Mr. Fred Tait
when he was engaging with Mr. John Ball, jun., in the final tie of the
Amateur Championship in 1899. The Scottish favourite was in the bunker
guarding the green with his second, and it so happened that the bunker
on this occasion was filled with rain water, in which the ball was
floating. Mr. Tait chipped the ball out beautifully on to the green, and
saved a hole which seemed a certain loss. It is hard to find many holes
that are worthy of being put in the same class as this. Man cannot make
such holes. They are there when he seeks out the land for the first time
with his golf clubs.

Hoylake is a good course. There are one or two holes on it that must be
admitted to be very tame. If the land in the middle of the course which
is at present out of bounds were taken in and made playable, these holes
could be much improved. The hazards are good and plentiful, and a
satisfactory premium is put upon straight play. The ninth is a nice
hole, a really good drive helping the player considerably. The eleventh
is another pretty one, neither long nor short, but just that length
which a fine shot from the tee will reach, and accuracy is demanded by
the rushes which seem all over the course as you stand to drive.

I call St. Andrews a good course generally; but its bunkers are badly
placed. They punish the man who is driving well more than the man who is
driving badly, for they are generally the length of a good long drive.
If this defect could be remedied, and if there were a few more bunkers
at the sides to catch the pulled and sliced balls, then St. Andrews
would be a fine links indeed. As it is, there are some excellent holes.
The second is beautiful--beautiful if the flag is put in the centre of
the green--because then a good second shot is rewarded as it ought to
be. But it generally happens when big matches are being played there
that the hole is placed in a corner, which frequently spoils the
prospects of these good second shots. The seventh is good, calling for a
most accurate second, and the eleventh is the finest one-shot hole to be
found anywhere. The green is on a plateau with bunkers all about it, and
if you overpitch it your ball will be in the rushes beyond. Many golfers
swear by the seventeenth; but I am not one of them. I declare that it is
a very unfair hole, and there is no encouragement here to be plucky. The
player must be pawky all the way, for it is fully two to one against
there being anything