If these figures can be held to prove anything at all, it would appear that from 350 to 400 yards is a good length for a hole, and that somewhere between 350 and 200 yards is a bad length.

In other words, leaving considerations of hazards out of account, it seems clear, that for first-class players, the most difficult holes are those which present a long approach, assuming that the previous stroke or strokes have been well struck, and I submit, that in holes of this class, St. Andrews has the advantage of the other courses.

Though St. Andrews may thus be held to be the most difficult of the championship courses, it does not follow that it is necessarily the best golf links. The excellence of a golf course consists in the variety of strokes which it demands for its negotiation, and not in the too frequent repetition of one or two strokes, however difficult in themselves. The strength of St. Andrews is thus also a source of weakness, and as all-round tests of golf, some of the other courses, the average holes of which present greater variety in the length of approach shots, will compare not unfavourably with the premier green. The blind character of the going, and its bumpiness, are other weak features in St. Andrews links. It takes a very long acquaintance with the ground to know where good and safe lies are to be found; and this blindness makes play on it somewhat flukey to those unfamiliar with its configuration. The putting greens, however, are excellent and well placed, and the bunkers, though they are of a trappy nature, have not the formidable characteristics of those at Sandwich and Prestwick, and they are not so distributed that long carries are usually necessary for their negotiation.

But St. Andrews is, after all, St. Andrews. Though it has fallen on evil days and is now so crowded up with wandering duffers and schoolboys, that it is sometimes a weary penance to play round it, the old course still has for us an irresistible fascination. It is to be hoped that the new green, which gives promise of being in no way inferior to the old, will in time relieve the present congestion, so that the days of the fine old course may be prolonged, and that St. Andrews, by means of both, may be able to hand down her golfing inheritance, unimpaired, to future generations.

SET OF GOLF CLUBS.