ON THE LINKS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 241, 25 July 1935, Page 7

ON THE LINKS

GOLF AND ITS DEVOTEES. local links playing well. (By “Silver King.”) The Ashburton golf links have dried up wonderfully during the week and are now playing well. The warm weather has had a very beneficial effect after the repeated spells of rain. Methven golfers who took part in the match against Ashburton, at Ashburton during the week-epd, were loud in their praise of the local greens. The Ashburton Club also sent a team to Rakaia, where the links were found in good order. The fairways have a satisfactory sole of grass and in the majority of cases a good lie is obtained. Scoring on the whole on Saturday was better than the. previous week, and a number of net 67 and 68 cards were returned. Rolling the Wrists. Pointing out that rolling the wrists has been dropped in the modern swing, Aubrey Boomer says:— It is all against the mechanics of golf to drive a straight hall with an open stance, the face of the club open at tlie top of the swing and a restricted pivot. Ido not say that it cannot be done, for it has been done for many years, and is still being done by scores of golfers every day. But if there are any mathematical figures to guide us to the simplification of the swing these figures are the circle and the square. The simplest form of the golf swing is that in which the club-head is kept travelling in a circle with the face of the club kept square all the time to the line on which it is moving. The simplest way to make sure that the club face is at right angles to that line at the moment of striking, is tb keep it at right angles all through the swing. Any movement or any change of position that interferes with the “square” position of the clubface must tend to upset the simplicity of our mechanics and introduce a useless complication. Ini the modern swing there is no roll of the wrists in taking the club back, and consequently none in bringing it down. As we address the ball, the hack of the left hand is in the same relation to the line of the shot as the face of the club, and we must endeavour to visualise the face of the club by means of the position of the left hand throughout the stroke, and keep the back of 1 the left hand “facing'the ball.” We take the club back as if we were playing a backhanded shot at the ball with our left hand. Golf Poachers.

War has been declared on golf “poachers” on some of Scotland’s most famous courses. Last season so many “poachers” played over the courses at Scottish holiday resorts that three Clyde golf clubs are considering the appointment of unemployed men as policemen of the greens. During Easter, and since there has been evidence that the men who play, but will not pay are up to their tricks again. Here is an example of the kind of tiling done. The clubhouse cn an Edinburgh course was the scene. A sports car drew up, and four men entered the clubhouse, used the dressing accommodation, and went out for their round. They had refreshments when, they came back. It was only after they had left that the club secretary found out that they were not members, and bad not been invited to play over the course. The same kind of thing has been known in Glasgow. Rangers of six different clubs interviewed were unanimous on one point. It is not the people who might find goR a clear sport—and Scotland en J joys the cheapest golf in the,- world—who poach these games. The offenders are generally young men-aboiut-town arriving in cars. So serious did this kind of thing become on an Edinburgh club’s course last season that the club issued badges to members, and anyone playing without a badge was immediately ordered to the clubhouse. The free-game men have even, been known to invade Prestwick Old Course, a championship' links.