'... Old Took's great-grand-uncle Bullroarer, who was so huge (for a hobbit) that he could ride a horse. He charged the ranks of the goblins of Mount Gram in the Battle of the Green Fields, and knocked their king Golfimbul's head clean off with a wooden club. It sailed a hundred yards through the air and went down a rabbit-hole, and in this way the battle was won and the game of Golf invented at the same moment.' J.R.R.Tolkien's The Hobbit, Chapter One: An Unexpected Party

Frodo was shown around the apartment and he was surprised to realize just how big the Master's apartment really was when compared with Uncle Sara's and Auntie Esme's. He supposed the Master of the Hall was entitled to have the biggest suites however, especially since Grandfather Gorbadoc and Grandmother Mirabella (both of whom he'd never met) had had seven children to share a smial with.

After the trio ate a delicious dinner (during which Frodo had decided to show them his very loose bottom tooth) they had enjoyed a walk in the gardens. Frodo liked the gardens of Brandy Hall well enough, but he secretly thought that Uncle Bilbo's gardens were much nicer and better kept by Master Gamgee.

They soon came to an ivy-covered brick wall and door, to which Saradoc produced a key from his pocket. Curious, Frodo cocked his head. His mother had taken him by this place many times before, but she had never unlocked a hidden door. Perhaps there was a dragon hidden behind the door, just like Smaug had been behind the locked backdoor to the tunnel leading into the mountain in the tale of Uncle Bilbo's Adventure!

Saradoc grinned at Frodo's curious bafflement and ruffled the child's dark, unruly curls. "This is where my father keeps the only dragon to be found in the Shire, Frodo," he teased good-naturedly.

Esmeralda smothered a laugh with one hand at the jaw-dropping expression on the child's upturned face. She hadn't thought it possible, but Frodo's already wide eyes expanded even further in his small face.

"How did you know I was thinking that a dragon could be behind there?" Frodo demanded.

"Easy. You're a predictable Baggins." With that, Saradoc pushed open the door on its rusty hinges and gave Frodo a little shove inside.

Frodo stopped, standing absolutely still in his surprise. Before him spread out over the lush green lawn, was a golf course in miniature. He counted nine holes in all and each hole had some silly lawn ornament decorating its fairway. Frodo had only seen one other golf course before and that one had been much, much larger at the Great Smials of the Took family, who’s ancestor had invented the game. But what would a golf course be doing here across the river in Buckland at the home of the Brandybucks? Frodo felt his curiosity grow.

"How long has this been here, Uncle Sara? Mama never showed me this."

"I know Frodo … and I nearly had to beg your mother to allow me the honor of showing it to you. This course has been here for a very long time, lad. It was Grandfather Gorbadoc who'd had it built for Grandmother Mirabella as a wedding present to her. They added the fixtures later, one for each child they bore. My father's is the one at the first hole; your mother's is the one at the seventh hole. She and Uncle Dino used to take Mac and I here often when we were your age."

Of course! Grandmother Mirabella had been a Took and the youngest daughter of the Old Took. Frodo walked slowly around the miniature course, examining every detail. The first hole--Uncle' Rory's--was decorated with an iron sculpture of a magnificent pony, the pride of Buckland. His mother's was decorated with her name-flower, however, the primula flowers were painted and made from wood so that they would never wither away come cool weather. There was also a little running windmill, whose blades really turned; a family of ducks made from burnished copper; a miniature replica of a Brandybuck sailboat; big silly wooden mushrooms painted funny colors like red with white spots; and more wooden name-flowers for Aunt Amaranth and Auntie Asphodel. At the eighth hole spanned a little stone bridge across a small pond; over the arch of the bridge was engraved the names of Frodo's maternal grandparents, joined together by a heart in the middle at the apex of the bridge. It was all so very grand indeed to the young hobbit child.

From a nearby shed, Sara took out three balls made of hard leather and stuffed with sawdust until they were a perfect round sphere. He also present three long wooden clubs, making sure to find one of the child-sized ones for Frodo.

"Are you going to teach me how to play?" the lad asked eagerly. Sara and Esme laughed in delight at the youth's exuberance before settling in for a lovely evening of teaching their charge how to play the time-honored game of golf, discovered by Bandobras 'Bullroarer' Took over a century ago ....

.... Much to Frodo's surprise, the ninth hole of the golf course truly did contain a dragon. The final hole of the course was set further away from the others and the player had to blindly aim the ball down a curving incline. When Frodo had climbed down the few steps leading to the hole and walked around a well-placed hedge, he had been very shocked to see a highly-detailed iron replica of a dragon's body facing him and protecting the hole as if it was a precious jewel.

Saradoc explained. "It was Bilbo who, after having played a round of golf during one visit, gifted Grandmum Mirabella--his aunt you know--with the dragon for his birthday. The story goes that he'd told her she would be able to appreciate it for she was a daughter of the Old Took, and let it be a reminder to her of the adventures the Tooks were known for whilst living far away here in Buckland. The dragon was crafted by his Dwarven friends, upon Bilbo’s request."

On closer look, Frodo observed the dragon to be sleeping, it’s body curved around the hole. The layout of the ninth hole had been cleverly designed indeed, for in order for one to sink the golf ball, it first had to pass through the open jaws of the dragon, through its curled body, then out the tail and directly into the hole.

The highlight of Frodo's day came when he discovered that he had hit his golf ball straight into the last hole. He grinned at the dragon laying inert around the hole. "Just like old Bullroarer," he whispered proudly.

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