s. I should
advise all of them to make a periodical examination of the position of
the club head at the top of the swing, as I indicated when discussing
the drive, and if they find the toe is upwards they must make up their
minds to get rid of this bad habit at any cost. If it has already become
a part of the player's system, it will not be abolished without
considerable difficulty. To begin with, she would try swinging back more
slowly, as a too rapid backward swing has often much to do with it.

Finally, I would suggest that any lady who aspires to be a really good
golfer should take numerous lessons from those players superior to
herself who are qualified to give them. I have already said that I have
found ladies exceedingly good pupils, and when they set about learning
the game in the right way, they often make really astonishing progress.
But it must be confessed that in too many cases they do not treat the
difficulties of the game with sufficient seriousness, and are inclined
to think that they can get on best in their own way and by the adoption
of their own methods. When once a lady has been given a couple of
lessons in the swing for the drive, she often insists on finding out the
rest for herself, and then a bad result is inevitable. All the practice
and patience in the world will not make a good lady golfer if she does
not learn the game in the right way. The simple fact is that, when a man
sets about the game he admits its difficulties from the beginning, and
goes about surmounting them in the right manner if he is really
ambitious and covetous of a short handicap. But it often seems that
ladies will not admit these difficulties, and persist in their attempt
to make golfers of themselves unaided. Perhaps that is one reason why
ladies do not always continue with the game with that increasing
eagerness and enthusiasm which is an almost invariable characteristic of
the man golfer. Learn properly, and practise much; and--well, yes, do
the rest like a man, and not as if there were a special woman's way.
That is the essence of my counsel to the lady aspirant on the links.

CHAPTER XIX

THE CONSTRUCTION OF COURSES

Necessity for thought and ingenuity--The long-handicap man's
course--The scratch player's--How good courses are made--The
necessary land--A long nine-hole course better than a short
eighteen--The preliminary survey--A patient study of
possibilities--Stakes at the holes--