very doubtful risks. In match
play, I say always play the bold game. Go for everything that you can.
If there is a bunker somewhere about the limit of your best possible
carry, go for it. If you have a long putt for the hole, give the hole a
chance, and either be in or beyond. But I do not suggest that these
things should also be done in score-play competitions. If the hole is
guarded by a bunker, and you have reason to fear that you cannot carry
that bunker, it is in these circumstances a thousand times better to
play short than to take the risk of putting your ball into it and
making a serious blot upon your card. Similarly, when on the putting
green, and there is a long distance between your ball and the hole,
bring your mind to realise that it is really of less importance that you
should hole out in one stroke than that you should do so in not more
than two, and therefore concentrate your whole energies on placing
yourself dead for the second putt. Therefore I say, accept a risk now
and then when there is a fairly good prospect of success, and when the
reward for it will be commensurate with the danger that was incurred.

The last-named is an important clause. The course should be studied hole
by hole for medal play, and the competitor should come to an exact
understanding with himself as to the things that must be done and what
things need not be done. Thus it frequently happens that a player,
seeing a bunker some distance in front of him but yet not quite out of
his range, goes for it as a matter of course. Obviously he must incur a
certain amount of risk, and it may happen that even if he carries it in
safety he may not be better off at all than if he were ten or fifteen
yards on the playing side. In either case it may be an easy shot to the
green, and it may even happen that of the two the longer one would be
the easier for this particular golfer. But it is quite likely that he
never took any account of that when taking the risk of the bunker. Now
this man is to be remonstrated with, for, with the best intentions, he
has displayed not courage but folly. He must realise that all bunkers
are not of necessity to be carried with long shots. If all golfers
played the same game, and always their best game, and, moreover, if all
bunkers were placed in the proper places for bunkers, then it would be
their duty to go for them every time. But either through the very good
or the very bad shots that have gone before, we find