GOLF AT THE FRONT.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 October 1916, Page 8

GOLF AT THE FRONT.

PLAYED BY BRASS HATS AND

TOMMIES.

London, August 11,

Golf is played in queer places—on the mountain sides of Switzerland, and the housetops of Piccadilly, to mention only a few of the odd and quaint spots where the game is taken more or loss seriously. Equally original are Hie links which have recently been made behind the British front in France, where members of a divisional staff can snatch a little recreation. They consist of only si.v holes and are laid on a virgin hillside where clumps ,of long grass conceal the precious balls, and where bomb holes, which remain to remind one of a recent enemy aeroplane raid, serve as pot bunkers. In addition, a pond and a marsh add to the difficulties of play. Thero is certainly nothing artificial here.

A private who began top lay "just for something to do," as he puts it, tells an amusing story of his experiences. "I have discovered it to be some game," lie '.writes, "but very expensive to Tommy's limited means, when it is played under conditions that would shock the soul of a real golfer. This morning my first -shot went over an inconvenient wall, and the baii. like Clementine, was 'goncfor ever' (debit one and a half day's pay). Yesterday my opponent broke a club (11 frmes'2s centimes), lost a ball (2 francs 25 centimes), and his badge cap, but then he is a plutocrat with his 3* Cd a day. and can afford it. I celebrated my birthday by doing two holes in !) and' 10 respectively. The best on record, I believe, are (i and 7, but that was by a gol.fer, whilst I alternate between' beheading buttercups and excavating worms."