Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-04

perfect marveif Every stroke Is applauded
with wild enthusiasm, the great one can do
no wrong, and " any one is sufficiently bold
as TO criticise he only dare do 80 with
hated breath. The scratch player enjoys IL
thoroughly. but at the same time feels
regular fraud knowing quite well that he
Is by no means the seventh wonder Of tho
world. but only very ordinary golfer on
par with twenty or thirty others. II Is
great event, however. In the club annals,
and the youthful geniuses of the village
model their style on that OF the great play
er. and kittens and puppies innumerahie
are honored by beiag ehristened with the
magic name.
Another amusing fncldent OF the game is
the camera mend. Nowadays nine people
out OF ten carry cameras, and. although II
sometimes becomes nuisance, II often
gives rise to funny incidents. To be en-
treated pitiously 20 pose for a stroke IS
very fiatteriug, perhaps but when the re-
| quest also comes to be sure and look at tho
camera instead OF az the bali the golfer
| feels IL Is time TO draw the line Also when
| a snapshooter takes UP his position directly
! IN a line for the hole in blissfui ignorance
| that he IS in Imminent per- OF mis- life.
/ one feels imperafively that some remon-
| STRANGE must be made even at the risk "a
/ hurting his feelings. These photographs
/ when produced IN the Illustrated news
/ papers. are not always Joy. In TACT. fire.
| quentiy very much the reverse, but those
! who go In for regulations have 10 put up
with discopforts.
| The photographer is one OF the many
| types of spectators to be seen In a large
| gallery. he huTrteS along with his cam
| era under his arm trying 10 secure good
| point of vantage with the sun In the proper
| place and everything satisfactory. only un-
/ fortunately he is often bitterly disappointed
| by some untoward circumstance. such as
/ the crowd pressing hopelessly In front or
/ the players giving up the hole before reach
| ing the green. He Is never discouraged,
| however but always comes up smiling
| again. ready to rush to the next favorable
| position Another well-knOwn figure on the
! links is the reporter, who plods steadily
| round with large notebook ready at hand
| to make copious notes Of the different
| strokes.
Then there are the anxious relatives some
| flurr;ed and worried. murmuring why. oh
| why, was such stroke made, or how could
| E--be so silly as TO miss such short putt,
| others calm and seif-Containcd on the sur
4 face, not displaying much feeling, but prob
| ably in an inward ferment. There are the
| partsans Of each side taking keen interest
in the game and exerting their viii power to
| the utmost to make their fayOrite win
| There are those who have no keen interest
| in either side. but dispasslonately judge the
| players on their merits, and are keeuly crit
| zeal OF the method in which each shot Is
| played. A motley crew, indeed, but all alike
| absorbed In the game watching the progress
of each stroke with the keenest interest.
~
! To turn to the more general types or
classes of golfers. First and foremost comes
the beginner, who is struggling through the
| weary weeks of his apprenticeship Plunged
| either In the depths of despair or raised to
| the summit of bliss, the type is very Ia
! miliar and one often wonders at the pa
! thence displayed by these novices and at
| their steady perseverance through every
| kind of disbursement and difficulties.
| After the first few months they begin to
| take a keen interest In golf literature and
| read with aVidity every word that Is pub
! lished on the subject, opening the news
paper In the morning at the golf column and
| collecting magazines and books of instruc-
| ton of every description. They assimiiate
! instruction eagerly by reading and watch
| ing good golf; that is to say. the really keen
and interested beginners do so, and they
/ are always on the lookout for advice and
/ counsel There are few who are content
! simply to play for something 10 do. who do
| not take the trouble to improve themselves
| but drag on In the same old way not con-
quering bad habits. but simply struggling
! round the links and trusting TO luck to carry
them through victo rious. These, however
are very much in the minority. and the keen
beginner is far the more frequently to be
met with.
egoist. He is so full Of his own play that
he can neither think nor talk of anything
else. If you play a round with him lie re-
capitulateS all his strokes of the previous
round. and points out places from which at
some other period he has made magnificent
strokes He does not grasp the fact that
he is boring his listener horribly, but goes
steadily on recounting story after story I'M
til one longs to hit him over the head with
niblick. The pleasure of golf is largely in
being able to retail the events of a round to
a sympathetic friend but there is modera-
ton in all things, and the egoist is quite be-
yond the pale