THE "BULGER" 61 



receive underspin, and as a consequence to allow of their being struck 

 with a very low trajectory. The Professor, perhaps, laboured his theory of 

 underspin too far, and his sons used to regard rather with amusement his 

 famous underspin iron. This weapon was a very light upright cleek with 

 ridges on the face running parallel to the base of the head. I remember 

 the Professor asking me to have a shot with it and telling me that if I 

 hit the ball fast enough I would drive from the "Sandy Road" over the 

 burn. What he wished to impress upon us was that the speed at which 

 the clubhead was travelling and the proper amount of underspin are the two 

 chief factors in long driving ; but he never looked to see us drive a great 

 distance with this club, for he knew as well as we did that the head was too 

 light to bring out the resilience of the ball, a most important practical factor. 

 The introduction of the " Bulger " of course interested him ; but he 

 was not in favour of the weapon, for it did not assist him in his theory 

 of underspin, since it was intended to obviate the evils of rotation about a 

 vertical not a horizontal axis. The true Bulger, he said, should have its 

 vertical section convex. Over the initials G. H. there appeared in the Scots 

 Observer some verses which the Professor afterwards acknowledged, describing 

 them as "expressive at least, if not wholly elegant," which we reproduce 

 as they have a ring of the author's humorous philosophy. The initials 

 G. H., I believe, represented the name Guthrie Headstone, the play on 

 the words Head and Tait and Peter and Stone being obvious. 



THE BULGER. 



1. From him that heeleth from the Heel, 



Or toeth from the Toe, 

 The Bulger doth his vice conceal ; 

 His drive straight on doth go. 



2. To him who from the Toe doth heel, 



Or from the Heel doth toe, 

 The Bulger doth his faults reveal, 

 And bringeth grief and woe. 



3. And the poor slicer's awful fate, 



Who doth a-bulging go, 

 Is sad indeed to contemplate ; 

 The Bulger is his foe. 



