brothers almost as soon as she was big enough to
swing a club. Such a girl probably had the advantage of seeing the game
played well by her elders, and she would readily learn to imitate their
methods. Of course, very young learners may and do pick up bad habits;
but a little good advice will soon correct these if the learner is at
all keen on the game.

A girl who grows up under these conditions--and many do in
Scotland--does not need any hints from me. She starts under ideal
conditions, and ought to make the most of them. Others begin at a later
age, with fewer advantages, and perhaps without much help to be got at
home.

How, then, to begin. Be sure of one thing: you cannot learn to play golf
out of your own head, or even by an intelligent study of books on the
subject. For, if you try, you will do wrong and yet be unable to say
_what_ you are doing wrong. In that you will not be peculiar. Many an
experienced golfer will suddenly pick up a fault. After a few bad
strokes he knows he is wrong somewhere, but may not be able to spot the
particular defect. Perhaps a kindly disposed opponent--who knows his
disposition, for not everybody will welcome or take advice--tells him;
and then in a stroke or two he puts the thing right. So you need a
teacher.

Generally speaking, a professional is the best teacher, because he has
had the most experience in instruction. But professionals vary greatly
in teaching capacity, and cannot be expected in every case to take the
same interest in a pupil's progress that a friend may. If you are to
have the help of a relative or friend, try to get competent help. There
_are_ well-meaning persons whose instruction had better be shunned as
the plague.

Let your teacher choose your clubs for you, and, in any case, do not
make the mistake of fitting yourself up at first either with too many
clubs or with clubs too heavy for you.

[Illustration: A BREEZY MORNING]

As to first steps in learning, I am disposed to think that an old-time
method, by which young people learned first to use _one_ club with
some skill and confidence before going on to another, was a good one. In
that case they would begin with a cleek or an iron before using the
driver.

The learner should give great attention to some first principles. Let
her note the _grip_ she is told to use. Very likely it will seem to her
uncomfortable, and not at all the most convenient way of holding a club
in order to hit a ball; but it