GOLF AT COLONSAY 97 



and soddened turf which has stopped your drives 

 and ruined your lies, stops an approach shot close to 

 the flag which under ordinary conditions must have 

 gone far beyond holing distance, if indeed it had not 

 trickled into the bunker, or reached the rushes or 

 heather beyond the green. Again, although luck has 

 of course a good deal to say in the game, you cannot, 

 even when fortune favours you most, be said absolutely 

 and incontrovertibly to "fluke" as you do at billiards, 

 when in attempting a cannon you achieve a winning 

 or losing hazard, or when you find your way into a 

 different pocket from the one you aimed at. There is 

 but one pocket at a time at golf, and the player's object 

 is always to get the ball into it in as few strokes as 

 may be. Every drive is intended to propel the ball 

 as far as possible in the right direction, and if, contrary 

 to all probability, a long approach shot finds its way 

 to the bottom of the tin, you have only succeeded 

 beyond expectation, and can still legitimately plume 

 yourself upon a fine shot, if a somewhat fortunate one. 

 Even if a fluke must occasionally be admitted, it only 

 gives you the advantage resulting from the one 

 fortunate accident, and does not, as in billiards, some- 

 times let you in to make a long break before your 

 adversary has a chance of playing again. 



Why then does not everyone play golf? When 

 the merits of the game are so great we cannot wonder 

 at its attracting so many votaries, but must rather 

 begin to look about for some reason to account for the 

 melancholy fact that there are still a few individuals 

 who decline to submit themselves to its fascinations. 

 I think that the deterrent influence is usually self- 

 consciousness. It is a terrible thing for a father of a 



G 



