that these carries
vary very much, and, besides, the bunkers on all courses are certainly
not placed exactly where they ought to be, and so for reckoning up the
proper mode of play in order that the hole may be captured in the
fewest possible number of strokes, they can sometimes for all practical
purposes be disregarded.

A golfer is often in an anxious state of mind when the day of a
competition in which he wishes to do well arrives, and he is painfully
conscious that he is completely off his play with one or other of his
clubs, and has an abiding fear that it will bring him to grief. When he
feels like this about the club, it will probably do so. Now the question
is, whether at this crisis he shall take out a new one with which he is
entirely unfamiliar and trust to luck with it, or put his faith once
more in the instrument which of late has repeatedly spoilt his game. He
is usually advised that in such circumstances he should not indulge in
any risky experiments, and that it is madness to take a new and untried
club out with him when it is more or less imperative that he should play
one of his best rounds. But I am not by any means sure that this advice
is well founded. No golfer plays well with a club in which he has
completely lost confidence. It may not be the fault of the club at all;
but there is the fact. On the other hand, the player is always possessed
of a certain amount of hope when he takes a new implement in his hands.
He has convinced himself beforehand, or at least ought to have done,
that its points are just what he most admires, and that he is likely to
do well with it. And so he probably will, even if it is only for a round
or two. It is the confidence trick again. What I suggest, therefore, is
that when this grave uncertainty exists about the kind of performance
that will probably be made with one of the articles in the bag, and
there is a new and good substitute ready at hand, the latter should not
be disregarded because of a kind of instinct that in a big fight it is
best to stick to the old weapons. Take the new one out with you, but do
not call it into service for the first hole or two. During this
preliminary stage give the old but disappointing favourite another
chance to show that it will not desert you in the hour of need; but if
it fails to rise to the occasion and you blunder with it during the play
at the first and second holes, pass sentence upon it forthwith and
relegate it finally to