the +First hearing of mighty troubles to his throne perpending while he was +golfing on the links of Leith; of James the Second with his court +playing the golf at Blackheath and sowing seeds that were to bear +amazing fruit in the south at a far-off date; of Mary Queen of Scots +golfing with her favourite Chastelard at St. Andrews. There was +Archbishop Hamilton, who signed the authority that was given to the +Provost and magistrates of St. Andrews to put rabbits on the links,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +which authority recognised the rights of the community to the links, +more especially for the purpose of playing at "golff, futball, schuteing +at all gamis, with all other manner of pastyme." This was a kind of +ratification of a Magna Charta of Golf. There was Duncan Forbes, of +Culloden, first captain of the Gentlemen Golfers, now known as the +Honourable Company, in 1744. A marvellous man was Duncan Forbes, Lord +President of the Council, and we know that he played for the Silver Club +in 1745—for the last time, probably, because just then the rising of +the clans obliged him to set out for the north, where he exerted himself +to the utmost to prevent them from joining the cause of the Young +Pretender. And here in passing let it be written that there is good +cause to think that Bonnie Prince Charlie himself was the first to play +real or Scottish golf on the continent of Europe, for he is believed to +have had a course made for himself when in Italy, and was once found +playing in the Borghese gardens, so Mr. Andrew Lang once told us. There +was the wonderful William St. Clair, of Roslin, so much skilled at golf +and archery that the common people believed he had a private arrangement +with the devil. Sir George Chalmers painted a picture of him, which is +possessed by the Honourable Company, and Sir Walter Scott wrote that he +was "a man considerably above six feet, with dark grey locks, a form +upright, but gracefully so, thin-flanked and broad-shouldered, built, it +would seem, for the business of war or the chase, a noble eye, of +chastened pride and undoubted authority, and features handsome and +striking in their general effect. As schoolboys we crowded to see him +perform feats of strength and skill in the old Scottish games of golf +and archery." And from there the tale passes on with life and colour to +the beginnings of the Royal and Ancient Club; to the activities of the +early members<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> like Major Murray Belshes, and the interest of William +the Fourth, whose gift medal is played for at St. Andrews to this day; +to such fine gentlemen of the old school as the late Lord Moncrieff and +the Earl of Wemyss; to the professionals also like the Morrises and +Allan Robertson, and old Willie Park. So on along from the ages past to +such as Frederick Guthrie Tait, who gave to the modern history of golf +something that glows as well as the best of the old traditions.</p> + +<p>Now it may be said that these traditions and all the others, like them +and unlike, make the game no better, and that they add nothing in yards +to our driving from the tee. After a consideration I will not agree +either that they make the game no better or that they add nothing to the +driving. The spirits of a romantic history are a continual influence. +They give a dignity to the game which is felt right through it. Only the +golfer knows how true this is. Men who look upon it lightly as a pastime +before they know anything of it, learn upon their initiation, and not +only learn but feel, that there is all that is mysterious, wonderful, +and awe-inspiring in the game and its past, a new and deep respect is +created, and there is no more beginner's lightness and nonsense. Age and +solemnity, and many ceremonies great and small, have given to golf some +of the attributes of a religion, and with membership of it there comes +responsibility. When a new Nonconformist chapel has the same exalting +influence upon the mind and sentiment of a person of intelligence and +sympathies as an ancient cathedral with all its tombs and relics, and +the dim pillars among which echoes seem to float and mingle with spirits +of the past and the great eternity, or when the dining-room of a flat in +Knightsbridge inspires and dignifies its company like the banqueting +hall of some ancient castle, I will perhaps agree that the traditions of +golf are of no practical effect beyond<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> that of merely preserving the +game from vandalism and giving it a place above the others. Often when +reflecting thus one feels that in duty to the game one's policy in +matters should be "St. Andrews, right or wrong." But yet one could wish +that these mighty traditions were not at times invoked for improper +purposes. There is too much free and unintelligible talk about them in +these modern times. They are wantonly applied to base uses; a man will +urge the traditions in his favour and against his opponent when he +attempts some vile procedure. When a crafty person is beaten in +argument, he cries, "The traditions!" and people who speciously, and +with insincerity, condemn what we may call the modern advancements of +the game will murmur that the rubber-cored ball and clubs with steel +faces are not according to "the traditions." Truly they are not, and +those old traditions had nothing to do with gutties either; but Duncan +Forbes would have rejoiced in the possession of a modern driver and +mashie niblick. It is too often and absurdly assumed that the ancients +used the tools they had because they were the best conceivable and most +appropriate, just right in practical quality and proper sentiment. They +were merely the best that had been discovered up to then. The Stuart +kings might have had a happier time had they possessed some rubber +Haskells to coax and lead them on.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>THE UBIQUITY OF THE GAME; WITH AN ADVERTISEMENT FOR THE COMMUNITY OF +GOLFERS, AND A NOTE UPON THE EFFECT OF ST. ANDREWS SPIRITS.</h3> + + +<p>The ubiquity of this game—being the third of the seven wonders—is +remarkable, for it is played everywhere by everybody. No other sport has +ever achieved such universal favour, and we may be sure that none will +ever do so, because, apart from the fascination it exercises upon the +people of different countries and different races, it is so strong in +its simplicity—the stick, the ball, the mark, and, with them being +given, the object plainly suggested. It has already been suggested that, +in its essentials golf being obvious, it must have been practised from +the earliest times. Everywhere the simpler emotions of man are the same, +and so everywhere the game must make the same appeal when it is +understood. So here, strange as it is still, we have a nearly satisfying +explanation. What is yet wonderful beyond it is the fact that the +regulated game with the rules and restrictions that have been agreed +upon and codified by the high authorities at St. Andrews are everywhere +accepted, and even in such embellishments it is the same game +everywhere. Nothing can approach it in this universality. Yet that also +is nearly explicable.</p> + +<p>By a process of continuous thought and deduction<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> from observation the +people of St. Andrews, past and present, have gained a code of +regulations which seems most completely to satisfy the requirements of +the case. It has often been urged against the numerous and lengthy laws +we have that they suffer from too many niceties and too many +complications, and that they represent a remarkable evolution of +man-made intricacy from the one simple governing principle that the ball +shall be struck by the stick, and that if the object be not achieved by +the first blow it shall be struck again from the place where it then +lies. In that simple principle there is all golf, and by it the game +must surely have been played at the beginning. But it is the disposition +of man to depart from the most absolute simplicity in the direction of +what he regards as improvement upon it, and therefore bare principles +get covered up with fancy wrappings, while again there is in the human +species an immovable distrust of each other and a tendency towards the +setting up of safeguards and protections—laws. When this is done in +different places, and by different peoples, the results also are almost +certain to be widely different; and with the assistance of time and +further development two peoples might at length produce two games which, +originating in the same basic principle, might be in appearance, +materials, and actions quite dissimilar. Nearly all ball games, indeed, +must have had much the same original principle. Golf, as we know it, has +had its integrity preserved, and has established its amazing +universality because, despite the numerous and lengthy laws, the spirit +of the game has been so completely preserved in them. Between absolute +simplicity, the one natural law of golf, as we might call it, as just +enunciated, and a lengthy, confusing, and sometimes even contradictory +code there can be little compromise, and perfection and completeness in +golfing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> law are impossible, because no two courses are alike, no two +shots are quite the same, and there can be no end to new situations +until there is an end of the world and man. It sometimes seems that St. +Andrews, indefatigable, pursues an impossible finality, and thereby +makes difficulties for itself. That through ages and generations it has +produced a code of laws, and defined the principles of a game that is +accepted all over the world, and causes the same game to be played +wherever the sun may shine, is not merely an achievement in intelligence +and discernment, but something that suggests a grand inspiration. These +are times of change, when old systems of the world are being abandoned +and new ones being set in their places. It may happen, though it is as +unlikely as it is undesirable, that St. Andrews itself as a governing +body will fall; but nothing that ever happens to the game in the future +can equal the marvel of its foundation and establishment by this +authority and its associates.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>It is not without good reason that they call golf the world game now. It +has alighted upon every country, and wherever it has touched it has +seized. The yellow man likes it; the black man in some places has to be +kept away from it, because it is found that he grows too fond of it. One +day when I was golfing at the Country Club, near Boston, they showed me +a most primitive kind of club that was kept with some other relics in a +glass case. It had been fashioned from the branch of a tree, and with +this crude implement a nigger boy in one of the southern states had not +long previously driven a ball over two hundred yards. Other games are +for their own countries, like the country's foods, and they would +neither be suitable nor adaptable elsewhere; but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> in its nature golf +will do for all, and it has the same subtle attraction for everybody, so +that what was once thought to be the "golf craze" of the British people +only became the craze of the Americans too, then of the French, now of +the Germans and others, and of really everybody. Its qualities and +conveniences make it the only possible world game. At present in some +countries it is confined to a few people of unusual distinction or +circumstances, but it has been found in old and recent history that, +following a beginning of this kind, the game in a new land has never +languished, but that presently it has extended from the pioneers, who +were probably from abroad, to the native people, and from the upper +classes to the middle, and then to the lower. In France at the present +time we see the game being started among the general French, and I have +news that the statesmen have begun to play; yet a little while since the +golf of Gaul was carried on by British only.</p> + +<p>Recently some of us were looking over the map of the world for odd +countries that might be golfless, and it appeared then that there were +but four: one being the Balkan States, considering them in the piece, +another was Afghanistan, a third was Persia, and, scattering the +attention over the islands of the earth, one reflected that no golf in +Iceland had been heard of. But shortly afterwards this brief list of +lone golfless places was reduced to one. To a little gathering of +friends one night an adventurous gentleman was describing the +excitements of a day's rough golf that he had had one time when near to +Reykiavik, and, if the course was to some extent made for the occasion, +little enough did that matter then. There were some real holes, and the +pioneer declared one of them to be the longest and most sporting he had +ever played; and we knew he had played some good ones. So Iceland came +into the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> fold. It was discovered during the recent wars that there was +golf here and there in those worrying Balkans. Then lo! the land of the +Afghans was also delivered to the game, and it was the Ameer himself who +was chiefly responsible, thus emulating the rulers of many other lands. +He had heard of golf, had seen it, realised it, and had been fascinated. +Thereupon he had a short course prepared for him in the neighbourhood of +Kabul, and began to practise with royal assiduity at his driving, +pitching, and putting. Humble, doubtful, and yet loyal subjects observed +this done from a respectful distance, and they wondered. After a little +while they perceived that it was a game, and that the chief of Afghans +invariably sought with his little ball the holes that were placed upon +the course. Being practical people, they conceived that they might turn +the game and their royal master's fondness for it to their advantage, +and thereupon began to deposit in the holes at night such petitions as +they had difficulty in getting placed before the royal eyes by any other +means. They believed that by their new system the Ameer was sure to see +and read what was intended for him. Yet it proved that he was somewhat +angered by this manner of approach, and gave orders that all petitions +found in his golfing holes should be burned unread. The petitioning +parties had not understood how seriously the game he played was taken, +nor the deep effect it had upon the mind and the disposition of the +player, else they would surely have moved craftily and warily with their +prayers, and then they might have gained imperial favour. Had they seen +their ruler miss his drive, foozle his second, put his third into the +pond, slice among the trees with his fifth—even Ameers being penalised +a stroke for lifting from the water—and eventually reach the putting +green in nine, three more strokes then being needed, they would have +been stupid Afghans had they not at a convenient<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> moment taken their +petitions from the holes, or withheld them if they had not placed them +there. But when an Ameer hits a good one from the tee, when his ball +flies fast and straight from his royal brassey (and rulers also laugh +when a topped ball runs a bunker!), when by enormous luck he lays an +approach quite close to the hole, and afterwards the putt is truly +played—why, many an Afghan might pray for the release of a brother from +prison in Kabul, and the brother, pardoned, might be raised to office in +the palace, perhaps to be an executioner. Now, if the petition had been +submitted when the sovereign had done his hole in twelve, the brother +might have died as arranged, perhaps the petitioner also, and who knows +but that the neglectful greenkeeper, for not having seen that all holes +for the day were free of pleas, would not have joined the departures for +another world. Wandering players may look forward now to some future +golf in Afghanistan. Have we not heard of the Shah at the game? If it +cannot be proved, Persia must be left in an Asiatic golfless solitude, +with the gibe against her that even celestial China has her courses, and +that they are everywhere save in the Persia where Omar was, and in fine +worldly philosophy bade us take good pleasures while we may.</p> + +<p>Golf's vast ubiquity is illustrated in another case recalled by this +reference to kings who play. Miss Decima Moore of the theatres has a +love for roving far which has led her to many raw places of the earth +for hunting and shooting and adventurous exploration when she has tired +of the footlights and has longed for Nature with no mask at all. Then, +being golfer too, she has wandered with her bag of clubs into many +distant lands, and one morning in London, just back from Central Africa, +she told me of some strange experiences of a golfing woman. She has +played the game up in Uganda, and explained the quality of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> play of +King Daudi Chwa, who is a ruler of those parts. Even once before, a +colonial bishop had informed me of the golf of this dusky king. He had +had some holes laid out for himself, so I was instructed, and when not +engaged in duties of his kingly office, which were seemingly not +onerous, he devoted himself earnestly to the reduction of his handicap +and to lowering his record for his private course—upon which strangers +in those parts are always welcome to a game. The bishop said that his +Majesty drove an excellent ball, played his irons well, and putted with +a good instinct for line and length, and the actress backed the bishop's +story. In the region of the Victoria Nyanza there are no Sunningdales to +be found, but the royal course of nine holes is considered a creditable +thing. The king, who was lately in England and played a little here, +will be glad to see any golfers who may go that way, and it may be his +pleasure to call one of his holes by a name of theirs as, with a good +African grace, he called one "Decima" when our English lady played it.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>These wandering golfers do bring home great stories, and others send +them. A friend, poor Tom Browne, who is dead, the clever artist in black +and white, sat with me once at lunch in the Adelphi, and we talked of +golf in distant lands and many things concerning it, for in the morning +he was going eastwards to China and Japan. He said he should play as +much as possible, and he did. While at the table he drew a sketch on a +piece of paper and passed it to me with a smile. It was a picture of +himself leaving on a golfing holiday to those very foreign parts, with +numerous bags of clubs, cases of spare clubs guaranteed for all +climates, and innumerable large boxes piled up all round him, each<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> one +labelled "One gross of best balls." Poor Tom always did take his clubs +with him to foreign lands, and on this occasion he made good, as one +might say, on that little sketch he drew at lunch by the places he +played at afterwards, and queer drawings he sent to me of the courses +and the people at them. He wrote from Tien-Tsin that the one they had +there was just outside the town and was a flat plain covered with +Chinese graves, the course being really nothing but one huge graveyard. +"The Chinamen," he said in his letter, "plant their graves anywhere that +suits them, and they consist of raised-up mounds which enclose the +coffins. Off the graves the ball will bounce at all kinds of angles. +Sometimes after heavy rains the mounds fall to pieces and expose the +coffins. The golf club can remove any of these graves by buying them at +four taels a coffin, and when a grave is bought in this way the native +takes the coffin away, buries it somewhere else, and the grave is then +flattened down. Fore-caddies are employed on this course. The 'greens' +consist of baked mud, as is usual in these eastern parts, and are +generally circular in shape. Chinese caddies do not understand the game +and think that the foreign devils who play it are surely mad. They +continually ask the players, 'When will you finish hitting and following +that ball about?' And they have a local rule at Tien-Tsin that 'a ball +lying in an open grave may be picked out and dropped without penalty.'"</p> + +<p>This graveyard golf, as I know, is not at all peculiar to Tien-Tsin, for +not long ago I had a letter from a British official at Chiankiang on the +Yangtse River, in which he told me that they had just begun to play the +game out there on a course covered with crater-like excrescences, these +Chinese graves again, and he declared that they made the most excellent +hazards. It should be added for their credit's sake, golfers being +considerate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> people and mindful of others' feelings, that they carefully +ascertained in this case that no Chinese sentiment was injured by play +in these cemeteries, if they are to be called by such a name. Again, I +recall that a little while since the golfers who have a course in the +Malay peninsula went down to it one morning and found a Chinaman digging +up the remains of a deceased relative from one of the putting greens, +intending to remove them to China; because it is a common thing, as I am +told, when a Chinaman dies abroad, for his people to inter him +temporarily if they can and give him another burial in his native land +when opportunity chances. There has been a great move in things in this +country lately. The Government has changed; the people, according to +some trade returns that I have seen, are taking extensively to smoking +English cigarettes and wearing unlovely English clothes. So it is +inevitable that in their vast multitudes they will one day come into +golf, for a little advancement towards modern ways often leads to +strikes and golf. One fears to think that when China has a championship +her people may compete in such a costume as is favoured by some of the +oldest and best Scottish professionals (and if asked for a name we shall +mention good Sandy Herd as a captain of the class), who always wear dark +trousers and a light-grey jacket to their golf. There must be some +virtue in this unconventional arrangement of tints; for so many of the +great are attached to it.</p> + +<p>In other parts of Asia there is golf that is peculiar, especially in +India where it flourishes to the extent of forty or fifty clubs, +including those of Calcutta and Bombay, which are not merely the oldest +in India but rank high in seniority among the golf clubs of the world. +Both were well established before 1860, at which time there were only +two or three in England, and the game was all but unknown in America.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +Despite the fact that it was born in 1842 and was really an Indian +offshoot of the famous Royal Blackheath Club, the Royal Bombay remains a +little primitive in the matter of its course. It is a golf course for +one part of the day and something else for the remainder, and it is +perhaps the only course in the world which is dismantled daily. The fact +is that it is situated on what is called the "maidan," an open space +near to the European business quarter, and the golfers, having no +exclusive possession of it, are not allowed to play after half past ten +in the morning and are required, when they have done, to remove their +hazards. This obviously necessitates unconventional obstacles, and the +club has had to resort to movable screens, varying from four to ten feet +high, which are put up when play begins and taken away again when it is +finished. Having become accustomed to this sort of thing it ceases to +annoy, and in Bombay the course is considered good and sporting, and the +greens are well attended. Then up on the hills at Darjeeling there is +the highest golf course in the world, for it is situated at an elevation +of more than eight thousand feet above the level of the sea on the +abandoned cantonment of Seneshal. Scenery often does not count for very +much with golfers, and the better the golfer the keener he is on the +game and the less does he care at times about the surroundings of the +course. Yet, as I am told, it would be a dull poor soul that was not +moved by the views from the Darjeeling course, with Mounts Everest and +Kinchinjunga, both nearly thirty thousand feet high, in one direction +and the plains of Bengal in another. But perhaps the most curious of the +Indian courses is that of the Royal Western India Club, upon which is an +idgah, or kind of temple, some thirty feet in height and fifty long, +with bastions at either end and minarets in the middle. This idgah +serves the double duty of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> club-house and a hazard also, for it has to +be driven over from the tee on the way to the eleventh hole, and many +are the marks on its walls that were made by balls that were hit too +low. The course has another peculiarity in that it possesses seventeen +holes only, no amount of ingenuity being enough to scheme out an +eighteenth on the land available, so one of them has to be played twice +over to make up the usual eighteen. This club has its course at Nasik, +and mention of the idgah reminds one that the Royal Bangkok Club of Siam +used to have an old and very imposing Siamese temple for a club-house. A +little while since, when travelling northwards from Marseilles through +France, I met, in the restaurant car of my P.L.M. train, an officer just +going home on leave from India, and he assured me that he had found no +place in the country where there was no golf, and he gave me some good +examples of the ingenuity and enthusiasm of the golfers there. Thus at +Multam, for the betterment of their sanded putting "browns" they keep +them oiled all over, so that the ball runs evenly along them, and at a +reasonable pace. There is an attendant to each green, who smooths over +the track that is made by every ball when putted. And my companion told +me also that in the season at Gulmurg in Kashmir, where they have two +courses, there is such a crowd of golfers that it is difficult to +arrange starting times for all of them.</p> + +<p>As one would expect, the game is played in Japan, and there is a highly +flourishing club at Kobe, whose course is on the top of a high mountain +at Rokkosan. It is a splendidly interesting course when reached, with +views that can only be second in magnificence to those of Darjeeling; +but for the occasional visitor the chief pleasure would seem to lie in +the reaching, rather, perhaps, than in golfing on it afterwards, for the +players<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> have to go by rickshaw to the foot of the Cascade Valley and +are then carried up the mountain slope by coolies for an hour and a +half, when at last the tees and bunkers come to view.</p> + +<p>Thus it is indicated what great work must have been done by the pioneers +of golf. They have been fine adventurers and explorers. In their +strength of purpose, their resourcefulness, their enterprise and daring, +and in their joy of doing beginnings, they have had some of the burning +zeal and the quick inspirations of the voyagers of Elizabethan time. +They too were discovering a world anew. When a golfer reaches a place +afar where there is no course, his first and most natural impulse is to +make one. Sir Edgar Vincent, keen player, told me once how he and that +most distinguished amateur and ex-champion Mr. J. E. Laidlay, had a +considerable hand in the starting of golf in Egypt, where it is now as +well established as the Pyramids and Sphinx. Sir Edgar went to Cairo, +and with him took his clubs, but on arrival found there was no course +whereon to play, and there was Laidlay disappointed in the same way. So +they twain obtained shovels and other implements of labour, enlisted the +service of native helpers, and went out into the desert, making there +the first golf course of Egypt. But theirs was not the distinction of +hitting the first golf ball in that ancient land. Long before then a +Scottish golfing minister did it. There is no better enthusiast than +these ministers, about whom the best stories are told, as of the worthy +who was left muttering the Athanasian creed in the lowest depths of +hell, being the bunker of that name on the old course at St. Andrews, +and the other who felt he would have to give it up because he played so +ill and was so much provoked—not give up the game but alas! his +ministry. And so the Rev. J. H. Tait, of Aberlady, went for a golfing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +holiday to Egypt long before the two gallants who did the spade work +there, lumbered himself up to the top of the great Pyramid, and then, +feeling in his pocket, curiously enough discovered an old golf ball +there. To tee it up, to address it with the handle end of his umbrella, +and to despatch it earthwards to Egyptian sand with the thwack of an +honest east-coast swing, was the labour of no more time than would be +needed to recite a verse of Psalms.</p> + +<p>A whole book having been written on Australian golf we may leave it +unconsidered here. Hardly an island but there is a links upon it. The +other day, when I had myself but just come back from foreign golfing +parts, I was mated for the game on a London course to one who told me he +had only then returned from Fiji, where his last game was at Suva and +was a foursome in which the local bishop, the attorney-general, the +chief trader, and himself were engaged. He explained the part that was +played by <i>mimosa pudica</i>, being the "sensitive plant," in the golf of +the Fiji islanders. When this herb is touched by anything, its leaves +droop and close upon the object, and, <i>mimosa pudica</i> being all over the +fairway of the course, balls would be too often hidden and lost but for +the agile caddies who are sent in front to watch for them. In these days +one is hearing frequently of travellers' tales like this.</p> + +<p>Spain having been captured by the game, as I shall relate in time, there +is little need to dwell upon the other conquests of golf in Europe. In +Germany it is fast advancing, and the German Golf Association, which +publishes a German Golf Year-Book, is an enterprising body. The Kaiser +has encouraged the game, and has given land for it. At Baden Baden they +have given the most valuable prizes to professionals; at Oberhof, in the +Thuringen Forest, there has been made under the guidance of the Duke of +Saxe-Coburg one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> the nicest courses a German need wish to play upon, +and the girl caddies in pretty uniform are the most picturesque alive. +In Norway and Sweden, in Denmark, and nearly everywhere there is golf, +and much of it. It flourishes in Italy, as is to be shown in a later +chapter. Even in Russia you may golf. Both St. Petersburg and Moscow +have their clubs and courses, and the Mourino Club, belonging to the +former, has its place near a small village some dozen miles from the +capital. The golf is good for Russia, but one does not quickly forget +the roughness of the road in reaching it. And down at the bottom of that +side of the map there is golf at Constantinople too! The game is done on +the <i>yok maidan</i> just outside the city, <i>yok</i> being Persian for "arrow," +and <i>maidan</i> the word for "plain," the fact being that it was on this +land that the sultans and their suites in days gone by were accustomed +to practise archery, and there are still on the plain many stone pillars +erected to the memory of great shots that were made. The +English-speaking colony had some difficulty to gain permission to golf +on this ground, and, having no exclusive rights in the matter, are +harassed by many worries. It is used largely for drilling soldiers, and +is described as being "a favourite resort for Jews on Saturdays, for +Greeks on Sundays, and for Turks on Fridays." The golfer may need to +delay his stroke while a long string of camels passes through the +fairway, and again he may have difficulty in persuading a party of +Turkish ladies, closely veiled, taking the sun on one of the putting +greens, to retire therefrom for a little while. Yet the game is much +enjoyed by the officials of foreign Governments in Constantinople, and +the turf on the <i>yok maidan</i> is good.</p> + +<p>In the rich remembrances of the game there is little that is mournful; +but one sad moment comes when I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> read a letter reminding me that golf +was once played "farthest south," where man does not abide save briefly +for exploration and adventure, where there is eternal ice and snow. +Captain Robert Scott, the glorious British hero of the Southern Pole, +whose friendship I enjoyed, was a golfer too. One of many letters of a +personal kind I had from him, just before he set out on his last +magnificent but fatal expedition, was addressed from the Littlestone +Golf Club. He asked me to send to the ship a certain piece of golfing +literature, believing that "members of the expedition would read it with +interest and, I hope, with benefit to their handicaps!" He had taken +some clubs and balls up there into the Antarctic on his previous +expedition, when farthest south was reached. On one of the last days he +spent in London I had some talk with him on different matters, and we +joked about ways of playing Antarctic shots. We were in his office in +Victoria Street then. "Good-bye!" he said in parting, "And you must come +to meet me on my return!" And if none met him coming back, yet we know +the game he played.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>The fact that there is golf nearly everywhere on earth will make it +appear to some minds, reasonably too, that here is a convenient +diversion for those travellers who like this sort of thing, something +with which they can fill up time when held up for a while in a distant +country and being impatient or weary. True, golf is good for that; but +the unsophisticated who imagine that this is the full relation between +travel and the game, and that this is the function of the courses +everywhere, suffer from a poor delusion, which is expensive.</p> + +<p>It is a modern necessity to the traveller. In these days we are a people +of wanderers; railways offer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> cheap journeys, steamships carry us over +seas at little cost, hotels are good and comfortable; and why should +those who like and have the hours not be always roaming and seeing the +open world? But travelling sometimes has its inconveniences and its +tedious days. Some wanderers unconsciously exert themselves towards +loneliness, and they do not love it when they have it. The joy of +meeting with a friend when one is half a globe away from home! With all +the travelling that is done in these days there has come a great +increase of loneliness. Golf has been set to destroy it. There are still +people who travel and do not golf, but they are fewer daily, and as each +new travel-golfer is established he wonders how he lived and moved and +was moderately well contented and satisfied before. His travelling was a +plain occupation then; now it makes more emotion and thrill, and, +positively, it is more educative. There was a time, when I was very +young, when I did not golf as I travelled abroad, partly because there +were few courses to play upon and no golfers to play with, for it is +only in recent times that the game has been established in every country +in the world; and as I look back upon those days it is hard to realise +that they were in this present life. They should have belonged to some +other existence, which in the course of time and nature was given up, a +reincarnation having followed ages after.</p> + +<p>The traveller who is golfless has often no friends at the places that he +visits. Some men and women have good capacity for making them at each +hotel they stay in; others have not. In any case these acquaintanceships +are exceedingly thin; the people do not really know each other; +oftentimes they say not what they think, and they have no common +interest. This kind of friendship with all its making of artificial +conversation is poor stuff at times. The golfless wanderer in his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +travelling does one of two things; either he does hardly anything at all +or he goes to see the sights; and one suspects that much of the peering +through the gloom of dark cathedrals and the lounging in picture +galleries is done merely for the killing of time, and for the formal +recording of places that have been visited and sights that have been +seen. Some travellers are happiest when they have done their business +with the churches and the local castles and may leave by the next +train—one day nearer home and still working well!</p> + +<p>The case of the golfing traveller is very different. He has friends in +every big town in every country, and all await his coming to make +pleasure and happiness for him. He needs to scheme nothing in advance; +they are prepared for him always. The automatic management of this real +society of friends is most marvellously perfect. The wanderer, let us +say, is advancing towards a new place—one that he knows nothing of. +From the people about him now he may make inquiry as to which is the +golf hotel at his destination, for often there is one to which golfers +most resort, and, with his golf directory containing the names of all +the golf clubs in the world, and with some particulars and the +secretaries' addresses, away he goes complete and well prepared. His +corny hands and his bag of clubs are his passport to every links. By the +perfect system that we have, every man who is a golfer and a member of a +golf club is <i>ipso facto</i> a travelling member of nearly every other golf +club in the world, and is admitted to full playing and other privileges +without delay on paying the trifling fees of temporary membership, +sometimes with even less than that. And one golf club seems very much +like another—just a branch of it; the atmosphere is the same, and the +men are the same. The stranger reaches his new destination, in England +or in India, in France or in America; he registers at his hotel; and as +soon as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> may be he seeks direction from the manager or the hall porter +as to the whereabouts of the golf club. There he goes. At once, then, he +is admitted to the local community of players, and they make much of +him. They arrange games for him, surround him with the most hospitable +companions, discover that he and they have many mutual friendships in +different parts of the world, and linger upon other common ground in +their memories of the third hole at one and the seventeenth at some +other place. How the talk goes on! This golfer arrived among the unknown +at ten in the morning, and at four in the afternoon he is tied to as +many good friends as man could need. They invite him here and there; +they take him to their homes; they make much of him. Stranger indeed! A +thin voice of a petulant cynic may be heard again. "Yes," says he, "but +in travelling one does not wish to spend all one's time in playing games +and lounging about golf clubs!" True; and the golfing traveller, though +he likes to visit courses in other countries, and finds it well to have +an object always and something good with which to fill the daylight +hours and keep his health in a well-balanced state, uses the game and +its people to greater advantage than even that. The golf community of a +place is always the most active and the most useful. There are the local +dignitaries, the people of influence and consequence, men who know +everything about the town, and can do most things. They can open doors +that are locked, and take you to the most secret places. And so the +golfing traveller, the first desire for the best of games being +satisfied, always finds that his new friends wish to help him. Perhaps +the ambassador is here, and ambassadors are serviceable men. All wise +people golf a little at the present time. They give their guest letters +of introduction; they tell him how to go about. They do much more than +that, for they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> get out their cars and take him. Places which seem +unfriendly to others are always friendly to the golfer. There is no +particular community, no society, no association, no brotherhood in the +world that is so real in its effectiveness, so thoroughly practical as +this of golf. A quarter of a million British golfers know that this is +true, and they know the reason why.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>From the consideration of this busy world of golf in general it is an +easy move in thought to the one wee spot of it from which it has to a +large extent developed, upon which the great scheme continually hangs, +being the fourth of our seven wonders of golf—ancient St. Andrews. In a +measure I developed this idea at the beginning of the consideration of +golf as the world game; but now for a moment regard the capital of golf, +not as the parliament place where the high statesmen do ponderously +deliberate and with stern visage that befits their lofty authority most +solemnly severally and jointly promulgate various laws and ordinances, +but as the wonder city of the golfing world where one gathers emotions +from a ghostly past, a city where golf is everything and nothing else is +anything, where golf is life. This is the aspect of St. Andrews, and the +only one, in which it is really great. We have much respect for our +rulers. They are wise men, and we believe that they maintain the spirit +of the game better than any other body of men could or would. They are +well born and trained in golf, and the atmosphere of St. Andrews keeps +them straight in the true golfing way. One who lived in an inland +manufacturing town or spent his days in the office of a colliery would +lose his golfing perspective early in middle age. But these excellents +of Fifeshire play a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> little, read a little, talk much and deliberate, +and the social and intellectual atmosphere keeps them strong in their +golfing sense always. The government of St. Andrews is really one to +respect and have faith in, but it is not the existing wonder of St. +Andrews. When you visit the place, such of these rulers as live there do +not impress you for anything save their good golf, their excellent and +pleasant manners, their keen wit, their fine sense in matters of +intellect, their tolerable aestheticism, their shrewd judgment in +political affairs, their sound advice on financial questions, their fine +epicurean taste, their kingly cellars, their magnificent hospitality, +and their charming women. In nothing else that I can think of do they +excel, and as minor deities, or as a college of cardinals with a captain +for pope, endowed with powers transmitted from a golfers' heaven, they +are failures. They are merely human, very good, and excellently +conservative.</p> + +<p>No sort of people make St. Andrews. Only in two circumstances are the +living humans of the place specially interesting. One is on the occasion +of the autumn meeting of the Royal and Ancient Club, when the cannon on +the hill is fired, when the new captain plays himself in with ceremony, +and when all the ancient rites are properly observed until far on in the +night. The other is in the attitude of the people generally towards this +game as a thing of life, their seeming feeling that it is nearly the +beginning and end of all things in this world. This may not be a proper +view, and it is for something of the kind, but yet long distant from it, +that the golfers of the south are chided and ridiculed for their +enthusiasm. That, again, is why the real golfer, heart and soul for the +game, who, if he would confess it, does let it take a larger part of his +life sometimes than is very good for him (but who knows what this fellow +would be doing if not golfing?), feels happy when at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> St. Andrews, feels +that at last he has come to his real home. For here the people look upon +him just as merely right and normal because he is a golfer and nothing +but a golfer—and a man with a little money to spare. His chief +peculiarity is not that he stammers or is deaf or is a total abstainer, +that he is a peer of the realm or mayor of his town or a professor of +Greek, but that he addresses his ball with the heel of his club or pulls +a little always. The place is attuned to his feeling of life; it is in +sympathy with him. It is either a fine day for the game—as most days +are—or it is no day at all. If we lose our match it does not matter +what the papers say of politics or Germany; if we win it, the papers +matter less. The caddies know that you are a golfer and what is your +handicap; and if you are the real thing that is enough for them. Be not +a golfer at heart or a namby-pamby person hanging to the game, and their +contempt is rarely hidden. In the hotels they know what golf means to +people; the chambermaid on calling you in the morning may tell you the +direction the wind is blowing, knowing that it matters more than any hot +water. The men in the club-makers' shops are sorely concerned in your +domestic difficulties about the length of the shaft of your driver and +your quarrel with an iron. They know what it is; they are kindly, +worldly-wise doctors, who are the constant recipients of the confidences +of poor sufferers. They will try to put you right. All the +advertisements on the walls are of golf; the notices in the shop windows +are of golf matches and competitions. The streets are called after golf, +the taverns have golf names. Yes! golf is in all the air and all the +earth and all the people of this ancient city with its far-seen spires.</p> + +<p>But yet even these things do not give to St. Andrews its ineffable +charm; if they are all that the wanderer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> notices he is not the real man +of the game after all, nor is the splendid quality of the holes on the +old course and on the new enough either, great as is that quality. The +wanderer missed St. Andrews if these things were all that were +discovered. He should understand that here we feel that the Swilcan Burn +is greater than the Dardanelles; Asia is a trifle when we survey the +vast extent of the fifth putting green, and little enough do we worry of +hell when with a fine long shot with the brassey we can carry "the +devil's kitchen" on the way to the fourteenth green. Here the game is in +the air; we breathe it, feel it. And the reason why is because the +spirits are in the air, the spirits of the ancients who at St. Andrews +laid the foundations of this game, served for its traditions, set it up +and shaped it to the good service of men, and gave their stamp to every +inch of this great old course. Do not misunderstand. These men, I do +believe, were often very ordinary simple human beings; they may have +been no better than we are. There is a possibility that they were worse. +They may not have been worthy to be canonised as they have been; but let +us not inquire upon these matters, for we should not peer too closely at +the gods. What matters is that in the first place undoubtedly they were +in at the game before we were, in at it the first of all, were evidently +uncommonly shrewd people, and for their discovery of golf and their +presentation of it to us their perpetual dignity was well won. It +matters also that we have many volumes of good stories about them, and +none that is in any serious sense against them. On legend and anecdote +they win well. And, third, whatever they were, we believe them to have +been these great men, we set them up in our imagination as such, we +recreate them to our fancies and desires, and they seem somehow to +respond.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> + +<p>So we imagine, believe, and are well satisfied, and therefore the +spirits of golf take advantage and seem always to hover in the air of +the old grey city, brooding upon the links, contented that things are +moving as well as they are, and that what they began prospers so finely, +though they wail a little, one would imagine, about what the +rubber-cored ball has done, and the wraith of old Allan Robertson turns +round to the ghost of the elder Morris, murmuring, "D'ye mind, Tammas, +the awfu' trouble that we bodies had wi' ane anither when the gutty ba' +kem hither to St. Andrews, and I caught ye, ma servin' man, ye ken, +playin' gowff, as ye wad say, wi' Campbell of Saddell and wi' the gutty, +and me a maker o' the featheries tae!"</p> + +<p>"Aye, I ken weel eno'," croons the shade of Old Tom, "and I'm telling +ye, Allan, man, that I was fower up on Mr. Campbell at the eleventh +hole, and I was playin' ma very best, and wi' ma second shot at the +fourteenth, eh mon alive——"</p> + +<p>"Na, na, Tammas, nane o' yer rantin' aboot the shots as ye played at St. +Andrews, when ye spent the best pairt o' yer time ower theer at +Prestwick, and ye never could mak' up a scoor from a' yer ither scoors +as wad come to 56 like mine. Ye ken that, Tom! And dinna forget, ma +laddie, as I was goin' to tell ye, that when I saw ye wi' that awfu' new +ba' as wad ruin every bit body o' us I tell't ye straight, ma man, as ye +must go, and never a bit o' wark did ye do in ma shop again."</p> + +<p>And then Tom, good-natured old ghost as he is, and loving his Allan +still, just answers, "Puir Allan, ye always were a cunnin' body o' a +man, and a guid man tae, and fun aboot ye a' the time!"</p> + +<p>And all this about ghosts and the times they have in the air over St. +Andrews old links may look like nonsense, but those who do not believe +it, or do not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> feel that they believe it by mental adoption, have not +been to St. Andrews properly, and do not understand her.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>The most utterly non-golfing and sceptical person may be convinced in +another way, by matters not of ghosts and fancies but of laws and +prisons, that St. Andrews is all golf and is not as other places are. +There are laws of the town approved by Act of Parliament, by which it is +made illegal to practise putting on the eighteenth green or to play on +the course with iron clubs only, the penalty for offences in these +matters being a fine or imprisonment. Where else is there a place where +a golfer may get fourteen days for depending for all his long shots on +his driving iron or his cleek? Clearly, the law is made for the good of +the precious turf and the teeing grounds of the old course, and that it +is not law made to be looked and laughed at is proved by the fact that a +Prime Minister himself was once warned for infringing it. One time when +at St. Andrews I made an examination of the complete bye-laws in which +these prohibitions are included. They are embraced in the St. Andrews +Links Act, which was passed in 1894, and in the Burgh Police Act of +Scotland, which was made law two years earlier. The regulations for the +use of the old and new golf courses make up these bye-laws, and they are +twenty-one in number. Following them are four "general regulations for +the whole links as defined by Schedule I. of the Links Act," and at the +finish there is a clause about penalties, wherein it is said that "any +person who shall contravene any of the foregoing bye-laws shall be +liable, on conviction, in a penalty not exceeding one pound for each +offence, and, failing payment, to imprisonment for any period not +exceeding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> fourteen days." There it is, the law, and it is that last +clause with its sting that gives the point to the whole story.</p> + +<p>Now let us look at these bye-laws and see how careful we must be when we +go to the great city of golf, and for what we may be fined a pound or +lodged in a Fifeshire gaol for a full fortnight, during which our game +might go to rack and ruin.</p> + +<p>In the first place it is set down that "no person shall play cricket, +football, or any game other than golf upon the golf courses." Surely +nobody who ever went to St. Andrews would wish to play any other game, +but here we have it plainly set forth that the golf of St. Andrews will +bear no rivals, and it must be remembered that the great putting green, +on which the fifth and thirteenth holes are made, is big enough for +several cricket pitches, and also that the large flat space along which +a fairway for the first and eighteenth is situated might be made into +various football grounds. But what sacrilege! It is well that men may be +sent to prison if they ever committed it. Then you may be punished by +law if you do not begin your match at the first teeing ground, but no +doubt some thousands of people in their time have risked chastisement +for this offence. "No player shall, in teeing his ball, raise the turf +of the teeing ground." There is sand there for him who wants it, and he +must not make his tee in the prehistoric way. After this there are some +points of etiquette which are made matters of law. Elsewhere, if we +disregard the etiquette of the game as set forth at the end of the +rules, we are merely told about it by other people and regarded as very +badly-mannered golfers, but at St. Andrews the sovereign or fourteen +days needs to be considered. Thus "no player shall play from the tee +until the party in front have played their second strokes and are out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +of range, nor play to the putting green till the party in front have +holed out and moved away." And again, "players looking for a lost ball +must allow any other match coming up to pass them," and "every caddie, +and every player unaccompanied by a caddie, shall replace any turf that +may be accidentally removed by the player's club, and shall press it +firmly with the foot." Then we may be fined or sent to prison if, when +practising, we drive a ball off a putting green, that is, within twenty +yards of a hole, and the eighth clause is that which is known to all +men—"To prevent destruction of the turf of the golf courses, play or +practice with iron clubs alone is prohibited." Also, "no practice is +allowed over the first and eighteenth holes of the Old Course, nor shall +any practice be allowed over any part of the golf courses so as to +obstruct or delay players."</p> + +<p>Upon all this, it is enacted that when playing with three or more balls +we must allow those who are only playing two, as in an ordinary single +match, to pass us on being requested to do so, that we must let a match +through if we do not play the whole round but cut in somewhere, that we +must not pierce the ground with any golf club support nor with the flags +from the holes, nor must we drive towards any person without calling out +"Fore!" and waiting until he gets out of range. No man when at St. +Andrews is allowed "to play the short game at the regular golf holes, +except when engaged in a regular game of golf," and, as said, "no +practising is allowed on the eighteenth putting green." There are five +other bye-laws, mostly long, but the only other one which is specially +interesting is that which is designed to preserve the integrity of the +Swilcan Burn, which has played its part so thoroughly and drastically at +times of great competitions. No other golf stream is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> protected by an +Act of Parliament in the way that this one is, and its high dignity is +unimpeachable. We are warned, under the usual penalty of a fine or +imprisonment, that "no one shall wade in the Swilcan Burn, so far as it +flows through the Old Course, nor shall any one, except players or +caddies in search of their ball, do anything to cause its waters to +become discoloured or muddy." There are surely times when we feel that +we could not do anything to make the Swilcan Burn appear uglier than it +does at those times.</p> + +<p>Why a distinction should be made between the "bye-laws" and the "general +regulations," four in number, is not quite clear, but it would appear +that the penalties of fine and imprisonment may be inflicted if the +latter are disobeyed as well as the former. If that is so, we begin to +wonder when we see the warning that "no one shall use profane language +upon the links to the annoyance of the lieges." Let us then hope, for +the sake of the law and our respect for it, that the lieges are not +habitually in the neighbourhood of the putting green when putts are +being missed that should not be. But it is good to see that there is a +kind of general warning that "no one shall annoy or interfere with any +one exercising a legitimate use of the links," which means, of course, +playing golf. We golfers, according to these bye-laws and the Act of +Parliament which supports them, may be sent to prison for doing so many +things that it is excellent to know the common people may be cast there +also if they meddle with us when we play the game in our own good way, +and manage by thought and attention to avoid infringement of the many +cautions which the fathers of St. Andrews have prescribed for our +welfare and that of their dear old course. The Sheriff of Fife has set +it down that he "allows and confirms" these bye-laws, the Secretary of +Scotland has officially approved of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> them, and the staff employed by the +Green Committee are authorised to see that they are obeyed, especially +those about replacing turf, playing with irons only, and practising at +the first and eighteenth holes. Contemplating these enactments, we +conclude that St. Andrews is the best and proper place for the +upbringing of the golfer's son.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>THE TRAGEDIES OF THE SHORT PUTT, AND A CONTRAST BETWEEN CHILDREN AND +CHAMPIONS, WITH THE VARIED COUNSEL OF THE WISEST MEN.</h3> + + +<p>The case of an earth so well explored by golfing travellers having been +considered as the third of the wonders of the sphere, and the +peculiarity of St. Andrews as the fourth, there is a clear suggestion as +to which is the next or fifth wonder of the series. Inevitably one +recalls the tearful situation of the mighty hunter in a story which is +passed in company as fact. He declared he had encountered all the +manifold perils of the jungle, had tracked the huge elephant to its +retreat, and had stood eye to eye with the man-eating tiger. It is +believed that he had done all these things. Then he added, "And never +once have I trembled until I came to a short putt." For me one of the +most remarkable things I have seen in golf was at an Open Championship +meeting at St. Andrews when, watching and musing by the side of the +eighteenth green, I saw four of the greatest players of this or any +other time come up to it in the competition one by one and have putts of +less than eighteen inches at that hole. Three of the four missed! In the +old days, at all events, when the greens were not quite as they are now, +but became very glassy and slippery with much wind and constant play +upon them, I believe there were more short putts missed on the old +course at St.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> Andrews than on any other two courses in the world, and +the task of holing the little stupids on that home green was a most +tormenting ordeal.</p> + +<p>So, with the broken-hearted explorer, and the tragedy of St. Andrews, +there is pointed to us for the next wonder of the game the missing of +the short putt. And I do believe, and so must others, that the missing +of such a short putt as it seems humanly impossible for any man, having +the control of his limbs and being <i>compos mentis</i>, to miss is one of +the most remarkable features of any game, and one that would be +completely and absolutely inexplicable did it not in itself offer a most +splendid illustration of the full effect of strain of mind on physical +action, of the pressure of great responsibility on an over-anxious man. +It embraces nearly the whole psychology of golf. The short putt largely +explains the game, and it is testimony to the soundness of this view, +and the rightful selection of this as a permanent wonder, that the +general public would never believe the truth as we know it, that it is +possible for the greatest players with what is to them, for the time +being, almost as much as their lives depending on it, to miss putts so +little that no walking baby properly fed would miss. The general public, +with its vast stores of common sense, would not believe the fact; it +would ridicule it and treat the whole suggestion with contempt, and it +might in a sense be right; but then the general public has not been +fighting its way round a golf course against another and very truculent +general public, driving, playing seconds and thirds, getting bunkered +and recovering, and encountering all manner of difficulties and dangers, +and then had its fate for the day depending on a short putt at the +eighteenth green! By psychology of the game, as just mentioned, we mean, +of course, the way in which the mind and the emotions act and react upon +the physical system and its capacity,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> how doubts and fears are +engendered, and things from not seeming what they are become really +different, so far as the attitude of the player to them is concerned. +Thus, as has been well said, a putt of ten inches on the first green is, +as one might feel, a putt of thirty inches—though still in fact of the +same length—when that green is not the first but the thirty-seventh, +and that on which a long-drawn-out match is being finished.</p> + +<p>One summer's day, on a course in France, a little party of us were +discussing the slow and sure methods of certain Americans then in +Europe—if, really, they were quite so sure as they were slow. Indeed +they hustled not. The point was put forward by one of us that there is a +moment in waiting when inspiration and confidence come together, or at +least come then as well as ever they can or will, and that if the +hesitation is prolonged beyond that moment, the result is inevitably +loss of faith, increasing doubt and timidity, and a distorted view of +the situation arising from fear of fate. Half the difficulties of golf +are due to the fact that the player has an abundance of time to think +about what he is engaged to do and how it should be done. In that time +hopes and fears and many emotions race through his mind, and tasks which +were originally simple become every moment harder. In no other game has +the player such ample leisure in which to think, to be careful, to be +exact, and to decide upon the proper action, and thus responsibility is +heaped upon him for what he does as it is in no other sport or +recreation. He is oppressed with a mighty burden. That which he does he +is entirely responsible for, and it can never be undone. It follows that +this game has an extensive and peculiar psychology such as is possessed +by no other. I shall proceed to tell a little story, dramatic in its +circumstances, abounding in significance. It embraces the meanings and +mysteries of golf.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>The strange case of Sir Archibald Strand is one that caused much excited +attention among the members of the golf community in general some months +ago, and it is still discussed in the club-houses. Sir Archibald Strand, +Bart., is a fair example of the thorough, enthusiastic, middle-aged +player, who treats golf as something rather more than a game, which is +as it should be. He is one of tolerably equable temperament, a good +sportsman, and a man of strong character and physique, who did a long +term of military service in India. Nowadays he spends an appreciable +portion of his time in golfing, and a fair part of the remainder in +contemplating the enduring mysteries and problems of the links. The game +worries him exceedingly, occasionally it leads him to unhappiness, but, +on the whole, he feels he likes it. He is a member of several London +clubs, including Sunningdale, Walton Heath, Mid-Surrey, Coombe Hill, and +Woking, and of his seaside clubs those he most frequents are the Royal +St. George's at Sandwich, and Rye. His handicap is 5, and generally he +is what we consider and call a good reliable 5.</p> + +<p>He and his opponent, to whom, as a matter of discretion and confidence, +we must refer as Mr. A., had just ended their match at Mid-Surrey one +pleasant day, and Sir Archibald was trying his last putt over again as +golfers often do. It was a putt of two feet. He had missed it before; +but now, of course, he rolled the ball in every time. A question arose +about circumstances altering cases, as they so commonly do in golf, and +of responsibility weighing heavily on the mind that hesitates; and Sir +Archibald declared that nobody in good health could be such a fool as to +miss a two-feet putt like that, if he really examined the line<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +thoroughly, and took the proper pains. Just then the open champion of +the period was passing by the green, and they called him up and asked +his views upon the missing of two-feet putts. Taylor denied that a man +was a fool for missing them. He mentioned the psychology of the +business, and very forcibly argued that a two-feet putt was a very +difficult thing, that the more important it was the more difficult it +became, and that the longer one thought about it the more impossible did +it seem to hole it. "Ah!" said he, with the solemn countenance he +assumes when discussing the terrors of this game, and the deep emphasis +he makes when he admits the difficulties it creates for him, "Ah!" he +murmured, "if I had never missed any putts of one foot, let alone the +putts of two! I tell you, sir, the two-feet putt, when it has to be +done—mind you when it has got to be done—is one of the most difficult +things in the world to do, and never mind the fact that your babies can +do it all the time! Take that from me, sir!" This was a touch of the +real Taylor, the true philosopher, one who knows the game.</p> + +<p>Mr. A., who is sometimes aggressive in manner, brought the matter in +discussion to a pretty point at once. "Look here, Strand," said he, "I +will tell you what I will do. I will place this ball here, so, exactly +two feet from the hole, and I will give you a fortnight, but not less +than a fortnight, to hole that putt. You are not to practise it here at +this hole on this green in the meantime; but you may place the ball in +position if you like, and look at it. And a fortnight to-day, at ten +o'clock in the morning, you must make the putt, and I will bet you +fourteen guineas, being a guinea a day for waiting, that you do not hole +it. We will have the position of the hole properly marked, so that a +fortnight hence it shall be in the same place."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> + +<p>The champion said he would tell Lees, the greenkeeper, and that should +be done. Strand, with a laugh, accepted the wager, and the matter was +settled.</p> + +<p>The events that followed were curious. In the club-house there was then +little disposition to attend to the accounts of the proceedings that +were furnished by both parties. The men who had finished rounds were too +much occupied with their own troubles or joys.</p> + +<p>At his club in town that evening, Sir Archibald, over dinner, related +the circumstances of the wager to a few friends, with an appearance of +considerable satisfaction with himself, and seemed a little surprised +that the other members of the party did not at once approve of his +proceeding as sound and businesslike.</p> + +<p>"Of course, you know, Strand, my good man," said Mr. Ezekiel Martin, a +successful stockbroker, "these putts are missed sometimes, and I don't +suppose it makes it any easier for you by waiting a fortnight. It's like +carrying over in the House till one is a very tired bull."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" exclaimed Sir Archibald, "I could go out now and hole that +putt nineteen times out of twenty in the dark!"</p> + +<p>"I believe you could," answered Martin, "but doing it in the dark, when +you cannot see the hole and realise all the imaginary difficulties, is +very different from doing it in broad daylight; and putting now, on the +spur of the moment, as it were, is very different from putting when you +have a whole fortnight to think about what you are going to do."</p> + +<p>"I don't see it," replied Sir Archibald, yet he began to feel a little +uneasy. On returning home that night, instead of going to bed at once he +went into his study, laid a tumbler on its side on the carpet, and +putted from a measured two feet for about half an hour. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> holed most +of them, and tumbled into bed feeling that Martin had been "pulling his +leg," as people say. In the morning he engaged a gardener to smooth down +a piece of his lawn, planting in a little putting-green turf, and he had +a hole made in it, and a circle with two feet radius drawn round the +hole, so that he could putt from every point. When this work was done, +he spent an hour in practising there, and succeeded well. He only missed +about one in ten. He tried seven different putters, with approximately +equal results. In the afternoon he went down to Mid-Surrey, played a +match, and lost it by missing a short putt at the home hole. After tea, +he went out on to the eighteenth green, found the spot where the hole +was the day before, examined it carefully, and saw that there were +slight differences in the texture of the grass round about, and that +there was a little depression to the left side. He had not noticed this +before. However, said he to himself, it would be easy to make allowances +for these things, but he began now to doubt whether thirteen days ahead +he would use his wry-necked putting cleek or bolt the putt with an +aluminium putter. Where there are troubles of that kind it is often +better to make short work of the putt by the bolting way, and have an +end of it. At home that evening he did more putting practice on the +carpet, and did not hole them quite so well. Lady Strand, who +understands her husband thoroughly, and is the sweetest, gentlest +sympathiser, coaxed him to telling her the trouble, for she saw that one +existed. With perfect wisdom she suggested that he should wipe the +fourteen guineas from the current account as already lost, and face the +task as one who had all to gain and nothing to lose. Of course, her +husband said, it was not the money, but the frightful jackass he would +look if he missed the putt.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> + +<p>He went to his club in town the next day instead of going to golf, and +took with him a book containing a chapter on putting, by Willie Park. He +stretched himself out on a Chesterfield in a corner of the library, and +gazed at two spots on the carpet which he had measured as being two feet +from each other. Eventually, he decided that that was not good for him, +since equal distances in furnished rooms, as is well known, look longer +than they look outside. He lunched with a few friends, and brought up +the subject again.</p> + +<p>"Give him the money and have done with it, Strand. You are sure to +lose!" said the brutish Martin.</p> + +<p>"I wish I had not to wait for a fortnight," murmured Strand.</p> + +<p>"Ah! He knew! The other man knew!" rejoined Martin. "He knows the game +of golf! What I cannot understand is why he did not give you a year and +make it 365 guineas. You would have sold out in six weeks at £200!"</p> + +<p>Sir Archibald wrote a letter to Mr. A. that evening, intimating that he +would probably have to leave town the week after the next. He hinted +that it might be convenient if they got their wager out of the way +beforehand, and if he putted a week from then. Mr. A. replied that he +was sorry it would not be convenient for him to attend then, and that +the signed terms of the contract had better be abided by.</p> + +<p>Sir Archibald bought two new putters on the following day, and in the +afternoon he had Taylor out for an hour, and they went practising on the +putting lawn just outside the garden gate. Sir Archibald was putting +very well then; but he insisted that it would be a good thing to change +the ball he was using, which was rather lively. After he had done with +Taylor, he went to look at the place on the eighteenth green where he +would have to putt, and it seemed that the coarse grass<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> had fattened up +considerably with the rain that had fallen, and that the sand below it +was distinctly gritty. It began to seem that he would have to run the +ball in at the right side of the hole. He asked Lees some questions +about the grasses on that green, and was sorry he could not take a +little Mid-Surrey turf home with him. He was feeling a little tired when +he reached his home that night, and as it was Thursday he suggested to +Lady Strand that they should go to Folkestone for the week-end, and not +bother at all about golf, which they did accordingly. He found it +delightful to linger on the leas and not be worried with the game.</p> + +<p>This kind of thing continued and became worse and worse again during the +days that followed. There was practice, thought, and purchase +continually, and unfortunately the proportion of missed putts at two +feet, both on the carpet, on the practice lawn, and on the greens at +Mid-Surrey, Coombe Hill, and Woking, began to increase. At putts of +three feet, four, and five, Sir Archibald was marvellous, and, of +course, he never missed the very little ones; but the two-feet putts +bothered him all the time. He attributed it to his liver; and he was +certainly looking worn. Matters were not improved by such inconsiderate +remarks as were made by Martin, Evans, and others, whenever he had a +two-feet putt to do, such as "Now, Strand, that's just your distance!" +It was only a joke; but in the circumstances it was not perhaps in good +taste.</p> + +<p>On the evening of the twelfth day Strand, after deliberation, wrote a +letter to A. in which he said he feared he would not be able to go down +to the course at the appointed time, and intimated that, according to +the terms of the wager, he would hand over the fourteen guineas to him +when next they met. Before posting this letter he went and did a little +practice in the dusk on the lawn outside the house. He seemed to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> get +them down with some confidence on this occasion, and Lady S., watching +him, called out cheerily, "Silly boy! as if you could really miss! Now +what shall I buy with the fourteen guineas?"</p> + +<p>So Strand tore up the letter and went to bed for rest.</p> + +<p>On the night before the appointed day he slept badly. He was putting in +his mind until three o'clock in the morning. Then he rose, went in his +pyjamas into the study, made a line on the top of his aluminium putter +indicating the striking point, and went back to bed, but did not sleep. +For some time he tried an imaginary humming of the "Jewel Song" from +<i>Faust</i>, and repeated a few lines from Scott's "Lady of the Lake"—old +dodges of his for assisting distraction and sleep—but they did not +serve, nor did a fixed vision of millions of balls falling in an endless +stream from the mouth of a pump and disappearing instantly through a +golf hole in the ground.</p> + +<p>At five-thirty he rose again and took his bath. He hesitated as to what +golfing suit he should wear. Finally, for the sake of complete ease, and +that there should be nothing to attract his eye from the ball, he put on +some dark-blue flannels.</p> + +<p>He looked at his breakfast, pecked at a sole, and at nine-fifteen, +feeling distinctly unwell, he took a taxi for the course. He had one +great consolation upholding him. At five minutes past ten it would all +be over. He felt that he knew how glad a condemned criminal must be that +at five minutes past eight on a certain morning—or a minute or two +earlier with a little luck—a black flag would be hoisted on the prison +pole.</p> + +<p>At seven minutes to ten he drank a large brandy and soda and went out to +the eighteenth green. Mr. A. and a few others were there to see the +business properly carried out. Taylor placed the ball exactly two feet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +from the hole, which was cut in the proper place. He had his watch in +his hand.</p> + +<p>Sir Archibald bent down and examined the putt with great care. He +essayed to pick up what seemed to be a "loose impediment" on his line, +but saw that it was not loose. The putt seemed very difficult now, and +he wished he had brought his plain putting cleek out with him, but it +was too late.</p> + +<p>At ten o'clock exactly, Taylor said, "Now, Sir Archibald, will you +kindly putt?"</p> + +<p>Sir Archibald Strand looked like a man who had been hunted down. He made +one swift glance around him, but saw no escape, so he pulled himself +together, smiled a little sadly, and said to himself, "Don't be a fool, +Archie!" Then he faced the putter to the ball; the club was trembling +slightly. He swung it back much too far, checked it in the return swing, +and came on to the ball in a nervous, stupid sort of way, doing little +more than touch it. The ball took a line to the right of the hole, and +did not run more than fourteen inches.</p> + +<p>You may have thought that Sir Archibald used unfortunate words and was +dismayed. He did not. A look of established happiness and placid +contentment spread upon his countenance, as a streak of sunlight might +flash across a plain. "Ha!" he sighed in relief. He took from his pocket +a cheque for fourteen guineas already made out, and handed it to Mr. A., +and then joyfully exclaimed: "Thank heaven, it is finished! Now, my +friends, we will honour this unusual occasion in a suitable manner at +your convenience, and this afternoon I leave for Sandwich for a week of +golf. And no letters are being forwarded."</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Let us now enter consideration of this matter in a proper frame of mind, +seriously and not looking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> contemptuously upon the problem of holing +even the very shortest of putts as no problem at all after the affected +manner of the inexperienced and uninformed general public. Let us +approach it cautiously and in an analytical spirit. We should take the +evidence of expert witnesses upon happenings in their careers, in our +endeavour to discover the real truth. We have already remarked upon the +case of the hunter who shot tigers and cringed at putts, and of the +great champions who all missed them on the eighteenth green at St. +Andrews, when they were playing for nothing less than the championship. +We have also contemplated the circumstances of the distressed baronet +who was given a fortnight in which to hole a two-feet putt, suffered +intolerable agonies during the period, and was only restored to +happiness when he had failed at the stroke. Now let us pay regard to the +experience of a little child only six years old, who was completely +successful at many putts in succession, at distances of from one to six +feet, all the most perilous situations. This remarkable demonstration +was witnessed by the proud parents, by a great professional, and by +myself.</p> + +<p>The child is a boy, and not, as has been stated, a winsome little girl. +There is, if I may say it without offence, nothing remarkable about his +parents. They are excellent kindly-mannered people, of tolerable +middle-class education, simple in their manner of life, and of no +pronounced tastes in any direction. The father is in a large timber +business in the Midlands, and has probably an income of about six +hundred pounds a year. His handicap is 14. He is not a very keen golfer, +and seems to spend a fair amount of his time in his garden. A total +abstainer, he smokes little, and has no strong tastes in art and +literature; but he once told me that in addition to much Scott and a +sufficiency of Dickens he had read one of my books on golf. That<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> is the +father. As to the mother, she is just one who might be called in the +north a nice little body. She is a thoroughly good housewife, +domesticated, affectionate, and if she does not play golf she +sympathises with it. These are people who are tolerably satisfied with +their state. They live in a pleasant house, employ two maidservants, and +have no motor-car. Here, surely, is nothing to suggest the creation of +genius. Yet they are the parents of this remarkable child who did, with +no hesitation, with confidence, certainty, and frequency, what the +mighty hunter, the champions, the bold but misguided baronet, and you +and I have failed to accomplish.</p> + +<p>There is a man of wit and wisdom, Andrew Kirkaldy, who, when you inquire +of him what is the most difficult thing in golf, responds with no +hesitation that it is to hole "a wee bit divvle of a putt that long!" +and so saying he will hold his hands four feet apart. Occasionally he +may vary the phraseology, not to its advantage, but the meaning and +effect remain the same. Andrew is solid on four feet. But authorities +differ a little in this matter of measurement. Some will reduce the +distance to thirty inches; others have it that the yard putt is the most +trying; I have heard eighteen inches put forward. But it all amounts to +much the same thing, that what looks ridiculously easy is very, very +difficult. Now this tender little child, who knew nothing of the fears +and dangers of this awful game, placed the ball at a distance of two +feet from the hole on a curly and slippery green, and with a sublime +aplomb hit it straight to the middle of the hole—the first putt of his +life and a good one. Then he putted from a yard and holed it again, then +from Kirkaldy's distance and played the stroke just as surely and +successfully, and then repeated them many times, never faltering, never +failing. We who watched<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> were a trifle sad, and perhaps ashamed. We knew +that with all our thought and skill and golfing learning, all our +strength and manhood, we could not do the same when at our games, and +that, the more we needed to do it by the importance of the golf that was +being played, the more difficult it was. Our selfish consolation was +that in time the little child would grow up and then he would not be +able to hole those putts, for then he would know that it was a difficult +thing to do, and would be embarrassed and defeated accordingly. For it +is the golfer's consciousness of imaginary difficulties that makes him +such a strange coward when this putting business is being done. He knows +that really the putting is easy, but he knows also that he must not +miss, that an inch lost here is as much of a loss as two hundred yards +in the driving—and he fears his fate. It is consciousness of the +stupidity of missing, nerves, fears, imagination, that make this missing +of short putts by the cleverest players, champions as much as any +others, the most remarkable thing that happens constantly in any game. +There is nothing like it. If it were not so easy, if there were good +excuse for failure, those putts would not be missed so frequently. In +putting, said Sir Walter Simpson, there is much to think about and much +more not to be thought of. "When a putter," he reflected, "is waiting +his turn to hole out a putt of one or two feet in length, on which the +match hangs at the last hole, it is of vital importance that he think of +nothing. At this supreme moment he ought studiously to fill his mind +with vacancy. He must not even allow himself the consolations of +religion. He must not prepare himself to accept the gloomy face of his +partner and the derisive delight of his adversaries with Christian +resignation should he miss. He must not think that it is a putt he would +not dream of missing at the beginning of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> match, or, worse still, +that he missed one like it in the middle. He ought to wait, calm and +stupid, till it is his turn to play, wave back the inevitable boy who is +sure to be standing behind his arm, and putt as I have told him +how—neither with undue haste nor with exaggerated care. When the ball +is down, and the putter handed to the caddy, it is not well to say, 'I +couldn't have missed it.' Silence is best. The pallid cheek and +trembling lip belie such braggadocio."</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>The truth is that the man who golfs will unceasingly think of the things +he should not think of, and that is what makes this easy putting so +difficult, and it explains why the innocent child, unthinking, finds the +business as simple and pleasant as swinging under the boughs of a tree +on a sunny day in June. While there is one quite easy way of doing +nearly every putt, there are perhaps a dozen more or less difficult ways +of missing it, and it is these that are uppermost in the golfer's mind +when the time of his trial comes, and so once more is vice triumphant +while angels are depressed. There is the hole, a pit that is deep and +wide, four and a quarter inches in diameter, and there is the little +ball, only an inch and a half through the middle, and the intervening +space between the two is smooth and even. It would seem to be the +easiest thing in theory and practice to knock the ball into the large +hole; but how very small does the hole then appear to be and how much +too big for it is the ball! But the golfer knows that he should hole +that putt, and that if he fails he will never, never have the chance +again. Should he putt and miss the act is irrevocable; the stroke and +the hole, or the half of it, are lost, and nothing that can happen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +afterwards can remove that loss. Should he at the beginning of the play +to a hole make a faulty drive, or should his approach play be very +inaccurate, he knows that he may atone for these mistakes by special +cleverness displayed in subsequent strokes, and with the buoyant hope +that constantly characterises him he thinks he will. But the hope seems +often to desert him at the end; confidence lapses. The short putt is the +very last stroke in the play to that hole, and if it is missed there is +no further opportunity for recovery. In this way it does seem sometimes +that there is a little of the awful, the eternal, the infinite about +that putt. The player is stricken with fear and awe. He knows it is an +easy thing to do in the one proper way of doing it, but raging through +his mind are hideous pictures of a dozen ways of missing. Once upon a +time I put the question to a number of the greatest players of the age +as to what were their thoughts, if any, when they came to making one of +these little putts on which championships or other great affairs almost +entirely depended, and almost invariably their answer was that at the +last supreme moment a thought came into their minds and was expressed to +themselves in these words: "What a fool I shall look if I miss this +putt!" Those words exactly did Willie Park, the younger, say quietly to +himself just as he was about to make the last short putt of a round at +Musselburgh, which would or would not give him a tie for the +championship with Andrew Kirkaldy. He did not say that if he missed the +putt he would lose the championship. He said he would look a fool.</p> + +<p>The other day in a quiet corner of London, away from the game but, as it +happened, not from the thought of it, I had Harry Vardon with me engaged +in some serious talk in a broad and general way upon golfing men and +things. Ten years ago, when we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> were doing some kind of collaboration in +the production of a new book, he said to me very impressively and as one +who wonders exceedingly, "It is a funny game; let us impress that upon +them all, it is a very funny game," and now, having played perhaps five +thousand more rounds and won another Open Championship, he went forward +to the admission, "It is an awful game." He meant it, and one reason why +we like our Harry Vardon is because he too has always been awe-stricken +by this so-called game, and because there is no other man in golf who +sympathises better with the trials and tortures of the moderate player. +On this morning of spring he was telling me of another new and great +discovery he had made in putting methods, and in giving to me an account +of his pains, his sufferings in missing all the short putts he had +failed at in recent times—how dearly have they cost him!—he said it +was the two-feet putt that frightened him most of all, and declared +solemnly and seriously that he would rather have a three-yarder than +such a putt, and that he would hole the former oftener than the latter. +He said the two-feet putts frighten him, that as soon as he settles +himself down to the business of putting in such a case the hole seems to +become less and less. "I am overcome," says he, "with the idea that in a +moment it will be gone altogether. Then I am in a state of panic, and I +snatch at my putter and hit the ball quickly so that with a little luck +it may reach the hole before it goes away altogether and there is +nothing to putt at. When I have missed I see that the hole is there, and +as big as ever or bigger!" Vardon once tried putting left-handed, a +doctor having advised him to do so, and he found that the idea worked +splendidly, but he did not like the look of it. He believes after all +his sorrows that one of the greatest and best secrets of good putting is +to keep more absolutely still than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> do most golfers, who seem to think +it matters less in putting when it matters so much more.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Now the golfer in his wisdom, ingenuity, and resource has tried every +way he can think of to solve this problem of nerves and doubts by +mechanical and other means. Those who would be successful in +competitions have retired to bed at nine o'clock in the evening for a +month, and some of them have sipped from bottles of tonics hoping that +physic would serve to give them strong nerve, steady hands and courage, +but such methods have not availed. For no part of this or any other game +have so many different kinds of instruments been invented, though the +little child could do the putts with the head of a walking-stick or a +common poker. Scarcely a week goes by in the season but some new kind of +putter is introduced to the expectant multitude of harassed players, and +now and then a thrill runs through the world as they receive a clear +assurance that at last some special device has been discovered which +will make their putting ever afterwards easy and certain. There is a +thrill as if a secret of long life had been found. But the chill of +disappointment follows quickly. Golfers have now tried all things known, +and more short putts are missed than ever. Hundreds of different kinds +of putters have been invented. They have been made with very thin +blades, and with thick slabs of metal or other substance instead of mere +blades. They have been made like spades, like knives, like hammers, and +like croquet mallets. They have even been made like putters. They have +been made of wood, iron, aluminium, brass, gun-metal, silver, bone, and +glass. Here in my room I have the sad gift of the creator of a forlorn<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +and foolish hope. It is a so-called putter made in the shape of a roller +on ball bearings which is meant to be wheeled along the green up to the +ball. Like some others it was illegal according to the rules. To such +extravagances of fancy the desperate golfers have been led in their +desire to succeed in this putting that the authorities have had to step +in for the defence of the dignity of the game to declare a limit to the +scope of invention in this matter. And yet I once knew a man who for a +long period did some of the best putting that you would ever fear to +play against with a little block of wood that had once served to keep +the door of his study ajar, to which had been attached a stick that was +made from a broom handle. This improvised putter was a freak of his +fancy at a time when he thought there might be some virtue in a return +to prime simplicity. Then Mr. James Robb, who has won the Amateur +Championship once and been in the final on two other occasions, has +putted all his life with a cleek that his sister won in a penny raffle +when he was a boy and gave to him. Likewise Mr. John Laidlay has also +putted uninterruptedly since he was a boy with a cleek that is now so +thin with much cleaning that his friends tell him he may soon be able to +shave himself with it. But these are the grand exceptions after all. +Such fine settlement and constancy are unknown to the average player. It +was but the other day that I learned that a friend of mine, one most +distinguished in the game and of the very highest skill, had used +fifteen different putters on the day of an important competition—three +in the morning's play, nine others in noonday practice, and three quite +fresh ones in the afternoon game. The same good man carried a choice +assortment of his own putters to a recent amateur championship meeting, +but at the beginning of the tournament made love to one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> mine, +borrowed it, and used it until he was beaten—not a long way from the +end of the competition. Sometimes it seems that what is rudest in +design, almost savage, is now best liked when in our frenzy we have +ransacked art, science, and all imagination in search of the putter with +which we can putt as we would. There is the spirit of reaction; we would +return to the primitive. Putters that look as if they might be for +dolls, some of those stumpy little things made of iron on a miniature +aluminium-putter model, which some of the great champions have been +using, have hardly become popular. The crude and the bizarre, suggestive +of inspiration, please well. I shall not forget Jean Gassiat, good +golfer of France, coming up to me one championship day at Hoylake, +holding forward in his right hand, and with its head in the air, what +was evidently meant for a golf club, but which was as much unlike one as +anything we had ever seen. On the face of the player was spread the grin +of pleasure; wordlessly he suggested that at last he had found it, the +strangest, the most wonderful. In principle this new club, as it has to +be called for courtesy, is akin to the affair of the door-stopper and +the broomstick. It consists of a plain flat rectangular piece of wood +about four inches long, two inches wide, and three-quarters of an inch +deep, and its two-inch nose is cut quite square, while for a couple of +inches at the end of the shaft the grip is thickened to twice its usual +size. It is weighted and balanced by large and small lead bullets in the +sole. It is possible to frame a good argument in favour of a putter made +of anything; nothing is without some advantage. It could be said for a +ginger-beer bottle that it would insist on the ball being most truly hit +from the middle of the vessel as the ball ought to be hit, and, given +notice, one could prepare a statement of claim on behalf of an old boot +seeking to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> be raised to the putterage. So there are good things to be +said for this putter from France, and one of the best is that after +smiling upon it Jean Gassiat began to wonder, then thought, +experimented, and fell in love with this putter completely. Some weeks +later I saw him doing those marvels on the green as are only done when +man and putter have become thoroughly joined together, and Gassiat has +always to be taken seriously in these matters, for, like Massy, he is a +Basque, and, like the old champion, he is one of the most beautiful +putters, with an instinct for holing. This most remarkable invention, +without desiring its extinction in the least, one would say, surely +departs a whole world of fancy farther from the traditional idea of what +a golf club should be than the poor Schenectady of the Americans which +St. Andrews proscribed. It was not the idea of Gassiat, nor of any other +than the Marquis de Chasseloup-Laubat, a French sportsman of +thoroughness and a very keen golfer. Seeing what Gassiat was doing, +James Sherlock obtained one of these barbaric tools, and at this the +public came in.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Every thinkable variety of putting method has been adopted. Bodies, +hands, feet have been placed in all positions, and the stroke has been +made in every conceivable way. Are there any two players who do it just +the same, or have the same advice to give? For a violent contrast take +two of the most able amateurs of the time, both of them long since +distinguished in the foremost competitions, Mr. John Low and Mr. H. S. +Colt. The former favours the wooden putter, and he has one of that kind +to which he is keenly attached, but he putts with all sorts of things as +the spirit moves him on consideration of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> special circumstances. He was +one of the early members of the thoughtful school of golf which has made +such a strong advance in recent times. Nearly always, however, you will +find him standing nearly upright when doing his putting, grasping a club +with a tolerably long shaft somewhere quite near to the top of the +handle. This erect attitude is that which our fore-fathers of the +traditions mostly favoured. Those splendid gentlemen, as we have agreed, +were fine golfers who conducted their game nobly, but it has always +seemed to me that they were an unimaginative lot. It never appears to +have occurred to them that because the club has a handle at the top was +no reason why they should grasp it up there instead of nearly at the +opposite end, as do a large body of the most enterprising and inquiring +amateurs these days. Of this advanced party the eminent architect is a +shining example, for he holds his putting cleek so far down, so near to +the ironwork, that the shaft seems useless, and in addition to this he +defies all teaching in putting by planting the heel of the club down on +the green and holding the hands so low that the toe of the putter is +cocked up, and with this toe he hits the ball, and, as it looks, he tops +it. But that putting of his is too much for most of the men who have to +play against it. When those who do not understand see men putting in +this way, or something like it, they say to themselves, and perhaps to +others, that they cannot see why the men do not have the unused part of +the shaft cut off so that it may not be in the way. But there they show +their deficiencies of knowledge, though one is not sure that all the men +who putt with a low grip quite know why they do so. They only know that +the method suits them, but the truth is often that in these cases the +balancing piece of the shaft above the hands acts as a steadier for the +piece below. A few students have carried this idea a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> point further by +having a piece of lead attached to the top of the handle to increase the +weight and the balancing influence of that part. Mr. Hammond Chambers is +one of them. The amateurs are the most original and peculiar in their +putting methods. For the most part the professionals, although adopting +widely different stances, hold themselves fairly well up when doing +their work on the green, and putt with an easy following-through stroke +as is recommended by the old masters. Strange that we should realise +that quite the most impressive, stylish, and beautiful putter of the +erect school is M'Dermott, the brilliant young American champion, who +stands straight up with his legs and heels touching, grips his putter at +the very end, and moving nothing but his club and hands, makes the most +delightfully smooth swing. The low-grip method is not at all conducive +to the gentle swinging, following-through putt, but encourages a sharp +little tap.</p> + +<p>All the old original philosophy and instruction in putting can be +summarised in a very few words, but hundreds of thousands would be +needed for discussion of the variations, most of which have been used +successfully at some time. The majority of advisers make a point of it +that the ball must be hit truly, but they would not all be agreed on +what that "truly" was except that it was hitting it as they meant to do. +What most of them have in mind is that there is on the face of the +putter a proper hitting point, from which the ball will run more +accurately and with less disposition to slide off the right line than +when hit with any other part, that being the point of balance or the +sweet spot which every iron club possesses, and this point should be +brought to the ball by an even swing from the back, and the swing should +be continued after impact by the steady smooth advance of the head of +the club along the line that it was making at the moment of striking.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +Absolute steadiness of the body is quite essential, and lack of it—just +the most trifling and almost undiscernible lack—is responsible for more +putting failures than almost any other cause. Most of those who tell us +what to do in golf advise that we should keep the arms and forearms +quite still also, and putt entirely from the wrist. And yet even these +canons, as they are considered, are defied by large bodies of players. +There are thousands of golfers who putt from the toes of their clubs, +and believe in the method. They say they can feel the ball better and +direct it more surely.</p> + +<p>I quote again one of the first preceptors, Sir Walter Simpson, because I +think in most matters of feeling and practice he stands so well for the +old solid school of golf that has nearly died away. He insists on the +wooden putter, to begin with, and maintains that no good thing upon the +green can come out of iron, but therein he was mistaken and time has +cried him down. And then he writes: "I have just said there are, at +most, two or three attitudes in which good putting is possible. We are +nowadays inclined to be more dogmatic, and to assert that there is but +one. The player must stand open, half facing the hole, the weight on the +right leg, the right arm close to the side, the ball nearly opposite the +right foot. To putt standing square, the arms reached out, is as +difficult as to write without laying a finger on the desk." Had he lived +on to these more modern days he would not have been nearly so dogmatic +as that. Some of the very best putters do not play with the open stance, +but putt entirely from the left leg, that leg thrown forward and in +front and bearing all the weight, the right being merely hanging on +behind. Then they have the ball right opposite the left toe, and they +putt with a sense of strain which they believe in such circumstances is +conducive to delicacy. Tens of thousands of others<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> could not putt in +this way, but those who can are very successful, and this is just +another indication of the danger of dogma in golf. As to the right arm +at the side, it may be said that there is now a fast increasing practice +on the part of those who bend down somewhat to their putting to rest the +right elbow or forearm on the right knee. J. H. Taylor experimented with +this idea on the very eve of the 1913 championship at Hoylake, his +putting for some time having been bad. He adopted it, won the +championship, and gave the new way of putting all the credit.</p> + +<p>Now see how high and deeply thinking authorities can differ about the +ways and means of doing this thing that the little child does so +thoroughly and well. "A great secret of steady putting is to make a +point of always 'sclaffing' along the ground," said the baronet. "The +best putters do this, although it is not evident to an onlooker, the +noise of the scrape being inaudible. To be sure of the exact spot on the +putter face which is invariably to come in contact with the ball, is, of +course, essential to the acquirement of accuracy. If you play to hit +clean, your putter must pass above the ground at varying heights, as it +is impossible to note how much air there is between it and the turf. In +the other way you feel your road. But the greatest gain from treating +putting as a sclaffing process is the less delicate manipulation +required when short putts are in question. At a foot and a half from the +hole the clean putter often fails, from incapacity to graduate inches of +weakness, whilst the sclaffer succeeds because he is dealing with +coarser weight sensitiveness."</p> + +<p>Now time and experience have showed us all that we cannot be dogmatic +about anything in golf except that the ball must be struck somehow, and +least of all may we venture to dogmatise in the matter of putting, and +we will only say now that the late Sir Walter has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> a heavy majority +against him on this suggestion that in doing the short putts it is well +to let the putter scrape along the grass when going forward to the ball. +It seems a small matter (that little man child never thought of it, but +I noticed he did not sclaff), yet a whole world of good and ill upon the +links is bound up with it. We shall set this happy golfer as he was, and +friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, against one of the great champions and +one of the finest putters who have ever handled clubs, and that is +Willie Park, the younger, who says, "One of the secrets of putting is to +hit the ball, and the ball only—a sclaffy style of putting is fatal; +and, with the object of making absolutely certain of avoiding it, rather +aim to strike the globe just the least thing above the ground. The ball +should be smartly tapped with the putter, the stroke being played +entirely from the wrists; and it should be neither struck a slow, heavy +blow, nor shoved, nor should it be jerked."</p> + +<p>Most golfers will be with Willie in this matter, and those who have not +tried already that way of putting, the sole of the club being kept clear +from the turf when the stroke is being made, might do so to their very +likely advantage. It is a point that a player of limited experience +might never think about, and I know many who have been converted from +bad putters to good ones by it. Some of the leading players of the +Hoylake school have long been addicted to a slight elaboration or +variation of this method. As they bring the club on to the ball they +lift it slightly so that at the moment of impact a peculiar running spin +is given to the ball, one that is not quite the same thing as is +imparted by merely topping it. The way appears to help the hole to +gather the ball when it arrives, but it is a method that needs natural +aptitude and much practice to make it quite safe in application. And +then again, right away to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> contrary, I have witnessed in recent +weeks a way of putting by one or two of the best players in the country, +which is new, and which they declare to be most effective when dealing +with the small heavy balls that are now in vogue and which are so +difficult to manage, especially on very keen greens. We have all heard +of the push shot, generally done with cleeks and the more powerful +irons—and many of us have tried to play it as Harry Vardon does, and +the things that I have seen done and described as push shots by ordinary +amateurs have been very dreadful. But, no matter; the idea of the push +shot is to hit the ball a kind of downward glancing blow, the club +coming to ground after impact, the result being that the ball starts off +quickly and pulls up suddenly. The players to whom I have referred have +applied this stroke to their putting, coming on to the ball above the +centre and gently pushing the club through it, and in the circumstances +I have indicated there can be no doubt they have succeeded. Balls being +so tricky now, these matters are worth considering.</p> + +<p>You would perceive how boldly dogmatic was the writer of the early +classic on the question of stance. On that point there is just one more +word to say. The tendency seems to be increasing in these days towards +holding the feet closely together. It is a stance to which Harry Vardon, +after all his putting troubles, has nearly settled down, and many of the +best men on the green, Tom Ball for one, are given to it. But there is +no law, no recommendation even, only the most timid suggestion to be +made to any man in this matter. That way which suits him and gives him +confidence is the best, and one may find men putting marvellously well +when their stance and attitude seem to be so ungainly and difficult as +to cause them pain.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>The method of holding the club has, at least, as much to do with good +putting as anything else, and in this matter one may almost dare to +dogmatise. The majority of players hold their putters with the two hands +close together but detached from each other, in much the same way as +they hold their other clubs. All of them have heard of what they call +the Vardon grip, or the overlapping grip, by which, when the club is +held, the left thumb is brought into the palm of the right hand, and the +little finger of that right hand is made generally to ride upon the +first of the left hand. Many try this grip for their long shots, but few +persist with it, as they become convinced either that their hands and +fingers are not strong enough for it, or that before they could master +the method they would need to suffer too much in loss of the game that +they already possess. Therefore they renounce the overlapping grip +entirely. But if they would try it in putting they would experience none +of the difficulties with which they are troubled when applying it to +their wooden club shots, no sort of force having to be given to the +stroke, and almost from the first attempt they would enjoy an advantage. +It is a matter of the most vital importance in putting that the two +hands should not interfere with each other to the very slightest extent. +One of them should have the general management of the putting, and the +other, if detached from it, should do little save act in a very +subordinate capacity as a steadying influence. Everybody is agreed upon +that; it is absolute. But when we have the two hands separate, as with +the ordinary grip, there is always a danger of the subordinate asserting +itself too much, or at all events varying in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> amount of work that it +does. It cannot be avoided; it is inevitable. This, we may be sure, is +the cause of much bad and uncertain putting.</p> + +<p>Join the two hands together, as with the overlapping grip, and we have +them working as one completely, and the risk of undue interference by +the subordinate vanishes. This is the best hint on putting that all our +counsellors have to give, and they one and all declare it will do more +than anything else to raise a man to the high level of excellence of the +innocent child. Sometimes we see men putting one-handed, and one may +believe that for medium and short putts this way is more certain than +the separate hands. Mr. Hilton once putted that way in the Amateur +International match, and I have seen many other good putters do well +with it. But it savours of freakishness, and, as a famous professional +said to the distinguished player who adopted the method, "God did not +give us two hands for one to be kept in a pocket while the putting was +being done." The simple truth is that the one-hand way approximates very +closely to the two-hand overlapping method. It is nearly the same thing, +the same principle—all the work being done from one point. Upon +thought, we often come to realise that what appear to be some of the +most freakish methods of putting have the same fundamental principle at +their base. Thus, take the case of Sherlock, who putts extremely well +and consistently. He almost alone, among players of the game, holds his +two hands wide apart on the handle of the putter, the left one +uppermost, of course. This looks very strange, and at the first +consideration it might seem that surely one hand will upset all the good +work and reckoning that is done by the other. But the simple fact is +that the left is so far away that it cannot interfere, and that is the +secret of the quality of this method. When<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> the left is close up to the +right we cannot prevent it from meddling; we are unconscious of it when +it is doing so; but get it far away and we have it in subjection, and +all that it does in Sherlock's case is just to steady things up a little +while the right hand does the business of the time.</p> + +<p>Mr. Walter Travis, the most eminent American, than whose putting in the +Amateur Championship he won at Sandwich nothing better has ever been +seen since time and the game began, long since adopted a slight +variation of this overlapping grip, specially for his putting, which, I +think, has something to commend it. Instead of letting the little finger +of the right hand rest on the forefinger of the left, he reverses the +situation, and puts the forefinger of the left hand on the little one of +the right, thus leaving the right hand in full possession of the grip, +both thumbs being down the shaft. In the other way it is the left hand +that has hold of the club with all its fingers, and it will now be +remembered that while the left hand is the chief worker in driving and +playing through the green, the right is the one that most frequently +does the putting.</p> + +<p>Having thus mentioned Mr. Travis, one can hardly refrain from quoting +some of his instruction in this matter as he once conveyed it to me. "I +believe," said he, "that putting should always be done with one +hand—with one hand actively at work, that is. The left should be used +only for the purpose of swinging the club backwards preparatory to +making the stroke. When it has done that its work is ended and the right +hand should then be sole master of the situation, the left being merely +kept in attachment to it for steadying purposes. When only one hand is +thus employed the gain in accuracy is very great. Two hands at work on a +short putt or a long one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> tend to distraction. When the stroke is being +made the grip of the right hand should be firm, but not tight, and after +the impact the club-head should be allowed to pass clean through with an +easy following stroke. The follow-through should indeed be as long as it +is possible to make it comfortably, and, with this object in view, at +the moment of touching the ball the grip of the fingers of the left hand +should be considerably relaxed, so that the right hand may go on doing +its work without interruption. Never hit or jerk the ball as so many +players do. There is nothing that pays so well as the easy +follow-through stroke."</p> + +<p>Yet we find that there is less than ever of that easy follow-through +being done in these days, and putting may be no better for the fact, +almost certainly is not. These are days when old maxims are being +abandoned and new systems are being proclaimed season by season. Jack +White, a splendid putter and a magnificent heretic, lately declared that +it is time to get rid of what has been regarded as the most inviolable +of maxims, "Never up, never in," asserting that the determination to be +past the hole in putting, if not in it, leads with these lively balls we +now play with to far too many of them running out of holing distance on +the other side. His counsel, therefore, is that the ball should be +coaxed gently up to the hole with as much drag applied to it as can be. +Then for years past it has been recommended that one of the best ways of +managing the putting with these speedy balls is to have much loft on the +putter, and so in that way do something to create the drag; but lately a +change of opinion began to be made, and I am finding some of the best +players using putters that are perfectly straight in the face, believing +that by their agency they can putt more delicately and with a surer +judgment of strength.</p> + +<p>It is a little bewildering. Arnaud Massy, the French<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> player who once +won the Open Championship, and who is better at the putts of from six to +ten or twelve feet than any man I know, says that he has come to believe +that Nature has planted deep down in us a sixth sense, and it is that of +putting. In the development of that sense lies the way to success. But +after all such meditations as this, I go back to the remembrance of that +wonderful little child who could never miss, and then from it all there +emerges the only real secret of success in putting. The child has a +quality which we elders do not enjoy, and never shall have it for any +length of time. He knows not the hardness of the world. Having innocence +and faith he looks trustingly upon it, and the old world and its four +and a quarter inch hole is a little ashamed, perhaps. The child has +Confidence.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>OLD CHAMPIONS AND NEW, AND SOME DIFFERENCES IN ACHIEVEMENT, WITH A +SUGGESTION THAT GOLF IS A CRUEL GAME.</h3> + + +<p>If men who play games are not proud of their champions, of what then +shall they be proud? If we advance the proposition—which is done here +and now—that no other game or sport that was ever conceived and played +has produced such remarkable strength and mastery in its champions as +golf has done, the cynics will find that with the resources of the world +and history at their disposal this position of ours can be well +maintained, even though we have less than sixty years of championships +for our support. And let it be said also at the beginning that we of +golf declare to win, not with the Morrises or Parks, as might be +supposed—good men they were too—but with the moderns, and especially +with our Harry Vardon, our Taylor, our Braid, and the amateurs, John +Ball, Harold Hilton, and the Frederick Guthrie Tait of immortal and +beloved memory. I have long since grown accustomed to the mysterious and +the inexplicable in golf, and pass them by on their fresh occurrences in +these days as like the commonplace, something for which indeed there may +be some explanation and a simple one, but one which the gods, with their +humour and their teasing, are hiding from us. We who in this game have +fed so long on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> wonders are now disposed to overlook phenomena. We tire +of sensations and the extraordinary, and would revert to a smooth +placidity of plain occurrence. It is in such mood that we often +contemplate the records of the past, and then we dismiss them quickly +with the comfortable judgment that the Morrises were themselves, and, +being fixed on a permanent pinnacle, must not be disturbed. They have +become a creed. One might imagine little plaster figures of old Tom, his +left hand in his trousers pocket, thumb outside, and young Tom in +Glengarry bonnet all complete, to have been placed in some over-zealous +golfers' homes along with representations of Homer, Julius Caesar, +Shakespeare, Gladstone, and Cecil Rhodes, and no questions are to be +asked about them. It may be right to place them there, those early +champions of the game, but when sometimes steeled to sacrilege and +careless of all risk, I set myself to analyse the conditions and +circumstances in which they gained their immortal glory, I can give +reasons, ordinary worldly reasons, why they gained it; and can thereupon +pass them as satisfying every reasonable requirement of human champions +of the first degree. But with the others it is not at all like that. +Golf being the game it is, the repeated successes of those three great +players we call the "triumvirate," Taylor, Vardon, and Braid, at a time +when competition is so enormously severe, and when—this point being of +towering importance—the luck of the game, always considerable, is, +through a variety of circumstances, greater than ever, appear to me, +having seen most of them accomplished, and now looking upon the plain +printed records of indisputable fact, to have still some elements of +impossibility. One has a fear that three or four hundred years from now +the golfers of the period may not believe that these things did happen; +they may decide that we of this imaginative and progressive age, a +little fearful perhaps of greater<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> wonders that might be accomplished in +the future, had prepared a little trick for posterity and had set forth +false records of what we had done, so absurd that their falsity was +self-evident, and so we were to be pitied for our simplicity. In our +humble way, and by stating the records of achievement in the coldest +way, admitting moreover that even to us of the time they appear +incredible, we do our best to gain favour and acceptance with our +descendants. Fifteen Open Championships to the triumvirate, and eight +Amateur Championships to Mr. John Ball himself. It is indeed impossible; +but it is one of those things in golf that are to be described in the +terms that Ben Sayers (who might have been given a championship by the +fates for services rendered and skill displayed before the era to which +he chiefly belonged was closed, as men are made lords when governments +give up) applied to the victory over him by Fred Tait on his own course +at North Berwick once by something like seven and six—"It's no +possible, but it's a fact!" All of us know one man—perhaps more than +one, but we do know one for certain—who nearly all the time that Mr. +Ball has been winning those championships might have been winning them +himself, has been almost good enough to do so. But he has won nothing, +and after all it may not be a matter of much surprise if we consider the +enormous odds against victory in a championship because of the luck of +the game, the fact that it is not like running or rowing, billiards or +chess, where strength and stamina, knowledge and skill, work out almost +exactly every time, but a game in which skill has this element of luck +blended so largely with it. But Mr. Ball, Amateur Champion eight times +over, and the triumvirate as well!—when "the truth stands out as gross +as black from white," with my eyes I can scarcely see it. These persons +have forbidden the caprice of chance that was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> set to worry them, they +have overthrown the laws of averages, they have annihilated the +weaknesses of flesh and blood, and they have laughed at fortune and at +fate which, defeated, have joined up with them. Then clearly they, with +the collection of champions in general for their garnishment, are to be +regarded as the sixth wonder of the game.</p> + +<p>It is now too late—as it always was too late—to make any fair +comparison between the great players of our own time and those who were +members in the early years of the Open Championship. There is not so +much argument now as to whether Harry Vardon is better than young Tom +Morris was, though such argument was common only ten or a dozen years +ago. How may you compare these men? Young Tommy won four championships +in succession, but there was only a handful of competitors each time, +and the opposition was feeble almost to nothing in comparison with what +it became a very few years later. Vardon, Taylor, and Braid have each +won the championship five times, and many of these victories were gained +against their own fellow-champions and the strongest opposition +conceivable. Yet though such as Vardon produce what are in a sense more +astonishing results in the way of scores, we are reminded that they have +far smoother courses to play upon and much improved clubs and balls. +Also they have better rivals to sharpen their game. From this one might +argue that it would be strange indeed if they were not better than young +Tommy was, that it is quite inevitable they should be. But our modern +champions have done more than fulfil the obligations laid upon them. +They have established an amazing supremacy at a period when golfers are +reckoned in the hundreds of thousands; young Tom was champion when there +were the hundreds without the thousands. His championship, at all +events, did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> not mean so much. The championships gained by our +triumvirate are proof beyond all possibility of doubt or question that +these men are the most exalted geniuses, that they have such a clear +superiority over all other golfers of their time as is, seeing the +circumstances of the case and knowing the waywardness of golf, almost +incredible. The success of the younger Morris proved, as some will hold, +only that he was quite the best golfer of a few eligible to compete for +the championship.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>After all, if comparison is fruitless and not properly practicable, this +speculation as to the merits of the geniuses of nearly fifty years ago +and now becomes enticing. One would like to reach some conclusion upon +it, but cannot. It would be fine material for a golfers' debating +society. Were I to regard myself as advocate for the moderns I should in +an agreeable and inoffensive way suggest that time has done nothing to +hurt the fame of young Tommy's skill. When what they call the golf boom +began and the great game percolated through the mass of ignorant +English, there was babble all at once about St. Andrews, and men of +southern towns just discovering that the right hand on the driver should +be the lower one whispered of the ancient city in a hypocritical manner +of respect and awe as if it were high up above the blue instead of a +day's journey up the northern lines from Euston or King's Cross. The +name of the place was taken in vain, and to this day there are neophytes +who lisp of "the Mecca of golf," as they say it, and its eleventh and +seventeenth holes, though they have never been in Fifeshire and maybe +never will. At the same time and by the same people there was +established the vogue of young Tommy Morris, as one might call it. It +was nearly sacrilege in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> the circumstances, for more people were living +then than are living now who had known young Tommy, and fervently +believed he was the best golfer who ever played the game. But what we +may call the Morrisian traditions were established in this way, and they +have laid a shoddy veneer on the really sound reputation of the young +champion that it never needed. So the proposition is advanced that +through ignorance and affectation and carelessness we posterity are +being abundantly generous to young Tom and his father—forgetting Allan +Robertson, such is the effect of championships, who was before them, and +of whom it was said when he died that they might toll their bells and +shut up their shops at St. Andrews, for their greatest was gone. We +posterity are of another golfing world completely from that in which +those early champions of St. Andrews lived and golfed. I have here in my +room a driver with which old Tom played, and I see that the other day +some rash fellows, unafraid of ghosts, took out from their receptacles +some clubs which had belonged to him and others and played a game with +them. But the handling of the old clubs and the looking on the picture +of Tom which he once signed for me cannot bring the feeling of his time +to ours, and I pass it on as a suggestion to our own posterity that our +judgment in this matter, as it has been made, is nearly worthless.</p> + +<p>It has been coldly stated that lies are told by golfers. That allegation +may be dismissed with no consideration, but it is certain that fancy +traditions of flimsy origin gather about golfing history and soon +establish themselves in the most remarkable manner. I know many +incidents of the past ten or fifteen years, things I myself have +witnessed, the truth of which has become completely obscured by masses +of imagined stuff that has gathered on them. To take a good example, +more than half the golfers in the world will tell you that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> Lieutenant +Fred Tait won a championship at Prestwick after wading into water at the +Alps to play a shot from there in the final; if they will look at the +records they will find that splendid Tait did not win that championship +at all, and they should be told that the shot that Mr. Ball made from +the wet sand in that same bunker was nearly as difficult and, in the +circumstances, more trying. Again, the victory gained by Mr. Travis at +Sandwich, so recently as 1904, is now already described in many +different ways, but one feature common to all of them is that the +American holed a putt of twenty yards on nearly every green, that his +driving was childlike in its shortness, and that he was smoking himself +to death at the time. Still later, the very next year, there was an +Amateur Championship at Prestwick, and I remember that Mr. Robert +Maxwell, after a hard struggle against young Barry—who won the +championship—had to loft over a stymie on the eighteenth green to keep +the match alive, and then at the nineteenth the student was left with a +short putt to win that hole and the match. I saw the play in that match +and saw the putt, and I believe it was one of about a couple of feet. It +was certainly too much to give in the circumstances, far too much, but +Mr. Maxwell, great lover of golf as he is, had even by that time begun +to tire of the strenuousness and the officialdom and the graspingness of +championship tournaments, and he waved his club in token of presentation +of the putt to his young opponent and generously shook hands with him. +The Scottish spectators did not like it at the time, because "oor +Bobbie" was their best and greatest hope, and it seemed like feeding the +devil with chocolates to give putts like this to English golfers. By the +time that we had returned to the club-house, only three hundred yards +away, it was being said that that putt was three feet long, by the +morning it had gone<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> up to three feet six, and increasing gradually it +even touched the five-feet mark within the next few years. At that point +there was a reaction and, from what I can gather, the putt has settled +down in history at four feet. It was half as long.</p> + +<p>So I think that golf posterities are fickle bodies, and even the best of +them are not nearly so responsible and accurate in their judgments as is +believed by those people who trustingly say that they will await the +verdict of posterity. I remember that M. Anatole France urged that +posterity was not infallible, because he himself and all human beings +are posterity in regard to a long succession of works with which they +are imperfectly acquainted, and he quotes the case of Macbeth whose +reputation posterity has murdered, though Macbeth himself did no crime +at all. Macbeth was really an excellent king. He enriched Scotland by +favouring her commerce and industry. The chronicler depicts him as a +pacific prince, the king of the towns, the friend of the citizens. The +clans hated him because he administered justice well. He assassinated +nobody. And as M. France remarks, we know what legend and genius have +made of his memory. It is that way reversed with all our golfing +traditions, and so we must handle them carefully. It is a principle of +this game that no man can be a good golfer and a bad man, that those who +are bad at heart have not the human qualities necessary for being +golfers at all, cannot associate happily with the rest of the community, +and so they get themselves properly out of it betimes. Hence it happens +that of no golfer is there anything that is bad to be told. We have no +Macbeths in this sport of ours, though it embraces some pensive Hamlets, +and a number of the moderns would be golfing Romeos if their swings were +finished in the old free style. But if tradition had indeed given us a +foul Macbeth who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> improved his lie we should surely purify the +remembrance of him, believing that his immediate posterity had almost +certainly judged him wrong.</p> + +<p>This case which the advocate has set up against young Tom, with all this +blame cast on posterity, will seem a weak thing yet to some. If we were +counsel for the boy, who made a fine and a lovable figure in his day, +should we bandy with words like that, or put evidence direct and plain +before the tribunal, the evidence of those who saw? There are still a +few of them left, and for myself I should not have far to send to gain a +willing witness. I have a good and valued friend, Mr. Charles Chambers +of Edinburgh, member of a distinguished golfing family of many +generations, and a fine player himself, who was in the semi-final of the +first Amateur Championship. He saw young Tommy at the game, and played +it with him. And Mr. Chambers, once answering my plea for some of his +remembrances, said, "As a youngster at St. Andrews, I was a great friend +of young Tom, the champion, and on a summer evening often accompanied +him alone, when, with a club and a cleek, he played out as far as the +second hole. He was, I believe, the greatest golfer the world has ever +seen, those giants of the present day not excepted. His driving, which I +remember so well, was of the long, low, wind-cheating style so seldom +seen now, with great distance and carry. He never struck a ball anywhere +except on the centre of the club, and this was reflected in the faces of +his driving-clubs, which had a clear and distinct impression in the +centre, the wood above and below being clean and fresh as when last +filed. His putting was perhaps even more deadly, and in ordinary matches +I recollect he was seldom or never asked to hole out a yard putt. In +driving from the tee, his style may be described as an absolutely +correct circular sweep,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> with great accuracy and follow-through, and +this applied equally to his iron play. It was his custom to wear a broad +Glengarry bonnet, which very frequently left his head on the delivery of +the stroke.... Without doubt he succumbed to his private sorrows and a +broken heart." That is strong testimony, and the abiding conviction is +that young Morris was great indeed, but in the nature of things +comparisons cannot well be made between then and now, and are better +left undone.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>I am glad that we have thus condemned posterity, for we strengthen the +positions of our triumvirate and Mr. Ball at their only point of +weakness, which is that their successes have been so marvellous as to be +incredible to those heirs of ours who, not being of this period, will +not have witnessed them. Posterity may suggest that such persons could +not have lived, since none of us will hesitate to say that such +posterity will not itself produce a man to win three championships. Even +to win one twice is to make a proof of superiority such as in existing +circumstances seems nearly impossible. Any man, as one might say, may +win a championship; that would prove nothing save that he is as good a +golfer as any other, or nearly so; but to win two championships is to +prove that he is appreciably better than the others, that he is so much +better as to balance with his skill the chances of the game—the putts +he missed and the long ones that his opponents holed—that were flung +against him. During a period of nearly twenty years the success of +Taylor, Vardon, and Braid has been so complete, so overwhelming, so +dazzling, that among them they seem almost to have solved the problem of +perpetual victory. Each of these men is a genius, a great master of the +game;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> each of them, had he lived in an age apart from the others, would +alone have been enough to make a separate era in competitive golf; and +it is a strange freak of fate that they should have been pitchforked +into the arena at the same time. It is as if three Ormondes had been in +the same Derby, or three Graces at the crease, when at their best; +indeed, it is more wonderful than those things would have been. They +were born within thirteen months of each other; Vardon and Braid within +three months. The last-named is the eldest of the group; he was born at +Earlsferry, in Fifeshire, on 6th February 1870; Harry Vardon was born in +Jersey on 7th May 1870; and Taylor was born at Northam, in Devonshire, +within a mile of where Mr. Ball won his eighth championship, on 19th +March 1871. They are of different race; for Braid is a pure Scot, Taylor +is pure English, and Vardon, while, of course, we are proud to regard +him as belonging to us, is really half-French and half-English. They are +of different build, different temperament, and of very different style +in golf; but there they are. Among them they have won the Open +Championship fifteen times, and when one of them has succeeded it has +generally happened that the other two have been his most dangerous +rivals. There must be a limit to the period of success as there is to +human life, and for years people have murmured that these three are not +like the little brook that purls down the hill, and they cannot go on +for ever. And yet at the beginning of each new championship an instinct +settles in the public mind that they cannot be beaten. Considering what +the Open Championship is, what a fearful strain it exerts on +temperament, mind, body, and muscle, how a single slip may mean failure, +and then how many really magnificent golfers are in the lists, some of +them old champions themselves, this is a strange state of things.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> I +recall that when a championship was played at Muirfield in 1906 the +sceptics were then loud in their prophecies that a "new man" would +arise, and that the triumvirate would be cast down. And then? James +Braid was first, John Henry Taylor was second, and Harry Vardon was +third, though a hundred and eighty other players had done their best to +beat them! Taylor, the Englishman, although the youngest of the three, +was the first to score success. He and Vardon both made their initial +appearances in the Open Championship at Prestwick in 1893, and on that +occasion the 75 that Taylor did in his first round stood as the lowest +made in the competition, although he did not win. At his second and +third attempts in the championship he took first place each time, and on +the second of these occasions an Englishman's victory was at last +accomplished at St. Andrews, the Scottish headquarters of the game. He +won there again in 1900, and is the only Englishman who has ever won the +Open Championship on this hallowed piece of golfing ground. A year after +the others began, James Braid entered the lists, and very quickly then +did these three establish their triple supremacy. An injured hand kept +Braid out of the great event in 1895, but since then each of the men has +played in every championship, and among them have won fifteen times out +of twenty-one. At the "coming of age" of the triumvirate in 1913, when +it was twenty-one years after Taylor and Vardon started in the event, +Taylor, the first to score in it, won his fifth and became "all square" +with his friends. That was a remarkable occurrence. Since 1894, when +Taylor won his first championship, there have only been five years when +one or other of the triumvirate has not won the cup. In 1897 Mr. Hilton +got it; in 1902 Sandy Herd, playing with the rubber-cored ball on its +introduction, scored; in 1904 Jack<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> White was the winner, both Braid and +Taylor having a putt to tie with him on the last green; in 1907 Massy, +the Frenchman, triumphed; and in 1912 the hope of Edward Ray was +realised. And in each of these years one of the triumvirate was second.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>But if each of the triumvirate is a phenomenon and collectively they are +super-phenomena, in what terms then are we to describe Mr. John Ball, +and how shall we account for his eight amazing championships? Mr. Harold +Hilton, as all the world understands very well, is a great master of the +game, a magnificent golfer who knows it through and through, and a +tremendous fighting man. There has hardly been anything in all golf's +history so splendid as his coming again and winning two more Amateur +Championships when he had seemed almost done for ever, and very nearly +winning an Open Championship as well. But if after considering the +professionals at their stroke game, we are now to think of the amateurs +in their match-play championship, it is John Ball who is the wonder man. +The luck of the game that was emphasised in the consideration of score +play is surely greater in the match. At all events, the professionals +themselves to a man declare that the score play makes the better test, +and therefore is the fairer. If that is so, there is, inferentially, +more luck to be conquered by a good man in the amateur event, and Mr. +Ball has eight times beaten his fields and beaten all the luck against +him. Twenty-four years after winning his first Amateur Championship at +Prestwick he wins his eighth at Westward Ho! and, for all the great +players that the game has yielded, no other man has gained more than +half those wins, and only Hilton has done that. Surely it is a mystery<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +very profound as to how he has won so often. And yet it is less of +mystery if we accept the proposition that he who plays golf for the sake +of golf and fears not to be beaten is the most dangerous of opponents. +Mr. Ball's early championships were won by his own skill and his perfect +temperament; undoubtedly some of the later ones, which through +increasing numbers of opponents have or should have been harder to win, +have been gained because he cared little whether he won or not, and +because his opponents feared to lose, and feared the more as they felt +their impending fate when they had the master of Hoylake laid against +them. To a little extent they have beaten themselves, and Mr. Ball has +done all the rest. Has there been more than one of his championships in +recent times that he has keenly desired to win, that being the one he +gained at St. Andrews in 1907, because he wished to be victor at the +headquarters where he lost long years before, after a tie with Mr. +Balfour Melville? At eight o'clock on the morning after he won his +seventh at Hoylake I saw him in the garden at the back of his house +giving his chickens their morning meal. It was as if nothing had +happened. How many other men would have been feeding chickens so early +in the morning after winning an Amateur Championship? Has he finished +winning, I wonder? There is a cause to suggest that he has not. He won +for his seventh the only championship ever played in Devonshire, and he +has won the event on all the regular amateur championship courses on +which it is played but one, and that is Muirfield, which has been +something of a <i>bête noire</i> among courses so far as he is concerned. +Once there he suffered one of the biggest defeats of his career, in the +international match, and then in the championship he went down in a +surprising way to a youngster of Dornoch. Shall he not add Muirfield to +his list?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> + +<p>Despite a certain beauty of his style and the ease and elegance with +which he plays the game, Mr. Ball's golf is strongly individual to +himself. There are many pronounced mannerisms in it, and they are of a +kind that if any one tried to copy them, he might find his game being +injured rather than improved. They are the ways of the genius who cares +nothing for convention. Few can drive a better ball. At the outset of +his career he was a long driver. His first big match away from his +native Hoylake was one against Douglas Rolland. It was a home-and-home +affair in England and Scotland, and Rolland was greatly celebrated in +those days for the length he gained with wooden clubs. Yet he outdrove +Mr. Ball but little in that engagement. He obtains his length not to a +large extent from run, as most men get it now, but by a ball that starts +on a beautiful line, makes a very long carry, and leaves it at that, +with a little pull to finish with. It has seemed that he has had more +control over his wooden club play than almost any amateur except another +of fame who was bred in the same great school. An outstanding +peculiarity of his method is the way in which he grips his club, which +is done not in the fingers and lightly as by other men, but by a good +firm grip in the palms of his hands with the fingers facing up. He makes +small use of the thumb and the first two fingers of his right hand. His +stance is an open one. His play with his iron clubs again is +unconventional. Even for his shortest shots he swings his clubs, meaning +that he makes less of a jerky hit at the ball than others do, and he +resorts less to cutting the stroke than other great men. But what a +master of judging of heights and distance he is! To see him just plop +the ball over a bunker in the way and then watch it run the necessary +distance afterwards is to understand what marvellous properties of +control can be invested in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> such perfect human golfing machinery. +Another of his peculiarities is that he carries no niblick in his bag, +and I think he never has carried one. He has certainly not had one in +any of his recent championships. And among many other of his +characteristics is that peculiar gait with the bent knees that, because +of their climbing over the hilly links, golf seems to develop in men +(Harry Vardon has it), his extreme modesty in manner, and the splendid +excellence of his sportsmanship. Some one once set forward a curious +theory that children born in the winter-time are likely to become better +golfers than others; their temperaments are supposed to be favourably +affected by the prevailing rigour of the weather conditions! It is, +anyhow, a curious fact that a very large proportion of our best players +were born in mid-winter months, and of them all John Ball is the +greatest, and he, if you please, was born on a day so far removed from +midsummer as Christmas Eve.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>There has been lately a sort of revival of the game of attempting to +punch another man so very hard that he can stand up no longer to make +the smallest punch in answer. He has to be battered and pounded until he +is made practically lifeless for a period of ten seconds, and then the +other man is given the money. This is what we call the "noble art of +self-defence," but, obviously, it is nine parts of such defence to +reduce the other man to such a jellified condition that no more defence +is needed. When well played it is a good game. Now golf never has been +called a "noble" game at all. It is "royal" and it is "ancient," and it +leaves its qualities to speak for themselves, as most eloquently they +do. The boast has indeed been made for golf that, while in so many other +English sports something flying or running has to be killed or injured,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +golf never calls for a drop of blood from any living creature. It is +then inferred that it is a gentle game, as in some ways it really is. +Also it has been demonstrated that it is a game at which elderly men may +play and play quite well, as was proved in a recent year when golfers +who are becoming older than they like to think of won so many of the +trophies. But the result of this boom in the noble art of squashing +another man for a prize of a few thousand pounds and the brave words +that some of the lovers of this sport sometimes use, telling us that +things like this made English hearts so strong, nearly giving us to +understand that Sayers and his like had some influence on the fortunes +of the British Empire, is that a kind of reflection is cast upon some +other sports for their mildness and their timidity. Girls do not fight +in rings and nearly kill each other, but girls can play golf and do, and +they even play with men.</p> + +<p>Let us consider the proposition that golf is a game that needs a greater +and a stronger heart than any other game. It demands fine manliness, +such determination as strong Englishmen are made of, and courage of the +best. The strain of a severe golf competition on the men who win, or +nearly, is enormous. No weakling has ever won success at golf, and never +will. The truth is that it is such a game that if the charge is made +that it is a brutal sport we can barely stand for its defence. For there +is cruelty in golf, cold hurting cruelty in this game. If now you +hesitate, consider. The difference between the effect of boxing and the +effect of golf on the human system is that golf hurts more and the pain +is more enduring, for it is psychological. That may seem like an +attempted escape from the proposition, because it may be suggested that +maiden aunts can and do bear such psychological pain at golf, and bear +it well. But we discuss real golf of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> championship kind, and match +play wherein two good and keen players are really playing against each +other, parry and thrust as it is in championship golf, with the issue in +even balance most of the time, not taking sevens and eights and so being +nearly indifferent to what the other may do until the clerking takes +place on the putting green and the state of things is calculated.</p> + +<p>Golf, as we know, is a game for the emotions. We agree that it plays +upon them continually, and chiefly through the medium of the supreme +emotion, hope. While this hope is the most uplifting of emotions, it is +also, with the strain it makes, by far the most exhausting. Now every +golfer knows that in the real game if a good stroke is made by one party +the gain is not only in the extra nearness to the hole that his own ball +obtains, but also by the "moral effect" the shot has on the other man. +This other may have been in a good state of hope before; now he receives +a sudden shock—and it is indeed a shock sometimes when in a second, as +the result of the other's effort, his hope is reduced to fear or +complete dejection. Do you think the man who made the shot does not know +that? He knows it well. There! he knew! The dejected man has foozled, +and the hole has gone. This bout is ended. There is a rest of a few +seconds, and then the contestants start again and smash each other on +the mind, just as they did the other time. Some may suggest that the +effect of these mental hurts is small, that they draw no blood, and that +they are not to be compared with a left hook on the jaw which sends a +boxer toppling. To that there are replies to make. In the first place it +has to be remembered that a match at golf between two good players (we +do not now write of habitual foozlers in whom the golfing emotions +cannot, in the nature of things, be well developed) is taken very +seriously indeed, and therefore the emotional<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> effect is greater than +might be supposed by one who does not play. Second, the effect is +cumulative, and every golfer knows again how intensely depressing is the +continual fight against a relentless opponent who scores with nearly +every stroke and never lets one's hope burn bright again. Bang goes +every shot of his on the sensitive temperament of his foe, and that is +exactly why temperament has all to do with success at golf. It is the +man who can stand punishment who wins; no other sort ever has won in +greater golf, or ever will. And then again, if it is suggested that +mental pain is after all not such a hard thing to bear with courage as +pain of body, let us ask which has the longer effect, remembering also +that, with full respect to boxing people, the golfer is a man of keener +feelings. In championships how often has a man who has had a punishing +match in a morning round, one that has gone to the nineteenth hole or +after before victory has come to him, won again in the afternoon? Not +frequently. If you had merely with a fist blow knocked that man +senseless for a little while before his lunch, he might have been +readier for his golfer opponent in the afternoon. It is notorious that +some of the finest play in championships has been accomplished by men +who were enduring much physical suffering at the time. And again, how +exactly is the effect of the winning putt on the defeated man like that +of the knock-out blow. His last hope is extinguished with the suddenness +of vanished consciousness. So this psychological pain is a very +discomforting thing. The law recognises it, and herein the law is surely +not an ass. We have the legal cruelty of the divorce court. Husband who +tells his wife he dislikes her new hat or gown is held to have been +cruel as though he had smacked her pretty face, or something worse than +that. He could kiss away a red mark from a dimpled cheek, and surely if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +permitted he would do so, but nothing could change the judgment on the +hat. And in golf the mental injury is more real than that.</p> + +<p>Never was more absurdly untrue suggestion made against this game than +that it is not like others where men play directly against each other +and foil each other's shots, that it is a game in which each man plays +his own ball independent of the other. Each stroke we make has effect on +the stroke made by the opponent. That effect may be discounted by the +opponent's own strength and resource, but yet it is produced. In no +other game does a man play right and hard on to his opponent as in +match-play golf, for it is a game in which the whole temperamental +strength of one side is hurled against the strength of the other, and +the two human natures are pressing bitterly and relentlessly against +each other from the first moment of the game to the last. It is the +whole man, mind and body. That is the meaning of the temperamental +factor in golf, and that is why a great match at golf is great indeed.</p> + +<p>Yes, it is a cruel game, one in which the primitive instincts of man are +given full play, and the difference between golf and fisticuffs is that +in the one the pain is of the mind and in the other it is of the body.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>A climax in our wonderment has been reached, and though a volume could +be written on the romance of the rubber-cored ball, the seventh of the +wonders of the game and the most modern, the story after all is known. +Golf would have gained on its old degree of popularity if there had been +no such invention and men had continued to play with gutties; but that +the golf boom as we know it would have been created, that the game<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +would have risen to be the enormous thing it is, giving pleasure to +hundreds of thousands of people all the world over, there is much reason +to doubt. One night in the early summer of 1898 Mr. Coburn Haskell sat +at dinner with a magnate of the American rubber industry, at the house +of the latter in Cleveland, Ohio. They were both golfers, and naturally +they talked golf during their meal. They agreed that a kindlier ball +than the harsh and severe gutty was needed, and they thought that surely +it might come through rubber. Eventually they settled on the idea of +rubber thread wound under tension to give the necessary hardness, and an +experimental ball was made accordingly. With the very first shot that +was made with that first of rubber-cored balls a professional player to +whom it had been given to try carried a bunker that had never been +carried before! From that moment the great revolution was begun, the +most extraordinary that has ever taken place in any game. There were +set-backs, it was a little slow in starting, but its success was sure. +In 1902, when Sandy Herd won an Open Championship with the new ball, +after prejudice had held it back in Britain previously, the gutty was +done for, and it quickly disappeared from the links.</p> + +<p>And oh, the ravings and the riotings of argument there have been about +that ball since then! And the hundreds of thousands of pounds that have +had to be spent on courses to make them suit it! Never was there such a +giant commotion nor such a costly one caused in any sport before. We +need not argue any more whether it has improved the game or spoiled it. +These discussions are for the schools. It has anyhow made the game in +the modern popular sense, and now we are informed that of this little +white ball, that was first invented at the dinner-table on those Ohio +summer nights, half a million are used on British courses in one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> week +in a busy season, and a million pounds' worth are bought and consumed by +golfers in a year. Then you may be sure that more than a million +dollars' worth are driven and putted on the courses of the United +States. Marvellous little ball! Indeed you are the seventh wonder of +your game.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>A FAMOUS CHAMPIONSHIP AT BROOKLINE, U.S.A., AND AN ACCOUNT OF HOW MR. +FRANCIS OUIMET WON IT, WITH SOME EXPLANATION OF SEEMING MYSTERIES.</h3> + + +<p>Abiding wonders of the past, perplexities of the present, the greatness +of the game where it is still greatest, have been among recent thoughts; +and yet one is conscious all the time that something which sure enough +comes near to being the eighth wonder of it all has lately happened, and +will for long enough be high in the minds of this community, something +that will never cease to be discussed and will always be regarded as a +matter for argument and speculation. Only because it is so very new, so +utterly modern, so contrary to much of our olden faith, so inharmonious +with the smooth story that we have learned and liked, has a witness +hesitated to give it a forward place well won. Yet do we not know that a +hundred years from now, when so much of golfing history yet unmade will +have been piled on to the dusty records that we hold, this new wonder +will still be a theme for club-house talk, and if by then matches are +played with the people of other planets, will they not wish to know in +Mars how this strange break came about? Then there shall be as many +readings and explanations of the mystery of Brookline and of Ouimet as +there have been of the moods of sad Prince Hamlet. So from the old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +traditions, the famous players, the ancient links, the scene may move to +new America.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>To the Fourth of July there shall now be added the Twentieth of +September. In the year of nineteen hundred and thirteen it fell upon a +Saturday, and that day at Brookline, near Boston in Massachusetts, was +dripping wet. Clouds had run loose for two whole days and nights before, +unceasingly, and still sent their torrent down. When, dull and +splashing, the morning broke, with expectation in the air, it seemed +that this had been planned by fate for a day of wretchedness and misery, +one that might with convenience afterwards be blotted out from memory +and considered as a <i>dies non</i>. But good Americans will now recall no +clouds, no rain, no damp, no mud when they remember the Twentieth of +September. I too, though my feelings then were more of wonder and real +admiration than of joy which my own patriotism could not sanction, shall +be glad to remember in time to come that then I was at Brookline and was +one of only two or three from Britain who saw the amazing thing that was +done that day, the most remarkable victory ever achieved in any golf +championship anywhere at any time. It was something to have seen; it is +a distinction to have the remembrance. On that day Francis Ouimet, a boy +of twenty, bred to the game on the cow pastures of Massachusetts, played +Harry Vardon and Edward Ray, great champions of British golf, for the +championship of the United States—and won. They three had come through +the great ordeal of a full championship and tied for first place +together. They played, not against blank possibility as men, knowing not +the exact nature of their task, have to do in Open Championships<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> where +the test is play by score and each is against all others, having then +some fears stilled by sweet hope which is ever the golfer's sustenance, +but in sight of each other, together, one with another, man against man, +ball against ball, seeing what was being done, knowing what had to be +accomplished next. Could there ever again be such a three-ball golf? It +is one of the compensations of having been so very wet at Brookline on +that awful day that one knows that for the wonder and the drama of the +thing it can never happen more, not ever. If such facts could be +repeated, the wonder would be missing and the drama gone.</p> + +<p>An American and two Englishmen. These championships are mainly matters +for individuals after all; the "international element," of which we read +so much in newspapers, is not generally so deeply felt as we try to +think it is. Golf, not being a game of sides as other games are, and, if +it comes to that, not generally a game in which national peculiarities +exert an influence, hardly lends itself to international treatment. +Players who feel internationally before a contest relapse to +individualism completely when they are pitching to the green and putting +to the hole. Do not tell me that in the throes of a six-feet putt that +shall win or lose a day a man thinks of his trusting country and not of +his tortured hopeful self. It is not possible in the combination of golf +and human nature, and there is no blame to the men. But on the Twentieth +of September international feeling in the game of golf did for once rise +high, and became a very real thing. What of individualism had been +maintained by Vardon and his companion during that week had nearly +disappeared on the nineteenth, when the tie was made, and there was +hardly a trace of it when the curtain went up on the fifth act of the +amazing drama of Brookline, none at all when it was rolled down again.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +This point is now emphasised because when I write of the wonder of the +thing I have to show that not only was this Brookline boy, of no +championship whatever save one of Massachusetts, pitted against two of +the greatest golfers of the home country of the game, but that, the +international feeling being now alive and intense, he for America was +opposed to those two of England, and therefore in a very full degree he +was playing their better ball. The boy was playing the better ball of +Vardon and Ray! He beat them! A long time has now elapsed since the +dripping day when I saw him do it, and wonders have a way of softening +with age, yet to me now that achievement is as wonderful as it was when +new, and so it will remain. The American golfers are justified in their +pride and their exultation upon the result of that event, and there is +nothing whatever to be said against it. No such feat had ever been +performed before, or has been since. I shall describe the circumstances +which led up to this amazing triumph, and what ensued.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Only once before had British players gone across the Atlantic to take +part in the Open Championship of the United States, and that was in 1900 +when Harry Vardon and J. H. Taylor did so. At that time Taylor was the +Open Champion, Vardon having finished second to him in that year's +tournament at St. Andrews. American golf was then comparatively a baby, +and practically all the opponents of the British pair were players who +had been born and bred in the home country and had gone out to America +as professionals there. Good as some of them were, they were no match +for their visitors, who had the competition comfortably to themselves +and finished first and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> second, Vardon becoming champion. Much happened +in the next thirteen years. Most significant was the breeding of an +American champion on American soil, a "native born," in J. J. M'Dermott, +who tied for first place in 1910, but then lost to Alec Smith on playing +off, and tied again the next year when he won, and again in 1912. About +the same time two other native players in Tom M'Namara and Michael Brady +came to the surface from the raw mass of rough golfing material that was +taking shape under the American sun. Both are good men, and from my +knowledge of them I like their manner and their style; but M'Dermott, +despite some serious faults of which he has been made aware, is +undoubtedly a marvellous golfer for his age. I think he has to be +considered as the most wonderful prodigy the game has so far known. At +twenty years of age, when he came over to Muirfield as American champion +to compete for the great Open Championship, he was even then a most +accomplished golfer, high in the topmost rank. Not tall in stature but +well and lithely built for a golfer, he has a full, easy, and graceful +swing. It is round like most of the American swings—but not so round as +it used to be—and M'Dermott is often afflicted with what is commonly +known as the American hook, being a most persistent tendency to pull the +ball. It is remarkable also that he has been in the habit of using +wooden clubs of most abnormal length, and it has been a wonder to me how +he has controlled them as well as he has done. The history of the Open +Championship, marked with so many crosses for tragedies and the +blighting of fair hopes, embraces few incidents more pathetic than the +driving of three balls into the Archerfield woods by M'Dermott in the +event of 1912 at Muirfield, and his failing to qualify in consequence. +But he was only twenty then. The first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> expedition made by a native +American to this country in quest of Open Championship honours +consequently failed. In the following year we saw him again at Hoylake, +and with him his brother natives, M'Namara and Brady, and some of the +Scoto-Americans also. M'Dermott did the best of the three, and his play +for nine holes one morning was very nearly perfect. His swing was a +little more compact than before; it was beautifully timed, and his +straight-up style of putting with his heels touching and his grip upon +the end of the shaft was most attractive. He found the conditions on the +last day too severe for him, as nearly all except Taylor, the champion, +did; but he made a fine display and became the first real American +player to get into the prize list of the Open Championship, which he did +with a score of 315—eight more than Taylor—which made him tie for +fifth place. M'Dermott undoubtedly excels in temperament.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Here was a menace. It was felt that America was making very good in +golf. And there came vaguely into the minds of British golfers the idea +that a demonstration of their strength should be made in this new +country, for satisfaction and for the sake of national pride. Yet, with +their conservatism, our British golfing people are slow to move in +matters of this kind. They are content with the game, and perhaps wisely +so. But there was the feeling that something should be done. With +initiative demanded, Lord Northcliffe, who had become a keen lover of +the game, made a characteristic movement unobtrusively, as the result of +which Harry Vardon and Edward Ray were sent across the Atlantic to test +the strength of American golfers in their own Open Championship. Vardon +was then five times Open<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> Champion of the world; Ray was the holder of +the title. Two other Europeans sailed the seas with the same object in +their minds, one of them being Wilfrid Reid, the clever little +professional attached to the Banstead Downs club near London, a man who +had gained international honours constantly and has much fine golf in +him, and the other Louis Tellier, the professional of the Société de +Golf de Paris at La Boulie, Versailles. Four good men; two great +champions; one the greatest golfer the world has known. They seemed to +be enough. Their design was to win the American championship.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Those who were not at Brookline during the week that followed, and only +received a result that was amazing and inexplicable, were ready enough, +perhaps not unnaturally, to suggest that this course of the Country Club +could not have afforded a proper test, that it was so far different from +a good British course, so mysteriously American, that the native players +must have been favoured by it, and the superior skill that the British +golfers possessed had no opportunity for an outlet. As I say, this was +not an unreasonable supposition in the light of the amazing events that +occurred; but it was entirely wrong. There are few courses in America +that are better than this one, and to this judgment I would add that +though there are inland courses in England that are superior there are +not many. Judged upon the best standard of inland courses in Britain I +would call it thoroughly good.</p> + +<p>It has seven holes of over four hundred yards each, one of them being +five hundred and twenty, and, the total length of the round being 6245 +yards, it was good enough in this respect. It has three short holes, +well separated, and some of its drive-and-iron-holes are quite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +excellent. The Brookline course differs from many others in America in +the quick and varied undulations of its land—heaving, rolling, twisting +everywhere—and thus calling for adaptability of stance, and careful +reckoning of running after pitching at every shot. By this feature the +play is made as interesting as it should be, but often is not. Only two +of the holes on the course are quite flat and plain, and these are +novelties. They are the first and eighteenth, which take straight lines +parallel to each other through the great polo field alongside the +club-house. Polo is a considerable feature of the scheme of the Country +Club, and its comparatively small territory is not to be interfered with +for the sake of the golfers who have so much more of Massachusetts for +their delectation. Yet it is necessary to play through this polo field. +Consequently we start the round at one end of it and play a hole of 430 +yards right along past the grand stand. Then away we go out into the +country, over the hills and along the dales, and through the trees and +cuttings where rocks were blasted, and, after many adventures, return to +the smooth plain land of the polo field as to the straight run home at +the end of a steeplechase, and play along positively the plainest +410-yard hole I have ever seen. The tee is at one end of the polo field, +with the grand stand in the middle distance on the left. There is not a +bunker along that field, but there is rough grass on the left of the +part designated for the fairway, and there is the same with a +horse-racing track as well on the right. At the far end of the field, +near to the club-house, the race-track, of course, bends round and comes +across the line of play. Just on the other side of that track the ground +rises up steeply for three or four yards, and then up there sloping +upwards and backwards is the putting green. Thus the race-track becomes +a hazard to guard the green, and the green is on a high plateau with big +trees<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> all round it. The hole is there all complete, with hardly a thing +done to it by man, and it is one of the most remarkable examples I have +seen of a piece of ready-made golf of the plainest possible description, +resulting in something fairly good. It is 410 yards long, and if the tee +shot is a little defective the attempt to reach the green with the +second is going to be a heartbreaking business. With a good drive that +second shot, played with a cleek perhaps, or the brassey may be needed, +has to be uncommonly well judged and true. The margin for error is next +to nothing. At the first glance at it I thought that this eighteenth +hole was very stupid, but it is a hole that grows a little upon you, and +the original impression has been withdrawn from my mind. It was the last +hope of Vardon and Ray, and it failed them. The fairway at Brookline is +far better than on the average American course, and if one says that its +putting greens are among the very best in America, the greatest possible +compliment is paid to them.</p> + +<p>There have been many touches of romance in the history of golf at the +Country Club, but none more remarkable than that associated with the +construction of the comparatively new ninth, tenth, and eleventh holes, +two long ones with a short one between them, which are among the nicest +holes in all America. For some years after the beginning of this +century, when golf at Brookline had become a very big thing, these holes +did not exist, their predecessors being embraced in the other parts of +the course. But, for the crossing that they involved, those predecessors +had become dangerous, and it was determined to take in a new tract of +land, and to make three new holes upon it. It was a tremendous +undertaking, for "land" was only a kind of courtesy title for the wild +mixture of forest, rock, and swamp into which a man might sink up to his +neck, but for which about 25,000 dollars had to be paid,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> while another +thirteen or fourteen thousand dollars had to be spent in making it fit +for golf and preparing the holes, so that these three cost an average of +about thirteen thousand dollars a hole, or roughly £2500 as we may say +if we are English. At the ninth as much rock had to be blasted as some +one afterwards used to make a wall two hundred yards long, and the best +part of a yard in thickness. The tenth hole is a very delightful short +one, with the green in a glade far below the tee. They call it "The +Redan," because Mr. G. Herbert Windeler (long resident in America, but +English in nationality still, despite his past presidency of the +U.S.G.A.), who is largely responsible for the golf at Brookline, and +designed and superintended the construction of these holes, had the +famous piece of golf at North Berwick in his mind when he planned this +one, but before the end he departed far from the original conception, +and all for the good of the hole. When it was being made the place for +the green needed raising from the swamp, and nearly two thousand loads +of broken rocks were deposited there; and after soil to a depth of +eighteen inches had been laid upon the stone foundation a splendid +putting green was made. With all its variety, this is not a course of +such intricacy and such mystery as St. Andrews is, to need long weeks of +study and practice to understand every shot upon it. You may play St. +Andrews from childhood to old age and yet be puzzled and mistaken +sometimes, but Brookline is more candid than that, and it is to its +credit that with all its variety you may be completely acquainted with +it in a very few days. Let me say then that the suggestion that Mr. +Ouimet had a distinct advantage in a knowledge of the course obtained in +his childhood, and maintained thenceforth by frequent practice on the +course near to which he lived, is quite nonsense. He had no advantage +whatever. Vardon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> and Ray had practised there for several days in +advance, and if they did not know all about it that there was to know it +was their own fault. They did know, and local knowledge, which counts +for far less with great golfers than men a little their inferiors, had +nothing to do with the issue.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Now consider the other circumstances, that the proper meaning and +significance of the result may be understood, and that neither too much +merit shall be awarded, nor too much blame. There were about a hundred +and sixty competitors, and I would call the field a strong one, but of +course not nearly so strong as the field for our Open Championship. Such +men as two of the triumvirate were missing, and a highly respectable +company of past champions, while there were no such English amateurs in +the list as Mr. Graham, Mr. Lassen, and Mr. Michael Scott to make an +occasional disturbance. But there were other amateurs. Compared to a +British open championship field it was weak at the top and weak in the +middle. Everybody who goes to our open championships knows that there, +for three parts of the trial, there are comparative nobodies bobbing up +from nowhere and creating all kinds of excitement by breaking the +records of the courses, and fixing themselves up elegantly at the top of +the list. There they sit like civilians on an imperial dais, but always +they topple off before the end. Not one of them has ever remained to the +finish, so that if the American entry was weak in this respect, +Americans might argue that it did not matter anyhow since this middle +part was not the one to count. Yet it always has its effect. But then +the Americans may also point out that they too had their middle men who +came to the front and created disturbances, only quitting the heights in +time to make room<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> for the winner and his attendants. There was young +M'Donald Smith, and there were Barnes and Hagin, who had come up out of +the wild west—and one of them, saying it respectfully to his splendid +golf, looked a cowboy too—and were distinct menaces until the last +rounds came to be played. Then in estimating the strength of this +American field remember that M'Dermott, who is undoubtedly high class, +and was in the prize list at the Open Championship at Hoylake, was not +nearly a winner here, and remember also that imported players of the +high quality of Tom Vardon and Robert Andrew were not in it either. +Altogether it is my judgment that the field was stronger than imagined +in England, yet not nearly so strong as ours. Following a favourite +American practice of reducing to percentages every estimate, however +necessarily indefinite, such as even the comparative charms of wives and +sweethearts, I would give the strength of a British field the hundred, +and I would give sixty-five to this of America. I knew that I should +fall to that percentage system some time, and now I have. For its strong +variety, and for its flavour of cosmopolitanism, it was an interesting +entry. The professionals all over the States—and the amateurs, too, for +that matter—came up to Brookline from north, south, east and west, for +what they felt was a great occasion, and over the border from Canada +they came as well. Up from Mexico came Willie Smith, the Willie who was +teethed in golf at his Carnoustie home, and whom we never shall forget +as he who broke the record—and holds it with George Duncan still—for +the old course at St. Andrews in the very last round that was played at +the beginning of an Open Championship meeting there a few years ago. It +was really a wonderful field, and its units presented a wealth of +material for study and contemplation in matters of style and method +during the first day or two. And yet for all the variety<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> of players I +doubt whether there was so much difference in ways as we see in a big +championship at home. The American golfing system is a little plainer, I +think. Of course it was by far the largest entry that had ever been +received for the American open event, and this fact necessitated a +departure to some extent from established American custom, and one which +we of Britain with unenviable experience of many processes in qualifying +competitions could not congratulate the Americans on having to make. +However, the numbers were not so large as to cause such trouble, even +with a qualifying competition, as we experience in England and Scotland, +and consequently a two-days' affair worked it smoothly through, the +field being divided into two sections, and each man playing his two +rounds off in one day and getting done with it. It was settled that the +top thirty players in each section, and those who tied for the thirtieth +place, should pass into the competition proper for the championship, +which, as here and elsewhere, consists of four rounds of stroke play, +two on each of two successive days.</p> + +<p>The United States Golf Association always manages its championships very +well indeed with no more red tape than is necessary, but with an +exactness of method which might serve as a fine lesson to some other +great golfing countries that I have in mind. In this present case Mr. +Robert Watson, President for the year of the U. S. G. A., after all his +splendid work as secretary of the Association, was in charge of all the +arrangements and as administrator-in-chief was the most energetic man +during the whole of the week at Brookline. It was fitting that in his +year of presidency, so well deserved, there should be this ever +memorable happening to mark the season out from all others. Mr. Herbert +Jacques, Mr. G. Herbert Windeler, and Mr. John Reid, the new secretary +of the U. S. G. A., were in the nature also of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> generals of the +headquarters staff, and they laboured constantly in an upper room late +at night working out the details of business when other persons on whom +responsibility was more lightly cast, with cocktails to help, might be +pondering over the tense problem as to what was going to happen next. +The general idea of the system was much the same as we have it in +Britain, as there is hardly much scope for variety in matters of this +kind.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Now—Ouimet. It is easy for the Americans and others to compose anthems +about him now, but little enough did they know or think of this +Massachusetts boy until they saw that he was really winning, and then +the remark that I heard of an ex-American champion to him in the +dressing-room shortly after it was all over, "Well done, Francis, and +there are lots more in the country like you!" was not only lacking in +compliment and taste, but was not true. America is by no means full of +Ouimets, and never will be. I had met him at Chicago in 1912, and heard +of him next in a letter that I received just before starting for America +in the following summer, which gave me particulars of what happened in +the match in the closing stages of the Massachusetts State Championship +between my old friend, Mr. John G. Anderson, and Mr. Ouimet, in which it +was stated that Mr. Ouimet had done the last nine holes in that match as +follows—yards first and figures after: 260 yards (4), 497 yards (3), +337 yards (4), 150 yards (2), 394 yards (3), 224 yards (3), 250 yards +(3), 320 yards (3), 264 yards (3). So he did the last six holes in 17 +strokes, and no wonder that poor John remarked, "I have never played in +any match in my life where I did the last six holes in three over 3's +and lost four of them, as I did on this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> occasion!" Of course Mr. Ouimet +became State champion, and I determined to have a good look at him as +soon as I got on the other side of the Atlantic. On the day after my +arrival in New York I was down at the Garden City Club, the Amateur +Championship taking place there the following week, and at lunch time +Mr. Anderson, who was at another table with Ouimet, called me over. +"Well, Mr. Ouimet, I suppose you have a big championship in your bag +this season," was just the proper thing to say, and he answered +something about doing his best, but feeling he might be better at stroke +play. "Then," said I, "there is the Open Championship to take place in +your own golfing country," and with that we tackled the chicken. He is a +nice, open-hearted, modest, sporting golfer, and was only twenty years +old in the May of his great championship year. Tall, lithe and somewhat +athletic in figure and movement, he takes excellent care of himself in a +semi-training sort of way. He abstains from alcohol entirely, and though +he smokes a few cigarettes when "off duty" he rarely does so while +playing, having the belief that the use of tobacco has a temporary +effect on the eyesight, such as is not conducive to accuracy of play. He +agreed entirely with a suggestion I put to him, in conversation, that +most golfers make the mistake of playing too much and lose keenness in +consequence, and he thinks that the American players in general are by +no means at such a disadvantage as is sometimes imagined. The winter +rest gives them extra keenness in the spring and summer, and that is +everything. He does not play at all from November to April, but keeps +himself fit with skating and ice hockey, while during the season he only +plays one round three times a week, and two full rounds on Sundays. +Business considerations—he is engaged at a Boston athletic store—have +something to do with this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> system, no doubt, but he thinks it sound. I +looked at his bag of clubs; there are no freaks in it. It comprises ten +items, an ivory-faced driver, a brassey, six irons including a jigger +and mashie niblick, and two putters, one being of the ordinary aluminium +kind and the other a wry-neck implement, the latter being most used. As +to his style of golf, its outstanding characteristics are three: it is +plain, like the style of most American golfers, and free from any +striking individuality; it is straight; and it is marvellously steady +and accurate. A marked feature of most of the American players is that +their swing is very round and flat, and that they get a pronounced hook +on their ball. Mr. Ouimet's swing is rather more upright than that of +most of the others, he keeps an exceedingly straight line and has full +length—as much as Vardon. I said he had no peculiarities, but there is +just this one, that he grips his club with what is called the +interlocking grip. This is a way of grasping the club that some +professionals employed during the early period of general transition +from the plain grip to the overlapping. Mr. Ouimet's little finger of +the right hand just goes between the first and second of the left hand, +while the left thumb goes round the shaft instead of into the palm of +the right hand. Such a grip may suit a man who uses it, but it can +hardly have any advantages. I note as a further peculiarity that the +right forefinger is crooked up away from the shaft, so that the tip of +the finger only comes to the leather at the side. This has to some +considerable extent the effect of throwing that finger out of action, +and as a means of reducing the right hand's power for evil is not to be +condemned. Many other players have sought some such method of crippling +the very dangerous hand.