GREATER muscular development is required in golf than in tennis or racquets, as far as the forearm is concerned, but it is beyond question that practice at these games develops the necessary muscles in a greater or a smaller degree, according to the extent to which they are played. A good tennis player, moreover, as a rule makes a good golfer. In support of this theory I may mention the name of Miss Lottie Dodd. This lady's connection with tennis is too well known to require more than a bare mention by me. All I need say is that she is also a very good golfer indeed.

Ladies, however, I fear are not always absolutely obedient to the dictates of the tutor. They have probably spent more or less time upon the links watching other players, and so have formed opinions of their own as to how this or that particular stroke should be played. Then, generally speaking, the idea of a novice is altogether wrong, and it becomes necessary to explain it away. This is always a difficult task for an instructor, but it has to be done, and once this feat is accomplished, the pupil becomes terribly keen upon improving her game by the regulation methods.

Once a lady can be induced to think out what will be the results of a certain method of playing a stroke, it is quite certain she is more open to conviction than a man, and she should improve quite as rapidly in her play. There are, of course, those who would never learn, both ladies and men, but a capable lady need never despair of being able to play a fair game after a twelvemonth of good instruction and intelligent practice.

The best of the lady golfers are naturally to be found in the ranks of those who were fortunate enough to be able to learn the game during the days of their childhood; and as I said in respect of a man, the earlier in life you can commence playing golf, so much the better chance do you possess of coming to the front.

Ladies whose homes are in Scotland have this great advantage over all other competitors. Golf has been played over the Border to a far greater extent than here in England, and at the present time it would be possible, perhaps, to select a team of lady golfers, members of the various Scottish clubs, who would defeat any other similar team in the world. But with the rapid advance of the game in the south of England the standard of play must necessarily become higher, until, in a few years, our English ladies should reach a similar pitch of excellence.

In the matter of county golf the ladies are also developing an intense and ever-increasing interest. Club matches, too, find prominent places upon their fixture lists, and as they are taking up and supporting the idea from a purely golf standpoint and not from a social point of view, it will work very decidedly for the good of the game.

This, however, has taken me slightly off the line as regards golf and how it is generally played by ladies. In a previous paragraph I spoke of the physical effort necessary in the act of driving. Many lady players are discontented with the length of their drives, thinking they should be capable of "carrying" as far as a man. But it may be taken as a good average if a lady succeeds in driving a ball for a distance of from 130 to 150 yards. On this achievement she should feel fully satisfied. There are many ladies who are capable of doing that, and it is equally as true that there are ladies who can accomplish more, but the latter are exceptions to the general rule.

During the progress of the Ladies' Championship at Westward Ho in 1900, for instance, Miss Mollie Whigham drove a ball from the tee to a distance of 235 yards. That was a really remarkable performance - so remarkable indeed that it was carefully measured, so no possible doubt can be expressed over the accuracy or otherwise of the figures I have quoted.

WESTWARD HOLE NINTH HOLE. TAYLOR LOSES HIS BALL.

Then at the eighteenth hole the same lady overdrove the hole in two strokes by some 30 yards. Speaking from memory, I should say this hole represents quite 400 yards. In this connection, though, it must not be lost sight of that Miss Whigham is quite an exceptional player. She learnt the game at Prestwick, and has played from her childhood.

But admitting this, the performances just alluded to prove that a woman may be capable of driving a ball quite as far as a man, provided she has sufficient muscular power located in the wrist and forearm, and, equally as important a factor in her success, the knack of applying this power to the best advantage.

This knack and power combined come absolutely from the muscles I have mentioned, and it provides the very strongest argument against the, in some cases, supposed utility of a long swing. It is unquestionably more difficult to apply the best wrist power when you use a long swing in place of a shorter one. In the latter case you hold yourself more under control than if the club-head is somewhere round the back of the neck and the whole club very likely to twist and curl as it comes round.

Provided they could be induced to patronise a shorter swing, the whole play of the ladies would be much more accurate and effective than is sometimes the case now; and it must not be forgotten that it is this accuracy that pays in the long run. At the present time, I regret to say, the average woman is apt to be more or less erratic, but the cause lies in the direction I have indicated. A short swing is a necessity, but in all other points of the game a woman would be taught upon exactly the same method as would be pursued in the case of a man.

Finally, a player must not be discouraged because she is not possessed of a wrist combining the power and pliability of steel and whipcord. In the course of time she will develop this requisite power, for, speaking of myself as an example, I was not the possessor in my earlier days of such muscles as I now have in my wrist and forearm. Practice, long continued and properly applied, has produced them, and a woman has exactly the same chance of so securing extra development in this way.

Artificial aids to the gaining of this power may be used, and I think the grip dumb-bells, where springs are brought into service, might be useful. Still, the great thing required is practice, and provided ample use is made of the links, power will be secured by one and all.

Regarding the playing of the game, a curious contrast is offered between la belle Americaine and her English sister. During the course of my visit to the United States I secured an opportunity of seeing a little of the American Championship for Ladies, and I was enabled to watch a few of the best lady players performing during the run of the competition.

On this showing I have not the slightest hesitation in saying the American lady player is not at the present time in the same class as the British, considering the best of the latter as compared with the best of the former. As an excuse for the American ladies, however, it is only common fairness to say they have only taken up the game very recently, but in the course of a few years' time the country should be capable of producing a team of players that would possess a fair chance of winning on this side of the Atlantic.

And there is one thing to be said about the lady golfer in America. She takes up the game in a thoroughly practical and business-like manner; there is no half-heartedness displayed in her style. With the sleeves of her jersey or blouse rolled up, she attacks golf in a workman-like manner. This wonderful keenness - I can describe it in no other way - must have its effect upon the game, and in the natural sequence of events they will, beyond a doubt, come rapidly to the front