RETIRED GOLF 155 



Persons of unblemished reputation and scru- 

 pulous integrity will entirely forget whether 

 they took three or four strokes to get out of a 

 bunker; the fact that their first drive went out 

 of bounds, and that they were forced to play a 

 second shot from the tee, escapes their memory 

 in a way that non-golfers might deem incredible. 

 It therefore often becomes a task of uncommon 

 delicacy to remind an adversary of strokes that 

 have apparently made no sort of impression 

 upon his memory, without seeming to cast 

 aspersions upon his honesty of purpose. And 

 when, on the other hand, he adduces conclusive 

 evidence to prove that one has taken eight 

 shots to reach the hole, after one has confidently 

 declared oneself to be " dead " in five, it is 

 difficult not to temper one's apologies with 

 resentment. 



The art of winning or losing gracefully at any 

 game is never a very easy one to acquire, and 

 at golf it is only a whit less objectionable to 

 evince signs of unconcealed elation at being 

 " five up" than it is to stride along with a pale 

 face and set jaw, declining to utter a civil 

 word in reply to one's opponent's sympathetic 

 comments, just because one happens to be 

 " five down." 



My cousin. Colonel Waters, was one of those 

 players with whom it was impossible to play 