</p> + +<p>But after all it is not the shots he plays, good as they are, dependable +as they always seem to be, as the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> qualities of temperament with which +they are supported. He has a golfing temperament of very peculiar +perfection, wanting perhaps in imagination but remarkably serviceable to +his game. He seems to have the power to eliminate entirely the mental +oppression of the other ball or balls; he can play his own game nearly +regardless of what others play against him. From the mere sporting point +of view he misses something in the way of emotions perhaps, those rare +emotions which some of us derive when we are fighting hard to keep our +match alive and at a crisis become hopelessly bunkered; but he gains +enormously in strokes and successes. When he settles down to his match +or round, he can concentrate more deeply than any other man I know or +have heard of. He sees his ball, thinks what he should do with it, and +has the course and the hole in his mental or optical vision all the +time, just those and nothing else. The other balls do not exist, and the +scores that are made against him do not exist either. He has told me +that in important golf, and indeed in that most mightily important +play-off against Vardon and Ray, he was wholly unaware until it came to +the putting what his opponents had done, and generally he had not seen +their balls after they had driven them from the tee. Vardon and Ray +pounded away as hard as they could, but their shots had no more effect +on Ouimet than the patting of an infant's fist would have on the cranium +of a nigger. He just went on and did better. Andrew Kirkaldy once said +of Harry Vardon at the beginning of his career that he had the heart of +an iron ox, and that is like Ouimet's. This championship will always be +something of a mystery; but in this statement about the Ouimet +temperament there is the nearest thing to a solution of it that can ever +be offered. I know that what I say is the simple truth, partly from +observation,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> partly from inquiry, and partly from Mr. Ouimet's +statements to me. He said he was unaware of the presence of the crowd on +the fourth day when he made the tie until he was in the neighbourhood of +the seventeenth green.</p> + +<p>See how interesting he becomes despite the plainness of his game. When +such achievements as his of the 20th of September are made they rarely +suffer from any want of added romance. On the day in question Mr. +Ouimet, champion as he had become, told me in a talk we had, how he +began the game when he was about four years of age. He was a French +Canadian by blood, but his parents had come over the border and their +little family settled at Brookline close to the sixteenth green of the +Country Club. His elder brothers played a kind of golf, and he watched +them and began to practise himself on some pasture land near his home. +Then he became a caddie at Brookline, played the game more seriously +than before, with three clubs that a member of the Country Club gave to +him, and at sixteen years of age won, at the second attempt, the +championship of his school. They make a feature of school championships +in America. This story was attractive enough, but the next day, reading +the American papers, one gathered that there was some of the romance of +a Joan of Arc about this boy of Brookline. His mother said that when +Francis was a little boy of six or seven he would cross the road and sit +for hours fascinated by watching the members of the Country Club at the +game. Then he wanted to become a caddie, and maternal objections did not +avail. He became a caddie. His mother also said that he learned much of +the game then, and would always try to get engaged by the strongest +players, and he would copy as well as he could their best strokes. He +passed from the grammar school to the Brookline High School, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> his +mind was more on golf than on his books. The mother used to hear noises +up in his room at night. Once she was frightened by what she heard, and +went to his room at midnight fearing that he was sick. She found him +putting on the floor, and he then confessed that he had often done that +kind of thing before. On that occasion he had thought while in bed of a +new grip and wished to try it. He did not care to wait until the +morning. The parents desired their son to get all advantage from +education that he could, but after two years at the high school he +insisted on leaving and was engaged at a Boston store where golf goods +are dealt in. All that and more was said of him.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>In a narrative of this kind circumstances and reasonable deductions are +everything, and shots are next to nothing, for there is little enough to +be said about a ball in the air or its place of stopping. Only one man +knows the truth about a golf stroke as it is played, and that is the man +who plays it. Very often even the most expert observers are quite wrong +in their inferences and judgments. I have explained most of the +circumstances already. On the first of the two qualifying days, Mr. +Ouimet came very near to taking first place in the list, for he had a +score of 152, and only Harry Vardon beat him, and by one stroke only, as +the result of a long putt on the last green of all. The weather was fine +and the greens were fiery on that Tuesday. Next day there was more wind +and there were indications of a change of weather coming. Autumn gusts +were breaking the leaves from the tree-tops. That day Ray headed the +qualifying list with 148, Wilfrid Reid was next to him with 149, +M'Dermott was 161 and Mr. Travers was 165. This was good business<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> for +England, even though it yielded nothing but a little temporary prestige. +Then came Thursday, and in the early morning and up to a little while +after play began there was much rain, and the greens were considerably +slowed down. They were, indeed, reduced to a soaking state in time, and +Tom M'Namara told me that once or twice he had actually, instead of +putting, to root his ball with a niblick out of the greens, into which +they had buried themselves on pitching. But Brookline stood the weather +test very well.</p> + +<p>First rounds are seldom eventful; the value of the play done in them +seems to be discounted by the circumstance that there are three more +rounds to come. M'Dermott did a 74 in this round, Vardon and Reid 75's, +Mr. Ouimet 77, and Ray 79, but even M'Dermott was three strokes behind +the leaders. In the afternoon round Ray recovered brilliantly with a 70, +Vardon and Reid both did 72's, and Mr. Ouimet 74; and at the end of this +first proper day Vardon and Reid were at the head of the list with +aggregates of 147, Ray was next with 149, while Mr. Ouimet was seventh +with 151. Again the British invaders looked well in their place, and +that night they were strong favourites for the championship. "America +has a fight on hands," "Little left but hope," and such like, were the +headings in newspapers. As I lay in bed at the Country Club that night, +I heard the rain pour ceaselessly down. It rained all through the night +and alas! all the next day as well, and the great events of that Friday +were watched through a heavy downpour. In their third rounds Vardon did +78, Ray 76, and Mr. Ouimet, who was playing nearly a whole round behind +the others, and with wonderful steadiness, did a 74: and so it came +about that with the competition three parts done, all these three were +at the top with aggregates of 225. Now was the time for the Englishmen's +efforts if they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> were to be made. To their own chagrin they could not +make them when they needed. Ray took 43 to the turn, in his fourth +round, Vardon, whose putting all the week was distinctly moderate, and +the chief cause for his inefficiency, took 42, and though both finished +better, their two 79's were bad and seemed to have cost them the +championship. Vardon certainly thought they had, and took a very gloomy +view of things. I spoke to him a little while after he had finished, and +he said he was sorry and that they could not win then. His putting had +let him down, he said, as he had been afraid it would, though he felt +that the rest of his game had never been played better. "There are three +or four out there who will beat us," said the melancholy Vardon. It +looked like that, but the American hopes one by one failed to +materialise. Hagin fell out; Barnes fell out; M'Dermott fell out. +Goodness! it was going to be a tie between Vardon and Ray after all, and +these two Englishmen would play off here at Boston for the American +championship! Hereupon said Englishmen came out to see what was +happening, and looked happy again. They smiled. Then men came running +and breathless from distant parts with tidings of Ouimet. He had had a +worried way to the turn, but had improved afterwards, so rumour said. I +went along with our British champions to pick him up at the fourteenth +green, and there when he came along, we found that if he did the last +four holes in a total of one under par he would tie with the leaders, +or, in other words, if he did the miraculous and practically impossible +he might be permitted to have a game next day.</p> + +<p>I shall never forget watching that boy play those last four holes; that +was the real fight for the championship. Their respective lengths and +par figures are 370 yards (4), 128 yards (3), 360 yards (4), 405 yards +(4).<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> They were stiff pars, too, you will see, with nothing given away, +especially as the turf was soaking. At one of those holes he had to gain +a stroke on par if he were to tie, and the others must be done in par. A +slip anywhere would surely be fatal. It seemed that that slip was made +with the second shot at the fifteenth, for he was wide of the green on +the right and had to pitch from the rough, but he was dead with his +third and got the 4 after all. At the sixteenth he holed a three yards' +putt for the 3 and still was level with par. The much-wanted stroke was +given to him at the next hole, which is a dog-legged thing bending to +the left, with rough and bunkers to be avoided. He played it with good +judgment always, and this time, on the green with his second, he holed a +nine-yards putt for a 3. Thus he was left to get the home hole in 4 to +tie, and by holing a five-feet putt with not a second's hesitation, just +as if everything in golf had not seemed to depend upon it, he tied. +Jupiter!</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>According to American golfing law and precedent the tie had to be +decided by one extra round, all three playing together. I have no fault +to find with this arrangement; perhaps the result would have been the +same if two rounds had had to be played. I know, however, that Vardon +thought it would have been better and proper if each had played +separately, with a marker. Most people thought that as Ouimet was almost +playing the better ball of the two Englishmen he could not possibly win. +Theoretically he was sure to have slept badly overnight and to be in a +terrible state of nerves in the morning. They might see him top his +first tee shot and be three strokes to the bad on the first green. +Really I had no such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> ideas, and when I saw him hit his first drive as +well, cleanly and straight as any drive ever need be made, I had no +doubts about his having slept. Vardon drove the straightest ball and +then deliberately played short of the muddy race-track in front of the +green, but Mr. Ouimet boldly took his brassey, went for the carry, and +just did it. The hole was done in 5 each, and the second in 4 each; but +at the third Ray, who had driven too much to the right and had a bad +stance below his ball, only just got to the corner of the green, a long +way from the pin, with his second, and then took three putts, thus +dropping a stroke behind the others. At the fourth and fifth, at the +latter of which Mr. Ouimet put a spoon shot out of bounds through his +club slipping in his hands, but recovered splendidly with the same club, +the score remained the same. Then at the sixth, a drive and pitch up a +hill, Vardon approached to within three yards, and the others to within +six yards of the pin, Vardon holing his putt and Mr. Ouimet (who decided +on consideration to concentrate on his 4) and Ray just missing. So +Vardon was then one stroke better than the American, and the latter +still one less than Ray who, by a better run up from the edge of the +green at the seventh, scored over both his opponents. At the eighth +there was a dramatic episode, for Mr. Ouimet laid a low approach +stone-dead and holed for a 3, while Ray ran down a twelve yards' putt +for another 3, Vardon being beaten here though getting a perfect par 4. +All were level and the excitement and suspense intense. Something was +expected to happen at the ninth, the longest hole on the course, and a +great, romantic piece of golf. It is a long, heaving hole carved through +rock, and partly built on a swamp, and away in the far distance is a +high plateau green which, seen through the rain and mist, looked like a +ghostly thing in the clouds. Here<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> Vardon slashed out for length, but +with a hook sent his ball into the woods. Yet he recovered well, and +after stress and strain by all three this tortuous hole was done in five +each. The parties were all level at the turn with 38 strokes each. +Immediately afterwards Mr. Ouimet went to the front, and was never +deprived of the lead. The tenth hole is the short one named "The Redan," +with a heavily bunkered green low down in a valley below the tee. Each +tee shot was right, but Vardon and Ray were poor on the green and took +three putts, while the American was down in one less. Vardon looked +serious now, and Ray was fidgetty. There were three 4's at the eleventh, +and then Mr. Ouimet reached the twelfth green with his second, four +yards from the pin, Vardon and Ray being just off on opposite sides. +They both took five to hole out. Mr. Ouimet, by boldness, might have +gained two strokes here, but he was a trifle short with his putt and was +satisfied with a profit of one. This was followed by Vardon holing a +three-yard putt and getting a point back, but at the fourteenth there +were ominous signs of the British game collapsing, for Vardon went into +the woods again, Ray shot off wildly to the right with his second, and +they were both well out of it with 5's, like Mr. Ouimet whose brassey +shot went too low to clear properly a bank in front. Mr. Ouimet told me +that at this stage he felt he was going to win. Not one of the three had +been bunkered so far, but at the fifteenth Ray was caught and, needing +two strokes for recovery, was virtually done for.</p> + +<p>The last stage of the struggle lay between Vardon and Mr. Ouimet. Both +got 3's at the short sixteenth. Vardon was looking anxious and worried, +for most brilliant play on his own part could not save him now, and he +could only hope that Mr. Ouimet would come by disaster. Instead of that +he himself, trying to cut<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> the corner of the dog-legged seventeenth too +finely in an effort to gain distance, was bunkered. Ray, in wild +desperation, had hurled himself with terrific force at the ball on the +tee in an impossible attempt to carry straight over the bunkers and the +rough in a straight line to the green. As to Mr. Ouimet, he just played +an easy iron shot to the green dead on the line of the pin and holed a +six-yard putt for 3 and a gain of two clear strokes. It was really +finished then, and in the circumstances the playing of the last hole was +a formality. Mr. Ouimet did it steadily for par 4; Vardon was caught in +the race track before the green and took 6, and Ray holed a fruitless +putt for 3. Mr. Ouimet was champion, and there was an end of it. Seeing +that history was made, let me set down the scores:—</p> + + +<table> + + + +<tr><td></td><td align="center"><span class="smcap">First Half</span></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Ouimet </td><td align="right">5 4 4 4 5 4 4 3 5</td><td>—</td><td>38</td><td></td></tr> +<tr><td>Vardon </td><td align="right">5 4 4 4 5 3 4 4 5</td><td>—</td><td>38</td><td></td></tr> +<tr><td>Ray </td><td align="right">5 4 5 4 5 4 3 3 5</td><td>—</td><td>38</td><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td></td><td align="center"><span class="smcap">Second Half</span></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr> + +<tr><td>Ouimet </td><td align="right">3 4 4 4 5 4 3 3 4</td><td>—</td><td>34—</td><td>72</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vardon </td><td align="right">4 4 5 3 5 4 3 5 6</td><td>—</td><td>39—</td><td>77</td></tr> +<tr><td>Ray </td><td align="right">4 4 5 4 5 6 4 5 3</td><td>—</td><td>40—</td><td>78</td></tr> + +</table> + +<p>Mr. Ouimet's score exactly equalled that of the better ball of Vardon +and Ray.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>I shall say no more about what happened immediately afterwards than that +the American crowd gave a hearty demonstration of the fact that they +were very pleased indeed. A considerable sum of money was raised by a +collection for Mr. Ouimet's little caddie,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> Eddie Lowry, who was a +wonder of a mite and inspired the new champion throughout the week with +all sorts of advice. He would tell him in the mornings to take time over +his putts as it was then only ten o'clock and he had until six at night +to play; would remind him again at a suitable moment that America was +expecting great things from him, and, above all, whispered gently to him +on handing him his club for each shot that he must be careful to keep +his eye on the ball! It is declared, moreover, that at the beginning of +the tie round he assured his master that a 72 would that time be +forthcoming. Little Eddie Lowry had his share of glory.</p> + +<p>And now what about it all? How is it to be explained? Vardon and Ray +generously and properly admitted they were beaten fairly and squarely on +their merits. They could not say otherwise. I believe that Vardon came +to the conclusion at the end of his American tour that he played worse +golf at that championship than anywhere else, but on that final day on +which everything depended he did not play so badly as he may have +thought, and his putting was better than usual. I would not like to +guarantee either Englishman to do much better in the same conditions at +any time. On the other hand, Mr. Ouimet was blessed with no special +luck, except that negative kind of luck that kept his ball out of +trouble always, and made two putts invariably sufficient. His driving +was as long as Vardon's, and he was the straightest of all, while he +missed some putts by half-inches. He played a bold game too, and the +only semblance of timidity was in occasionally being a trifle short with +long putts, while Vardon and Ray, desperate, but in proper principle, +were giving the hole every chance and often running past it. Mr. Ouimet +seemed to general his own game so thoroughly well. Talking to me +afterwards, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> explained completely his policy at every shot in the +match, and showed himself to be a thinker of the finest strain. He was +all for running approaches instead of pitched ones that day, because he +feared the ball embedding itself in the soft turf, and also felt that +when running it would be more likely to shed dirt that it picked up and +leave him a clean putt. Everything was considered and well decided, and +in his argument one could find no flaw. And he insisted that he just +played his own game and never watched the other balls. "Looking back on +it all," said he, "I think it was just this way, that Vardon and Ray +rather expected me to crack, not having the experience for things like +this as they had, and when the time went on and I did not crack but went +along with them, I think it had an unfavourable effect on them. That is +the way I reason it out, because when you expect a man to crack and he +doesn't, you lose a little of your sureness yourself. I began to feel +that the championship was coming to me when we were about the fourteenth +hole, for Ray then seemed to be going, and he was swinging rather wildly +at the ball." I think that Mr. Ouimet's explanation was tolerably near +the truth. Some of the secret history of this championship may never be +written, but I know that Harry Vardon realised when it was too late that +he had been paying insufficient attention to what Mr. Ouimet was doing, +and what the possibilities were in that direction. At the beginning he +felt that the real contest lay between him and Ray, never dreaming that +Mr. Ouimet could hold out against them. Therefore he concentrated on +Ray, as it were, and when he had Ray beaten he realised too late that +there was some one else. It may have made no difference, but a thousand +times have we had demonstrated to us the capacity of our champions for +playing "a little bit extra" when it is really needed. Anyhow it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> was +Vardon's own mistake, if it was one, and he is very sorry for it.</p> + +<p>A consideration of great importance is the way in which this victory was +confirmed, as it were, by the other events of the week. It does not +generally happen that the men who distinguish themselves in preliminary +qualifying competitions go through winners of championships afterwards. +Men can rarely play their best for six rounds in succession, and, the +law of averages being at work all the time, they would rather perform +indifferently in the first test, so long as they qualify, than beat all +the others. I do not recall a case where the champion would have been +champion if all six rounds had been counted in, instead of the four of +the competition proper. But this time at Brookline we had seven rounds +played, and the astonishing fact is that, if all seven rounds were +counted in, Mr. Ouimet would still be at the top with a score of 528 +against Ray's 530 and Vardon's 532. I think that this is a point which +has not been much realised, and it is one of importance in dealing with +the idea that a fluke victory was achieved. You can hardly have a fluke +victory in four stroke rounds; much less can you have one in seven. Now +I would suggest that if Vardon and Ray had dropped behind in the +scoring, and had occupied other places than they did in the final +aggregates, there might have been some good support for the fluke +theory. Their defeat by several people would have needed far more +explanation, because it would have been clear that, for some reason, +they were beaten by golfers inferior to themselves. Conditions and +climate would have become considerations of greater importance. But +merely the fact that these men finished second and third in such a big +field indicates that there was little fluke anywhere, for this was a +marvellous vindication of form in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> competition, in a game where form is +so much affected by fortune. And, finally, the fact that Mr. Ouimet beat +these men in the play-off when he had them both there in sight, playing +stroke against stroke with him, and not an invisible field without any +definite menace as in the previous play, was quite enough to stamp him +as the most thoroughly deserving champion of that week. British golfing +pride will force the suggestion to many minds that such a thing, proper +as it was on this occasion, could never happen again; that if the +championship were replayed in the same conditions Mr. Ouimet would be +beaten. But of how many champions could it be said that if they had to +play the event over again a week or a month later, the luck of the game +being what it is, they would repeat their triumph? Reflecting once more +that this was but a boy of twenty, and the real greatness of our players +being what it is, I am more amazed than ever at what has happened. It +was an American victory and America takes the credit, but, again, the +United States are by no means full of Ouimets. I look upon him as a +first-class prodigy, such as the game has never known before, produced +in the country where such a golfing prodigy was most likely to make his +appearance. He accomplished what had never been done before, and what I +feel sure will never be done again, and because it was such an historic +happening, and there were so few from England there to see it as I did, +I have told the tale in full. Nobody believes that Mr. Ouimet is as +great as Harry Vardon and Edward Ray. He could not be. But also I do not +think that any one else could do what he did at Brookline on that +occasion. I found, a long time after the occurrence, that many wise +American golfers, reflecting dispassionately if still proudly upon it, +gave a certain satisfaction to their reason by suggesting as a final +explanation that a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> miracle had happened. That is a good way out of our +difficulties, and for my own part I accept it, for it is the only +explanation that will stand all tests. A miracle happened at Brookline +on that Twentieth of September.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>THE BEGINNINGS OF GOLF IN THE UNITED STATES, AND EXPERIENCES IN +TRAVELLING THERE, WITH AN EXAMPLE OF AMERICAN CLUB MANAGEMENT.</h3> + + +<p>There is little done to solve the mysteries of golf's beginning by +pressing into the farthest recesses of American golfing history. Only by +such little twinklings in the darkness of the almost prehistoric period +of the game do we begin more to suspect that, being such a natural and +simple thing, an almost inevitable kind of pastime despite its man-made +intricacies and laws, and all its heartenings and maddenings, it came up +of itself in different places, when man had reached full intelligence +and the desire to play properly other games than such as bowls. Those +Indian braves who wandered and hunted and fought over that magnificent +land when in its virgin state must have tried to knock something like a +ball, or a stone, in the direction of a particular mark, and that would +be a game for them. I remember hearing that several years ago a visitor +to one of the reservations found several of the red men playing golf of +a kind, with real clubs and balls. "Purple Cloud" was the champion of +the braves. Then in the autumn of 1903 another white wanderer looked in +upon the Indians in the reservation at Montana and reported that he had +witnessed a very spirited game. Golf, said he, is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> much better suited to +the Indian of to-day than his old game of lacrosse. He noticed very few +subtleties in the game. When the champion, "Spotted Horse," drove off, +there was a long stretch of clear prairie, with only here and there a +shrub, so that the game resolved itself into a chase of the ball for a +couple of miles and a return, the one who did it in the fewest strokes +being the winner. He saw some really capital drives, several well over +three hundred yards, he thought. The only thing that was very new and +characteristic about these red men's golf, so far as he could see, was +that the spectators "made a most infernal row all the time that the play +was in progress." When a brave took his stance for a tee shot, it was +looked upon as the signal for a perfect bedlam of yells and howling, +which should have disconcerted the player but did not do so. And with my +own eyes have I seen the modern Indians playing for the American +championship, and it might be claimed that though laws be made at St. +Andrews, and interpretations thereof in the council chamber of the white +men at New York, this after all, in essentials, is a game that is native +of the soil. Yet the history of such a game down the Indian line must be +hazy as the history of the braves themselves, and we must leave it now +with this ample recognition.</p> + +<p>But though in names and other matters there is a Scottish flavour in +some of the records of the earliest American golf, and when it became a +real and growing thing it was obviously imported, one is sometimes +inclined to think that the Simpsonian theory of the spontaneous +generation of golf, or what approximated in essentials to golf, must +have applied to America as to other countries. A stick, a ball, a mark, +and there is the principle of golf fully indicated.</p> + +<p>In a primitive way also it was played in America in the seventeenth +century, and, as in the homeland, some of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> the earliest references to it +that remain take the form of warnings of the punishments accruing to +players who departed from such severe restrictions as were imposed. It +was not proclaimed what advantages would be yielded men who played, as +is done to-day, but what grievous penalties they should suffer if they +played it when and where they should not, and alas! the times and places +that were forbidden appeared to be many in proportion to those when the +game might be enjoyed by those who liked it. Then as now, and in America +as in happy England, those who were not of golf were against it, and +bitterly. There were jealousies then as ever since. There were those +often-quoted Laws and Ordinances of the New Netherlands of 1659 in +which, because of a complaint by the burghers of Fort Orange and the +village of Berwyck about the damage done to their windows and the danger +to which they were exposed of being wounded by persons who played golf +along the streets, the golfers were threatened of consequences to come. +Then clearly the game was played in South Carolina in 1788, for at that +time an advertisement appeared in a local newspaper thus: "Anniversary +of the South Carolina Golf Club will be held at Williams's Coffee House +on Thursday, 29th instant, when members are requested to attend at 2 +o'clock precisely, that the business of the Club may be transacted +before dinner." Here there is a clear indication of the close connection +maintained between the playing of the game and the social ceremonies +about the dinner-table that were held by the golfers on the same day in +the way that was practised by the early golfers of the Scottish centres +and of Blackheath. For many years afterwards these meetings of the South +Carolina Golf Club were held at the club-house on what was known as +"Harton's Green," which is now in the heart of Charleston. Perhaps this +was the first golf club-house in America, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> if that were so it shared +the fate of pioneer establishments in many other places where towns have +widened and gathered in the outlying lands. There is also preserved in +the archives the form of invitation that was sent to Miss Eliza Johnston +to attend the ball of the Savannah Golf Club at the Exchange hall in +that city in December 1811. And then American golf seems to have lapsed +and slept like Van Winkle in the Catskills until the time of the great +regeneration came near the end of last century. One does not come now to +make a history of American golf, but only to indicate that new and +republican America also has something in the way of golf traditions.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>The real beginning of American golf was made, as you may know, out at +Yonkers up the Hudson, and Mr. John Reid, the elder, is rightly regarded +as the father of American golf. Such recognition being of long standing +and his claims being incontestable, he was again publicly and officially +proclaimed as such at the silver jubilee celebration that was held in +New York on November 19, 1913. That was twenty-five years from the time +when the game was really set going in the States. One night I sat over a +log fire in a club-house in Massachusetts and heard the story of the +foundation by his father from the lips of Mr. John Reid, the younger, +secretary of the United States Golf Association. He told me how his +father and Robert Lockhart, who went to the same school in Scotland, +came to America together; how Lockhart who, as a buyer of goods, had to +pay periodical visits to his homeland, talked of the strange game that +was played there; how Mr. Reid became interested and asked for clubs and +balls to be brought across the water; how he tried the swings and +strokes in a field by their house at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> Yonkers, the son "fielding" for +the father; how the captain of a steamer was persuaded to bring another +set of clubs over with him, and how irons were thereafter cast in +America. Then he told me how other people, few but keen, were attracted +to this new pastime that the Reids were trying, and how the first little +club was formed here at Yonkers in November 1888, and called the St. +Andrews Golf Club. They were as the golfing fathers. I learned how the +members came to be known as the Apple Tree Gang because of the tree near +to the first hole on which they hung their coats; how six holes were +laid out at the beginning on Mr. Reid's land, his house being used as a +club-house; how he gave a medal which was the first prize ever put up +for competition in America—and it was for an annual thirty-six holes +stroke competition—and how it was won for eleven years, three in +succession, by Mr. George Sands. Those were days of consequence. From +that little beginning the St. Andrews Golf Club of Yonkers, after many +changes and enlargements, has risen to a place of importance and honour +in American golf.</p> + +<p>These little histories and traditions of American golf do become +attractive as one probes more deeply into them. It was in Massachusetts +that the most remarkable thing that has ever taken place in the history +of the game on the other side of the Atlantic, or anywhere +perhaps—meaning, of course, the Ouimet triumph—happened lately, and I +have been much attracted to the story of the beginning of golf in that +part of the American world, and not less so when I see that the start +was made such a very little while before the birth of the boy who won +that great championship at Brookline. American golf and Ouimet have +grown up together. One finds that in the summer of 1892 a young lady +from Pau went on a visit to Mr. Arthur Hunnewell, at Wellesley, Mass., +and took with her a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> set of golf clubs and balls. They had been playing +the game for a long time past at Pau, but it was only just being started +in other parts of France. After Yonkers it had been reproduced at +Shinnecock and one or two other places, but so far Massachusetts had not +known it. The girl showed Mr. Hunnewell how the clubs were used, and +some relatives of his, owning adjacent estates and being fond of outdoor +pastimes, watched and were won quickly to the game. On the first of June +Mr. Hunnewell wrote down in his diary, "F. B. arrived to-day from +Europe"; and on the fifteenth of September, "We are getting quite +excited about golf." A fortnight later he wrote that "J. B. is here and +plays golf all day." I calculate it as a coincidence worth remark that +twenty-one years afterwards, to the month and to the week, Mr. Ouimet +won the great championship.</p> + +<p>Many of Mr. Hunnewell's friends were invited to come and attempt the +game at his place, which they did accordingly and fell in love with it. +He had fashioned a course of seven holes of moderate length over +undulating lawns and some park-land. The actual holes consisted of +five-inch flower-pots sunk in the turf, and the hazards were avenues, +clumps of trees, beds of rhododendrons, an aviary, a greenhouse, and an +occasional drawing-room window, as it is facetiously remarked by Mr. +Lawrence Curtis, who became the first secretary of the golf committee of +the Country Club, and to whose account of these happenings I am indebted +for my notes upon them. Mr. Curtis, seeing the fascination that the game +exercised upon all who became acquainted with it, wrote a letter to the +executive council of the Country Club informing them of it, suggesting +that it was a pastime that might very well be brought within the scope +of the club, and that the cost of an experimental course need not +exceed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> some fifty dollars. The suggestion was backed by several members +and the council agreed, the course being laid out in the spring of the +following year. The home hole was placed on a lawn in front of the +club-house which was soon discovered to be a very dangerous place for +it, so that it had to be removed. Almost immediately the game became a +strong attraction at the Country Club, new members came along in droves +because of it, and it has flourished ever since. The example of this +powerful club was followed at the Essex County Club at Manchester, then +just being begun. Mr. Herbert Leeds, now so closely and honourably +associated with Myopia, won the Country Club's championship in 1893 with +a score for eighteen holes of 109, Mr. Curtis being next with 110; and +that summer a Country Club side won a team tournament that was played at +Tuxedo against the St. Andrews and Tuxedo Clubs. And afterwards all went +very well indeed.</p> + +<p>And while I write in this way of the grand pioneering work that was done +in those days when champions of the present time were being born and +trained, I am reminded of a conversation I once had with Mr. Edward +Blackwell, in which he told me of his going out to California in 1886 +and staying there for six years. His people had bought some land in +those western parts, and he and his two brothers went out there to +convert it from barley to a vineyard. Mr. Blackwell is a very great +golfer to-day, but considering the gutty ball and circumstances in +general, he was, relatively to his contemporaries, as great then. Only +about a week before he sailed for California a match was arranged +between him and Jack Simpson, who had gained the Open Championship the +previous year, and Mr. Blackwell won that match at the last of the +thirty-six holes that were played. Out in California there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> was plenty +of hard work to do on the land and good sport with the gun, but, of +course, there was no golf. Mr. Blackwell's thoughts frequently turned +towards it, and he missed it very much. He considered the possibilities +and found that they were practically non-existent, for the country round +about was too hopelessly rough for laying out any sort of holes. So he +never saw a golf club and never hit a ball during those six years, but +for all that he won the King William IV. medal at the autumn meeting of +the Royal and Ancient Club immediately on his return. Then he went back +to California and did not see club or ball for another five years. Some +of us could almost wish he had made some sort of course out there in +California and become the first golfer of that far west, for he would +have been so good to have been a pioneer, and golf has flourished there +exceedingly since then. California sends men to championships. It would +have given a special piquancy to that fateful amateur championship final +at Sandwich in 1904 when Mr. Blackwell was his country's last hope +against America's Mr. Walter Travis, and as it happened he was not quite +equal to the occasion, for the American captured four holes at the start +with his amazing putting, and he won by as many at the end.</p> + +<p>That was a great day for American golf, a kind of consummation it was, +and I shall never forget the queer sensation that filled the atmosphere +on the St. George's course, nor the dumb feeling, not exactly of dismay +but of incomprehension, there was at the end. As to the first of these +sensations I believe that nearly everybody felt—without knowing why +exactly, for comparatively few had noticed his play until he got to the +fourth or fifth rounds and was appreciated as dangerous—that the +American player was nearly sure to win, that nothing could stop him from +winning. It was a conviction.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> Certainly Mr. Travis's wonderful putting +had created a very deep impression, but if he had been a British player +I think the feeling would have arisen that putting like that, which had +been continued for the best part of a week, would be sure to give out +before the end. Take the case, for instance, of Mr. Aylmer in the +championship of 1910 at Hoylake. He had been putting in the most amazing +manner all the time, and holing them from everywhere, but nobody had any +confidence in his ability to beat Mr. John Ball in the final, and he +collapsed utterly. Of course, Mr. Aylmer then had not the tremendous +fighting power and pertinacity of Mr. Travis in match play, qualities of +their kind which I have only seen equalled by a successor of his in the +American championship roll, Mr. Jerome Travers, and to beat Mr. Ball at +Hoylake is a different matter from beating Mr. Blackwell at Sandwich. +But then they were saying that Mr. Aylmer could not go much farther even +when he was only at about the third round, and as for Mr. Ball at +Hoylake there was a considerable feeling among golfers about that time +that the old champion could not go on defying the law of averages any +longer, and that there could be no more championships for him. I confess +that I rather shared this view, held in a superstitious sort of way, but +now that Mr. John has clapped another championship on to that Hoylake +affair, we have given him up. There is no reason why he should not win +another eight! However, when the Scot and the American teed up that +fateful morning there was a disposition to be sorry for Mr. Blackwell, +and a kind of hope that the end might be painless. In the circumstances +Mr. Blackwell's performance in losing nothing more after losing four of +the first five holes was as good as it could be. He kept the pump +working splendidly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p> + +<p>The truth is that he was by no means so gloomy as his friends about his +prospects, as he told me afterwards. He said he thought he had a good +chance of winning, and did not believe he would get beaten. He wished, +however, that the tees had been farther back so that his long driving +would have given him a better advantage. Two things about his opponent +impressed him very much, one, of course, being his astonishing putting +and the other his silence. But then, of course, one does not work one's +way into a final of a championship for conversational purposes, or for +debating the merits of the sixth sub-section of one of the rules of +golf. When the deed was done completely Mr. Blackwell joined the +converts who departed from the old prejudice and raided Tom Vardon's +shop for Schenectady putters, with which they practised, and marvelled +as the sun was setting on the first day that any but a British player +had won a British golf championship. With that victory the first era in +modern American golf, not counting the prehistoric times of golf in +Charleston and the Indians' games, came to an end. America had made +good. Now she became a power.</p> + +<p>The second era lasted nine years and was one in which she gradually came +to be taken more seriously. She suffered a set-back of sorts when Mr. +Harold Hilton won the American Amateur Championship at Apawamis in 1911, +but there were some circumstances attending that victory at the +thirty-seventh hole which were rather galling to the Americans, and they +behaved well in saying so little about them. Mr. Hilton ran away with +the match in the final, as it appeared, and Mr. Fred Herreshoff in the +afternoon was offered about the most forlorn hope that golfer ever had +to lighten his way for him. He brightened it up and made it thoroughly +serviceable, and was distinctly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> unlucky in being beaten at the extra +tie hole when Mr. Hilton's bad second shot cannoned off the famous rock +to the right and went kindly to the putting green instead of getting +into a hopeless place. It has been said that even if Mr. Hilton's shot +was lucky, Mr. Herreshoff played the hole so badly that he hardly +deserved to win it even if he was hardly treated by losing. But it is +forgotten that it was match play, and that what one man does affects the +other's game, and Mr. Herreshoff told me once, long after, that the +American crowd, which is supposed erroneously to be many shots to the +advantage of an American playing against an Englishman, on that occasion +misled and upset him. It cheered for Mr. Hilton at the wrong time and +for the wrong thing, and led to Mr. Herreshoff making a hash of a most +fateful stroke. This era of American golf came to an end with the +amazing victory by Mr. Ouimet at Brookline.</p> + +<p>The present state of things is very remarkable, and I have found the +study of it very interesting during two long golfing expeditions through +the United States, when I have visited many of the chief American clubs, +met and made friends with men who are at the head of American golf and +the most distinguished players, and in every way gained a good practical +knowledge of the amazing progress of the game in this country. The +Englishman who visits America and is not a golfer suffers a loss that he +must regret always afterwards. To strangers in general the Americans in +their own country are kindly and hospitable. That touch of carelessness +and arrogance which is sometimes noticed in the wandering American when +he is "doing Europe" is not in evidence among good Americans when they +are at home, always provided that the Englishman has the good sense and +manners—which one regrets to say is not always the case—to remember +that when in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> house of his host it is not good taste to praise his +own for its superiority in divers ways. Pay the American now and then, +and with proper delicacy, that little compliment that is so very well +deserved about the magnificence of his achievement in making a country +like that in such a short space of time, and about the excellence of +many of his established systems. It is a compliment that can and should +be paid with the most absolute sincerity. The American has the right to +be proud of his own country, and we should be proud of the American, for +that his blood is much the same as ours—trite observations, no doubt, +but commonly disregarded. Then with all his fancy hustle and his +tarnation smartness, the American is at bottom rather a sentimental man +(perhaps it is because he has to be so very businesslike most times that +he is liable to a sharp reaction at any good chance) and he is touched +with signs of genuine good feeling towards him and an appreciation of +what he has done. Thereupon in a softened voice he will tell of his +weaknesses, and of his appreciation of the greatness of mother England, +and he will play the host in a more thorough and warm-hearted way than +any other man on earth will or can. The ordinary non-golfing visitor may +find out many of these things, and have his own good time in his simple +way, but even in the freest countries there are often social omissions, +accidents, and disasters when there is not good common ground for +meeting and friends in waiting, and it is very possible to go to America +and fail in the way of holiday. The man who visits as a golfer, enters +at once into joys of existence and the most friendly companionship. I +have visited clubs in many parts of the country, and have made good and +abiding friends among countless golfers, and it is but a poor expression +of my feelings to say that I am very appreciative and deeply grateful. +If, therefore, for anything whatever<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> I should criticise the golf of the +country I hope that American golfers will believe that in my comments +there is no trace of adverse prejudice.</p> + +<p>It is difficult to estimate how many players of this game there are in +the country at the present time, and whatever figures were fixed upon +would soon be made inaccurate through the rapid increase that is going +on all the time—more rapid by far than is the case in Britain. I have +seen it estimated that there are six or seven hundred clubs in the +States at the present time, with a total membership of about a hundred +and fifty thousand. The Americans say that they will double their +golfing population in the next five years.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>It is impossible for a person who has not crossed the Atlantic to +imagine the United States as the country and people really are. I found +it easier to imagine Italy and Spain and oriental Morocco before ever I +went to those places, than I did to conceive a picture of the country +and the life of our own blood relations in this new America. All the +fraternising with Americans in London and elsewhere, our reading of +their newspapers and their books, printed in the words of our own +language, pictures and photographs of the Statue of Liberty in New York +Harbour, of the sky-scrapers in the background and the Fifth Avenue that +glitters on a summer's day, all the pictures of Boston and Washington, +or of the boulevards and business activities of Chicago, will not help +any one to preconceive those places exactly. The atmosphere and the life +and the ways of the people are a little beyond the imagination of the +untravelled western man. In the same way I do not think that British +golfers who have not been to the United States can understand the +American's present-day<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> attitude towards the game; certainly those who +have not been to America should not judge upon it as they are often +inclined to do. It is good, sound, and in its every aspect it is +exceedingly interesting.</p> + +<p>Wandering through the country I have visited many clubs and courses. If +we would have much golf in America we must move quickly as the Americans +do, and think as little of travelling all night as they think, for it +would be too much waste of time to make the long journeys that have to +be made by precious daylight. As a rule the golfer at home protests +against being asked to play anything like his best game after a night in +a railway train. I remember Mr. H. E. Taylor, who is not possessed of +the strongest constitution in the world, told me that he had set off +from Charing Cross one morning in the winter, arrived at Cannes in the +south of France at breakfast time on the next morning, cleaned himself +and put on his golfing shoes, and then gone along to the golf course out +at La Napoule to win a scratch gold medal. Again I recall that Mr. +Hilton once travelled all night from Hoylake to Muirfield and broke the +record of the course there on arrival, playing two more rounds the same +day. However, men like these are exceptions to most rules.</p> + +<p>But a golfer may cure himself of more of his weaknesses and +susceptibilities than he may think he can—all that are imaginary and +not really of the temperament. A man who hates wind and avoids it would +learn to play well and bravely in it if he had always to take his golf +on an exposed part of the eastern coast. The ability or otherwise to +play in wind is largely a matter of temperament. So it is with the +journeys. I had either to golf, and golf for me tolerably well, in the +intervals of scampering from one part of the country to the other, or I +had to spoil the whole expedition. I managed it somehow.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p> + +<p>Arriving in New York for the first time early on a Sunday morning, I +fixed myself up at my appointed quarters, rang up a golfer on the +telephone, and then, according to arrangement, proceeded to track a man +down at his club on the Fifth Avenue with the object of playing in the +afternoon. I walked into Fifth Avenue from a cross street, and my first +glimpse of it is one that will not soon be forgotten. It was a glorious +morning, the sun shining hot and white, and New York, for the only time +in its hustling week, was comparatively quiet. There was no traffic and +few people just then in the Fifth Avenue, quite one of the most majestic +and wonderful thoroughfares in the world despite its plain simplicity. +But it was not the whiteness, not the glittering cleanliness, not the +real splendour of this Fifth Avenue with all its newness, that struck +the first impression on my mind. Upon the moment that this wandering +British player of the most meditative of games emerged from somewhere +round about West 36th or 37th, into the big avenue, there whizzed along +it, right in front, a motor funeral which was doing a fine fifty miles +an hour clip along the smooth and open thoroughfare. There was just the +hearse with glass panels, the coffin plainly exhibited inside, and the +chauffeur on the seat, with another man beside him who might have been a +mourner. Holding life a little more cheaply in America than we do, they +grieve a little less for those who lose it, which is not to say that +they are heartless or unsympathetic, but more practical. This funeral, +done with petrol instead of horses, was positively going north at the +rate of fifty miles an hour. It was moving just as fast as I saw any car +ever go in the United States, and I could not help reflecting that the +spirit of the good American, viewing the last journey of its separated +corpus, must feel a certain satisfaction that it was hustlingly done and +that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> no time was wasted. <i>Finis coronat opus!</i> Inspired, I played on +two different courses in New York on the same afternoon.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>English people hear much about railroad travelling being far better in +the United States than it is in our own country. It is—and it is not. +The comfort and conveniences of the cars in the daytime are much in +advance of anything we have. The men's smoking cars, the observation +cars, the parlour cars, are delightful and enable us thoroughly to enjoy +the journeys. Although they standardise so many things in America, they +cease their standardisations when considerations of personal comfort and +peculiarities have to be considered. It never occurred to me until I +travelled my first thousand miles in America that it is a hardship that, +no matter what our girth may be, nor the length of our bodies and legs, +we must all of us at home, though we pay for our first-class +accommodation, sit in standardised seats which are all the same and +attached to each other. In the American railroad car running on a +long-distance journey there are seats of different sorts, some are high +and some are low, and they are detached. This makes much difference. In +the dining-cars the tables and chairs are all loose, and one does not +have to squeeze into them with the feeling that one is being locked into +one's place as we do in England. And the dining arrangements on the +American cars are far superior to what they are elsewhere. But if the +American system gains by day the British system makes up for much of the +lost comfort at night, and that is when the American, golfer and +non-golfer, does most of his long-distance travelling. The Pullman day +cars are converted into sleepers by the dark-skinned attendants +(uncommonly good railroad car servants<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> these niggers make), and by an +almost magical transformation the lounging car is made into a sleeper +with about two dozen berths, a dozen on each side, half uppers and half +lowers, and an alley down the middle. The chief difference between the +upper berths and the lower is that the uppers have to be reached by a +short stepladder and are not convenient to fat, gouty, or unathletic +persons, while those who wake early and like to look upon the prairie, +or what once was that, have a window at the bottom as the people in the +top have not. The berths are covered in with thick green curtains which +button together. We may leave our boots outside for the attendant to +brush in the morning, but our other clothes and traps must go along to +bed with us, and be stowed away at the bottom of the berth, or in the +little netting that hangs alongside. And here I must timidly state in +evidence that there are not separate cars for the sexes; in America all +go together, and the ladies and the men occupy the same cars. The ladies +generally go off to bed earlier than the men. Whether they do or not, we +all climb into our respective berths, fasten up the curtains, and +undress in the very limited space at our disposal, a process which seems +to me must be the same as that by which acrobatic performers wriggle +themselves out of chains and ropes with which their limbs and bodies +have been tied up fast. After a time we become expert. What is most +difficult to become accustomed to is the horrible jolting, and the +painfully sudden stopping of the trains in the middle of the night. +Their permanent ways are not laid so finely as the magnificent lines +along our coasts from London to Scotland. Their rails are not fixed in +chairs laid on the sleepers, but are pinned down straight on to the +wood. This makes much difference. The cars shake exceedingly. Then the +drivers at night have to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> wary and stop quickly at times, and no +doubt they do right not to reduce their speed gradually for the sake of +the men and women who are asleep behind them, but instead to stop with a +suddenness that could only be improved upon by a collision. However, I +say again, that we find ourselves accustomed to it all in time.</p> + +<p>I shall not forget my first experience of a thousand-mile golfing +journey from the New York Central Station to Chicago. A few golfers were +in a party going westward for the championship at Wheaton in Illinois, +and we discussed the game from the time of starting in the late +afternoon until we had passed Albany, about ten, when we moved into our +sleeping quarters. My bag of clubs had to go to bed with me, and they +lay alongside all the night; there was no room for them underneath. I +had to sleep with one hand on the bag to prevent them from attacking me +or going overboard into the avenue, so much did that wretched train +rattle and shake as it hurtled its way through the darkness, with the +big bell in the front of the engine jangling mournfully all the time. +And what a wild, sad note it is that is struck by the bells on these +American engines, suggestive of the loneliness of the open country +through which they speed, now and then making a big noise with a sort of +foghorn. I am much attached to my clubs, and they are the chosen +favourites of a vast number that go with their master everywhere, and +are carefully watched and tended, but the intimacy that was sprung upon +us then was too much, and I invented another arrangement for the next +travelling night. James Braid, very wise man indeed, tells me that long, +deep nights of placid slumber are the best things in the world for the +golfer who would keep steady his hands and nerves and clear his eyes so +that he may play the best game of which he is capable. But no British +golfer could sleep at the beginning of his American experiences in such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> +circumstances. I was just falling into some sort of a doze in the small +hours of the morning when the train pulled up sharply at a station which +I discovered to be Schenectady, where the famous putter that disturbed +the peace of two nations was born. Next, one realised that we were +within a mile or two of the Niagara Falls, and so on with jolting and +banging and sudden stopping all the night. By and by daylight came and +then we had a long day of travelling through the heart of America to +Chicago.</p> + +<p>Some may suggest that all this about railroad travelling in the country +where there is more of it than any other has little to do with golf, but +it has all to do with it, for the thorough golfer in America, whether a +citizen or British, must needs spend a large part of his time in the +train, and if he would have the maximum amount of golf, much sleeping +must be done behind the green curtains in the darkened cars. The +travelling done by the American golfer, therefore, is a surprising +thing, but a few months of it is a fine and valuable experience for the +British golfer afterwards. No longer, since I have been across the +Atlantic, do I consider it a far way from London to the links of +Dornoch. St. Andrews and North Berwick have come pleasingly near to me. +All the world has shrunk, and I feel I have my foot on every course—or +soon may have.</p> + +<p>Though it be a thousand miles from New York to Chicago, and these are +the two great golfing centres of the east and west, it is a fact, as I +know well, that the golfers in the two places visit each other for a +weekend's golf almost as frequently and with as little fuss as would be +the case with golfers in London who go down to Sandwich. They take the +"Twentieth Century Limited" from New York on Friday afternoon, and on +Saturday morning they are at Chicago. They flash out on a local train to +Onwentsia, Midlothian, Glen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> View, Wheaton, Exmoor, or one of those +places, play all day, start play again at eight o'clock on Sunday, +finish their couple of rounds early in the afternoon, catch the fast +train back to New York, and are at their office on Monday morning as if +they had spent the week-end pottering about the garden. I am not +concerned with the question as to whether they are prolonging their +lives by these acts; nor are they concerned. In the meantime they appear +to be in the best of health, and are certainly in the highest of +spirits.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>With this talk of journeys we seem in fancy to be in Chicago now, so let +us consider the leading club of the busy district in the heart of +America. The course of the Chicago club is at Wheaton, some twenty-five +miles out on the North Western line, and this is the foremost club of +the Central States, and west in the sense of being west of the east, for +all golfing America is divided into two parts, the east and the west, +Chicago being the capital of and held chiefly to represent the west, +which holds some close rivalry with the east, where New York is +headquarters. The west out California way is just the far and other +west, and is in another world. The Chicago club is exclusive and +dignified. The most solid men in the city support it, and they see that +everything is good. It is not an ancient institution, but it has some of +the characteristics of solidity and strength of age and sound +experience. Chicago is not an old city, but, as the proud citizens like +to tell you, about a hundred years ago there was no Chicago at all, but +just a few wigwams of Indians and some huts and things round about a +creek. Since then the place has been once burnt down, and yet it is now +the fourth largest city of the world, while in its tenseness of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> +commercial industry it is the foremost of all. If all the ages past in +Chicago only amount to a hundred years, then one-fifth of all time as +known to Chicago history, which represents the life of the Chicago Golf +Club, is comparatively long indeed.</p> + +<p>In 1892 a small golf club was started for the first time round about +Lake Forest, but the promoters had only about sixteen acres of ground. +In the following year, when the World's Fair was held, a number of +foreign visitors were in Chicago and asked for golf, as travellers will +do, though the great golf boom had not yet then set in. Mr. Charles B. +Macdonald came in with the movement, ground was searched for, and the +Chicago Golf Club was organised at Belmont, some twenty-two miles out of +the city. When the Fair was over in the following spring, only about +twenty members were left to the club, and the outlook did not seem +splendid. But once begun, in either place or man, golf is a very hard +thing to kill. The twenty die-hards asked their friends to come and see +the place and try the game. They did so, and those men of Chicago knew +at once that they had discovered the real thing. A hundred and thirty +members were quickly obtained. The inevitable result followed. They +wanted more and better golf, and they wanted it to belong to them and +not to be on leased ground, so in 1894 the club met and authorised the +purchase of two hundred acres at Wheaton, twenty-four miles out from the +city, a fine course was laid out, a splendid club-house was built, and a +really great club was established. Here and now we may gain a very fair +idea of the difference in cost to the player between American golf and +British. No better club could be selected for the purpose of +exemplification than this one. It so happened that a few days before I +arrived there, its club-house was burnt down, with all its contents and +appurtenances, and from the wreck<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> only a single one of the club-books +of rules and regulations was rescued. I took possession of it while I +made some notes upon the terrace of the only part of the building that +was saved.</p> + +<p>The first paragraph in the book, being Section 1 of Article 1 of the +bye-laws, states that "this club is incorporated under the laws of +Illinois as Chicago Golf Club, and its corporate seal is a circular disc +bearing the words, 'Chicago Golf Club,' the figure of a golf player, and +the motto, 'Far and Sure.'" To become a member of the club the applicant +must be over eighteen years of age; he must have not more than one +adverse vote cast against him by the governing body; and he must pay an +entrance fee of not less than a hundred dollars or £20. The resident (or +full) membership of the club is limited to 225, and the annual +subscription is 75 dollars or £15, half of which is payable at the +beginning of the year and half at midsummer. Now this subscription is +much higher than that of any golf club in Great Britain, and the fact is +only partly attributable to the circumstance that everything in America +is more expensive than it is in England. The higher subscription is +necessitated because the membership is kept down so low as 225, and that +is done in order that there may be no overcrowding of the course. In +England such a club, being situated within thirty miles of a great city +and having the best course round about, would probably admit at least +five or six hundred members, with the result that on the fine and busy +week-end days the course would be hopelessly blocked and there would be +no pleasure for anybody. This is certainly so in the case of two or +three of the most popular clubs in the outer London golfing area, and +one may come to a speedy decision that in this matter the American way +is by far the better. Ladies who are over sixteen years of age and the +immediate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> relatives of a member are permitted to have the privileges of +the course, subject to the rules of the Green Committee, on payment of +ten dollars a year. There is another class, "summer members," who are +not to exceed fifteen in number, and who pay 150 dollars for one summer +season's play. There is practically no play in the winter, the climatic +conditions being too severe. The other rules as to membership are much +the same as those which obtain in the case of British golf clubs.</p> + +<p>Among the "house rules," it is stated that the club-house generally will +remain open until midnight, and the café, which is the British +equivalent of the smoke-room with bar, until one o'clock in the morning, +which is a lateness of hour almost unheard of in England, but then it +has to be remembered that such club-houses in America are mostly +residential. "Juniors" are not allowed in the café. The warning is given +that smoking and the lighting of matches in the locker or dressing room +are absolutely prohibited, and that a fine of ten dollars will be +imposed on any member violating this rule. Fires in club-houses in +America being so numerous is the cause of this rule, which is rigorously +applied. Then it is perceived that no member makes any payment +whatsoever in cash in the club-house. He signs a check or bill, an +account of his expenditure is kept, and it is served to him fortnightly. +Payment must then be made within ten days, failing which the member is +suspended. Some interesting items are to be found among the ground +rules. One says that in medal play competitions new holes must be +assumed to have been made on the morning of a competition, unless +otherwise stated by the Green Committee; and another that a member +playing a round, and keeping score other than in club competition must +allow parties playing pure match-play<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> to pass. The Americans are not +content with merely requesting a player to replace the divots of turf +that he cuts up in play. They say: "Divots of turf cut up by players +must be carefully replaced and pressed down. A fine of one dollar will +be imposed on any member violating this rule. All members are earnestly +requested to report any member who violates this rule to the Green +Committee." Caddies are paid "from the time of their employment until +the time they are discharged, to be determined by an electric clock, at +such rate per hour as may be determined by the Green Committee." There +is nothing that is inexpensive about a club of this class, and let it be +understood that there are few second-class golf clubs in the States +where the fees are small. A day's golf at a good club is cheap indeed at +five dollars. When one goes to stay there for a night or two one finds +that the statutory price for breakfast is a dollar, for lunch 1.25, and +for dinner 1.30 upwards. When I returned to England it appeared that +golf and all pertaining to it was cheap, almost to the gift point.</p> + +<p>The course at Wheaton is good, although there are some in America that +are better. It is plain, its holes sometimes lack strength, but it is +well tended and its putting greens are quite perfect. Its fairway is not +perfect, any more than the fairways of other American courses are. The +climate will hardly permit of their being so. It bakes them up and makes +them hard, and the inevitable result is little knobs and depressions +which give cuppy lies, and turf which for all its greenness is not by +any means comfortable to the feet in comparison with the yieldingness of +our British turf. The Americans cannot help this; if it were practicable +to treat every inch of their turf for climatic troubles all through the +day and night they would perhaps do it. It is practicable to treat their +putting greens thoroughly, and the result is that, taking them all +round, they have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> undoubtedly got the best putting greens in the world. +I mean, without reservation, that the average of the best courses in +America is higher than the average of the best in our own country, and I +say it with some regret that they have a score of courses in the United +States with greens far superior to those on the old course at St. +Andrews the last time the Amateur Championship was played there, those +greens being then not what they used to be. I think much of the credit +for the high quality of the greens at Wheaton is due to the splendid +work of David Foulis, the professional and greenkeeper there. Need I say +that David is a Scot, and a very true Scot too, who still loves his old +homeland better than any other, and is glad when the wandering golfer +from it gets his way. Chicago may seem a strange place to visit for +facts of old golf history, and yet here I added some details to the +histories of the people and their golfing ways of fifty years and more +agone, for Foulis has his father living with him out in Illinois, and +Foulis the elder was at work with old Tom Morris in the great days when +the Open Championship was young, and stirring are the stories that he +can tell you, as he did to me in David's shop, of old Tom and Allan +Robertson, and the other giants of those times, carrying one in mind and +spirit far away from the land round about the big lake of Michigan to +the old grey city which was old more than a hundred years ago.</p> + +<p>I took away with me as a memento from David Foulis a club that he has +invented, and which for a special purpose I can commend. It is a kind of +mashie niblick, David claiming to be the inventor of this type of club, +but it is different from others in that it has a perfectly straight, +flat sole and a concave face. I, like others, found that by the use of +this club I saved some dollars, for it enabled me to pitch the ball from +a hard lie on to the hard greens and make it stay<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> close to the hole +when nothing else would serve the purpose. The ordinary mashie niblick +with curved sole is not perfect for baked and iron-hard courses, as it +is not easy to get well hold of the ball when taking it cleanly as must +often be done in such circumstances, and the margin for error is +painfully small. The flat-soled club is essentially one for taking the +ball cleanly, and somehow that hollow face does impart extra backspin to +the ball. It lifts it up and drops it dead as no other club that I have +handled will of itself ever do.</p> + +<p>But let me write that the Americans are not given to fancy and freak +clubs as some people suppose they are. There is nothing freakish about +this article of which I write, and for the most part the implements that +the American players employ are the simplest. And just to complete my +generalising remarks on American courses, which naturally vary greatly, +let me say that commonly they are not so severely bunkered as are the +best of ours, particularly from the tee. They do not demand either such +long or such straight driving as our best courses do, and I think that +the Americans realise now that this is the case and that they need +stiffening up. They are doing that already. There are some very good +holes at Wheaton, and the short hole at the ninth is about the most +tantalising water hole I have encountered. It is all water from the +teeing ground to the foot of a high plateau on which the green is +situated, and it is about a hundred and ten yards across the pond.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>THE PERFECT COUNTRY CLUB AND THE GOLFERS' POW-WOW AT ONWENTSIA, WITH A +GLIMPSE OF THE NATIONAL LINKS.</h3> + + +<p>Round Chicago there is now a great belt of golf which is thickening +rapidly. More hundreds of acres are being claimed for the game +constantly, and one hears in these parts of the most splendidly equipped +club-houses being built to replace others at the cost of very many +thousands of dollars. Activity in the increase of golf is feverish. But +even here maturity has its charm, as it always must have in golf, and +the most delightful resorts in Illinois are those which are the oldest. +Such as Onwentsia, Exmoor, Midlothian, Glen View are excellent.</p> + +<p>I am glad I went to Onwentsia. Most British golfers who have never been +and will never go across the Atlantic have heard something, even if but +the name, of the Onwentsia club. It seems to suggest American golf, and +there is a look of some mystery about the name. Onwentsia is by no means +like the others, and there are good reasons why. Here on a wall of mine +are two feathers of eagles fastened crosswise; below them an Indian's +pipe of peace with its silken tassel. They were sent to me across the +sea from Onwentsia by some members a while after I had been there, and +they are a reminder not only of happy days but of the characteristics of +Onwentsia, for the name of the place is an Indian one. Here were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> the +redskins before all others, and then the white men and golfers came, and +still it is almost as if the soil were redolent of the Indian trail. The +club perpetuates in a manner considered suitable the memory and legend +of the braves; my eagles' feathers are such as a "Running Driver" or +"Mighty Mashie" might have worn in their fighting days, and they adorned +our modern Onwentsians on the day of their Indian feast! Let me explain. +Lake Forest, where is Onwentsia, is a very charming suburb of Chicago, +at the side of Lake Michigan. Its name suggests its character; it is +well wooded, and one of the kind friends that I made there, Mr. Slason +Thompson, drove me in his car in the dusk of a balmy evening for miles +through the beautiful public grounds. The Onwentsia Club, as it is +called, is a close fraternity of the best people of these parts. It is a +country club in a large sense. It is a hunt club, it is a polo club with +a splendid ground, it is a tennis club, and it is a golf club, and it +need hardly be said that the golf is a very strong feature, the +predominator of the institutions. Now the Onwentsian golfers, zealous +and good, have their own manners and customs, and, particularly they +have one custom which has a fame all over America, and it has spread +even beyond the seas. If it be not sin to mention them together +Onwentsia has one great day of celebration as the Royal and Ancient Club +has one. Towards the end of September the Royal and Ancient Club calls +its members together for the autumn gathering at St. Andrews, and there +on that occasion, as has been related, many ancient and solemn +ceremonies of great dignity are performed. The captain "plays himself +in," guns are fired, in the evening at the banquet new members kiss the +silver club and swear their loyalty, and much more in that splendid and +time-honoured way is done. America is true to St. Andrews golf in its +law, but Lake Forest,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> far out toward the west, is not the same as +Fifeshire, and the Onwentsia Club at Lake Forest is not like the Royal +and Ancient. It is not a question of which is the better; they are +different, and when I was in Illinois, at any rate, Onwentsia was to me +a very entertaining place. And I do not say this merely because +Onwentsia, near to Lake Michigan, is so charmingly situated; because the +club is such a delightful place, perfect in equipment, with a luxurious +club-house, and inside it a huge swimming pool and many shower-baths, +making one sometimes a trifle regretful upon the bareness of our British +golfing-houses. It is just because when I first reached there the great +golfing gathering at St. Andrews was nearly due and the golfers at +Onwentsia were having theirs. When I dined with Mr. Thompson that +evening at his charming house overlooking the great lake, and we smoked +cigars on the lawn overhanging it, he told me why on everything that +concerned the club there was the same sign, the head of an Indian brave +with the big feather in it, and why they were just going forward to the +great annual pow-wow. If you would do it properly you should pronounce +Onwentsia in the soft, crooning Indian way. Murmur it slowly and gently, +and mount the cadence high upon the second syllable; then, after a +suspicion of a pause, lower the notes gradually to the end. If you said +it in the right way an old Iroquois brave would know that you were +referring to "a country gathering," for that is the meaning of the term. +In days of old the Iroquois trailed over all these parts where now the +course is laid. Here were their wigwams; here lingered their squaws with +the little papoose, while the red men hunted and fought. That is why the +golfers of Onwentsia have their pow-wow once a year.</p> + +<p>The pow-wow is an invitation golf tournament lasting two days, and it is +open only to those members<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> who are of a certain age or over (it was +thirty-nine when I was there) and their guests, one guest per member. In +order to preserve complete the familiar friendliness of the gathering +and to maintain its traditions undisturbed by new influences, the age +limit is increased from year to year to keep the new and young men out. +The call to the pow-wow, which is written anew for every festival, gives +us the key to the nature of the function, and I quote from one of them:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">On the banks of Skokie water,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By the water flecked with golf balls,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Stands the wigwam, the Onwentsia,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The great wigwam of the Pow-wow.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come ye forth, ye Jol-li-gol-fas,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come ye forth and come ye quickly<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To Onwentsia, the big wigwam,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To Onwentsia, the big Pow-wow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the Moon of Falling Leaflets,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere the trees are red with autumn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come in trains, the Puf-choo-choo-puf;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come in motors, Aw-to-bub-buls;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the 'bus, old Shuh-too-get-thah,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To Onwentsia, to the Pow-wow.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here's the bartend, Wil-lin-mix-ah,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The head waitress, Goo-too-loo-kat,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The great golfer, Hoo-beets-boh-ghee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the caddy, Skip-an-fetch-it,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Waiting all to do you honour.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leave your war club, Tom-ah-haw-kus,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bring the peace sticks, Dri-vah-nib-lix;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leave your toilsome reservations<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the dust of smoky cities<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For the Pow-wow in the wigwam;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bring the peace pipe, Swee-too-suk-kat,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Taste the bowl, Hi-baw-laf-tah;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Play the game, Roy-al-skoch-wun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All the morning in the sunlight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All the afternoon, till evening<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spreads the feast of squab and chicken<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Mid the joy of good companions<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gathered in the spreading wigwam<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Onwentsia for the Pow-wow.<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>Lasting for two days, with one great night in between them, it happens +that the first session of play is conducted in a state of high +anticipation and with much joyful shaking of hands and exhibitions of +brotherly attachment, and the second session with a feeling as of a +slowly receding past. Only those who attend the feast in the big wigwam +are eligible to play in the numerous competitions to which are attached +such an abundance of prizes that it is difficult for the golfing brave +to go empty-handed back to his gentle squaw. A law indeed has had to be +made that he shall not take more than two of the trophies away with him.</p> + +<p>At eight o'clock on the morning of the first day the play begins. There +is a thirty-six holes medal competition for the Sum-go-fah trophy (the +"Indian" titles are changed from year to year), and at the end of +eighteen holes the numerous competitors are grouped into sections of +eight, according to the place in the returns—first eight, second eight, +and so on for separate match-play competitions for the Sko-ki-ko-lah +prizes. The prize for the first eight is the Mis-sa-sko-kih, for the +second the O-ma-go-li, for the third the Hit-ta-sko-kih, for the fourth +the Sti-mi-gosh, for the fifth the Bum-put-tah, for the sixth the +Went-an-mis-tit, for the seventh the Top-an-sli-sah, for the eighth the +Let-mih-tel-you, and for the ninth the Dub-an-duf-fah. Then there is a +competition for the Bun-kah-bun-kah prize, which is embraced within the +Sum-go-fah, being for the best eclectic score made in the two rounds, or +"choice score" as they prefer to call it in the States. Two-thirds +handicap is allowed. Likewise there is the Noh-bak-num-bah prize, which +is by medal play with an age handicap, the handicap being determined by +the years of the contestant above or below forty. By such play, whether +it is successful or not, do the braves qualify for the feast, and at +half-past seven there is the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> call to the big and happy wigwam. The +great dining-room is indeed made by fitting and decoration to appear as +one great wigwam, and there are some of the adjuncts of the life of the +old Iroquois. The golfing braves stride eagerly, joyfully, chatteringly +in. Reddened are the golfers' faces; wrapped around them are their +blankets, from their hair stick big black feathers; long pipes of peace +are held before them. Then there are strange but toothsome dishes; they +taste the "Hi-baw-laf-ta-tah"; happiness and contentment increase; there +are toasts and shouts and whoops. The successors of the Iroquois hold +their pow-wow well. At the beginning of the morning, when the moon is +riding through the fleecy heavens of Illinois, softly they steal away, +and in the distance now and then there may be heard the same lone cry +that once resounded through the forest when Iroquois were on the trail. +But at nine in the morning more competitions begin, and are most +thoroughly attended. There are tournaments for the Bus-tis-tik-sah, the +Boo-li-bus-tah, the Strok-a-hol-ah, the Heez-noh-mut-sah, the +Ho-pu-get-it, the Get-sa-loo-kin, the He-za-pee-chah, the +Wil-lin-loo-sah, the Oh-you-papoose, and other cups. Some of the prizes +go to the players doing certain holes in the lowest gross score during +the tournament, the Wil-lin-loo-sah is captured by the man who does the +four rounds worst of all on the two days, and an Onwentsia medicine +pouch, the nature of which may be guessed by golfers with little +difficulty, remembering British practice, is awarded to the brave who +does a particular hole in one stroke. It is all very remarkable, +wonderful, interesting, and thoroughly American, and not the ragged +corner of a paper dollar the worse for it either. Happy Onwentsia!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>At the Glen View Country Club they have a special autumn festival also +which has a character of its own. The motto of Glen View is "Laigh and +lang"—low and long—which is a good variation on the monotonous "far +and sure." And about Glen View there is a Scottish flavour; in manners +and customs for a very brief season in the golden days of the fall there +is wafted from the far distant Highlands a breath of Scotland. Here they +call their festival the "Twa Days," and it is carried through with a +fine spirit. There are competitions in number and kind to satisfy +everybody, and the social side of the affair is excellent.</p> + +<p>Glen View, again, is not like the others either. I spent some days there +as the guest of the club, and nowhere have I had a more pleasurable +time. It came after an exceedingly strenuous, rushing period at other +places, and towards the end of one of the hottest spells of weather that +they had known for many summers in those burning parts. Glen View is a +pretty name, but it is not prettier than the golf course there, which is +one of the most charming I know. It reminded one in some ways of +Sudbrook Park in the early summer, always, as I think, one of the most +delightful inland courses in the south of England; but Glen View, with +its sleepy streams, is nicer. It may not be up to "championship +standard" in its architectural features, but it might be made so. Yet if +such a change would remove much of the character of Glen View, I, in my +selfishness, knowing that on some future morning I shall again take the +9.35 from Chicago on the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad, and +alight at the station which is called "Golf," hope for my high pleasure +that there will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> be none such made. When a club once becomes infatuated +with the championship idea its contentment and happiness depart, and +Glen View is best as it is. The holes have character. The greens are +placed in the most beautiful nooks and corners, great belts of trees +surround the course, and a stream winds snake-like through the grounds. +At about every third hole there is a large barrel which is filled every +morning with fresh spring water, into which a large block of ice is +placed. When you play in a shade temperature of nearly a hundred +degrees, as I have done at this place, you appreciate these barrels. +They have a natty way of naming their holes at Glen View. The first is +called "The Elm," the second "High Ball," the third "Sleepy Hollow," and +the next in order are "Polo," "Lover's Lane," "Old Hickory," "The Round +Up," "Trouble," "Reservoir," "Westward Ho!" "The Grove," "Sunset," "The +Bridge," "The Roost," "Spookey," "The Orchard," "Log Cabin," and "Sweet +Home." The course is 6279 yards long, and every one of these yards is a +pleasure to play along. Visitors do like this place. In one year +recently there were 3550 of them who paid a dollar a day for the +privilege of playing. The members of the club pay one hundred dollars a +year subscription, and nowadays it costs about five hundred dollars for +admission. Every member must be the possessor of a hundred-dollar share +in the club, and these shares are now at a premium of about five times +their par value. At few other places in the golfing world is there such +a nicely appointed club-house as there is here. One could put two or +three of the largest dining-rooms that our golf clubs possess into the +one of Glen View, and the furnishing is finely and tastefully done in a +Flemish style. Some of the golfing prints with which we are most +familiar hang upon the walls. Other pictures of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> value keep them +company, and there is a large crayon drawing done on the spot by my old +friend, the late Tom Browne, who once came here with his bag of clubs.</p> + +<p>The café at the Glen View club is an interesting institution. The club +has one of the cleverest cocktail mixers in America, and the printed +list of available liquid refreshments that is laid upon the tables +suggests a little consideration. The American golfers, for the most +part, do not drink very much, and what they do drink has little effect +upon them, thanks to the heat and much perspiration; but they do like +novelties and the variety. So on this list—which, mind you, includes no +wines, which are quoted on a separate sheet—there are scheduled no +fewer than 147 different kinds of refreshments. There are thirteen "soft +drinks," eight different lemonade mixtures, eleven sorts of mineral +waters, thirteen beers and ales, six rye whiskies, seven Bourbon +whiskies, eleven Scotch and Irish whiskies, thirteen varieties of +cocktails, two "toddies," three "sours," three "rickies," three +"cobblers," six "fizzes," two "flips," seven "punches," three "smashes," +and thirty-six "miscellaneous." The last is a most interesting section. +It includes the "Prairie Oyster," the "Millionaire," the "Pousse +l'Amour," the "Sam Ward," the "Russian Cooler," the "Japanese Cooler," +the "Golfer's Delight," the "Angel's Dream," the "Ladies' Puff," and the +"Glen View High Ball." Nearly all of these cost twenty or twenty-five +cents each.</p> + +<p>One may be most pleasurably lazy at Glen View. The club-house has some +forty bedrooms, with a fine equipment of shower and other baths, and the +usual telephone service to all the bedrooms with a complete telephone +exchange downstairs. The service and comfort are as good as they can be. +I liked the lounges and the shady verandahs, with rocking-chairs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> to tip +one away to a short dream on a hot afternoon of purling brooks on +English hills and woods in Wales. Yet when I awake I am satisfied. There +is no hurry here. In the mornings one would hear the men rising at six +o'clock and splashing themselves about in the bath department, and +generally becoming very active all at once. Some time later I would join +them at breakfast, and see them depart very early for their businesses +at Chicago. When they had gone one could settle down, and there were +ladies to chatter with or to play Chopin or something else on the piano. +It is necessary to take things a little easily during the early and hot +part of the day, because soon in the afternoon the men come back from +Chicago, and they are all energy and rush as if they had not spent a +howling morning in the "Pit" or one of the other great business centres. +One has to fall in with their schemes of activity, which endure until +the evening meal, taken in an easy way of <i>en famille</i> in the restaurant +of the club, luscious green corn to begin with and the most appetising +dishes later, with laughter and gossip always. And later in the evening +David Noyes and I might sit in the dark on the verandah, and under those +stars of Illinois speak of the differences between English people and +the Americans as we respectively saw them. We understood each other and +could be frank. "The worst of America," said I, "is that it has no soul, +and the Americans have none either." "Well," said he; "but we have big +hearts." Agreed. He is a leading broker in the "Pit" at Chicago, the +great wheat market of the world, and one morning he took me there and I +met many golfers I knew round about those four screeching masses of men +who make of this place a babel and such an exhibition of raw fighting +human nature as, with all its differences, I can only compare with the +same brilliant and yet ugly show<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> that is made in the rooms of the +Casino at Monte Carlo. It is raw life on the strain at both places—hot +seething life. The reposeful Glen View is needed for the people who +barter there.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Massachusetts is a fine golfing land, and it rose to the heights in +1913. After gaiety in New York, and amazement at Chicago, you should go +to Boston. And really they who live there have reason for their pride. +There is no other town or city in the United States or Canada that has +anything like such an English flavour as this in the New England. There +are times when we wander along the great thoroughfare, Washington +Street, or turn up one of the side avenues like Boylston, that the +American idea for a moment ceases to press closely upon us, and when we +pass the old churches, wander through historic chambers Georgian in +their style, look into the Faneuil Hall, or into the old-fashioned +market, or go down to the shipping in the docks where our Boston man +will surely take us, that we may see the place of the "tea party," as +they call it now, which had vast consequences to the States and England +when taxes were made and were rejected—then in the New England we feel +the old one there. And, of course, the wandering Englishman is taken out +to Bunker Hill as well. Though with all Americans their spirit of +independence is an obsession, and it seems sometimes that they like to +think of themselves as a new race of people come up out of nothing or +from heaven, owing nothing to any other race, yet at Boston I suspect +they are a trifle glad that they and their city are not like the others, +but are something more English in their way. There is a difference in +the atmosphere. A certain ease is possible, a culture is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> apparent. +Streets and shops do not look as if they had been cut out by machinery +at the same time that the streets and shops of a dozen other cities were +being cut, and all life is not mathematically arranged and standardised. +If an American university is not at all like either Oxford or Cambridge, +still Harvard is an influence, and Harvard is at Cambridge, a near +suburb of Boston. The result of it all is that we feel something of the +old atmosphere of home and are stimulated. Boston grows upon us very +rapidly. The father of one of my good American friends, Mr. John G. +Anderson, who has gone on golfing expeditions with me in England, +Scotland, France and the United States, is a Scot with a great love for +his home country, and our rambles round old Boston have been of a +peculiarly interesting kind. And when in Boston, and the car of a friend +comes along to the Touraine in the morning, we throw the clubs in the +back of it, and get up with just that feeling of having a sporting day +ahead that one develops in the country at home and hardly anywhere else.</p> + +<p>There are many courses round about Boston, and there are four of them, +all quite different from each other, of which I shall have a clear +recollection always. Two have very special places of their own in +American golf, one being The Country Club of Brookline already +described. Massachusetts itself will not be called a "state" like other +states, but is a "commonwealth," and The Country Club is not the Boston +Country Club or the Brookline Country Club, but The Country Club, and +visitors who would be appreciative and make no <i>faux pas</i> are +recommended to keep the point in mind, the reason being that this one, +with its charter of incorporation away back in the eighteenth century, +was the first of all the country clubs in America, and is dignified +accordingly.</p> + +<p>They do blow the place up in America when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> they determine to make a golf +course. Forest and rock are of no more hindrance to any idea or scheme +than a few daisies might be. I was strongly impressed with this view of +things when I was out one day at the Essex County Club at +Manchester-by-the-Sea, another of the outer-Boston courses. "Come to +golf at Essex in the morning; you will see something of the way in which +we do our golf in America that you have never seen before." Such was the +substance of an invitation from Mr. George F. Willett, one of the most +ardent and admirable leaders of the golfing movement in the Eastern +States. So in the morning golf at Essex, twenty miles out of Boston, was +the programme of the day, and by half-past ten we were on the first tee +preparing to drive from an eminence down towards low land in front. The +terms of the invitation were amply justified. Towards noon, when we +might be somewhere about the thirteenth or fourteenth hole, a great roar +and crashing sound came from the other side of the course in the +locality of the fifth hole, and looking towards it there was to be seen +a rising cloud of smoke, with masses of earth and splintered rocks being +hurled high into the air. A moment later and there was another deafening +bang and more earth, more rocks, and various stumps of trees were shot +up towards the sky. Bang! bang! bang!—ten times in the space of a few +seconds was this surprise repeated, and it began to seem that we must be +on Olympian links and that Jove himself or Hercules was bunkered. "It's +only Ross's men tinkering away at the new fourth," said my man +unconcernedly, as he ran down a long putt. A couple of minutes +afterwards we rounded a bend of the course, and as we did so some wild +yells were heard and a number of the Italian workmen were seen running +fast in our direction and then stopping suddenly to hide themselves +behind trees. Three more big bangs, more smoke, flying earth, flying +rocks and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> roots, and then as my partner played his brassey he +soliloquised that he had added, unintentionally, a touch of slice to the +stroke and was in the pot on the right. As to the noises, our part of +the course, I was assured, was perfectly safe. The three explosions were +made by Ross's Italians at the new fifth. Thirteen of them in five +minutes was perhaps a little unusual, but they were all over now, and, +as could be seen, the Italians, with sundry calls to each other, were +moving back towards the place they had sprinted from. The object of this +concentration of noise and disturbance in five minutes, it was +explained, was to give the full body of workmen plenty to do as soon as +they resumed after their midday meal.</p> + +<p>The truth is, that golf at Essex, when I was first there, was undergoing +a great and most wonderful transformation, regardless of cost, +regardless of the magnitude and seeming impossibilities of the task, +regardless of everything, but caused by the insatiable desire of the +American golfer to have courses that are as good as they can be. To +satisfy this desire he is everywhere pulling Nature to pieces and +reconstructing her, doing his work deftly and skilfully, and with a good +eye for pleasing effect. At the finish you might think that, save for +the putting greens and bunkers, it was all the simple work of the mother +of earth herself in her gentler moods, smooth swards for rocks, and +chaste glades where forests were. This transformation and extension of +American golf and the way it is being done is most amazing. All the old +courses are being lengthened and greatly improved, and new ones of +first-class quality are being made in large numbers. When it is desired +to make changes and extensions on a British course the work that has to +be done is not generally of a very formidable character. Some tolerably +smooth sort of land is frequently available, and alternatives to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> +existing holes may be planned. But even so, the question of expense +seems often to be a fearsome thing, and a year or more of thought and +yet another year for action are commonly needed. A thousand pounds or +two thousand seems to be a mighty sum to spend, but for all that we +think that in the south, at all events, we are doing our golf on a very +grand scale in these days. And when I think of St. George's Hill and +Coombe Hill and others of their kind I know we are doing it on a very +fine scale. But the case of America at present is most specially +remarkable. In the Eastern States particularly, the courses have had for +the most part to be carved out of virgin forests. Tens of thousands of +tons of rocks have had to be blasted, and hundreds of acres of swamps +drained before the fairways could be laid and sown with grass. Such work +is having to be done now for the extensions and improvements, and it is +wonderfully done. The committees appear to take about a week to think +about it, a day to decide, and then in two or three months, with the +help of dynamite, tree-fellers, and hundreds of foreign workmen, the new +scheme is carried through. The cost is not considered till afterwards, +and then it never worries, but it is enormous. Here at Essex, the chief +work that was being done was the addition of a total of 175 yards only +to the fourth and fifth holes, which were to be given new numbers, and +this little bit of lengthening, with the tree-felling, the splendid +draining of a swamp, and the use of 400 lbs. of dynamite on the rocks, +was costing 10,000 dollars or £2000. Some other alterations and new +constructions were being done, and the course, one of fine undulations, +well-planned bunkering, magnificent putting greens, and glorious +scenery, was being brought to perfection. The work was being carried out +under the direction of Mr. Donald J. Ross, the chief superintendent of +the club and course, who was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> once a Dornoch man. He thinks out his +construction schemes in the grand way, and he is going about America +blowing hundreds of acres of it up into the air and planting smooth +courses upon the levelled remains. Shortly before this, they called him +up to a mountainous place at Dixville Notch, in New Hampshire, to plan a +new nine-holes course that had to be cut out of solid rock, at a cost of +£10,000. No golfer had ever been to that place, and the first had yet to +arrive when the promoters wrote hurriedly to Mr. Ross, not long back +home, saying: "We are convinced that it will soon be necessary to have a +longer course, and are very desirous that you will come at once to lay +one out on Panorama Hill." It will cost £20,000, but that does not +matter. Golf is demanded everywhere in America, and it must be supplied. +A little extra space was required for play by the Rhode Island Country +Club at Narragansett, so, with Ross's help they took forty acres from +the sea, and are now playing the game where a year previously the waves +were rolling. Again, this remarkable golf engineer a little while since +finished his work on the very first course that has been laid out in +Cuba. I do not know what the future of American golf will be, but its +present is a bewildering, astonishing thing.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>"Yes, but wait until you see Myopia!" I was not glad to leave Essex, but +I was happy to go from there to the Myopia Hunt Club a few miles distant +(and may I never forget that glorious ride in Mr. Willett's big car, +along the winding road fringed with silver birches and autumn-tinted +foliage, past placid little lakes, through some of the country of +chastest charm in New England!), for Myopia is America's golfing pride. +Besides, it is one of the few American courses that have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> a wide +international reputation. Remember the astonishment when Andrew +Kirkaldy, a St. Andrews golfer, if ever there was one, a man believing +in the old course of Fifeshire as a Mussulman believes in Mecca, came +back from an American tour and declared to British people that Myopia +was the best course in the world! So we approach one American golf +course with wonder and a certain awe. There are other reasons for doing +so if we only knew them beforehand. Traditions and old dignity are +strongly attached to it, and this Myopia is such a club for high feeling +and exclusiveness as would do credit to any institution we have at home, +golf or otherwise. It is, at the very least, as difficult to become a +member of Myopia as of the Royal and Ancient. If I dared I would say it +is more so. Myopia, I am told, will use the black ball with joy when +there is a candidate at the doors. It might be easier in some +circumstances for a man to become the President of the United States +than to become a member of the Myopia Hunt Club. The dignity of Myopia +exudes from the timbers of its long, quaint club-house. The ceilings are +low, while the walls are panelled and are really old, for in quite early +days of New England this, or part of it, was a farm-house.</p> + +<p>The name of the club in this case has nothing to do with golf, nor with +the name of a place, for the place is Hamilton. Myopia is a technical +term for near-sight. The original members despised the game, and as for +letting it influence them in their choice of name of the club, such a +thing is inconceivable. Originally, and for long afterwards, and +primarily even now, Myopia is a hunt club; it prides itself on being so, +and when anybody asks one of the old hunting members if they do not +possess a good golf course there, he might say he supposed they did play +some game with that name there sometimes. In the early days, I believe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> +that many of the members wore coloured glasses for some reasons +connected with their sight, and it was through this that the name of the +club was given. Golf was a very late addition, and some of the old +hunting-men, whom you will see moving about the club-house in real and +unaffected riding costume as hardly anywhere else in America, feel a +little sore about it still, and it is even now the fact that the hunting +section keep to themselves in one part of the club and the golfers to +themselves in their part, with such as Mr. Herbert Leeds and one or two +others in both. Mr. Leeds showed me some of the old prints on the walls +illustrating the race meetings that had taken place there in almost +prehistoric times, and some mementoes of the early days of the golf +club, together with the score card of George Duncan's record round on +the course. I hope you realise that Myopia is not an ordinary golf club; +I did so within a minute of my arrival there.</p> + +<p>The course is not like others in America. It is almost more of the open +heathland sort of course than any other I have tramped over while in the +country. It is a little barer, seemingly a little wilder than most of +the others, and none the worse for that. Its putting-greens are capital, +and at some of the holes, if not all, I have certainly trodden on turf +that is better than anything else that my feet have touched on that side +of the Atlantic. I remember that I nearly shouted with delight to my +partner when I came upon the first stretch of it—green and soft and +velvety. But it was not all like that, and in some respects I do think +that, splendid as the course is, praise of it has been a little +overdone. Yet on the other hand it is certainly a course that grows on +the constant player there, and reveals new subtleties to him every time +of playing. That after all is the test of a great course. +Architecturally<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> many of the holes are splendid. I do not quite like the +idea of the man having to drive uphill at the first hole, but the +tee-shot has most decidedly to be placed—to the left—or the player has +the most fearful approach that he might ever dream of after the most +indigestible dinner. The fourth hole is a splendid one of the dog-leg +kind, a drive and an iron with the green very well bunkered, and some +very low land to the left which is a constant attraction to the +weak-minded ball. Then for my own part I liked the tenth very much, for +a big drive has to be done over some high ground with a bunker away to +the right that draws hard at sliced balls, while the green is one of the +nicest and most prettily guarded. I lingered about it for some time in +an admiring way. The last hole also has infinitely more in it than +appears at the first glance, for here again a big bunker jutting into +the edge of the green and to the right is a strong factor, especially +when the pin is behind it; and if the hero does not place his tee-shot +to the left, and within a very little space there, too, he will be +sorry. It is 6335 yards round the course. In the club-house over the +tea-cups, on the occasion of my first visit, I pondered upon the +marvellous excellence of Duncan's record round, and paid some most +sincere compliments to Mr. Leeds for the quality of the golf +architecture of Myopia, for it is he, after close study of the best +British models, who has been chiefly responsible for it.</p> + +<p>A day and night at the Brae Burn Country Club at West Newton, near +Boston, left a warm glow lingering in my mind. Here if anywhere in +America there is country charm and social delight. Nowhere is the idea +of the complete and happy social community of the country club better +developed. The course is a fine one, and here also, at the time of my +first visit, extensive works were being carried out, and some splendid +new<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> holes over heaving land were in the process of formation. They have +since been completed and the course has now risen to the highest +standard. The putting-greens are in the nicest and most beautiful +places, belts of trees line the fairway at several of the holes; there +are others in open country, and the short ones are uncommonly good. A +new one that they were making then, calling for a drive from a height +down to a pocket-handkerchief kind of green is one that I hope to be +puzzled at in the play within a few weeks of the moment when I write. I +had the happiness then to nominate the situation of a new bunker at one +of the new holes, and sure I am that a momentary vexation will be the +result when I play that hole, for I, too, in America, have found that I +develop the American hook, which seems to be in the climate and the +soil. It was on this course that Harry Vardon in his all-conquering tour +in America in 1900 sustained his only defeat. Our dinner-party in the +club-house in the evening is an unforgettable reminiscence. It was a +good-fellowship golfing party such as this game only can bring about. +Mr. Harry L. Ayer, Mr. E. A. Wilkie, Mr. George Gilbert, Mr. C. I. +Travelli, good Anderson and self talked our golf, British and American, +to the full extent of a good ability. One of the topics was club +captaincy, and the discussion we had may lead to the creation of the +office at Brae Burn and elsewhere, for it is a curious thing that the +American clubs have never thought of creating captains, and this +community was rather pleased with the idea. It is an office that a golf +club needs. If the captain is the right man, if he is chosen for his +past service, for his present strength, and for his tact and quality as +man and golfer, he can do much for a club, and his appointment is a +recognition that a club needs for its best and most faithful men.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span></p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>The country round about New York abounds in interesting golfing places, +and if inclination were followed there should be descriptions given of +Nassau, of Apawamis (not forgetting the rock to the right of the first +green there which an English ball most usefully struck when the +thirty-seventh hole was being played in the final of the American +championship, Mr. Fred Herreshoff, finalist, being loser thereby), of +Garden City, Baltusrol, and many other good golfing places in these +parts. Garden City is a name familiar to golfers in Britain, because it +is the place where Mr. Walter J. Travis came from when he won the +championship at Sandwich. If it lacks some of the boldness of feature of +some of the later American courses, yet this is a fine testing course, +thoroughly—and so deeply!—bunkered, and with splendid putting-greens, +and all the place round about is very pleasant. And now I am very +anxious to see Piping Rock, as I soon expect to do.</p> + +<p>There are good reasons for making a journey by the Pennsylvania railroad +from New York to Washington. One must pay the visitor's homage to the +seat of American government and experience the feeling of being at the +heart of the States, with its magnificent buildings and its historical +remembrances. It is an intensely interesting place. At the White House +there is Mr. President Wilson who is a golfer, as ex-President Taft was, +and remains one of the keenest in the land. Mr. Taft will write +enthusiastically about the game, and make speeches about it when he +thinks it proper. "My advice to the middle-aged and older men who have +never played golf," he says, "is to take it up. It will be a rest and +recreation from business cares, out of which they will get an immense<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> +amount of pleasure, and at the same time increase their physical vigour +and capacity for work as well as improve their health." And he also +says, "Preceding the election campaign in which I was successful, there +were many of my sympathisers and supporters who deprecated its becoming +known that I was addicted to golf, as an evidence of aristocratic +tendencies and a desire to play only a rich man's game. You know, and I +know, that there is nothing more democratic than golf, and there is +nothing which furnishes a greater test of character and self-restraint, +nothing which puts one more on an equality with one's fellows—or, I may +say, puts one lower than one's fellows—than the game of golf. If there +is any game that will instil in one's heart a more intense feeling of +self-abasement and humiliation than the game of golf, I should like to +know what it is." One who was in office there told me something of his +enthusiasm for the game. I asked him how often Mr. Taft had played when +he was there in the golfing season. The answer was that Mr. Taft used to +play every day, positively every day, and some of those who played with +him indicated to me what a very thorough and determined golfer he was. +It might be said of the ex-President that he has spent more time in +bunkers than most citizens, because he has generally insisted on playing +out, no matter how many strokes have been needed. He has been playing +now for sixteen years, and is quite one of the oldest American golfers +in point of service to the game. Nothing can take away from him the +distinction of having been the first President of the United States to +play what they have determined shall be their national game.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>I had a happy experience when one day I left New York, where it was most +swelteringly hot, and went<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> up into the Green Mountains of Vermont for +golf at the Ekwanok Country Club. A friend, Mr. Henry W. Brown of +Philadelphia, who had played with me at my favourite Brancaster in +Norfolk once, had heard I was somewhere in America and sent a letter to +me directed to a chance address, which, being a golfing kind of +address, found me with little delay. "Come," said Brown, "to +Manchester-in-the-Mountains in Vermont. You ought to see our quite +famous Ekwanok course, and I can promise you some fine mountain air, +good golf, and a hearty welcome. If you will tell me what train you will +come by, I will meet you with the car at Manchester Station." A moment's +hesitation dissolved in firm decision and action, which took the form of +a taxi-cab to the New York Central Station, and the north-bound train +which left at twenty minutes to one in the afternoon. Then along we went +by the Hudson river, up which I had sailed from Albany a year before, +past the Palisades, past Poughkeepsie and the Catskill Mountains, +through Troy and Albany, and as the daylight waned we were mounting +upwards through the hills of sweet Vermont. At a quarter to eight the +train reached Manchester, Brown and his car were waiting there, and we +sped along the main street to his home.</p> + +<p>It seemed that the silver moonlight was shining not upon an earthen road +but glistening on snow. Little villas like chalets and chateaux of +Switzerland lined the way and the people living in them could be heard +in their laughter and song, for the dinner time was just gone by and +yellow light shone from the windows, making that happy contrast with the +coldness of the moonshine, that speaks of home and comfort. We passed +the great hotel where five hundred people are constantly gathered +together in the summer time from all parts of the States, and indeed +from places far beyond the States, for there are Britons in numbers +here, and travellers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> from Africa and the deep southern lands, making +such a cosmopolitan gathering of its size for drawing-rooms and bridge +parties and the usual orderings of social gatherings as is not easily to +be matched. And there is an amazing vivacity among all these people, for +two reasons, one being that the American spirit at its best pervades, +and the other that it is Ekwanok, the heartening, the vigour-making, the +youth-restoring. In New York and Chicago at the end of the day one is a +little apt to think of the wear and tear of life and the fading capacity +of a good constitution; high up in the mountains of Vermont, in the +shadow of the hills of Equinox, one revels in fresh youth again and has +no more envy for the lad of twenty. And that again is a reason why +Ekwanok is not like the other golfing places of America, and another +following upon it is that this is, so far as I have discovered, the only +truly golfing holiday resort in all the States, a place to which people +go for the pleasure of the happy game and for hardly anything else, a +place that lives and thrives on golf. From far and wide the Americans +come to it and leave all their work behind, and are happy and leisurely +as you rarely see them at other times. In Britain we have a very large +number of resorts that are for holiday golf alone, and more are coming +all the time, but this is a feature of golf that America in general has +yet to know. If it comes to that, Manchester-in-the-Mountains is not so +very high (that is a rather curious association of English +ideas—Manchester and mountains, dingy streets with the smoke-thickened +atmosphere of the Lancashire city and the big bold hills of God), but +here is the mountain scent, enlivening, heartening. The house of my +host, Breezy Bank as it is called, is set at the foot of one big +mountain and looks across the green valley, where the golf course lies, +out toward another—a delightful abode. A log fire<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> burned red on the +big hearth, a kind hostess gave us welcome, and after a supper that +embraced fresh green corn (it is the essence of the enjoyment of green +corn that it should be taken quickly from the growing to the kitchen), +we talked, over cigars and coffee, golf from one end of the game to the +other, and right across it, and handled clubs, until bedtime came. Brown +is keen, and he has sound views on the influence of the game on national +character.</p> + +<p>Next morning, with sunlight and breeze, we went along to the course, so +near that a ball could have been driven to it from the lawn of Breezy +Bank, where the master has been known to practise mashie shots by +moonlight, and I was joined in foursome with Mr. Walter Fairbanks of +Denver, Colorado, against B. and his son Theodore. What then happened is +of no consequence; the tale may be told in Colorado but not in England. +But the course—it is splendid, and reflects an infinity of credit upon +Mr. James L. Taylor, the first in command, who has for the most part +designed it, has constantly improved it, and has made it what it is. All +the holes have abundant character. They are up and down, straight and +crooked, interesting always, with a good fairway that gives fine lies to +the ball, and putting-greens of the smoothest sort. We drove first down +a hill with a slanting hazard that made awful menace to a slice, then up +again and away out to the far parts, with some very pretty short holes. +The gem of the collection of eighteen is the seventh, which has been +called, and with some fitness, the King of American Holes. A great, +fine, lusty piece of golf it is, 537 yards from the tee to the green, +and every shot has to be a thoughtful, strong, and well-directed shot, +with no girl's golf in it anywhere. It is a down drive from the +high-placed tee, and the land below heaves over in a curious twisted way +that demands very exact placing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> of the ball. Then there is a strong and +straight second to be played over a high ridge in front into which big +bunkers have been cut. Afterwards there is plain country to a +well-protected green. It is a great hole, a romantic one, and is well +remembered. Some of the drive-and-iron holes that follow are splendid +things, and this course was very well chosen for the Amateur +Championship Meeting in 1914. When we were leaving it at the end of that +day, the sun had just gone down behind big Equinox Hill, but presently +and by surprise he sent a last good-bye. Round the mountain side a +golden bar of light was cast, and it spread along the olive-coloured +hill across the shadowed valley like a clean-cut shining stripe or a +monotinted rainbow. These were the glorious Green Mountains of Vermont! +We tarried until the sun went right away, and took with it that parting +beam, and, sighing, we passed along.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>I have left to the last of these few remembrances, what is in many +respects the greatest of American courses—the National Golf Links at +the far end of Long Island. In recent times it has probably been more +discussed than any other course on earth. A while since a number of very +wealthy, ambitious, and determined golfers put their heads and their +money together, and decided on the establishment of something as near +perfection as they could reach. In pursuit of this idea they have so +far, as I am informed, spent about two hundred thousand dollars, and are +in the act of spending many more thousands. They have their reward in a +magnificent creation, as great in result as in idea, or nearly. All the +people in the golf world have heard by this time of this National Links, +and have no doubt wondered upon it, and the extent to which the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> +extraordinary scheme that was developed a few years ago has been +realised. It has been referred to as "the amazing experiment," and "the +millionaires' dream," and so forth. Undoubtedly in its conception it was +the grandest golfing scheme ever attempted. It came about in this way. +America, with all its golf and money and enthusiasm, was without any +course which might be compared with our first-class seaside links, the +chief reason for her deficiency being that nowhere on either of her +seaboards could be discovered a piece of land which was of the real +British golfing kind. But at last a tract was found nearly at the end of +Long Island, about ninety miles from New York, which was believed to be +nearly the right thing. It was taken possession of by a golfing +syndicate, and they determined there to do their very best. The question +of expense was not to be considered in the matter. A member of the +syndicate, Mr. Charles B. Macdonald, an old St. Andrews man, and one of +wide golfing knowledge and experience, went abroad to study, photograph, +and make plans of the best holes in Great Britain and on the continent. +The whole world of golf was laid under tribute to assist in the creation +of this wonder course. After exhaustive consideration a course was +decided upon which was to embrace, in a certain reasonable measure, +features of such eminent holes as the third, eleventh, and seventeenth +at St. Andrews, the Cardinal and the Alps at Prestwick, the fifth and +ninth at Brancaster, the Sahara at Sandwich, the Redan at North Berwick, +and some others. The scheme was modified somewhat as the work +progressed, but in due course the National Golf Links, a string of +pearls as it was intended to be, was opened. Many different reports have +been circulated as to the quality of the course, and the extent to which +the object has been achieved. It has been described both as a failure +and as a magnificent success.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p> + +<p>I preferred to go there alone and see things for myself without +explanations and influences. A certain penalty had, however, to be paid +for this enterprise. I shall not soon forget my journey to the +Shinnecock Hills out at the end of the Island, nor the journey back +again. It was on a glorious Sunday morning in October that I went to the +Pennsylvania station and took train there for Shinnecock, which was a +three-hours' journey along the line. In getting out at Shinnecock I was +nearest to the course, but there were no cars waiting there, and the +tramp that had to be made across country for two or three miles was one +that might have suited an Indian brave better than it suited me, +although I have an instinct and a desire always to find things and ways +out for myself rather than be told and led. It was nearly noon; the sun +was high, and it was burning fiercely. The so-called path was something +of a delusion. It was more of a trail through a virgin bush country with +a tendency to swamp here and there, and occasionallv one was led to a +cul-de-sac. I could see the National Golf Links a little way ahead all +the time. There was a big water cistern standing out against the +sky-line, and there were some smoothly laid out holes, but grapes were +never more tantalising to any fox than those holes are to the wanderer +who tries to get there from Shinnecock along a route over which a crow +might fly, and who determines that he will discover the elusive secrets +of the National Links, however dearly the expedition may cost him. +However, the enterprise succeeded, and the journey back from the course +to the Southampton station was also accomplished despite the prevailing +difficulties, and, with the sense of something having been attempted and +done, we rode home on the Pennsylvania, and were back in New York by the +same night—about the hardest day's golf business I have ever done.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p> + +<p>A certain disappointment is inevitably threatened when one visits a +course of this kind about which one has heard so much beforehand. An +ideal is established in the mind which cannot possibly be realised, and +it is the fault of nobody. We do not know exactly what it is that we +hope to see, but it is something beyond the power of man and Nature to +achieve. But the National is a great course, a very great course. It is +charmingly situated, most excellently appointed, and bears evidence of +the most thorough and intelligent treatment by its constructors. Any +preliminary disappointment there may have been soon wears away as the +real excellence of the course and its difficulties are appreciated. Had +we heard nothing of this copying, and did we not make comparisons +between new and old in the mind, through which that which is new does +not often survive, we should glory in the National at the first +inspection of it. And the fact is, that the comparisons we suggest ought +never to be made, though I, for one, was not aware of that till +afterwards. Absolute copying was never intended; only the governing +features of the British holes, the points that gave the character and +quality to them, were imitated so far as could be done. That has been +done very well, and some of the holes are very fine things. Those the +design of which is based on such gems as the sixth at Brancaster and the +eleventh at St. Andrews are very well recognisable. I should like to +write much more about this course; it is a strong temptation. If I +thought less of it and did not realise its greatness as I do, I should +yield to the desire, and yielding, might rashly criticise as well as +praise. But there is an imperative restraint. Upon a moderate course, or +even a very good one, you may sometimes, if sufficiently self-confident, +judge in one day's experience. But there are courses which, not because +they grow upon you as we say, but because they command a higher respect<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +at once than is given to others, which do not permit of such +presumption. I saw the National on one day only, though I hope to see it +many times again, and to gain courage for comment upon it. Now, with cap +in hand, I can only signify my respect and full appreciation that here +is something that is by no means of an ordinary kind, the accomplishment +of a magnificent enterprise, and no doubt the achievement of a great +ideal. But I shall say, at any rate, that a links more gloriously +situated than this one in Peconic Bay, with pretty creeks running into +the land here and there, and hill views at the back, could hardly be +imagined. The view as I beheld it from different parts on that peaceful +sunny Sunday afternoon is one that I never shall forget. It is the ideal +situation for a national course.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>To Mr. Macdonald thus belongs the credit for the initiation of what we +may call the higher golf in America. In the last few years this movement +has made strides as long and rapid in the United States as it has done +in England, and above all other countries in the world America, which is +so much dependent on her inland golf, having scarcely any other, is the +country for this movement to be carried to its ultimate legitimate +point. The day for very plain and purely and obviously artificial +construction of inland golf courses is gone, the original inland system +in all its stupidity and its surrender to difficulties has become +archaic. It has come to be realised in this business that man may +associate himself with Nature in a magnificent enterprise, and only now +is it understood that this golf course construction is, or may be, a +really splendid art. Landscape gardening is a fine thing in the way of +modelling in earth and with the assistance of trees and plants and +flowers and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> the natural forces, while engineering across rivers and +mountains is grander perhaps; but in each of these the man takes his +piece of the world from Nature and shovels it and smashes it, and then, +according to his own fancy and to suit his own needs, he arranges it all +over again. But in the making of a golf course, while we have indeed to +see that certain requirements of our own are well suited, knowing how +particular and hyper-critical we have become, yet we wish to keep to +plain bold Nature too, and we want our best work to be thoroughly in +harmony with her originals. I believe that if we could express it +properly to ourselves, we wish now to make our golf courses look as if +they were fashioned at the tail-end of things on the evening of the +sixth day of the creation of the world—just when thoughts had to be +turning to the rest and happinesses of the seventh. And so the great +architect now takes a hundred acres or more of plain rough land and +forest, hills and dales among it, and with magnificent imagination +shapes it to his fancy. The work he now does will endure in part, if not +in whole, for ages hence, and so it is deeply responsible. It is a +splendid art; I do not hesitate to say it is a noble art.</p> + +<p>Mr. Colt, with his great thoughts and his splendid skill, has done fine +work in several parts of the United States. The new courses of the +Mayfield Country Club, and of the Country Club of Detroit, are splendid +things. But Mr. Macdonald's creations—for more of them now follow upon +the original at Southampton—are destined to be leading influences in +the new American golf course construction. I have had some interesting +talk with him upon these matters, and am glad to find that he is artist +and creator enough to have the full strength of his own original +opinions in this matter, especially as in some ways his ideals differ +from those commonly accepted in Britain. I have been so much interested +in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> his views, and I think that these views are destined to have such an +enormous influence upon American golf in the future, that I have asked +him for some brief statement of them, an enunciation of his creed as an +architect of courses, and he has kindly made it to me in writing, as +follows:—</p> + +<p>"To begin with, I think the tendency to-day is to overdo matters +somewhat, making courses too long, too difficult, and with too much +sameness in the construction of two-shot holes. To my mind a course over +6400 yards becomes tiresome. I would not have more than eight two-shot +holes, and in constructing them I should not follow the ideas or fancies +of any one golf architect, but should endeavour to take the best from +each. While it is the fashion now to decry the construction of a hole +involving the principles of the Alps or seventeenth at Prestwick, I +favour two blind holes of that character—one constructed similar to the +Alps, and another of the punch-bowl variety of hole some fifty yards +longer than the Alps. It is interesting now to read the 'best hole' +discussion that took place in 1901. The leading golfers of that time +were almost unanimous in pronouncing the Alps at Prestwick the best +two-shot hole in the world. The eleventh at St. Andrews and the Redan at +North Berwick were almost unanimously picked as the best one-shot holes.</p> + +<p>"To my mind there should be four one-shot holes, namely, 130, 160, 190, +and 220 yards. These holes should be so constructed that a player can +see from the tee where the flag enters the hole. The shorter the hole +the smaller should be the green, and the more closely should it be +bunkered. The most difficult hole in golf to construct interestingly is +a three-shot hole, of which I would place two in the eighteen, one 520 +yards and the other 540. The putting greens at these holes should be +spacious.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p> + +<p>"This leaves us four drive-and-pitch holes—280, 300, 320, and 340 yards +in length. These should have relatively small greens and be closely +bunkered, one or two of them having the putting greens open on one side +or corner so as to give a powerful, long, courageous driver, who +successfully accomplishes the long carry, the advantage of a short run +up to the green. The size and contour of the putting green and the +bunkering should depend upon the character and length of the hole. The +principle of the dog's hind leg can be made a feature of several holes +advantageously. The gradients between the tee and the hole should be +made use of in bunkering. Whenever it is possible it is best that the +bunkers should be in view. A number of the holes should be built with +diagonal bunkers, or bunkers <i>en echelon</i>, so constructed that the +player who takes the longer carry shall have an advantage over the man +who takes the shorter carry. The hazards for the second shot should be +so placed and designed as to give a well-placed tee shot every +advantage—in other words, should make a man play his first stroke in +relation to the second shot. There should be at least three tees for +every hole, to take care not only of an adverse or favourable wind, but +also of the calibre of the player. It is necessary on a first-class golf +course to have short tees for the poorer players, otherwise they are +everlastingly in the bunkers. The lengths which I give should be +measured from the middle of the middle tee to the middle of the putting +green."</p> + +<p>There is so much knowledge and good suggestion in this statement, and +the matter is of such high consequence, that every player of the game +should think well upon it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>THE U. S. G. A., AND THE METHODS OF THE BUSINESS-MAN GOLFER, WITH A +REMARKABLE DEVELOPMENT OF MUNICIPAL GOLF.</h3> + + +<p>People in England or Scotland do not quite understand what a splendid +thing for American golf is the United States Golf Association. It is so +absolutely necessary for the game in America that I am sure there would +be little that is like golf there now if there had been no U. S. G. A., +with its loyalty and attachment to St. Andrews. There would be few +Americans coming to play on the links of the homeland of the game, and +there would be no British golfers wandering happily among the American +courses. American golf would have become as much like the old game as +American college football is like the football that is played at Oxford +and Cambridge, which is to say that it is not at all like it. America is +not a country small in space like our own happy islands. There it is in +its millions of miles, new everywhere, and with little communities of +golfers so far apart as New York and San Francisco, Massachusetts and +Arizona, and isolated golfers in the loneliest places trying to bring +others to their pastime for the matches they would have. What should all +these people, away from all the influences of the home of the game, hot +with the spirit of freedom, unrestrained by laws and conventionalities, +eager to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> do things better than they have been done before—what should +they care for St. Andrews and traditions, and the preservation of the +unity of the game? As sure as eagles fly, and stars are bright, they +would have made it to suit themselves in every community. Here they +would have abolished the stymie, in another place they would have +changed the size of the hole, away in Texas they might have permitted +the introduction of the "mechanical contrivance," and soon there would +have been a hundred golfs in the States, and not a real one among them. +Just when this possibility, without being an immediate probability, was +arising the U. S. G. A. came into existence. It joined all the golfers +of America together in a republic for the preservation of the unity of +the game, and for the promotion of its welfare in the spirit that the +game had been cultivated in the homeland. And being thus given power, it +has ruled with a strong hand. It has kept American golf in order as +nothing else could have done, and as a governmental machine, I who have +made some close examination of it, regard it as perfect, which is not to +say that we need such a thing in Britain. In America I have had the +pleasure of the intimate acquaintance of Mr. Robert Watson, Mr. Silas H. +Strawn, Mr. G. Herbert Windeler, Mr. William Fellowes Morgan, Mr. Harry +L. Ayer, Mr. John Reid, junior, and many others of the leaders of the +Union, and better men for the direction of such a game as golf, in whose +hands it is quite safe, there could not be. They hold the right spirit +of the game, and they are wise men, conservative in their golfing ways. +Mr. Windeler indeed is an old British golfer like Mr. Macdonald, who was +one of the original gathering that established the U. S. G. A. In the +December of 1894 the representatives of five of the leading clubs met +and framed the constitution of the U. S. G. A., and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> Mr. Theodore A. +Havemeyer, of the Newport Club, was chosen president.</p> + +<p>The constitution of the U.S.G.A. is an interesting study. There are two +classes of members, active and allied, and the difference is that the +active members, who exercise control, are clubs that have been steadied +by age and experience, and have acquired dignity. The definition in the +constitution is made thus: "Any regularly organised club in the United +States, supporting and maintaining a golf course of at least nine holes, +and whose reputation and general policy are in accord with the best +traditions and the high ideals of the game, shall be eligible to +election as an Active Member." Then, as to the Allied Members, it is +said that—"Any regularly organised club of good reputation in the +United States shall be eligible to election as an Allied Member." There +are far more allied members than there are active members, and the +former are only admitted to the latter when they have thoroughly proved +their worth. Thus the allied clubs have always an ambition before them, +and they can only achieve it by conducting their golf on the best and +oldest plan. At every meeting of the Association each active club is +entitled to be represented by one voting delegate whose appointment has +to be certified in advance by his club to the secretary of the +Association. Allied clubs have no voting privileges, but all members of +active and allied clubs have the right to attend all meetings of the +Association, and to participate in the discussion of any question. The +active clubs pay thirty dollars a year for subscription, and the allied +clubs pay ten. Article IX. of the Constitution gives the Association its +power and authority. It says: "The acceptance of membership in the +Association shall bind each club to uphold all the provisions of the +Constitution, bye-laws, and other rules of the Association; and to +accept and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> enforce all rules and decisions of the Executive Committee +acting within its jurisdiction. Any club failing in its obligations as +above set forth may be suspended or expelled by a two-thirds vote of the +Association, or by a two-thirds vote of all members of the Executive +Committee; provided such club shall have been given due notice of the +charge or charges preferred against it, and an opportunity to be heard +in its own defence. Any club thus suspended or expelled by vote of the +Executive Committee may appeal from its decision to the delegates at any +annual or special meeting of the Association."</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>After this about the machinery of American golf, consider the men. There +are three classes of golfers in the United States, corresponding to some +extent to similar classes in Britain, but they are rather more sharply +defined than with us. There is the class that regards the game as a +sport for competition, almost as a form of athletics, being mainly but +not exclusively the younger class; there is the business-man class that +believes in it as the ideal, and indeed the only recreation satisfying +the needs of the times as a relaxation from the strain of life and work, +and a means of promoting physical and mental efficiency, such people +being as with us the largest section and the mainstay in one sense of +the game; and there is the humbler class who play upon the public +courses.</p> + +<p>I do not believe after the closest observation and most impartial +consideration that the best American golfers are yet quite so good as +ours, but in recent years they have been rapidly lessening the gap that +has existed, their thoroughness, determination, and efficiency are most +wonderful, and if they had our courses and climate they might become +better than we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> are. They think they will anyhow. As it is they are +handicapped by lack of full-blooded seaside courses, and a climate that +is by no means ideal for the game; and although by their zeal they have +to some extent discounted that handicap, I feel that they can only +neutralise it altogether and go beyond it by the production of the +occasional genius. The good Americans seem to me mostly to play what we +could call a plain, straight game. American courses are for the most +part without any sharp undulations; there is nothing in America like our +rolling seaside links. Therefore the players are not taught or induced +to be making allowances for this and that in all the days of their golf +from their youth upwards, and they have not the sea-coast winds to lead +them in the same way as we have. So they have good reason to play +straight to the hole, and never to depart from doing so without the most +obvious and pressing cause. It follows from this that the American +players have fewer "scientific" or "fancy" strokes at their disposal, +and those who have visited this country have been remarked upon for the +plain simplicity of their iron play. They seem to standardise their +shots. But assuming that this is their principle or their system, it +enables them to concentrate keenly and with fine effect on accuracy. +Delicacy of touch, splendid judgment of distance, and perfection of +execution are strong characteristics of the American players, who do not +need to be reminded that there are no bunkers in the air. It is the +straight game of the Americans with all its accuracy that is paying in +their matches against us. At the same time I think that the comparative +weakness of the Americans in wooden club play is a serious handicap to +them, and their courses need to be tightened up to improve it. That +"American hook" of theirs is a dangerous thing sometimes, and their +round flat swings are looked upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> by some of our best British +authorities with much suspicion.</p> + +<p>But there is one most important way in which they are scoring over us. +They are beating us in temperament, concentration, and determination, +and in the capacity to make the very most of their own game, so that not +a shot of it is wasted. This means very much. A man may be plus five, +but of such a temperament and such ways that he habitually wastes two or +three holes in a match through negligence or slackness. The Americans do +not waste holes in this way. They waste nothing. The game of which they +are capable is produced nearly every time at full quality and is made as +effective as it possibly can be. The utmost pains are taken over every +stroke; the man blames himself for nothing after it is made. His +concentration is enormous; he is often inclined to race through the +green, but his capacity for being slow and meditative, when necessary, +is great; and most noticeable again is his persistence, which is another +way of making the most of a game that a man possesses. Of course all +these remarks are applied to the two classes of players in a very +general way. There are many exceptions among the Americans and there are +many among our players, but that they do indicate the tendencies in the +two countries I am certain. The American game may not be as scientific +and complete as ours, but its more serious exponents do make the most of +it as ours do not, and probably the high importance that is attached to +the numerous first-class tournaments they have over there has something +to do with it. They believe in competitions more than we do.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>This matter of consideration and concentration is one to which every +player should give closer attention.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> His success is largely dependent +upon it. He may think he concentrates enormously as it is, more than on +anything else, but often he deceives himself. Not one man in ten gets as +much in effect out of his game as it is capable of. He walks to his ball +and plays some kind of a shot, with a more or less hazy idea of what it +is that he wishes to do. When he finds his object has not been +accomplished he suddenly remembers something, and it is a case of "I +should have known," or "If I had only thought," or "What a pity I did +not look." With such people a round of golf is a succession of regrets, +and it is the simple truth that the majority could do far better with +their game if they did not waste so much of it by carelessness, +thoughtlessness, and a sort of distraction which allows their minds to +wander to other things than the stroke in hand, and sometimes by their +conversation too. When a man has played a stroke he has quite sufficient +to occupy his mind for the next minute or two in considering how he +shall play the next one, and the many features of the case that will be +presented to him.</p> + +<p>It is a remunerative resolution to make at the beginning of the season, +to think deeply upon all the points of match play, and then exploit the +art of it with some thoroughness. It is not difficult. All who have +attended the Amateur Championship meetings and have been close observers +of what happens there can remember how even players of the very first +class in this most important of tournaments let themselves get beaten by +inferior players simply because they do not make the most of their game. +They forget things, do not think enough, and play strokes carelessly +because at the time of doing so they seem to feel it does not matter. No +stroke should ever be played as though it were not the most important of +the game—as it might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> turn out to be. The old maxim that if a thing is +worth doing at all it is worth doing well, applies with tremendous force +to match-play golf. Many a time when the result of a stroke played +exactly as intended, is not what was anticipated, through some of the +circumstances not having been taken into consideration, the mistake that +was made is obvious then. The man excuses himself by saying that he +cannot see and think of everything, but nine times out of ten he should +have seen. The most fatal mistake, however, that many players make in +the early part of the season when their match-playing qualities have not +been properly revived, is in their letting matches slip, in not pressing +home advantages that they gain, and, above all, being too indifferent +upon the future in the early part of a match, and too careless when they +get a lead. All this sounds very simple, very obvious, but it often +takes the best part of a season to drive the lessons home into the minds +of golfers who are losing matches through their weakness in fighting +quality.</p> + +<p>Now here are one or two samples of points in regard to which the golfer +constantly neglects to display his cunning and is the loser thereby. +Assuming that in the general way you can get as much length when it is +wanted as the other man, always try to make him play the odd to you. You +do so naturally with your tee shots and many of the others, but are not +really thinking at the time that you are wanting him to play the odd. +The man who is playing the odd, even from a very little way behind the +other, is at a much greater moral disadvantage than is often suspected, +and if the other man always noticed things as much as he should, he is +at a greater practical advantage than he realises, for if his opponent +fails he can see the cause of it, this remark applying especially to +what happens in the short game. How many putts have gone wrong that +never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> need have done had the man who made them watched what happened +when his adversary putted first! Then, again, on this point of making +the other man play the odd the case is constantly recurring where both +men are obliged to play short of some hazard, or to take a particular +line to a hole which is not the straight one. The man who goes second +will find it very much to his advantage if he tries to squeeze so +closely up to the point of danger as to be just nearer to it than the +other, the latter then having to play the odd and being then more +inclined to press with it and perhaps to miss it. The man who is playing +the odd is in a sense taking a shot into the unknown; the other man +knows everything. That is just the difference. Another stupid mistake +that many men make is to try experimental or fancy shots, perhaps with +clubs that are unfamiliar to them, just because the other man has played +two more. How many thousands of holes have been lost through that! The +experimental shot fails, the other man makes a good one, the +experimenter suddenly finds he has to fight for it, and a minute or two +later is watching his adversary take the honour from the next tee. +Again, what matches could have been won that were lost if the players +had only shown half the sense that Mr. Hilton did in the Amateur +Championship of 1912 at Prestwick, in picking his places for putting, as +it were, always, whenever possible, running up so that he would have to +putt uphill instead of down, the former being far the easier kind of +putting. Nowadays there are inclines on every green and round about the +hole, and a flat putt is a comparative rarity. But the average man never +thinks of these inclines until he has to play along them. The time for +most thinking about them is when making the stroke before, so that the +putt may be along the easiest line to the hole. This is not a question +of skill; it is simply one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> sense. A man can play short of the hole +or past it, or to the right or left, and there will be one point from +which the putting will be easier than the other. It may often happen +that it would pay better to be four yards past the hole than two short +of it, for you will not only have had the chance of holing, but the putt +back may be an uphill one.</p> + +<p>But with it all, the habit must be cultivated of thinking as much as +possible in advance—thinking quickly and acting with decision. +Questions of the value of practice swings have arisen lately. We have +seen rather too much of these practice swings in some quarters. We may +believe in the practice swing—just one or at most two. A man may be an +experienced golfer, and he may have played a certain stroke nearly a +million times before, but golf is essentially a game of fears and +doubts, and apart from just setting the right muscles in a state of +complete preparation for the task in hand a practice swing gives one a +little confidence. The shot is shaped; there is nothing to do but repeat +the stroke that has been made; it can be done. To that extent the +practice swing may be thoroughly recommended. But some members of the +young American School go farther than this, and it is questionable +whether they are wise. For one thing the delicate muscles and the +nervous system that are concerned with the stroke in hand are easily +tired, and if the shot is a long one needing power the odds are against +its being done so well after five practice swings as after one. Show me +the man who can drive his best and straightest after five practice +swings on the tee. Then there is the hesitation and doubt that are +induced. I believe that in most cases these players are really waiting +for an inspiration. They are not ready for the stroke they have to play. +Jack White in once confiding to me some of the secrets of his +successful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> putting, said that when he went about on the green examining +the line back and front, he was simply trying to gain time and nothing +more. "I want to feel that I want to putt," he said, "and while I am +waiting for that feeling coming on I can hardly stand motionless on the +green or look up at the sky." It is that way with these Americans; they +are waiting for an inspiration. But it does not always seem to be +responsive, and they wait too long. A moment must come when they are as +ready for the shot as ever they will be in their lives; if they let it +pass nothing but doubts and hesitations can follow, and that is the +danger to the player of excessive slowness. He begins to fear his fate +too much. And also one round of golf played like this makes a fearful +mental strain, and how often do we see that men who win their morning +matches by such methods look very tired and lose easily in the +afternoon.</p> + +<p>The case of Mr. Ouimet, who has so suddenly become a great power in +American golf, has already been considered, and Mr. Walter Travis's high +position was established long ago. Apart from these two, the new star +and the old one, and the young professional M'Dermott, there are two +others who hold a higher place in the opinion of the golfers of their +own country and ours than any other players do, and those are Mr. +Charles Evans, junior, of Chicago, and Mr. Jerome D. Travers, foremost +players of the west and east as they respectively are. In every way Mr. +Evans is a very delightful golfer. When we saw him at Prestwick in 1911 +he was even then a brilliant player, and one who impressed British +golfers as no other had ever done since Mr. Travis had won at Sandwich, +and he had then an advantage which the winner of our championship had +not—he had his whole golfing life before him. Since that time he has +undoubtedly improved. He has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> become physically stronger, experience has +helped him, and he has greater resource and skill. And despite the fact +that he has not yet won an American championship, there is this to be +said for him, that in the sense of accomplishment, in variety of stroke, +perfection of it, in playing the game as it was meant to be played, as +we say, he is still, for all his failures, the best amateur golfer in +the United States at the present time. But Mr. Evans is a man of very +keen and somewhat too sensitive temperament. He is inclined sometimes to +fear his fate unduly. Yet whenever we are inclined to judge him a little +harshly for his temperament, let it be remembered that fortune has dealt +him some cruel hurts, and that it is not a quality of human man to bear +himself indifferently to perpetual adversity. When he was the last hope +of his country at the championship at Sandwich in 1914, and striving +gallantly, his opponent went to the turn in a record score of 31. To be +merely sorry for "Chick" in such circumstances is inadequate; along with +him we smiled at the absurd extent to which his ill-luck spitefully +pursued him then. Even though it had to be counted, it was unreal. He +must be a champion some time.</p> + +<p>One of the greatest tragedies of his life, so far, was that he suffered +in the appalling Amateur Championship at Wheaton, Illinois, in +1912—appalling by reason of the terrible heat that players and all +others, including my unlucky but still deeply interested self, were +called upon to bear. It has come to be nearly a settled understanding in +Britain that the championships must be attended by weather quite +ridiculously and most uncomfortably unseasonable. Thunderstorms and +lightning, gales and floods—these are the accompaniments of the great +golf tournaments of the year in the summer months of May and June, and +matters seemed to reach a climax in 1913 when the progress of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> the final +match of the Amateur Championship at St. Andrews had to be suspended +because of the terrific storm which flooded the putting greens until +there were no holes to putt at, and when in the Open Championship at +Hoylake shortly afterwards Taylor had to play his way to victory through +a gale against which ordinary people could hardly stand up. Almost does +it appear that the American climate is disposed to follow the bad +British example in times of championships, seeing what happened at +Brookline in the same season; but it was very different at Wheaton in +the year when Mr. Hilton failed to retain the American Amateur +Championship he had won the season before at Apawamis, and when Mr. +Travers beat Mr. Evans in the final by seven and six. Mr. Norman Hunter +and some others, Americans, were burned out of that championship by a +temperature which at times was more than a hundred in the shade, and +while some players conducted their game beneath sunshades that they +carried, most of them had towels attached to their golf bags for +body-wiping purposes. There was no escape from the heat anywhere, night +or day, and no consolation in anything, unless it were that in the city +of Chicago a few miles distant the people were reported to be even worse +off than we were, and deaths were numerous. Well did we call that the +blazing championship, and when I am asked, as is often the case, which +of all championship experiences I recall most vividly, my remembrances +of events in Britain, far more numerous as they are, give way to an +American pair, the hot one at Wheaton in 1912, and the wet one of the +British debâcle at Brookline a season later. But the sun at its worst +could not diminish the enormous interest that there was in that Wheaton +final, for the draw and the play had brought about the ideal match, from +the spectators' point of view, and even that of the players too, Mr. +Travers of the east and Mr. Evans of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> the west, and finely did the +Americans show their appreciation of what had come to pass by wagering +incredible numbers of dollars upon it and watching it in thousands. That +time it was thought that Mr. Evans would win, and he was three up at the +turn in the morning round, but he lost two of the holes before lunch, +and I am sure that the reason why he fell such an easy victim to Mr. +Travers in the afternoon was that he grieved too much for the loss of +those holes, and feared his fate when he need not have done. I know that +Mr. Travers in that second round played golf of the most brilliant +description that nobody could have lived against; but did Mr. Evans +encourage him to do so? This matter of temperament might seem to be a +fatal consideration for ever, being one of Nature and seemingly +unalterable, were it not that we have had cases of fine golfers with +weak temperaments who, perceiving their desperate state, have resolutely +and with patience changed those temperaments, or curbed their influence +as we should more properly say. The best modern instance of such a +change being made is that of George Duncan, and never fear but that +"Chick" will soon come to his own as well.</p> + +<p>Mr. Jerome Travers is undoubtedly one of the strong men of golf to-day, +a big piece of golfing individualism. At twenty years of age he won the +American Amateur Championship, in 1912 I saw him win it for the third +time, and the following year he won it again at Garden City. In his own +golfing country he must be one of the hardest men in the world to beat. +He plays the game that suits him and disregards criticism. He began to +play when he was nine years old. A year later he laid out a three-holes +golf course of his own at home—first hole 150 yards, second 180, third +apparently about the same, back to the starting-point. There were no +real holes—to hit certain trees was to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> "hole out." For hour after hour +this American child would make the circuit of this little course, and +day after day he would work hard to lower his record for these three +holes. At thirteen he started playing on a proper nine-holes course at +Oyster Bay. At fifteen he became attached to the Nassau Country Club, +and there, chiefly under the guidance of Alexander Smith, to whose +qualities as tutor he pays high tribute, his game improved. His swing +was wrong at the beginning. "Shorten your back swing, and take the club +back with your wrists. Swing easily and keep your eye on the ball." That +was Smith's advice to him, and he says it served him well. He began to +place the right hand under instead of over the shaft, and that added +more power to his stroke, and then he discovered that taking the club +back with his wrists or starting the club-head back with them, increased +its speed and gave him greater distance. Then it was practice, practice, +practice for an hour at a time at every individual stroke in the game. +He would play the same shot fifty times. He putted for two hours at a +stretch, placing his ball at varying distances from the hole, trying +short putts, long ones, uphill and downhill putts, and putts across a +side-hill green where the ball had to follow a crescent-like course if +it had to be holed out or laid dead. During the championship at +Apawamis, when he was playing Mr. Hilton, he had what everybody declared +to be an impossible putt of twenty feet, downhill over a billowy green, +and he holed it because he had practised the same sort of putt before. +In the next championship at Wheaton he did an "impossible" bunker shot +and laid the ball dead from the foot of the face of the hazard because +he had practised that shot also. Next to the Schenectady putter +belonging to Mr. Travis his driving iron is, or should be, the most +famous club in all America. It is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> a plain, straight-faced iron with a +round back, and is heavy, weighing sixteen ounces. It has a long shaft +and a very rough leather grip, and was forged at St. Andrews. This and +his other irons are kept permanently rusty. He carries very few +clubs—five irons, a Schenectady putter, a brassey and a driver, but, as +Mr. Fred Herreshoff, who turns caddie for him in the finals of +championships, says, the two latter are for the sake of appearances +only. He believes in the centre-shafted Schenectady putter, illegal here +but allowed in America, as in no other. He calls for a very low tee, one +that is only just high enough to give him a perfect lie, "the duplicate +of an ideal lie on the turf." He plays his drives off the right foot, +which is about three inches in advance of the left, the ball being just +a shade to the right of the left heel, because in that position he finds +it easier to keep the eye on the ball without effort, and in the strain +of a hard match or competition every simplifying process like this is +valuable.</p> + +<p>But the most remarkable thing about his preparation for driving is his +grip, which is unique. He does not employ the overlapper. He likes the +right hand to be under the shaft; but this is the main point—that the +first fingers are almost entirely free of the shaft, with the tips +resting on the leather, curled inside the thumbs. Both thumbs are +pressed firmly against the sides of the first joints of the second +fingers, forming a locking device which prevents any possible turning of +the shaft. He is an utter believer in this detaching of the first +fingers from the club, and declares he could not play in any other way, +his theory being that it permits better freedom of the wrists and +enables him to get greater power into the stroke without deflecting the +club-head from its proper sweep in the swing to the ball. With his +driving iron he is a supreme master, and with it alone he has played a +round of a difficult course in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> America, Montclair, in 77. When I +watched him win his third championship I decided that in whatever else +he might excel he had a finer temperament for match play than almost any +other player I had seen. Silent, imperturbable, not a trace of feeling +in his countenance, he seemed to be mercilessly forcing his way to +victory all the time. Only once since he became established as a +champion kind of golfer have his nerves ever failed him, and that was on +an occasion of supreme importance, and yet one when the strain upon +nerves was not, or should not have been, unduly severe. I saw him lose +his match to Mr. Palmer at Sandwich in 1914, and there was something +nearly as mysterious about that occurrence as there was about the +victory of Mr. Ouimet at Brookline—far more than there was about the +defeat of the latter at Sandwich by Mr. Tubbs, for then Mr. Ouimet +simply played a poor but not a timid game. But in the Palmer-Travers +match the American for the first time for years was afraid. Half way +round, all the watchers were saying so, saying his nerves were catching +at his shots. Knowing the man, having seen so much of him in America, I +could not believe it then; but before the round was ended the truth was +clear. His nerves had failed, and it was responsibility that had caused +them to do so. He could not possibly have played so poorly otherwise. It +was not the real Travers who played that day.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>The middle-aged business-man golfer is an important individual in the +general golfing scheme of things in the United States. He is that +elsewhere, but he stands out most in America. Well enough does he know +how the game is good for him. The early American golfers (those of from +ten to twenty years ago) adopted the game<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> enthusiastically, because it +answered exactly to certain requirements they had in mind in regard to +creating and preserving physical fitness. The American business man +leads a quick life and a hard one and, in recent years particularly, his +pursuit of this physical fitness has become something of a craze with +him, for the reason that through it he seeks to bring the human machine +to the highest point of working efficiency and, at the same time, enable +the human man to derive more enjoyment and satisfaction from the +pleasures of life. This is not a vague, subconscious idea in the +American; it is a clear, definite scheme, adopted by thousands and +thousands of those who have devoted themselves to the game. Hence their +generous support and excellent enthusiasm. The country swarms with men, +two-thirds way through an ordinary lifetime, who have only been playing +the game for five or six summers and no winters—for in very few places +in the northern parts of the United States is any play possible between +the late fall and the spring—and who can play a good six-handicap game, +British reckoning, for in America they have a system of handicapping +according to which scratch is the lowest, and their six handicap is +about equivalent to our two or three. The majority of our middle-aged +men seem to resign themselves to the idea that in no circumstances can +they ever become really good players, and they pretend they are +satisfied to make their way round the links merely for the sake of the +health and exercise that they obtain from so doing. Perhaps in a sense +they are wise, but still it is certain that more than half of the joys +and pleasures of golf are missed by those who never feel any improvement +being made, who never rise above a steady mediocrity, and who never feel +the thrills of playing above their ordinary form.</p> + +<p>The business-man golfer is seen at his best at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> country clubs near +to the great cities. There is nothing elsewhere which for its healthy, +honest pleasures and the satisfaction it yields is comparable to the +American country club and the life that is pursued there. It gives to +the busy man the ideal relaxation he could not obtain in any other way. +I spent several days at one of these country clubs, a railroad journey +of an hour or so from Chicago, and the experience was illuminating. The +American business-man golfer works in the city for part of the day in +the summer and spends the rest of his time at the country club, where +the predominating features of the life are golf, rest, and sociability. +These country clubs are provided with a large number of bedrooms, and +are surrounded with cottages, nicely equipped, which generally belong to +them and are let for periods to the members. The vitality of the man of +whom we are thinking is enormous. He is out of his bed at the club at +about six o'clock in the morning, and goes through a process of shower +baths, with which the establishment is splendidly appointed. By seven +o'clock he is dressed in the thinnest flannels, and sits down to +breakfast with thirty or forty other members at 7.15. At this time he is +jacketless, and all in white. A large glass of iced water is laid before +him to begin with, and then the half of a grape fruit or a cantaloup, +with a piece of ice stuck in the middle, is presented as the first +course. These things, as we get them in America, are very delicious. At +once an argument begins round the table about the qualities of different +balls and clubs, and I am closely questioned about the way we do things +in England. Next, there is oatmeal porridge laid before us, with tea or +coffee, and the men begin to match themselves for the afternoon round. +Mr. A says he will play Mr. B for a certain stake, but the latter finds +he is already engaged to play Mr. C for a higher one.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> Eventually, +Messrs. A, B, and C agree to play a three-ball match for still more +dollars. Such extensive wagering is not the rule, but it is frequent. +After the porridge, bacon and eggs, calf's liver and bacon, or something +of that kind, is served with a baked potato, a little more iced water +may be called for, and there is marmalade with toast and sweet cakes, +and, then at a quarter to eight, all get aboard the club motor-omnibuses +and are whizzed away to the railroad station, light jackets very likely +carried on their arms.</p> + +<p>Before nine o'clock they are hard at work in the big city. Some early +birds were even there by eight o'clock. They work very hard, no dawdling +of any kind, and by one or two o'clock they have finished for the day +and are off back to the golf club as fast as they can go. Frequently +they are back in time to lunch there. Soup, some meat done in American +fashion, an American salad, blueberry pie, iced water, and a glass of +cold tea with a lump of ice in it and a piece of lemon, finishing up +with a large supply of ice cream, and then a big cigar, are what the +American golfer goes out to play upon. The caddie whom he takes out to +carry his clubs costs him tenpence an hour—always paid by the hour, +during which he is in the golfer's service, and not by the round. By +this time the player is in thinner and lighter clothes than ever, and he +has been cooled down by more shower baths. His round is played very much +as it might be done in England. He is very keen on his game. But he +takes a little more time on the consideration of his stroke when once he +has reached his ball than we do, and he is most deeply painstaking. +Towards the end of the match he may develop an idea for playing the +enemy for a number of dollars a hole for the remainder of the round, and +when it is all over, everybody is quite satisfied with everything. More +shower baths, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> lounge, and a cigar, and then a long American dinner, +with vegetables very fancily done, corn cobs, sweet salads, plenty of +iced water, ice creams, "horses' necks"—ginger ale with lemon and +ice—and so forth. Long arguments on the verandah upon the respective +merits of British and American golf, and at ten o'clock this busy golfer +of the United States gets himself off to bed. He never sits up late. He +sleeps, of course, with his windows wide open, with a wire netting +arrangement to keep out the flies and mosquitoes, and as he falls away +to his slumber he feels that golf is the best of games, that America is +the chief of countries, and that this is the most agreeable of all +possible worlds. Here I have been writing in general terms, but I should +add that each and all of my details are taken from the life, from +personal experience at one of the best of these country clubs.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>There are some interesting characters in American golf as everywhere, +and the very wealthy golfer in the States is often to be considered. Mr. +John D. Rockefeller, the "Oil King," is, as all of us know, an extremely +rich man. He is also a business man, if ever there was one. And he is +extremely fond of golf. His case may have as little to do with the +matters just discussed as you may think, but I shall present it as I +found it out. A few years gone Mr. Rockefeller, who has a capacity for +giving advice of a very shrewd and worldly character, announced his +intention of retiring from the presidency of the Oil Trust and of +devoting a fair part of the remainder of his life to playing golf. Since +then he has discovered that it is easier to make a million dollars than +to hole a five-yard putt, for the Rockefeller millions now make +themselves and the putts are as unholeable as ever.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> His methods of +playing, and his moralisings on the game, are not like those of any +other man. Readers must judge for themselves as to whether they have +anything to learn from them; I think they may have something. Take this +case for an instance. One day when playing the game he made a very good +shot on to the green, and, ever ready to draw a moral from the game of +golf which would apply to the greater game of life, turned to his +companions and said: "Waste of energy I regard as one of the wanton +extravagances of this age. Rational conservation of energy and +temperance in all things are what the American nation must learn to +appreciate." Mr. Rockefeller is now seventy-five years of age, and he +was nearly sixty before he first began to play. He became an enthusiast +at once, and, as with most other men, his golf aggravated him, goaded +him, tantalised him, and made him ambitious and determined. He began to +find things out and to invent new ideas as rapidly as any of us have +ever done. He said the game changed his life. Made him happy. Brought +back his youth to him. His friends when they played with him declared +that he was not a cantankerous old man, but a really charming fellow. +Golf was doing him good. It was making a new man of him, as it does of +all others. But he did not get on at it as quickly as he thought he +ought to do. He found that there were rather more things to remember in +a very short space of time when making his shot than he had ever had to +remember before, and that for the first time in his life he was liable +to forgetfulness on the most important occasions. Then he acted on the +business man's principle of getting others to do things for him. He got +others to do the remembering. For a time whenever he went to play a +match he had three caddies attending on him; even now he generally has +two. He employed them for other purposes than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> carrying clubs. When he +was about to make a stroke No. 1 Caddie stepped up to him and said +respectfully but firmly: "Slow back, Mr. Rockefeller, slow back!" He +might otherwise have forgotten to take his club slowly back from the +ball at the start of the swing. This adviser having moved away, Caddie +No. 2 went forward and said: "Keep your eye on the ball, Mr. +Rockefeller, keep your eye on the ball!" Then, in turn, Caddie No. 3 +advanced and spoke warningly: "Do not press, Mr. Rockefeller, do not +press!" So, reminded of the common faults, the Oil King made his stroke +and did not commit them, but was guilty of several others, and realised +a little sadly when the ball did not travel as it should that he needed +a hundred caddies for warning, and not three. Still, there is some good +sense in this method, and the man who made it a strict rule to say to +himself always, just before a stroke, what Mr. Rockefeller hired the +boys to say to him would make fewer bad shots than he does.</p> + +<p>Mr. Rockefeller has a very nice course of his own on undulating land at +Forest Hill, on the edge of Cleveland, Ohio, and there he has parties to +play with him constantly. He is fond of cycling, and instead of walking +after his ball when he has struck it, he takes his cycle on to the +course with him, jumps on to it, and wheels himself along to the place +from which the next shot must be made. By this means he not only saves +much time, and gets more golf in an hour than we do, but considers that +he derives more physical benefit from the combination than he would from +golf and walking. More than this, he knows exactly how far he has hit +the ball every time, for he counts the number of turns of the pedals he +has to make in cycling from point to point, and calculates accordingly. +He does not lose his temper when he makes a bad shot or a series of +such, as some have suggested, but he is quite ecstatic when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> he makes a +good one; and, despite his seventy-five years, has been known to leap +high into the air when the result of his efforts has been specially +good. He is a most thoughtful player, and takes the utmost care always +to note effects and to try to attach causes to them. "Now gentlemen," he +has said, "that was really a very good stroke that I made then. You +observe that I am learning to make better use of my left arm. It was +that Scotchman who told me of the trick, but somehow I have never been +able to use it advantageously until now." He has a large number of clubs +in his bag, including all the most usual implements, while two or three +have been made according to his own special ideas. One of his caddies +also carries a large sunshade to hold over him while playing when the +weather is uncomfortably warm, and it is the duty of this boy also to +give a hand at pushing the bicycle when the line to the hole is uphill +and Mr. Rockefeller finds the pedalling too much for him unaided. So you +see that there is nothing that is conventional about Mr. John D. +Rockefeller and his golf. You would hardly expect it.