Spirit of the links

F. G. TAIT'S MATCH-BOOK
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is conjured up in the memory in all its keenness and
its tensity.
And it shall come as a good recommendation in
this matter that the golfer who is the favourite hero
of us all, as he was a pattern of the golfing virtues,
made a match-book for himself while he was still
playing the schoolboy golf, and kept it continuously
for the rest of his time. Freddie Tait's match-book
was just what we might expect it to be. It was a
very honest thing, and Mr. Low, who has handled it
and copied some of it for the deep interest of us all,
remarks on the way in which the brave soldier golfer
never spared himself, his partner, nor his opponents,
but dealt out praise and censure with a level hand.
One day, though he had halved his round, he says,
" Played as bad a round as possible " ; and at another
time his comment is, " Never played worse with the
exception of a few iron shots." Then as to a four-
some it is, " The characteristic of the game was the
bad play of both " ; and of his partner in another
match he remarks, " The play of Mr. was feeble
in the extreme."
There were eight column divisions in Tait's match-
book. First there was the place for the date, then
for the name of the links, and the third for the
statement of the parties to the match. The fourth
column was for the mention of the odds of the
handicap if any, or for the name of the competition
if he was engaged in one. Then there was one
column for holes won and another for holes lost, a
broad one for " remarks," and a last little one at the
side of the page for the total of the score. Generally
the " remarks " were brief and pointed, and it is these
which make the record of the play of the most
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