MR. HORACE HUTCHINSON ON GOLF.*

TN the interesting pages in which he describes the rapid growth of the popularity of golf in Engand, and enumerates the causes of the recent " boom," Mr. Horace Hutchinson naturally enough omits a factor in the situation which a reviewer has

no excuse for overlooking. The nearest indication is to be found on p. 22, wbere we read how, "in 1890, when the first edition of the Badminton volume on golf was published, the publishers were in some doubt whether the game was of sufficient importance to justify its being accorded a full volume to itself in that series. There was even a talk of incorporating curling and skating with it. Ent even while that question was being resolved, the game was growing in favour, so that it was decided that it should be given the dignity of a single-volume

treatment, with the result that not only was so much copy forthcoming that it was hard to compress it all within the

volume's limits, but the book itself proved, if the present writer may be pardoned in saying so, a popular success, and its sixth edition is now in the hands of the public." The fact of the matter is that golf has been singularly fortunate in its chief literary exponent. It is not often that superlative proficiency in any pastime is united with the command of a graceful, genial, and humorous pen. Where the two qualifications are combined, as in the case of Mr. Hutchinson.

the proselytising influence exerted by their owner is immense. But then, just as lavish advertisement is of no avail unless you have got a sound article to advertise, so all the graces of Mr. Hutchinson's style would have been powerless to win acceptance for golf had it not been for the intrinsic excellence of the game. On that point there is now no longer any room for dissent. Lord Rosebery declared the other day that the only reason why he did not play golf was because he feared that it might prove too absorbing a pastime. Sir William Harcourt is, we believe, also an abstainer, but with these exceptions, most of our leading men, politicians, Judges, soldiers, actors, have followed the example of Mr. Balfour. The muster-roll of golfers in the past includes Mary Queen of Scots and the great Montrose. Indeed, it has always seemed to us that Montrose's famous lines-

" He either fears his fate too much, Or his deserts are small, Who fears to put it to the touch, To win or lose it all."—

are peculiarly appropriate to the " sporting " golfer,—e.g., to Mr. Johnnie Ball, jun., when he won the amateur championship some years back by boldly "going for it" with his brassy at a critical juncture of the match. Among the golfers of to-day one should not fail to note such momentous converts as Mr. A. G. Steel, Mr. Alfred Lyttelton—two of the finest cricketers of the century—and the Duke of Devonshire. It is a strange thing that though golf has taken firm root in Ireland, none of the Nationalist Members have succumbed to its fascinations. This is eminently to be regretted, for the possibility, say, of Mr. Tim Healy being drawn to play the Duke of Devonshire in the Parlia- mentary Handicap, or of Mr. Dillon being pitted against Colonel Sannderson, would infallibly make for the harmonious settlement of the Irish question. But the personal aspect of golf has always been of engrossing interest, witness the following characteristic passage from Mr. Hutchinson's historical introduction :—

" It is difficult for a whole-soiled golfer to reconcile the addic- tion of the royal family of Stuart to golf with their unsatisfactory character in some other particulars. Prince Henry, eldest son of James VI., was a golfer. Mary Queen of Scots was so devoted to it that she ' was seen playing golf and pall-mall in the fields beside Seton' a few days only after Darnley's murder—showing a very well-merited indifference about his fate; but 'the fields about Seton' does not read like the description of a first-class links. Perhaps, after all, it was only a form of penance. Charles I. is represented in a historical picture receiving the news of the outbreak of the Irish Re.r el lion in 1642 while engaged in a golf match on the links of Leith,—monstrous lack of discretion in the • The Book of Golf and Oa-Vers. By Horace G. Hutchinson. With Con- tributions by Miss Amy Pascoe, H. 11. Milton, J. H. Taylor, H. J. Whigliani, mid mew& Sutton and Sons. London : Loogmans and Co. [18s.] messenger to interrupt the match with such tidings ! and monstrous sin of omission in the chronicler that he tells us nothing of how the match stood at the time. Perhaps the King was ' down,' for he made it an excuse for breaking off the game and driving straight to Holyrood. James II., as Duke of York, was a keen golfer, and in partnership with one John Patersone, a shoemaker, defeated two English noblemen in an important ma,eb, and as a token of gratitude gave the shoemaker half the stakes, which must have been considerable, for the man built himself therewith a house in Canongate. Why does not the royal family of our day play golf more earnestly ? We might have many houses in the Canongate."