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Now for the public or municipal golf in America; it is one of the strong +features of the game in the United States that impressed me most. The +average player in Britain, where the municipal golf movement is making +slow headway, may be surprised to know that there is such a thing across +the Atlantic; let him understand, then, that public golf in America is +far ahead of public golf in Britain. Some Americans of great golfing +experience, not confined to their own country, have not hesitated to say +that they will "make America the greatest golfing country in the world." +If we disregard such a challenge, there are yet circumstances<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> and +forces in operation in America of which serious notice must be taken, +and the first of them is this great movement that is progressing in +favour of municipal golf. The whole vast country is taking to it. The +leaders of the people are appreciating the necessity of it and preaching +it. They say that the times are desperately strenuous, that an antidote +is needed, an ideal relaxation for body and nerves, a perfect recreation +and diversion, and that, having tried everything and thought of other +possibilities, they have come firmly and decisively to the conclusion +that golf is the only recreation that meets the requirements of the +times. Therefore they say that it must be provided for everybody, for +the "common people," and given to them absolutely free with every +inducement put forward for them to play it. The result is that public +golf in America is already advanced to such a state as is almost +incredible to those who have not seen it there. I have seen it. In New +York, Boston, Chicago, Kansas, Louisville, Milwaukee, Elgin, Toledo, and +a host of the smaller places, there are good public courses. In the +large cities there are often two or three. Chicago has now three and a +fourth was being made when I was there last, a fine long course in the +Marquette Park. Two of the existing courses are in the Jackson Park, one +being eighteen holes and the other nine. The third is in Garfield Park. +The full-sized course in Jackson Park is quite an excellent thing. The +turf and the putting greens are well tended, the views are pleasant, and +the play is absolutely free to all who obtain the necessary permit from +the Parks Commissioners. The regular player may have the use of locker +and dressing-rooms in the pavilion, and good meals may be obtained at a +reasonable cost. How shall we wonder then that the Americans take kindly +to this game and are becoming overwhelmingly enthusiastic at it, or that +more than a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> hundred thousand games are played on one single course at +Jackson Park alone in the course of a year? Though for the best part of +the winter there is snow on the ground and play is impossible 105,000 +games were played on the long course at Jackson Park during 1912 up to +the beginning of October, and the news just reaches me that on one day +at the very beginning of this season of 1914 nearly 900 tickets were +given out! On a fine morning in the summer there will often be a little +crowd of players waiting at the first tee for their turn to start at the +dawn of day, and as many as two hundred have been counted there at seven +o'clock in the morning. Having finished their game on ordinary mornings +these people go off to their work, and they "hustle" all the more for +the shots that they have played and hope to play again before the +falling of the night. It is the same in the Franklin Park at Boston, in +Van Cortlandt Park in New York, and everywhere. In this matter these +Americans have sense. If public golf in England is ever to be a good and +useful thing we must do as the Americans do, and if we do not the people +will be the poorer, and we shall be sorry. Corporations must provide +free golf, and they must be satisfied with the good done to the people, +and not take the narrow view that the balance-sheet must show a direct +profit apart from the indirect one that is certain. They must also put +their courses in central and convenient places where people will be +attracted to them, and which will not take the greater part of the time +available to reach them. The game must be played in central parks which +will then become more useful than they have ever been so far, and for +the first time will be a real joy to the people who pay for them. I may +be an enthusiast in golf, but I have gone deeply into this matter and +studied it in its every bearing, and I know that I am right.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>And the Americans are gaining in another matter—they are bringing their +young boys into the game. I have been to preparatory schools where they +have their own little courses and their school championships. The boys +like it, the masters encourage it, and the grown-up players admire the +youngsters' enthusiasm. This is the way that "prodigies" are produced. +In England we do not encourage the boys to play golf. The head-masters +of schools say that it is a selfish game and that it is bad for them. I +wonder how much these principals have thought of the moral qualities +that must exist in the good golfer who knows how to play a losing match +and perhaps save it, and how long in real argument before an impartial +tribunal the contention would hold that it would be better for the young +boy to stand for hours in the deep field at cricket on a hot summer's +day than for him to learn to play golf and learn to keep a tight hold of +himself when the whole scheme of things might seem to be breaking up. +Cricket and football are great games, and they are splendid things for +boys, but that golf is inferior to them in what it does for character I +deny, and if the comparison is pressed the golfers with me can put +forward an invincible case. Anyhow the fact is there that young America +is getting golf and young England is not, and that will make a +difference some time some way.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>CANADIAN COURSES, AND A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT AT TORONTO, WITH MATTERS +PERTAINING TO MAKING A NEW BEGINNING.</h3> + + +<p>Towards the end of an afternoon in September, rounds being done, I stood +with Mr. George Lyon (who is a kind of John Ball of the Dominion of +Canada, having won the championship of his country seven times) on the +heights where stands the club-house of the Lambton Golf and Country Club +in Ontario, and we looked across the valley along which the course is +traced to the woods on the opposite side where there were some fiery +crimson spots to be seen as if burning amid the mass of foliage that was +olive or tinting down to brown. They were the maple leaves of Canada, +the emblem of the new land, of which it is prophesied that it shall be +the greatest country of the earth. In early days the Canadians dabbled +with the lacrosse which the Indians played, and some of the invaders, +too, brought their cricket with them and taught it to others whom they +found there. Then the people who are near to the borders of the United +States, and are somewhat impressed with the American ways of doing +things, have been cultivating an interest in baseball for its +spectacular properties. Rounders revised is well enough for those who +are within shouting distance of Buffalo and for places like Toronto, but +I could never believe that such a game or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> pastime, whatever its +merits—and I know that it has many—could suit such a very serious, +contemplative, cold, and earnest people as the Canadians are. I regard +the nature of these people, as I have had the opportunity of considering +it, as more serious and intense than that of any other, and I know only +one recreation beyond those that are the simplest and most essential, as +of roaming in the untamed country, fishing, shooting, and hunting, that +is agreeable to such a nature. They also know it; they have declared for +a national game.</p> + +<p>There is this to be said at the beginning for Canadian golf and its +courses, that the general atmosphere of the game in this great country, +rough and often bare and primitive as still it is, seems to be much +nearer the atmosphere of golf in Britain than that of any other country +different from us. One misses the sea-coast links, courses are long +distances apart, fine players are comparatively few, for the men of +Canada are still so busy and so earnest that they have not even time to +play, but yet there is a fine chain of the game all the way from St. +John's to Vancouver. There is more of the peculiarity of British +sporting instinct in the Canadian than in any other person out of the +British Isles; he likes what we like, and he likes it in the same way +and for the same reasons. Except that the coldness, like that of the +Scot, is sometimes too much exhibited in him, and that even on suitable +occasions he is reluctant to demonstrate his enthusiasms, so serious he +is, so deep he looks, I have found him to be a splendid opponent with an +agreeable persistency, and a most desirable partner in a foursome. Here +in Canada there are trestle tee-boxes, a few—but only a few—of the +club-houses are built and equipped in the manner of the Americans, +betokening an existing prosperity and a provision for that greater one +which is felt to be as sure<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> as the fruit and the corn of the following +season; but otherwise golf seems much like what it is at home, and +especially do we feel like that when we reach the old places where the +game first took root out there. There is a Canadian Golf Association to +rule the affairs of the game in the country with a certain subservience +to home and St. Andrews as the Dominion holds to Westminster, and such a +ruling authority is necessary in a new and wide country like this where +so much pioneering is being done, just as it is necessary in the United +States and in Australia. The chief function of such an authority is to +keep the game together, hold it compact and maintain it in even +uniformity with the game elsewhere. There is no blame to the Canadians +because they have not associated themselves with the subtle and +insoluble mysteries of the British handicapping system, but have +followed the American lead in this matter and put their best champions +at scratch. Otherwise they are full British still, and even if they have +their doubts upon the wisdom of the edict of St. Andrews which banned +centre-shafted clubs and the Schenectady putter of American origin, they +have remained loyal to the law without dissenting as the Americans did. +So in Canada you may not use the Schenectady. You may putt with it on +one side of the Niagara Falls but not on the other side.</p> + +<p>It is fortunate that a ball cannot be played across the Falls, or over +those whirling Rapids, or some puzzling international complications +might arise. The adventures are called to mind of two great scientists, +the late Professor John Milne, who made such a fine study of earthquakes +and could feel them in the Isle of Wight when they were taking place in +Asia, and Professor Sims Woodhead, the eminent Cambridge pathologist, +when they went to the meeting of the British Association for the +Advancement of Science when it was held in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> South Africa. They travelled +to the Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River, and there they contemplated +a mighty carry of a hundred and sixty yards over roaring, foaming water. +The keen golfer is always prepared, for the emergencies of the game are +constant and attractive, and Mr. Milne produced driver and ball, and, +with a fine nerve and eyes that were controlled most marvellously, +delivered a golf ball from one side to the other for the first time +since the world began. The pathologist admired the achievement and +emulated it. He also carried the Falls of the Zambezi. It were better +that these greedy men had left it at that and been well satisfied. +However, they came to think they might go on with this majestic carry +continually, and generous Fortune chided them. Crocodiles took the balls +that they drove into the Zambezi.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Let us take a look at Lambton. From my room in Toronto I rang up Lyon, +whom I had met several times in England, and asked him to guess the name +of the caller; he gave the name without hesitation, though he had no +more reason to know that I was in Canada than in Tasmania. So quite in a +matter-of-fact way we met on the following day in a Grand Trunk car +starting from the Union station, and inquired of each other as to the +ball that each was using. The journey from Toronto is one of only a few +minutes, and soon after the stopping of the train the feet may tread on +some of the nicest golfing turf that is to be found out of England, and +the reason is palpable, for here are the big bunkers of the proper kind +made of real yellow sand, which is natural to the place. When they need +new sand bunkers at Lambton they cut them open and there they are. So +sandy is the place that sometimes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> they have a difficulty in making the +grass grow properly, and one result of these favourable natural +conditions is that the course is better bunkered than most others on the +American continent. Tee shots and approaches must be played well, and at +the very first green the hint is given that the short game must be well +done. The fourth hole is one of the jewels of Canadian golf. The teeing +ground is on a height, and below it is a series of descending plateaux +like giants' steps until the level is reached. When he has made a very +passable drive the player is called upon with a very proper second to +carry the Black Creek which guards the green and is coiled like a snake +about it. The shot must have fair length and it must be very straight as +well. Normally the hole is 365 yards long, so that in mere distance it +is not a terrible thing, but when medals are being played for its length +is stretched out to the four hundred yards. At the sixth the stream +which they call Humber comes into the reckoning. It is a nice two-shot +hole, and the seventh is an excellent short one with the inky creek here +again. With the stump of a tree protruding from the water, large leafy +growths upon the surface, a general sleepiness and the green in a +sequestered corner beneath a shading hill, this is quite one of the most +attractive of water holes. It is a strong hole, too, with fear about it, +for the carry is one of 165 yards, and I was told that when Miss Rhona +Adair, now Mrs. Cuthell, several times lady champion, was in these parts +some years ago she twice did the carry and a third time her ball skimmed +the water and reached the green after all. This was good work for a +lady, especially as I rather fancy she must have been using the gutty +ball at that time.</p> + +<p>The greens at Lambton are generally excellent, and they have adopted a +means for keeping them in good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> order which, though it has been tried in +other parts of America, has not to my knowledge been employed elsewhere. +I have heard objections raised against it, but the results at Lambton +are uncommonly good. Nearly all the greens here are kept properly +moistened by a process of sub-irrigation, and are never watered on the +surface. Below the green there is a deep bed of cinders, and over this +and about eighteen inches from the grass there is a network of water +pipes made of a hard porous clay, "weeping clay" they call it, the +entire under-surface of the greens being covered with them. At the +corner of each green there is a feed pipe connecting with this network, +and once a day the water supply is laid on to it and all the pipes under +the green are loaded. The heat of the sun then slowly draws the water +through the porous pipes and up to the surface, and the results of the +process are uniformly good. Lambton is a fine institution altogether. +There is a short ladies' course as well as the other, a fine toboggan +chute down the slope in front of the club-house, and the latter is in +all respects an admirable place, well fitted with baths, bedrooms, and +public apartments that are elegant and comfortable. This place has +something to do with Toronto life of to-day. There are seven hundred +members, and now it costs a new one the equivalent of six hundred +dollars in his first year. He has to get a hundred-dollar share in the +club to begin with, and these are at such a premium that he has to pay +five hundred dollars for one. On one of the walls of the club-house is a +life-size portrait of the champion of the country in a characteristic +attitude with his brassey under his arm.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>The case of Toronto is very interesting. The club, which takes the name +of the city and is one of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> oldest in the country, was started in +1876, and completely reorganised some eighteen years later. The pretty +little course that it had until lately was on the outskirts of the city, +with an old and quaint farm-house, which had from time to time been +enlarged, for a club-house. As to the course, it was quite nice. It was +very undulating, ravines, gullies, and belts of trees being prominent +everywhere. The turf was good, and some of the holes were excellent. In +the club-house there were fine trophies and some old prints, and a plan +of the old course at St. Andrews, with a photograph of old Tom Morris +attached to it, signed "From Tom Morris, to the members of the Toronto +Golf Club, 1896." Everything belonging to this old course was sweetly +mellow, and one's visit there made a pleasant experience. But it met a +fate which has been common enough near London but rare elsewhere. The +speed of Toronto's expansion brought it about, and, owing to the +encroachments of the builders, the club had to move. I was there at the +parting, and it was a sad one. Its members, however, being a very +wealthy and enthusiastic body of gentlemen, determined to make for +themselves a new home which should be as good as anything that could be +done, and their ambition was fulfilled. Etobicoke! It is one of the +wonders of the west, and I was the first wandering British player to set +his foot upon it.</p> + +<p>Etobicoke is several miles out from Toronto, and here with the money +that the club obtained from the sale of the old course they bought 270 +acres of what was virgin land, being for the most part covered with +trees at the time. This they had cleared, ploughed, and properly +prepared, and Mr. Harry Colt came out from England to lay out the +course. His finished work, as I have seen it, must rank as one of his +masterpieces. As on so many of the Colt courses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> there is something of a +Sunningdale look about the holes, and nearly all are extremely good. A +very fine short one is the fourth and one with which the architect +himself was much in love when he had completed the design from the +natural materials that were at his hand; and the tenth is a wonder of +its kind, the hindmost tee being on a hilltop from which a glorious view +of the course is to be had, with Lake Ontario beyond it, while some way +lower down the slope are second and third tees, making the distance +shorter. The soil is sandy, the turf is good, and the course must be +considered to rank as first class absolutely. Mr. W. A. Langton, who +went over it with me, said he believed they had come into possession of +what would be the finest golf course in America when it has matured, and +his judgment may be right.</p> + +<p>Many parts of the world were laid under tribute for the making of this +course at Etobicoke where the club is still called by the good old +simple name, the Toronto Golf Club. It was designed, as I have said, by +an English architect, and in order to give a grass to the course that +would stand the rigours of the climate better than the ordinary grasses +with which courses in North America are generally sown, seeds were +obtained from Finland. Then nearly all the rough work of construction +was done by Bulgarians and Roumanians, these immigrants being splendid +for work of this kind. They were paid at the rate of about seven +shillings a day, and they lived in huts which they made on the ground +and saved the greater part of the money that they earned. A little over +£16,000 or 80,000 dollars were paid for the land, and about the same +amount was spent on its preparation and completion as a course; while +£20,000 or 100,000 dollars were spent on the building and equipment of a +splendid club-house, embracing the utmost comfort and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> convenience, with +about fifty bedrooms. This is a members' club, and the club has all the +members and money that it needs, and it is not a speculative enterprise +in any way whatever. But British golfers must surely pause with wonder +when they hear of a place like Toronto spending £50,000 on a new golf +course! Such is the enthusiasm of the Canadian for the game, that while +this enterprise was afoot a six-holes course was being constructed +alongside it, at a cost of £10,000, for a gentleman who intended to +build a house near by to which he might ask his friends.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>One pleasant day when staying at Montreal I went out to Dixie, a few +stations along the Grand Trunk line, where there is the course of the +Royal Montreal Club, to be regarded now as the oldest properly +established club in the Dominion. This one alone has that title of Royal +which Queen Victoria gave it permission to use in 1884. In its early +days the course was in Mount Royal Park, overlooking Montreal. Out here +at Dixie a certain flavour of the old spirit and good strong sporting +simplicity of the game are tasted. The course is somewhat flat and +parky, and big banks of bunkers stretch across the fairway, making the +general style of the architecture very much of the Victorian, but the +undulations and unevennesses of the banks and hollows are redeeming +features. Some of the holes are good and the putting greens are +excellent, but generally the course suffers from the absence of testing +second shots. There is a magnificent view up the river from the seventh +tee. A house agent might honestly declare that the club-house is +commodious and comfortable. It was made before it was the fashion to +erect palaces on golf courses, and sheet-iron bulks largely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> in its +composition; yet it is cosy enough inside, and contains many relics of +peculiar interest. In a glass case there are some ancient clubs with +which members played in the early days, and a leather belt for which +they competed, the names of the winners being written on the inside.</p> + +<p>There are many other courses in Montreal and round about it. There is +the Beaconsfield Club with its place situated some way up the river, +reached by the G. T. R. at Point Claire. The part of Fletcher's Fields +in Mount Royal Park, on which the Royal Montreal Club first played, is +now in the occupation of the Metropolitan Club, and is only about five +minutes' ride by car from the centre of the city. On the eastern slope +of Mount Royal is the course of the Outremont Club, which, at the time +of my visit, was about to go forward to a new and great enterprise; +while on a plateau at the western end of Mount Royal are the nine holes +of the West Mount Club, most charmingly situated, with fine views of the +city and the river.</p> + +<p>At Ottawa there is a course which ranks high among the very best on the +continent. It is different in character from that at Dixie, for here +there are ravines and gullies, and the land is strongly undulating +everywhere. The bunkers and other hazards are natural, the putting +greens are smooth, and the subsoil is of sandy loam. It is on the other +side of the Ottawa River, beyond Hull, and owing to its being exposed to +a broad reach of the stream it is seldom that there is not much wind +blowing across it. And there are courses all the way from east to west +of this wonderful, blossoming Canada. We find that wherever we wander in +the Dominion we are not much distant from a golf club. Even when on a +day I sailed across Lake Ontario and made the Gorge Valley trip to the +Niagara<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> Falls there was golf near by had it been wanted. Winnipeg, +Edmonton, Calgary, round and about the Rockies, and up them +too—everywhere the game is played. I was told that when the course at +St. John, New Brunswick, was started in 1897, Mr. H. H. Hansard, who +made the opening stroke, holed from the tee in one. Holes in one have +been done in many curious circumstances, but surely this is one of the +most interesting of all. Compare the excellent beginning of St. John +with what happened the other day when a new course was being started +here at home. I am sorry to say that the municipal dignitary upon whom +the chief responsibility was cast missed the ball the first time, and +also the second, but contrived to move it from the tee at the third +attempt.</p> + +<p>A note has just reached me from a friend in the Dominion saying that out +on the Gulf of Georgia, on the coast of Vancouver, they are reaching +forward to a golf ideal. They have planned and started there a new town, +which they have called Qualicum, of which the golf course is the central +feature. They have laid out a fine one along the shore, one that has +splendid natural qualities, and they are doing their best to make it +understood that here is a golf city if ever there was one, for they have +christened the streets and roads by such names as St. Andrews Road, +Berwick Road, Portrush Road, Rye Road, Sandwich Road, and Dollymount +Road; and there are others with the names of Hoylake, Sunningdale, and +all the rest of our British best.</p> + +<p>Friends whom I consulted in the matter declared there was no golf in +Quebec, little but French people, French talk, and French games of two +generations back, the Canadian French not yet having adopted the sport +to which so many of the Parisians have attached themselves with great +earnestness. I was barely satisfied<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> with such denials, and when, after +another night on the C. P. R., I found myself on a glorious Sunday +morning on those famous heights of Quebec, whence the view is one of the +most magnificent in the world, I set about investigating the matter all +alone. I can hardly say why, but somehow I strongly suspected the Plains +of Abraham, the big, bare piece of land on the heights overlooking the +St. Lawrence, on which Wolfe and Montcalm, more than a century and a +half ago, fought that great fight, and died. I have always found it as a +most remarkable thing that where great battles have been waged, and big +encampments made, golf courses in a great number of cases have been laid +out there later. Sure enough, then, the game was here on the Plains of +Abraham. I had just been looking upon the pillar with the simple +inscription, "Here died Wolfe victorious," and had walked for the length +of two or three good drives towards the citadel end of the plain, +called, I think, the Cove Fields, when putting greens came to view, with +sticks not two feet long and bits of red rag attached to them in the +holes. The greens and the teeing grounds were rough as could be, and +there were no proper bunkers on the course, but plenty of trouble for +all that, the ground being coarse and stony. The public could roam about +the place just as it pleased, and did so, and there did not seem to be +anything to prevent any one from playing the game on this course. It +looked just like public golf on common land, and though it is a far cry +from Blackheath to Quebec, there is something in the nature and +character of this golfing ground at the historic Canadian port to remind +one of England's oldest and crudest course. I discovered afterwards that +the Quebec Golf Club, a club without a club-house, had acquired the +rights to play on it; that this club is one of comparatively early +origin; that its members are clearly primitive in their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> tastes, but +sincere and earnest; and I am led to the belief that the course has +another point of similarity with Blackheath, being the oldest now in +existence on the American continent. It is said that a daughter of old +Tom Morris, who married a Mr. Hunter and went to America, was largely +responsible for the beginning of golf at Quebec. Men and boys were +playing on it on this beautiful Sunday morning when the bells in +countless steeples of Quebec and at St. Levis on the other side of the +St. Lawrence were ringing their music through the stillest air. I sat +down on the edge of the course overlooking the precipitous depths to the +river, far down below, where the smoke from a warship at anchor came +lazily from the funnels, and looked for long enough to gain an undying +impression of one of the grandest panoramas in the world, seen at its +most peaceful and its best. Nature had a grand inspiration when she made +Quebec as now we find her.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>This marvellous country is a rare place for making the new beginning. +Everything is so raw, so suggestive, so encouraging to earnest failures +who would, like Omar, if they could, conspire with fate, shatter the +existing scheme of things and "remould it nearer to the heart's desire." +Canada is indeed a fine place for hope for the future. I met several men +in the country who told me, that on leaving England and Scotland, they +had perforce, with all the hard work before them, to give up the game +for a long period; while another reason was, that those having been much +earlier days, there were fewer courses there. So years after, when the +fortunes had been made, they came back to golf again, and they were +making another new beginning, and felt a certain gladness as they +remembered some of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> faults and the torments of the old game with all +its vast imperfections. In everything they would start over again as if +it were all quite new, and they knew nothing about it. Generally they +have made successes of their second golfing lives on earth in this way, +but yet they have found that they needed to act warily and be on their +guard always against old enemies, for golf poisons are marvellously +subtle and enduring things; and it has been found that when once a man +contracts a habit that is bad it will last for ever, whether he plays +the game continually or not, and the worse the habit the more incurable +it is. The best that can be done is the application of a system of +subjection, by which the disease is kept under, and does not pain or +hinder. But men who have fallen into bad and hopeless complications with +their golf, and found that it never could be improved any more, have +tried to begin it all over again as left handers—the most drastic +change—and even that has failed. They have then realised that the only +way to die happy is to give up the game for a matter of half a +generation and start again, with the determination to keep the head +still, to begin the back-swing with the wrists, and not to start +pivoting on the left toe as soon as the driving is begun, as if it were +necessary to do this thing, as so many of the teachers have suggested, +to the ruin of their pupils, for the unsteadiness it has produced. One +learns to do this pivoting after an hour's practice at the game, and can +pivot well when nothing else can be done at golf. But it takes years and +years sometimes to get rid of such a stupid custom. The left heel must +rise, but let it rise as little as may be, and of its own accord. Its +rising should be always a result of something, and not a cause of +something else.</p> + +<p>What is needed at a beginning, or a fresh start in any golfing life, is +a thorough grasp of essential principles.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> Considering the subject the +whole way through, we may feel that there are really only two essential +and compulsory principles applicable to all cases, instead of two +hundred or more as the bewildered player is often led to imagine. These +two are, first, that the eye must be kept upon the ball until it has +left the club; and, second, that in addition to the still head there +must be one fixed and practically motionless centre in the human system +while the stroke is being made. It is neglect, generally accidental, of +one or both of these principles that causes most of the bad shots that +are made. Let us remember that. Never, or hardly ever, should we neglect +these principles, and if we do not our handicap is almost sure to come +down, not only because so many bad shots will be avoided, but because +the exactness, certainty, and quality of all the strokes will be +steadily improved as they cannot be when hampered by neglect of the +principles. The eye makes the connection between the captain in the +brain and the engineers of the physical system. It is the speaking-tube +or the telegraph apparatus. There can be no union without it. But, as we +all know, it is not such an easy thing to keep the eye on the ball as it +ought to be kept on it, and the more anxious the player the more liable +is he to err in this matter. As to the fixed centre—somewhere in the +interior of the waist—we should reflect that the golfing swings, when +carried out properly, consist of the action and movements of thousands +of different muscles, operating in different ways, different directions, +and at different times. Perfect harmony and correlation among them all +is necessary if the general result is to be smooth and exact. Make no +mistake about it, the golfing swing, with all its complications and the +acute precision that is necessary for its good and proper effect, is one +of the most wonderful things of which the physical system is capable. +When I reflect upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> it I think it is marvellous that the human man can +make it as he does. To obtain harmony among all these thousands of +movements there must be one centre from which they are all regulated. If +we think it out we see that this is so, and then we appreciate the +importance of what is too baldly described as keeping the body still, as +we have perhaps never done before. As a point of truth, the body as a +whole cannot be kept still, but there must be one centre that must be +fixed from the moment that the club addresses the ball until the latter +has left its place after impact. The captain in the brain, the eye, and +the fixed head and centre are the great trinity who manage the whole +concern. Only one man who has neglected this law has ever raised himself +to eminence in golf, and that man is Edward Ray, who has done it by mere +physical strength. When the fixed centre is held secure a great host of +evils which constantly cause failure are avoided—swaying of the body, +collapse of the legs, improper foot work, dropping of the right +shoulder, falling forward, and more of such a kind of fatal faults.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>In the biggest dictionary that I can find neither the word "futurism" +nor "cubist" is given a place, and yet these words, meaning certain +movements, are probably on the tongues of art folks with much frequency +in these times. In the same way the word "subconsciousism" and +"subconsciousist" are not in this or any other dictionary; but they may +yet be coined and made legitimate to fill certain vacancies, and they +represent definite golfing systems. The principle of subconsciousism in +essence, then, is that of showing a visionary picture to the mind for a +moment, banishing it, and, in a certain measure, forgetting all about +it, and then going<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> on with the game as if the incident had been closed. +But the mind retains its record more or less vaguely always; and the +picture thrown on the mental screen makes an impression there which +stays; and that impression is an influence upon the succeeding physical +actions. Subconsciously the player does something—it may be little or +much—to imitate the movements in the mental picture that he saw. He +cannot avoid it; the influence upon him cannot be wholly resisted. If, +as it were, he saturates his mind with impressions of this kind, of the +strokes he would like to play, of the way he would like to play them, he +will gradually and almost surely begin to play them just like that. It +has been recognised for ages that the best golf is that which is played +entirely subconsciously, that is to say without conscious effort, and +without thinking in detail of the stroke that has to be played. When a +man is "on his game" he has none of this thinking to do, and does none. +There seems to be only one way of playing the shot, and that way is +unavoidable to him and quite natural. He does not need to shuffle about +to find his proper stance, and he is not anxious about any part of his +swing. The moment a clear consciousness of detailed action asserts +itself, and the man does think about the movements of his swing, and +does shuffle about for his stance, he goes off his game, and the +stronger the consciousness the more he goes off. These points are +disputed by nobody. A little while since a new writer on the game +declared that the golfer at the beginning of his swing thought of the +advice of one professional; half way up he thought of the suggestion of +another; at the top he remembered the recommendation of a third man; and +coming down, the hint of a fourth flung itself into a mind that must +have been working with amazing rapidity in the most difficult +circumstances. What the result of such strokes is was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> not suggested; +but if any number of golfers carried out their scheme of swinging in +this way we should know exactly why it is that so much bad golf is +played. As a matter of truth nobody has ever been able to mix up his +plans in such a manner; but the statement suggests the extreme of +consciousness, and fear with it also. With subconsciousness there is no +fear, no hesitation, and no doubt.</p> + +<p>Now we can show how our subconsciousism, when unaided and not encouraged +(there is nearly but not quite a contradiction in terms here), has had +its effect upon the player hitherto. If a man watches the play of any +golfer much better than himself, say a first-class professional, very +closely for some time he takes a little of that man's style into his own +system without knowing it, and, it may be, without making any conscious +effort to imitate it. He is much more likely to succeed in this way than +by making any deliberate attempt to copy. Again, you will often find +players telling you, that after a week of watching a championship +meeting, and without having paid attention to any player in particular, +certainly without attempting to imitate any one, they find on resuming +their own game that a new influence is upon it; that in particular they +address the ball in a more businesslike way, with more confidence; that +their swing is less flabby, and that they play their iron shots with +much greater sense of wrist, and with more firmness. This has been +noticed over and over again, and it is a most interesting result of the +influence of impressions involuntarily recorded on the mind. Consider +another way in which the impression acts. A player may be removed from +the game through illness or some other reason for a time, and during +that period he works some of the problems of golf out in his mind, and +constantly pictures a new and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> particular way of playing a stroke that +has troubled him. When he returns to the links he plays the stroke like +that without any effort to do so, or perhaps without even thinking of +it. Another remarkable example of subconsciousism was afforded to me +recently by a good golfer, who said that to develop a certain stroke +which he had found beyond his best efforts—conscious efforts—he had +three enlarged photographs made of that stroke as executed properly by a +first-class man, one showing the beginning, the other the top of the +swing, and the third the finish. He had these pictures placed alongside +each other on one of the walls of his room, and there they were all the +time, not to be avoided. He made no effort to study them, but his mind +simply absorbed them, and then subconsciously he found the stroke coming +to him until in the end he played it just like that. In these matters +subconsciousism is shown to be at work without being understood or at +all suspected.</p> + +<p>Having this valuable agency at command the next thing is to apply it, +and make it of more thorough practical effect without permitting it to +change to interfering and dangerous consciousness. In the cases that +have already been cited certain methods are plainly suggested. Here is +another which has, as I know, proved amazingly effective at times. The +player, we may say, is not driving as well as he should, or in the way +he would like to do. At the moment of taking his place on the +teeing-ground he runs through his mind, as it were, a cinematographic +picture of his favourite model player doing the drive. He sees, in +imagination, the man taking his stance, swinging the club back, down on +to the ball again, and finishing. He just sees it once, and bothers +about it no more. Then he sets about his own drive without any further +reference to the mental picture that his mind has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> absorbed. The mind +does the rest. The drive may not be made in the ideal way that was +imagined. It may be done in the old way. It may even be foozled. But +there has been an influence at work, and if that influence is always +employed in the same way the good result will come in time, always +provided—and this is important—that the model is one that is suitable +to the player, and can be copied by him. It would be useless for a man +who is far past forty, very fat and very short, with no athletic quality +in him at all, to take Harry Vardon and his graceful lithesome swing for +his mental cinema show.</p> + +<p>Another way in which practical subconsciousism may be made exceedingly +valuable is by imagining a place to which the ball has to be delivered +without looking at it when it ought not to be looked at, as when a very +short running or pitching approach has to be made. The very best of men +often find it impossible to keep the eye fixed on the ball until the +stroke is done. A little while since there was the case of one of the +finest amateur golfers of the time flopping his ball into the bunker +guarding the green of the first hole at Sandwich from the bank thereof, +when, if he had played an easy shot and kept his eye at rest, he would +almost certainly have avoided this trouble, and then won the St. +George's Cup for which he was playing. I remember an exactly similar +case in the final of the Amateur Championship of 1908, at Sandwich, when +Mr. Lassen, who did win, knocked his ball into the big bunker in front +of the old tenth green there from the top of the cliff overlooking it. +What is needed in such cases, or in like cases when presented to +inferior players, is something to keep the mind's eye contented, and it +has been found to serve if a picture of the hole is flashed into the +mind just before the stroke is made. This is what is certainly done, +though unintentionally,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> when putting. The man does keep his eye on the +ball when making his stroke this time; but yet it is most desirable that +his mind should retain a very clear and exact impression of the place +where the hole is, the distance of it, and the features of the green in +between. In other games that may be compared with golf, the player has +his eye on the object at the moment of striking; in billiards the very +last glance is given at the object ball, and the eye is on it at the +moment the stroke is made. That is because the player is sure of his way +of striking, as in putting he is not. If you try a method of putting +which was once attempted by some players, but was severely and properly +discountenanced by the authorities, of lying down on the green and +putting with the end of the club, billiard fashion, you will find that +then the eye is on the hole when the stroke is made. In golf, the +player's eye being wanted for the ball, a last look is given at the +hole, and the picture of it is kept on the mind when the stroke is being +made, and it influences the application of strength more than the player +often realises.</p> + +<p>This application of strength is always done subconsciously, and here +again there is a part of professional teaching which does not recognise +the fact when it ought to do. The teachers tell us that to strike the +ball a certain distance with an iron, the club chosen should be swung +back to a certain point, that to get twenty yards more it should be +swung upwards so many more inches or degrees, for a farther distance so +much more swing should be made, and so on, throwing the onus of swinging +the proper distance on to the conscious effort of the player. By a +moment's thought it will be realised that players do not consciously +regulate the lengths of their swings in this way, that they could not do +so, and that any deliberate stopping of their swing at a certain +carefully calculated point would be ruinous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> to the stroke in hand. What +is done is, that an estimate of the distance to which the ball has to +travel is made; this is taken into the mind, and the mind, having much +experience, influences the swing so that it is quite subconsciously made +of the proper length, or at all events the length that the mind +suggested. In this way the swing is certainly made short for short +shots, and longer as the greater distance is needed; but it is wrong to +suggest that the matter is carefully and consciously arranged by the +player. The truth is that not one player in a thousand could tell you, +when about to make a swing with an iron club, exactly how far he intends +to swing, or having made the shot successfully, how far he did swing. +His mind subconsciously arranged the whole affair.</p> + +<p>An interesting case was quoted to me some time since of the success a +man achieved in lofting over stymies, and the reason why. This person +never seemed to miss. He related that he found previously that his +failures were due to looking at the other ball too much when in the act +of making the stroke. He then found that he succeeded frequently when he +did not look at either that ball or his own but at the hole itself. +Doing this enabled him to carry his club through, failure to do which is +the chief cause of missing these shots. But he did not altogether +believe in this system, which seemed dangerous, and he compromised by +keeping his eye fixed on his own ball, but at the same time imagining +the hole and seeing mentally his ball dropping into it. Since then his +success has been wonderful. In much the same way and by the same +principle it will be found that the best way in the world to encourage a +good follow-through, and to stop jerky hitting with wooden clubs, is to +look at the ball properly and yet imagine it a couple of inches farther +on.</p> + +<p>The principles of this subconsciousism suggest one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> earnest +recommendation to the player who is bent on making a change in a faulty +or ineffectual style, and it is that such change is better brought about +gradually and in the way of a coaxing influence rather than by a quick +drastic alteration. Thus the player whose swing is too upright and who +wants to obtain a flatter one, or he who desires to change from a long +swing to a short one, or the other way about; or again he who would +bring the ball more over to the right foot (one of the most difficult of +all changes to make for a player accustomed to have it nearly opposite +the left toe, but a desirable one in these days when the rubber-cored +ball shows no disinclination to rise as the gutty did); all these +players would do better to make their changes slowly and gradually and +by way of subconscious influence. If the ball is moved three inches to +the right all at once the entire swing is upset and the whole driving +arrangement is likely to go to pieces. But when done in the other way +the gradual change is not noticed, and when the ball gets to the desired +position it would be as difficult to play it from the old one, as the +new one would have been, if assumed suddenly. It is sometimes said of +golf that the most exasperating part of the whole thing is, that the +more you try to succeed in it the more you fail. There is more truth in +that sad reflection than may have been fancied, and a fine moral in it +too. To "try" in this case means to make conscious effort.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>After all, in this teaching about subconsciousism we are merely going +back again to Nature, to simplicity, and to an original idea that there +is undeveloped golf in all of us just because all the movements of the +game are so natural, and natural because they are so true and +rhythmical. In everything Nature encourages always<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> the best in a man, +and she likes most the graceful movement, the perfect poise, the equal +balance. The easier, the more natural, and the more rhythmical our +movements are in golf the more successful will be the efforts always. +The undeveloped golf is always in the system, and with fair +encouragement or a hint that is sufficiently obvious the instinct will +surely lead a young subject to its cultivation on good lines. Man when +old becomes awkward and contrary, and so the aggravations of the game +arise.</p> + +<p>I have always maintained that if we placed a young boy who had never +seen or heard of golf on a desert island and left him there with means +for his subsistence for a few years, together with a set of golf clubs +and a few boxes of balls, the people who might be wrecked on those +lonely shores thereafter would find him playing a good scratch game and +in want of nothing but a caddie, for which part the arriving boatswain +might be indicated. But these wrecked miserables, with their shiverings +and their grumblings, would jar unpleasantly upon the happy peace of +this purely natural golfing youth, in all the ecstasy of the discovery +of his own world. Probably he would wish the others—all except the +boatswain—to leave him there when a white sail of relief was seen upon +the horizon. A pretty speculation arises instantly. Suppose at the same +time we had placed upon another desert island four thousand miles away +another raw child, innocent of the simplest, vaguest thought of what +golf is or could be, and left him also with clubs and balls and +directions for obtaining fresh meat and fresh water when the human +desires in food were felt. He would surely take to the game in the same +way as the other boy did, practise it and probe into its mysteries with +just the same enthusiasm, would become a good scratch player also, and +would probably make use of the same simple expression of condemnation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> +when a shipload of people uncivilised to golf were wrecked that way. But +here is the point: this second scratch desert-island boy would probably +be just as good as the first scratch desert-island boy, no better and no +worse, and if they were to play for the Championship of the Most Lonely +Islands, nothing is more likely than that their excellent match would +have to go to the thirty-seventh hole or beyond it. They would, being +good material to begin with, attain approximately equal results so far +as playing the holes in a certain number of strokes is concerned, and +each youth's system would be perfect for himself, but between the two +there would be the very widest differences, and the basic principles +that were common to the games of both players would be so encrusted with +masses of individual detail and coloured with temperamental attitude +that they would be scarcely discernible.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>GOLF DE PARIS, AND SOME REMARKABLE EVENTS AT VERSAILLES AND CHANTILLY, +WITH NEW THEORIES BY HIGH AUTHORITIES.</h3> + + +<p>In front of the red brick club-house of the Royal Liverpool Golf Club at +Hoylake, a citadel which by its tower and clock commemorates the great +achievements of Hoylake's famous son, John Ball, there was assembled +late in the afternoon of Friday, the 21st of June 1907 (being the +forty-seventh year of the Open Championship), a large gathering of +golfing persons who by their speech and demeanour suggested some of the +vivid unrealities of a stage crowd near the footlights. They had a +self-conscious and somewhat artificial bearing towards each other. They +muttered and beckoned. They gave the impression of being a little uneasy +and nervous. Friends among them who essayed to conduct a conversation +found themselves at a loss for appropriate comments upon what had +happened and made remarks which had no clear or relevant meaning. +Professor Paterson, wearing the red rosette, came from the house and +stood before the little table bearing a silver cup which had been held +by the line of champions all the way from the time of Morris, the +younger, and a familiar friendly figure in chequered garments moved +about in a manner of official preparation. What had happened<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> had indeed +been dramatic; but the drama had had the living circumstance of full +reality. We could not discuss constructions and readings, and suggest +other endings. Here was the one gross fact, that Arnaud Massy, a Basque, +the professional attached to the leading club of Paris, a strong bonily +built man with no British blood in his being, had just made himself the +possessor for the year of that historic championship cup, which hitherto +had never been taken out of the United Kingdom. This was something which +the gathering did with difficulty absorb into their golfing minds. They +were good sportsmen, and they cheered because they knew that this Massy +was a fine fellow and a good champion; but it was all a little +dream-like, and there was a spell that needed to be broken.</p> + +<p>Massy, the victor, with a big smiling face came forward. The gold medal +was delivered to him. There was a little silence, a few muttered +incoherent words, and then this splendid Massy threw up his hands into +the air and shouted out with a full blast from his lusty lungs, "Vive +l'entente cordiale!" The tensity was broken; the people cheered easily, +naturally, and whole heartedly; they accepted Massy as the true and +proper successor to James Braid in the Open Championship, and wished him +thoroughly well—even though he were a Frenchman or a Basque. He had +done the right thing.</p> + +<p>This foreign player (never forgetting that he was trained to the game at +Biarritz, which in golf is mostly British, though it lies under the laws +of France) was brought to England and Scotland by Sir Everard Hambro, +and was improved in golf at North Berwick with Ben Sayers assisting him. +He well deserved to win that championship, and it should not be +overlooked that, so to say, he has confirmed his victory by making a tie +for the championship again since then. He is the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> only man outside the +great triumvirate who has done so much as twice to reach the top of the +list in modern times. He was well on his own very good game. There was a +crispness about his play with his wooden clubs that indicated the man +who for the time being had full confidence and could hit his hardest. +And Massy's putting, especially in the case of the most difficult and +fateful of all putts, those of from five to nine feet—putts for the +missing of which there is the fullest excuse, for whose holing there is +enormous gain—had been splendid for a long time before and was most +excellent then. At those putts of the kind I remark upon I do not think +that Massy in accuracy or confidence has his equal in the world. He +strokes the ball into the hole as though it were the simplest thing to +do; easily and gracefully he putts it in. In other ways he makes a fine +figure of a golfer. Military training in France has given him a stiffer, +straighter build than most great golfers have, for this game tends a +little to a crouching gait and posture. Massy marches from the tee to +the ball that has gone before with a quick, regular step of the +right-left-right military way, and when he comes up with the ball he +does a right wheel round, presents his club, and plays his second with a +quickness and lack of hesitation in which he is second only to George +Duncan. Particularly in putting is Massy a man of inspirations and quick +impulse. And I must not now forget that there is in the world a charming +little lady who is called Mlle. Hoylake Massy, which is her proper name. +Providence is disposed often to be kind and generous to the strong and +those who have well deserved, and that week Mme. Massy gave to the man +who was even then making himself the champion a sweet little daughter. +Having won the championship, the next question was one of christenings, +and, said Massy to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> his wife, "Voila! Surely she shall be called our +little Hoylake!" Which she was accordingly, Mme. Massy, rejoicing in her +husband's success, like the good, happy little woman of Scotland that +she is, having cordially agreed.</p> + +<p>And in France there were rejoicings among the golfers. My friend, M. +Pierre Deschamps, fine and keen sportsman (and the "father of golf in +France," as we call him for the grand work he has done in establishing +the game so well at La Boulie, where he is president of the Société de +Golf de Paris, and encouraging it with all his heart and energy +elsewhere in his country), rose and made a remarkable declaration that +golf was to be the "national game of France." The national game of +France, our Scottish golf of English development, started, as some still +will have it, in Holland, played in some sort of way as <i>jeu de mail</i> +even in France, practised in Pekin, called the "national game" also, as +I have heard it, in America—now it was to be naturalised and made the +"national game of France!" Ubiquitous golf indeed! M. Deschamps, whose +words are careful if they are quick, as befits one who is in the +diplomatic service of his country, sat down and wrote an essay on golf +in general, and Massy's success in particular, and, addressing the new +champion as if he were before him, said: "Et maintenant à vous la +parole, mon cher Massy; continuez votre brillante carrière, jouissez de +votre belle gloire dont nous sommes tous fiers, comme Golfeurs et comme +Français; à cette heure, où tant de links s'ouvrent chez nous, pour +répondre aux besoins d'enthousiastes sportsmen, puissent d'autres +professionels de notre race suivre votre example, unique encore dans les +fastes du 'Royal and Ancient Game,' et contribuer à faire de ce sport un +jeu national dans notre beau pays de France!" That was written. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> +victory you may be magnanimous, and M. Deschamps at this time would +graciously waive all questions of origins and growths; he must have felt +that then it mattered little that a kind of golf called <i>chole</i> had been +played ages back by the people of the north, and that it was possible +the Scots had copied from them. It was enough that Arnaud Massy was "le +Champion du monde."</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Disregarding all those doubts about the <i>jeu de mail</i> and the game of +<i>chole</i>, and considering only the real thing as we know it, taking its +time from the stone temple by the Fifeshire sea, it was away back in +1856 that the game was first played on the soil of France, and that was +in the south by the Pyrenees at Pau. Yet at that time only the wintering +British were concerned. Forty years went on before the French themselves +made a fair beginning with the game. In 1896 the Société de Golf de +Paris was established, and it has been a splendid success. To-day in +prestige and influence it stands for the headquarters of the game in the +country, though since it was begun there have sprung up many clubs of +great pretensions, with good courses, nice club-houses, distinguished +memberships, and unlimited francs. Yet La Boulie holds her queenship +still. Excellent golfing places have been made at Chantilly, Le Pecq, +Compiègne, Fontainebleau. Out on the north-west coast at such resorts as +Le Touquet, Dieppe, Deauville and Wimereux by Boulogne the game is +established. Long years back I played at pretty open Wimereux when there +was but a nine-holes course there, and not the excellent one of eighteen +that has now been made. Shall it not be considered as a happy token that +golf links are commonly found on old battlefields and at places where +armies have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> encamped? Sometimes this is just because the soldiers play +the game when they are abroad; sometimes it is because entrenchments are +bunkers all prepared; but oftenest it is just coincidence. Whatever it +be or why, it is the fact that there is golf where armies and battles +have been in Egypt, in South Africa, in the United States and Canada, +and at many places. Where there was the fury of flying shells there is +now only the peaceful hum of the rubber ball. One recalled when first at +Wimereux that here the great Napoleon had encamped with his grand army, +the same as was to cross the Channel to defiant isles and make a +conquest of them. But playing neither the first hole nor the last do we +need any reminder of what great Bonaparte wished to do, for by us there +towers aloft the monument that he had erected to that successful +invasion of Albion that never did take place. Hereabouts is indicated +the place where the master-general in full satisfaction with the +progress of things, and in remembrance of great achievements, +distributed his military favours. And here all along are deep +grass-covered trenches, and larger, rounder, shallow pits that once +might have been kitchens or stables. All these that now are bunkers and +hazards are where Napoleon camped and waited. And on a fine day our +white-cliffed Albion is in full view. Sometimes there may even be a sigh +as one reflects that the Corsican little dreamt of what should be done +with his camping land when a hundred years were gone, that those +sportsmen of Britishers would be playing their game about there, taking +their divots and holing their putts, and striving for golden tokens +given for competition by the mayor and municipality of adjacent +Boulogne! It was not for no reason that Arnaud Massy called aloud "Vive +l'entente cordiale!" In the heart of the country there have been more +golf clubs and courses formed, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> they are supported now mostly by the +French. At Rouen and Rheims the game may now be enjoyed. It is +spreading. M. Deschamps may yet be soundly justified. And indeed when we +take our clubs to Paris we feel that he should, and heartily do +wandering players echo the cry of Massy, who by his victory signalised +the fact that French golf had grown from babyhood to the strength of +independence, and was now to be considered as an entity. There is a +subtle sweetness about a golfing expedition in Paris that there is about +a little holiday for the game at no other place. One is not here +suggesting that it is better for golf and other matters to go to Paris +than elsewhere, only that it is quite different, intensely enjoyable, +and easily convenient. We breakfast in comfort in London, read the +newspaper afterwards, go through the pack of clubs to see that the +roll-call is rightly answered, and with time enough for everything move +along to Victoria. Had we dawdled less we might have gone much earlier +from Charing Cross. We meet quite casually other golfers in our +compartment on the South-Eastern, and inquire with no astonishment as to +which of the Parisian courses will be scarred by their irons before +their trip is done. From Dover or Folkestone we have a quick and +comfortable crossing; we discover some people who are bound for Le +Touquet and tell us of the excellent changes there, and then on the +comfortable railway of the Nord we are swung happily into the heart of +France, and are in the capital before the sun has set on a summer's day, +and with time yet to go out to La Boulie, which is by Versailles, or +Chantilly, and stretch our English arms and legs in preparation for +matches of the morrow. We are at home as golfers without delay.</p> + +<p>What one feels about golfing in Paris now is that while there is always +that elevation of the spirits, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> sense of extra life, that little +superfineness of feeling that are induced by a sojourn in the capital by +those who feel themselves somewhat akin to her, and there is a certain +subtle difference in the golfing ways and systems, such as we not merely +find but wish for, golf at Paris and the world over is really very much +the same—the same not merely in the playing of the shots as in the +general scheme of things, the going and the coming, the <i>tout ensemble</i>. +We settle ourselves comfortably in a big hotel in the Rue de +Castiglione, and next morning we fling away the sheets before eight as +alive as any Parisian <i>ouvrier</i>. The <i>café complet</i> disposed of, the +next question is that of clubs and balls. If it is a fine day and there +is time for the walking, we may stride through the corner of the gardens +of the Tuileries, across the corresponding corner of the Place de la +Concorde, over the bridge and into the station to the left by the side +of the Seine and down the steps to the platform, where there always +awaits us at the most convenient time what is in essence largely a +golfers' train. Our golfing people are in full evidence. You cannot +mistake their kind in a train of France any more than you can when they +journey from Charing Cross to Walton Heath. They pervade. So on to the +other end of the journey at Versailles, and there the carriages await +us, and the brake for those who like it, and we are bowled and rattled +along through that place which has seen much of the makings and undoings +of France, and on to La Boulie, where we hasten to the first tee, +fearful of any waiting. Or, alternatively, we take a taxi-cab that is +outside the hotel in Paris, and let loose through the Parisian streets +with it, across the Place Vendôme, past the Opera, away along to the +Gare du Nord with our inimitable Parisian taxi-man hurtling round the +corners with all the fury of a charioteer in the races of ancient Rome, +making us<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> reflect that it is well there will be a rest of an hour +before being called upon to do the first putting at Chantilly. So we +perceive that the going and the coming are very much what they might be +in England, with just that difference that gives a piquancy, while, +after a day on the course, it is found to be quite excellent to have the +gaiety of Paris at one's disposal. Those who have tried it generally +agree that golf de Paris makes the finest change of the game, the most +exhilarating that may be had by the player of the south of England, who +is not too far removed from Charing Cross or one of the ports. It may be +444 miles from our metropolis to St. Andrews, and 383 to North Berwick, +but it is only 259 to Paris, and despite the sea the journey lasts a +much shorter time than the dash to the north by the fastest trains. We +do not compare the golf of Paris with the golf of our historic and +beloved seats of the game, but the courses of France, as inland courses, +are good, and we think again of the virtues of the change complete, of +the <i>tout ensemble</i>. Good things have come out of France in the days of +long ago and in recent times; golf that is nearly of the best order +rises in it now, and when we see Mr. Edward Blackwell and some others of +the great men of the auld grey city who are most particular about all +golfing things playing themselves on the slopes of La Boulie, over the +plains of Chantilly, and through the forest of Fontainebleau, we know +that things are moving tolerably well.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Upon our initiation at La Boulie, our curiosity is stirred and attention +is attracted to many things. Perhaps M. Deschamps, or such a good +sportsman as the Baron de Bellet—whose son, M. François de Bellet, has +won the Amateur Championship of France, while Mlle.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> de Bellet is the +best of the lady players in the country—would conduct a guest about the +place and show him many things that would interest him, and many more +that as a golfer he would most honestly admire. La Boulie is not a great +course despite all the championships that have been played upon it, but +the Société de Golf de Paris, which has a membership of 750 at a +subscription of about £10, is quite a great institution. Yet, let me +hasten to say that in the first remark I was judging La Boulie on the +highest inland standard, and even then the judgment must be qualified by +the statement that if not great in the best sense La Boulie is good and +is quite interesting. At one time it suffered much from the nature of +its soil and turf, but greenkeeping science, the francs of France, and +the loving and most assiduous care of M. Deschamps, have changed much if +not all of that. In the summer time it is quite one of the most +beautiful courses I can think of with its wealth of trees, in which the +nightingales sing soon after the golfers have done, and its majestic +undulations, which come so near to being mountainous that herein, with +so much climbing to be done and so many uphill and downhill shots, is +one of the greatest faults of the course. But everything is well done at +La Boulie, and human ingenuity and thoroughness are well applied. M. +Deschamps is a fine humanitarian, and exerts himself constantly for the +welfare of the caddies, who are as good for their business as any +caddies in the world. It was a happy idea on his part to have these boys +trained under a semi-military system as he has them now. They are all +housed in a building near to the first tee under the care of the club; +they have to observe regulations of duty and life which are good for +them, and they are dressed in a boy-scout khaki uniform with touches of +red to brighten it, and the principles of boy-scoutism are worked into +their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> young lives. This is excellent, and indeed it is the truth that +already we have a little to learn in golf from France. By the way, one +of the curious laws of the country—curious as it seems to us, though +soundly sensible—is that boys are not allowed, when under about fifteen +years of age, to carry more than a certain weight in the way of work, +and this prohibits caddies from carrying a bag of clubs of more than +fair extent. As a matter of detail you will find that the weight +quantity allowed works out to something like ten clubs of an average +mixture, but happily for some good friends of mine there is no weighing +at the first tee and no officers of the Republic there to see it done. +They threaten to arrest us at St. Andrews if we play the game with iron +clubs only, and they have the power through bye-laws ratified by +Government to do so and send us to prison. Is it possible that a +wandering player in happy France should be lodged in a modern Bastille +for that on one eager day he defied ill omen and the law by carrying +thirteen clubs in his bag, as both James Braid and Edward Ray have done +when winning championships, the weight limit being exceeded and all the +unhappiest consequences following? M. Deschamps took the initiative in +founding the Golf Union of France, which is based completely on the +American system and is likely to be a strong force in the golf of the +future.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>To the best of my knowledge they have only one plus-handicap amateur in +France, being M. François de Bellet, who is rated at plus 1 at two or +three clubs, but I have examined the handicap books at different places +and find that there are a few scratch men, and that the number of +players who have single figure handicaps is quite good in proportion to +the whole, and is increasing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> The fears we had that the French +temperament was not good for the game prove to be unfounded; while the +French enthusiasm is equal to anything that we know. There are cases of +golf fever in France that are every degree as bad—or as good—as those +we find here at home.</p> + +<p>One muggy winter morning, when a friend and I teed up at the beginning +of the round at La Boulie, we could with difficulty see the flag on the +first green, short as was the hole. We surmised that we might be the +only players; but, no, many holes ahead, having started early, was a +match going on between a baron of France and one of his rivals. The +baron was taking the game with exceeding seriousness, and the +information was given to me that he played two rounds on the course +every day of his life. "Saturdays and Sundays?" I asked my caddie. +"Toujours!" was the answer. "Even if it rains?" I pursued. "Toujours!" +the boy answered with emphasis. "Or snows or is foggy?" I persisted, and +then the carrier of clubs replied a little impatiently and with +finality, "Toujours!" intending to convey that in all circumstances +whatsoever the indefatigable baron played his two rounds a day, and +independent witnesses confirmed the statement of the boy. This surely is +the French counterpart of what is considered to be the finest case of +golf enthusiasm that Britain has produced, being that of old Alexander +M'Kellar who played on Bruntsfield Links in the brave days of old and +was known for his ardour as "the Cock o' the Green." He also would play +always; when snow covered the course he begged and implored some one to +become his opponent in a match, and if nobody obliged he would go out +alone and wander the whole way round, playing his ball from flag to +flag, the greens and holes being hidden. At night he would sometimes +play at the short holes by the dim glimmer of a lamp, and golf by +moonlight was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> his frequent experience. Once upon a time his suffering +wife thought to shame him by taking to the links his dinner and his +nightcap; but he was too busy to attend to her. M'Kellar is long since +dead, but something of his soul survives in England—and in France. And +there are old and experienced golfers in France. There are Parisians who +are members of the Royal and Ancient Club of St. Andrews, and I have met +others who could argue most deeply with me upon the peculiarities and +merits of many British courses from Sandwich and Sunningdale to Montrose +and Cruden Bay. I took tea at Fontainebleau with M. le Comte de +Puyfontaine, who exercises a kind of governorship over the course, and +he told me that he learned his golf twenty-three years ago at a place +near Lancaster, and that since then he has played in many parts of the +United States and elsewhere.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>I have endeavoured to make the point that the French are worthy and +thorough, that the Parisian golf and golfers must be taken seriously, +and that it is a pleasure to go among them with our clubs. Their courses +are nearly good enough for anything, and they are all different from +each other in type and characteristics. Fontainebleau is cut out of the +forest, and silver birches line the fairway, while some of the great +boulders which are peculiar to the place stand out as landmarks near the +putting greens—but not so near as to be useful to the erratic player. +Holes of all kinds are at Fontainebleau, and some of them make pretty +puzzles in the playing. The teeing ground for the third is high up on a +hill and the view is charming, but that may be of less account than the +circumstance that the carry is farther than it looks, and the hole is a +long one. The fifth is a catchy dog-leg hole, which the caddies of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> +Fontainebleau do not call a <i>jambe du chien</i>, as you might expect them, +but a "doc-lac." Soon the game will be Gallicised completely. The ninth, +being a drive and a peculiar pitch, is a strange hole which worries the +pair of us exceedingly. It looks one of the simplest things, but there +is an inner green and an outer one, as one might say, and the former is +on a high plateau. There is a secret about it which we did not discover +in three full days. The tenth is a fine long hole, with a guard to the +green that might have been brought up from the Inferno, and so on to the +end in great variety. I like Fontainebleau. Chantilly has less character +but more length. It is a better test of wooden club play, but not of +pretty work with the irons in approaching. Yet it is well bunkered, the +fairway is smooth and dry, as it is at Fontainebleau, all through the +winter, and the putting greens are most excellent, fast and true. If +most parts of the course are a little flat, there is a great ravine +about the middle of it which gives a touch of the romantic and helps to +the enjoyment. The turf at La Boulie does not winter so well as it does +at the other places, though the club has spent many thousands of francs +in applying real sea-sand to it for its improvement; but in the spring, +the summer, and the autumn, golf here at Versailles is a fine pleasure. +Yet some will say that, much as I tempt them, they would not after all +go to France for golf, that indeed they could never confess to others +that they had been to Fontainebleau and Versailles and Chantilly for +their game. But why may they not take their game and their historical +views and reflections on the same days, as they may do better in France +than elsewhere; though when we play at St. Andrews or at Sandwich, where +Queen Bess visited, and Westward Ho! we wonder again how strangely this +royal and ancient game does attach itself and cling to the old places of +celebrity, and especially those whose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> fame was made for them by kings. +It is curious. The keen golfer is a man of thought and sense. We play on +a morning at Fontainebleau, and in the afternoon we wander through the +rich galleries of the wonderful palace where many kings of France held +magnificent court, a place where the great Napoleon loved to rest a +while between campaigns. There are relics of the Emperor in many +chambers; and it was at the chief entrance here that he bade his last +good-bye to the old guard and went lonely away, an emperor no more. The +wonders and the glories of Versailles are known even to those who have +never crossed the Channel; Chantilly has had its great romances of +history also. The old castle was put up in the ninth century; here the +Condes lived in fine state, and in the seventeenth and eighteenth +centuries the place was very famous. The good French have endeavoured to +make their courses suit their places. Sometimes we seem to look even on +these playgrounds for a touch of art, a little delicacy, a fineness and +a high quality, and we think in just that way of the golf de Paris when +the train of the Nord runs us homewards again.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>The seaside golf in the northern and north-western parts of France is +coming to be an important thing in the general scheme. Personal +association and its seniority above all except Dieppe have led me +already to mention Wimereux, but the golf of Wimereux is not the queen +of the game of northern seaside France. In all honesty we must crown the +slightly younger Le Touquet, on the other side of Boulogne, with that +distinction. Here you may have one of the most charming changes of the +game, and the most wholesome, delightful rearrangement of your general +daily living system. Go to Etaples from Boulogne, then spin<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> in the car +through that splendid forest, skimming by Paris Plage and its casinos +and evidences of lightness of life, and so through to Touquet, where +there is a course for golf that is most excellent in every respect, +lengths and character of holes, sandy nature of soil, quality of putting +greens—everything. Some of the holes are a little tricky; but the +course in general has been enormously improved in recent times, and it +well deserves the championship dignity that has now been accorded to it. +The girl caddies there are the best of their kind. I remember a little +Marie for such an intuition regarding clubs to be used as I remember no +other assistant: and after playing for a day through these avenues of +fir trees with the great banks of silver sand in the distance, shutting +off the sea, then dawdling among the coloured lights at Paris Plage +listening to the music after dinner, and in the night sleeping in an +upper room near to the links, and hearing at the last moment of +consciousness the wind music floating in from the surrounding trees, one +feels that this is almost an enchanted land, with the spirits of +happiness and pleasure controlling a joyful cosmos.</p> + +<p>Dieppe is good, and it is quite different. Here the golf is some +seventeen years of age, the whole system of things is well matured and +settled, and the golfing season goes along with a fine swing from the +beginning to the end. It was Willie Park who first laid out this course, +but it has been much altered and lengthened since then, and now there is +a fine club-house and all that a player might wish for, and especially +one who likes to contend in competitions. There is something for such +challengers to do all the time; I know few other golfing places where +there are so many competitions in August and September, and yet they are +no nuisance to the people who say they hate such things. At Etretat the +game has been making excellent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> progress lately; at Deauville by +Trouville, where you bathe always except when you do not golf or sleep +or eat, it has been long established, and the course there has recently +been raised very high in quality; and at Cabourg and Havre, in the same +region, there are courses also. There are at Etretat thirteen holes, and +yet you may play a lucky round, and I am reminded that in the long ago, +when golf near the sands of Picardy was first being thought of, a wise +man of Cabourg sent for an English course architect, and, displaying to +his view one nice field, said, "Voila! Make me a hole! Two if possible!" +But they know much better now than that, and Cabourg has its full +eighteen. To golf, to lie down and sleep, to splash and tumble in the +sea, to seem to do so much and yet to do so little except make a few +drives and miss some putts—it is all a very happy holiday that you may +enjoy at these places.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>The championships of France, which began in a small and gentle way, have +lately risen to be very important events, and they gain a most +wonderfully cosmopolitan entry. In 1913, which was the greatest year for +championships in general that the game has ever known—Taylor winning +his fifth Open at Hoylake, Mr. Hilton his fourth Amateur, Mr. Travers +his fourth American Amateur, Ouimet beating Vardon and Ray in the +American Open—the championships of France did indeed rise to the first +class, and in both events, the Amateur at La Boulie and the Open which +was held for the first time at Chantilly—and the first for it to be +taken away from the mother course at Versailles—produced some most +exciting business. I have never seen a more extraordinary final in its +way than that in the amateur event at La Boulie on this occasion,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> when +Mr. E. A. Lassen came to grips with Lord Charles Hope—and such grips +they were! I was led to describe it at the time as a dramatic affair of +four periods and a spasm, and that is just what it was. Lord Charles +Hope, though not physically strong, has acquired a fine game, and in the +first period of this thirty-six holes match we witnessed him playing +some quite beautiful golf and exercising the most complete +self-possession and steadiness, gradually piling up a big lead of holes +upon his more experienced opponent, who has been once Amateur Champion +of Britain and a finalist another time, and seeming to make himself a +certain winner. The duration of this period was one whole round, and at +the end of it Lord Charles had five good holes to his advantage. The +second was a period of peace, in which we watched Lord Charles keeping a +tight hold on his most valuable gains, while Mr. Lassen, if losing +nothing more, was gaining nothing when it was absolutely necessary he +should be gaining quickly if he was not to be the loser of the day. Time +was flying and holes were being done with, and fewer of them being left +for play and recovery. This period terminated at the turn in the second +round, with Lord Charles Hope still four to the good and "still +winning." The third period lasted from the tenth to the fourteenth holes +in this round, and in it the man who had seemed to be very well beaten +threw a new life into his game, tightened it up, made it exact, certain, +and aggressive, while at the same time his opponent seemed to collapse +entirely, his driving becoming soft and uncertain and his short game +nervous. The Yorkshire player won four of these five holes and at the +fourteenth he was level with his man. Never was there a more +extraordinary illustration of the truth that no match is lost until it +is won; to some extent it recalled that amazing championship at Hoylake, +when Mr. Sidney<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> Fry so nearly gained the title after being at one time, +as it appeared, hopelessly beaten by Mr. Charles Hutchings. Now it was +surely Mr. Lassen's match; but in the crisis Lord Charles Hope came +again and fought every inch of the way home. In this period every hole +was halved to the end of the round, so that after the statutory +thirty-six had been played the state of things was as at the beginning +of the day. No business had been done, and each man might be said to +have had his tail up quite as much as the other. The spasm followed. The +thirty-seventh had to be played. Mr. Lassen teed up his ball, said to +himself that he must keep it to the left as there was the dread +out-of-bounds on the right that had been a constant trouble to him, +swung, struck, and to his dismay saw the little white ball bearing +slowly but surely to the right after all. It did not reach the trees, +but, almost as bad, it fell into the big deep bunker out that way, and +made recovery difficult. Lord Charles Hope seized his advantage. A good +ball shot straight down the middle of the fairway, and the hole and the +match were his. An extraordinary game indeed that was.</p> + +<p>In the Open Championship at Chantilly there was an entry that was nearly +good enough for a championship on British soil. Vardon and Ray, out +across the Atlantic, were missing, but otherwise the class was as +numerous and good as need be, and there were a few of the best British +amateurs. George Duncan won, as he had won the "News of the World" +tournament the week before, and so made it clear that he had come into +his own at last. These two were his first really big victories in +classic open events, and they were brilliantly and indeed easily gained. +But it was not Duncan's victory, so well deserved as it was, that makes +this championship at Chantilly worth a place in golfing history. It was +something else that very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> nearly happened. Among the competitors was an +amateur in Mr. H. D. Gillies, who at different times in recent seasons +has shown an immense capacity. At St. Andrews in the Amateur +Championship only a few months before he had made a brilliant display. +Now, here, he did a thing which to the best of my belief and after a +searching of all the records had never been done before, and that was in +an open championship competition of the first order, decided by four +rounds of stroke play and with the best players of the world arrayed +against him, he as an amateur led the whole field for three consecutive +rounds. Mr. Ouimet in America did not lead for three rounds, no amateur +had led for three rounds in any open championship before, and it is not +often that any professional has done so either. Mr. Gillies has enormous +powers for concentration and effort, and, as one might say, he can +strain himself at the game until he nearly drops. In his third round he +had a wicked piece of bad luck which cost him two most valuable +shots—not the sort of bad luck that one gets through finding a +specially nasty place in a bunker, but the much worse variety which is +the result of a grave error in course construction. After one of the +finest drives one might wish to see, at a hole just after the turn he +found his ball lying on a road which had to be treated as a hazard, and +from here he was bunkered. He knew that Duncan was pressing him hard, +and that he had not a stroke to spare. Still by an enormous effort he +kept his lead, and at the end of the third round it looked as if it +would still be a lead of two strokes, when alas! on the home green he +lost a stroke in putting. Instead of having a lead of two over the +terrible George for the last round he had now a lead of only one. There +is not much difference between one and two—it may all be accounted for +by the very smallest of putts—but in a case of this kind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> the moral +effect is very great. You see, when you lead by two strokes you realise +that you can afford to lose one of them and still be leading, but when +you only have an advantage of one there is the cold truth that you +cannot afford to lose anything at all or the lead will go—the lead that +Mr. Gillies had held all the time. One may be sure that he felt this, +for coming off that home green some one said to him quietly, "You still +lead, Gillies," and he turned with a little melancholy and responded, +"Yes, but one stroke is not much to lead Duncan by, is it?" The effect +was visible at the first tee in the afternoon. He knew the +responsibility. He took an infinity of pains, far too much. He addressed +his ball until he was sick of looking at it any more, and then he topped +it into the bunker in front of him. Good-bye, Open Championship of +France! But there it was, a brilliant achievement for all that, and if +he had won, as once he seemed likely to do, no man could have done +justice to the golf history of that year with amateurs Ouimet and +Gillies as Open Champions.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Surely Mr. Gillies is one of the most interesting studies in the game at +the present time. Born in New Zealand, he became a boat-race Blue at +Cambridge, and is the only one who has won a high position in +first-class golf. Now he is a surgeon in Upper Wimpole Street, already +with a high reputation as a specialist in matters affecting throat, +ears, and other organs of the head. He is evidently a man of immense +will-power, with a most enviable capacity for concentration and for +obliterating from his mind completely what is not essential to the +business of the moment. He will work at his profession continuously for +a week or a month and only just remember golf, and then he will suddenly +appear in a great competition, perhaps a championship,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> and be a golfer +and nothing else whatever. That is as it should be, as it is always +supposed to be in golf, but few men can exchange themselves to this +extent. When he won the St. George's Cup at Sandwich he had not touched +a club for ages, but somebody insisted on motoring him down there for +the occasion. He had no idea of going to Chantilly, but was at Wimereux +when an entry form was sent along to him there, and he said to Mrs. +Gillies, "Let us go and watch the professionals," but they watched him +instead. He is always going to courses he has not seen, and when he has +not been playing golf for a long time, and then doing wonders on them. +Tall and athletic in build, in demeanour he is solemn, and I have heard +it said that his attitude at times somewhat suggests that he is about to +put his opponent on the operating table—which in a sense he often does. +He belongs to the hard thinking and slow playing school. Although he has +a keen temperament, and is a man who at his best plays largely from +inspiration, yet he is much of what we call a mechanical golfer, and is +very measured and deliberative in his movements. He has studied and +satisfied himself about what are the essential principles of this +mysterious game, and he applies them to the best of his intense ability. +He keeps himself steadier on his feet than almost any other player I can +recall. Those who have had the necessities of pivoting on toes drilled +into them from their first day at golf should make close observation of +the Gillies way and see how well that way pays. He swings his club +backwards but a little way and very slowly, but finishes the swing at +great length. As is often the case with players of his attitude towards +the game, his iron strokes are plain and they can be depended on.</p> + +<p>But the most interesting feature of his system and his principles is the +remarkable steadiness with which he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> holds his head during the making of +his stroke. We understand very well that of all principles this is the +most imperative, and that he who disobeys it is completely lost. When we +have foozled we know well that the presumptive cause was a little +movement of that most restless and anxious head. We know also that head +movement disturbs the general balance, and induces body movement, and +have not troubled to consider why. A reason seems vaguely obvious, but +Mr. Gillies knows more about matters of the head than other people, and +from his surgical knowledge he has come by one of the most interesting +theories that have been propounded in connection with this game and +believes in it absolutely, which is one reason why he has decided that, +when driving, whatever happens his own head shall be absolutely +motionless. This is not a matter for a layman to explain or guess at, +and so I have gone to Mr. Gillies himself and begged from him his +theory. He says to me, then, that he has always felt that keeping the +eye on the ball is certainly the key to the situation, but in recent +times he has realised that the importance of so doing is really in +keeping still the delicate balancing organs of the head when executing +the shot. These organs or semicircular canals are intimately connected +with the eye, and also give one the sense of position. The least +movement of the head upsets the fluid in these canals, so that the sense +of position is more or less lost, according to the amount of movement. +Without the sense of position the stroke is almost sure to fail. "I take +it," he says, "that your visual memory is good enough to remember the +position of the ball, if you shut your eyes just before hitting it; but +if you move the head at the moment you cannot hit the ball correctly. +Swaying the head in putting, as Tom Ball does, is probably not very +disturbing owing to the movement being so slow that the fluid in the +canals<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> does not get jerked. At the same time I can understand him +requiring a great deal of practice to perfect the sway." To the layman +this theory is very remarkable, and it is impressive for two reasons, +one being that it is backed by expert scientific knowledge, and the +other that it is emphasised by successful application.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>And if Mr. Gillies is one of the most interesting figures that have +arisen in amateur golf in recent times, most certainly George Duncan is +the most interesting of the newer professionals. Here is an artist at +the game if you will, the greatest genius of golf that has come up since +Harry Vardon rose to fame. I am convinced that in the new period that is +beginning with the inevitable decline, to some extent at all events, of +the old triumvirate, George Duncan will be far and away the most +conspicuous figure. He is a great golfer, and is in every way admirably +fitted for supremacy. A more fascinating player to watch and study and +think about afterwards has never driven a ball from the tee.</p> + +<p>When he first came out it was declared that he was the fastest golfer +who had ever lived. It was said that he walked up to his ball and hit it +away before anybody had time to realise that he had taken his stance. He +was likened unto hurricanes, lightning, and racehorses. I remember that +Mr. Robert Maxwell, being once partnered with him, in an Open +Championship I think, remarked afterwards that it was the most violent +and disturbing experience of fast golf he had ever known. All this was +true. Duncan never seemed to find it necessary to think as we do, and +not merely we with all our doubts and hesitations, but those far better +than we are, men who have won championships. He dispensed with all +alternatives, those fatal alternatives that ruin<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> our own game. We often +fail because there are not only so many ways of doing the same thing in +golf, but because we try to think of too many of them when we have a +stroke to play and change from one to another and then to a third, until +our increasing indecision can be no longer tolerated and some sort of +shot has to be played. Analyse your own emotions and experiences, and +you will discover that this vacillation has been the cause of many +disastrous failures. But George Duncan never suffered in this way. He is +a man of lightning decision, of peculiarly sound and valuable +inspiration, and he is one who, having once decided, does not swerve +from his determination no matter what may be the allurements in the way +of alternatives. Duncan does not know the alternative. He has no use for +it. He does not recognise it. He believes that first thoughts in golf +are best, and he abides by them. He decides and he acts. And he does all +such thinking as is necessary for his decision while he is walking from +the place where he played his last stroke to the place from which he +will play his next, so that when he reaches his ball there is nothing to +do but get to business without any waste of time. All these were +features of the early Duncan just as they are of the present one, and +they have been developed and perfected during the ten or dozen years +that he has been out in the professional world.</p> + +<p>But the Duncan of the early period had a fault of temperament in that he +would go wild. He would at the moment of crisis lose his head, think of +impossibilities and try to do them. He would lose his grip of his game. +Elation and despondency would alternate too quickly in his mind. He +would be careless; he would forget consequences. Who that ever saw it +will ever forget the way in which he let the Open Championship at St. +Andrews in 1910 slip from his grasp in that terrible last round? He had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> +done rounds of 73, 77, and 71, the third being then and still the record +of the course. Another 77 would have given him the Championship. Instead +of that he did an 83. The next year at Sandwich he did very much the +same sort of thing in his third round. It has seemed that in each of the +last four or five years he was good enough to win the Championship, and +that it was largely his own fault that he did not do so. That is why we +used to say of him that ambition should be made of sterner stuff, that +these weaknesses of his temperament were inexcusable and must be stamped +out.</p> + +<p>Duncan has cured that fault of temperament now. He has stamped it out. +The other day when he and I were discussing his predecessor in the same +flesh, he said, "All that is past and done with. It is gone behind me. +There is no more of it. I am quick still. I shall always be quick +because that is I, Duncan, my nature. I cannot be anything else. And why +should I not be quick? Are there not too many slow golfers in the world? +But for the rest of it I am steady now. I feel hold of myself and the +game. I do not forget." Championships should come quickly to him now.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>RIVIERA GOLF, AND WHAT MIGHT BE LEARNED FROM LADIES, WITH A +CONSIDERATION OF THE OVERLAPPING GRIP.</h3> + + +<p>One who will only play on summer days is a little less than half a +golfer after all. Golf at the full demands resource, good heart, some +courage, and a settled nerve, and it is of its principle that in the +matter of places, times, and weather the game shall be taken as it is +found. Hence the real golfer should not only tolerate the play in the +bad seasons when there are howling winds and drenching rains, and much +of life seems damp and sad, but he might be expected even to feel some +occasional satisfaction in it. One who can hold himself up to the big +wind and drive a ball that whistles through it to the full drive length, +then play a good second and all with fine allowance and good wind work +with his irons, so that the game works out well enough for any day, is +one whose contentment is a state to be envied. Rarely does one feel the +thrills of the golfing life better than when playing well in a lashing +wind, with clothes that soak and stick; the sense of mastery is +magnificent. Yet of such luxuries of winter golf one may sometimes tire. +The strong would be gentle again; and sunshine comes well after storms +and leaden skies. Swearing in December that this winter shall see us +stay at home<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> the season through, playing on our east coast links +throughout, January finds us hesitate, and in February, if we wait till +then, there is a journey being made away through France to the sweetness +of life by the blue Mediterranean Sea. It is an unforgettable change. We +have spoken wrongly when sometimes after, at the end of a winter season, +we have declared we tired of it. Never.</p> + +<p>We have returned to London weary at the end of a January day from +Sunningdale or Walton Heath, or it may have been just back along on the +underground from the Mid-Surrey course at Richmond, which seems as well +in winter as any, and much better than most others. But London is murky +and dirty. It is cold, it is windy, there is a drizzling rain, and the +streets are very dirty. It will be three-quarters of an hour before we +may be seated at the dinner table. Oh, we become a little tired of this! +Troubles never come singly, and probably on such a day a match or +matches have been lost. Those who are not of the community do not +understand what worries make up the full agony of this game, and that is +why the loss of two matches was considered by the gentle lady with her +friend at tea to be the cause complete of the horrid din as of breaking +furniture in the hall, the barely-stifled awful words, the yelping and +limping of the little dog that suggested some sudden and unexpected +injury, and the general impression that was conveyed throughout the +household of havoc and disaster. "It is nothing," said gentle Fanny of +the perfect understanding as, with her toes in pink satin on the fender, +she poured another cup for Mrs. Larcombe. "Really, it is only George, +who, I can tell, has lost <i>both</i> his matches, dear!"</p> + +<p>But it was not the matches only. It was the waiting lone and weary for +Marmaduke at the beginning of the day; it was the lame excuse of +Marmaduke for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> his tardiness; it was the aggravating manner of the man +throughout and the stupidity of the caddie; it was the stickiness of the +greens; it was something wrong with the fateful golfer's lunch that made +it all worse in the afternoon; the slicing that was more frequent and +farther into the rough; the pitch shots that were topped still more; and +the putts that ever lipped and stayed outside. It was the luck that went +viler all the time, the cruelty of circumstance, the misery of it all; +and after the twin defeat the sad discovery and reflection that if one +little thing—perhaps only the pressure of a finger—had been remembered +about some big things that were wrongly done, it might all have been +avoided. It is realised again that of all the sad thoughts the saddest +is: "It might have been." It is then that the agony of golf is +experienced; it is then that the golfer is not happy. And it is then, on +the retreat to town, that one may seem to hear the Mediterranean call, +and see a vision of a sun glistening on a flowered and song-laden land +where golf is played. Take the chance, unhappy man; make the change then +if you can.</p> + +<p>The strongest emotions often arise from the widest and most sudden +contrasts. Our beautiful English summer comes to us too slowly and +gradually through the vicissitudes of spring for the fullest delight. +One may step out from the mist and drizzle of a London street into the +greater darkness of a theatre, and it is all blank and gloom and +nothingness, but there is a quick expectancy. A few moments, and there +is the tinkling of a bell, the curtain is rolled up, and there is a +blaze of light with a pretty picture, perhaps, of summer with a full +suggestion of Arcadia. Music and song, love and gladness, and younger +again is the heart in years. Thus for a while the load is lightened. It +is like that when one wanders to the Riviera for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> golf in the depth of +England's winter. We leave London when it rains and is cold and heavily +depressing; the spirit is weary from the trials of the season. Charing +Cross—the Channel—Paris, hardly less gloomy than her sister +Londres,—the plunge into the rumbling darkness of the fast train on the +P. L. M.—sleep and dreams. And in the morning the bell rings and the +curtain of the new and sunny world rolls up, and it is glorious summer. +Nothing in the way of change of scene is quite so good as this. Those +who do not know the Riviera may try to imagine it, but in the clearest +vision they cannot approach the grand reality of this sudden change. +Marseilles—Toulon—Hyères—Costebelle; and there is the sunshine, the +flowers, and the game. A rest of a day, quiet slumber through the night, +and in the morning drowsily one hears a beat, beat, beat upon the +window-panes, and, not being then awake to Hyères, or Costebelle, it +seems perhaps but the dismal tapping of the London rain. But later it is +discovered to be the tapping of the leaves and rosebuds on the glass. +Breakfast on the terrace, the contenting cigar whose smoke rises +wreathingly through a still atmosphere upwards to the blue, and then an +effort to lift oneself from a summer languor. Clubs in possession again, +a walk for a little way along a rose-fringed road, and then a plunge +through a coppice along a broken stony path that thousands of golfers +have trod before. Through a field of narcissi, through the planted +violets, past a little vineyard on to the plain below—there the golf +course is. Then play the game all day, and mount to the hotel again when +the afternoon is nearly spent. But in the earlier afternoon at +Costebelle I would rather climb back through the little wood after my +single round, enjoy this perfect illusion of summer, and read and rest +in laziness. Tints of lemon and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> citron come into the sky when the sun +falls to its setting. Out beyond the plain is the sea and then the Iles +de Hyères, or the Iles d'Or as they have been called, because the sun +will shine upon them when it has left the mainland for the +day—Porquerolles, Portcros, Titan, Bagaud, and Roubaud—a +pearly-coloured group. You may make a short journey to them, to the blue +Mediterranean which is so very blue. There is the delicate blue of the +sapphire, and the richer blue of the turquoise. There is the wide blue +of the Italian skies, and a wonderful blue in some women's eyes. But +there is no blue that is so deep, so glorious, so soulful as that of the +Mediterranean Sea, as in fancy I see it now. We gaze upon it and are +content. All is so peaceful and pleasant. Over the hills comes a booming +sound; it must be naval gunnery at Toulon. Grim realities of life and +strife press even into this sweet scene. Yet they are French guns, and +they are not meant for England either. I love Costebelle. For the simple +sunny happiness of the life that is led there it is incomparable.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>And this happiness in scene and sun, be sure, is the greater part of the +golf on the French and Italian Riviera. There is often much doubt by +those who have not been there upon the quality of Riviera golf. It +varies. It once was poor; it was bad. It is now much improved, and it is +improving still as the demand for it has quickened, as the people of +southern France who depend so much upon their British visitors have come +to realise the full meaning of "the golf boom" and the education and +bettered tastes of the golfing people who leave Britain in the winter +time. It is now, as golf of the inland kind, quite tolerably good, which +is to say that in degree it might rank fairly well up in the second +class<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> of British inland golf. It is no better than that; it is +sometimes not so good. Climatic difficulties on the Riviera are somewhat +desperate. In the summer there is a continuous baking heat, and this is +followed by days of warmth and nights of frost, and in such confusion of +temperatures the golf courses have to be grown afresh for every season. +Until recent times the putting greens needed to be newly sown and +cultivated for every winter season, and I believe that it was at Nice +that Mr. Hay-Gordon, secretary of courage and discernment as he is, +first gave battle to the destructive climate and determined he would +hold his putting greens—which at Nice are better than at almost any +other place in southern Europe—right through the suns of summer and +keep them on from one season to another. At Nice, again, thanks to gold, +and thought, and enterprise, they have what the guardians of other +Riviera courses do much envy, a magnificent supply of water, and this is +lavished upon the turf through the dry time when the golfers are back at +their homelands. The experiment of Nice, which was a fateful one, proved +successful, and since then it has been copied by other clubs out that +way, and greens are kept on and are much the better for it. In the old +days it was a painful thing, as I remember it, to tread upon those +tender new-born blades of grass, thin and scarce they were, and unfit +for such usage as golfers give. It is far better now. Then also the +construction of the courses has been much improved; but it must be +remembered again that conditions and circumstances do not encourage or +even agree with ideas of length and bunkering as we of Britain entertain +them. Yet these things do not matter. We need no six thousand yards and +no bottle-neck approaches when we wander southwards to the sun. Life +shall be taken simply then; the press of existence shall be relieved, +the game<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> shall be made a little gentler than at other times, the nerves +shall not be unduly tried. So we discover that there is a virtue in what +is little more than five thousand yards, a generous amplitude of short +holes, and enough to satisfy of those that can be done with a driver and +an iron of sorts. In a mood of ease and languor, when even strong men +who like the game find joy in a mixed foursome, we come to admire the +Riviera system; and we may find men at nights hard in argument upon the +points and delicacies of the fifth hole or the fifteenth, the +aggravations of the sixth and the sixteenth, when they would disdain to +think of such like in their golfing life at home. That comes of the +influence of the sun; it soothes and satisfies, and it makes +contentment.</p> + +<p>Then there is this good thing to be said for the Riviera golfing way, +that it yields a very full variety, and it might well be advertised that +it embraces something to suit all tastes. Not only does it vary in the +kind of course, but in the way of life that is attached to it. The +manner of living at Hyères and Costebelle is more of the English country +kind and more sporting healthily open-air, with less of the flummery of +fashion, than it is at other Riviera places, not meaning by that that +there is not enough of good music and social entertainment for evening +hours. The sea is a distance off, and there is next to nothing of +promenading. Here we live well and are happy, and the sun is very warm. +R. L. S. lived at "La Solitude" at Hyères, and he loved it. The golf in +some respects is as good as elsewhere on the littoral; in some ways it +is even a little better. There is the course of Hyères flanking one side +of the quaint old town, and there is Costebelle with the chief hotel on +the hillside on the other, and its golf course on the plain below. +Hyères is a gentle course, pretty, smooth and nice, and much improved +in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> recent times. The turf is good for southern France, and some of the +holes are remembered, as where we play through an avenue of trees with +silver bark. Golf is younger at Costebelle and it is quite different, +but if one were led to make comparisons, as from which we shall refrain, +it might be said that often youth is no harmful thing. Golf architecture +had already advanced to a science when this course was first made, the +first planning being done by Willie Park, and such as Mr. John Low have +advised upon its improvement since, while M. Peyron has lavished much +money and attention upon it too. Even if there are still some rawnesses +apparent, golf at Costebelle comes near to being the real thing. Then it +is a good point in favour of this end of the Riviera that here we have +the golf almost at the door of our hotel as it is scarcely to be had at +any other place. It is something to walk down to the first tee, and +pluck a rose by the wayside as we go.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>That of Cannes is a pretty course. The Grand Duke Michael has done much +for it and here he is a king. Society is high at Cannes, the people come +along to La Napoule, six or seven miles from the town, in their +motor-cars in a long procession, and it is the proper place for the +luncheon party and such social entertainments as go well with a +verandah, sunshine, and the flowers. One would go to the golf club at La +Napoule even though one did not golf; many do—perhaps too many. Those +who eat and chatter, kiss hands and smile, but never take a divot are +losers of something that is heartening. A river runs through this +golfing land, and twice we cross it by a famous ferry worked by hands +upon a rope that is stretched across the stream. On one side of the +river there are twelve<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> holes laid and on the other there are six; but +the six may be considered to be better than the twelve for the pleasure +that they yield. First we play three of the batch of twelve, and then we +are floated to the precious six. Here there are big sand bunkers of a +natural kind, and they are nicely placed. The fairway is tolerably good, +and there are putting greens in pretty places.</p> + +<p>If this were all it would be good; but the course of Cannes gains a +splendid charm from its magnificent situation which cannot be ignored. +There is a promise of beauties to come when we approach the club-house +by that long avenue of golden mimosa; later there are glimpses of almost +heavenly scenes. If the golf at these continental places is gentler than +at home, such things as scenery may count for a little more. I have +never had full sympathy with the suggestion that the golfer cares +nothing for scenery or sparkling air except when he is off his game and +then falls back upon them for compensation. There is not only hypocrisy +in this, but in suggesting the player to be scarcely above the savage it +is unfair to a healthy taste that has had some training in appreciation +of natural beauties. One does not dwell upon cloud effects nor let the +mind loose upon a panorama when the strokes are being done and there is +a man to beat, but sunlight and sweet scenes have always their strong +effect subconsciously, and it would be a pity if they had not. I shall +not place the course of Cannes at La Napoule in that warring and jealous +company, many clubs strong they are, each of which claims that it is the +most beautifully situated in the world. I have played upon three or four +of such courses, and indeed their claims have appeared to be strong. It +is enough that Cannes is very beautiful. It will be well if there are a +few moments for waiting caused by a slow-going match in front when your +ball has been placed on its little pinnacle of sand on the fourth teeing +ground, for spread<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> out in the distance there is a glorious panorama of +the snow-capped Maritime Alps, on whose last spur there lies glistening +white in the sunshine the little town of Grasse where sweet perfumes are +distilled and where, as they say, twelve tons of roses are crushed to +make a quart of essence. Grasse rests on that hillside like a linen +sheet dropped there by the gods. When we have done this hole and face +about, there are the pearly-tinted Esterels ahead. Hereabouts the holes +are chiefly laid out through avenues of fir trees, and here and there, +especially when one is approaching the eighth green, the picture is one +that bears some suggestion of an Italian charm. Elsewhere in the round +the Mediterranean is presented, as once when we look across the bay in +which Cannes is placed to Cap d' Antibes at the opposite corner from La +Napoule. By comparison some of the concluding holes are a little dull in +looks; but when we play them in the afternoon the sun is setting behind +the Esterels in front, and then there is indeed a sunset to be seen.</p> + +<p>Again, the course of the Nice club is at Cagnes some miles out from the +town. It is different from the others of the Riviera, and it has its +special advantages. I recall an example of one of them which was the +more impressive since it was made on the occasion of my first visit to +the course. That was years ago, and we had been held up at Nice for five +days and five nights by continuous and heavy rain during the whole of +that long time, and it was in February too. Such a spell of Riviera wet +seems almost incredible, but it happened, the oldest inhabitants, for +the credit of their country, declaring that such a thing had never been +before since the world as they knew it had begun. When this kind of +thing happens on the Riviera there is only one thing to do, and that is +go to the casinos; and it was bad for us in every way that this rain +came down like that even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> if it was good for the Casino Municipal and +the others at Nice and for M. Blanc at the adjacent Monte Carlo. When +the five days and five nights had been endured, when the heart had grown +sick of what happened at the tables, when our thoughts had turned to +Sicily and Egypt—for during this period of the flood I had made one +voyage (we should call it a voyage though the journey was done by +motor-car along that glorious Grand Corniche) to the Riviera of Italy, +and there at Bordighera and San Remo (and what a pretty little course it +is at Arma di Taggia) found it to be raining still—the sun came out +again and the question of golf arose to life. But surely, it seemed, +golf would be impossible for some time; courses would need to dry. +However, we argued that a stroke with a driving mashie is better than no +play, and so we took the car at the Place Masséna and soon were out at +Cagnes, and there we played on a course that was as dry as any course +need ever be though the rain had been pelting down to within three or +four hours before. In one or two hollow places there were little pools +of casual water, but otherwise the state of things was such that we +might sit upon the grass when the opposition was badly bunkered and +needed time for his recovery. Others knew that Nice recovers quickly, +for when we were out in the middle of the course we espied some figures +a couple of long holes away, and about the attitude of one of them there +was something strangely familiar. There was a manner of walking on the +course not so much stiff as small and quite precise, and there was a +club being carried vertically, head high up as if it were a gun and the +carrier were one of a line of infantry. I can recall only one man who +sometimes walks with his club like this—not that there is anything +against it—and, knowing him, I still regret that opponent had not +courage to accept a wager of anything from five francs to fifty that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> I +could name the man at that distance of seven hundred yards, having no +knowledge that he I had in mind was on the Riviera at all. It was Mr. +Arthur Balfour, ex-Prime Minister, who, chafing for lack of golf after +his own five days' shutting up, had motored over from Cannes at the +moment that the rain held up.</p> + +<p>There is a certain plainness about many of the holes at Nice, but others +are interesting. The first is appetising, the eighth is a mashie shot +over a belt of trees, and the ninth is one of the longest I know, quoted +on the cards at 605 yards and stretching away to the west, parallel with +the sea-shore, and quite close to it so that a highly extravagant slice +might deliver one's ball to the Mediterranean. However, we get there +very quickly, and the hole is not so long as figures make it seem, for +there is much run on the ball at Cagnes. One of the prettiest holes +follows this one. The sociabilities here are excellent, and Nice itself, +being rather a place of tumultuous excitement and very much within the +Monte Carlo zone and influence, you may find it a beneficial thing in +many ways to get out to the golf club as frequently as you can.</p> + +<p>In recent times they have effected a great improvement to the course at +St. Raphael, and up at La Turbie, overlooking Monte Carlo, and in one of +the finest situations conceivable, they have made a new one with +considerable luxury of appointment. The climatic difficulties which they +had to encounter here, at a height of nearly two thousand feet, were +such that they had not dreamt of, much less reckoned upon, and for a +time an appreciable portion of the money was being lost on the greens +that was being gained through the reds and blacks in the casino down +below, the two organisations not being without association with each +other. The construction of this course stands out as one of the great +engineering feats of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> golf. The top of the mountain on which it was +determined that it should be made was a bare rocky waste. There was not +even the necessary soil to grow the grass on. It was determined to take +up the soil from a neighbouring valley, and three hundred men were +employed to do the work. There was no railway, no horse or mule traction +would get the stuff properly up that hillside, and so it was carried in +baskets on the backs of those three hundred men. Next, rocks were +blasted, the soil was spread, seeds were sown, and a result was awaited +with anxiety. Then came down some tremendous rains, and down the +hillside that soil was washed away, and most of the carrying up had to +be done all over again. But labour and perseverance conquered, and at +last the grass was made to grow, and the plain truth is that here now +they have a course that for the Riviera is quite passably good, and most +extraordinarily beautiful in its situation, the Alps being in the +picture on three sides of it, and the Mediterranean down below on the +fourth. On a fine day Corsica can just be seen. Now it is clearly +indicated that the man who would demonstrate a perfect alliance with +happy fortune must accomplish a grand double event. He should break the +bank at Monte Carlo in the morning, and he should hole in one at La +Turbie in the afternoon.</p> + +<p>This course and that of Sospel are a new and separate feature of Riviera +golf. Formerly the whole strength of the golf of the littoral lay at its +western end, and it was down near to the level of the sea. Now Monte +Carlo and Sospel, chiefly Sospel, have moved the balance a little nearer +to the east. Sospel is agreeable; and here again the construction of the +course and its improvement to its present good state stand for a great +triumph of skill and perseverance. Sospel is some thirteen miles behind +Mentone in a valley<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> of the Alpes Maritimes, and it is a quaint old +place. If one never golfed at all, the journey there with all its +thrills and excitements, and the picturesque little town that is at the +end of it, are well worth a day of the time of any man. That journey may +be made by motor-car, or now by tram, and one may safely say that there +is no other golfing journey of its kind that can compare with it. As to +the course, it possesses turf which is as good as anything to be found +in the vicinity of the Mediterranean, and though the round is only a +trifle over five thousand yards, and there is no hole of so much as four +hundred, it is nice golf for all that, and the wooden club is needed +frequently for the second shots.</p> + +<p>Here and there by this Mediterranean sea new courses are being made. +They have one at Grasse. There will be others soon. The truth is that +dawdling on the Riviera has gone quite out of fashion, and it has come +to be understood at last that this wine-like air and the golden sunshine +are better than the dim light and dank atmosphere of the gaming rooms. A +few persons who go to the Riviera in the winter seem to be nervously +afraid of giving up much of their time to golf. I have heard them say to +themselves and others: "Is not the golf of London better than anything +by the Mediterranean, and why then do we pay hundreds of francs to come +here merely to play golf, and almost forget that we are in the south of +France?" You will not forget that you are by the blue sea to the south +of Europe. Not only is the glory of this part of the world in winter +better understood and better appreciated by those who golf than by those +who don't, but by far the most is made of their time by the players of +the game. I do not see what is the use of going to the Riviera unless +one golfs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>It may seem a strange reflection, but it is the truth, that when at the +Riviera for any length of time in the winter, and especially when at +such a place as Hyères, one is inclined more to a thorough overhauling +of one's game, a study of its weaknesses and a determination upon +certain improvements, than at any other time. A good explanation is, +however, possible. At holiday time like this one has the play +continually. One is detached from all the workaday considerations of +life at home. And then again one is thrown among new golfing friends +from all parts of the world, people of infinite golfing variety and all +charged with their own new ideas. We see every kind of style and every +degree of skill, and if much of the style is bad and the skill is often +deficient, there is something always to be learned or suggested. And it +has been found as a matter of practical experience that at such places +the majority of people fall to thinking of their ways of driving, often +because their driving at the beginning out there is very bad, and that +in turn is often due to the difficulty at first of sighting the ball +properly in the pellucid atmosphere. But the whole system of driving is +overhauled, and one would dare to suggest that proportionately to the +number of players involved there are more conversions made from the +plain grip to the overlapping on the Riviera in the season than anywhere +else. Only this very morning as I write—a bitter cold morning when I +shiver in proximity to an east coast links, and sigh for the passing of +a few days more when the Channel shall be crossed and a glad journey +south made on the P. L. M.—a letter comes up to me from a friend at +Hyères demanding that all possible information printed and otherwise<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> +shall be transmitted on the subject of the grip, for there is a drastic +revolution to be made in the case of one anxious golfer! In this matter, +one of the most important in all practical golf as it surely is, there +is a suggestion of great value to be made.</p> + +<p>The advantages of this grip as they are being discovered by more +converts than ever before, are greater driving power owing to wrist work +being easier, and also the fact that the left arm and hand pull the club +through better and drive the ball as it ought to be driven, the +overlapping reducing the right hand to a low subjection. No matter how +good and careful the player may be, he who uses the two-V grip is +certain sometimes to be in trouble with his right hand, which will +constantly attempt to establish a lordship over the left, which when +done is fatal to the good swing and the straight ball. Straight driving +along a good, low trajectory, getting a ball with plenty of run on it, +might almost be said to be characteristic of the overlappers, who are +certainly off their drive less frequently than their brethren. These +being the advantages of overlapping, how is it to be gained by those who +have all along been addicted to the plain two-V way of gripping, and now +find it impossible after many trials to convert themselves, these trials +having been made in the most obvious way by hard practice on the teeing +ground and with a brassey through the green? This is a good question to +ask, but the answer is too often disappointing. Those who have started +their golfing lives as old-fashioned two-V men seem fated to remain as +such. As it happens, I believe I have come by the simplest and most +effectual way of making the conversion; at all events, it is one that +has never failed, though it has been tried in very many cases. It is +simplicity itself. Nearly every man who tries to adopt this grip does so +with his driver. It is natural, because it is for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> driving that he +most wants the grip, and he never thinks about it for anything else. In +these experiments, however, he feels in constant danger of missing the +ball—and sometimes does miss it—is most extremely uncomfortable, +entirely lacking in confidence, and sooner or later comes to the +conclusion that the overlapping grip, whatever its merits, is not for +him. The sure and certain way is to begin with the putter, which is easy +and also valuable, because the experience of the best players is that +the overlapping grip improves one's putting at least as much as it does +one's driving. You may become accustomed enough to this way of gripping +the putter on the first day to try it in the most important match or +competition. After two or three weeks of this way of putting, let the +grip be tried for short running-up approaches, which will be +satisfactorily accomplished after a very little practice, and then, +after another week or two, let it be used for short lofted shots. The +crisis comes when a swing of such length has to be made that the head of +the club has to be raised more than elbow-high. A difficulty will be +experienced at this stage, but it will soon be overcome, and when it is +the way to overlapping with the driver is opened. Within a week the man +is a complete and happy convert.</p> + +<p>On the general question of grips and gripping, which is high in the +minds of golfers preparing for their season's campaign and setting their +bags in order, one does feel that points of detail are not generally +considered as they should be. In many cases the grip has really more to +do with the effectiveness of a club than the head thereof, and yet +perhaps not more than one golfer in four is properly suited. In general +the grips are too short, too thick, and their thickness is too uniform. +A very thick grip tends to take weight from the head, to spoil the feel +and balance of the club, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> to reduce the sense of control over it, +but thickness in moderation is good for weak hands and fingers. Thin +grips throw the weight into the head, give extra control, and improve +the feel, but in excess need strong hands and fingers. The professionals +nearly all use quite thin grips, their hands and fingers being very +strong. But remember that the right hand and its fingers are stronger +than the others, and also that that hand has less work to do in +gripping, while as it is mainly concerned with steadying and guiding it +is best suited by thinness of grip. Clearly, then, the grip should be +thicker for the left hand than for the right, should, in fact, taper. +This morsel of theory is overwhelmingly justified in practice, and that +is what we mean when we say that most grips are too uniform in +thickness, for they are nearly as thick for the right hand as for the +left, and end suddenly with a kind of step just beyond the place where +the right forefinger is applied. For hands of moderate strength let the +circumference at the top for the left hand be 2-11/16 in. in diameter, +and at the place where the right forefinger holds on let it be 2-1/2 in. +From this point let it taper off gradually for about 4 in. until the +leather has nothing underneath it, and then half an inch of wrapping on +the bare stick brings the grip, as it were, to fade away into nothing. +The full length of a grip of this kind may be about 12-1/2 in., and the +tapering conduces greatly to the improved feel of the club and to a look +that somehow makes for confidence. In the case of iron clubs the length +and the decreased thickness towards the bottom are very good when taking +a short grip of the club.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Matters appertaining to ladies' golf also come more prominently before +the average male player of the game when he is on the Riviera with the +sun than they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> do at other times. He sees more of it for the reason that +his home exclusiveness cannot be tolerated there, and he sees much to +make him think, even though the best lady players of the game do not +often go that way. After watching a ladies' championship for the first +time I left the place with some deep reflections. The idea that men have +anything whatever to learn from ladies in regard to golf may seem +preposterous, but it is not so. There may be a thousand times as many +good men golfers as there are lady golfers who are as good, but there +are just a few of the latter who are very good indeed, far better than +they are generally supposed to be, and their style and methods are very +well worth studying. When great events are stirring in golf the leading +Scottish newspapers regularly print leading articles upon them, of so +much general importance are they considered. After the ladies' +championship in question, I read a leading article in a Glasgow daily +newspaper, and it said that it was evident that if Miss Ravenscroft and +Miss Cecil Leitch were to enter for the Amateur Championship and were to +maintain their best Turnberry form the result would be disconcerting to +those who hold that the scratch man can give the equally competent woman +golfer half a stroke or thereabouts. With this I agree. The game of +girls who can drive 250 yards, who can win 330-yard holes in threes to +other girls' fours, who can do nine holes in 37, and so forth, needs to +be taken quite seriously. The real importance of the matter is just +this, that the best of these girls have arrived at a result which is +superior to that attained by the average man golfer, and they have +reached it by a system and a method which are practised by comparatively +few male players. Their golfing principles and styles are quite +different. Is there nothing we can copy from them? Surely.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now we hear very much about 300-yard drives, which one is half given to +understand have become the regular thing with the most modern balls; but +we know, as a matter of fact, that the average man does not drive +anything like this distance, and that he would give a part of his income +to be able to drive as far as some of the very best girls do at the +championships. They achieve their distance not at all by hard hitting, +for they hit quite gently, but by long, free swinging, perfect timing, +and especially by full following through, that is to say, they swing in +just the same way as it was necessary for the best men players to swing +in the days of the gutty ball. They finish their swings with the club +head and shaft right round their backs and their hands well up; I saw +some of them who made nearly as perfect models of the golf swing as +Harry Vardon does in the picture made of him by Mr. George Beldam and in +the statuette by Mr. Hal Ludlow. Their style was most excellent and it +was a fine thing to see. Necessity has caused it. These girls have not +the strength of arm, wrist, and fingers to get a good length in the same +way that men get, or try to get it now; the rubber-cored ball has not +made the game so easy for them that they can dispense with an inch of +the fullest swing that they can make. They seem to use their wrists but +little, and all their movements are as smooth and harmonious as they can +be. In this way they drive many yards farther than the average man +golfer does. In the Amateur Championship you will not see one man in +three drive the ball in this way now. Short swinging, imperfect +following through, and a jerky, snappy kind of hitting have become +almost general now that the balls can be so easily driven by the +exercise of mere wrist power. The result is that good style in driving +has become very rare among men. From the point of view of results +obtained this is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> well enough for men who play in championships; they +drive much farther than the best girls do, though I do not think that +they are generally so straight. But the average golfer, consciously or +unconsciously, copies his superiors, and most of them have now no style +and do not know the sensuous pleasure that is obtained from a full +swing, a clean hit, and the complete finish which seems to give a thrill +to every nerve in the system. Then, if these men with all their jerks +and wrist strain still do not get that length to which they may think +they are entitled—as most of them do not—would it not be worth while +to go back to the old way of better style and practise most assiduously +at the full swing until they get it right? The very best girls show +evidence of fine schooling in this matter. They hit the ball with +marvellous cleanness. In a large proportion of cases the advice to male +players in these days to swing short and hit hard is sound so far as +mere results are concerned. But all men are not so strong in the forearm +as they may think, and they do not get the length they seek, while +another thing to remember is that the long complete swing when once +mastered is less frequently thrown out of gear than the short one, which +is a very difficult thing to keep in order.</p> + +<p>Then there is something to notice also in the preliminaries to the drive +as the really good girls go through them. Not all players suspect what a +deep influence the preliminary waggling of the club has on the +subsequent swing. The influence is enormous, and the way that the +majority of male players waggle is one that directly encourages jerky +hitting. You will find that they tighten their wrists as they lay the +club to the ball and move the head of the club back in two or three +short, quick movements, rarely letting the head go forward over the +ball. This is strongly conducive to a fast back-swing, a fast on-swing, +and no follow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> through. It makes for the hard hit pure and simple. Now +many girls who get long balls by big swings keep their wrists very loose +in the waggling and allow the head of the club to swing easily backwards +and forwards like a pendulum two or three times, four or five feet in +front of and behind the ball each time, so that when the real swing is +entered upon it is almost a continuation of the waggle and is made at +much the same pace. This is a direct encouragement to the long swing, +long follow through, and smooth rhythm of the entire movement. Between +the man's waggle and his swing when done in the manner described there +is no sort of connection whatever, and the driving is always much the +poorer for the fact.</p> + +<p>Again, in the putting the ladies' play is full of morals for men. I do +not hesitate to say, after an immense amount of observation, that the +putting of many of the girls at their championship is quite as good as +most of that we see in the men's Amateur Championship. They are deadly +with the short putts up to two yards, and they hole the long ones with +astonishing frequency. They come to their conclusions speedily as to +what is the proper thing to do, and, having done so, they make their +strokes with no further hesitation. We see very little tedious and +laborious examination of the line, and, we may be sure, that they are +the gainers for it. In the men's Amateur Championship the wearisome ways +of some of the competitors are notorious. They study the line +meditatively from north, south, east, and west, convince themselves of +the existence of influences which do not in reality exist at all, next +they hang over the ball with their putter addressed to it until one +suspects them of having fallen into a cataleptic state, and then they +miss the putt. The girls putt with a great confidence and accuracy. Of +course these eulogiums refer only to the best of the lady golfers; +between them and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> the others there is a very big gap, and it would be +ridiculous to pretend that the average championship girl is yet within +miles, as it were, of the corresponding man. But she has ways that the +average man might often copy to advantage. Miss Cecil Leitch, who is +surely the finest mistress of golfing method and style that her sex has +ever yielded to the game, and is splendidly worthy of the championship +that at last, after much waiting, she won at Hunstanton in the summer of +1914, comes as near to being a perfect model as any one I can think of. +She has graced a masculine way in golf with some feminine delicacy, and +there is art, there is science, and there is rhythm in all her golfing +movements. And she is splendidly accurate. Her iron play is a thing to +be admired, and one might say of her as one cannot of all players who +have been many years at the game, whatever may have been their success, +that she is indeed a golfer.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>And whoever is the champion of any particular period may be interested +to know that at no time and place is he ever so much appreciated as away +from his own country during the time when it is so wet and cold at home +that people play comparatively little—less perhaps than they should do. +As masters indeed they are properly regarded, and most dissectingly +discussed are the champions when their disciples are abroad; and it is a +good thing too, for if there must be influences on the game of humble +players, let them come from the heights. In this matter many of us have +always regarded John Henry Taylor as quite one of the best of models, +despite what any one may say about a lack of beauty in his style. +Taylor, five times champion, is indeed a very great master of this game, +and he has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> special advantages as a model in that first he is deeply +practical and can explain everything he does correctly (I know some of +the greatest players who explain, but incorrectly, that is, they do not +even know what they do themselves), can reason, and is almost, as one +might say, a medium between the inspired play of Vardon and the +mechanical way of Braid. He is one of the most thoroughly practical +golfers who have ever played, and perhaps he has taught more other +golfers than any one who has ever lived. I believe that to be the case. +Taylor plays his wooden clubs with a round swing, and to-day some great +authorities are disposed to condemn that style of swing utterly and +declare that only the upright one is the real thing. But what about +Hoylake in 1913? Then Taylor won his fifth championship, and he did it +chiefly, as I believe, by his magnificent driving, done in such +circumstances of terrible weather as would have made it next to +impossible for any ordinarily good player to drive at all. Above +everything, Taylor's golf is effective, and it is effectiveness we want.</p> + +<p>Once he explained in an interesting way how he viewed his own driving +and how he gained the power that he does with his comparatively short +swing. He is what we may call an open-stancer, and he insists that +stance and character of swing must be adapted to each other in a special +way, that for the open stance only a round-the-body swing is suitable, +and that when a man plays an upright sort of swing with a square stance +his right elbow must inevitably leave his side, and that is one of the +worst and most frequent faults in driving, though one often little +suspected or appreciated. If he stood square, says the champion, he +feels he would lose direction; if his swing were upright he thinks he +would lose distance, and if his right elbow were allowed to leave his +side, then he is sure he would lose power; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> direction, distance, and +power are the three essentials of good driving. So he is all for the +open stance and flat swing, and one of its chief merits and necessities +is that in the back-swing the wrists do not permit the head of the club +to move outwards and backwards in the line of flight behind the ball as +it has been preached they should do, but begin to circle the club round +at once, and by this means the right elbow is kept to the side. The +importance of this elbow movement is very great. It might be safe to say +that more than half the golfers of to-day do it wrongly and suffer +accordingly. Taylor urges, of course, that the initial turn of the +wrists at the very beginning of the swing is extremely important; and +then as to the arm movement, he emphasises that the right elbow should +be kept close to the side and should move round the side irrespective of +any movement of the body. That makes for a smooth flat swing, and a +sense of enormous gain in power is certainly the result. He says that he +feels a gain of half as much power again by this movement in comparison +with an upright swing. The initial wrist movement induces it. He warns +those who think of trying to flatten their swing, and so gain some of +the power which he certainly has, against allowing excessive body +movement to which they will be very liable.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>ABOUT THE PYRENEES, AND THE CHARMS OF GOLF AT BIARRITZ AND PAU, WITH +POSSIBILITIES FOR GREAT ADVENTURE.</h3> + + +<p>It is not a bad thing to be at the Gare d'Orsay in Paris on a night in +early February, seeing a porter attach to one's baggage a scarlet label +with the words "Pyrenees—<i>Côte d'Argent</i>" printed diagonally across it +on a bright yellow band. It indicates a journey southwards to the sun, +to a corner of the Bay of Biscay where there are Biarritz and St. +Jean-de-Luz and Pau, and the Pyrenees queening over all. Golf was played +in these parts some ages back; indeed it was here that the foundations +of continental winter golf were laid long before any stir was made +elsewhere. It is not always warm at Biarritz; often it is windy; +sometimes it is very cold; but generally it is genial and pleasant, +constantly sunny, and there is something about the place that conduces +to a strong and healthy sporting feeling. It is a matter of taste. I am +not here to write down that from the golfing point of view it is either +better or worse than the Riviera. They are not the same. They have bad +holes at each, and some good ones at both. Biarritz, which is one of the +most popular golfing winter resorts in existence and retains its great +popularity in spite of its rivals (really when I was there lately in the +month of February they told me they had already taken £700 in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> fees that +month, though there was then still a week to go), has some holes which, +as we think upon them at home in England, seem quite shockingly bad. +They are not so much bad as nearly improper. And yet when we are at +Biarritz we do love these holes, as do the great players without +exception, and as lief would we suggest the filling up of the Cardinal +bunker at Prestwick and the flattening of that range of Himalayas at the +same glorious golfing place as touch an inch of the face of the Cliff +hole at Biarritz. The course has the gravest faults, but it is very +enjoyable to play upon in February, and in the winds that blow there one +needs to be playing uncommonly well to get round in figures reasonably +low. On the other hand, the golf at Nivelle by St. Jean-de-Luz and Pau +is among the winter's best in Europe. There is indeed much difference +between the coast of silver and the coast of blue, and the contrast +comes out strongly in the golf. There is less of music and flowers and +softness of life, less languor at Biarritz than at Cannes and Nice and +other Riviera places. The games are everything, and the easy strolls and +the social dalliances are much less. In the morning we seldom see the +young ladies in fine costumes bought in Paris. They flit fast about the +streets and along up the Avenue Edouard VII. in short skirts and the +simplest <i>semi-négligé</i> dress, each with a brightly coloured +jersey-jacket of a very distinctive colour—a brick red, a sulphur +yellow, a cobalt blue, something that does not hide itself. Every one is +keen and openly admits it. And the golf club beyond the lighthouse is a +great institution, and it is splendidly governed by Mr. W. M. Corrie, +the honorary secretary.</p> + +<p>Biarritz golf is distinctly peculiar. The course is a short one; it +offers a generous continental supply of holes that can be reached with a +good shot from the tee (but they must be good and well-directed shots, +for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> guards of the greens are exacting), and the turf and putting +greens are as good as one has any right to expect them to be in the +south of France. These are generalities. Now the course, like the old +Gaul of Caesar, is in three parts. We begin the play and go on for some +seven holes on a flat tableland; then we plunge down over the cliffs to +the level of the sea, come up again to the tableland at the thirteenth +hole, and so finish on the level. One may leave the first part of the +play out of consideration. It is neat, but one often feels the desire to +be "getting down below," where there is better sport and much scope for +skill and enterprise. At last we come to a teeing ground on the edge of +the steep white cliff which is some hundred and thirty feet in height. +It is a drive-and-iron hole that is before us, and quite a pretty thing, +a hole that for feature and natural beauty it would not be easy to +improve upon. To a part of the underland, where the drive must be +placed, has been given the name of "Chambre d'Amour," and tales for +sorrow and weeping are told of it, of lovers being caught by the tide +and dying there. The green is away in a corner of the course, tucked up +in the shadow of a towering lighthouse, and the bounding waves of Biscay +come rolling almost to its very edge. If we are not convinced that it is +technically perfect, this is at all events a charming hole, one of the +most picturesque we can find in France, At the lighthouse we turn about, +play some plainer things along the level of the sea, and then come to a +piece of golf which is famous all over the world. The ascent to the +higher surface has to be made at the thirteenth, and it is done at what +is known to every one as the Cliff hole.</p> + +<p>Nearly all who have never even seen it have heard of the Cliff hole of +Biarritz, have studied pictures of it, and speculated upon its peculiar +difficulties. No hole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> on the continent of Europe has nearly such a +reputation; indeed, it is perhaps the only one with a special celebrity. +I have been asked questions about it in America. I have seen and played +it, examined it thoroughly, and thought it out. It is a queer thing, +quite different from any other hole I know. It needs such a shot to play +it properly as is not demanded elsewhere. And yet it requires absolute +skill, the proper shot must be played and played thoroughly well, and it +is practically impossible to fluke it. Why, then, should this not be +reckoned a good golfing hole? The circumstances are these: The teeing +ground is on the lower level, and it is only some fifty yards from the +base of the cliff. The ground in between is rough and stony. The cliff +here is about forty yards in height, and, if not vertical in the face, +bulges outwards frowningly at the top, while a thin stream of water +trickling down at one side seems to add a little more to the +fearsomeness of the thing. At the top edge of the cliff there is grassy +ground sloping quickly upwards for about a dozen yards until a line of +wire is reached, and there the green begins. The fact that the green +(which is tolerably large and in two parts, an upper and a lower) then +slopes downwards away from the player does not make matters easier. +Beyond it is another precipice, but wire netting is there to save the +ball from this, and there is some wooden palisading to keep it out of +trouble on the left. Then there is a local rule saying that if the ball +reaches the top of the cliff, but does not pass the wire, it must be +teed again, with loss of distance only, the man not being allowed to +play it from the tee side of the wire. (He would do so at peril of +toppling over the cliff!) But all these things do not make this awful +hole much easier in the play. One day I sat on the edge of the cliff and +watched the people playing it, and the ball that reached the green and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> +stayed there was a rarity. It can be done. Braid and Taylor and Vardon +would do it all the time, and it is no trick shot that is wanted. You +might hit hard at the ground in front of the wire and make the ball +trickle on, but that would call for more than human accuracy. Or you +might sky your ball up to the heavens and let it fall straight down on +to the green, and that would be superb. But champion Taylor would take +his mashie and play, perhaps, some fifteen yards above the cliff with +all the cut that he could put upon the ball, and then he would be +putting for a two. A difficult hole follows, but after that the work is +easier.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>With a pair of prism glasses looking Spainwards to the left, we may just +discern the quaint and quiet little town of St. Jean-de-Luz. It is one +of the best of the winter places for golf, for health and sunshine, and +no nonsense. The little town is thoroughly Basque, and the player in his +hours away from the game will have a good satisfaction in wandering +about it and peering into such places as the old thirteenth-century +church which is a perfect specimen of the religious architecture of the +Basques, and such a thing in churches as you would not see elsewhere. It +was here that Louis XIV. came for his wedding two and a half centuries +back. And in this locality we have three courses to play upon—three! +There is the old one of St. Barbe, which is a nine-holes affair, and has +one hole—the third—called the "Chasm," which is a very strong piece of +golf, for the drive is over a deep fissure in the rocks, with the sea +running in below. St. Barbe is the second oldest course in France—Pau +being the oldest—and there are some fears, perhaps exaggerated, that it +may not be in existence for many years more. Another of the three is the +course<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> of the St. Jean-de-Luz club at Châlet du Lac, and this also is +one of nine holes. Until a little while since there were twelve, but +then three were captured by the terrible builders, who seem to oppress +the golfers all over the world; but the club received some compensation +in having a new and neat little club-house erected for them at the +landlord's expense. And here also they make the claim that "the scenery +surrounding the course is probably the finest to be obtained from any +course in Europe." Certainly it is very good. The nine holes are very +tolerable in golfing quality. Here and there the driving must be very +straight. A pull, for instance, at the third, will deliver the unhappy +ball to the Bay of Biscay, and the sea will bang it about the rocks for +a long time after. At the fifth, again, one must respect the ocean when +approaching. Generally, however, the holes are somewhat easy, and do not +worry so much as to hinder appreciation of the surrounding views, which +are indeed magnificent. Out one way is the grand panorama of the +snow-topped Pyrenees, and the light and colour effects upon them change +at nearly every hour throughout the day. Below is the pretty harbour and +town of St. Jean-de-Luz. Away to the west is the great expanse of the +Atlantic, framed here at the course with a wildly rocky coast, and up +along to the north is a rough fringe of shore, the innermost corner of +the Bay of Biscay, which leads the eyes out to the most distant point, +where a cluster of buildings gleams in the sunlight, and the tall, white +lighthouse beyond them indicates that the place is Biarritz.</p> + +<p>But Nivelle, the course that rises up from the bank of the broad river +of that name, is the chief course of the group and quite a wonder of +golfing France. When I first saw it and inquired upon its origin I felt +that here was something which was undoubtedly among the best in Europe, +and yet only five or six years ago all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> land, except a small piece +which is occupied by two of the eighteen holes, was bare soil on which +cabbages, turnips, and other edibles were being grown. Listen to the +story of the creation of Nivelle. One day Mr. Frank Jacobs, the +secretary of the St. Jean-de-Luz Club, and a Spanish doctor, went +exploring the country round, and they hastened to Count O'Byrne to tell +him that there was ground on the banks of the stream Nivelle which +looked to have the possibilities of such a full-sized golf course as was +needed then. He agreed with them. They were men of keen discernment; for +even then while a little of that land was pasture the rest was under +cabbages and other growths. It was ascertained that a hundred and sixty +acres could be bought for six thousand pounds, but such a sum of money +was not at hand. Count O'Byrne told the local hotel-keepers the truth +that unless there was a first-class golf course there St. Jean-de-Luz +would lose in the race for winter popularity, and he asked them to +guarantee the money in the first place, a company to relieve them +afterwards. They did so accordingly, and the land was secured; but the +farmers could not be turned off at once, and some time was lost thereby. +When they came to make the course they followed an interesting and, as +we would think, an extraordinary procedure. The farmers, recovering from +their grief and resentment, gave up to the incoming golfers a priceless +secret. They said that if they would leave the bare land alone to look +after itself it would from its own sources grow for them the most +beautiful grass for their purposes that they could ever dream of on the +happiest summer's night. So the Count and his comrades gathered their +men about them, the land was raked and smoothed out, and then they +borrowed the town roller, being the heaviest thing of the kind in the +district, to flatten it down. And so they left it and waited. Sure +enough up came the tender<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> blades of grass, and in a season there was a +thick coating there, fine, beautiful turf, and I can answer for it that +it is nice to the touch of the feet and excellent for the game. The +climate in these parts is most times a little moist and better for the +production and preservation of golfing turf than that of the Riviera. +The hotel-keepers were soon relieved of the full responsibility by a +company floated for ten thousand pounds, the capital afterwards being +increased to twelve thousand, but they were so much enamoured of the +project, believed in it so utterly, that they and the tradesmen took up +as many shares as they could get. But some great personal driving force +was needed, and it was found. A Dundee gentleman, a keen golfer and a +great lover of this sweet spot in France, Mr. W. R. Sharp, came forward +and increased his commanding interest in the club and the course, and he +has done wonders for them. That he is president of the club is a good +thing for the club. Now there is a charming club-house; Arnaud Massy, +once open champion, has a pretty villa for himself close by, some +hundred and forty golfers are playing on the course at the busy +time—and play goes on all through the year—and only four years after +the course was opened the company was able to pay a dividend. So I say +that this is a miracle of golf.</p> + +<p>Of course, the story is not complete at this. Fine turf and a prosperous +club do not necessarily make good holes. But St. Jean-de-Luz has holes +as good as most in Europe. They would even be good on a first-class +inland course in Britain. They are, thanks to the broad undulations of +the land, good in character. The round is opened with a fine two-shotter +of a full four hundred yards, with an incline against the player from +the tee. The drive must be properly placed, and that is the case nearly +all the way round. The second is a pretty short hole; the third presents +a fearsome drive across a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> yawning quarry; at the fourth the return over +it is made in the progress to the longest hole, one of five hundred and +fifty yards, and so on to the end, some of the middle holes being very +good, the seventeenth a fine full one-shot hole, and a good drive and +iron of three hundred and eighty yards downhill to terminate. The view +from the seventeenth and eighteenth tees, the town of St. Jean-de-Luz +shining in the sun, the Nivelle pressing itself into it, and the pretty +harbour white-flaked with the waves, is peaceful and pleasant, and it +gives that sense of "going home" which one always likes to have when +playing the last holes of a round.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>The game itself is not everything in the golfing life; it attaches other +occupations and diversions as necessities to itself which are all added +to the sum of "a day's golf" and make of it a thing of adventure and +time packed with variety of deed and thought. There is the meeting and +the parting; the lunch time and—everything! Chiefly there is the +journey, and has it been properly considered how golf and the car have +been linked together for a magnificent combination of sporting joy? In +the remembrances of every player there must be happy and stirring +episodes of motoring to and from the game. I have hundreds of them, +apart from all those countless pretty spins on the outskirts of London +town. Motoring for golf is an entirely different thing from motoring for +nothing.</p> + +<p>The golf-motoring out from Paris to Fontainebleau and the other places +round the capital of France is unforgettable, and always will there be +clear cut in my mind the details of an expedition I once made to this +Nivelle, St. Jean-de-Luz, at a time when lounging golfless in the north +of Spain. It is not frequently that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> we go crossing frontiers in +motor-cars and having our clubs examined with wonderment and irritating +inquiry by officers of the <i>douane</i> twice in the day, going and +returning, for just two rounds of the best of games. Nor is it a common +thing that in one day English golfers should speed along in a German car +from Spain to France and from France back again to Spain to play on a +splendid course with French and Scottish opponents—a considerable +mixture, if you like. I was idling at San Sebastian when the aforesaid +Mr. Sharp, with such thought and kindness as golfers display towards +each other, gave greeting and said, "Come to Nivelle again for a day of +play." But how? It was thirty miles away, and those trains, with changes +at Irun and Bayonne, would be most fearfully slow. "Bother the trains!" +said Sharp, "what are motors for, and particularly what may be my own +car for? Say the time when you will have risen and bathed and taken your +<i>café complet</i>, and it will have gone over to San Sebastian by then." So +it came about that it was waiting at the door of my hotel at eight +o'clock in the morning. Coats were buttoned up, pipes were lighted, and +when the first quarter was being chimed from the church steeples we were +already doing our thirty to forty miles an hour through the hilly +suburbs of San Sebastian. There are such hills in Spain and France +between San Sebastian and St. Jean-de-Luz as you can hardly think of; +but the speed dial showed that we flashed up some of them at thirty and +darted down the other side at sixty-five. Great hills to the left with +jagged skylines and strange formations as go by such names as "Camel's +back"; and such sweet vales with mountains framing them over on the +right! Hereabouts is some of the prettiest scenery of Spain, and I hope +not to forget how on that glorious morning the mists of the new day +dissolved in the warming sunlight, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> opalescent gossamer that had +clung about those peaks of Spain gave place to strong blues and greys, +and then to shimmering rose. At Irun, on the Spanish side of the +frontier, the car's papers had to be shown, then we bowled over the +dividing river, and at Hendaye the Frenchmen asked their questions and +did their looking into things. Then up a steep hill for the last, and in +a few minutes we were gliding down into St. Jean-de-Luz, all of this +heartening business done within the hour. At the end of the day, two +rounds done, when the sun was setting, I was swung again over those +Spanish tracks, and just when the light had completely failed and a few +spots of rain came beating upon the glass the sixty horses in the Benz +had done their duty. I opened the casement of my room at the Maria +Christina; soft sounds from the sea floated in, and soothed one to a +pensive mood.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>The case of the golf of Pau is curious. Here, so far away from Britain, +far from Paris, four hours even from the coast at Biarritz, inland and +hugging closely to the Pyrenees, we have positively one of the oldest +golf clubs in the whole world. At the beginning there was Blackheath, +and then there were the Edinburgh Burgess, the Honourable Company, the +Royal and Ancient, Aberdeen, and two or three other clubs. Golf, growing +up, made its first leap across the seas to Calcutta in 1829, and +seventeen years afterwards it settled in Bombay. It first landed in +Europe in 1856, and was definitely and thoroughly established at Pau, +and has remained there flourishing ever since. This circumstance is the +more curious when we reflect that at that time there was no golf about +London except at Blackheath. The Royal Wimbledon and the London Scottish +Clubs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> were then unborn. Such great institutions now as the Royal +Liverpool Club at Hoylake and the Royal North Devon at Westward Ho! were +undreamt of, and a boy child might have been born to a golfer at Pau and +grown almost to middle age before the Royal St. George's Club at +Sandwich was begun. Scots, of course, were at the bottom of all this +pioneering work. The early Blackheath golfers were Scots; they carried +the game to Westward Ho!; they fostered it in India, and some of them +went off with it to Pau, where they liked to spend the winter in the +warm sunshine and in air which for sweet softness is almost +incomparable. Over the fireplace in the smoking-room of the club-house +is a picture of three of the founders of the club, who were still living +in 1890—Colonel Hutchinson, Major Pontifex, and Archbishop Sapte. +Another of those founders was Lieutenant-Colonel J. H. Lloyd-Anstruther. +Thus it happens that the charm of age and long settlement hang upon the +golf of Pau as they do upon no other golf club in Europe. Here, as not +elsewhere, you feel impressed upon you the dignity of golf, realise that +it is not a thing of to-day or of yesterday, and there are almost the +same deep pleasure and elevation of spirit and feeling when you come to +such a place after wandering among newnesses elsewhere as there are in +abiding for a while at St. Andrews or North Berwick in October, the +crowds then being gone away, after a course of southern golf of the most +recent preparation.</p> + +<p>The club-house at Pau is of the kind you would expect to discover at a +good club of long and honourable standing up-country in England. The +attributes of age and tradition are to be found within it. On a wall is +a painting twelve feet long depicting the leading golfers of Pau in +1884, assembled on the course, and it was done by that Major Hopkins who +did such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> work, now celebrated, concerning the earliest golfers at +Westward Ho! gathered by their iron hut. In this picture of Pau there +are some eminent golfers shown, such as Colonel Kennard, not long since +dead, who was field-marshal of the Royal Blackheath Club; but the artist +leads the eye to the gaunt figure of Sir Victor Brooke, a tam-o'-shanter +on his head, addressing the ball on the tee in the way of a determined +man. Sir Victor, for four or five years captain of the club, was the +lion of the golf of Pau in those days, and when a match book, now lying +musty in a corner, was started his was the first entry that was made in +it. The course is beautifully situated on the Billère plain, a mile or +so to the west of the middle of the town; and in the unusual absence of +a friendly car it is a pleasant walk through a shaded avenue of lofty +beeches in the splendid Parc du Château.</p> + +<p>One is a little puzzled to estimate the quality of this course, being +faced with a kind of semi-official printed statement that "Pau is +undoubtedly the best course on the continent" which to some degree is +intimidating. The turf, grown on a dark, sandy soil, is excellent, and +more than fifty years of play upon it have given it the firmness and +crispness that we miss elsewhere. The holes are of good length, well +arranged, and not easy. Yet pancake was never flatter than the central +part of the course, and with the very dullest and plainest kind of +mid-Victorian bunkering—three low, straight grassy banks in line with +each other right across the fairway—the golf hereabouts is less good to +the eye, at all events, than it is to the spirit in the play. The first +hole, a long one, with a road running diagonally across near the green, +close to which there is a little cottage, somehow by its surroundings +recalls memories of old "Mrs. Forman's" at ancient Musselburgh, and the +second is a short hole of quality. From the fourth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> tee the line of the +course bends round to the right, and for half a dozen holes we are away +from that central part; there are ups and downs in the land that give +more colour to the golf, and here and there are clumps of bushes that +need consideration. All the time we are close to the bank of the River +Gave, and at length, near to a point where a wild stream plunges into +it, we cross to a spit of land between them and play a few holes there. +They are nice holes. The ground heaves and rolls, and there must be good +calculation and accuracy in approaching. Another stream runs through +this isolated part of the course, and the green of the fourteenth hole +closes to a point where two running waters nearly meet and there is a +rutty road alongside. It is a pretty green, the situation is cunning and +delightful, and that fourteenth hole is one of the best in France. Not a +doubt about it—Pau is very good in parts. But we turn up a note on the +golf in a little guide to Pau, and read: "Owing to the nature of the +soil and their admirable preservation, the links at Pau compare +favourably with the course at St. Andrews, in Scotland, where the +conditions are almost ideal." O, Pau!</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Now Pau is one of those places where the golf, excellent and admired, is +not domineering, as one might say. You take it, you enjoy it, and yet +you live in an easy contentment after your game without raving about it. +It is a delightful little of a most happy and contenting whole. That is +because Pau of all places on this planet makes one feel rested, +contented, peacefully, languorously happy, and that is a most blessed +state at which to arrive after a long season's course of tubes and +taxi-cabs, noises and disturbances, crushes and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> crashes, late nights +and far too early mornings, and, yes—for they also come with the burden +of the Londoner—heavily bunkered five-hundred-yard-holes near our +excellent London town. The air is famous for its sweet soothing +properties. It wraps itself round your tired limbs, it steals into your +nervy senses, and it comforts you. Pau lets you quietly down, rests you, +gives you sleep, stills those jagged nerves that twitched so much in +town. Every one says so, and it is true. One morning I gossiped on the +course with Mr. Charles Hutchings, the wonderful man who won the Amateur +Championship at Hoylake in 1902, and who has known what nerves are +since. He told me he has now been wintering at Pau for the last twenty +years, and it is the only place that is any good to him. "Before I come +to Pau, and even when I am at Biarritz," said he, "my nerves are like +this"—and he slowly passed his right hand up along his left arm from +the hand to the shoulder—"and when I am at Pau they are like this," he +added, and he smoothed the arm back again from the shoulder to the +fingers. It was as if he had been stroking a cat the wrong way and the +right one—that was the idea. Biarritz, so very bracing, certainly makes +you jumpy, and many of us have played far better at Pau than at +Biarritz; in fact, we find that at Pau we can hit the ball as cleanly +and with as much confidence as anywhere.</p> + +<p>That reflection leads us when gazing abstractedly upon those Pyrenees, +which are so good for thought, to consider the effect of climate upon +one's game. Undoubtedly the effect is great, and yet it is neither +appreciated nor properly considered. After working hard for a spell in +town we say we will go for a weekend's golf, and, when we can, we choose +a highly bracing place, because we believe it is good for us and "bucks +us up." But do you remember how often the golf<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> that we play at such +places is so extremely disappointing? The "bucking up" seems to have +failed. Take Deal, for example. There is hardly a course in the world +that I like and admire as much as this; but that strong air of Deal +upsets the game of nearly every man at the beginning. Pau is supposed to +be a little relaxing, but, except for the fact that we do not eat so +much as at Biarritz, we hardly notice it. It soothes us, quietens us +down, reduces our boiler and engine arrangements to low pressure, and +<i>voila!</i> our game comes on, and it does so because the question of +playing well or ill by a man who knows the game is nearly always a +question of the steadiness of his nerves, and there are fine shades of +this steadiness that we do not always realise. That is why we play well +at Pau, and it makes us think sometimes that the relaxing places have +not had full credit for their golfing quality hitherto.</p> + +<p>There is a general conspiracy among all things at Pau to rest and soothe +the tired man. There are the bells. How can they affect the golf? you +ask. See, then. We know of the fame in song of "The Bells of Lynn" and +those of Aberdovey too; but it seems to me that the bells of Pau should +have an equal celebrity. They are excellent. Alongside the hotel at +which I stay at Pau a fine church steeple towers up, and there is in it +a splendid belfry with skilful ringers to use it. Sometimes their +performances wake us before our proper time in the morning, which is the +first effect. Then on some days and nights the ringers practise a kind +of bell music, which holds one spellbound. It begins slowly and quietly +with a few hesitating notes in the bass. Soon there is an answering echo +in the treble, and then it all gradually increases in time and volume +until in three or four minutes a veritable torrent of stormy music is +crashing out from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> the tower and flinging itself out to the Pyrenees. +And then it is as if the crisis passes, the bell music dies away again, +and at the end there is but the thin little tinkle of a treble bell +sounding lonely in the night. There are other fine belfries in the town; +but, more than that, there are little churches all along the hill that +frames our course on its northern side, and these have good bells as +well, and they all chime the hours and the quarters—and all at +different times! When one set of chiming begins just as you reach the +green, you know that listening for the others will so much distract you +that three or four putts may be needed, while the other man, being very +phlegmatic, is down in two for a win again. There is one of these +churches with its bells which has cost me many holes; its chime for the +quarters is exactly the first four notes of the good old tune, "Home to +Our Mountains." It strikes once for the quarter, twice for the half, +three times for the three-quarters, and four times for the full hour, +and, with the other two quick notes of the line missing, it always seems +incomplete, and always irritates. If I am just about to swing when these +bells begin to chime I see a catastrophe before me.</p> + +<p>If there were no Pyrenees there would be no golf at Pau; I doubt if +there would be Pau. Those glorious hills, beyond which are the castles +and gold of Spain, make an almost matchless view, and they are so +strong, so insistent, that they seem to dominate us in every +consideration. If you should tell me that mountains that are more than +twenty miles away can have nothing to do with the golfer's life and +game, I ask you to go to Pau and be surprised. Those far-away hills give +us rest, and they calm us to those moods of reflection to which, as +golfers, we are so well inclined. From the window of my favourite room +at Pau, I look right out on to the majestic chain, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> have the best +view of it that is to be had. Below is the Boulevard des Pyrénées, more +than a mile in length. Beyond there is a valley, and beyond that the +Pyrenees rise up to one long wonderful white-topped line. Looked at in +this way they seem so very near, and yet their nearest point is more +than a dozen miles away, and there are peaks four thousand feet in +height which seem within easy walking range, and yet are distant forty +miles. From one end to the other we look out upon a length of some +thirty miles of these peaks, and indeed the effect is most enchanting. +This is the view that I get at its very best from my little window high +above the boulevard, and it is the view that brings scores of thousands +of pounds of English money to be spent in the winter and the spring at +Pau. It is a view that never palls, for it is never the same. To our +eyes those great Pyrenees are always changing—kaleidoscopic in variety +of shapes and colours. There are mysteries of the light and atmosphere +about them which make for perpetual curiosity and wonderment. In the +morning when we rise our first thought is as to what the Pyrenees will +look like to-day, and gazing out from our little window we see them all +done up afresh in new colours and shapes by Nature. They change as the +hours pass, and then one is curious to know what new surprise the sunset +will have in store. Sometimes in the morning they stand out bold in +black and white, just as if they were plain and simple Pyrenees. In the +middle of the chain two great points of peaks rise up from all the rest, +and they are in the straight line out from the lofty window where I sit. +They are the Grand Pic and the Petit Pic du Midi d'Ossau, and they are +the pet favourites of all of us who gaze out southwards to the range +beyond which the Spaniards dwell. The greater peak curls over a little +at the top towards the lesser one, that seems<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> always to be snuggling up +close to it, and they look to us always to be like a lover hill and his +timid lady. Another morning all these mountains will be of a sapphire +blue. Next day they may be rosy red. But the best effects are those of a +phantom kind. Now and then those Pyrenees seem to have gone away to a +hundred miles beyond, and we see them rather dimly, but still with their +outlines well defined. They look like ghost mountains, and in +imagination we can peer through them to a nothingness beyond. Yet more +curious, there are mornings, fine and bright in Pau, with everything +shining in the sunlight, when there are no Pyrenees at all! There is +that little low range of hills in front, with the chalets and the +chateaux all plainly to be seen, and the light seems as good as ever it +was in southern France; but the Pyrenees, where have they gone? Not a +trace of them is left, and we are lonely, disconsolate. It is as if a +jealous Providence had wrapped them up in the night and carried them off +to another land where their eternal solitude would not be hindered by +the touring man and woman. But they come back again by night, and their +gradual reappearance is a thing for happy contemplation. Yet for the +greater glory and richness of colour the evening sunset effects are the +best of all. Then from the corner at the right the setting sun shines +along the hidden valley between the little hills and mountains beyond, +and it is as if in that unseen place below, millions of fierce lights +had been set burning and shining up the Pyrenees as rows of hidden +electric bulbs are sometimes used to throw a soft, weird glow upon a +ceiling and cause it to be reflected back again beneath. Then the +Pyrenees are as an ethereal vision; their base is like a golden band and +their tops like filmy gossamer, so that these seem to us to be not +mountains of the world at all, but high hills of heaven itself. And away +in the west the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> sun sets in a burning Indian red, and the thin crescent +of a new moon, with an attendant star, rises in the firmament. It is +this that I look upon from my own crow's nest at Pau when my tramping of +the day is done.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>One day at Pau a voice was raised in our little party and it said, "Let +us get up closer to those splendid Pyrenees"; but another said, "Where +should we get our golf?" It was answered that there was golf everywhere, +and there must be some right alongside those white-capped peaks. +Argelès! We remembered. It was advertised and well recommended as a good +course, "open all the year round," and laid in the most delightful +situation, the Pyrenees going up from its very edge. The prospect +sounded well. We decided at night that on the morrow we would proceed +with our bags of clubs to Argelès, and the porter at our hotel gave full +directions for getting there, which made it seem a very simple business. +It appeared that it was about thirty miles from Pau to Lourdes, and with +the journey two-thirds done we were to change trains there. But, short +as the distance was, it was to take us two hours. Our train would start +at twenty minutes to nine in the morning. The match of the day, with +four golfers implicated, was accordingly made overnight, and +anticipation of the joys of Argelès became keen. All this was well, but +when three of us had slept and were mightily refreshed, certain hitches +and accidents began to happen. The fourth party to our contract still +slumbered heavily at a quarter-past eight, and being then reminded, by +sundry taps, of the prevailing circumstances, he muttered indistinctly +that he was not to be tempted from his situation by the opportunity of +playing two rounds on any course in Paradise. So<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> we left him snoring, +piglike, there, and we were only three.</p> + +<p>We got to Lourdes and descended from the train. Troubles arose +forthwith. The station-master blandly observed, and as it seemed with a +hardly hidden smile (how is it that non-golfers of all classes always do +seem to be made happy upon the contemplation of a golfer being suddenly +robbed of his game?), that there was no train from there to Argelès +until the afternoon, the service which the hotel porter had in mind not +beginning until three days later. By the same token the return train +which we reckoned on was non-existent, and he expressed doubts about our +sleeping that night at Pau if we persisted in what he could not help +regarding as a very mad enterprise born of too much enthusiasm. We +thanked him, and went out into the streets of Lourdes to see what could +be done. Truly, we were only ten miles from Argelès, even if the road +was through the mountains. And it was a fine day.