GOLGOTHA 



golfing parlance, the " divot," 

 which all homilies on the game 

 beseech one almost tearfully to 

 replace after excision. It is, of 

 course, in the interests of the turf 

 itself that this entreaty is made. 

 If the divot is replaced at once 

 there is every chance of its roots 

 growing, so that the ?jcar is scarcely 

 visible ; if it is left to lie and grow 

 parched the excavated hole re- 

 mains like a wound on a fair skin, 

 and the excisor is heavily cursed 

 by a following player whose ball is 

 trapped in the hole. 



These divots are cut by the iron 

 clubs of a skilled player, not before 

 the club- head comes to the ball, 

 but just after it has met the ball's 

 hinder circumference. The stroke 

 is, in fact, more of a downward one 

 than the ordinary stroke with the 

 wooden clubs. It is a stroke which 

 is sometimes used with the wooden 

 brassie also, particularly if the 

 ball be lying in just such a cup as 

 is apt to be left by the careless player 

 who has not replaced the divot. 

 Divot Cutting 



The natter driving swing is then 

 not adapted for this difficult situa- 

 tion, for with the flat swing the 

 club-head would meet the near lip 

 of the cup before coming to the 

 ball, and so much of its force of 

 impact on the ball would be spent, 

 as on a cushion or buffer of earth 

 and grass. The more downward 

 swing enables the club-head to nip 

 in between the hinder lip of the 

 cup and the ball. It is, of course, 

 impossible, in this stroke, that the 

 club-head shall follow on at all 

 freely 'in the direction of the ball's 

 flight. Rather it goes on downward 

 into the turf, and it is thus that it 

 cuts out and sends flying the divot. 



No satisfactory explanation has 

 yet been forthcoming, but the fact 

 remains that a stroke played with 

 this downward swing of the iron 

 clubs, thus going on and cutting 

 out the divot, seems to send the 

 ball away with a flight more con- 

 trolled in accordance with the 

 player's intent than when it is 

 swept away clearly and without 

 any excision of turf. While the 

 reason remains unknown, its truth 

 is testified by the general practice 

 of every good golfer. 



The most nearly perpendicular 

 in movement of all the strokes in 

 the game is that in which the 

 player is making a short shot with 

 the mashie up to the hole, and is 

 putting on as much back spin as 



Eossible on the ball so that it shall 

 ill as dead as may be on alighting. 

 The comparatively straight down- 

 ward impact on the hinder circum- 

 ference of the ball has, presumably, 

 an effect similar to that of the 

 masse shot in billiards. It stops 



3595 



the ball from running far after 

 pitching. 



The Short Game 



' Probably there is more of indi- 

 vidual option and less of any stereo- 

 typed and classical style in the 

 putting the short game near the 

 hole than in any other depart- 

 ment of golf. It has sometimes 

 been charged to golf as a weakness 

 and a lack of relative proportion in 

 its different branches that, whereas 

 a fine player may go round an 18- 

 hole course in 72 strokes, no less 

 than 36 of these, or one-half, are 

 likely to be played on the putting 

 green, i.e. within 20 yds. of the 

 hole. Perhaps it is an undue pro- 

 portion, but we have to take the 

 game as we find it, and, seeing that 

 this is the proportion which exists, 

 it is no wonder that we often hear 

 it said that most matches are lost 

 and won on the putting green. 



This short game, therefore, 

 though not the most exhilarating, 

 is perhaps the most important part 

 of the whole business ; and if it is 

 impossible to lay down any rules 

 for its execution, it may at least be 

 said that every really fine putter, 

 no matter what his manner of 

 address to the ball may be in the 

 putting strokes, brings his club 

 well away back from the ball before 

 delivering the blow, and carries the 

 club well and smoothly after the 

 ball along the line of its travel. 

 That, really, is the essential ; the 

 rest, the means by which this 

 smoothness of stroke is to be 

 obtained, is really secondary. 



Bibliography. Golf, a Royal and 

 Ancient Game, R. Clark, 1893 ; 

 Golf, H. G. Hutchinson, 7th ed. 

