Lawn-tennis and hockey,
however, are quite the fashion, especially lawn-tennis, which many
Belgians, ladies as well as men, play extremely well. Important tennis
tournaments are held every summer at Ostend and other places on the
coast.
In recent years several golf-courses have been made in Belgium. There
is one at a place called Le Coq, near Ostend, where Leopold II., the
present King of the Belgians, founded a club. It is very pretty, and
there is a fine club-house; but good English players do not like it,
because the course is too artificial, with flower-beds and ornamental
shrubs, whereas a golf-course ought to be as natural as possible. Golf
is played also at Brussels, Antwerp, Nieuport, and Ghent.
Another place for golf is Knocke, a seaside village near Bruges, where
the game was introduced by a few Englishmen some years ago. The
golf-course at this place is laid out among the dunes, and is
entirely natural, with "bunkers" of fine sand. A great many players go
there from England and Scotland, as well as from various parts of
Belgium, and the Flemish "caddies," who cheerfully carry the clubs for
5d.
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