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There is such a consensus of opinion among good golfers that it is impossible to believe that the 11th at St. Andrews is not about the best short hole in the world. The green in this case is a good deal largerthe distance being greater-but it is undulating and the bunkers to left and right and beyond are so severe that a mistake is apt to be expensive. A great many American players have criticised the new bunkers at the last hole at Garden City as being far too difficult. That is partly because they have never learned to play out of deep bunkers the shot really is not difficult if the sand is soft-and partly because they overlook entirely the moral aspect of the game. A shallow patch of sand is the worst kind of hazard for a short hole. It does not affect the nerves of the player on the tee to any extent. If the worst comes to the worst and he goes into the sand he has still a good chance of a three after making a bad tee shot. But with the deep bunkers staring him in the face, he knows that a mistake will be disastrous, if not fatal. The moral effect of the bunker is, therefore, twice or three times as great, and that is exactly what makes the difference between good golf and poor golf. The 4th hole on the National course is better than the 11th at St. Andrews because it has a water hazard right in front of the tee to punish a topped shot. But between the hazard and the plateau edge of the green there is plenty of good ground, so that the player has the option, as at St. Andrews, of pitching right onto the green or of playing a low running shot.

The third short hole is a copy of the Redan at North Berwick and is the 13th hole on the National links. The flag should be about 175 yards from the tee on a calm day. Next to the 11th at St. Andrews the Redan is conceded to be the best one-shot hole in the world. The green is protected by a deep bunker in front and is so narrow that it is necessary to play the shot with a good deal of back spin if it is played straight; but the conformation of the ground is such that the bunker may be avoided by playing to the right and allowing the ball to roll in toward the hole with the slope. Either shot requires considerable skill.

There you have three short holes of three different lengths, each with great individuality and each calling for great accu

racy. It would be practically impossible for a bad shot to get near the hole in any case. Notice first, that in each case all the ground between the tee and the flag is visible from the tee, and secondly, that the bunkers are deep and very near the hole. One might almost say that a short hole cannot be a good one unless it has one deep bunker within twenty feet of the flag.

Now we come to the two-shot holes. These are of great variety and of all lengths, from 250 yards up to 500. It used to be considered that anything between 200 yards and 350 was bad because it meant a drive and a mashie shot. Now a hole of that length is bad on the ordinary stereotyped course in America because it means that you can miss your drive and go about 120 yards and still be about as well off as a man who hits his drive but cannot get home in less than two. But there is no reason in the world why a hole of any distance should not be made a good one provided it is not over 500 yards. Who does not know those courses supposed to be first-class simply because they are long, and nearly every hole is marked 400 yards, and is described as a fine two-shot hole? As far as may be, every hole on the course should have a distinct length of its own. On the National Links you will find the following approximate distances: 140, 160, 180, 240, 290, 310, 330, 360, 380, 400, 410, 440, 460, 480, 500; that is to say, only three duplicates out of eighteen.

The shortest of the two-shot holes is the 11th, or Sahara, copied from the 3d at Sandwich. The principle of this hole is one which may be used very frequently in different forms and disguises. A rough plan will explain better than words. The driver can risk as much of the bunker as he likes. If he goes straight on the hole he must carry 180 yards, and then he can reach the green or the edge of the green and has a good chance of a three. By playing more to the right he gets a carry of 160 yards only but cannot reach the green. Still, his approach is a short one and he has an easy four with a possible three. If he can only carry 130 yards or 120, he has to go still further to the right and has a long and difficult approach, so that the hole may cost him five strokes. In other words, courage and clean hitting are rewarded, while for the poorer player there is still a way around.

The same principle is applied at the 5th hole, which will be perhaps the most celebrated in the country. The actual distance from tee to flag is about 290 yards-one would have said the worst possible distance for a hole-but it works out beautifully. The hazard in this case is water. Here it is impossible quite to reach the green, but the fine driver if he likes to take a risk and go almost straight for the hole, may get within putting distance and so have a good chance for a three. But the least slice will carry his ball into Sebonac Creek; or if he fails to get 240 yards he will have a difficult little pitch shot onto the promontory. The man who can drive 200 yards may prefer to play fairly well to the left so as to be sure of

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opening the hole; but then he has a long approach onto the promontory. Finally, the short driver can get across the water by playing well to the left and carrying less than 100 yards; but he has a long second to play and may easily take a five. In fact, the hole is either a three or a four or a five, according to the way the tee shot is played.

The principle of the "Dog's Hind Leg," as Old Tom Morris used to call it, is the underlying feature of most of the best holes. The 8th is another good example. Here the hole is about 330 yards long and the application is a little different. The long driver does not play straight on the hole but out to the left. If he can carry 180 yards, his second shot is an easy run-up to the flag, and he has a possible three and

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home as to have a good chance of a four. The poorer driver has to play more to the right, and then he is confronted with a big carry for his second if he wants to play straight on the hole. If he is afraid cf it,

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worth punishing. But put your cross bunker 320 yards, or 330 yards, from the tee, so that the actual distance of the carry is about 350, then matters are different. The best drive cannot reach the bunker, and you must hit a really fine second in order to carry it. There is no prettier shot in golf than a second played with a brassie over a bunker onto the green where the carry is considerable. Always remember that it is far more important to punish the indifferent or sloppy shots than the very bad ones. The very bad ones punish themselves through loss of distance. Neither of these fine two-shot holes is spoiled when the wind is against the player. The great beauty of the Alps Hole at Prestwick is that the middle part of the hole is so well bunkered that the second shot is always a diffi

Ninth hole.