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, and as it seemed from nowhere, up came carriages from all +parts of the compass, each drawn by a pair of horses, the coachmen all +loudly soliciting the favour of driving us to Argelès, which they +explained was fifteen miles away—a deliberate exaggeration. The first +man to whip up to us asked for twenty francs for the single journey, and +the others were amazed at his impudence. Another offered to take us for +fifteen, and a third cabby came down at once to twelve. Then they all +did so, and the market seemed to settle at that price, a great gathering +of coachmen surrounding us and expatiating on the superior merits of +their various horses and the comfort of their vehicles. It was a great +spectacle, this golfers' carriage market at Lourdes! At last the first +man to make an offer to us, suddenly, in a mood of desperation, came +down to ten francs, and we closed with him, not so much because of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> +saving of an odd franc or two, but because his pair of bays certainly +did seem to have more fast trotting in them than any of the others. It +was such a glorious journey down the valley of Argelès as golfers seldom +make, huge, rocky, snow-capped mountains rising up from either side of +the winding road. Leaving Lourdes there were two high hills on the left, +one surmounted with a single cross and the other with three crosses of +"Calvary" standing out clearly against the sky. Then, later, from the +bottom of the valley a stumpy hill suddenly rose up in the middle, an +old keep of mediaeval times on the top of it, and after that the great +peak of the Viscos, with the pass to Gavernie on one side of it and that +to Cauterets on the other were presented. Soon afterwards we rattled +down the little main street of Argelès, and lunched at the chief hotel. +There was then a ten minutes' drive to the course, and our coachman—a +local fellow, and not the one who drove us from Lourdes—stopped at +various cottages on the way and shouted out inquiries as to whether +Adolphe or Marie or Jeanne was at home. He was getting caddies for us, +as he explained there would be none otherwise. Eventually from different +places we picked up three—two little girls and a boy—who hung on to +the back of the vehicle and proceeded with us to the appointed place. +The course has great possibilities, but as yet they are thinly +developed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>THE GAME IN ITALY, AND THE QUALITY OF THE COURSE AT ROME, WITH A SHORT +CONSIDERATION OF THE VALUE OF STYLE.</h3> + + +<p>The other day, when we sat on the deck of a little steamer plying on the +lake of Como, contented in warm spring sunshine with a sublime panorama +of blue water and white-topped Alps, I was led to recall some of the few +remarks which a shrewd and pungent commentator on life and men, the late +Henry Labouchere, had made about our game, and, as he was not himself a +golfer, and not the most tolerant of men despite his certain breadth of +mind, it may be guessed that they were not complimentary to the game. We +had left Varenna, and the little ship was paying its dutiful respects to +Bellagio and Menaggio and such like places of an Italian fairyland. +Hereabouts, as I remembered, Mr. Labouchere had lived in the proper +season, and it came about some seven years back that a golf course—and +a nice course too—was established near by, and the local hotel-keeper, +in proper enterprise, ran a conveyance each day regularly at a certain +time from his door to the club-house. Radical as he was—if he really +was—Mr. Labouchere disliked this disturbance of the old peace and +harmony of his lakeland retreat, and affected to see something vulgar in +it. This wit and cynic, who once, answering an inquiry, said that he +liked a certain lady of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> acquaintance well enough but would not mind +if she dropped down dead in front of him on the carpet, certainly wished +that golf had never grown into the human scheme of things, and he +complained loudly of its invasion here. He suggested that Italy was now +passing to the dogs. Had he lived a little longer he would surely have +played at Menaggio, and we could have assured him then that golf in +Italy was long before his time, and would certainly be of good help to +the country for long after. It is one of the curious facts of golfing +history that the game was played in Italy before any golf club, except +one, was definitely established in Scotland, the only exception being +the Edinburgh Burgess Golfing Society, and lo! it was played there by a +Scot, and a Scot so good as the bonnie Prince Charlie himself. When I +first went to the Villa Borghese in Rome, I remembered, on approaching +it through the park, that when Lord Elcho went there in 1738 he found +the Prince playing in the gardens. Many courses now exist in different +parts of this beautiful Italy, and the country has begun to take its +place in the great forward movement in European golf. It has begun +slowly; but now, as I have seen it, does really advance.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>A little fable is quickly told. A wise father had sent his son, for the +good of his mind, to Rome, and when the boy returned he asked him what +he thought of the city that is called eternal. Harold then answered, "I +think, sir, that the lies at Rome are very good." Do not judge Harold +harshly upon this answer, as you may be inclined to do. He might have +come to know less of Rome had he not discovered that the lies on the +Campagna were so good, and that the legions of mighty Caesar which were +exercised there had left no enduring<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> marks of their galloping behind +them. He might not have gained so many good Roman friends to tell him +helpfully of the wonders of the city. And if golf is a little thing, and +the contemplation of Rome is so enthralling, yet, be it murmured, the +golf of Rome is one of the wonders of the golfing world. I have found it +so. As it was to me, so it will prove a revelation to all golfers who go +to Rome and have as yet no knowledge of the course that is there. For +the full-bodied character of the holes, caused by natural land +formations, and for their variety and interest, I do not hesitate to say +that there is no course on the continent of Europe which is better, and +I support this statement with another, that while I can hardly recall +any hole where a bad shot will go unpunished or a good one without +reward, yet in the whole round there is not a single artificial bunker. +Nature has seen to all the tests and difficulties. Of what other course +can this be said? Golf at Rome was begun in 1898, and ever since then +there have been some fine golfing men working to what they were sure +would be a successful end, chief among them being Mr. R. C. R. Young, +who in the capacity of honorary secretary has been largely responsible +for the general management of the club. Lately the round has been +extended from nine holes to eighteen, Mr. Young and Doig, the +professional, having done the planning of the new holes, and with this +the golf of Rome enters upon a new era. The club flourishes, the golfing +community, partly Roman, partly British, and partly American, is +zealous, and the people there have come to believe that even the most +serious, studious, and high-minded folk who go to Rome to steep +themselves in living history of the past need for their refreshment some +antidote to ruins. "St. Peter's, and the Colosseum, the Forum and the +baths of Caracalla," said one of them to me, "will bring the foreigners +to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> Rome, but only golf will keep them there!" Count this for weakness +in man, and for his utter modernity if you like; but it is the truth. +Consequently the golf of Rome is entering upon a new forward movement. I +think that when the public in distant places comes to realise that the +golf of Rome is half as good as it really is, thousands and thousands +more will go to Rome than do so now, to play upon the Campagna, and +during the time to gather to their souls a scent of the glory of the +ancient mistress of the world. I have a vision of Rome becoming a +headquarters of continental golf in the near future.</p> + +<p>On a morning after some days among the ruins—such a glorious morning, +with the Italian sun burning gold amid a heavenly blue—two noble Romans +came in their chariot for a barbarian wanderer at his hotel at half-past +nine. They were not real Romans, but Augustus could have played their +part of host no better, and a forty-horse-power car moved us towards the +Campagna more speedily than the best of chariots. Away we went by the +foot of the Equilinus, down the Via Emanuele Filiberto, through the gate +of St. John Lateran in the Aurelian wall, and then straight on. In a few +minutes we were at Acqua Santa and inside the club-house. Of all the +club-houses in the world, this is surely one of the most curious and +interesting. It is an old farm-house, skilfully adapted to its purpose, +and we shall be sorry if in the course of time and a grand extension of +the golf at Rome it is given up for anything more palatial and +conventional. Here in an upper room we take the necessary nourishment in +a simple way, and among other liquid refreshments there is the real +<i>acqua santa</i> itself, a pleasantly bitter and quite delicious water that +is drawn from a spring by a farm-house at a corner of the course. In +days gone by the water was considered, perhaps not without good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> reason, +to have splendid curative properties, and popes of Rome came to it and +blessed it accordingly. I believe that one of them derived some healing +benefit from it. And now, as we think of popes and cardinals, we recall +that one of the latter, Cardinal Merry del Val, had some kind of a +course in his private grounds, and so far he has been the only cardinal +golfer. Once before he died a scheme was afoot for a visit by him to the +course at Acqua Santa. In a good and sensible and honest way the golf +club of Rome is already a considerable social centre. Perhaps some day +the King of Italy—already patron of the club—will join himself to the +majority of kings and become a golfer too. A leading member of the +famous historical family of Colonna, Don Prospero Colonna, is president, +and a number of the most eminent people of Rome are among the members. +Princes and princesses, counts and countesses, ambassadors of nearly all +countries, and American millionaires may be found playing the game +regularly at Acqua Santa. The keenest golfer of them all is Dr. Wayman +Cushman, who is handicapped at plus 4, an American who spends half his +year in Maine and the other half in Rome, where he plays golf nearly +every day. The Americans are strong in the golf of Rome, and some of the +young Italians are showing excellent form. There is one of them, Don +Francesca Ruspoli, educated in England and son of a Roman father and +American mother, of whom great golfing things are expected.</p> + +<p>Really this is an excellent course; but the full merit of it will hardly +be appreciated in the first round or the second, for the wonderful views +and the special points of interest in them will constantly interfere +with concentration on the strokes and thought upon the scheme for +reaching the putting green. Standing upon the first teeing ground and +pondering for a moment upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> the carry to be made across the little +valley in front, the panorama begins at once to suggest its superior +claims. Leftwards are the Apennines, opalescent in the morning mist, +capped with snow upon their peaks. There are the Alban Hills, where the +shepherds were born who followed Romulus on the Palatine, and at the end +of the range is Monte Cavo, on the top of which are the ruins of the +temple of the god of the Latin races, living in the Latium, the ground +between the mountains and the sea. On the wine-yielding bosom of these +shining hills there lies sparkling white in the morning sun the village +of Frascati. There are the Sabine Hills with Tivoli, and away in another +direction there is Mount Soracte, well said to look out there like a +wave in a stormy sea. Up into our middle distance on the left-hand side, +on the fringe of the course, are the splendid ruins of the Claudian +aqueduct which stretch right across the Campagna, one lonely pile coming +close up to our sixteenth green alongside which the Via Appia Nuova +stretches, with two famous umbrella pines helping on the scene.</p> + +<p>There is so much for a beginning, and more views press upon us as we +advance along the course. The play is opened with a good hole of drive +and iron length, the second brings us back again with a drive and a +pitch, and then away we go to the left with one of the cunningest +seconds to be played across twin streams, making this third hole of Rome +one of the most exacting in the way of approach that is to be found in +Italy or even in the whole of Europe. When we come to the sixth we play +up to the summit of a high tableland, and as we ascend the hill we pluck +from the turf some of the freshest, prettiest crocuses that have ever +grown, the course being as nearly thick with them in March as North +Berwick is with daisies in the month of May. And from these heights what +a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> view again over towards the city of Rome! Out along that way there is +the tomb of Cecilia Metella, Crassus' wife, and away on the boundary +there is the church of St. John Lateran and the great dome of St. +Peter's. If golf is a royal and ancient game, here is a setting for it. +Near to the eighth hole we turned aside to the ruins of an ancient Roman +villa, and Santino, my little Italian caddie, with finger excavation, +gathered some morsels of polished marble which may have touched the feet +of Roman ladies in those great days of old. The line of the tenth comes +close to one of those deep-cut streams that flow to feed the hungry +Tiber, and in some ways this hole reminds us of the fourth at Prestwick +where the Pow Burn insinuates itself close to the golfer's way. At our +backs when we stand on the eleventh tee is a cave that might serve for +robbers but which really makes an excellent shelter, and it was related +that a few weeks before my time in Rome three ambassadors, being the +British, the American, and the Austrian, were seen to sit in there and +shelter. And who then shall say that, if "only a game," golf has no +possibilities and powers in such high crafts as diplomacy? The twelfth +is an excellent hole, and so are they all. The sixteenth takes us +winding round a big bend between a hill and a stream and then faces us +full to the putting green, which has the Claudian ruins for a +background. The play concludes with a seventeenth which has a putting +green very shrewdly placed, and an eighteenth where the second shot is +played through a little valley, these ending holes abounding in golfing +beauty and character.</p> + +<p>There is to be said of this course, and in the most sober and +well-considered judgment by one who has seen golf in many lands, that +there is scarcely an inland course anywhere that seems more naturally +adapted to the game. Each hole has strong character of its own;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> I could +remember them all after but a single round. Some time soon they will +make an attempt at Acqua Santa to carry their putting greens on from one +season to the next, and then they will get a thickness and trueness and +quality that greens can gain in no other way. The golfers of Rome are +keen, and they have energy and enterprise. A great future awaits this +club and course, and I believe that when more money is spent on it, as +will be soon, it will be in nearly every thinkable way the most +attractive course on the Continent. The mood that gathers about one when +in Rome tends to taking the game rather more seriously and thoughtfully +than at the Mediterranean resorts; it becomes a real recreation, the +refreshing change. The club's nearness and convenience to the city are +very good. It is but a few minutes' journey by either train or tram from +the heart of Rome to the club-house, near which there is a special +golfers' railway station.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>A Franciscan friar was the first to point out to me the situation of the +nine holes of Florence—nine plain fair holes, though they have nothing +of architectural beauty in them, not a trace of feeling, nothing of the +mediaeval glow of spirit that separates this city from all others in the +world, hardly a touch of imagination in their two or three thousand +yards. Yet they serve their modern purpose well. For six days and six +nights the rain had poured down upon the dripping Firenze from +inexhaustible clouds; the saucer in which the city is laid emptied its +floods into the Arno until, dirtier and more turbulent than usual, the +big stream tumbled itself violently through the bridges. We wandered +through the Uffizi Galleries and the Pitti Palace and the Bargello of +courtyard fame. There is nothing in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> the world like sweet Florence, and +it is a hopeless soul that feels no spark of artistic fire crackle for +at least one inspiring moment when the glories of this city that was +born and lived to the human expression of beauty are contemplated. But +an incessant rain provokes a bold defiance; there almost seemed to be a +weakness in such constant shelter, and I remembered a suggestion that +was sent to me from a far distance—"Go up to Fiesole if you can." So in +the car I went to Fiesole. We went out of the town and by San Gervasio, +and wound past San Domenico, and twisted our way up the hill until, with +five miles done, or it may have been a little more, the old Etruscan +town, with the fragment of an ancient wall, was reached. At the very +summit, where once a Roman castle stood, there is the Franciscan +monastery. A brother in his umbrian gown looked meditatively outwards +from the porch, and he was gracious and friendly when I told him I would +like to go inside. From a loggia within we looked out upon one of the +finest panoramic views of its kind. The rain had ceased. Grass was seen +upon the Etruscan hills, tentacles of the Apennines came clear again +through dissolving mists, and a golden light flamed up in the western +sky. And in its peaceful hollow there lay Florence, the palace of art, a +mediaeval jewel glistening there like a mosaic in white and terra cotta, +with its great duomo in many-coloured marbles lording it over the +lowlier piles. Florence! Sweeping the valley with a glance, the monk +turned towards the north-east and, leaning upon a wall, he pointed with +his right hand and said, "Pisa!" Over there was the city of the leaning +tower and the baptistery with the amazing echo. But in the nearer +distance there was a square patch of vivid green, and I traced its +situation along there by the course of the Arno, by the Cascine, and +other landmarks, and made nearly sure of what it was. The thought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> was +incongruous at the time, nearly inexcusable, but yet there is little in +golf that is vulgar after all, and it could not be denied that there was +the golf course out that way. By some careful questions I gained +confirmation from the friar. I told him I looked for a place, a special +place, whose locality I described precisely. And he held out his hand +again. The golf course was nearly in the line of Pisa.</p> + +<p>While so many things in Florence are four or five hundred years old at +least, the golf course is only fifteen. Still, fifteen years makes a +good maturity in these times, and Italy, if its courses are few, has +some distinctions among them. Many continental courses depend for their +attraction on their setting. Those of Florence and Rome have the most +perfect setting conceivable, but while the course of Rome could live on +its merits had there been no Rome, the course of Florence never could. +Yet the city helps it out, and, though poor be the holes, here we have +indeed one of the most enthusiastic little golf communities one might +ever wish to mix among. The club is captained by Mr. J. W. Spalding, +head of the great athletic business firm, who has ceased to live in +America and lives now wholly in Florence, which he would hardly do were +it not for this golf course, on which he plays nearly every day. Mr. +Spalding is a fine example of the keen and determined golfer. A few +years ago, in a terrible motor-car smash in Italy, he lost completely +the sight of one eye. As soon as the surgeons and the doctors let him +loose again he hurried to his favourite course at Florence and—think of +it!—at once he won the scratch gold medal. He is a scratch man now, and +plays as well as ever.</p> + +<p>These and many other things I learned on the day after the monk had +pointed out to me the direction of the nine holes of Florence, when I +went along to San Donato to make a closer view of them, to drive and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> +putt at them. The golfers of Florence are a good company, managed with +zeal by Signor Mavrogordato, in the capacity of honorary secretary. They +are as keen and interested in their game as if they were at Sandwich, +and they have a miniature club-house situated on a spot of land that has +a cemented water-filled moat all round it, those who would enter having +to pass over a little rustic bridge. The holes are plain with artificial +cross bunkers, and the architecture is of what might be called the low +Victorian school. One of the features of the course is a couple of tall +trees that stand up in the middle with thin straight trunks parallel to +each other, looking for all the world like Rugby football goal-posts. +One great advantage that this course has is that it is splendidly +convenient to the city. Take a tram-car No. 17 labelled "Cascine" from +one particular corner of the cathedral square, say "Golf" to the +conductor, pay him a penny for the fare, and the rest is inevitable. In +a quarter of an hour you will be deposited at a junction in the roads by +the barrier of Ponte alle Mosse, and two minutes' walk from there takes +you to the iron gates which give admission to the course.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>There is the beautiful bay at Naples, and Pompeii, and a short voyage on +the steamboat to the sweet isle of Capri; but golf has not yet come to +Naples, though it will do so soon. When we travelled down there from +Rome we were aboard a train that was taken by many of the Naples members +of the Italian Parliament who were going home for the week-end—the +"deputies' train" they often call that six o'clock from Rome. They had +been having a fearful week of it, wrangling about their recent Libyan +war and the cost of it, and their nerves were in rather a jagged state. +I fell into conversation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> with one of them, and he said that he wished +he were a golfer, as from all that he had heard and understood it was +the real and only thing for the soothing of a deputy after such +scrimmaging and scratching as they had been having in the Chamber that +weary week. He asked questions about our Parliamentary golfers, and was +informed about Mr. Balfour, Mr. Asquith, Mr. Lloyd George, and all the +others. I told this honourable member for Naples that nearly all our +Parliamentarians played the greatest game of all, and that the Mother of +Parliaments was all the better for it. He was impressed. He said there +should be golf at Naples by the time I went there again—even if it was +set there for the benefit of the tired members only!</p> + +<p>Above all things, Venice is a place for reflection, and when we are +there we think of all things we have seen and done in Italy, and shape +exactly the impressions that have been made. One time there were two or +three of us in a gondola. The crescent of a seven days' moon hung among +the stars in the Venetian night. The gentle regular plash that was made +by Giovanni Cerchieri, our gondolier (and be it said that his gondola is +the blackest and smartest and most finely dignified of all that glide on +the Grand Canal), as he swung backwards and forwards to his work behind +us, with a sigh or a murmur that might have swollen to a real boat-song +had we encouraged it, was nearly the only sound on the still waters. And +in this Venetian night, an hour after the coffee, we were in the mood of +men who feel that they are soon to return to the cold hard facts of +life. The rest of Venice might go to glory; we, soothed amid such ease +and comfort as might have satisfied a doge, turned our thoughts to the +links of home. There was nothing incongruous in the association of ideas +and facts. Venice we found to be splendid for meditation, and any place +with such a quality, like the top of a mountain,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> or the side of a +purling stream, is a fine one for golfing consideration and conjecture. +One man would talk of art, of pictures, and of sculpture; another would +stupidly keep to golf. And then a compromise was suggested, when it was +said that a question had once been asked as to whether there was such a +thing as style in golf!</p> + +<p>Any thoughtful player who ever had any doubt upon this matter—but, of +course, no thoughtful player ever could—would have it dispelled if he +went to Italy even though he never played a game, did not take his +clubs, and never saw a golf course there. It were indeed better for his +education in this matter that he should not play when on Italian ground, +for one would not expect to find on the courses there the best examples +of golfing style. The fact of style in golf would come home to him when +he wandered through the galleries and looked upon all the magnificent +sculptures that are among the matchless treasures of the country, though +there is no study of a golfing swing among them. I do not see how any +player of the game who is thoughtful and contemplative can go to Italy +and fail to be enormously impressed with the lessons that are silently +delivered from the sculpture in the galleries and museums of Rome, +Florence, and other cities. In hundreds of pieces here we see the +suggestion of beauty put forward in every movement and exercise of the +human body, and particularly when the frame is being brought to some +considerable physical effort, when the limbs are being placed upon the +strain, are grace and rhythm and style exhibited to us, and with them +there is the suggestion always of the extreme of power. There is +indicated the close relationship between exact and graceful poise, +perfect balance, and supreme controlled and concentrated force. The very +utmost efficiency is always suggested in all this artistic balance. As +the art is better and more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> appealing, so the suggestion of power is +increased and the marble almost seems to break with life.</p> + +<p>Considered in this way, what a fine thing is the "David" of Bernini in +the Borghese Gallery! But for our golfing suggestion some of the +discobolus models serve us better. Without ever having attempted to +throw a discus, one may very well understand that success at such an +exercise depends almost wholly upon perfect balance and accurate +concentration of force and true rhythmical movement, and in the models +in the Vatican and the National Museums in Rome and elsewhere we see how +it might be done. The discobolus of Myron, reconstructed as it has been, +and with the head made to face in the wrong direction, so they say, is a +magnificent thing. In the National Gallery of Rome they have made a +reconstruction from a fragment of another, and they have made the figure +to look sideways and half upwards to the discus held at arm's length +behind him ready for the throw, whereas in the Myron the face is to the +front and the eyes are down. (Though one may know nothing at all about +the ways in which the discs were really thrown, or what is the best way +to throw them, one is hardly convinced of the desirability of disturbing +the head in the back-swing of the arm and letting the eyes follow the +object in the hand. Surely concentration would be impeded and balance +suffer.) But in these images we see the intensity of the relation +between style and power, and we realise that if there were no style in +golf there ought to be, and the next moment, that of all modern games +golf is a game of style and nothing else. Perhaps you may play it +without style, but then it is not the same thing, and it can never be so +thoroughly effective and precise. Unconsciously, perhaps, James Braid +had style in his mind when he said that at the top of the swing the +golfer should feel like a spring coiled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> up to its fullest tension, +straining for the release. That is just what the discobolus suggests, +and the golfer gets the fullest enjoyment from the game, the supreme +physical thrills, when he feels this high tension for a moment and then +its even, smooth, and quick escape, and he cannot feel it so when he has +no style and all his movements and positions have not been made in +perfect harmony. Some may say that the actions of the discobolus were +probably not so very fine as the sculptors have made them out to be, and +that much of the shape is merely artist's fancy, but probably they are +fairly true to life. If they are not, one cannot contemplate them for +more than a few moments without feeling that life ought to be true to +them. The golfer in the suggestion of grace and power, as in the models +that have been cut of Harry Vardon at the top and end of his driving +swing, reaches some way towards the discobolus.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>THE AWAKENING OF SPAIN, AND SOME MARVELLOUS GOLFING ENTERPRISE IN +MADRID, WITH A STATEMENT OF GOLFERS' DISCOVERIES.</h3> + + +<p>"When we were in Madrid——" I have sometimes begun in conversation, and +then invariably from one or more in the company there has been a quick +interruption with—"But there can be no golf in Madrid! You do not go to +Spain for golf!" But one who knows may answer that there is as good +reason to go there for it as to most other places out of Britain, that +in different parts of Spain there is fair golf to be had, that in Madrid +there is a new course which is excellent and embraces some of the +prettiest holes we would ever wish to play after passing by the +Pyrenees, and that I have found there Spanish gentlemen to play with who +have been among the happiest and most agreeable companions and opponents +I have encountered. In a reflection upon my own experiences I dare to +say that I would recommend a doubtful stranger to go to Spain only if he +is a golfer, for by the agency of the game will the life and facts of +the country be best presented to him, and mysteries be explained. The +magic passport of golf is indispensable in all such circumstances. The +truth is that it was golf that led me to Spain on my second visit to the +country, and I had then one of the most interesting and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span> instructive +holidays I have had in my travelling life, during which I had the +opportunity of seeing something of the inside of Spanish life and +government, of discovering truth about the forces that work in the +regeneration of this old country, for really an awakening is taking +place, and one dares to say the firm establishment of golf is a symbol +of it. I had some interesting conversations with the Count Romanones, +who was then the Prime Minister, with his brother, who is the Duke of +Tovar, a man of broad sympathies who takes a leading part in many social +movements of high importance in Madrid, and with other persons of much +importance. These talks, with the open sight of all that was passing in +Madrid, made a deep impression.</p> + +<p>"You are a golfer, and we of Spain may give you some good golf to play!" +said the Prime Minister cordially when by invitation I called upon him +at his palace in the Paseo de la Castellana. He is a man of forcible +appearance and manner. The face is thin, and its lines of character are +strong—cold and strong. The aquiline features have something of +Spanish—no Italian—fierceness about them, and the Count makes a +piercing look which is considered discomforting to nervous strangers. +But he is a very attractive companion in talk; his verve, his vivacity +are wonderful. When discussing a subject in which he is interested his +whole being becomes aflame; eyes sparkle and features quiver; he beats +his fingers in the palms of his hands; he leans over towards you and +gesticulates like an artist in enthusiasm. A man of hot nervous energy, +one of keen purpose and determination is this statesman of Spain. He +suggested that the new sports of his country were symbolic of her great +awakening, of which he said he would talk to me that I might tell others +what Spain is now and what she would be. "Europe does not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> understand my +country," he remarked, "True, there has been little occasion to +understand her. But a change occurs. Spain at this moment is passing +through a most remarkable process of transition. You are right in a +suggestion you have made to me; unsuccessful wars do not cause +interminable loss and disasters. The war with the United States was not +all bad for Spain. We may have lost Cuba, but the development that has +taken place since then in our country at home, in its agriculture and +its mining, and again in its healthy natural feeling, has been enormous, +and is a good substitute for many islands." And then he went on in a +deeply interesting conversation to tell me of the great awakening of +Spain indicated in many different ways, and of all her political, +social, and other ambitions.</p> + +<p>The Duke of Tovar, who is also coming to take an interest in the golf of +Spain, smoked his cigar on a divan in his palace, and a Moorish boy +brought coffee to us. The Duke travels much, and brings things and +people back with him. I see that he has been an ambassador-extraordinary +to the Pope of Rome and has received the most gracious papal thanks. A +little of a statesman, he is much of an artist, and a marble bust of +Alfonso <i>rex</i>, his own sculpture, casts a shadow beside us. In +innumerable ways this Spanish nobleman associates himself with the life +of the people, goes among them, attends their meetings, and he began +telling me that one of the secrets of the new Spain was the important +fact of the nobles taking to business, becoming the promoters and +managers of industrial companies, as they were. He told me of dukes who +were doing things. One of the new movements, in which he has assisted to +his utmost and thoroughly believes in, is the boy scout movement, which +has caught on like wildfire in Madrid. Three thousand Spanish boys were +enrolled within a few weeks of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> establishment of the system in the +city, and the Duke became a president of a section. All class +distinctions are avoided in this matter. "My son is going with the son +of the porter," said the Duke of Tovar. And he most certainly believed +in golf for the people, and would tell me stories of its beginning and +its development.</p> + +<p>As to Madrid, never was such a quick transformation accomplished in any +city of the world, save when 'Frisco perished and was made again, as is +being done here in the city on the plateau of Castile. The Spaniards +having decided on the regeneration of their country and on persuading +foreigners to come to it, have determined they must have a capital +befitting a first-class power. The result is that Madrid is being torn +to pieces and rebuilt. Everywhere there is a fever of building raging. +Think of it: but three years ago and there was not a single first-class +hotel in Madrid; now there are two fine ones. The Alcala, where the +Madrileños stroll and mount up the hill to the Puerta del Sol, the great +bare square where the idlers lounge, where the bull-fighting papers are +sold, where there are many offices for the sale of lottery tickets, +where there are cafés and yellow tramcars (run by Belgian companies, if +you please!) and much life but no gaiety until very late at night, is +soon to be deposed from being chief street of Madrid, for they are +making a new ideal street, very wide and one mile long, which is cut +straight through the heart of the city and is to be called the Gran Via +when it is done. Millions and millions of pesetas' worth of property +have been demolished to allow for the straightness of this street, which +is to ask for comparison with a part of the Fifth Avenue across the +water. Thirty-seven millions of pesetas were lately voted by the +Municipal Council for the removal of the cobble stones of Madrid, their +places to be taken by asphalte and wood. The cobbles of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> Madrid are +picturesque; they make good harmony with those antique watchmen who seem +to have been reincarnated from our own eighteenth-century London, +walking the slumberous streets at night, lanterns in their hands and +jangling bunches of giant keys suspended from their girdles, their +business being to open the outside doors of blocks of flats for +late-returning occupiers who in an unthinking languorous way of Spain +would carry no keys, but leave the affair of their homecoming to the +fortune of the night, the vigilance of the watchman, and the blessing of +Providence. But the cobbles are not convenient. They are seldom +repaired, and even in such a spacious public place as the Prado, which +is a kind of Hyde Park Corner, there are sometimes deep holes which fill +with water when it rains and make such pools as ducks might like and +dogs would drink, but which take a leg of mine some way upwards to the +knee when the night is dark. There was an old Madrid of which trills of +love and passion have been sung. Fevered lovers sang to ladies whose +lips were red, and whose skin was dark, as their hearts were +gay—voluptuous women. Guitars and flowers; blood and life. That Madrid +has nearly passed away. A few steep and narrow streets and some dirty +open spaces, with little of the delicate charm of age to recommend them, +are most of what is left of it in a quarter near to the royal palace. +The city of later times, the Madrid of to-day, is already and quickly +giving way to a third Madrid which will soon be made.</p> + +<p>In this that I have written I may seem to neglect my theme, and yet the +state of Spain does most closely concern the strange case of golf in the +country. Here is an answer to interrupters who are quick to say that one +does not go to Madrid for golf. When Spain was all romance and colour, +all dirt and laziness,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> it was no place for games like this. Bicycles +were not popular then because they had to be pedalled ceaselessly, or +the riders would fall: they, being as symbols of action, did not permit +of lounging or a little slumber. In the days of the first and second +Madrids, athletics could not be contemplated; the corrida was supreme +and solitary for Spanish "sport." Now there is an athletic movement. +There are many football clubs; there is a national cup competition and +the King has given the cup. Still the corrida flourishes, but it is +threatened. In the new movement for the third Madrid there are social +clubs such as we have in London. There is an inclination for strong, +healthy sport, and the King encourages it with all his royal might and +influence. Don Alfonso has been the good leader of the royal game in +Spain. The main point is that golf in these days is a token of a +healthier disposition and a new progress, and it is a strong influence +upon character. In the old Spain such a sport as this was quite +impossible; now it grows, and, to me as one who has considered the birth +and rise of golf in many countries, the case of Spain is deeply +interesting. When I went there I remembered what some of the thoughtful +and candid Americans had said about this game exerting a needed and +subtle influence upon their own national character. It is such +influences that are needed in Spain, and I shall go again among the +Madrileños to see this one in the working. Already they have courses, +nice and tolerable, in Barcelona, Bilbao, and many other provincial +places. When I went to San Sebastian, one of the most beautiful and +fully equipped seaside resorts in the whole world, the municipal +authorities assured me that they felt a fear that the bull-fights were +becoming a doubtful attraction to foreign visitors, and they were giving +their attention to the establishment of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> municipal golf course. It +will be the first municipal golf course on the continent of Europe.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Let me plunge to my revelation and state that Madrid, in New Castile, +land of the toreador, country where so much of the Middle Ages does yet +survive, where games till lately have been almost unknown, this Madrid +comes now to be possessed of such a first-class course as might be the +envy of many a British seaside resort. While I lingered in the city +Señor Fabricio de Potestad, one of the most active members of the +general committee of the Madrid Golf Club, and of its green committee +too, was a kind counsellor and guide. Just as might happen at home, +while at breakfast at the Ritz there came to me notice that the car was +waiting. Señor de Potestad, his clubs and mine inside the car, had the +golfer's expectancy upon a genial Spanish countenance, rubbed hands, and +declared it was a fine day for the game. We sped away from the Prado, +and considered handicaps and odds as golfers must. But first we went for +object lessons in the progress of Spanish golf. Three or four miles out +we reached the hippodrome where some nine years back the game was born. +Don Alfonso had been learning golf in England; he had striven with it in +a left-handed way while he wooed a British princess in the Isle of +Wight, and he gave a Spanish decoration then to the professional who +showed him how to hold his hands and where to put his feet. Then nine +simple stupid little holes were laid out in this hippodrome, and there +they still remain as relics of the earliest age in the golf history of +this country, the uncultured time when the ball was missed, the days +when a hole in nine might have been considered good and a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> seven enough +to make the soul of a great grandee quiver with a new found joy. Three +Spaniards stood forward with the King as the pioneers of Spanish golf, +and still they are among its leaders. There was a great sportsman, the +Duke of Alva, president of the club; there was the Marquis de Santa +Cruz, and there was the Señor Pedro Caro, perhaps the only Spanish +golfer of early times besides Don Alfonso himself who learned his +strokes and swings in England, where he was schooled, and who with the +Count de la Cimera and the Count Cuevas de Vera, cousin of my guide, is +one of the three best players of Spain. Two of them are Spanish scratch, +and the Count de la Cimera lately achieved the distinction of being the +first of his land to rise to the eminence of plus one. Thus you may +perceive that the golf of Spain is helped by the best people, and that +is not because it is fashionable, and it is not only because the King +has shown a liking for it, but because the Spaniards have found in it a +quick fascination, an awakening pastime, such a strong diversion from +the often heavy life of their country as they had not imagined. Had you +seen, as I did, the Duke of Aliaga bunkered one afternoon before a high +steep cliff in front of the eighteenth green on the second oldest course +of Madrid; had you seen him pensive as he felt the extraneous sorrows of +a Spanish nobleman of riches and high station; had you seen the gleam of +gladness in two Spanish eyes when the ball was heaved somehow to the top +in one (the gods may know how he managed it; but we said to him that it +was a splendid shot, and I do believe it was!) you would not doubt that +golf was meant for Spain as these people declare it was—"the thing of +all others that we needed," so they say.</p> + +<p>This second oldest course, the "old course" as they begin to call it +now, marks the transition period of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> Spanish golf. It is not the +primeval course of the hippodrome, but one which was made in 1907 at a +place apart and a little farther along the road. The land is worth a +million and three-quarters of pesetas now when Madrid has become so much +bigger than it was, and the course falls within the city zone; and as +the players became educated they yearned for something better, and they +moved again. But fond memories will cling for long enough to this old +course of Spain; with a little help from fancy one may look upon it even +now as a kind of old Blackheath of Spanish golf. There is a small +club-house with dining-room, dressing-rooms and all complete, in quite +the English way, on a spot of rising ground, and from the verandah we +may look over a part of the course, with a short hole to begin with and +some curious bunkering here and there, with a highly modern attempt to +adopt the system of humps-and-hollows bunkering that has been so well +established on inland courses at home. Somehow one gathers the +impression that the Spaniards have been striving all the time towards +some kind of indistinct ideal, realising that the sport they had +discovered was a great one and trying to improve their practice of it. +And I recall that it was J. H. Taylor, the old designer, the old +constructor, the quintuple champion, who was pioneer in the planning of +courses in Madrid, and he laid out this one of eighteen holes very well +for the early Spanish golfers.</p> + +<p>One of the curiosities of the course is the putting green at the +eleventh hole, which is quite round and is surrounded by an evenly +shaped earthen rampart. On seeing it for the first time the average +Englishman observes to the Spaniard who is with him, "How like a +bull-ring!" The remark is justifiable and it seems appropriate; but the +Spanish gentleman has heard it many times. Playing the bull-ring hole is +a satisfying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> experience, most exceedingly contenting. We play what we +shall consider a perfect approach shot to our Plaza de Toros hole. The +ball is pitched into the ring just over the near side of the barricade. +A big bound and it is by the hole side, a smaller skip and it is away to +the other side of the circle, and then there is one nervous little jump +up towards that enclosing height. The perplexed ball seems in our fancy +to claw up the steep slope, which is about four or five feet high; it +nearly reaches the top. We, the player, feel a little pitter-patter in +the heart. Is that little white bull of a ball of ours going to get over +the fence and spoil the thing? It should not; we pitched him as nicely +as human skill could ever pitch. He is vicious; but he is spent. The gay +life which he had at the beginning of the stroke is flickering out. He +cannot escape. Our cuadrilla of one, the little Spanish lad with the bag +of clubs, advances and hands the putter, taking back the mashie which +has done its business. The ball comes trickling back from the bank—back +and back, and it comes on to within some seven or eight feet of the side +of the hole. Then it falters and stops, done for. Meanwhile there is +another white bull of a ball only four feet away; this also had come +back from the bank, but a little more. I, as an espada, take my steel +putter for the finishing touch. I see the line, I have the momentary +hesitation, the nerves are tightened, and then I make the stroke, and +happily it is a good one. The ball has gone down. In truth both balls go +down, and "Four, señor!" and "Four—a half, <i>amigo</i>!" and the play to +the eleventh hole of old Madrid is done. Even if there is a slope to the +hole and there is the bull-ring rampart round it, we say that a four at +this piece of golf is good. We also argue out that bull-ring with our +consciences. I have seen nothing like it. It was clearly the object of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> +those who made it to pen the ball up towards the hole, to make the golf +a little easier, for it was found to be hard enough (as you and I have +found it hard enough at home) to catch the ball and keep it and lead it +to its hole. This hole, the rampart, seems to be a concession to the +frail humanity of man. Conscience murmurs chidingly, "You know, you +English golfer, that you should never have been so near to that Spanish +pin! You should have been bunkered, my friend, perhaps badly bunkered, +beyond the green!" But being in Spain, and doing as Spaniards do, we are +a little independent, have a freedom of idea, and with some peevishness +of manner, an arrogance, a way as of telling conscience to attend its +other business and get back to London—where in some places they do +place bunkers and hills upon the greens to keep the golfer, as it seems, +from holing out at all—I retort, "I played a good shot anyhow; I only +just pitched over the bull-ring fence; I pitched the ball up high and +let it drop straight down, and cut every leg from it that it ever had. +No man could do better with the ground so hard. It was right that the +ball should come back."</p> + +<p>I shall hope that with their attachment to a new love that is so +beautiful and good, the Spaniards will not give up their old course here +that has served them faithfully and brought on their game. Besides, it +is a course that is pretty in its situation. Away beyond, many miles +away, are those snow-topped Guadarrama Mountains, fine rough things. +Though it was March, and untruths are told about the wickedness of the +Spanish climate, we lunched with Señora Elena de Potestad in the open +outside the club-house in warm sunshine glistening on a pretty scene. +Señora Elena is quite the best lady golfer of Spain; but writing the +truth as she told it, the charming wife of my friend is not Spanish, but +is a Russian lady from Khieff. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> suspect her of being the best Russian +lady golfer and the best Spanish too; it is curious. She has done the +first nine holes here at Madrid in something less than bogey. Next to +her on the championship list is the Marquesa de Alamoncid de los Oteros, +six strokes behind. Queen Victoria sometimes plays, and I have seen that +extremely popular lady of Spain, the Infanta Isabella, golfing here with +the professional and a maid of honour. The game is doing well with the +ladies of the peninsula; they like it. I had a gentle argument with the +Señora Elena, who seemed a little doubtful whether golf were quite a +ladies' game, for all her own skill and love for it. She pleaded the +other feminine occupations and interests, even the distractions, and the +difficulty of surrendering to the tyranny of golf. In her view it seemed +to be of the ladies' life a thing apart, while we have known it to be a +man's complete existence.</p> + +<p>As our speedy car skimmed the road on the way back to Madrid that night, +Señor Fabricio would talk of the good influence of the game, and the +special benefits that it might and did confer upon his hopeful +countrymen. "Twelve years ago," he reflected, "I might meet all my +friends at the corrida. All were for the bull fight—and the ladies too. +But now—if I went myself, as I do not—I should see none. They are all +for golf. At my club in Madrid we say one to another about the time of +lunch, 'Do you go to golf this afternoon?' It used to be, 'I suppose you +go to the corrida, eh?'" One thinks and wonders.</p> + +<p>I took tea in the lounge at the Ritz, and gossiped with a man who had +just come along from Portugal and told me of some exciting times they +had been having there. They had decided on having more golf, and were +about to make a municipal matter of it near Lisbon. Hitherto, as I knew, +they had had only one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> golf course in the whole country, and that was at +a place called Espinho, some eleven miles out from Oporto, and it was +said that bulls intended for the fights were fed up there and did their +roaming exercise on this course. It is not a comfortable idea. The new +course is out at Belem on the banks of the Tagus near to Lisbon, and +this is the exact place at which Vasco de Gama landed on returning from +his greatest voyage of discovery. It is an eighteen-holes course; it has +been well planned; and much money is being spent on it. The Portuguese +having started a new form of government and begun a new national +life—as they hope—have come quickly to the conclusion that they need +golf and much of it, for already a second course for Lisbon is being +arranged, and there are to be others in different parts of the country. +If King Manoel goes back, he will be prepared for them, for he has +cultivated a fair game at Richmond.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>In the evening we went to stroll among the cafés of Madrid, and +presently peered into the old parts of the city, where life is simple +and strong, where the humbler Madrileños resort, and there are dancing +entertainments of a strange kind. On a little stage there is some +jingling music worked out from a bad piano, and a troupe of girls with +some gypsies among them will make a dance that, for all its art and all +its naïveté, is somewhat coarse. Other girls will sit round them in a +semicircle and keep up a kind of barbarous wail, occasionally bursting +into a mock shout of approval. A song will follow, and a chorus with it, +and by and by the entertainers will descend and drink wine with the +people in the café, and all this will continue until the night is very +late. But out in the Puerta del Sol the lights are bright and there is +more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> gaiety than there has ever been. So we wandering golfers, reckless +of the game of the day that follows (after all we are to give a bagful +of strokes to these Spaniards and can beat them yet—but not always, one +remembers), turn in to one of the music halls which have three shows a +night, the third beginning at midnight, and we see La Argentinita dance, +see the rumba done. Then down the Alcala and over the Prado home. We +shall insist that this is a part of our golf in old Madrid; it is not +the conventional golfing holiday, as I try to show. Another day we will +run out for many miles to El Escorial (thanking the Duke of Tovar for +the offer of his car) and ruminate in this most sombre architectural +creation of the great Philip—palace, monastery and tomb in one—and +another day out to Toledo, a grand dead city of a long past of many +phases and eras, a mummified city it seems to be, with halls and places +that look sometimes as if they had but just been left by the rich grand +caballeros of the time when Spain was great. You can nearly see their +ghosts, gay in satins and crimson silks, leaning over flowered +balconies, singing, kissing, laughing, and always living.</p> + +<p>I dislike the corrida. It is horrible. Its time has gone. I had enough +of it once when south at Algeciras. But a Spanish golfing companion said +that it was a very special day, and for the experience, and as a matter +of being guest, I should go. There were eight bulls done instead of six, +and horses in proportion, and a county councillor of Madrid took us +behind all the scenes, into the hospital, into the matador's chapel, and +explained everything. He was a courteous gentleman. He said they would +have golf in Madrid, that the corrida would leave in time, but for the +present the people must have the corrida. It takes time to make great +changes, he said, even in Madrid—where it does<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> take more time for +movements than anywhere else. But the point of this reference is the +harsh contrast that is indicated—our peaceful game of golf in which +nothing is killed, no blood spilled, nobody hurt, and yet, as we think, +the greatest, fullest sport of all, stirring the emotions better than +any corrida in Madrid or Barcelona, and this awful feast of blood and +death. I have seen golf in many places, but never in one where its +setting seemed so utterly impossible as here. And yet golf in Madrid is +strengthening, and by ever so little the corrida, so they tell me, is +weakening. That the game can begin and can hold and grow in such a place +is surely the utmost testimony of its power. Games like golf have some +work to do in Spain. It is because of such considerations, because of +the extraordinary environment in which this peaceful, excellent sport is +set, that I have found golf in Madrid such a remarkable and interesting +study, and have dwelt upon it and provoked the contrasts when I might.</p> + +<p>See contrast now again, yet more wonderful. The next morning broke +bright and blue, and Señor Fabricio was round betimes in the Prado with +his car. We were to go to the new course that day. We sped away on the +Corunna road for some four or five miles from Madrid, and then turned up +towards the higher land. All this was King's land; El Pardo it is +called. Here is the new golf course of Madrid, which takes the place in +the Spanish golfers' hearts and plans of the other one of which I have +already written, that with the bull-ring hole. This of El Pardo is part +of a great new sporting establishment, embracing a magnificent polo +ground, tennis courts, and all the advantages and appurtenances of a +thorough country club in the manner of those which began in America and +have since been copied in England, and more recently at Saint-Cloud near +Paris.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span></p> + +<p>Considered in some ways 1 am a little disposed to count this new golf +course of Madrid as the eighth or ninth wonder of the whole golfing +world, just as the Spaniards themselves set up a claim for El Escorial +to be ranked as the eighth of the world at large. There are sound +reasons for the nomination. I have shown that it might well have been +held that the Spanish people's character and dispositions were a soil in +which no good game might grow, and yet that it was being urged and +proved that there was a great process of regeneration going on and that +golf indeed had been given a very good start. Now we come to the +astonishing climax for the time being in this little story of contrasts. +Here, if you please, at El Pardo on the estates of Don Alfonso is just +one of the nicest, best, and most interesting courses for golf on which +the excellent game might ever be played. It is quite new and it is most +thoroughly up to date. It is a course of which good clubs in Britain +might be exceedingly proud. You and I would be glad to play there nearly +always, and we should have little fault to find. When I was there it was +only just being finished. Its history is a nice romance. The golfers of +Spain had risen to that state when they felt they needed something +better for the improvement and the enjoyment of their play than the +rough primitive course with the bull-ring hole which had ceased to +satisfy their needs and tastes. They were restive. Came Don Alfonso to +their comfort and their happiness. At El Pardo was the ideal golfing +land—wide undulating sweeps of lovely country, majestic undulations, +grand environment, with the splendid Guadarramas in full view. It was a +scene sublime. The land was wooded, trees would have to be felled, the +ploughshare would have heavy work to do; but that is how courses are +made to-day. Not in Don Alfonso's power was it to give the ground<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> +outright, but he passed it to the golfers for a nominal rent of a +thousand pesetas a year, which, being converted to English reckoning, +would be some £37. There was land for the polo and the tennis hard by. +Estimates were procured, and it was discovered that to do the work of +felling and ploughing, sowing and construction, building and finishing, +a sum of just about twenty-two thousand pounds in English money would be +needed, and most of the money would go to England too. Then with zest +the golfers and other sportsmen of Madrid came forward, each one +subscribed according to his means and ability, and in a very little +while all that great fund of money was obtained, and it was in the bank +before the work was started. That was a splendid achievement; the golf +of Madrid deserves to prosper now.</p> + +<p>It was determined that with such a beginning everything should be done +most thoroughly afterwards. Thousands of trees had to be cut down, the +ground cleared, ploughed, and raked, and the putting greens sown. On +hardly any course in any country has the work of construction been done +more thoroughly. Then Mr. Harry Colt was brought from England to design +the holes, and he gave of some of his most cunning, most artistic work, +having a fine field for his quick imagination. The result is eighteen +holes as good and rich as Spanish holes need be. Some of the short ones +are as good short holes as I have seen. One with the green on a hog's +back, the seventh, is a most appetising thing. At the third there is a +quick slope on the left of the green and the approach is one of those +twisty things that are a strong feature of the Coltian style of +architecture, demanding a skill and calculation from the player that +many bunkers would not exact. There is a dog-leg hole for the fifth that +leads to a green partly framed in a corner of trees.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> Parts of Spain are +treeless, the great plain above which Madrid is placed, the long lone +sweep of land that you look down upon from the palace, down to the +Manzanares and beyond to a far horizon, is one of the most desolate +countries that my eyes have seen. But here at El Pardo there are trees +enough. Chestnuts and cork are everywhere, and the course has a look of +our sweet Sunningdale at home. Harrows, rakes, and spades have done +their work most wondrous well, and the nicest gradients have been given +to the putting greens. But there is something even more remarkable still +that has been done. Make it as you would, tend it as you might, but if +Nature were to be depended upon the loveliest course in all Spain would +have to perish, for the climate forbids. So the climate had to be +foiled. Water was needed, water everywhere, water always, always. The +Madrid golfers, wise beyond all British example, determined they would +have their water at the very beginning of things. Some way distant there +was a river or canal, and it was tapped for their supply. Great cemented +aqueducts were built to carry it across valleys; it was piped through +hills. The water in abundance was brought up here to the course; and it +was laid on to every teeing ground and putting green and to the entire +fairway so that everywhere, always, the water should be poured on, the +fine grass that grows should be kept always green, and the turf, which +is of full sandy kind, should be always golf-like and moist. That was a +splendid achievement. I enjoyed the round of the new course, delighted +in a pretty valley hole towards the end, and admired the enterprise of +the Spanish golfers exceedingly. They have golf in Madrid. As the +express climbed with me upwards back to France I reflected again on +these wild contrasts, and the struggle for light by Spain.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span></p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>As a pursuit golf differs from all others in that there is no +exclusively right way and no utterly wrong way of doing anything +connected with it. Those engaged with it are constantly, to use their +own expression, finding out what they are "doing wrong," and then with +great eagerness and activity and newly revived hope are setting forth to +repair their errors and place their game upon a new foundation. Yet +despite this eternal discovery of faults and remedies, only a little is +ever found out of the full truth that is hidden somewhere, by even the +very best of players, and herein lies the consolation of the humbler +people in that, if they know little, their superiors, being champions, +know only a little more compared with all that there is to be known. +Thus upon every disappointment an encouragement ensues. If these points +are considered it will appear that there are deep truths in them, while +at the same time they convey morals and point the way to a betterment of +one's game. And the most important point is that there is no one +exclusively correct way of doing anything, and this, with all the +circumstances surrounding the proposition, leads us inevitably to the +conclusion that this is no game for narrow-minded and conventional +people, who would always do as others do, and have not the will to +exercise their own convictions which, along with their admiration for +some of the tenets of the political party to which they do not belong, +are stifled in their consciences and put away. Golf is indeed a game for +extensive individualism, for the free exercise of convictions and for +continual groping along unknown channels of investigation in search of +the truth. Those who do not investigate and explore in this way miss a +full three-fourths of the intellectual joy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> of this pastime. And the +investigators must have the courage to reject things of information that +are offered to them, even when conveyed with the very highest +testimonials for their efficacy from the best champions of home and +foreign countries, while at the same time they should have the will to +put into exercise even the most fantastic scheme of their own +imagination.</p> + +<p>All dogmatic teaching in golf is wrong. There are two or three essential +principles as we have called them—the keeping of the still head, the +fixed centre in the body, the eye on the ball, and such like—which must +be obeyed under the certain penalty of failure, because these might be +said to be the laws of Nature as applied to golf, and have nothing to do +with the eccentricities of human method. But, these being properly +respected, there are innumerable ways of building upon them structures +of golf which, in the goodness of results in the matter of getting +threes and fours and winning the holes, are much the same at the finish. +One of the structures may be precise, another may be plain, a third may +be ornate, and a fourth may be rough and vulgar. Yet in efficiency and +in results they may be just the same, and in most cases the man is led +to his style of golf building largely by his own temperamental case. So +long as the essential principles are observed in each case, being the +same always but kept hidden in the recesses of the building, many things +may be done that the books do not teach. The books are valuable to the +utmost for their suggestions and for bringing the player back to his +base, as it were, when he has wandered too far in his explorations, +piled theory on theory and got his game into the most hopeless tangle. +For corrective purposes they are in this way quite essential. They stand +for the conventions and for the middle ways; they enable us to make a +fresh start. And the golfer is always making fresh starts. What is the +cherished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> belief of to-day is abandoned next week, the discovery just +made and looked upon as solving the last problem that keeps the handicap +man away from scratch, is found later to be a temporary convenience only +and to be dependent on something else in the system of a highly fleeting +and uncertain kind. These beginnings, this starting over again with +increased hope, add always to the pleasure.</p> + +<p>What players need to remember above all things is that the games of no +two men are quite alike, any more than the men themselves are quite +alike, and that among the very best the widest dissimilarities exist, +that the best game that any man can possibly play is not one copied from +others, but that game which is his very own, the one built up on his +physical, intellectual, and mental peculiarities. Every man has a game +of his own somewhere which is quite different from any other, and that +game, when he can play it, will be more effective than any other that he +could play. What he has to do, therefore, is to find out that game in +all its peculiarities, and this is what the explorer and investigator is +constantly trying to achieve. He is finding out the mysteries not of the +game in general, as he sometimes imagines, but of his own game, and the +more he discovers the better is he as a golfer. Surely there is proof +enough of the absolute soundness of this proposition in the fact that +the discoveries as they are made, meaning not those which are found +later to be worthless, but those which become established in the +permanent system and are invaluable, are often absolutely opposite to +those made in another case and which become permanent in the same way. +Why, even the champions differ more widely than any others—yet one +remembers that this should not be a matter of surprise, but something +that by this argument is quite inevitable. The champions have been +marvellously successful in the mining of their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> own golfing seams, and +that is the chief reason why they are champions. And all this helps to +make golf the game it is—the eternal finding out, the progress, with +its occasional set-backs, towards the discovery, the completion of the +golfing self. I have only met one man in my life who has golfed and +never found anything out, and that was Mr. John Burns, the Minister of +State, who assured me that once in the old days of the Tooting Bec +course he was persuaded by a number of political persons to go with them +to play the game there one day. He had never handled a golf club in his +life, but having some practical knowledge of cricket, felt that golf +could not offer any serious hindrance to him. Consequently he agreed to +take his part in a foursome, and in the progress of this match usually +drove the best ball, with the result that his side was well victorious. +There seemed nothing in his game that needed improvement. Herein we +observe Mr. Burns displayed many of the qualities of the highest +statesmanship, but he rose majestically in his determination that from +that day he would never play golf again, much as he liked it, and he +never has. He has these three distinctions—that he has played golf once +and once only in his life; that being a golfer, as all are who are once +initiated, he has never lost a match; and that he has never found +anything out. I shall hope to be present at the second game he plays, +the resolution having broken down, and then we shall see discoveries +made.</p> + +<p>But once again, "Golfer, know thyself" is the supreme moral drawn from +the experiences of the players who have golfed and studied most. Every +golfer worth the name has found out hundreds of things and hopes to find +many more; some of them are quite different from any of the other things +that have been found out; he has his own private collection, and in it +almost any person might find something that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span> might with a little +alteration be added to his own. So I remember that when we came up out +of Spain, where the golfers are in that happy state that they have at +this present stage almost more to discover than any other golfers in the +world, a new spring season was beginning in the homeland of the game and +all players were looking over their stock of knowledge and seeing what +they had found out in the most recent times. It occurred to me then to +send out a demand to a number of good players whom I knew for their +enthusiasm, for their individualism and their strength of mind, and for +their conscientious investigations, and ask them what they had lately +discovered in an original kind of way which had beyond question +materially improved their game. The answers were enlightening, and some +of them, which I may quote, are worth pondering upon. One of the best +players of my acquaintance sent to say that he had made a discovery, +which, applied as a resolution, had done him more good than any other +half-dozen he had ever thought of. The essence of the new idea was that +on the teeing ground especially, and when approaching his ball through +the green, he would see to it that the stepping of the feet, the +movements of the arms, hands—everything involving action—should be as +slow and deliberate as possible, even the very speech itself, for the +reason that this slow sureness created an irresistible tendency in the +golfing action that was to follow, the back-swing was then slow and +deliberate, and the whole movement was harmonious and precise. The +probable value of this idea is suggested by the fact that the man who is +slow and deliberate in his waggling—not meaning one who prolongs it +unduly or does it in a hesitating way—generally does his swinging +better. Another player said the best discovery he had ever made was the +idea of imagining his weight during upswinging to be on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span> his left foot +without really throwing it there, at the same time holding his legs a +little more stiffly than had been his wont and keeping his heels on the +ground as long as he could. By these things, which could all be grasped +in the one general idea of making himself conscious of his legs all the +time, he has come by a firmness and steadiness of system that have added +enormously to his driving capacity; in fact, it has converted him from +being a man who could not drive at all to a very good driver indeed.</p> + +<p>I remember that once I was watching Taylor teaching a scratch man and +giving him hints for curing some considerable cutting and slicing to +which he was addicted. The champion turned round to us and said that one +of them was the best tip he had ever suggested in his life. It is the +simplest thing. In addressing the ball he would have the patient turn +over the face of the driver until that face is positively hanging over +from the top, pointing to the turf, at such a fearsome angle—no limit +to it—as to make it seem impossible to do anything but smother the ball +when coming down on to it. The back-swing has to be begun with the face +in this threatening situation. The truth is that the nervous fear that +it inspires is the secret of the success of the method. The man believes +that if he comes down on to the ball like that there will be a horrible +disaster, and all the time in the down-swing he is subconsciously +(another to that long list of most important subconscious movements) +making corrections and allowances, and his wrists are doing a twist to +get the club right by the time of impact. It is this wrist action, with +the left hand managing it, that is wanted, and the arm action that it +induces. The club reaches the ball properly, and the ball goes off +without a slice. If sometimes it is smothered it does not matter; the +cure<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span> will take effect in time. But, you say, you do not want to go on +for ever addressing the ball in this seemingly grotesque way. No; but, +again subconsciously, when the ball is being hit and driven properly and +the arm and wrist action become natural, there is a sure tendency +towards a settling down to normal ways, and without the man bothering +about it any more the club will gradually get itself straight.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>THE SUPERIORITY OF BRITISH LINKS, AND A MASTERPIECE OF KENT, WITH SOME +SYSTEMS AND MORALS FOR HOLIDAY GOLF.</h3> + + +<p>The chief and essential difference between golf in Britain and all other +places in the world, as everybody feels on coming home to it after +wanderings with clubs abroad, is that here in the home of the game it is +"the real thing" as nowhere else. Climate, soil, history and sentiment, +and the temperament of the people have combined to make golf here a +thing that foreign people who have never seen and enjoyed it cannot +imagine. It is not only that its excellence is so great, but its variety +so infinite; and perhaps it is because of that excellence and variety +that, human nature being in such a constant state of discontent, our +people in these days are so much concerned with problems of architecture +and the attainment of ideals which vary much with individuals and cause +incessant wrangling. It is when we are far away that we think most of +the magnificence of the courses on the western seaboard of +Scotland—Prestwick, Troon, and Turnberry among them, with Machrihanish +and Islay in more lonesome parts—of the wealth of golf in that East +Lothian district that is so amazingly crowded with fine links, of the +splendid strength of such as Hoylake and others in Cheshire and +Lancashire, of our own east coast with such jewels as Brancaster<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> set in +it, of that marvellous trinity of courses on the Kentish seaboard, which +as a golfing land has surely not its match in the world—Sandwich, Deal, +and Prince's, in the group—of Littlestone and Rye along the southern +coast, and then in the west such a glorious golfing ground as Westward +Ho! And there is Wales with its pretty and excellent Porthcawl, +Ashburnham, and many more, and Ireland also with its great Dublin +courses, Portmarnock and Dollymount, and then sweet Newcastle in county +Down, and bold Portrush.</p> + +<p>Indeed there are no others like the British courses, and it is always a +tremendous speculation with any golfer of experience as to which he +likes the best. When he comes to make it he has to separate in his mind +the feelings of admiration and those of affection, for it commonly +happens, if the judgment is reasonably good, that one may have the +utmost admiration for some particular course, for its unimpeachable +architecture based so well on perfect theory and the attempt always to +make the punishment fit the crime and award stern justice, and yet not +greatly delight to play upon it because in a way that sometimes he can +hardly understand it does not give him his utmost pleasure. Here again +the inexplicable emotions settle it. But in that matter of "justice" +which seems so much to be the ideal of new architects, there comes the +reflection in the ordinary golfer's mind sometimes as to whether golf, +not really being a game of justice now, would be better if it were one, +whether with so much that is unfair and tantalising removed from it the +game would be half so good. Surely in no fine sport is there always +exact justice done, and if it be made an ideal is it not possible that +the nearer such ideal is approached the poorer may become the sport, not +perhaps in regular proportion but in approximate effect? Golf is a game +of Nature after all, and Nature in some ways does<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> not always stick to +justice. One may ponder upon what Anatole France once said about this +justice. "In the vulgar sense," he wrote, "it is the most melancholy of +virtues. Nobody desires it. Faith opposes it by grace and Nature by +love. It is enough for a man to call himself just for him to inspire a +genuine repulsion. Justice is held in horror by things animate and +inanimate. In the social order it is only a machine, indispensable +doubtless, and for that reason respectable, but beyond question cruel +since it has no other function than to punish, and because it sets +jailers and executioners at work." And perhaps it may be said that golf +has little enough in principle to do with justice either; and we have +seen into what perplexities the good authorities of St. Andrews have +fallen by their vain endeavour to make a code of laws that would settle +the just dues of every golfer in every circumstance. Nature in her +variety has contrived to beat them all continually. Perhaps it may be +the same with the construction of courses, but the end of all golfers' +endeavour, however much it may be criticised, is the good of the game, +and it is generally achieved.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Those who in the most dispassionate frame of mind have considered +carefully all the points that should count the most and detached +themselves as well as they might from their private and inexplicable +preference have generally come to the conclusion that there are three +courses in this great golfing country of ours that are somewhat better +than all the rest in their golfing quality. One of them is old St. +Andrews, another of them is middle-aged Westward Ho! and the third is +the youthful Prince's at Sandwich. Considered as the perfect course, +weighing point against point, a jury of the best critics might have +difficulty in coming to any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> other decision than that architecturally, +for the real magnificence of its golfing value, the great creation of +Mr. Mallaby-Deeley on the golfing land by Pegwell Bay is supreme. Here +ten years ago there was nothing but a barren waste of sandhills, just as +they had been, as it seemed, since the very beginning of +things—lonesome, useless, forgotten. Then it was realised that what was +good for nothing else was best of all for golf. Mr. Mallaby-Deeley saw +it and understood, and now hereabouts the land is comparatively +priceless so much is it coveted by the golfers, who also now understand +as they see. Other great courses have been the productions of a long +period of time, improvements continually on an original structure of the +crudest kind. Westward Ho! was not made in a season, nor in many +seasons. Only recently some of its most delightful touches have been +added to it. St. Andrews was the work of generations. But Prince's, +though it has been appreciably changed from its original design, was +like one great flash of inspiration, and as such is surely the most +amazing achievement in the architecture of golf. Mr. Mallaby-Deeley in +other ways has shown himself to be a man of immense imagination; but was +it ever better illustrated than in his making of Prince's? Our +admiration for the course may be not the less but greater because we +cannot play her properly. For my own humble part I love most the +championship course of the Royal Cinque Ports club at Deal near by. Here +there are charm and variety, and holes of the most splendid character. +If some find fault with them, what does it matter when they are so good +to play? The Royal St. George's course at Sandwich, again, is a most +beautiful thing; surely there is no other which gives such an infinite +pleasure to a greater number of capable players. But for sheer golfing +quality, Prince's truly is the queen of all.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span></p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>I have asked Mr. Mallaby-Deeley to tell me what his ideals are in this +matter, and in response he has made a statement of such interest and +value that it should be given at its length. He said that, premising +that for purposes of consideration we should regard "ideal links" as +having reference only to the sequence of holes, both as to ranges of +length, difficulty, and beauty of design, he submitted that the making +of such an ideal course, given suitable ground, depended then on three +things only, being knowledge, time, and money. St. Andrews and his own +Prince's come nearest to this ideal, but the former fails in that it is +too straight in and out, and also because one can pull all the way out +and all the way home again without falling into any trouble, the truth +being that the more one pulls the greater the possibility of safety in +doing so. Some say that if you do thus pull you cannot reach the greens, +but in these days that is not so. We have seen them reach those greens +after the most exaggerated pulling. Then he thinks that the set of St. +Andrews in the matter of prevailing winds is far from ideal, for so +often the wind is at one's back all the way out and against the player +all the way coming home, or the other way about. Again, no one can deny, +he says, that St. Andrews has three if not four very ordinary and +commonplace holes. Prince's, as now laid out, has in general opinion not +a single commonplace or uninteresting hole in the whole course, but it +has had the advantage of being laid out many years after St. Andrews, +and after the introduction of the rubber ball. A course comes nearer to +the ideal as its holes are placed to every variety of wind. In the early +days of Prince's at Sandwich the disadvantage of an in and out course<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> +were soon discovered and an enormous amount of money was spent in +altering it to its present form, in which, with the single exception of +St. George's, it is the best in existence, the old course at Sandwich +being ideal in this respect. Mr. Mallaby-Deeley, looking upon his +Prince's in the supercritical way of a pleased but still insistent +creator, can see only one blemish in it, and that is that the two short +holes, being the third and the fifth—though the fifth is longer than +the third—come too close together. Any two holes on a course may +separately be extremely good, but coming together lack something of +perfection because of the repetition that instantly arises. He would +have the pin visible for every approach shot on his ideal links, and the +only exception he would make would be in the case of a full second shot +with a long carry over a high bunker to the end of it, for this to his +mind is a most interesting shot. Such an one, he points out, is that +presented at the sixteenth hole at Littlestone, and he would be +surprised to know that any one would ever think of altering that hole in +order to enable a player in the distance to see the pin. He also would +not agree to placing a bunker immediately at the back of the green, +which punishes the man who dares to be up and encourages "pawkiness."</p> + +<p>The visible pin is imperative at short holes; he will admit no +exceptions. But all who have been to Prince's have been most impressed +with the beauty and golfing perfection of the dog-legged holes there, a +couple of which are presented at the beginning of the round, immediately +introducing the stranger to some of the best delights of this course. He +would have dog-leg holes of both shapes in his round, those bending to +the right to worry the slicer, and those angled towards the left to help +the long driver who greatly dares. The first hole at Hoylake and the +second and eleventh at Prince's are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span> dog-leg holes that he likes best. +But, he will tell you, by far the most vital matters to consider in +making any course with pretensions to being ideal are the position of +the greens and the bunkering through the course and near the hole, and, +though it is a consideration that is too often overlooked, it is nearly +as important to bear in mind from which quarter the prevailing wind +blows. He believes every shot from the tee to the hole ought to be of +equal importance, but in the case of the majority of the courses this is +not so. Despite the fact that on the tee the man has everything in his +favour, a perfect stance and a teed-up ball, he is given more space to +play into and a greater margin for inaccuracy than in the case of any +other shot. This, says the architect, is wrong. Surely it should be as +necessary on the ideal course to place the tee shot as any other. He has +turned the subject of ribbon bunkers very thoroughly over in his mind. +In a general way, he does not like them because of the varying winds. He +says, "<i>Tutiores ibis in medias vias</i>," is a safe and golden rule of +life, and it applies equally to ribbon bunkers which while they make +some holes mar many more. Most frequently on account of wind and other +things this form of hazard fails as a fair guard to the green for a hole +that is meant for two full shots. It is then wrongly placed, and would +generally be improved by the substitution of ear bunkers to catch sliced +and pulled shots thereto. The push shot is one of the most difficult in +the game to play, but it is one of the prettiest and most satisfactory +in accomplishment; but the ribbon bunker is often unfair to the man who +plays it. Yet the absence of such ribbon bunkers does not prevent the +man who likes to play his high mashie shots from still playing them. +Thus the absence of this form of bunker is fair to all, while if placed +very near the green its presence penalises the push-shot player. +But many a tee shot would be tame if it were not for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span> ribbon +bunkers some way ahead. In epitome he says to the student of +architecture—"Bunker your course so that every bad shot is punished; +place your bunkers so that every shot must be played and played well; +make the length of your holes such that if a shot is foozled it costs +you a stroke; guard your greens right and left, and even to the very +edge and into the green itself, if necessary, but this must of course +depend on the length of shot to be played; and at one-shot holes make +the green a very fort of surrounding bunkers, and guard the tee shot. Do +not leave it open as at the famous short hole at St. Andrews, a much +overrated hole. But above all things, make your bunkers fair; don't make +them impossible to get out of except by playing back."</p> + +<p>As to the lengths of the holes on his ideal course he would have about +twelve two-shot holes varying from 380 to 440 yards, and there should be +three one-shot holes of about 165, 180, and 200 yards respectively. +There would be two or three drive-and-iron holes of about 350 yards +each, but a drive-and-iron hole should be so constructed that if the +drive is missed it will be impossible for the man who missed it to sail +on the green with his next. There is a good example of this in the +fifteenth at Prince's, for although this hole is only a drive and an +iron the penalty for missing the drive is that it takes the player two +more shots to reach the green because of the nature of the ground in +front of the tee. And then he would have it a condition that the last +three holes should average about 400 to 420 yards each, and the +seventeenth and eighteenth should be made specially testing ones. This +is the ideal course, and, being such, it is not a place for foozlers. +But if it is properly and fairly constructed it will be easier and +pleasanter to play on than a course which is made difficult by the +simple method of making it unfair, for example by putting bunkers in the +wrong places, by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> cutting the hole in a ridiculous position on the +green, by punishing the man who is "up" (a new-fangled and absurd idea +of course construction) by placing the hole immediately in front of a +bunker at the back of the green, and by leaving the approach to the +green from a long shot rough or broken, and so unfair. It is easy to +make any course difficult, and so conducive to high scoring, by making +it unfair. This induces pawky play because the punishment for bold play +may be too severe. He is also of opinion (and there is a constantly +growing tendency to agree with him) that there is too much premium on +putting, and that it plays far too important a part in the game, +especially among first-class players and in first-class matches. He +thinks the hole should be six and a half inches instead of four and a +quarter. Under present conditions a putt missed by half an inch bears +the same punishment (although the rest of the hole through the green may +have been played faultlessly) as a hopelessly bad shot by one's opponent +through the green.</p> + +<p>Prince's supports its creator's arguments very well indeed, and one +enormous fascination of it lies in the fact that it is always suggesting +to you, always inviting you, always tempting you to do the more daring +thing, and hinting that, even though you failed, the suffering might not +be too much. In that, it seems to me, lies the chief charm of this +masterpiece of architecture.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>So when we come home from other lands, let us think of golfing holidays +in our own, and moralise from old experience. It is an aggravating +circumstance that while there is hardly anything in the way of change +and holiday that is so splendid as a golfing holiday, there is hardly +any kind that is so easily spoiled. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> golfer is not dependent on the +weather, only to a small extent on his friends, he seldom knows limits +of time or space, yet he fails oftener in his pursuit of the perfect +happiness of a summer vacation than do the unsophisticated people who +kill the time of August and September in other ways, and that happens +because of the very fascination of the thing, and the enthusiasm and +excess to which it leads him on. In our working days limits are imposed +upon us; when we are loose and unrestricted all system and wise +restraint fly to pieces. It is not only that we often play too much on +holidays, but that during play and in the intervals between those spells +of action the imagination is at work too fast and makes riot upon +settled methods which have raised the game of the individual to some +more or less agreeable sort of quality. Excess and experiment are the +two evils that shatter so many golfing holidays, and yet the +contradictions of golf are such that we find there is something good to +be said both for excess and for experiment. But be all this as it may, +it is not until a man has gone through twenty golfing holiday campaigns +that he fully realises he has an education to serve in this matter, and +after twenty more he is able to start out on the forty-first in the +strong confidence that from the days and weeks before him he will +extract the full available supply of rich golfing delight. These remarks +do not well apply to the person of the thick phlegmatic temperament who +plays now with the same set of clubs that he started with ten years or +more agone, the which have not had their shafts varnished, nor their +grips attended since the time of their first swinging. This man is +without imagination, without feeling, and, with no blessing upon him, we +may let him wander away to play wherever he will, knowing that he will +always derive some great satisfaction from his pursuit and gain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span> +mightily in health. He is not like most of us; he is as the man without +any religion; he is very material. He eats, he plays, he rests, he +sleeps. And he does very well in it all; and yet we of the majority who +think always, ponder deeply, worry exceedingly and are wracked with +doubts and conflicting theories, disappointed ever in fruitless +experiments, do not envy him. The material person does not go down into +the depths where we grieve and are in pain (how often do we go and +grieve!), but neither does he ascend to the heights of pleasure that are +scaled by successful experiment, by the sudden discovery of some +wonderful secret that seems to have unlocked the gates of the higher +golf and rendered us immune from failure for evermore. (Never mind what +happens in the morning!) We may suffer the depths for those hot moments +of life on the summits.</p> + +<p>This preamble is needed for warning. Golf is the great game of emotions, +and at holiday times those emotions are quickened, strung up and, flying +loose in riot, play the devil with our game. I am sorry to believe that +many young men who come back to their homelands from the golfing holiday +grounds in October do so with inward sighs and stifled sobs. They tell +us that they have had the most glorious time; they may foolishly give an +account of a round said to have been done in 74, and of many of the +longest holes that cost them only four strokes apiece, and we forgive +them for their words which we know are false, realising the pain of +their case and that their dissembling is in a small manner for the good +of the game. Their emotions have led them astray; they have been weak +and foolish; they have done the wrong things and they have left undone +all those which were recommended to them as right. They have played +three rounds a day, and they have bought new drivers and putters. And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> +some of them have actually changed their stances and had an inch cut off +a favourite shaft! Truly their emotions have led them wrong. Player! if +you would pass the placid holiday, kill those emotions and cast them +off. You may then take a golfing holiday from which you will derive that +magnificent material comfort and refreshment that your butcher and baker +do when they walk upon the promenade at Margate and, well fed, sleep at +times on the sunlit sands. You will really believe on your return to +labour in the town, that you have had a splendid time, but soon you will +cease to talk of it for you will find that there is very little to +remember. Time was passed; that was all. The man whose emotions played +old Harry with him does not forget. He has something indeed to remember, +for he lived very much in his month of play. So you will see that in the +scheme of golfing things as jointly ordained by Nature and kind +Providence, with the petty meddling of the man himself, there are +different processes of holiday, and each in its way is the best. As in +so many other affairs of golf there are contradictions abounding. But +let us, after such philosophy, move to some definite considerations, and +consider life and facts as they are presented to us.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>One of the doctors' papers was well laughed at a little while since for +suggesting that, on account of the nerve strain that it makes, golf is +not an ideal game for everybody, especially busy folks with few hours +and days for recreation. To quote: "If he takes his failures to play a +good game to heart, it is doubtful whether his health gains very much. +He has had, it is true, the advantage of a change of scene and +occupation, and has lived for a while in a healthier<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> atmosphere, and, +if he had only been satisfied with his game, all these things would have +conspired to send him back to his work cheered and braced up. But he may +play very badly and become unduly worried thereat. A game that is +calculated to increase an irritability which has arisen out of a trying +week's work can hardly be said to be recreative, at all events to the +mind." The medical writer concluded impressively: "The game of golf, if +it does not go smoothly, presents so many points of analogy with the +tiresome eventualities of life that there can be little doubt that +persons of an irritable, gloomy, and worrying disposition would be +better if they did not seek their recreation on the links." The common +people sometimes look upon these pronouncements from the columns of the +professional paper as being like the essence of the wisdom and knowledge +of the whole of Harley Street. I remember, however, that when this was +published the golfers ridiculed and condemned it, and agreed to take +more golf and less medicine. It is not my function to advocate the +playing of less golf than is played, much less the stoppage of any of +it, but I dare to suggest that there was a germ of truth in what the +medical paper said. There are kinds of players who should take their +golf with restraint and caution, especially at holiday times. The truth +is that a vast proportion of golfing holidays are completely ruined +through a bad plan of campaign, or over-doing it, or both—commonly +both. We would say nothing to a doubter now about the selection of his +friends for his party; he should know that it is a matter demanding the +extremest care. A golfing holiday <i>à deux</i> may expose all the least +beautiful parts of each man's character, and those who are not such +friends that they can comfortably bear each other's infirmities might do +better even to go on their golfing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span> way lonely and without a partner. +There is much to be said for the freedom of this latter holiday +existence, and odd indeed would be the golfing place where there were +not many games for the solitary stranger to play.</p> + +<p>The night before the opening of the campaign, the eve of the journey +outwards, is a trying time to many men. I think of those who take loving +interest in their clubs, and have many of them, including a first-class +reserve, and perhaps a second-class reserve also, to the original set +that is in full commission. The man who has only seven clubs in the +world, and seems to take a pride in telling you that he has had them all +since the beginning of his golf, is in no difficulty. But with others +the trouble is how many clubs to take, and how many to dare to leave +behind. After the first selection it is seen that about five or six +drivers are put in the list, very many irons, and a large assortment of +putters. All the ex-favourites are to be tried over again and +experiments to be made with a number of others. It is found then that +too many clubs have been selected; but after the most painful and +difficult weeding out there may still be some twenty left, and these are +taken. It is a mistake. From the day of arrival at the holiday place the +man is in doubt as to what he will play with, and he mixes up his game +into a bad state of confusion through using different clubs almost every +day. It is a good rule, to which every golfer subscribes after twenty +campaigns, if not before, to take away the regular clubs as used every +day at home, not one less and only two more, being a spare driver and an +extra putter. In that way happiness and contentment lie. I would leave +out the driver did I not know the case of a man who so much grieved for +one he had left behind that he travelled three hundred miles back home +to get it!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span></p> + +<p>The little truth that there was in the indictment against the game by +the doctors' paper is that it is possible for some men, many of them, to +have too much of it, when it becomes bad for the men and bad for their +game, and holidays are rendered failures. There was a time when really +good golf could only be had at the seaside, or very far away from the +great centres of work and business. That is no longer the case, and the +situation is that the golf we are having all the time at home is hard +and strenuous, demanding great ability and thought. The golfing holiday, +then, might very well be made an easy one on a links where the holes are +simple, and—remembering another scare that was made by a doctors' paper +some time later—I believe that there is as happy golf to be had up on +the hills, and in the lonely country places, as on the margin of any +sunny sea.</p> + +<p>But it is the excess of golf that is played on holidays that spoils +everything in the case of the man of a somewhat nervous temperament, and +one who may not be as strong and beefy as the John Bull of the pictures. +Too many of these people seem to think that, as they have gone away for +golf, they should have as much of it as they can get, and play to excess +accordingly. Three rounds! Three rounds! One of the reasons why some men +play so much—as they put it to themselves—is that they wish to improve +their game, and they conceive that the holiday time is the best of all +in which to achieve that end. But experience shows that very seldom +indeed is a man's game improved at such a time; very frequently it is +injured, and that through the excess. When so much of it is played, +weariness, though half unconsciously, is induced, proper pains are not +taken at every stroke, carelessness becomes constant; then, with +deterioration, too many experiments are tried, and worst of all, that +terrible, and for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span> the time being incurable, disease of staleness sets +in, and there is then an end to all happiness and enjoyment. There is +hardly any cure for staleness except complete abstention for a time. It +needs some strength of mind to carry out such a resolve, but he who +severely limits his golf at holiday times enjoys it the more, and he and +his health and his game are the better for it. A holiday system based on +wise restrictions is a splendid thing. Men of long experience have tried +many of them, and the best of all is this: Play two rounds on the first +day of the week, one on the second, two again on the third, one on the +fourth, two on the fifth, one on the sixth, and take a whole holiday +from the game on the seventh day. That is not too much nor too little. +Another point for remembrance is that on the days that are warm and long +the old convention of one round before lunch and another afterwards is +not a good one for the best and most enjoyable employment of the day. +Much better is it to play in the morning, rest pleasantly—sleep, +perhaps—in the afternoon, and play again in the cool of the evening, +when golf is the best of all—always provided your course is not laid +out in a straight line from east to west and back, for playing full +against a setting sun is a very tantalising thing.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Mention has been made of staleness. In our minds there is awakened an +unhappy thought with which something had better be done for good +contentment's sake ere we pass along to the pleasant consideration of +this holiday golf. Staleness is the canker that kills many of these +expeditions that are planned with the happiest promise. It is a dread +golfing disease that rages on the links almost like an epidemic during +August and September. It spoils the game and happiness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span> of every player +whom it attacks, and sometimes it cuts holidays short. It is nearly safe +to assume that when on holiday one golfer in every half-dozen is +afflicted with it, and some of the others are in danger. It consists in +the absolute incapacity of the player to produce a game that is within +very many strokes of his real form; in truth the game of a good man may +fall to the twenty-handicap level or lower, and each new effort on his +part to raise it up again only results in a worsening of the case. There +is no certain cure except isolation from the game and long rest. A +trouble that has the power, then, to ruin the golfing holiday, and often +does, must be considered very seriously.</p> + +<p>Here is the progress of a case for the details of which I can personally +vouch. I was a sympathetic witness of it. The man was playing well at +the beginning of the holiday season and went for a month to a fine east +coast links where there was no town, no village, and no society but that +of golfers, and nothing to do but golf, which was what he desired. For a +week he played well, doing two rounds every day, and sometimes three. +The weather was hot. At the beginning of the second week there were +signs of a failing game. His first anxiety soon increased; he changed +his ball, then began to make alterations in his stances and swings, and +at the end of the second week was all foozles, and getting worse. Soon +afterwards it was obvious that the cause of the whole thing was +staleness. The man tried the heroic remedy of loafing about his +quarters, golfless, for a couple of days, reading novels and pretending +to play bowls against himself. He also studied the stones in the old +graveyard near by. On the third day he went back to the links very +hopeful, but the case was as bad as before, and, desperate, he gave his +game a three days' rest after that. This also<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span> failed. Neither of the +resting spells was long enough. This being a man of keen nervous +temperament, who took his game very seriously and was very miserable, he +did the wisest thing by giving up his holiday and going home to work in +London.</p> + +<p>The primary cause of staleness is excess of play, resulting in +exhaustion of nervous and physical energy, which in turn produces +carelessness, decreases the capacity for taking the infinite pains that +are necessary to the game, and—important—brings about a failure in the +subconscious working arrangement between the mind and the physical +system that has everything to do with the proper accomplishment of the +various strokes. The movements of every golfing swing, as we have +agreed, are extremely complicated; they consist of hundreds of little +movements amalgamated into one great system, and while one is conscious +of the system, it is impossible for the parts of it to be anything but +subconsciously done, and they are made perfect by training and practice, +and by getting the brain and the physical construction to work together +exactly and with harmony. When staleness comes on, this working +arrangement breaks down and the player attempts the hopeless task of +trying to do consciously what can only be done the other way. I believe +that this is the true explanation of staleness.</p> + +<p><i>Note 1.</i>—The exhaustion of the nervous and physical energy is often +unsuspected, and is covered up by the enthusiasm for the game. <i>Note +2.</i>—Excess of play does not mean only a frequent playing of three +rounds a day. Two rounds every day, as a regular thing, may be excess in +many cases. Much depends on the individual. A man of highly-strung +temperament will become stale much more quickly than a beefy, phlegmatic +person, who is commonly immune. <i>Note 3.</i>—Staleness is very much more +easily induced, and develops<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span> more quickly and dangerously, in hot +weather than at other times, because the tax on the nervous energy and +the eyesight is so much greater then.</p> + +<p>Now here are the common symptoms and the results of staleness. Almost +the first real sign of it is swaying of the body. This is very slight at +first, and is rarely suspected; but it brings about a general collapse +of the swing and the entire golfing apparatus. A very hopeless sort of +tap is given to the ball on the tee, and it is driven perhaps only a +hundred and fifty yards. As everything seems to have been done properly, +the player is mystified, begins to experiment, and then worse troubles +come on. Shakiness of the legs, and much exaggerated knee and foot work, +often resulting in collapse of the right leg and the player getting up +on his toes, make up the next symptom; and another one that is a common +accompaniment of the beginning of staleness is falling or lurching +forward as the club is brought down on to the ball. Anything like a +proper swing is, in such circumstances, impossible. Bad timing begins +immediately; then there is overswinging and too fast swinging; and, of +course, the moving of the head and the taking of the eye from the ball, +those two faults that never miss an opportunity of coming in to add to +the woes of the worried golfer.</p> + +<p>What must the stale golfer do for his salvation and happiness? In the +first place, if he has had this thing before, he should be on his guard +against it and catch it in time. If taken at the very beginning an early +cure is quite practicable. The golf should be stopped at once for a few +days, and a rest and change, as complete as possible, taken. Then the +game should be resumed warily—one round a day. In addition to this, +some men will insist on having alterations made in their clubs. They +deceive themselves. One of the greatest champions of all times once, in +intimate conversation,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span> laid down a rule to me with great seriousness, +and it is one never to be forgotten. He said: "Never make a change in +your regular clubs, and never buy a new one, unless it is a putter, when +you are playing badly. Only make changes when you are playing at your +very best. You may then play even better, knowing so well what you +want." Yet, warn them as much as you may, many men will make extensive +changes when they are stale and desperate. One plea to them then—the +change having failed, go back to the old clubs before changing again. +Never get far from your base, or you will be lost in doubt and +confusion. Let it be the same with methods as with clubs. If a new way +fails, let the sick man go back to the old one before experimenting +again. He should remember that that old one has served him well, and the +possibilities are that he will have to stand by it after all. Then the +stale golfer should try to encourage himself; he should try a new set of +opponents, play with men of longer handicap than himself, who normally +would never outdrive him, and so on. A change of links often works +wonders, but if the staleness has gone very far, and it matters little, +it is often wise to give up the golfing part of the holiday if one is in +progress. We have seen the advice given to play through a period of +staleness. This is a heroic measure, but it would not succeed in one in +six cases, and the suffering would be too great for the ordinary mortal. +We tell him to take few clubs away with him, and to be faithful to them, +and they will serve him well. And we tell him when his golf is ill not +to fly to the dangerous stimulant of a new club. And yet, where is the +man who does come back from his holiday without a new one in his bag, +one fond relic of those days that were so tightly packed with golf? We +bring them back with us, the names of their nativity upon them, as +hunters<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span> and explorers bring trophies from distant lands. Mutely they +testify for us. Sometimes when the holiday is done they are added, for +their merit and fine service, to the clubs in commission in the bag; +oftener they fall into the reserve; frequently they are given a purely +honorary office and sent off with a title to the golfer's own private +House of Lords as magnificent relics.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>A diary should be kept during the golfing holiday; indeed it should be +kept at all times. More such are made than the golfing world realises, +because they are often, to the uttermost degree, secret and private, and +that not merely for the reason that some diarists place themselves in +the confessional when they make their entries, but because, alas! they +are conscious of serving their own vanity by exaggeration of their best +achievements. It may be kept for one of two distinct reasons, or for +both of them, though the latter is not generally done. The two different +objects are entertainment and instruction. For the former, the small +things that are sold in shops will do. You write down, each time you +have been playing, where the game was had, who the other man was, and +what you beat him by; or the extent of the disaster if it was the other +way about. In the column devoted to "Conditions" you exaggerate the +force of the wind; and under "Remarks" you say you were driving and +putting splendidly when you won. If you lost, the space is left blank. +This record is in its own way valuable, because at a future time it will +refresh the memory concerning great golfing days of the past, and thus +furnish a real enjoyment. When a game of golf is played, and finished, +it is not done with. It is lodged in a great store of remembrance, with +full particulars attached to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span> it, ripening with time, so that the +player's memories are among the best happenings of his golfing +possessions. All of us know that this is so, and it is as a kind of +catalogue that the little diaries serve their purpose well.</p> + +<p>The diary of analysis or instruction is a very different thing. The +object is to make a serial record of ideas and successful experiments, +faults and tendencies—most particularly tendencies—in order that on +periodical examination of it the player may derive useful lessons and +improve his game. One should get a good exercise book, bound nicely and +strongly, with morocco corners, and just enter up one's performances on +the plain paper according to any system that one may choose, giving +prominence to a line at the top of each entry, naming the day, the +place, and the man. I have seen diaries kept in this way, and they have +been very serviceable. But the man who is starting anything of this kind +must come to a definite agreement with himself to be absolutely honest +and sincere; and he must also be very introspective, and have keen +discernment for his own faults and constant observation for all that he +does at every stroke. Otherwise it were better that he merely kept the +diary of glorious remembrances.</p> + +<p>Let him, if he keeps a diary of fact, hold it secret from all the world; +but every night after his play put down in it the plain, real truth +about what happened; and let him see to it, after much thought upon +recent events, that he does properly know the truth. This point is +emphasised because men may be short with their putts, say on sixteen of +eighteen greens in one round, and yet not notice the frequency of the +same fault; or they may be pulling or cutting their putts all the time +and be oblivious, in the same way, to the circumstance. Or they may be +pitching their approaches too short of the greens, or slicing most of +their drives. The point is that the golfer's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span> memory for his own +misdeeds is an exceedingly short one, and he rarely gets them tabulated +and analysed as he should. If he made an analysis of his play at the end +of the day, stated the truth about it in the book, and then examined +that book carefully once a week, he would learn something about the +causes that were preventing him from getting on in the game, and the +next step would suggest itself. Some would say that the making of +personal statistics in this way would be a very troublesome matter, and +they would be certain to tire of it soon. It is not so much a nuisance +as might be imagined; it becomes interesting, and it helps one's game.</p> + +<p>But if you are doubtful about this idea, do keep a diary of sorts +anyhow, for it is such a pity to let the golf that has been played die +out of memory. You may gather a notion of the value and interest of what +might be called played golf by reading through the match-book of another +man, like that of the late F. G. Tait, which is included in the +delightful and pathetic memoir that Mr. John Low wrote about him. Tait, +model of golfers, always filed the facts about his matches, but briefly. +Not many words were wasted in the "Remarks" column; what was said there +was the plain truth. Often it was "F. G. T. in great form," but the +recorder knew how to denounce himself. It does one good to read through +this diary of one who was soldier, hero, golfer, and darling of the +game.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>But not every man departs on a golfing holiday for a strenuous time of +continuous match-play with keen rivals who might be fine companions, and +who would keep him up at night with bridge, after a day's work on the +links was done. All sorts and conditions of men are included in this +comprehensive golfing world of ours;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span> and some have most contemplative +moods, love solitude, and, alone with themselves and the game, probe +deeply into its mysteries and into their own weaknesses. It is to the +credit of the pastime that it accommodates itself most splendidly to +every disposition and mood and manner; and men of a lonely way have gone +solus on their holidays, and held themselves solus all the time, and +have come back again, well refreshed and satisfied. They have often +enough had fewer disappointments than the others. They have practised +extensively, and they have improved themselves as golfers. Practice is +indeed a feature of many golfing holidays. Here at such times we have +the full game at our disposal and nothing but the game, and now, if +ever, we can make ourselves to be better golfers. That is how we reason. +It is a matter to be considered carefully.</p> + +<p>Practice fails in most cases because the golfers concerned do not +concentrate upon their efforts with that keenness, thoroughness, and +determination they exhibit when playing a real match. The game is not +the same to them; they do not try so hard, however much, as one might +say, they try to try, and the result is there is such an excess of +looseness, carelessness, about their methods, that bad habits are born; +and these persons then had really better not be practising at all, for +thus they do harm to their game. This is one reason why one-club +practice is better in small quantities than in large ones. It is not +sufficiently interesting when kept up. What we should do, therefore, is +to make the practice interesting, and fortunately the circumstances of +the game afford wide scope for doing so. There is no other game that is +half so good in this way. Golf to many people's minds is not merely a +game to be played with others and against them; it is a study, a subject +for meditative research and exultant discovery. If others should regard +such terms as immoderate,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span> golfers anyhow know they are fairly employed. +The essential difference that the presence of a man as opponent makes is +that a real game, hard and according to the law, has then to be played, +and there can be a winning or a losing of it.</p> + +<p>Well then, it is our business, in order to make solitary practice +interesting and valuable, to create a game for ourselves. It is easily +done, and there are some wise men who say that they would rather play +their solitary game, going round the links alone with all their clubs or +nearly, than they would play a match with a stranger who happened not to +turn out to be the right kind of golfing man. Many who start systems of +solitary competitive play against themselves in this way fail with them, +did they but know it, because they are not honest with themselves. +Having become very badly bunkered, and having taken three for recovery, +they must not call it one because they should have got out in one, had +they played the shot just right; nor, having missed a foot putt, must +they consider it as holed because if they had tried their uttermost they +could have holed it. We must see that it is of the essence of solus +play, and making it valuable, that the man should try his best and +should know and feel that he has no second attempt at the same stroke, +just as he has none in the real game when others are there. If he +permits himself second drives and putts, all the strokes are done +without the sense of responsibility, and the player then were better +indoors writing letters to his friends to come and match themselves +against him. Therefore let the first and the most inexorable rule in +one's solitary golf be that the shot once made must count, no matter +what its quality. What may be permitted—and this does not operate as an +exception to the rule—is that when a shot has been badly done another +ball may be played from the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span> place. One may learn something in this +way, but always must it be understood that the first ball must count; +and it is a good maxim that there should be no attempted repetition of a +successful stroke, for if it were done well again the man would be no +better off in mind or skill, and if it failed there would be an +unnecessary disappointment and uncertainty.</p> + +<p>Now, to consider ways of competing against oneself that will make +interesting the lonely game, and lift it to value too, every man of +thought might quite well devise some suitable system for himself; but we +may tell him of some that have been successful with many players, and of +a good principle to embrace in any new one, which is never to make the +test or competition too severe. I believe that golfers are improved more +by coaxing and flattery than by harsh measures and heavy defeats. It is +often said that the best way to improve is to play against better +players than ourselves, but there are limitations to that advice which +are not always sufficiently emphasised. The superior party ought not to +be too much superior, the different points of the game of the two men +should not be very widely contrasted, and the better player should be +giving to the inferior one so much allowance that the latter ought to +win as often as he loses, never letting it be forgotten that, when +handicaps are right and three-fourths of the difference is allowed, the +odds are really always in favour of the better player, as has been +proved over and over again. Even when a man is of long experience and +has been fashioned by nature in the heroic mould, it is impossible to +play his very best golf, and be improving on it, unless he "has his +pecker up." The pecker properly set makes happiness and confidence, and +it is only when such moods are engendered that the man is led on to +higher things, perceives the absence of limitation to his prospects<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span> of +improvement, and likens himself to the chrysalis of a Vardon or a Braid. +Above everything else, as we have agreed so often before, golf is a game +of hope. Crush the hope by setting the man a task that is beyond him and +you take away the joy of the game and kill the happy prospects. The +golfer who is winning will win again and play better.</p> + +<p>In these observations there have been some principles for practice laid +down that are seldom emphasised, but are of the most vital importance. +To make exact systems to suit them is, after all, a simple affair. Now +many men play round after round, counting their strokes, as if they were +playing in a medal competition, and comparing results at the finish, +always trying to break their own records. They may gain some benefit +from this play, but it often fails in interest, and consequently in +value, for the same reason that medal competitions do—because of the +continual occurrence of the one, or it may be two, very bad holes. The +percentage of cards that are turned from good to bad merely by one +disastrous hole must be very high, and when a man is playing a practice +round and does a nine at the second hole, it is difficult for him to +treat the remainder very seriously or be keen about them. The remedy is +simple. Let this system of playing and comparisons be that his aggregate +shall always be for sixteen or seventeen holes only, leaving the worst +to be eliminated. There is nothing unfair in doing so. The one bad hole +is frequently more the result of accident than of inability. At the +beginning of a system of practice play three holes may be dropped +regularly from the reckoning, then a week later two, the week after that +one only. Comparisons of form are more accurate and reliable when the +worst hole is eliminated, than when all eighteen are totted up. Then the +man may play the bogey game; but instead of opposing the set bogey of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span> +the course and complicating the business with handicap strokes, let him +make a bogey of his own of such a kind that it represents not the +scratch man's proper game but his, so that when he is playing well he +ought to beat it, and it should be a tolerable match. In constructing +such a bogey, he might make allowance for his own special likes and +dislikes in regard to particular holes. Again, I have known men to +derive pleasure and improvement from a system of practice against the +ordinary bogey by which they merely reckoned the number of holes at +which they equalled or beat the phantom's figures, disregarding the +losses. There is a little difference between this and the ordinary +reckoning, and it is in the direction of encouragement if the player is +coming on.</p> + +<p>And then there is the interesting system that was first set forth by a +most eminent player who has been amateur champion more than once, by +which the practiser wins half-crowns for his good play and loses them on +his off days. He plays against bogey on terms that give him an equal +chance. Then he establishes a money-box with two sections in it, one +being for bogey and the other for himself, and into each section he +deposits four half-crowns, which is very little to pay for all the +enjoyment he is about to gain. When bogey beats him one of the +half-crowns is lifted out of the man's section into the ghost's, but +when flesh and blood prevail the coin comes back. The course of practice +is ended when one side or the other has got all the half-crowns. If +bogey has them there is something wrong with the game of the man, and he +had better start another series; but when the man is triumphant he may +depart for a holiday exultingly and spend the money on it, in the doing +of which he will probably win some more, his form being so much bettered +by his lonely practice.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>THE OLD DIGNITY OF LONDON GOLF, AND ITS NEW IMPORTANCE, WITH A WORD FOR +THE CHARM OF INLAND COURSES.</h3> + + +<p>Perhaps in the middle ages of the game some rare old conservative of a +player at one of the great Scottish seats of golf was told by another +that a gentleman had just arrived by the coach from London and would +like a match in the morning, and it is distinctly possible, if he was +the excellent man we picture him, that he ejaculated, "And where, sir, +is London?" The manner would have been Johnsonian, if not the sentiment. +Should any one now be disposed to regard such lack of knowledge—though +I think you would find it was only what might be called judicial golfing +ignorance—or narrowness, or whatever it was, as merely stupid or a +little culpable, he may hesitate. The pride of dignity, arising from +conscious strength and superiority, was a fine thing among the Scottish +golfers, and certainly was to be admired. That spirit, that sturdy +consciousness of personal value, have helped to the making of a British +empire. And sometimes a golfer would wander in the north and be +discovered by the players there to have a wooden club with a brass sole, +and thereupon he might be good-humouredly mocked for being the +Blackheath golfer that he was, since it was on the famous course by +London that the brassey<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span> was first used. Since then London has given +other good things to golf, including many courses that are unequalled +among their kind and a number of players of high championship rank. And +sometimes there is more golf played in a day within twenty-five miles of +Charing Cross than there is in the whole of Scotland in a week, and much +of it is very good golf. But this is not a place for comparisons, and +particularly it is not meant for one in which the English gratitude to +Scottish benefactors for the gift of this remarkable game is to be +lessened from the full. It is only suggested that London golf is now a +thing of great account. That is coming to be understood; but one doubts +if the Londoners properly realise that the game in the metropolis has +rich history and traditions which make a match for those of nearly any +other place. Except that the great players of the game of different ages +were so little acquainted with it, Blackheath has golfing land as +historic as any, and the Royal Blackheath Club, with its origin in 1608, +is the oldest in the world. That is London. Some time since there was a +fashion for open-air shows of pageantry, and if the golfers had then +been so disposed they could have put forward a pageant of London golf +that would have embraced most picturesque and impressive tableaux. There +is King James the First of England and the Sixth of Scotland, keen +golfer indeed, playing the game at Blackheath in the company of some of +his nobles when the court was at Greenwich, and there is a charming +scene to be imagined in which the monarch gives his royal sanction and +authority to the Society of Golfers that is established at this place in +1608, as it is well believed to have been, and in varying forms to have +maintained its existence ever since, being to-day the Royal Blackheath +Golf Club, and highly respected. I think we should regard this King +James as being the very first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span> of our London golfers, and he makes a +fine figure of a player for the distinction, keen enough in all +conscience. Five years before the reputed beginning of the Society at +Blackheath he appointed William Mayne to be the royal clubmaker, and a +few years later gave one named Melvill a monopoly of ball-making at four +shillings a time. Altogether this makes a good scene of golf.</p> + +<p>Here in the earliest days the course of Blackheath consisted of but five +holes, which was then considered the proper number, and was the same as +the Honourable Company had at Leith. Later there were seven holes +arranged, and though they are played in a different order, those seven +remain much the same to-day. It is to the discredit of London golfers as +a body, those golfers who make the most reverential pilgrimages to +northern shrines, that they have not, to the extent of one in a hundred, +ever been to the scene of the old Blackheath golf, or played a game +there on this hallowed ground, as they may at their will. It is the +story again of the prophet in his own country, the same failing as that +by which the majority of Londoners might be condemned for never having +visited the Tower of London. I believe I have met more golfers in +America who have been to Blackheath than I have met in England, for I +have encountered several who told me they had not cared to sail back +home until they had made the short journey down from Charing Cross to +the famous common.</p> + +<p>Apart from the sense of history and the sentiment of pilgrimage, +Blackheath, as a practical golfing proposition still surviving, should +interest every golfer intensely. Surely it is one of the most +interesting courses, one causing the deepest reflections, and one which, +even by play upon it, might have some good effect on a man's game. For +it is a chastening course, is our old Blackheath; one that makes +humility if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span> course ever did, and one that gives us the best contentment +with our modern lot. Men who have played at Blackheath do not so +constantly complain of the weak effort of their greenkeeper, and his +governing committee, at their most favoured club. A little while since +the cry was raised that golf had become too easy—too easy! It was said +that the improving of the fairways and the smoothing of the putting +greens had taken all its early viciousness from the game. Conditions +have certainly changed, but when champions tell me that this maddening +game from time to time brings their nerves to the state of piano wires, +it may be reckoned as sufficiently difficult for the ordinary mortal. +But Blackheath is extraordinary and most educative. It is certainly hard +enough, though the modern bunker scientists have done nothing with it, +and in the ordinary sense it has no bunkers. New theories of bunkering +and the changing necessities of new kinds of balls trouble the +Blackheath golfers not at all, for the course belongs to London and not +to themselves, and they cannot do any engineering work upon it, as is +being accomplished continually on other courses. Of the seven holes that +are played the shortest is 170 yards, there is another of 230, a third +of 335, another of 380, another of 410, a sixth of 500, and the longest +is 540. The two very long holes come together, and though they are +virtually bunkerless you may be assured that they take an uncommon +amount of playing, and that he who gets them in five strokes each is +skilful and fortunate too. Here, as nowhere else, is one made to feel +that inferior shots bring their own punishment with them without any +artificial hazards.</p> + +<p>The common is quite flat, but it is intersected by various roads and +paths, and the greens are generally near to these walking ways. Variety +is given by the great gravel pits which are here, as they have been for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span> +ages, although they are now smoothed and grassed over, and the biggest +of them has to be played through at both the long holes. What is known +as "Whitfield's Mount," a little clump of enclosed trees, is almost the +only relief from the bareness and flatness of this golfing common. The +lies are better than they used to be, but however kindly they may think +of them at Blackheath—and we must respect them for doing so—they are +not good. How could they be? The common is open for the children of +London, or any other place, to play upon, and for the grown-ups to +lounge about or walk over, which in abundance they do. It is primarily a +public common and only secondarily a golf course, and the vast majority +of those who walk upon it know nothing of the great game, except what +they occasionally see as they pass along. The golfers have no rights. +They have the greens, as they are called for compliment, smoothed a +little and made in some way to resemble greens; and there are holes of +sorts but not generally with flags in them, and there are no teeing +boxes. The fairway is as hard as might be expected, and consists for the +most part of bare places and tufts. There is no smoothness and evenness +of proper golfing turf about it. But one does not say this in an +unappreciative way. Not for a million balls or a permanent increase of +drive would we have Blackheath anything but what it is, for if it were +changed the charm would be gone.</p> + +<p>Let us go there and try the game. We must decide in advance that, like +Vardon, Braid, and Taylor we can play our real game before any gallery +in the world, and let our nerves and self-confidence be braced +accordingly, for those who play at Blackheath must undergo great +ordeals. A number of children, usually accompanied by a small dog, +discover us soon after our appearance on the course, and gather close +while our stroke is being made, very close. There is a little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span> boy, +perhaps, one or two little girls, the baby, and the dog. We consider +most the baby at Blackheath. The boy, occasionally relieved by the elder +girl, is the spokesman of the party, and in tones indicative of complete +sympathy with the objects of the expedition, which are to strike the +ball and project it in the direction of the holes, he explains to the +remainder what is about to be done, what is done, and how we fail to do +what was intended. He corrects himself whenever he finds his information +to have been wrong. Willie having told little Liza something about the +performance that is pending, the child inquires about what will happen +if the gentleman does not hit the ball, and the gentleman, hearing, +develops fear. At this moment the dog, which has been lingering quietly +within a yard of the ball, shows signs of becoming restive, and is +inclined to smell at it. Finally it favours only a disconsolate bark. +Somehow we despatch that ball at last, and then Willie, Nell, Liza, +baby, Towser, and selves move on some way towards the hole, but not so +far as we should have done, because the ball happened to strike a +lamp-post; and on the way Liza desires to know if a golf ball would kill +anybody if it hit them, and wishes Willie to buy one some day. And a +human sweetness there is in these little Blackheath urchins after all! +This early innocence is a sublime and splendid thing, and when in like +circumstances you would scowl, you gentlemen from London, remember, if +you please, that Liza called you one, and she thinks you are.</p> + +<p>And the caddies! At Blackheath they have the most wonderful of all +caddies. The ways and manners and the character of the St. Andrews and +Musselburgh caddies are inferior. These Blackheath fellows are not like +the usual thing. They lean against the wall of the club-house and offer +their services to the stranger, declaring that it is a nice day for the +game,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span> when a storm is gathering over the common. Generally the caddie +is given to laziness; they are a shiftless company. But see, though the +Blackheath caddie looks as indolent as any to begin with, he is in truth +one of the most active fellows within a hundred miles of Charing Cross, +as you very soon discover, after beginning the round with him. The old +red flag of traction-engine law obtains at Blackheath still. The golfer +is a dangerous person, death lurks in his flying ball, and so a man with +a scarlet banner must walk before the player to warn all people that he +is coming on. But we make the caddie do the ordinary work of carrying, +and teeing up, and red-flagging also, and he contrives in effect to be +in two places at the same time. He tees the ball, lays down the driver +by the side of it, and then runs ahead with a coloured handkerchief, +which is the red flag, and he waves it while on the run and the golfer +follows. So the caddie, leaving near the ball the club that is needed, +goes on again, and is always a shot ahead. Reaching the green he stands +by the hole until the golfer comes near enough to see it, and then the +man hurries away to the next tee, sets everything in a state of +preparation (and he carries a supply of sand in his pocket), and at once +is off again to the distance of a drive before the player has holed out. +The weakness of this system is that the caddie, by force of +circumstances, can know little or nothing of the progress of the match, +he is not one of the party, and he cares nothing at all about our good +shots. He lacks the sympathy of the real caddie, but he is marvellously +efficient all the same. If it is true, as we always say, that golf is +the same all over the world, I would suggest that if there is a place +where it is not the same it is at Blackheath, and that is why every one +should go there, and it should cease to be the fact that more London +golfers have been to Fifeshire than have been to play upon that historic +course.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span></p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Take a glimpse into the rich past of Blackheath golf. Look into the old +bet-book of the club and see some entries there, and do not forget that +all bets were made on the understanding that all members of the club had +a share in the gains of the winner no matter whether the bets were made +in cash or kind. On Saturday, July 9 1791, "Mr. Pitcaithly bets Captain +Fairfull one gallon of claret that he drives the Short Hole in three +strokes, six times in ten—to be played for the first time he comes to +Blackheath—after the annual day. Lost and paid by Mr. Pitcaithly, the +10th September." A little while later "Mr. Christie bets Mr. Barnes one +gallon of claret that he drives from the Thorn Tree beyond the College +Hole in three strokes, five times in ten, to be decided next Saturday." +Mr. Christie in due course performed his driving feat and won his bet. +Then "Captain Welladvice, having left the company without permission of +the chair, has forfeited one gallon claret"; and "Mr. Turner bets Mr. +Walker one gallon claret that he plays him on Wednesday, the 12th inst., +four rounds of the green, and that Mr. Walker does not gain a hole of +him." Again, "Mr. Longlands bets Mr. Win. Innes, Sen., that he will play +him for a gallon of claret, giving Mr. Innes one stroke in each hole. +Four rounds on the green. Out and in holes to be played." One may well +understand that all the good claret that was thus available from these +gallant bets, together with what was bought and paid for in the ordinary +course, had a heartening effect upon those old golfers, with the result +that in the fine fancies that floated in the dining-hall of the "Green +Man" after dinner, drives seemed all endowed with unusual length, and +direction was always good. Again it is recorded<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span> that on an evening of +June "Captain MacMillan bets a gallon with Mr. Jameson that Captain +Macara in five strokes drives farther by fifteen yards than any other +gentleman Mr. Jameson may name of the Golf Society now present, to be +determined next Saturday"; and no sooner had Captain MacMillan +registered his bet than there came along Mr. Callender, who "bets Mr. +Hamilton one gallon that Mr. R. Mackenzie drives in five strokes farther +than Mr. H., to commence at the Assembly Hole and go on five strokes +running." Then Mr. Innes gets into a sporting mood, and he "bets Mr. +Wilson a gallon (a guinea) that he beats him, allowing Mr. Innes the tee +stroke with his wooden club, and after with his irons. Out and in—four +rounds." All these were in the latter days of the eighteenth century, +and all the time the happy golfers were filling up the bet-book of the +club, not with golfing bets any more than, or as much as, with bets +about events of the great war that was in progress; as, for instance, +when Mr. Satterthwaite "bets Mr. Callender a gallon of claret that +Admiral Nelson's squadron does take or destroy the French transports in +the harbour of Alexandria, or the major part of them."</p> + +<p>In the Knuckle Club and the Blackheath Winter Golf Club, forerunners of +the Blackheath Golf Club, the same happy state of affairs prevailed. The +Knuckle Club was a very remarkable institution. In form it was a secret +society. Each member had to be initiated, and had to learn certain signs +and answers to questions by which he would know brother members from +strangers. Also, the members wore orders or a kind of regalia, and there +were heavy fines if they allowed themselves to be seen outside the +club-rooms with these special tokens of their community about them. On +one occasion we have a member, named James Walker, heavily fined in +claret for being so thoughtless as to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span> take home his order. The holder +of the golfing gold medal for the year was termed the Grand Knuckle, and +was the chief of the club, which boasted also a "Registrar," and various +other officials of much dignity of title. As the mystic element of the +club decreased, so the golfing strength and enthusiasm of it increased, +and it was by this process of evolution that in course of time the +mystery lapsed and the name was changed. Before the competitions of the +club took place advertisements were always inserted in the <i>Times</i> and +the <i>Morning Chronicle</i> of the period, and it must be remarked that play +in these competitions was usually conducted on the strictest lines. One +record in the minutes reads: "28th March, 1795. Medal Day. It being +stated to the club that Mr. Innes, one of the candidates for the medal +played for this day, lost his ball; the opinion of the club was desired +whether the loss of the ball put an end to the candidate's chance for +the honours of the day." The club determined that it did. So more than a +hundred years ago their medal rules were stricter than ours, in this +matter at any rate. "Scrutineers" always examined the medal cards after +dinner, and announced the winner. In the early part of last century +there seems to have been rather less of betting and a little more of +feasting. There were gifts of venison and turtle from the members, and +the supply of claret, varied now and then by champagne and choice +spirits, was very copious. Each time a child was born to a member, he +contributed a pound's worth of claret to the weekly or monthly dinner; +and whenever a member was married, the same thing was done. The golf of +Blackheath, and all connected with it, was then a highly picturesque +thing. The course was yet only a five-holes affair. The clubs of the +players were carried by pensioners of the Royal Naval Hospital, +Greenwich, in their quaint uniforms, and an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span> allowance of beer was +regularly made to them by the club until 1832. The pensioners were +caddies until 1869.</p> + +<p>The Royal Blackheath Club was, and still is, most original and +interesting in many points of its constitution and government. To be +captain of this club, small one comparatively as it is now, is to fill a +high office, the honourable nature of which is duly impressed upon the +holder at the time of his election and installation, for he is elevated +with much ceremony and in much the same way as the captain of the Royal +and Ancient Club. The retiring captain sits in his chair at the meeting +for the last time, and thanks are offered to him by grateful members for +the good things he has done in his year. And then the captain-elect is +called by name by the secretary, who takes in his arms the silver club +which is the equivalent of the mace in Parliament, the symbol of power +and active authority, and places himself at the head of a procession +which is formed. The field-marshal, conducting the newcomer to the +chair, follows behind, and so they make their way to the head of the +chamber, where the field-marshal presents the new captain to the old +one. There are various little forms of ritual to be gone through; the +new captain makes a solemn declaration of loyalty and fidelity to the +club and his office, and, particularly, expresses his anxiety to +maintain its dignity, and then he commits himself irrevocably and +awfully to an undying oath—he kisses the club! All this is to-day just +as it was in the ancient days. Mention has been made of the +field-marshal of the club; no other club boasts a field-marshal, who +fills an office of most ineffable and incomparable dignity. Captains may +come and go, year by year; they do their work well; and they lay down +the club. But the field-marshal is above all captains, and he is in +office till he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span> dies. He is a prince over captains. He is essentially a +golfer—not a mere ornament—and a good golfer, and one strong in the +true spirit of the game. Because a good field-marshal is not easily +found, he is made much of. The installation of a new one is a fine +ceremony. There is a solemn gathering, all the famous trophies and bits +of regalia are furbished up; there are speeches, forms, declarations, +questions, answers; and if it were a very coronation the thing could +scarcely be more serious. The silver club is held before the +field-marshal elect, and he is presented with the special medal of his +office, when he is finally addressed thus: "We expect and ask that you +will wear this medal at all golf meetings as your predecessors did; and +we have further to ask that you will in all time coming, while you are +spared in health, do all that in you lies to maintain and support the +rights and privileges of this ancient club; to maintain the honour and +dignity of the club; and should any attempts be made to interfere with +the rights of the club, that you will aid the executive in endeavouring +to put down such interference, so that the club may maintain the high +and honourable position that it ever has done, since its institution in +1608. Kiss the club!" The field-marshal kisses it, and thus he is +exalted among the highest in the whole world of golf.</p> + +<p>There are many eras with marked features to be noted in the history of +the club. Even now many of those features are still perpetuated. Dinners +are still held; dignity still is high. We have now heard much of the +old-time Blackheath golfers; but an era of vast consequence, not only to +Blackheath but to the game, is one that can still be remembered by some +old golfers, that of great activity which began just before the middle +of last century, and is only just now reaching its climax in the great +and universal "boom" in golf.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span> It has already been suggested that +Blackheath led the way, and led it most effectively. For long after it +had done so it was still the premier club in England, and in playing +strength was the best. The club itself has few solid possessions—just a +few fine old club heirlooms—but many great memories. In a very modern +sense it is poor, having a comfortable but not a magnificent club-house, +and no splendid links of eighteen holes. But the Royal Blackheath Golf +Club is like a fine old English gentleman of the very best kind, +ignoring all new ways of thought and life, eschewing all sordidness, +clinging to the fine simple principles of wise fore-fathers. That is +just what it is, the fine old English gentleman whom the age has +outstripped. It is the Colonel Newcome of the clubs.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>And in that pageant of London golf that we suggested there are many +other picturesque and significant scenes. If we cannot be sure of the +places where the holes were cut, nor of the situation of the teeing +grounds, it is still certain, from documentary evidence, that a golf +course that was made at Molesey Hurst was only second, in point of +seniority, in England, to Blackheath itself, and it was very high up in +the list of the golf clubs of the world. Manchester came next in 1818. +There are concerned in the only existing record two people of no less +credit and renown than David Garrick, the actor, and the eminent Dr. +Alexander Carlyle, of Inveresk, who witnessed the Porteous riots, saw +the fight at Prestonpans, and amid these many excitements cultivated his +game to a fine point, was one of the keenest golfers of the eighteenth +century, and won the Musselburgh medal in 1775. Carlyle was like many +others of the Scottish parsons of those good times and the present,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span> who +would take their golf clubs with them wherever they might wander, on the +chance of opportunity presenting itself. He came to London, and knowing +of Blackheath, the clubs came with him. Garrick at that time had a house +at Hampton which in recent days was occupied by the late Sir Clifton +Robinson, the organiser of the London electric tramway system. Garrick +asked John Home and a number of friends, including Carlyle, to dine with +him at Hampton and bring their golf clubs and balls with them that they +might play on the course at Molesey Hurst. When the six of them, who +were in a landau, passed through Kensington, the Coldstreams, who were +changing guard, observed their clubs, and gave them three cheers "in +honour of a diversion peculiar to Scotland."</p> + +<p>There might be a railway train in the pageant of London golf, one of the +early trains with engines of the Stephensonian style. The period would +be just after the accession of Queen Victoria, and there would be two +gentlemen travelling together from London to Aldershot, one of them +being Sir Hope Grant, a keen golfer, a member of the Royal and Ancient +Club, who held a military appointment at Aldershot, while the other +would be the Duke of Cambridge. It has been recorded that in matter of +companionship this journey was a very dull affair, for Sir Hope Grant +was moody, and failed to respond to the well-meant attempts of the Duke +to open conversation. He seemed troubled. But suddenly after long +silence he jumped up from his seat, rushed to the window of the +compartment and opened it. At this stage the Duke of Cambridge felt that +things could not be well with his companion, and jumping up after him, +grabbed him by the tails of his coat. A moment later they both sat down, +and looked at each other. "Well," said Sir Hope Grant, in the manner of +a man recovering from a great surprise,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span> "that is a thing that you +seldom see near London; there were two men playing golf in a field out +there."</p> + +<p>And then in the pageant there would be represented the starting of golf +at Wimbledon in 1865, with the Blackheath emissaries all on fire with +the zeal of their enterprise. Wimbledon with its Royal Wimbledon and its +London Scottish, its famous holes and its windmill, and all the rest of +it, has played no small part in golfing history. At the beginning seven +holes were made as they had them at Blackheath, and did you ever hear +that at Wimbledon once there was a round that consisted of nineteen +holes, the longest round in number of holes in the world? Tom Dunn, who +was responsible for the extension of the course about 1870, told the +story, and so far as I am aware he only told it in America. We may +repeat it here in the words he used. The committee had asked him whether +he thought they might make a full-sized course on their land, and, +coming to the conclusion that they might, he was told to go on with the +work, and eventually was satisfied that he had made a good job of it. +The secretary of the period is said to have been somewhat imperfectly +acquainted with the game in general just then, and went to Dunn with the +inquiry as to how many holes they had on the old course at St. Andrews, +and was told. "The secretary thought a moment," said Tom, "scratched his +head and began to look wise. Then he approached very closely, and +nodding his head for me to bend my ear, he whispered in a hoarse voice, +'Tom, let us have one more!' 'Oh, that is impossible,' I replied. 'It +cannot be, for eighteen is the orthodox number.' 'I care not for that,' +replied the secretary, who was accustomed to have his own way, 'we will +have one more!' I was very young at the time and I would do anything +rather than offend the gentleman, for he had much influence, and I +wanted his goodwill;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span> so I reluctantly submitted to the demand. The +committee met the next day, and I was asked if I had succeeded in making +an eighteen-holes course. I replied, with some hesitation, that I had +made a nineteen-holes course, and explained why I had done so. Well, you +never in your life saw a more excited lot of men. There was an uproar in +a moment, and all made a dive for the poor secretary, who never heard +the last of it."</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>Within sight of Wimbledon now there is Coombe Hill, one of the best and +most recent achievements in the new metropolitan golf. Here is a +contrast indeed! One may sometimes wonder how those ill-tempered people +who grumble that golfers in these days take their game, and all about +it, too richly, and that fine club-houses do not make plus players—such +complainers still being eager for all the most modern comforts +themselves—would like to live their golfing lives for a season after +the early Wimbledon manner in all its great simplicity. The first +club-house those golfers ever had, if you would call it by the name, was +the old iron "shooting house," and it measured only eight yards by six. +It served the purposes of club-room, clothes-room and others. If its +floor space was small, its roof was high, and the members' clothes were +hung up on hooks, to the very top; and were lifted up to their proper +places, and reached down again by a pole. Most of the numerous members +had their private hooks, and a boy who worked the pole had a most +marvellous memory for the garments and their proper owners, so that when +a member, coming in suddenly, called for his jacket and his stockings, +up went the pole, and down came the goods without a moment's delay, and +all correct. This remarkable young person has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span> his proper and +highly-developed successor in Gibbon, the house-steward at the present +Mid-Surrey club at Richmond, who, though he has nearly a thousand +members to consider, knows so well the particularities and possessions +of them all. Tom Dunn had his workshop in this iron shooting house, and +here he kept a fair stock of clubs and balls, and did his own repairs. +Presently some of the members suggested to him that it would be +agreeable if he stored some eatables and drinkables in his shop for +their sustenance and comfort, before and after rounds; and so he laid in +a stock of wines and spirits, sandwiches and eggs, and so forth, which +had of necessity to be laid out on his bench where there were varnish, +shavings, sawdust and pitch as well. Behold here the early London +golfer! It is an interesting historical fact, that when a few years +after its establishment, and just before the Tom Dunn era, the club +first thought of engaging a professional, the committee set it on record +that "they took a very favourable view of young Tom Morris's application +for the post."</p> + +<p>The people who accuse the moderns of being over fond of prizes in +competitions—and a nasty name they call them!—might be told the tale +of the old golfing baronet of Wimbledon, now dead, who once won five +shillings, being his half share of the third prize in the sweepstakes +attached to the monthly medal competition there. It was the first prize +that this keen but unfortunate golfer had ever won, and he begged the +permission of the committee to be allowed to add more money for a richer +keepsake. The consent of the authorities was graciously given, whereupon +the prize-winner purchased for himself a golden-eagle writing stand for +which he gave a hundred sovereigns, adding ninety-nine pounds fifteen +shillings to the prize-money. Friends, not being golfers, who called +upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span> him had the prize exhibited to them, and they said, "Goodness, +what a fine player you must be!" He felt he was, and that the prize was +worth the money.</p> + +<p>When the 'nineties of the last century were reached golf began to spread +in London, and such clubs as Northwood with its "Death or Glory" Hole, +Tooting Bec, and Mid-Surrey laid the foundation for the great London +golf that was soon to come. This Mid-Surrey club with its thousand +members, its financial turnover of thirty thousand pounds a year, its +hundred thousand rounds that are played on that excellent course in +twelve months without its showing hardly the wear of a blade of grass, +the twenty thousand lunches that are eaten by their members, the four +thousand pounds that were spent in one year lately on the improvement of +the course, is, I believe, the busiest golfing institution in the world. +It is well said that there is nearly always a couple driving off from +that first teeing ground near the rails in the Old Deer Park. And one +might add that as a place where golf is played in a plain but excellent +spirit, without any fancy trappings, the club here is one of the best +organised and managed in the world, and is a vast credit to the +secretary, Mr. J. H. Montgomerie, while the course, whose putting greens +are a match for any in existence, is a fine testimonial to that prince +of greenkeepers, Peter Lees, who was lately captured by the Americans +for a great new course on Long Island. Lees has been a great influence +in the development of modern golf in England, and I know that he will +make a great difference to American courses. And there is champion J. H. +Taylor as the club's professional. In a special way Mid-Surrey stands +for London golf.</p> + +<p>It has come to this, that we no longer fear to speak and write of the +great excellence of the London golf courses. Sunningdale at the +beginning of the present<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span> century opened up a new era not only in London +golf but in golf in general—the period of the inland courses of a far +higher class, better and more interesting in every respect than anything +that had ever been dreamt of before. Sunningdale was followed by +Huntercombe and Walton Heath, of which Sir George Riddell has assisted +to make such a magnificent success. There have come after them +Worplesdon, Burhill, Bramshot, Stoke Poges, Sandy Lodge, Coombe Hill, +St. George's Hill, and many others all belonging to the same class. Many +of us hold to the fancy that Sunningdale, the mother of the new sort of +courses, is still the best and most charming of them all. She is the +Berkshire jewel; magnificent. But comparisons are not easily made, for, +most remarkably and happily, these new modern inland courses that are +setting an example to the world and which the world is following +wherever it can afford it, vary enormously in character, in appearance, +in the precise sort of golf that they present and offer, whereas at the +beginning of inland golf we had the fancy, and the fancy truly led to +fact, that in the main all inland courses must be the same—plain, flat, +one cross bunker here, another there, and then the green. Not only the +architecture, but, far more than that in its beneficial effects, the +greenkeeping has been improved, soils are understood, they are fortified +and seeds are adapted to them, and results are achieved which not ten +years ago would have been regarded as impossible. The result is that we +have fairways and putting greens on some of our best inland courses near +London which are rarely excelled at the seaside, although nothing can +ever give to inland turf that firm springiness—a term slightly +paradoxical but one easily appreciated—which is the characteristic of +good seaside links. No longer is good inland golf to be despised. It has +charms all its own, and it has the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span> distinction that golf as we know it +to-day would never have existed if it were not for the inland courses. +There are fewer hedges on them now than once there were, and no more +ditches than there should be.</p> + + +<h4>§</h4> + +<p>To a section of old conservatives it may seem a dreadful thing to say, +but it is the truth that one of the reasons why we love our golf of +London, praise it and rejoice in it, is because of its glorious trees. +We know courses on the coast where there is never a tree or a bush to be +seen, and never one to be avoided in the playing. The golfers who live +and play and die in those parts know nothing of the splendour of trees +and the leaves that come and go, and knowing nothing they will even +sometimes wrongfully say that no golf course ever should have a tree +about it. Golf is a game of Nature; allow it then all the best effects +that Nature can supply. Permit it the trees that the townsmen otherwise +so seldom see; cutting them down, hewing them away will not bring the +ocean nearer nor liken the course more to seaside golf. Trees belong to +the inland game as much as sandhills to the other, and when a question +of removal arises, let constructors and committees reflect that a golfer +can be made in a season and he perishes some time later, that a new hole +can be made in a week and may be altered the week after, that some shots +which are thought of might be hindered by the tree but that only one +shot in a dozen is likely to be of the kind that is considered—and that +the tree has taken ages to grow, and will live ages on, being more of +eternity than many generations of golfers.</p> + +<p>They may not always be conscious of the fact, but the people who live in +towns and are cooped in them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span> constantly, abiding in flats, working in +gloomy chambers and travelling in underground railways, derive more than +half their golfing enjoyment from the vision of Nature, less adorned +than in the public parks, with which they become associated in their +golf—grass to tread upon, surrounding trees through which soft breezes +croon, and timid clouds creeping slowly underneath the blue. There is +nothing so good as the golf of the true seaside links; there could not +be. In this, the real thing, we have land formations that are impossible +on inland flatness; there are the wildness of dunes and bent that cannot +be reproduced artificially away from the coast; we have the perfect turf +that is ideal for the game and which has never yet been completely +imitated away from shore, and above all, through the rich variety of +situation and possibility, we have the course springing surprises on us +all the time. This is golf in the highest, the stern, cold, enthralling +game. London golf is a gentler thing, a little softer, but it has charms +that are all its own, and they are the charms of green Nature and the +delights of changing seasons. By the sea it is warm or it is cold, and +there is little difference else from the beginning of the year to the +end. But in London the golfer notices the seasons as he does nowhere +else, and they are everything to him and his happiness. And the trees +best tell him of the seasons, and it is then that he might exclaim, as +Ruskin did, "What a great thought of God was that when He thought a +tree!"</p> + +<p>In this way the two most beautiful seasons of the year, spring and +autumn, touching nearest the heart, creating inspirations and causing +reflection, the germinal and the fall, are the most splendid times for +golf in London, and at other inland places, and they are surely the best +seasons of all for the enjoyment and happiness of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span> the game. But +particularly they are London's seasons. In the spring there is the time +for preparation, when all golfers are keen in a new life. Then the +leaves of the trees are opened, and are there prettier scenes on any +course than on some of those near London then? There is hardly to be +fancied a better day than could be had at St. George's Hill or on the +New Zealand course at Byfleet when the golden gorse is in bloom and +gives out its rich perfume, while the trees that line the fairway all +about are full to life again. Think, when May is come, of the glory of +Sudbrooke Park, Cassiobury, of Sunningdale, even of Neasden, Northwood, +and a hundred more. Then there comes the holiday time, and the seaside +links, and the golf of London rests until the autumn, and then it is +alive again; and let the faults of London golf be whatever they may, the +players are few who are not happy to return to the old courses of home. +Be they ever so poor they are their very own.</p> + +<p>This of all others is the most delightful golfing season. The white sun +of summer has been toned to gold, and the air is sweet and cool; the +turf is moist again. It is soothing; but there is a pathos in it all +that the golfer, sensitive and sympathetic observer as he has become, +must always feel. One may tramp a country lane and notice little, but +the men of this game have been trained to notice. Here present is the +season of the fall, the rest after achievement, when Nature closes in +upon herself and lapses to her sleep. She has done her season's work, +done it wisely, ever well. So the fires of heaven burn low again. Green +of the world turns russet and bronze, with flashes of scarlet and gold. +A smell of earth that is moist with autumn dew rises in the morning air. +When the round begins the sun warmth is not enough to dry away the +little globules of the dew, tears of the sobbing night,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span> and the course +has a glittering sheen upon it. From drooping branches of beeches and +sycamores that half surround a putting green in a corner of the course, +crackling leaves are falling and some must be moved before the intruding +ball can be putted to its appointed place. As the little golfing company +moves along to the adjoining tee more of these spent leaves come +fluttering sadly down. But, a little sad as this may be, the golfer of +the towns, with summer memories of mountains and hills and deep lanes +still lingering in his mind, hearing the crooning of the summer seas and +the lapping of waves near northern putting greens, has his consolations. +He is grateful for the coppery leaves and the early dew, though they may +hinder play a trifle. They are as echoes from the north and east and +west. We see no dew in Piccadilly, and there are no mountains in the +Strand.</p> + + +<p class="center">THE END</p> + + +<p class="center"><i>Printed by</i> <span class="smcap">R. & R. Clark, Limited</span>, <i>Edinburgh</i>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BOOKS ON GOLF</h2> + + +<p>THE SOUL OF GOLF. By <span class="smcap">P. A. Vaile</span>. Illustrated. Extra Crown 8vo. 6s. net.</p> + +<blockquote><p><i>GOLF ILLUSTRATED.</i>—"We can only say that we read it through without +finding a dull page, and that in our opinion it is a book which will +give hope to the duffer and new light even to the advanced player."</p></blockquote> + + +<p>THE MYSTERY OF GOLF. By <span class="smcap">Arnold Haultain</span>. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. net.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Henry Leach</span> <i>in the EVENING NEWS</i>.—"Mr. Haultain's book answers to +all the tests to which it may be submitted, and I am strongly disposed +to regard it as the best book of its kind that has ever been written."</p></blockquote> + + +<p>TRAVERS' GOLF BOOK. By <span class="smcap">Jerome D. Travers</span>. Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 8s. +6d. net.</p> + +<blockquote><p><i>FRY'S MAGAZINE.</i>—"Mr. Travers' book is a valuable contribution to +golfing literature, and it should be bought and read by every golfer."</p></blockquote> + + +<p>THE ART OF PUTTING. By <span class="smcap">W. J. Travis</span> and <span class="smcap">Jack White</span>. Illustrated. Crown +8vo. 1s. net.</p> + +<blockquote><p><i>GOLFING.</i>—"Into little space Mr. Travis crowds many valuable hints to +the willing student.... It's a big shillingsworth, and those of you who +invest will find that is so."</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>GREAT LAWN TENNIS PLAYERS: <span class="smcap">Their Methods Illustrated</span>. By <span class="smcap">G. W. Beldam</span> +and <span class="smcap">P. A. Vaile</span>. With 229 Action Photographs. Medium 8vo. 10s. 6d. net.</p> + +<p>GREAT BATSMEN: <span class="smcap">Their Methods at a Glance</span>. By <span class="smcap">G. W. Beldam</span> and <span class="smcap">C. B. Fry</span>. +With 600 Action Photographs. Medium 8vo. 10s. 6d. net.</p> + +<p>GREAT BOWLERS AND FIELDERS: <span class="smcap">Their Methods at a Glance</span>. By <span class="smcap">G. W. Beldam</span> +and <span class="smcap">C. B. Fry</span>. With contributions by <span class="smcap">F. R. Spofforth</span>, <span class="smcap">B. J. T. +Bosanquet</span>, <span class="smcap">R. O. Schwarz</span>, and <span class="smcap">G. L. Jessop</span>; and 464 Action Photographs. +Medium 8vo. 10s. 6d. net.</p> + +<p>LAWN TENNIS, ITS PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. By <span class="smcap">J. Parmly Paret</span>. With a +chapter on Lacrosse by <span class="smcap">W. H. Maddren</span>. Illustrated. Extra Crown 8vo. 8s. +6d. net.</p> + + +<p class="center">LONDON: MACMILLAN AND CO., <span class="smcap">Ltd.</span></p> +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h2>BOOKS ON SPORT</h2> + + +<p>HUNTING THE ELEPHANT IN AFRICA, AND OTHER RECOLLECTIONS OF THIRTEEN +YEARS' WANDERINGS. By Captain <span class="smcap">C. H. Stigand</span>. With Introduction by +<span class="smcap">Theodore Roosevelt</span>. Illustrated. 8vo. 10s. 6d. net.</p> + +<p>THE ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER. By <span class="smcap">James Sutherland</span>. Illustrated. +8vo. 7s. 6d. net.</p> + +<p>THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO, AND OTHER EAST AFRICAN ADVENTURES. By +Lieut.-Colonel <span class="smcap">J. H. Patterson</span>, D.S.O. Illustrated. With a Foreword by +<span class="smcap">Frederick Courteney Selous</span>. 8vo. 7s. 6d. net. Also Globe 8vo. 1s. net.</p> + +<p>IN THE GRIP OF THE NYIKA. Further Adventures in British East Africa. By +Lieut.-Colonel <span class="smcap">J. H. Patterson</span>, D.S.O. Illustrated. 8vo. 7s. 6d. net.</p> + +<p>A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS IN AFRICA. Nine Years amongst the Game of the Far +Interior of South Africa. By <span class="smcap">Frederick Courteney Selous</span>. Illustrated. +Extra Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. net.</p> + +<p>AFRICAN NATURE NOTES AND REMINISCENCES. By <span class="smcap">Frederick Courteney Selous</span>. +With a Foreword by <span class="smcap">Theodore Roosevelt</span> and Illustrations by <span class="smcap">E. Caldwell</span>. +8vo. 10s. net.</p> + +<p>A COLONY IN THE MAKING, OR SPORT AND PROFIT IN BRITISH EAST AFRICA. By +Lord <span class="smcap">Cranworth</span>. Illustrated. 8vo. 12s. net.</p> + +<p>SPORT ON THE NILGIRIS AND IN WYNAAD. By <span class="smcap">F. W. F. Fletcher</span>. Illustrated. +8vo. 12s. net.</p> + +<p>NOTES ON SPORT AND TRAVEL. By <span class="smcap">George Kingsley</span>. With Introductory Memoir +by his daughter, <span class="smcap">Mary H. Kingsley</span>. Extra Crown 8vo. 8s. 6d. net.</p> + +<p>AN ANGLER'S HOURS. By <span class="smcap">H. T. Sheringham</span>. Extra Crown 8vo. 6s. net.</p> + +<p class="center">LONDON: MACMILLAN AND CO., <span class="smcap">Ltd.</span></p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Happy Golfer, by Henry Leach + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HAPPY GOLFER *** + +***** This file should be named 37136-h.htm or 37136-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/1/3/37136/ + +Produced by Greg Bergquist, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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 Happy Golfer + Being Some Experiences, Reflections, and a Few Deductions + of a Wandering Golfer + +Author: Henry Leach + +Release Date: August 19, 2011 [EBook #37136] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HAPPY GOLFER *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Bergquist, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE HAPPY GOLFER + + _BEING SOME EXPERIENCES, REFLECTIONS, AND + A FEW DEDUCTIONS OF A WANDERING PLAYER_ + + BY HENRY LEACH + + AUTHOR OF "THE SPIRIT OF THE LINKS," "LETTERS OF A MODERN GOLFER," ETC. + + + MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED + ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON + + 1914 + + COPYRIGHT + + + + + CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER I + + THE SEVEN WONDERS OF GOLF, AND THE ABIDING MYSTERY OF THE GAME, + WITH A THOUGHT UPON TRADITIONS AND THEIR VALUE 1 + + CHAPTER II + + THE UBIQUITY OF THE GAME: WITH AN ADVERTISEMENT FOR THE COMMUNITY + OF GOLFERS, AND A NOTE UPON THE EFFECT OF ST. ANDREWS SPIRITS 28 + + CHAPTER III + + THE TRAGEDIES OF THE SHORT PUTT, AND A CONTRAST BETWEEN CHILDREN + AND CHAMPIONS, WITH THE VARIED COUNSEL OF THE WISEST MEN 56 + + CHAPTER IV + + OLD CHAMPIONS AND NEW, AND SOME DIFFERENCES IN ACHIEVEMENT, WITH A + SUGGESTION THAT GOLF IS A CRUEL GAME 88 + + CHAPTER V + + A FAMOUS CHAMPIONSHIP AT BROOKLINE, U.S.A., AND AN ACCOUNT OF HOW + MR. FRANCIS OUIMET WON IT, WITH SOME EXPLANATION OF SEEMING + MYSTERIES 110 + + CHAPTER VI + + THE BEGINNINGS OF GOLF IN THE UNITED STATES, AND EXPERIENCES IN + TRAVELLING THERE, WITH AN EXAMPLE OF AMERICAN CLUB MANAGEMENT 140 + + CHAPTER VII + + THE PERFECT COUNTRY CLUB AND THE GOLFERS' POW-WOW AT ONWENTSIA, + WITH A GLIMPSE OF THE NATIONAL LINKS 166 + + CHAPTER VIII + + THE U.S.G.A. AND THE METHODS OF THE BUSINESS-MAN GOLFER, WITH A + REMARKABLE DEVELOPMENT OF MUNICIPAL GOLF 199 + + CHAPTER IX + + CANADIAN COURSES, AND A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT AT TORONTO, WITH MATTERS + PERTAINING TO MAKING A NEW BEGINNING 226 + + CHAPTER X + + GOLF DE PARIS, AND SOME REMARKABLE EVENTS AT VERSAILLES AND + CHANTILLY, WITH NEW THEORIES BY HIGH AUTHORITIES 251 + + CHAPTER XI + + RIVIERA GOLF, AND WHAT MIGHT BE LEARNED FROM LADIES, WITH A + CONSIDERATION OF THE OVERLAPPING GRIP 277 + + CHAPTER XII + + ABOUT THE PYRENEES, AND THE CHARMS OF GOLF AT BIARRITZ AND PAU, + WITH POSSIBILITIES FOR GREAT ADVENTURE 302 + + + CHAPTER XIII + + THE GAME IN ITALY, AND THE QUALITY OF THE COURSE AT ROME, WITH A + SHORT CONSIDERATION OF THE VALUE OF STYLE 324 + + CHAPTER XIV + + THE AWAKENING OF SPAIN, AND SOME MARVELLOUS GOLFING ENTERPRISE IN + MADRID, WITH A STATEMENT OF GOLFERS' DISCOVERIES 339 + + CHAPTER XV + + THE SUPERIORITY OF BRITISH LINKS, AND A MASTERPIECE OF KENT, WITH + SOME SYSTEMS AND MORALS FOR HOLIDAY GOLF 364 + + CHAPTER XVI + + THE OLD DIGNITY OF LONDON GOLF, AND ITS NEW IMPORTANCE, WITH A WORD + FOR THE CHARM OF INLAND COURSES 392 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE SEVEN WONDERS OF GOLF, AND THE ABIDING MYSTERY OF THE GAME, WITH A +THOUGHT UPON TRADITIONS AND THEIR VALUE. + + +The first of the seven wonders of golf is a mysterious fascination that +it sets towards mankind, from which, overwhelming and enduring, no +people are immune. The game seizes men of all ages, of every +nationality, all occupations, dispositions, temperaments--all of them. +The charm acts upon men and women alike. Sometimes we have suspected +that males are more whole-hearted golfers; but there are circumstances +of quick recurrence to cause a doubt, and even were there none the +fancied difference would be capable of explanation. It has nearly become +an established rule that they golf the most who golf the last, for there +is no man of the links so keen, so simple and humble in his abandonment +to the game, as he who but lately held aloof and laughed, with many a +gibe upon the madness of the class. Savages have attempted golf and +found they liked it, and the finest intellects are constantly exercised +upon its difficulties. So this diversion, pastime, game has become a +thing of everywhere and everybody as no other sport of any kind has ever +done. The number of people who play no golf decreases daily, and events +of the last ten years have shown that its supremacy as the chief of +games is sure. It is clear, indeed, that, so far as the numbers attached +to it are concerned, it is still only at its beginning, in toddling +infancy. A few years hence its intimate part in general life will be +better realised; even now you do not so frequently ask a man of movement +and intelligence whether he plays golf or not as what his handicap may +be and what kind of ball he likes the best. No other game or sport +exercises anything like such power of fascination upon its people as +this. A tennis-player may leave tennis if he must; the cricketer often +voluntarily gives up cricket for no compelling reason; a man of the +hills and moors may cease to care for shooting; and one who has made an +automobile speed like the wind along the roads may sell his car and be +motorist nevermore. But the golfer will and must always golf, and never +less but more while strength permits. Men who go to the sea in ships +take golf clubs with them; I have known golfers carry their materials +into deserts, and one of the greatest and noblest explorers the world +has known took them with him to one far end of earth. Surely this is a +very remarkable thing, a feature of life that is strange as it is +strong, and it is not nonsense to suggest that this is no ordinary game +and cannot be considered as a game like others. Somewhere in a +mysterious way it touches the springs of life, makes emotions shake. It +grips; it twitches at the senses. Why? + +No person has yet answered that question well and with decision, though +many have attempted to do so in written words, and ten thousand times +and more have players in their talk touched upon the lasting problem, +and then, with that natural human avoidance of the impossible, have +shuffled off to some topic more amenable. Here, it seemed, was one of +the mysteries of life, and these are such as it is better not to meddle +with. So through neglect and our timidity the problem has seemed to +deepen. It has become the Great Mystery. Wonder and awe are thick about +it. Men who were innocent and have turned to golf do not give a reason +why; they are silent to the questioner. They say that he too will see in +time, and then they golf exceedingly. Surely, then, this Great Mystery +of its fascination is the first of the seven wonders of golf; and it is +appropriate enough that a game that covers the world and embraces all +mankind should have special and well-separated wonders numbering seven +like the seven others of the earth at large: the traditions of the game, +its amazing ubiquity, St. Andrews, the short putt, the achievements of +golfers, and the rubber-cored ball are the other six. Each has its +well-established place, and between the seventh of the group and the +eighth, being chief of the thousand minor wonders, there is a wide +separation. + + + * * * * * + +It is not for one poor atom in a great and complex golfing world to put +forward with any look of dogma a suggested solution to this subtle +mystery which the philosophers have probed so long and fruitlessly. He +will subscribe with others in a consoling renunciation to the view that +it is not for human mortals, who should be happy with delights that are +given them, to tear down veils from the faces of hidden gods. But as a +theory--shall we say?