A cheap and effective substitute for the approaching-stand is the simple target depicted in Fig. 2. It may be painted either upon canvas or roughly sketched out in chalk upon the barn door. The canvas should be eight feet square, and provided with guy-ropes and ring-bolts for attaching to the floor and ceiling. If the lower edge of the canvas just touches the floor, the centre of the target and the "bunker-line" will consequently be three feet above it. (The use of the bunker-line will be explained further on.) The diameter of the outer circle should be four feet; of the middle one, two and a half feet; and of the inner ring, one foot. The bull's-eye, which represents the hole proper, should be four inches in diameter. As before, a ball striking in the outer ring is supposed to lie fifteen feet from the hole; one in the middle ring, at six feet; and one in the inner ring, at one foot. A ball that strikes the bull's-eye is assumed to be in the hole. A ball on the line is credited to the inside division.
FIG. 3.
For putting there has been devised the stand shown in Fig. 1. It is nothing but a circular convex piece of tin with a hole in it. The tin has a diameter of eight and a half inches, and that of the hole is two and a half. The convexity is such that the depth of the hole is three-quarters of an inch. It looks easy, but nevertheless it takes a good deal of skill to "putt" a ball up the slope and safely into the cup. If the direction be not accurate the ball will fall off, and if the force be too great it will run completely over the hole in a very irritating manner.
Now all of these appliances may afford amusing practice, and there is no reason why they should not be so used in combination as to give much of the variety and excitement of a regular round of the links. Granted the use of the attic or that of the barn floor, and we may at once proceed to set up our miniature course of in-door golf. The principal expense will be in the purchase of the driving-machine, which costs several dollars at the shops; but we will assume that a small club has been formed, and that the cost of the several pieces of apparatus is to be equally divided among the playing members. The substitute for the approaching-stand (Fig. 3) may be gotten up very cheaply, and the putting-stand can be bought for fifty cents.
FIG. 4.
It is essential that there should be enough of clear space to allow a full swing with the driving-clubs. Fifteen feet will do, but eighteen or twenty will be better. The ball attached to the driving-machine must have a free course in front of it of at least a dozen feet, for otherwise its full force will not be communicated to the spring, and the dial will not register correctly. The machine itself is placed a little to one side, so as not to interfere with the club, and the ball should be teed about a yard in front of it. After the tee shot, when the ball is supposed to be on the ground (as in actual play), we may use an old door-mat as a substitute for turf, and we will call this the "driving-pad."
In playing approach shots a free ball is used, and it may be placed on the "driving-pad" and about fifteen feet from the approaching-stand or canvas target. In the middle of the floor should be a mark for the placing of the putting-stand during the process of "holing out." A chalk line should be drawn from this mark fifteen feet long, with cross marks at the one, six, and fifteen foot points. So much for the mechanical apparatus; now for the course itself.
