CHAPTER IX 



GOLF LINKS 



The game of golf finds its home at the sea-side. 

 Widespread as it is to day inland, it was essentially 

 of coastal origin. It was primarily a game to be 

 played on a sandy substratum, and the constant 

 effort of the inland green-keeper is to construct 

 features which are characteristic rather of the sea- 

 shore than of the midlands. However well he may 

 carry this out, and even where a sandy soil favours 

 his efforts, the inland course is a thing different 

 from the true coastal links. Perhaps it is in part 

 the tang of the sea, but assuredly it is in the 

 main the contour of the surface and the quality of 

 the turf, and of the sand below it, that make one 

 realise that golf at the coast is the reality, and 

 inland golf its mere shadow. Accordingly though 

 this Chapter relates nominally to golf-links in general, 

 it will apply particularly to coastal links as having 

 those characters which stamped the game in its 

 original form. 



B. 10 



