Some years ago, when first-class players were not so plentiful, and record breaking was not a matter of everyday occurrence, Mr. Leslie Balfour-Melville, in playing for the medal of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, at St. Andrews, broke the existing record for medal play, by completing the eighteen holes in eighty-five strokes. It was hardly expected that such a score could be beaten. Mr. Alexander Stuart, however, had not started when Mr. Balfour-Melville's card was handed in. With excellent discretion he ordered himself a steak and a pint of champagne, which he discussed at leisure, and thereafter surprised everyone by returning a score of eighty-three, breaking by two strokes the record which had been established only two hours before.

Mr. Horace Hutchinson, in compiling the Badminton book on golf, was mindful of this occurrence, and, while publishing no names, he printed a picture strongly resembling Mr. Stuart in the act of eating that fateful luncheon, and held it up as an example to all future aspirants for golfing honors. It is years now since the medal record at St. Andrews stood as high as eighty-six, and so I may be forgiven for mentioning proper names; Mr. Hutchinson may also forgive me if I point out that his advice on that subject is good relatively, but not absolutely. It was only a chance suggestion in any case; yet that picture of the steak and the man, and above all, the familiar pint bottle, has something so comforting and attractive about it, that many readers have fastened their attention upon that piece of advice to the exclusion of everything else.

In reality, it is mainly a question of climate. In the cold air of Scotland, no harm can come of seeking adventitious aid from Heidsieck's special cuvee, or even the more democratic Glenlivet. In America we are accustomed to play golf in almost tropical weather, and under such circumstances stimulants should be administered after, rather than before, the contest. Any one who is in the habit of playing games is aware that on a hot day, and especially after taking exercise, the smallest modicum of alcohol is apt to affect the eye, and therefore it by no means follows that what may be done with success in Scotland can be ventured upon with impunity in America.

In hot weather it is well to be rather careful between rounds, and when an important match has to be played in the afternoon, a light luncheon is particularly advisable. In other respects, however, care in training may be greatly overdone. Even in rowing it is customary to administer champagne to a crew after a hard race; and in golf, where the strain is of far longer duration, a hard day's play may very reasonably be rewarded by such restoratives as may be found most acceptable.

The regulation of practice in the game itself is more important than any restriction of diet. Golf has been taken up, like most other pursuits in America, with an enormous amount of enthusiasm; and the constant tendency is in the direction of overplay. In England and Scotland there are very few weeks in the year when golf is impracticable, and only a month or two when the temperature is either disagreeably hot or cold. Yet the best players very rarely devote more than four or five weeks in the spring and a similar time in the autumn to the real practice of the game. During the rest of the year they may play an occasional match, but they are seldom on the links for two days in succession. In America, those who play golf at all do it for six months at a time, and they are surprised to find that they cannot keep up their form for the whole of that period.

If golf is going to be a regular part of your existence, two or at most three days a week is quite enough for its exercise, if you desire to preserve either your skill or your interest. And even then it would be advisable to take an occasional week off and get away entirely from the atmosphere of the game. When it comes to tournament play you should order all your practice with a view to reaching the top of your game just at the right moment. It is fatal to strike twelve a month before the important event. Consequently, if you find that you are actually improving too quickly, you should be all the more careful not to overdo it. Most golfers will tell you that they play the strongest and most consistent game about the end of the third week from the time that they began regular practice; so that you must pursue a course of this nature (remembering always that we are speaking now with regard to success in an important tournament, and not from the point of view of any pleasure that you may derive from the pastime). Granted that you have already developed your game to the limit of its capacity, you should give up playing altogether about two months before the tournament in question, and for four or five weeks you should, if possible, keep away entirely from the sight of a golf links; even the discussion of the game should be avoided. You require a complete mental and physical rest from this most arduous pursuit. You must not, however, give up every kind of physical exercise. One constantly hears that tennis and cricket and baseball spoil golf. This is an entirely mistaken idea. Of course, you cannot play cricket or baseball and golf interchangeably. If you do you will fail in both. But if you have already acquired a good golfing style, you may play any other game for a year, and then go back to golf and find that you have gained rather than lost by the diversion. The fact is that the constant practice of any single game develops only a certain set of muscles, and these muscles begin to lose their vigor when they are called too frequently into play; to speak technically, the man becomes stale. As soon as any symptom of this flabbiness becomes apparent, the golf club should be discarded for some other weapon.

Play another game, then, for four or five weeks, and then with about a fortnight to spare come back to golf and you will find yourself assailed by a new access of vigor and keenness. From that time on until the final contest you may play steadily and often, but it is well not to exceed thirty-six holes a day, or five days a week; in fact, even that limit is rather liberal. Do not play too many matches in the meantime that you are particularly anxious to win, for that will use up a large part of your mental energy; and employ at least a third of the time in practicing, with single clubs, the strokes that you find most difficult.