GOLF CONTESTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 290, 8 December 1932, Page 9

GOLF CONTESTS.

AUCKLAND NEXT YEAR CHAMPIONSHIP AND CUP. APPRECIATION OF PLAYERS. The decision of the New Zealand Golf Council to offer next year's national championship contest to the Titirangi Club and the Kirk-Windeyer contest to the Auckland Golf Club is generally ( appreciated by golfers in Auckland, and these two outstanding events of the golf year will invest the local season with unusual interest. The last New Zealand championship to take place in Auckland was that held at Middlemore eight years ago, and in the interim both Titirangi and Middlemore, possessing links which vie with anything else in the Dominion as championship courses, have each had strong claims to be allotted the championships. This year's contests would have been played at Titirangi had the council not decided upon the centrally-situated Heretaunga links from the point of view of economy in travelling. V Heretaunga, in its delightful environment, provided a picturesque setting tor the championship last month, but it was the baffling winds and the general fastness of the course, rather than the lay-out of the links, that made it a testing ground for the players. It is claimed that Titirangi has the essential of a true championship course, and, with tte Kirk-Windeyer contest to be played & Middlemore, the two events will proWde tests of first-class golf, but under fitirely different conditions. It is the ■6; shots which primarily provide the wficulties at Titirangi, and the wajjority of the holes call for accurate wad full strength shots from the tee. By. contrast, Middlemore offers more difficulties around the closely-bunkered whereas the basis of good scores at Titirangi is laid in length from the the accuracy of the second shots, resourcefulness in recovery from the bunkers, that provide the real test at Middlemore.

Few Auckland Entries This Year.

The question of economy is not likely to be less in the background next season than this, but Titirangi will provide practically as central a position for the bulk of the competitors as Heretaunga did, for the majority of the players in this year's contests at the Wellington Club's links were drawn from clubs in the North Island. Incidentally, Auckland clubs were poorly represented, and of the four players who participated in the amateur championships only one, Basil Smith, of Akarana, had displayed true championship form, and he justified his entry by a stirring contest with Arthur Duncan before he was eliminated. Probably because of 1 the limitation of entry it was concluded that only players of the lowest handicaps would be eligible; but it was found, when the entry closed, that sufficient of these to complete the list had not nominated. The result was that a number of players from the Wellington Province, and others of longer handicap, got unexpected opportunity to compete. Taking a line through this and the fact that the contests are to be hckl in their own town, Auckland clubs should be well represented at the next year's championships. Probable Date. The committee of the Titirangi Club has yet to consider the council's offer, but it 4s a foregone conclusion that it will be accepted, if only in justice to the players of the province. The committee has been asked to suggest a date to the council, and will no doubt choose the end of October, when the course provides the best average conditions. So far as the Kirk-Windeyer contest is concerned, the date suggested is about Easter, which falls this year at the end of the second week in April. The annual provincial championship will be held at Middlemore next Easter, and the possibility of the visiting Australian players and "the New Zealand representatives taking part will invest the provincial championship with a first-class atmosphere.