SPORT three sides. Lord Avebury and others were instrumental in founding this club in 1903, and the course, which is to be lengthened, is on good down turf with chalk subsoil. Play is possible all the year round ; but the best time for the game is the spring and early summer. Bogey is less deadly than usual with his 79, and the amateur record is held by Mr. J. A. Harrison, who has done a round in 75. J. Higgs holds the professional record of 73- The youngest of these semi-seaside courses, if we may so call them, is that of the Leysdown Golf Club, which is at Gosbee, in the Isle of Sheppey, 8 miles from Sheerness. This club was founded in 1904, when an interesting course of 18 holes was laid out by Mr. J. R. Divett, with the assistance of J. H. Taylor, on'a space of some 200 acres on the Leysdown and Shelbess estate. The club-house, which is a comfortable old farmhouse, is a quarter of a mile from the sea, and the links, which lie to the south of Leysdown, are on good pasture intersected with ditches and bounded by the seashore. Of inland courses the most remarkable is that of the venerable Blackheath Club, which is just 300 years old. There are only 7 holes, one of which is the longest hole in golf ; and these are played three times round in com- petitions. For many years Mr. F. S. Ireland's loi stood as the amateur record. Harry Vardon and J. H. Taylor had each been round in 98 ; but these fine scores w-ere all defeated on i October 1907, when Mr. A. S. Johnston, playing for the Glennie Medal, returned a wonderful card of 95. A player with a strong sense of humour has spoken not, perhaps, unjustly of Blackheath as a course whose hazards are nursemaids and lamp-posts ; but the historic associations of the club, the good feeling of players which absolutely prevents friction with the public, and the excellent golf which, considering all things, is to be enjoyed on Blackheath, surely entitle this ancient club to the grate- ful recognition of all true golfers. There are five meetings a year — in February, April, June, October and December, and among the trophies of the club are the Bom- bay, the Glennie and the Photographic Society's Medals, the Adam, the Knill, the Singapore, the Calcutta and the Penn Cups, the Diamond Jubilee Cup and the Great Yarmouth Challenge Prize. Golf had been played for 280 years on Blackheath before the county saw the institu- tion of its next oldest inland course at Folke- stone, where in 1888 a 9-hoIe course, about 2,700 yards in length, was laid out over the 5 meadows of Broadmead about a mile from the town. The greens are good, and there are plenty of hazards. The club possesses two valuable prizes in the Filmer-Bennett Cup and the Hong Kong Cup ; the Captain's Gold Medal is offered for winners of the monthly medal. The Barham Downs Golf Club, instituted in 1890, with a ladies' club attached, has its 9-hole course on the high chalk downs, where once stood Ingoldsby's gibbet, 4 miles from Canterbury, and half a mile from Bishopsbourne. It was founded by Captain Tattersall of Charlton Place near Canter- bury, and has a length of about 4,800 yards. The hazards are made bunkers and a road which is crossed at the first three holes. Bogey for two rounds is an easy 77, which score has been beaten by Messrs. E. F. Morris and A. C. Edwards in 70 strokes. Harry Vardon h.-is been round the 9 holes in 32. The club holds three meetings a year — in April, when the Style Challenge Cup is played for; in May, when the Captain's Prizes are the principal object for compe- tition; and in September, when the Burdett Challenge Cup is offered. The links of the Lamberhurst Golf Club, also instituted in 1890, are in the park at Court Lodge, 7 miles from Tunbridge Wells. The 9-hole course is about ij miles round, and the best months for play on this pasture land course are from March to June. Sidcup has a 9-hole course opened in 1891, in which year the i8-hole links of the Rochester Golf Club were made on meadow land of sandy loam at Oakleigh, about 3^ miles from the cathedral city. The hazards are water, banks, fences and trees. The Rochester Club is rich in prizes, which include the Silver Iron, Lord Darnley's Cup, the Winch, the Oakleigh, the Atkin and the Royal Navy Cups, the Royal Scots Medal and the Royal Marine Shield. The professional record of 71 for the green was made by James Braid and R. F. Walker. Mr. W. A. Henderson and Mr. A. E. Bewes hold the amateur record of 74. The year 1892 was the date of the founda- tion of the two powerful clubs of Bromley and Eltham, whose respective courses are on Bromley Common and in the park of Eltham Lodge. The Eltham course, where the hazards are artificial sand bunkers with a pond, hedges and ditches, has a length of 5,230 yards. It has been greatly improved of late years by an elaborate and costly system of drainage. The club-house is a magnificent old mansion, built in the reign of Charles II, formerly the residence of the Wood family. 15