Since the above was written events have happened which call

for an amendment of these last sentences, the Prince of Wales—so it is alleged—having been seriously infected with

the lees golfea. And yet Mr. McKinley's linkward aspira- tions have been denounced by serious Americans as ill-attuned to the dignity of his office.

One of the great merits of Mr. Hutchinson is that while a " whole-smiled golfer," he is no fanatic. Note, for example, the candour with which he admits that golf is not a par- ticularly good game for boys, " for the simple reason that running is the natural pace of boyhood, and in golf there is no running." The vexed question of "ladies on the links" is handled by Mr. Hutchinson with a happy mixture of courtesy and common-sense. The modern golfing lady, as he points out. not only understands and appreciates the game, but "very often can play it as well as half the men she has the chance of watching, and it has become hard for man to deny her equal rights with him on the links when she can

challenge him and defeat him at the game." This, as he shows by a practical test, is no overstatement. Mr. H. H. Hilton, the open champion in 1898, who has a handicap of plus ten at Hoylake, could not, in Mr. Hutchinson's opinion, give the hest lady players more than about two-thirds ; in other words, at Hoylake the best lady players would receive a handicap of something like six strokes. Indeed, some critics

of the game go so far as to prophesy the advent, within the next few seasons, of a lady player who will get down to the ? scratch" level. In view of the fact that there are many ladies even now who can drive 160 yards, this might seem within the bounds of probability. But the balance of expert opinion negatives such a supposition on the ground that women, spite of physical culture, Sandow exercises, and what not, will never acquire the strength which enables a good male golfer to play a ball effectively out of a bad lie or when it is embedded in sand. Anyhow, in regard to style the foremost Amazons of the green leave little or nothing to be desired. Mr. Hutchinson describes Lady Margaret Scott's driving as "an object for our wonder and admiration," and declares that her style is "as good as one could ideally make it."

What lends especial attractiveness to this handsome volume is the chapter headed "A Portrait Gallery." Here Mr.

Hutchinson has given us a set of "appreciations" of all the leading amateur and professional players, copiously illus- trated with instantaneous photographs, mostly taken at the top and at the finish of the swing. Here you may see the illustrious Taylor with his eye glued to the spot where the ball has lain though his club has come right through ; here you may note the virtuosity of Pardon, the unique finish of Mr. Ellis, the efficient antinomianism of Mr. Laidlay, the momentous follow-on of Mr. Boothby, and the exquisite ease of Mr. Johnnie Ball's long brassy shot. The pen portraits which accompany and expound the work of the camera are excellent alike in spirit and expression. How good. for example, is the characterisation of Tom Morris : " He has been written of as often as a Prime Minister [we may note parenthetically that the photograph of Old Tom' facing p. 190 bears a distinct resemblance to Lord Salisbury]; he has been photographed as often as a professional beauty, and yet he remains, through all the advertisement, exactly the

same, simple and kindly." Many other interesting features in this delightful volume we must perforce pass over from lack of space. The chapter on "Approaching," contributed by the famous professional, Taylor, is really a masterpiece of lucid exposition, and there is a valuable chapter from the same hand on practical clubmaking. We may note in conclusion

Mr. Hutchinson's judicious reference to the vexed question of Sunday golfing. After quoting Mr. Clark's statement to

the effect that in the seventeenth century the terms of the

Edicts make it clear that the practice of golf, though held sacrilegious on Sunday in "tyme of preaching, the tyme of sermonnes," was at other times of the day at least tolerated, he continues :—'!The modern fashion knows no such wise temperance. Either golfers golf all the Sabbath through— time of sermons notwithstanding—or else do not golf at all on that day, and hold up their hands in pious horror at those who do," Within the last week it has been stated on the authority of the Eastern. Daily Press that an old lady has written to Mr. Arthur Balfour, offering him a handsome allowance, payable quarterly, if 'he will swear never to play golf on a Sunday.