In no department of women's golf has there been more progress of late years than in the length of distance attained with wooden clubs. In iron play there is still much improvement to be desired, on the greens very little change has been noticeable, but from the tee the difference between the long player of to-day and the long player of ten years ago is very marked. And, indeed, the difference is not confined to the exceptionally long players. The average woman golfer of the present is a vastly superior driver to her sister of the past. The introduction of rubber-cored balls has probably had a good deal to do with the matter, the improved physique of the modern athletic girl may be in part responsible, but the change is mainly due to the increased facilities women possess for playing on long links.

To be able to drive well is usually the first ambition of every beginner. The novice regards putting as a very simple matter. The feat of sending the ball flying through the air is much more attractive to her than rolling it along the ground into the hole. The progress of a golfer can be judged by a kind of inverse ratio in this respect. While driving is thought to be everything and putting nothing, the beginner is in a very raw condition; when she realises that it is necessary to pay even more attention to her short game than to her tee-shots, she may be said to be beginning to understand the science of golf. For driving is the easiest part of the game, and putting far the hardest.

There are two ways in which a beginner can learn golf. One is to put herself into the hands of a good professional and to work away under his tuition until some proficiency has been attained. The other is to fight the matter out by herself, by dint of strenuous practice, the reading of books, and the cultivation of an observant eye. The latter course may lead to success, but it is the more difficult of the two. Those who can obtain even a few good lessons to form a basis for after practice, will find that there are great advantages in doing so, and it will mean a considerable shortening of the period of drudgery through which all beginners must pass. The ideal way in which to learn golf is to commence the game at such an early age that the swing is picked up naturally and with very little effort. Children's muscles and joints are so supple that they instinctively adopt graceful attitudes and movements. But for those who are not familiar with the links from childhood, the only road to success is by sheer hard work, and the expenditure of much patience and perseverance.

The first thing for the beginner to do is to get clubs. Here at once a problem presents itself. How many clubs are necessary, and of what nature should they be? The answer to this question is very largely a matter of £ s. d. The girl who is not obliged to consider expense will start off happily with a bag full of weapons; her impecunious sister will content herself with a few. The latter has really the best of it. It is a great mistake to begin with too many clubs. It only multiplies difficulties. Each club requires a different method of play, therefore the larger the number of clubs used, the more complicated are the instructions which have to be assimilated by the reeling brain of the beginner. The result is likely to be hopeless bewilderment. The average golfer possesses driver, brassey, spoon or cleek, iron, mashie, niblick, and putter. Of these the three essential for a beginner are driver, iron, and putter; the rest can be added gradually. These three clubs are normally always in use. The game may be said to be founded upon them, almost as the diapason stops are the groundwork of organ playing.

It is always desirable that the player should feel confidence in her clubs; therefore she should select them in accordance with her own individual taste. Such quantities of good clubs of all descriptions are poured upon the market nowadays that every one can find what suits her. In a driver the chief thing to aim at is good balance. For a beginner the face should be laid back a little, and the shaft should not be whippy, a whippy club being much more difficult to control. It is wiser to avoid all exaggerations of length, weight, or shape. The average club is the best for the average novice, and it is time enough to indulge in eccentricities and fancies when proficiency is attained.

A golf stroke may be divided into three principal component parts, viz. swing, grip, stance. Theorists can argue about a host of minor distinctions, but for our present purpose it is better to stick to these three divisions. There is a diversity of opinion among authorities as to whether the grip and stance should be taught before the swing is attempted, or whether the first effort should be to attain some sort of swing, leaving the grip and stance to be adjusted afterwards. I am inclined to think that the grip should be attended to first, then the swing, and lastly the stance. The stance is the easiest problem of the three to tackle, and may quite well be postponed. The grip is bound to affect the swing, and if the motions of the swing be learned with a wrong grip, they will have to be learned all over again when the grip has at length been corrected, with the result of disheartening the beginner not a little.

The overlapping grip has come very much into prominence of late years. I have never tried it, and therefore do not feel justified in criticising its merits or demerits. A great many people use it and swear by it. The principle is that the little finger of the right hand is placed on the top of the first finger of the left hand, with the object of making the two hands as nearly one as possible, and preventing the right hand doing more than its proper share of the work. Miss Cecil Leitch expresses the opinion that few ladies are strong enough in the wrists to use this grip through the green, although they may easily do so on the putting-green. She does not use it herself, nor do many of the leading women golfers. Mr. Darwin advocates the 'go-as-you-please' grip with three provisoes. These three are: