Rejoycing in St Andrews – Golf courses can open again . .

Seaside Golf                                         John Betjeman

How straight it flew, how long it flew,

It cleared the rutty track

And soaring, disappeared from view

Beyond the bunker’s back –

A glorious, sailing, bounding drive

That made me glad I was alive.

And down the fairway, far along

It glowed a lonely white;

I played an iron sure and strong

And clipp’d it out of sight

And spite of grassy banks between

I knew I’d find it on the green.

And so I did. It lay content

Two paces from the pin;

A steady putt and then it went

Oh, most securely in.

The very turf rejoiced to see

That quite unprecedented three.

Ah! seaweed smells from sandy caves

And thyme and wind in whiffs.

In-coming tide and North Sea waves

Slapping the sunny cliffs,

Lark song and sea sounds in the air

And splendour, splendour eveywhere.