ABSTRACT
I THINK that the sensation or emotion of pleasure derived from a long drive is the keenest and most enjoyable in the whole game of golf. There is always a feeling of fear when a long putt is made, even though the ball appears to be running straight for the hole ; fear that due allowance has not been made for the slopes of the green, or that a worm-cast may deflect the ball. One can never be quite certain that the ball is going into the hole ; and if a long putt does find its mark the reaction, at any rate in my own case, leaves one feeling like a man who has passed through great perils, and thus it detracts from the enjoyment. But when one has timed a drive perfectly, when the ball leaves the club with that feeling of “sweetness“ that it is impossible to describe, and continues to rise in the air defying the laws of gravity, there is no feeling of fear ; and it really doesn’t matter very much whether the ball lands on the fairway or plunges into a bunker.
