ited 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.

CHAPTER XXII

CONCERNING CADDIES 245

Varieties of caddies--Advice to a left-handed player--Cock-shots at
Ganton--Unearned increments--An offer to carry for the fun of the
thing--The caddie who knows too much--My ideal caddie--His points--The
girl caddie--A splendid type--Caddies' caustic humour--Some specimens of
it--Mr. Balfour's taste in caddies--When the caddie is too anxious--Good
human kindness--"Big Crawford"--"Lookin' aifter Maister Balfour"--An
ingenious claim--A salute for the Chief Secretary--A story of a
distressed clergyman--Sandy Smith--The clothes he wore--An excess of
zeal--The caddies' common-sense--When his lot is not a happy one.

CHAPTER XXIII

REFLECTIONS AND RECOLLECTIONS 259

Good golf to come--Giants of the past--The amateurs of to-day--The
greatness of "Freddy" Tait--Modern professionals--Good sportsmen and
good friends--A misconception--The constant strain--How we always play
our best--Difficult tasks--No "close season" in golf--Spectators at big
matches--Certain anecdotes--Putting for applause--Shovelling from a
bunker--The greatest match I have ever played in--A curious incident--A
record in halves--A coincidence--The exasperation of Andrew--The coming
of spring--The joyful golfer.

APPENDIX (Rules of the Game) 267

INDEX 279

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PORTRAIT _Frontispiece_

PLATE