It might seem at first thought that, considering the great number of books on golf that have already been written by the most famous masculine players and students of the game, a book especially for women is unnecessary, and cannot hope to compare in usefulness with the dicta of the great ones who have so amply set forth the facts concerning their theories and their practices. There is another aspect of the subject, however, that has for some time appealed strongly both to my reason and to my imagination and has led me finally to write this book.

There can be no doubt that all beneficent development comes from within. It is the Will to learn and the will to do that are the real basis of advancement. The words of a Solomon falling on ears that are accustomed to another language have no enlightening effect, but the simplest explanation made in a familiar tongue will accomplish what reams of incomprehensible wisdom could not.

Mrs: Clarence H. Vanderbeck National champaign, 1916.

Like most analogies this presents the case in an extreme form, but it is nevertheless true that men and women do not speak entirely the same language, and that their minds and methods run along in quite different channels. It is for this reason that what men write for women, in the realm of sports, is so often unsatisfactory to a woman.

To-day women are thinking for themselves, acting for themselves and writing for themselves. They have entrusted their problems to the minds of men for generations, but they have now awakened to the fact that what is to be done well for oneself must be done by oneself.

Thus it follows that now, more than ever, women must help one another and, by helping one another, help themselves. They are grappling problem after problem and, as time goes on and their experience and strength grows greater, they are approaching each one with a clearer eye, a saner mind and a more firmly established sense of proportion. One of the most significant signs of women's advancement is the fact that they now realize their limitations as well as their capabilities. The mistakes of some of the enthusiasts during the earlier period of the feminist movement are now things of the past, and must be regarded merely as stepping stones to the firm rock of mental poise and practical efficiency.

The foregoing may seem to be a digression from the subject immediately at hand but it serves as the real explanation of why I am writing this book. I feel that, as a woman, I understand a woman's needs better than can any man and can, therefore, I hope, be of real assistance to the ever growing number of women golfers in this country.

That the game of golf is taking a more and more prominent place in the list of women's sports each year there can be no doubt. Women are both playing and studying the game more seriously than ever before. The fact that the English women players on the whole excel the players of the United States should be an encouragement to the women on this side of the water, because the English women have been at the game longer than we have and, therefore, show us what may be accomplished. Before long, perhaps, we may be able to overtake their lead; in fact, I think there is very little doubt that this will be the case.

There is one advantage that English players (and with them I mean to include both the Irish and the Scotch) have over Americans and that is the climate of their country. I have never heard any one make a point of this fact, but I think there can be no question but that the atmospheric conditions in the British Isles are more conducive to good play than they are in this country. Our clear, brilliant sunshine, our intense heat in the summer and nipping cold in the autumn do not offer such favorable conditions for golf as the more dull and equable climate across the water. Every one knows that it is easier to play on a gray and misty day than in dazzling sunlight, but our "gray and misty" days are rare, while they are so common as to be almost the rule in the islands embraced by the Gulf Stream. While this peculiarity of climate is probably partly responsible for the excellence of the English players, both men and women, it is not of such importance as to be an insuperable advantage and should not cause us any discouragement.

I predict that it will not be many years before matches between men and women on an even footing so far as sex is concerned will be quite common. It will naturally follow that a system of handicaps will be arranged for men and women that will be based on the player's score regardless of sex. When this comes to pass it will be seen that many women will give their husbands a few strokes, and many brothers will have to take a stroke or two from their sisters. This state of affairs will add interest to the game, because any sport that men and women enjoy together increases the pleasure of all concerned. There will probably always be a few men who regard golf as their especial prerogative, and who will always resent the presence of women on the links no matter what their qualifications as golfers may be. Fortunately, however, their number is growing less.

I must say here that I believe that a woman's greatest handicap in the game of golf, a handicap far more important than the lack of physical strength that is so often urged against her, is her lack of interest in mechanical principles. Golf is, after all, an extremely scientific game in which satisfactory results can be obtained only by knowledge of the actuating causes and consequent results of each stroke. Women, on the whole, are much more interested in effect than in cause and, therefore, will play on, blindly striving to accomplish certain things, without taking the time or thought necessary to analyze the methods by which such results must be obtained.

It is to beg women to understand more clearly the purpose underlying the construction of each club, the effect of each club upon the flight of the ball, and the reason for each one of the series of movements by which she herself accomplishes a shot, that I am writing this book. If I am able to clear away any problem that has troubled a player's mind and to show her that what she had thought difficult to understand is, after all false notions have been relegated to the rubbish heap, quite simple and comprehensible, I shall feel that I have not written in vain: if, further than this, my suggestions and my reasoning should awaken any woman's intelligent interest so that she decides that she will in future think out her problems for herself, I shall feel that this book has accomplished its real purpose.