The amount of practice requisite will vary with different players. Some men can play for a long time and get steadier and better as the days go on. Others will come to their top game more quickly, and after that are apt to grow stale. I believe in constant practice when it can be got. To begin with, a round, or eighteen holes, a day will be found quite sufficient; as time goes on this should be increased to a couple of rounds; but after reaching top form there is a danger in playing too much. A couple of rounds twice or thrice a week is quite enough to keep in practice. My reason for advocating the increase of play from one to two rounds a day is, that all the golfing fixtures of importance demand, at least, thirty-six holes play: the Open Championship now requires seventy-two holes to be played - thirty-six each day, - and in the Amateur Championship, which is conducted on tournament principles by playing matches, there is never less than three days' play of thirty-six holes each day. Now. this continuous play is a severe strain on competitors, and, unless one accustoms himself to successive days of golfing, he will in all probability, however good a golfer he may be, find himself unequal to the task', and break down through sheer physical exhaustion when he is just beginning to enter the last and critical stages. during the competition it is advisable to save oneself as much as possible by avoiding all unnecessary fatigue.

I have already referred to physical strength, and physical strength cannot be supported without good fare. The man who can sit down and eat heartily is more likely to keep himself in good golfing condition than one who neglects such precautions. I have known a golfer who considered himself too strong to play good golf, and who was actually in the habit of starving himself for some days beforehand when he had a big match to play. Nothing can be more ridiculous than such an idea.

In training for a match, I think it is a mistake to change one's ordinary habits of living, provided they be regular. Any change, unless begun in good time before the day of play, and afterwards adhered to, seems to be more conducive to putting one off his game than getting him into form. At the same time, it does no harm to take a rest from playing the day before a match.

During the actual play of a match one should steadfastly decline to hold conversations with officious friends or other persons, or even, unless when necessary, with his opponent. One should direct his entire attention to the playing of the game, and not, suffer it to be distracted by anything whatsoever. The game, and nothing but the game, should occupy the player's mind if he desires success to attend him. A judicious caddie is of great assistance: but in regard to caddies I have something to say later on.

It will frequently happen that preliminary practice must take place over a different green than that over which the competition is to be played. This, of course, cannot be helped; but it is usual to go to the green fixed on for the competition. and have some games there a week or so beforehand. All that should be necessary at this stage should be to get some knowledge of the links. One should, however, be careful how he goes about this. If he plays a few rounds badly, he may take a dislike to the links which he will find it hard to overcome, and which may ruin his prospects of success. The principal things to find out arc the positions of the hazards, the 'distances,' the best lines to the holes, and the nature of the putting-greens. A better idea of these can be formed by taking out a club and a few balls and having some trial shots than by playing several rounds. A quiet walk round the course, and some observation of the play of the local cracks, will not do any harm, and a good deal may sometimes be learned from so doing.

There are few golfers who do not. at some time or other, get out of form. The chief causes of this are: (1) gulling oneself stale: and (2) indulging in a vicious style of play which may possibly have crept on unawares. As a cure for both, J would say,'Take a rest.' It is the remedy for the first; and as fur the second, when play is resumed the bad habit will probably have been forgotten; but whether or not, it will be well when making the fresh start to pay particular attention to style.

