Author Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1900 Excerpt:...of players. He always followed out the old Scottish custom of consulting with his partner about the way in which each shot should be played, and no one understood better than he the value of playing "to the score" rather than for the shot. It is difficult to compare Tait as a golfer with professional players, for he was so thoroughly an amateur, playing first and foremost for the fun of the thing, that even in the great competitions he took no trouble to train or practice before the events. It was indeed often impossible for him to get practice before starting for a championship, as he sometimes was only able to get leave a day or two before the event. In these latter days, when golf has been brought to such a pitch of perfection, mainly, I think, by the lucrativeness of the golfing profession, continual practice and training are essential if a man is to compete on equal terms with those, whether amateur or professional, who make golf their business. Tait never won the Open Championship, but neither indeed have Herd or Rolland, and yet they were the acknowledged champions of their great "years." Tait's play was never mechanical enough to suit four rounds of paper and pencil work, and the match was the game for him. Who that has ever played with him can forget the feeling that he was fencing with a man who would suddenly deliver a thrust which no skill could parry? Who that has ever seen him play will doubt that his genius was unique, his power incapable of being gauged to the full? A man may be a fine player but a bad golfer; even as well-born men are not always gentlemen, or great theologians good parsons. A golfer, in the fullest sense of the word, is a man in the first place, and a player in the second; Freddie was this true golfer. I...