IT is with some trepidation that I undertake to write this chapter on wooden clubs. When there is so much that maybe said on a subject it is sometimes difficult to select the essential from the non-essential, or, to express it differently, to push back into oblivion all the useless notions and fancies that cling about this part of the game of golf, and to present only facts that are really worth consideration. Stripped of all entangling ideas, the theory of driving a golf ball is simple enough; the most elemental mind can readily understand what must be done, but the doing of it, involving as it does the coherent action of the whole body, can be accomplished only after the most conscientious practice.

The reader has now been led through all the usual strokes of the game; she has started at the putting green and has proceeded, or perhaps I should say receded, through the broad fairway with its surrounding spots of danger, to the tee. If she is a beginner and has practiced her shots in the order in which they have been discussed, she will have laid such a foundation of experience and muscular control that, when she has arrived at the point where she is ready to take up driving, she will have only a very little more to learn in order to complete the structure of her game. If she is a beginner, and is perverse enough to insist on learning to drive first of all, she will meet with much discouragement before she has mastered this art. However, with patience and persistent trying she will get on. The order in which a player masters the different clubs is not of vital importance but, as it is the logical method to start with the easiest and work up to the hardest, I have advised that course. A player who has a different mental conviction on the subject should follow her own way of thinking. An honest belief, even though a mistaken one, will not do a player real harm. If she thinks enough to form an independent opinion, she will think enough to correct it when she finds she has been wrong. So long as a player is actively thinking for herself, she is on the high road to becoming a good golfer. It is the woman who believes everything she is told and drifts from one notion to another as she happens to read a book or to receive friendly advice, whose case is well nigh hopeless.

Undoubtedly the best way for a woman to learn to drive, or to improve her driving if she is already well along in the game, is to put herself under the tutelage of a good professional teacher. It is possible to read and study and to teach oneself, but it is a long and difficult process. Where books fail is in the fact that, while they can tell a player what to do and what not to do, they cannot follow each individual onto the links and see whether she is obeying instructions. In an act such as the golf drive, involving as it does the whole body from the head to the toes, there are many opportunities for unconscious error on the part of the player. She may think she is doing a certain thing and not really be doing it at all. A professional teacher will immediately point out to her her mistakes and she will lose no time in correcting them, whereas, if she is practicing entirely alone, she may easily persist indefinitely in the same error without discovering it for herself.

One may ask then, "What is the use of books?" Unfortunately all players are not so situated that they may engage a professional teacher as frequently as they would wish, and, also, there is not always a good professional at hand. Books may be read at times of leisure when the mind is undisturbed by the necessity of action, so that their words receive more calm consideration than do the words of the instructor. It is a wise plan to read and to take lessons at the same time, as it frequently happens that the teacher may clear up some difficulty that has confronted the player in her reading. If, however, the book and the teacher seem to be at variance in their statements, it is well for the pupil to suggest that fact to her teacher rather tentatively. If he clears up the seeming disagreement, well and good; if, however, he answers shortly, "I don't know anything at all about that," it is wise for the pupil not to pursue the subject further, but to think it out for herself, otherwise the psychological harmony between the teacher and the one taught may be disturbed. No professional enjoys having a book, metaphorically speaking, hurled at his head.

Not only is it helpful to seek a professional teacher for instruction in the art of driving, but also for advice in the selection of a club. It is not possible to say what the length of its shaft, nor the weight, nor the lie of the club should be because the club must be fitted to the size and physical peculiarities of each individual just as her shoes would be fitted to her feet. All advice on the choosing of this club must be of the most general character and may serve only as a guide if the player is left entirely on her own responsibility in this important matter. Duncan gives the

» proper length of the shaft for a woman as forty-one and one-half inches. This length is probably the average, and the player can judge for herself whether she will need a longer or shorter club. The shaft should be springy when compared with the stiff shafts of the iron clubs, but not so springy that, when the club is swung, it will bend so much as to endanger in any way the accuracy of the shot. It is well to avoid extremes of any kind, especially for a beginner. The lie of the club and the length and breadth of the head should all be moderate. Too long a face leads to inaccuracy in addressing the ball and too short a face gives too much chance of toeing or heeling. As in the length of the club's face, so also in the depth, should a happy medium be found. If there should be any predetermined preference about the depth of the face of the club, it should be away from the shallow type. They are apt to emphasize one of women's most common faults in driving, that is, sending the ball too high in the air and thereby sacrificing distance. For the same reason it is well for a woman to select a club whose face has only a very little loft.

When a woman has been playing for some time and has fallen into the habit of her own particular style of play, she will, without doubt, have certain changes made in her driver when it is practicable to make the alterations she wishes, or she will buy a new club that will meet her requirements as she has come to know them. By that time she will be able to judge for herself what peculiarities of the club, if any, suit her own individual method of playing.