THE subject of University golf has been well threshed out during the past, and, taking all things into consideration, I think it may be said that there is really very little cause for concern. To my way of thinking the game at our Universities was never going more strongly than at the present time, despite all that has been said and written about it. Oxford is at present the most powerful of the two Universities. Golf there has advanced with great rapidity during the last two or three years, and their team of 1900 proved a magnificent one all round. Ten years earlier almost a scandal was caused by the request of the golfing team fur a half blue. It was thought both outrageous and ludicrous. It is difficult to say why they should be at present so much the superior of Cambridge, but probably the superiority is nothing more than an accident. Oxford, for the time being, is merely possessed of the best natural players. The idea of superior links may be dismissed at once. The course at the disposal of the Dark Blues is certainly better than that of the Cantabs, but this is scarcely a sufficient explanation by itself.

In Mr. J. A. T. Bramston the Oxonians possess one of the first golfers in the kingdom, and undoubtedly a coming champion, provided that all goes well with him. He is a man who has played golf during the whole of his life; he has all the natural advantages most desired, stands some six feet in height, is a magnificent driver, and indeed I do not think I can sum him up better than by the expression that he is a "born golfer."

Mr. Bramston's first real appearance was in the Amateur Championship of 1900, when he distinguished himself by reaching the semi-final stage of the competition. Then he was beaten by the well-known St. Andrews player, Mr. J. Robb, after a terrific struggle.

I should class Mr. N. F. Hunter as one of the best of Cambridge players, He is a really fine golfer. He learnt the game at North Berwick, and has played since boyhood.

As regards the links at Oxford and Cambridge, they are of too purely an artificial character to compare with the courses found in other parts of the country. The Oxford course is very sporting. It is not very long, but it requires considerable skill.

The Cambridge links are rather too flat to be interesting.

Still, I fear University golf will never reach the very highest class, the class attained by their rowing, cricket, and football, until the game is more strongly favoured at the different public schools.

At the present time, I regret to say, golf is discouraged more than anything else at the majority of the public schools, the scholastic authorities probably fearing that their cricket may suffer, though I feel certain the fear is utterly groundless. Golf certainly develops the litheness which is a most valuable quality in all games.

Whether cricket is bad preparation for golf is another question ; but some few cricketers become good golfers, such as Mr. E. H. Buckland, who played cricket for Oxford, Mr. R. A. H. Mitchell, and Mr. A. E. Stoddart, the famous international footballer and count}' cricketer. Mr. Stoddart has made immense strides in the game he only recently took up, while Mr. Mitchell a few years ago played very good golf indeed.

The discouragement of golf cannot be laid at the door of Winchester, I am happy to say. In this exception to the general rule the boys have had a golf course for the past ten years or so, and are encouraged to play the game. The links may not bear favourable comparison with many of the more important courses, but such a thing cannot fairly be expected of them. They are situated inland. That alone is a great drawback; but still, they answer their purpose very well.

Mr. Bramston learnt his golf while at Winchester, I know, and at the present time the boys are fairly-free to take the game up as a pastime. The greater part of their playing is naturally done during the winter term, but even that is a step in the right direction. The case is very different elsewhere, for at some of the public schools the boys are actually not allowed to handle a golf club, through the unfounded fear that this game would spoil or at least affect their cricket.

The Universities might assist the younger golfers of the public schools in dissipating this fallacy Once the worth of the game were recognised, it would soon grow and increase in prestige, and a place in the golf team would be an equal honour with cross-country or other athletics, and the distinction afforded would assist the game to take its proper place. Cannot something be done in the matter?