The next hole, the 15th, is another somewhat puzzling hole. The first bunker is not formidable, for it can easily be carried from the tee, and the course is here wide. But the green is guarded, at right angles, by a continuation of the same sandy road which guards the 9th hole, and which here presents the same impassable features. Two good swipes, with a favouring gale, will take one perilously near it, and as the hole is only a little way over the hazard, it makes a very nervous pitch for the iron or mashie. The putting green is very tricky, and the player has done well who holes in five.

There is another water jump at the 16th hole, set in winding fashion in a very rough country. With his tee shot, however, the player should carry this and reach the bank in front of the green, and with a well-judged approach should be down in four.

The 17th hole is cut at the bottom of a large hollow, in the shape of a "punch-bowl," from which the hole takes its name. There is a large trappy bunker to catch a feeble or slightly heeled drive from the tee, and there is bad ground on the left as well. The hole is guarded by a hill, and the second stroke must be played so as to run or loft well over this, or a four will not be easy of accomplishment.

At the last hole, having played a good tee shot, we again encounter our friend the sand road, or something very like him, guarding the green. A high straight second, not too strong, will put the player in the way of a comfortable four, and a very satisfactory conclusion to the round.

The praises of Sandwich have been said and sung many times, and Dr. Laidlaw Purves, who discovered its golfing possibilities, and those who were associated with him in making the green, deserve all praise for the enterprise and skill which they have manifested in laying out the present magnificent course. There is no nonsense or skittles about the golf at Sandwich. A man must be playing very fine golf indeed, to get round these eighteen holes in eighty-five strokes, even in the best of weather. A missed shot is always punished, usually summarily, and even if it escapes the ubiquitous hazard, the length of the holes makes recovery almost hopeless.

If a word of adverse criticism may be permitted, one might say, that perhaps too many of the shots are blind; and while it may be contended, with some force, that this lends a variety and interest to the play, which would be lacking in a more open disposition of the holes, still, for a championship course, this prevalent characteristic gives an undesirable advantage to players familiar with the proper and safe line, and accustomed to the holes in all states of the wind.

As compared with many other courses, moreover, there is a lack of opportunity, at many of the holes, for playing the shorter approach shots. Even when the green is guarded by a bunker, there is usually plenty of space to come and go on, and the delicate manipulation of wrist iron play is thus comparatively at a discount. The course, no doubt, has been designed, on more heroic lines, for long carries, both from the tee and from the second strokes, and for championship purposes, this, perhaps, is as it should be. The average golfer, however, who is no longer in the heyday of youthful vigour and energy, may be pardoned, if he thinks that the course would be improved, for ordinary play, by the shortening of several of the holes, so as to prevent the battle going, as it must do on the championship round, to the stronger, though not necessarily the more skilful, player.

The record of the green is held by Mr. C. E. Hambro, who returned a card of 78 in the competition for the St. George's Vase in 1897.

A stroll through the ancient town, after play, will well repay the golfer, though but little remains of the time when Sandwich was a flourishing seaport. A barge or two, a small coasting sloop or schooner, at the riverside, or making their tedious way towards the faithless sea, are the only suggestions of its former maritime glory. The ancient watergates and quays, the old wall, and all the picturesque paraphernalia of a fortified seaport, where they have not already disappeared, are fast tumbling into decay. The beautiful Norman tower of St. Clement's alone reminds one of the early times, and one or two old gates recall the grandeur of its mediaeval history. For the rest, the houses, though they have been built in the winding streets, and upon the sites of older and grander dwellings, belong to a later and a decadent period, when money was scarcer, and the stream of commerce and travel, which had flowed for so many generations through its streets, was like its river, seeking other channels.

A HIT OF OLD SANDWICH. (From a drawing by E. F. C. Clarke.).

With the advent of golf, Sandwich has happily entered once more upon a career of prosperity. It will be strange indeed, as seems probable in the case, not only of Sandwich, but of others of the ports and ancient towns, if the very causes which led to their decay, after the zenith of their greatness had been reached, should be the means, in a more peaceful age, of restoring to them something of their ancient prosperity.