uestion of reckoning pure and simple, and then putting the ball in a
straightforward manner along the line which you have decided is the
correct one.

But there are times when a little artifice may be resorted to,
particularly in the matter of applying a little cut to the ball. There
is a good deal of billiards in putting, and the cut stroke on the green
is essentially one which the billiard player will delight to practise.
But I warn all those who are not already expert at cutting with the
putter, to make themselves masters of the stroke in private practice
before they attempt it in a match, because it is by no means easy to
acquire. The chief difficulty that the golf student will encounter in
attempting it will be to put the cut on as he desires, and at the same
time to play the ball with the proper strength and keep on the proper
line. It is easy enough to cut the ball, but it is most difficult, at
first at all events, to cut it and putt it properly at the same time.
For the application of cut, turn the toe of the putter slightly outwards
and away from the hole, and see that the face of the club is kept to
this angle all the way through the stroke. Swing just a trifle away from
the straight line outwards, and the moment you come back on to the ball
draw the club sharply across it. It is evident that this movement, when
properly executed, will give to the ball a rotary motion, which on a
perfectly level green would tend to make it run slightly off to the
right of the straight line along which it was aimed. Here, then, the
golfer may arm himself with an accomplishment which may frequently prove
of valuable service. He may dodge a stymie or circumvent an inconvenient
piece of the green over which, without the cut, the ball would have to
travel. But most frequently will the accomplished putter find the cut of
use to him when there is a pronounced slope of the green from the
right-hand side of the line of the putt. In applying cut to the ball in
a case of this kind, we are complicating the problem by the introduction
of a fourth factor to the other three I have named, but at the same time
we are diminishing the weight of these others, since we shall enable
ourselves to putt more directly at the hole. Suppose it is a steep but
even slope all the way from the ball to the hole. Now, if we are going
to putt this ball in the ordinary manner without any spin on it, we must
borrow a lot from the hill, and, as we shall at once con