Page:Out-door Games Cricket and Golf (1901).djvu/203

Some players seem far better when they are playing for a score than when playing by holes: Mr. Hilton, for instance, who has twice won the open championship, is reputed to be a better medal player than match player, while Andrew Kirkaldy, I hear, expresses his contempt for medal play in no uncertain language. I think, on the whole, there can be no question but that match or hole play is not only the better game, but produces, as a rule, the higher and superior golf. Medals are won by the player who, while he plays fine golf, still contents himself with safe play: he makes no mistake from one point of view, but this is because he does not often attempt anything that is very difficult. There are a few exceptional cases when a great player is on the top of his form, goes for everything and brings off everything, and makes a phenomenal score; but I notice that generally these marvellous scores come off when he is playing an ordinary single or best of two balls, and merely counting the strokes. In medal play you are fighting an invisible phantom, in match play your opponent is by no means invisible. You regulate your