Page:VCH Kent 1.djvu/608

 A HISTORY OF KENT present no special difficulty to him who can drive ' far and sure ' ; but the prevailing south- west wind, sweeping from the sea across the marsh, plays havoc with a baU that is not truly hit, and the artfully disposed bunkers and the rough grass that borders the course are hazards that have spoilt many a medal score. From the 8th hole — perhaps the most sporting hole on the course — to the enor- mously long 1 8th play is on ground that is more diversified and of truer seaside char- acter. The amateur record for the Little- stone course is Mr. S. C. Wyatt's 71, a fine score that has been beaten in one stroke by David Herd, the professional of the club. The Bar Golfing Society plays its tournament over this fine course, and the club shares with the neighbouring club at Rye in Sussex, the honour of entertaining in alternate years the competitors in the Parliamentary Handicap. The club has a very fine house ; and has recently opened a second i8-hole course to the vest of that of which we have given a very inadequate description. Meetings are held five times a year — at Easter, when the Purves Gold Medal, the Mayor's Cup and the Denge Challenge Trophy are offered for com- petition ; at Vhitsuntide, when the Ladies' Diamond Jubilee Cup, the Tubbs' Cup and the Bannon Bo^vl are the objects of competi- tion ; in August, when the Erskine Goblets for foursomes and the Denge Trophy are played for ; in November, when the Autumn Gold Medal and the Coronation Cup are the principal prizes ; and at Christmas ,when the Winter Cleek is the challenge prize. The list of club trophies also includes the Waterlow Challenge Cup for the lowest gross medal score during each year, and the King-Farlo:- Cup, played for twice annually, not at a meeting. A keen rival of these two famous clubs is the Cinque Ports Golf Club, founded in 1892, whose links are amid the rolling sandhills a mile from Deal. A great professional has declared that Deal is the best course in the south of England. Another good judge of the game has recorded his conviction that the last four holes at Deal afford the finest finish on any course, and there are many who subscribe to these dicta. Deal is a long course of 6,500 yards ; every hole is of interest and of good length, the lies and the greens are nearly perfect, and the variety of stances and shots which the undulating surface of the ground affords, have combined to raise these links to a very high position in the regard of those who enjoy real golf. Deal has been very properly admitted during this present year — 1907 — into the charmed circle of championship courses ; and Kentish Golfers may well be proud that they possess in the links of the Cinque Ports and the St. George's Clubs two adjacent golf courses that are worthy of that high honour. The records for the Deal green are 74 by Mr. H. B. Hayman, and 73 by Harry Vardon. The chief prizes that the cluls offers for com- petition are the Scratch Silver Challenge Cup at Whitsuntide, the Silver Challenge Cleek in August, the Borough of Deal Open Chal- lenge Cup, and the Silver Challenge Irons for foursomes in October. Prince's Club, whose l8-hoIe links at Sand- wich were instituted in 1906, is the last and youngest of the true Kentish seaside courses. Its links adjoin those of the St. George's Club, and extend northward along the shore to Shellness. The surface is somewhat like that at Deal, undulating and covered with fine close turf, and the peculiarly long and narrow hog-backed greens demand accuracy in approaching ; and the way in which, through- out this long course of 6,700 yards, the player finds at every hole that straightness is essen- tial reflects great credit on the skill of the designers. The club has a very fine house on the seashore. Of golf courses which, though at the seaside, have not the characteristic marks of sandy soil and natural sand bunkers, that of the Dover Golf Club is the oldest. The club was founded in 1890, and has a 9-hole course, with a length of about a mile and a half round, between the Deal and St. Margaret's roads. A terrifying chalk-pit, a farmyard and the ramparts of a fort are w'nh. artificial bunkers the hazards of this course. Westgate-on-Sea has a 9-hole course, made in 1893, and a year later an l8-hole course of about 3 miles in length was opened on high ground above the town of Hythe, overlooking the sea. The links of the Thanet Golf Club are at Hengrove, a mile and a half from Margate, where an i8-hole course was laid out by Ramsay Hunter in 1896. The subsoil is chalk, and the hazards include made bunkers, a chalk pit and hedges. The St. Margaret-at-Cliffe Golf Club has a 9-hole course opened in 1899, 4J miles from Dover, and the Heme Bay Golf Club, which was refounded in 1902, has links recently extended to 18 holes under the direction of James Braid on high and undulat- ing ground at Eddington, on the road to Canterbury, about a mile from the sea. Two miles from Broadstairs is the course of the North Foreland and Kingsgate Club, on the cliffs between the North Foreland and Cliftonville, with the sea surrounding it on