What has been written deals with medal play, or play for score; but club members require to be handicapped for tournament or hole play as well. The old practice was simple, viz. to give every player half as many holes as he had strokes; thus a player plus six strokes would be handicapped in a tournament plus three holes - that is to say, he would have to concede three holes to a scratch player; or, in other words, when he and a scratch player met in a tournament, the latter would start three holes up. Similarly a player with a minus handicap of twelve strokes would receive six holes of start, or six holes of a handicap. This has been found to work out fairly well, unless in exceptional cases; but it will readily be seen that it is not applicable to a club where members have thirty or forty strokes of a handicap; because, according to this practice, a player having forty of a handicap would start twenty holes up in eighteen against a scratch player, which is absurd. It is difficult to suggest a system of handicapping by holes for a club which gives its members large stroke handi-caps; and under such circumstances the handicapping committee must take all the elements into account, and fix for each member a fair handicap by holes, apart altogether from his stroke handicap. Between stroke and hole handicaps there is this difference, that in medal play, if a golfer has one bad hole in the round, it may spoil his score completely, and ruin his chances of success, as its total must go into his card; whereas, in a tournament, a bad hole, however many strokes may be taken, means only the loss of one hole, and the golfer may retrieve his position by good play and winning the next hole. The majority of men who take big scores do not do so by consistently bad play, but by what may be called fairly good play coupled with two or three bad holes where they get into difficulties. A score in medal play is therefore not always a safe criterion from which to judge of a player's form in a hole game.

There is only one way of dealing with handicaps in medal play - that is, as before pointed out, by adding the handicap to the actual score in the case of plus men, and by deducting it in the case of men who have the usual or minus handicap. It is different in a hole and hole tournament. In the latter case the players may either receive a handicap of so many holes of start, as is before mentioned, or they may receive a handicap of so many strokes to be taken at certain holes. I do not, I think, require to say anything further about the case of giving a handicap by holes of start; but the giving of a certain number of strokes of handicap to be taken at definite holes requires some explanation. In this case the number of strokes to be given may, except in the cases of large handicaps, be the same number as that given for medal play, and the strokes should be taken at fixed holes; it is for those in charge of the tournament to arrange this. The tables annexed to the St. Andrews Rules and to the Wimbledon Rules (printed in Chapter XI (The Laws Of Golf).) may be adopted if either is considered suitable. That is to say, if a man receives eighteen strokes of a handicap from a scratch player, he should take one stroke at each hole; if he receives six strokes, he should take one at every third hole, beginning with the second hole. Under this method, where two players are drawn against each other, one of whom receives a larger handicap than the other, the smaller handicap is deducted from the greater, and the player with the greater handicap receives from the other a handicap of the difference in strokes. Thus, if one player has a handicap of twelve strokes, and his opponent a handicap of six strokes, the former would receive from the latter the difference between their handicaps, viz. six strokes, to be taken according to the table. The tables are framed with reference to the links to which they relate, and the committee of another club may think that, owing to the nature of their qreen, neither is suitable for their club, in which case they must compile a table for themselves in accordance with local requirements. I have known competitions in which it was made a hard and fast rule that the strokes should be taken consecutively at the first holes - that is, if six strokes, at the first six holes, and so on; but I do not consider this is so satisfactory as having a proper table. With regard to the merits of the two methods of handicapping for hole play, I must say that my preference lies with the giving of strokes at certain holes rather than with the giving of so many holes of start, and for two reasons: in the first place, it more closely follows the usual system adopted in private matches; and, in the second place, strokes at certain holes are of more advantage to the receiver of the handicap than a proportionate number of holes of start. Take the case of a scratch player being drawn against one to whom he would have to allow, say, eighteen strokes in a medal competition, and suppose that the handicap of this latter player were for a hole tournament either nine holes, or one stroke at eighteen holes: in all probability the scratch man would take nine holes straight away off his opponent, thus having the match at his mercy; while, in the case of his giving a stroke at each hole, it would be very extraordinary if the stroke did not enable the weaker player to halve and to win several holes in the course of the game.

A table of match play odds, adopted by the Royal Wimbledon Golf Club, is printed at the end of the Wimbledon Rules, and may be found useful.

The method of playing 'Bogey' competitions has already been explained in the first chapter.

The handicap which one player should give to another in private matches is a matter of arrangement between the players, and may be adjusted as they please. It is purely a matter of bargain, and if two golfers play much together it will very soon work itself right. The usual way is for the one to give to the other the handicap of a stroke at certain holes: but there is no reason why holes of start should not be given if this system be preferred. An innovation in such handicaps is the giving of 'bisques' - that is, strokes to be taken at the will of the party receiving them. This is a very heavy handicap, and practically means that each bisque represents a hole, because, until the receiver has taken his bisques, they are always hanging over his adversary's head, and he of course takes them at such holes as are the most advantageous for himself. It may thus happen that a hole is halved in actual play, and that the receiver of the odds will then say to his opponent, ' I will take a bisque here, which makes the hole mine.' Similarly he may take a bisque so as to halve a hole which his adversary had otherwise won.