sts behind the shaft.
This is an eccentricity, but if the player in question believes that he
can putt better in this way than in any other, he is quite justified in
adopting it, and I would be the last to tell him that he is wrong. The
fact is that there is more individuality in putting than in any other
department of golf, and it is absolutely imperative that this
individuality should be allowed to have its way. I believe seriously
that every man has had a particular kind of putting method awarded to
him by Nature, and when he putts exactly in this way he will do well,
and when he departs from his natural system he will miss the long ones
and the short ones too. First of all, he has to find out this particular
method which Nature has assigned for his use. There ought not to be much
difficulty about this, for it will come unconsciously to his aid when he
is not thinking of anybody's advice or of anything that he has ever read
in any book on golf. That day the hole will seem as big as the mouth of
a coal mine, and putting the easiest thing in the world. When he stands
to his ball and makes his little swing, he feels as easy and comfortable
and confident as any man can ever do. Yet it is probable that, so far as
he knows, he is not doing anything special. It may happen that the very
next day, when he thinks he is standing and holding his club and hitting
the ball in exactly the same way, he nevertheless feels distinctly
uncomfortable and full of nervous hesitation as he makes his stroke, and
then the long putts are all either too short, or too long, or wide, and
the little ones are missed.

I don't think that the liver or a passing variation in temperament is
altogether the cause of this. I believe it is because the man has
departed even by a trifle from his own natural stance. A change of the
position of the feet by even a couple of inches one way or the other may
alter the stance altogether, and knock the player clean off his putting.
In this new position he will wriggle about and feel uncomfortable.
Everything is wrong. His coat is in the way, his pockets seem too full
of old balls, the feel of his stockings on his legs irritates him, and
he is conscious that there is a nail coming up on the inside of the sole
of his boot. It is all because he is just that inch or two removed from
the stance which Nature allotted to him for putting purposes, but he
does not know that, and consequently everything in the world except the