(_By the Expert Wrinkler_)
Is it good form to golf? That is a question I have been so repeatedly
asked of late by correspondents that I can no longer postpone my answer.
Now to begin with, I fear there is no doubt that golf is a little on the
down grade--socially. Golf is no longer the monopoly of the best set,
and I am told that artisans' clubs have actually been started in certain
districts. The other day, as I was travelling in Lancashire, a man in
the same compartment--with the most shockingly ill-cut trousers I ever
saw--said to a friend, "I like 'Oylake, it's 'ealthy, and it's 'andy and
within 'ail of 'ome." And it turned out that the chief attraction to him
at Hoylake was the golf. Such an incident as this speaks volumes. But I
always try to see both sides of every question, and there is
unquestionably a great deal to be said in favour of golf. It was
undoubtedly played by kings in the past, and at the present moment is
patronised by grand dukes, dukes, peers and premiers.
* * * * *
[Illustration:
BETWEEN FRIENDS.--_Mr. Spooner, Q.C._ (_a Neophyte_). "This is my ball,
I think?" _Colonel Bunting_ (_an adept_). "By Jove, that's a jolly good
'lie'!" _Mr. Spooner._ "Really, Bunting, we're very old friends, of
course. But I do think you might find a pleasanter way of pointing out
a perfectly unintentional mistake!"]
* * * * *