There are two classes of players, those who score points and pay little heed to the way they do this, and those who study “form,” that is, the way they play: a good style comes partly by practice and partly by an aptitude for the game. It is good form to hold your mallet somewhat like a cricket bat as in Fig. 1, and hit your ball with freedom and from the elbow, but beginners find it difficult to be certain of the direction the ball will travel, and prefer to hold the mallet in front of them as in Fig. 2, letting it swing like a pendulum. This sort of stroke enables the player to gauge the direction with greater certainty, but you can get no force into it, and the tyro should cultivate the freer stroke, if she wish to become a strong instead of a timid player. In estimating direction, it is a good plan to look along the top of your mallet across to the object you aim at, and your partner can be of help here by looking from the object aimed at, on to your mallet, as the girl is doing in Fig. 3, to see that the direction is the right one. This I consider a very good hint, and one that I profited by myself, and it is of great assistance to one to have your partner’s criticism, especially when making a long shot. As regards strength of stroke, practice alone can gauge this. The modern mallets have one side faced with rubber for a particular class of strokes, where the ball is not to travel far, and it is important for the player to learn to use this side as well as the wooden one. Pushing or spooning is rigorously barred, and a hit to count must be heard distinctly. [Illustration: No. 1. EIGHT-HOOP SETTING.] [Illustration: No. 2. SEVEN-HOOP SETTING.] [Illustration: No. 3. SIX-HOOP SETTING. _Used in Public Tournaments._] Clips are used by some, as by attaching one to the hoop that has next to be negotiated all discussion is avoided as to the play, as will sometimes happen in the middle of a game, but many players do not trouble to use them. I give three diagrams as to the placing of the hoops marked with the distances taken from the book published by Dean and Son before referred to. A good game can be played on any fair-sized ground, but if too small the strokes become too easy, and the game suffers. The proper size is 40 yards long and 30 yards wide, and should not be less than 20 yards by 15 yards. The “dead boundary” should be marked all round with whiting, as in lawn tennis. These are the three chief settings with the distances measured on a full-sized ground. Where the lawn is smaller the necessary allowances must be made. The eight hoop setting is a good one for beginners, as the distances to be negotiated are not so great as in the six hoop, which is the most difficult of the three. No. 1.—EIGHT HOOP. Pegs 3 yards from boundary. First and sixth hoops 4 yards from pegs. Middle hoops midway and 4 yards from each other. Corner hoops 5 yards from end of ground and 4 yards from side.