On Wednesday the Prince of Wales played himself into office
as Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club by driving off the first ball from the tee at the St. Andrews autumn meeting. Most golfers know by sad experience the difficulty of making a good drive when there are a number of people waiting to follow them. This psychological trouble must be increased almost beyond the possibility of thought to grasp it when there is in addition not only the crowd which Royal persons attract with especial density in democratic Scotland, but a heated throng of caddies scattered along the course to scramble for the ball and bring it back in the sure and certain hope of the time- honoured reward of a golden sovereign. In these circumstances not even the debonair nonchalance of the Prince of Wales was equal to the task of hitting a good drive, and thus disappointing those wily Scots who had gambled on the effect of nerves by staying near the tee. When the late King was chosen Captain of the Club in 186.3, it is on record that ho shunned the ordeal of the drive and deputed the late Mr. Whyte-Melville to face it for him. We should like to know whether the regulation of 1779 is still in force—" that whoever shall be Captain of the Golf, and does not attend all the meetings to be appointed throughout the year, shall pay Two Pints of Claret for each meeting he shall be absent at— to be drunk at such meeting "—provided, however, that he should be in Fife at the time.
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