To praise the greens too vehemently is very often to cast an undeserved slur on the rest of the course; it is rather like saying of a man "He is a good short-game player," for then one is always understood to mean that in regard to his driving he is one of the great family of scufflers. I therefore make all haste to say that Portmarnock does not live by greens alone. Far from it: it is a good, long, bold course, with plenty of natural features, and, moreover, it has of late years been considerably lengthened and otherwise altered for the better. Before the alterations the golf was not, I say it with fear and trembling, particularly difficult. So long as a man played with a reasonable degree of accuracy and did not lose himself on the greens, he might expect to do quite a good score. Now, however, the course has been 'bolstered up,' if I may say so, in its weakest parts, and in the region of the sixth and seventh holes the golf is much longer and more difficult than it used to be. It is rather characteristic of Portmarnock that at some of the best holes the player's course lies along the bottom of gullies that wind their way between hills on either side. Of such is the fourth hole--a really fine hole--where the gully bends as it goes, so that there is plenty to be gained by hugging the left-hand side with a judicious but not a doting affection. The hole is of a good length, needing at least two shots, and possibly infinitely more, for on both sides of the little gully are sandy slopes well covered with tenacious bents. Before, however, we get to the fourth there is a very distinctly good tee-shot to be played to the third along a strath of turf that stretches, narrow and hog's-backed, between hills on the one side and bare sand upon the other. [Illustration: PORTMARNOCK (2) _Coming home_]