UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 305 



played under the handicap system, the novices and 

 young players thus being afforded unusual opportun- 

 ities to try their strength against experts. Twenty 

 contests were conducted regardless of handicap penal- 

 ties, and in ten instances teams were rated evenly. 

 Ample scope was therefore afforded followers of the 

 sport to gauge the ability of individual players as well 

 as regularly assigned combinations. 



** Of the meetings which were the most successful, that 

 held on Mr. George J. Gould's estate, Georgian Court, 

 near Lakewood, N.J., and which practically opened 

 the season in the East, so far as public attendance was 

 concerned, must be accorded first place by reason of 

 the diversity of sport presented, though in the matter 

 of actual number of contests decided, the Rockaway 

 tournament ranks highest with sixteen, next come 

 Jersey, Point Judith, Newport, Westchester, Phila- 

 delphia, Meadowbrook, Bryn Mawr, ranking in the 

 order named, and so on through the list down to 

 Myopia, that wound up the season with a single 

 combat." 



For records of championship matches see page 329. 



There are two important differences between the 

 rules of American polo and those of English polo. In 

 the States there is no off-side, and hooking sticks is not 

 allowed ; the result being that in America the game is 

 much looser, more brilliant runs are made, and more 

 goals are hit than on English grounds. 



On account of the system of blocking, a man in a 

 first-class English match is lucky if he hits the ball 

 more than twice running ; but in America, if he gets 

 away with a clear run, which often happens owing to 

 the absence of the off-side rule, his pursuer must over- 



20 



