Page:Out-door Games Cricket and Golf (1901).djvu/199

164 is lower now, and the play perhaps better, it is quite impossible to say dogmatically that if the same conditions had prevailed forty years ago, the best players of that date would not have been equally good.

I have said that it is by no means clear whether modern improvements in clubs have made very much difference in scoring. In one club no improvement or change has been made, and the old wooden putter is still used by some of our great players; nor, as far as I know, is there any difference between the modern and ancient cleek. The mashie, however, is a new club, and has largely superseded the old-fashioned iron; while the driver is different in shape, and the brassey and mashie have driven the old wooden spoons out of the field altogether. But how far these changes have made the game easier is difficult to say. There can be no question but that the driving is longer, even considerably longer, and I think also that evidence seems to show that as far as mere force is concerned, the modern player can give points to his rivals in ancient days, and for this the modern bullet-headed play club must be held largely responsible. On looking through a set