A HISTORY OF KENT 



present no special difficulty to him who can 

 drive ' far and sure ' ; but the prevailing south- 

 west wind, sweeping from the sea across the 

 marsh, plays havoc with a baU that is not 

 truly hit, and the artfully disposed bunkers 

 and the rough grass that borders the course 

 are hazards that have spoilt many a medal 

 score. From the 8th hole — perhaps the most 

 sporting hole on the course — to the enor- 

 mously long 1 8th play is on ground that is 

 more diversified and of truer seaside char- 

 acter. The amateur record for the Little- 

 stone course is Mr. S. C. Wyatt's 71, a fine 

 score that has been beaten in one stroke by 

 David Herd, the professional of the club. 

 The Bar Golfing Society plays its tournament 

 over this fine course, and the club shares with 

 the neighbouring club at Rye in Sussex, the 

 honour of entertaining in alternate years the 

 competitors in the Parliamentary Handicap. 

 The club has a very fine house ; and has 

 recently opened a second i8-hole course to 

 the \vest of that of which we have given a 

 very inadequate description. Meetings are 

 held five times a year — at Easter, when the 

 Purves Gold Medal, the Mayor's Cup and the 

 Denge Challenge Trophy are offered for com- 

 petition ; at \Vhitsuntide, when the Ladies' 

 Diamond Jubilee Cup, the Tubbs' Cup and 

 the Bannon Bo^vl are the objects of competi- 

 tion ; in August, when the Erskine Goblets for 

 foursomes and the Denge Trophy are played 

 for ; in November, when the Autumn Gold 

 Medal and the Coronation Cup are the 

 principal prizes ; and at Christmas ,when the 

 Winter Cleek is the challenge prize. The 

 list of club trophies also includes the Waterlow 

 Challenge Cup for the lowest gross medal 

 score during each year, and the King-Farlo:\- 

 Cup, played for twice annually, not at a 

 meeting. 



A keen rival of these two famous clubs 

 is the Cinque Ports Golf Club, founded in 

 1892, whose links are amid the rolling sandhills 

 a mile from Deal. A great professional 

 has declared that Deal is the best course in 

 the south of England. Another good judge of 

 the game has recorded his conviction that 

 the last four holes at Deal afford the finest 

 finish on any course, and there are many who 

 subscribe to these dicta. Deal is a long 

 course of 6,500 yards ; every hole is of interest 

 and of good length, the lies and the greens 

 are nearly perfect, and the variety of stances 

 and shots which the undulating surface of 

 the ground affords, have combined to raise 

 these links to a very high position in the regard 

 of those who enjoy real golf. Deal has been 

 very properly admitted during this present 

 year — 1907 — into the charmed circle of 



championship courses ; and Kentish Golfers 

 may well be proud that they possess in the 

 links of the Cinque Ports and the St. George's 

 Clubs two adjacent golf courses that are 

 worthy of that high honour. 



The records for the Deal green are 74 by 

 Mr. H. B. Hayman, and 73 by Harry Vardon. 

 The chief prizes that the cluls offers for com- 

 petition are the Scratch Silver Challenge Cup 

 at Whitsuntide, the Silver Challenge Cleek 

 in August, the Borough of Deal Open Chal- 

 lenge Cup, and the Silver Challenge Irons 

 for foursomes in October. 



Prince's Club, whose l8-hoIe links at Sand- 

 wich were instituted in 1906, is the last and 

 youngest of the true Kentish seaside courses. 

 Its links adjoin those of the St. George's 

 Club, and extend northward along the shore 

 to Shellness. The surface is somewhat like 

 that at Deal, undulating and covered with 

 fine close turf, and the peculiarly long and 

 narrow hog-backed greens demand accuracy in 

 approaching ; and the way in which, through- 

 out this long course of 6,700 yards, the player 

 finds at every hole that straightness is essen- 

 tial reflects great credit on the skill of the 

 designers. The club has a very fine house 

 on the seashore. 



Of golf courses which, though at the seaside, 

 have not the characteristic marks of sandy 

 soil and natural sand bunkers, that of the 

 Dover Golf Club is the oldest. The club was 

 founded in 1890, and has a 9-hole course, with 

 a length of about a mile and a half round, 

 between the Deal and St. Margaret's roads. 

 A terrifying chalk-pit, a farmyard and the 

 ramparts of a fort are w'nh. artificial bunkers 

 the hazards of this course. 



Westgate-on-Sea has a 9-hole course, made 

 in 1893, and a year later an l8-hole course 

 of about 3 miles in length was opened 

 on high ground above the town of Hythe, 

 overlooking the sea. The links of the Thanet 

 Golf Club are at Hengrove, a mile and a 

 half from Margate, where an i8-hole course 

 was laid out by Ramsay Hunter in 1896. 

 The subsoil is chalk, and the hazards include 

 made bunkers, a chalk pit and hedges. 



The St. Margaret-at-Cliffe Golf Club 

 has a 9-hole course opened in 1899, 4J miles 

 from Dover, and the Heme Bay Golf Club, 

 which was refounded in 1902, has links 

 recently extended to 18 holes under the 

 direction of James Braid on high and undulat- 

 ing ground at Eddington, on the road to 

 Canterbury, about a mile from the sea. Two 

 miles from Broadstairs is the course of the 

 North Foreland and Kingsgate Club, on the 

 cliffs between the North Foreland and 

 Cliftonville, with the sea surrounding it on 



