at spoil their prospects by concluding too hastily that they must
play an altogether different game from that of their men friends, that
they must have special clubs, special methods, and so forth. This is not
the case. No doubt it is well for ladies to admit at once that they
cannot drive as far as the men. But otherwise the man's game and the
lady's game are the same in principle and in practice. As for the manner
in which to play, I have not a single special piece of instruction to
offer, and can only refer the lady neophyte to the previous pages, in
which I have set forth as well as I am able the precise method in which
each of the many strokes in golf should be played. I have merely to
insist that they shall not deviate from these methods in one or two
special matters in which they are advised or inclined to do.

Ladies are frequently advised that they ought never to take a full
swing. Of course in the foregoing pages I have frequently insisted that
a golfer should avoid the absolutely full swing with all iron clubs,
believing that he gets for the most part at least as good results with a
good three-quarter swing. But those people who warn the ladies against
the full swing, not only with their irons but with their wooden clubs
also, advise the half swing because they say it is better for them for
physical reasons, and that their results will be practically as good as
if they had taken the three-quarter or the full. Now I am convinced
that this is altogether wrong, and, without encouraging any of my lady
readers to the development of a big swing and a slashing style, I do say
that they will do well for themselves and for their golf if they will
train themselves to the making of at least a full three-quarter. I
believe that the half swing entails a severer strain upon the body when
made under these circumstances than the full three-quarter, and that the
body does altogether more work than is good for it, while the delusion
is entertained by those who recommend the short swing that the opposite
is the case. In this half swing the body seems to get too much in front
of the club and to labour heavily, while in the three-quarter the arms
do most of the work, as they ought to do, and the body comes in at the
proper time for the remainder. Though in previous chapters I have
strongly advised golfers to play a half shot with one club in preference
to a full shot with one more powerful, I only do so obviously when the
distance