When you have secured a good set of clubs and the right kind of ball, and have even learned to play a steady game, there is still much that you can do to improve upon your knowledge and enjoyment of golf. First of all, play the game for the sake of the personal encounter. For, after all, golf is a trial of skill, and not a solitary mode of exercise. For that reason, give up, as far as possible, counting your score, and devote your time to playing matches. In arranging a game you should, for your own advantage, play with your superiors, but it is both useless and discouraging to encounter a man who can give you very great odds. One stroke a hole is the limit which can be given in order to make a match interesting, and even that is putting it at a high figure. A match can be keenly exciting between two men who differ by six strokes in the round, but anything above that is apt to rob the game of its interest. Still, if you are a very bad player, but can yet be relied upon to a certain extent, you may improve your game immensely by playing in foursomes with men who can give you very great odds. It is astonishing how successfully a pair, consisting of a first-class and a fourth-class player, can encounter two players of the second class. But whatever you do, never play a man on level terms who ought either to give you odds or receive them from you. That is a very common mistake which is constantly being made, because there are certain players who object, for some unknown reason, to taking odds in any game. To obviate this habit, the custom of betting, as long as it is kept within well defined limits, is most beneficial. A man may be willing to take a beating on even terms when he loses nothing thereby, either in purse or in pride, and stands to win a good deal of glory should he chance to gain the victory. But if he is playing for a stake, be it ever so small, the commercial instinct is aroused, and he will take all the odds that his opponent will concede. In the latter case he may improve his game; in the former he certainly will not. The only way to become a good golfer is to play every match for all it is worth, and in order to do this you should always arrange the odds as fairly as possible.