Cicatrices and Excrescences

"When a man first attempts to play, he is stiff and awkward indeed, but he has no mannerisms. They begin to show after his first breakdown, and after each succeeding one a mark is apt to be left on his game. When that is full-grown and set, the cicatrices of old wounds remain as excrescences, which, unless inconvenient, are better not excised. There is a risk of hurting the constitution of our golf if the operation is attempted."

Magnets

"The magnetic ball is one of my own many inventions. It is simply an ordinary ball containing a small magnet which enables the player to hole-out with great precision, the iron in the hole (the ‘tin,’ it is called) attracting the magnet. For driving north the magnet ball is very good, but in driving east or west some allowance must be made for the skid of attraction. During a thunderstorm the carry of these balls is really astonishing."

Showy Shots

"That it is not the game is proved by the secret joy experienced when an adversary announces his intention of making one of these showy attempts. Even in a score game, six shots behind and three holes from home, the flames of hope begin to flicker in your sulky bosom."

Veracity

To some minds the great field which golf opens up for exaggeration is its chief attraction. Lying about the length of one’s drives has this advantage over most forms of falsehood, that it can scarcely be detected. Your audience may doubt your veracity, but they cannot prove your falsity. Even when some rude person proves your shot to be impossibly long, you are not cornered. You admit to an exceptional loft, to a skid off a paling, or, as a last appeal to the father of lies, you may rather think that a dog lifted your ball. ‘Anyhow,’ you add conclusively, ‘that is where we found it when we came up to it.’

Greed

"The greedy, grovelling spirit of the true golfer, anxious to win holes, is not to be beguiled from its purpose by the soul-satisfying, pocket-emptying glories of brilliant shots."

Intellect

"It has already been remarked that excessive golfing dwarfs the intellect. Nor is this to be wondered at when we consider that the more fatuously vacant the mind is, the better for play."

Charles and Ireland

"It is also an historical fact that Charles I actually stopped in the middle of a game on Leith Links, because, forsooth, he learned that a rebellion had broken out in Ireland. Some, however, are of opinion that he acted on this occasion with his usual cunning – that at the time the news arrived he was being beaten, and that he hurried away to save his half-crown rather than his crown."

On Caddies

"The caddie will only drink the more if overpaid," you say. Indeed! and to what good purpose do you apply the money you grudge to the poor? Is there something nobler in your gout and dyspepsia than in my caddie's red nose?"

Wrists

"What, then, is a wrist shot? For one thing, it is a shot which ought not to be played with the wrists."

Doctors

"For colds, golf and biliousness, the less doctor's stuff we can do with, the better."

Sanity

"Golf has some drawbacks. It is possible, by too much of it, to destroy the mind."

Part 1, Ch. I

On Putting Again

"To putt well on medal day, one must be careless; advice easily given but difficult to follow until our card is hopelessly beyond the reach of human aid."

Poetry

"The poetic temperament is the worst for golf. It dreams of brilliant drives, iron shots laid dead, and long putts held, whilst in real golf success waits for him who takes care of the foozles and leaves the fine shots to take care of themselves."

Part 2, Ch. X

Partners

"The choice of, and conduct towards, a partner are matters of considerable importance. If we get beaten, no matter who he is, or how he has played, or how we have played, it will, as a matter of course, be entirely his fault."

Part 2, Ch. X

Holing-Out

"When a putter is waiting his turn to hole out a putt of one or two feet in length, on which the match hangs at the last hole, it is of vital importance that he think of nothing. At this supreme moment he ought to fill his mind with vacancy. He must not even allow himself the consolation of religion."

Part 2, Ch. IX

Preaching...

"Like other things, essentially foolish in themselves, such as preaching, pleading, feeling pulses etc., putting becomes attractive in proportion to the skill acquired in it."

Pt. 2, Ch.IX

Royalty

"It is also an historical fact that Charles I actually stopped in the middle of a game on Leith Links, because, forsooth, he learned that a rebellion had broken out in Ireland. Some, however, are of opinion that he acted on this occasion with his usual cunning – that at the time the news arrived he was being beaten, and that he hurried away to save his half-crown rather than his crown."

Ch. II

121 Years Later...

Available: 20th October 2008

One-Hundred-and-Twenty-First
Anniversary Edition.

"The ‘Dynamite’ is a very powerful weapon. It is a club in the face of which is inserted a small cartridge which explodes when the ball strikes it. With this club a good driver has been known to get past the long hole at St. Andrews in one shot. It would be rash to start on a round without a surgeon to carry the clubs,

...and surgeons of course charge more than ordinary caddies."

Available for pre-order at 10% discount - order here.