Spirit of the links

NAMES FOR THE CLUBS
your pardon and with great respect, but it's for one
greater than you."
" Who is looking after Mr. Balfour? " they whispered
one time at St. Andrews, when the right hon.
gentleman was playing himself into the captaincy of
the Royal and Ancient Club, and was then Chief
Secretary for Ireland, and regularly attended by plain-
clothes detectives in case of accident. " I am looking
after Mr. Balfour ! " Crawford said when he overheard.
" I'm enough." And he would have been.
It should not be set against a golfer for foolishness
or faddism that he gives pet names to some of his
favourite clubs that have served him well through
many hard campaigns, and between him and which
there has grown up a very close degree of intimacy,
for some of the greatest players have given this rank
of name to their trusted clubs. " My driver," even
" My best driver" or " My old driver," is a cold term
to apply to that fine head and shaft that you think
have no equals on the links—at least for you. All
drivers may be called drivers; shall we have no other
name for the champion that has roamed with us and
played with us over courses all the way from Dornoch
to Westward Ho! ? Call him "Bill " if you like, and
" Bill " is a very good name; or if your fancy leans
that way, and she is slender and whippy, you may
call her " Bess." But better keep to human names.
There is a man who calls his baffy " Jumbo," and it
does not seem a nice name. I have a golfing friend
who has a driver that he calls " Ephraim," and it is