Golfers who desire to play the short game steadily and accurately will never regret taking plenty of time to their putts. It is a grand mistake to play hurriedly. At the same time I do not counsel an undue amount of time being spent near the hole; there is a limit beyond which one should not go, and hanging over a putt is by no means to be recommended; but plenty of time and care should be bestowed upon seeing that the proper line is obtained, and in placing the putter in the proper position. After this has been done play at once. If unnecessary time be taken, the putt is apt to grow more and more formidable-looking every instant, and when once such a feeling grows over the player, he may bid farewell to the hope of holing. He must also remember that he is not the sole occupant of the links, and must have some consideration for the players who are following up behind.

The art of putting lies to a great extent in the player having confidence in himself. If he goes up to his ball in the full belief that he can and will hole his putt, he has a better chance of doing so than if he is troubled with doubts about this and that rough place his ball has to cross, and if his vision is obscured by the dread of a missed putt. If he dreads the putt, the longer he hangs over his ball the worse it will appear, and the less likely is he to hole it. One of the secrets of putting is to hit the ball, and the ball only - a sclaffy style of putting is fatal; and, with the object of making absolutely certain of avoiding it, rather aim to strike the globe just the least thing above the ground. The ball should be smartly tapped with the putter, the stroke being played entirely from the wrists; and it should neither be struck a slow, heavy blow, nor shoved, nor should it be jerked. Care should be taken to see that the putter is drawn straight back in the line of play, and brought forward in making the stroke in the same direction, so that only a forward movement is imparted to the ball; if this be not attended to, the ball may be sliced or pulled in exactly the same way as in the long game, and with similar effect, the result being that the ball will go past the hole instead of in. After having got the line of play and adjusted the head of the putter thereto, a final glance may be given over the line to the hole, just to make sure that everything is correct, and to gauge the requisite strength; but keep the eye on the ball when making the stroke. The face of the putter must not be inclined in, so as to hang over the ball.

It is not a good system of putting to dribble the ball into the hole. A putt should be boldly played, and the ball should strike the back of the hole and fall in; one constantly hears a player being coached to 'play for the back of the hole,' and it is one of the golden rules of golf, which has been handed down to us from former generations of players. When the putt is dribbled, there is no way on the ball, and the least inequality of the green will turn it off the line. There is another trite maxim for golfers, which has the like savour of antiquity, viz. 'Never up, never in'; unless there is some excellently good reason to the contrary, such as the state of the green on the other side of the hole, a putt should never under any circumstances be short. If the ball be not up to the hole, it cannot possibly go in. A well-played putt which misses the hole should be, in the case of putts of long or average distance, from a couple of feet to a foot past, and, in the case of short putts, about six inches past. Not being up is characteristic of a weak game, and, I think, helps to break down a player much more than does being too strong.

A putt down hill is somewhat difficult to negotiate, because it cannot be played boldly, but must be dribbled, and there being little pace on the ball, it is apt to be deflected off the line of play. These down-hill putts frequently require little more than that the ball be put in motion, and, gathering speed as it goes, the ball, if it misses the hole, will often roll out of holing distance for the next stroke. I prefer to play such putts with an ordinary cleek, as enabling back spin or bottom to be put on the ball, which helps to check its rolling too far. A little judgment and forethought will often obviate the necessity for having such a stroke to play. One should endeavour to avoid playing the ball into such a position that a down-hill putt will be the result, and should rather try to keep the ball at the low side of the slope, leaving a putt up hill, which can usually be boldly played with success.

It is on the putting-green that there occurs the position of the balls known as a stymie, and which is shown by the illustration, Fig 42. After being struck from the tee, the ball furthest from the hole must be played first, and a stymie is caused by the opponent's ball lying on the putting-green between the hole and the ball that has to be played. According to Rule 20, when the balls in play lie within six inches of each other, measured from their nearest points, the ball nearer the hole shall be lifted until the other is played, and shall then be replaced as nearly as possible in its original position. It will thus be seen that when a stymie has to be played, the balls must be at least six inches apart. There are two ways of playing stymies: the one is by using a putter or cleek, and putting on sufficient heel or pull to screw the ball which is being played round the opposing ball; this, however, is seldom successful, unless both balls are a few feet from the hole, and there is sufficient distance between them to permit of the heel or pull taking effect, or unless the nature of the green helps the ball to curl in to the hole. The other method - and it is the best one - is to loft the ball which is being played over the opposing ball. This stroke is best played with a lofter, or, in default of that club, an iron or mashie. The club must be grasped firmly, as for putting, and the ball struck sharply from the wrists, the strength being proportionate to the length of stroke. In stymies near the hole some players loft the ball right into the hole, while others prefer to make it loft on the green just short of the hole, and roll in. Both methods are equally good, if successful. Where the balls lie at the distance of a yard or so from it, it is hardly possible of course to loft the ball into the hole, and it must be lofted over the opposing ball and allowed to roll in. The stroke is by no means so difficult as it appears to be at first sight, and with a little practice one will be astonished to find how often he can negotiate a stymie successfully. The chief requisite is nerve. The taking out of a couple of balls and practising stymies is, however, quite a different matter from playing one in a match. The stroke is a very delicate one, and the least inaccuracy means a foozle, and the danger, which is great, of either missing the hole and running out of holing distance for the next stroke, or, worse than that, of hitting the opposing ball and knocking it into the hole. Even the best professional players will seldom play a stymie, unless they require to hole in that stroke to obtain a half. I would therefore say to every golfer who has been laid a stymie, and the opposing ball lies dead, if he has to play the odds, he must risk playing the stymie, because it is his only chance to halve the hole; but if he is playing the like, he is better to putt past the opposing ball with the view of laying his own dead, and so making absolutely certain of a half, than to risk playing the stymie, with the possibility, on the one hand, of being successful, and so gaining the hole, and the chance, on the other hand, of foozling and losing the hole - not getting even a half.

Fig. 42. - A Stymie.