GOLF.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18265, 26 December 1924, Page 17

GOLF.

.CHRISTMAS TOURNAMENT.

jjm Christmas Tournament at Shirley jkU begins this morning at 9 o'clock with , fiogey Handicap, in which the players their own partners and ladies are oliTing on equal terms with the men. rfljg afternoon a four-ball b.st tall bogey iH be played, and the same conditions _„]». The players arrange their own partly and opponents and ladies play on M n»l terms. _ Tomorrow the mm play in the CThristehurch «nen Airatcur Championship, concurrently ..kKj, which there will be a Mjdal Handicap m P ions hip rounds. The draw for the morning round and the i" f or stalling will be as follows:

9 -ni.—P. Harris plays E. Prince; G. W. H*verneld plays H. "\V. Macfariane; J. , H. Early plays H. F. Penlington; E. ' Jf'. Maciarlane plays C. W. Hcdsdon; _W'. P- Anderson plays L. A. DougalL ,',« a.m.—J- Millard plays C. H. Hewlett; - y/l, B. l'urchas plays i\ G. Bristcd; '- . B.'A. Wilson plays B. C. Whitoombe; )""' C.*'A. Quanc plays G. T. Weston; C. A. Seymour plays A. L. Cropp. ««40«jn.—R. W- Morgan plays Rana Wagg; . F. A. Brittan plays A. R. Blank; A. H. Glasgow plays R. J. Hobbs; J. O. Jameson plays J. Wyn Irwin; T. H. A. .'V : Eicharda plays Y. C. A'Court. ja ».m.—P. Trolove plaj-s .T. E. Donald; C, H- Smith play 9 A. A. Douglass; J. A. Oliver plays B. E. H. Whitcombe; •':,;■ H. Anderson plays R. J. Murly; J. 0. >" Bichards plays J. Bristed.

1090 ».m.—St. G. Atkinson p'ays F. Mor- • ' lisoB; R- H. Evans plays S. J. Gor- .' :"don; G. H. Christie plays F. B. Foley.

i-i'.i Unless players are on the tse and preStijtd to start at the proper time, they will I * ced at the foct o{ tne lißt'Offiikt Christmas Handicap for ladies will 9>lUrt % t 10.S0 a.m. and will be played over "f*4» rounds oi 12 holes each. They will HiWt at Ko. 3 tee and platf to the 14th |iS«. The draw for the morning round is #tf follows: ■''■:"V' ? JCw H. M. Slpaford plays ilisa M. Mrs J. E. Donald plays Mrs ':%ekcr; Miss K. Bristed plays Mrs Vernon; J. H. Early, plays Mis? Cameron*JS»ith; Miss Wilkin plays Miss Stewart; fJlitt Maindonald plays Mrs Bel!: Miss Futh .. .jjjefaiiano plays Mrs Henry 'Wood; Miss 0K J&rtin pl»y3 Mis 3 Hutton. jflSp'SJie draw for to-morrow afternoon will S^t.'posted at the clubhouse before the round |§itart»-

,|« AMATEUR'S RECORD. k.-l BEST OF THE YEAR. .$' ■> £ (meuixT warm* w» "ra* ram.") %' (By Harry Vardon.) §, One of the best -performances of Ifirliieh I have read or heard for a long J-while was the score of 68 -which Mr >,Douglas Grant accomplished the other at the Autumn Meeting of the ißoyal St. George's Club, at Sandwich. M.lnring a long experience, I have JfiieYer wavered in the opinion that Sandfjfich is the fairest and best test of Jtfolf in the country. It is so because IgW half-scuffled shot ever gains an unSne reward here, as it has a chance of fprtng almost everywhere else in these ffffiys of the particularly lively rubberjpAred balls. To achieve success, every Itohot has to be played as it is meant Mpi be played. There are people who n'mplain that the Sandwich sandhills, K places, shut'out the view of the spot X which one is aiming. It is always fgbod to be able to see the objective, jnid a course of many blind holes is TOtit to be tantalising, but there are so ff&w blind shots up to the pin at SandMich that criticism of it in this respect |§» somewhat finical. And the dunes find other natural features have the Swraality of punishing an indifferent or WaA shot in accordance with what it jfteserves. A really bad stroke hardly IWer escapes, as it does so often nowjtidays on championship links, as well Wja less famous courses. Pits is this latter fact which is causing modern players, even of the front liank, to neglect the scientific accomialishinent of strokes which once preifrailed in the higher walks of the game, land to substitute for it a pastime of s!neek-or-nothing hitting and the taking |?„of "chances—some of which come off §& v trumps. ffl You cannot successfully play this ibind of golf at Sandwich. Ton have §Ho keep straight,*or suffer punishment llto the extent of at least half a stroke Spill the bents or the sandy wastes. §f There'are no pleasant plaees off the f? correct path; you cannot misdirect your *i ball bo fortunately -as to finish on the f; fairway of another hole, as at St. Andrew's.