 1895 ; Hints on the Game of Golf, 

 H. G. Hutchinson, 12th ed. 1903; 

 Great Golfers, their Methods at 

 a Glance, G. W. Beldam, 1904; 

 The Royal and Ancient Game 

 of Golf, H. H. Hilton and G. G. 

 Smith, 1912; How to Play Golf, H. 

 Vardon, 1912 ; The Complete Golfer, 

 H. Vardon, new ed. 1914; Fifty 

 Years of Golf, H. G. Hutchinson, 

 1919; The Art of Putting, W. Park, 

 1920. The rules of golf are numer- 

 ous and complicated, and, as ap- 

 proved by the Royal and Ancient 

 Golf Club of St. Andrews, are circu- 

 lated to members by golf clubs. 



Golgotha (Heb:, skull). Hill 

 outside Jerusalem where Christ 

 was crucified. See Calvary. 



Goliath. Philistine of Gath. 

 He was a man of gigantic stature 

 who challenged Saul's soldiers to 

 single combat, and was slam by 

 David with his sling. There ap- 

 pears to have been another Goliath 

 of Gath who was killed by Elhanan, 

 one of David's men (ISam. 17-22). 



Goliath. British battleship. 

 On Nov. 28, 1914, she assisted in the 

 bombardment of Dar-es-Salaam, 

 German E. Africa. She was the 



GOLLIWOGG 



first warship in the Great War to 

 be sunk by a torpedo fired from any 

 vessel other than a submarine. 

 On the night of May 13, 1915, she 

 was protecting the flank of the 

 French army a short distance in- 

 side the Dardanelles, when she was 

 attacked and destroyed by the 

 Turkish destroyer Mauvenet-i- 

 Millet, Captain T. L. Shelford, 

 24 other officers, and 482 men being 

 lost. The Goliath was launched at 

 Chatham in 1898, and completed 

 two years later at a cost of 866,006, 

 carrying four 12-in. and twelve 

 6-in. guns on a displacement of 

 12,950 tons. See Canopus ; Dar- 

 danelles, Attacks on the. 



Goliath Beetle (Goliathus}. 

 One of the largest of the tropical 

 beetles. It is found in Central and 



Southern Af- 

 f '\ r i c a, and 



f reque ntly 

 I . \ , I measures 4 ins. 



\ &&?& Jr * n * en S tn - Its 



%'fl colour is usu- 



JjJx^L ally black, but 



w | y im^k i it is often 



. ; JB| ^\ variegated 



l^kyjH )\ with white. It 



\ is said to live 



'/ ^ on the sap of 



** forest trees. 



Goliath Beetle of S ee Beetle 



tropical Africa Insectg 



Gollancz, SIB ISRAEL (b. 1864). 

 British man of letters. Born in 

 London and educated at the City 

 of London 

 School and 

 Christ's Col- 

 lege, Cam- 

 bridge, he be- 

 came professor | 

 of English I9L *P 

 literature at 

 King's Col- 

 lege, London, _ 

 1906. Secre- Sir Israel Gollancz, 

 tary of the British man of letters 

 British Acad- Bussel1 



emy since 1907 and knighted in 

 1919, he is an authority on early 

 English texts. He edited The 

 Pearl, 1891 ; The Exeter Book of 

 Anglo-Saxon Poetry, 1897, etc. ; 

 The Temple Shakespeare, 1894-96 ; 

 and was general editor of The 

 Temple Classics. 



Golliwogg. A black woolly male 

 doll with long straight black hair, 

 bead eyes, and red mouth. Popular 

 with all children, the golliwogg has 

 become a favourite figure with 

 authors who specialise in juvenile 

 literature. In several books by 

 Bertha Upton the golliwogg figures 

 as the hero alone or with other 

 dolls : The Golliwogg's Bicycle 

 Club, 1896 ; The Golliwogg at the 

 Seaside, 1898 ; The Golliwogg in 

 War, 1899 ; The Golliwogg's 

 Christmas, 1907. See Doll. 



