The Golf Courses of the British IslesDarwin, Bernard
History
The Golf Courses of the British Isles
Darwin, Bernard
Golf courses -- Great Britain
Those two I will keep till their proper place, and we will begin at the
first with a drive over a sandy hollow into open country. A bad slice
may see us labouring upon the seashore, but if we keep well to the left
there is no great difficulty, and a firm pitch over a cross-bunker
should land us safely on a big open green--it is, in fact, a double
green--between the hut and the Martello tower. The second, or 'Gate,'
is a short hole with a very billowy green; indeed, one little valley,
in which the hole is sometimes placed, is shaped for all the world
like a horse trough, and the ball will always come rolling back from
its steep sides, and must almost infallibly end very near the hole.
After this come three thoroughly good two-shot holes--the 'Bank,' the
'Tower,' and 'Bent Hills'--at all three of which the tee-shot is quite
easy, and the second shot both interesting and difficult; at both the
fourth and fifth there is an old-fashioned, honest cross-bunker, which
has to be carried if we are to get near the hole, and if the wind is
adverse and the ground slow, nothing but a really good brassey shot
will suffice. At the sixth--'Eastward Ho!'--a drive and a running shot
with the iron takes us close up to Baudsey Ferry and another Martello
tower, and then we turn homeward for the 'Ridge'--a drive and a short
pitch; at both these holes we should be hoping and trying for threes,
and they are neither of them possessed of any particular difficulty.
So far we may have done very well, and our score should not greatly
exceed an average of fours, but now comes Bunker's Hill, to be played,
as we will imagine, against a fair breeze. The drive is comparatively
simple, but for the second we must hit a very full shot as straight
as an arrow; the green is quite a small one, guarded on the right by
a road and a wilderness of thick grass beyond, while in front and to
the left is sand in abundance. To play short is the act of a coward,
and there will be a certain splendour even in our failure, for it
will be failure on a grand and expensive scale. This is true, even in
a greater degree, of the 'Point,' a hole that must have wrecked the
hopes of many a prospective medal winner; nay, there cannot be such a
thing as a prospective medal winner at Felixstowe till he has played
the second shot to the Point for the second time. There is some chance
of trouble from the tee, for besides the bunker immediately in front,
there is a long tongue of sand that stretches inwards from the road at
such a distance that it may well catch a fairly well-struck ball. We
will assume, however, that we are safely on the crest of the hill, with
the ball neither very far above or below us--this latter a considerable
assumption. The flag is fluttering in the distance close to the first
tee at the range of an absolutely full shot, and on the very narrowest,
most tapering strath imaginable. To the right is a field, which is out
of bounds; to the left is a hollow of broken, sandy country; close
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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