--he may advance an explanation which is +satisfying to one who has wondered as much as any others and inquired as +often during many years, while yet it still leaves a place for mystery +and a suggestion of eternal doubt. And the chief difference between this +theory and others that have preceded it is that this is what might be +called Collective while the others have commonly been theories of single +ideas. Philosophic research towards the solution of the mystery +hitherto has been almost exclusively based upon the supposition of there +being one peculiar unknown cause for the amazing fascination, a +magnificent _x_, something that in our present imperfect state of +knowledge could hardly be imagined, but which has been vaguely conceived +to be connected in some ways with the senses--and maybe the spirit. We +have known that in some mysterious and it has seemed almost supernatural +way the emotions have been stirred, most deeply shaken, by the pursuit +of golf, and the case has seemed so inexplicable that the existence of +an overwhelming unknown factor for the cause has been suspected. Here +investigation has naturally faltered. I myself for long enough was +inclined to the possibility of the single-cause theory being correct, +and with devotion was attached to that "Hope" suggestion which satisfied +most requirements and went far towards an explanation of all the +mysteries. That this doctrine, whose merits shall be considered, is +largely correct, that it does account for much of the mystery, I am well +convinced; but we who have studied in the latest schools of philosophy +are now unwilling to believe that it accounts completely for everything, +that, in fact, this hope, which the circumstances of the game cause to +flame continually in the golfer's mind like the great human passion that +it is, is the one and only Force of golf, though it is almost certainly +the major force of a group and dominates the others. Our new idea for a +solution to the grand mystery is that there is a number of forces or +causes of widely different character but associated in complete harmony +for the production of strong emotional effects in the mind of the +subject--emotions of the simplest and most natural character, but, like +others touching at the mainsprings of life, in their action most +intense. In a simple, unanalytical, and rather unphilosophical way, the +game of golf has often been compared to the game of life, just indeed as +other games and pursuits have been pointed for comparisons with the +process of human existence. So we have been exhibited as starting in +life at the teeing ground, abounding in hope and possibility. The +troubles, ills, and worries that have soon afflicted us have been found +their counterparts, all the analogies made to suit the careful people +who play short of hazards and enjoy a smooth existence, the bold +adventurers who brave long carries and like best the romantic road, the +deep bunkers of misfortune, the constant menace of the rough for those +who hesitate upon the straight and narrow way, the unexpected gifts of +Providence when long putts are holed, the erratic inclination of the +poor human when the little ones are missed. But now we find that in a +far deeper and more consequential way this sympathy between golf and +life exists, and that in this gentle play there is a repetition in +lighter tones of the throbbing theme of existence. + +In the strong action upon the emotions which takes place during the +practice of the game there are effects which are purely physical and +others which are largely mental and spiritual. The physical thrills of +golf are above the comprehension of any man or woman who has not played +the game. We are certain that in the whole range of sport or human +exercise there is nothing that is quite so good as the sublime +sensation, the exquisite feeling of physical delight, that is gained in +the driving of a golf ball with a wooden club in the manner that it +ought to be driven. This last provision is emphasised, for this is a +matter of style and action, and the sensuous thrill is gained from the +exertion of physical strength in such a mechanically, scientifically, +and physically perfect manner as to produce an absolute harmony of +graceful movement. It is as the satisfaction and thanks of Nature. +Sometimes we hear sportsmen speak of certain sensations derived from +particular strokes at cricket, others of an occasional sudden ecstasy in +angling, and one may well believe that life runs strong in the blood +when a man shoots his first tiger or his first wild elephant. But the +feelings of golf are subtler, sweeter, and that we are not stupidly +prejudiced or exclusive for the game may be granted if it is suggested +that we reach some way to the golf sensations in two other human +exercises, the one being in the dancing of the waltz when done +thoroughly well and with a fine rhythmical swing, and the other when +skating on the ice with full and complete abandon. In each case it is a +matter of perfect poise, of the absolute perfection of co-ordination of +human movement, of the thousands of little muscular items of the system +working as one, and of the truest rhythm and harmony being thus +attained. We come near to it also in some forms of athletics; we have it +suggested in the figures of the Greek throwing the discus. In golf there +is an enormous concentration of this effect in the space of a couple of +seconds--not too long to permit of becoming accustomed to it, not too +short for proper appreciation. In this brief time, if the driving is +properly done as Nature would have it, the emotional sensation is +tremendous. Again one insists on the method and manner, for, especially +in late years, ways of driving have been cultivated as the result of the +agreeability of the rubber-cored ball, in which the physical movements +are restricted and changed, and nearly all of the thrills are lost. It +is still, even then, a fine thing to drive a good ball; there is +peculiar satisfaction and a sense of smooth pleasure felt in doing so; +but it is not that great whole-body thing that is enjoyed when there is +the long swing and the full finish. That is why, even if style be so +difficult to attain and there are ways of playing which are far easier +to cultivate and more certain of their good results, it is worth all the +pains and study expended in acquiring it, and a hundred times again, for +the pleasure that comes afterwards. In the winning of holes or in the +making of low scores the driving may be a comparatively unimportant part +of the play, as it is said to be, though a certain high standard of +efficiency is demanded continually; but it will always be the favourite +part of the game because it appeals so much to those physical emotions, +stirs them up so violently, rouses the life of the man, and lifts him +for a moment to a full appreciation of the perfection of the human +system. Some of these emotions are experienced in a minor key when +playing the short game, as we call it, particularly in finely-made +pitching strokes with iron clubs. Here there are restraint and +sweetness; it is as if we listen to the delicacy of Mendelssohn after +the strength and stateliness of Beethoven. Undoubtedly there are keen +physical sensations enjoyed in this part of the play. When it comes to +the last and shortest strokes, to the putting, only a faint trace of +action upon the physical emotions remains, and the pleasure and +satisfaction--if any--that are gained are purely mental. So in the short +space of five minutes, in playing one hole of fair length, we may run +along a full gamut of emotions, and herein is a great part of the joy of +golf. + + + * * * * * + +This, however, would be insufficient. The strong, self-controllable man +would not, in their absence, crave for these emotions. But other +influences are at work to kindle and continue the golfing fever in him. +For the highest and deepest pleasure of civilised and cultivated man a +combination of the best physical and mental emotions--with a little +disappointment and grief--is essential; one without the other is always +unsatisfying. Here, foremost among the mental experiences, so powerful +as to have a certain physical influence, is our Hope. The major force of +all life is hope. It is life itself, for without it the scheme of human +existence would collapse. To look forward, to anticipate, to hope for +better things, and believe in them--that is the principle of life. It is +for that reason that the atheist comes so near to being an +impossibility. An incredible he is. He asserts himself not only as an +ignorer of gods but as a rejecter of Nature, and his position is +untenable, impossible. He endeavours to place himself outside the scheme +of creation. Without hope man could not and would not continue. He would +give up. Motive would have vanished, and motive is essential to action. +We strain analogy to no extravagance when we hold that it is the same in +golf. It is pervaded with hope, lives on it, is played with it, depends +upon it throughout in its every phase. At the beginning of the day's +play a man hopes for great achievement. He does not ignore the +possibilities, and rarely, whatever his temperament and disposition, +does he wait for events, content in a manner of perfect wisdom to take +things as they come. He anticipates, and in the human way he builds +castles made of thoughts, and in his calculations overlooks existing +facts and past experience. Thus are charm, eagerness, and romance given +to life and the game. Never yet was golfer who did not believe that now +his great day might come. + +So on the first teeing ground there is hope in the highest. Should the +first stroke be successful the hope is stimulated; if the stroke is bad +the hope is intensified. In the one case something more of the human +power of man, the strong right arm and the fingers deft, is poured into +the physical and temperamental boiler where the forces are being +generated. The success has increased probability, the man can a little +the more stand by himself, his independence increases, and his hope has +a rock of fact beneath it. In the other event, the first drive having +been a failure--as, alas! with the wearinesses of waiting and the +anxieties they engender, first drives so often are--the hope is +intensified by the addition of highly concentrated faith. The element of +the practical indefatigable man is slightly reduced, and in its place +there is filled the sublimer, grander essence of spirituality that is so +far above the merely human. The hope is not the less. Providence is +brought into the schemes, and the heart lives well. If the second shot +is a good one there is more of the human given to the hope and the +spiritual is a little subdued again; if the stroke should fail there is +something like another mute appeal subconsciously made to Providence. + +These are the hopes of strokes. There are the hopes for holes; the hopes +for days; the hopes for seasons, each series being units made of +collections as years are made of months and days are made of hours. One +who loses the first hole hopes to win the second, and is even insincere, +for the encouragement of his hope, in saying and trying to believe that +to lose the first hole does not matter and is often an advantage. If the +second is lost there is a coming equality in the match imagined for the +fourth or fifth. Three or four down at the turn, even five, and the man +still lives and hopes (he is no golfer if he does not), and there have +been magnificent struggles made when players have been six down with +seven to play, or have even been dormy five to the bad. He who has only +lost the first hole holds his hope in a state that is highly charged +with belief in his own human capacity; he who is dormy down when the +match is far from home still keeps hope, is buoyed well with it, but he +does his best in a half-cheerful, half-nervous way, knowing that the +time for supreme human endeavour has passed, and he gives the matter +over to kind Providence, submitting that his deserts are good. So one +who has played badly in the morning hopes for success in the afternoon; +and where is the man who, having made poor shots all the day and lost +holes and matches by them, does not fall to sleep at night consoled and +peaceful in reflecting upon a discovery that will make full amends upon +the morrow? After the failures of a summer season hopes arise for better +fare when cool autumn makes the play more pleasant; when there has been +one whole bad year there is hope enough that the game will mend in the +time that follows. + +In this way it is hope all through, hope always, in the beginning and +the end and in the small things with the great. Hope is the most human, +most uplifting of all the emotions. Banish this emotional quality from +the human mind and the golf clubs would be disbanded, for the game would +cease to be golf for another day. The charm would have gone completely. +Only the nature of the hope sometimes varies as we have shown, and the +most wonderful feature of this wonder of golf is the sublimely simple +way in which the man of a match, when all seems lost, when the cause +seems wholly ruined, when by nothing human does it seem that a situation +hanging upon a thread so thin can possibly be saved, believes in the +future still. Providence still exists for him. Every human reckoning +would show that he approaches the impossible, and yet he sees it not, +but only the narrow way of escape to success beyond. And there is +infinite satisfaction to the soul, much that is splendidly destructive +of utter materialism, in realising that often the seeming human +impossibility is broken and Providence pulls us through. In golf we +often ask for miracles, and sometimes we obtain them. It seems to me +that the golfer has one satisfying motto, and only one, and it is _Spero +meliora_. What is the use of the "far and sure" that the ancients have +bequeathed to us? Nearly meaningless it is. And if those words of hope +are emblazoned on his coat of arms, the golfing man should have the +Watts picture of "Hope" in his private chamber, courageous Hope +straining for the faintest note that comes from the one lone string that +remains on the almost dismantled harp. + + + * * * * * + +Such strong exercises of emotions, physical and soulful, accounting, as +we may believe, for much of the fascination of the game, are supported +by others, subtler but also of large effect. There are the aggravations +of the game. It suggests an object that no man has ever completely +achieved and never will do, since none has ever arisen to a state of +skill and consistency when he plays perfect golf and plays it always, +though such success may nearly be achieved at other pastimes. And it is +not given to the player to know why the skill he feels himself possessed +of does not bear its fruit. He is left in wonderment and aggravation. +The game goads, it taunts, it mocks unmercifully. Old Tom Morris +expressed the simplest overwhelming truth when he said it was "aye +fechtin' against us." It does so from the first hour, the first minute +of the golfer's existence as such, when he misses the ball which it had +seemed so easy to strike. Then, his vanity wounded, he attacks, and the +lifelong feud begins. What always seems so easy becomes the nearly +impossible. There is always something new to learn, always another scrap +of explanation of mystery to be gathered, and the player is always +groping and being taught. But he moves forward only to fall back again, +and the simple consolation he has from this ever-recurring process is +that the tide of discovery, when it rolls back, returns a little higher +up the beach with the next wave and in the long succession there is a +gain. But this process is not so regular as the running of the tide, not +so much a matter of calculable natural law, and therein is the +disappointment and the aggravation. A man retires to his rest at night +feeling himself a good and well-satisfied golfer with rapid advancement +certain, and lo! the morning will be little spent when he is shown to +himself as one of the poorest and most ineffectual players. The mystery +of this reaction is quite insoluble; only the cold fact is clear, +convincing. No more tantalising will-o'-the-wisp is there than form at +golf. It is a game that lures a man, it coquets with him, trifles with +his yearnings and his hopes, and flouts him. So does it excite him, and, +hurting his pride, stirs his ambition and his desire to obtain the +mastery. The spirit of adventure and conquest is aroused, and the strong +man who has failed in no undertaking before declares that he will not +fail in this. And so, with his everlasting hope, he perseveres and will +not give in. But it is the game that wins. + +It appeals to the emotions of the primitive man in another way that may +often be unsuspected. In essence it is the simplest and the most natural +of games. It is indeed a game of Nature, and it is played not on the +smoothest surfaces with white lines drawn upon them, but upon plain +grass-covered earth, a little smoothed by man but still with abounding +natural roughness and simplicity. Here on the links are space and +freedom such as are afforded to people, especially those of towns and +cities, rarely in present times. The tendency in all life now is to +confine itself closely. We live in small spaces, with many walls and +low roofs; we move through thronged streets and by underground railways. +Things are not the same as when there was the Garden of Eden and the +open world outside it. His confinement is a wearing oppression to the +modern man, though he may not always suspect it. Because it emancipates +and gives us back a little of our lost freedom is the chief reason for +the popularity of motoring, and it was to attain more freedom still that +man made up his mind to fly and now flies accordingly. We cannot +entirely escape from this unnatural confinement which modern conditions +of life have forced upon us, but for a little while at intervals, +through the medium of this sport, we may experience the sense of space, +of freedom, of the something that comes near to infinity. Unconscious of +this cause, a golfer on the links is uplifted to a simpler freer self. +He has a great open space about him, the wilder the better, and the open +sky above. He takes Nature as he finds her, accepting her every mood, +and that is why this game is and must be one for all weathers. There is +the ball upon the tee. Hit it, golfer, anywhere you please! Hit it far, +no limit to the distance! Strike with all your strength! Until in the +game the time for wariness comes, as with the hunter upon his prey, see +no limitations, accept all consequences. The golfer's freedom has a +flavour that other people rarely taste. + +Emotions serve the human system better than comforts and conveniences, +for these emotions are the pulse of life and the conveniences are mere +aids to existence. Golf, being complete, has its advantages of +convenience as well as its thrilling emotions, and when the players +reason to their relatives and their friends upon the good of the game, +shaping their excuses for a strange excess, they exhibit with a limited +sincerity the real advantages and conveniences. The game may be played +anywhere and everywhere. It is the same in principle, the same in rules, +the same in actions; but yet again it is like a new thing everywhere, +and it is always fresh. There is a golf course wherever a man may go; +and there is a new experience for him always. He needs only one man to +play with him; or indeed, if there is no such man available, he may play +with the game itself as his implacable opponent, fight it in the open +and without the medium of a human opponent to break the shocks for him. +If variety is the spice of life, then here is spice enough. Then it +gives us such companionship as can be gained by few other means, for it +brings us to inner intimacy with the man we play, bares his hidden +nature to us, strips from him all those trappings of manner and +suggestion by which in the ordinary social scheme every person plays a +part as on a stage and rarely is well discovered. No man plays a part in +golf; his individuality, in all its goodness and weakness, is unfolded +in the light. He is known entirely and for his own true self. The game +gives us fresh air and the most splendid exercise. These are enormous +advantages in golf, and we extol them in defence of our enthusiasm and +they are accepted; yet, honest to ourselves, we know that we do not play +golf because of fresh air and exercise, and indeed we only think of them +as gain when, in the slavery to which we have been subject, our emotions +for a day have been shivered and shocked by failure. It has the +advantage that we can play it when the period of life for other games +has passed, and we can play while life leaves to us but a flick of +vigour. Some of the meanest men, who are barely worthy of being in this +excellent community where the sense of brotherhood is so good, have been +gross enough to say that golf serves their professional and commercial +purposes thoroughly well--as indeed it may--by giving them intimacy with +valuable and helpful friends. These are men who would buy their idols +and sell them for a profit of five per cent. The advantages of golf are +there; but they are the accident of circumstances, or not perhaps the +accident but simply like the scheme of Nature in supporting what is good +with good itself; but they do not and cannot in any measure explain the +mystery of the fascination of the game, for that mystery lies in the +emotional, the spiritual, the psychological, and not in anything that is +just material. Golf is something of a passion, and passions are of the +blood and have nothing to do with conveniences and rules of life for +health and plain advantage. + + + * * * * * + +The traditions of golf are the second of its wonders. All things that +are old have certain traditional sentiment clinging to them, and it +makes a good flavouring to life, for it is suggestive of age and time +and continuity and eternity. Had golf no traditions now, those emotional +effects in its subjects might be produced the same, but yet the sport +would not be the same rich colourful thing that we know it to be, but +something grosser. And again we could stand for golf and say that no +other sport can testify to its past and present worth and greatness with +such excellent tradition. Three only can rank in the same class, and +those are cricket, hunting, and the turf. Their traditions indeed are +rich, they uphold their sports to-day, and they abound in those rare +stories which, even if they have lost nothing with time, make fine +things for the listening now and have the tendency always to promote a +better sporting spirit. But three things are essential to good +traditions, the first being acts, the second persons, and the third +places, and the last of the three is far from being the least important, +because birds do not love their nests more than traditions do the plots +of earth where are their homes. They cannot live in space; there they +would lapse to a state of film and would fade away. Give them abiding +places, real solid ground upon which their delicate ghostly structures +may rest, and they have a substance which gives them a fine reality. If +a character of the past were invented, given a real name, all his +manners and customs, his feats and follies carefully described, even his +father and mother most properly identified, and a statement made of the +provisions in his will for those who followed after him, that would +still be likely to linger on as a character merely, a possibility of the +past but a thing of no account, not an influence. He could not be +placed. If we give ourselves a licence to roam the earth in search of +golf, we like to think of the good men of the old traditions as being +comfortably settled, as being at special places where, in our fireside +fancies on winter nights when the winds are moaning and the rains are +lashing against the window-panes, we can see them and sit down with +them. The wandering hero of tradition does not suit. And here is a great +virtue of the people of our golfing traditions: we can catch them tight, +nail them fast. We have special plots of land--the majestic links of +Scotland, the old course of Blackheath, almost every yard of which +might, if speechful, tell a story of some old golfer of the past. The +old golfers trod those links some time in their earthly days. We know +the shots they played, where balls pitched and how they ran, the bunkers +where they had disasters, their amazing recoveries and the putts that +they holed and missed--for even the golfers of tradition missed their +putts at times. We know where those golfers walked, and so the +traditions are of the links and the men with the links, and the links +are the same now as once. Let us then hope fervently that they may +remain the same, though a hundred kinds of new balls, each farther +flying than the one before it, should be invented, and such courses +should be declared to be weakened and out of date. It is easy enough to +invent a character, but it is not so easy to invent a links and then +declare that by sea encroachments on the coast it has been swallowed up +and has gone. The tale is weak and unconvincing. But invent your +character, and then produce your place, and say: "He was here; his feet +were on this teeing ground; here he took a divot; it was in this bunker +that he was caught," and there is nothing more that is needed for +complete conviction. + +Having seen a little of the way in which certain potential and probable +traditions of the future are now being made, I have a suspicion about +some of the amazing histories of the past that have been reported to us. +Such suspicions are developed in the minds of those who have themselves +been parties to some exaggerations of things done on certain links, and +have lived to see those exaggerations improved upon by further tellers, +and of a rich story, with scarcely a base of fact, being thus +established in history and made ready for a monument. Having our plots +of land, with their permanent marks and milestones, it is easy to do it +so, and all golfers cannot be commended for complete veracity, though +their lies are tolerably honest of their kind, being, like their shots, +made subconsciously, and the cause, being companionable conduct, is a +good one. Listeners believe in them and so make them three-parts truth. +Cricket and racing have had their splendid men, and they have had +certain sorts of places, but nothing homelike, merely round patches of +smooth land with rails and grand stands, to which traditions can never +cling like ivy to the crumbling tower. The ghost men of these old +traditions were fine creatures; well did they do their work; they fought +and won; but they seem lonesome creatures. They lack location, and they +have no family histories and traditions of their own. They are mere +particles of the past. Nearly all the men of our great traditions are +heroes of fine countenance and rich character, brilliant in their +individuality, with that proper touch of pride and arrogance blended +with the finest old conservatism, which all good traditions should +enjoy. Only the ancients of the chase are good company for them. + + + * * * * * + +It seems to me that our traditions and their associate legends might be +separated into five periods. There is the primeval, the prehistoric, the +most royal and ancient, the early Scottish, and the late gutty periods. +Of the primeval there is no more to be said than there is of primeval +man. We know the latter was born, that he did work of sorts, that he ate +and slept, that in his way he lived and perhaps he loved, while +certainly he died. Of the primeval golfers we are solid in the belief +that they had clubs and balls, for they must have had, and they had +holes or marks, for they could not have done without them. We suspect +them of stymies, for only the weight of tradition has held the stymie to +us still, and for its power this tradition must be far extended. Almost +certainly they made their first clubs from the branches of trees, but +there was nothing grand in that, for Harry Vardon and brother Tom, +Edward Ray as well, all three beginning their golf in their native +Jersey, did the same, and they played with stone marbles for their +balls, played in the moonlight too. There would seem here to have been a +tendency towards a throw-back in Jersey golf; but Vardon and his +associates have made an ample advance since then. Good Sir Walter +Simpson, in his deep researches, leaned to a more exact and defined +theory or tradition of the primeval golf, and he gaily marked for it a +beginning and a place. It is attractive and it is reasonable, and this, +with the theory of the spontaneous and inevitable origin of the game in +many places in the early times of man, theories with living detail +thickening on them, come near in quality to real tradition. Sir Walter, +you may remember, supposed a shepherd minding his sheep, who often +chanced upon a round pebble and, having his crook in his hand, he would +strike it away. In the ordinary way this led to nothing, but once on a +time, "probably," a shepherd feeding his sheep on the links, "which +might have been those of St. Andrews," rolled one of these stones into a +rabbit scrape, and then he exclaimed, "Marry! I could not do that if I +tried!"--a thought, so instinctive is ambition, as Sir Walter says, +which nerved him to the attempt. Enter the second shepherd, who watches +awhile and says then: "Forsooth, but that is easy!" He takes a crook in +his hand, swings violently, and misses. The first shepherd turns away +laughing. The two fellows then perceive that this is a serious business, +and together they enter the gorse and search for round stones wherewith +to play their new game. Sir Walter Simpson was a terrible man, and he +must needs work into this excellent romance the declaration that each +shepherd, to his surprise, found an old golf ball, every reader knowing +that they "are to be found there in considerable quantity even to this +day." Then these shepherd-golfers deepened the rabbit scrape so that the +balls might not jump out of it, and they set themselves to practising +putting. The stronger shepherd happened to be the less skilful, and he +found himself getting beaten at this diversion, whereupon he protested +that it was a fairer test of skill to play for the hole from a +considerable distance. When this was settled it was found that the game +was improved. The players, says the theorist, at first called it +"putty," because the immediate object was to putt or put the ball into +the hole or scrape, but at the longer distance the driving was the chief +interest, and therefore the name was changed to "go off" or "golf." In +the meantime the sheep, as sheep will do, had strayed, and the shepherds +had to go in chase of them. Naturally they found this a very troublesome +and annoying interruption, and so they hit upon the great idea of making +a circular course of holes which enabled them to play and herd at the +same time. By this arrangement there were many holes and they were far +apart, and it became necessary to mark their whereabouts, which was +easily done by means of a tag of wool from a sheep, fastened to a stick, +which, as is remarked, is a sort of flag still used on many Scottish +courses in much the same simplicity as by those early shepherds. And Sir +Walter wrote with reason that since those early days the essentials of +the game have altered but little. + +After the time of these first shepherds there were doubtless more +shepherds, and the bucolics in general would be given to the game. Yet +it should never be understood that even in its origins this game was one +that was practised chiefly by persons of low intellectual strength. +Indeed it was not. In the ancient classics there are references to ball +games that bear close resemblance to primitive golf, and then when games +began to appear in Holland and France that had golf in them, even though +they were not golf, it was not the common people always who were most +attracted. And in passing, it must be said, that while golf as we have +it now is British--Scottish, if you like--and there is enough authority +and substance in the claim for the satisfaction of any pride seeing that +the laws of St. Andrews have been for ages back the laws of the world at +large, it is too much to believe that a game so simple in its +essentials, so obvious and so necessary and so desirable, should have +had an exclusive origin in any one country, to be copied by the others. +The elements of golf must have come up spontaneously in many different +parts of the world, although they were without rule, organisation, and +might not have been known as a game or anything like that by those who +employed them. But it was there, as eating and kissing were; and it fell +to the lot of those canny and most discerning Scots to regularise it, as +it were, to declare it a game and give it definiteness, and in due time +to set up laws and a government, all of which were just what they should +be and the best conceivable. It might not have been such a good game as +it is now had it not been nurtured at St. Andrews, Leith, and +Musselburgh, and in those other early cradles of the pastime; but I +cannot believe that if there had been no land north of Newcastle there +would have been no golf, and we should be moaning now in vague +discontent for a mysterious something lost to life. + + + * * * * * + +I may adduce some circumstances from most ancient history and tradition +which have not been applied to this question hitherto, but should have +been, for they seem to be apposite and remarkable. In these days +Ireland, with a fine spirit, is struggling for better golfing +recognition, and should have it. When a game is for the world, what is +the Irish Channel? The country has some very splendid links, and has +produced some players--if few of them--of the finest quality; but a +people who exhibit frequently a fine appreciation of the spirit of the +golfing brotherhood, and to the wandering player extend a hospitality of +which it can only be said that it is Irish, are treated coldly in +championship dignity being withheld from their courses and their not +being admitted to the higher councils of the game. I remember with +gratitude a very early acquaintance with the golf of Newcastle in County +Down, that glorious course in the shadow of the Mourne Mountains, and +with Portrush in the north, while about Dublin there are links that fear +no comparison with the best of other lands. The ordinary records may +indicate that there was no golf in Ireland until 1881, when what is now +the Royal Belfast Club was formed; but listen to a story which is +brought to me in some spirit of triumph by a friend, Mr. Victor Collins, +a golfer, who practises his game, for the most part, not on any mainland +but out on the Arran Isles, west of the Irish coast, out on little +Inneshmor, where he lives when he is not in London, and where he has a +small course of just a few sporting holes for his own delight, one which +would have been as agreeable to the golfers of the prehistoric period as +it is now to a modern gentleman who occasionally becomes a little tired +of over-civilisation and likes to retreat to simplicity and Nature. It +is a considerable change from Stoke Poges to Inneshmor, but only a poor +soul would not like it for a period. In London one evening we talked of +golf and Inneshmor, and he told me a legendary story, the documentary +narrative of which he has since produced in the form of an extract from +"O'Looney's unpublished MS. translation of the 'Tain bo' Cuailgne' in +the Irish Royal Academy, Dublin." Knowing little of these matters, I +quote Mr. Collins direct in saying that this is the most famous of Irish +epics, and describes the war Queen Maeve of Connacht, assisted by her +vassal kings of the rest of Ireland, waged against Ulster to obtain a +bull which was reputed to be a finer animal than the one she herself +possessed. The central hero of Ulster was the famous Cuchullain, the +greatest of all Irish heroes, in truth an Irish Achilles. Fergus, +ex-king of Ulster, who had taken refuge with Maeve, tells her who are +the champions against whom her armies will have to contend, and these +lines occur in the course of his terrifying account of Cuchullain, whose +age at the time of this expedition was between six and seven: "The boy +set out then and he took his instruments of pleasure with him; he took +his hurly of creduma and his silver ball, and he took his massive +Clettini, and he took his playing Bunsach, with its fire-burned top, and +he began to shorten his way with them. He would give the ball a stroke +of his hurly and drive it a great distance before him; he would cast (? +swing) his hurly at it, and would give it a second stroke that would +drive it not a shorter distance than the first blow. He would cast his +Clettini, and he would hurl his Bunsach, and he would make a wild race +after them. He would then take up his hurly, and his ball, and his +Clettini, and his Bunsach, and he would cast his Bunsach up in the air +on before him, and the end of the Bunsach would not have reached the +ground before he would have caught it by the top while still flying, and +in this way he went on till he reached the Forad of the plain of Emain +where the youths were." This young Cuchullain does appear to have been +appreciably better than scratch. Apparently he was going to attend +something in the nature of a club gathering, and his way of getting +there was much in the nature of cross-country golf with a touch of trick +in it; for there are professionals to-day who make a show in their idle +moments of pitching up a ball and catching it with their hands. My +informer tells me that Cuchullain was not confining his attention to +golf alone, but doing feats of jugglery as well in order to while away +the journey. "The description of driving the ball before him," he +remarks, "evidently contains the germ of golf. Some years ago I saw in +an illustrated paper a reproduction of a picture of a tombstone from +some place in Ulster dating to the twelfth century. It was the tombstone +of a Norseman. On it were a double-headed sword, the sign of his +profession, and below it the perfect representation of a cleek and a +golf ball, his favourite amusement. It would be interesting to make a +serious search in old Irish records for further information on the game. +'Clettini' is from an Irish word for 'feather.' It was evidently a +feathered javelin he hurled. 'Creduma' means 'red metal,' that is brass. +Hurly of creduma therefore comes curiously near the quite modern +brassey. Bunsach is a very obscure word. In middle Irish there was such +a word, but it meant a kind of dagger." This discovery opens up an +excellent speculation. + + + * * * * * + +The periods of the traditions of course impinge upon each other and +softly blend, so that the game some way or other seems to go back +continuously from now to the beginning. We have in the most royal and +ancient period the Stuart kings playing their golf, and Charles the +First hearing of mighty troubles to his throne perpending while he was +golfing on the links of Leith; of James the Second with his court +playing the golf at Blackheath and sowing seeds that were to bear +amazing fruit in the south at a far-off date; of Mary Queen of Scots +golfing with her favourite Chastelard at St. Andrews. There was +Archbishop Hamilton, who signed the authority that was given to the +Provost and magistrates of St. Andrews to put rabbits on the links, +which authority recognised the rights of the community to the links, +more especially for the purpose of playing at "golff, futball, schuteing +at all gamis, with all other manner of pastyme." This was a kind of +ratification of a Magna Charta of Golf. There was Duncan Forbes, of +Culloden, first captain of the Gentlemen Golfers, now known as the +Honourable Company, in 1744. A marvellous man was Duncan Forbes, Lord +President of the Council, and we know that he played for the Silver Club +in 1745--for the last time, probably, because just then the rising of +the clans obliged him to set out for the north, where he exerted himself +to the utmost to prevent them from joining the cause of the Young +Pretender. And here in passing let it be written that there is good +cause to think that Bonnie Prince Charlie himself was the first to play +real or Scottish golf on the continent of Europe, for he is believed to +have had a course made for himself when in Italy, and was once found +playing in the Borghese gardens, so Mr. Andrew Lang once told us. There +was the wonderful William St. Clair, of Roslin, so much skilled at golf +and archery that the common people believed he had a private arrangement +with the devil. Sir George Chalmers painted a picture of him, which is +possessed by the Honourable Company, and Sir Walter Scott wrote that he +was "a man considerably above six feet, with dark grey locks, a form +upright, but gracefully so, thin-flanked and broad-shouldered, built, it +would seem, for the business of war or the chase, a noble eye, of +chastened pride and undoubted authority, and features handsome and +striking in their general effect. As schoolboys we crowded to see him +perform feats of strength and skill in the old Scottish games of golf +and archery." And from there the tale passes on with life and colour to +the beginnings of the Royal and Ancient Club; to the activities of the +early members like Major Murray Belshes, and the interest of William +the Fourth, whose gift medal is played for at St. Andrews to this day; +to such fine gentlemen of the old school as the late Lord Moncrieff and +the Earl of Wemyss; to the professionals also like the Morrises and +Allan Robertson, and old Willie Park. So on along from the ages past to +such as Frederick Guthrie Tait, who gave to the modern history of golf +something that glows as well as the best of the old traditions. + +Now it may be said that these traditions and all the others, like them +and unlike, make the game no better, and that they add nothing in yards +to our driving from the tee. After a consideration I will not agree +either that they make the game no better or that they add nothing to the +driving. The spirits of a romantic history are a continual influence. +They give a dignity to the game which is felt right through it. Only the +golfer knows how true this is. Men who look upon it lightly as a pastime +before they know anything of it, learn upon their initiation, and not +only learn but feel, that there is all that is mysterious, wonderful, +and awe-inspiring in the game and its past, a new and deep respect is +created, and there is no more beginner's lightness and nonsense. Age and +solemnity, and many ceremonies great and small, have given to golf some +of the attributes of a religion, and with membership of it there comes +responsibility. When a new Nonconformist chapel has the same exalting +influence upon the mind and sentiment of a person of intelligence and +sympathies as an ancient cathedral with all its tombs and relics, and +the dim pillars among which echoes seem to float and mingle with spirits +of the past and the great eternity, or when the dining-room of a flat in +Knightsbridge inspires and dignifies its company like the banqueting +hall of some ancient castle, I will perhaps agree that the traditions of +golf are of no practical effect beyond that of merely preserving the +game from vandalism and giving it a place above the others. Often when +reflecting thus one feels that in duty to the game one's policy in +matters should be "St. Andrews, right or wrong." But yet one could wish +that these mighty traditions were not at times invoked for improper +purposes. There is too much free and unintelligible talk about them in +these modern times. They are wantonly applied to base uses; a man will +urge the traditions in his favour and against his opponent when he +attempts some vile procedure. When a crafty person is beaten in +argument, he cries, "The traditions!" and people who speciously, and +with insincerity, condemn what we may call the modern advancements of +the game will murmur that the rubber-cored ball and clubs with steel +faces are not according to "the traditions." Truly they are not, and +those old traditions had nothing to do with gutties either; but Duncan +Forbes would have rejoiced in the possession of a modern driver and +mashie niblick. It is too often and absurdly assumed that the ancients +used the tools they had because they were the best conceivable and most +appropriate, just right in practical quality and proper sentiment. They +were merely the best that had been discovered up to then. The Stuart +kings might have had a happier time had they possessed some rubber +Haskells to coax and lead them on. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE UBIQUITY OF THE GAME; WITH AN ADVERTISEMENT FOR THE COMMUNITY OF +GOLFERS, AND A NOTE UPON THE EFFECT OF ST. ANDREWS SPIRITS. + + +The ubiquity of this game--being the third of the seven wonders--is +remarkable, for it is played everywhere by everybody. No other sport has +ever achieved such universal favour, and we may be sure that none will +ever do so, because, apart from the fascination it exercises upon the +people of different countries and different races, it is so strong in +its simplicity--the stick, the ball, the mark, and, with them being +given, the object plainly suggested. It has already been suggested that, +in its essentials golf being obvious, it must have been practised from +the earliest times. Everywhere the simpler emotions of man are the same, +and so everywhere the game must make the same appeal when it is +understood. So here, strange as it is still, we have a nearly satisfying +explanation. What is yet wonderful beyond it is the fact that the +regulated game with the rules and restrictions that have been agreed +upon and codified by the high authorities at St. Andrews are everywhere +accepted, and even in such embellishments it is the same game +everywhere. Nothing can approach it in this universality. Yet that also +is nearly explicable. + +By a process of continuous thought and deduction from observation the +people of St. Andrews, past and present, have gained a code of +regulations which seems most completely to satisfy the requirements of +the case. It has often been urged against the numerous and lengthy laws +we have that they suffer from too many niceties and too many +complications, and that they represent a remarkable evolution of +man-made intricacy from the one simple governing principle that the ball +shall be struck by the stick, and that if the object be not achieved by +the first blow it shall be struck again from the place where it then +lies. In that simple principle there is all golf, and by it the game +must surely have been played at the beginning. But it is the disposition +of man to depart from the most absolute simplicity in the direction of +what he regards as improvement upon it, and therefore bare principles +get covered up with fancy wrappings, while again there is in the human +species an immovable distrust of each other and a tendency towards the +setting up of safeguards and protections--laws. When this is done in +different places, and by different peoples, the results also are almost +certain to be widely different; and with the assistance of time and +further development two peoples might at length produce two games which, +originating in the same basic principle, might be in appearance, +materials, and actions quite dissimilar. Nearly all ball games, indeed, +must have had much the same original principle. Golf, as we know it, has +had its integrity preserved, and has established its amazing +universality because, despite the numerous and lengthy laws, the spirit +of the game has been so completely preserved in them. Between absolute +simplicity, the one natural law of golf, as we might call it, as just +enunciated, and a lengthy, confusing, and sometimes even contradictory +code there can be little compromise, and perfection and completeness in +golfing law are impossible, because no two courses are alike, no two +shots are quite the same, and there can be no end to new situations +until there is an end of the world and man. It sometimes seems that St. +Andrews, indefatigable, pursues an impossible finality, and thereby +makes difficulties for itself. That through ages and generations it has +produced a code of laws, and defined the principles of a game that is +accepted all over the world, and causes the same game to be played +wherever the sun may shine, is not merely an achievement in intelligence +and discernment, but something that suggests a grand inspiration. These +are times of change, when old systems of the world are being abandoned +and new ones being set in their places. It may happen, though it is as +unlikely as it is undesirable, that St. Andrews itself as a governing +body will fall; but nothing that ever happens to the game in the future +can equal the marvel of its foundation and establishment by this +authority and its associates. + + + * * * * * + +It is not without good reason that they call golf the world game now. It +has alighted upon every country, and wherever it has touched it has +seized. The yellow man likes it; the black man in some places has to be +kept away from it, because it is found that he grows too fond of it. One +day when I was golfing at the Country Club, near Boston, they showed me +a most primitive kind of club that was kept with some other relics in a +glass case. It had been fashioned from the branch of a tree, and with +this crude implement a nigger boy in one of the southern states had not +long previously driven a ball over two hundred yards. Other games are +for their own countries, like the country's foods, and they would +neither be suitable nor adaptable elsewhere; but in its nature golf +will do for all, and it has the same subtle attraction for everybody, so +that what was once thought to be the "golf craze" of the British people +only became the craze of the Americans too, then of the French, now of +the Germans and others, and of really everybody. Its qualities and +conveniences make it the only possible world game. At present in some +countries it is confined to a few people of unusual distinction or +circumstances, but it has been found in old and recent history that, +following a beginning of this kind, the game in a new land has never +languished, but that presently it has extended from the pioneers, who +were probably from abroad, to the native people, and from the upper +classes to the middle, and then to the lower. In France at the present +time we see the game being started among the general French, and I have +news that the statesmen have begun to play; yet a little while since the +golf of Gaul was carried on by British only. + +Recently some of us were looking over the map of the world for odd +countries that might be golfless, and it appeared then that there were +but four: one being the Balkan States, considering them in the piece, +another was Afghanistan, a third was Persia, and, scattering the +attention over the islands of the earth, one reflected that no golf in +Iceland had been heard of. But shortly afterwards this brief list of +lone golfless places was reduced to one. To a little gathering of +friends one night an adventurous gentleman was describing the +excitements of a day's rough golf that he had had one time when near to +Reykiavik, and, if the course was to some extent made for the occasion, +little enough did that matter then. There were some real holes, and the +pioneer declared one of them to be the longest and most sporting he had +ever played; and we knew he had played some good ones. So Iceland came +into the fold. It was discovered during the recent wars that there was +golf here and there in those worrying Balkans. Then lo! the land of the +Afghans was also delivered to the game, and it was the Ameer himself who +was chiefly responsible, thus emulating the rulers of many other lands. +He had heard of golf, had seen it, realised it, and had been fascinated. +Thereupon he had a short course prepared for him in the neighbourhood of +Kabul, and began to practise with royal assiduity at his driving, +pitching, and putting. Humble, doubtful, and yet loyal subjects observed +this done from a respectful distance, and they wondered. After a little +while they perceived that it was a game, and that the chief of Afghans +invariably sought with his little ball the holes that were placed upon +the course. Being practical people, they conceived that they might turn +the game and their royal master's fondness for it to their advantage, +and thereupon began to deposit in the holes at night such petitions as +they had difficulty in getting placed before the royal eyes by any other +means. They believed that by their new system the Ameer was sure to see +and read what was intended for him. Yet it proved that he was somewhat +angered by this manner of approach, and gave orders that all petitions +found in his golfing holes should be burned unread. The petitioning +parties had not understood how seriously the game he played was taken, +nor the deep effect it had upon the mind and the disposition of the +player, else they would surely have moved craftily and warily with their +prayers, and then they might have gained imperial favour. Had they seen +their ruler miss his drive, foozle his second, put his third into the +pond, slice among the trees with his fifth--even Ameers being penalised +a stroke for lifting from the water--and eventually reach the putting +green in nine, three more strokes then being needed, they would have +been stupid Afghans had they not at a convenient moment taken their +petitions from the holes, or withheld them if they had not placed them +there. But when an Ameer hits a good one from the tee, when his ball +flies fast and straight from his royal brassey (and rulers also laugh +when a topped ball runs a bunker!), when by enormous luck he lays an +approach quite close to the hole, and afterwards the putt is truly +played--why, many an Afghan might pray for the release of a brother from +prison in Kabul, and the brother, pardoned, might be raised to office in +the palace, perhaps to be an executioner. Now, if the petition had been +submitted when the sovereign had done his hole in twelve, the brother +might have died as arranged, perhaps the petitioner also, and who knows +but that the neglectful greenkeeper, for not having seen that all holes +for the day were free of pleas, would not have joined the departures for +another world. Wandering players may look forward now to some future +golf in Afghanistan. Have we not heard of the Shah at the game? If it +cannot be proved, Persia must be left in an Asiatic golfless solitude, +with the gibe against her that even celestial China has her courses, and +that they are everywhere save in the Persia where Omar was, and in fine +worldly philosophy bade us take good pleasures while we may. + +Golf's vast ubiquity is illustrated in another case recalled by this +reference to kings who play. Miss Decima Moore of the theatres has a +love for roving far which has led her to many raw places of the earth +for hunting and shooting and adventurous exploration when she has tired +of the footlights and has longed for Nature with no mask at all. Then, +being golfer too, she has wandered with her bag of clubs into many +distant lands, and one morning in London, just back from Central Africa, +she told me of some strange experiences of a golfing woman. She has +played the game up in Uganda, and explained the quality of the play of +King Daudi Chwa, who is a ruler of those parts. Even once before, a +colonial bishop had informed me of the golf of this dusky king. He had +had some holes laid out for himself, so I was instructed, and when not +engaged in duties of his kingly office, which were seemingly not +onerous, he devoted himself earnestly to the reduction of his handicap +and to lowering his record for his private course--upon which strangers +in those parts are always welcome to a game. The bishop said that his +Majesty drove an excellent ball, played his irons well, and putted with +a good instinct for line and length, and the actress backed the bishop's +story. In the region of the Victoria Nyanza there are no Sunningdales to +be found, but the royal course of nine holes is considered a creditable +thing. The king, who was lately in England and played a little here, +will be glad to see any golfers who may go that way, and it may be his +pleasure to call one of his holes by a name of theirs as, with a good +African grace, he called one "Decima" when our English lady played it. + + + * * * * * + +These wandering golfers do bring home great stories, and others send +them. A friend, poor Tom Browne, who is dead, the clever artist in black +and white, sat with me once at lunch in the Adelphi, and we talked of +golf in distant lands and many things concerning it, for in the morning +he was going eastwards to China and Japan. He said he should play as +much as possible, and he did. While at the table he drew a sketch on a +piece of paper and passed it to me with a smile. It was a picture of +himself leaving on a golfing holiday to those very foreign parts, with +numerous bags of clubs, cases of spare clubs guaranteed for all +climates, and innumerable large boxes piled up all round him, each one +labelled "One gross of best balls." Poor Tom always did take his clubs +with him to foreign lands, and on this occasion he made good, as one +might say, on that little sketch he drew at lunch by the places he +played at afterwards, and queer drawings he sent to me of the courses +and the people at them. He wrote from Tien-Tsin that the one they had +there was just outside the town and was a flat plain covered with +Chinese graves, the course being really nothing but one huge graveyard. +"The Chinamen," he said in his letter, "plant their graves anywhere that +suits them, and they consist of raised-up mounds which enclose the +coffins. Off the graves the ball will bounce at all kinds of angles. +Sometimes after heavy rains the mounds fall to pieces and expose the +coffins. The golf club can remove any of these graves by buying them at +four taels a coffin, and when a grave is bought in this way the native +takes the coffin away, buries it somewhere else, and the grave is then +flattened down. Fore-caddies are employed on this course. The 'greens' +consist of baked mud, as is usual in these eastern parts, and are +generally circular in shape. Chinese caddies do not understand the game +and think that the foreign devils who play it are surely mad. They +continually ask the players, 'When will you finish hitting and following +that ball about?' And they have a local rule at Tien-Tsin that 'a ball +lying in an open grave may be picked out and dropped without penalty.'" + +This graveyard golf, as I know, is not at all peculiar to Tien-Tsin, for +not long ago I had a letter from a British official at Chiankiang on the +Yangtse River, in which he told me that they had just begun to play the +game out there on a course covered with crater-like excrescences, these +Chinese graves again, and he declared that they made the most excellent +hazards. It should be added for their credit's sake, golfers being +considerate people and mindful of others' feelings, that they carefully +ascertained in this case that no Chinese sentiment was injured by play +in these cemeteries, if they are to be called by such a name. Again, I +recall that a little while since the golfers who have a course in the +Malay peninsula went down to it one morning and found a Chinaman digging +up the remains of a deceased relative from one of the putting greens, +intending to remove them to China; because it is a common thing, as I am +told, when a Chinaman dies abroad, for his people to inter him +temporarily if they can and give him another burial in his native land +when opportunity chances. There has been a great move in things in this +country lately. The Government has changed; the people, according to +some trade returns that I have seen, are taking extensively to smoking +English cigarettes and wearing unlovely English clothes. So it is +inevitable that in their vast multitudes they will one day come into +golf, for a little advancement towards modern ways often leads to +strikes and golf. One fears to think that when China has a championship +her people may compete in such a costume as is favoured by some of the +oldest and best Scottish professionals (and if asked for a name we shall +mention good Sandy Herd as a captain of the class), who always wear dark +trousers and a light-grey jacket to their golf. There must be some +virtue in this unconventional arrangement of tints; for so many of the +great are attached to it. + +In other parts of Asia there is golf that is peculiar, especially in +India where it flourishes to the extent of forty or fifty clubs, +including those of Calcutta and Bombay, which are not merely the oldest +in India but rank high in seniority among the golf clubs of the world. +Both were well established before 1860, at which time there were only +two or three in England, and the game was all but unknown in America. +Despite the fact that it was born in 1842 and was really an Indian +offshoot of the famous Royal Blackheath Club, the Royal Bombay remains a +little primitive in the matter of its course. It is a golf course for +one part of the day and something else for the remainder, and it is +perhaps the only course in the world which is dismantled daily. The fact +is that it is situated on what is called the "maidan," an open space +near to the European business quarter, and the golfers, having no +exclusive possession of it, are not allowed to play after half past ten +in the morning and are required, when they have done, to remove their +hazards. This obviously necessitates unconventional obstacles, and the +club has had to resort to movable screens, varying from four to ten feet +high, which are put up when play begins and taken away again when it is +finished. Having become accustomed to this sort of thing it ceases to +annoy, and in Bombay the course is considered good and sporting, and the +greens are well attended. Then up on the hills at Darjeeling there is +the highest golf course in the world, for it is situated at an elevation +of more than eight thousand feet above the level of the sea on the +abandoned cantonment of Seneshal. Scenery often does not count for very +much with golfers, and the better the golfer the keener he is on the +game and the less does he care at times about the surroundings of the +course. Yet, as I am told, it would be a dull poor soul that was not +moved by the views from the Darjeeling course, with Mounts Everest and +Kinchinjunga, both nearly thirty thousand feet high, in one direction +and the plains of Bengal in another. But perhaps the most curious of the +Indian courses is that of the Royal Western India Club, upon which is an +idgah, or kind of temple, some thirty feet in height and fifty long, +with bastions at either end and minarets in the middle. This idgah +serves the double duty of club-house and a hazard also, for it has to +be driven over from the tee on the way to the eleventh hole, and many +are the marks on its walls that were made by balls that were hit too +low. The course has another peculiarity in that it possesses seventeen +holes only, no amount of ingenuity being enough to scheme out an +eighteenth on the land available, so one of them has to be played twice +over to make up the usual eighteen. This club has its course at Nasik, +and mention of the idgah reminds one that the Royal Bangkok Club of Siam +used to have an old and very imposing Siamese temple for a club-house. A +little while since, when travelling northwards from Marseilles through +France, I met, in the restaurant car of my P.L.M. train, an officer just +going home on leave from India, and he assured me that he had found no +place in the country where there was no golf, and he gave me some good +examples of the ingenuity and enthusiasm of the golfers there. Thus at +Multam, for the betterment of their sanded putting "browns" they keep +them oiled all over, so that the ball runs evenly along them, and at a +reasonable pace. There is an attendant to each green, who smooths over +the track that is made by every ball when putted. And my companion told +me also that in the season at Gulmurg in Kashmir, where they have two +courses, there is such a crowd of golfers that it is difficult to +arrange starting times for all of them. + +As one would expect, the game is played in Japan, and there is a highly +flourishing club at Kobe, whose course is on the top of a high mountain +at Rokkosan. It is a splendidly interesting course when reached, with +views that can only be second in magnificence to those of Darjeeling; +but for the occasional visitor the chief pleasure would seem to lie in +the reaching, rather, perhaps, than in golfing on it afterwards, for the +players have to go by rickshaw to the foot of the Cascade Valley and +are then carried up the mountain slope by coolies for an hour and a +half, when at last the tees and bunkers come to view. + +Thus it is indicated what great work must have been done by the pioneers +of golf. They have been fine adventurers and explorers. In their +strength of purpose, their resourcefulness, their enterprise and daring, +and in their joy of doing beginnings, they have had some of the burning +zeal and the quick inspirations of the voyagers of Elizabethan time. +They too were discovering a world anew. When a golfer reaches a place +afar where there is no course, his first and most natural impulse is to +make one. Sir Edgar Vincent, keen player, told me once how he and that +most distinguished amateur and ex-champion Mr. J. E. Laidlay, had a +considerable hand in the starting of golf in Egypt, where it is now as +well established as the Pyramids and Sphinx. Sir Edgar went to Cairo, +and with him took his clubs, but on arrival found there was no course +whereon to play, and there was Laidlay disappointed in the same way. So +they twain obtained shovels and other implements of labour, enlisted the +service of native helpers, and went out into the desert, making there +the first golf course of Egypt. But theirs was not the distinction of +hitting the first golf ball in that ancient land. Long before then a +Scottish golfing minister did it. There is no better enthusiast than +these ministers, about whom the best stories are told, as of the worthy +who was left muttering the Athanasian creed in the lowest depths of +hell, being the bunker of that name on the old course at St. Andrews, +and the other who felt he would have to give it up because he played so +ill and was so much provoked--not give up the game but alas! his +ministry. And so the Rev. J. H. Tait, of Aberlady, went for a golfing +holiday to Egypt long before the two gallants who did the spade work +there, lumbered himself up to the top of the great Pyramid, and then, +feeling in his pocket, curiously enough discovered an old golf ball +there. To tee it up, to address it with the handle end of his umbrella, +and to despatch it earthwards to Egyptian sand with the thwack of an +honest east-coast swing, was the labour of no more time than would be +needed to recite a verse of Psalms. + +A whole book having been written on Australian golf we may leave it +unconsidered here. Hardly an island but there is a links upon it. The +other day, when I had myself but just come back from foreign golfing +parts, I was mated for the game on a London course to one who told me he +had only then returned from Fiji, where his last game was at Suva and +was a foursome in which the local bishop, the attorney-general, the +chief trader, and himself were engaged. He explained the part that was +played by _mimosa pudica_, being the "sensitive plant," in the golf of +the Fiji islanders. When this herb is touched by anything, its leaves +droop and close upon the object, and, _mimosa pudica_ being all over the +fairway of the course, balls would be too often hidden and lost but for +the agile caddies who are sent in front to watch for them. In these days +one is hearing frequently of travellers' tales like this. + +Spain having been captured by the game, as I shall relate in time, there +is little need to dwell upon the other conquests of golf in Europe. In +Germany it is fast advancing, and the German Golf Association, which +publishes a German Golf Year-Book, is an enterprising body. The Kaiser +has encouraged the game, and has given land for it. At Baden Baden they +have given the most valuable prizes to professionals; at Oberhof, in the +Thuringen Forest, there has been made under the guidance of the Duke of +Saxe-Coburg one of the nicest courses a German need wish to play upon, +and the girl caddies in pretty uniform are the most picturesque alive. +In Norway and Sweden, in Denmark, and nearly everywhere there is golf, +and much of it. It flourishes in Italy, as is to be shown in a later +chapter. Even in Russia you may golf. Both St. Petersburg and Moscow +have their clubs and courses, and the Mourino Club, belonging to the +former, has its place near a small village some dozen miles from the +capital. The golf is good for Russia, but one does not quickly forget +the roughness of the road in reaching it. And down at the bottom of that +side of the map there is golf at Constantinople too! The game is done on +the _yok maidan_ just outside the city, _yok_ being Persian for "arrow," +and _maidan_ the word for "plain," the fact being that it was on this +land that the sultans and their suites in days gone by were accustomed +to practise archery, and there are still on the plain many stone pillars +erected to the memory of great shots that were made. The +English-speaking colony had some difficulty to gain permission to golf +on this ground, and, having no exclusive rights in the matter, are +harassed by many worries. It is used largely for drilling soldiers, and +is described as being "a favourite resort for Jews on Saturdays, for +Greeks on Sundays, and for Turks on Fridays." The golfer may need to +delay his stroke while a long string of camels passes through the +fairway, and again he may have difficulty in persuading a party of +Turkish ladies, closely veiled, taking the sun on one of the putting +greens, to retire therefrom for a little while. Yet the game is much +enjoyed by the officials of foreign Governments in Constantinople, and +the turf on the _yok maidan_ is good. + +In the rich remembrances of the game there is little that is mournful; +but one sad moment comes when I read a letter reminding me that golf +was once played "farthest south," where man does not abide save briefly +for exploration and adventure, where there is eternal ice and snow. +Captain Robert Scott, the glorious British hero of the Southern Pole, +whose friendship I enjoyed, was a golfer too. One of many letters of a +personal kind I had from him, just before he set out on his last +magnificent but fatal expedition, was addressed from the Littlestone +Golf Club. He asked me to send to the ship a certain piece of golfing +literature, believing that "members of the expedition would read it with +interest and, I hope, with benefit to their handicaps!" He had taken +some clubs and balls up there into the Antarctic on his previous +expedition, when farthest south was reached. On one of the last days he +spent in London I had some talk with him on different matters, and we +joked about ways of playing Antarctic shots. We were in his office in +Victoria Street then. "Good-bye!" he said in parting, "And you must come +to meet me on my return!" And if none met him coming back, yet we know +the game he played. + + + * * * * * + +The fact that there is golf nearly everywhere on earth will make it +appear to some minds, reasonably too, that here is a convenient +diversion for those travellers who like this sort of thing, something +with which they can fill up time when held up for a while in a distant +country and being impatient or weary. True, golf is good for that; but +the unsophisticated who imagine that this is the full relation between +travel and the game, and that this is the function of the courses +everywhere, suffer from a poor delusion, which is expensive. + +It is a modern necessity to the traveller. In these days we are a people +of wanderers; railways offer cheap journeys, steamships carry us over +seas at little cost, hotels are good and comfortable; and why should +those who like and have the hours not be always roaming and seeing the +open world? But travelling sometimes has its inconveniences and its +tedious days. Some wanderers unconsciously exert themselves towards +loneliness, and they do not love it when they have it. The joy of +meeting with a friend when one is half a globe away from home! With all +the travelling that is done in these days there has come a great +increase of loneliness. Golf has been set to destroy it. There are still +people who travel and do not golf, but they are fewer daily, and as each +new travel-golfer is established he wonders how he lived and moved and +was moderately well contented and satisfied before. His travelling was a +plain occupation then; now it makes more emotion and thrill, and, +positively, it is more educative. There was a time, when I was very +young, when I did not golf as I travelled abroad, partly because there +were few courses to play upon and no golfers to play with, for it is +only in recent times that the game has been established in every country +in the world; and as I look back upon those days it is hard to realise +that they were in this present life. They should have belonged to some +other existence, which in the course of time and nature was given up, a +reincarnation having followed ages after. + +The traveller who is golfless has often no friends at the places that he +visits. Some men and women have good capacity for making them at each +hotel they stay in; others have not. In any case these acquaintanceships +are exceedingly thin; the people do not really know each other; +oftentimes they say not what they think, and they have no common +interest. This kind of friendship with all its making of artificial +conversation is poor stuff at times. The golfless wanderer in his +travelling does one of two things; either he does hardly anything at all +or he goes to see the sights; and one suspects that much of the peering +through the gloom of dark cathedrals and the lounging in picture +galleries is done merely for the killing of time, and for the formal +recording of places that have been visited and sights that have been +seen. Some travellers are happiest when they have done their business +with the churches and the local castles and may leave by the next +train--one day nearer home and still working well! + +The case of the golfing traveller is very different. He has friends in +every big town in every country, and all await his coming to make +pleasure and happiness for him. He needs to scheme nothing in advance; +they are prepared for him always. The automatic management of this real +society of friends is most marvellously perfect. The wanderer, let us +say, is advancing towards a new place--one that he knows nothing of. +From the people about him now he may make inquiry as to which is the +golf hotel at his destination, for often there is one to which golfers +most resort, and, with his golf directory containing the names of all +the golf clubs in the world, and with some particulars and the +secretaries' addresses, away he goes complete and well prepared. His +corny hands and his bag of clubs are his passport to every links. By the +perfect system that we have, every man who is a golfer and a member of a +golf club is _ipso facto_ a travelling member of nearly every other golf +club in the world, and is admitted to full playing and other privileges +without delay on paying the trifling fees of temporary membership, +sometimes with even less than that. And one golf club seems very much +like another--just a branch of it; the atmosphere is the same, and the +men are the same. The stranger reaches his new destination, in England +or in India, in France or in America; he registers at his hotel; and as +soon as may be he seeks direction from the manager or the hall porter +as to the whereabouts of the golf club. There he goes. At once, then, he +is admitted to the local community of players, and they make much of +him. They arrange games for him, surround him with the most hospitable +companions, discover that he and they have many mutual friendships in +different parts of the world, and linger upon other common ground in +their memories of the third hole at one and the seventeenth at some +other place. How the talk goes on! This golfer arrived among the unknown +at ten in the morning, and at four in the afternoon he is tied to as +many good friends as man could need. They invite him here and there; +they take him to their homes; they make much of him. Stranger indeed! A +thin voice of a petulant cynic may be heard again. "Yes," says he, "but +in travelling one does not wish to spend all one's time in playing games +and lounging about golf clubs!" True; and the golfing traveller, though +he likes to visit courses in other countries, and finds it well to have +an object always and something good with which to fill the daylight +hours and keep his health in a well-balanced state, uses the game and +its people to greater advantage than even that. The golf community of a +place is always the most active and the most useful. There are the local +dignitaries, the people of influence and consequence, men who know +everything about the town, and can do most things. They can open doors +that are locked, and take you to the most secret places. And so the +golfing traveller, the first desire for the best of games being +satisfied, always finds that his new friends wish to help him. Perhaps +the ambassador is here, and ambassadors are serviceable men. All wise +people golf a little at the present time. They give their guest letters +of introduction; they tell him how to go about. They do much more than +that, for they get out their cars and take him. Places which seem +unfriendly to others are always friendly to the golfer. There is no +particular community, no society, no association, no brotherhood in the +world that is so real in its effectiveness, so thoroughly practical as +this of golf. A quarter of a million British golfers know that this is +true, and they know the reason why. + + + * * * * * + +From the consideration of this busy world of golf in general it is an +easy move in thought to the one wee spot of it from which it has to a +large extent developed, upon which the great scheme continually hangs, +being the fourth of our seven wonders of golf--ancient St. Andrews. In a +measure I developed this idea at the beginning of the consideration of +golf as the world game; but now for a moment regard the capital of golf, +not as the parliament place where the high statesmen do ponderously +deliberate and with stern visage that befits their lofty authority most +solemnly severally and jointly promulgate various laws and ordinances, +but as the wonder city of the golfing world where one gathers emotions +from a ghostly past, a city where golf is everything and nothing else is +anything, where golf is life. This is the aspect of St. Andrews, and the +only one, in which it is really great. We have much respect for our +rulers. They are wise men, and we believe that they maintain the spirit +of the game better than any other body of men could or would. They are +well born and trained in golf, and the atmosphere of St. Andrews keeps +them straight in the true golfing way. One who lived in an inland +manufacturing town or spent his days in the office of a colliery would +lose his golfing perspective early in middle age. But these excellents +of Fifeshire play a little, read a little, talk much and deliberate, +and the social and intellectual atmosphere keeps them strong in their +golfing sense always. The government of St. Andrews is really one to +respect and have faith in, but it is not the existing wonder of St. +Andrews. When you visit the place, such of these rulers as live there do +not impress you for anything save their good golf, their excellent and +pleasant manners, their keen wit, their fine sense in matters of +intellect, their tolerable aestheticism, their shrewd judgment in +political affairs, their sound advice on financial questions, their fine +epicurean taste, their kingly cellars, their magnificent hospitality, +and their charming women. In nothing else that I can think of do they +excel, and as minor deities, or as a college of cardinals with a captain +for pope, endowed with powers transmitted from a golfers' heaven, they +are failures. They are merely human, very good, and excellently +conservative. + +No sort of people make St. Andrews. Only in two circumstances are the +living humans of the place specially interesting. One is on the occasion +of the autumn meeting of the Royal and Ancient Club, when the cannon on +the hill is fired, when the new captain plays himself in with ceremony, +and when all the ancient rites are properly observed until far on in the +night. The other is in the attitude of the people generally towards this +game as a thing of life, their seeming feeling that it is nearly the +beginning and end of all things in this world. This may not be a proper +view, and it is for something of the kind, but yet long distant from it, +that the golfers of the south are chided and ridiculed for their +enthusiasm. That, again, is why the real golfer, heart and soul for the +game, who, if he would confess it, does let it take a larger part of his +life sometimes than is very good for him (but who knows what this fellow +would be doing if not golfing?), feels happy when at St. Andrews, feels +that at last he has come to his real home. For here the people look upon +him just as merely right and normal because he is a golfer and nothing +but a golfer--and a man with a little money to spare. His chief +peculiarity is not that he stammers or is deaf or is a total abstainer, +that he is a peer of the realm or mayor of his town or a professor of +Greek, but that he addresses his ball with the heel of his club or pulls +a little always. The place is attuned to his feeling of life; it is in +sympathy with him. It is either a fine day for the game--as most days +are--or it is no day at all. If we lose our match it does not matter +what the papers say of politics or Germany; if we win it, the papers +matter less. The caddies know that you are a golfer and what is your +handicap; and if you are the real thing that is enough for them. Be not +a golfer at heart or a namby-pamby person hanging to the game, and their +contempt is rarely hidden. In the hotels they know what golf means to +people; the chambermaid on calling you in the morning may tell you the +direction the wind is blowing, knowing that it matters more than any hot +water. The men in the club-makers' shops are sorely concerned in your +domestic difficulties about the length of the shaft of your driver and +your quarrel with an iron. They know what it is; they are kindly, +worldly-wise doctors, who are the constant recipients of the confidences +of poor sufferers. They will try to put you right. All the +advertisements on the walls are of golf; the notices in the shop windows +are of golf matches and competitions. The streets are called after golf, +the taverns have golf names. Yes! golf is in all the air and all the +earth and all the people of this ancient city with its far-seen spires. + +But yet even these things do not give to St. Andrews its ineffable +charm; if they are all that the wanderer notices he is not the real man +of the game after all, nor is the splendid quality of the holes on the +old course and on the new enough either, great as is that quality. The +wanderer missed St. Andrews if these things were all that were +discovered. He should understand that here we feel that the Swilcan Burn +is greater than the Dardanelles; Asia is a trifle when we survey the +vast extent of the fifth putting green, and little enough do we worry of +hell when with a fine long shot with the brassey we can carry "the +devil's kitchen" on the way to the fourteenth green. Here the game is in +the air; we breathe it, feel it. And the reason why is because the +spirits are in the air, the spirits of the ancients who at St. Andrews +laid the foundations of this game, served for its traditions, set it up +and shaped it to the good service of men, and gave their stamp to every +inch of this great old course. Do not misunderstand. These men, I do +believe, were often very ordinary simple human beings; they may have +been no better than we are. There is a possibility that they were worse. +They may not have been worthy to be canonised as they have been; but let +us not inquire upon these matters, for we should not peer too closely at +the gods. What matters is that in the first place undoubtedly they were +in at the game before we were, in at it the first of all, were evidently +uncommonly shrewd people, and for their discovery of golf and their +presentation of it to us their perpetual dignity was well won. It +matters also that we have many volumes of good stories about them, and +none that is in any serious sense against them. On legend and anecdote +they win well. And, third, whatever they were, we believe them to have +been these great men, we set them up in our imagination as such, we +recreate them to our fancies and desires, and they seem somehow to +respond. + +So we imagine, believe, and are well satisfied, and therefore the +spirits of golf take advantage and seem always to hover in the air of +the old grey city, brooding upon the links, contented that things are +moving as well as they are, and that what they began prospers so finely, +though they wail a little, one would imagine, about what the +rubber-cored ball has done, and the wraith of old Allan Robertson turns +round to the ghost of the elder Morris, murmuring, "D'ye mind, Tammas, +the awfu' trouble that we bodies had wi' ane anither when the gutty ba' +kem hither to St. Andrews, and I caught ye, ma servin' man, ye ken, +playin' gowff, as ye wad say, wi' Campbell of Saddell and wi' the gutty, +and me a maker o' the featheries tae!" + +"Aye, I ken weel eno'," croons the shade of Old Tom, "and I'm telling +ye, Allan, man, that I was fower up on Mr. Campbell at the eleventh +hole, and I was playin' ma very best, and wi' ma second shot at the +fourteenth, eh mon alive----" + +"Na, na, Tammas, nane o' yer rantin' aboot the shots as ye played at St. +Andrews, when ye spent the best pairt o' yer time ower theer at +Prestwick, and ye never could mak' up a scoor from a' yer ither scoors +as wad come to 56 like mine. Ye ken that, Tom! And dinna forget, ma +laddie, as I was goin' to tell ye, that when I saw ye wi' that awfu' new +ba' as wad ruin every bit body o' us I tell't ye straight, ma man, as ye +must go, and never a bit o' wark did ye do in ma shop again." + +And then Tom, good-natured old ghost as he is, and loving his Allan +still, just answers, "Puir Allan, ye always were a cunnin' body o' a +man, and a guid man tae, and fun aboot ye a' the time!" + +And all this about ghosts and the times they have in the air over St. +Andrews old links may look like nonsense, but those who do not believe +it, or do not feel that they believe it by mental adoption, have not +been to St. Andrews properly, and do not understand her. + + + * * * * * + +The most utterly non-golfing and sceptical person may be convinced in +another way, by matters not of ghosts and fancies but of laws and +prisons, that St. Andrews is all golf and is not as other places are. +There are laws of the town approved by Act of Parliament, by which it is +made illegal to practise putting on the eighteenth green or to play on +the course with iron clubs only, the penalty for offences in these +matters being a fine or imprisonment. Where else is there a place where +a golfer may get fourteen days for depending for all his long shots on +his driving iron or his cleek? Clearly, the law is made for the good of +the precious turf and the teeing grounds of the old course, and that it +is not law made to be looked and laughed at is proved by the fact that a +Prime Minister himself was once warned for infringing it. One time when +at St. Andrews I made an examination of the complete bye-laws in which +these prohibitions are included. They are embraced in the St. Andrews +Links Act, which was passed in 1894, and in the Burgh Police Act of +Scotland, which was made law two years earlier. The regulations for the +use of the old and new golf courses make up these bye-laws, and they are +twenty-one in number. Following them are four "general regulations for +the whole links as defined by Schedule I. of the Links Act," and at the +finish there is a clause about penalties, wherein it is said that "any +person who shall contravene any of the foregoing bye-laws shall be +liable, on conviction, in a penalty not exceeding one pound for each +offence, and, failing payment, to imprisonment for any period not +exceeding fourteen days." There it is, the law, and it is that last +clause with its sting that gives the point to the whole story. + +Now let us look at these bye-laws and see how careful we must be when we +go to the great city of golf, and for what we may be fined a pound or +lodged in a Fifeshire gaol for a full fortnight, during which our game +might go to rack and ruin. + +In the first place it is set down that "no person shall play cricket, +football, or any game other than golf upon the golf courses." Surely +nobody who ever went to St. Andrews would wish to play any other game, +but here we have it plainly set forth that the golf of St. Andrews will +bear no rivals, and it must be remembered that the great putting green, +on which the fifth and thirteenth holes are made, is big enough for +several cricket pitches, and also that the large flat space along which +a fairway for the first and eighteenth is situated might be made into +various football grounds. But what sacrilege! It is well that men may be +sent to prison if they ever committed it. Then you may be punished by +law if you do not begin your match at the first teeing ground, but no +doubt some thousands of people in their time have risked chastisement +for this offence. "No player shall, in teeing his ball, raise the turf +of the teeing ground." There is sand there for him who wants it, and he +must not make his tee in the prehistoric way. After this there are some +points of etiquette which are made matters of law. Elsewhere, if we +disregard the etiquette of the game as set forth at the end of the +rules, we are merely told about it by other people and regarded as very +badly-mannered golfers, but at St. Andrews the sovereign or fourteen +days needs to be considered. Thus "no player shall play from the tee +until the party in front have played their second strokes and are out +of range, nor play to the putting green till the party in front have +holed out and moved away." And again, "players looking for a lost ball +must allow any other match coming up to pass them," and "every caddie, +and every player unaccompanied by a caddie, shall replace any turf that +may be accidentally removed by the player's club, and shall press it +firmly with the foot." Then we may be fined or sent to prison if, when +practising, we drive a ball off a putting green, that is, within twenty +yards of a hole, and the eighth clause is that which is known to all +men--"To prevent destruction of the turf of the golf courses, play or +practice with iron clubs alone is prohibited." Also, "no practice is +allowed over the first and eighteenth holes of the Old Course, nor shall +any practice be allowed over any part of the golf courses so as to +obstruct or delay players." + +Upon all this, it is enacted that when playing with three or more balls +we must allow those who are only playing two, as in an ordinary single +match, to pass us on being requested to do so, that we must let a match +through if we do not play the whole round but cut in somewhere, that we +must not pierce the ground with any golf club support nor with the flags +from the holes, nor must we drive towards any person without calling out +"Fore!" and waiting until he gets out of range. No man when at St. +Andrews is allowed "to play the short game at the regular golf holes, +except when engaged in a regular game of golf," and, as said, "no +practising is allowed on the eighteenth putting green." There are five +other bye-laws, mostly long, but the only other one which is specially +interesting is that which is designed to preserve the integrity of the +Swilcan Burn, which has played its part so thoroughly and drastically at +times of great competitions. No other golf stream is protected by an +Act of Parliament in the way that this one is, and its high dignity is +unimpeachable. We are warned, under the usual penalty of a fine or +imprisonment, that "no one shall wade in the Swilcan Burn, so far as it +flows through the Old Course, nor shall any one, except players or +caddies in search of their ball, do anything to cause its waters to +become discoloured or muddy." There are surely times when we feel that +we could not do anything to make the Swilcan Burn appear uglier than it +does at those times. + +Why a distinction should be made between the "bye-laws" and the "general +regulations," four in number, is not quite clear, but it would appear +that the penalties of fine and imprisonment may be inflicted if the +latter are disobeyed as well as the former. If that is so, we begin to +wonder when we see the warning that "no one shall use profane language +upon the links to the annoyance of the lieges." Let us then hope, for +the sake of the law and our respect for it, that the lieges are not +habitually in the neighbourhood of the putting green when putts are +being missed that should not be. But it is good to see that there is a +kind of general warning that "no one shall annoy or interfere with any +one exercising a legitimate use of the links," which means, of course, +playing golf. We golfers, according to these bye-laws and the Act of +Parliament which supports them, may be sent to prison for doing so many +things that it is excellent to know the common people may be cast there +also if they meddle with us when we play the game in our own good way, +and manage by thought and attention to avoid infringement of the many +cautions which the fathers of St. Andrews have prescribed for our +welfare and that of their dear old course. The Sheriff of Fife has set +it down that he "allows and confirms" these bye-laws, the Secretary of +Scotland has officially approved of them, and the staff employed by the +Green Committee are authorised to see that they are obeyed, especially +those about replacing turf, playing with irons only, and practising at +the first and eighteenth holes. Contemplating these enactments, we +conclude that St. Andrews is the best and proper place for the +upbringing of the golfer's son. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE TRAGEDIES OF THE SHORT PUTT, AND A CONTRAST BETWEEN CHILDREN AND +CHAMPIONS, WITH THE VARIED COUNSEL OF THE WISEST MEN. + + +The case of an earth so well explored by golfing travellers having been +considered as the third of the wonders of the sphere, and the +peculiarity of St. Andrews as the fourth, there is a clear suggestion as +to which is the next or fifth wonder of the series. Inevitably one +recalls the tearful situation of the mighty hunter in a story which is +passed in company as fact. He declared he had encountered all the +manifold perils of the jungle, had tracked the huge elephant to its +retreat, and had stood eye to eye with the man-eating tiger. It is +believed that he had done all these things. Then he added, "And never +once have I trembled until I came to a short putt." For me one of the +most remarkable things I have seen in golf was at an Open Championship +meeting at St. Andrews when, watching and musing by the side of the +eighteenth green, I saw four of the greatest players of this or any +other time come up to it in the competition one by one and have putts of +less than eighteen inches at that hole. Three of the four missed! In the +old days, at all events, when the greens were not quite as they are now, +but became very glassy and slippery with much wind and constant play +upon them, I believe there were more short putts missed on the old +course at St. Andrews than on any other two courses in the world, and +the task of holing the little stupids on that home green was a most +tormenting ordeal. + +So, with the broken-hearted explorer, and the tragedy of St. Andrews, +there is pointed to us for the next wonder of the game the missing of +the short putt. And I do believe, and so must others, that the missing +of such a short putt as it seems humanly impossible for any man, having +the control of his limbs and being _compos mentis_, to miss is one of +the most remarkable features of any game, and one that would be +completely and absolutely inexplicable did it not in itself offer a most +splendid illustration of the full effect of strain of mind on physical +action, of the pressure of great responsibility on an over-anxious man. +It embraces nearly the whole psychology of golf. The short putt largely +explains the game, and it is testimony to the soundness of this view, +and the rightful selection of this as a permanent wonder, that the +general public would never believe the truth as we know it, that it is +possible for the greatest players with what is to them, for the time +being, almost as much as their lives depending on it, to miss putts so +little that no walking baby properly fed would miss. The general public, +with its vast stores of common sense, would not believe the fact; it +would ridicule it and treat the whole suggestion with contempt, and it +might in a sense be right; but then the general public has not been +fighting its way round a golf course against another and very truculent +general public, driving, playing seconds and thirds, getting bunkered +and recovering, and encountering all manner of difficulties and dangers, +and then had its fate for the day depending on a short putt at the +eighteenth green! By psychology of the game, as just mentioned, we mean, +of course, the way in which the mind and the emotions act and react upon +the physical system and its capacity, how doubts and fears are +engendered, and things from not seeming what they are become really +different, so far as the attitude of the player to them is concerned. +Thus, as has been well said, a putt of ten inches on the first green is, +as one might feel, a putt of thirty inches--though still in fact of the +same length--when that green is not the first but the thirty-seventh, +and that on which a long-drawn-out match is being finished. + +One summer's day, on a course in France, a little party of us were +discussing the slow and sure methods of certain Americans then in +Europe--if, really, they were quite so sure as they were slow. Indeed +they hustled not. The point was put forward by one of us that there is a +moment in waiting when inspiration and confidence come together, or at +least come then as well as ever they can or will, and that if the +hesitation is prolonged beyond that moment, the result is inevitably +loss of faith, increasing doubt and timidity, and a distorted view of +the situation arising from fear of fate. Half the difficulties of golf +are due to the fact that the player has an abundance of time to think +about what he is engaged to do and how it should be done. In that time +hopes and fears and many emotions race through his mind, and tasks which +were originally simple become every moment harder. In no other game has +the player such ample leisure in which to think, to be careful, to be +exact, and to decide upon the proper action, and thus responsibility is +heaped upon him for what he does as it is in no other sport or +recreation. He is oppressed with a mighty burden. That which he does he +is entirely responsible for, and it can never be undone. It follows that +this game has an extensive and peculiar psychology such as is possessed +by no other. I shall proceed to tell a little story, dramatic in its +circumstances, abounding in significance. It embraces the meanings and +mysteries of golf. + + + * * * * * + +The strange case of Sir Archibald Strand is one that caused much excited +attention among the members of the golf community in general some months +ago, and it is still discussed in the club-houses. Sir Archibald Strand, +Bart., is a fair example of the thorough, enthusiastic, middle-aged +player, who treats golf as something rather more than a game, which is +as it should be. He is one of tolerably equable temperament, a good +sportsman, and a man of strong character and physique, who did a long +term of military service in India. Nowadays he spends an appreciable +portion of his time in golfing, and a fair part of the remainder in +contemplating the enduring mysteries and problems of the links. The game +worries him exceedingly, occasionally it leads him to unhappiness, but, +on the whole, he feels he likes it. He is a member of several London +clubs, including Sunningdale, Walton Heath, Mid-Surrey, Coombe Hill, and +Woking, and of his seaside clubs those he most frequents are the Royal +St. George's at Sandwich, and Rye. His handicap is 5, and generally he +is what we consider and call a good reliable 5. + +He and his opponent, to whom, as a matter of discretion and confidence, +we must refer as Mr. A., had just ended their match at Mid-Surrey one +pleasant day, and Sir Archibald was trying his last putt over again as +golfers often do. It was a putt of two feet. He had missed it before; +but now, of course, he rolled the ball in every time. A question arose +about circumstances altering cases, as they so commonly do in golf, and +of responsibility weighing heavily on the mind that hesitates; and Sir +Archibald declared that nobody in good health could be such a fool as to +miss a two-feet putt like that, if he really examined the line +thoroughly, and took the proper pains. Just then the open champion of +the period was passing by the green, and they called him up and asked +his views upon the missing of two-feet putts. Taylor denied that a man +was a fool for missing them. He mentioned the psychology of the +business, and very forcibly argued that a two-feet putt was a very +difficult thing, that the more important it was the more difficult it +became, and that the longer one thought about it the more impossible did +it seem to hole it. "Ah!" said he, with the solemn countenance he +assumes when discussing the terrors of this game, and the deep emphasis +he makes when he admits the difficulties it creates for him, "Ah!" he +murmured, "if I had never missed any putts of one foot, let alone the +putts of two! I tell you, sir, the two-feet putt, when it has to be +done--mind you when it has got to be done--is one of the most difficult +things in the world to do, and never mind the fact that your babies can +do it all the time! Take that from me, sir!" This was a touch of the +real Taylor, the true philosopher, one who knows the game. + +Mr. A., who is sometimes aggressive in manner, brought the matter in +discussion to a pretty point at once. "Look here, Strand," said he, "I +will tell you what I will do. I will place this ball here, so, exactly +two feet from the hole, and I will give you a fortnight, but not less +than a fortnight, to hole that putt. You are not to practise it here at +this hole on this green in the meantime; but you may place the ball in +position if you like, and look at it. And a fortnight to-day, at ten +o'clock in the morning, you must make the putt, and I will bet you +fourteen guineas, being a guinea a day for waiting, that you do not hole +it. We will have the position of the hole properly marked, so that a +fortnight hence it shall be in the same place." + +The champion said he would tell Lees, the greenkeeper, and that should +be done. Strand, with a laugh, accepted the wager, and the matter was +settled. + +The events that followed were curious. In the club-house there was then +little disposition to attend to the accounts of the proceedings that +were furnished by both parties. The men who had finished rounds were too +much occupied with their own troubles or joys. + +At his club in town that evening, Sir Archibald, over dinner, related +the circumstances of the wager to a few friends, with an appearance of +considerable satisfaction with himself, and seemed a little surprised +that the other members of the party did not at once approve of his +proceeding as sound and businesslike. + +"Of course, you know, Strand, my good man," said Mr. Ezekiel Martin, a +successful stockbroker, "these putts are missed sometimes, and I don't +suppose it makes it any easier for you by waiting a fortnight. It's like +carrying over in the House till one is a very tired bull." + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Sir Archibald, "I could go out now and hole that +putt nineteen times out of twenty in the dark!" + +"I believe you could," answered Martin, "but doing it in the dark, when +you cannot see the hole and realise all the imaginary difficulties, is +very different from doing it in broad daylight; and putting now, on the +spur of the moment, as it were, is very different from putting when you +have a whole fortnight to think about what you are going to do." + +"I don't see it," replied Sir Archibald, yet he began to feel a little +uneasy. On returning home that night, instead of going to bed at once he +went into his study, laid a tumbler on its side on the carpet, and +putted from a measured two feet for about half an hour. He holed most +of them, and tumbled into bed feeling that Martin had been "pulling his +leg," as people say. In the morning he engaged a gardener to smooth down +a piece of his lawn, planting in a little putting-green turf, and he had +a hole made in it, and a circle with two feet radius drawn round the +hole, so that he could putt from every point. When this work was done, +he spent an hour in practising there, and succeeded well. He only missed +about one in ten. He tried seven different putters, with approximately +equal results. In the afternoon he went down to Mid-Surrey, played a +match, and lost it by missing a short putt at the home hole. After tea, +he went out on to the eighteenth green, found the spot where the hole +was the day before, examined it carefully, and saw that there were +slight differences in the texture of the grass round about, and that +there was a little depression to the left side. He had not noticed this +before. However, said he to himself, it would be easy to make allowances +for these things, but he began now to doubt whether thirteen days ahead +he would use his wry-necked putting cleek or bolt the putt with an +aluminium putter. Where there are troubles of that kind it is often +better to make short work of the putt by the bolting way, and have an +end of it. At home that evening he did more putting practice on the +carpet, and did not hole them quite so well. Lady Strand, who +understands her husband thoroughly, and is the sweetest, gentlest +sympathiser, coaxed him to telling her the trouble, for she saw that one +existed. With perfect wisdom she suggested that he should wipe the +fourteen guineas from the current account as already lost, and face the +task as one who had all to gain and nothing to lose. Of course, her +husband said, it was not the money, but the frightful jackass he would +look if he missed the putt. + +He went to his club in town the next day instead of going to golf, and +took with him a book containing a chapter on putting, by Willie Park. He +stretched himself out on a Chesterfield in a corner of the library, and +gazed at two spots on the carpet which he had measured as being two feet +from each other. Eventually, he decided that that was not good for him, +since equal distances in furnished rooms, as is well known, look longer +than they look outside. He lunched with a few friends, and brought up +the subject again. + +"Give him the money and have done with it, Strand. You are sure to +lose!" said the brutish Martin. + +"I wish I had not to wait for a fortnight," murmured Strand. + +"Ah! He knew! The other man knew!" rejoined Martin. "He knows the game +of golf! What I cannot understand is why he did not give you a year and +make it 365 guineas. You would have sold out in six weeks at L200!" + +Sir Archibald wrote a letter to Mr. A. that evening, intimating that he +would probably have to leave town the week after the next. He hinted +that it might be convenient if they got their wager out of the way +beforehand, and if he putted a week from then. Mr. A. replied that he +was sorry it would not be convenient for him to attend then, and that +the signed terms of the contract had better be abided by. + +Sir Archibald bought two new putters on the following day, and in the +afternoon he had Taylor out for an hour, and they went practising on the +putting lawn just outside the garden gate. Sir Archibald was putting +very well then; but he insisted that it would be a good thing to change +the ball he was using, which was rather lively. After he had done with +Taylor, he went to look at the place on the eighteenth green where he +would have to putt, and it seemed that the coarse grass had fattened up +considerably with the rain that had fallen, and that the sand below it +was distinctly gritty. It began to seem that he would have to run the +ball in at the right side of the hole. He asked Lees some questions +about the grasses on that green, and was sorry he could not take a +little Mid-Surrey turf home with him. He was feeling a little tired when +he reached his home that night, and as it was Thursday he suggested to +Lady Strand that they should go to Folkestone for the week-end, and not +bother at all about golf, which they did accordingly. He found it +delightful to linger on the leas and not be worried with the game. + +This kind of thing continued and became worse and worse again during the +days that followed. There was practice, thought, and purchase +continually, and unfortunately the proportion of missed putts at two +feet, both on the carpet, on the practice lawn, and on the greens at +Mid-Surrey, Coombe Hill, and Woking, began to increase. At putts of +three feet, four, and five, Sir Archibald was marvellous, and, of +course, he never missed the very little ones; but the two-feet putts +bothered him all the time. He attributed it to his liver; and he was +certainly looking worn. Matters were not improved by such inconsiderate +remarks as were made by Martin, Evans, and others, whenever he had a +two-feet putt to do, such as "Now, Strand, that's just your distance!" +It was only a joke; but in the circumstances it was not perhaps in good +taste. + +On the evening of the twelfth day Strand, after deliberation, wrote a +letter to A. in which he said he feared he would not be able to go down +to the course at the appointed time, and intimated that, according to +the terms of the wager, he would hand over the fourteen guineas to him +when next they met. Before posting this letter he went and did a little +practice in the dusk on the lawn outside the house. He seemed to get +them down with some confidence on this occasion, and Lady S., watching +him, called out cheerily, "Silly boy! as if you could really miss! Now +what shall I buy with the fourteen guineas?" + +So Strand tore up the letter and went to bed for rest. + +On the night before the appointed day he slept badly. He was putting in +his mind until three o'clock in the morning. Then he rose, went in his +pyjamas into the study, made a line on the top of his aluminium putter +indicating the striking point, and went back to bed, but did not sleep. +For some time he tried an imaginary humming of the "Jewel Song" from +_Faust_, and repeated a few lines from Scott's "Lady of the Lake"--old +dodges of his for assisting distraction and sleep--but they did not +serve, nor did a fixed vision of millions of balls falling in an endless +stream from the mouth of a pump and disappearing instantly through a +golf hole in the ground. + +At five-thirty he rose again and took his bath. He hesitated as to what +golfing suit he should wear. Finally, for the sake of complete ease, and +that there should be nothing to attract his eye from the ball, he put on +some dark-blue flannels. + +He looked at his breakfast, pecked at a sole, and at nine-fifteen, +feeling distinctly unwell, he took a taxi for the course. He had one +great consolation upholding him. At five minutes past ten it would all +be over. He felt that he knew how glad a condemned criminal must be that +at five minutes past eight on a certain morning--or a minute or two +earlier with a little luck--a black flag would be hoisted on the prison +pole. + +At seven minutes to ten he drank a large brandy and soda and went out to +the eighteenth green. Mr. A. and a few others were there to see the +business properly carried out. Taylor placed the ball exactly two feet +from the hole, which was cut in the proper place. He had his watch in +his hand. + +Sir Archibald bent down and examined the putt with great care. He +essayed to pick up what seemed to be a "loose impediment" on his line, +but saw that it was not loose. The putt seemed very difficult now, and +he wished he had brought his plain putting cleek out with him, but it +was too late. + +At ten o'clock exactly, Taylor said, "Now, Sir Archibald, will you +kindly putt?" + +Sir Archibald Strand looked like a man who had been hunted down. He made +one swift glance around him, but saw no escape, so he pulled himself +together, smiled a little sadly, and said to himself, "Don't be a fool, +Archie!" Then he faced the putter to the ball; the club was trembling +slightly. He swung it back much too far, checked it in the return swing, +and came on to the ball in a nervous, stupid sort of way, doing little +more than touch it. The ball took a line to the right of the hole, and +did not run more than fourteen inches. + +You may have thought that Sir Archibald used unfortunate words and was +dismayed. He did not. A look of established happiness and placid +contentment spread upon his countenance, as a streak of sunlight might +flash across a plain. "Ha!" he sighed in relief. He took from his pocket +a cheque for fourteen guineas already made out, and handed it to Mr. A., +and then joyfully exclaimed: "Thank heaven, it is finished! Now, my +friends, we will honour this unusual occasion in a suitable manner at +your convenience, and this afternoon I leave for Sandwich for a week of +golf. And no letters are being forwarded." + + + * * * * * + +Let us now enter consideration of this matter in a proper frame of mind, +seriously and not looking contemptuously upon the problem of holing +even the very shortest of putts as no problem at all after the affected +manner of the inexperienced and uninformed general public. Let us +approach it cautiously and in an analytical spirit. We should take the +evidence of expert witnesses upon happenings in their careers, in our +endeavour to discover the real truth. We have already remarked upon the +case of the hunter who shot tigers and cringed at putts, and of the +great champions who all missed them on the eighteenth green at St. +Andrews, when they were playing for nothing less than the championship. +We have also contemplated the circumstances of the distressed baronet +who was given a fortnight in which to hole a two-feet putt, suffered +intolerable agonies during the period, and was only restored to +happiness when he had failed at the stroke. Now let us pay regard to the +experience of a little child only six years old, who was completely +successful at many putts in succession, at distances of from one to six +feet, all the most perilous situations. This remarkable demonstration +was witnessed by the proud parents, by a great professional, and by +myself. + +The child is a boy, and not, as has been stated, a winsome little girl. +There is, if I may say it without offence, nothing remarkable about his +parents. They are excellent kindly-mannered people, of tolerable +middle-class education, simple in their manner of life, and of no +pronounced tastes in any direction. The father is in a large timber +business in the Midlands, and has probably an income of about six +hundred pounds a year. His handicap is 14. He is not a very keen golfer, +and seems to spend a fair amount of his time in his garden. A total +abstainer, he smokes little, and has no strong tastes in art and +literature; but he once told me that in addition to much Scott and a +sufficiency of Dickens he had read one of my books on golf. That is the +father. As to the mother, she is just one who might be called in the +north a nice little body. She is a thoroughly good housewife, +domesticated, affectionate, and if she does not play golf she +sympathises with it. These are people who are tolerably satisfied with +their state. They live in a pleasant house, employ two maidservants, and +have no motor-car. Here, surely, is nothing to suggest the creation of +genius. Yet they are the parents of this remarkable child who did, with +no hesitation, with confidence, certainty, and frequency, what the +mighty hunter, the champions, the bold but misguided baronet, and you +and I have failed to accomplish. + +There is a man of wit and wisdom, Andrew Kirkaldy, who, when you inquire +of him what is the most difficult thing in golf, responds with no +hesitation that it is to hole "a wee bit divvle of a putt that long!" +and so saying he will hold his hands four feet apart. Occasionally he +may vary the phraseology, not to its advantage, but the meaning and +effect remain the same. Andrew is solid on four feet. But authorities +differ a little in this matter of measurement. Some will reduce the +distance to thirty inches; others have it that the yard putt is the most +trying; I have heard eighteen inches put forward. But it all amounts to +much the same thing, that what looks ridiculously easy is very, very +difficult. Now this tender little child, who knew nothing of the fears +and dangers of this awful game, placed the ball at a distance of two +feet from the hole on a curly and slippery green, and with a sublime +aplomb hit it straight to the middle of the hole--the first putt of his +life and a good one. Then he putted from a yard and holed it again, then +from Kirkaldy's distance and played the stroke just as surely and +successfully, and then repeated them many times, never faltering, never +failing. We who watched were a trifle sad, and perhaps ashamed. We knew +that with all our thought and skill and golfing learning, all our +strength and manhood, we could not do the same when at our games, and +that, the more we needed to do it by the importance of the golf that was +being played, the more difficult it was. Our selfish consolation was +that in time the little child would grow up and then he would not be +able to hole those putts, for then he would know that it was a difficult +thing to do, and would be embarrassed and defeated accordingly. For it +is the golfer's consciousness of imaginary difficulties that makes him +such a strange coward when this putting business is being done. He knows +that really the putting is easy, but he knows also that he must not +miss, that an inch lost here is as much of a loss as two hundred yards +in the driving--and he fears his fate. It is consciousness of the +stupidity of missing, nerves, fears, imagination, that make this missing +of short putts by the cleverest players, champions as much as any +others, the most remarkable thing that happens constantly in any game. +There is nothing like it. If it were not so easy, if there were good +excuse for failure, those putts would not be missed so frequently. In +putting, said Sir Walter Simpson, there is much to think about and much +more not to be thought of. "When a putter," he reflected, "is waiting +his turn to hole out a putt of one or two feet in length, on which the +match hangs at the last hole, it is of vital importance that he think of +nothing. At this supreme moment he ought studiously to fill his mind +with vacancy. He must not even allow himself the consolations of +religion. He must not prepare himself to accept the gloomy face of his +partner and the derisive delight of his adversaries with Christian +resignation should he miss. He must not think that it is a putt he would +not dream of missing at the beginning of the match, or, worse still, +that he missed one like it in the middle. He ought to wait, calm and +stupid, till it is his turn to play, wave back the inevitable boy who is +sure to be standing behind his arm, and putt as I have told him +how--neither with undue haste nor with exaggerated care. When the ball +is down, and the putter handed to the caddy, it is not well to say, 'I +couldn't have missed it.' Silence is best. The pallid cheek and +trembling lip belie such braggadocio." + + + * * * * * + +The truth is that the man who golfs will unceasingly think of the things +he should not think of, and that is what makes this easy putting so +difficult, and it explains why the innocent child, unthinking, finds the +business as simple and pleasant as swinging under the boughs of a tree +on a sunny day in June. While there is one quite easy way of doing +nearly every putt, there are perhaps a dozen more or less difficult ways +of missing it, and it is these that are uppermost in the golfer's mind +when the time of his trial comes, and so once more is vice triumphant +while angels are depressed. There is the hole, a pit that is deep and +wide, four and a quarter inches in diameter, and there is the little +ball, only an inch and a half through the middle, and the intervening +space between the two is smooth and even. It would seem to be the +easiest thing in theory and practice to knock the ball into the large +hole; but how very small does the hole then appear to be and how much +too big for it is the ball! But the golfer knows that he should hole +that putt, and that if he fails he will never, never have the chance +again. Should he putt and miss the act is irrevocable; the stroke and +the hole, or the half of it, are lost, and nothing that can happen +afterwards can remove that loss. Should he at the beginning of the play +to a hole make a faulty drive, or should his approach play be very +inaccurate, he knows that he may atone for these mistakes by special +cleverness displayed in subsequent strokes, and with the buoyant hope +that constantly characterises him he thinks he will. But the hope seems +often to desert him at the end; confidence lapses. The short putt is the +very last stroke in the play to that hole, and if it is missed there is +no further opportunity for recovery. In this way it does seem sometimes +that there is a little of the awful, the eternal, the infinite about +that putt. The player is stricken with fear and awe. He knows it is an +easy thing to do in the one proper way of doing it, but raging through +his mind are hideous pictures of a dozen ways of missing. Once upon a +time I put the question to a number of the greatest players of the age +as to what were their thoughts, if any, when they came to making one of +these little putts on which championships or other great affairs almost +entirely depended, and almost invariably their answer was that at the +last supreme moment a thought came into their minds and was expressed to +themselves in these words: "What a fool I shall look if I miss this +putt!" Those words exactly did Willie Park, the younger, say quietly to +himself just as he was about to make the last short putt of a round at +Musselburgh, which would or would not give him a tie for the +championship with Andrew Kirkaldy. He did not say that if he missed the +putt he would lose the championship. He said he would look a fool. + +The other day in a quiet corner of London, away from the game but, as it +happened, not from the thought of it, I had Harry Vardon with me engaged +in some serious talk in a broad and general way upon golfing men and +things. Ten years ago, when we were doing some kind of collaboration in +the production of a new book, he said to me very impressively and as one +who wonders exceedingly, "It is a funny game; let us impress that upon +them all, it is a very funny game," and now, having played perhaps five +thousand more rounds and won another Open Championship, he went forward +to the admission, "It is an awful game." He meant it, and one reason why +we like our Harry Vardon is because he too has always been awe-stricken +by this so-called game, and because there is no other man in golf who +sympathises better with the trials and tortures of the moderate player. +On this morning of spring he was telling me of another new and great +discovery he had made in putting methods, and in giving to me an account +of his pains, his sufferings in missing all the short putts he had +failed at in recent times--how dearly have they cost him!--he said it +was the two-feet putt that frightened him most of all, and declared +solemnly and seriously that he would rather have a three-yarder than +such a putt, and that he would hole the former oftener than the latter. +He said the two-feet putts frighten him, that as soon as he settles +himself down to the business of putting in such a case the hole seems to +become less and less. "I am overcome," says he, "with the idea that in a +moment it will be gone altogether. Then I am in a state of panic, and I +snatch at my putter and hit the ball quickly so that with a little luck +it may reach the hole before it goes away altogether and there is +nothing to putt at. When I have missed I see that the hole is there, and +as big as ever or bigger!" Vardon once tried putting left-handed, a +doctor having advised him to do so, and he found that the idea worked +splendidly, but he did not like the look of it. He believes after all +his sorrows that one of the greatest and best secrets of good putting is +to keep more absolutely still than do most golfers, who seem to think +it matters less in putting when it matters so much more. + + + * * * * * + +Now the golfer in his wisdom, ingenuity, and resource has tried every +way he can think of to solve this problem of nerves and doubts by +mechanical and other means. Those who would be successful in +competitions have retired to bed at nine o'clock in the evening for a +month, and some of them have sipped from bottles of tonics hoping that +physic would serve to give them strong nerve, steady hands and courage, +but such methods have not availed. For no part of this or any other game +have so many different kinds of instruments been invented, though the +little child could do the putts with the head of a walking-stick or a +common poker. Scarcely a week goes by in the season but some new kind of +putter is introduced to the expectant multitude of harassed players, and +now and then a thrill runs through the world as they receive a clear +assurance that at last some special device has been discovered which +will make their putting ever afterwards easy and certain. There is a +thrill as if a secret of long life had been found. But the chill of +disappointment follows quickly. Golfers have now tried all things known, +and more short putts are missed than ever. Hundreds of different kinds +of putters have been invented. They have been made with very thin +blades, and with thick slabs of metal or other substance instead of mere +blades. They have been made like spades, like knives, like hammers, and +like croquet mallets. They have even been made like putters. They have +been made of wood, iron, aluminium, brass, gun-metal, silver, bone, and +glass. Here in my room I have the sad gift of the creator of a forlorn +and foolish hope. It is a so-called putter made in the shape of a roller +on ball bearings which is meant to be wheeled along the green up to the +ball. Like some others it was illegal according to the rules. To such +extravagances of fancy the desperate golfers have been led in their +desire to succeed in this putting that the authorities have had to step +in for the defence of the dignity of the game to declare a limit to the +scope of invention in this matter. And yet I once knew a man who for a +long period did some of the best putting that you would ever fear to +play against with a little block of wood that had once served to keep +the door of his study ajar, to which had been attached a stick that was +made from a broom handle. This improvised putter was a freak of his +fancy at a time when he thought there might be some virtue in a return +to prime simplicity. Then Mr. James Robb, who has won the Amateur +Championship once and been in the final on two other occasions, has +putted all his life with a cleek that his sister won in a penny raffle +when he was a boy and gave to him. Likewise Mr. John Laidlay has also +putted uninterruptedly since he was a boy with a cleek that is now so +thin with much cleaning that his friends tell him he may soon be able to +shave himself with it. But these are the grand exceptions after all. +Such fine settlement and constancy are unknown to the average player. It +was but the other day that I learned that a friend of mine, one most +distinguished in the game and of the very highest skill, had used +fifteen different putters on the day of an important competition--three +in the morning's play, nine others in noonday practice, and three quite +fresh ones in the afternoon game. The same good man carried a choice +assortment of his own putters to a recent amateur championship meeting, +but at the beginning of the tournament made love to one of mine, +borrowed it, and used it until he was beaten--not a long way from the +end of the competition. Sometimes it seems that what is rudest in +design, almost savage, is now best liked when in our frenzy we have +ransacked art, science, and all imagination in search of the putter with +which we can putt as we would. There is the spirit of reaction; we would +return to the primitive. Putters that look as if they might be for +dolls, some of those stumpy little things made of iron on a miniature +aluminium-putter model, which some of the great champions have been +using, have hardly become popular. The crude and the bizarre, suggestive +of inspiration, please well. I shall not forget Jean Gassiat, good +golfer of France, coming up to me one championship day at Hoylake, +holding forward in his right hand, and with its head in the air, what +was evidently meant for a golf club, but which was as much unlike one as +anything we had ever seen. On the face of the player was spread the grin +of pleasure; wordlessly he suggested that at last he had found it, the +strangest, the most wonderful. In principle this new club, as it has to +be called for courtesy, is akin to the affair of the door-stopper and +the broomstick. It consists of a plain flat rectangular piece of wood +about four inches long, two inches wide, and three-quarters of an inch +deep, and its two-inch nose is cut quite square, while for a couple of +inches at the end of the shaft the grip is thickened to twice its usual +size. It is weighted and balanced by large and small lead bullets in the +sole. It is possible to frame a good argument in favour of a putter made +of anything; nothing is without some advantage. It could be said for a +ginger-beer bottle that it would insist on the ball being most truly hit +from the middle of the vessel as the ball ought to be hit, and, given +notice, one could prepare a statement of claim on behalf of an old boot +seeking to be raised to the putterage. So there are good things to be +said for this putter from France, and one of the best is that after +smiling upon it Jean Gassiat began to wonder, then thought, +experimented, and fell in love with this putter completely. Some weeks +later I saw him doing those marvels on the green as are only done when +man and putter have become thoroughly joined together, and Gassiat has +always to be taken seriously in these matters, for, like Massy, he is a +Basque, and, like the old champion, he is one of the most beautiful +putters, with an instinct for holing. This most remarkable invention, +without desiring its extinction in the least, one would say, surely +departs a whole world of fancy farther from the traditional idea of what +a golf club should be than the poor Schenectady of the Americans which +St. Andrews proscribed. It was not the idea of Gassiat, nor of any other +than the Marquis de Chasseloup-Laubat, a French sportsman of +thoroughness and a very keen golfer. Seeing what Gassiat was doing, +James Sherlock obtained one of these barbaric tools, and at this the +public came in. + + + * * * * * + +Every thinkable variety of putting method has been adopted. Bodies, +hands, feet have been placed in all positions, and the stroke has been +made in every conceivable way. Are there any two players who do it just +the same, or have the same advice to give? For a violent contrast take +two of the most able amateurs of the time, both of them long since +distinguished in the foremost competitions, Mr. John Low and Mr. H. S. +Colt. The former favours the wooden putter, and he has one of that kind +to which he is keenly attached, but he putts with all sorts of things as +the spirit moves him on consideration of special circumstances. He was +one of the early members of the thoughtful school of golf which has made +such a strong advance in recent times. Nearly always, however, you will +find him standing nearly upright when doing his putting, grasping a club +with a tolerably long shaft somewhere quite near to the top of the +handle. This erect attitude is that which our fore-fathers of the +traditions mostly favoured. Those splendid gentlemen, as we have agreed, +were fine golfers who conducted their game nobly, but it has always +seemed to me that they were an unimaginative lot. It never appears to +have occurred to them that because the club has a handle at the top was +no reason why they should grasp it up there instead of nearly at the +opposite end, as do a large body of the most enterprising and inquiring +amateurs these days. Of this advanced party the eminent architect is a +shining example, for he holds his putting cleek so far down, so near to +the ironwork, that the shaft seems useless, and in addition to this he +defies all teaching in putting by planting the heel of the club down on +the green and holding the hands so low that the toe of the putter is +cocked up, and with this toe he hits the ball, and, as it looks, he tops +it. But that putting of his is too much for most of the men who have to +play against it. When those who do not understand see men putting in +this way, or something like it, they say to themselves, and perhaps to +others, that they cannot see why the men do not have the unused part of +the shaft cut off so that it may not be in the way. But there they show +their deficiencies of knowledge, though one is not sure that all the men +who putt with a low grip quite know why they do so. They only know that +the method suits them, but the truth is often that in these cases the +balancing piece of the shaft above the hands acts as a steadier for the +piece below. A few students have carried this idea a point further by +having a piece of lead attached to the top of the handle to increase the +weight and the balancing influence of that part. Mr. Hammond Chambers is +one of them. The amateurs are the most original and peculiar in their +putting methods. For the most part the professionals, although adopting +widely different stances, hold themselves fairly well up when doing +their work on the green, and putt with an easy following-through stroke +as is recommended by the old masters. Strange that we should realise +that quite the most impressive, stylish, and beautiful putter of the +erect school is M'Dermott, the brilliant young American champion, who +stands straight up with his legs and heels touching, grips his putter at +the very end, and moving nothing but his club and hands, makes the most +delightfully smooth swing. The low-grip method is not at all conducive +to the gentle swinging, following-through putt, but encourages a sharp +little tap. + +All the old original philosophy and instruction in putting can be +summarised in a very few words, but hundreds of thousands would be +needed for discussion of the variations, most of which have been used +successfully at some time. The majority of advisers make a point of it +that the ball must be hit truly, but they would not all be agreed on +what that "truly" was except that it was hitting it as they meant to do. +What most of them have in mind is that there is on the face of the +putter a proper hitting point, from which the ball will run more +accurately and with less disposition to slide off the right line than +when hit with any other part, that being the point of balance or the +sweet spot which every iron club possesses, and this point should be +brought to the ball by an even swing from the back, and the swing should +be continued after impact by the steady smooth advance of the head of +the club along the line that it was making at the moment of striking. +Absolute steadiness of the body is quite essential, and lack of it--just +the most trifling and almost undiscernible lack--is responsible for more +putting failures than almost any other cause. Most of those who tell us +what to do in golf advise that we should keep the arms and forearms +quite still also, and putt entirely from the wrist. And yet even these +canons, as they are considered, are defied by large bodies of players. +There are thousands of golfers who putt from the toes of their clubs, +and believe in the method. They say they can feel the ball better and +direct it more surely. + +I quote again one of the first preceptors, Sir Walter Simpson, because I +think in most matters of feeling and practice he stands so well for the +old solid school of golf that has nearly died away. He insists on the +wooden putter, to begin with, and maintains that no good thing upon the +green can come out of iron, but therein he was mistaken and time has +cried him down. And then he writes: "I have just said there are, at +most, two or three attitudes in which good putting is possible. We are +nowadays inclined to be more dogmatic, and to assert that there is but +one. The player must stand open, half facing the hole, the weight on the +right leg, the right arm close to the side, the ball nearly opposite the +right foot. To putt standing square, the arms reached out, is as +difficult as to write without laying a finger on the desk." Had he lived +on to these more modern days he would not have been nearly so dogmatic +as that. Some of the very best putters do not play with the open stance, +but putt entirely from the left leg, that leg thrown forward and in +front and bearing all the weight, the right being merely hanging on +behind. Then they have the ball right opposite the left toe, and they +putt with a sense of strain which they believe in such circumstances is +conducive to delicacy. Tens of thousands of others could not putt in +this way, but those who can are very successful, and this is just +another indication of the danger of dogma in golf. As to the right arm +at the side, it may be said that there is now a fast increasing practice +on the part of those who bend down somewhat to their putting to rest the +right elbow or forearm on the right knee. J. H. Taylor experimented with +this idea on the very eve of the 1913 championship at Hoylake, his +putting for some time having been bad. He adopted it, won the +championship, and gave the new way of putting all the credit. + +Now see how high and deeply thinking authorities can differ about the +ways and means of doing this thing that the little child does so +thoroughly and well. "A great secret of steady putting is to make a +point of always 'sclaffing' along the ground," said the baronet. "The +best putters do this, although it is not evident to an onlooker, the +noise of the scrape being inaudible. To be sure of the exact spot on the +putter face which is invariably to come in contact with the ball, is, of +course, essential to the acquirement of accuracy. If you play to hit +clean, your putter must pass above the ground at varying heights, as it +is impossible to note how much air there is between it and the turf. In +the other way you feel your road. But the greatest gain from treating +putting as a sclaffing process is the less delicate manipulation +required when short putts are in question. At a foot and a half from the +hole the clean putter often fails, from incapacity to graduate inches of +weakness, whilst the sclaffer succeeds because he is dealing with +coarser weight sensitiveness." + +Now time and experience have showed us all that we cannot be dogmatic +about anything in golf except that the ball must be struck somehow, and +least of all may we venture to dogmatise in the matter of putting, and +we will only say now that the late Sir Walter has a heavy majority +against him on this suggestion that in doing the short putts it is well +to let the putter scrape along the grass when going forward to the ball. +It seems a small matter (that little man child never thought of it, but +I noticed he did not sclaff), yet a whole world of good and ill upon the +links is bound up with it. We shall set this happy golfer as he was, and +friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, against one of the great champions and +one of the finest putters who have ever handled clubs, and that is +Willie Park, the younger, who says, "One of the secrets of putting is to +hit the ball, and the ball only--a sclaffy style of putting is fatal; +and, with the object of making absolutely certain of avoiding it, rather +aim to strike the globe just the least thing above the ground. The ball +should be smartly tapped with the putter, the stroke being played +entirely from the wrists; and it should be neither struck a slow, heavy +blow, nor shoved, nor should it be jerked." + +Most golfers will be with Willie in this matter, and those who have not +tried already that way of putting, the sole of the club being kept clear +from the turf when the stroke is being made, might do so to their very +likely advantage. It is a point that a player of limited experience +might never think about, and I know many who have been converted from +bad putters to good ones by it. Some of the leading players of the +Hoylake school have long been addicted to a slight elaboration or +variation of this method. As they bring the club on to the ball they +lift it slightly so that at the moment of impact a peculiar running spin +is given to the ball, one that is not quite the same thing as is +imparted by merely topping it. The way appears to help the hole to +gather the ball when it arrives, but it is a method that needs natural +aptitude and much practice to make it quite safe in application. And +then again, right away to the contrary, I have witnessed in recent +weeks a way of putting by one or two of the best players in the country, +which is new, and which they declare to be most effective when dealing +with the small heavy balls that are now in vogue and which are so +difficult to manage, especially on very keen greens. We have all heard +of the push shot, generally done with cleeks and the more powerful +irons--and many of us have tried to play it as Harry Vardon does, and +the things that I have seen done and described as push shots by ordinary +amateurs have been very dreadful. But, no matter; the idea of the push +shot is to hit the ball a kind of downward glancing blow, the club +coming to ground after impact, the result being that the ball starts off +quickly and pulls up suddenly. The players to whom I have referred have +applied this stroke to their putting, coming on to the ball above the +centre and gently pushing the club through it, and in the circumstances +I have indicated there can be no doubt they have succeeded. Balls being +so tricky now, these matters are worth considering. + +You would perceive how boldly dogmatic was the writer of the early +classic on the question of stance. On that point there is just one more +word to say. The tendency seems to be increasing in these days towards +holding the feet closely together. It is a stance to which Harry Vardon, +after all his putting troubles, has nearly settled down, and many of the +best men on the green, Tom Ball for one, are given to it. But there is +no law, no recommendation even, only the most timid suggestion to be +made to any man in this matter. That way which suits him and gives him +confidence is the best, and one may find men putting marvellously well +when their stance and attitude seem to be so ungainly and difficult as +to cause them pain. + + + * * * * * + +The method of holding the club has, at least, as much to do with good +putting as anything else, and in this matter one may almost dare to +dogmatise. The majority of players hold their putters with the two hands +close together but detached from each other, in much the same way as +they hold their other clubs. All of them have heard of what they call +the Vardon grip, or the overlapping grip, by which, when the club is +held, the left thumb is brought into the palm of the right hand, and the +little finger of that right hand is made generally to ride upon the +first of the left hand. Many try this grip for their long shots, but few +persist with it, as they become convinced either that their hands and +fingers are not strong enough for it, or that before they could master +the method they would need to suffer too much in loss of the game that +they already possess. Therefore they renounce the overlapping grip +entirely. But if they would try it in putting they would experience none +of the difficulties with which they are troubled when applying it to +their wooden club shots, no sort of force having to be given to the +stroke, and almost from the first attempt they would enjoy an advantage. +It is a matter of the most vital importance in putting that the two +hands should not interfere with each other to the very slightest extent. +One of them should have the general management of the putting, and the +other, if detached from it, should do little save act in a very +subordinate capacity as a steadying influence. Everybody is agreed upon +that; it is absolute. But when we have the two hands separate, as with +the ordinary grip, there is always a danger of the subordinate asserting +itself too much, or at all events varying in the amount of work that it +does. It cannot be avoided; it is inevitable. This, we may be sure, is +the cause of much bad and uncertain putting. + +Join the two hands together, as with the overlapping grip, and we have +them working as one completely, and the risk of undue interference by +the subordinate vanishes. This is the best hint on putting that all our +counsellors have to give, and they one and all declare it will do more +than anything else to raise a man to the high level of excellence of the +innocent child. Sometimes we see men putting one-handed, and one may +believe that for medium and short putts this way is more certain than +the separate hands. Mr. Hilton once putted that way in the Amateur +International match, and I have seen many other good putters do well +with it. But it savours of freakishness, and, as a famous professional +said to the distinguished player who adopted the method, "God did not +give us two hands for one to be kept in a pocket while the putting was +being done." The simple truth is that the one-hand way approximates very +closely to the two-hand overlapping method. It is nearly the same thing, +the same principle--all the work being done from one point. Upon +thought, we often come to realise that what appear to be some of the +most freakish methods of putting have the same fundamental principle at +their base. Thus, take the case of Sherlock, who putts extremely well +and consistently. He almost alone, among players of the game, holds his +two hands wide apart on the handle of the putter, the left one +uppermost, of course. This looks very strange, and at the first +consideration it might seem that surely one hand will upset all the good +work and reckoning that is done by the other. But the simple fact is +that the left is so far away that it cannot interfere, and that is the +secret of the quality of this method. When the left is close up to the +right we cannot prevent it from meddling; we are unconscious of it when +it is doing so; but get it far away and we have it in subjection, and +all that it does in Sherlock's case is just to steady things up a little +while the right hand does the business of the time. + +Mr. Walter Travis, the most eminent American, than whose putting in the +Amateur Championship he won at Sandwich nothing better has ever been +seen since time and the game began, long since adopted a slight +variation of this overlapping grip, specially for his putting, which, I +think, has something to commend it. Instead of letting the little finger +of the right hand rest on the forefinger of the left, he reverses the +situation, and puts the forefinger of the left hand on the little one of +the right, thus leaving the right hand in full possession of the grip, +both thumbs being down the shaft. In the other way it is the left hand +that has hold of the club with all its fingers, and it will now be +remembered that while the left hand is the chief worker in driving and +playing through the green, the right is the one that most frequently +does the putting. + +Having thus mentioned Mr. Travis, one can hardly refrain from quoting +some of his instruction in this matter as he once conveyed it to me. "I +believe," said he, "that putting should always be done with one +hand--with one hand actively at work, that is. The left should be used +only for the purpose of swinging the club backwards preparatory to +making the stroke. When it has done that its work is ended and the right +hand should then be sole master of the situation, the left being merely +kept in attachment to it for steadying purposes. When only one hand is +thus employed the gain in accuracy is very great. Two hands at work on a +short putt or a long one tend to distraction. When the stroke is being +made the grip of the right hand should be firm, but not tight, and after +the impact the club-head should be allowed to pass clean through with an +easy following stroke. The follow-through should indeed be as long as it +is possible to make it comfortably, and, with this object in view, at +the moment of touching the ball the grip of the fingers of the left hand +should be considerably relaxed, so that the right hand may go on doing +its work without interruption. Never hit or jerk the ball as so many +players do. There is nothing that pays so well as the easy +follow-through stroke." + +Yet we find that there is less than ever of that easy follow-through +being done in these days, and putting may be no better for the fact, +almost certainly is not. These are days when old maxims are being +abandoned and new systems are being proclaimed season by season. Jack +White, a splendid putter and a magnificent heretic, lately declared that +it is time to get rid of what has been regarded as the most inviolable +of maxims, "Never up, never in," asserting that the determination to be +past the hole in putting, if not in it, leads with these lively balls we +now play with to far too many of them running out of holing distance on +the other side. His counsel, therefore, is that the ball should be +coaxed gently up to the hole with as much drag applied to it as can be. +Then for years past it has been recommended that one of the best ways of +managing the putting with these speedy balls is to have much loft on the +putter, and so in that way do something to create the drag; but lately a +change of opinion began to be made, and I am finding some of the best +players using putters that are perfectly straight in the face, believing +that by their agency they can putt more delicately and with a surer +judgment of strength. + +It is a little bewildering. Arnaud Massy, the French player who once +won the Open Championship, and who is better at the putts of from six to +ten or twelve feet than any man I know, says that he has come to believe +that Nature has planted deep down in us a sixth sense, and it is that of +putting. In the development of that sense lies the way to success. But +after all such meditations as this, I go back to the remembrance of that +wonderful little child who could never miss, and then from it all there +emerges the only real secret of success in putting. The child has a +quality which we elders do not enjoy, and never shall have it for any +length of time. He knows not the hardness of the world. Having innocence +and faith he looks trustingly upon it, and the old world and its four +and a quarter inch hole is a little ashamed, perhaps. The child has +Confidence. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +OLD CHAMPIONS AND NEW, AND SOME DIFFERENCES IN ACHIEVEMENT, WITH A +SUGGESTION THAT GOLF IS A CRUEL GAME. + + +If men who play games are not proud of their champions, of what then +shall they be proud? If we advance the proposition--which is done here +and now--that no other game or sport that was ever conceived and played +has produced such remarkable strength and mastery in its champions as +golf has done, the cynics will find that with the resources of the world +and history at their disposal this position of ours can be well +maintained, even though we have less than sixty years of championships +for our support. And let it be said also at the beginning that we of +golf declare to win, not with the Morrises or Parks, as might be +supposed--good men they were too--but with the moderns, and especially +with our Harry Vardon, our Taylor, our Braid, and the amateurs, John +Ball, Harold Hilton, and the Frederick Guthrie Tait of immortal and +beloved memory. I have long since grown accustomed to the mysterious and +the inexplicable in golf, and pass them by on their fresh occurrences in +these days as like the commonplace, something for which indeed there may +be some explanation and a simple one, but one which the gods, with their +humour and their teasing, are hiding from us. We who in this game have +fed so long on wonders are now disposed to overlook phenomena. We tire +of sensations and the extraordinary, and would revert to a smooth +placidity of plain occurrence. It is in such mood that we often +contemplate the records of the past, and then we dismiss them quickly +with the comfortable judgment that the Morrises were themselves, and, +being fixed on a permanent pinnacle, must not be disturbed. They have +become a creed. One might imagine little plaster figures of old Tom, his +left hand in his trousers pocket, thumb outside, and young Tom in +Glengarry bonnet all complete, to have been placed in some over-zealous +golfers' homes along with representations of Homer, Julius Caesar, +Shakespeare, Gladstone, and Cecil Rhodes, and no questions are to be +asked about them. It may be right to place them there, those early +champions of the game, but when sometimes steeled to sacrilege and +careless of all risk, I set myself to analyse the conditions and +circumstances in which they gained their immortal glory, I can give +reasons, ordinary worldly reasons, why they gained it; and can thereupon +pass them as satisfying every reasonable requirement of human champions +of the first degree. But with the others it is not at all like that. +Golf being the game it is, the repeated successes of those three great +players we call the "triumvirate," Taylor, Vardon, and Braid, at a time +when competition is so enormously severe, and when--this point being of +towering importance--the luck of the game, always considerable, is, +through a variety of circumstances, greater than ever, appear to me, +having seen most of them accomplished, and now looking upon the plain +printed records of indisputable fact, to have still some elements of +impossibility. One has a fear that three or four hundred years from now +the golfers of the period may not believe that these things did happen; +they may decide that we of this imaginative and progressive age, a +little fearful perhaps of greater wonders that might be accomplished in +the future, had prepared a little trick for posterity and had set forth +false records of what we had done, so absurd that their falsity was +self-evident, and so we were to be pitied for our simplicity. In our +humble way, and by stating the records of achievement in the coldest +way, admitting moreover that even to us of the time they appear +incredible, we do our best to gain favour and acceptance with our +descendants. Fifteen Open Championships to the triumvirate, and eight +Amateur Championships to Mr. John Ball himself. It is indeed impossible; +but it is one of those things in golf that are to be described in the +terms that Ben Sayers (who might have been given a championship by the +fates for services rendered and skill displayed before the era to which +he chiefly belonged was closed, as men are made lords when governments +give up) applied to the victory over him by Fred Tait on his own course +at North Berwick once by something like seven and six--"It's no +possible, but it's a fact!" All of us know one man--perhaps more than +one, but we do know one for certain--who nearly all the time that Mr. +Ball has been winning those championships might have been winning them +himself, has been almost good enough to do so. But he has won nothing, +and after all it may not be a matter of much surprise if we consider the +enormous odds against victory in a championship because of the luck of +the game, the fact that it is not like running or rowing, billiards or +chess, where strength and stamina, knowledge and skill, work out almost +exactly every time, but a game in which skill has this element of luck +blended so largely with it. But Mr. Ball, Amateur Champion eight times +over, and the triumvirate as well!--when "the truth stands out as gross +as black from white," with my eyes I can scarcely see it. These persons +have forbidden the caprice of chance that was set to worry them, they +have overthrown the laws of averages, they have annihilated the +weaknesses of flesh and blood, and they have laughed at fortune and at +fate which, defeated, have joined up with them. Then clearly they, with +the collection of champions in general for their garnishment, are to be +regarded as the sixth wonder of the game. + +It is now too late--as it always was too late--to make any fair +comparison between the great players of our own time and those who were +members in the early years of the Open Championship. There is not so +much argument now as to whether Harry Vardon is better than young Tom +Morris was, though such argument was common only ten or a dozen years +ago. How may you compare these men? Young Tommy won four championships +in succession, but there was only a handful of competitors each time, +and the opposition was feeble almost to nothing in comparison with what +it became a very few years later. Vardon, Taylor, and Braid have each +won the championship five times, and many of these victories were gained +against their own fellow-champions and the strongest opposition +conceivable. Yet though such as Vardon produce what are in a sense more +astonishing results in the way of scores, we are reminded that they have +far smoother courses to play upon and much improved clubs and balls. +Also they have better rivals to sharpen their game. From this one might +argue that it would be strange indeed if they were not better than young +Tommy was, that it is quite inevitable they should be. But our modern +champions have done more than fulfil the obligations laid upon them. +They have established an amazing supremacy at a period when golfers are +reckoned in the hundreds of thousands; young Tom was champion when there +were the hundreds without the thousands. His championship, at all +events, did not mean so much. The championships gained by our +triumvirate are proof beyond all possibility of doubt or question that +these men are the most exalted geniuses, that they have such a clear +superiority over all other golfers of their time as is, seeing the +circumstances of the case and knowing the waywardness of golf, almost +incredible. The success of the younger Morris proved, as some will hold, +only that he was quite the best golfer of a few eligible to compete for +the championship. + + + * * * * * + +After all, if comparison is fruitless and not properly practicable, this +speculation as to the merits of the geniuses of nearly fifty years ago +and now becomes enticing. One would like to reach some conclusion upon +it, but cannot. It would be fine material for a golfers' debating +society. Were I to regard myself as advocate for the moderns I should in +an agreeable and inoffensive way suggest that time has done nothing to +hurt the fame of young Tommy's skill. When what they call the golf boom +began and the great game percolated through the mass of ignorant +English, there was babble all at once about St. Andrews, and men of +southern towns just discovering that the right hand on the driver should +be the lower one whispered of the ancient city in a hypocritical manner +of respect and awe as if it were high up above the blue instead of a +day's journey up the northern lines from Euston or King's Cross. The +name of the place was taken in vain, and to this day there are neophytes +who lisp of "the Mecca of golf," as they say it, and its eleventh and +seventeenth holes, though they have never been in Fifeshire and maybe +never will. At the same time and by the same people there was +established the vogue of young Tommy Morris, as one might call it. It +was nearly sacrilege in the circumstances, for more people were living +then than are living now who had known young Tommy, and fervently +believed he was the best golfer who ever played the game. But what we +may call the Morrisian traditions were established in this way, and they +have laid a shoddy veneer on the really sound reputation of the young +champion that it never needed. So the proposition is advanced that +through ignorance and affectation and carelessness we posterity are +being abundantly generous to young Tom and his father--forgetting Allan +Robertson, such is the effect of championships, who was before them, and +of whom it was said when he died that they might toll their bells and +shut up their shops at St. Andrews, for their greatest was gone. We +posterity are of another golfing world completely from that in which +those early champions of St. Andrews lived and golfed. I have here in my +room a driver with which old Tom played, and I see that the other day +some rash fellows, unafraid of ghosts, took out from their receptacles +some clubs which had belonged to him and others and played a game with +them. But the handling of the old clubs and the looking on the picture +of Tom which he once signed for me cannot bring the feeling of his time +to ours, and I pass it on as a suggestion to our own posterity that our +judgment in this matter, as it has been made, is nearly worthless. + +It has been coldly stated that lies are told by golfers. That allegation +may be dismissed with no consideration, but it is certain that fancy +traditions of flimsy origin gather about golfing history and soon +establish themselves in the most remarkable manner. I know many +incidents of the past ten or fifteen years, things I myself have +witnessed, the truth of which has become completely obscured by masses +of imagined stuff that has gathered on them. To take a good example, +more than half the golfers in the world will tell you that Lieutenant +Fred Tait won a championship at Prestwick after wading into water at the +Alps to play a shot from there in the final; if they will look at the +records they will find that splendid Tait did not win that championship +at all, and they should be told that the shot that Mr. Ball made from +the wet sand in that same bunker was nearly as difficult and, in the +circumstances, more trying. Again, the victory gained by Mr. Travis at +Sandwich, so recently as 1904, is now already described in many +different ways, but one feature common to all of them is that the +American holed a putt of twenty yards on nearly every green, that his +driving was childlike in its shortness, and that he was smoking himself +to death at the time. Still later, the very next year, there was an +Amateur Championship at Prestwick, and I remember that Mr. Robert +Maxwell, after a hard struggle against young Barry--who won the +championship--had to loft over a stymie on the eighteenth green to keep +the match alive, and then at the nineteenth the student was left with a +short putt to win that hole and the match. I saw the play in that match +and saw the putt, and I believe it was one of about a couple of feet. It +was certainly too much to give in the circumstances, far too much, but +Mr. Maxwell, great lover of golf as he is, had even by that time begun +to tire of the strenuousness and the officialdom and the graspingness of +championship tournaments, and he waved his club in token of presentation +of the putt to his young opponent and generously shook hands with him. +The Scottish spectators did not like it at the time, because "oor +Bobbie" was their best and greatest hope, and it seemed like feeding the +devil with chocolates to give putts like this to English golfers. By the +time that we had returned to the club-house, only three hundred yards +away, it was being said that that putt was three feet long, by the +morning it had gone up to three feet six, and increasing gradually it +even touched the five-feet mark within the next few years. At that point +there was a reaction and, from what I can gather, the putt has settled +down in history at four feet. It was half as long. + +So I think that golf posterities are fickle bodies, and even the best of +them are not nearly so responsible and accurate in their judgments as is +believed by those people who trustingly say that they will await the +verdict of posterity. I remember that M. Anatole France urged that +posterity was not infallible, because he himself and all human beings +are posterity in regard to a long succession of works with which they +are imperfectly acquainted, and he quotes the case of Macbeth whose +reputation posterity has murdered, though Macbeth himself did no crime +at all. Macbeth was really an excellent king. He enriched Scotland by +favouring her commerce and industry. The chronicler depicts him as a +pacific prince, the king of the towns, the friend of the citizens. The +clans hated him because he administered justice well. He assassinated +nobody. And as M. France remarks, we know what legend and genius have +made of his memory. It is that way reversed with all our golfing +traditions, and so we must handle them carefully. It is a principle of +this game that no man can be a good golfer and a bad man, that those who +are bad at heart have not the human qualities necessary for being +golfers at all, cannot associate happily with the rest of the community, +and so they get themselves properly out of it betimes. Hence it happens +that of no golfer is there anything that is bad to be told. We have no +Macbeths in this sport of ours, though it embraces some pensive Hamlets, +and a number of the moderns would be golfing Romeos if their swings were +finished in the old free style. But if tradition had indeed given us a +foul Macbeth who improved his lie we should surely purify the +remembrance of him, believing that his immediate posterity had almost +certainly judged him wrong. + +This case which the advocate has set up against young Tom, with all this +blame cast on posterity, will seem a weak thing yet to some. If we were +counsel for the boy, who made a fine and a lovable figure in his day, +should we bandy with words like that, or put evidence direct and plain +before the tribunal, the evidence of those who saw? There are still a +few of them left, and for myself I should not have far to send to gain a +willing witness. I have a good and valued friend, Mr. Charles Chambers +of Edinburgh, member of a distinguished golfing family of many +generations, and a fine player himself, who was in the semi-final of the +first Amateur Championship. He saw young Tommy at the game, and played +it with him. And Mr. Chambers, once answering my plea for some of his +remembrances, said, "As a youngster at St. Andrews, I was a great friend +of young Tom, the champion, and on a summer evening often accompanied +him alone, when, with a club and a cleek, he played out as far as the +second hole. He was, I believe, the greatest golfer the world has ever +seen, those giants of the present day not excepted. His driving, which I +remember so well, was of the long, low, wind-cheating style so seldom +seen now, with great distance and carry. He never struck a ball anywhere +except on the centre of the club, and this was reflected in the faces of +his driving-clubs, which had a clear and distinct impression in the +centre, the wood above and below being clean and fresh as when last +filed. His putting was perhaps even more deadly, and in ordinary matches +I recollect he was seldom or never asked to hole out a yard putt. In +driving from the tee, his style may be described as an absolutely +correct circular sweep, with great accuracy and follow-through, and +this applied equally to his iron play. It was his custom to wear a broad +Glengarry bonnet, which very frequently left his head on the delivery of +the stroke.... Without doubt he succumbed to his private sorrows and a +broken heart." That is strong testimony, and the abiding conviction is +that young Morris was great indeed, but in the nature of things +comparisons cannot well be made between then and now, and are better +left undone. + + + * * * * * + +I am glad that we have thus condemned posterity, for we strengthen the +positions of our triumvirate and Mr. Ball at their only point of +weakness, which is that their successes have been so marvellous as to be +incredible to those heirs of ours who, not being of this period, will +not have witnessed them. Posterity may suggest that such persons could +not have lived, since none of us will hesitate to say that such +posterity will not itself produce a man to win three championships. Even +to win one twice is to make a proof of superiority such as in existing +circumstances seems nearly impossible. Any man, as one might say, may +win a championship; that would prove nothing save that he is as good a +golfer as any other, or nearly so; but to win two championships is to +prove that he is appreciably better than the others, that he is so much +better as to balance with his skill the chances of the game--the putts +he missed and the long ones that his opponents holed--that were flung +against him. During a period of nearly twenty years the success of +Taylor, Vardon, and Braid has been so complete, so overwhelming, so +dazzling, that among them they seem almost to have solved the problem of +perpetual victory. Each of these men is a genius, a great master of the +game; each of them, had he lived in an age apart from the others, would +alone have been enough to make a separate era in competitive golf; and +it is a strange freak of fate that they should have been pitchforked +into the arena at the same time. It is as if three Ormondes had been in +the same Derby, or three Graces at the crease, when at their best; +indeed, it is more wonderful than those things would have been. They +were born within thirteen months of each other; Vardon and Braid within +three months. The last-named is the eldest of the group; he was born at +Earlsferry, in Fifeshire, on 6th February 1870; Harry Vardon was born in +Jersey on 7th May 1870; and Taylor was born at Northam, in Devonshire, +within a mile of where Mr. Ball won his eighth championship, on 19th +March 1871. They are of different race; for Braid is a pure Scot, Taylor +is pure English, and Vardon, while, of course, we are proud to regard +him as belonging to us, is really half-French and half-English. They are +of different build, different temperament, and of very different style +in golf; but there they are. Among them they have won the Open +Championship fifteen times, and when one of them has succeeded it has +generally happened that the other two have been his most dangerous +rivals. There must be a limit to the period of success as there is to +human life, and for years people have murmured that these three are not +like the little brook that purls down the hill, and they cannot go on +for ever. And yet at the beginning of each new championship an instinct +settles in the public mind that they cannot be beaten. Considering what +the Open Championship is, what a fearful strain it exerts on +temperament, mind, body, and muscle, how a single slip may mean failure, +and then how many really magnificent golfers are in the lists, some of +them old champions themselves, this is a strange state of things. I +recall that when a championship was played at Muirfield in 1906 the +sceptics were then loud in their prophecies that a "new man" would +arise, and that the triumvirate would be cast down. And then? James +Braid was first, John Henry Taylor was second, and Harry Vardon was +third, though a hundred and eighty other players had done their best to +beat them! Taylor, the Englishman, although the youngest of the three, +was the first to score success. He and Vardon both made their initial +appearances in the Open Championship at Prestwick in 1893, and on that +occasion the 75 that Taylor did in his first round stood as the lowest +made in the competition, although he did not win. At his second and +third attempts in the championship he took first place each time, and on +the second of these occasions an Englishman's victory was at last +accomplished at St. Andrews, the Scottish headquarters of the game. He +won there again in 1900, and is the only Englishman who has ever won the +Open Championship on this hallowed piece of golfing ground. A year after +the others began, James Braid entered the lists, and very quickly then +did these three establish their triple supremacy. An injured hand kept +Braid out of the great event in 1895, but since then each of the men has +played in every championship, and among them have won fifteen times out +of twenty-one. At the "coming of age" of the triumvirate in 1913, when +it was twenty-one years after Taylor and Vardon started in the event, +Taylor, the first to score in it, won his fifth and became "all square" +with his friends. That was a remarkable occurrence. Since 1894, when +Taylor won his first championship, there have only been five years when +one or other of the triumvirate has not won the cup. In 1897 Mr. Hilton +got it; in 1902 Sandy Herd, playing with the rubber-cored ball on its +introduction, scored; in 1904 Jack White was the winner, both Braid and +Taylor having a putt to tie with him on the last green; in 1907 Massy, +the Frenchman, triumphed; and in 1912 the hope of Edward Ray was +realised. And in each of these years one of the triumvirate was second. + + + * * * * * + +But if each of the triumvirate is a phenomenon and collectively they are +super-phenomena, in what terms then are we to describe Mr. John Ball, +and how shall we account for his eight amazing championships? Mr. Harold +Hilton, as all the world understands very well, is a great master of the +game, a magnificent golfer who knows it through and through, and a +tremendous fighting man. There has hardly been anything in all golf's +history so splendid as his coming again and winning two more Amateur +Championships when he had seemed almost done for ever, and very nearly +winning an Open Championship as well. But if after considering the +professionals at their stroke game, we are now to think of the amateurs +in their match-play championship, it is John Ball who is the wonder man. +The luck of the game that was emphasised in the consideration of score +play is surely greater in the match. At all events, the professionals +themselves to a man declare that the score play makes the better test, +and therefore is the fairer. If that is so, there is, inferentially, +more luck to be conquered by a good man in the amateur event, and Mr. +Ball has eight times beaten his fields and beaten all the luck against +him. Twenty-four years after winning his first Amateur Championship at +Prestwick he wins his eighth at Westward Ho! and, for all the great +players that the game has yielded, no other man has gained more than +half those wins, and only Hilton has done that. Surely it is a mystery +very profound as to how he has won so often. And yet it is less of +mystery if we accept the proposition that he who plays golf for the sake +of golf and fears not to be beaten is the most dangerous of opponents. +Mr. Ball's early championships were won by his own skill and his perfect +temperament; undoubtedly some of the later ones, which through +increasing numbers of opponents have or should have been harder to win, +have been gained because he cared little whether he won or not, and +because his opponents feared to lose, and feared the more as they felt +their impending fate when they had the master of Hoylake laid against +them. To a little extent they have beaten themselves, and Mr. Ball has +done all the rest. Has there been more than one of his championships in +recent times that he has keenly desired to win, that being the one he +gained at St. Andrews in 1907, because he wished to be victor at the +headquarters where he lost long years before, after a tie with Mr. +Balfour Melville? At eight o'clock on the morning after he won his +seventh at Hoylake I saw him in the garden at the back of his house +giving his chickens their morning meal. It was as if nothing had +happened. How many other men would have been feeding chickens so early +in the morning after winning an Amateur Championship? Has he finished +winning, I wonder? There is a cause to suggest that he has not. He won +for his seventh the only championship ever played in Devonshire, and he +has won the event on all the regular amateur championship courses on +which it is played but one, and that is Muirfield, which has been +something of a _bete noire_ among courses so far as he is concerned. +Once there he suffered one of the biggest defeats of his career, in the +international match, and then in the championship he went down in a +surprising way to a youngster of Dornoch. Shall he not add Muirfield to +his list? + +Despite a certain beauty of his style and the ease and elegance with +which he plays the game, Mr. Ball's golf is strongly individual to +himself. There are many pronounced mannerisms in it, and they are of a +kind that if any one tried to copy them, he might find his game being +injured rather than improved. They are the ways of the genius who cares +nothing for convention. Few can drive a better ball. At the outset of +his career he was a long driver. His first big match away from his +native Hoylake was one against Douglas Rolland. It was a home-and-home +affair in England and Scotland, and Rolland was greatly celebrated in +those days for the length he gained with wooden clubs. Yet he outdrove +Mr. Ball but little in that engagement. He obtains his length not to a +large extent from run, as most men get it now, but by a ball that starts +on a beautiful line, makes a very long carry, and leaves it at that, +with a little pull to finish with. It has seemed that he has had more +control over his wooden club play than almost any amateur except another +of fame who was bred in the same great school. An outstanding +peculiarity of his method is the way in which he grips his club, which +is done not in the fingers and lightly as by other men, but by a good +firm grip in the palms of his hands with the fingers facing up. He makes +small use of the thumb and the first two fingers of his right hand. His +stance is an open one. His play with his iron clubs again is +unconventional. Even for his shortest shots he swings his clubs, meaning +that he makes less of a jerky hit at the ball than others do, and he +resorts less to cutting the stroke than other great men. But what a +master of judging of heights and distance he is! To see him just plop +the ball over a bunker in the way and then watch it run the necessary +distance afterwards is to understand what marvellous properties of +control can be invested in such perfect human golfing machinery. +Another of his peculiarities is that he carries no niblick in his bag, +and I think he never has carried one. He has certainly not had one in +any of his recent championships. And among many other of his +characteristics is that peculiar gait with the bent knees that, because +of their climbing over the hilly links, golf seems to develop in men +(Harry Vardon has it), his extreme modesty in manner, and the splendid +excellence of his sportsmanship. Some one once set forward a curious +theory that children born in the winter-time are likely to become better +golfers than others; their temperaments are supposed to be favourably +affected by the prevailing rigour of the weather conditions! It is, +anyhow, a curious fact that a very large proportion of our best players +were born in mid-winter months, and of them all John Ball is the +greatest, and he, if you please, was born on a day so far removed from +midsummer as Christmas Eve. + + + * * * * * + +There has been lately a sort of revival of the game of attempting to +punch another man so very hard that he can stand up no longer to make +the smallest punch in answer. He has to be battered and pounded until he +is made practically lifeless for a period of ten seconds, and then the +other man is given the money. This is what we call the "noble art of +self-defence," but, obviously, it is nine parts of such defence to +reduce the other man to such a jellified condition that no more defence +is needed. When well played it is a good game. Now golf never has been +called a "noble" game at all. It is "royal" and it is "ancient," and it +leaves its qualities to speak for themselves, as most eloquently they +do. The boast has indeed been made for golf that, while in so many other +English sports something flying or running has to be killed or injured, +golf never calls for a drop of blood from any living creature. It is +then inferred that it is a gentle game, as in some ways it really is. +Also it has been demonstrated that it is a game at which elderly men may +play and play quite well, as was proved in a recent year when golfers +who are becoming older than they like to think of won so many of the +trophies. But the result of this boom in the noble art of squashing +another man for a prize of a few thousand pounds and the brave words +that some of the lovers of this sport sometimes use, telling us that +things like this made English hearts so strong, nearly giving us to +understand that Sayers and his like had some influence on the fortunes +of the British Empire, is that a kind of reflection is cast upon some +other sports for their mildness and their timidity. Girls do not fight +in rings and nearly kill each other, but girls can play golf and do, and +they even play with men. + +Let us consider the proposition that golf is a game that needs a greater +and a stronger heart than any other game. It demands fine manliness, +such determination as strong Englishmen are made of, and courage of the +best. The strain of a severe golf competition on the men who win, or +nearly, is enormous. No weakling has ever won success at golf, and never +will. The truth is that it is such a game that if the charge is made +that it is a brutal sport we can barely stand for its defence. For there +is cruelty in golf, cold hurting cruelty in this game. If now you +hesitate, consider. The difference between the effect of boxing and the +effect of golf on the human system is that golf hurts more and the pain +is more enduring, for it is psychological. That may seem like an +attempted escape from the proposition, because it may be suggested that +maiden aunts can and do bear such psychological pain at golf, and bear +it well. But we discuss real golf of the championship kind, and match +play wherein two good and keen players are really playing against each +other, parry and thrust as it is in championship golf, with the issue in +even balance most of the time, not taking sevens and eights and so being +nearly indifferent to what the other may do until the clerking takes +place on the putting green and the state of things is calculated. + +Golf, as we know, is a game for the emotions. We agree that it plays +upon them continually, and chiefly through the medium of the supreme +emotion, hope. While this hope is the most uplifting of emotions, it is +also, with the strain it makes, by far the most exhausting. Now every +golfer knows that in the real game if a good stroke is made by one party +the gain is not only in the extra nearness to the hole that his own ball +obtains, but also by the "moral effect" the shot has on the other man. +This other may have been in a good state of hope before; now he receives +a sudden shock--and it is indeed a shock sometimes when in a second, as +the result of the other's effort, his hope is reduced to fear or +complete dejection. Do you think the man who made the shot does not know +that? He knows it well. There! he knew! The dejected man has foozled, +and the hole has gone. This bout is ended. There is a rest of a few +seconds, and then the contestants start again and smash each other on +the mind, just as they did the other time. Some may suggest that the +effect of these mental hurts is small, that they draw no blood, and that +they are not to be compared with a left hook on the jaw which sends a +boxer toppling. To that there are replies to make. In the first place it +has to be remembered that a match at golf between two good players (we +do not now write of habitual foozlers in whom the golfing emotions +cannot, in the nature of things, be well developed) is taken very +seriously indeed, and therefore the emotional effect is greater than +might be supposed by one who does not play. Second, the effect is +cumulative, and every golfer knows again how intensely depressing is the +continual fight against a relentless opponent who scores with nearly +every stroke and never lets one's hope burn bright again. Bang goes +every shot of his on the sensitive temperament of his foe, and that is +exactly why temperament has all to do with success at golf. It is the +man who can stand punishment who wins; no other sort ever has won in +greater golf, or ever will. And then again, if it is suggested that +mental pain is after all not such a hard thing to bear with courage as +pain of body, let us ask which has the longer effect, remembering also +that, with full respect to boxing people, the golfer is a man of keener +feelings. In championships how often has a man who has had a punishing +match in a morning round, one that has gone to the nineteenth hole or +after before victory has come to him, won again in the afternoon? Not +frequently. If you had merely with a fist blow knocked that man +senseless for a little while before his lunch, he might have been +readier for his golfer opponent in the afternoon. It is notorious that +some of the finest play in championships has been accomplished by men +who were enduring much physical suffering at the time. And again, how +exactly is the effect of the winning putt on the defeated man like that +of the knock-out blow. His last hope is extinguished with the suddenness +of vanished consciousness. So this psychological pain is a very +discomforting thing. The law recognises it, and herein the law is surely +not an ass. We have the legal cruelty of the divorce court. Husband who +tells his wife he dislikes her new hat or gown is held to have been +cruel as though he had smacked her pretty face, or something worse than +that. He could kiss away a red mark from a dimpled cheek, and surely if +permitted he would do so, but nothing could change the judgment on the +hat. And in golf the mental injury is more real than that. + +Never was more absurdly untrue suggestion made against this game than +that it is not like others where men play directly against each other +and foil each other's shots, that it is a game in which each man plays +his own ball independent of the other. Each stroke we make has effect on +the stroke made by the opponent. That effect may be discounted by the +opponent's own strength and resource, but yet it is produced. In no +other game does a man play right and hard on to his opponent as in +match-play golf, for it is a game in which the whole temperamental +strength of one side is hurled against the strength of the other, and +the two human natures are pressing bitterly and relentlessly against +each other from the first moment of the game to the last. It is the +whole man, mind and body. That is the meaning of the temperamental +factor in golf, and that is why a great match at golf is great indeed. + +Yes, it is a cruel game, one in which the primitive instincts of man are +given full play, and the difference between golf and fisticuffs is that +in the one the pain is of the mind and in the other it is of the body. + + + * * * * * + +A climax in our wonderment has been reached, and though a volume could +be written on the romance of the rubber-cored ball, the seventh of the +wonders of the game and the most modern, the story after all is known. +Golf would have gained on its old degree of popularity if there had been +no such invention and men had continued to play with gutties; but that +the golf boom as we know it would have been created, that the game +would have risen to be the enormous thing it is, giving pleasure to +hundreds of thousands of people all the world over, there is much reason +to doubt. One night in the early summer of 1898 Mr. Coburn Haskell sat +at dinner with a magnate of the American rubber industry, at the house +of the latter in Cleveland, Ohio. They were both golfers, and naturally +they talked golf during their meal. They agreed that a kindlier ball +than the harsh and severe gutty was needed, and they thought that surely +it might come through rubber. Eventually they settled on the idea of +rubber thread wound under tension to give the necessary hardness, and an +experimental ball was made accordingly. With the very first shot that +was made with that first of rubber-cored balls a professional player to +whom it had been given to try carried a bunker that had never been +carried before! From that moment the great revolution was begun, the +most extraordinary that has ever taken place in any game. There were +set-backs, it was a little slow in starting, but its success was sure. +In 1902, when Sandy Herd won an Open Championship with the new ball, +after prejudice had held it back in Britain previously, the gutty was +done for, and it quickly disappeared from the links. + +And oh, the ravings and the riotings of argument there have been about +that ball since then! And the hundreds of thousands of pounds that have +had to be spent on courses to make them suit it! Never was there such a +giant commotion nor such a costly one caused in any sport before. We +need not argue any more whether it has improved the game or spoiled it. +These discussions are for the schools. It has anyhow made the game in +the modern popular sense, and now we are informed that of this little +white ball, that was first invented at the dinner-table on those Ohio +summer nights, half a million are used on British courses in one week +in a busy season, and a million pounds' worth are bought and consumed by +golfers in a year. Then you may be sure that more than a million +dollars' worth are driven and putted on the courses of the United +States. Marvellous little ball! Indeed you are the seventh wonder of +your game. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A FAMOUS CHAMPIONSHIP AT BROOKLINE, U.S.A., AND AN ACCOUNT OF HOW MR. +FRANCIS OUIMET WON IT, WITH SOME EXPLANATION OF SEEMING MYSTERIES. + + +Abiding wonders of the past, perplexities of the present, the greatness +of the game where it is still greatest, have been among recent thoughts; +and yet one is conscious all the time that something which sure enough +comes near to being the eighth wonder of it all has lately happened, and +will for long enough be high in the minds of this community, something +that will never cease to be discussed and will always be regarded as a +matter for argument and speculation. Only because it is so very new, so +utterly modern, so contrary to much of our olden faith, so inharmonious +with the smooth story that we have learned and liked, has a witness +hesitated to give it a forward place well won. Yet do we not know that a +hundred years from now, when so much of golfing history yet unmade will +have been piled on to the dusty records that we hold, this new wonder +will still be a theme for club-house talk, and if by then matches are +played with the people of other planets, will they not wish to know in +Mars how this strange break came about? Then there shall be as many +readings and explanations of the mystery of Brookline and of Ouimet as +there have been of the moods of sad Prince Hamlet. So from the old +traditions, the famous players, the ancient links, the scene may move to +new America. + + + * * * * * + +To the Fourth of July there shall now be added the Twentieth of +September. In the year of nineteen hundred and thirteen it fell upon a +Saturday, and that day at Brookline, near Boston in Massachusetts, was +dripping wet. Clouds had run loose for two whole days and nights before, +unceasingly, and still sent their torrent down. When, dull and +splashing, the morning broke, with expectation in the air, it seemed +that this had been planned by fate for a day of wretchedness and misery, +one that might with convenience afterwards be blotted out from memory +and considered as a _dies non_. But good Americans will now recall no +clouds, no rain, no damp, no mud when they remember the Twentieth of +September. I too, though my feelings then were more of wonder and real +admiration than of joy which my own patriotism could not sanction, shall +be glad to remember in time to come that then I was at Brookline and was +one of only two or three from Britain who saw the amazing thing that was +done that day, the most remarkable victory ever achieved in any golf +championship anywhere at any time. It was something to have seen; it is +a distinction to have the remembrance. On that day Francis Ouimet, a boy +of twenty, bred to the game on the cow pastures of Massachusetts, played +Harry Vardon and Edward Ray, great champions of British golf, for the +championship of the United States--and won. They three had come through +the great ordeal of a full championship and tied for first place +together. They played, not against blank possibility as men, knowing not +the exact nature of their task, have to do in Open Championships where +the test is play by score and each is against all others, having then +some fears stilled by sweet hope which is ever the golfer's sustenance, +but in sight of each other, together, one with another, man against man, +ball against ball, seeing what was being done, knowing what had to be +accomplished next. Could there ever again be such a three-ball golf? It +is one of the compensations of having been so very wet at Brookline on +that awful day that one knows that for the wonder and the drama of the +thing it can never happen more, not ever. If such facts could be +repeated, the wonder would be missing and the drama gone. + +An American and two Englishmen. These championships are mainly matters +for individuals after all; the "international element," of which we read +so much in newspapers, is not generally so deeply felt as we try to +think it is. Golf, not being a game of sides as other games are, and, if +it comes to that, not generally a game in which national peculiarities +exert an influence, hardly lends itself to international treatment. +Players who feel internationally before a contest relapse to +individualism completely when they are pitching to the green and putting +to the hole. Do not tell me that in the throes of a six-feet putt that +shall win or lose a day a man thinks of his trusting country and not of +his tortured hopeful self. It is not possible in the combination of golf +and human nature, and there is no blame to the men. But on the Twentieth +of September international feeling in the game of golf did for once rise +high, and became a very real thing. What of individualism had been +maintained by Vardon and his companion during that week had nearly +disappeared on the nineteenth, when the tie was made, and there was +hardly a trace of it when the curtain went up on the fifth act of the +amazing drama of Brookline, none at all when it was rolled down again. +This point is now emphasised because when I write of the wonder of the +thing I have to show that not only was this Brookline boy, of no +championship whatever save one of Massachusetts, pitted against two of +the greatest golfers of the home country of the game, but that, the +international feeling being now alive and intense, he for America was +opposed to those two of England, and therefore in a very full degree he +was playing their better ball. The boy was playing the better ball of +Vardon and Ray! He beat them! A long time has now elapsed since the +dripping day when I saw him do it, and wonders have a way of softening +with age, yet to me now that achievement is as wonderful as it was when +new, and so it will remain. The American golfers are justified in their +pride and their exultation upon the result of that event, and there is +nothing whatever to be said against it. No such feat had ever been +performed before, or has been since. I shall describe the circumstances +which led up to this amazing triumph, and what ensued. + + + * * * * * + +Only once before had British players gone across the Atlantic to take +part in the Open Championship of the United States, and that was in 1900 +when Harry Vardon and J. H. Taylor did so. At that time Taylor was the +Open Champion, Vardon having finished second to him in that year's +tournament at St. Andrews. American golf was then comparatively a baby, +and practically all the opponents of the British pair were players who +had been born and bred in the home country and had gone out to America +as professionals there. Good as some of them were, they were no match +for their visitors, who had the competition comfortably to themselves +and finished first and second, Vardon becoming champion. Much happened +in the next thirteen years. Most significant was the breeding of an +American champion on American soil, a "native born," in J. J. M'Dermott, +who tied for first place in 1910, but then lost to Alec Smith on playing +off, and tied again the next year when he won, and again in 1912. About +the same time two other native players in Tom M'Namara and Michael Brady +came to the surface from the raw mass of rough golfing material that was +taking shape under the American sun. Both are good men, and from my +knowledge of them I like their manner and their style; but M'Dermott, +despite some serious faults of which he has been made aware, is +undoubtedly a marvellous golfer for his age. I think he has to be +considered as the most wonderful prodigy the game has so far known. At +twenty years of age, when he came over to Muirfield as American champion +to compete for the great Open Championship, he was even then a most +accomplished golfer, high in the topmost rank. Not tall in stature but +well and lithely built for a golfer, he has a full, easy, and graceful +swing. It is round like most of the American swings--but not so round as +it used to be--and M'Dermott is often afflicted with what is commonly +known as the American hook, being a most persistent tendency to pull the +ball. It is remarkable also that he has been in the habit of using +wooden clubs of most abnormal length, and it has been a wonder to me how +he has controlled them as well as he has done. The history of the Open +Championship, marked with so many crosses for tragedies and the +blighting of fair hopes, embraces few incidents more pathetic than the +driving of three balls into the Archerfield woods by M'Dermott in the +event of 1912 at Muirfield, and his failing to qualify in consequence. +But he was only twenty then. The first expedition made by a native +American to this country in quest of Open Championship honours +consequently failed. In the following year we saw him again at Hoylake, +and with him his brother natives, M'Namara and Brady, and some of the +Scoto-Americans also. M'Dermott did the best of the three, and his play +for nine holes one morning was very nearly perfect. His swing was a +little more compact than before; it was beautifully timed, and his +straight-up style of putting with his heels touching and his grip upon +the end of the shaft was most attractive. He found the conditions on the +last day too severe for him, as nearly all except Taylor, the champion, +did; but he made a fine display and became the first real American +player to get into the prize list of the Open Championship, which he did +with a score of 315--eight more than Taylor--which made him tie for +fifth place. M'Dermott undoubtedly excels in temperament. + + + * * * * * + +Here was a menace. It was felt that America was making very good in +golf. And there came vaguely into the minds of British golfers the idea +that a demonstration of their strength should be made in this new +country, for satisfaction and for the sake of national pride. Yet, with +their conservatism, our British golfing people are slow to move in +matters of this kind. They are content with the game, and perhaps wisely +so. But there was the feeling that something should be done. With +initiative demanded, Lord Northcliffe, who had become a keen lover of +the game, made a characteristic movement unobtrusively, as the result of +which Harry Vardon and Edward Ray were sent across the Atlantic to test +the strength of American golfers in their own Open Championship. Vardon +was then five times Open Champion of the world; Ray was the holder of +the title. Two other Europeans sailed the seas with the same object in +their minds, one of them being Wilfrid Reid, the clever little +professional attached to the Banstead Downs club near London, a man who +had gained international honours constantly and has much fine golf in +him, and the other Louis Tellier, the professional of the Societe de +Golf de Paris at La Boulie, Versailles. Four good men; two great +champions; one the greatest golfer the world has known. They seemed to +be enough. Their design was to win the American championship. + + + * * * * * + +Those who were not at Brookline during the week that followed, and only +received a result that was amazing and inexplicable, were ready enough, +perhaps not unnaturally, to suggest that this course of the Country Club +could not have afforded a proper test, that it was so far different from +a good British course, so mysteriously American, that the native players +must have been favoured by it, and the superior skill that the British +golfers possessed had no opportunity for an outlet. As I say, this was +not an unreasonable supposition in the light of the amazing events that +occurred; but it was entirely wrong. There are few courses in America +that are better than this one, and to this judgment I would add that +though there are inland courses in England that are superior there are +not many. Judged upon the best standard of inland courses in Britain I +would call it thoroughly good. + +It has seven holes of over four hundred yards each, one of them being +five hundred and twenty, and, the total length of the round being 6245 +yards, it was good enough in this respect. It has three short holes, +well separated, and some of its drive-and-iron-holes are quite +excellent. The Brookline course differs from many others in America in +the quick and varied undulations of its land--heaving, rolling, twisting +everywhere--and thus calling for adaptability of stance, and careful +reckoning of running after pitching at every shot. By this feature the +play is made as interesting as it should be, but often is not. Only two +of the holes on the course are quite flat and plain, and these are +novelties. They are the first and eighteenth, which take straight lines +parallel to each other through the great polo field alongside the +club-house. Polo is a considerable feature of the scheme of the Country +Club, and its comparatively small territory is not to be interfered with +for the sake of the golfers who have so much more of Massachusetts for +their delectation. Yet it is necessary to play through this polo field. +Consequently we start the round at one end of it and play a hole of 430 +yards right along past the grand stand. Then away we go out into the +country, over the hills and along the dales, and through the trees and +cuttings where rocks were blasted, and, after many adventures, return to +the smooth plain land of the polo field as to the straight run home at +the end of a steeplechase, and play along positively the plainest +410-yard hole I have ever seen. The tee is at one end of the polo field, +with the grand stand in the middle distance on the left. There is not a +bunker along that field, but there is rough grass on the left of the +part designated for the fairway, and there is the same with a +horse-racing track as well on the right. At the far end of the field, +near to the club-house, the race-track, of course, bends round and comes +across the line of play. Just on the other side of that track the ground +rises up steeply for three or four yards, and then up there sloping +upwards and backwards is the putting green. Thus the race-track becomes +a hazard to guard the green, and the green is on a high plateau with big +trees all round it. The hole is there all complete, with hardly a thing +done to it by man, and it is one of the most remarkable examples I have +seen of a piece of ready-made golf of the plainest possible description, +resulting in something fairly good. It is 410 yards long, and if the tee +shot is a little defective the attempt to reach the green with the +second is going to be a heartbreaking business. With a good drive that +second shot, played with a cleek perhaps, or the brassey may be needed, +has to be uncommonly well judged and true. The margin for error is next +to nothing. At the first glance at it I thought that this eighteenth +hole was very stupid, but it is a hole that grows a little upon you, and +the original impression has been withdrawn from my mind. It was the last +hope of Vardon and Ray, and it failed them. The fairway at Brookline is +far better than on the average American course, and if one says that its +putting greens are among the very best in America, the greatest possible +compliment is paid to them. + +There have been many touches of romance in the history of golf at the +Country Club, but none more remarkable than that associated with the +construction of the comparatively new ninth, tenth, and eleventh holes, +two long ones with a short one between them, which are among the nicest +holes in all America. For some years after the beginning of this +century, when golf at Brookline had become a very big thing, these holes +did not exist, their predecessors being embraced in the other parts of +the course. But, for the crossing that they involved, those predecessors +had become dangerous, and it was determined to take in a new tract of +land, and to make three new holes upon it. It was a tremendous +undertaking, for "land" was only a kind of courtesy title for the wild +mixture of forest, rock, and swamp into which a man might sink up to his +neck, but for which about 25,000 dollars had to be paid, while another +thirteen or fourteen thousand dollars had to be spent in making it fit +for golf and preparing the holes, so that these three cost an average of +about thirteen thousand dollars a hole, or roughly L2500 as we may say +if we are English. At the ninth as much rock had to be blasted as some +one afterwards used to make a wall two hundred yards long, and the best +part of a yard in thickness. The tenth hole is a very delightful short +one, with the green in a glade far below the tee. They call it "The +Redan," because Mr. G. Herbert Windeler (long resident in America, but +English in nationality still, despite his past presidency of the +U.S.G.A.), who is largely responsible for the golf at Brookline, and +designed and superintended the construction of these holes, had the +famous piece of golf at North Berwick in his mind when he planned this +one, but before the end he departed far from the original conception, +and all for the good of the hole. When it was being made the place for +the green needed raising from the swamp, and nearly two thousand loads +of broken rocks were deposited there; and after soil to a depth of +eighteen inches had been laid upon the stone foundation a splendid +putting green was made. With all its variety, this is not a course of +such intricacy and such mystery as St. Andrews is, to need long weeks of +study and practice to understand every shot upon it. You may play St. +Andrews from childhood to old age and yet be puzzled and mistaken +sometimes, but Brookline is more candid than that, and it is to its +credit that with all its variety you may be completely acquainted with +it in a very few days. Let me say then that the suggestion that Mr. +Ouimet had a distinct advantage in a knowledge of the course obtained in +his childhood, and maintained thenceforth by frequent practice on the +course near to which he lived, is quite nonsense. He had no advantage +whatever. Vardon and Ray had practised there for several days in +advance, and if they did not know all about it that there was to know it +was their own fault. They did know, and local knowledge, which counts +for far less with great golfers than men a little their inferiors, had +nothing to do with the issue. + + + * * * * * + +Now consider the other circumstances, that the proper meaning and +significance of the result may be understood, and that neither too much +merit shall be awarded, nor too much blame. There were about a hundred +and sixty competitors, and I would call the field a strong one, but of +course not nearly so strong as the field for our Open Championship. Such +men as two of the triumvirate were missing, and a highly respectable +company of past champions, while there were no such English amateurs in +the list as Mr. Graham, Mr. Lassen, and Mr. Michael Scott to make an +occasional disturbance. But there were other amateurs. Compared to a +British open championship field it was weak at the top and weak in the +middle. Everybody who goes to our open championships knows that there, +for three parts of the trial, there are comparative nobodies bobbing up +from nowhere and creating all kinds of excitement by breaking the +records of the courses, and fixing themselves up elegantly at the top of +the list. There they sit like civilians on an imperial dais, but always +they topple off before the end. Not one of them has ever remained to the +finish, so that if the American entry was weak in this respect, +Americans might argue that it did not matter anyhow since this middle +part was not the one to count. Yet it always has its effect. But then +the Americans may also point out that they too had their middle men who +came to the front and created disturbances, only quitting the heights in +time to make room for the winner and his attendants. There was young +M'Donald Smith, and there were Barnes and Hagin, who had come up out of +the wild west--and one of them, saying it respectfully to his splendid +golf, looked a cowboy too--and were distinct menaces until the last +rounds came to be played. Then in estimating the strength of this +American field remember that M'Dermott, who is undoubtedly high class, +and was in the prize list at the Open Championship at Hoylake, was not +nearly a winner here, and remember also that imported players of the +high quality of Tom Vardon and Robert Andrew were not in it either. +Altogether it is my judgment that the field was stronger than imagined +in England, yet not nearly so strong as ours. Following a favourite +American practice of reducing to percentages every estimate, however +necessarily indefinite, such as even the comparative charms of wives and +sweethearts, I would give the strength of a British field the hundred, +and I would give sixty-five to this of America. I knew that I should +fall to that percentage system some time, and now I have. For its strong +variety, and for its flavour of cosmopolitanism, it was an interesting +entry. The professionals all over the States--and the amateurs, too, for +that matter--came up to Brookline from north, south, east and west, for +what they felt was a great occasion, and over the border from Canada +they came as well. Up from Mexico came Willie Smith, the Willie who was +teethed in golf at his Carnoustie home, and whom we never shall forget +as he who broke the record--and holds it with George Duncan still--for +the old course at St. Andrews in the very last round that was played at +the beginning of an Open Championship meeting there a few years ago. It +was really a wonderful field, and its units presented a wealth of +material for study and contemplation in matters of style and method +during the first day or two. And yet for all the variety of players I +doubt whether there was so much difference in ways as we see in a big +championship at home. The American golfing system is a little plainer, I +think. Of course it was by far the largest entry that had ever been +received for the American open event, and this fact necessitated a +departure to some extent from established American custom, and one which +we of Britain with unenviable experience of many processes in qualifying +competitions could not congratulate the Americans on having to make. +However, the numbers were not so large as to cause such trouble, even +with a qualifying competition, as we experience in England and Scotland, +and consequently a two-days' affair worked it smoothly through, the +field being divided into two sections, and each man playing his two +rounds off in one day and getting done with it. It was settled that the +top thirty players in each section, and those who tied for the thirtieth +place, should pass into the competition proper for the championship, +which, as here and elsewhere, consists of four rounds of stroke play, +two on each of two successive days. + +The United States Golf Association always manages its championships very +well indeed with no more red tape than is necessary, but with an +exactness of method which might serve as a fine lesson to some other +great golfing countries that I have in mind. In this present case Mr. +Robert Watson, President for the year of the U. S. G. A., after all his +splendid work as secretary of the Association, was in charge of all the +arrangements and as administrator-in-chief was the most energetic man +during the whole of the week at Brookline. It was fitting that in his +year of presidency, so well deserved, there should be this ever +memorable happening to mark the season out from all others. Mr. Herbert +Jacques, Mr. G. Herbert Windeler, and Mr. John Reid, the new secretary +of the U. S. G. A., were in the nature also of generals of the +headquarters staff, and they laboured constantly in an upper room late +at night working out the details of business when other persons on whom +responsibility was more lightly cast, with cocktails to help, might be +pondering over the tense problem as to what was going to happen next. +The general idea of the system was much the same as we have it in +Britain, as there is hardly much scope for variety in matters of this +kind. + + + * * * * * + +Now--Ouimet. It is easy for the Americans and others to compose anthems +about him now, but little enough did they know or think of this +Massachusetts boy until they saw that he was really winning, and then +the remark that I heard of an ex-American champion to him in the +dressing-room shortly after it was all over, "Well done, Francis, and +there are lots more in the country like you!" was not only lacking in +compliment and taste, but was not true. America is by no means full of +Ouimets, and never will be. I had met him at Chicago in 1912, and heard +of him next in a letter that I received just before starting for America +in the following summer, which gave me particulars of what happened in +the match in the closing stages of the Massachusetts State Championship +between my old friend, Mr. John G. Anderson, and Mr. Ouimet, in which it +was stated that Mr. Ouimet had done the last nine holes in that match as +follows--yards first and figures after: 260 yards (4), 497 yards (3), +337 yards (4), 150 yards (2), 394 yards (3), 224 yards (3), 250 yards +(3), 320 yards (3), 264 yards (3). So he did the last six holes in 17 +strokes, and no wonder that poor John remarked, "I have never played in +any match in my life where I did the last six holes in three over 3's +and lost four of them, as I did on this occasion!" Of course Mr. Ouimet +became State champion, and I determined to have a good look at him as +soon as I got on the other side of the Atlantic. On the day after my +arrival in New York I was down at the Garden City Club, the Amateur +Championship taking place there the following week, and at lunch time +Mr. Anderson, who was at another table with Ouimet, called me over. +"Well, Mr. Ouimet, I suppose you have a big championship in your bag +this season," was just the proper thing to say, and he answered +something about doing his best, but feeling he might be better at stroke +play. "Then," said I, "there is the Open Championship to take place in +your own golfing country," and with that we tackled the chicken. He is a +nice, open-hearted, modest, sporting golfer, and was only twenty years +old in the May of his great championship year. Tall, lithe and somewhat +athletic in figure and movement, he takes excellent care of himself in a +semi-training sort of way. He abstains from alcohol entirely, and though +he smokes a few cigarettes when "off duty" he rarely does so while +playing, having the belief that the use of tobacco has a temporary +effect on the eyesight, such as is not conducive to accuracy of play. He +agreed entirely with a suggestion I put to him, in conversation, that +most golfers make the mistake of playing too much and lose keenness in +consequence, and he thinks that the American players in general are by +no means at such a disadvantage as is sometimes imagined. The winter +rest gives them extra keenness in the spring and summer, and that is +everything. He does not play at all from November to April, but keeps +himself fit with skating and ice hockey, while during the season he only +plays one round three times a week, and two full rounds on Sundays. +Business considerations--he is engaged at a Boston athletic store--have +something to do with this system, no doubt, but he thinks it sound. I +looked at his bag of clubs; there are no freaks in it. It comprises ten +items, an ivory-faced driver, a brassey, six irons including a jigger +and mashie niblick, and two putters, one being of the ordinary aluminium +kind and the other a wry-neck implement, the latter being most used. As +to his style of golf, its outstanding characteristics are three: it is +plain, like the style of most American golfers, and free from any +striking individuality; it is straight; and it is marvellously steady +and accurate. A marked feature of most of the American players is that +their swing is very round and flat, and that they get a pronounced hook +on their ball. Mr. Ouimet's swing is rather more upright than that of +most of the others, he keeps an exceedingly straight line and has full +length--as much as Vardon. I said he had no peculiarities, but there is +just this one, that he grips his club with what is called the +interlocking grip. This is a way of grasping the club that some +professionals employed during the early period of general transition +from the plain grip to the overlapping. Mr. Ouimet's little finger of +the right hand just goes between the first and second of the left hand, +while the left thumb goes round the shaft instead of into the palm of +the right hand. Such a grip may suit a man who uses it, but it can +hardly have any advantages. I note as a further peculiarity that the +right forefinger is crooked up away from the shaft, so that the tip of +the finger only comes to the leather at the side. This has to some +considerable extent the effect of throwing that finger out of action, +and as a means of reducing the right hand's power for evil is not to be +condemned. Many other players have sought some such method of crippling +the very dangerous hand. + +But after all it is not the shots he plays, good as they are, dependable +as they always seem to be, as the qualities of temperament with which +they are supported. He has a golfing temperament of very peculiar +perfection, wanting perhaps in imagination but remarkably serviceable to +his game. He seems to have the power to eliminate entirely the mental +oppression of the other ball or balls; he can play his own game nearly +regardless of what others play against him. From the mere sporting point +of view he misses something in the way of emotions perhaps, those rare +emotions which some of us derive when we are fighting hard to keep our +match alive and at a crisis become hopelessly bunkered; but he gains +enormously in strokes and successes. When he settles down to his match +or round, he can concentrate more deeply than any other man I know or +have heard of. He sees his ball, thinks what he should do with it, and +has the course and the hole in his mental or optical vision all the +time, just those and nothing else. The other balls do not exist, and the +scores that are made against him do not exist either. He has told me +that in important golf, and indeed in that most mightily important +play-off against Vardon and Ray, he was wholly unaware until it came to +the putting what his opponents had done, and generally he had not seen +their balls after they had driven them from the tee. Vardon and Ray +pounded away as hard as they could, but their shots had no more effect +on Ouimet than the patting of an infant's fist would have on the cranium +of a nigger. He just went on and did better. Andrew Kirkaldy once said +of Harry Vardon at the beginning of his career that he had the heart of +an iron ox, and that is like Ouimet's. This championship will always be +something of a mystery; but in this statement about the Ouimet +temperament there is the nearest thing to a solution of it that can ever +be offered. I know that what I say is the simple truth, partly from +observation, partly from inquiry, and partly from Mr. Ouimet's +statements to me. He said he was unaware of the presence of the crowd on +the fourth day when he made the tie until he was in the neighbourhood of +the seventeenth green. + +See how interesting he becomes despite the plainness of his game. When +such achievements as his of the 20th of September are made they rarely +suffer from any want of added romance. On the day in question Mr. +Ouimet, champion as he had become, told me in a talk we had, how he +began the game when he was about four years of age. He was a French +Canadian by blood, but his parents had come over the border and their +little family settled at Brookline close to the sixteenth green of the +Country Club. His elder brothers played a kind of golf, and he watched +them and began to practise himself on some pasture land near his home. +Then he became a caddie at Brookline, played the game more seriously +than before, with three clubs that a member of the Country Club gave to +him, and at sixteen years of age won, at the second attempt, the +championship of his school. They make a feature of school championships +in America. This story was attractive enough, but the next day, reading +the American papers, one gathered that there was some of the romance of +a Joan of Arc about this boy of Brookline. His mother said that when +Francis was a little boy of six or seven he would cross the road and sit +for hours fascinated by watching the members of the Country Club at the +game. Then he wanted to become a caddie, and maternal objections did not +avail. He became a caddie. His mother also said that he learned much of +the game then, and would always try to get engaged by the strongest +players, and he would copy as well as he could their best strokes. He +passed from the grammar school to the Brookline High School, but his +mind was more on golf than on his books. The mother used to hear noises +up in his room at night. Once she was frightened by what she heard, and +went to his room at midnight fearing that he was sick. She found him +putting on the floor, and he then confessed that he had often done that +kind of thing before. On that occasion he had thought while in bed of a +new grip and wished to try it. He did not care to wait until the +morning. The parents desired their son to get all advantage from +education that he could, but after two years at the high school he +insisted on leaving and was engaged at a Boston store where golf goods +are dealt in. All that and more was said of him. + + + * * * * * + +In a narrative of this kind circumstances and reasonable deductions are +everything, and shots are next to nothing, for there is little enough to +be said about a ball in the air or its place of stopping. Only one man +knows the truth about a golf stroke as it is played, and that is the man +who plays it. Very often even the most expert observers are quite wrong +in their inferences and judgments. I have explained most of the +circumstances already. On the first of the two qualifying days, Mr. +Ouimet came very near to taking first place in the list, for he had a +score of 152, and only Harry Vardon beat him, and by one stroke only, as +the result of a long putt on the last green of all. The weather was fine +and the greens were fiery on that Tuesday. Next day there was more wind +and there were indications of a change of weather coming. Autumn gusts +were breaking the leaves from the tree-tops. That day Ray headed the +qualifying list with 148, Wilfrid Reid was next to him with 149, +M'Dermott was 161 and Mr. Travers was 165. This was good business for +England, even though it yielded nothing but a little temporary prestige. +Then came Thursday, and in the early morning and up to a little while +after play began there was much rain, and the greens were considerably +slowed down. They were, indeed, reduced to a soaking state in time, and +Tom M'Namara told me that once or twice he had actually, instead of +putting, to root his ball with a niblick out of the greens, into which +they had buried themselves on pitching. But Brookline stood the weather +test very well. + +First rounds are seldom eventful; the value of the play done in them +seems to be discounted by the circumstance that there are three more +rounds to come. M'Dermott did a 74 in this round, Vardon and Reid 75's, +Mr. Ouimet 77, and Ray 79, but even M'Dermott was three strokes behind +the leaders. In the afternoon round Ray recovered brilliantly with a 70, +Vardon and Reid both did 72's, and Mr. Ouimet 74; and at the end of this +first proper day Vardon and Reid were at the head of the list with +aggregates of 147, Ray was next with 149, while Mr. Ouimet was seventh +with 151. Again the British invaders looked well in their place, and +that night they were strong favourites for the championship. "America +has a fight on hands," "Little left but hope," and such like, were the +headings in newspapers. As I lay in bed at the Country Club that night, +I heard the rain pour ceaselessly down. It rained all through the night +and alas! all the next day as well, and the great events of that Friday +were watched through a heavy downpour. In their third rounds Vardon did +78, Ray 76, and Mr. Ouimet, who was playing nearly a whole round behind +the others, and with wonderful steadiness, did a 74: and so it came +about that with the competition three parts done, all these three were +at the top with aggregates of 225. Now was the time for the Englishmen's +efforts if they were to be made. To their own chagrin they could not +make them when they needed. Ray took 43 to the turn, in his fourth +round, Vardon, whose putting all the week was distinctly moderate, and +the chief cause for his inefficiency, took 42, and though both finished +better, their two 79's were bad and seemed to have cost them the +championship. Vardon certainly thought they had, and took a very gloomy +view of things. I spoke to him a little while after he had finished, and +he said he was sorry and that they could not win then. His putting had +let him down, he said, as he had been afraid it would, though he felt +that the rest of his game had never been played better. "There are three +or four out there who will beat us," said the melancholy Vardon. It +looked like that, but the American hopes one by one failed to +materialise. Hagin fell out; Barnes fell out; M'Dermott fell out. +Goodness! it was going to be a tie between Vardon and Ray after all, and +these two Englishmen would play off here at Boston for the American +championship! Hereupon said Englishmen came out to see what was +happening, and looked happy again. They smiled. Then men came running +and breathless from distant parts with tidings of Ouimet. He had had a +worried way to the turn, but had improved afterwards, so rumour said. I +went along with our British champions to pick him up at the fourteenth +green, and there when he came along, we found that if he did the last +four holes in a total of one under par he would tie with the leaders, +or, in other words, if he did the miraculous and practically impossible +he might be permitted to have a game next day. + +I shall never forget watching that boy play those last four holes; that +was the real fight for the championship. Their respective lengths and +par figures are 370 yards (4), 128 yards (3), 360 yards (4), 405 yards +(4). They were stiff pars, too, you will see, with nothing given away, +especially as the turf was soaking. At one of those holes he had to gain +a stroke on par if he were to tie, and the others must be done in par. A +slip anywhere would surely be fatal. It seemed that that slip was made +with the second shot at the fifteenth, for he was wide of the green on +the right and had to pitch from the rough, but he was dead with his +third and got the 4 after all. At the sixteenth he holed a three yards' +putt for the 3 and still was level with par. The much-wanted stroke was +given to him at the next hole, which is a dog-legged thing bending to +the left, with rough and bunkers to be avoided. He played it with good +judgment always, and this time, on the green with his second, he holed a +nine-yards putt for a 3. Thus he was left to get the home hole in 4 to +tie, and by holing a five-feet putt with not a second's hesitation, just +as if everything in golf had not seemed to depend upon it, he tied. +Jupiter! + + + * * * * * + +According to American golfing law and precedent the tie had to be +decided by one extra round, all three playing together. I have no fault +to find with this arrangement; perhaps the result would have been the +same if two rounds had had to be played. I know, however, that Vardon +thought it would have been better and proper if each had played +separately, with a marker. Most people thought that as Ouimet was almost +playing the better ball of the two Englishmen he could not possibly win. +Theoretically he was sure to have slept badly overnight and to be in a +terrible state of nerves in the morning. They might see him top his +first tee shot and be three strokes to the bad on the first green. +Really I had no such ideas, and when I saw him hit his first drive as +well, cleanly and straight as any drive ever need be made, I had no +doubts about his having slept. Vardon drove the straightest ball and +then deliberately played short of the muddy race-track in front of the +green, but Mr. Ouimet boldly took his brassey, went for the carry, and +just did it. The hole was done in 5 each, and the second in 4 each; but +at the third Ray, who had driven too much to the right and had a bad +stance below his ball, only just got to the corner of the green, a long +way from the pin, with his second, and then took three putts, thus +dropping a stroke behind the others. At the fourth and fifth, at the +latter of which Mr. Ouimet put a spoon shot out of bounds through his +club slipping in his hands, but recovered splendidly with the same club, +the score remained the same. Then at the sixth, a drive and pitch up a +hill, Vardon approached to within three yards, and the others to within +six yards of the pin, Vardon holing his putt and Mr. Ouimet (who decided +on consideration to concentrate on his 4) and Ray just missing. So +Vardon was then one stroke better than the American, and the latter +still one less than Ray who, by a better run up from the edge of the +green at the seventh, scored over both his opponents. At the eighth +there was a dramatic episode, for Mr. Ouimet laid a low approach +stone-dead and holed for a 3, while Ray ran down a twelve yards' putt +for another 3, Vardon being beaten here though getting a perfect par 4. +All were level and the excitement and suspense intense. Something was +expected to happen at the ninth, the longest hole on the course, and a +great, romantic piece of golf. It is a long, heaving hole carved through +rock, and partly built on a swamp, and away in the far distance is a +high plateau green which, seen through the rain and mist, looked like a +ghostly thing in the clouds. Here Vardon slashed out for length, but +with a hook sent his ball into the woods. Yet he recovered well, and +after stress and strain by all three this tortuous hole was done in five +each. The parties were all level at the turn with 38 strokes each. +Immediately afterwards Mr. Ouimet went to the front, and was never +deprived of the lead. The tenth hole is the short one named "The Redan," +with a heavily bunkered green low down in a valley below the tee. Each +tee shot was right, but Vardon and Ray were poor on the green and took +three putts, while the American was down in one less. Vardon looked +serious now, and Ray was fidgetty. There were three 4's at the eleventh, +and then Mr. Ouimet reached the twelfth green with his second, four +yards from the pin, Vardon and Ray being just off on opposite sides. +They both took five to hole out. Mr. Ouimet, by boldness, might have +gained two strokes here, but he was a trifle short with his putt and was +satisfied with a profit of one. This was followed by Vardon holing a +three-yard putt and getting a point back, but at the fourteenth there +were ominous signs of the British game collapsing, for Vardon went into +the woods again, Ray shot off wildly to the right with his second, and +they were both well out of it with 5's, like Mr. Ouimet whose brassey +shot went too low to clear properly a bank in front. Mr. Ouimet told me +that at this stage he felt he was going to win. Not one of the three had +been bunkered so far, but at the fifteenth Ray was caught and, needing +two strokes for recovery, was virtually done for. + +The last stage of the struggle lay between Vardon and Mr. Ouimet. Both +got 3's at the short sixteenth. Vardon was looking anxious and worried, +for most brilliant play on his own part could not save him now, and he +could only hope that Mr. Ouimet would come by disaster. Instead of that +he himself, trying to cut the corner of the dog-legged seventeenth too +finely in an effort to gain distance, was bunkered. Ray, in wild +desperation, had hurled himself with terrific force at the ball on the +tee in an impossible attempt to carry straight over the bunkers and the +rough in a straight line to the green. As to Mr. Ouimet, he just played +an easy iron shot to the green dead on the line of the pin and holed a +six-yard putt for 3 and a gain of two clear strokes. It was really +finished then, and in the circumstances the playing of the last hole was +a formality. Mr. Ouimet did it steadily for par 4; Vardon was caught in +the race track before the green and took 6, and Ray holed a fruitless +putt for 3. Mr. Ouimet was champion, and there was an end of it. Seeing +that history was made, let me set down the scores:-- + + FIRST HALF + + Ouimet 5 4 4 4 5 4 4 3 5--38 + Vardon 5 4 4 4 5 3 4 4 5--38 + Ray 5 4 5 4 5 4 3 3 5--38 + + SECOND HALF + + Ouimet 3 4 4 4 5 4 3 3 4--34--72 + Vardon 4 4 5 3 5 4 3 5 6--39--77 + Ray 4 4 5 4 5 6 4 5 3--40--78 + +Mr. Ouimet's score exactly equalled that of the better ball of Vardon +and Ray. + + + * * * * * + +I shall say no more about what happened immediately afterwards than that +the American crowd gave a hearty demonstration of the fact that they +were very pleased indeed. A considerable sum of money was raised by a +collection for Mr. Ouimet's little caddie, Eddie Lowry, who was a +wonder of a mite and inspired the new champion throughout the week with +all sorts of advice. He would tell him in the mornings to take time over +his putts as it was then only ten o'clock and he had until six at night +to play; would remind him again at a suitable moment that America was +expecting great things from him, and, above all, whispered gently to him +on handing him his club for each shot that he must be careful to keep +his eye on the ball! It is declared, moreover, that at the beginning of +the tie round he assured his master that a 72 would that time be +forthcoming. Little Eddie Lowry had his share of glory. + +And now what about it all? How is it to be explained? Vardon and Ray +generously and properly admitted they were beaten fairly and squarely on +their merits. They could not say otherwise. I believe that Vardon came +to the conclusion at the end of his American tour that he played worse +golf at that championship than anywhere else, but on that final day on +which everything depended he did not play so badly as he may have +thought, and his putting was better than usual. I would not like to +guarantee either Englishman to do much better in the same conditions at +any time. On the other hand, Mr. Ouimet was blessed with no special +luck, except that negative kind of luck that kept his ball out of +trouble always, and made two putts invariably sufficient. His driving +was as long as Vardon's, and he was the straightest of all, while he +missed some putts by half-inches. He played a bold game too, and the +only semblance of timidity was in occasionally being a trifle short with +long putts, while Vardon and Ray, desperate, but in proper principle, +were giving the hole every chance and often running past it. Mr. Ouimet +seemed to general his own game so thoroughly well. Talking to me +afterwards, he explained completely his policy at every shot in the +match, and showed himself to be a thinker of the finest strain. He was +all for running approaches instead of pitched ones that day, because he +feared the ball embedding itself in the soft turf, and also felt that +when running it would be more likely to shed dirt that it picked up and +leave him a clean putt. Everything was considered and well decided, and +in his argument one could find no flaw. And he insisted that he just +played his own game and never watched the other balls. "Looking back on +it all," said he, "I think it was just this way, that Vardon and Ray +rather expected me to crack, not having the experience for things like +this as they had, and when the time went on and I did not crack but went +along with them, I think it had an unfavourable effect on them. That is +the way I reason it out, because when you expect a man to crack and he +doesn't, you lose a little of your sureness yourself. I began to feel +that the championship was coming to me when we were about the fourteenth +hole, for Ray then seemed to be going, and he was swinging rather wildly +at the ball." I think that Mr. Ouimet's explanation was tolerably near +the truth. Some of the secret history of this championship may never be +written, but I know that Harry Vardon realised when it was too late that +he had been paying insufficient attention to what Mr. Ouimet was doing, +and what the possibilities were in that direction. At the beginning he +felt that the real contest lay between him and Ray, never dreaming that +Mr. Ouimet could hold out against them. Therefore he concentrated on +Ray, as it were, and when he had Ray beaten he realised too late that +there was some one else. It may have made no difference, but a thousand +times have we had demonstrated to us the capacity of our champions for +playing "a little bit extra" when it is really needed. Anyhow it was +Vardon's own mistake, if it was one, and he is very sorry for it. + +A consideration of great importance is the way in which this victory was +confirmed, as it were, by the other events of the week. It does not +generally happen that the men who distinguish themselves in preliminary +qualifying competitions go through winners of championships afterwards. +Men can rarely play their best for six rounds in succession, and, the +law of averages being at work all the time, they would rather perform +indifferently in the first test, so long as they qualify, than beat all +the others. I do not recall a case where the champion would have been +champion if all six rounds had been counted in, instead of the four of +the competition proper. But this time at Brookline we had seven rounds +played, and the astonishing fact is that, if all seven rounds were +counted in, Mr. Ouimet would still be at the top with a score of 528 +against Ray's 530 and Vardon's 532. I think that this is a point which +has not been much realised, and it is one of importance in dealing with +the idea that a fluke victory was achieved. You can hardly have a fluke +victory in four stroke rounds; much less can you have one in seven. Now +I would suggest that if Vardon and Ray had dropped behind in the +scoring, and had occupied other places than they did in the final +aggregates, there might have been some good support for the fluke +theory. Their defeat by several people would have needed far more +explanation, because it would have been clear that, for some reason, +they were beaten by golfers inferior to themselves. Conditions and +climate would have become considerations of greater importance. But +merely the fact that these men finished second and third in such a big +field indicates that there was little fluke anywhere, for this was a +marvellous vindication of form in competition, in a game where form is +so much affected by fortune. And, finally, the fact that Mr. Ouimet beat +these men in the play-off when he had them both there in sight, playing +stroke against stroke with him, and not an invisible field without any +definite menace as in the previous play, was quite enough to stamp him +as the most thoroughly deserving champion of that week. British golfing +pride will force the suggestion to many minds that such a thing, proper +as it was on this occasion, could never happen again; that if the +championship were replayed in the same conditions Mr. Ouimet would be +beaten. But of how many champions could it be said that if they had to +play the event over again a week or a month later, the luck of the game +being what it is, they would repeat their triumph? Reflecting once more +that this was but a boy of twenty, and the real greatness of our players +being what it is, I am more amazed than ever at what has happened. It +was an American victory and America takes the credit, but, again, the +United States are by no means full of Ouimets. I look upon him as a +first-class prodigy, such as the game has never known before, produced +in the country where such a golfing prodigy was most likely to make his +appearance. He accomplished what had never been done before, and what I +feel sure will never be done again, and because it was such an historic +happening, and there were so few from England there to see it as I did, +I have told the tale in full. Nobody believes that Mr. Ouimet is as +great as Harry Vardon and Edward Ray. He could not be. But also I do not +think that any one else could do what he did at Brookline on that +occasion. I found, a long time after the occurrence, that many wise +American golfers, reflecting dispassionately if still proudly upon it, +gave a certain satisfaction to their reason by suggesting as a final +explanation that a miracle had happened. That is a good way out of our +difficulties, and for my own part I accept it, for it is the only +explanation that will stand all tests. A miracle happened at Brookline +on that Twentieth of September. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE BEGINNINGS OF GOLF IN THE UNITED STATES, AND EXPERIENCES IN +TRAVELLING THERE, WITH AN EXAMPLE OF AMERICAN CLUB MANAGEMENT. + + +There is little done to solve the mysteries of golf's beginning by +pressing into the farthest recesses of American golfing history. Only by +such little twinklings in the darkness of the almost prehistoric period +of the game do we begin more to suspect that, being such a natural and +simple thing, an almost inevitable kind of pastime despite its man-made +intricacies and laws, and all its heartenings and maddenings, it came up +of itself in different places, when man had reached full intelligence +and the desire to play properly other games than such as bowls. Those +Indian braves who wandered and hunted and fought over that magnificent +land when in its virgin state must have tried to knock something like a +ball, or a stone, in the direction of a particular mark, and that would +be a game for them. I remember hearing that several years ago a visitor +to one of the reservations found several of the red men playing golf of +a kind, with real clubs and balls. "Purple Cloud" was the champion of +the braves. Then in the autumn of 1903 another white wanderer looked in +upon the Indians in the reservation at Montana and reported that he had +witnessed a very spirited game. Golf, said he, is much better suited to +the Indian of to-day than his old game of lacrosse. He noticed very few +subtleties in the game. When the champion, "Spotted Horse," drove off, +there was a long stretch of clear prairie, with only here and there a +shrub, so that the game resolved itself into a chase of the ball for a +couple of miles and a return, the one who did it in the fewest strokes +being the winner. He saw some really capital drives, several well over +three hundred yards, he thought. The only thing that was very new and +characteristic about these red men's golf, so far as he could see, was +that the spectators "made a most infernal row all the time that the play +was in progress." When a brave took his stance for a tee shot, it was +looked upon as the signal for a perfect bedlam of yells and howling, +which should have disconcerted the player but did not do so. And with my +own eyes have I seen the modern Indians playing for the American +championship, and it might be claimed that though laws be made at St. +Andrews, and interpretations thereof in the council chamber of the white +men at New York, this after all, in essentials, is a game that is native +of the soil. Yet the history of such a game down the Indian line must be +hazy as the history of the braves themselves, and we must leave it now +with this ample recognition. + +But though in names and other matters there is a Scottish flavour in +some of the records of the earliest American golf, and when it became a +real and growing thing it was obviously imported, one is sometimes +inclined to think that the Simpsonian theory of the spontaneous +generation of golf, or what approximated in essentials to golf, must +have applied to America as to other countries. A stick, a ball, a mark, +and there is the principle of golf fully indicated. + +In a primitive way also it was played in America in the seventeenth +century, and, as in the homeland, some of the earliest references to it +that remain take the form of warnings of the punishments accruing to +players who departed from such severe restrictions as were imposed. It +was not proclaimed what advantages would be yielded men who played, as +is done to-day, but what grievous penalties they should suffer if they +played it when and where they should not, and alas! the times and places +that were forbidden appeared to be many in proportion to those when the +game might be enjoyed by those who liked it. Then as now, and in America +as in happy England, those who were not of golf were against it, and +bitterly. There were jealousies then as ever since. There were those +often-quoted Laws and Ordinances of the New Netherlands of 1659 in +which, because of a complaint by the burghers of Fort Orange and the +village of Berwyck about the damage done to their windows and the danger +to which they were exposed of being wounded by persons who played golf +along the streets, the golfers were threatened of consequences to come. +Then clearly the game was played in South Carolina in 1788, for at that +time an advertisement appeared in a local newspaper thus: "Anniversary +of the South Carolina Golf Club will be held at Williams's Coffee House +on Thursday, 29th instant, when members are requested to attend at 2 +o'clock precisely, that the business of the Club may be transacted +before dinner." Here there is a clear indication of the close connection +maintained between the playing of the game and the social ceremonies +about the dinner-table that were held by the golfers on the same day in +the way that was practised by the early golfers of the Scottish centres +and of Blackheath. For many years afterwards these meetings of the South +Carolina Golf Club were held at the club-house on what was known as +"Harton's Green," which is now in the heart of Charleston. Perhaps this +was the first golf club-house in America, and if that were so it shared +the fate of pioneer establishments in many other places where towns have +widened and gathered in the outlying lands. There is also preserved in +the archives the form of invitation that was sent to Miss Eliza Johnston +to attend the ball of the Savannah Golf Club at the Exchange hall in +that city in December 1811. And then American golf seems to have lapsed +and slept like Van Winkle in the Catskills until the time of the great +regeneration came near the end of last century. One does not come now to +make a history of American golf, but only to indicate that new and +republican America also has something in the way of golf traditions. + + + * * * * * + +The real beginning of American golf was made, as you may know, out at +Yonkers up the Hudson, and Mr. John Reid, the elder, is rightly regarded +as the father of American golf. Such recognition being of long standing +and his claims being incontestable, he was again publicly and officially +proclaimed as such at the silver jubilee celebration that was held in +New York on November 19, 1913. That was twenty-five years from the time +when the game was really set going in the States. One night I sat over a +log fire in a club-house in Massachusetts and heard the story of the +foundation by his father from the lips of Mr. John Reid, the younger, +secretary of the United States Golf Association. He told me how his +father and Robert Lockhart, who went to the same school in Scotland, +came to America together; how Lockhart who, as a buyer of goods, had to +pay periodical visits to his homeland, talked of the strange game that +was played there; how Mr. Reid became interested and asked for clubs and +balls to be brought across the water; how he tried the swings and +strokes in a field by their house at Yonkers, the son "fielding" for +the father; how the captain of a steamer was persuaded to bring another +set of clubs over with him, and how irons were thereafter cast in +America. Then he told me how other people, few but keen, were attracted +to this new pastime that the Reids were trying, and how the first little +club was formed here at Yonkers in November 1888, and called the St. +Andrews Golf Club. They were as the golfing fathers. I learned how the +members came to be known as the Apple Tree Gang because of the tree near +to the first hole on which they hung their coats; how six holes were +laid out at the beginning on Mr. Reid's land, his house being used as a +club-house; how he gave a medal which was the first prize ever put up +for competition in America--and it was for an annual thirty-six holes +stroke competition--and how it was won for eleven years, three in +succession, by Mr. George Sands. Those were days of consequence. From +that little beginning the St. Andrews Golf Club of Yonkers, after many +changes and enlargements, has risen to a place of importance and honour +in American golf. + +These little histories and traditions of American golf do become +attractive as one probes more deeply into them. It was in Massachusetts +that the most remarkable thing that has ever taken place in the history +of the game on the other side of the Atlantic, or anywhere +perhaps--meaning, of course, the Ouimet triumph--happened lately, and I +have been much attracted to the story of the beginning of golf in that +part of the American world, and not less so when I see that the start +was made such a very little while before the birth of the boy who won +that great championship at Brookline. American golf and Ouimet have +grown up together. One finds that in the summer of 1892 a young lady +from Pau went on a visit to Mr. Arthur Hunnewell, at Wellesley, Mass., +and took with her a set of golf clubs and balls. They had been playing +the game for a long time past at Pau, but it was only just being started +in other parts of France. After Yonkers it had been reproduced at +Shinnecock and one or two other places, but so far Massachusetts had not +known it. The girl showed Mr. Hunnewell how the clubs were used, and +some relatives of his, owning adjacent estates and being fond of outdoor +pastimes, watched and were won quickly to the game. On the first of June +Mr. Hunnewell wrote down in his diary, "F. B. arrived to-day from +Europe"; and on the fifteenth of September, "We are getting quite +excited about golf." A fortnight later he wrote that "J. B. is here and +plays golf all day." I calculate it as a coincidence worth remark that +twenty-one years afterwards, to the month and to the week, Mr. Ouimet +won the great championship. + +Many of Mr. Hunnewell's friends were invited to come and attempt the +game at his place, which they did accordingly and fell in love with it. +He had fashioned a course of seven holes of moderate length over +undulating lawns and some park-land. The actual holes consisted of +five-inch flower-pots sunk in the turf, and the hazards were avenues, +clumps of trees, beds of rhododendrons, an aviary, a greenhouse, and an +occasional drawing-room window, as it is facetiously remarked by Mr. +Lawrence Curtis, who became the first secretary of the golf committee of +the Country Club, and to whose account of these happenings I am indebted +for my notes upon them. Mr. Curtis, seeing the fascination that the game +exercised upon all who became acquainted with it, wrote a letter to the +executive council of the Country Club informing them of it, suggesting +that it was a pastime that might very well be brought within the scope +of the club, and that the cost of an experimental course need not +exceed some fifty dollars. The suggestion was backed by several members +and the council agreed, the course being laid out in the spring of the +following year. The home hole was placed on a lawn in front of the +club-house which was soon discovered to be a very dangerous place for +it, so that it had to be removed. Almost immediately the game became a +strong attraction at the Country Club, new members came along in droves +because of it, and it has flourished ever since. The example of this +powerful club was followed at the Essex County Club at Manchester, then +just being begun. Mr. Herbert Leeds, now so closely and honourably +associated with Myopia, won the Country Club's championship in 1893 with +a score for eighteen holes of 109, Mr. Curtis being next with 110; and +that summer a Country Club side won a team tournament that was played at +Tuxedo against the St. Andrews and Tuxedo Clubs. And afterwards all went +very well indeed. + +And while I write in this way of the grand pioneering work that was done +in those days when champions of the present time were being born and +trained, I am reminded of a conversation I once had with Mr. Edward +Blackwell, in which he told me of his going out to California in 1886 +and staying there for six years. His people had bought some land in +those western parts, and he and his two brothers went out there to +convert it from barley to a vineyard. Mr. Blackwell is a very great +golfer to-day, but considering the gutty ball and circumstances in +general, he was, relatively to his contemporaries, as great then. Only +about a week before he sailed for California a match was arranged +between him and Jack Simpson, who had gained the Open Championship the +previous year, and Mr. Blackwell won that match at the last of the +thirty-six holes that were played. Out in California there was plenty +of hard work to do on the land and good sport with the gun, but, of +course, there was no golf. Mr. Blackwell's thoughts frequently turned +towards it, and he missed it very much. He considered the possibilities +and found that they were practically non-existent, for the country round +about was too hopelessly rough for laying out any sort of holes. So he +never saw a golf club and never hit a ball during those six years, but +for all that he won the King William IV. medal at the autumn meeting of +the Royal and Ancient Club immediately on his return. Then he went back +to California and did not see club or ball for another five years. Some +of us could almost wish he had made some sort of course out there in +California and become the first golfer of that far west, for he would +have been so good to have been a pioneer, and golf has flourished there +exceedingly since then. California sends men to championships. It would +have given a special piquancy to that fateful amateur championship final +at Sandwich in 1904 when Mr. Blackwell was his country's last hope +against America's Mr. Walter Travis, and as it happened he was not quite +equal to the occasion, for the American captured four holes at the start +with his amazing putting, and he won by as many at the end. + +That was a great day for American golf, a kind of consummation it was, +and I shall never forget the queer sensation that filled the atmosphere +on the St. George's course, nor the dumb feeling, not exactly of dismay +but of incomprehension, there was at the end. As to the first of these +sensations I believe that nearly everybody felt--without knowing why +exactly, for comparatively few had noticed his play until he got to the +fourth or fifth rounds and was appreciated as dangerous--that the +American player was nearly sure to win, that nothing could stop him from +winning. It was a conviction. Certainly Mr. Travis's wonderful putting +had created a very deep impression, but if he had been a British player +I think the feeling would have arisen that putting like that, which had +been continued for the best part of a week, would be sure to give out +before the end. Take the case, for instance, of Mr. Aylmer in the +championship of 1910 at Hoylake. He had been putting in the most amazing +manner all the time, and holing them from everywhere, but nobody had any +confidence in his ability to beat Mr. John Ball in the final, and he +collapsed utterly. Of course, Mr. Aylmer then had not the tremendous +fighting power and pertinacity of Mr. Travis in match play, qualities of +their kind which I have only seen equalled by a successor of his in the +American championship roll, Mr. Jerome Travers, and to beat Mr. Ball at +Hoylake is a different matter from beating Mr. Blackwell at Sandwich. +But then they were saying that Mr. Aylmer could not go much farther even +when he was only at about the third round, and as for Mr. Ball at +Hoylake there was a considerable feeling among golfers about that time +that the old champion could not go on defying the law of averages any +longer, and that there could be no more championships for him. I confess +that I rather shared this view, held in a superstitious sort of way, but +now that Mr. John has clapped another championship on to that Hoylake +affair, we have given him up. There is no reason why he should not win +another eight! However, when the Scot and the American teed up that +fateful morning there was a disposition to be sorry for Mr. Blackwell, +and a kind of hope that the end might be painless. In the circumstances +Mr. Blackwell's performance in losing nothing more after losing four of +the first five holes was as good as it could be. He kept the pump +working splendidly. + +The truth is that he was by no means so gloomy as his friends about his +prospects, as he told me afterwards. He said he thought he had a good +chance of winning, and did not believe he would get beaten. He wished, +however, that the tees had been farther back so that his long driving +would have given him a better advantage. Two things about his opponent +impressed him very much, one, of course, being his astonishing putting +and the other his silence. But then, of course, one does not work one's +way into a final of a championship for conversational purposes, or for +debating the merits of the sixth sub-section of one of the rules of +golf. When the deed was done completely Mr. Blackwell joined the +converts who departed from the old prejudice and raided Tom Vardon's +shop for Schenectady putters, with which they practised, and marvelled +as the sun was setting on the first day that any but a British player +had won a British golf championship. With that victory the first era in +modern American golf, not counting the prehistoric times of golf in +Charleston and the Indians' games, came to an end. America had made +good. Now she became a power. + +The second era lasted nine years and was one in which she gradually came +to be taken more seriously. She suffered a set-back of sorts when Mr. +Harold Hilton won the American Amateur Championship at Apawamis in 1911, +but there were some circumstances attending that victory at the +thirty-seventh hole which were rather galling to the Americans, and they +behaved well in saying so little about them. Mr. Hilton ran away with +the match in the final, as it appeared, and Mr. Fred Herreshoff in the +afternoon was offered about the most forlorn hope that golfer ever had +to lighten his way for him. He brightened it up and made it thoroughly +serviceable, and was distinctly unlucky in being beaten at the extra +tie hole when Mr. Hilton's bad second shot cannoned off the famous rock +to the right and went kindly to the putting green instead of getting +into a hopeless place. It has been said that even if Mr. Hilton's shot +was lucky, Mr. Herreshoff played the hole so badly that he hardly +deserved to win it even if he was hardly treated by losing. But it is +forgotten that it was match play, and that what one man does affects the +other's game, and Mr. Herreshoff told me once, long after, that the +American crowd, which is supposed erroneously to be many shots to the +advantage of an American playing against an Englishman, on that occasion +misled and upset him. It cheered for Mr. Hilton at the wrong time and +for the wrong thing, and led to Mr. Herreshoff making a hash of a most +fateful stroke. This era of American golf came to an end with the +amazing victory by Mr. Ouimet at Brookline. + +The present state of things is very remarkable, and I have found the +study of it very interesting during two long golfing expeditions through +the United States, when I have visited many of the chief American clubs, +met and made friends with men who are at the head of American golf and +the most distinguished players, and in every way gained a good practical +knowledge of the amazing progress of the game in this country. The +Englishman who visits America and is not a golfer suffers a loss that he +must regret always afterwards. To strangers in general the Americans in +their own country are kindly and hospitable. That touch of carelessness +and arrogance which is sometimes noticed in the wandering American when +he is "doing Europe" is not in evidence among good Americans when they +are at home, always provided that the Englishman has the good sense and +manners--which one regrets to say is not always the case--to remember +that when in the house of his host it is not good taste to praise his +own for its superiority in divers ways. Pay the American now and then, +and with proper delicacy, that little compliment that is so very well +deserved about the magnificence of his achievement in making a country +like that in such a short space of time, and about the excellence of +many of his established systems. It is a compliment that can and should +be paid with the most absolute sincerity. The American has the right to +be proud of his own country, and we should be proud of the American, for +that his blood is much the same as ours--trite observations, no doubt, +but commonly disregarded. Then with all his fancy hustle and his +tarnation smartness, the American is at bottom rather a sentimental man +(perhaps it is because he has to be so very businesslike most times that +he is liable to a sharp reaction at any good chance) and he is touched +with signs of genuine good feeling towards him and an appreciation of +what he has done. Thereupon in a softened voice he will tell of his +weaknesses, and of his appreciation of the greatness of mother England, +and he will play the host in a more thorough and warm-hearted way than +any other man on earth will or can. The ordinary non-golfing visitor may +find out many of these things, and have his own good time in his simple +way, but even in the freest countries there are often social omissions, +accidents, and disasters when there is not good common ground for +meeting and friends in waiting, and it is very possible to go to America +and fail in the way of holiday. The man who visits as a golfer, enters +at once into joys of existence and the most friendly companionship. I +have visited clubs in many parts of the country, and have made good and +abiding friends among countless golfers, and it is but a poor expression +of my feelings to say that I am very appreciative and deeply grateful. +If, therefore, for anything whatever I should criticise the golf of the +country I hope that American golfers will believe that in my comments +there is no trace of adverse prejudice. + +It is difficult to estimate how many players of this game there are in +the country at the present time, and whatever figures were fixed upon +would soon be made inaccurate through the rapid increase that is going +on all the time--more rapid by far than is the case in Britain. I have +seen it estimated that there are six or seven hundred clubs in the +States at the present time, with a total membership of about a hundred +and fifty thousand. The Americans say that they will double their +golfing population in the next five years. + + + * * * * * + +It is impossible for a person who has not crossed the Atlantic to +imagine the United States as the country and people really are. I found +it easier to imagine Italy and Spain and oriental Morocco before ever I +went to those places, than I did to conceive a picture of the country +and the life of our own blood relations in this new America. All the +fraternising with Americans in London and elsewhere, our reading of +their newspapers and their books, printed in the words of our own +language, pictures and photographs of the Statue of Liberty in New York +Harbour, of the sky-scrapers in the background and the Fifth Avenue that +glitters on a summer's day, all the pictures of Boston and Washington, +or of the boulevards and business activities of Chicago, will not help +any one to preconceive those places exactly. The atmosphere and the life +and the ways of the people are a little beyond the imagination of the +untravelled western man. In the same way I do not think that British +golfers who have not been to the United States can understand the +American's present-day attitude towards the game; certainly those who +have not been to America should not judge upon it as they are often +inclined to do. It is good, sound, and in its every aspect it is +exceedingly interesting. + +Wandering through the country I have visited many clubs and courses. If +we would have much golf in America we must move quickly as the Americans +do, and think as little of travelling all night as they think, for it +would be too much waste of time to make the long journeys that have to +be made by precious daylight. As a rule the golfer at home protests +against being asked to play anything like his best game after a night in +a railway train. I remember Mr. H. E. Taylor, who is not possessed of +the strongest constitution in the world, told me that he had set off +from Charing Cross one morning in the winter, arrived at Cannes in the +south of France at breakfast time on the next morning, cleaned himself +and put on his golfing shoes, and then gone along to the golf course out +at La Napoule to win a scratch gold medal. Again I recall that Mr. +Hilton once travelled all night from Hoylake to Muirfield and broke the +record of the course there on arrival, playing two more rounds the same +day. However, men like these are exceptions to most rules. + +But a golfer may cure himself of more of his weaknesses and +susceptibilities than he may think he can--all that are imaginary and +not really of the temperament. A man who hates wind and avoids it would +learn to play well and bravely in it if he had always to take his golf +on an exposed part of the eastern coast. The ability or otherwise to +play in wind is largely a matter of temperament. So it is with the +journeys. I had either to golf, and golf for me tolerably well, in the +intervals of scampering from one part of the country to the other, or I +had to spoil the whole expedition. I managed it somehow. + +Arriving in New York for the first time early on a Sunday morning, I +fixed myself up at my appointed quarters, rang up a golfer on the +telephone, and then, according to arrangement, proceeded to track a man +down at his club on the Fifth Avenue with the object of playing in the +afternoon. I walked into Fifth Avenue from a cross street, and my first +glimpse of it is one that will not soon be forgotten. It was a glorious +morning, the sun shining hot and white, and New York, for the only time +in its hustling week, was comparatively quiet. There was no traffic and +few people just then in the Fifth Avenue, quite one of the most majestic +and wonderful thoroughfares in the world despite its plain simplicity. +But it was not the whiteness, not the glittering cleanliness, not the +real splendour of this Fifth Avenue with all its newness, that struck +the first impression on my mind. Upon the moment that this wandering +British player of the most meditative of games emerged from somewhere +round about West 36th or 37th, into the big avenue, there whizzed along +it, right in front, a motor funeral which was doing a fine fifty miles +an hour clip along the smooth and open thoroughfare. There was just the +hearse with glass panels, the coffin plainly exhibited inside, and the +chauffeur on the seat, with another man beside him who might have been a +mourner. Holding life a little more cheaply in America than we do, they +grieve a little less for those who lose it, which is not to say that +they are heartless or unsympathetic, but more practical. This funeral, +done with petrol instead of horses, was positively going north at the +rate of fifty miles an hour. It was moving just as fast as I saw any car +ever go in the United States, and I could not help reflecting that the +spirit of the good American, viewing the last journey of its separated +corpus, must feel a certain satisfaction that it was hustlingly done and +that no time was wasted. _Finis coronat opus!_ Inspired, I played on +two different courses in New York on the same afternoon. + + + * * * * * + +English people hear much about railroad travelling being far better in +the United States than it is in our own country. It is--and it is not. +The comfort and conveniences of the cars in the daytime are much in +advance of anything we have. The men's smoking cars, the observation +cars, the parlour cars, are delightful and enable us thoroughly to enjoy +the journeys. Although they standardise so many things in America, they +cease their standardisations when considerations of personal comfort and +peculiarities have to be considered. It never occurred to me until I +travelled my first thousand miles in America that it is a hardship that, +no matter what our girth may be, nor the length of our bodies and legs, +we must all of us at home, though we pay for our first-class +accommodation, sit in standardised seats which are all the same and +attached to each other. In the American railroad car running on a +long-distance journey there are seats of different sorts, some are high +and some are low, and they are detached. This makes much difference. In +the dining-cars the tables and chairs are all loose, and one does not +have to squeeze into them with the feeling that one is being locked into +one's place as we do in England. And the dining arrangements on the +American cars are far superior to what they are elsewhere. But if the +American system gains by day the British system makes up for much of the +lost comfort at night, and that is when the American, golfer and +non-golfer, does most of his long-distance travelling. The Pullman day +cars are converted into sleepers by the dark-skinned attendants +(uncommonly good railroad car servants these niggers make), and by an +almost magical transformation the lounging car is made into a sleeper +with about two dozen berths, a dozen on each side, half uppers and half +lowers, and an alley down the middle. The chief difference between the +upper berths and the lower is that the uppers have to be reached by a +short stepladder and are not convenient to fat, gouty, or unathletic +persons, while those who wake early and like to look upon the prairie, +or what once was that, have a window at the bottom as the people in the +top have not. The berths are covered in with thick green curtains which +button together. We may leave our boots outside for the attendant to +brush in the morning, but our other clothes and traps must go along to +bed with us, and be stowed away at the bottom of the berth, or in the +little netting that hangs alongside. And here I must timidly state in +evidence that there are not separate cars for the sexes; in America all +go together, and the ladies and the men occupy the same cars. The ladies +generally go off to bed earlier than the men. Whether they do or not, we +all climb into our respective berths, fasten up the curtains, and +undress in the very limited space at our disposal, a process which seems +to me must be the same as that by which acrobatic performers wriggle +themselves out of chains and ropes with which their limbs and bodies +have been tied up fast. After a time we become expert. What is most +difficult to become accustomed to is the horrible jolting, and the +painfully sudden stopping of the trains in the middle of the night. +Their permanent ways are not laid so finely as the magnificent lines +along our coasts from London to Scotland. Their rails are not fixed in +chairs laid on the sleepers, but are pinned down straight on to the +wood. This makes much difference. The cars shake exceedingly. Then the +drivers at night have to be wary and stop quickly at times, and no +doubt they do right not to reduce their speed gradually for the sake of +the men and women who are asleep behind them, but instead to stop with a +suddenness that could only be improved upon by a collision. However, I +say again, that we find ourselves accustomed to it all in time. + +I shall not forget my first experience of a thousand-mile golfing +journey from the New York Central Station to Chicago. A few golfers were +in a party going westward for the championship at Wheaton in Illinois, +and we discussed the game from the time of starting in the late +afternoon until we had passed Albany, about ten, when we moved into our +sleeping quarters. My bag of clubs had to go to bed with me, and they +lay alongside all the night; there was no room for them underneath. I +had to sleep with one hand on the bag to prevent them from attacking me +or going overboard into the avenue, so much did that wretched train +rattle and shake as it hurtled its way through the darkness, with the +big bell in the front of the engine jangling mournfully all the time. +And what a wild, sad note it is that is struck by the bells on these +American engines, suggestive of the loneliness of the open country +through which they speed, now and then making a big noise with a sort of +foghorn. I am much attached to my clubs, and they are the chosen +favourites of a vast number that go with their master everywhere, and +are carefully watched and tended, but the intimacy that was sprung upon +us then was too much, and I invented another arrangement for the next +travelling night. James Braid, very wise man indeed, tells me that long, +deep nights of placid slumber are the best things in the world for the +golfer who would keep steady his hands and nerves and clear his eyes so +that he may play the best game of which he is capable. But no British +golfer could sleep at the beginning of his American experiences in such +circumstances. I was just falling into some sort of a doze in the small +hours of the morning when the train pulled up sharply at a station which +I discovered to be Schenectady, where the famous putter that disturbed +the peace of two nations was born. Next, one realised that we were +within a mile or two of the Niagara Falls, and so on with jolting and +banging and sudden stopping all the night. By and by daylight came and +then we had a long day of travelling through the heart of America to +Chicago. + +Some may suggest that all this about railroad travelling in the country +where there is more of it than any other has little to do with golf, but +it has all to do with it, for the thorough golfer in America, whether a +citizen or British, must needs spend a large part of his time in the +train, and if he would have the maximum amount of golf, much sleeping +must be done behind the green curtains in the darkened cars. The +travelling done by the American golfer, therefore, is a surprising +thing, but a few months of it is a fine and valuable experience for the +British golfer afterwards. No longer, since I have been across the +Atlantic, do I consider it a far way from London to the links of +Dornoch. St. Andrews and North Berwick have come pleasingly near to me. +All the world has shrunk, and I feel I have my foot on every course--or +soon may have. + +Though it be a thousand miles from New York to Chicago, and these are +the two great golfing centres of the east and west, it is a fact, as I +know well, that the golfers in the two places visit each other for a +weekend's golf almost as frequently and with as little fuss as would be +the case with golfers in London who go down to Sandwich. They take the +"Twentieth Century Limited" from New York on Friday afternoon, and on +Saturday morning they are at Chicago. They flash out on a local train to +Onwentsia, Midlothian, Glen View, Wheaton, Exmoor, or one of those +places, play all day, start play again at eight o'clock on Sunday, +finish their couple of rounds early in the afternoon, catch the fast +train back to New York, and are at their office on Monday morning as if +they had spent the week-end pottering about the garden. I am not +concerned with the question as to whether they are prolonging their +lives by these acts; nor are they concerned. In the meantime they appear +to be in the best of health, and are certainly in the highest of +spirits. + + + * * * * * + +With this talk of journeys we seem in fancy to be in Chicago now, so let +us consider the leading club of the busy district in the heart of +America. The course of the Chicago club is at Wheaton, some twenty-five +miles out on the North Western line, and this is the foremost club of +the Central States, and west in the sense of being west of the east, for +all golfing America is divided into two parts, the east and the west, +Chicago being the capital of and held chiefly to represent the west, +which holds some close rivalry with the east, where New York is +headquarters. The west out California way is just the far and other +west, and is in another world. The Chicago club is exclusive and +dignified. The most solid men in the city support it, and they see that +everything is good. It is not an ancient institution, but it has some of +the characteristics of solidity and strength of age and sound +experience. Chicago is not an old city, but, as the proud citizens like +to tell you, about a hundred years ago there was no Chicago at all, but +just a few wigwams of Indians and some huts and things round about a +creek. Since then the place has been once burnt down, and yet it is now +the fourth largest city of the world, while in its tenseness of +commercial industry it is the foremost of all. If all the ages past in +Chicago only amount to a hundred years, then one-fifth of all time as +known to Chicago history, which represents the life of the Chicago Golf +Club, is comparatively long indeed. + +In 1892 a small golf club was started for the first time round about +Lake Forest, but the promoters had only about sixteen acres of ground. +In the following year, when the World's Fair was held, a number of +foreign visitors were in Chicago and asked for golf, as travellers will +do, though the great golf boom had not yet then set in. Mr. Charles B. +Macdonald came in with the movement, ground was searched for, and the +Chicago Golf Club was organised at Belmont, some twenty-two miles out of +the city. When the Fair was over in the following spring, only about +twenty members were left to the club, and the outlook did not seem +splendid. But once begun, in either place or man, golf is a very hard +thing to kill. The twenty die-hards asked their friends to come and see +the place and try the game. They did so, and those men of Chicago knew +at once that they had discovered the real thing. A hundred and thirty +members were quickly obtained. The inevitable result followed. They +wanted more and better golf, and they wanted it to belong to them and +not to be on leased ground, so in 1894 the club met and authorised the +purchase of two hundred acres at Wheaton, twenty-four miles out from the +city, a fine course was laid out, a splendid club-house was built, and a +really great club was established. Here and now we may gain a very fair +idea of the difference in cost to the player between American golf and +British. No better club could be selected for the purpose of +exemplification than this one. It so happened that a few days before I +arrived there, its club-house was burnt down, with all its contents and +appurtenances, and from the wreck only a single one of the club-books +of rules and regulations was rescued. I took possession of it while I +made some notes upon the terrace of the only part of the building that +was saved. + +The first paragraph in the book, being Section 1 of Article 1 of the +bye-laws, states that "this club is incorporated under the laws of +Illinois as Chicago Golf Club, and its corporate seal is a circular disc +bearing the words, 'Chicago Golf Club,' the figure of a golf player, and +the motto, 'Far and Sure.'" To become a member of the club the applicant +must be over eighteen years of age; he must have not more than one +adverse vote cast against him by the governing body; and he must pay an +entrance fee of not less than a hundred dollars or L20. The resident (or +full) membership of the club is limited to 225, and the annual +subscription is 75 dollars or L15, half of which is payable at the +beginning of the year and half at midsummer. Now this subscription is +much higher than that of any golf club in Great Britain, and the fact is +only partly attributable to the circumstance that everything in America +is more expensive than it is in England. The higher subscription is +necessitated because the membership is kept down so low as 225, and that +is done in order that there may be no overcrowding of the course. In +England such a club, being situated within thirty miles of a great city +and having the best course round about, would probably admit at least +five or six hundred members, with the result that on the fine and busy +week-end days the course would be hopelessly blocked and there would be +no pleasure for anybody. This is certainly so in the case of two or +three of the most popular clubs in the outer London golfing area, and +one may come to a speedy decision that in this matter the American way +is by far the better. Ladies who are over sixteen years of age and the +immediate relatives of a member are permitted to have the privileges of +the course, subject to the rules of the Green Committee, on payment of +ten dollars a year. There is another class, "summer members," who are +not to exceed fifteen in number, and who pay 150 dollars for one summer +season's play. There is practically no play in the winter, the climatic +conditions being too severe. The other rules as to membership are much +the same as those which obtain in the case of British golf clubs. + +Among the "house rules," it is stated that the club-house generally will +remain open until midnight, and the cafe, which is the British +equivalent of the smoke-room with bar, until one o'clock in the morning, +which is a lateness of hour almost unheard of in England, but then it +has to be remembered that such club-houses in America are mostly +residential. "Juniors" are not allowed in the cafe. The warning is given +that smoking and the lighting of matches in the locker or dressing room +are absolutely prohibited, and that a fine of ten dollars will be +imposed on any member violating this rule. Fires in club-houses in +America being so numerous is the cause of this rule, which is rigorously +applied. Then it is perceived that no member makes any payment +whatsoever in cash in the club-house. He signs a check or bill, an +account of his expenditure is kept, and it is served to him fortnightly. +Payment must then be made within ten days, failing which the member is +suspended. Some interesting items are to be found among the ground +rules. One says that in medal play competitions new holes must be +assumed to have been made on the morning of a competition, unless +otherwise stated by the Green Committee; and another that a member +playing a round, and keeping score other than in club competition must +allow parties playing pure match-play to pass. The Americans are not +content with merely requesting a player to replace the divots of turf +that he cuts up in play. They say: "Divots of turf cut up by players +must be carefully replaced and pressed down. A fine of one dollar will +be imposed on any member violating this rule. All members are earnestly +requested to report any member who violates this rule to the Green +Committee." Caddies are paid "from the time of their employment until +the time they are discharged, to be determined by an electric clock, at +such rate per hour as may be determined by the Green Committee." There +is nothing that is inexpensive about a club of this class, and let it be +understood that there are few second-class golf clubs in the States +where the fees are small. A day's golf at a good club is cheap indeed at +five dollars. When one goes to stay there for a night or two one finds +that the statutory price for breakfast is a dollar, for lunch 1.25, and +for dinner 1.30 upwards. When I returned to England it appeared that +golf and all pertaining to it was cheap, almost to the gift point. + +The course at Wheaton is good, although there are some in America that +are better. It is plain, its holes sometimes lack strength, but it is +well tended and its putting greens are quite perfect. Its fairway is not +perfect, any more than the fairways of other American courses are. The +climate will hardly permit of their being so. It bakes them up and makes +them hard, and the inevitable result is little knobs and depressions +which give cuppy lies, and turf which for all its greenness is not by +any means comfortable to the feet in comparison with the yieldingness of +our British turf. The Americans cannot help this; if it were practicable +to treat every inch of their turf for climatic troubles all through the +day and night they would perhaps do it. It is practicable to treat their +putting greens thoroughly, and the result is that, taking them all +round, they have undoubtedly got the best putting greens in the world. +I mean, without reservation, that the average of the best courses in +America is higher than the average of the best in our own country, and I +say it with some regret that they have a score of courses in the United +States with greens far superior to those on the old course at St. +Andrews the last time the Amateur Championship was played there, those +greens being then not what they used to be. I think much of the credit +for the high quality of the greens at Wheaton is due to the splendid +work of David Foulis, the professional and greenkeeper there. Need I say +that David is a Scot, and a very true Scot too, who still loves his old +homeland better than any other, and is glad when the wandering golfer +from it gets his way. Chicago may seem a strange place to visit for +facts of old golf history, and yet here I added some details to the +histories of the people and their golfing ways of fifty years and more +agone, for Foulis has his father living with him out in Illinois, and +Foulis the elder was at work with old Tom Morris in the great days when +the Open Championship was young, and stirring are the stories that he +can tell you, as he did to me in David's shop, of old Tom and Allan +Robertson, and the other giants of those times, carrying one in mind and +spirit far away from the land round about the big lake of Michigan to +the old grey city which was old more than a hundred years ago. + +I took away with me as a memento from David Foulis a club that he has +invented, and which for a special purpose I can commend. It is a kind of +mashie niblick, David claiming to be the inventor of this type of club, +but it is different from others in that it has a perfectly straight, +flat sole and a concave face. I, like others, found that by the use of +this club I saved some dollars, for it enabled me to pitch the ball from +a hard lie on to the hard greens and make it stay close to the hole +when nothing else would serve the purpose. The ordinary mashie niblick +with curved sole is not perfect for baked and iron-hard courses, as it +is not easy to get well hold of the ball when taking it cleanly as must +often be done in such circumstances, and the margin for error is +painfully small. The flat-soled club is essentially one for taking the +ball cleanly, and somehow that hollow face does impart extra backspin to +the ball. It lifts it up and drops it dead as no other club that I have +handled will of itself ever do. + +But let me write that the Americans are not given to fancy and freak +clubs as some people suppose they are. There is nothing freakish about +this article of which I write, and for the most part the implements that +the American players employ are the simplest. And just to complete my +generalising remarks on American courses, which naturally vary greatly, +let me say that commonly they are not so severely bunkered as are the +best of ours, particularly from the tee. They do not demand either such +long or such straight driving as our best courses do, and I think that +the Americans realise now that this is the case and that they need +stiffening up. They are doing that already. There are some very good +holes at Wheaton, and the short hole at the ninth is about the most +tantalising water hole I have encountered. It is all water from the +teeing ground to the foot of a high plateau on which the green is +situated, and it is about a hundred and ten yards across the pond. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE PERFECT COUNTRY CLUB AND THE GOLFERS' POW-WOW AT ONWENTSIA, WITH A +GLIMPSE OF THE NATIONAL LINKS. + + +Round Chicago there is now a great belt of golf which is thickening +rapidly. More hundreds of acres are being claimed for the game +constantly, and one hears in these parts of the most splendidly equipped +club-houses being built to replace others at the cost of very many +thousands of dollars. Activity in the increase of golf is feverish. But +even here maturity has its charm, as it always must have in golf, and +the most delightful resorts in Illinois are those which are the oldest. +Such as Onwentsia, Exmoor, Midlothian, Glen View are excellent. + +I am glad I went to Onwentsia. Most British golfers who have never been +and will never go across the Atlantic have heard something, even if but +the name, of the Onwentsia club. It seems to suggest American golf, and +there is a look of some mystery about the name. Onwentsia is by no means +like the others, and there are good reasons why. Here on a wall of mine +are two feathers of eagles fastened crosswise; below them an Indian's +pipe of peace with its silken tassel. They were sent to me across the +sea from Onwentsia by some members a while after I had been there, and +they are a reminder not only of happy days but of the characteristics of +Onwentsia, for the name of the place is an Indian one. Here were the +redskins before all others, and then the white men and golfers came, and +still it is almost as if the soil were redolent of the Indian trail. The +club perpetuates in a manner considered suitable the memory and legend +of the braves; my eagles' feathers are such as a "Running Driver" or +"Mighty Mashie" might have worn in their fighting days, and they adorned +our modern Onwentsians on the day of their Indian feast! Let me explain. +Lake Forest, where is Onwentsia, is a very charming suburb of Chicago, +at the side of Lake Michigan. Its name suggests its character; it is +well wooded, and one of the kind friends that I made there, Mr. Slason +Thompson, drove me in his car in the dusk of a balmy evening for miles +through the beautiful public grounds. The Onwentsia Club, as it is +called, is a close fraternity of the best people of these parts. It is a +country club in a large sense. It is a hunt club, it is a polo club with +a splendid ground, it is a tennis club, and it is a golf club, and it +need hardly be said that the golf is a very strong feature, the +predominator of the institutions. Now the Onwentsian golfers, zealous +and good, have their own manners and customs, and, particularly they +have one custom which has a fame all over America, and it has spread +even beyond the seas. If it be not sin to mention them together +Onwentsia has one great day of celebration as the Royal and Ancient Club +has one. Towards the end of September the Royal and Ancient Club calls +its members together for the autumn gathering at St. Andrews, and there +on that occasion, as has been related, many ancient and solemn +ceremonies of great dignity are performed. The captain "plays himself +in," guns are fired, in the evening at the banquet new members kiss the +silver club and swear their loyalty, and much more in that splendid and +time-honoured way is done. America is true to St. Andrews golf in its +law, but Lake Forest, far out toward the west, is not the same as +Fifeshire, and the Onwentsia Club at Lake Forest is not like the Royal +and Ancient. It is not a question of which is the better; they are +different, and when I was in Illinois, at any rate, Onwentsia was to me +a very entertaining place. And I do not say this merely because +Onwentsia, near to Lake Michigan, is so charmingly situated; because the +club is such a delightful place, perfect in equipment, with a luxurious +club-house, and inside it a huge swimming pool and many shower-baths, +making one sometimes a trifle regretful upon the bareness of our British +golfing-houses. It is just because when I first reached there the great +golfing gathering at St. Andrews was nearly due and the golfers at +Onwentsia were having theirs. When I dined with Mr. Thompson that +evening at his charming house overlooking the great lake, and we smoked +cigars on the lawn overhanging it, he told me why on everything that +concerned the club there was the same sign, the head of an Indian brave +with the big feather in it, and why they were just going forward to the +great annual pow-wow. If you would do it properly you should pronounce +Onwentsia in the soft, crooning Indian way. Murmur it slowly and gently, +and mount the cadence high upon the second syllable; then, after a +suspicion of a pause, lower the notes gradually to the end. If you said +it in the right way an old Iroquois brave would know that you were +referring to "a country gathering," for that is the meaning of the term. +In days of old the Iroquois trailed over all these parts where now the +course is laid. Here were their wigwams; here lingered their squaws with +the little papoose, while the red men hunted and fought. That is why the +golfers of Onwentsia have their pow-wow once a year. + +The pow-wow is an invitation golf tournament lasting two days, and it is +open only to those members who are of a certain age or over (it was +thirty-nine when I was there) and their guests, one guest per member. In +order to preserve complete the familiar friendliness of the gathering +and to maintain its traditions undisturbed by new influences, the age +limit is increased from year to year to keep the new and young men out. +The call to the pow-wow, which is written anew for every festival, gives +us the key to the nature of the function, and I quote from one of them: + + On the banks of Skokie water, + By the water flecked with golf balls, + Stands the wigwam, the Onwentsia, + The great wigwam of the Pow-wow. + Come ye forth, ye Jol-li-gol-fas, + Come ye forth and come ye quickly + To Onwentsia, the big wigwam, + To Onwentsia, the big Pow-wow, + In the Moon of Falling Leaflets, + Ere the trees are red with autumn, + Come in trains, the Puf-choo-choo-puf; + Come in motors, Aw-to-bub-buls; + In the 'bus, old Shuh-too-get-thah, + To Onwentsia, to the Pow-wow. + Here's the bartend, Wil-lin-mix-ah, + The head waitress, Goo-too-loo-kat, + The great golfer, Hoo-beets-boh-ghee, + And the caddy, Skip-an-fetch-it, + Waiting all to do you honour. + Leave your war club, Tom-ah-haw-kus, + Bring the peace sticks, Dri-vah-nib-lix; + Leave your toilsome reservations + And the dust of smoky cities + For the Pow-wow in the wigwam; + Bring the peace pipe, Swee-too-suk-kat, + Taste the bowl, Hi-baw-laf-tah; + Play the game, Roy-al-skoch-wun, + All the morning in the sunlight, + All the afternoon, till evening + Spreads the feast of squab and chicken + 'Mid the joy of good companions + Gathered in the spreading wigwam + Of Onwentsia for the Pow-wow. + +Lasting for two days, with one great night in between them, it happens +that the first session of play is conducted in a state of high +anticipation and with much joyful shaking of hands and exhibitions of +brotherly attachment, and the second session with a feeling as of a +slowly receding past. Only those who attend the feast in the big wigwam +are eligible to play in the numerous competitions to which are attached +such an abundance of prizes that it is difficult for the golfing brave +to go empty-handed back to his gentle squaw. A law indeed has had to be +made that he shall not take more than two of the trophies away with him. + +At eight o'clock on the morning of the first day the play begins. There +is a thirty-six holes medal competition for the Sum-go-fah trophy (the +"Indian" titles are changed from year to year), and at the end of +eighteen holes the numerous competitors are grouped into sections of +eight, according to the place in the returns--first eight, second eight, +and so on for separate match-play competitions for the Sko-ki-ko-lah +prizes. The prize for the first eight is the Mis-sa-sko-kih, for the +second the O-ma-go-li, for the third the Hit-ta-sko-kih, for the fourth +the Sti-mi-gosh, for the fifth the Bum-put-tah, for the sixth the +Went-an-mis-tit, for the seventh the Top-an-sli-sah, for the eighth the +Let-mih-tel-you, and for the ninth the Dub-an-duf-fah. Then there is a +competition for the Bun-kah-bun-kah prize, which is embraced within the +Sum-go-fah, being for the best eclectic score made in the two rounds, or +"choice score" as they prefer to call it in the States. Two-thirds +handicap is allowed. Likewise there is the Noh-bak-num-bah prize, which +is by medal play with an age handicap, the handicap being determined by +the years of the contestant above or below forty. By such play, whether +it is successful or not, do the braves qualify for the feast, and at +half-past seven there is the call to the big and happy wigwam. The +great dining-room is indeed made by fitting and decoration to appear as +one great wigwam, and there are some of the adjuncts of the life of the +old Iroquois. The golfing braves stride eagerly, joyfully, chatteringly +in. Reddened are the golfers' faces; wrapped around them are their +blankets, from their hair stick big black feathers; long pipes of peace +are held before them. Then there are strange but toothsome dishes; they +taste the "Hi-baw-laf-ta-tah"; happiness and contentment increase; there +are toasts and shouts and whoops. The successors of the Iroquois hold +their pow-wow well. At the beginning of the morning, when the moon is +riding through the fleecy heavens of Illinois, softly they steal away, +and in the distance now and then there may be heard the same lone cry +that once resounded through the forest when Iroquois were on the trail. +But at nine in the morning more competitions begin, and are most +thoroughly attended. There are tournaments for the Bus-tis-tik-sah, the +Boo-li-bus-tah, the Strok-a-hol-ah, the Heez-noh-mut-sah, the +Ho-pu-get-it, the Get-sa-loo-kin, the He-za-pee-chah, the +Wil-lin-loo-sah, the Oh-you-papoose, and other cups. Some of the prizes +go to the players doing certain holes in the lowest gross score during +the tournament, the Wil-lin-loo-sah is captured by the man who does the +four rounds worst of all on the two days, and an Onwentsia medicine +pouch, the nature of which may be guessed by golfers with little +difficulty, remembering British practice, is awarded to the brave who +does a particular hole in one stroke. It is all very remarkable, +wonderful, interesting, and thoroughly American, and not the ragged +corner of a paper dollar the worse for it either. Happy Onwentsia! + + + * * * * * + +At the Glen View Country Club they have a special autumn festival also +which has a character of its own. The motto of Glen View is "Laigh and +lang"--low and long--which is a good variation on the monotonous "far +and sure." And about Glen View there is a Scottish flavour; in manners +and customs for a very brief season in the golden days of the fall there +is wafted from the far distant Highlands a breath of Scotland. Here they +call their festival the "Twa Days," and it is carried through with a +fine spirit. There are competitions in number and kind to satisfy +everybody, and the social side of the affair is excellent. + +Glen View, again, is not like the others either. I spent some days there +as the guest of the club, and nowhere have I had a more pleasurable +time. It came after an exceedingly strenuous, rushing period at other +places, and towards the end of one of the hottest spells of weather that +they had known for many summers in those burning parts. Glen View is a +pretty name, but it is not prettier than the golf course there, which is +one of the most charming I know. It reminded one in some ways of +Sudbrook Park in the early summer, always, as I think, one of the most +delightful inland courses in the south of England; but Glen View, with +its sleepy streams, is nicer. It may not be up to "championship +standard" in its architectural features, but it might be made so. Yet if +such a change would remove much of the character of Glen View, I, in my +selfishness, knowing that on some future morning I shall again take the +9.35 from Chicago on the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad, and +alight at the station which is called "Golf," hope for my high pleasure +that there will be none such made. When a club once becomes infatuated +with the championship idea its contentment and happiness depart, and +Glen View is best as it is. The holes have character. The greens are +placed in the most beautiful nooks and corners, great belts of trees +surround the course, and a stream winds snake-like through the grounds. +At about every third hole there is a large barrel which is filled every +morning with fresh spring water, into which a large block of ice is +placed. When you play in a shade temperature of nearly a hundred +degrees, as I have done at this place, you appreciate these barrels. +They have a natty way of naming their holes at Glen View. The first is +called "The Elm," the second "High Ball," the third "Sleepy Hollow," and +the next in order are "Polo," "Lover's Lane," "Old Hickory," "The Round +Up," "Trouble," "Reservoir," "Westward Ho!" "The Grove," "Sunset," "The +Bridge," "The Roost," "Spookey," "The Orchard," "Log Cabin," and "Sweet +Home." The course is 6279 yards long, and every one of these yards is a +pleasure to play along. Visitors do like this place. In one year +recently there were 3550 of them who paid a dollar a day for the +privilege of playing. The members of the club pay one hundred dollars a +year subscription, and nowadays it costs about five hundred dollars for +admission. Every member must be the possessor of a hundred-dollar share +in the club, and these shares are now at a premium of about five times +their par value. At few other places in the golfing world is there such +a nicely appointed club-house as there is here. One could put two or +three of the largest dining-rooms that our golf clubs possess into the +one of Glen View, and the furnishing is finely and tastefully done in a +Flemish style. Some of the golfing prints with which we are most +familiar hang upon the walls. Other pictures of value keep them +company, and there is a large crayon drawing done on the spot by my old +friend, the late Tom Browne, who once came here with his bag of clubs. + +The cafe at the Glen View club is an interesting institution. The club +has one of the cleverest cocktail mixers in America, and the printed +list of available liquid refreshments that is laid upon the tables +suggests a little consideration. The American golfers, for the most +part, do not drink very much, and what they do drink has little effect +upon them, thanks to the heat and much perspiration; but they do like +novelties and the variety. So on this list--which, mind you, includes no +wines, which are quoted on a separate sheet--there are scheduled no +fewer than 147 different kinds of refreshments. There are thirteen "soft +drinks," eight different lemonade mixtures, eleven sorts of mineral +waters, thirteen beers and ales, six rye whiskies, seven Bourbon +whiskies, eleven Scotch and Irish whiskies, thirteen varieties of +cocktails, two "toddies," three "sours," three "rickies," three +"cobblers," six "fizzes," two "flips," seven "punches," three "smashes," +and thirty-six "miscellaneous." The last is a most interesting section. +It includes the "Prairie Oyster," the "Millionaire," the "Pousse +l'Amour," the "Sam Ward," the "Russian Cooler," the "Japanese Cooler," +the "Golfer's Delight," the "Angel's Dream," the "Ladies' Puff," and the +"Glen View High Ball." Nearly all of these cost twenty or twenty-five +cents each. + +One may be most pleasurably lazy at Glen View. The club-house has some +forty bedrooms, with a fine equipment of shower and other baths, and the +usual telephone service to all the bedrooms with a complete telephone +exchange downstairs. The service and comfort are as good as they can be. +I liked the lounges and the shady verandahs, with rocking-chairs to tip +one away to a short dream on a hot afternoon of purling brooks on +English hills and woods in Wales. Yet when I awake I am satisfied. There +is no hurry here. In the mornings one would hear the men rising at six +o'clock and splashing themselves about in the bath department, and +generally becoming very active all at once. Some time later I would join +them at breakfast, and see them depart very early for their businesses +at Chicago. When they had gone one could settle down, and there were +ladies to chatter with or to play Chopin or something else on the piano. +It is necessary to take things a little easily during the early and hot +part of the day, because soon in the afternoon the men come back from +Chicago, and they are all energy and rush as if they had not spent a +howling morning in the "Pit" or one of the other great business centres. +One has to fall in with their schemes of activity, which endure until +the evening meal, taken in an easy way of _en famille_ in the restaurant +of the club, luscious green corn to begin with and the most appetising +dishes later, with laughter and gossip always. And later in the evening +David Noyes and I might sit in the dark on the verandah, and under those +stars of Illinois speak of the differences between English people and +the Americans as we respectively saw them. We understood each other and +could be frank. "The worst of America," said I, "is that it has no soul, +and the Americans have none either." "Well," said he; "but we have big +hearts." Agreed. He is a leading broker in the "Pit" at Chicago, the +great wheat market of the world, and one morning he took me there and I +met many golfers I knew round about those four screeching masses of men +who make of this place a babel and such an exhibition of raw fighting +human nature as, with all its differences, I can only compare with the +same brilliant and yet ugly show that is made in the rooms of the +Casino at Monte Carlo. It is raw life on the strain at both places--hot +seething life. The reposeful Glen View is needed for the people who +barter there. + + + * * * * * + +Massachusetts is a fine golfing land, and it rose to the heights in +1913. After gaiety in New York, and amazement at Chicago, you should go +to Boston. And really they who live there have reason for their pride. +There is no other town or city in the United States or Canada that has +anything like such an English flavour as this in the New England. There +are times when we wander along the great thoroughfare, Washington +Street, or turn up one of the side avenues like Boylston, that the +American idea for a moment ceases to press closely upon us, and when we +pass the old churches, wander through historic chambers Georgian in +their style, look into the Faneuil Hall, or into the old-fashioned +market, or go down to the shipping in the docks where our Boston man +will surely take us, that we may see the place of the "tea party," as +they call it now, which had vast consequences to the States and England +when taxes were made and were rejected--then in the New England we feel +the old one there. And, of course, the wandering Englishman is taken out +to Bunker Hill as well. Though with all Americans their spirit of +independence is an obsession, and it seems sometimes that they like to +think of themselves as a new race of people come up out of nothing or +from heaven, owing nothing to any other race, yet at Boston I suspect +they are a trifle glad that they and their city are not like the others, +but are something more English in their way. There is a difference in +the atmosphere. A certain ease is possible, a culture is apparent. +Streets and shops do not look as if they had been cut out by machinery +at the same time that the streets and shops of a dozen other cities were +being cut, and all life is not mathematically arranged and standardised. +If an American university is not at all like either Oxford or Cambridge, +still Harvard is an influence, and Harvard is at Cambridge, a near +suburb of Boston. The result of it all is that we feel something of the +old atmosphere of home and are stimulated. Boston grows upon us very +rapidly. The father of one of my good American friends, Mr. John G. +Anderson, who has gone on golfing expeditions with me in England, +Scotland, France and the United States, is a Scot with a great love for +his home country, and our rambles round old Boston have been of a +peculiarly interesting kind. And when in Boston, and the car of a friend +comes along to the Touraine in the morning, we throw the clubs in the +back of it, and get up with just that feeling of having a sporting day +ahead that one develops in the country at home and hardly anywhere else. + +There are many courses round about Boston, and there are four of them, +all quite different from each other, of which I shall have a clear +recollection always. Two have very special places of their own in +American golf, one being The Country Club of Brookline already +described. Massachusetts itself will not be called a "state" like other +states, but is a "commonwealth," and The Country Club is not the Boston +Country Club or the Brookline Country Club, but The Country Club, and +visitors who would be appreciative and make no _faux pas_ are +recommended to keep the point in mind, the reason being that this one, +with its charter of incorporation away back in the eighteenth century, +was the first of all the country clubs in America, and is dignified +accordingly. + +They do blow the place up in America when they determine to make a golf +course. Forest and rock are of no more hindrance to any idea or scheme +than a few daisies might be. I was strongly impressed with this view of +things when I was out one day at the Essex County Club at +Manchester-by-the-Sea, another of the outer-Boston courses. "Come to +golf at Essex in the morning; you will see something of the way in which +we do our golf in America that you have never seen before." Such was the +substance of an invitation from Mr. George F. Willett, one of the most +ardent and admirable leaders of the golfing movement in the Eastern +States. So in the morning golf at Essex, twenty miles out of Boston, was +the programme of the day, and by half-past ten we were on the first tee +preparing to drive from an eminence down towards low land in front. The +terms of the invitation were amply justified. Towards noon, when we +might be somewhere about the thirteenth or fourteenth hole, a great roar +and crashing sound came from the other side of the course in the +locality of the fifth hole, and looking towards it there was to be seen +a rising cloud of smoke, with masses of earth and splintered rocks being +hurled high into the air. A moment later and there was another deafening +bang and more earth, more rocks, and various stumps of trees were shot +up towards the sky. Bang! bang! bang!--ten times in the space of a few +seconds was this surprise repeated, and it began to seem that we must be +on Olympian links and that Jove himself or Hercules was bunkered. "It's +only Ross's men tinkering away at the new fourth," said my man +unconcernedly, as he ran down a long putt. A couple of minutes +afterwards we rounded a bend of the course, and as we did so some wild +yells were heard and a number of the Italian workmen were seen running +fast in our direction and then stopping suddenly to hide themselves +behind trees. Three more big bangs, more smoke, flying earth, flying +rocks and roots, and then as my partner played his brassey he +soliloquised that he had added, unintentionally, a touch of slice to the +stroke and was in the pot on the right. As to the noises, our part of +the course, I was assured, was perfectly safe. The three explosions were +made by Ross's Italians at the new fifth. Thirteen of them in five +minutes was perhaps a little unusual, but they were all over now, and, +as could be seen, the Italians, with sundry calls to each other, were +moving back towards the place they had sprinted from. The object of this +concentration of noise and disturbance in five minutes, it was +explained, was to give the full body of workmen plenty to do as soon as +they resumed after their midday meal. + +The truth is, that golf at Essex, when I was first there, was undergoing +a great and most wonderful transformation, regardless of cost, +regardless of the magnitude and seeming impossibilities of the task, +regardless of everything, but caused by the insatiable desire of the +American golfer to have courses that are as good as they can be. To +satisfy this desire he is everywhere pulling Nature to pieces and +reconstructing her, doing his work deftly and skilfully, and with a good +eye for pleasing effect. At the finish you might think that, save for +the putting greens and bunkers, it was all the simple work of the mother +of earth herself in her gentler moods, smooth swards for rocks, and +chaste glades where forests were. This transformation and extension of +American golf and the way it is being done is most amazing. All the old +courses are being lengthened and greatly improved, and new ones of +first-class quality are being made in large numbers. When it is desired +to make changes and extensions on a British course the work that has to +be done is not generally of a very formidable character. Some tolerably +smooth sort of land is frequently available, and alternatives to +existing holes may be planned. But even so, the question of expense +seems often to be a fearsome thing, and a year or more of thought and +yet another year for action are commonly needed. A thousand pounds or +two thousand seems to be a mighty sum to spend, but for all that we +think that in the south, at all events, we are doing our golf on a very +grand scale in these days. And when I think of St. George's Hill and +Coombe Hill and others of their kind I know we are doing it on a very +fine scale. But the case of America at present is most specially +remarkable. In the Eastern States particularly, the courses have had for +the most part to be carved out of virgin forests. Tens of thousands of +tons of rocks have had to be blasted, and hundreds of acres of swamps +drained before the fairways could be laid and sown with grass. Such work +is having to be done now for the extensions and improvements, and it is +wonderfully done. The committees appear to take about a week to think +about it, a day to decide, and then in two or three months, with the +help of dynamite, tree-fellers, and hundreds of foreign workmen, the new +scheme is carried through. The cost is not considered till afterwards, +and then it never worries, but it is enormous. Here at Essex, the chief +work that was being done was the addition of a total of 175 yards only +to the fourth and fifth holes, which were to be given new numbers, and +this little bit of lengthening, with the tree-felling, the splendid +draining of a swamp, and the use of 400 lbs. of dynamite on the rocks, +was costing 10,000 dollars or L2000. Some other alterations and new +constructions were being done, and the course, one of fine undulations, +well-planned bunkering, magnificent putting greens, and glorious +scenery, was being brought to perfection. The work was being carried out +under the direction of Mr. Donald J. Ross, the chief superintendent of +the club and course, who was once a Dornoch man. He thinks out his +construction schemes in the grand way, and he is going about America +blowing hundreds of acres of it up into the air and planting smooth +courses upon the levelled remains. Shortly before this, they called him +up to a mountainous place at Dixville Notch, in New Hampshire, to plan a +new nine-holes course that had to be cut out of solid rock, at a cost of +L10,000. No golfer had ever been to that place, and the first had yet to +arrive when the promoters wrote hurriedly to Mr. Ross, not long back +home, saying: "We are convinced that it will soon be necessary to have a +longer course, and are very desirous that you will come at once to lay +one out on Panorama Hill." It will cost L20,000, but that does not +matter. Golf is demanded everywhere in America, and it must be supplied. +A little extra space was required for play by the Rhode Island Country +Club at Narragansett, so, with Ross's help they took forty acres from +the sea, and are now playing the game where a year previously the waves +were rolling. Again, this remarkable golf engineer a little while since +finished his work on the very first course that has been laid out in +Cuba. I do not know what the future of American golf will be, but its +present is a bewildering, astonishing thing. + + + * * * * * + +"Yes, but wait until you see Myopia!" I was not glad to leave Essex, but +I was happy to go from there to the Myopia Hunt Club a few miles distant +(and may I never forget that glorious ride in Mr. Willett's big car, +along the winding road fringed with silver birches and autumn-tinted +foliage, past placid little lakes, through some of the country of +chastest charm in New England!), for Myopia is America's golfing pride. +Besides, it is one of the few American courses that have a wide +international reputation. Remember the astonishment when Andrew +Kirkaldy, a St. Andrews golfer, if ever there was one, a man believing +in the old course of Fifeshire as a Mussulman believes in Mecca, came +back from an American tour and declared to British people that Myopia +was the best course in the world! So we approach one American golf +course with wonder and a certain awe. There are other reasons for doing +so if we only knew them beforehand. Traditions and old dignity are +strongly attached to it, and this Myopia is such a club for high feeling +and exclusiveness as would do credit to any institution we have at home, +golf or otherwise. It is, at the very least, as difficult to become a +member of Myopia as of the Royal and Ancient. If I dared I would say it +is more so. Myopia, I am told, will use the black ball with joy when +there is a candidate at the doors. It might be easier in some +circumstances for a man to become the President of the United States +than to become a member of the Myopia Hunt Club. The dignity of Myopia +exudes from the timbers of its long, quaint club-house. The ceilings are +low, while the walls are panelled and are really old, for in quite early +days of New England this, or part of it, was a farm-house. + +The name of the club in this case has nothing to do with golf, nor with +the name of a place, for the place is Hamilton. Myopia is a technical +term for near-sight. The original members despised the game, and as for +letting it influence them in their choice of name of the club, such a +thing is inconceivable. Originally, and for long afterwards, and +primarily even now, Myopia is a hunt club; it prides itself on being so, +and when anybody asks one of the old hunting members if they do not +possess a good golf course there, he might say he supposed they did play +some game with that name there sometimes. In the early days, I believe +that many of the members wore coloured glasses for some reasons +connected with their sight, and it was through this that the name of the +club was given. Golf was a very late addition, and some of the old +hunting-men, whom you will see moving about the club-house in real and +unaffected riding costume as hardly anywhere else in America, feel a +little sore about it still, and it is even now the fact that the hunting +section keep to themselves in one part of the club and the golfers to +themselves in their part, with such as Mr. Herbert Leeds and one or two +others in both. Mr. Leeds showed me some of the old prints on the walls +illustrating the race meetings that had taken place there in almost +prehistoric times, and some mementoes of the early days of the golf +club, together with the score card of George Duncan's record round on +the course. I hope you realise that Myopia is not an ordinary golf club; +I did so within a minute of my arrival there. + +The course is not like others in America. It is almost more of the open +heathland sort of course than any other I have tramped over while in the +country. It is a little barer, seemingly a little wilder than most of +the others, and none the worse for that. Its putting-greens are capital, +and at some of the holes, if not all, I have certainly trodden on turf +that is better than anything else that my feet have touched on that side +of the Atlantic. I remember that I nearly shouted with delight to my +partner when I came upon the first stretch of it--green and soft and +velvety. But it was not all like that, and in some respects I do think +that, splendid as the course is, praise of it has been a little +overdone. Yet on the other hand it is certainly a course that grows on +the constant player there, and reveals new subtleties to him every time +of playing. That after all is the test of a great course. +Architecturally many of the holes are splendid. I do not quite like the +idea of the man having to drive uphill at the first hole, but the +tee-shot has most decidedly to be placed--to the left--or the player has +the most fearful approach that he might ever dream of after the most +indigestible dinner. The fourth hole is a splendid one of the dog-leg +kind, a drive and an iron with the green very well bunkered, and some +very low land to the left which is a constant attraction to the +weak-minded ball. Then for my own part I liked the tenth very much, for +a big drive has to be done over some high ground with a bunker away to +the right that draws hard at sliced balls, while the green is one of the +nicest and most prettily guarded. I lingered about it for some time in +an admiring way. The last hole also has infinitely more in it than +appears at the first glance, for here again a big bunker jutting into +the edge of the green and to the right is a strong factor, especially +when the pin is behind it; and if the hero does not place his tee-shot +to the left, and within a very little space there, too, he will be +sorry. It is 6335 yards round the course. In the club-house over the +tea-cups, on the occasion of my first visit, I pondered upon the +marvellous excellence of Duncan's record round, and paid some most +sincere compliments to Mr. Leeds for the quality of the golf +architecture of Myopia, for it is he, after close study of the best +British models, who has been chiefly responsible for it. + +A day and night at the Brae Burn Country Club at West Newton, near +Boston, left a warm glow lingering in my mind. Here if anywhere in +America there is country charm and social delight. Nowhere is the idea +of the complete and happy social community of the country club better +developed. The course is a fine one, and here also, at the time of my +first visit, extensive works were being carried out, and some splendid +new holes over heaving land were in the process of formation. They have +since been completed and the course has now risen to the highest +standard. The putting-greens are in the nicest and most beautiful +places, belts of trees line the fairway at several of the holes; there +are others in open country, and the short ones are uncommonly good. A +new one that they were making then, calling for a drive from a height +down to a pocket-handkerchief kind of green is one that I hope to be +puzzled at in the play within a few weeks of the moment when I write. I +had the happiness then to nominate the situation of a new bunker at one +of the new holes, and sure I am that a momentary vexation will be the +result when I play that hole, for I, too, in America, have found that I +develop the American hook, which seems to be in the climate and the +soil. It was on this course that Harry Vardon in his all-conquering tour +in America in 1900 sustained his only defeat. Our dinner-party in the +club-house in the evening is an unforgettable reminiscence. It was a +good-fellowship golfing party such as this game only can bring about. +Mr. Harry L. Ayer, Mr. E. A. Wilkie, Mr. George Gilbert, Mr. C. I. +Travelli, good Anderson and self talked our golf, British and American, +to the full extent of a good ability. One of the topics was club +captaincy, and the discussion we had may lead to the creation of the +office at Brae Burn and elsewhere, for it is a curious thing that the +American clubs have never thought of creating captains, and this +community was rather pleased with the idea. It is an office that a golf +club needs. If the captain is the right man, if he is chosen for his +past service, for his present strength, and for his tact and quality as +man and golfer, he can do much for a club, and his appointment is a +recognition that a club needs for its best and most faithful men. + + + * * * * * + +The country round about New York abounds in interesting golfing places, +and if inclination were followed there should be descriptions given of +Nassau, of Apawamis (not forgetting the rock to the right of the first +green there which an English ball most usefully struck when the +thirty-seventh hole was being played in the final of the American +championship, Mr. Fred Herreshoff, finalist, being loser thereby), of +Garden City, Baltusrol, and many other good golfing places in these +parts. Garden City is a name familiar to golfers in Britain, because it +is the place where Mr. Walter J. Travis came from when he won the +championship at Sandwich. If it lacks some of the boldness of feature of +some of the later American courses, yet this is a fine testing course, +thoroughly--and so deeply!--bunkered, and with splendid putting-greens, +and all the place round about is very pleasant. And now I am very +anxious to see Piping Rock, as I soon expect to do. + +There are good reasons for making a journey by the Pennsylvania railroad +from New York to Washington. One must pay the visitor's homage to the +seat of American government and experience the feeling of being at the +heart of the States, with its magnificent buildings and its historical +remembrances. It is an intensely interesting place. At the White House +there is Mr. President Wilson who is a golfer, as ex-President Taft was, +and remains one of the keenest in the land. Mr. Taft will write +enthusiastically about the game, and make speeches about it when he +thinks it proper. "My advice to the middle-aged and older men who have +never played golf," he says, "is to take it up. It will be a rest and +recreation from business cares, out of which they will get an immense +amount of pleasure, and at the same time increase their physical vigour +and capacity for work as well as improve their health." And he also +says, "Preceding the election campaign in which I was successful, there +were many of my sympathisers and supporters who deprecated its becoming +known that I was addicted to golf, as an evidence of aristocratic +tendencies and a desire to play only a rich man's game. You know, and I +know, that there is nothing more democratic than golf, and there is +nothing which furnishes a greater test of character and self-restraint, +nothing which puts one more on an equality with one's fellows--or, I may +say, puts one lower than one's fellows--than the game of golf. If there +is any game that will instil in one's heart a more intense feeling of +self-abasement and humiliation than the game of golf, I should like to +know what it is." One who was in office there told me something of his +enthusiasm for the game. I asked him how often Mr. Taft had played when +he was there in the golfing season. The answer was that Mr. Taft used to +play every day, positively every day, and some of those who played with +him indicated to me what a very thorough and determined golfer he was. +It might be said of the ex-President that he has spent more time in +bunkers than most citizens, because he has generally insisted on playing +out, no matter how many strokes have been needed. He has been playing +now for sixteen years, and is quite one of the oldest American golfers +in point of service to the game. Nothing can take away from him the +distinction of having been the first President of the United States to +play what they have determined shall be their national game. + + + * * * * * + +I had a happy experience when one day I left New York, where it was most +swelteringly hot, and went up into the Green Mountains of Vermont for +golf at the Ekwanok Country Club. A friend, Mr. Henry W. Brown of +Philadelphia, who had played with me at my favourite Brancaster in +Norfolk once, had heard I was somewhere in America and sent a letter to +me directed to a chance address, which, being a golfing kind of +address, found me with little delay. "Come," said Brown, "to +Manchester-in-the-Mountains in Vermont. You ought to see our quite +famous Ekwanok course, and I can promise you some fine mountain air, +good golf, and a hearty welcome. If you will tell me what train you will +come by, I will meet you with the car at Manchester Station." A moment's +hesitation dissolved in firm decision and action, which took the form of +a taxi-cab to the New York Central Station, and the north-bound train +which left at twenty minutes to one in the afternoon. Then along we went +by the Hudson river, up which I had sailed from Albany a year before, +past the Palisades, past Poughkeepsie and the Catskill Mountains, +through Troy and Albany, and as the daylight waned we were mounting +upwards through the hills of sweet Vermont. At a quarter to eight the +train reached Manchester, Brown and his car were waiting there, and we +sped along the main street to his home. + +It seemed that the silver moonlight was shining not upon an earthen road +but glistening on snow. Little villas like chalets and chateaux of +Switzerland lined the way and the people living in them could be heard +in their laughter and song, for the dinner time was just gone by and +yellow light shone from the windows, making that happy contrast with the +coldness of the moonshine, that speaks of home and comfort. We passed +the great hotel where five hundred people are constantly gathered +together in the summer time from all parts of the States, and indeed +from places far beyond the States, for there are Britons in numbers +here, and travellers from Africa and the deep southern lands, making +such a cosmopolitan gathering of its size for drawing-rooms and bridge +parties and the usual orderings of social gatherings as is not easily to +be matched. And there is an amazing vivacity among all these people, for +two reasons, one being that the American spirit at its best pervades, +and the other that it is Ekwanok, the heartening, the vigour-making, the +youth-restoring. In New York and Chicago at the end of the day one is a +little apt to think of the wear and tear of life and the fading capacity +of a good constitution; high up in the mountains of Vermont, in the +shadow of the hills of Equinox, one revels in fresh youth again and has +no more envy for the lad of twenty. And that again is a reason why +Ekwanok is not like the other golfing places of America, and another +following upon it is that this is, so far as I have discovered, the only +truly golfing holiday resort in all the States, a place to which people +go for the pleasure of the happy game and for hardly anything else, a +place that lives and thrives on golf. From far and wide the Americans +come to it and leave all their work behind, and are happy and leisurely +as you rarely see them at other times. In Britain we have a very large +number of resorts that are for holiday golf alone, and more are coming +all the time, but this is a feature of golf that America in general has +yet to know. If it comes to that, Manchester-in-the-Mountains is not so +very high (that is a rather curious association of English +ideas--Manchester and mountains, dingy streets with the smoke-thickened +atmosphere of the Lancashire city and the big bold hills of God), but +here is the mountain scent, enlivening, heartening. The house of my +host, Breezy Bank as it is called, is set at the foot of one big +mountain and looks across the green valley, where the golf course lies, +out toward another--a delightful abode. A log fire burned red on the +big hearth, a kind hostess gave us welcome, and after a supper that +embraced fresh green corn (it is the essence of the enjoyment of green +corn that it should be taken quickly from the growing to the kitchen), +we talked, over cigars and coffee, golf from one end of the game to the +other, and right across it, and handled clubs, until bedtime came. Brown +is keen, and he has sound views on the influence of the game on national +character. + +Next morning, with sunlight and breeze, we went along to the course, so +near that a ball could have been driven to it from the lawn of Breezy +Bank, where the master has been known to practise mashie shots by +moonlight, and I was joined in foursome with Mr. Walter Fairbanks of +Denver, Colorado, against B. and his son Theodore. What then happened is +of no consequence; the tale may be told in Colorado but not in England. +But the course--it is splendid, and reflects an infinity of credit upon +Mr. James L. Taylor, the first in command, who has for the most part +designed it, has constantly improved it, and has made it what it is. All +the holes have abundant character. They are up and down, straight and +crooked, interesting always, with a good fairway that gives fine lies to +the ball, and putting-greens of the smoothest sort. We drove first down +a hill with a slanting hazard that made awful menace to a slice, then up +again and away out to the far parts, with some very pretty short holes. +The gem of the collection of eighteen is the seventh, which has been +called, and with some fitness, the King of American Holes. A great, +fine, lusty piece of golf it is, 537 yards from the tee to the green, +and every shot has to be a thoughtful, strong, and well-directed shot, +with no girl's golf in it anywhere. It is a down drive from the +high-placed tee, and the land below heaves over in a curious twisted way +that demands very exact placing of the ball. Then there is a strong and +straight second to be played over a high ridge in front into which big +bunkers have been cut. Afterwards there is plain country to a +well-protected green. It is a great hole, a romantic one, and is well +remembered. Some of the drive-and-iron holes that follow are splendid +things, and this course was very well chosen for the Amateur +Championship Meeting in 1914. When we were leaving it at the end of that +day, the sun had just gone down behind big Equinox Hill, but presently +and by surprise he sent a last good-bye. Round the mountain side a +golden bar of light was cast, and it spread along the olive-coloured +hill across the shadowed valley like a clean-cut shining stripe or a +monotinted rainbow. These were the glorious Green Mountains of Vermont! +We tarried until the sun went right away, and took with it that parting +beam, and, sighing, we passed along. + + + * * * * * + +I have left to the last of these few remembrances, what is in many +respects the greatest of American courses--the National Golf Links at +the far end of Long Island. In recent times it has probably been more +discussed than any other course on earth. A while since a number of very +wealthy, ambitious, and determined golfers put their heads and their +money together, and decided on the establishment of something as near +perfection as they could reach. In pursuit of this idea they have so +far, as I am informed, spent about two hundred thousand dollars, and are +in the act of spending many more thousands. They have their reward in a +magnificent creation, as great in result as in idea, or nearly. All the +people in the golf world have heard by this time of this National Links, +and have no doubt wondered upon it, and the extent to which the +extraordinary scheme that was developed a few years ago has been +realised. It has been referred to as "the amazing experiment," and "the +millionaires' dream," and so forth. Undoubtedly in its conception it was +the grandest golfing scheme ever attempted. It came about in this way. +America, with all its golf and money and enthusiasm, was without any +course which might be compared with our first-class seaside links, the +chief reason for her deficiency being that nowhere on either of her +seaboards could be discovered a piece of land which was of the real +British golfing kind. But at last a tract was found nearly at the end of +Long Island, about ninety miles from New York, which was believed to be +nearly the right thing. It was taken possession of by a golfing +syndicate, and they determined there to do their very best. The question +of expense was not to be considered in the matter. A member of the +syndicate, Mr. Charles B. Macdonald, an old St. Andrews man, and one of +wide golfing knowledge and experience, went abroad to study, photograph, +and make plans of the best holes in Great Britain and on the continent. +The whole world of golf was laid under tribute to assist in the creation +of this wonder course. After exhaustive consideration a course was +decided upon which was to embrace, in a certain reasonable measure, +features of such eminent holes as the third, eleventh, and seventeenth +at St. Andrews, the Cardinal and the Alps at Prestwick, the fifth and +ninth at Brancaster, the Sahara at Sandwich, the Redan at North Berwick, +and some others. The scheme was modified somewhat as the work +progressed, but in due course the National Golf Links, a string of +pearls as it was intended to be, was opened. Many different reports have +been circulated as to the quality of the course, and the extent to which +the object has been achieved. It has been described both as a failure +and as a magnificent success. + +I preferred to go there alone and see things for myself without +explanations and influences. A certain penalty had, however, to be paid +for this enterprise. I shall not soon forget my journey to the +Shinnecock Hills out at the end of the Island, nor the journey back +again. It was on a glorious Sunday morning in October that I went to the +Pennsylvania station and took train there for Shinnecock, which was a +three-hours' journey along the line. In getting out at Shinnecock I was +nearest to the course, but there were no cars waiting there, and the +tramp that had to be made across country for two or three miles was one +that might have suited an Indian brave better than it suited me, +although I have an instinct and a desire always to find things and ways +out for myself rather than be told and led. It was nearly noon; the sun +was high, and it was burning fiercely. The so-called path was something +of a delusion. It was more of a trail through a virgin bush country with +a tendency to swamp here and there, and occasionallv one was led to a +cul-de-sac. I could see the National Golf Links a little way ahead all +the time. There was a big water cistern standing out against the +sky-line, and there were some smoothly laid out holes, but grapes were +never more tantalising to any fox than those holes are to the wanderer +who tries to get there from Shinnecock along a route over which a crow +might fly, and who determines that he will discover the elusive secrets +of the National Links, however dearly the expedition may cost him. +However, the enterprise succeeded, and the journey back from the course +to the Southampton station was also accomplished despite the prevailing +difficulties, and, with the sense of something having been attempted and +done, we rode home on the Pennsylvania, and were back in New York by the +same night--about the hardest day's golf business I have ever done. + +A certain disappointment is inevitably threatened when one visits a +course of this kind about which one has heard so much beforehand. An +ideal is established in the mind which cannot possibly be realised, and +it is the fault of nobody. We do not know exactly what it is that we +hope to see, but it is something beyond the power of man and Nature to +achieve. But the National is a great course, a very great course. It is +charmingly situated, most excellently appointed, and bears evidence of +the most thorough and intelligent treatment by its constructors. Any +preliminary disappointment there may have been soon wears away as the +real excellence of the course and its difficulties are appreciated. Had +we heard nothing of this copying, and did we not make comparisons +between new and old in the mind, through which that which is new does +not often survive, we should glory in the National at the first +inspection of it. And the fact is, that the comparisons we suggest ought +never to be made, though I, for one, was not aware of that till +afterwards. Absolute copying was never intended; only the governing +features of the British holes, the points that gave the character and +quality to them, were imitated so far as could be done. That has been +done very well, and some of the holes are very fine things. Those the +design of which is based on such gems as the sixth at Brancaster and the +eleventh at St. Andrews are very well recognisable. I should like to +write much more about this course; it is a strong temptation. If I +thought less of it and did not realise its greatness as I do, I should +yield to the desire, and yielding, might rashly criticise as well as +praise. But there is an imperative restraint. Upon a moderate course, or +even a very good one, you may sometimes, if sufficiently self-confident, +judge in one day's experience. But there are courses which, not because +they grow upon you as we say, but because they command a higher respect +at once than is given to others, which do not permit of such +presumption. I saw the National on one day only, though I hope to see it +many times again, and to gain courage for comment upon it. Now, with cap +in hand, I can only signify my respect and full appreciation that here +is something that is by no means of an ordinary kind, the accomplishment +of a magnificent enterprise, and no doubt the achievement of a great +ideal. But I shall say, at any rate, that a links more gloriously +situated than this one in Peconic Bay, with pretty creeks running into +the land here and there, and hill views at the back, could hardly be +imagined. The view as I beheld it from different parts on that peaceful +sunny Sunday afternoon is one that I never shall forget. It is the ideal +situation for a national course. + + + * * * * * + +To Mr. Macdonald thus belongs the credit for the initiation of what we +may call the higher golf in America. In the last few years this movement +has made strides as long and rapid in the United States as it has done +in England, and above all other countries in the world America, which is +so much dependent on her inland golf, having scarcely any other, is the +country for this movement to be carried to its ultimate legitimate +point. The day for very plain and purely and obviously artificial +construction of inland golf courses is gone, the original inland system +in all its stupidity and its surrender to difficulties has become +archaic. It has come to be realised in this business that man may +associate himself with Nature in a magnificent enterprise, and only now +is it understood that this golf course construction is, or may be, a +really splendid art. Landscape gardening is a fine thing in the way of +modelling in earth and with the assistance of trees and plants and +flowers and the natural forces, while engineering across rivers and +mountains is grander perhaps; but in each of these the man takes his +piece of the world from Nature and shovels it and smashes it, and then, +according to his own fancy and to suit his own needs, he arranges it all +over again. But in the making of a golf course, while we have indeed to +see that certain requirements of our own are well suited, knowing how +particular and hyper-critical we have become, yet we wish to keep to +plain bold Nature too, and we want our best work to be thoroughly in +harmony with her originals. I believe that if we could express it +properly to ourselves, we wish now to make our golf courses look as if +they were fashioned at the tail-end of things on the evening of the +sixth day of the creation of the world--just when thoughts had to be +turning to the rest and happinesses of the seventh. And so the great +architect now takes a hundred acres or more of plain rough land and +forest, hills and dales among it, and with magnificent imagination +shapes it to his fancy. The work he now does will endure in part, if not +in whole, for ages hence, and so it is deeply responsible. It is a +splendid art; I do not hesitate to say it is a noble art. + +Mr. Colt, with his great thoughts and his splendid skill, has done fine +work in several parts of the United States. The new courses of the +Mayfield Country Club, and of the Country Club of Detroit, are splendid +things. But Mr. Macdonald's creations--for more of them now follow upon +the original at Southampton--are destined to be leading influences in +the new American golf course construction. I have had some interesting +talk with him upon these matters, and am glad to find that he is artist +and creator enough to have the full strength of his own original +opinions in this matter, especially as in some ways his ideals differ +from those commonly accepted in Britain. I have been so much interested +in his views, and I think that these views are destined to have such an +enormous influence upon American golf in the future, that I have asked +him for some brief statement of them, an enunciation of his creed as an +architect of courses, and he has kindly made it to me in writing, as +follows:-- + +"To begin with, I think the tendency to-day is to overdo matters +somewhat, making courses too long, too difficult, and with too much +sameness in the construction of two-shot holes. To my mind a course over +6400 yards becomes tiresome. I would not have more than eight two-shot +holes, and in constructing them I should not follow the ideas or fancies +of any one golf architect, but should endeavour to take the best from +each. While it is the fashion now to decry the construction of a hole +involving the principles of the Alps or seventeenth at Prestwick, I +favour two blind holes of that character--one constructed similar to the +Alps, and another of the punch-bowl variety of hole some fifty yards +longer than the Alps. It is interesting now to read the 'best hole' +discussion that took place in 1901. The leading golfers of that time +were almost unanimous in pronouncing the Alps at Prestwick the best +two-shot hole in the world. The eleventh at St. Andrews and the Redan at +North Berwick were almost unanimously picked as the best one-shot holes. + +"To my mind there should be four one-shot holes, namely, 130, 160, 190, +and 220 yards. These holes should be so constructed that a player can +see from the tee where the flag enters the hole. The shorter the hole +the smaller should be the green, and the more closely should it be +bunkered. The most difficult hole in golf to construct interestingly is +a three-shot hole, of which I would place two in the eighteen, one 520 +yards and the other 540. The putting greens at these holes should be +spacious. + +"This leaves us four drive-and-pitch holes--280, 300, 320, and 340 yards +in length. These should have relatively small greens and be closely +bunkered, one or two of them having the putting greens open on one side +or corner so as to give a powerful, long, courageous driver, who +successfully accomplishes the long carry, the advantage of a short run +up to the green. The size and contour of the putting green and the +bunkering should depend upon the character and length of the hole. The +principle of the dog's hind leg can be made a feature of several holes +advantageously. The gradients between the tee and the hole should be +made use of in bunkering. Whenever it is possible it is best that the +bunkers should be in view. A number of the holes should be built with +diagonal bunkers, or bunkers _en echelon_, so constructed that the +player who takes the longer carry shall have an advantage over the man +who takes the shorter carry. The hazards for the second shot should be +so placed and designed as to give a well-placed tee shot every +advantage--in other words, should make a man play his first stroke in +relation to the second shot. There should be at least three tees for +every hole, to take care not only of an adverse or favourable wind, but +also of the calibre of the player. It is necessary on a first-class golf +course to have short tees for the poorer players, otherwise they are +everlastingly in the bunkers. The lengths which I give should be +measured from the middle of the middle tee to the middle of the putting +green." + +There is so much knowledge and good suggestion in this statement, and +the matter is of such high consequence, that every player of the game +should think well upon it. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE U. S. G. A., AND THE METHODS OF THE BUSINESS-MAN GOLFER, WITH A +REMARKABLE DEVELOPMENT OF MUNICIPAL GOLF. + + +People in England or Scotland do not quite understand what a splendid +thing for American golf is the United States Golf Association. It is so +absolutely necessary for the game in America that I am sure there would +be little that is like golf there now if there had been no U. S. G. A., +with its loyalty and attachment to St. Andrews. There would be few +Americans coming to play on the links of the homeland of the game, and +there would be no British golfers wandering happily among the American +courses. American golf would have become as much like the old game as +American college football is like the football that is played at Oxford +and Cambridge, which is to say that it is not at all like it. America is +not a country small in space like our own happy islands. There it is in +its millions of miles, new everywhere, and with little communities of +golfers so far apart as New York and San Francisco, Massachusetts and +Arizona, and isolated golfers in the loneliest places trying to bring +others to their pastime for the matches they would have. What should all +these people, away from all the influences of the home of the game, hot +with the spirit of freedom, unrestrained by laws and conventionalities, +eager to do things better than they have been done before--what should +they care for St. Andrews and traditions, and the preservation of the +unity of the game? As sure as eagles fly, and stars are bright, they +would have made it to suit themselves in every community. Here they +would have abolished the stymie, in another place they would have +changed the size of the hole, away in Texas they might have permitted +the introduction of the "mechanical contrivance," and soon there would +have been a hundred golfs in the States, and not a real one among them. +Just when this possibility, without being an immediate probability, was +arising the U. S. G. A. came into existence. It joined all the golfers +of America together in a republic for the preservation of the unity of +the game, and for the promotion of its welfare in the spirit that the +game had been cultivated in the homeland. And being thus given power, it +has ruled with a strong hand. It has kept American golf in order as +nothing else could have done, and as a governmental machine, I who have +made some close examination of it, regard it as perfect, which is not to +say that we need such a thing in Britain. In America I have had the +pleasure of the intimate acquaintance of Mr. Robert Watson, Mr. Silas H. +Strawn, Mr. G. Herbert Windeler, Mr. William Fellowes Morgan, Mr. Harry +L. Ayer, Mr. John Reid, junior, and many others of the leaders of the +Union, and better men for the direction of such a game as golf, in whose +hands it is quite safe, there could not be. They hold the right spirit +of the game, and they are wise men, conservative in their golfing ways. +Mr. Windeler indeed is an old British golfer like Mr. Macdonald, who was +one of the original gathering that established the U. S. G. A. In the +December of 1894 the representatives of five of the leading clubs met +and framed the constitution of the U. S. G. A., and Mr. Theodore A. +Havemeyer, of the Newport Club, was chosen president. + +The constitution of the U.S.G.A. is an interesting study. There are two +classes of members, active and allied, and the difference is that the +active members, who exercise control, are clubs that have been steadied +by age and experience, and have acquired dignity. The definition in the +constitution is made thus: "Any regularly organised club in the United +States, supporting and maintaining a golf course of at least nine holes, +and whose reputation and general policy are in accord with the best +traditions and the high ideals of the game, shall be eligible to +election as an Active Member." Then, as to the Allied Members, it is +said that--"Any regularly organised club of good reputation in the +United States shall be eligible to election as an Allied Member." There +are far more allied members than there are active members, and the +former are only admitted to the latter when they have thoroughly proved +their worth. Thus the allied clubs have always an ambition before them, +and they can only achieve it by conducting their golf on the best and +oldest plan. At every meeting of the Association each active club is +entitled to be represented by one voting delegate whose appointment has +to be certified in advance by his club to the secretary of the +Association. Allied clubs have no voting privileges, but all members of +active and allied clubs have the right to attend all meetings of the +Association, and to participate in the discussion of any question. The +active clubs pay thirty dollars a year for subscription, and the allied +clubs pay ten. Article IX. of the Constitution gives the Association its +power and authority. It says: "The acceptance of membership in the +Association shall bind each club to uphold all the provisions of the +Constitution, bye-laws, and other rules of the Association; and to +accept and enforce all rules and decisions of the Executive Committee +acting within its jurisdiction. Any club failing in its obligations as +above set forth may be suspended or expelled by a two-thirds vote of the +Association, or by a two-thirds vote of all members of the Executive +Committee; provided such club shall have been given due notice of the +charge or charges preferred against it, and an opportunity to be heard +in its own defence. Any club thus suspended or expelled by vote of the +Executive Committee may appeal from its decision to the delegates at any +annual or special meeting of the Association." + + + * * * * * + +After this about the machinery of American golf, consider the men. There +are three classes of golfers in the United States, corresponding to some +extent to similar classes in Britain, but they are rather more sharply +defined than with us. There is the class that regards the game as a +sport for competition, almost as a form of athletics, being mainly but +not exclusively the younger class; there is the business-man class that +believes in it as the ideal, and indeed the only recreation satisfying +the needs of the times as a relaxation from the strain of life and work, +and a means of promoting physical and mental efficiency, such people +being as with us the largest section and the mainstay in one sense of +the game; and there is the humbler class who play upon the public +courses. + +I do not believe after the closest observation and most impartial +consideration that the best American golfers are yet quite so good as +ours, but in recent years they have been rapidly lessening the gap that +has existed, their thoroughness, determination, and efficiency are most +wonderful, and if they had our courses and climate they might become +better than we are. They think they will anyhow. As it is they are +handicapped by lack of full-blooded seaside courses, and a climate that +is by no means ideal for the game; and although by their zeal they have +to some extent discounted that handicap, I feel that they can only +neutralise it altogether and go beyond it by the production of the +occasional genius. The good Americans seem to me mostly to play what we +could call a plain, straight game. American courses are for the most +part without any sharp undulations; there is nothing in America like our +rolling seaside links. Therefore the players are not taught or induced +to be making allowances for this and that in all the days of their golf +from their youth upwards, and they have not the sea-coast winds to lead +them in the same way as we have. So they have good reason to play +straight to the hole, and never to depart from doing so without the most +obvious and pressing cause. It follows from this that the American +players have fewer "scientific" or "fancy" strokes at their disposal, +and those who have visited this country have been remarked upon for the +plain simplicity of their iron play. They seem to standardise their +shots. But assuming that this is their principle or their system, it +enables them to concentrate keenly and with fine effect on accuracy. +Delicacy of touch, splendid judgment of distance, and perfection of +execution are strong characteristics of the American players, who do not +need to be reminded that there are no bunkers in the air. It is the +straight game of the Americans with all its accuracy that is paying in +their matches against us. At the same time I think that the comparative +weakness of the Americans in wooden club play is a serious handicap to +them, and their courses need to be tightened up to improve it. That +"American hook" of theirs is a dangerous thing sometimes, and their +round flat swings are looked upon by some of our best British +authorities with much suspicion. + +But there is one most important way in which they are scoring over us. +They are beating us in temperament, concentration, and determination, +and in the capacity to make the very most of their own game, so that not +a shot of it is wasted. This means very much. A man may be plus five, +but of such a temperament and such ways that he habitually wastes two or +three holes in a match through negligence or slackness. The Americans do +not waste holes in this way. They waste nothing. The game of which they +are capable is produced nearly every time at full quality and is made as +effective as it possibly can be. The utmost pains are taken over every +stroke; the man blames himself for nothing after it is made. His +concentration is enormous; he is often inclined to race through the +green, but his capacity for being slow and meditative, when necessary, +is great; and most noticeable again is his persistence, which is another +way of making the most of a game that a man possesses. Of course all +these remarks are applied to the two classes of players in a very +general way. There are many exceptions among the Americans and there are +many among our players, but that they do indicate the tendencies in the +two countries I am certain. The American game may not be as scientific +and complete as ours, but its more serious exponents do make the most of +it as ours do not, and probably the high importance that is attached to +the numerous first-class tournaments they have over there has something +to do with it. They believe in competitions more than we do. + + + * * * * * + +This matter of consideration and concentration is one to which every +player should give closer attention. His success is largely dependent +upon it. He may think he concentrates enormously as it is, more than on +anything else, but often he deceives himself. Not one man in ten gets as +much in effect out of his game as it is capable of. He walks to his ball +and plays some kind of a shot, with a more or less hazy idea of what it +is that he wishes to do. When he finds his object has not been +accomplished he suddenly remembers something, and it is a case of "I +should have known," or "If I had only thought," or "What a pity I did +not look." With such people a round of golf is a succession of regrets, +and it is the simple truth that the majority could do far better with +their game if they did not waste so much of it by carelessness, +thoughtlessness, and a sort of distraction which allows their minds to +wander to other things than the stroke in hand, and sometimes by their +conversation too. When a man has played a stroke he has quite sufficient +to occupy his mind for the next minute or two in considering how he +shall play the next one, and the many features of the case that will be +presented to him. + +It is a remunerative resolution to make at the beginning of the season, +to think deeply upon all the points of match play, and then exploit the +art of it with some thoroughness. It is not difficult. All who have +attended the Amateur Championship meetings and have been close observers +of what happens there can remember how even players of the very first +class in this most important of tournaments let themselves get beaten by +inferior players simply because they do not make the most of their game. +They forget things, do not think enough, and play strokes carelessly +because at the time of doing so they seem to feel it does not matter. No +stroke should ever be played as though it were not the most important of +the game--as it might turn out to be. The old maxim that if a thing is +worth doing at all it is worth doing well, applies with tremendous force +to match-play golf. Many a time when the result of a stroke played +exactly as intended, is not what was anticipated, through some of the +circumstances not having been taken into consideration, the mistake that +was made is obvious then. The man excuses himself by saying that he +cannot see and think of everything, but nine times out of ten he should +have seen. The most fatal mistake, however, that many players make in +the early part of the season when their match-playing qualities have not +been properly revived, is in their letting matches slip, in not pressing +home advantages that they gain, and, above all, being too indifferent +upon the future in the early part of a match, and too careless when they +get a lead. All this sounds very simple, very obvious, but it often +takes the best part of a season to drive the lessons home into the minds +of golfers who are losing matches through their weakness in fighting +quality. + +Now here are one or two samples of points in regard to which the golfer +constantly neglects to display his cunning and is the loser thereby. +Assuming that in the general way you can get as much length when it is +wanted as the other man, always try to make him play the odd to you. You +do so naturally with your tee shots and many of the others, but are not +really thinking at the time that you are wanting him to play the odd. +The man who is playing the odd, even from a very little way behind the +other, is at a much greater moral disadvantage than is often suspected, +and if the other man always noticed things as much as he should, he is +at a greater practical advantage than he realises, for if his opponent +fails he can see the cause of it, this remark applying especially to +what happens in the short game. How many putts have gone wrong that +never need have done had the man who made them watched what happened +when his adversary putted first! Then, again, on this point of making +the other man play the odd the case is constantly recurring where both +men are obliged to play short of some hazard, or to take a particular +line to a hole which is not the straight one. The man who goes second +will find it very much to his advantage if he tries to squeeze so +closely up to the point of danger as to be just nearer to it than the +other, the latter then having to play the odd and being then more +inclined to press with it and perhaps to miss it. The man who is playing +the odd is in a sense taking a shot into the unknown; the other man +knows everything. That is just the difference. Another stupid mistake +that many men make is to try experimental or fancy shots, perhaps with +clubs that are unfamiliar to them, just because the other man has played +two more. How many thousands of holes have been lost through that! The +experimental shot fails, the other man makes a good one, the +experimenter suddenly finds he has to fight for it, and a minute or two +later is watching his adversary take the honour from the next tee. +Again, what matches could have been won that were lost if the players +had only shown half the sense that Mr. Hilton did in the Amateur +Championship of 1912 at Prestwick, in picking his places for putting, as +it were, always, whenever possible, running up so that he would have to +putt uphill instead of down, the former being far the easier kind of +putting. Nowadays there are inclines on every green and round about the +hole, and a flat putt is a comparative rarity. But the average man never +thinks of these inclines until he has to play along them. The time for +most thinking about them is when making the stroke before, so that the +putt may be along the easiest line to the hole. This is not a question +of skill; it is simply one of sense. A man can play short of the hole +or past it, or to the right or left, and there will be one point from +which the putting will be easier than the other. It may often happen +that it would pay better to be four yards past the hole than two short +of it, for you will not only have had the chance of holing, but the putt +back may be an uphill one. + +But with it all, the habit must be cultivated of thinking as much as +possible in advance--thinking quickly and acting with decision. +Questions of the value of practice swings have arisen lately. We have +seen rather too much of these practice swings in some quarters. We may +believe in the practice swing--just one or at most two. A man may be an +experienced golfer, and he may have played a certain stroke nearly a +million times before, but golf is essentially a game of fears and +doubts, and apart from just setting the right muscles in a state of +complete preparation for the task in hand a practice swing gives one a +little confidence. The shot is shaped; there is nothing to do but repeat +the stroke that has been made; it can be done. To that extent the +practice swing may be thoroughly recommended. But some members of the +young American School go farther than this, and it is questionable +whether they are wise. For one thing the delicate muscles and the +nervous system that are concerned with the stroke in hand are easily +tired, and if the shot is a long one needing power the odds are against +its being done so well after five practice swings as after one. Show me +the man who can drive his best and straightest after five practice +swings on the tee. Then there is the hesitation and doubt that are +induced. I believe that in most cases these players are really waiting +for an inspiration. They are not ready for the stroke they have to play. +Jack White in once confiding to me some of the secrets of his +successful putting, said that when he went about on the green examining +the line back and front, he was simply trying to gain time and nothing +more. "I want to feel that I want to putt," he said, "and while I am +waiting for that feeling coming on I can hardly stand motionless on the +green or look up at the sky." It is that way with these Americans; they +are waiting for an inspiration. But it does not always seem to be +responsive, and they wait too long. A moment must come when they are as +ready for the shot as ever they will be in their lives; if they let it +pass nothing but doubts and hesitations can follow, and that is the +danger to the player of excessive slowness. He begins to fear his fate +too much. And also one round of golf played like this makes a fearful +mental strain, and how often do we see that men who win their morning +matches by such methods look very tired and lose easily in the +afternoon. + +The case of Mr. Ouimet, who has so suddenly become a great power in +American golf, has already been considered, and Mr. Walter Travis's high +position was established long ago. Apart from these two, the new star +and the old one, and the young professional M'Dermott, there are two +others who hold a higher place in the opinion of the golfers of their +own country and ours than any other players do, and those are Mr. +Charles Evans, junior, of Chicago, and Mr. Jerome D. Travers, foremost +players of the west and east as they respectively are. In every way Mr. +Evans is a very delightful golfer. When we saw him at Prestwick in 1911 +he was even then a brilliant player, and one who impressed British +golfers as no other had ever done since Mr. Travis had won at Sandwich, +and he had then an advantage which the winner of our championship had +not--he had his whole golfing life before him. Since that time he has +undoubtedly improved. He has become physically stronger, experience has +helped him, and he has greater resource and skill. And despite the fact +that he has not yet won an American championship, there is this to be +said for him, that in the sense of accomplishment, in variety of stroke, +perfection of it, in playing the game as it was meant to be played, as +we say, he is still, for all his failures, the best amateur golfer in +the United States at the present time. But Mr. Evans is a man of very +keen and somewhat too sensitive temperament. He is inclined sometimes to +fear his fate unduly. Yet whenever we are inclined to judge him a little +harshly for his temperament, let it be remembered that fortune has dealt +him some cruel hurts, and that it is not a quality of human man to bear +himself indifferently to perpetual adversity. When he was the last hope +of his country at the championship at Sandwich in 1914, and striving +gallantly, his opponent went to the turn in a record score of 31. To be +merely sorry for "Chick" in such circumstances is inadequate; along with +him we smiled at the absurd extent to which his ill-luck spitefully +pursued him then. Even though it had to be counted, it was unreal. He +must be a champion some time. + +One of the greatest tragedies of his life, so far, was that he suffered +in the appalling Amateur Championship at Wheaton, Illinois, in +1912--appalling by reason of the terrible heat that players and all +others, including my unlucky but still deeply interested self, were +called upon to bear. It has come to be nearly a settled understanding in +Britain that the championships must be attended by weather quite +ridiculously and most uncomfortably unseasonable. Thunderstorms and +lightning, gales and floods--these are the accompaniments of the great +golf tournaments of the year in the summer months of May and June, and +matters seemed to reach a climax in 1913 when the progress of the final +match of the Amateur Championship at St. Andrews had to be suspended +because of the terrific storm which flooded the putting greens until +there were no holes to putt at, and when in the Open Championship at +Hoylake shortly afterwards Taylor had to play his way to victory through +a gale against which ordinary people could hardly stand up. Almost does +it appear that the American climate is disposed to follow the bad +British example in times of championships, seeing what happened at +Brookline in the same season; but it was very different at Wheaton in +the year when Mr. Hilton failed to retain the American Amateur +Championship he had won the season before at Apawamis, and when Mr. +Travers beat Mr. Evans in the final by seven and six. Mr. Norman Hunter +and some others, Americans, were burned out of that championship by a +temperature which at times was more than a hundred in the shade, and +while some players conducted their game beneath sunshades that they +carried, most of them had towels attached to their golf bags for +body-wiping purposes. There was no escape from the heat anywhere, night +or day, and no consolation in anything, unless it were that in the city +of Chicago a few miles distant the people were reported to be even worse +off than we were, and deaths were numerous. Well did we call that the +blazing championship, and when I am asked, as is often the case, which +of all championship experiences I recall most vividly, my remembrances +of events in Britain, far more numerous as they are, give way to an +American pair, the hot one at Wheaton in 1912, and the wet one of the +British debacle at Brookline a season later. But the sun at its worst +could not diminish the enormous interest that there was in that Wheaton +final, for the draw and the play had brought about the ideal match, from +the spectators' point of view, and even that of the players too, Mr. +Travers of the east and Mr. Evans of the west, and finely did the +Americans show their appreciation of what had come to pass by wagering +incredible numbers of dollars upon it and watching it in thousands. That +time it was thought that Mr. Evans would win, and he was three up at the +turn in the morning round, but he lost two of the holes before lunch, +and I am sure that the reason why he fell such an easy victim to Mr. +Travers in the afternoon was that he grieved too much for the loss of +those holes, and feared his fate when he need not have done. I know that +Mr. Travers in that second round played golf of the most brilliant +description that nobody could have lived against; but did Mr. Evans +encourage him to do so? This matter of temperament might seem to be a +fatal consideration for ever, being one of Nature and seemingly +unalterable, were it not that we have had cases of fine golfers with +weak temperaments who, perceiving their desperate state, have resolutely +and with patience changed those temperaments, or curbed their influence +as we should more properly say. The best modern instance of such a +change being made is that of George Duncan, and never fear but that +"Chick" will soon come to his own as well. + +Mr. Jerome Travers is undoubtedly one of the strong men of golf to-day, +a big piece of golfing individualism. At twenty years of age he won the +American Amateur Championship, in 1912 I saw him win it for the third +time, and the following year he won it again at Garden City. In his own +golfing country he must be one of the hardest men in the world to beat. +He plays the game that suits him and disregards criticism. He began to +play when he was nine years old. A year later he laid out a three-holes +golf course of his own at home--first hole 150 yards, second 180, third +apparently about the same, back to the starting-point. There were no +real holes--to hit certain trees was to "hole out." For hour after hour +this American child would make the circuit of this little course, and +day after day he would work hard to lower his record for these three +holes. At thirteen he started playing on a proper nine-holes course at +Oyster Bay. At fifteen he became attached to the Nassau Country Club, +and there, chiefly under the guidance of Alexander Smith, to whose +qualities as tutor he pays high tribute, his game improved. His swing +was wrong at the beginning. "Shorten your back swing, and take the club +back with your wrists. Swing easily and keep your eye on the ball." That +was Smith's advice to him, and he says it served him well. He began to +place the right hand under instead of over the shaft, and that added +more power to his stroke, and then he discovered that taking the club +back with his wrists or starting the club-head back with them, increased +its speed and gave him greater distance. Then it was practice, practice, +practice for an hour at a time at every individual stroke in the game. +He would play the same shot fifty times. He putted for two hours at a +stretch, placing his ball at varying distances from the hole, trying +short putts, long ones, uphill and downhill putts, and putts across a +side-hill green where the ball had to follow a crescent-like course if +it had to be holed out or laid dead. During the championship at +Apawamis, when he was playing Mr. Hilton, he had what everybody declared +to be an impossible putt of twenty feet, downhill over a billowy green, +and he holed it because he had practised the same sort of putt before. +In the next championship at Wheaton he did an "impossible" bunker shot +and laid the ball dead from the foot of the face of the hazard because +he had practised that shot also. Next to the Schenectady putter +belonging to Mr. Travis his driving iron is, or should be, the most +famous club in all America. It is a plain, straight-faced iron with a +round back, and is heavy, weighing sixteen ounces. It has a long shaft +and a very rough leather grip, and was forged at St. Andrews. This and +his other irons are kept permanently rusty. He carries very few +clubs--five irons, a Schenectady putter, a brassey and a driver, but, as +Mr. Fred Herreshoff, who turns caddie for him in the finals of +championships, says, the two latter are for the sake of appearances +only. He believes in the centre-shafted Schenectady putter, illegal here +but allowed in America, as in no other. He calls for a very low tee, one +that is only just high enough to give him a perfect lie, "the duplicate +of an ideal lie on the turf." He plays his drives off the right foot, +which is about three inches in advance of the left, the ball being just +a shade to the right of the left heel, because in that position he finds +it easier to keep the eye on the ball without effort, and in the strain +of a hard match or competition every simplifying process like this is +valuable. + +But the most remarkable thing about his preparation for driving is his +grip, which is unique. He does not employ the overlapper. He likes the +right hand to be under the shaft; but this is the main point--that the +first fingers are almost entirely free of the shaft, with the tips +resting on the leather, curled inside the thumbs. Both thumbs are +pressed firmly against the sides of the first joints of the second +fingers, forming a locking device which prevents any possible turning of +the shaft. He is an utter believer in this detaching of the first +fingers from the club, and declares he could not play in any other way, +his theory being that it permits better freedom of the wrists and +enables him to get greater power into the stroke without deflecting the +club-head from its proper sweep in the swing to the ball. With his +driving iron he is a supreme master, and with it alone he has played a +round of a difficult course in America, Montclair, in 77. When I +watched him win his third championship I decided that in whatever else +he might excel he had a finer temperament for match play than almost any +other player I had seen. Silent, imperturbable, not a trace of feeling +in his countenance, he seemed to be mercilessly forcing his way to +victory all the time. Only once since he became established as a +champion kind of golfer have his nerves ever failed him, and that was on +an occasion of supreme importance, and yet one when the strain upon +nerves was not, or should not have been, unduly severe. I saw him lose +his match to Mr. Palmer at Sandwich in 1914, and there was something +nearly as mysterious about that occurrence as there was about the +victory of Mr. Ouimet at Brookline--far more than there was about the +defeat of the latter at Sandwich by Mr. Tubbs, for then Mr. Ouimet +simply played a poor but not a timid game. But in the Palmer-Travers +match the American for the first time for years was afraid. Half way +round, all the watchers were saying so, saying his nerves were catching +at his shots. Knowing the man, having seen so much of him in America, I +could not believe it then; but before the round was ended the truth was +clear. His nerves had failed, and it was responsibility that had caused +them to do so. He could not possibly have played so poorly otherwise. It +was not the real Travers who played that day. + + + * * * * * + +The middle-aged business-man golfer is an important individual in the +general golfing scheme of things in the United States. He is that +elsewhere, but he stands out most in America. Well enough does he know +how the game is good for him. The early American golfers (those of from +ten to twenty years ago) adopted the game enthusiastically, because it +answered exactly to certain requirements they had in mind in regard to +creating and preserving physical fitness. The American business man +leads a quick life and a hard one and, in recent years particularly, his +pursuit of this physical fitness has become something of a craze with +him, for the reason that through it he seeks to bring the human machine +to the highest point of working efficiency and, at the same time, enable +the human man to derive more enjoyment and satisfaction from the +pleasures of life. This is not a vague, subconscious idea in the +American; it is a clear, definite scheme, adopted by thousands and +thousands of those who have devoted themselves to the game. Hence their +generous support and excellent enthusiasm. The country swarms with men, +two-thirds way through an ordinary lifetime, who have only been playing +the game for five or six summers and no winters--for in very few places +in the northern parts of the United States is any play possible between +the late fall and the spring--and who can play a good six-handicap game, +British reckoning, for in America they have a system of handicapping +according to which scratch is the lowest, and their six handicap is +about equivalent to our two or three. The majority of our middle-aged +men seem to resign themselves to the idea that in no circumstances can +they ever become really good players, and they pretend they are +satisfied to make their way round the links merely for the sake of the +health and exercise that they obtain from so doing. Perhaps in a sense +they are wise, but still it is certain that more than half of the joys +and pleasures of golf are missed by those who never feel any improvement +being made, who never rise above a steady mediocrity, and who never feel +the thrills of playing above their ordinary form. + +The business-man golfer is seen at his best at the country clubs near +to the great cities. There is nothing elsewhere which for its healthy, +honest pleasures and the satisfaction it yields is comparable to the +American country club and the life that is pursued there. It gives to +the busy man the ideal relaxation he could not obtain in any other way. +I spent several days at one of these country clubs, a railroad journey +of an hour or so from Chicago, and the experience was illuminating. The +American business-man golfer works in the city for part of the day in +the summer and spends the rest of his time at the country club, where +the predominating features of the life are golf, rest, and sociability. +These country clubs are provided with a large number of bedrooms, and +are surrounded with cottages, nicely equipped, which generally belong to +them and are let for periods to the members. The vitality of the man of +whom we are thinking is enormous. He is out of his bed at the club at +about six o'clock in the morning, and goes through a process of shower +baths, with which the establishment is splendidly appointed. By seven +o'clock he is dressed in the thinnest flannels, and sits down to +breakfast with thirty or forty other members at 7.15. At this time he is +jacketless, and all in white. A large glass of iced water is laid before +him to begin with, and then the half of a grape fruit or a cantaloup, +with a piece of ice stuck in the middle, is presented as the first +course. These things, as we get them in America, are very delicious. At +once an argument begins round the table about the qualities of different +balls and clubs, and I am closely questioned about the way we do things +in England. Next, there is oatmeal porridge laid before us, with tea or +coffee, and the men begin to match themselves for the afternoon round. +Mr. A says he will play Mr. B for a certain stake, but the latter finds +he is already engaged to play Mr. C for a higher one. Eventually, +Messrs. A, B, and C agree to play a three-ball match for still more +dollars. Such extensive wagering is not the rule, but it is frequent. +After the porridge, bacon and eggs, calf's liver and bacon, or something +of that kind, is served with a baked potato, a little more iced water +may be called for, and there is marmalade with toast and sweet cakes, +and, then at a quarter to eight, all get aboard the club motor-omnibuses +and are whizzed away to the railroad station, light jackets very likely +carried on their arms. + +Before nine o'clock they are hard at work in the big city. Some early +birds were even there by eight o'clock. They work very hard, no dawdling +of any kind, and by one or two o'clock they have finished for the day +and are off back to the golf club as fast as they can go. Frequently +they are back in time to lunch there. Soup, some meat done in American +fashion, an American salad, blueberry pie, iced water, and a glass of +cold tea with a lump of ice in it and a piece of lemon, finishing up +with a large supply of ice cream, and then a big cigar, are what the +American golfer goes out to play upon. The caddie whom he takes out to +carry his clubs costs him tenpence an hour--always paid by the hour, +during which he is in the golfer's service, and not by the round. By +this time the player is in thinner and lighter clothes than ever, and he +has been cooled down by more shower baths. His round is played very much +as it might be done in England. He is very keen on his game. But he +takes a little more time on the consideration of his stroke when once he +has reached his ball than we do, and he is most deeply painstaking. +Towards the end of the match he may develop an idea for playing the +enemy for a number of dollars a hole for the remainder of the round, and +when it is all over, everybody is quite satisfied with everything. More +shower baths, a lounge, and a cigar, and then a long American dinner, +with vegetables very fancily done, corn cobs, sweet salads, plenty of +iced water, ice creams, "horses' necks"--ginger ale with lemon and +ice--and so forth. Long arguments on the verandah upon the respective +merits of British and American golf, and at ten o'clock this busy golfer +of the United States gets himself off to bed. He never sits up late. He +sleeps, of course, with his windows wide open, with a wire netting +arrangement to keep out the flies and mosquitoes, and as he falls away +to his slumber he feels that golf is the best of games, that America is +the chief of countries, and that this is the most agreeable of all +possible worlds. Here I have been writing in general terms, but I should +add that each and all of my details are taken from the life, from +personal experience at one of the best of these country clubs. + + + * * * * * + +There are some interesting characters in American golf as everywhere, +and the very wealthy golfer in the States is often to be considered. Mr. +John D. Rockefeller, the "Oil King," is, as all of us know, an extremely +rich man. He is also a business man, if ever there was one. And he is +extremely fond of golf. His case may have as little to do with the +matters just discussed as you may think, but I shall present it as I +found it out. A few years gone Mr. Rockefeller, who has a capacity for +giving advice of a very shrewd and worldly character, announced his +intention of retiring from the presidency of the Oil Trust and of +devoting a fair part of the remainder of his life to playing golf. Since +then he has discovered that it is easier to make a million dollars than +to hole a five-yard putt, for the Rockefeller millions now make +themselves and the putts are as unholeable as ever. His methods of +playing, and his moralisings on the game, are not like those of any +other man. Readers must judge for themselves as to whether they have +anything to learn from them; I think they may have something. Take this +case for an instance. One day when playing the game he made a very good +shot on to the green, and, ever ready to draw a moral from the game of +golf which would apply to the greater game of life, turned to his +companions and said: "Waste of energy I regard as one of the wanton +extravagances of this age. Rational conservation of energy and +temperance in all things are what the American nation must learn to +appreciate." Mr. Rockefeller is now seventy-five years of age, and he +was nearly sixty before he first began to play. He became an enthusiast +at once, and, as with most other men, his golf aggravated him, goaded +him, tantalised him, and made him ambitious and determined. He began to +find things out and to invent new ideas as rapidly as any of us have +ever done. He said the game changed his life. Made him happy. Brought +back his youth to him. His friends when they played with him declared +that he was not a cantankerous old man, but a really charming fellow. +Golf was doing him good. It was making a new man of him, as it does of +all others. But he did not get on at it as quickly as he thought he +ought to do. He found that there were rather more things to remember in +a very short space of time when making his shot than he had ever had to +remember before, and that for the first time in his life he was liable +to forgetfulness on the most important occasions. Then he acted on the +business man's principle of getting others to do things for him. He got +others to do the remembering. For a time whenever he went to play a +match he had three caddies attending on him; even now he generally has +two. He employed them for other purposes than carrying clubs. When he +was about to make a stroke No. 1 Caddie stepped up to him and said +respectfully but firmly: "Slow back, Mr. Rockefeller, slow back!" He +might otherwise have forgotten to take his club slowly back from the +ball at the start of the swing. This adviser having moved away, Caddie +No. 2 went forward and said: "Keep your eye on the ball, Mr. +Rockefeller, keep your eye on the ball!" Then, in turn, Caddie No. 3 +advanced and spoke warningly: "Do not press, Mr. Rockefeller, do not +press!" So, reminded of the common faults, the Oil King made his stroke +and did not commit them, but was guilty of several others, and realised +a little sadly when the ball did not travel as it should that he needed +a hundred caddies for warning, and not three. Still, there is some good +sense in this method, and the man who made it a strict rule to say to +himself always, just before a stroke, what Mr. Rockefeller hired the +boys to say to him would make fewer bad shots than he does. + +Mr. Rockefeller has a very nice course of his own on undulating land at +Forest Hill, on the edge of Cleveland, Ohio, and there he has parties to +play with him constantly. He is fond of cycling, and instead of walking +after his ball when he has struck it, he takes his cycle on to the +course with him, jumps on to it, and wheels himself along to the place +from which the next shot must be made. By this means he not only saves +much time, and gets more golf in an hour than we do, but considers that +he derives more physical benefit from the combination than he would from +golf and walking. More than this, he knows exactly how far he has hit +the ball every time, for he counts the number of turns of the pedals he +has to make in cycling from point to point, and calculates accordingly. +He does not lose his temper when he makes a bad shot or a series of +such, as some have suggested, but he is quite ecstatic when he makes a +good one; and, despite his seventy-five years, has been known to leap +high into the air when the result of his efforts has been specially +good. He is a most thoughtful player, and takes the utmost care always +to note effects and to try to attach causes to them. "Now gentlemen," he +has said, "that was really a very good stroke that I made then. You +observe that I am learning to make better use of my left arm. It was +that Scotchman who told me of the trick, but somehow I have never been +able to use it advantageously until now." He has a large number of clubs +in his bag, including all the most usual implements, while two or three +have been made according to his own special ideas. One of his caddies +also carries a large sunshade to hold over him while playing when the +weather is uncomfortably warm, and it is the duty of this boy also to +give a hand at pushing the bicycle when the line to the hole is uphill +and Mr. Rockefeller finds the pedalling too much for him unaided. So you +see that there is nothing that is conventional about Mr. John D. +Rockefeller and his golf. You would hardly expect it. + + + * * * * * + +Now for the public or municipal golf in America; it is one of the strong +features of the game in the United States that impressed me most. The +average player in Britain, where the municipal golf movement is making +slow headway, may be surprised to know that there is such a thing across +the Atlantic; let him understand, then, that public golf in America is +far ahead of public golf in Britain. Some Americans of great golfing +experience, not confined to their own country, have not hesitated to say +that they will "make America the greatest golfing country in the world." +If we disregard such a challenge, there are yet circumstances and +forces in operation in America of which serious notice must be taken, +and the first of them is this great movement that is progressing in +favour of municipal golf. The whole vast country is taking to it. The +leaders of the people are appreciating the necessity of it and preaching +it. They say that the times are desperately strenuous, that an antidote +is needed, an ideal relaxation for body and nerves, a perfect recreation +and diversion, and that, having tried everything and thought of other +possibilities, they have come firmly and decisively to the conclusion +that golf is the only recreation that meets the requirements of the +times. Therefore they say that it must be provided for everybody, for +the "common people," and given to them absolutely free with every +inducement put forward for them to play it. The result is that public +golf in America is already advanced to such a state as is almost +incredible to those who have not seen it there. I have seen it. In New +York, Boston, Chicago, Kansas, Louisville, Milwaukee, Elgin, Toledo, and +a host of the smaller places, there are good public courses. In the +large cities there are often two or three. Chicago has now three and a +fourth was being made when I was there last, a fine long course in the +Marquette Park. Two of the existing courses are in the Jackson Park, one +being eighteen holes and the other nine. The third is in Garfield Park. +The full-sized course in Jackson Park is quite an excellent thing. The +turf and the putting greens are well tended, the views are pleasant, and +the play is absolutely free to all who obtain the necessary permit from +the Parks Commissioners. The regular player may have the use of locker +and dressing-rooms in the pavilion, and good meals may be obtained at a +reasonable cost. How shall we wonder then that the Americans take kindly +to this game and are becoming overwhelmingly enthusiastic at it, or that +more than a hundred thousand games are played on one single course at +Jackson Park alone in the course of a year? Though for the best part of +the winter there is snow on the ground and play is impossible 105,000 +games were played on the long course at Jackson Park during 1912 up to +the beginning of October, and the news just reaches me that on one day +at the very beginning of this season of 1914 nearly 900 tickets were +given out! On a fine morning in the summer there will often be a little +crowd of players waiting at the first tee for their turn to start at the +dawn of day, and as many as two hundred have been counted there at seven +o'clock in the morning. Having finished their game on ordinary mornings +these people go off to their work, and they "hustle" all the more for +the shots that they have played and hope to play again before the +falling of the night. It is the same in the Franklin Park at Boston, in +Van Cortlandt Park in New York, and everywhere. In this matter these +Americans have sense. If public golf in England is ever to be a good and +useful thing we must do as the Americans do, and if we do not the people +will be the poorer, and we shall be sorry. Corporations must provide +free golf, and they must be satisfied with the good done to the people, +and not take the narrow view that the balance-sheet must show a direct +profit apart from the indirect one that is certain. They must also put +their courses in central and convenient places where people will be +attracted to them, and which will not take the greater part of the time +available to reach them. The game must be played in central parks which +will then become more useful than they have ever been so far, and for +the first time will be a real joy to the people who pay for them. I may +be an enthusiast in golf, but I have gone deeply into this matter and +studied it in its every bearing, and I know that I am right. + + + * * * * * + +And the Americans are gaining in another matter--they are bringing their +young boys into the game. I have been to preparatory schools where they +have their own little courses and their school championships. The boys +like it, the masters encourage it, and the grown-up players admire the +youngsters' enthusiasm. This is the way that "prodigies" are produced. +In England we do not encourage the boys to play golf. The head-masters +of schools say that it is a selfish game and that it is bad for them. I +wonder how much these principals have thought of the moral qualities +that must exist in the good golfer who knows how to play a losing match +and perhaps save it, and how long in real argument before an impartial +tribunal the contention would hold that it would be better for the young +boy to stand for hours in the deep field at cricket on a hot summer's +day than for him to learn to play golf and learn to keep a tight hold of +himself when the whole scheme of things might seem to be breaking up. +Cricket and football are great games, and they are splendid things for +boys, but that golf is inferior to them in what it does for character I +deny, and if the comparison is pressed the golfers with me can put +forward an invincible case. Anyhow the fact is there that young America +is getting golf and young England is not, and that will make a +difference some time some way. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +CANADIAN COURSES, AND A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT AT TORONTO, WITH MATTERS +PERTAINING TO MAKING A NEW BEGINNING. + + +Towards the end of an afternoon in September, rounds being done, I stood +with Mr. George Lyon (who is a kind of John Ball of the Dominion of +Canada, having won the championship of his country seven times) on the +heights where stands the club-house of the Lambton Golf and Country Club +in Ontario, and we looked across the valley along which the course is +traced to the woods on the opposite side where there were some fiery +crimson spots to be seen as if burning amid the mass of foliage that was +olive or tinting down to brown. They were the maple leaves of Canada, +the emblem of the new land, of which it is prophesied that it shall be +the greatest country of the earth. In early days the Canadians dabbled +with the lacrosse which the Indians played, and some of the invaders, +too, brought their cricket with them and taught it to others whom they +found there. Then the people who are near to the borders of the United +States, and are somewhat impressed with the American ways of doing +things, have been cultivating an interest in baseball for its +spectacular properties. Rounders revised is well enough for those who +are within shouting distance of Buffalo and for places like Toronto, but +I could never believe that such a game or pastime, whatever its +merits--and I know that it has many--could suit such a very serious, +contemplative, cold, and earnest people as the Canadians are. I regard +the nature of these people, as I have had the opportunity of considering +it, as more serious and intense than that of any other, and I know only +one recreation beyond those that are the simplest and most essential, as +of roaming in the untamed country, fishing, shooting, and hunting, that +is agreeable to such a nature. They also know it; they have declared for +a national game. + +There is this to be said at the beginning for Canadian golf and its +courses, that the general atmosphere of the game in this great country, +rough and often bare and primitive as still it is, seems to be much +nearer the atmosphere of golf in Britain than that of any other country +different from us. One misses the sea-coast links, courses are long +distances apart, fine players are comparatively few, for the men of +Canada are still so busy and so earnest that they have not even time to +play, but yet there is a fine chain of the game all the way from St. +John's to Vancouver. There is more of the peculiarity of British +sporting instinct in the Canadian than in any other person out of the +British Isles; he likes what we like, and he likes it in the same way +and for the same reasons. Except that the coldness, like that of the +Scot, is sometimes too much exhibited in him, and that even on suitable +occasions he is reluctant to demonstrate his enthusiasms, so serious he +is, so deep he looks, I have found him to be a splendid opponent with an +agreeable persistency, and a most desirable partner in a foursome. Here +in Canada there are trestle tee-boxes, a few--but only a few--of the +club-houses are built and equipped in the manner of the Americans, +betokening an existing prosperity and a provision for that greater one +which is felt to be as sure as the fruit and the corn of the following +season; but otherwise golf seems much like what it is at home, and +especially do we feel like that when we reach the old places where the +game first took root out there. There is a Canadian Golf Association to +rule the affairs of the game in the country with a certain subservience +to home and St. Andrews as the Dominion holds to Westminster, and such a +ruling authority is necessary in a new and wide country like this where +so much pioneering is being done, just as it is necessary in the United +States and in Australia. The chief function of such an authority is to +keep the game together, hold it compact and maintain it in even +uniformity with the game elsewhere. There is no blame to the Canadians +because they have not associated themselves with the subtle and +insoluble mysteries of the British handicapping system, but have +followed the American lead in this matter and put their best champions +at scratch. Otherwise they are full British still, and even if they have +their doubts upon the wisdom of the edict of St. Andrews which banned +centre-shafted clubs and the Schenectady putter of American origin, they +have remained loyal to the law without dissenting as the Americans did. +So in Canada you may not use the Schenectady. You may putt with it on +one side of the Niagara Falls but not on the other side. + +It is fortunate that a ball cannot be played across the Falls, or over +those whirling Rapids, or some puzzling international complications +might arise. The adventures are called to mind of two great scientists, +the late Professor John Milne, who made such a fine study of earthquakes +and could feel them in the Isle of Wight when they were taking place in +Asia, and Professor Sims Woodhead, the eminent Cambridge pathologist, +when they went to the meeting of the British Association for the +Advancement of Science when it was held in South Africa. They travelled +to the Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River, and there they contemplated +a mighty carry of a hundred and sixty yards over roaring, foaming water. +The keen golfer is always prepared, for the emergencies of the game are +constant and attractive, and Mr. Milne produced driver and ball, and, +with a fine nerve and eyes that were controlled most marvellously, +delivered a golf ball from one side to the other for the first time +since the world began. The pathologist admired the achievement and +emulated it. He also carried the Falls of the Zambezi. It were better +that these greedy men had left it at that and been well satisfied. +However, they came to think they might go on with this majestic carry +continually, and generous Fortune chided them. Crocodiles took the balls +that they drove into the Zambezi. + + + * * * * * + +Let us take a look at Lambton. From my room in Toronto I rang up Lyon, +whom I had met several times in England, and asked him to guess the name +of the caller; he gave the name without hesitation, though he had no +more reason to know that I was in Canada than in Tasmania. So quite in a +matter-of-fact way we met on the following day in a Grand Trunk car +starting from the Union station, and inquired of each other as to the +ball that each was using. The journey from Toronto is one of only a few +minutes, and soon after the stopping of the train the feet may tread on +some of the nicest golfing turf that is to be found out of England, and +the reason is palpable, for here are the big bunkers of the proper kind +made of real yellow sand, which is natural to the place. When they need +new sand bunkers at Lambton they cut them open and there they are. So +sandy is the place that sometimes they have a difficulty in making the +grass grow properly, and one result of these favourable natural +conditions is that the course is better bunkered than most others on the +American continent. Tee shots and approaches must be played well, and at +the very first green the hint is given that the short game must be well +done. The fourth hole is one of the jewels of Canadian golf. The teeing +ground is on a height, and below it is a series of descending plateaux +like giants' steps until the level is reached. When he has made a very +passable drive the player is called upon with a very proper second to +carry the Black Creek which guards the green and is coiled like a snake +about it. The shot must have fair length and it must be very straight as +well. Normally the hole is 365 yards long, so that in mere distance it +is not a terrible thing, but when medals are being played for its length +is stretched out to the four hundred yards. At the sixth the stream +which they call Humber comes into the reckoning. It is a nice two-shot +hole, and the seventh is an excellent short one with the inky creek here +again. With the stump of a tree protruding from the water, large leafy +growths upon the surface, a general sleepiness and the green in a +sequestered corner beneath a shading hill, this is quite one of the most +attractive of water holes. It is a strong hole, too, with fear about it, +for the carry is one of 165 yards, and I was told that when Miss Rhona +Adair, now Mrs. Cuthell, several times lady champion, was in these parts +some years ago she twice did the carry and a third time her ball skimmed +the water and reached the green after all. This was good work for a +lady, especially as I rather fancy she must have been using the gutty +ball at that time. + +The greens at Lambton are generally excellent, and they have adopted a +means for keeping them in good order which, though it has been tried in +other parts of America, has not to my knowledge been employed elsewhere. +I have heard objections raised against it, but the results at Lambton +are uncommonly good. Nearly all the greens here are kept properly +moistened by a process of sub-irrigation, and are never watered on the +surface. Below the green there is a deep bed of cinders, and over this +and about eighteen inches from the grass there is a network of water +pipes made of a hard porous clay, "weeping clay" they call it, the +entire under-surface of the greens being covered with them. At the +corner of each green there is a feed pipe connecting with this network, +and once a day the water supply is laid on to it and all the pipes under +the green are loaded. The heat of the sun then slowly draws the water +through the porous pipes and up to the surface, and the results of the +process are uniformly good. Lambton is a fine institution altogether. +There is a short ladies' course as well as the other, a fine toboggan +chute down the slope in front of the club-house, and the latter is in +all respects an admirable place, well fitted with baths, bedrooms, and +public apartments that are elegant and comfortable. This place has +something to do with Toronto life of to-day. There are seven hundred +members, and now it costs a new one the equivalent of six hundred +dollars in his first year. He has to get a hundred-dollar share in the +club to begin with, and these are at such a premium that he has to pay +five hundred dollars for one. On one of the walls of the club-house is a +life-size portrait of the champion of the country in a characteristic +attitude with his brassey under his arm. + + + * * * * * + +The case of Toronto is very interesting. The club, which takes the name +of the city and is one of the oldest in the country, was started in +1876, and completely reorganised some eighteen years later. The pretty +little course that it had until lately was on the outskirts of the city, +with an old and quaint farm-house, which had from time to time been +enlarged, for a club-house. As to the course, it was quite nice. It was +very undulating, ravines, gullies, and belts of trees being prominent +everywhere. The turf was good, and some of the holes were excellent. In +the club-house there were fine trophies and some old prints, and a plan +of the old course at St. Andrews, with a photograph of old Tom Morris +attached to it, signed "From Tom Morris, to the members of the Toronto +Golf Club, 1896." Everything belonging to this old course was sweetly +mellow, and one's visit there made a pleasant experience. But it met a +fate which has been common enough near London but rare elsewhere. The +speed of Toronto's expansion brought it about, and, owing to the +encroachments of the builders, the club had to move. I was there at the +parting, and it was a sad one. Its members, however, being a very +wealthy and enthusiastic body of gentlemen, determined to make for +themselves a new home which should be as good as anything that could be +done, and their ambition was fulfilled. Etobicoke! It is one of the +wonders of the west, and I was the first wandering British player to set +his foot upon it. + +Etobicoke is several miles out from Toronto, and here with the money +that the club obtained from the sale of the old course they bought 270 +acres of what was virgin land, being for the most part covered with +trees at the time. This they had cleared, ploughed, and properly +prepared, and Mr. Harry Colt came out from England to lay out the +course. His finished work, as I have seen it, must rank as one of his +masterpieces. As on so many of the Colt courses there is something of a +Sunningdale look about the holes, and nearly all are extremely good. A +very fine short one is the fourth and one with which the architect +himself was much in love when he had completed the design from the +natural materials that were at his hand; and the tenth is a wonder of +its kind, the hindmost tee being on a hilltop from which a glorious view +of the course is to be had, with Lake Ontario beyond it, while some way +lower down the slope are second and third tees, making the distance +shorter. The soil is sandy, the turf is good, and the course must be +considered to rank as first class absolutely. Mr. W. A. Langton, who +went over it with me, said he believed they had come into possession of +what would be the finest golf course in America when it has matured, and +his judgment may be right. + +Many parts of the world were laid under tribute for the making of this +course at Etobicoke where the club is still called by the good old +simple name, the Toronto Golf Club. It was designed, as I have said, by +an English architect, and in order to give a grass to the course that +would stand the rigours of the climate better than the ordinary grasses +with which courses in North America are generally sown, seeds were +obtained from Finland. Then nearly all the rough work of construction +was done by Bulgarians and Roumanians, these immigrants being splendid +for work of this kind. They were paid at the rate of about seven +shillings a day, and they lived in huts which they made on the ground +and saved the greater part of the money that they earned. A little over +L16,000 or 80,000 dollars were paid for the land, and about the same +amount was spent on its preparation and completion as a course; while +L20,000 or 100,000 dollars were spent on the building and equipment of a +splendid club-house, embracing the utmost comfort and convenience, with +about fifty bedrooms. This is a members' club, and the club has all the +members and money that it needs, and it is not a speculative enterprise +in any way whatever. But British golfers must surely pause with wonder +when they hear of a place like Toronto spending L50,000 on a new golf +course! Such is the enthusiasm of the Canadian for the game, that while +this enterprise was afoot a six-holes course was being constructed +alongside it, at a cost of L10,000, for a gentleman who intended to +build a house near by to which he might ask his friends. + + + * * * * * + +One pleasant day when staying at Montreal I went out to Dixie, a few +stations along the Grand Trunk line, where there is the course of the +Royal Montreal Club, to be regarded now as the oldest properly +established club in the Dominion. This one alone has that title of Royal +which Queen Victoria gave it permission to use in 1884. In its early +days the course was in Mount Royal Park, overlooking Montreal. Out here +at Dixie a certain flavour of the old spirit and good strong sporting +simplicity of the game are tasted. The course is somewhat flat and +parky, and big banks of bunkers stretch across the fairway, making the +general style of the architecture very much of the Victorian, but the +undulations and unevennesses of the banks and hollows are redeeming +features. Some of the holes are good and the putting greens are +excellent, but generally the course suffers from the absence of testing +second shots. There is a magnificent view up the river from the seventh +tee. A house agent might honestly declare that the club-house is +commodious and comfortable. It was made before it was the fashion to +erect palaces on golf courses, and sheet-iron bulks largely in its +composition; yet it is cosy enough inside, and contains many relics of +peculiar interest. In a glass case there are some ancient clubs with +which members played in the early days, and a leather belt for which +they competed, the names of the winners being written on the inside. + +There are many other courses in Montreal and round about it. There is +the Beaconsfield Club with its place situated some way up the river, +reached by the G. T. R. at Point Claire. The part of Fletcher's Fields +in Mount Royal Park, on which the Royal Montreal Club first played, is +now in the occupation of the Metropolitan Club, and is only about five +minutes' ride by car from the centre of the city. On the eastern slope +of Mount Royal is the course of the Outremont Club, which, at the time +of my visit, was about to go forward to a new and great enterprise; +while on a plateau at the western end of Mount Royal are the nine holes +of the West Mount Club, most charmingly situated, with fine views of the +city and the river. + +At Ottawa there is a course which ranks high among the very best on the +continent. It is different in character from that at Dixie, for here +there are ravines and gullies, and the land is strongly undulating +everywhere. The bunkers and other hazards are natural, the putting +greens are smooth, and the subsoil is of sandy loam. It is on the other +side of the Ottawa River, beyond Hull, and owing to its being exposed to +a broad reach of the stream it is seldom that there is not much wind +blowing across it. And there are courses all the way from east to west +of this wonderful, blossoming Canada. We find that wherever we wander in +the Dominion we are not much distant from a golf club. Even when on a +day I sailed across Lake Ontario and made the Gorge Valley trip to the +Niagara Falls there was golf near by had it been wanted. Winnipeg, +Edmonton, Calgary, round and about the Rockies, and up them +too--everywhere the game is played. I was told that when the course at +St. John, New Brunswick, was started in 1897, Mr. H. H. Hansard, who +made the opening stroke, holed from the tee in one. Holes in one have +been done in many curious circumstances, but surely this is one of the +most interesting of all. Compare the excellent beginning of St. John +with what happened the other day when a new course was being started +here at home. I am sorry to say that the municipal dignitary upon whom +the chief responsibility was cast missed the ball the first time, and +also the second, but contrived to move it from the tee at the third +attempt. + +A note has just reached me from a friend in the Dominion saying that out +on the Gulf of Georgia, on the coast of Vancouver, they are reaching +forward to a golf ideal. They have planned and started there a new town, +which they have called Qualicum, of which the golf course is the central +feature. They have laid out a fine one along the shore, one that has +splendid natural qualities, and they are doing their best to make it +understood that here is a golf city if ever there was one, for they have +christened the streets and roads by such names as St. Andrews Road, +Berwick Road, Portrush Road, Rye Road, Sandwich Road, and Dollymount +Road; and there are others with the names of Hoylake, Sunningdale, and +all the rest of our British best. + +Friends whom I consulted in the matter declared there was no golf in +Quebec, little but French people, French talk, and French games of two +generations back, the Canadian French not yet having adopted the sport +to which so many of the Parisians have attached themselves with great +earnestness. I was barely satisfied with such denials, and when, after +another night on the C. P. R., I found myself on a glorious Sunday +morning on those famous heights of Quebec, whence the view is one of the +most magnificent in the world, I set about investigating the matter all +alone. I can hardly say why, but somehow I strongly suspected the Plains +of Abraham, the big, bare piece of land on the heights overlooking the +St. Lawrence, on which Wolfe and Montcalm, more than a century and a +half ago, fought that great fight, and died. I have always found it as a +most remarkable thing that where great battles have been waged, and big +encampments made, golf courses in a great number of cases have been laid +out there later. Sure enough, then, the game was here on the Plains of +Abraham. I had just been looking upon the pillar with the simple +inscription, "Here died Wolfe victorious," and had walked for the length +of two or three good drives towards the citadel end of the plain, +called, I think, the Cove Fields, when putting greens came to view, with +sticks not two feet long and bits of red rag attached to them in the +holes. The greens and the teeing grounds were rough as could be, and +there were no proper bunkers on the course, but plenty of trouble for +all that, the ground being coarse and stony. The public could roam about +the place just as it pleased, and did so, and there did not seem to be +anything to prevent any one from playing the game on this course. It +looked just like public golf on common land, and though it is a far cry +from Blackheath to Quebec, there is something in the nature and +character of this golfing ground at the historic Canadian port to remind +one of England's oldest and crudest course. I discovered afterwards that +the Quebec Golf Club, a club without a club-house, had acquired the +rights to play on it; that this club is one of comparatively early +origin; that its members are clearly primitive in their tastes, but +sincere and earnest; and I am led to the belief that the course has +another point of similarity with Blackheath, being the oldest now in +existence on the American continent. It is said that a daughter of old +Tom Morris, who married a Mr. Hunter and went to America, was largely +responsible for the beginning of golf at Quebec. Men and boys were +playing on it on this beautiful Sunday morning when the bells in +countless steeples of Quebec and at St. Levis on the other side of the +St. Lawrence were ringing their music through the stillest air. I sat +down on the edge of the course overlooking the precipitous depths to the +river, far down below, where the smoke from a warship at anchor came +lazily from the funnels, and looked for long enough to gain an undying +impression of one of the grandest panoramas in the world, seen at its +most peaceful and its best. Nature had a grand inspiration when she made +Quebec as now we find her. + + + * * * * * + +This marvellous country is a rare place for making the new beginning. +Everything is so raw, so suggestive, so encouraging to earnest failures +who would, like Omar, if they could, conspire with fate, shatter the +existing scheme of things and "remould it nearer to the heart's desire." +Canada is indeed a fine place for hope for the future. I met several men +in the country who told me, that on leaving England and Scotland, they +had perforce, with all the hard work before them, to give up the game +for a long period; while another reason was, that those having been much +earlier days, there were fewer courses there. So years after, when the +fortunes had been made, they came back to golf again, and they were +making another new beginning, and felt a certain gladness as they +remembered some of the faults and the torments of the old game with all +its vast imperfections. In everything they would start over again as if +it were all quite new, and they knew nothing about it. Generally they +have made successes of their second golfing lives on earth in this way, +but yet they have found that they needed to act warily and be on their +guard always against old enemies, for golf poisons are marvellously +subtle and enduring things; and it has been found that when once a man +contracts a habit that is bad it will last for ever, whether he plays +the game continually or not, and the worse the habit the more incurable +it is. The best that can be done is the application of a system of +subjection, by which the disease is kept under, and does not pain or +hinder. But men who have fallen into bad and hopeless complications with +their golf, and found that it never could be improved any more, have +tried to begin it all over again as left handers--the most drastic +change--and even that has failed. They have then realised that the only +way to die happy is to give up the game for a matter of half a +generation and start again, with the determination to keep the head +still, to begin the back-swing with the wrists, and not to start +pivoting on the left toe as soon as the driving is begun, as if it were +necessary to do this thing, as so many of the teachers have suggested, +to the ruin of their pupils, for the unsteadiness it has produced. One +learns to do this pivoting after an hour's practice at the game, and can +pivot well when nothing else can be done at golf. But it takes years and +years sometimes to get rid of such a stupid custom. The left heel must +rise, but let it rise as little as may be, and of its own accord. Its +rising should be always a result of something, and not a cause of +something else. + +What is needed at a beginning, or a fresh start in any golfing life, is +a thorough grasp of essential principles. Considering the subject the +whole way through, we may feel that there are really only two essential +and compulsory principles applicable to all cases, instead of two +hundred or more as the bewildered player is often led to imagine. These +two are, first, that the eye must be kept upon the ball until it has +left the club; and, second, that in addition to the still head there +must be one fixed and practically motionless centre in the human system +while the stroke is being made. It is neglect, generally accidental, of +one or both of these principles that causes most of the bad shots that +are made. Let us remember that. Never, or hardly ever, should we neglect +these principles, and if we do not our handicap is almost sure to come +down, not only because so many bad shots will be avoided, but because +the exactness, certainty, and quality of all the strokes will be +steadily improved as they cannot be when hampered by neglect of the +principles. The eye makes the connection between the captain in the +brain and the engineers of the physical system. It is the speaking-tube +or the telegraph apparatus. There can be no union without it. But, as we +all know, it is not such an easy thing to keep the eye on the ball as it +ought to be kept on it, and the more anxious the player the more liable +is he to err in this matter. As to the fixed centre--somewhere in the +interior of the waist--we should reflect that the golfing swings, when +carried out properly, consist of the action and movements of thousands +of different muscles, operating in different ways, different directions, +and at different times. Perfect harmony and correlation among them all +is necessary if the general result is to be smooth and exact. Make no +mistake about it, the golfing swing, with all its complications and the +acute precision that is necessary for its good and proper effect, is one +of the most wonderful things of which the physical system is capable. +When I reflect upon it I think it is marvellous that the human man can +make it as he does. To obtain harmony among all these thousands of +movements there must be one centre from which they are all regulated. If +we think it out we see that this is so, and then we appreciate the +importance of what is too baldly described as keeping the body still, as +we have perhaps never done before. As a point of truth, the body as a +whole cannot be kept still, but there must be one centre that must be +fixed from the moment that the club addresses the ball until the latter +has left its place after impact. The captain in the brain, the eye, and +the fixed head and centre are the great trinity who manage the whole +concern. Only one man who has neglected this law has ever raised himself +to eminence in golf, and that man is Edward Ray, who has done it by mere +physical strength. When the fixed centre is held secure a great host of +evils which constantly cause failure are avoided--swaying of the body, +collapse of the legs, improper foot work, dropping of the right +shoulder, falling forward, and more of such a kind of fatal faults. + + + * * * * * + +In the biggest dictionary that I can find neither the word "futurism" +nor "cubist" is given a place, and yet these words, meaning certain +movements, are probably on the tongues of art folks with much frequency +in these times. In the same way the word "subconsciousism" and +"subconsciousist" are not in this or any other dictionary; but they may +yet be coined and made legitimate to fill certain vacancies, and they +represent definite golfing systems. The principle of subconsciousism in +essence, then, is that of showing a visionary picture to the mind for a +moment, banishing it, and, in a certain measure, forgetting all about +it, and then going on with the game as if the incident had been closed. +But the mind retains its record more or less vaguely always; and the +picture thrown on the mental screen makes an impression there which +stays; and that impression is an influence upon the succeeding physical +actions. Subconsciously the player does something--it may be little or +much--to imitate the movements in the mental picture that he saw. He +cannot avoid it; the influence upon him cannot be wholly resisted. If, +as it were, he saturates his mind with impressions of this kind, of the +strokes he would like to play, of the way he would like to play them, he +will gradually and almost surely begin to play them just like that. It +has been recognised for ages that the best golf is that which is played +entirely subconsciously, that is to say without conscious effort, and +without thinking in detail of the stroke that has to be played. When a +man is "on his game" he has none of this thinking to do, and does none. +There seems to be only one way of playing the shot, and that way is +unavoidable to him and quite natural. He does not need to shuffle about +to find his proper stance, and he is not anxious about any part of his +swing. The moment a clear consciousness of detailed action asserts +itself, and the man does think about the movements of his swing, and +does shuffle about for his stance, he goes off his game, and the +stronger the consciousness the more he goes off. These points are +disputed by nobody. A little while since a new writer on the game +declared that the golfer at the beginning of his swing thought of the +advice of one professional; half way up he thought of the suggestion of +another; at the top he remembered the recommendation of a third man; and +coming down, the hint of a fourth flung itself into a mind that must +have been working with amazing rapidity in the most difficult +circumstances. What the result of such strokes is was not suggested; +but if any number of golfers carried out their scheme of swinging in +this way we should know exactly why it is that so much bad golf is +played. As a matter of truth nobody has ever been able to mix up his +plans in such a manner; but the statement suggests the extreme of +consciousness, and fear with it also. With subconsciousness there is no +fear, no hesitation, and no doubt. + +Now we can show how our subconsciousism, when unaided and not encouraged +(there is nearly but not quite a contradiction in terms here), has had +its effect upon the player hitherto. If a man watches the play of any +golfer much better than himself, say a first-class professional, very +closely for some time he takes a little of that man's style into his own +system without knowing it, and, it may be, without making any conscious +effort to imitate it. He is much more likely to succeed in this way than +by making any deliberate attempt to copy. Again, you will often find +players telling you, that after a week of watching a championship +meeting, and without having paid attention to any player in particular, +certainly without attempting to imitate any one, they find on resuming +their own game that a new influence is upon it; that in particular they +address the ball in a more businesslike way, with more confidence; that +their swing is less flabby, and that they play their iron shots with +much greater sense of wrist, and with more firmness. This has been +noticed over and over again, and it is a most interesting result of the +influence of impressions involuntarily recorded on the mind. Consider +another way in which the impression acts. A player may be removed from +the game through illness or some other reason for a time, and during +that period he works some of the problems of golf out in his mind, and +constantly pictures a new and particular way of playing a stroke that +has troubled him. When he returns to the links he plays the stroke like +that without any effort to do so, or perhaps without even thinking of +it. Another remarkable example of subconsciousism was afforded to me +recently by a good golfer, who said that to develop a certain stroke +which he had found beyond his best efforts--conscious efforts--he had +three enlarged photographs made of that stroke as executed properly by a +first-class man, one showing the beginning, the other the top of the +swing, and the third the finish. He had these pictures placed alongside +each other on one of the walls of his room, and there they were all the +time, not to be avoided. He made no effort to study them, but his mind +simply absorbed them, and then subconsciously he found the stroke coming +to him until in the end he played it just like that. In these matters +subconsciousism is shown to be at work without being understood or at +all suspected. + +Having this valuable agency at command the next thing is to apply it, +and make it of more thorough practical effect without permitting it to +change to interfering and dangerous consciousness. In the cases that +have already been cited certain methods are plainly suggested. Here is +another which has, as I know, proved amazingly effective at times. The +player, we may say, is not driving as well as he should, or in the way +he would like to do. At the moment of taking his place on the +teeing-ground he runs through his mind, as it were, a cinematographic +picture of his favourite model player doing the drive. He sees, in +imagination, the man taking his stance, swinging the club back, down on +to the ball again, and finishing. He just sees it once, and bothers +about it no more. Then he sets about his own drive without any further +reference to the mental picture that his mind has absorbed. The mind +does the rest. The drive may not be made in the ideal way that was +imagined. It may be done in the old way. It may even be foozled. But +there has been an influence at work, and if that influence is always +employed in the same way the good result will come in time, always +provided--and this is important--that the model is one that is suitable +to the player, and can be copied by him. It would be useless for a man +who is far past forty, very fat and very short, with no athletic quality +in him at all, to take Harry Vardon and his graceful lithesome swing for +his mental cinema show. + +Another way in which practical subconsciousism may be made exceedingly +valuable is by imagining a place to which the ball has to be delivered +without looking at it when it ought not to be looked at, as when a very +short running or pitching approach has to be made. The very best of men +often find it impossible to keep the eye fixed on the ball until the +stroke is done. A little while since there was the case of one of the +finest amateur golfers of the time flopping his ball into the bunker +guarding the green of the first hole at Sandwich from the bank thereof, +when, if he had played an easy shot and kept his eye at rest, he would +almost certainly have avoided this trouble, and then won the St. +George's Cup for which he was playing. I remember an exactly similar +case in the final of the Amateur Championship of 1908, at Sandwich, when +Mr. Lassen, who did win, knocked his ball into the big bunker in front +of the old tenth green there from the top of the cliff overlooking it. +What is needed in such cases, or in like cases when presented to +inferior players, is something to keep the mind's eye contented, and it +has been found to serve if a picture of the hole is flashed into the +mind just before the stroke is made. This is what is certainly done, +though unintentionally, when putting. The man does keep his eye on the +ball when making his stroke this time; but yet it is most desirable that +his mind should retain a very clear and exact impression of the place +where the hole is, the distance of it, and the features of the green in +between. In other games that may be compared with golf, the player has +his eye on the object at the moment of striking; in billiards the very +last glance is given at the object ball, and the eye is on it at the +moment the stroke is made. That is because the player is sure of his way +of striking, as in putting he is not. If you try a method of putting +which was once attempted by some players, but was severely and properly +discountenanced by the authorities, of lying down on the green and +putting with the end of the club, billiard fashion, you will find that +then the eye is on the hole when the stroke is made. In golf, the +player's eye being wanted for the ball, a last look is given at the +hole, and the picture of it is kept on the mind when the stroke is being +made, and it influences the application of strength more than the player +often realises. + +This application of strength is always done subconsciously, and here +again there is a part of professional teaching which does not recognise +the fact when it ought to do. The teachers tell us that to strike the +ball a certain distance with an iron, the club chosen should be swung +back to a certain point, that to get twenty yards more it should be +swung upwards so many more inches or degrees, for a farther distance so +much more swing should be made, and so on, throwing the onus of swinging +the proper distance on to the conscious effort of the player. By a +moment's thought it will be realised that players do not consciously +regulate the lengths of their swings in this way, that they could not do +so, and that any deliberate stopping of their swing at a certain +carefully calculated point would be ruinous to the stroke in hand. What +is done is, that an estimate of the distance to which the ball has to +travel is made; this is taken into the mind, and the mind, having much +experience, influences the swing so that it is quite subconsciously made +of the proper length, or at all events the length that the mind +suggested. In this way the swing is certainly made short for short +shots, and longer as the greater distance is needed; but it is wrong to +suggest that the matter is carefully and consciously arranged by the +player. The truth is that not one player in a thousand could tell you, +when about to make a swing with an iron club, exactly how far he intends +to swing, or having made the shot successfully, how far he did swing. +His mind subconsciously arranged the whole affair. + +An interesting case was quoted to me some time since of the success a +man achieved in lofting over stymies, and the reason why. This person +never seemed to miss. He related that he found previously that his +failures were due to looking at the other ball too much when in the act +of making the stroke. He then found that he succeeded frequently when he +did not look at either that ball or his own but at the hole itself. +Doing this enabled him to carry his club through, failure to do which is +the chief cause of missing these shots. But he did not altogether +believe in this system, which seemed dangerous, and he compromised by +keeping his eye fixed on his own ball, but at the same time imagining +the hole and seeing mentally his ball dropping into it. Since then his +success has been wonderful. In much the same way and by the same +principle it will be found that the best way in the world to encourage a +good follow-through, and to stop jerky hitting with wooden clubs, is to +look at the ball properly and yet imagine it a couple of inches farther +on. + +The principles of this subconsciousism suggest one earnest +recommendation to the player who is bent on making a change in a faulty +or ineffectual style, and it is that such change is better brought about +gradually and in the way of a coaxing influence rather than by a quick +drastic alteration. Thus the player whose swing is too upright and who +wants to obtain a flatter one, or he who desires to change from a long +swing to a short one, or the other way about; or again he who would +bring the ball more over to the right foot (one of the most difficult of +all changes to make for a player accustomed to have it nearly opposite +the left toe, but a desirable one in these days when the rubber-cored +ball shows no disinclination to rise as the gutty did); all these +players would do better to make their changes slowly and gradually and +by way of subconscious influence. If the ball is moved three inches to +the right all at once the entire swing is upset and the whole driving +arrangement is likely to go to pieces. But when done in the other way +the gradual change is not noticed, and when the ball gets to the desired +position it would be as difficult to play it from the old one, as the +new one would have been, if assumed suddenly. It is sometimes said of +golf that the most exasperating part of the whole thing is, that the +more you try to succeed in it the more you fail. There is more truth in +that sad reflection than may have been fancied, and a fine moral in it +too. To "try" in this case means to make conscious effort. + + + * * * * * + +After all, in this teaching about subconsciousism we are merely going +back again to Nature, to simplicity, and to an original idea that there +is undeveloped golf in all of us just because all the movements of the +game are so natural, and natural because they are so true and +rhythmical. In everything Nature encourages always the best in a man, +and she likes most the graceful movement, the perfect poise, the equal +balance. The easier, the more natural, and the more rhythmical our +movements are in golf the more successful will be the efforts always. +The undeveloped golf is always in the system, and with fair +encouragement or a hint that is sufficiently obvious the instinct will +surely lead a young subject to its cultivation on good lines. Man when +old becomes awkward and contrary, and so the aggravations of the game +arise. + +I have always maintained that if we placed a young boy who had never +seen or heard of golf on a desert island and left him there with means +for his subsistence for a few years, together with a set of golf clubs +and a few boxes of balls, the people who might be wrecked on those +lonely shores thereafter would find him playing a good scratch game and +in want of nothing but a caddie, for which part the arriving boatswain +might be indicated. But these wrecked miserables, with their shiverings +and their grumblings, would jar unpleasantly upon the happy peace of +this purely natural golfing youth, in all the ecstasy of the discovery +of his own world. Probably he would wish the others--all except the +boatswain--to leave him there when a white sail of relief was seen upon +the horizon. A pretty speculation arises instantly. Suppose at the same +time we had placed upon another desert island four thousand miles away +another raw child, innocent of the simplest, vaguest thought of what +golf is or could be, and left him also with clubs and balls and +directions for obtaining fresh meat and fresh water when the human +desires in food were felt. He would surely take to the game in the same +way as the other boy did, practise it and probe into its mysteries with +just the same enthusiasm, would become a good scratch player also, and +would probably make use of the same simple expression of condemnation +when a shipload of people uncivilised to golf were wrecked that way. But +here is the point: this second scratch desert-island boy would probably +be just as good as the first scratch desert-island boy, no better and no +worse, and if they were to play for the Championship of the Most Lonely +Islands, nothing is more likely than that their excellent match would +have to go to the thirty-seventh hole or beyond it. They would, being +good material to begin with, attain approximately equal results so far +as playing the holes in a certain number of strokes is concerned, and +each youth's system would be perfect for himself, but between the two +there would be the very widest differences, and the basic principles +that were common to the games of both players would be so encrusted with +masses of individual detail and coloured with temperamental attitude +that they would be scarcely discernible. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +GOLF DE PARIS, AND SOME REMARKABLE EVENTS AT VERSAILLES AND CHANTILLY, +WITH NEW THEORIES BY HIGH AUTHORITIES. + + +In front of the red brick club-house of the Royal Liverpool Golf Club at +Hoylake, a citadel which by its tower and clock commemorates the great +achievements of Hoylake's famous son, John Ball, there was assembled +late in the afternoon of Friday, the 21st of June 1907 (being the +forty-seventh year of the Open Championship), a large gathering of +golfing persons who by their speech and demeanour suggested some of the +vivid unrealities of a stage crowd near the footlights. They had a +self-conscious and somewhat artificial bearing towards each other. They +muttered and beckoned. They gave the impression of being a little uneasy +and nervous. Friends among them who essayed to conduct a conversation +found themselves at a loss for appropriate comments upon what had +happened and made remarks which had no clear or relevant meaning. +Professor Paterson, wearing the red rosette, came from the house and +stood before the little table bearing a silver cup which had been held +by the line of champions all the way from the time of Morris, the +younger, and a familiar friendly figure in chequered garments moved +about in a manner of official preparation. What had happened had indeed +been dramatic; but the drama had had the living circumstance of full +reality. We could not discuss constructions and readings, and suggest +other endings. Here was the one gross fact, that Arnaud Massy, a Basque, +the professional attached to the leading club of Paris, a strong bonily +built man with no British blood in his being, had just made himself the +possessor for the year of that historic championship cup, which hitherto +had never been taken out of the United Kingdom. This was something which +the gathering did with difficulty absorb into their golfing minds. They +were good sportsmen, and they cheered because they knew that this Massy +was a fine fellow and a good champion; but it was all a little +dream-like, and there was a spell that needed to be broken. + +Massy, the victor, with a big smiling face came forward. The gold medal +was delivered to him. There was a little silence, a few muttered +incoherent words, and then this splendid Massy threw up his hands into +the air and shouted out with a full blast from his lusty lungs, "Vive +l'entente cordiale!" The tensity was broken; the people cheered easily, +naturally, and whole heartedly; they accepted Massy as the true and +proper successor to James Braid in the Open Championship, and wished him +thoroughly well--even though he were a Frenchman or a Basque. He had +done the right thing. + +This foreign player (never forgetting that he was trained to the game at +Biarritz, which in golf is mostly British, though it lies under the laws +of France) was brought to England and Scotland by Sir Everard Hambro, +and was improved in golf at North Berwick with Ben Sayers assisting him. +He well deserved to win that championship, and it should not be +overlooked that, so to say, he has confirmed his victory by making a tie +for the championship again since then. He is the only man outside the +great triumvirate who has done so much as twice to reach the top of the +list in modern times. He was well on his own very good game. There was a +crispness about his play with his wooden clubs that indicated the man +who for the time being had full confidence and could hit his hardest. +And Massy's putting, especially in the case of the most difficult and +fateful of all putts, those of from five to nine feet--putts for the +missing of which there is the fullest excuse, for whose holing there is +enormous gain--had been splendid for a long time before and was most +excellent then. At those putts of the kind I remark upon I do not think +that Massy in accuracy or confidence has his equal in the world. He +strokes the ball into the hole as though it were the simplest thing to +do; easily and gracefully he putts it in. In other ways he makes a fine +figure of a golfer. Military training in France has given him a stiffer, +straighter build than most great golfers have, for this game tends a +little to a crouching gait and posture. Massy marches from the tee to +the ball that has gone before with a quick, regular step of the +right-left-right military way, and when he comes up with the ball he +does a right wheel round, presents his club, and plays his second with a +quickness and lack of hesitation in which he is second only to George +Duncan. Particularly in putting is Massy a man of inspirations and quick +impulse. And I must not now forget that there is in the world a charming +little lady who is called Mlle. Hoylake Massy, which is her proper name. +Providence is disposed often to be kind and generous to the strong and +those who have well deserved, and that week Mme. Massy gave to the man +who was even then making himself the champion a sweet little daughter. +Having won the championship, the next question was one of christenings, +and, said Massy to his wife, "Voila! Surely she shall be called our +little Hoylake!" Which she was accordingly, Mme. Massy, rejoicing in her +husband's success, like the good, happy little woman of Scotland that +she is, having cordially agreed. + +And in France there were rejoicings among the golfers. My friend, M. +Pierre Deschamps, fine and keen sportsman (and the "father of golf in +France," as we call him for the grand work he has done in establishing +the game so well at La Boulie, where he is president of the Societe de +Golf de Paris, and encouraging it with all his heart and energy +elsewhere in his country), rose and made a remarkable declaration that +golf was to be the "national game of France." The national game of +France, our Scottish golf of English development, started, as some still +will have it, in Holland, played in some sort of way as _jeu de mail_ +even in France, practised in Pekin, called the "national game" also, as +I have heard it, in America--now it was to be naturalised and made the +"national game of France!" Ubiquitous golf indeed! M. Deschamps, whose +words are careful if they are quick, as befits one who is in the +diplomatic service of his country, sat down and wrote an essay on golf +in general, and Massy's success in particular, and, addressing the new +champion as if he were before him, said: "Et maintenant a vous la +parole, mon cher Massy; continuez votre brillante carriere, jouissez de +votre belle gloire dont nous sommes tous fiers, comme Golfeurs et comme +Francais; a cette heure, ou tant de links s'ouvrent chez nous, pour +repondre aux besoins d'enthousiastes sportsmen, puissent d'autres +professionels de notre race suivre votre example, unique encore dans les +fastes du 'Royal and Ancient Game,' et contribuer a faire de ce sport un +jeu national dans notre beau pays de France!" That was written. In +victory you may be magnanimous, and M. Deschamps at this time would +graciously waive all questions of origins and growths; he must have felt +that then it mattered little that a kind of golf called _chole_ had been +played ages back by the people of the north, and that it was possible +the Scots had copied from them. It was enough that Arnaud Massy was "le +Champion du monde." + + + * * * * * + +Disregarding all those doubts about the _jeu de mail_ and the game of +_chole_, and considering only the real thing as we know it, taking its +time from the stone temple by the Fifeshire sea, it was away back in +1856 that the game was first played on the soil of France, and that was +in the south by the Pyrenees at Pau. Yet at that time only the wintering +British were concerned. Forty years went on before the French themselves +made a fair beginning with the game. In 1896 the Societe de Golf de +Paris was established, and it has been a splendid success. To-day in +prestige and influence it stands for the headquarters of the game in the +country, though since it was begun there have sprung up many clubs of +great pretensions, with good courses, nice club-houses, distinguished +memberships, and unlimited francs. Yet La Boulie holds her queenship +still. Excellent golfing places have been made at Chantilly, Le Pecq, +Compiegne, Fontainebleau. Out on the north-west coast at such resorts as +Le Touquet, Dieppe, Deauville and Wimereux by Boulogne the game is +established. Long years back I played at pretty open Wimereux when there +was but a nine-holes course there, and not the excellent one of eighteen +that has now been made. Shall it not be considered as a happy token that +golf links are commonly found on old battlefields and at places where +armies have encamped? Sometimes this is just because the soldiers play +the game when they are abroad; sometimes it is because entrenchments are +bunkers all prepared; but oftenest it is just coincidence. Whatever it +be or why, it is the fact that there is golf where armies and battles +have been in Egypt, in South Africa, in the United States and Canada, +and at many places. Where there was the fury of flying shells there is +now only the peaceful hum of the rubber ball. One recalled when first at +Wimereux that here the great Napoleon had encamped with his grand army, +the same as was to cross the Channel to defiant isles and make a +conquest of them. But playing neither the first hole nor the last do we +need any reminder of what great Bonaparte wished to do, for by us there +towers aloft the monument that he had erected to that successful +invasion of Albion that never did take place. Hereabouts is indicated +the place where the master-general in full satisfaction with the +progress of things, and in remembrance of great achievements, +distributed his military favours. And here all along are deep +grass-covered trenches, and larger, rounder, shallow pits that once +might have been kitchens or stables. All these that now are bunkers and +hazards are where Napoleon camped and waited. And on a fine day our +white-cliffed Albion is in full view. Sometimes there may even be a sigh +as one reflects that the Corsican little dreamt of what should be done +with his camping land when a hundred years were gone, that those +sportsmen of Britishers would be playing their game about there, taking +their divots and holing their putts, and striving for golden tokens +given for competition by the mayor and municipality of adjacent +Boulogne! It was not for no reason that Arnaud Massy called aloud "Vive +l'entente cordiale!" In the heart of the country there have been more +golf clubs and courses formed, and they are supported now mostly by the +French. At Rouen and Rheims the game may now be enjoyed. It is +spreading. M. Deschamps may yet be soundly justified. And indeed when we +take our clubs to Paris we feel that he should, and heartily do +wandering players echo the cry of Massy, who by his victory signalised +the fact that French golf had grown from babyhood to the strength of +independence, and was now to be considered as an entity. There is a +subtle sweetness about a golfing expedition in Paris that there is about +a little holiday for the game at no other place. One is not here +suggesting that it is better for golf and other matters to go to Paris +than elsewhere, only that it is quite different, intensely enjoyable, +and easily convenient. We breakfast in comfort in London, read the +newspaper afterwards, go through the pack of clubs to see that the +roll-call is rightly answered, and with time enough for everything move +along to Victoria. Had we dawdled less we might have gone much earlier +from Charing Cross. We meet quite casually other golfers in our +compartment on the South-Eastern, and inquire with no astonishment as to +which of the Parisian courses will be scarred by their irons before +their trip is done. From Dover or Folkestone we have a quick and +comfortable crossing; we discover some people who are bound for Le +Touquet and tell us of the excellent changes there, and then on the +comfortable railway of the Nord we are swung happily into the heart of +France, and are in the capital before the sun has set on a summer's day, +and with time yet to go out to La Boulie, which is by Versailles, or +Chantilly, and stretch our English arms and legs in preparation for +matches of the morrow. We are at home as golfers without delay. + +What one feels about golfing in Paris now is that while there is always +that elevation of the spirits, that sense of extra life, that little +superfineness of feeling that are induced by a sojourn in the capital by +those who feel themselves somewhat akin to her, and there is a certain +subtle difference in the golfing ways and systems, such as we not merely +find but wish for, golf at Paris and the world over is really very much +the same--the same not merely in the playing of the shots as in the +general scheme of things, the going and the coming, the _tout ensemble_. +We settle ourselves comfortably in a big hotel in the Rue de +Castiglione, and next morning we fling away the sheets before eight as +alive as any Parisian _ouvrier_. The _cafe complet_ disposed of, the +next question is that of clubs and balls. If it is a fine day and there +is time for the walking, we may stride through the corner of the gardens +of the Tuileries, across the corresponding corner of the Place de la +Concorde, over the bridge and into the station to the left by the side +of the Seine and down the steps to the platform, where there always +awaits us at the most convenient time what is in essence largely a +golfers' train. Our golfing people are in full evidence. You cannot +mistake their kind in a train of France any more than you can when they +journey from Charing Cross to Walton Heath. They pervade. So on to the +other end of the journey at Versailles, and there the carriages await +us, and the brake for those who like it, and we are bowled and rattled +along through that place which has seen much of the makings and undoings +of France, and on to La Boulie, where we hasten to the first tee, +fearful of any waiting. Or, alternatively, we take a taxi-cab that is +outside the hotel in Paris, and let loose through the Parisian streets +with it, across the Place Vendome, past the Opera, away along to the +Gare du Nord with our inimitable Parisian taxi-man hurtling round the +corners with all the fury of a charioteer in the races of ancient Rome, +making us reflect that it is well there will be a rest of an hour +before being called upon to do the first putting at Chantilly. So we +perceive that the going and the coming are very much what they might be +in England, with just that difference that gives a piquancy, while, +after a day on the course, it is found to be quite excellent to have the +gaiety of Paris at one's disposal. Those who have tried it generally +agree that golf de Paris makes the finest change of the game, the most +exhilarating that may be had by the player of the south of England, who +is not too far removed from Charing Cross or one of the ports. It may be +444 miles from our metropolis to St. Andrews, and 383 to North Berwick, +but it is only 259 to Paris, and despite the sea the journey lasts a +much shorter time than the dash to the north by the fastest trains. We +do not compare the golf of Paris with the golf of our historic and +beloved seats of the game, but the courses of France, as inland courses, +are good, and we think again of the virtues of the change complete, of +the _tout ensemble_. Good things have come out of France in the days of +long ago and in recent times; golf that is nearly of the best order +rises in it now, and when we see Mr. Edward Blackwell and some others of +the great men of the auld grey city who are most particular about all +golfing things playing themselves on the slopes of La Boulie, over the +plains of Chantilly, and through the forest of Fontainebleau, we know +that things are moving tolerably well. + + + * * * * * + +Upon our initiation at La Boulie, our curiosity is stirred and attention +is attracted to many things. Perhaps M. Deschamps, or such a good +sportsman as the Baron de Bellet--whose son, M. Francois de Bellet, has +won the Amateur Championship of France, while Mlle. de Bellet is the +best of the lady players in the country--would conduct a guest about the +place and show him many things that would interest him, and many more +that as a golfer he would most honestly admire. La Boulie is not a great +course despite all the championships that have been played upon it, but +the Societe de Golf de Paris, which has a membership of 750 at a +subscription of about L10, is quite a great institution. Yet, let me +hasten to say that in the first remark I was judging La Boulie on the +highest inland standard, and even then the judgment must be qualified by +the statement that if not great in the best sense La Boulie is good and +is quite interesting. At one time it suffered much from the nature of +its soil and turf, but greenkeeping science, the francs of France, and +the loving and most assiduous care of M. Deschamps, have changed much if +not all of that. In the summer time it is quite one of the most +beautiful courses I can think of with its wealth of trees, in which the +nightingales sing soon after the golfers have done, and its majestic +undulations, which come so near to being mountainous that herein, with +so much climbing to be done and so many uphill and downhill shots, is +one of the greatest faults of the course. But everything is well done at +La Boulie, and human ingenuity and thoroughness are well applied. M. +Deschamps is a fine humanitarian, and exerts himself constantly for the +welfare of the caddies, who are as good for their business as any +caddies in the world. It was a happy idea on his part to have these boys +trained under a semi-military system as he has them now. They are all +housed in a building near to the first tee under the care of the club; +they have to observe regulations of duty and life which are good for +them, and they are dressed in a boy-scout khaki uniform with touches of +red to brighten it, and the principles of boy-scoutism are worked into +their young lives. This is excellent, and indeed it is the truth that +already we have a little to learn in golf from France. By the way, one +of the curious laws of the country--curious as it seems to us, though +soundly sensible--is that boys are not allowed, when under about fifteen +years of age, to carry more than a certain weight in the way of work, +and this prohibits caddies from carrying a bag of clubs of more than +fair extent. As a matter of detail you will find that the weight +quantity allowed works out to something like ten clubs of an average +mixture, but happily for some good friends of mine there is no weighing +at the first tee and no officers of the Republic there to see it done. +They threaten to arrest us at St. Andrews if we play the game with iron +clubs only, and they have the power through bye-laws ratified by +Government to do so and send us to prison. Is it possible that a +wandering player in happy France should be lodged in a modern Bastille +for that on one eager day he defied ill omen and the law by carrying +thirteen clubs in his bag, as both James Braid and Edward Ray have done +when winning championships, the weight limit being exceeded and all the +unhappiest consequences following? M. Deschamps took the initiative in +founding the Golf Union of France, which is based completely on the +American system and is likely to be a strong force in the golf of the +future. + + + * * * * * + +To the best of my knowledge they have only one plus-handicap amateur in +France, being M. Francois de Bellet, who is rated at plus 1 at two or +three clubs, but I have examined the handicap books at different places +and find that there are a few scratch men, and that the number of +players who have single figure handicaps is quite good in proportion to +the whole, and is increasing. The fears we had that the French +temperament was not good for the game prove to be unfounded; while the +French enthusiasm is equal to anything that we know. There are cases of +golf fever in France that are every degree as bad--or as good--as those +we find here at home. + +One muggy winter morning, when a friend and I teed up at the beginning +of the round at La Boulie, we could with difficulty see the flag on the +first green, short as was the hole. We surmised that we might be the +only players; but, no, many holes ahead, having started early, was a +match going on between a baron of France and one of his rivals. The +baron was taking the game with exceeding seriousness, and the +information was given to me that he played two rounds on the course +every day of his life. "Saturdays and Sundays?" I asked my caddie. +"Toujours!" was the answer. "Even if it rains?" I pursued. "Toujours!" +the boy answered with emphasis. "Or snows or is foggy?" I persisted, and +then the carrier of clubs replied a little impatiently and with +finality, "Toujours!" intending to convey that in all circumstances +whatsoever the indefatigable baron played his two rounds a day, and +independent witnesses confirmed the statement of the boy. This surely is +the French counterpart of what is considered to be the finest case of +golf enthusiasm that Britain has produced, being that of old Alexander +M'Kellar who played on Bruntsfield Links in the brave days of old and +was known for his ardour as "the Cock o' the Green." He also would play +always; when snow covered the course he begged and implored some one to +become his opponent in a match, and if nobody obliged he would go out +alone and wander the whole way round, playing his ball from flag to +flag, the greens and holes being hidden. At night he would sometimes +play at the short holes by the dim glimmer of a lamp, and golf by +moonlight was his frequent experience. Once upon a time his suffering +wife thought to shame him by taking to the links his dinner and his +nightcap; but he was too busy to attend to her. M'Kellar is long since +dead, but something of his soul survives in England--and in France. And +there are old and experienced golfers in France. There are Parisians who +are members of the Royal and Ancient Club of St. Andrews, and I have met +others who could argue most deeply with me upon the peculiarities and +merits of many British courses from Sandwich and Sunningdale to Montrose +and Cruden Bay. I took tea at Fontainebleau with M. le Comte de +Puyfontaine, who exercises a kind of governorship over the course, and +he told me that he learned his golf twenty-three years ago at a place +near Lancaster, and that since then he has played in many parts of the +United States and elsewhere. + + + * * * * * + +I have endeavoured to make the point that the French are worthy and +thorough, that the Parisian golf and golfers must be taken seriously, +and that it is a pleasure to go among them with our clubs. Their courses +are nearly good enough for anything, and they are all different from +each other in type and characteristics. Fontainebleau is cut out of the +forest, and silver birches line the fairway, while some of the great +boulders which are peculiar to the place stand out as landmarks near the +putting greens--but not so near as to be useful to the erratic player. +Holes of all kinds are at Fontainebleau, and some of them make pretty +puzzles in the playing. The teeing ground for the third is high up on a +hill and the view is charming, but that may be of less account than the +circumstance that the carry is farther than it looks, and the hole is a +long one. The fifth is a catchy dog-leg hole, which the caddies of +Fontainebleau do not call a _jambe du chien_, as you might expect them, +but a "doc-lac." Soon the game will be Gallicised completely. The ninth, +being a drive and a peculiar pitch, is a strange hole which worries the +pair of us exceedingly. It looks one of the simplest things, but there +is an inner green and an outer one, as one might say, and the former is +on a high plateau. There is a secret about it which we did not discover +in three full days. The tenth is a fine long hole, with a guard to the +green that might have been brought up from the Inferno, and so on to the +end in great variety. I like Fontainebleau. Chantilly has less character +but more length. It is a better test of wooden club play, but not of +pretty work with the irons in approaching. Yet it is well bunkered, the +fairway is smooth and dry, as it is at Fontainebleau, all through the +winter, and the putting greens are most excellent, fast and true. If +most parts of the course are a little flat, there is a great ravine +about the middle of it which gives a touch of the romantic and helps to +the enjoyment. The turf at La Boulie does not winter so well as it does +at the other places, though the club has spent many thousands of francs +in applying real sea-sand to it for its improvement; but in the spring, +the summer, and the autumn, golf here at Versailles is a fine pleasure. +Yet some will say that, much as I tempt them, they would not after all +go to France for golf, that indeed they could never confess to others +that they had been to Fontainebleau and Versailles and Chantilly for +their game. But why may they not take their game and their historical +views and reflections on the same days, as they may do better in France +than elsewhere; though when we play at St. Andrews or at Sandwich, where +Queen Bess visited, and Westward Ho! we wonder again how strangely this +royal and ancient game does attach itself and cling to the old places of +celebrity, and especially those whose fame was made for them by kings. +It is curious. The keen golfer is a man of thought and sense. We play on +a morning at Fontainebleau, and in the afternoon we wander through the +rich galleries of the wonderful palace where many kings of France held +magnificent court, a place where the great Napoleon loved to rest a +while between campaigns. There are relics of the Emperor in many +chambers; and it was at the chief entrance here that he bade his last +good-bye to the old guard and went lonely away, an emperor no more. The +wonders and the glories of Versailles are known even to those who have +never crossed the Channel; Chantilly has had its great romances of +history also. The old castle was put up in the ninth century; here the +Condes lived in fine state, and in the seventeenth and eighteenth +centuries the place was very famous. The good French have endeavoured to +make their courses suit their places. Sometimes we seem to look even on +these playgrounds for a touch of art, a little delicacy, a fineness and +a high quality, and we think in just that way of the golf de Paris when +the train of the Nord runs us homewards again. + + + * * * * * + +The seaside golf in the northern and north-western parts of France is +coming to be an important thing in the general scheme. Personal +association and its seniority above all except Dieppe have led me +already to mention Wimereux, but the golf of Wimereux is not the queen +of the game of northern seaside France. In all honesty we must crown the +slightly younger Le Touquet, on the other side of Boulogne, with that +distinction. Here you may have one of the most charming changes of the +game, and the most wholesome, delightful rearrangement of your general +daily living system. Go to Etaples from Boulogne, then spin in the car +through that splendid forest, skimming by Paris Plage and its casinos +and evidences of lightness of life, and so through to Touquet, where +there is a course for golf that is most excellent in every respect, +lengths and character of holes, sandy nature of soil, quality of putting +greens--everything. Some of the holes are a little tricky; but the +course in general has been enormously improved in recent times, and it +well deserves the championship dignity that has now been accorded to it. +The girl caddies there are the best of their kind. I remember a little +Marie for such an intuition regarding clubs to be used as I remember no +other assistant: and after playing for a day through these avenues of +fir trees with the great banks of silver sand in the distance, shutting +off the sea, then dawdling among the coloured lights at Paris Plage +listening to the music after dinner, and in the night sleeping in an +upper room near to the links, and hearing at the last moment of +consciousness the wind music floating in from the surrounding trees, one +feels that this is almost an enchanted land, with the spirits of +happiness and pleasure controlling a joyful cosmos. + +Dieppe is good, and it is quite different. Here the golf is some +seventeen years of age, the whole system of things is well matured and +settled, and the golfing season goes along with a fine swing from the +beginning to the end. It was Willie Park who first laid out this course, +but it has been much altered and lengthened since then, and now there is +a fine club-house and all that a player might wish for, and especially +one who likes to contend in competitions. There is something for such +challengers to do all the time; I know few other golfing places where +there are so many competitions in August and September, and yet they are +no nuisance to the people who say they hate such things. At Etretat the +game has been making excellent progress lately; at Deauville by +Trouville, where you bathe always except when you do not golf or sleep +or eat, it has been long established, and the course there has recently +been raised very high in quality; and at Cabourg and Havre, in the same +region, there are courses also. There are at Etretat thirteen holes, and +yet you may play a lucky round, and I am reminded that in the long ago, +when golf near the sands of Picardy was first being thought of, a wise +man of Cabourg sent for an English course architect, and, displaying to +his view one nice field, said, "Voila! Make me a hole! Two if possible!" +But they know much better now than that, and Cabourg has its full +eighteen. To golf, to lie down and sleep, to splash and tumble in the +sea, to seem to do so much and yet to do so little except make a few +drives and miss some putts--it is all a very happy holiday that you may +enjoy at these places. + + + * * * * * + +The championships of France, which began in a small and gentle way, have +lately risen to be very important events, and they gain a most +wonderfully cosmopolitan entry. In 1913, which was the greatest year for +championships in general that the game has ever known--Taylor winning +his fifth Open at Hoylake, Mr. Hilton his fourth Amateur, Mr. Travers +his fourth American Amateur, Ouimet beating Vardon and Ray in the +American Open--the championships of France did indeed rise to the first +class, and in both events, the Amateur at La Boulie and the Open which +was held for the first time at Chantilly--and the first for it to be +taken away from the mother course at Versailles--produced some most +exciting business. I have never seen a more extraordinary final in its +way than that in the amateur event at La Boulie on this occasion, when +Mr. E. A. Lassen came to grips with Lord Charles Hope--and such grips +they were! I was led to describe it at the time as a dramatic affair of +four periods and a spasm, and that is just what it was. Lord Charles +Hope, though not physically strong, has acquired a fine game, and in the +first period of this thirty-six holes match we witnessed him playing +some quite beautiful golf and exercising the most complete +self-possession and steadiness, gradually piling up a big lead of holes +upon his more experienced opponent, who has been once Amateur Champion +of Britain and a finalist another time, and seeming to make himself a +certain winner. The duration of this period was one whole round, and at +the end of it Lord Charles had five good holes to his advantage. The +second was a period of peace, in which we watched Lord Charles keeping a +tight hold on his most valuable gains, while Mr. Lassen, if losing +nothing more, was gaining nothing when it was absolutely necessary he +should be gaining quickly if he was not to be the loser of the day. Time +was flying and holes were being done with, and fewer of them being left +for play and recovery. This period terminated at the turn in the second +round, with Lord Charles Hope still four to the good and "still +winning." The third period lasted from the tenth to the fourteenth holes +in this round, and in it the man who had seemed to be very well beaten +threw a new life into his game, tightened it up, made it exact, certain, +and aggressive, while at the same time his opponent seemed to collapse +entirely, his driving becoming soft and uncertain and his short game +nervous. The Yorkshire player won four of these five holes and at the +fourteenth he was level with his man. Never was there a more +extraordinary illustration of the truth that no match is lost until it +is won; to some extent it recalled that amazing championship at Hoylake, +when Mr. Sidney Fry so nearly gained the title after being at one time, +as it appeared, hopelessly beaten by Mr. Charles Hutchings. Now it was +surely Mr. Lassen's match; but in the crisis Lord Charles Hope came +again and fought every inch of the way home. In this period every hole +was halved to the end of the round, so that after the statutory +thirty-six had been played the state of things was as at the beginning +of the day. No business had been done, and each man might be said to +have had his tail up quite as much as the other. The spasm followed. The +thirty-seventh had to be played. Mr. Lassen teed up his ball, said to +himself that he must keep it to the left as there was the dread +out-of-bounds on the right that had been a constant trouble to him, +swung, struck, and to his dismay saw the little white ball bearing +slowly but surely to the right after all. It did not reach the trees, +but, almost as bad, it fell into the big deep bunker out that way, and +made recovery difficult. Lord Charles Hope seized his advantage. A good +ball shot straight down the middle of the fairway, and the hole and the +match were his. An extraordinary game indeed that was. + +In the Open Championship at Chantilly there was an entry that was nearly +good enough for a championship on British soil. Vardon and Ray, out +across the Atlantic, were missing, but otherwise the class was as +numerous and good as need be, and there were a few of the best British +amateurs. George Duncan won, as he had won the "News of the World" +tournament the week before, and so made it clear that he had come into +his own at last. These two were his first really big victories in +classic open events, and they were brilliantly and indeed easily gained. +But it was not Duncan's victory, so well deserved as it was, that makes +this championship at Chantilly worth a place in golfing history. It was +something else that very nearly happened. Among the competitors was an +amateur in Mr. H. D. Gillies, who at different times in recent seasons +has shown an immense capacity. At St. Andrews in the Amateur +Championship only a few months before he had made a brilliant display. +Now, here, he did a thing which to the best of my belief and after a +searching of all the records had never been done before, and that was in +an open championship competition of the first order, decided by four +rounds of stroke play and with the best players of the world arrayed +against him, he as an amateur led the whole field for three consecutive +rounds. Mr. Ouimet in America did not lead for three rounds, no amateur +had led for three rounds in any open championship before, and it is not +often that any professional has done so either. Mr. Gillies has enormous +powers for concentration and effort, and, as one might say, he can +strain himself at the game until he nearly drops. In his third round he +had a wicked piece of bad luck which cost him two most valuable +shots--not the sort of bad luck that one gets through finding a +specially nasty place in a bunker, but the much worse variety which is +the result of a grave error in course construction. After one of the +finest drives one might wish to see, at a hole just after the turn he +found his ball lying on a road which had to be treated as a hazard, and +from here he was bunkered. He knew that Duncan was pressing him hard, +and that he had not a stroke to spare. Still by an enormous effort he +kept his lead, and at the end of the third round it looked as if it +would still be a lead of two strokes, when alas! on the home green he +lost a stroke in putting. Instead of having a lead of two over the +terrible George for the last round he had now a lead of only one. There +is not much difference between one and two--it may all be accounted for +by the very smallest of putts--but in a case of this kind the moral +effect is very great. You see, when you lead by two strokes you realise +that you can afford to lose one of them and still be leading, but when +you only have an advantage of one there is the cold truth that you +cannot afford to lose anything at all or the lead will go--the lead that +Mr. Gillies had held all the time. One may be sure that he felt this, +for coming off that home green some one said to him quietly, "You still +lead, Gillies," and he turned with a little melancholy and responded, +"Yes, but one stroke is not much to lead Duncan by, is it?" The effect +was visible at the first tee in the afternoon. He knew the +responsibility. He took an infinity of pains, far too much. He addressed +his ball until he was sick of looking at it any more, and then he topped +it into the bunker in front of him. Good-bye, Open Championship of +France! But there it was, a brilliant achievement for all that, and if +he had won, as once he seemed likely to do, no man could have done +justice to the golf history of that year with amateurs Ouimet and +Gillies as Open Champions. + + + * * * * * + +Surely Mr. Gillies is one of the most interesting studies in the game at +the present time. Born in New Zealand, he became a boat-race Blue at +Cambridge, and is the only one who has won a high position in +first-class golf. Now he is a surgeon in Upper Wimpole Street, already +with a high reputation as a specialist in matters affecting throat, +ears, and other organs of the head. He is evidently a man of immense +will-power, with a most enviable capacity for concentration and for +obliterating from his mind completely what is not essential to the +business of the moment. He will work at his profession continuously for +a week or a month and only just remember golf, and then he will suddenly +appear in a great competition, perhaps a championship, and be a golfer +and nothing else whatever. That is as it should be, as it is always +supposed to be in golf, but few men can exchange themselves to this +extent. When he won the St. George's Cup at Sandwich he had not touched +a club for ages, but somebody insisted on motoring him down there for +the occasion. He had no idea of going to Chantilly, but was at Wimereux +when an entry form was sent along to him there, and he said to Mrs. +Gillies, "Let us go and watch the professionals," but they watched him +instead. He is always going to courses he has not seen, and when he has +not been playing golf for a long time, and then doing wonders on them. +Tall and athletic in build, in demeanour he is solemn, and I have heard +it said that his attitude at times somewhat suggests that he is about to +put his opponent on the operating table--which in a sense he often does. +He belongs to the hard thinking and slow playing school. Although he has +a keen temperament, and is a man who at his best plays largely from +inspiration, yet he is much of what we call a mechanical golfer, and is +very measured and deliberative in his movements. He has studied and +satisfied himself about what are the essential principles of this +mysterious game, and he applies them to the best of his intense ability. +He keeps himself steadier on his feet than almost any other player I can +recall. Those who have had the necessities of pivoting on toes drilled +into them from their first day at golf should make close observation of +the Gillies way and see how well that way pays. He swings his club +backwards but a little way and very slowly, but finishes the swing at +great length. As is often the case with players of his attitude towards +the game, his iron strokes are plain and they can be depended on. + +But the most interesting feature of his system and his principles is the +remarkable steadiness with which he holds his head during the making of +his stroke. We understand very well that of all principles this is the +most imperative, and that he who disobeys it is completely lost. When we +have foozled we know well that the presumptive cause was a little +movement of that most restless and anxious head. We know also that head +movement disturbs the general balance, and induces body movement, and +have not troubled to consider why. A reason seems vaguely obvious, but +Mr. Gillies knows more about matters of the head than other people, and +from his surgical knowledge he has come by one of the most interesting +theories that have been propounded in connection with this game and +believes in it absolutely, which is one reason why he has decided that, +when driving, whatever happens his own head shall be absolutely +motionless. This is not a matter for a layman to explain or guess at, +and so I have gone to Mr. Gillies himself and begged from him his +theory. He says to me, then, that he has always felt that keeping the +eye on the ball is certainly the key to the situation, but in recent +times he has realised that the importance of so doing is really in +keeping still the delicate balancing organs of the head when executing +the shot. These organs or semicircular canals are intimately connected +with the eye, and also give one the sense of position. The least +movement of the head upsets the fluid in these canals, so that the sense +of position is more or less lost, according to the amount of movement. +Without the sense of position the stroke is almost sure to fail. "I take +it," he says, "that your visual memory is good enough to remember the +position of the ball, if you shut your eyes just before hitting it; but +if you move the head at the moment you cannot hit the ball correctly. +Swaying the head in putting, as Tom Ball does, is probably not very +disturbing owing to the movement being so slow that the fluid in the +canals does not get jerked. At the same time I can understand him +requiring a great deal of practice to perfect the sway." To the layman +this theory is very remarkable, and it is impressive for two reasons, +one being that it is backed by expert scientific knowledge, and the +other that it is emphasised by successful application. + + + * * * * * + +And if Mr. Gillies is one of the most interesting figures that have +arisen in amateur golf in recent times, most certainly George Duncan is +the most interesting of the newer professionals. Here is an artist at +the game if you will, the greatest genius of golf that has come up since +Harry Vardon rose to fame. I am convinced that in the new period that is +beginning with the inevitable decline, to some extent at all events, of +the old triumvirate, George Duncan will be far and away the most +conspicuous figure. He is a great golfer, and is in every way admirably +fitted for supremacy. A more fascinating player to watch and study and +think about afterwards has never driven a ball from the tee. + +When he first came out it was declared that he was the fastest golfer +who had ever lived. It was said that he walked up to his ball and hit it +away before anybody had time to realise that he had taken his stance. He +was likened unto hurricanes, lightning, and racehorses. I remember that +Mr. Robert Maxwell, being once partnered with him, in an Open +Championship I think, remarked afterwards that it was the most violent +and disturbing experience of fast golf he had ever known. All this was +true. Duncan never seemed to find it necessary to think as we do, and +not merely we with all our doubts and hesitations, but those far better +than we are, men who have won championships. He dispensed with all +alternatives, those fatal alternatives that ruin our own game. We often +fail because there are not only so many ways of doing the same thing in +golf, but because we try to think of too many of them when we have a +stroke to play and change from one to another and then to a third, until +our increasing indecision can be no longer tolerated and some sort of +shot has to be played. Analyse your own emotions and experiences, and +you will discover that this vacillation has been the cause of many +disastrous failures. But George Duncan never suffered in this way. He is +a man of lightning decision, of peculiarly sound and valuable +inspiration, and he is one who, having once decided, does not swerve +from his determination no matter what may be the allurements in the way +of alternatives. Duncan does not know the alternative. He has no use for +it. He does not recognise it. He believes that first thoughts in golf +are best, and he abides by them. He decides and he acts. And he does all +such thinking as is necessary for his decision while he is walking from +the place where he played his last stroke to the place from which he +will play his next, so that when he reaches his ball there is nothing to +do but get to business without any waste of time. All these were +features of the early Duncan just as they are of the present one, and +they have been developed and perfected during the ten or dozen years +that he has been out in the professional world. + +But the Duncan of the early period had a fault of temperament in that he +would go wild. He would at the moment of crisis lose his head, think of +impossibilities and try to do them. He would lose his grip of his game. +Elation and despondency would alternate too quickly in his mind. He +would be careless; he would forget consequences. Who that ever saw it +will ever forget the way in which he let the Open Championship at St. +Andrews in 1910 slip from his grasp in that terrible last round? He had +done rounds of 73, 77, and 71, the third being then and still the record +of the course. Another 77 would have given him the Championship. Instead +of that he did an 83. The next year at Sandwich he did very much the +same sort of thing in his third round. It has seemed that in each of the +last four or five years he was good enough to win the Championship, and +that it was largely his own fault that he did not do so. That is why we +used to say of him that ambition should be made of sterner stuff, that +these weaknesses of his temperament were inexcusable and must be stamped +out. + +Duncan has cured that fault of temperament now. He has stamped it out. +The other day when he and I were discussing his predecessor in the same +flesh, he said, "All that is past and done with. It is gone behind me. +There is no more of it. I am quick still. I shall always be quick +because that is I, Duncan, my nature. I cannot be anything else. And why +should I not be quick? Are there not too many slow golfers in the world? +But for the rest of it I am steady now. I feel hold of myself and the +game. I do not forget." Championships should come quickly to him now. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +RIVIERA GOLF, AND WHAT MIGHT BE LEARNED FROM LADIES, WITH A +CONSIDERATION OF THE OVERLAPPING GRIP. + + +One who will only play on summer days is a little less than half a +golfer after all. Golf at the full demands resource, good heart, some +courage, and a settled nerve, and it is of its principle that in the +matter of places, times, and weather the game shall be taken as it is +found. Hence the real golfer should not only tolerate the play in the +bad seasons when there are howling winds and drenching rains, and much +of life seems damp and sad, but he might be expected even to feel some +occasional satisfaction in it. One who can hold himself up to the big +wind and drive a ball that whistles through it to the full drive length, +then play a good second and all with fine allowance and good wind work +with his irons, so that the game works out well enough for any day, is +one whose contentment is a state to be envied. Rarely does one feel the +thrills of the golfing life better than when playing well in a lashing +wind, with clothes that soak and stick; the sense of mastery is +magnificent. Yet of such luxuries of winter golf one may sometimes tire. +The strong would be gentle again; and sunshine comes well after storms +and leaden skies. Swearing in December that this winter shall see us +stay at home the season through, playing on our east coast links +throughout, January finds us hesitate, and in February, if we wait till +then, there is a journey being made away through France to the sweetness +of life by the blue Mediterranean Sea. It is an unforgettable change. We +have spoken wrongly when sometimes after, at the end of a winter season, +we have declared we tired of it. Never. + +We have returned to London weary at the end of a January day from +Sunningdale or Walton Heath, or it may have been just back along on the +underground from the Mid-Surrey course at Richmond, which seems as well +in winter as any, and much better than most others. But London is murky +and dirty. It is cold, it is windy, there is a drizzling rain, and the +streets are very dirty. It will be three-quarters of an hour before we +may be seated at the dinner table. Oh, we become a little tired of this! +Troubles never come singly, and probably on such a day a match or +matches have been lost. Those who are not of the community do not +understand what worries make up the full agony of this game, and that is +why the loss of two matches was considered by the gentle lady with her +friend at tea to be the cause complete of the horrid din as of breaking +furniture in the hall, the barely-stifled awful words, the yelping and +limping of the little dog that suggested some sudden and unexpected +injury, and the general impression that was conveyed throughout the +household of havoc and disaster. "It is nothing," said gentle Fanny of +the perfect understanding as, with her toes in pink satin on the fender, +she poured another cup for Mrs. Larcombe. "Really, it is only George, +who, I can tell, has lost _both_ his matches, dear!" + +But it was not the matches only. It was the waiting lone and weary for +Marmaduke at the beginning of the day; it was the lame excuse of +Marmaduke for his tardiness; it was the aggravating manner of the man +throughout and the stupidity of the caddie; it was the stickiness of the +greens; it was something wrong with the fateful golfer's lunch that made +it all worse in the afternoon; the slicing that was more frequent and +farther into the rough; the pitch shots that were topped still more; and +the putts that ever lipped and stayed outside. It was the luck that went +viler all the time, the cruelty of circumstance, the misery of it all; +and after the twin defeat the sad discovery and reflection that if one +little thing--perhaps only the pressure of a finger--had been remembered +about some big things that were wrongly done, it might all have been +avoided. It is realised again that of all the sad thoughts the saddest +is: "It might have been." It is then that the agony of golf is +experienced; it is then that the golfer is not happy. And it is then, on +the retreat to town, that one may seem to hear the Mediterranean call, +and see a vision of a sun glistening on a flowered and song-laden land +where golf is played. Take the chance, unhappy man; make the change then +if you can. + +The strongest emotions often arise from the widest and most sudden +contrasts. Our beautiful English summer comes to us too slowly and +gradually through the vicissitudes of spring for the fullest delight. +One may step out from the mist and drizzle of a London street into the +greater darkness of a theatre, and it is all blank and gloom and +nothingness, but there is a quick expectancy. A few moments, and there +is the tinkling of a bell, the curtain is rolled up, and there is a +blaze of light with a pretty picture, perhaps, of summer with a full +suggestion of Arcadia. Music and song, love and gladness, and younger +again is the heart in years. Thus for a while the load is lightened. It +is like that when one wanders to the Riviera for golf in the depth of +England's winter. We leave London when it rains and is cold and heavily +depressing; the spirit is weary from the trials of the season. Charing +Cross--the Channel--Paris, hardly less gloomy than her sister +Londres,--the plunge into the rumbling darkness of the fast train on the +P. L. M.--sleep and dreams. And in the morning the bell rings and the +curtain of the new and sunny world rolls up, and it is glorious summer. +Nothing in the way of change of scene is quite so good as this. Those +who do not know the Riviera may try to imagine it, but in the clearest +vision they cannot approach the grand reality of this sudden change. +Marseilles--Toulon--Hyeres--Costebelle; and there is the sunshine, the +flowers, and the game. A rest of a day, quiet slumber through the night, +and in the morning drowsily one hears a beat, beat, beat upon the +window-panes, and, not being then awake to Hyeres, or Costebelle, it +seems perhaps but the dismal tapping of the London rain. But later it is +discovered to be the tapping of the leaves and rosebuds on the glass. +Breakfast on the terrace, the contenting cigar whose smoke rises +wreathingly through a still atmosphere upwards to the blue, and then an +effort to lift oneself from a summer languor. Clubs in possession again, +a walk for a little way along a rose-fringed road, and then a plunge +through a coppice along a broken stony path that thousands of golfers +have trod before. Through a field of narcissi, through the planted +violets, past a little vineyard on to the plain below--there the golf +course is. Then play the game all day, and mount to the hotel again when +the afternoon is nearly spent. But in the earlier afternoon at +Costebelle I would rather climb back through the little wood after my +single round, enjoy this perfect illusion of summer, and read and rest +in laziness. Tints of lemon and citron come into the sky when the sun +falls to its setting. Out beyond the plain is the sea and then the Iles +de Hyeres, or the Iles d'Or as they have been called, because the sun +will shine upon them when it has left the mainland for the +day--Porquerolles, Portcros, Titan, Bagaud, and Roubaud--a +pearly-coloured group. You may make a short journey to them, to the blue +Mediterranean which is so very blue. There is the delicate blue of the +sapphire, and the richer blue of the turquoise. There is the wide blue +of the Italian skies, and a wonderful blue in some women's eyes. But +there is no blue that is so deep, so glorious, so soulful as that of the +Mediterranean Sea, as in fancy I see it now. We gaze upon it and are +content. All is so peaceful and pleasant. Over the hills comes a booming +sound; it must be naval gunnery at Toulon. Grim realities of life and +strife press even into this sweet scene. Yet they are French guns, and +they are not meant for England either. I love Costebelle. For the simple +sunny happiness of the life that is led there it is incomparable. + + + * * * * * + +And this happiness in scene and sun, be sure, is the greater part of the +golf on the French and Italian Riviera. There is often much doubt by +those who have not been there upon the quality of Riviera golf. It +varies. It once was poor; it was bad. It is now much improved, and it is +improving still as the demand for it has quickened, as the people of +southern France who depend so much upon their British visitors have come +to realise the full meaning of "the golf boom" and the education and +bettered tastes of the golfing people who leave Britain in the winter +time. It is now, as golf of the inland kind, quite tolerably good, which +is to say that in degree it might rank fairly well up in the second +class of British inland golf. It is no better than that; it is +sometimes not so good. Climatic difficulties on the Riviera are somewhat +desperate. In the summer there is a continuous baking heat, and this is +followed by days of warmth and nights of frost, and in such confusion of +temperatures the golf courses have to be grown afresh for every season. +Until recent times the putting greens needed to be newly sown and +cultivated for every winter season, and I believe that it was at Nice +that Mr. Hay-Gordon, secretary of courage and discernment as he is, +first gave battle to the destructive climate and determined he would +hold his putting greens--which at Nice are better than at almost any +other place in southern Europe--right through the suns of summer and +keep them on from one season to another. At Nice, again, thanks to gold, +and thought, and enterprise, they have what the guardians of other +Riviera courses do much envy, a magnificent supply of water, and this is +lavished upon the turf through the dry time when the golfers are back at +their homelands. The experiment of Nice, which was a fateful one, proved +successful, and since then it has been copied by other clubs out that +way, and greens are kept on and are much the better for it. In the old +days it was a painful thing, as I remember it, to tread upon those +tender new-born blades of grass, thin and scarce they were, and unfit +for such usage as golfers give. It is far better now. Then also the +construction of the courses has been much improved; but it must be +remembered again that conditions and circumstances do not encourage or +even agree with ideas of length and bunkering as we of Britain entertain +them. Yet these things do not matter. We need no six thousand yards and +no bottle-neck approaches when we wander southwards to the sun. Life +shall be taken simply then; the press of existence shall be relieved, +the game shall be made a little gentler than at other times, the nerves +shall not be unduly tried. So we discover that there is a virtue in what +is little more than five thousand yards, a generous amplitude of short +holes, and enough to satisfy of those that can be done with a driver and +an iron of sorts. In a mood of ease and languor, when even strong men +who like the game find joy in a mixed foursome, we come to admire the +Riviera system; and we may find men at nights hard in argument upon the +points and delicacies of the fifth hole or the fifteenth, the +aggravations of the sixth and the sixteenth, when they would disdain to +think of such like in their golfing life at home. That comes of the +influence of the sun; it soothes and satisfies, and it makes +contentment. + +Then there is this good thing to be said for the Riviera golfing way, +that it yields a very full variety, and it might well be advertised that +it embraces something to suit all tastes. Not only does it vary in the +kind of course, but in the way of life that is attached to it. The +manner of living at Hyeres and Costebelle is more of the English country +kind and more sporting healthily open-air, with less of the flummery of +fashion, than it is at other Riviera places, not meaning by that that +there is not enough of good music and social entertainment for evening +hours. The sea is a distance off, and there is next to nothing of +promenading. Here we live well and are happy, and the sun is very warm. +R. L. S. lived at "La Solitude" at Hyeres, and he loved it. The golf in +some respects is as good as elsewhere on the littoral; in some ways it +is even a little better. There is the course of Hyeres flanking one side +of the quaint old town, and there is Costebelle with the chief hotel on +the hillside on the other, and its golf course on the plain below. +Hyeres is a gentle course, pretty, smooth and nice, and much improved +in recent times. The turf is good for southern France, and some of the +holes are remembered, as where we play through an avenue of trees with +silver bark. Golf is younger at Costebelle and it is quite different, +but if one were led to make comparisons, as from which we shall refrain, +it might be said that often youth is no harmful thing. Golf architecture +had already advanced to a science when this course was first made, the +first planning being done by Willie Park, and such as Mr. John Low have +advised upon its improvement since, while M. Peyron has lavished much +money and attention upon it too. Even if there are still some rawnesses +apparent, golf at Costebelle comes near to being the real thing. Then it +is a good point in favour of this end of the Riviera that here we have +the golf almost at the door of our hotel as it is scarcely to be had at +any other place. It is something to walk down to the first tee, and +pluck a rose by the wayside as we go. + + + * * * * * + +That of Cannes is a pretty course. The Grand Duke Michael has done much +for it and here he is a king. Society is high at Cannes, the people come +along to La Napoule, six or seven miles from the town, in their +motor-cars in a long procession, and it is the proper place for the +luncheon party and such social entertainments as go well with a +verandah, sunshine, and the flowers. One would go to the golf club at La +Napoule even though one did not golf; many do--perhaps too many. Those +who eat and chatter, kiss hands and smile, but never take a divot are +losers of something that is heartening. A river runs through this +golfing land, and twice we cross it by a famous ferry worked by hands +upon a rope that is stretched across the stream. On one side of the +river there are twelve holes laid and on the other there are six; but +the six may be considered to be better than the twelve for the pleasure +that they yield. First we play three of the batch of twelve, and then we +are floated to the precious six. Here there are big sand bunkers of a +natural kind, and they are nicely placed. The fairway is tolerably good, +and there are putting greens in pretty places. + +If this were all it would be good; but the course of Cannes gains a +splendid charm from its magnificent situation which cannot be ignored. +There is a promise of beauties to come when we approach the club-house +by that long avenue of golden mimosa; later there are glimpses of almost +heavenly scenes. If the golf at these continental places is gentler than +at home, such things as scenery may count for a little more. I have +never had full sympathy with the suggestion that the golfer cares +nothing for scenery or sparkling air except when he is off his game and +then falls back upon them for compensation. There is not only hypocrisy +in this, but in suggesting the player to be scarcely above the savage it +is unfair to a healthy taste that has had some training in appreciation +of natural beauties. One does not dwell upon cloud effects nor let the +mind loose upon a panorama when the strokes are being done and there is +a man to beat, but sunlight and sweet scenes have always their strong +effect subconsciously, and it would be a pity if they had not. I shall +not place the course of Cannes at La Napoule in that warring and jealous +company, many clubs strong they are, each of which claims that it is the +most beautifully situated in the world. I have played upon three or four +of such courses, and indeed their claims have appeared to be strong. It +is enough that Cannes is very beautiful. It will be well if there are a +few moments for waiting caused by a slow-going match in front when your +ball has been placed on its little pinnacle of sand on the fourth teeing +ground, for spread out in the distance there is a glorious panorama of +the snow-capped Maritime Alps, on whose last spur there lies glistening +white in the sunshine the little town of Grasse where sweet perfumes are +distilled and where, as they say, twelve tons of roses are crushed to +make a quart of essence. Grasse rests on that hillside like a linen +sheet dropped there by the gods. When we have done this hole and face +about, there are the pearly-tinted Esterels ahead. Hereabouts the holes +are chiefly laid out through avenues of fir trees, and here and there, +especially when one is approaching the eighth green, the picture is one +that bears some suggestion of an Italian charm. Elsewhere in the round +the Mediterranean is presented, as once when we look across the bay in +which Cannes is placed to Cap d' Antibes at the opposite corner from La +Napoule. By comparison some of the concluding holes are a little dull in +looks; but when we play them in the afternoon the sun is setting behind +the Esterels in front, and then there is indeed a sunset to be seen. + +Again, the course of the Nice club is at Cagnes some miles out from the +town. It is different from the others of the Riviera, and it has its +special advantages. I recall an example of one of them which was the +more impressive since it was made on the occasion of my first visit to +the course. That was years ago, and we had been held up at Nice for five +days and five nights by continuous and heavy rain during the whole of +that long time, and it was in February too. Such a spell of Riviera wet +seems almost incredible, but it happened, the oldest inhabitants, for +the credit of their country, declaring that such a thing had never been +before since the world as they knew it had begun. When this kind of +thing happens on the Riviera there is only one thing to do, and that is +go to the casinos; and it was bad for us in every way that this rain +came down like that even if it was good for the Casino Municipal and +the others at Nice and for M. Blanc at the adjacent Monte Carlo. When +the five days and five nights had been endured, when the heart had grown +sick of what happened at the tables, when our thoughts had turned to +Sicily and Egypt--for during this period of the flood I had made one +voyage (we should call it a voyage though the journey was done by +motor-car along that glorious Grand Corniche) to the Riviera of Italy, +and there at Bordighera and San Remo (and what a pretty little course it +is at Arma di Taggia) found it to be raining still--the sun came out +again and the question of golf arose to life. But surely, it seemed, +golf would be impossible for some time; courses would need to dry. +However, we argued that a stroke with a driving mashie is better than no +play, and so we took the car at the Place Massena and soon were out at +Cagnes, and there we played on a course that was as dry as any course +need ever be though the rain had been pelting down to within three or +four hours before. In one or two hollow places there were little pools +of casual water, but otherwise the state of things was such that we +might sit upon the grass when the opposition was badly bunkered and +needed time for his recovery. Others knew that Nice recovers quickly, +for when we were out in the middle of the course we espied some figures +a couple of long holes away, and about the attitude of one of them there +was something strangely familiar. There was a manner of walking on the +course not so much stiff as small and quite precise, and there was a +club being carried vertically, head high up as if it were a gun and the +carrier were one of a line of infantry. I can recall only one man who +sometimes walks with his club like this--not that there is anything +against it--and, knowing him, I still regret that opponent had not +courage to accept a wager of anything from five francs to fifty that I +could name the man at that distance of seven hundred yards, having no +knowledge that he I had in mind was on the Riviera at all. It was Mr. +Arthur Balfour, ex-Prime Minister, who, chafing for lack of golf after +his own five days' shutting up, had motored over from Cannes at the +moment that the rain held up. + +There is a certain plainness about many of the holes at Nice, but others +are interesting. The first is appetising, the eighth is a mashie shot +over a belt of trees, and the ninth is one of the longest I know, quoted +on the cards at 605 yards and stretching away to the west, parallel with +the sea-shore, and quite close to it so that a highly extravagant slice +might deliver one's ball to the Mediterranean. However, we get there +very quickly, and the hole is not so long as figures make it seem, for +there is much run on the ball at Cagnes. One of the prettiest holes +follows this one. The sociabilities here are excellent, and Nice itself, +being rather a place of tumultuous excitement and very much within the +Monte Carlo zone and influence, you may find it a beneficial thing in +many ways to get out to the golf club as frequently as you can. + +In recent times they have effected a great improvement to the course at +St. Raphael, and up at La Turbie, overlooking Monte Carlo, and in one of +the finest situations conceivable, they have made a new one with +considerable luxury of appointment. The climatic difficulties which they +had to encounter here, at a height of nearly two thousand feet, were +such that they had not dreamt of, much less reckoned upon, and for a +time an appreciable portion of the money was being lost on the greens +that was being gained through the reds and blacks in the casino down +below, the two organisations not being without association with each +other. The construction of this course stands out as one of the great +engineering feats of golf. The top of the mountain on which it was +determined that it should be made was a bare rocky waste. There was not +even the necessary soil to grow the grass on. It was determined to take +up the soil from a neighbouring valley, and three hundred men were +employed to do the work. There was no railway, no horse or mule traction +would get the stuff properly up that hillside, and so it was carried in +baskets on the backs of those three hundred men. Next, rocks were +blasted, the soil was spread, seeds were sown, and a result was awaited +with anxiety. Then came down some tremendous rains, and down the +hillside that soil was washed away, and most of the carrying up had to +be done all over again. But labour and perseverance conquered, and at +last the grass was made to grow, and the plain truth is that here now +they have a course that for the Riviera is quite passably good, and most +extraordinarily beautiful in its situation, the Alps being in the +picture on three sides of it, and the Mediterranean down below on the +fourth. On a fine day Corsica can just be seen. Now it is clearly +indicated that the man who would demonstrate a perfect alliance with +happy fortune must accomplish a grand double event. He should break the +bank at Monte Carlo in the morning, and he should hole in one at La +Turbie in the afternoon. + +This course and that of Sospel are a new and separate feature of Riviera +golf. Formerly the whole strength of the golf of the littoral lay at its +western end, and it was down near to the level of the sea. Now Monte +Carlo and Sospel, chiefly Sospel, have moved the balance a little nearer +to the east. Sospel is agreeable; and here again the construction of the +course and its improvement to its present good state stand for a great +triumph of skill and perseverance. Sospel is some thirteen miles behind +Mentone in a valley of the Alpes Maritimes, and it is a quaint old +place. If one never golfed at all, the journey there with all its +thrills and excitements, and the picturesque little town that is at the +end of it, are well worth a day of the time of any man. That journey may +be made by motor-car, or now by tram, and one may safely say that there +is no other golfing journey of its kind that can compare with it. As to +the course, it possesses turf which is as good as anything to be found +in the vicinity of the Mediterranean, and though the round is only a +trifle over five thousand yards, and there is no hole of so much as four +hundred, it is nice golf for all that, and the wooden club is needed +frequently for the second shots. + +Here and there by this Mediterranean sea new courses are being made. +They have one at Grasse. There will be others soon. The truth is that +dawdling on the Riviera has gone quite out of fashion, and it has come +to be understood at last that this wine-like air and the golden sunshine +are better than the dim light and dank atmosphere of the gaming rooms. A +few persons who go to the Riviera in the winter seem to be nervously +afraid of giving up much of their time to golf. I have heard them say to +themselves and others: "Is not the golf of London better than anything +by the Mediterranean, and why then do we pay hundreds of francs to come +here merely to play golf, and almost forget that we are in the south of +France?" You will not forget that you are by the blue sea to the south +of Europe. Not only is the glory of this part of the world in winter +better understood and better appreciated by those who golf than by those +who don't, but by far the most is made of their time by the players of +the game. I do not see what is the use of going to the Riviera unless +one golfs. + + + * * * * * + +It may seem a strange reflection, but it is the truth, that when at the +Riviera for any length of time in the winter, and especially when at +such a place as Hyeres, one is inclined more to a thorough overhauling +of one's game, a study of its weaknesses and a determination upon +certain improvements, than at any other time. A good explanation is, +however, possible. At holiday time like this one has the play +continually. One is detached from all the workaday considerations of +life at home. And then again one is thrown among new golfing friends +from all parts of the world, people of infinite golfing variety and all +charged with their own new ideas. We see every kind of style and every +degree of skill, and if much of the style is bad and the skill is often +deficient, there is something always to be learned or suggested. And it +has been found as a matter of practical experience that at such places +the majority of people fall to thinking of their ways of driving, often +because their driving at the beginning out there is very bad, and that +in turn is often due to the difficulty at first of sighting the ball +properly in the pellucid atmosphere. But the whole system of driving is +overhauled, and one would dare to suggest that proportionately to the +number of players involved there are more conversions made from the +plain grip to the overlapping on the Riviera in the season than anywhere +else. Only this very morning as I write--a bitter cold morning when I +shiver in proximity to an east coast links, and sigh for the passing of +a few days more when the Channel shall be crossed and a glad journey +south made on the P. L. M.--a letter comes up to me from a friend at +Hyeres demanding that all possible information printed and otherwise +shall be transmitted on the subject of the grip, for there is a drastic +revolution to be made in the case of one anxious golfer! In this matter, +one of the most important in all practical golf as it surely is, there +is a suggestion of great value to be made. + +The advantages of this grip as they are being discovered by more +converts than ever before, are greater driving power owing to wrist work +being easier, and also the fact that the left arm and hand pull the club +through better and drive the ball as it ought to be driven, the +overlapping reducing the right hand to a low subjection. No matter how +good and careful the player may be, he who uses the two-V grip is +certain sometimes to be in trouble with his right hand, which will +constantly attempt to establish a lordship over the left, which when +done is fatal to the good swing and the straight ball. Straight driving +along a good, low trajectory, getting a ball with plenty of run on it, +might almost be said to be characteristic of the overlappers, who are +certainly off their drive less frequently than their brethren. These +being the advantages of overlapping, how is it to be gained by those who +have all along been addicted to the plain two-V way of gripping, and now +find it impossible after many trials to convert themselves, these trials +having been made in the most obvious way by hard practice on the teeing +ground and with a brassey through the green? This is a good question to +ask, but the answer is too often disappointing. Those who have started +their golfing lives as old-fashioned two-V men seem fated to remain as +such. As it happens, I believe I have come by the simplest and most +effectual way of making the conversion; at all events, it is one that +has never failed, though it has been tried in very many cases. It is +simplicity itself. Nearly every man who tries to adopt this grip does so +with his driver. It is natural, because it is for the driving that he +most wants the grip, and he never thinks about it for anything else. In +these experiments, however, he feels in constant danger of missing the +ball--and sometimes does miss it--is most extremely uncomfortable, +entirely lacking in confidence, and sooner or later comes to the +conclusion that the overlapping grip, whatever its merits, is not for +him. The sure and certain way is to begin with the putter, which is easy +and also valuable, because the experience of the best players is that +the overlapping grip improves one's putting at least as much as it does +one's driving. You may become accustomed enough to this way of gripping +the putter on the first day to try it in the most important match or +competition. After two or three weeks of this way of putting, let the +grip be tried for short running-up approaches, which will be +satisfactorily accomplished after a very little practice, and then, +after another week or two, let it be used for short lofted shots. The +crisis comes when a swing of such length has to be made that the head of +the club has to be raised more than elbow-high. A difficulty will be +experienced at this stage, but it will soon be overcome, and when it is +the way to overlapping with the driver is opened. Within a week the man +is a complete and happy convert. + +On the general question of grips and gripping, which is high in the +minds of golfers preparing for their season's campaign and setting their +bags in order, one does feel that points of detail are not generally +considered as they should be. In many cases the grip has really more to +do with the effectiveness of a club than the head thereof, and yet +perhaps not more than one golfer in four is properly suited. In general +the grips are too short, too thick, and their thickness is too uniform. +A very thick grip tends to take weight from the head, to spoil the feel +and balance of the club, and to reduce the sense of control over it, +but thickness in moderation is good for weak hands and fingers. Thin +grips throw the weight into the head, give extra control, and improve +the feel, but in excess need strong hands and fingers. The professionals +nearly all use quite thin grips, their hands and fingers being very +strong. But remember that the right hand and its fingers are stronger +than the others, and also that that hand has less work to do in +gripping, while as it is mainly concerned with steadying and guiding it +is best suited by thinness of grip. Clearly, then, the grip should be +thicker for the left hand than for the right, should, in fact, taper. +This morsel of theory is overwhelmingly justified in practice, and that +is what we mean when we say that most grips are too uniform in +thickness, for they are nearly as thick for the right hand as for the +left, and end suddenly with a kind of step just beyond the place where +the right forefinger is applied. For hands of moderate strength let the +circumference at the top for the left hand be 2-11/16 in. in diameter, +and at the place where the right forefinger holds on let it be 2-1/2 in. +From this point let it taper off gradually for about 4 in. until the +leather has nothing underneath it, and then half an inch of wrapping on +the bare stick brings the grip, as it were, to fade away into nothing. +The full length of a grip of this kind may be about 12-1/2 in., and the +tapering conduces greatly to the improved feel of the club and to a look +that somehow makes for confidence. In the case of iron clubs the length +and the decreased thickness towards the bottom are very good when taking +a short grip of the club. + + + * * * * * + +Matters appertaining to ladies' golf also come more prominently before +the average male player of the game when he is on the Riviera with the +sun than they do at other times. He sees more of it for the reason that +his home exclusiveness cannot be tolerated there, and he sees much to +make him think, even though the best lady players of the game do not +often go that way. After watching a ladies' championship for the first +time I left the place with some deep reflections. The idea that men have +anything whatever to learn from ladies in regard to golf may seem +preposterous, but it is not so. There may be a thousand times as many +good men golfers as there are lady golfers who are as good, but there +are just a few of the latter who are very good indeed, far better than +they are generally supposed to be, and their style and methods are very +well worth studying. When great events are stirring in golf the leading +Scottish newspapers regularly print leading articles upon them, of so +much general importance are they considered. After the ladies' +championship in question, I read a leading article in a Glasgow daily +newspaper, and it said that it was evident that if Miss Ravenscroft and +Miss Cecil Leitch were to enter for the Amateur Championship and were to +maintain their best Turnberry form the result would be disconcerting to +those who hold that the scratch man can give the equally competent woman +golfer half a stroke or thereabouts. With this I agree. The game of +girls who can drive 250 yards, who can win 330-yard holes in threes to +other girls' fours, who can do nine holes in 37, and so forth, needs to +be taken quite seriously. The real importance of the matter is just +this, that the best of these girls have arrived at a result which is +superior to that attained by the average man golfer, and they have +reached it by a system and a method which are practised by comparatively +few male players. Their golfing principles and styles are quite +different. Is there nothing we can copy from them? Surely. + +Now we hear very much about 300-yard drives, which one is half given to +understand have become the regular thing with the most modern balls; but +we know, as a matter of fact, that the average man does not drive +anything like this distance, and that he would give a part of his income +to be able to drive as far as some of the very best girls do at the +championships. They achieve their distance not at all by hard hitting, +for they hit quite gently, but by long, free swinging, perfect timing, +and especially by full following through, that is to say, they swing in +just the same way as it was necessary for the best men players to swing +in the days of the gutty ball. They finish their swings with the club +head and shaft right round their backs and their hands well up; I saw +some of them who made nearly as perfect models of the golf swing as +Harry Vardon does in the picture made of him by Mr. George Beldam and in +the statuette by Mr. Hal Ludlow. Their style was most excellent and it +was a fine thing to see. Necessity has caused it. These girls have not +the strength of arm, wrist, and fingers to get a good length in the same +way that men get, or try to get it now; the rubber-cored ball has not +made the game so easy for them that they can dispense with an inch of +the fullest swing that they can make. They seem to use their wrists but +little, and all their movements are as smooth and harmonious as they can +be. In this way they drive many yards farther than the average man +golfer does. In the Amateur Championship you will not see one man in +three drive the ball in this way now. Short swinging, imperfect +following through, and a jerky, snappy kind of hitting have become +almost general now that the balls can be so easily driven by the +exercise of mere wrist power. The result is that good style in driving +has become very rare among men. From the point of view of results +obtained this is well enough for men who play in championships; they +drive much farther than the best girls do, though I do not think that +they are generally so straight. But the average golfer, consciously or +unconsciously, copies his superiors, and most of them have now no style +and do not know the sensuous pleasure that is obtained from a full +swing, a clean hit, and the complete finish which seems to give a thrill +to every nerve in the system. Then, if these men with all their jerks +and wrist strain still do not get that length to which they may think +they are entitled--as most of them do not--would it not be worth while +to go back to the old way of better style and practise most assiduously +at the full swing until they get it right? The very best girls show +evidence of fine schooling in this matter. They hit the ball with +marvellous cleanness. In a large proportion of cases the advice to male +players in these days to swing short and hit hard is sound so far as +mere results are concerned. But all men are not so strong in the forearm +as they may think, and they do not get the length they seek, while +another thing to remember is that the long complete swing when once +mastered is less frequently thrown out of gear than the short one, which +is a very difficult thing to keep in order. + +Then there is something to notice also in the preliminaries to the drive +as the really good girls go through them. Not all players suspect what a +deep influence the preliminary waggling of the club has on the +subsequent swing. The influence is enormous, and the way that the +majority of male players waggle is one that directly encourages jerky +hitting. You will find that they tighten their wrists as they lay the +club to the ball and move the head of the club back in two or three +short, quick movements, rarely letting the head go forward over the +ball. This is strongly conducive to a fast back-swing, a fast on-swing, +and no follow through. It makes for the hard hit pure and simple. Now +many girls who get long balls by big swings keep their wrists very loose +in the waggling and allow the head of the club to swing easily backwards +and forwards like a pendulum two or three times, four or five feet in +front of and behind the ball each time, so that when the real swing is +entered upon it is almost a continuation of the waggle and is made at +much the same pace. This is a direct encouragement to the long swing, +long follow through, and smooth rhythm of the entire movement. Between +the man's waggle and his swing when done in the manner described there +is no sort of connection whatever, and the driving is always much the +poorer for the fact. + +Again, in the putting the ladies' play is full of morals for men. I do +not hesitate to say, after an immense amount of observation, that the +putting of many of the girls at their championship is quite as good as +most of that we see in the men's Amateur Championship. They are deadly +with the short putts up to two yards, and they hole the long ones with +astonishing frequency. They come to their conclusions speedily as to +what is the proper thing to do, and, having done so, they make their +strokes with no further hesitation. We see very little tedious and +laborious examination of the line, and, we may be sure, that they are +the gainers for it. In the men's Amateur Championship the wearisome ways +of some of the competitors are notorious. They study the line +meditatively from north, south, east, and west, convince themselves of +the existence of influences which do not in reality exist at all, next +they hang over the ball with their putter addressed to it until one +suspects them of having fallen into a cataleptic state, and then they +miss the putt. The girls putt with a great confidence and accuracy. Of +course these eulogiums refer only to the best of the lady golfers; +between them and the others there is a very big gap, and it would be +ridiculous to pretend that the average championship girl is yet within +miles, as it were, of the corresponding man. But she has ways that the +average man might often copy to advantage. Miss Cecil Leitch, who is +surely the finest mistress of golfing method and style that her sex has +ever yielded to the game, and is splendidly worthy of the championship +that at last, after much waiting, she won at Hunstanton in the summer of +1914, comes as near to being a perfect model as any one I can think of. +She has graced a masculine way in golf with some feminine delicacy, and +there is art, there is science, and there is rhythm in all her golfing +movements. And she is splendidly accurate. Her iron play is a thing to +be admired, and one might say of her as one cannot of all players who +have been many years at the game, whatever may have been their success, +that she is indeed a golfer. + + + * * * * * + +And whoever is the champion of any particular period may be interested +to know that at no time and place is he ever so much appreciated as away +from his own country during the time when it is so wet and cold at home +that people play comparatively little--less perhaps than they should do. +As masters indeed they are properly regarded, and most dissectingly +discussed are the champions when their disciples are abroad; and it is a +good thing too, for if there must be influences on the game of humble +players, let them come from the heights. In this matter many of us have +always regarded John Henry Taylor as quite one of the best of models, +despite what any one may say about a lack of beauty in his style. +Taylor, five times champion, is indeed a very great master of this game, +and he has special advantages as a model in that first he is deeply +practical and can explain everything he does correctly (I know some of +the greatest players who explain, but incorrectly, that is, they do not +even know what they do themselves), can reason, and is almost, as one +might say, a medium between the inspired play of Vardon and the +mechanical way of Braid. He is one of the most thoroughly practical +golfers who have ever played, and perhaps he has taught more other +golfers than any one who has ever lived. I believe that to be the case. +Taylor plays his wooden clubs with a round swing, and to-day some great +authorities are disposed to condemn that style of swing utterly and +declare that only the upright one is the real thing. But what about +Hoylake in 1913? Then Taylor won his fifth championship, and he did it +chiefly, as I believe, by his magnificent driving, done in such +circumstances of terrible weather as would have made it next to +impossible for any ordinarily good player to drive at all. Above +everything, Taylor's golf is effective, and it is effectiveness we want. + +Once he explained in an interesting way how he viewed his own driving +and how he gained the power that he does with his comparatively short +swing. He is what we may call an open-stancer, and he insists that +stance and character of swing must be adapted to each other in a special +way, that for the open stance only a round-the-body swing is suitable, +and that when a man plays an upright sort of swing with a square stance +his right elbow must inevitably leave his side, and that is one of the +worst and most frequent faults in driving, though one often little +suspected or appreciated. If he stood square, says the champion, he +feels he would lose direction; if his swing were upright he thinks he +would lose distance, and if his right elbow were allowed to leave his +side, then he is sure he would lose power; and direction, distance, and +power are the three essentials of good driving. So he is all for the +open stance and flat swing, and one of its chief merits and necessities +is that in the back-swing the wrists do not permit the head of the club +to move outwards and backwards in the line of flight behind the ball as +it has been preached they should do, but begin to circle the club round +at once, and by this means the right elbow is kept to the side. The +importance of this elbow movement is very great. It might be safe to say +that more than half the golfers of to-day do it wrongly and suffer +accordingly. Taylor urges, of course, that the initial turn of the +wrists at the very beginning of the swing is extremely important; and +then as to the arm movement, he emphasises that the right elbow should +be kept close to the side and should move round the side irrespective of +any movement of the body. That makes for a smooth flat swing, and a +sense of enormous gain in power is certainly the result. He says that he +feels a gain of half as much power again by this movement in comparison +with an upright swing. The initial wrist movement induces it. He warns +those who think of trying to flatten their swing, and so gain some of +the power which he certainly has, against allowing excessive body +movement to which they will be very liable. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +ABOUT THE PYRENEES, AND THE CHARMS OF GOLF AT BIARRITZ AND PAU, WITH +POSSIBILITIES FOR GREAT ADVENTURE. + + +It is not a bad thing to be at the Gare d'Orsay in Paris on a night in +early February, seeing a porter attach to one's baggage a scarlet label +with the words "Pyrenees--_Cote d'Argent_" printed diagonally across it +on a bright yellow band. It indicates a journey southwards to the sun, +to a corner of the Bay of Biscay where there are Biarritz and St. +Jean-de-Luz and Pau, and the Pyrenees queening over all. Golf was played +in these parts some ages back; indeed it was here that the foundations +of continental winter golf were laid long before any stir was made +elsewhere. It is not always warm at Biarritz; often it is windy; +sometimes it is very cold; but generally it is genial and pleasant, +constantly sunny, and there is something about the place that conduces +to a strong and healthy sporting feeling. It is a matter of taste. I am +not here to write down that from the golfing point of view it is either +better or worse than the Riviera. They are not the same. They have bad +holes at each, and some good ones at both. Biarritz, which is one of the +most popular golfing winter resorts in existence and retains its great +popularity in spite of its rivals (really when I was there lately in the +month of February they told me they had already taken L700 in fees that +month, though there was then still a week to go), has some holes which, +as we think upon them at home in England, seem quite shockingly bad. +They are not so much bad as nearly improper. And yet when we are at +Biarritz we do love these holes, as do the great players without +exception, and as lief would we suggest the filling up of the Cardinal +bunker at Prestwick and the flattening of that range of Himalayas at the +same glorious golfing place as touch an inch of the face of the Cliff +hole at Biarritz. The course has the gravest faults, but it is very +enjoyable to play upon in February, and in the winds that blow there one +needs to be playing uncommonly well to get round in figures reasonably +low. On the other hand, the golf at Nivelle by St. Jean-de-Luz and Pau +is among the winter's best in Europe. There is indeed much difference +between the coast of silver and the coast of blue, and the contrast +comes out strongly in the golf. There is less of music and flowers and +softness of life, less languor at Biarritz than at Cannes and Nice and +other Riviera places. The games are everything, and the easy strolls and +the social dalliances are much less. In the morning we seldom see the +young ladies in fine costumes bought in Paris. They flit fast about the +streets and along up the Avenue Edouard VII. in short skirts and the +simplest _semi-neglige_ dress, each with a brightly coloured +jersey-jacket of a very distinctive colour--a brick red, a sulphur +yellow, a cobalt blue, something that does not hide itself. Every one is +keen and openly admits it. And the golf club beyond the lighthouse is a +great institution, and it is splendidly governed by Mr. W. M. Corrie, +the honorary secretary. + +Biarritz golf is distinctly peculiar. The course is a short one; it +offers a generous continental supply of holes that can be reached with a +good shot from the tee (but they must be good and well-directed shots, +for the guards of the greens are exacting), and the turf and putting +greens are as good as one has any right to expect them to be in the +south of France. These are generalities. Now the course, like the old +Gaul of Caesar, is in three parts. We begin the play and go on for some +seven holes on a flat tableland; then we plunge down over the cliffs to +the level of the sea, come up again to the tableland at the thirteenth +hole, and so finish on the level. One may leave the first part of the +play out of consideration. It is neat, but one often feels the desire to +be "getting down below," where there is better sport and much scope for +skill and enterprise. At last we come to a teeing ground on the edge of +the steep white cliff which is some hundred and thirty feet in height. +It is a drive-and-iron hole that is before us, and quite a pretty thing, +a hole that for feature and natural beauty it would not be easy to +improve upon. To a part of the underland, where the drive must be +placed, has been given the name of "Chambre d'Amour," and tales for +sorrow and weeping are told of it, of lovers being caught by the tide +and dying there. The green is away in a corner of the course, tucked up +in the shadow of a towering lighthouse, and the bounding waves of Biscay +come rolling almost to its very edge. If we are not convinced that it is +technically perfect, this is at all events a charming hole, one of the +most picturesque we can find in France, At the lighthouse we turn about, +play some plainer things along the level of the sea, and then come to a +piece of golf which is famous all over the world. The ascent to the +higher surface has to be made at the thirteenth, and it is done at what +is known to every one as the Cliff hole. + +Nearly all who have never even seen it have heard of the Cliff hole of +Biarritz, have studied pictures of it, and speculated upon its peculiar +difficulties. No hole on the continent of Europe has nearly such a +reputation; indeed, it is perhaps the only one with a special celebrity. +I have been asked questions about it in America. I have seen and played +it, examined it thoroughly, and thought it out. It is a queer thing, +quite different from any other hole I know. It needs such a shot to play +it properly as is not demanded elsewhere. And yet it requires absolute +skill, the proper shot must be played and played thoroughly well, and it +is practically impossible to fluke it. Why, then, should this not be +reckoned a good golfing hole? The circumstances are these: The teeing +ground is on the lower level, and it is only some fifty yards from the +base of the cliff. The ground in between is rough and stony. The cliff +here is about forty yards in height, and, if not vertical in the face, +bulges outwards frowningly at the top, while a thin stream of water +trickling down at one side seems to add a little more to the +fearsomeness of the thing. At the top edge of the cliff there is grassy +ground sloping quickly upwards for about a dozen yards until a line of +wire is reached, and there the green begins. The fact that the green +(which is tolerably large and in two parts, an upper and a lower) then +slopes downwards away from the player does not make matters easier. +Beyond it is another precipice, but wire netting is there to save the +ball from this, and there is some wooden palisading to keep it out of +trouble on the left. Then there is a local rule saying that if the ball +reaches the top of the cliff, but does not pass the wire, it must be +teed again, with loss of distance only, the man not being allowed to +play it from the tee side of the wire. (He would do so at peril of +toppling over the cliff!) But all these things do not make this awful +hole much easier in the play. One day I sat on the edge of the cliff and +watched the people playing it, and the ball that reached the green and +stayed there was a rarity. It can be done. Braid and Taylor and Vardon +would do it all the time, and it is no trick shot that is wanted. You +might hit hard at the ground in front of the wire and make the ball +trickle on, but that would call for more than human accuracy. Or you +might sky your ball up to the heavens and let it fall straight down on +to the green, and that would be superb. But champion Taylor would take +his mashie and play, perhaps, some fifteen yards above the cliff with +all the cut that he could put upon the ball, and then he would be +putting for a two. A difficult hole follows, but after that the work is +easier. + + + * * * * * + +With a pair of prism glasses looking Spainwards to the left, we may just +discern the quaint and quiet little town of St. Jean-de-Luz. It is one +of the best of the winter places for golf, for health and sunshine, and +no nonsense. The little town is thoroughly Basque, and the player in his +hours away from the game will have a good satisfaction in wandering +about it and peering into such places as the old thirteenth-century +church which is a perfect specimen of the religious architecture of the +Basques, and such a thing in churches as you would not see elsewhere. It +was here that Louis XIV. came for his wedding two and a half centuries +back. And in this locality we have three courses to play upon--three! +There is the old one of St. Barbe, which is a nine-holes affair, and has +one hole--the third--called the "Chasm," which is a very strong piece of +golf, for the drive is over a deep fissure in the rocks, with the sea +running in below. St. Barbe is the second oldest course in France--Pau +being the oldest--and there are some fears, perhaps exaggerated, that it +may not be in existence for many years more. Another of the three is the +course of the St. Jean-de-Luz club at Chalet du Lac, and this also is +one of nine holes. Until a little while since there were twelve, but +then three were captured by the terrible builders, who seem to oppress +the golfers all over the world; but the club received some compensation +in having a new and neat little club-house erected for them at the +landlord's expense. And here also they make the claim that "the scenery +surrounding the course is probably the finest to be obtained from any +course in Europe." Certainly it is very good. The nine holes are very +tolerable in golfing quality. Here and there the driving must be very +straight. A pull, for instance, at the third, will deliver the unhappy +ball to the Bay of Biscay, and the sea will bang it about the rocks for +a long time after. At the fifth, again, one must respect the ocean when +approaching. Generally, however, the holes are somewhat easy, and do not +worry so much as to hinder appreciation of the surrounding views, which +are indeed magnificent. Out one way is the grand panorama of the +snow-topped Pyrenees, and the light and colour effects upon them change +at nearly every hour throughout the day. Below is the pretty harbour and +town of St. Jean-de-Luz. Away to the west is the great expanse of the +Atlantic, framed here at the course with a wildly rocky coast, and up +along to the north is a rough fringe of shore, the innermost corner of +the Bay of Biscay, which leads the eyes out to the most distant point, +where a cluster of buildings gleams in the sunlight, and the tall, white +lighthouse beyond them indicates that the place is Biarritz. + +But Nivelle, the course that rises up from the bank of the broad river +of that name, is the chief course of the group and quite a wonder of +golfing France. When I first saw it and inquired upon its origin I felt +that here was something which was undoubtedly among the best in Europe, +and yet only five or six years ago all the land, except a small piece +which is occupied by two of the eighteen holes, was bare soil on which +cabbages, turnips, and other edibles were being grown. Listen to the +story of the creation of Nivelle. One day Mr. Frank Jacobs, the +secretary of the St. Jean-de-Luz Club, and a Spanish doctor, went +exploring the country round, and they hastened to Count O'Byrne to tell +him that there was ground on the banks of the stream Nivelle which +looked to have the possibilities of such a full-sized golf course as was +needed then. He agreed with them. They were men of keen discernment; for +even then while a little of that land was pasture the rest was under +cabbages and other growths. It was ascertained that a hundred and sixty +acres could be bought for six thousand pounds, but such a sum of money +was not at hand. Count O'Byrne told the local hotel-keepers the truth +that unless there was a first-class golf course there St. Jean-de-Luz +would lose in the race for winter popularity, and he asked them to +guarantee the money in the first place, a company to relieve them +afterwards. They did so accordingly, and the land was secured; but the +farmers could not be turned off at once, and some time was lost thereby. +When they came to make the course they followed an interesting and, as +we would think, an extraordinary procedure. The farmers, recovering from +their grief and resentment, gave up to the incoming golfers a priceless +secret. They said that if they would leave the bare land alone to look +after itself it would from its own sources grow for them the most +beautiful grass for their purposes that they could ever dream of on the +happiest summer's night. So the Count and his comrades gathered their +men about them, the land was raked and smoothed out, and then they +borrowed the town roller, being the heaviest thing of the kind in the +district, to flatten it down. And so they left it and waited. Sure +enough up came the tender blades of grass, and in a season there was a +thick coating there, fine, beautiful turf, and I can answer for it that +it is nice to the touch of the feet and excellent for the game. The +climate in these parts is most times a little moist and better for the +production and preservation of golfing turf than that of the Riviera. +The hotel-keepers were soon relieved of the full responsibility by a +company floated for ten thousand pounds, the capital afterwards being +increased to twelve thousand, but they were so much enamoured of the +project, believed in it so utterly, that they and the tradesmen took up +as many shares as they could get. But some great personal driving force +was needed, and it was found. A Dundee gentleman, a keen golfer and a +great lover of this sweet spot in France, Mr. W. R. Sharp, came forward +and increased his commanding interest in the club and the course, and he +has done wonders for them. That he is president of the club is a good +thing for the club. Now there is a charming club-house; Arnaud Massy, +once open champion, has a pretty villa for himself close by, some +hundred and forty golfers are playing on the course at the busy +time--and play goes on all through the year--and only four years after +the course was opened the company was able to pay a dividend. So I say +that this is a miracle of golf. + +Of course, the story is not complete at this. Fine turf and a prosperous +club do not necessarily make good holes. But St. Jean-de-Luz has holes +as good as most in Europe. They would even be good on a first-class +inland course in Britain. They are, thanks to the broad undulations of +the land, good in character. The round is opened with a fine two-shotter +of a full four hundred yards, with an incline against the player from +the tee. The drive must be properly placed, and that is the case nearly +all the way round. The second is a pretty short hole; the third presents +a fearsome drive across a yawning quarry; at the fourth the return over +it is made in the progress to the longest hole, one of five hundred and +fifty yards, and so on to the end, some of the middle holes being very +good, the seventeenth a fine full one-shot hole, and a good drive and +iron of three hundred and eighty yards downhill to terminate. The view +from the seventeenth and eighteenth tees, the town of St. Jean-de-Luz +shining in the sun, the Nivelle pressing itself into it, and the pretty +harbour white-flaked with the waves, is peaceful and pleasant, and it +gives that sense of "going home" which one always likes to have when +playing the last holes of a round. + + + * * * * * + +The game itself is not everything in the golfing life; it attaches other +occupations and diversions as necessities to itself which are all added +to the sum of "a day's golf" and make of it a thing of adventure and +time packed with variety of deed and thought. There is the meeting and +the parting; the lunch time and--everything! Chiefly there is the +journey, and has it been properly considered how golf and the car have +been linked together for a magnificent combination of sporting joy? In +the remembrances of every player there must be happy and stirring +episodes of motoring to and from the game. I have hundreds of them, +apart from all those countless pretty spins on the outskirts of London +town. Motoring for golf is an entirely different thing from motoring for +nothing. + +The golf-motoring out from Paris to Fontainebleau and the other places +round the capital of France is unforgettable, and always will there be +clear cut in my mind the details of an expedition I once made to this +Nivelle, St. Jean-de-Luz, at a time when lounging golfless in the north +of Spain. It is not frequently that we go crossing frontiers in +motor-cars and having our clubs examined with wonderment and irritating +inquiry by officers of the _douane_ twice in the day, going and +returning, for just two rounds of the best of games. Nor is it a common +thing that in one day English golfers should speed along in a German car +from Spain to France and from France back again to Spain to play on a +splendid course with French and Scottish opponents--a considerable +mixture, if you like. I was idling at San Sebastian when the aforesaid +Mr. Sharp, with such thought and kindness as golfers display towards +each other, gave greeting and said, "Come to Nivelle again for a day of +play." But how? It was thirty miles away, and those trains, with changes +at Irun and Bayonne, would be most fearfully slow. "Bother the trains!" +said Sharp, "what are motors for, and particularly what may be my own +car for? Say the time when you will have risen and bathed and taken your +_cafe complet_, and it will have gone over to San Sebastian by then." So +it came about that it was waiting at the door of my hotel at eight +o'clock in the morning. Coats were buttoned up, pipes were lighted, and +when the first quarter was being chimed from the church steeples we were +already doing our thirty to forty miles an hour through the hilly +suburbs of San Sebastian. There are such hills in Spain and France +between San Sebastian and St. Jean-de-Luz as you can hardly think of; +but the speed dial showed that we flashed up some of them at thirty and +darted down the other side at sixty-five. Great hills to the left with +jagged skylines and strange formations as go by such names as "Camel's +back"; and such sweet vales with mountains framing them over on the +right! Hereabouts is some of the prettiest scenery of Spain, and I hope +not to forget how on that glorious morning the mists of the new day +dissolved in the warming sunlight, and the opalescent gossamer that had +clung about those peaks of Spain gave place to strong blues and greys, +and then to shimmering rose. At Irun, on the Spanish side of the +frontier, the car's papers had to be shown, then we bowled over the +dividing river, and at Hendaye the Frenchmen asked their questions and +did their looking into things. Then up a steep hill for the last, and in +a few minutes we were gliding down into St. Jean-de-Luz, all of this +heartening business done within the hour. At the end of the day, two +rounds done, when the sun was setting, I was swung again over those +Spanish tracks, and just when the light had completely failed and a few +spots of rain came beating upon the glass the sixty horses in the Benz +had done their duty. I opened the casement of my room at the Maria +Christina; soft sounds from the sea floated in, and soothed one to a +pensive mood. + + + * * * * * + +The case of the golf of Pau is curious. Here, so far away from Britain, +far from Paris, four hours even from the coast at Biarritz, inland and +hugging closely to the Pyrenees, we have positively one of the oldest +golf clubs in the whole world. At the beginning there was Blackheath, +and then there were the Edinburgh Burgess, the Honourable Company, the +Royal and Ancient, Aberdeen, and two or three other clubs. Golf, growing +up, made its first leap across the seas to Calcutta in 1829, and +seventeen years afterwards it settled in Bombay. It first landed in +Europe in 1856, and was definitely and thoroughly established at Pau, +and has remained there flourishing ever since. This circumstance is the +more curious when we reflect that at that time there was no golf about +London except at Blackheath. The Royal Wimbledon and the London Scottish +Clubs were then unborn. Such great institutions now as the Royal +Liverpool Club at Hoylake and the Royal North Devon at Westward Ho! were +undreamt of, and a boy child might have been born to a golfer at Pau and +grown almost to middle age before the Royal St. George's Club at +Sandwich was begun. Scots, of course, were at the bottom of all this +pioneering work. The early Blackheath golfers were Scots; they carried +the game to Westward Ho!; they fostered it in India, and some of them +went off with it to Pau, where they liked to spend the winter in the +warm sunshine and in air which for sweet softness is almost +incomparable. Over the fireplace in the smoking-room of the club-house +is a picture of three of the founders of the club, who were still living +in 1890--Colonel Hutchinson, Major Pontifex, and Archbishop Sapte. +Another of those founders was Lieutenant-Colonel J. H. Lloyd-Anstruther. +Thus it happens that the charm of age and long settlement hang upon the +golf of Pau as they do upon no other golf club in Europe. Here, as not +elsewhere, you feel impressed upon you the dignity of golf, realise that +it is not a thing of to-day or of yesterday, and there are almost the +same deep pleasure and elevation of spirit and feeling when you come to +such a place after wandering among newnesses elsewhere as there are in +abiding for a while at St. Andrews or North Berwick in October, the +crowds then being gone away, after a course of southern golf of the most +recent preparation. + +The club-house at Pau is of the kind you would expect to discover at a +good club of long and honourable standing up-country in England. The +attributes of age and tradition are to be found within it. On a wall is +a painting twelve feet long depicting the leading golfers of Pau in +1884, assembled on the course, and it was done by that Major Hopkins who +did such work, now celebrated, concerning the earliest golfers at +Westward Ho! gathered by their iron hut. In this picture of Pau there +are some eminent golfers shown, such as Colonel Kennard, not long since +dead, who was field-marshal of the Royal Blackheath Club; but the artist +leads the eye to the gaunt figure of Sir Victor Brooke, a tam-o'-shanter +on his head, addressing the ball on the tee in the way of a determined +man. Sir Victor, for four or five years captain of the club, was the +lion of the golf of Pau in those days, and when a match book, now lying +musty in a corner, was started his was the first entry that was made in +it. The course is beautifully situated on the Billere plain, a mile or +so to the west of the middle of the town; and in the unusual absence of +a friendly car it is a pleasant walk through a shaded avenue of lofty +beeches in the splendid Parc du Chateau. + +One is a little puzzled to estimate the quality of this course, being +faced with a kind of semi-official printed statement that "Pau is +undoubtedly the best course on the continent" which to some degree is +intimidating. The turf, grown on a dark, sandy soil, is excellent, and +more than fifty years of play upon it have given it the firmness and +crispness that we miss elsewhere. The holes are of good length, well +arranged, and not easy. Yet pancake was never flatter than the central +part of the course, and with the very dullest and plainest kind of +mid-Victorian bunkering--three low, straight grassy banks in line with +each other right across the fairway--the golf hereabouts is less good to +the eye, at all events, than it is to the spirit in the play. The first +hole, a long one, with a road running diagonally across near the green, +close to which there is a little cottage, somehow by its surroundings +recalls memories of old "Mrs. Forman's" at ancient Musselburgh, and the +second is a short hole of quality. From the fourth tee the line of the +course bends round to the right, and for half a dozen holes we are away +from that central part; there are ups and downs in the land that give +more colour to the golf, and here and there are clumps of bushes that +need consideration. All the time we are close to the bank of the River +Gave, and at length, near to a point where a wild stream plunges into +it, we cross to a spit of land between them and play a few holes there. +They are nice holes. The ground heaves and rolls, and there must be good +calculation and accuracy in approaching. Another stream runs through +this isolated part of the course, and the green of the fourteenth hole +closes to a point where two running waters nearly meet and there is a +rutty road alongside. It is a pretty green, the situation is cunning and +delightful, and that fourteenth hole is one of the best in France. Not a +doubt about it--Pau is very good in parts. But we turn up a note on the +golf in a little guide to Pau, and read: "Owing to the nature of the +soil and their admirable preservation, the links at Pau compare +favourably with the course at St. Andrews, in Scotland, where the +conditions are almost ideal." O, Pau! + + + * * * * * + +Now Pau is one of those places where the golf, excellent and admired, is +not domineering, as one might say. You take it, you enjoy it, and yet +you live in an easy contentment after your game without raving about it. +It is a delightful little of a most happy and contenting whole. That is +because Pau of all places on this planet makes one feel rested, +contented, peacefully, languorously happy, and that is a most blessed +state at which to arrive after a long season's course of tubes and +taxi-cabs, noises and disturbances, crushes and crashes, late nights +and far too early mornings, and, yes--for they also come with the burden +of the Londoner--heavily bunkered five-hundred-yard-holes near our +excellent London town. The air is famous for its sweet soothing +properties. It wraps itself round your tired limbs, it steals into your +nervy senses, and it comforts you. Pau lets you quietly down, rests you, +gives you sleep, stills those jagged nerves that twitched so much in +town. Every one says so, and it is true. One morning I gossiped on the +course with Mr. Charles Hutchings, the wonderful man who won the Amateur +Championship at Hoylake in 1902, and who has known what nerves are +since. He told me he has now been wintering at Pau for the last twenty +years, and it is the only place that is any good to him. "Before I come +to Pau, and even when I am at Biarritz," said he, "my nerves are like +this"--and he slowly passed his right hand up along his left arm from +the hand to the shoulder--"and when I am at Pau they are like this," he +added, and he smoothed the arm back again from the shoulder to the +fingers. It was as if he had been stroking a cat the wrong way and the +right one--that was the idea. Biarritz, so very bracing, certainly makes +you jumpy, and many of us have played far better at Pau than at +Biarritz; in fact, we find that at Pau we can hit the ball as cleanly +and with as much confidence as anywhere. + +That reflection leads us when gazing abstractedly upon those Pyrenees, +which are so good for thought, to consider the effect of climate upon +one's game. Undoubtedly the effect is great, and yet it is neither +appreciated nor properly considered. After working hard for a spell in +town we say we will go for a weekend's golf, and, when we can, we choose +a highly bracing place, because we believe it is good for us and "bucks +us up." But do you remember how often the golf that we play at such +places is so extremely disappointing? The "bucking up" seems to have +failed. Take Deal, for example. There is hardly a course in the world +that I like and admire as much as this; but that strong air of Deal +upsets the game of nearly every man at the beginning. Pau is supposed to +be a little relaxing, but, except for the fact that we do not eat so +much as at Biarritz, we hardly notice it. It soothes us, quietens us +down, reduces our boiler and engine arrangements to low pressure, and +_voila!