Sandwich is now within three hours' railway journey of Cannon Street. A very good train leaves a little before 5 p.m. and lands the golfer at the Bell Hotel - a 'bus from which meets all trains - in time for dinner. It is a pleasant train to catch at any season of the year. With a good day's work well over, congenial society, and with three or four days of golf in prospect, he must be a hard man to please, who does not sit down to dinner, on his arrival, in a contented frame of mind.

No more delightful golfing holiday can be had near London. The "Bell" makes most comfortable headquarters, and the St. George's Club billiard, reading, and card-rooms, which have been added to the hotel, for the use of members and their friends, supply all needful after-dinner recreation. If the golfer has not the good fortune to be a member of the club, he will find, if his credentials are passable, that he will be treated with all courtesy and kindness by those who are members, in pleasing contrast to the treatment that is sometimes meted out to the passing stranger in other places. The hon. secretary is Mr. W. Rutherford.

A pleasant drive of a mile after breakfast, by a somewhat circuitous road, lands one at the clubhouse. In driving thither, one is struck by the absolutely Dutch-like colour and character of the landscape. The road passes through flat fields, chiefly devoted to market gardening, and intersected by straggling poplars. The usual English hedgerow is absent. Looking backward, the view of the quaint old town, with its windmill and two picturesque towers, is charming, and always, there is the delightful sensation of great, spreading skies and fresh air, which one gets with a low horizon.

The old farmhouse has been skilfully adapted to meet the club's requirements. With its huge encircling elms and glimpses of sloping thatch, no more picturesque club-house exists, and it has, besides, an air of comfort and prosperity, which is confirmed by subsequent experience of all the internal arrangements.

One great merit of Sandwich is, that it is never disagreeably crowded, except at meeting-times. The length and disposition of the holes, and the configuration of the ground is such, that it is possible, even with a good many players on the links, to play a whole round and not see a couple all the way.

There is Sunday golf, and what is equally important, there are Sunday caddies, and week-days or Sundays, under the management of Ramsay Hunter, these latter are a most civil and efficient body.

The golfer who takes his stand at the first tee, on the occasion of his first visit to Sandwich, without some searchings of heart and feelings of reverential awe, must have a proud and overweening spirit, and be sadly lacking in imagination and observation. It is quite certain, however, that one round of these magnificent links, will take the conceit, at least, out of all but the most case-hardened. All around is a wilderness of bent and broken hillocks, throughout which bunkers of portentous size and shape, gape with hungry maws, for errant balls. In the far distance, the "Maiden" raises her grisly brow, and seems to beckon derisively to the golfer, awaiting the moment, a few holes further on, when she can clasp him in her treacherous embrace. At his feet, to catch the primal "top" or "foozle," stretch 30 yards of morass. The hole seems far away, the course but narrow, and so bad is the country on either side, that the eye shrinks from contemplating it. The lip of a bunker can be descried guarding the hole. Nevertheless, with a stout heart, the green can be reached in two, unless the wind be strong against one. There is nothing amiss with a five for this hole, and he may deem himself lucky who gets a four.

The tee for the 2nd hole is to the right, and some 140 yards in front, stretches a very wide bunker, right across the course. A hill beyond, prevents the player from seeing the hole. Even if the wind be behind him, the safe line is to play over the right side of the bunker, where good lies and a view of the hole, over a second bunker, can be obtained. To the left of the bunker the ground is almost unplayable, and no advantage, practically, is gained by going straight, as there is extreme danger of reaching the second bunker. The second shot is an exceedingly difficult one. The green is on a sort of plateau, and unless the ball be struck on the exact line, it is almost certain to roll off the green, either to the right or left, and lie in a deep hollow below. This makes a very hard third stroke to play, and the player may congratulate himself if he holes in five, should his second stroke fail to stay on the green. Perhaps the best course is to play one's second strongly, beyond the hole, where the ground rises. This makes a certain five of it, and a possible four, if the putting comes off.

But now we are getting into the thick of things, and on the third tee, the stranger, gazing round in bewilderment, on a vast succession of most formidable bunkers, asks his caddie where the next hole can possibly be. A small direction flag is pointed out on an eminence, about 140 yards away, the road to which is one chaos of sand-holes and long bents, and nerving himself for the ordeal, and offering up a silent prayer, he prepares to strike. Here, again, a line on the right will be found to give the player a good lie, if he carry the hazards, but woe, unutterable woe, will be his portion, if he tops his tee shot. He will descend into the deep and wide abyss, armed with his niblick, and if he gets out in four, will be fortunate indeed. By carrying the ridge with his first, a wrist shot to the Left, will land the ball on the green, and an easy four will be the result. With a strong following wind, long drivers occasionally play to carry over everything, straight on to the green from the tee, a distance of over 200 yards. Truly a Titanic shot!

The 4th hole is a longer one, and not to be reached in two, except by the longest drivers. The tee shot is over a considerable eminence faced by a large sand bunker. Once over this, a good lie is obtained, and a clean hit "brassy" should carry the player, over the intervening hollows and hillocks, to the neighbourhood of the green. This hole is a perfectly satisfactory five.