Page:Out-door Games Cricket and Golf (1901).djvu/252

Rh it may be between the other ball and the hole—unless the balls are within six inches of each other. This rule has been in existence ever since golf was invented, and for years was accepted without grumbling as part of the game. As time went on, medal play, a bastard and degrading form of play as compared to match play, came into greater prominence, and players generally came to place an exaggerated value on score play: and now there is an increasing agitation in favour of the stimie being abolished even in match play. The one fact I complain of in this agitation is that those in favour of the abolition of the stimie seem to me to base their arguments solely on the fact that it is hard luck on the man who is stimied, and they ignore any other question whatever. If it is a real stimie, that is, if it is impossible to hole the ball by getting round—and I believe it is often said to be impossible when it is not—the player generally has it in his power to hole the ball by taking a laid back club like a mashie, and lofting it over the opponent's ball into the hole. Now, the fact that this is a beautiful stroke and a joy both to do and to look at, seems to be lost sight of by those who desire