Since so much must depend on the lie of the club head and also on the length of the shaft, it would be futile to lay down any rule in feet and inches, and no better guide - though it is of course only a rough guide - can be given than that of the Badminton Library: 'The ball should be at just such a distance from the player that when the club is laid with its heel - not the centre of the face - to the ball, the end of the club shaft reaches just to the player's left knee as he stands upright.' A more general piece of advice may be added that the player should stand as far away from the ball as he can, consistently with holding himself tolerably upright; and, further, that he should always be on his guard against standing too close to the ball. The beginner nearly always desires to get close to his ball, and the seasoned player is quite likely to fall into the error of gradually creeping in. Braid, who is a great advocate of standing far away from the ball, carries out his own precepts so thoroughly that he addresses the ball with the extreme nose of the club, and this is also a feature of the style of another great golfer, Mr. Mure Fergusson. Presumably in the course of their swing these two fall ever so slightly forward, so as to bring the centre of the face against the ball, but the fact that they can do it is not enough to justify the less talented in trying such tricks. As far as I know, Mr. Laidlay is the only good player who addresses the ball with the heel of his driver, and then, by way of compensation, falls ever so slightly away from the ball in the course of the swing. This, too, is an eccentricity of genius not to be imitated.

As to the distance between the feet, the ancient piece of advice may be quoted, merely in order to give some rough idea, that the distance between the feet should be eighteen inches. One or two considerations may, however, be pointed out. To stand with the feet very far apart, in short to straddle, ought to ensure a certain firmness on the feet, and may be recommended to those conscious of unsteadiness in this respect. Of all golfers there is no one who is so splendidly steady on his feet as Mr. John Ball, and he has rather a wide stance. Yet those who knew his game a good many years back will tell you that he now has his feet very decidedly nearer than of yore. This may be because even Mr. Ball is not quite so young as he was once, and a very wide stance increases the strain on the back and demands distinctly more exertion in swinging the club. There is also in this style, as may be found by experiment, a greater temptation to an altogether too free and exuberant movement of the knees: some very wide straddlers, indeed, attain at the top of the swing to an attitude best described perhaps as prayerful.

To go to the opposite extreme and stand with the feet very close together makes an easier business of the swing; indeed, there is some danger of too much ease, and a consequent loss of power. This method is nevertheless characteristic of at least three very excellent golfers, the Messrs. Ellis, H. G. B. and H. C, and Mr. H. W. Beveridge. The latter nowadays has his feet wonderfully close together, and his style of driving is certainly a very easy one. I am not sure whether he is quite so long as he used to be, but he would appear to have gained perceptibly in accuracy of hitting. To any one conscious either temporarily or permanently of too forcing a style, with too much body and knee movement, and an inability to let the club come well and easily through, this style may be respectfully recommended for trial.

Any measurements of distance between the feet must largely depend on the relative positions of the player's heels and toes; or whether, and if so to what extent, he turns his toes out. This will again depend in a measure on whether or not he adopts a more or less open stance. Those who stand in what I have called the old style are inclined to have the left foot hardly turned out at all, and the right turned out palpably more. Players in the open style, on the other hand, have the left foot turned well out, while the right foot is almost at right angles to the imaginary line drawn parallel to the line of flight. This is the case with Harry Vardon, for example, and it is the obvious and natural thing to do. In the same way it is, I suppose, natural for those who have quite a square stance to have both feet turned slightly outward, and it is safe to say that 'what is natural can't be desperate.' At the same time, observation of the best players of the day shows that they nearly all of them have the left foot turned very perceptibly more outward of the two, and there is, I think, one good reason for having the right foot scarcely at all turned out. It is generally held that, for the sake of greater stillness and steadiness of the body, the right knee should not, at the top of the swing, be bent to any perceptible extent, and this stiff right knee is characteristic of nearly all the best drivers. A little experimenting will show that the keeping of the right knee stiff in the upward swing is decidedly easier if the foot be not turned out; if it be turned out, there is an inclination to let the right knee swing out also as the club goes up.

Fifthly and lastly in this intolerable discourse, is the question of how much, if at all, the knees should be bent in addressing the ball; a question which one who is conscious of standing like a broken-down cab-horse must be peculiarly diffident in tackling. There are some very fine players who appear to stand with a perfectly stiff knee. Conspicuous among them are two of the great North Berwick golfers, Mr. Laidlay and Mr. Maxwell, and it is an article of faith with Mr. Laidlay that the backs of the legs should be stiff at the moment of hitting the ball. Still, for most people to stand with a perfectly stiff knee is uncomfortable, and the majority of good players will be found to stand with a very slight bend of both knees. One or two, such as Herd, stand with much bent knees, but then Herd makes up for this crouching stance of his by a conspicuous lift of his body in the upward swing, and, grand player though he be, this is one of his qualities that should not be imitated. That the player should bend the knees ' just as little as he can avoid ' - this would seem the best conclusion of the whole matter.