Golf has but few rules. The secret of playing well consists in being able to swing the clubs with accuracy and precision. There is no game where proper form counts for more and none in which more careful preliminary instruction by an expert is so important. If one can at the very outset obtain the services of a professional or a skilful player for a few lessons, it will do far more good than ten times as many lessons after we have contracted bad habits which will have to be unlearned. The surest way to be a poor golfer is first to think that it is a sort of “old man’s game,” or, as one boy said, “a game of knocking a pill around a ten-acre lot”; then when the chance to play our first game comes along to do it indifferently, only to learn later that there is a lot more to the skill of a good player than we ever realized. Another very common mistake is to buy a complete outfit of clubs, which a beginner always improperly calls “sticks,” before we really know just what shape and weight of club is best adapted to our needs. [Illustration: A good outfit of clubs for golf] The common clubs in most players’ outfits consist of a driver, brassie, cleek, iron, and putter. We can add to this list almost indefinitely if we wish, as there are all sorts of clubs made for various shots and with various angles. The game of golf consists in covering a certain fixed course in the fewest number of shots. We shall have to practise both for distance and accuracy. The first few shots on a hole of average length will give us an opportunity for distance. This is especially true of the first shot, or drive, but after that we make what are known as approach shots—that is to say, we are approaching the putting green where we complete the hole by “putting” the ball into the tin cup sunk into the ground. On the green we shall need to be very careful, as a stroke wasted or poorly played counts just as much against our score if the ball goes only a few feet as if we sliced or “foozled” our drive. In scoring for golf there are two methods: Either the score of each hole is taken and the winner of a majority of holes wins the match, or the total score in counted as in “medal” or “tournament play.” “Bogie score” is a fictitious score for the course that is supposed to denote perfect playing without flukes or luck. The mysterious “Colonel Bogie” is an imaginary player who always makes this score. [Illustration: How An Expert Plays Golf] XVIII PHOTOGRAPHY The selection of a camera—Snapshots vs. real pictures—How to make a photograph from start to finish Aside from our own pleasant recollections, an album of photographs can be the most satisfactory reminder of the good times we have had on some vacation or outdoor trip.