d that
on which they are in the habit of playing when at home. I only mention
the matter because I have known so many cases of severe disappointment
arise through mistakes of this kind.

CHAPTER XXI

GOLF IN AMERICA

Good golf in the United States--My tour through the country--Mr.
Travis's victory in our Amateur Championship--Not a surprise--The
man who played the best golf--British amateurs must wake up--Other
good Americans will come--Our casual methods of learning golf--The
American system--My matches in the States--A good average--Driving
well--Some substantial victories--Some difficult matches--Course
records--Enthusiasm of the American crowds--The golf fever--The
king of baseball takes to golf--The American Open Championship--A
hard fight with J.H. Taylor--A welcome win--Curious experiences in
Florida--Greens without grass--The plague of locusts--Some injury
to my game--"Mr. Jones"--Fooling the caddies--Camping out on the
links--Golf reporting in America--Ingenious and good--Mistakes made
by non-golfing writers--Lipping the hole for a hundred dollars.

I have a higher opinion of both the present and the future of golf in
America than that which seems to be entertained by a large number of
eminent players in this country. I think that American golf is very good
at the present time--much better than it is given credit for being--and
I am convinced that it will be still better in the future. I made a long
golfing tour through the United States in 1900, when Englishmen for the
most part regarded the game in that country with as much seriousness as
they would have bestowed upon golf in Timbuctoo if they had heard that
it was being played there. At that time it seemed to be taking a firm
grip of our cousins, and I saw enough to convince me that America was
coming on quickly, and that before long the old country would have
reason to fear her. Everything that has happened since then has
strengthened my belief, and the eyes of the British were at last fairly
opened when the Championship was played for at Sandwich in June of last
year, when, to the chagrin of our own leading amateurs, an American, in
the person of Mr. Walter J. Travis, became the victor, and took back
with him across the Atlantic the Amateur Championship Cup. So far from
surprising me, that event was exactly what I expected. When I was in
America I played against Mr. Travis once or