Page:Out-door Games Cricket and Golf (1901).djvu/239

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
200
OUT-DOOR GAMES

have foreseen these things. It really has come to this, that Englishmen, wherever they go, must have golf, and France has to supply their needs, and Italy, and Spain, while America is spending fortunes in the pursuit of the game. All these countries were obliged, in the first instance, to get their clubs and balls from Scotland, and if the canny Scotch club-maker has not done well during the last few years it is surprising.

Cricket can only be played in the summer, football can be played any time of the year except the summer, but golf, though perhaps at its pleasantest in spring and autumn, can be played by the real enthusiast all through the year, and in consequence the professional is more constantly employed in one sense. But for caddies and for professional players who have no other trade golf is somewhat intermittent, and if I could dare to give advice to the nation generally, I should advise those responsible for the education of professional youth to insist on the teaching of something besides the mere playing of golf. If you think of the life of a caddie you will see at once that it is somewhat of an intermittent and loafing