FROM TEE TO GREEN

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 76, 31 March 1945, Page 5 (Supplement)

FROM TEE TO GREEN

Less Rough On Golf Courses

Labour difficulties and the short age of balls have caused golf committees to change Ideas somewhat in regard to the character of the courses. The present tendency is to eliminate the rough and provide wide fairways, even if it entails the clearing away of trees planted to create hazards. This facilitates the cutting of the course, limits the search for balls and generally provides for pleasanter, if not such exacting golf. At Titirangi considerable improvements are under way and all the tea tree and scrub encroaching on the fairways and in the gullies is being cleared. In addition several trees obstructing the view of greens are being cut down. At Middlemore, too, gulleys in front of a number of the greens have been regraded to make accessible for mowers. The club has also in hand the restoration of the bunkers, and their resanding, but it will be some time before the wartime local rules of placing on the fairways, and dropping in the bunkers, are waived. This practice has b'een followed on English courses since the ball shortage. It is in the bunkers that most damage is done to balls. Beating the Colonel Though there was heavy rain at Titirangi on Saturday it had its compensation in slowing up the greens and making them easier. Scoring in a four-ball bogey (partners drawn) was generally good. In returning the best card of 5 up E. T. Gillett and C. J. Bunting can fairly claim that it might have been much better. They were actually 5 up at the turn and won four holes coming home. However, both had lapses of putting which accounted for them losing four holes. C. L. Hewson and F. H. Reynolds did not combine well in being 4 up; it appears that the bulk of the work fell on Reynolds, who had a round of 82 off a 12 mark. He was reduced a stroke. R. Greer and L. Webber, a very steady player, were also 4 ut>. T. E. Clark is showing the reward of assiduous practice and his 70 nett earned him a reduction of two strokes to the 16 mark. The scrambles on Sunday are a popular feature of Sunday play; in winning the latest G. Lawson returned to his best form of last season with a round of 76. last Three Holes Did It A strong finishing run over the last three holes made all the difference to S. Stephenson's card in the bogey at Maungakiekie. He was three down when he went to the sixteenth tee and after halving that hole won the last two to return the winning card of one down. Stephenson has returned to his old club after two seasons at Titirangi. It is a long time since he Has tasted the fruits of success.

Veterans Win Scramble Ideal golfing conditions prevailed for the combined Akarana - Maungakiekie Sunday morning s, four-ball bogey scramble, the winners bemg HA. Brickell (16—12) and W. W. Assmuss (18—14), who returned the excellent card of 6 up on the colonel. Both are in the veteran class, but have for some time proved to be a redoubtable pair in four-ball events. Assmuss has also a record for getting into the concluding stages of major competitions of his club. On this occasion he was the "sheet anchor" of the pair, as at most of the holes he held the fort. Brickell played well and contributed two very useful bogey wins to the score. They combined well, and only at three holes did they record the same scores—all halves on bogey. Asmuss' card represented very consistent golf, except for a lapse at the fifteenth, where he carded an 11 (seven over bogey). Despite this blot in an otherwise sound score, his card showed a net medal round of 75, only two over the course scratch score. This was also 1 down on bogey. On his performances it would not be surprising to hear that Asmuss has been lined up for a handicap review.