Spirit of the links

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THE QUEER SIDE
P
ROBABLY it is true that golf carries its votaries
farther in enthusiasm than does any other game
or sport. It is characteristic of the golfing enthusiasm
that it does but increase as time goes on, and that
not in the case of one man in twenty does it show
any diminution, while the game is such a jealous
mistress that it is rarely the convert to golf maintains
any regular association with other sports unless he is
of such complete leisure that it is impossible for golf
alone to fill up his hours. Practically every golfer,
therefore, is a keen enthusiast, and though we dislike
to hear the phrase come from the lips of those who
are not of us, we have to confess that there is some
justification for the extremity of this enthusiasm being
described as "golf fever " ; for indeed at times it
provokes the player to the doing of many things
which in the cold light of reason afterwards would not
be regarded as completely rational. We are all
enthusiasts ; but who was the greatest enthusiast who
ever was? An impossible question to answer, of
course, if for no other reason than that the limit
appears to have been reached by hundreds; but
tradition can always settle matters of this kind in its
own way, and it has determined for us who was the
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