Page:Out-door Games Cricket and Golf (1901).djvu/238

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AMATEURS AND PROFESSIONALS
199

did forty years ago. At golf, as I have said before, it is impossible to make money as an amateur, at any rate sufficient money to constitute a livelihood. But a professional at golf who is steady, and has been wise enough to learn to make clubs and balls, has now a fine opportunity of leading a healthy life and making a good income. The enormous growth of golf in England and Wales found many clubs in want of greenkeepers, club-makers, and players, and Scotland was denuded of professionals steady and wise enough to take greens some few years back. Now the professional youth of England has learnt the art, and, as far as professionals are concerned, the Scotch monopoly has been broken up. Taylor, Vardon, and many others can now compete with the best, and it is a good illustration of the quickness of Englishmen to pick up games that so many have been found who are first-class players. Golf has indeed taken root in England to a degree that is almost miraculous, and the demand for clubs and balls has made possible the establishment of businesses devoted to their manufacture which would have staggered our forefathers could they