_ our game comes on, and it does so because the question of +playing well or ill by a man who knows the game is nearly always a +question of the steadiness of his nerves, and there are fine shades of +this steadiness that we do not always realise. That is why we play well +at Pau, and it makes us think sometimes that the relaxing places have +not had full credit for their golfing quality hitherto. + +There is a general conspiracy among all things at Pau to rest and soothe +the tired man. There are the bells. How can they affect the golf? you +ask. See, then. We know of the fame in song of "The Bells of Lynn" and +those of Aberdovey too; but it seems to me that the bells of Pau should +have an equal celebrity. They are excellent. Alongside the hotel at +which I stay at Pau a fine church steeple towers up, and there is in it +a splendid belfry with skilful ringers to use it. Sometimes their +performances wake us before our proper time in the morning, which is the +first effect. Then on some days and nights the ringers practise a kind +of bell music, which holds one spellbound. It begins slowly and quietly +with a few hesitating notes in the bass. Soon there is an answering echo +in the treble, and then it all gradually increases in time and volume +until in three or four minutes a veritable torrent of stormy music is +crashing out from the tower and flinging itself out to the Pyrenees. +And then it is as if the crisis passes, the bell music dies away again, +and at the end there is but the thin little tinkle of a treble bell +sounding lonely in the night. There are other fine belfries in the town; +but, more than that, there are little churches all along the hill that +frames our course on its northern side, and these have good bells as +well, and they all chime the hours and the quarters--and all at +different times! When one set of chiming begins just as you reach the +green, you know that listening for the others will so much distract you +that three or four putts may be needed, while the other man, being very +phlegmatic, is down in two for a win again. There is one of these +churches with its bells which has cost me many holes; its chime for the +quarters is exactly the first four notes of the good old tune, "Home to +Our Mountains." It strikes once for the quarter, twice for the half, +three times for the three-quarters, and four times for the full hour, +and, with the other two quick notes of the line missing, it always seems +incomplete, and always irritates. If I am just about to swing when these +bells begin to chime I see a catastrophe before me. + +If there were no Pyrenees there would be no golf at Pau; I doubt if +there would be Pau. Those glorious hills, beyond which are the castles +and gold of Spain, make an almost matchless view, and they are so +strong, so insistent, that they seem to dominate us in every +consideration. If you should tell me that mountains that are more than +twenty miles away can have nothing to do with the golfer's life and +game, I ask you to go to Pau and be surprised. Those far-away hills give +us rest, and they calm us to those moods of reflection to which, as +golfers, we are so well inclined. From the window of my favourite room +at Pau, I look right out on to the majestic chain, and have the best +view of it that is to be had. Below is the Boulevard des Pyrenees, more +than a mile in length. Beyond there is a valley, and beyond that the +Pyrenees rise up to one long wonderful white-topped line. Looked at in +this way they seem so very near, and yet their nearest point is more +than a dozen miles away, and there are peaks four thousand feet in +height which seem within easy walking range, and yet are distant forty +miles. From one end to the other we look out upon a length of some +thirty miles of these peaks, and indeed the effect is most enchanting. +This is the view that I get at its very best from my little window high +above the boulevard, and it is the view that brings scores of thousands +of pounds of English money to be spent in the winter and the spring at +Pau. It is a view that never palls, for it is never the same. To our +eyes those great Pyrenees are always changing--kaleidoscopic in variety +of shapes and colours. There are mysteries of the light and atmosphere +about them which make for perpetual curiosity and wonderment. In the +morning when we rise our first thought is as to what the Pyrenees will +look like to-day, and gazing out from our little window we see them all +done up afresh in new colours and shapes by Nature. They change as the +hours pass, and then one is curious to know what new surprise the sunset +will have in store. Sometimes in the morning they stand out bold in +black and white, just as if they were plain and simple Pyrenees. In the +middle of the chain two great points of peaks rise up from all the rest, +and they are in the straight line out from the lofty window where I sit. +They are the Grand Pic and the Petit Pic du Midi d'Ossau, and they are +the pet favourites of all of us who gaze out southwards to the range +beyond which the Spaniards dwell. The greater peak curls over a little +at the top towards the lesser one, that seems always to be snuggling up +close to it, and they look to us always to be like a lover hill and his +timid lady. Another morning all these mountains will be of a sapphire +blue. Next day they may be rosy red. But the best effects are those of a +phantom kind. Now and then those Pyrenees seem to have gone away to a +hundred miles beyond, and we see them rather dimly, but still with their +outlines well defined. They look like ghost mountains, and in +imagination we can peer through them to a nothingness beyond. Yet more +curious, there are mornings, fine and bright in Pau, with everything +shining in the sunlight, when there are no Pyrenees at all! There is +that little low range of hills in front, with the chalets and the +chateaux all plainly to be seen, and the light seems as good as ever it +was in southern France; but the Pyrenees, where have they gone? Not a +trace of them is left, and we are lonely, disconsolate. It is as if a +jealous Providence had wrapped them up in the night and carried them off +to another land where their eternal solitude would not be hindered by +the touring man and woman. But they come back again by night, and their +gradual reappearance is a thing for happy contemplation. Yet for the +greater glory and richness of colour the evening sunset effects are the +best of all. Then from the corner at the right the setting sun shines +along the hidden valley between the little hills and mountains beyond, +and it is as if in that unseen place below, millions of fierce lights +had been set burning and shining up the Pyrenees as rows of hidden +electric bulbs are sometimes used to throw a soft, weird glow upon a +ceiling and cause it to be reflected back again beneath. Then the +Pyrenees are as an ethereal vision; their base is like a golden band and +their tops like filmy gossamer, so that these seem to us to be not +mountains of the world at all, but high hills of heaven itself. And away +in the west the sun sets in a burning Indian red, and the thin crescent +of a new moon, with an attendant star, rises in the firmament. It is +this that I look upon from my own crow's nest at Pau when my tramping of +the day is done. + + + * * * * * + +One day at Pau a voice was raised in our little party and it said, "Let +us get up closer to those splendid Pyrenees"; but another said, "Where +should we get our golf?" It was answered that there was golf everywhere, +and there must be some right alongside those white-capped peaks. +Argeles! We remembered. It was advertised and well recommended as a good +course, "open all the year round," and laid in the most delightful +situation, the Pyrenees going up from its very edge. The prospect +sounded well. We decided at night that on the morrow we would proceed +with our bags of clubs to Argeles, and the porter at our hotel gave full +directions for getting there, which made it seem a very simple business. +It appeared that it was about thirty miles from Pau to Lourdes, and with +the journey two-thirds done we were to change trains there. But, short +as the distance was, it was to take us two hours. Our train would start +at twenty minutes to nine in the morning. The match of the day, with +four golfers implicated, was accordingly made overnight, and +anticipation of the joys of Argeles became keen. All this was well, but +when three of us had slept and were mightily refreshed, certain hitches +and accidents began to happen. The fourth party to our contract still +slumbered heavily at a quarter-past eight, and being then reminded, by +sundry taps, of the prevailing circumstances, he muttered indistinctly +that he was not to be tempted from his situation by the opportunity of +playing two rounds on any course in Paradise. So we left him snoring, +piglike, there, and we were only three. + +We got to Lourdes and descended from the train. Troubles arose +forthwith. The station-master blandly observed, and as it seemed with a +hardly hidden smile (how is it that non-golfers of all classes always do +seem to be made happy upon the contemplation of a golfer being suddenly +robbed of his game?), that there was no train from there to Argeles +until the afternoon, the service which the hotel porter had in mind not +beginning until three days later. By the same token the return train +which we reckoned on was non-existent, and he expressed doubts about our +sleeping that night at Pau if we persisted in what he could not help +regarding as a very mad enterprise born of too much enthusiasm. We +thanked him, and went out into the streets of Lourdes to see what could +be done. Truly, we were only ten miles from Argeles, even if the road +was through the mountains. And it was a fine day. + +Suddenly, and as it seemed from nowhere, up came carriages from all +parts of the compass, each drawn by a pair of horses, the coachmen all +loudly soliciting the favour of driving us to Argeles, which they +explained was fifteen miles away--a deliberate exaggeration. The first +man to whip up to us asked for twenty francs for the single journey, and +the others were amazed at his impudence. Another offered to take us for +fifteen, and a third cabby came down at once to twelve. Then they all +did so, and the market seemed to settle at that price, a great gathering +of coachmen surrounding us and expatiating on the superior merits of +their various horses and the comfort of their vehicles. It was a great +spectacle, this golfers' carriage market at Lourdes! At last the first +man to make an offer to us, suddenly, in a mood of desperation, came +down to ten francs, and we closed with him, not so much because of the +saving of an odd franc or two, but because his pair of bays certainly +did seem to have more fast trotting in them than any of the others. It +was such a glorious journey down the valley of Argeles as golfers seldom +make, huge, rocky, snow-capped mountains rising up from either side of +the winding road. Leaving Lourdes there were two high hills on the left, +one surmounted with a single cross and the other with three crosses of +"Calvary" standing out clearly against the sky. Then, later, from the +bottom of the valley a stumpy hill suddenly rose up in the middle, an +old keep of mediaeval times on the top of it, and after that the great +peak of the Viscos, with the pass to Gavernie on one side of it and that +to Cauterets on the other were presented. Soon afterwards we rattled +down the little main street of Argeles, and lunched at the chief hotel. +There was then a ten minutes' drive to the course, and our coachman--a +local fellow, and not the one who drove us from Lourdes--stopped at +various cottages on the way and shouted out inquiries as to whether +Adolphe or Marie or Jeanne was at home. He was getting caddies for us, +as he explained there would be none otherwise. Eventually from different +places we picked up three--two little girls and a boy--who hung on to +the back of the vehicle and proceeded with us to the appointed place. +The course has great possibilities, but as yet they are thinly +developed. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE GAME IN ITALY, AND THE QUALITY OF THE COURSE AT ROME, WITH A SHORT +CONSIDERATION OF THE VALUE OF STYLE. + + +The other day, when we sat on the deck of a little steamer plying on the +lake of Como, contented in warm spring sunshine with a sublime panorama +of blue water and white-topped Alps, I was led to recall some of the few +remarks which a shrewd and pungent commentator on life and men, the late +Henry Labouchere, had made about our game, and, as he was not himself a +golfer, and not the most tolerant of men despite his certain breadth of +mind, it may be guessed that they were not complimentary to the game. We +had left Varenna, and the little ship was paying its dutiful respects to +Bellagio and Menaggio and such like places of an Italian fairyland. +Hereabouts, as I remembered, Mr. Labouchere had lived in the proper +season, and it came about some seven years back that a golf course--and +a nice course too--was established near by, and the local hotel-keeper, +in proper enterprise, ran a conveyance each day regularly at a certain +time from his door to the club-house. Radical as he was--if he really +was--Mr. Labouchere disliked this disturbance of the old peace and +harmony of his lakeland retreat, and affected to see something vulgar in +it. This wit and cynic, who once, answering an inquiry, said that he +liked a certain lady of his acquaintance well enough but would not mind +if she dropped down dead in front of him on the carpet, certainly wished +that golf had never grown into the human scheme of things, and he +complained loudly of its invasion here. He suggested that Italy was now +passing to the dogs. Had he lived a little longer he would surely have +played at Menaggio, and we could have assured him then that golf in +Italy was long before his time, and would certainly be of good help to +the country for long after. It is one of the curious facts of golfing +history that the game was played in Italy before any golf club, except +one, was definitely established in Scotland, the only exception being +the Edinburgh Burgess Golfing Society, and lo! it was played there by a +Scot, and a Scot so good as the bonnie Prince Charlie himself. When I +first went to the Villa Borghese in Rome, I remembered, on approaching +it through the park, that when Lord Elcho went there in 1738 he found +the Prince playing in the gardens. Many courses now exist in different +parts of this beautiful Italy, and the country has begun to take its +place in the great forward movement in European golf. It has begun +slowly; but now, as I have seen it, does really advance. + + + * * * * * + +A little fable is quickly told. A wise father had sent his son, for the +good of his mind, to Rome, and when the boy returned he asked him what +he thought of the city that is called eternal. Harold then answered, "I +think, sir, that the lies at Rome are very good." Do not judge Harold +harshly upon this answer, as you may be inclined to do. He might have +come to know less of Rome had he not discovered that the lies on the +Campagna were so good, and that the legions of mighty Caesar which were +exercised there had left no enduring marks of their galloping behind +them. He might not have gained so many good Roman friends to tell him +helpfully of the wonders of the city. And if golf is a little thing, and +the contemplation of Rome is so enthralling, yet, be it murmured, the +golf of Rome is one of the wonders of the golfing world. I have found it +so. As it was to me, so it will prove a revelation to all golfers who go +to Rome and have as yet no knowledge of the course that is there. For +the full-bodied character of the holes, caused by natural land +formations, and for their variety and interest, I do not hesitate to say +that there is no course on the continent of Europe which is better, and +I support this statement with another, that while I can hardly recall +any hole where a bad shot will go unpunished or a good one without +reward, yet in the whole round there is not a single artificial bunker. +Nature has seen to all the tests and difficulties. Of what other course +can this be said? Golf at Rome was begun in 1898, and ever since then +there have been some fine golfing men working to what they were sure +would be a successful end, chief among them being Mr. R. C. R. Young, +who in the capacity of honorary secretary has been largely responsible +for the general management of the club. Lately the round has been +extended from nine holes to eighteen, Mr. Young and Doig, the +professional, having done the planning of the new holes, and with this +the golf of Rome enters upon a new era. The club flourishes, the golfing +community, partly Roman, partly British, and partly American, is +zealous, and the people there have come to believe that even the most +serious, studious, and high-minded folk who go to Rome to steep +themselves in living history of the past need for their refreshment some +antidote to ruins. "St. Peter's, and the Colosseum, the Forum and the +baths of Caracalla," said one of them to me, "will bring the foreigners +to Rome, but only golf will keep them there!" Count this for weakness +in man, and for his utter modernity if you like; but it is the truth. +Consequently the golf of Rome is entering upon a new forward movement. I +think that when the public in distant places comes to realise that the +golf of Rome is half as good as it really is, thousands and thousands +more will go to Rome than do so now, to play upon the Campagna, and +during the time to gather to their souls a scent of the glory of the +ancient mistress of the world. I have a vision of Rome becoming a +headquarters of continental golf in the near future. + +On a morning after some days among the ruins--such a glorious morning, +with the Italian sun burning gold amid a heavenly blue--two noble Romans +came in their chariot for a barbarian wanderer at his hotel at half-past +nine. They were not real Romans, but Augustus could have played their +part of host no better, and a forty-horse-power car moved us towards the +Campagna more speedily than the best of chariots. Away we went by the +foot of the Equilinus, down the Via Emanuele Filiberto, through the gate +of St. John Lateran in the Aurelian wall, and then straight on. In a few +minutes we were at Acqua Santa and inside the club-house. Of all the +club-houses in the world, this is surely one of the most curious and +interesting. It is an old farm-house, skilfully adapted to its purpose, +and we shall be sorry if in the course of time and a grand extension of +the golf at Rome it is given up for anything more palatial and +conventional. Here in an upper room we take the necessary nourishment in +a simple way, and among other liquid refreshments there is the real +_acqua santa_ itself, a pleasantly bitter and quite delicious water that +is drawn from a spring by a farm-house at a corner of the course. In +days gone by the water was considered, perhaps not without good reason, +to have splendid curative properties, and popes of Rome came to it and +blessed it accordingly. I believe that one of them derived some healing +benefit from it. And now, as we think of popes and cardinals, we recall +that one of the latter, Cardinal Merry del Val, had some kind of a +course in his private grounds, and so far he has been the only cardinal +golfer. Once before he died a scheme was afoot for a visit by him to the +course at Acqua Santa. In a good and sensible and honest way the golf +club of Rome is already a considerable social centre. Perhaps some day +the King of Italy--already patron of the club--will join himself to the +majority of kings and become a golfer too. A leading member of the +famous historical family of Colonna, Don Prospero Colonna, is president, +and a number of the most eminent people of Rome are among the members. +Princes and princesses, counts and countesses, ambassadors of nearly all +countries, and American millionaires may be found playing the game +regularly at Acqua Santa. The keenest golfer of them all is Dr. Wayman +Cushman, who is handicapped at plus 4, an American who spends half his +year in Maine and the other half in Rome, where he plays golf nearly +every day. The Americans are strong in the golf of Rome, and some of the +young Italians are showing excellent form. There is one of them, Don +Francesca Ruspoli, educated in England and son of a Roman father and +American mother, of whom great golfing things are expected. + +Really this is an excellent course; but the full merit of it will hardly +be appreciated in the first round or the second, for the wonderful views +and the special points of interest in them will constantly interfere +with concentration on the strokes and thought upon the scheme for +reaching the putting green. Standing upon the first teeing ground and +pondering for a moment upon the carry to be made across the little +valley in front, the panorama begins at once to suggest its superior +claims. Leftwards are the Apennines, opalescent in the morning mist, +capped with snow upon their peaks. There are the Alban Hills, where the +shepherds were born who followed Romulus on the Palatine, and at the end +of the range is Monte Cavo, on the top of which are the ruins of the +temple of the god of the Latin races, living in the Latium, the ground +between the mountains and the sea. On the wine-yielding bosom of these +shining hills there lies sparkling white in the morning sun the village +of Frascati. There are the Sabine Hills with Tivoli, and away in another +direction there is Mount Soracte, well said to look out there like a +wave in a stormy sea. Up into our middle distance on the left-hand side, +on the fringe of the course, are the splendid ruins of the Claudian +aqueduct which stretch right across the Campagna, one lonely pile coming +close up to our sixteenth green alongside which the Via Appia Nuova +stretches, with two famous umbrella pines helping on the scene. + +There is so much for a beginning, and more views press upon us as we +advance along the course. The play is opened with a good hole of drive +and iron length, the second brings us back again with a drive and a +pitch, and then away we go to the left with one of the cunningest +seconds to be played across twin streams, making this third hole of Rome +one of the most exacting in the way of approach that is to be found in +Italy or even in the whole of Europe. When we come to the sixth we play +up to the summit of a high tableland, and as we ascend the hill we pluck +from the turf some of the freshest, prettiest crocuses that have ever +grown, the course being as nearly thick with them in March as North +Berwick is with daisies in the month of May. And from these heights what +a view again over towards the city of Rome! Out along that way there is +the tomb of Cecilia Metella, Crassus' wife, and away on the boundary +there is the church of St. John Lateran and the great dome of St. +Peter's. If golf is a royal and ancient game, here is a setting for it. +Near to the eighth hole we turned aside to the ruins of an ancient Roman +villa, and Santino, my little Italian caddie, with finger excavation, +gathered some morsels of polished marble which may have touched the feet +of Roman ladies in those great days of old. The line of the tenth comes +close to one of those deep-cut streams that flow to feed the hungry +Tiber, and in some ways this hole reminds us of the fourth at Prestwick +where the Pow Burn insinuates itself close to the golfer's way. At our +backs when we stand on the eleventh tee is a cave that might serve for +robbers but which really makes an excellent shelter, and it was related +that a few weeks before my time in Rome three ambassadors, being the +British, the American, and the Austrian, were seen to sit in there and +shelter. And who then shall say that, if "only a game," golf has no +possibilities and powers in such high crafts as diplomacy? The twelfth +is an excellent hole, and so are they all. The sixteenth takes us +winding round a big bend between a hill and a stream and then faces us +full to the putting green, which has the Claudian ruins for a +background. The play concludes with a seventeenth which has a putting +green very shrewdly placed, and an eighteenth where the second shot is +played through a little valley, these ending holes abounding in golfing +beauty and character. + +There is to be said of this course, and in the most sober and +well-considered judgment by one who has seen golf in many lands, that +there is scarcely an inland course anywhere that seems more naturally +adapted to the game. Each hole has strong character of its own; I could +remember them all after but a single round. Some time soon they will +make an attempt at Acqua Santa to carry their putting greens on from one +season to the next, and then they will get a thickness and trueness and +quality that greens can gain in no other way. The golfers of Rome are +keen, and they have energy and enterprise. A great future awaits this +club and course, and I believe that when more money is spent on it, as +will be soon, it will be in nearly every thinkable way the most +attractive course on the Continent. The mood that gathers about one when +in Rome tends to taking the game rather more seriously and thoughtfully +than at the Mediterranean resorts; it becomes a real recreation, the +refreshing change. The club's nearness and convenience to the city are +very good. It is but a few minutes' journey by either train or tram from +the heart of Rome to the club-house, near which there is a special +golfers' railway station. + + + * * * * * + +A Franciscan friar was the first to point out to me the situation of the +nine holes of Florence--nine plain fair holes, though they have nothing +of architectural beauty in them, not a trace of feeling, nothing of the +mediaeval glow of spirit that separates this city from all others in the +world, hardly a touch of imagination in their two or three thousand +yards. Yet they serve their modern purpose well. For six days and six +nights the rain had poured down upon the dripping Firenze from +inexhaustible clouds; the saucer in which the city is laid emptied its +floods into the Arno until, dirtier and more turbulent than usual, the +big stream tumbled itself violently through the bridges. We wandered +through the Uffizi Galleries and the Pitti Palace and the Bargello of +courtyard fame. There is nothing in the world like sweet Florence, and +it is a hopeless soul that feels no spark of artistic fire crackle for +at least one inspiring moment when the glories of this city that was +born and lived to the human expression of beauty are contemplated. But +an incessant rain provokes a bold defiance; there almost seemed to be a +weakness in such constant shelter, and I remembered a suggestion that +was sent to me from a far distance--"Go up to Fiesole if you can." So in +the car I went to Fiesole. We went out of the town and by San Gervasio, +and wound past San Domenico, and twisted our way up the hill until, with +five miles done, or it may have been a little more, the old Etruscan +town, with the fragment of an ancient wall, was reached. At the very +summit, where once a Roman castle stood, there is the Franciscan +monastery. A brother in his umbrian gown looked meditatively outwards +from the porch, and he was gracious and friendly when I told him I would +like to go inside. From a loggia within we looked out upon one of the +finest panoramic views of its kind. The rain had ceased. Grass was seen +upon the Etruscan hills, tentacles of the Apennines came clear again +through dissolving mists, and a golden light flamed up in the western +sky. And in its peaceful hollow there lay Florence, the palace of art, a +mediaeval jewel glistening there like a mosaic in white and terra cotta, +with its great duomo in many-coloured marbles lording it over the +lowlier piles. Florence! Sweeping the valley with a glance, the monk +turned towards the north-east and, leaning upon a wall, he pointed with +his right hand and said, "Pisa!" Over there was the city of the leaning +tower and the baptistery with the amazing echo. But in the nearer +distance there was a square patch of vivid green, and I traced its +situation along there by the course of the Arno, by the Cascine, and +other landmarks, and made nearly sure of what it was. The thought was +incongruous at the time, nearly inexcusable, but yet there is little in +golf that is vulgar after all, and it could not be denied that there was +the golf course out that way. By some careful questions I gained +confirmation from the friar. I told him I looked for a place, a special +place, whose locality I described precisely. And he held out his hand +again. The golf course was nearly in the line of Pisa. + +While so many things in Florence are four or five hundred years old at +least, the golf course is only fifteen. Still, fifteen years makes a +good maturity in these times, and Italy, if its courses are few, has +some distinctions among them. Many continental courses depend for their +attraction on their setting. Those of Florence and Rome have the most +perfect setting conceivable, but while the course of Rome could live on +its merits had there been no Rome, the course of Florence never could. +Yet the city helps it out, and, though poor be the holes, here we have +indeed one of the most enthusiastic little golf communities one might +ever wish to mix among. The club is captained by Mr. J. W. Spalding, +head of the great athletic business firm, who has ceased to live in +America and lives now wholly in Florence, which he would hardly do were +it not for this golf course, on which he plays nearly every day. Mr. +Spalding is a fine example of the keen and determined golfer. A few +years ago, in a terrible motor-car smash in Italy, he lost completely +the sight of one eye. As soon as the surgeons and the doctors let him +loose again he hurried to his favourite course at Florence and--think of +it!--at once he won the scratch gold medal. He is a scratch man now, and +plays as well as ever. + +These and many other things I learned on the day after the monk had +pointed out to me the direction of the nine holes of Florence, when I +went along to San Donato to make a closer view of them, to drive and +putt at them. The golfers of Florence are a good company, managed with +zeal by Signor Mavrogordato, in the capacity of honorary secretary. They +are as keen and interested in their game as if they were at Sandwich, +and they have a miniature club-house situated on a spot of land that has +a cemented water-filled moat all round it, those who would enter having +to pass over a little rustic bridge. The holes are plain with artificial +cross bunkers, and the architecture is of what might be called the low +Victorian school. One of the features of the course is a couple of tall +trees that stand up in the middle with thin straight trunks parallel to +each other, looking for all the world like Rugby football goal-posts. +One great advantage that this course has is that it is splendidly +convenient to the city. Take a tram-car No. 17 labelled "Cascine" from +one particular corner of the cathedral square, say "Golf" to the +conductor, pay him a penny for the fare, and the rest is inevitable. In +a quarter of an hour you will be deposited at a junction in the roads by +the barrier of Ponte alle Mosse, and two minutes' walk from there takes +you to the iron gates which give admission to the course. + + + * * * * * + +There is the beautiful bay at Naples, and Pompeii, and a short voyage on +the steamboat to the sweet isle of Capri; but golf has not yet come to +Naples, though it will do so soon. When we travelled down there from +Rome we were aboard a train that was taken by many of the Naples members +of the Italian Parliament who were going home for the week-end--the +"deputies' train" they often call that six o'clock from Rome. They had +been having a fearful week of it, wrangling about their recent Libyan +war and the cost of it, and their nerves were in rather a jagged state. +I fell into conversation with one of them, and he said that he wished +he were a golfer, as from all that he had heard and understood it was +the real and only thing for the soothing of a deputy after such +scrimmaging and scratching as they had been having in the Chamber that +weary week. He asked questions about our Parliamentary golfers, and was +informed about Mr. Balfour, Mr. Asquith, Mr. Lloyd George, and all the +others. I told this honourable member for Naples that nearly all our +Parliamentarians played the greatest game of all, and that the Mother of +Parliaments was all the better for it. He was impressed. He said there +should be golf at Naples by the time I went there again--even if it was +set there for the benefit of the tired members only! + +Above all things, Venice is a place for reflection, and when we are +there we think of all things we have seen and done in Italy, and shape +exactly the impressions that have been made. One time there were two or +three of us in a gondola. The crescent of a seven days' moon hung among +the stars in the Venetian night. The gentle regular plash that was made +by Giovanni Cerchieri, our gondolier (and be it said that his gondola is +the blackest and smartest and most finely dignified of all that glide on +the Grand Canal), as he swung backwards and forwards to his work behind +us, with a sigh or a murmur that might have swollen to a real boat-song +had we encouraged it, was nearly the only sound on the still waters. And +in this Venetian night, an hour after the coffee, we were in the mood of +men who feel that they are soon to return to the cold hard facts of +life. The rest of Venice might go to glory; we, soothed amid such ease +and comfort as might have satisfied a doge, turned our thoughts to the +links of home. There was nothing incongruous in the association of ideas +and facts. Venice we found to be splendid for meditation, and any place +with such a quality, like the top of a mountain, or the side of a +purling stream, is a fine one for golfing consideration and conjecture. +One man would talk of art, of pictures, and of sculpture; another would +stupidly keep to golf. And then a compromise was suggested, when it was +said that a question had once been asked as to whether there was such a +thing as style in golf! + +Any thoughtful player who ever had any doubt upon this matter--but, of +course, no thoughtful player ever could--would have it dispelled if he +went to Italy even though he never played a game, did not take his +clubs, and never saw a golf course there. It were indeed better for his +education in this matter that he should not play when on Italian ground, +for one would not expect to find on the courses there the best examples +of golfing style. The fact of style in golf would come home to him when +he wandered through the galleries and looked upon all the magnificent +sculptures that are among the matchless treasures of the country, though +there is no study of a golfing swing among them. I do not see how any +player of the game who is thoughtful and contemplative can go to Italy +and fail to be enormously impressed with the lessons that are silently +delivered from the sculpture in the galleries and museums of Rome, +Florence, and other cities. In hundreds of pieces here we see the +suggestion of beauty put forward in every movement and exercise of the +human body, and particularly when the frame is being brought to some +considerable physical effort, when the limbs are being placed upon the +strain, are grace and rhythm and style exhibited to us, and with them +there is the suggestion always of the extreme of power. There is +indicated the close relationship between exact and graceful poise, +perfect balance, and supreme controlled and concentrated force. The very +utmost efficiency is always suggested in all this artistic balance. As +the art is better and more appealing, so the suggestion of power is +increased and the marble almost seems to break with life. + +Considered in this way, what a fine thing is the "David" of Bernini in +the Borghese Gallery! But for our golfing suggestion some of the +discobolus models serve us better. Without ever having attempted to +throw a discus, one may very well understand that success at such an +exercise depends almost wholly upon perfect balance and accurate +concentration of force and true rhythmical movement, and in the models +in the Vatican and the National Museums in Rome and elsewhere we see how +it might be done. The discobolus of Myron, reconstructed as it has been, +and with the head made to face in the wrong direction, so they say, is a +magnificent thing. In the National Gallery of Rome they have made a +reconstruction from a fragment of another, and they have made the figure +to look sideways and half upwards to the discus held at arm's length +behind him ready for the throw, whereas in the Myron the face is to the +front and the eyes are down. (Though one may know nothing at all about +the ways in which the discs were really thrown, or what is the best way +to throw them, one is hardly convinced of the desirability of disturbing +the head in the back-swing of the arm and letting the eyes follow the +object in the hand. Surely concentration would be impeded and balance +suffer.) But in these images we see the intensity of the relation +between style and power, and we realise that if there were no style in +golf there ought to be, and the next moment, that of all modern games +golf is a game of style and nothing else. Perhaps you may play it +without style, but then it is not the same thing, and it can never be so +thoroughly effective and precise. Unconsciously, perhaps, James Braid +had style in his mind when he said that at the top of the swing the +golfer should feel like a spring coiled up to its fullest tension, +straining for the release. That is just what the discobolus suggests, +and the golfer gets the fullest enjoyment from the game, the supreme +physical thrills, when he feels this high tension for a moment and then +its even, smooth, and quick escape, and he cannot feel it so when he has +no style and all his movements and positions have not been made in +perfect harmony. Some may say that the actions of the discobolus were +probably not so very fine as the sculptors have made them out to be, and +that much of the shape is merely artist's fancy, but probably they are +fairly true to life. If they are not, one cannot contemplate them for +more than a few moments without feeling that life ought to be true to +them. The golfer in the suggestion of grace and power, as in the models +that have been cut of Harry Vardon at the top and end of his driving +swing, reaches some way towards the discobolus. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE AWAKENING OF SPAIN, AND SOME MARVELLOUS GOLFING ENTERPRISE IN +MADRID, WITH A STATEMENT OF GOLFERS' DISCOVERIES. + + +"When we were in Madrid----" I have sometimes begun in conversation, and +then invariably from one or more in the company there has been a quick +interruption with--"But there can be no golf in Madrid! You do not go to +Spain for golf!" But one who knows may answer that there is as good +reason to go there for it as to most other places out of Britain, that +in different parts of Spain there is fair golf to be had, that in Madrid +there is a new course which is excellent and embraces some of the +prettiest holes we would ever wish to play after passing by the +Pyrenees, and that I have found there Spanish gentlemen to play with who +have been among the happiest and most agreeable companions and opponents +I have encountered. In a reflection upon my own experiences I dare to +say that I would recommend a doubtful stranger to go to Spain only if he +is a golfer, for by the agency of the game will the life and facts of +the country be best presented to him, and mysteries be explained. The +magic passport of golf is indispensable in all such circumstances. The +truth is that it was golf that led me to Spain on my second visit to the +country, and I had then one of the most interesting and instructive +holidays I have had in my travelling life, during which I had the +opportunity of seeing something of the inside of Spanish life and +government, of discovering truth about the forces that work in the +regeneration of this old country, for really an awakening is taking +place, and one dares to say the firm establishment of golf is a symbol +of it. I had some interesting conversations with the Count Romanones, +who was then the Prime Minister, with his brother, who is the Duke of +Tovar, a man of broad sympathies who takes a leading part in many social +movements of high importance in Madrid, and with other persons of much +importance. These talks, with the open sight of all that was passing in +Madrid, made a deep impression. + +"You are a golfer, and we of Spain may give you some good golf to play!" +said the Prime Minister cordially when by invitation I called upon him +at his palace in the Paseo de la Castellana. He is a man of forcible +appearance and manner. The face is thin, and its lines of character are +strong--cold and strong. The aquiline features have something of +Spanish--no Italian--fierceness about them, and the Count makes a +piercing look which is considered discomforting to nervous strangers. +But he is a very attractive companion in talk; his verve, his vivacity +are wonderful. When discussing a subject in which he is interested his +whole being becomes aflame; eyes sparkle and features quiver; he beats +his fingers in the palms of his hands; he leans over towards you and +gesticulates like an artist in enthusiasm. A man of hot nervous energy, +one of keen purpose and determination is this statesman of Spain. He +suggested that the new sports of his country were symbolic of her great +awakening, of which he said he would talk to me that I might tell others +what Spain is now and what she would be. "Europe does not understand my +country," he remarked, "True, there has been little occasion to +understand her. But a change occurs. Spain at this moment is passing +through a most remarkable process of transition. You are right in a +suggestion you have made to me; unsuccessful wars do not cause +interminable loss and disasters. The war with the United States was not +all bad for Spain. We may have lost Cuba, but the development that has +taken place since then in our country at home, in its agriculture and +its mining, and again in its healthy natural feeling, has been enormous, +and is a good substitute for many islands." And then he went on in a +deeply interesting conversation to tell me of the great awakening of +Spain indicated in many different ways, and of all her political, +social, and other ambitions. + +The Duke of Tovar, who is also coming to take an interest in the golf of +Spain, smoked his cigar on a divan in his palace, and a Moorish boy +brought coffee to us. The Duke travels much, and brings things and +people back with him. I see that he has been an ambassador-extraordinary +to the Pope of Rome and has received the most gracious papal thanks. A +little of a statesman, he is much of an artist, and a marble bust of +Alfonso _rex_, his own sculpture, casts a shadow beside us. In +innumerable ways this Spanish nobleman associates himself with the life +of the people, goes among them, attends their meetings, and he began +telling me that one of the secrets of the new Spain was the important +fact of the nobles taking to business, becoming the promoters and +managers of industrial companies, as they were. He told me of dukes who +were doing things. One of the new movements, in which he has assisted to +his utmost and thoroughly believes in, is the boy scout movement, which +has caught on like wildfire in Madrid. Three thousand Spanish boys were +enrolled within a few weeks of the establishment of the system in the +city, and the Duke became a president of a section. All class +distinctions are avoided in this matter. "My son is going with the son +of the porter," said the Duke of Tovar. And he most certainly believed +in golf for the people, and would tell me stories of its beginning and +its development. + +As to Madrid, never was such a quick transformation accomplished in any +city of the world, save when 'Frisco perished and was made again, as is +being done here in the city on the plateau of Castile. The Spaniards +having decided on the regeneration of their country and on persuading +foreigners to come to it, have determined they must have a capital +befitting a first-class power. The result is that Madrid is being torn +to pieces and rebuilt. Everywhere there is a fever of building raging. +Think of it: but three years ago and there was not a single first-class +hotel in Madrid; now there are two fine ones. The Alcala, where the +Madrilenos stroll and mount up the hill to the Puerta del Sol, the great +bare square where the idlers lounge, where the bull-fighting papers are +sold, where there are many offices for the sale of lottery tickets, +where there are cafes and yellow tramcars (run by Belgian companies, if +you please!) and much life but no gaiety until very late at night, is +soon to be deposed from being chief street of Madrid, for they are +making a new ideal street, very wide and one mile long, which is cut +straight through the heart of the city and is to be called the Gran Via +when it is done. Millions and millions of pesetas' worth of property +have been demolished to allow for the straightness of this street, which +is to ask for comparison with a part of the Fifth Avenue across the +water. Thirty-seven millions of pesetas were lately voted by the +Municipal Council for the removal of the cobble stones of Madrid, their +places to be taken by asphalte and wood. The cobbles of Madrid are +picturesque; they make good harmony with those antique watchmen who seem +to have been reincarnated from our own eighteenth-century London, +walking the slumberous streets at night, lanterns in their hands and +jangling bunches of giant keys suspended from their girdles, their +business being to open the outside doors of blocks of flats for +late-returning occupiers who in an unthinking languorous way of Spain +would carry no keys, but leave the affair of their homecoming to the +fortune of the night, the vigilance of the watchman, and the blessing of +Providence. But the cobbles are not convenient. They are seldom +repaired, and even in such a spacious public place as the Prado, which +is a kind of Hyde Park Corner, there are sometimes deep holes which fill +with water when it rains and make such pools as ducks might like and +dogs would drink, but which take a leg of mine some way upwards to the +knee when the night is dark. There was an old Madrid of which trills of +love and passion have been sung. Fevered lovers sang to ladies whose +lips were red, and whose skin was dark, as their hearts were +gay--voluptuous women. Guitars and flowers; blood and life. That Madrid +has nearly passed away. A few steep and narrow streets and some dirty +open spaces, with little of the delicate charm of age to recommend them, +are most of what is left of it in a quarter near to the royal palace. +The city of later times, the Madrid of to-day, is already and quickly +giving way to a third Madrid which will soon be made. + +In this that I have written I may seem to neglect my theme, and yet the +state of Spain does most closely concern the strange case of golf in the +country. Here is an answer to interrupters who are quick to say that one +does not go to Madrid for golf. When Spain was all romance and colour, +all dirt and laziness, it was no place for games like this. Bicycles +were not popular then because they had to be pedalled ceaselessly, or +the riders would fall: they, being as symbols of action, did not permit +of lounging or a little slumber. In the days of the first and second +Madrids, athletics could not be contemplated; the corrida was supreme +and solitary for Spanish "sport." Now there is an athletic movement. +There are many football clubs; there is a national cup competition and +the King has given the cup. Still the corrida flourishes, but it is +threatened. In the new movement for the third Madrid there are social +clubs such as we have in London. There is an inclination for strong, +healthy sport, and the King encourages it with all his royal might and +influence. Don Alfonso has been the good leader of the royal game in +Spain. The main point is that golf in these days is a token of a +healthier disposition and a new progress, and it is a strong influence +upon character. In the old Spain such a sport as this was quite +impossible; now it grows, and, to me as one who has considered the birth +and rise of golf in many countries, the case of Spain is deeply +interesting. When I went there I remembered what some of the thoughtful +and candid Americans had said about this game exerting a needed and +subtle influence upon their own national character. It is such +influences that are needed in Spain, and I shall go again among the +Madrilenos to see this one in the working. Already they have courses, +nice and tolerable, in Barcelona, Bilbao, and many other provincial +places. When I went to San Sebastian, one of the most beautiful and +fully equipped seaside resorts in the whole world, the municipal +authorities assured me that they felt a fear that the bull-fights were +becoming a doubtful attraction to foreign visitors, and they were giving +their attention to the establishment of a municipal golf course. It +will be the first municipal golf course on the continent of Europe. + + + * * * * * + +Let me plunge to my revelation and state that Madrid, in New Castile, +land of the toreador, country where so much of the Middle Ages does yet +survive, where games till lately have been almost unknown, this Madrid +comes now to be possessed of such a first-class course as might be the +envy of many a British seaside resort. While I lingered in the city +Senor Fabricio de Potestad, one of the most active members of the +general committee of the Madrid Golf Club, and of its green committee +too, was a kind counsellor and guide. Just as might happen at home, +while at breakfast at the Ritz there came to me notice that the car was +waiting. Senor de Potestad, his clubs and mine inside the car, had the +golfer's expectancy upon a genial Spanish countenance, rubbed hands, and +declared it was a fine day for the game. We sped away from the Prado, +and considered handicaps and odds as golfers must. But first we went for +object lessons in the progress of Spanish golf. Three or four miles out +we reached the hippodrome where some nine years back the game was born. +Don Alfonso had been learning golf in England; he had striven with it in +a left-handed way while he wooed a British princess in the Isle of +Wight, and he gave a Spanish decoration then to the professional who +showed him how to hold his hands and where to put his feet. Then nine +simple stupid little holes were laid out in this hippodrome, and there +they still remain as relics of the earliest age in the golf history of +this country, the uncultured time when the ball was missed, the days +when a hole in nine might have been considered good and a seven enough +to make the soul of a great grandee quiver with a new found joy. Three +Spaniards stood forward with the King as the pioneers of Spanish golf, +and still they are among its leaders. There was a great sportsman, the +Duke of Alva, president of the club; there was the Marquis de Santa +Cruz, and there was the Senor Pedro Caro, perhaps the only Spanish +golfer of early times besides Don Alfonso himself who learned his +strokes and swings in England, where he was schooled, and who with the +Count de la Cimera and the Count Cuevas de Vera, cousin of my guide, is +one of the three best players of Spain. Two of them are Spanish scratch, +and the Count de la Cimera lately achieved the distinction of being the +first of his land to rise to the eminence of plus one. Thus you may +perceive that the golf of Spain is helped by the best people, and that +is not because it is fashionable, and it is not only because the King +has shown a liking for it, but because the Spaniards have found in it a +quick fascination, an awakening pastime, such a strong diversion from +the often heavy life of their country as they had not imagined. Had you +seen, as I did, the Duke of Aliaga bunkered one afternoon before a high +steep cliff in front of the eighteenth green on the second oldest course +of Madrid; had you seen him pensive as he felt the extraneous sorrows of +a Spanish nobleman of riches and high station; had you seen the gleam of +gladness in two Spanish eyes when the ball was heaved somehow to the top +in one (the gods may know how he managed it; but we said to him that it +was a splendid shot, and I do believe it was!) you would not doubt that +golf was meant for Spain as these people declare it was--"the thing of +all others that we needed," so they say. + +This second oldest course, the "old course" as they begin to call it +now, marks the transition period of Spanish golf. It is not the +primeval course of the hippodrome, but one which was made in 1907 at a +place apart and a little farther along the road. The land is worth a +million and three-quarters of pesetas now when Madrid has become so much +bigger than it was, and the course falls within the city zone; and as +the players became educated they yearned for something better, and they +moved again. But fond memories will cling for long enough to this old +course of Spain; with a little help from fancy one may look upon it even +now as a kind of old Blackheath of Spanish golf. There is a small +club-house with dining-room, dressing-rooms and all complete, in quite +the English way, on a spot of rising ground, and from the verandah we +may look over a part of the course, with a short hole to begin with and +some curious bunkering here and there, with a highly modern attempt to +adopt the system of humps-and-hollows bunkering that has been so well +established on inland courses at home. Somehow one gathers the +impression that the Spaniards have been striving all the time towards +some kind of indistinct ideal, realising that the sport they had +discovered was a great one and trying to improve their practice of it. +And I recall that it was J. H. Taylor, the old designer, the old +constructor, the quintuple champion, who was pioneer in the planning of +courses in Madrid, and he laid out this one of eighteen holes very well +for the early Spanish golfers. + +One of the curiosities of the course is the putting green at the +eleventh hole, which is quite round and is surrounded by an evenly +shaped earthen rampart. On seeing it for the first time the average +Englishman observes to the Spaniard who is with him, "How like a +bull-ring!" The remark is justifiable and it seems appropriate; but the +Spanish gentleman has heard it many times. Playing the bull-ring hole is +a satisfying experience, most exceedingly contenting. We play what we +shall consider a perfect approach shot to our Plaza de Toros hole. The +ball is pitched into the ring just over the near side of the barricade. +A big bound and it is by the hole side, a smaller skip and it is away to +the other side of the circle, and then there is one nervous little jump +up towards that enclosing height. The perplexed ball seems in our fancy +to claw up the steep slope, which is about four or five feet high; it +nearly reaches the top. We, the player, feel a little pitter-patter in +the heart. Is that little white bull of a ball of ours going to get over +the fence and spoil the thing? It should not; we pitched him as nicely +as human skill could ever pitch. He is vicious; but he is spent. The gay +life which he had at the beginning of the stroke is flickering out. He +cannot escape. Our cuadrilla of one, the little Spanish lad with the bag +of clubs, advances and hands the putter, taking back the mashie which +has done its business. The ball comes trickling back from the bank--back +and back, and it comes on to within some seven or eight feet of the side +of the hole. Then it falters and stops, done for. Meanwhile there is +another white bull of a ball only four feet away; this also had come +back from the bank, but a little more. I, as an espada, take my steel +putter for the finishing touch. I see the line, I have the momentary +hesitation, the nerves are tightened, and then I make the stroke, and +happily it is a good one. The ball has gone down. In truth both balls go +down, and "Four, senor!" and "Four--a half, _amigo_!" and the play to +the eleventh hole of old Madrid is done. Even if there is a slope to the +hole and there is the bull-ring rampart round it, we say that a four at +this piece of golf is good. We also argue out that bull-ring with our +consciences. I have seen nothing like it. It was clearly the object of +those who made it to pen the ball up towards the hole, to make the golf +a little easier, for it was found to be hard enough (as you and I have +found it hard enough at home) to catch the ball and keep it and lead it +to its hole. This hole, the rampart, seems to be a concession to the +frail humanity of man. Conscience murmurs chidingly, "You know, you +English golfer, that you should never have been so near to that Spanish +pin! You should have been bunkered, my friend, perhaps badly bunkered, +beyond the green!" But being in Spain, and doing as Spaniards do, we are +a little independent, have a freedom of idea, and with some peevishness +of manner, an arrogance, a way as of telling conscience to attend its +other business and get back to London--where in some places they do +place bunkers and hills upon the greens to keep the golfer, as it seems, +from holing out at all--I retort, "I played a good shot anyhow; I only +just pitched over the bull-ring fence; I pitched the ball up high and +let it drop straight down, and cut every leg from it that it ever had. +No man could do better with the ground so hard. It was right that the +ball should come back." + +I shall hope that with their attachment to a new love that is so +beautiful and good, the Spaniards will not give up their old course here +that has served them faithfully and brought on their game. Besides, it +is a course that is pretty in its situation. Away beyond, many miles +away, are those snow-topped Guadarrama Mountains, fine rough things. +Though it was March, and untruths are told about the wickedness of the +Spanish climate, we lunched with Senora Elena de Potestad in the open +outside the club-house in warm sunshine glistening on a pretty scene. +Senora Elena is quite the best lady golfer of Spain; but writing the +truth as she told it, the charming wife of my friend is not Spanish, but +is a Russian lady from Khieff. I suspect her of being the best Russian +lady golfer and the best Spanish too; it is curious. She has done the +first nine holes here at Madrid in something less than bogey. Next to +her on the championship list is the Marquesa de Alamoncid de los Oteros, +six strokes behind. Queen Victoria sometimes plays, and I have seen that +extremely popular lady of Spain, the Infanta Isabella, golfing here with +the professional and a maid of honour. The game is doing well with the +ladies of the peninsula; they like it. I had a gentle argument with the +Senora Elena, who seemed a little doubtful whether golf were quite a +ladies' game, for all her own skill and love for it. She pleaded the +other feminine occupations and interests, even the distractions, and the +difficulty of surrendering to the tyranny of golf. In her view it seemed +to be of the ladies' life a thing apart, while we have known it to be a +man's complete existence. + +As our speedy car skimmed the road on the way back to Madrid that night, +Senor Fabricio would talk of the good influence of the game, and the +special benefits that it might and did confer upon his hopeful +countrymen. "Twelve years ago," he reflected, "I might meet all my +friends at the corrida. All were for the bull fight--and the ladies too. +But now--if I went myself, as I do not--I should see none. They are all +for golf. At my club in Madrid we say one to another about the time of +lunch, 'Do you go to golf this afternoon?' It used to be, 'I suppose you +go to the corrida, eh?'" One thinks and wonders. + +I took tea in the lounge at the Ritz, and gossiped with a man who had +just come along from Portugal and told me of some exciting times they +had been having there. They had decided on having more golf, and were +about to make a municipal matter of it near Lisbon. Hitherto, as I knew, +they had had only one golf course in the whole country, and that was at +a place called Espinho, some eleven miles out from Oporto, and it was +said that bulls intended for the fights were fed up there and did their +roaming exercise on this course. It is not a comfortable idea. The new +course is out at Belem on the banks of the Tagus near to Lisbon, and +this is the exact place at which Vasco de Gama landed on returning from +his greatest voyage of discovery. It is an eighteen-holes course; it has +been well planned; and much money is being spent on it. The Portuguese +having started a new form of government and begun a new national +life--as they hope--have come quickly to the conclusion that they need +golf and much of it, for already a second course for Lisbon is being +arranged, and there are to be others in different parts of the country. +If King Manoel goes back, he will be prepared for them, for he has +cultivated a fair game at Richmond. + + + * * * * * + +In the evening we went to stroll among the cafes of Madrid, and +presently peered into the old parts of the city, where life is simple +and strong, where the humbler Madrilenos resort, and there are dancing +entertainments of a strange kind. On a little stage there is some +jingling music worked out from a bad piano, and a troupe of girls with +some gypsies among them will make a dance that, for all its art and all +its naivete, is somewhat coarse. Other girls will sit round them in a +semicircle and keep up a kind of barbarous wail, occasionally bursting +into a mock shout of approval. A song will follow, and a chorus with it, +and by and by the entertainers will descend and drink wine with the +people in the cafe, and all this will continue until the night is very +late. But out in the Puerta del Sol the lights are bright and there is +more gaiety than there has ever been. So we wandering golfers, reckless +of the game of the day that follows (after all we are to give a bagful +of strokes to these Spaniards and can beat them yet--but not always, one +remembers), turn in to one of the music halls which have three shows a +night, the third beginning at midnight, and we see La Argentinita dance, +see the rumba done. Then down the Alcala and over the Prado home. We +shall insist that this is a part of our golf in old Madrid; it is not +the conventional golfing holiday, as I try to show. Another day we will +run out for many miles to El Escorial (thanking the Duke of Tovar for +the offer of his car) and ruminate in this most sombre architectural +creation of the great Philip--palace, monastery and tomb in one--and +another day out to Toledo, a grand dead city of a long past of many +phases and eras, a mummified city it seems to be, with halls and places +that look sometimes as if they had but just been left by the rich grand +caballeros of the time when Spain was great. You can nearly see their +ghosts, gay in satins and crimson silks, leaning over flowered +balconies, singing, kissing, laughing, and always living. + +I dislike the corrida. It is horrible. Its time has gone. I had enough +of it once when south at Algeciras. But a Spanish golfing companion said +that it was a very special day, and for the experience, and as a matter +of being guest, I should go. There were eight bulls done instead of six, +and horses in proportion, and a county councillor of Madrid took us +behind all the scenes, into the hospital, into the matador's chapel, and +explained everything. He was a courteous gentleman. He said they would +have golf in Madrid, that the corrida would leave in time, but for the +present the people must have the corrida. It takes time to make great +changes, he said, even in Madrid--where it does take more time for +movements than anywhere else. But the point of this reference is the +harsh contrast that is indicated--our peaceful game of golf in which +nothing is killed, no blood spilled, nobody hurt, and yet, as we think, +the greatest, fullest sport of all, stirring the emotions better than +any corrida in Madrid or Barcelona, and this awful feast of blood and +death. I have seen golf in many places, but never in one where its +setting seemed so utterly impossible as here. And yet golf in Madrid is +strengthening, and by ever so little the corrida, so they tell me, is +weakening. That the game can begin and can hold and grow in such a place +is surely the utmost testimony of its power. Games like golf have some +work to do in Spain. It is because of such considerations, because of +the extraordinary environment in which this peaceful, excellent sport is +set, that I have found golf in Madrid such a remarkable and interesting +study, and have dwelt upon it and provoked the contrasts when I might. + +See contrast now again, yet more wonderful. The next morning broke +bright and blue, and Senor Fabricio was round betimes in the Prado with +his car. We were to go to the new course that day. We sped away on the +Corunna road for some four or five miles from Madrid, and then turned up +towards the higher land. All this was King's land; El Pardo it is +called. Here is the new golf course of Madrid, which takes the place in +the Spanish golfers' hearts and plans of the other one of which I have +already written, that with the bull-ring hole. This of El Pardo is part +of a great new sporting establishment, embracing a magnificent polo +ground, tennis courts, and all the advantages and appurtenances of a +thorough country club in the manner of those which began in America and +have since been copied in England, and more recently at Saint-Cloud near +Paris. + +Considered in some ways 1 am a little disposed to count this new golf +course of Madrid as the eighth or ninth wonder of the whole golfing +world, just as the Spaniards themselves set up a claim for El Escorial +to be ranked as the eighth of the world at large. There are sound +reasons for the nomination. I have shown that it might well have been +held that the Spanish people's character and dispositions were a soil in +which no good game might grow, and yet that it was being urged and +proved that there was a great process of regeneration going on and that +golf indeed had been given a very good start. Now we come to the +astonishing climax for the time being in this little story of contrasts. +Here, if you please, at El Pardo on the estates of Don Alfonso is just +one of the nicest, best, and most interesting courses for golf on which +the excellent game might ever be played. It is quite new and it is most +thoroughly up to date. It is a course of which good clubs in Britain +might be exceedingly proud. You and I would be glad to play there nearly +always, and we should have little fault to find. When I was there it was +only just being finished. Its history is a nice romance. The golfers of +Spain had risen to that state when they felt they needed something +better for the improvement and the enjoyment of their play than the +rough primitive course with the bull-ring hole which had ceased to +satisfy their needs and tastes. They were restive. Came Don Alfonso to +their comfort and their happiness. At El Pardo was the ideal golfing +land--wide undulating sweeps of lovely country, majestic undulations, +grand environment, with the splendid Guadarramas in full view. It was a +scene sublime. The land was wooded, trees would have to be felled, the +ploughshare would have heavy work to do; but that is how courses are +made to-day. Not in Don Alfonso's power was it to give the ground +outright, but he passed it to the golfers for a nominal rent of a +thousand pesetas a year, which, being converted to English reckoning, +would be some L37. There was land for the polo and the tennis hard by. +Estimates were procured, and it was discovered that to do the work of +felling and ploughing, sowing and construction, building and finishing, +a sum of just about twenty-two thousand pounds in English money would be +needed, and most of the money would go to England too. Then with zest +the golfers and other sportsmen of Madrid came forward, each one +subscribed according to his means and ability, and in a very little +while all that great fund of money was obtained, and it was in the bank +before the work was started. That was a splendid achievement; the golf +of Madrid deserves to prosper now. + +It was determined that with such a beginning everything should be done +most thoroughly afterwards. Thousands of trees had to be cut down, the +ground cleared, ploughed, and raked, and the putting greens sown. On +hardly any course in any country has the work of construction been done +more thoroughly. Then Mr. Harry Colt was brought from England to design +the holes, and he gave of some of his most cunning, most artistic work, +having a fine field for his quick imagination. The result is eighteen +holes as good and rich as Spanish holes need be. Some of the short ones +are as good short holes as I have seen. One with the green on a hog's +back, the seventh, is a most appetising thing. At the third there is a +quick slope on the left of the green and the approach is one of those +twisty things that are a strong feature of the Coltian style of +architecture, demanding a skill and calculation from the player that +many bunkers would not exact. There is a dog-leg hole for the fifth that +leads to a green partly framed in a corner of trees. Parts of Spain are +treeless, the great plain above which Madrid is placed, the long lone +sweep of land that you look down upon from the palace, down to the +Manzanares and beyond to a far horizon, is one of the most desolate +countries that my eyes have seen. But here at El Pardo there are trees +enough. Chestnuts and cork are everywhere, and the course has a look of +our sweet Sunningdale at home. Harrows, rakes, and spades have done +their work most wondrous well, and the nicest gradients have been given +to the putting greens. But there is something even more remarkable still +that has been done. Make it as you would, tend it as you might, but if +Nature were to be depended upon the loveliest course in all Spain would +have to perish, for the climate forbids. So the climate had to be +foiled. Water was needed, water everywhere, water always, always. The +Madrid golfers, wise beyond all British example, determined they would +have their water at the very beginning of things. Some way distant there +was a river or canal, and it was tapped for their supply. Great cemented +aqueducts were built to carry it across valleys; it was piped through +hills. The water in abundance was brought up here to the course; and it +was laid on to every teeing ground and putting green and to the entire +fairway so that everywhere, always, the water should be poured on, the +fine grass that grows should be kept always green, and the turf, which +is of full sandy kind, should be always golf-like and moist. That was a +splendid achievement. I enjoyed the round of the new course, delighted +in a pretty valley hole towards the end, and admired the enterprise of +the Spanish golfers exceedingly. They have golf in Madrid. As the +express climbed with me upwards back to France I reflected again on +these wild contrasts, and the struggle for light by Spain. + + + * * * * * + +As a pursuit golf differs from all others in that there is no +exclusively right way and no utterly wrong way of doing anything +connected with it. Those engaged with it are constantly, to use their +own expression, finding out what they are "doing wrong," and then with +great eagerness and activity and newly revived hope are setting forth to +repair their errors and place their game upon a new foundation. Yet +despite this eternal discovery of faults and remedies, only a little is +ever found out of the full truth that is hidden somewhere, by even the +very best of players, and herein lies the consolation of the humbler +people in that, if they know little, their superiors, being champions, +know only a little more compared with all that there is to be known. +Thus upon every disappointment an encouragement ensues. If these points +are considered it will appear that there are deep truths in them, while +at the same time they convey morals and point the way to a betterment of +one's game. And the most important point is that there is no one +exclusively correct way of doing anything, and this, with all the +circumstances surrounding the proposition, leads us inevitably to the +conclusion that this is no game for narrow-minded and conventional +people, who would always do as others do, and have not the will to +exercise their own convictions which, along with their admiration for +some of the tenets of the political party to which they do not belong, +are stifled in their consciences and put away. Golf is indeed a game for +extensive individualism, for the free exercise of convictions and for +continual groping along unknown channels of investigation in search of +the truth. Those who do not investigate and explore in this way miss a +full three-fourths of the intellectual joy of this pastime. And the +investigators must have the courage to reject things of information that +are offered to them, even when conveyed with the very highest +testimonials for their efficacy from the best champions of home and +foreign countries, while at the same time they should have the will to +put into exercise even the most fantastic scheme of their own +imagination. + +All dogmatic teaching in golf is wrong. There are two or three essential +principles as we have called them--the keeping of the still head, the +fixed centre in the body, the eye on the ball, and such like--which must +be obeyed under the certain penalty of failure, because these might be +said to be the laws of Nature as applied to golf, and have nothing to do +with the eccentricities of human method. But, these being properly +respected, there are innumerable ways of building upon them structures +of golf which, in the goodness of results in the matter of getting +threes and fours and winning the holes, are much the same at the finish. +One of the structures may be precise, another may be plain, a third may +be ornate, and a fourth may be rough and vulgar. Yet in efficiency and +in results they may be just the same, and in most cases the man is led +to his style of golf building largely by his own temperamental case. So +long as the essential principles are observed in each case, being the +same always but kept hidden in the recesses of the building, many things +may be done that the books do not teach. The books are valuable to the +utmost for their suggestions and for bringing the player back to his +base, as it were, when he has wandered too far in his explorations, +piled theory on theory and got his game into the most hopeless tangle. +For corrective purposes they are in this way quite essential. They stand +for the conventions and for the middle ways; they enable us to make a +fresh start. And the golfer is always making fresh starts. What is the +cherished belief of to-day is abandoned next week, the discovery just +made and looked upon as solving the last problem that keeps the handicap +man away from scratch, is found later to be a temporary convenience only +and to be dependent on something else in the system of a highly fleeting +and uncertain kind. These beginnings, this starting over again with +increased hope, add always to the pleasure. + +What players need to remember above all things is that the games of no +two men are quite alike, any more than the men themselves are quite +alike, and that among the very best the widest dissimilarities exist, +that the best game that any man can possibly play is not one copied from +others, but that game which is his very own, the one built up on his +physical, intellectual, and mental peculiarities. Every man has a game +of his own somewhere which is quite different from any other, and that +game, when he can play it, will be more effective than any other that he +could play. What he has to do, therefore, is to find out that game in +all its peculiarities, and this is what the explorer and investigator is +constantly trying to achieve. He is finding out the mysteries not of the +game in general, as he sometimes imagines, but of his own game, and the +more he discovers the better is he as a golfer. Surely there is proof +enough of the absolute soundness of this proposition in the fact that +the discoveries as they are made, meaning not those which are found +later to be worthless, but those which become established in the +permanent system and are invaluable, are often absolutely opposite to +those made in another case and which become permanent in the same way. +Why, even the champions differ more widely than any others--yet one +remembers that this should not be a matter of surprise, but something +that by this argument is quite inevitable. The champions have been +marvellously successful in the mining of their own golfing seams, and +that is the chief reason why they are champions. And all this helps to +make golf the game it is--the eternal finding out, the progress, with +its occasional set-backs, towards the discovery, the completion of the +golfing self. I have only met one man in my life who has golfed and +never found anything out, and that was Mr. John Burns, the Minister of +State, who assured me that once in the old days of the Tooting Bec +course he was persuaded by a number of political persons to go with them +to play the game there one day. He had never handled a golf club in his +life, but having some practical knowledge of cricket, felt that golf +could not offer any serious hindrance to him. Consequently he agreed to +take his part in a foursome, and in the progress of this match usually +drove the best ball, with the result that his side was well victorious. +There seemed nothing in his game that needed improvement. Herein we +observe Mr. Burns displayed many of the qualities of the highest +statesmanship, but he rose majestically in his determination that from +that day he would never play golf again, much as he liked it, and he +never has. He has these three distinctions--that he has played golf once +and once only in his life; that being a golfer, as all are who are once +initiated, he has never lost a match; and that he has never found +anything out. I shall hope to be present at the second game he plays, +the resolution having broken down, and then we shall see discoveries +made. + +But once again, "Golfer, know thyself" is the supreme moral drawn from +the experiences of the players who have golfed and studied most. Every +golfer worth the name has found out hundreds of things and hopes to find +many more; some of them are quite different from any of the other things +that have been found out; he has his own private collection, and in it +almost any person might find something that might with a little +alteration be added to his own. So I remember that when we came up out +of Spain, where the golfers are in that happy state that they have at +this present stage almost more to discover than any other golfers in the +world, a new spring season was beginning in the homeland of the game and +all players were looking over their stock of knowledge and seeing what +they had found out in the most recent times. It occurred to me then to +send out a demand to a number of good players whom I knew for their +enthusiasm, for their individualism and their strength of mind, and for +their conscientious investigations, and ask them what they had lately +discovered in an original kind of way which had beyond question +materially improved their game. The answers were enlightening, and some +of them, which I may quote, are worth pondering upon. One of the best +players of my acquaintance sent to say that he had made a discovery, +which, applied as a resolution, had done him more good than any other +half-dozen he had ever thought of. The essence of the new idea was that +on the teeing ground especially, and when approaching his ball through +the green, he would see to it that the stepping of the feet, the +movements of the arms, hands--everything involving action--should be as +slow and deliberate as possible, even the very speech itself, for the +reason that this slow sureness created an irresistible tendency in the +golfing action that was to follow, the back-swing was then slow and +deliberate, and the whole movement was harmonious and precise. The +probable value of this idea is suggested by the fact that the man who is +slow and deliberate in his waggling--not meaning one who prolongs it +unduly or does it in a hesitating way--generally does his swinging +better. Another player said the best discovery he had ever made was the +idea of imagining his weight during upswinging to be on his left foot +without really throwing it there, at the same time holding his legs a +little more stiffly than had been his wont and keeping his heels on the +ground as long as he could. By these things, which could all be grasped +in the one general idea of making himself conscious of his legs all the +time, he has come by a firmness and steadiness of system that have added +enormously to his driving capacity; in fact, it has converted him from +being a man who could not drive at all to a very good driver indeed. + +I remember that once I was watching Taylor teaching a scratch man and +giving him hints for curing some considerable cutting and slicing to +which he was addicted. The champion turned round to us and said that one +of them was the best tip he had ever suggested in his life. It is the +simplest thing. In addressing the ball he would have the patient turn +over the face of the driver until that face is positively hanging over +from the top, pointing to the turf, at such a fearsome angle--no limit +to it--as to make it seem impossible to do anything but smother the ball +when coming down on to it. The back-swing has to be begun with the face +in this threatening situation. The truth is that the nervous fear that +it inspires is the secret of the success of the method. The man believes +that if he comes down on to the ball like that there will be a horrible +disaster, and all the time in the down-swing he is subconsciously +(another to that long list of most important subconscious movements) +making corrections and allowances, and his wrists are doing a twist to +get the club right by the time of impact. It is this wrist action, with +the left hand managing it, that is wanted, and the arm action that it +induces. The club reaches the ball properly, and the ball goes off +without a slice. If sometimes it is smothered it does not matter; the +cure will take effect in time. But, you say, you do not want to go on +for ever addressing the ball in this seemingly grotesque way. No; but, +again subconsciously, when the ball is being hit and driven properly and +the arm and wrist action become natural, there is a sure tendency +towards a settling down to normal ways, and without the man bothering +about it any more the club will gradually get itself straight. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE SUPERIORITY OF BRITISH LINKS, AND A MASTERPIECE OF KENT, WITH SOME +SYSTEMS AND MORALS FOR HOLIDAY GOLF. + + +The chief and essential difference between golf in Britain and all other +places in the world, as everybody feels on coming home to it after +wanderings with clubs abroad, is that here in the home of the game it is +"the real thing" as nowhere else. Climate, soil, history and sentiment, +and the temperament of the people have combined to make golf here a +thing that foreign people who have never seen and enjoyed it cannot +imagine. It is not only that its excellence is so great, but its variety +so infinite; and perhaps it is because of that excellence and variety +that, human nature being in such a constant state of discontent, our +people in these days are so much concerned with problems of architecture +and the attainment of ideals which vary much with individuals and cause +incessant wrangling. It is when we are far away that we think most of +the magnificence of the courses on the western seaboard of +Scotland--Prestwick, Troon, and Turnberry among them, with Machrihanish +and Islay in more lonesome parts--of the wealth of golf in that East +Lothian district that is so amazingly crowded with fine links, of the +splendid strength of such as Hoylake and others in Cheshire and +Lancashire, of our own east coast with such jewels as Brancaster set in +it, of that marvellous trinity of courses on the Kentish seaboard, which +as a golfing land has surely not its match in the world--Sandwich, Deal, +and Prince's, in the group--of Littlestone and Rye along the southern +coast, and then in the west such a glorious golfing ground as Westward +Ho! And there is Wales with its pretty and excellent Porthcawl, +Ashburnham, and many more, and Ireland also with its great Dublin +courses, Portmarnock and Dollymount, and then sweet Newcastle in county +Down, and bold Portrush. + +Indeed there are no others like the British courses, and it is always a +tremendous speculation with any golfer of experience as to which he +likes the best. When he comes to make it he has to separate in his mind +the feelings of admiration and those of affection, for it commonly +happens, if the judgment is reasonably good, that one may have the +utmost admiration for some particular course, for its unimpeachable +architecture based so well on perfect theory and the attempt always to +make the punishment fit the crime and award stern justice, and yet not +greatly delight to play upon it because in a way that sometimes he can +hardly understand it does not give him his utmost pleasure. Here again +the inexplicable emotions settle it. But in that matter of "justice" +which seems so much to be the ideal of new architects, there comes the +reflection in the ordinary golfer's mind sometimes as to whether golf, +not really being a game of justice now, would be better if it were one, +whether with so much that is unfair and tantalising removed from it the +game would be half so good. Surely in no fine sport is there always +exact justice done, and if it be made an ideal is it not possible that +the nearer such ideal is approached the poorer may become the sport, not +perhaps in regular proportion but in approximate effect? Golf is a game +of Nature after all, and Nature in some ways does not always stick to +justice. One may ponder upon what Anatole France once said about this +justice. "In the vulgar sense," he wrote, "it is the most melancholy of +virtues. Nobody desires it. Faith opposes it by grace and Nature by +love. It is enough for a man to call himself just for him to inspire a +genuine repulsion. Justice is held in horror by things animate and +inanimate. In the social order it is only a machine, indispensable +doubtless, and for that reason respectable, but beyond question cruel +since it has no other function than to punish, and because it sets +jailers and executioners at work." And perhaps it may be said that golf +has little enough in principle to do with justice either; and we have +seen into what perplexities the good authorities of St. Andrews have +fallen by their vain endeavour to make a code of laws that would settle +the just dues of every golfer in every circumstance. Nature in her +variety has contrived to beat them all continually. Perhaps it may be +the same with the construction of courses, but the end of all golfers' +endeavour, however much it may be criticised, is the good of the game, +and it is generally achieved. + + + * * * * * + +Those who in the most dispassionate frame of mind have considered +carefully all the points that should count the most and detached +themselves as well as they might from their private and inexplicable +preference have generally come to the conclusion that there are three +courses in this great golfing country of ours that are somewhat better +than all the rest in their golfing quality. One of them is old St. +Andrews, another of them is middle-aged Westward Ho! and the third is +the youthful Prince's at Sandwich. Considered as the perfect course, +weighing point against point, a jury of the best critics might have +difficulty in coming to any other decision than that architecturally, +for the real magnificence of its golfing value, the great creation of +Mr. Mallaby-Deeley on the golfing land by Pegwell Bay is supreme. Here +ten years ago there was nothing but a barren waste of sandhills, just as +they had been, as it seemed, since the very beginning of +things--lonesome, useless, forgotten. Then it was realised that what was +good for nothing else was best of all for golf. Mr. Mallaby-Deeley saw +it and understood, and now hereabouts the land is comparatively +priceless so much is it coveted by the golfers, who also now understand +as they see. Other great courses have been the productions of a long +period of time, improvements continually on an original structure of the +crudest kind. Westward Ho! was not made in a season, nor in many +seasons. Only recently some of its most delightful touches have been +added to it. St. Andrews was the work of generations. But Prince's, +though it has been appreciably changed from its original design, was +like one great flash of inspiration, and as such is surely the most +amazing achievement in the architecture of golf. Mr. Mallaby-Deeley in +other ways has shown himself to be a man of immense imagination; but was +it ever better illustrated than in his making of Prince's? Our +admiration for the course may be not the less but greater because we +cannot play her properly. For my own humble part I love most the +championship course of the Royal Cinque Ports club at Deal near by. Here +there are charm and variety, and holes of the most splendid character. +If some find fault with them, what does it matter when they are so good +to play? The Royal St. George's course at Sandwich, again, is a most +beautiful thing; surely there is no other which gives such an infinite +pleasure to a greater number of capable players. But for sheer golfing +quality, Prince's truly is the queen of all. + + + * * * * * + +I have asked Mr. Mallaby-Deeley to tell me what his ideals are in this +matter, and in response he has made a statement of such interest and +value that it should be given at its length. He said that, premising +that for purposes of consideration we should regard "ideal links" as +having reference only to the sequence of holes, both as to ranges of +length, difficulty, and beauty of design, he submitted that the making +of such an ideal course, given suitable ground, depended then on three +things only, being knowledge, time, and money. St. Andrews and his own +Prince's come nearest to this ideal, but the former fails in that it is +too straight in and out, and also because one can pull all the way out +and all the way home again without falling into any trouble, the truth +being that the more one pulls the greater the possibility of safety in +doing so. Some say that if you do thus pull you cannot reach the greens, +but in these days that is not so. We have seen them reach those greens +after the most exaggerated pulling. Then he thinks that the set of St. +Andrews in the matter of prevailing winds is far from ideal, for so +often the wind is at one's back all the way out and against the player +all the way coming home, or the other way about. Again, no one can deny, +he says, that St. Andrews has three if not four very ordinary and +commonplace holes. Prince's, as now laid out, has in general opinion not +a single commonplace or uninteresting hole in the whole course, but it +has had the advantage of being laid out many years after St. Andrews, +and after the introduction of the rubber ball. A course comes nearer to +the ideal as its holes are placed to every variety of wind. In the early +days of Prince's at Sandwich the disadvantage of an in and out course +were soon discovered and an enormous amount of money was spent in +altering it to its present form, in which, with the single exception of +St. George's, it is the best in existence, the old course at Sandwich +being ideal in this respect. Mr. Mallaby-Deeley, looking upon his +Prince's in the supercritical way of a pleased but still insistent +creator, can see only one blemish in it, and that is that the two short +holes, being the third and the fifth--though the fifth is longer than +the third--come too close together. Any two holes on a course may +separately be extremely good, but coming together lack something of +perfection because of the repetition that instantly arises. He would +have the pin visible for every approach shot on his ideal links, and the +only exception he would make would be in the case of a full second shot +with a long carry over a high bunker to the end of it, for this to his +mind is a most interesting shot. Such an one, he points out, is that +presented at the sixteenth hole at Littlestone, and he would be +surprised to know that any one would ever think of altering that hole in +order to enable a player in the distance to see the pin. He also would +not agree to placing a bunker immediately at the back of the green, +which punishes the man who dares to be up and encourages "pawkiness." + +The visible pin is imperative at short holes; he will admit no +exceptions. But all who have been to Prince's have been most impressed +with the beauty and golfing perfection of the dog-legged holes there, a +couple of which are presented at the beginning of the round, immediately +introducing the stranger to some of the best delights of this course. He +would have dog-leg holes of both shapes in his round, those bending to +the right to worry the slicer, and those angled towards the left to help +the long driver who greatly dares. The first hole at Hoylake and the +second and eleventh at Prince's are dog-leg holes that he likes best. +But, he will tell you, by far the most vital matters to consider in +making any course with pretensions to being ideal are the position of +the greens and the bunkering through the course and near the hole, and, +though it is a consideration that is too often overlooked, it is nearly +as important to bear in mind from which quarter the prevailing wind +blows. He believes every shot from the tee to the hole ought to be of +equal importance, but in the case of the majority of the courses this is +not so. Despite the fact that on the tee the man has everything in his +favour, a perfect stance and a teed-up ball, he is given more space to +play into and a greater margin for inaccuracy than in the case of any +other shot. This, says the architect, is wrong. Surely it should be as +necessary on the ideal course to place the tee shot as any other. He has +turned the subject of ribbon bunkers very thoroughly over in his mind. +In a general way, he does not like them because of the varying winds. He +says, "_Tutiores ibis in medias vias_," is a safe and golden rule of +life, and it applies equally to ribbon bunkers which while they make +some holes mar many more. Most frequently on account of wind and other +things this form of hazard fails as a fair guard to the green for a hole +that is meant for two full shots. It is then wrongly placed, and would +generally be improved by the substitution of ear bunkers to catch sliced +and pulled shots thereto. The push shot is one of the most difficult in +the game to play, but it is one of the prettiest and most satisfactory +in accomplishment; but the ribbon bunker is often unfair to the man who +plays it. Yet the absence of such ribbon bunkers does not prevent the +man who likes to play his high mashie shots from still playing them. +Thus the absence of this form of bunker is fair to all, while if placed +very near the green its presence penalises the push-shot player. +But many a tee shot would be tame if it were not for the ribbon +bunkers some way ahead. In epitome he says to the student of +architecture--"Bunker your course so that every bad shot is punished; +place your bunkers so that every shot must be played and played well; +make the length of your holes such that if a shot is foozled it costs +you a stroke; guard your greens right and left, and even to the very +edge and into the green itself, if necessary, but this must of course +depend on the length of shot to be played; and at one-shot holes make +the green a very fort of surrounding bunkers, and guard the tee shot. Do +not leave it open as at the famous short hole at St. Andrews, a much +overrated hole. But above all things, make your bunkers fair; don't make +them impossible to get out of except by playing back." + +As to the lengths of the holes on his ideal course he would have about +twelve two-shot holes varying from 380 to 440 yards, and there should be +three one-shot holes of about 165, 180, and 200 yards respectively. +There would be two or three drive-and-iron holes of about 350 yards +each, but a drive-and-iron hole should be so constructed that if the +drive is missed it will be impossible for the man who missed it to sail +on the green with his next. There is a good example of this in the +fifteenth at Prince's, for although this hole is only a drive and an +iron the penalty for missing the drive is that it takes the player two +more shots to reach the green because of the nature of the ground in +front of the tee. And then he would have it a condition that the last +three holes should average about 400 to 420 yards each, and the +seventeenth and eighteenth should be made specially testing ones. This +is the ideal course, and, being such, it is not a place for foozlers. +But if it is properly and fairly constructed it will be easier and +pleasanter to play on than a course which is made difficult by the +simple method of making it unfair, for example by putting bunkers in the +wrong places, by cutting the hole in a ridiculous position on the +green, by punishing the man who is "up" (a new-fangled and absurd idea +of course construction) by placing the hole immediately in front of a +bunker at the back of the green, and by leaving the approach to the +green from a long shot rough or broken, and so unfair. It is easy to +make any course difficult, and so conducive to high scoring, by making +it unfair. This induces pawky play because the punishment for bold play +may be too severe. He is also of opinion (and there is a constantly +growing tendency to agree with him) that there is too much premium on +putting, and that it plays far too important a part in the game, +especially among first-class players and in first-class matches. He +thinks the hole should be six and a half inches instead of four and a +quarter. Under present conditions a putt missed by half an inch bears +the same punishment (although the rest of the hole through the green may +have been played faultlessly) as a hopelessly bad shot by one's opponent +through the green. + +Prince's supports its creator's arguments very well indeed, and one +enormous fascination of it lies in the fact that it is always suggesting +to you, always inviting you, always tempting you to do the more daring +thing, and hinting that, even though you failed, the suffering might not +be too much. In that, it seems to me, lies the chief charm of this +masterpiece of architecture. + + + * * * * * + +So when we come home from other lands, let us think of golfing holidays +in our own, and moralise from old experience. It is an aggravating +circumstance that while there is hardly anything in the way of change +and holiday that is so splendid as a golfing holiday, there is hardly +any kind that is so easily spoiled. The golfer is not dependent on the +weather, only to a small extent on his friends, he seldom knows limits +of time or space, yet he fails oftener in his pursuit of the perfect +happiness of a summer vacation than do the unsophisticated people who +kill the time of August and September in other ways, and that happens +because of the very fascination of the thing, and the enthusiasm and +excess to which it leads him on. In our working days limits are imposed +upon us; when we are loose and unrestricted all system and wise +restraint fly to pieces. It is not only that we often play too much on +holidays, but that during play and in the intervals between those spells +of action the imagination is at work too fast and makes riot upon +settled methods which have raised the game of the individual to some +more or less agreeable sort of quality. Excess and experiment are the +two evils that shatter so many golfing holidays, and yet the +contradictions of golf are such that we find there is something good to +be said both for excess and for experiment. But be all this as it may, +it is not until a man has gone through twenty golfing holiday campaigns +that he fully realises he has an education to serve in this matter, and +after twenty more he is able to start out on the forty-first in the +strong confidence that from the days and weeks before him he will +extract the full available supply of rich golfing delight. These remarks +do not well apply to the person of the thick phlegmatic temperament who +plays now with the same set of clubs that he started with ten years or +more agone, the which have not had their shafts varnished, nor their +grips attended since the time of their first swinging. This man is +without imagination, without feeling, and, with no blessing upon him, we +may let him wander away to play wherever he will, knowing that he will +always derive some great satisfaction from his pursuit and gain +mightily in health. He is not like most of us; he is as the man without +any religion; he is very material. He eats, he plays, he rests, he +sleeps. And he does very well in it all; and yet we of the majority who +think always, ponder deeply, worry exceedingly and are wracked with +doubts and conflicting theories, disappointed ever in fruitless +experiments, do not envy him. The material person does not go down into +the depths where we grieve and are in pain (how often do we go and +grieve!), but neither does he ascend to the heights of pleasure that are +scaled by successful experiment, by the sudden discovery of some +wonderful secret that seems to have unlocked the gates of the higher +golf and rendered us immune from failure for evermore. (Never mind what +happens in the morning!) We may suffer the depths for those hot moments +of life on the summits. + +This preamble is needed for warning. Golf is the great game of emotions, +and at holiday times those emotions are quickened, strung up and, flying +loose in riot, play the devil with our game. I am sorry to believe that +many young men who come back to their homelands from the golfing holiday +grounds in October do so with inward sighs and stifled sobs. They tell +us that they have had the most glorious time; they may foolishly give an +account of a round said to have been done in 74, and of many of the +longest holes that cost them only four strokes apiece, and we forgive +them for their words which we know are false, realising the pain of +their case and that their dissembling is in a small manner for the good +of the game. Their emotions have led them astray; they have been weak +and foolish; they have done the wrong things and they have left undone +all those which were recommended to them as right. They have played +three rounds a day, and they have bought new drivers and putters. And +some of them have actually changed their stances and had an inch cut off +a favourite shaft! Truly their emotions have led them wrong. Player! if +you would pass the placid holiday, kill those emotions and cast them +off. You may then take a golfing holiday from which you will derive that +magnificent material comfort and refreshment that your butcher and baker +do when they walk upon the promenade at Margate and, well fed, sleep at +times on the sunlit sands. You will really believe on your return to +labour in the town, that you have had a splendid time, but soon you will +cease to talk of it for you will find that there is very little to +remember. Time was passed; that was all. The man whose emotions played +old Harry with him does not forget. He has something indeed to remember, +for he lived very much in his month of play. So you will see that in the +scheme of golfing things as jointly ordained by Nature and kind +Providence, with the petty meddling of the man himself, there are +different processes of holiday, and each in its way is the best. As in +so many other affairs of golf there are contradictions abounding. But +let us, after such philosophy, move to some definite considerations, and +consider life and facts as they are presented to us. + + + * * * * * + +One of the doctors' papers was well laughed at a little while since for +suggesting that, on account of the nerve strain that it makes, golf is +not an ideal game for everybody, especially busy folks with few hours +and days for recreation. To quote: "If he takes his failures to play a +good game to heart, it is doubtful whether his health gains very much. +He has had, it is true, the advantage of a change of scene and +occupation, and has lived for a while in a healthier atmosphere, and, +if he had only been satisfied with his game, all these things would have +conspired to send him back to his work cheered and braced up. But he may +play very badly and become unduly worried thereat. A game that is +calculated to increase an irritability which has arisen out of a trying +week's work can hardly be said to be recreative, at all events to the +mind." The medical writer concluded impressively: "The game of golf, if +it does not go smoothly, presents so many points of analogy with the +tiresome eventualities of life that there can be little doubt that +persons of an irritable, gloomy, and worrying disposition would be +better if they did not seek their recreation on the links." The common +people sometimes look upon these pronouncements from the columns of the +professional paper as being like the essence of the wisdom and knowledge +of the whole of Harley Street. I remember, however, that when this was +published the golfers ridiculed and condemned it, and agreed to take +more golf and less medicine. It is not my function to advocate the +playing of less golf than is played, much less the stoppage of any of +it, but I dare to suggest that there was a germ of truth in what the +medical paper said. There are kinds of players who should take their +golf with restraint and caution, especially at holiday times. The truth +is that a vast proportion of golfing holidays are completely ruined +through a bad plan of campaign, or over-doing it, or both--commonly +both. We would say nothing to a doubter now about the selection of his +friends for his party; he should know that it is a matter demanding the +extremest care. A golfing holiday _a deux_ may expose all the least +beautiful parts of each man's character, and those who are not such +friends that they can comfortably bear each other's infirmities might do +better even to go on their golfing way lonely and without a partner. +There is much to be said for the freedom of this latter holiday +existence, and odd indeed would be the golfing place where there were +not many games for the solitary stranger to play. + +The night before the opening of the campaign, the eve of the journey +outwards, is a trying time to many men. I think of those who take loving +interest in their clubs, and have many of them, including a first-class +reserve, and perhaps a second-class reserve also, to the original set +that is in full commission. The man who has only seven clubs in the +world, and seems to take a pride in telling you that he has had them all +since the beginning of his golf, is in no difficulty. But with others +the trouble is how many clubs to take, and how many to dare to leave +behind. After the first selection it is seen that about five or six +drivers are put in the list, very many irons, and a large assortment of +putters. All the ex-favourites are to be tried over again and +experiments to be made with a number of others. It is found then that +too many clubs have been selected; but after the most painful and +difficult weeding out there may still be some twenty left, and these are +taken. It is a mistake. From the day of arrival at the holiday place the +man is in doubt as to what he will play with, and he mixes up his game +into a bad state of confusion through using different clubs almost every +day. It is a good rule, to which every golfer subscribes after twenty +campaigns, if not before, to take away the regular clubs as used every +day at home, not one less and only two more, being a spare driver and an +extra putter. In that way happiness and contentment lie. I would leave +out the driver did I not know the case of a man who so much grieved for +one he had left behind that he travelled three hundred miles back home +to get it! + +The little truth that there was in the indictment against the game by +the doctors' paper is that it is possible for some men, many of them, to +have too much of it, when it becomes bad for the men and bad for their +game, and holidays are rendered failures. There was a time when really +good golf could only be had at the seaside, or very far away from the +great centres of work and business. That is no longer the case, and the +situation is that the golf we are having all the time at home is hard +and strenuous, demanding great ability and thought. The golfing holiday, +then, might very well be made an easy one on a links where the holes are +simple, and--remembering another scare that was made by a doctors' paper +some time later--I believe that there is as happy golf to be had up on +the hills, and in the lonely country places, as on the margin of any +sunny sea. + +But it is the excess of golf that is played on holidays that spoils +everything in the case of the man of a somewhat nervous temperament, and +one who may not be as strong and beefy as the John Bull of the pictures. +Too many of these people seem to think that, as they have gone away for +golf, they should have as much of it as they can get, and play to excess +accordingly. Three rounds! Three rounds! One of the reasons why some men +play so much--as they put it to themselves--is that they wish to improve +their game, and they conceive that the holiday time is the best of all +in which to achieve that end. But experience shows that very seldom +indeed is a man's game improved at such a time; very frequently it is +injured, and that through the excess. When so much of it is played, +weariness, though half unconsciously, is induced, proper pains are not +taken at every stroke, carelessness becomes constant; then, with +deterioration, too many experiments are tried, and worst of all, that +terrible, and for the time being incurable, disease of staleness sets +in, and there is then an end to all happiness and enjoyment. There is +hardly any cure for staleness except complete abstention for a time. It +needs some strength of mind to carry out such a resolve, but he who +severely limits his golf at holiday times enjoys it the more, and he and +his health and his game are the better for it. A holiday system based on +wise restrictions is a splendid thing. Men of long experience have tried +many of them, and the best of all is this: Play two rounds on the first +day of the week, one on the second, two again on the third, one on the +fourth, two on the fifth, one on the sixth, and take a whole holiday +from the game on the seventh day. That is not too much nor too little. +Another point for remembrance is that on the days that are warm and long +the old convention of one round before lunch and another afterwards is +not a good one for the best and most enjoyable employment of the day. +Much better is it to play in the morning, rest pleasantly--sleep, +perhaps--in the afternoon, and play again in the cool of the evening, +when golf is the best of all--always provided your course is not laid +out in a straight line from east to west and back, for playing full +against a setting sun is a very tantalising thing. + + + * * * * * + +Mention has been made of staleness. In our minds there is awakened an +unhappy thought with which something had better be done for good +contentment's sake ere we pass along to the pleasant consideration of +this holiday golf. Staleness is the canker that kills many of these +expeditions that are planned with the happiest promise. It is a dread +golfing disease that rages on the links almost like an epidemic during +August and September. It spoils the game and happiness of every player +whom it attacks, and sometimes it cuts holidays short. It is nearly safe +to assume that when on holiday one golfer in every half-dozen is +afflicted with it, and some of the others are in danger. It consists in +the absolute incapacity of the player to produce a game that is within +very many strokes of his real form; in truth the game of a good man may +fall to the twenty-handicap level or lower, and each new effort on his +part to raise it up again only results in a worsening of the case. There +is no certain cure except isolation from the game and long rest. A +trouble that has the power, then, to ruin the golfing holiday, and often +does, must be considered very seriously. + +Here is the progress of a case for the details of which I can personally +vouch. I was a sympathetic witness of it. The man was playing well at +the beginning of the holiday season and went for a month to a fine east +coast links where there was no town, no village, and no society but that +of golfers, and nothing to do but golf, which was what he desired. For a +week he played well, doing two rounds every day, and sometimes three. +The weather was hot. At the beginning of the second week there were +signs of a failing game. His first anxiety soon increased; he changed +his ball, then began to make alterations in his stances and swings, and +at the end of the second week was all foozles, and getting worse. Soon +afterwards it was obvious that the cause of the whole thing was +staleness. The man tried the heroic remedy of loafing about his +quarters, golfless, for a couple of days, reading novels and pretending +to play bowls against himself. He also studied the stones in the old +graveyard near by. On the third day he went back to the links very +hopeful, but the case was as bad as before, and, desperate, he gave his +game a three days' rest after that. This also failed. Neither of the +resting spells was long enough. This being a man of keen nervous +temperament, who took his game very seriously and was very miserable, he +did the wisest thing by giving up his holiday and going home to work in +London. + +The primary cause of staleness is excess of play, resulting in +exhaustion of nervous and physical energy, which in turn produces +carelessness, decreases the capacity for taking the infinite pains that +are necessary to the game, and--important--brings about a failure in the +subconscious working arrangement between the mind and the physical +system that has everything to do with the proper accomplishment of the +various strokes. The movements of every golfing swing, as we have +agreed, are extremely complicated; they consist of hundreds of little +movements amalgamated into one great system, and while one is conscious +of the system, it is impossible for the parts of it to be anything but +subconsciously done, and they are made perfect by training and practice, +and by getting the brain and the physical construction to work together +exactly and with harmony. When staleness comes on, this working +arrangement breaks down and the player attempts the hopeless task of +trying to do consciously what can only be done the other way. I believe +that this is the true explanation of staleness. + +_Note 1._--The exhaustion of the nervous and physical energy is often +unsuspected, and is covered up by the enthusiasm for the game. _Note +2._--Excess of play does not mean only a frequent playing of three +rounds a day. Two rounds every day, as a regular thing, may be excess in +many cases. Much depends on the individual. A man of highly-strung +temperament will become stale much more quickly than a beefy, phlegmatic +person, who is commonly immune. _Note 3._--Staleness is very much more +easily induced, and develops more quickly and dangerously, in hot +weather than at other times, because the tax on the nervous energy and +the eyesight is so much greater then. + +Now here are the common symptoms and the results of staleness. Almost +the first real sign of it is swaying of the body. This is very slight at +first, and is rarely suspected; but it brings about a general collapse +of the swing and the entire golfing apparatus. A very hopeless sort of +tap is given to the ball on the tee, and it is driven perhaps only a +hundred and fifty yards. As everything seems to have been done properly, +the player is mystified, begins to experiment, and then worse troubles +come on. Shakiness of the legs, and much exaggerated knee and foot work, +often resulting in collapse of the right leg and the player getting up +on his toes, make up the next symptom; and another one that is a common +accompaniment of the beginning of staleness is falling or lurching +forward as the club is brought down on to the ball. Anything like a +proper swing is, in such circumstances, impossible. Bad timing begins +immediately; then there is overswinging and too fast swinging; and, of +course, the moving of the head and the taking of the eye from the ball, +those two faults that never miss an opportunity of coming in to add to +the woes of the worried golfer. + +What must the stale golfer do for his salvation and happiness? In the +first place, if he has had this thing before, he should be on his guard +against it and catch it in time. If taken at the very beginning an early +cure is quite practicable. The golf should be stopped at once for a few +days, and a rest and change, as complete as possible, taken. Then the +game should be resumed warily--one round a day. In addition to this, +some men will insist on having alterations made in their clubs. They +deceive themselves. One of the greatest champions of all times once, in +intimate conversation, laid down a rule to me with great seriousness, +and it is one never to be forgotten. He said: "Never make a change in +your regular clubs, and never buy a new one, unless it is a putter, when +you are playing badly. Only make changes when you are playing at your +very best. You may then play even better, knowing so well what you +want." Yet, warn them as much as you may, many men will make extensive +changes when they are stale and desperate. One plea to them then--the +change having failed, go back to the old clubs before changing again. +Never get far from your base, or you will be lost in doubt and +confusion. Let it be the same with methods as with clubs. If a new way +fails, let the sick man go back to the old one before experimenting +again. He should remember that that old one has served him well, and the +possibilities are that he will have to stand by it after all. Then the +stale golfer should try to encourage himself; he should try a new set of +opponents, play with men of longer handicap than himself, who normally +would never outdrive him, and so on. A change of links often works +wonders, but if the staleness has gone very far, and it matters little, +it is often wise to give up the golfing part of the holiday if one is in +progress. We have seen the advice given to play through a period of +staleness. This is a heroic measure, but it would not succeed in one in +six cases, and the suffering would be too great for the ordinary mortal. +We tell him to take few clubs away with him, and to be faithful to them, +and they will serve him well. And we tell him when his golf is ill not +to fly to the dangerous stimulant of a new club. And yet, where is the +man who does come back from his holiday without a new one in his bag, +one fond relic of those days that were so tightly packed with golf? We +bring them back with us, the names of their nativity upon them, as +hunters and explorers bring trophies from distant lands. Mutely they +testify for us. Sometimes when the holiday is done they are added, for +their merit and fine service, to the clubs in commission in the bag; +oftener they fall into the reserve; frequently they are given a purely +honorary office and sent off with a title to the golfer's own private +House of Lords as magnificent relics. + + + * * * * * + +A diary should be kept during the golfing holiday; indeed it should be +kept at all times. More such are made than the golfing world realises, +because they are often, to the uttermost degree, secret and private, and +that not merely for the reason that some diarists place themselves in +the confessional when they make their entries, but because, alas! they +are conscious of serving their own vanity by exaggeration of their best +achievements. It may be kept for one of two distinct reasons, or for +both of them, though the latter is not generally done. The two different +objects are entertainment and instruction. For the former, the small +things that are sold in shops will do. You write down, each time you +have been playing, where the game was had, who the other man was, and +what you beat him by; or the extent of the disaster if it was the other +way about. In the column devoted to "Conditions" you exaggerate the +force of the wind; and under "Remarks" you say you were driving and +putting splendidly when you won. If you lost, the space is left blank. +This record is in its own way valuable, because at a future time it will +refresh the memory concerning great golfing days of the past, and thus +furnish a real enjoyment. When a game of golf is played, and finished, +it is not done with. It is lodged in a great store of remembrance, with +full particulars attached to it, ripening with time, so that the +player's memories are among the best happenings of his golfing +possessions. All of us know that this is so, and it is as a kind of +catalogue that the little diaries serve their purpose well. + +The diary of analysis or instruction is a very different thing. The +object is to make a serial record of ideas and successful experiments, +faults and tendencies--most particularly tendencies--in order that on +periodical examination of it the player may derive useful lessons and +improve his game. One should get a good exercise book, bound nicely and +strongly, with morocco corners, and just enter up one's performances on +the plain paper according to any system that one may choose, giving +prominence to a line at the top of each entry, naming the day, the +place, and the man. I have seen diaries kept in this way, and they have +been very serviceable. But the man who is starting anything of this kind +must come to a definite agreement with himself to be absolutely honest +and sincere; and he must also be very introspective, and have keen +discernment for his own faults and constant observation for all that he +does at every stroke. Otherwise it were better that he merely kept the +diary of glorious remembrances. + +Let him, if he keeps a diary of fact, hold it secret from all the world; +but every night after his play put down in it the plain, real truth +about what happened; and let him see to it, after much thought upon +recent events, that he does properly know the truth. This point is +emphasised because men may be short with their putts, say on sixteen of +eighteen greens in one round, and yet not notice the frequency of the +same fault; or they may be pulling or cutting their putts all the time +and be oblivious, in the same way, to the circumstance. Or they may be +pitching their approaches too short of the greens, or slicing most of +their drives. The point is that the golfer's memory for his own +misdeeds is an exceedingly short one, and he rarely gets them tabulated +and analysed as he should. If he made an analysis of his play at the end +of the day, stated the truth about it in the book, and then examined +that book carefully once a week, he would learn something about the +causes that were preventing him from getting on in the game, and the +next step would suggest itself. Some would say that the making of +personal statistics in this way would be a very troublesome matter, and +they would be certain to tire of it soon. It is not so much a nuisance +as might be imagined; it becomes interesting, and it helps one's game. + +But if you are doubtful about this idea, do keep a diary of sorts +anyhow, for it is such a pity to let the golf that has been played die +out of memory. You may gather a notion of the value and interest of what +might be called played golf by reading through the match-book of another +man, like that of the late F. G. Tait, which is included in the +delightful and pathetic memoir that Mr. John Low wrote about him. Tait, +model of golfers, always filed the facts about his matches, but briefly. +Not many words were wasted in the "Remarks" column; what was said there +was the plain truth. Often it was "F. G. T. in great form," but the +recorder knew how to denounce himself. It does one good to read through +this diary of one who was soldier, hero, golfer, and darling of the +game. + + + * * * * * + +But not every man departs on a golfing holiday for a strenuous time of +continuous match-play with keen rivals who might be fine companions, and +who would keep him up at night with bridge, after a day's work on the +links was done. All sorts and conditions of men are included in this +comprehensive golfing world of ours; and some have most contemplative +moods, love solitude, and, alone with themselves and the game, probe +deeply into its mysteries and into their own weaknesses. It is to the +credit of the pastime that it accommodates itself most splendidly to +every disposition and mood and manner; and men of a lonely way have gone +solus on their holidays, and held themselves solus all the time, and +have come back again, well refreshed and satisfied. They have often +enough had fewer disappointments than the others. They have practised +extensively, and they have improved themselves as golfers. Practice is +indeed a feature of many golfing holidays. Here at such times we have +the full game at our disposal and nothing but the game, and now, if +ever, we can make ourselves to be better golfers. That is how we reason. +It is a matter to be considered carefully. + +Practice fails in most cases because the golfers concerned do not +concentrate upon their efforts with that keenness, thoroughness, and +determination they exhibit when playing a real match. The game is not +the same to them; they do not try so hard, however much, as one might +say, they try to try, and the result is there is such an excess of +looseness, carelessness, about their methods, that bad habits are born; +and these persons then had really better not be practising at all, for +thus they do harm to their game. This is one reason why one-club +practice is better in small quantities than in large ones. It is not +sufficiently interesting when kept up. What we should do, therefore, is +to make the practice interesting, and fortunately the circumstances of +the game afford wide scope for doing so. There is no other game that is +half so good in this way. Golf to many people's minds is not merely a +game to be played with others and against them; it is a study, a subject +for meditative research and exultant discovery. If others should regard +such terms as immoderate, golfers anyhow know they are fairly employed. +The essential difference that the presence of a man as opponent makes is +that a real game, hard and according to the law, has then to be played, +and there can be a winning or a losing of it. + +Well then, it is our business, in order to make solitary practice +interesting and valuable, to create a game for ourselves. It is easily +done, and there are some wise men who say that they would rather play +their solitary game, going round the links alone with all their clubs or +nearly, than they would play a match with a stranger who happened not to +turn out to be the right kind of golfing man. Many who start systems of +solitary competitive play against themselves in this way fail with them, +did they but know it, because they are not honest with themselves. +Having become very badly bunkered, and having taken three for recovery, +they must not call it one because they should have got out in one, had +they played the shot just right; nor, having missed a foot putt, must +they consider it as holed because if they had tried their uttermost they +could have holed it. We must see that it is of the essence of solus +play, and making it valuable, that the man should try his best and +should know and feel that he has no second attempt at the same stroke, +just as he has none in the real game when others are there. If he +permits himself second drives and putts, all the strokes are done +without the sense of responsibility, and the player then were better +indoors writing letters to his friends to come and match themselves +against him. Therefore let the first and the most inexorable rule in +one's solitary golf be that the shot once made must count, no matter +what its quality. What may be permitted--and this does not operate as an +exception to the rule--is that when a shot has been badly done another +ball may be played from the same place. One may learn something in this +way, but always must it be understood that the first ball must count; +and it is a good maxim that there should be no attempted repetition of a +successful stroke, for if it were done well again the man would be no +better off in mind or skill, and if it failed there would be an +unnecessary disappointment and uncertainty. + +Now, to consider ways of competing against oneself that will make +interesting the lonely game, and lift it to value too, every man of +thought might quite well devise some suitable system for himself; but we +may tell him of some that have been successful with many players, and of +a good principle to embrace in any new one, which is never to make the +test or competition too severe. I believe that golfers are improved more +by coaxing and flattery than by harsh measures and heavy defeats. It is +often said that the best way to improve is to play against better +players than ourselves, but there are limitations to that advice which +are not always sufficiently emphasised. The superior party ought not to +be too much superior, the different points of the game of the two men +should not be very widely contrasted, and the better player should be +giving to the inferior one so much allowance that the latter ought to +win as often as he loses, never letting it be forgotten that, when +handicaps are right and three-fourths of the difference is allowed, the +odds are really always in favour of the better player, as has been +proved over and over again. Even when a man is of long experience and +has been fashioned by nature in the heroic mould, it is impossible to +play his very best golf, and be improving on it, unless he "has his +pecker up." The pecker properly set makes happiness and confidence, and +it is only when such moods are engendered that the man is led on to +higher things, perceives the absence of limitation to his prospects of +improvement, and likens himself to the chrysalis of a Vardon or a Braid. +Above everything else, as we have agreed so often before, golf is a game +of hope. Crush the hope by setting the man a task that is beyond him and +you take away the joy of the game and kill the happy prospects. The +golfer who is winning will win again and play better. + +In these observations there have been some principles for practice laid +down that are seldom emphasised, but are of the most vital importance. +To make exact systems to suit them is, after all, a simple affair. Now +many men play round after round, counting their strokes, as if they were +playing in a medal competition, and comparing results at the finish, +always trying to break their own records. They may gain some benefit +from this play, but it often fails in interest, and consequently in +value, for the same reason that medal competitions do--because of the +continual occurrence of the one, or it may be two, very bad holes. The +percentage of cards that are turned from good to bad merely by one +disastrous hole must be very high, and when a man is playing a practice +round and does a nine at the second hole, it is difficult for him to +treat the remainder very seriously or be keen about them. The remedy is +simple. Let this system of playing and comparisons be that his aggregate +shall always be for sixteen or seventeen holes only, leaving the worst +to be eliminated. There is nothing unfair in doing so. The one bad hole +is frequently more the result of accident than of inability. At the +beginning of a system of practice play three holes may be dropped +regularly from the reckoning, then a week later two, the week after that +one only. Comparisons of form are more accurate and reliable when the +worst hole is eliminated, than when all eighteen are totted up. Then the +man may play the bogey game; but instead of opposing the set bogey of +the course and complicating the business with handicap strokes, let him +make a bogey of his own of such a kind that it represents not the +scratch man's proper game but his, so that when he is playing well he +ought to beat it, and it should be a tolerable match. In constructing +such a bogey, he might make allowance for his own special likes and +dislikes in regard to particular holes. Again, I have known men to +derive pleasure and improvement from a system of practice against the +ordinary bogey by which they merely reckoned the number of holes at +which they equalled or beat the phantom's figures, disregarding the +losses. There is a little difference between this and the ordinary +reckoning, and it is in the direction of encouragement if the player is +coming on. + +And then there is the interesting system that was first set forth by a +most eminent player who has been amateur champion more than once, by +which the practiser wins half-crowns for his good play and loses them on +his off days. He plays against bogey on terms that give him an equal +chance. Then he establishes a money-box with two sections in it, one +being for bogey and the other for himself, and into each section he +deposits four half-crowns, which is very little to pay for all the +enjoyment he is about to gain. When bogey beats him one of the +half-crowns is lifted out of the man's section into the ghost's, but +when flesh and blood prevail the coin comes back. The course of practice +is ended when one side or the other has got all the half-crowns. If +bogey has them there is something wrong with the game of the man, and he +had better start another series; but when the man is triumphant he may +depart for a holiday exultingly and spend the money on it, in the doing +of which he will probably win some more, his form being so much bettered +by his lonely practice. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE OLD DIGNITY OF LONDON GOLF, AND ITS NEW IMPORTANCE, WITH A WORD FOR +THE CHARM OF INLAND COURSES. + + +Perhaps in the middle ages of the game some rare old conservative of a +player at one of the great Scottish seats of golf was told by another +that a gentleman had just arrived by the coach from London and would +like a match in the morning, and it is distinctly possible, if he was +the excellent man we picture him, that he ejaculated, "And where, sir, +is London?" The manner would have been Johnsonian, if not the sentiment. +Should any one now be disposed to regard such lack of knowledge--though +I think you would find it was only what might be called judicial golfing +ignorance--or narrowness, or whatever it was, as merely stupid or a +little culpable, he may hesitate. The pride of dignity, arising from +conscious strength and superiority, was a fine thing among the Scottish +golfers, and certainly was to be admired. That spirit, that sturdy +consciousness of personal value, have helped to the making of a British +empire. And sometimes a golfer would wander in the north and be +discovered by the players there to have a wooden club with a brass sole, +and thereupon he might be good-humouredly mocked for being the +Blackheath golfer that he was, since it was on the famous course by +London that the brassey was first used. Since then London has given +other good things to golf, including many courses that are unequalled +among their kind and a number of players of high championship rank. And +sometimes there is more golf played in a day within twenty-five miles of +Charing Cross than there is in the whole of Scotland in a week, and much +of it is very good golf. But this is not a place for comparisons, and +particularly it is not meant for one in which the English gratitude to +Scottish benefactors for the gift of this remarkable game is to be +lessened from the full. It is only suggested that London golf is now a +thing of great account. That is coming to be understood; but one doubts +if the Londoners properly realise that the game in the metropolis has +rich history and traditions which make a match for those of nearly any +other place. Except that the great players of the game of different ages +were so little acquainted with it, Blackheath has golfing land as +historic as any, and the Royal Blackheath Club, with its origin in 1608, +is the oldest in the world. That is London. Some time since there was a +fashion for open-air shows of pageantry, and if the golfers had then +been so disposed they could have put forward a pageant of London golf +that would have embraced most picturesque and impressive tableaux. There +is King James the First of England and the Sixth of Scotland, keen +golfer indeed, playing the game at Blackheath in the company of some of +his nobles when the court was at Greenwich, and there is a charming +scene to be imagined in which the monarch gives his royal sanction and +authority to the Society of Golfers that is established at this place in +1608, as it is well believed to have been, and in varying forms to have +maintained its existence ever since, being to-day the Royal Blackheath +Golf Club, and highly respected. I think we should regard this King +James as being the very first of our London golfers, and he makes a +fine figure of a player for the distinction, keen enough in all +conscience. Five years before the reputed beginning of the Society at +Blackheath he appointed William Mayne to be the royal clubmaker, and a +few years later gave one named Melvill a monopoly of ball-making at four +shillings a time. Altogether this makes a good scene of golf. + +Here in the earliest days the course of Blackheath consisted of but five +holes, which was then considered the proper number, and was the same as +the Honourable Company had at Leith. Later there were seven holes +arranged, and though they are played in a different order, those seven +remain much the same to-day. It is to the discredit of London golfers as +a body, those golfers who make the most reverential pilgrimages to +northern shrines, that they have not, to the extent of one in a hundred, +ever been to the scene of the old Blackheath golf, or played a game +there on this hallowed ground, as they may at their will. It is the +story again of the prophet in his own country, the same failing as that +by which the majority of Londoners might be condemned for never having +visited the Tower of London. I believe I have met more golfers in +America who have been to Blackheath than I have met in England, for I +have encountered several who told me they had not cared to sail back +home until they had made the short journey down from Charing Cross to +the famous common. + +Apart from the sense of history and the sentiment of pilgrimage, +Blackheath, as a practical golfing proposition still surviving, should +interest every golfer intensely. Surely it is one of the most +interesting courses, one causing the deepest reflections, and one which, +even by play upon it, might have some good effect on a man's game. For +it is a chastening course, is our old Blackheath; one that makes +humility if course ever did, and one that gives us the best contentment +with our modern lot. Men who have played at Blackheath do not so +constantly complain of the weak effort of their greenkeeper, and his +governing committee, at their most favoured club. A little while since +the cry was raised that golf had become too easy--too easy! It was said +that the improving of the fairways and the smoothing of the putting +greens had taken all its early viciousness from the game. Conditions +have certainly changed, but when champions tell me that this maddening +game from time to time brings their nerves to the state of piano wires, +it may be reckoned as sufficiently difficult for the ordinary mortal. +But Blackheath is extraordinary and most educative. It is certainly hard +enough, though the modern bunker scientists have done nothing with it, +and in the ordinary sense it has no bunkers. New theories of bunkering +and the changing necessities of new kinds of balls trouble the +Blackheath golfers not at all, for the course belongs to London and not +to themselves, and they cannot do any engineering work upon it, as is +being accomplished continually on other courses. Of the seven holes that +are played the shortest is 170 yards, there is another of 230, a third +of 335, another of 380, another of 410, a sixth of 500, and the longest +is 540. The two very long holes come together, and though they are +virtually bunkerless you may be assured that they take an uncommon +amount of playing, and that he who gets them in five strokes each is +skilful and fortunate too. Here, as nowhere else, is one made to feel +that inferior shots bring their own punishment with them without any +artificial hazards. + +The common is quite flat, but it is intersected by various roads and +paths, and the greens are generally near to these walking ways. Variety +is given by the great gravel pits which are here, as they have been for +ages, although they are now smoothed and grassed over, and the biggest +of them has to be played through at both the long holes. What is known +as "Whitfield's Mount," a little clump of enclosed trees, is almost the +only relief from the bareness and flatness of this golfing common. The +lies are better than they used to be, but however kindly they may think +of them at Blackheath--and we must respect them for doing so--they are +not good. How could they be? The common is open for the children of +London, or any other place, to play upon, and for the grown-ups to +lounge about or walk over, which in abundance they do. It is primarily a +public common and only secondarily a golf course, and the vast majority +of those who walk upon it know nothing of the great game, except what +they occasionally see as they pass along. The golfers have no rights. +They have the greens, as they are called for compliment, smoothed a +little and made in some way to resemble greens; and there are holes of +sorts but not generally with flags in them, and there are no teeing +boxes. The fairway is as hard as might be expected, and consists for the +most part of bare places and tufts. There is no smoothness and evenness +of proper golfing turf about it. But one does not say this in an +unappreciative way. Not for a million balls or a permanent increase of +drive would we have Blackheath anything but what it is, for if it were +changed the charm would be gone. + +Let us go there and try the game. We must decide in advance that, like +Vardon, Braid, and Taylor we can play our real game before any gallery +in the world, and let our nerves and self-confidence be braced +accordingly, for those who play at Blackheath must undergo great +ordeals. A number of children, usually accompanied by a small dog, +discover us soon after our appearance on the course, and gather close +while our stroke is being made, very close. There is a little boy, +perhaps, one or two little girls, the baby, and the dog. We consider +most the baby at Blackheath. The boy, occasionally relieved by the elder +girl, is the spokesman of the party, and in tones indicative of complete +sympathy with the objects of the expedition, which are to strike the +ball and project it in the direction of the holes, he explains to the +remainder what is about to be done, what is done, and how we fail to do +what was intended. He corrects himself whenever he finds his information +to have been wrong. Willie having told little Liza something about the +performance that is pending, the child inquires about what will happen +if the gentleman does not hit the ball, and the gentleman, hearing, +develops fear. At this moment the dog, which has been lingering quietly +within a yard of the ball, shows signs of becoming restive, and is +inclined to smell at it. Finally it favours only a disconsolate bark. +Somehow we despatch that ball at last, and then Willie, Nell, Liza, +baby, Towser, and selves move on some way towards the hole, but not so +far as we should have done, because the ball happened to strike a +lamp-post; and on the way Liza desires to know if a golf ball would kill +anybody if it hit them, and wishes Willie to buy one some day. And a +human sweetness there is in these little Blackheath urchins after all! +This early innocence is a sublime and splendid thing, and when in like +circumstances you would scowl, you gentlemen from London, remember, if +you please, that Liza called you one, and she thinks you are. + +And the caddies! At Blackheath they have the most wonderful of all +caddies. The ways and manners and the character of the St. Andrews and +Musselburgh caddies are inferior. These Blackheath fellows are not like +the usual thing. They lean against the wall of the club-house and offer +their services to the stranger, declaring that it is a nice day for the +game, when a storm is gathering over the common. Generally the caddie +is given to laziness; they are a shiftless company. But see, though the +Blackheath caddie looks as indolent as any to begin with, he is in truth +one of the most active fellows within a hundred miles of Charing Cross, +as you very soon discover, after beginning the round with him. The old +red flag of traction-engine law obtains at Blackheath still. The golfer +is a dangerous person, death lurks in his flying ball, and so a man with +a scarlet banner must walk before the player to warn all people that he +is coming on. But we make the caddie do the ordinary work of carrying, +and teeing up, and red-flagging also, and he contrives in effect to be +in two places at the same time. He tees the ball, lays down the driver +by the side of it, and then runs ahead with a coloured handkerchief, +which is the red flag, and he waves it while on the run and the golfer +follows. So the caddie, leaving near the ball the club that is needed, +goes on again, and is always a shot ahead. Reaching the green he stands +by the hole until the golfer comes near enough to see it, and then the +man hurries away to the next tee, sets everything in a state of +preparation (and he carries a supply of sand in his pocket), and at once +is off again to the distance of a drive before the player has holed out. +The weakness of this system is that the caddie, by force of +circumstances, can know little or nothing of the progress of the match, +he is not one of the party, and he cares nothing at all about our good +shots. He lacks the sympathy of the real caddie, but he is marvellously +efficient all the same. If it is true, as we always say, that golf is +the same all over the world, I would suggest that if there is a place +where it is not the same it is at Blackheath, and that is why every one +should go there, and it should cease to be the fact that more London +golfers have been to Fifeshire than have been to play upon that historic +course. + + + * * * * * + +Take a glimpse into the rich past of Blackheath golf. Look into the old +bet-book of the club and see some entries there, and do not forget that +all bets were made on the understanding that all members of the club had +a share in the gains of the winner no matter whether the bets were made +in cash or kind. On Saturday, July 9 1791, "Mr. Pitcaithly bets Captain +Fairfull one gallon of claret that he drives the Short Hole in three +strokes, six times in ten--to be played for the first time he comes to +Blackheath--after the annual day. Lost and paid by Mr. Pitcaithly, the +10th September." A little while later "Mr. Christie bets Mr. Barnes one +gallon of claret that he drives from the Thorn Tree beyond the College +Hole in three strokes, five times in ten, to be decided next Saturday." +Mr. Christie in due course performed his driving feat and won his bet. +Then "Captain Welladvice, having left the company without permission of +the chair, has forfeited one gallon claret"; and "Mr. Turner bets Mr. +Walker one gallon claret that he plays him on Wednesday, the 12th inst., +four rounds of the green, and that Mr. Walker does not gain a hole of +him." Again, "Mr. Longlands bets Mr. Win. Innes, Sen., that he will play +him for a gallon of claret, giving Mr. Innes one stroke in each hole. +Four rounds on the green. Out and in holes to be played." One may well +understand that all the good claret that was thus available from these +gallant bets, together with what was bought and paid for in the ordinary +course, had a heartening effect upon those old golfers, with the result +that in the fine fancies that floated in the dining-hall of the "Green +Man" after dinner, drives seemed all endowed with unusual length, and +direction was always good. Again it is recorded that on an evening of +June "Captain MacMillan bets a gallon with Mr. Jameson that Captain +Macara in five strokes drives farther by fifteen yards than any other +gentleman Mr. Jameson may name of the Golf Society now present, to be +determined next Saturday"; and no sooner had Captain MacMillan +registered his bet than there came along Mr. Callender, who "bets Mr. +Hamilton one gallon that Mr. R. Mackenzie drives in five strokes farther +than Mr. H., to commence at the Assembly Hole and go on five strokes +running." Then Mr. Innes gets into a sporting mood, and he "bets Mr. +Wilson a gallon (a guinea) that he beats him, allowing Mr. Innes the tee +stroke with his wooden club, and after with his irons. Out and in--four +rounds." All these were in the latter days of the eighteenth century, +and all the time the happy golfers were filling up the bet-book of the +club, not with golfing bets any more than, or as much as, with bets +about events of the great war that was in progress; as, for instance, +when Mr. Satterthwaite "bets Mr. Callender a gallon of claret that +Admiral Nelson's squadron does take or destroy the French transports in +the harbour of Alexandria, or the major part of them." + +In the Knuckle Club and the Blackheath Winter Golf Club, forerunners of +the Blackheath Golf Club, the same happy state of affairs prevailed. The +Knuckle Club was a very remarkable institution. In form it was a secret +society. Each member had to be initiated, and had to learn certain signs +and answers to questions by which he would know brother members from +strangers. Also, the members wore orders or a kind of regalia, and there +were heavy fines if they allowed themselves to be seen outside the +club-rooms with these special tokens of their community about them. On +one occasion we have a member, named James Walker, heavily fined in +claret for being so thoughtless as to take home his order. The holder +of the golfing gold medal for the year was termed the Grand Knuckle, and +was the chief of the club, which boasted also a "Registrar," and various +other officials of much dignity of title. As the mystic element of the +club decreased, so the golfing strength and enthusiasm of it increased, +and it was by this process of evolution that in course of time the +mystery lapsed and the name was changed. Before the competitions of the +club took place advertisements were always inserted in the _Times_ and +the _Morning Chronicle_ of the period, and it must be remarked that play +in these competitions was usually conducted on the strictest lines. One +record in the minutes reads: "28th March, 1795. Medal Day. It being +stated to the club that Mr. Innes, one of the candidates for the medal +played for this day, lost his ball; the opinion of the club was desired +whether the loss of the ball put an end to the candidate's chance for +the honours of the day." The club determined that it did. So more than a +hundred years ago their medal rules were stricter than ours, in this +matter at any rate. "Scrutineers" always examined the medal cards after +dinner, and announced the winner. In the early part of last century +there seems to have been rather less of betting and a little more of +feasting. There were gifts of venison and turtle from the members, and +the supply of claret, varied now and then by champagne and choice +spirits, was very copious. Each time a child was born to a member, he +contributed a pound's worth of claret to the weekly or monthly dinner; +and whenever a member was married, the same thing was done. The golf of +Blackheath, and all connected with it, was then a highly picturesque +thing. The course was yet only a five-holes affair. The clubs of the +players were carried by pensioners of the Royal Naval Hospital, +Greenwich, in their quaint uniforms, and an allowance of beer was +regularly made to them by the club until 1832. The pensioners were +caddies until 1869. + +The Royal Blackheath Club was, and still is, most original and +interesting in many points of its constitution and government. To be +captain of this club, small one comparatively as it is now, is to fill a +high office, the honourable nature of which is duly impressed upon the +holder at the time of his election and installation, for he is elevated +with much ceremony and in much the same way as the captain of the Royal +and Ancient Club. The retiring captain sits in his chair at the meeting +for the last time, and thanks are offered to him by grateful members for +the good things he has done in his year. And then the captain-elect is +called by name by the secretary, who takes in his arms the silver club +which is the equivalent of the mace in Parliament, the symbol of power +and active authority, and places himself at the head of a procession +which is formed. The field-marshal, conducting the newcomer to the +chair, follows behind, and so they make their way to the head of the +chamber, where the field-marshal presents the new captain to the old +one. There are various little forms of ritual to be gone through; the +new captain makes a solemn declaration of loyalty and fidelity to the +club and his office, and, particularly, expresses his anxiety to +maintain its dignity, and then he commits himself irrevocably and +awfully to an undying oath--he kisses the club! All this is to-day just +as it was in the ancient days. Mention has been made of the +field-marshal of the club; no other club boasts a field-marshal, who +fills an office of most ineffable and incomparable dignity. Captains may +come and go, year by year; they do their work well; and they lay down +the club. But the field-marshal is above all captains, and he is in +office till he dies. He is a prince over captains. He is essentially a +golfer--not a mere ornament--and a good golfer, and one strong in the +true spirit of the game. Because a good field-marshal is not easily +found, he is made much of. The installation of a new one is a fine +ceremony. There is a solemn gathering, all the famous trophies and bits +of regalia are furbished up; there are speeches, forms, declarations, +questions, answers; and if it were a very coronation the thing could +scarcely be more serious. The silver club is held before the +field-marshal elect, and he is presented with the special medal of his +office, when he is finally addressed thus: "We expect and ask that you +will wear this medal at all golf meetings as your predecessors did; and +we have further to ask that you will in all time coming, while you are +spared in health, do all that in you lies to maintain and support the +rights and privileges of this ancient club; to maintain the honour and +dignity of the club; and should any attempts be made to interfere with +the rights of the club, that you will aid the executive in endeavouring +to put down such interference, so that the club may maintain the high +and honourable position that it ever has done, since its institution in +1608. Kiss the club!" The field-marshal kisses it, and thus he is +exalted among the highest in the whole world of golf. + +There are many eras with marked features to be noted in the history of +the club. Even now many of those features are still perpetuated. Dinners +are still held; dignity still is high. We have now heard much of the +old-time Blackheath golfers; but an era of vast consequence, not only to +Blackheath but to the game, is one that can still be remembered by some +old golfers, that of great activity which began just before the middle +of last century, and is only just now reaching its climax in the great +and universal "boom" in golf. It has already been suggested that +Blackheath led the way, and led it most effectively. For long after it +had done so it was still the premier club in England, and in playing +strength was the best. The club itself has few solid possessions--just a +few fine old club heirlooms--but many great memories. In a very modern +sense it is poor, having a comfortable but not a magnificent club-house, +and no splendid links of eighteen holes. But the Royal Blackheath Golf +Club is like a fine old English gentleman of the very best kind, +ignoring all new ways of thought and life, eschewing all sordidness, +clinging to the fine simple principles of wise fore-fathers. That is +just what it is, the fine old English gentleman whom the age has +outstripped. It is the Colonel Newcome of the clubs. + + + * * * * * + +And in that pageant of London golf that we suggested there are many +other picturesque and significant scenes. If we cannot be sure of the +places where the holes were cut, nor of the situation of the teeing +grounds, it is still certain, from documentary evidence, that a golf +course that was made at Molesey Hurst was only second, in point of +seniority, in England, to Blackheath itself, and it was very high up in +the list of the golf clubs of the world. Manchester came next in 1818. +There are concerned in the only existing record two people of no less +credit and renown than David Garrick, the actor, and the eminent Dr. +Alexander Carlyle, of Inveresk, who witnessed the Porteous riots, saw +the fight at Prestonpans, and amid these many excitements cultivated his +game to a fine point, was one of the keenest golfers of the eighteenth +century, and won the Musselburgh medal in 1775. Carlyle was like many +others of the Scottish parsons of those good times and the present, who +would take their golf clubs with them wherever they might wander, on the +chance of opportunity presenting itself. He came to London, and knowing +of Blackheath, the clubs came with him. Garrick at that time had a house +at Hampton which in recent days was occupied by the late Sir Clifton +Robinson, the organiser of the London electric tramway system. Garrick +asked John Home and a number of friends, including Carlyle, to dine with +him at Hampton and bring their golf clubs and balls with them that they +might play on the course at Molesey Hurst. When the six of them, who +were in a landau, passed through Kensington, the Coldstreams, who were +changing guard, observed their clubs, and gave them three cheers "in +honour of a diversion peculiar to Scotland." + +There might be a railway train in the pageant of London golf, one of the +early trains with engines of the Stephensonian style. The period would +be just after the accession of Queen Victoria, and there would be two +gentlemen travelling together from London to Aldershot, one of them +being Sir Hope Grant, a keen golfer, a member of the Royal and Ancient +Club, who held a military appointment at Aldershot, while the other +would be the Duke of Cambridge. It has been recorded that in matter of +companionship this journey was a very dull affair, for Sir Hope Grant +was moody, and failed to respond to the well-meant attempts of the Duke +to open conversation. He seemed troubled. But suddenly after long +silence he jumped up from his seat, rushed to the window of the +compartment and opened it. At this stage the Duke of Cambridge felt that +things could not be well with his companion, and jumping up after him, +grabbed him by the tails of his coat. A moment later they both sat down, +and looked at each other. "Well," said Sir Hope Grant, in the manner of +a man recovering from a great surprise, "that is a thing that you +seldom see near London; there were two men playing golf in a field out +there." + +And then in the pageant there would be represented the starting of golf +at Wimbledon in 1865, with the Blackheath emissaries all on fire with +the zeal of their enterprise. Wimbledon with its Royal Wimbledon and its +London Scottish, its famous holes and its windmill, and all the rest of +it, has played no small part in golfing history. At the beginning seven +holes were made as they had them at Blackheath, and did you ever hear +that at Wimbledon once there was a round that consisted of nineteen +holes, the longest round in number of holes in the world? Tom Dunn, who +was responsible for the extension of the course about 1870, told the +story, and so far as I am aware he only told it in America. We may +repeat it here in the words he used. The committee had asked him whether +he thought they might make a full-sized course on their land, and, +coming to the conclusion that they might, he was told to go on with the +work, and eventually was satisfied that he had made a good job of it. +The secretary of the period is said to have been somewhat imperfectly +acquainted with the game in general just then, and went to Dunn with the +inquiry as to how many holes they had on the old course at St. Andrews, +and was told. "The secretary thought a moment," said Tom, "scratched his +head and began to look wise. Then he approached very closely, and +nodding his head for me to bend my ear, he whispered in a hoarse voice, +'Tom, let us have one more!' 'Oh, that is impossible,' I replied. 'It +cannot be, for eighteen is the orthodox number.' 'I care not for that,' +replied the secretary, who was accustomed to have his own way, 'we will +have one more!' I was very young at the time and I would do anything +rather than offend the gentleman, for he had much influence, and I +wanted his goodwill; so I reluctantly submitted to the demand. The +committee met the next day, and I was asked if I had succeeded in making +an eighteen-holes course. I replied, with some hesitation, that I had +made a nineteen-holes course, and explained why I had done so. Well, you +never in your life saw a more excited lot of men. There was an uproar in +a moment, and all made a dive for the poor secretary, who never heard +the last of it." + + + * * * * * + +Within sight of Wimbledon now there is Coombe Hill, one of the best and +most recent achievements in the new metropolitan golf. Here is a +contrast indeed! One may sometimes wonder how those ill-tempered people +who grumble that golfers in these days take their game, and all about +it, too richly, and that fine club-houses do not make plus players--such +complainers still being eager for all the most modern comforts +themselves--would like to live their golfing lives for a season after +the early Wimbledon manner in all its great simplicity. The first +club-house those golfers ever had, if you would call it by the name, was +the old iron "shooting house," and it measured only eight yards by six. +It served the purposes of club-room, clothes-room and others. If its +floor space was small, its roof was high, and the members' clothes were +hung up on hooks, to the very top; and were lifted up to their proper +places, and reached down again by a pole. Most of the numerous members +had their private hooks, and a boy who worked the pole had a most +marvellous memory for the garments and their proper owners, so that when +a member, coming in suddenly, called for his jacket and his stockings, +up went the pole, and down came the goods without a moment's delay, and +all correct. This remarkable young person has his proper and +highly-developed successor in Gibbon, the house-steward at the present +Mid-Surrey club at Richmond, who, though he has nearly a thousand +members to consider, knows so well the particularities and possessions +of them all. Tom Dunn had his workshop in this iron shooting house, and +here he kept a fair stock of clubs and balls, and did his own repairs. +Presently some of the members suggested to him that it would be +agreeable if he stored some eatables and drinkables in his shop for +their sustenance and comfort, before and after rounds; and so he laid in +a stock of wines and spirits, sandwiches and eggs, and so forth, which +had of necessity to be laid out on his bench where there were varnish, +shavings, sawdust and pitch as well. Behold here the early London +golfer! It is an interesting historical fact, that when a few years +after its establishment, and just before the Tom Dunn era, the club +first thought of engaging a professional, the committee set it on record +that "they took a very favourable view of young Tom Morris's application +for the post." + +The people who accuse the moderns of being over fond of prizes in +competitions--and a nasty name they call them!--might be told the tale +of the old golfing baronet of Wimbledon, now dead, who once won five +shillings, being his half share of the third prize in the sweepstakes +attached to the monthly medal competition there. It was the first prize +that this keen but unfortunate golfer had ever won, and he begged the +permission of the committee to be allowed to add more money for a richer +keepsake. The consent of the authorities was graciously given, whereupon +the prize-winner purchased for himself a golden-eagle writing stand for +which he gave a hundred sovereigns, adding ninety-nine pounds fifteen +shillings to the prize-money. Friends, not being golfers, who called +upon him had the prize exhibited to them, and they said, "Goodness, +what a fine player you must be!" He felt he was, and that the prize was +worth the money. + +When the 'nineties of the last century were reached golf began to spread +in London, and such clubs as Northwood with its "Death or Glory" Hole, +Tooting Bec, and Mid-Surrey laid the foundation for the great London +golf that was soon to come. This Mid-Surrey club with its thousand +members, its financial turnover of thirty thousand pounds a year, its +hundred thousand rounds that are played on that excellent course in +twelve months without its showing hardly the wear of a blade of grass, +the twenty thousand lunches that are eaten by their members, the four +thousand pounds that were spent in one year lately on the improvement of +the course, is, I believe, the busiest golfing institution in the world. +It is well said that there is nearly always a couple driving off from +that first teeing ground near the rails in the Old Deer Park. And one +might add that as a place where golf is played in a plain but excellent +spirit, without any fancy trappings, the club here is one of the best +organised and managed in the world, and is a vast credit to the +secretary, Mr. J. H. Montgomerie, while the course, whose putting greens +are a match for any in existence, is a fine testimonial to that prince +of greenkeepers, Peter Lees, who was lately captured by the Americans +for a great new course on Long Island. Lees has been a great influence +in the development of modern golf in England, and I know that he will +make a great difference to American courses. And there is champion J. H. +Taylor as the club's professional. In a special way Mid-Surrey stands +for London golf. + +It has come to this, that we no longer fear to speak and write of the +great excellence of the London golf courses. Sunningdale at the +beginning of the present century opened up a new era not only in London +golf but in golf in general--the period of the inland courses of a far +higher class, better and more interesting in every respect than anything +that had ever been dreamt of before. Sunningdale was followed by +Huntercombe and Walton Heath, of which Sir George Riddell has assisted +to make such a magnificent success. There have come after them +Worplesdon, Burhill, Bramshot, Stoke Poges, Sandy Lodge, Coombe Hill, +St. George's Hill, and many others all belonging to the same class. Many +of us hold to the fancy that Sunningdale, the mother of the new sort of +courses, is still the best and most charming of them all. She is the +Berkshire jewel; magnificent. But comparisons are not easily made, for, +most remarkably and happily, these new modern inland courses that are +setting an example to the world and which the world is following +wherever it can afford it, vary enormously in character, in appearance, +in the precise sort of golf that they present and offer, whereas at the +beginning of inland golf we had the fancy, and the fancy truly led to +fact, that in the main all inland courses must be the same--plain, flat, +one cross bunker here, another there, and then the green. Not only the +architecture, but, far more than that in its beneficial effects, the +greenkeeping has been improved, soils are understood, they are fortified +and seeds are adapted to them, and results are achieved which not ten +years ago would have been regarded as impossible. The result is that we +have fairways and putting greens on some of our best inland courses near +London which are rarely excelled at the seaside, although nothing can +ever give to inland turf that firm springiness--a term slightly +paradoxical but one easily appreciated--which is the characteristic of +good seaside links. No longer is good inland golf to be despised. It has +charms all its own, and it has the distinction that golf as we know it +to-day would never have existed if it were not for the inland courses. +There are fewer hedges on them now than once there were, and no more +ditches than there should be. + + + * * * * * + +To a section of old conservatives it may seem a dreadful thing to say, +but it is the truth that one of the reasons why we love our golf of +London, praise it and rejoice in it, is because of its glorious trees. +We know courses on the coast where there is never a tree or a bush to be +seen, and never one to be avoided in the playing. The golfers who live +and play and die in those parts know nothing of the splendour of trees +and the leaves that come and go, and knowing nothing they will even +sometimes wrongfully say that no golf course ever should have a tree +about it. Golf is a game of Nature; allow it then all the best effects +that Nature can supply. Permit it the trees that the townsmen otherwise +so seldom see; cutting them down, hewing them away will not bring the +ocean nearer nor liken the course more to seaside golf. Trees belong to +the inland game as much as sandhills to the other, and when a question +of removal arises, let constructors and committees reflect that a golfer +can be made in a season and he perishes some time later, that a new hole +can be made in a week and may be altered the week after, that some shots +which are thought of might be hindered by the tree but that only one +shot in a dozen is likely to be of the kind that is considered--and that +the tree has taken ages to grow, and will live ages on, being more of +eternity than many generations of golfers. + +They may not always be conscious of the fact, but the people who live in +towns and are cooped in them constantly, abiding in flats, working in +gloomy chambers and travelling in underground railways, derive more than +half their golfing enjoyment from the vision of Nature, less adorned +than in the public parks, with which they become associated in their +golf--grass to tread upon, surrounding trees through which soft breezes +croon, and timid clouds creeping slowly underneath the blue. There is +nothing so good as the golf of the true seaside links; there could not +be. In this, the real thing, we have land formations that are impossible +on inland flatness; there are the wildness of dunes and bent that cannot +be reproduced artificially away from the coast; we have the perfect turf +that is ideal for the game and which has never yet been completely +imitated away from shore, and above all, through the rich variety of +situation and possibility, we have the course springing surprises on us +all the time. This is golf in the highest, the stern, cold, enthralling +game. London golf is a gentler thing, a little softer, but it has charms +that are all its own, and they are the charms of green Nature and the +delights of changing seasons. By the sea it is warm or it is cold, and +there is little difference else from the beginning of the year to the +end. But in London the golfer notices the seasons as he does nowhere +else, and they are everything to him and his happiness. And the trees +best tell him of the seasons, and it is then that he might exclaim, as +Ruskin did, "What a great thought of God was that when He thought a +tree!" + +In this way the two most beautiful seasons of the year, spring and +autumn, touching nearest the heart, creating inspirations and causing +reflection, the germinal and the fall, are the most splendid times for +golf in London, and at other inland places, and they are surely the best +seasons of all for the enjoyment and happiness of the game. But +particularly they are London's seasons. In the spring there is the time +for preparation, when all golfers are keen in a new life. Then the +leaves of the trees are opened, and are there prettier scenes on any +course than on some of those near London then? There is hardly to be +fancied a better day than could be had at St. George's Hill or on the +New Zealand course at Byfleet when the golden gorse is in bloom and +gives out its rich perfume, while the trees that line the fairway all +about are full to life again. Think, when May is come, of the glory of +Sudbrooke Park, Cassiobury, of Sunningdale, even of Neasden, Northwood, +and a hundred more. Then there comes the holiday time, and the seaside +links, and the golf of London rests until the autumn, and then it is +alive again; and let the faults of London golf be whatever they may, the +players are few who are not happy to return to the old courses of home. +Be they ever so poor they are their very own. + +This of all others is the most delightful golfing season. The white sun +of summer has been toned to gold, and the air is sweet and cool; the +turf is moist again. It is soothing; but there is a pathos in it all +that the golfer, sensitive and sympathetic observer as he has become, +must always feel. One may tramp a country lane and notice little, but +the men of this game have been trained to notice. Here present is the +season of the fall, the rest after achievement, when Nature closes in +upon herself and lapses to her sleep. She has done her season's work, +done it wisely, ever well. So the fires of heaven burn low again. Green +of the world turns russet and bronze, with flashes of scarlet and gold. +A smell of earth that is moist with autumn dew rises in the morning air. +When the round begins the sun warmth is not enough to dry away the +little globules of the dew, tears of the sobbing night, and the course +has a glittering sheen upon it. From drooping branches of beeches and +sycamores that half surround a putting green in a corner of the course, +crackling leaves are falling and some must be moved before the intruding +ball can be putted to its appointed place. As the little golfing company +moves along to the adjoining tee more of these spent leaves come +fluttering sadly down. But, a little sad as this may be, the golfer of +the towns, with summer memories of mountains and hills and deep lanes +still lingering in his mind, hearing the crooning of the summer seas and +the lapping of waves near northern putting greens, has his consolations. +He is grateful for the coppery leaves and the early dew, though they may +hinder play a trifle. They are as echoes from the north and east and +west. We see no dew in Piccadilly, and there are no mountains in the +Strand. + + +THE END + + +_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_. + + + + +BOOKS ON GOLF + + +THE SOUL OF GOLF. By P. A. VAILE. Illustrated. Extra Crown 8vo. 6s. net. + + _GOLF ILLUSTRATED._--"We can only say that we read it through + without finding a dull page, and that in our opinion it is a book + which will give hope to the duffer and new light even to the + advanced player." + +THE MYSTERY OF GOLF. By ARNOLD HAULTAIN. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. net. + + Mr. HENRY LEACH _in the EVENING NEWS_.--"Mr. Haultain's book answers + to all the tests to which it may be submitted, and I am strongly + disposed to regard it as the best book of its kind that has ever + been written." + +TRAVERS' GOLF BOOK. By JEROME D. TRAVERS. Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 8s. +6d. net. + + _FRY'S MAGAZINE._--"Mr. Travers' book is a valuable contribution to + golfing literature, and it should be bought and read by every + golfer." + +THE ART OF PUTTING. By W. J. TRAVIS and JACK WHITE. Illustrated. Crown +8vo. 1s. net. + + _GOLFING._--"Into little space Mr. Travis crowds many valuable hints + to the willing student.... It's a big shillingsworth, and those of + you who invest will find that is so." + + * * * * * + +GREAT LAWN TENNIS PLAYERS: THEIR METHODS ILLUSTRATED. By G. W. BELDAM +and P. A. VAILE. With 229 Action Photographs. Medium 8vo. 10s. 6d. net. + +GREAT BATSMEN: THEIR METHODS AT A GLANCE. By G. W. BELDAM and C. B. FRY. +With 600 Action Photographs. Medium 8vo. 10s. 6d. net. + +GREAT BOWLERS AND FIELDERS: THEIR METHODS AT A GLANCE. By G. W. BELDAM +and C. B. FRY. With contributions by F. R. Spofforth, B. J. T. +BOSANQUET, R. O. SCHWARZ, and G. L. JESSOP; and 464 Action Photographs. +Medium 8vo. 10s. 6d. net. + +LAWN TENNIS, ITS PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. By J. PARMLY PARET. With a +chapter on Lacrosse by W. H. MADDREN. Illustrated. Extra Crown 8vo. 8s. +6d. net. + + * * * * * + +BOOKS ON SPORT + + +HUNTING THE ELEPHANT IN AFRICA, AND OTHER RECOLLECTIONS OF THIRTEEN +YEARS' WANDERINGS. By Captain C. H. STIGAND. With Introduction by +Theodore Roosevelt. Illustrated. 8vo. 10s. 6d. net. + +THE ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER. By JAMES SUTHERLAND. Illustrated. +8vo. 7s. 6d. net. + +THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO, AND OTHER EAST AFRICAN ADVENTURES. By +Lieut.-Colonel J. H. PATTERSON, D.S.O. Illustrated. With a Foreword by +FREDERICK COURTENEY SELOUS. 8vo. 7s. 6d. net. Also Globe 8vo. 1s. net. + +IN THE GRIP OF THE NYIKA. Further Adventures in British East Africa. By +Lieut.-Colonel J. H. PATTERSON, D.S.O. Illustrated. 8vo. 7s. 6d. net. + +A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS IN AFRICA. Nine Years amongst the Game of the Far +Interior of South Africa. By FREDERICK COURTENEY SELOUS. Illustrated. +Extra Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. net. + +AFRICAN NATURE NOTES AND REMINISCENCES. By FREDERICK COURTENEY SELOUS. +With a Foreword by THEODORE ROOSEVELT and Illustrations by E. Caldwell. +8vo. 10s. net. + +A COLONY IN THE MAKING, OR SPORT AND PROFIT IN BRITISH EAST AFRICA. By +Lord CRANWORTH. Illustrated. 8vo. 12s. net. + +SPORT ON THE NILGIRIS AND IN WYNAAD. By F. W. F. 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