The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1894-11-22
GAME OF GOLF.
1t Fascinates Because 1t Usually Beats the
Player and Ever Spurs Him On.

II Fascinates Because 1t Usually Beats the
Player and Ever Spurs Him On.
To Obtain full appreciation of the
charms and difficulties of golf Won
should have acquired a settled convic.
ton of its inferiority as game requir-
ing either skill or experience; you must
have Looked upon it with supreme con-
tempt, and catalogued it as a sport for
lnvallds and old men. When you have
reached this frame of mind go out onto
the links and try it. l never believed
club could be held in so many differ
emit ways but the right one until | es-
sayed golf, nor dreamed it so difficult
to drive ball in given direction. The
devotlonlof the golfer to his game is
only equaled by the contempt of him
who looks upon it for the first time.
You worder at great many things
when yo1 first see it played, but your
wonderment is greatest that game
winch appears so simple should have
created such Juror
The secret of its fascination rests
largely in the fact that it beats the
player, and he, in his perversity,
strives the harder to secure the unat-
tainable.
The game is by no means easy; in
fact, one of England's foremost play
ers asserts that it takes six months of
steady play to acquire consistent form.
You must hit the ball properly to send
it in the desired direction, and you
must deal with it as you find it; you
cannot arrange the ball to suit your
better advantage nor await more sat-
lsfactory one, as in baseball and
cricket The club must be held cor
rectly and swung accurately in order
to properly address the ball, from
which the player should take his eye,
while at the same time he must move
absolutely freely, and yet maintain an
exact balance. Besides which, it de-
mands Judgment and good temper, and
If you fail in the latter your play will
be weakened on the many trying occa-
sions that arise.
1t is selfish game, where each man
fights for himself, selling every techni-
cality for his own advantage, and there
is no doubt that to this fact it's popu-
larity may in a large measure be at
tributed. Unlike cricket, baseball, or
football, one is not dependent on others
for play. You can usually find some
one to make up a match, or you may
go over the course alone, getting the
best of the practice and fairly good
sport, or at least there is always cad
die to be had for the asking, and the
usual small fee.
The exercise may be gentle, but who
soever fancies golf does not test the
nerves should play round on popular
links. Unless he is a veteran of tried
experience he cannot be indifferent to
the scrutiny to which his form is sub
jected at the tee, nor does it make him
more certain of his swing to know that
he is being mentally criticised by the
most skilled players in the world. If
he is novice, he is pretty apt to top
his ball on the drive, and fancy all
kinds of maledictiOns heaped upon his
duffer play by those awaiting their
turn at the tee. | should advise be-
ginner to serve his novitiate on little
frequented links, if such are to be found
in Great Britain, for on popular ones
both his pleasure and form are likely
to suffer, He is sure to make wild
drives and erratic iron shots in his
anxiety to play hurriedly and keep
out of the way of following golfers,
and it isnot calculated to increase his
accuracy to hear balls dropping around
him and to know he is delaying the
game of dozen or more back of him.
But the buffers trials are suspended
for the time being once he has reached
the putting green, since tradition rules
that here on this golfng sanctuary no
man may drive into or modest him.
And yet his respite is but half enjoyed,
and not at all shared by his partner, if
he be foursome match, for the desira
bility of always being up in his puts
having been vigorously impressed upon
him, he is likely, in his zeal and wish
to win look of approval from that pa
tient individual, to entirely overshoot
the hole-C. W. Whitney, in Harpers
Waalylv