s it drops into the tin and is
holed out at last.

He is at work now with all the clubs that are usually necessary to play
a hole; but at the risk of seeming over careful I would warn him once
more against going along too fast, and thinking that even at this stage
he is able to embark on match play with all the days of studentship left
behind. When he takes out his full set of clubs, he will find, in using
them as occasion demands, that he is strangely erratic all of a sudden
with one or two of them. Let him have half an hour's practice once more
alone with these troublesome fellows until the old order of things has
been restored. Let him treat all other offenders in the same manner. He
must be determined that there shall not be a club in his bag that shall
be allowed to play these tricks with him. Let one day's hard labour be
the invariable penalty, until at last they are all obedient in his
hands, and the joyful day comes when he feels that he can pick any tool
out of his golfing bag and use it skilfully and well, and that after
examining a ball in any lie, at any distance from the hole, or with any
hazard before him, he knows exactly how it should be played, and feels
that he has a very reasonable chance of playing it in that way and
achieving the success that such a shot deserves. Such a stroke will not
be brought off correctly every time; the golfer has not yet been born
who always does the right thing in the right way. But the more one
practises the more frequently will he succeed. Following Mr. Balfour's
good example, the beginner may do worse than spend a few days trying the
most difficult strokes he can discover on his links, for in actual play
he will find himself in these difficult places often enough to begin
with, and a little special study of such shots at the outset will prove
a very valuable investment of time. The ball should be thrown down
carelessly at different places, and should be played from the spot at
which it settles, however uninviting that spot may be.

When he has secured a fair command over all his clubs, from the driver
to the niblick, the golf student may play a round of the links; but he
should do so only under the watchful eye of the professional, for he
will find that in thus marching on from hole to hole, and perhaps
getting a little excited now and then when he plays a hole more than
usually well, it is only too easy to forget all the good methods in
which he has been so carefully t