GOLF.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 167, 15 July 1911, Page 16

GOLF.

Harry Vardon's success in the open championship, in which he tied with Arnaud Massey, the leading French professional, subsequently defeating him in the play-off, would be by no means unexpected, as prior to the departure of the last mail from England he had been showing a return of his best form, as these paragraphs from the "Field" of May 13 indicate:—

"Harry Vardon is in particularly fine form just now. Last week he won the Tooting Bee Cup at Banstead Downs, and on Wednesday he added to his collection of plate the Bramshot Cup, presented by Mr. Gordon Watney. As he was one of the late starters he owed nothing to fortune, for he had to play through the thunderstorm in the late afternoon for a longer period than most of his rivals. He only made three mistakes during the day—two of them on the putting green."

"Harry Vardon's golf is in a sense a National possession. He hits the ball in the grand manner, although his driving does not conform to the canons of orthodoxy as embodied in what is miscalled the St. Andrew's swing. Therefore, it is always a» pleasure to watch and record the gaining by him of a victory in any competition. At Bramshot he gave a characteristic display of great results achieved with the minimum of apparent effort. Conditions during the greater part of the day were , favourable, and when the thunderstorm came it made little or no difference to the- figures at which he took the holes. The architecture of the Bramshot course lends itself to exhibition golf as played by the leading professionals. The salient characteristics of that form of the game are the almost monotonous excellence of the driving, and the rapidity with which the second shots are executed. At Bramshot the strokes from the tee are terrific to golfers who lack confidence in their wooden clubs, but the first-class professionals make light of them. They can proceed rapidly to their second shots, with that fine air of careless assurance so impressive to spectators, because the long approaches at Bramshot are normally straightforward. Bunkers are not drawn in alarmingly close to the line of play, and most of the putting-greens are tolerably flat. This being so. it would have caused no great surprise if the scoring had been even lower than it was in Spite of the considerable length of the round."

The following ,, extracts from "Golf Illustrated" should be of interest:— Paragraph 3 of rule 2 was altered a.t the recent meeting of the Royal and Ancient to read as follows: —"If a ball when not in -play, fall or be knocked off the tee by the player in addressing it, it may be re-teed without penalty. If the ball be struck when so moving, no penalty shall be incurred." The words in italics form the only addition to the old rule, and it comes to this, that if you miss the ball and it then falls off the tee, you may not replace it, since it is '"in play." PRECEDENCE AT THE TEE. Q- —A is on the tee waiting for his partner, who is on the way from the clubhouse. As soon as the last couple have driven off. A seeing his partner coming, proceeds to tee up his ball. B and C, who are walking a few yards in front of A's partner, come in to the tee, and without having had a ball down, claim the right to play before A. A contends that he has a right to keep his place in the tee until > the couple in front have played their! second shot, and arc out of range. Befere they have done so, A's partner is on the tee. Are B and C right, in insisting upon playing before A and his partner?

A. —B and C are certainly not right in insisting on playing before A and his partner. A's right of possession of the tee could only have been disputed if A's partner had not arrived before the previous couple had played their second strokes. A little courtesy and forbearance is all that is required to settle these matter*.