Page:Out-door Games Cricket and Golf (1901).djvu/168

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SEA-SIDE AND INLAND LINKS
137

On inland greens there is a very great difference between the putting-green and what is not putting-green. On the sea-side links there is some difference, but not nearly to the same extent. At Westward Ho and Machrihanish the whole course outside bunkers is practically putting-green, only the ground is rolled near the hole. But on the clay common, which many of us know so well, the greens are small, and the player in the approach shot is met with the difficulty that if he lofts so that the ball pitches short of the green it may kick to the right or left, and ultimately be almost as far from the hole as a foozled shot. If, on the other hand, he pitches the ball on the green he overruns the hole. On the sea-side you may be short of the green, but the ball will generally run true.

As to the play through the green with the brassey or cleek at the sea-side links, the player is unlucky if he finds himself in a bad lie, unless he has previously driven the ball off the course. Though a great deal may be done by horse-rolling the inland links, there are times in dry or frosty weather when the roller has little if any effect, and then the lies must be seen to be appre-