Page:King Edward VII. as a sportsman by Watson, Alfred Edward Thomas.djvu/44

 courses were laid out at all the Royal residences, and were freely utilised not only by members of the Royal Family but by His Majesty's guests, the ladies and gentlemen of the suite, and the Royal servants. The writer has the most agreeable memories of the golf at Windsor, Sandringham, and Balmoral—memories doubtless shared by many of those who were fortunate enough to have been the guests of the King. Apart from the game itself, there were few courses in the kingdom that could vie in beauty with the three just mentioned. The view on a summer's evening over Windsor Great Park from the Golf Links, which are situated on the eastern slopes of the Castle, is one of the most beautiful that can be imagined. At Sandringham the course is laid round the park, with its wealth of bracken and Scotch fir; and at Balmoral, where the river Dee forms an "out of bounds" boundary and the "links" is surrounded by the pine woods and purple hills of Deeside, the whole forms so perfect a picture of Highland scenery that even the least appreciative of visitors is induced to pause from time to time in his game to marvel at the charm of the country around him.

Moreover, Continental golf was much indebted to the King's initiative and generosity. The little golf course at Homburg sprang into life under his auspices. The Marienbad golf course owed its very existence, not to mention its entire success, to his generous patronage; and the beautiful prizes he was in the habit