The 1st hole - "The Lodge" - is 150 yards in length - a good cleek shot. The green is small, and one must not pull the shot, or down a hill and in the emerald waters of Lough Swilly will be its resting-place. To be too far also has its dangers and difficulties in bent, but anywhere to the right is safety, and although a 3 should be obtained, more frequently a 4 will be the figure appearing on the scoring card, though 3 is the par.

The driver is required to the 2nd, which rejoices in the mellifluous name of "Meliamore," and is 319 yards in length. There is space all round here for the drive, and right or left there are no difficulties if the tee shot has been well hit. Two "considerable swipes," as Transatlantic golfers say, will reach this green, which is almost on a level with the strand, and hard by the sea. It is fast and true, and this is a 4 hole.

The 3rd hole - "Strand " - is 275 yards long, and is beset by difficulty, on the right by a winding river, and on the left by the strand and the falling ground leading to it, so that careful rather than brilliant play is required here, and this makes the hole a 4, though an easier 4 than the preceding hole.

"Greenfort" - so called from its proximity to Colonel Barton's residence - is 323 yards in length. The green is perched up on high, and the ground rises all the way from the tec, in front of which a rather wide river runs. The locals call this a 5 hole, but it is often taken by perfect golf in 4.

The 5th hole is aptly called "Desert." One drives off from a high place into space and over rocks, boulders, stones, sand, and bent. The distance is set down as 195 yards, but a lesser number would probably be nearer accuracy. The green is a good one, and as it is cuppy a long straight drive will remain there, and reward the player with his second 3.

Now for a hole called "Stocker," an abbreviation, no doubt, of Ballymastocker, the name of the little horseshoe bay where the dancing sunlight encourages the player who is up and consoles the one who is down. It is the prelude to a rather long and narrow valley, where the play space is greatly restricted on either side by bent, heavy grass, and numerous little demon rocks scattered through the ground as if they had been sown there and had taken sound root and were going to yield a healthy and fruitful crop. Careful play, however, rewards one with a 4. The green is good, and is guarded by a grassy mound.

Hole No. 7, designated "Valley No. 1," is a good hole every way, though its 330 yards are uneventful. It should be reached in 2, and is a 4 hole with first-class play.

"Valley No. 2 " - the 8th - is a short hole, set down at a generous 160 yards, though frequently reached with the iron, and a light one at that! It is no more than a 3, so after holing it in that number, we have eight holes in 29, and have to play the 9th - a long hole, 504 yards, called "Dunree." This is the best hole in the course, and the credit for this fine sporting hole is unquestionably to be assigned to Dr. O'Brien, one of the best of Irish golfers and good fellows. This hole was formerly much shorter, and had a wretched green perched up in an impracticable place. A new green has been made 100 yards farther afield, and by adding length to this hole 80 to 90 yards are added to the 10th. The drive for this 9th is off a high place, and there is everywhere a good lie for the second shot, which should be played short with the cleek to avoid pitching into the river, which has to be crossed once more here. With care and accuracy and good driving this hole can be made in 5, but 6 is good golf to it, and 6 added to 29 makes 35 - a fine score for the first nine holes of this picturesque course.

Now we are homeward bound, and now the gods must be propitiated or they will turn their faces from us, and grief will be our portion, for we are now in a region of "alkali sage and desert" and pumice-stone like little rocks and sandy trappy places where the putting greens come upon us unawares and suddenly as one might stumble upon derelict holy carpets on the outskirts of the Great Sahara; we may come home here in 36, covered with glory, or we may leave the bones of our wooden clubs whitening amid its steppes, and the fragments of our scoring cards the sport of every wind that sweeps it!

The 10th, which we now play, is called "Drumany," and is set down as 260 yards long. It is an easy 4 hole, there being no difficulty en route except perhaps rather heavy ground to the left, and a trappy scooped-out bunker to the right.

"Killevee," the nth hole, is not a good one by any means. The tee shot, if good, will not be interfered with, but when the brassy is taken in hand a considerable difficulty confronts the player. Unless the drive has been off the line to the right, it is impossible to reach the green without having to cross a rather deep though scattered belt of rocks. Here, after a fine second shot, the ball may be in a perfectly unplayable place not many yards from the pin on the hither side of the green, or if too bold be the approach it meets with equal disaster. The length of the hole is 300 yards, and it should be a 4 to a first-class player; but on account of the rocky dangers amongst which the green lies, as it might be by a freak of nature, the player who takes his iron, plays his second shot short, and then pitches a pawky mashie shot on to the green, will in nine cases out of ten have the better of the first-class player who tries to reach the green with his second, and who suffers by its restricted area and surrounding dangers. This hole is a good 4.

The 12th hole is called the "Altar," and is a cleek shot on to a hill, where there is a very good green. It is a 3 hole, sometimes a 2.

The 13th - "Craigmore" - is a very difficult hole; the drive must be perfectly straight, or it will be foundered in heavy ground to the right, or be down a steep gully to the left. The green is very small, and is surrounded by the characteristic small, volcanic-like, rocky boulders. The player is lucky who has a 4.