The Happy Golfer

Abstract

THIS is a brightly written hook, full of the free air of the links and the sweet philosophy of the man who enjoys the simple life of the natural athlete. The author discovers in golf seven wonders, the fascination that grips, the traditions which never stale in the telling, the ubiquity of the game, St. Andrews the sacred Mecca of every golfing soul, the tragedy of the short putt, the three mighty men who share fifteen open championships among them, and the marvellous amateur eight times champion, and, lastly, the romance of the rubber-cored ball. On these as texts he dilates and prattles, then takes us all round the world searching for happy golfing hunting-grounds, returning finally to the best heaven-given links of the dear homeland. He talks of players and matches, of temperament and style, of courses and hazards. When he touches on what is generally called the science of the game he speaks wisely and not dogmatically. Not a single illustration of stance or grip disturbs the literary glamour of the page; and the mysteries of the underspin and the dynamics of the slice tnd the pull are as if they were not. There is no “science” in the book; but it is admirably human.

The Happy Golfer.

Being some Experiences, Reflections, and a few Deductions of a Wandering Player. By H. Leach. Pp. vii + 414. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1914.) Price 6s. net.