The ground played over is known by the name of the links, or the course, and covers an area generally from two, to three and a half miles for a full-sized or man's course, and very often much under this distance for what is known as the ladies' links, whilst the distances between the holes vary from fifty yards to 480 yards or more. The game is pursued over obstacles of all sorts, known as hazards and bunkers, till the green is reached. This is a beautifully kept piece of grassy lawn, some twenty yards in extent, either undulating, sloping, or sometimes quite level, in which the holes are cut. The term stance is applied to the position of the player's feet, when addressing herself to the ball. The term grip denotes either that part of the handle of the club covered with leather, which is held in the hands, or the grasping of the club itself, and the term lie, applies to the situation of the ball, good or bad. The further technical terms may be found in the Glossary (p. 382) or in any instruction book on the game, the most highly recommended of the latter being _The Badminton Library on Golf_, by Mr. Horace Hutchinson, _The Game of Golf_, by W. Park, jun., or Sir W. C. Sampson's _The Art of Golf_. But to the early history of our game. The exact date of the founding of the Royal and Ancient game of Golf is still a somewhat disputed point. But we read that in Holland and also in Belgium, about the year 1353, a very popular pastime was then in vogue, styled Chole, and as far as can be ascertained from old documents, pictures, and the familiar and curious Dutch tiles of that period, the mode of play and the weapons used, although rather crude in many respects, were not at all unlike those of the present day. Some writers go so far as to tell us that this game rather resembled hockey, and that the ball used was about the size of an ordinary cricket ball. Others who have searched even more deeply amongst the archives of the royal and ancient game, relate that the aim and object used to be to strike the ball against stone posts, which appears to have corresponded with the later practice of holing out. Anyway we have it on good authority that the game was much played during the sixteenth century in Scotland.