f You have to hit the shots up so as h> to earry the tracts of sand and seaI' grass: a half-topped shot has no chance i' t of avoiding its proper fate. Indeed, I - do not know any place where the refa ward for good play is so consistent, f, and where the penalties for faulty shots &t are graduated and administered by | 5 /Nature with such equity as at SandK'^wich.

I - . A Championship Experience. f Consequently, tre may fairly »y that I- it is the event of a decade which Mr fe Grant has achieved in going round this $r tourse in a scoring competition in 68. Ik It is more than that, for I gather that W the record which he equalled was set £"- up by Mr Everard Martin Smith thirf "teon years ago. Mr Martin Smith did (' ' his score when winning the St. George s Crip competition, which is always decided from the back tees. These back tees, which are also used in champion- ' ships at Sandwich, make the course ■ very long, and I am not sure that they I are ever utilised for club meetings or | other events. Still, even from the orf. dinary medal tees, the course is- long £' enough for most mortals —the homeP' ward "half is almost back-breaking in t; its demand for full shots at this time I'- of the year—and Mr Grant's score £' Stands out, perhaps, as the best medal v round played by an amateur during

„ 1924. jHe reached the turn in 32 strokes. J happened to do the same in the last k- tonnd of the open championship at , Sandwich two years ago, and so am in position to afford testimony to the fairly obvious fact that a man has to i" be hitting the ball as well as he knows how to hit it, in order to accomplish * inch figures. ' Personally, I set ont with some more s! or less crazy idea that, by playing all *■ the shots perfectly, I might catch the Americans, who were leading the field at the end of three rounds, ani e I began with two 3's—a useful start si* at holes measuring, respectively, 440 §■' and 325 yards. The third was my only «i' bad hole going out. Nevertheless, I f always feel that it is one of the best * holes on the course, although it is blind. It measures 247 yards. £ it is a full bang from the tee. There k* is a guide-flag to show you the line, f • and, once you know it, it has a eharm ft"', of its own among blind holes. There is a big bank immediately beyond the St green, so that, as you hit with all your k"' might, you know that you will be safe I ; so Jong as you keep the ball straight. L The bank will prevent it from going | • too far. K-Ail the way to the green is a wild §r expanse of sand and bents aud hills. K: There, are no bunkers round the green, K so that, unless you are too far off the lipc, yon have a good chance of testf?v your putter, even at a range of 30 l». yards. Personally, I did not plate any

;' (Continued at foot of next column.)

tee shot near enough, and the hole cost me 4. An outward half of 3?gave me, as events proved, 36 strokes coming home with which to equal Hagen, the ultimate winner. That would have meant a round of 68. However, somebody came along at this juncture and insisted on having a long talk with' me at hole after hole, and, iny concentration broken, I finished seven strokes behind Hagen. Duncan's Glorious Failure. These facts are mentioned more particularly to show that one may rise to considerable heights when there is a big .job to be done, and to emphasise the fact Mr Grant, with no particular stiuml'us at the start, did a Very fine thing in reaching the turn in 32. He began with two par 4's, and started to get his 3's at the third hole. He had four of them going out, and three more coming home. Clearly he had a glorious chance of creating a hairraising record. He needed to do the last two holes in ordinary 4's to finish in 66, but took s!s, which made his score 68. It was a 5 at the last hole that prevented George Duncan from tying with Hagen for that championship two years ago. Duncan had gone out in 34; he needed to come home also in 34 to tie! It looked impossible, but it came within the range of possibilities when he obtained a 2 at the short sixteenth by laying his tee shot a few feet from the pin. A 4 at the seventeenth left him with 4 for the last hole to equal Hagen's aggregate. And then his trusted spoon failed him. His second shot to this hole finished on the left of the green; he did not chip dead; and a great effort was frustrated in the last gasp. Similarly, it was frustrated when Mr Grant needed a 4 the other day to beat all Sandwich records.