Bay, rivals Point Garry at North Berwick for picturesqueness.

Then there is the two-shot hole where the big carry is on the second shot, like the 12th hole, which is taken from the Alps at Prestwick, and the 7th where the Punch Bowl green is protected by a very severe bunker across the front. In both cases the tee shot must be a long one in order to make it possible to carry the bunker with the second. Notice here that in each case there is a cross bunker which has to be carried. As a rule, bunkers going at right angles across the course are to be avoided, and the modern tendency is to leave them out altogether; in fact, the modern tendency is rather to omit all bunkers. It is always a mistake to go to extremes. Much depends on where the cross bunker is placed. Garden City is spoiled by the number of cross hazards which occur about 250 yards from the tee, just in the place to catch a very fine drive on a calm day. They really are bad hazards in every way, for they only catch very good drives or seconds which are so bad as to be hardly

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Lastly, there is the Bottle-neck hole. Here the principle is of a different nature and should not be used often. One Bottleneck hole, however, is an excellent feature of a good course. In this hole the drive is up into a narrow space like the neck of a bottle the further you go the more confined the space is. There are at least three ways of playing the hole. If you are a long driver and also very straight, you can drive right into the neck and then you have an approach of only 140 yards with the flag in view and an open course. If you are afraid of taking that chance, you can play short with an iron about 150 yards where the course is wide and still get home, but you have a very long second, with a good chance of being bunkered at the finish. Or again, if you are sure of a long carry, you can play to the left, carrying the bunkers at a distance of somewhere between 150 and 190 yards; but then you have to approach over a bunker.

Notice that the great charm about all these holes lies in the variety of play. There is nearly always an option to be exercised. The player must place his ball off the tee with reference to the second shot, and as a rule he can only get in the very best position if he is a long and accurate driver. But the player with less distance can still VOL. XLV.-65

equalize matters on the second shot if he is capable of negotiating difficulties. And there should always be a way of safety even for the very short driver. A man should be punished badly, not for being a poor player, but for not playing up to his game. The National links will have no terrors for those who obey the first law of golf, which is to hit the ball in the middle of the club.

In placing your hazard remember that you cannot have too many bunkers around the putting greens. Indeed, it is difficult to have too many bunkers on any course where bunkers have to be made artificially. The abomination of most courses in this country is long grass. I believe that golf would be twice as popular in America today if long grass and bushes were absolutely abolished and the possibility of a lost ball practically eliminated. To prevent a topped ball running a great distance from the tee it is well to leave the grass two or three inches long for a distance of 100 yards or so from the tee. It should be just long enough to make the lie of the ball difficult, but not long enough to conceal it. In the same way, at the side of the fair green, the grass should be left rough but short. Side bunkers are better than long grass in any case, and if variety is needed

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a few patches of long grass may be left about the size of pot bunkers.

There are many other features about the National Links which will make the course famous; for example, the undulating putting greens, the absence of blind holes nearly every tee commands a view of the entire length of the hole-and the size of the bunkers. But the main achievement is that a course has been produced where

every hole is a good one and presents a new problem. That is something which has never yet been accomplished, even in Scotland; and in accomplishing it here, Mr. Macdonald has inaugurated a new era in golf. In future every golf club will have to conform to the new idea by making its course as good as nature will allow, and the benefit to the game will be incalculable.

JOHN MARVEL, ASSISTANT

BY THOMAS NELSON PAGE

ILLUSTRATION BY JAMES MONTGOMERY FLAGG

XVI

MY NEW LODGINGS

HE room I took when I left Mrs. Kale's was only a cupboard some nine feet by six in the little house I have mentioned; but it was spotlessly clean, like the kind-looking, stout, blue-eyed Teuton woman who, with skirt tucked up, came to the door when I applied for lodging, and, as the price was nearer my figure than any other I had seen, I closed with Mrs. Loewen and the afternoon I left Mrs. Kale's sent my trunk over in advance. It held the entire accumulation of my life. There was something about the place and the woman that attracted me. As poor as the house was, it was beyond the squalid quarter and well out in the edge of the city, with a bit of grass before it, and there were not only plants in the windows well cared for; but there was even a rosebush beside the door making a feeble attempt to clamber over it with the aid of strings and straps carefully adjusted.

The only question my landlady asked me was whether I was a musician, and when I told her no, but that I was very fond of music, she appeared satisfied. Her husband, she said, was a drummer.

my friends at the boarding-house, I was pleased at the real regret they showed at my leaving. Miss Pansy and Miss Pinky came down to the drawing-room in their "best" to say good-bye; Miss Pinky with her "scratch" quite straight. And Miss Pansy said if they ever went back home she hoped very much I would honor them by coming to see them, while Miss Pinky, with a more practical turn, hoped I would come and see them "there and you may even bring your dog with you," she added, with what I knew was a proof of real friendship. I promised faithfully to come, for I was touched by the kindness of the two old ladies who, like myself, had slipped from the sphere in which they had belonged, and I was rather grim at the reflection that they had been brought there by others, while I had no one to blame but myself—a solemn fact I was just beginning to face.

When I walked out of the house I was in a rather low state of mind. I felt that it was the last day when I could make any pretension to being a gentleman. I had been slipping down, down, and now I was very near the bottom. So I wandered on in the street with Dix at my heels and my pistol in my pocket.

Just then a notice of a concert, placarded on a wall, caught my eye, and I gave myI asked if I might bring my dog, and she self a shake together as an unmitigated ass, assented even to this.

When I bade good-bye to Mrs. Kale and

and determined suddenly that I needed some amusement and that a better use for

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