The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-09
THREE RULES FOR GOLF
Some Important Practical Suggestions
 for Amateurs

From the Century Magazine.
 prominent golfer once said that there are three rules which, If followed, will make any man a fairly average player, and, If the man be young and naturally endowed, will make him a scratch man. These rules he enunciated as follows: Keep your eye on the ball; don't press, and the rather slangy but extremely ex- pressive, Be stuck on yourself" It Is hardly necessary to expand upon the first tule No follower of any important championship but has seen a topped or stubbed shot of the simplest kind, caused by the too early lifting of his head, cost some man his chances of coming through.
 The second rule is generally conceded, but 1t is not fully reckoned with by our amateur. I once followed the team match between English and Scotch pro- fessionals at Hoylake. In following I was particularly impressed with the fact that while these men drove clean, straight balls, they seldom made the phe- nomenal drives I had seen Blackwell, Scott or some of the other amateurs achieve; and yet upon several occasions the professionals would make tremendous earries on necessary brassy shots. 1 talked 1t over with two or three who geemed in the mood to be confidential, and I learned that this was their prin- riple:
 "when you go up to the tee, start the hole right You'll always find troubfe enough without inviting it. Put the ball nown the middle a couple of hundred yards; then you know what kind of Shot you have. If you get 25o yards, you're nearer the hole than usual. and you don't know so much about the shot. Besides, If you press, your ball may run lust bit into the long, and the 20 or 30 yards greater distance is too expensive. But when you have started right, it's all clear sailing As to the long second or third shots. you can take bigger chance. The trap or bunker is, only, five or six yards Now, if you're 200 yards off, and It's going to save a stroke to carry 1t, It may be worth while. If you get. the ball just right, you'll clear, it., and if you hon't get 1t clean, the chances, are that s you'll not get far enough to be In 1t. and will be no worse off, than if you played Dhort, anyway iaa fE sa +s1as
 The third rule simply means that vpirit of condolences which every golfer recognizes, particularly on the putting green. There are days when he feels no trepidationl about the short butts, md the hole looks large to him from any place upon the green. Those are the days when he can run anything down. Then comes a day when that round, inanimate lump of rubber seems endowed with a devilish spirit of its own. It will kick out of the tin if he butts strong will hang on the lip If he puts less force in his stroke, will take a deliberate hurdle of its own straight over the cup without so much as touch ing, and run with unexplained force several feet across Soon the player be- gins to miss the little two-foot ones, and he realizes that he has lost all con- Adence l saw MT. Chandler Egan, on his first appearance in the intercollegiate. experience this green shyness to an all most unbelievable degree Such con- dition may extend to other shots but 1t is upon the putting-green particularly that the injunction to Be stuck on yourself'' applies.