There are many concrete and a few general rules for behavior in sport of all sorts, the observance or neglect of which denotes the “thoroughbred” or the boor far more accurately than would a week full of ordinary routine.
The general rules apply to every form of sport. They are, briefly:
First, last and always—keep your temper! Remember the word “sport” means “pastime.” When it becomes a cause of annoyance or impatience, or an occasion for loss of temper, it misses its true aim and you are not worthy to continue it.
Second; the “other fellow” has quite as much right to a good time as you have. Do not play selfishly, or vaunt your superiority over him. In all contests, show no elation at victory, or chagrin at defeat. This is the first and great law. Its observance differentiates the true sportsman from the mere sporting-man.
Third; play fairly. The man or girl who will take an undue advantage of any description over an opponent, not only breaks the most sacred rules of good breeding, but robs himself or herself of the real enjoyment of the game.
Fourth; no sport in which people of breeding can participate demands loud talking, ill-bred language or actions, or the abridgment of any of the small sweet courtesies of life.
To sum up,—good breeding, fairness, self-control and patience are needful equipments. Without any and all of these no man or woman should take part in sports.
Golf, perhaps, more than any other outdoor pastime, demands a thorough and judicious blend of the foregoing qualities. The old story of the Scotch clergyman, whose conscience would not allow him to continue both golf and the ministry, and who therefore abandoned the latter, was of course an exaggeration. But the idea it expresses is by no means absurd. When a crowd of people throng the links—when novice and adept, crank and mere exercise-seeker are jumbled together in seeming confusion—it is not always easy to keep a cool head, a sweet temper and a resolution neither to give nor to take offense.
Many a golf-player errs in behavior less through ill-intent than through heedlessness and ignorance of what the etiquette of the occasion demands. Such enthusiasts may profit by the ensuing rules which cover the more salient points of decorum, and which may enable the beginner to avoid many a pitfall: