GOLF to-day in America is more popular than ever, and appears to hold the popular fancy in a stronger bond of sympathy than any other branch of athletics, no matter whether it be baseball, football, or anything else. There are at the present time in the United States something over one thousand organised golf clubs, each possessing a membership ranging from fifty up to seven hundred or over. These figures, too, it must be understood, are quoted without taking into consideration the junior members who are attached to these clubs.

It will readily be seen, therefore, that there are beyond question a considerable number of players scattered all over the country. It does not matter into which state or town a visitor may go, it is more than probable that he will discover a golf links to be located there.

Upon many of these links palatial club-houses have been built for the comfort and convenience of the members, and as a stranger catches a glimpse of these places there is one thought that rises involuntarily - wonderment as to how the devotees of the game spent their leisure hours before they were capable of recognising the beauties and attractions of the game.

It is golf, golf, golf, throughout the whole of the States. Every hotel mentions most particularly whether there is a course within easy reach, either upon their own grounds, as is frequently the case, or in the immediate vicinity. The influence of the game is such that there is scarcely a newspaper published which does not devote a considerable portion of its space to the doings of the golfer and anything appertaining to his art.

In this respect, I regret to say, our English newspapers do not compare favourably as regards space devoted to our game. The American Press, however, have recognised that a very considerable portion of their readers are desperately in love with it, and that, I suppose, is the reason why they attempt to bring them more closely into touch with golf and all its attractive features.

Business men have also recognised its importance from a purely monetary point of view, and so have displayed for sale golf shoes, golf hats, golf coats, golf capes, golf brooches, golf pins, golf costumes. Indeed, it is difficult to discover a department into winch golf does not enter in one shape or the other. There can be but one result of all this persistent advertising, and that is that the American public, on the whole, will have a far more intelligent idea of what golf is than the average man in this country.

A great many people across the Atlantic, although possibly they may never have been fortunate enough to see the game played, are yet cognisant of the fact that it has arrived, and they also have a more or less definite impression respecting it. That, I fear, is more than we can say of the population of Great Britain.

The fact of this widespread interest and feeling in and for the game may appear strange to one who has only noted the stories of golf adventures told from the other side of the Atlantic, but it is the case that Americans have thrown themselves into the oursuit of the game with such determination and goodwill that at the present time they know more about the game than we do ourselves.

That golf should have triumphed over manifold difficulties must be admitted by the most prejudiced observer to be a great feat, although after all it is not a cause for wonderment, when its perfect adaptability is considered. The triumph of the game is that it is eminently suited to man, woman, or child, none are too old or too young to take a part in its healthful exercise.

FULL DRIVE AFTER HAVING JUST STRUCK BALL.

For Americans, however, the game is specially adapted. In a nation of great commercial enterprise the business men must necessarily devote the major portion of their time to their offices and their works; thus sedentary habits, hard to shake off, are formed. To such as these golf is the salvation from all the ills that flesh is heir to; it draws the busy man from his desk or his counting-house, from the clang of rushing machinery to the pure air of the links, and the exercise of every muscle in his body. New life and vigour is found when playing a round, exercise is the best physician, and so the seeker after the almighty dollar adds indefinitely to his days and to his power.

To the honour of golf be it said that no game ever drew the American from his desk or his office as this has done. Golf has succeeded where baseball has failed, and the limits of its work for good have not yet been defined. This, however, is scarcely a matter for discussion here.

The climate of America is not so favourable to the playing of the game as the climate experienced in the United Kingdom. During the summer months it usually becomes much hotter than in England or Scotland, and the player must be prepared to brave the rays of a scorching sun. The American golfer, however, like the runner or the jumper, appears to be inured to these atmospheric conditions, and apparently is not well suited until the weather becomes extremely warm.

They are delightfully free and easy in their style, and while touring there I found myself only too glad to follow the example set me, and play minus my coat. In England it is only the novice who plays in this style; in America they cannot but attempt to make themselves comfortable under far different conditions, and the fashion of playing in a cool garment, all things considered, cannot be too highly commended.

During the winter, on the other hand, the cold is intense, and as if this were not enough, snows falls heavily in many parts of the country. Owing to this fact play is interrupted considerably, many of the links are wrapped in a white mantle, and golf is at an end, at least for a time. This alone is quite enough to make a considerable difference in the play, for a man being without practice during four or five months of the year cannot hope to improve or maintain his form to any great degree.