The next matter I have to deal with is that of caddies. As is to be expected, the best caddies arc to be found at Musselburgh and St. Andrews, the head-quarters of golf; but these are men with whom club-carrying is a business and a science. Reference to the rules will show how important a part in the game is held by the caddie. A golfer and his caddie are regarded as one. Here are quotations from some of the rules: 'A player or a player's caddie shall not press down or remove any irregularities of surface near the ball,'etc. (Rule 16). 'If the player's ball strike, or be stopped by himself or his partner, or either of their caddies or clubs,' etc. (Rule 24). 'If the player, when not making a stroke, or his partner, or either of their caddies, touch their side's ball,' etc. (Rule 25). 'A competitor may not receive advice from any one but his caddie' (Rule 10 for medal play). There arc other references to caddies in the rules, all pointing in a similar direction. The fault of a caddie is visited on his employer, who is entitled to look to his caddie, and his caddie only, for advice and assistance. A careless or ignorant caddie may ruin a golfer's chances of success at any competition by breaking the rules, and may also put him off his game through sheer inattention to his duties. A good caddie ought to be a good player, or, at all events, have a thorough knowledge of the game and of the rules, and of his employer's play. A man who has spent his life carrying clubs has a wonderful aptitude for discovering the good and bad points of the game of any individual, and after carrying for him for a few rounds will know just about as much of that individual's game, and the way he is most likely to play a stroke successfully, as the player himself; and no one has a better eye for seeing what is wrong when bis employer is off his game, or is more likely to recommend the proper cure. The man a golfer wants for a caddie is one who can advise him as the game progresses, and for this great tact and judgment are necessary. One golfer may use a brassy or driver where another would use a cleek, and both, using their respective clubs, may play perfect strokes. Now, a good caddie, who knows his business, would not, if his advice were asked, oppose the use of a wooden club, but would rather enjoin its use, even although he knew it was not the proper club to use; and the reason is that when once a golfer has made up his mind to use any particular club, he will, if he changes it for another, be troubled in his own mind as to which he should take, and the result will in all probability be a foozle. Watch a caddie who knows what he is about. After the drive has been played, his eye never leaves the ball until it. is holed out. A lost ball, unless it be driven out of sight, is an impossibility. Put down a perfectly new ball, and if it has once been struck, although there may not be a mark on it visible to the casual observer, he will pick it out from among a dozen almost identical. Golf-balls are like faces, and your caddie knows the face of your ball at once. Playing a stroke through the green, or an approach, his eye takes in the situation at a glance, and without hesitation he knows the club that you can best use, and he is handling it, or has half taken it out of the bag, when you are considering what you will do. Your eye falls on it, and you immediately ask for it and play. At the end of the game he can tell over again every stroke you have played, and could go round the green and lay the ball down on almost the exact spot from which it had been played, in any of the fourscore or more strokes that you have taken. He can generally tell you the best road to the hole, and on the putting-green his line is invariably the correct one. He is always at your elbow when wanted, and yet never lets his presence be obtrusive. One who will answer these requirements is a desirable caddie; but 1. know caddies who do more than that. I have known them stand between a nervous player and well-meaning friends, whose anxiety to sec him win would have put him off his game. One doesn't ask the player how he stands in a match, he asks his caddie; and there is no arithmetical problem in the way of counting holes or strokes, in singles or foursomes, or in three-ball or four-ball matches, that a good caddie cannot answer correctly in a moment. Bad caddies may be ranked in two classes, the one being those who know what ought to be done and do not do it, and (he other being those who know nothing whatever about their duties. Of the first I may instance the ease of the caddie who insists on his employer using the club of his choice, and pestering him with unasked advice, which of course is not taken: and. the inevitably bad stroke being played, reproaches him for not having done as he was bid. The last words are strong, but I cannot put it in any other way. Of the other class, the ordinary example is the boy who simply carries your clubs. He walks round the links with you, sometimes not at all near you - a few hundred yards away, - and he takes no manner of interest in the game. He never knows where your ball goes to; if you give him two or three to carry ho is sure to lose one, if not more, in the course of the round, and, unless specially watched, he will leave the ball you are playing with in the bottom of the hole. He lags behind, and when you want a club you have to wait for five minutes, and shout yourself hoarse before he comes to you. He cares for nothing but the pence he hopes to receive at the end of the day. Club carriers of these classes - for I cannot call them caddies - are worse than none. I do not say all boys are alike. On the contrary, some of them make fairly good caddies It is true that few of them can give you any assistance, but they will always be at hand and give you the club you ask for. If you are able get a good caddie, who will supply the requirements before indicated; if such an one is not to be had, get an intelligent boy, who will keep near you; and, if neither is available, carry your own clubs.