6 'ROYAL AND ANCIENT' 



hole from which they are to strike off, nor at a greater 

 distance than four lengths of said club from the hole.' 

 Imagine what would be the effect upon the greens 

 were this rule to be enforced now ; and there are men 

 still living, and perhaps playing, who remember a time 

 when it was operative. It certainly was so in 1855, 

 when Mr. George Glennie did the eighteen holes in 

 eighty-eight, a score which remained unbeaten till 

 1884. ' It is satisfactory to think that his memory 

 remains green ; that the Royal and Ancient have a 

 tangible token a Glennie medal which annually 

 recalls the name of this great player.' 



Among the adversaria of the society, which had a 

 strong symposiac side at a period before cigarettes had 

 put conviviality to flight, there are recorded some 

 amusing bets. About the year 1830, the medal-holder 

 backed himself for ten pounds to play from the first 

 hole of St. Andrews links to the toll-bar at Cupar in 

 two hundred tee'd strokes, a distance of nine miles. At 

 first sight this seems a herculean performance, but 

 apparently nobody accepted the wager, the calculation 

 having been made that one hundred and fifty-eight 

 drives of no more than one hundred yards each would 

 cover the whole distance of 15,840 yards and leave a 

 good margin for divergence and topped balls. 



They lived high, these heroes of a bygone age, and, 

 as became Scotsmen, prided themselves on the quality 

 of their mutton ; but of the claret which, according to 

 immemorial national custom, should have been the 

 appropriate libation, there occurs no mention. 'Let 

 him drink port,' the British statesman cried, a com- 



