rth, contented in the knowledge that he is doing the proper thing, and
that, though he is sinking his own individuality and doing much of what
can only be described as donkey work, he is being considerably honoured
by being invited to play in such superior company. It is not always the
place of the junior partner to take risks; that is the prerogative of
the senior. There may be a particular carry on the course which the
young player is always doubtful about, but which when playing alone he
constantly makes an attempt to accomplish, and very properly so. But if
his effort is as often as not a failure--with the result that he is
badly bunkered and the hole is lost--it would be madness for him to
attempt the carry when he is playing in a foursome with a far better man
than himself as his partner. He must depart from his usual custom, and
play short for safety. It will be a great relief to his partner. Not
lately, but in the early years of my experience, I have seen this
principle carried to a curious excess. When there was a difficult carry
from the tee, and an inferior player and short driver had the turn to
make the stroke, I have seen his partner instruct him to miss the ball
altogether--not tap it off the tee, but miss it. Thus the other man,
presumably a good driver, had the ball left teed for him. These men
reckoned between them that on an average it would prove of more
advantage to be well over the far hazard in two strokes, than to take
the risk of being short with the tee shot and possibly not getting over
with the second or even the third. However, there is no doubt that
performances of this kind were a violation of the spirit of golf. It is
the game to hit the ball, and it is unsportsmanlike to try to miss it.
Nowadays the golfing world quite realises that this is the case.

In the same way, in playing through the green and in putting, it must be
the constant object of the junior to play the safety game and to feed
his skilful partner with as many as possible of those strokes at which
he is best. Do not let him try for a desperately long second, emulating
the example which his partner set him on the tee, in the hope that he
may land the ball on the green. He is not expected to do anything of the
kind. If he should happen to be successful, his partner would know that
it was not his usual custom, that he had played beyond himself, and that
therefore there was something of the fluke in the stroke after all. He
woul