[PRACTICAL GOLF.]
BY W. G. van TASSEL SUTPHEN.
(In Five Papers.)
I.—THE GAME.
Given a bat and a ball, and the combinations that may be evolved are practically infinite in their variety. Every generation or thereabouts a new game or some modification of an old one suddenly rises into favor, and all the world plays croquet or tennis or golf. To-day it is golf, and yet the game divides with polo the honor of being the oldest of which we have any records. It has been played in Scotland for hundreds of years, but it is only within the last ten that it has become generally known and taken up. In this country the game is hardly two years old, but already there are over a hundred courses or grounds, a national association, and championship meetings for nearly every class of players. There must be something of good in a sport which has been taken up with such enthusiasm, and although "Young America" is very properly opposed to anything that harbors a suspicion of slowness, it is only fair to look into a case before deciding upon it.
A TEEING-GROUND.
Of course the first thing is to inquire into the object and nature of the game. A golf course is generally laid out over rolling ground for the sake of variety, and standing at the first tee, or striking-off place, we see before us a stretch of turf that has been cleared of long grass and bushes, and in the distance (say 150 or 200 yards away) a square patch of smooth, hard lawn, in the centre of which a flag is fluttering. The square patch is the putting-green, and the flag marks the location of a small hole four inches in diameter and six inches deep, and generally lined with tin. Each player is provided with an assortment of curious-looking clubs and a small white hard-rubber ball, and the object is to finally knock the ball into the hole in the fewest possible number of strokes. Each player has his own ball, and the play begins from a particular spot, called the teeing-ground, and marked by whitewash or pins driven into the turf. This first stroke is called the tee-shot, and the player is allowed to tee his ball, or place it upon a little mound of sand, so that he may have the best possible chance of hitting it. But once the tee-shot is played, the ball cannot be touched again, except by a club, and no matter how short a distance it may go, or even if the ball is missed altogether, it still counts a stroke. The player who is farthest away from the hole always plays first, and he must keep on playing until he has passed the place where his adversary's ball is lying. When both balls have finally been played into the hole, the player who has accomplished the task in the fewest number of strokes or actual hits at the ball is said to have won the hole, and counts one scoring-point.
A short distance from this first hole is the second teeing-ground, and the players take up their balls and, walking over to the new point of departure, tee their balls, and strike off in the direction of the second hole. We will suppose that A, the first player, holes his ball this time in six strokes, and B does the same. The hole is then said to be halved, and is counted for neither side. But A, having won the first hole, is still ahead by one point, and this is called "one up." If he had won this second hole, he would have been "two up." Or again, if he had lost it, the game would have been "even all."
The full course is eighteen holes, but very good golf may be played on a course of twelve, nine, six, or even five holes. The game is won by the player who wins the greater number of holes, and this is the original game, now called match-play. Nowadays medal-play is more common, the only practical difference being in the scoring. In medal-play the total score for all the holes made by each player is added up, and the lowest number wins. For instance, if A goes around a six-hole course in 40, and B in 39, B is the winner.