GOLF.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18266, 27 December 1924, Page 2

GOLF.

CHRISTMAS TOURNAMENT,

The wea'.her had & ?ood win at Shirlry yesterday, and although the Bosey Handicap was played in the morr.ine, it would have been better to have postponed the entire day's programme, a3 it was decided at lunch time to postpone the Four-bail Best Ball Bogey, scheduled for the afternoon to Saturday afternoon, January 3rd, 19C5. A good-sized field, including two ladies, attempted to battle with the elements, as well as against Co'cnel Bogey, in the morning, but the rain wa3 so heavy _ that the plaV.'rs found it almost impossible tJ hold their clubs, and the Colonel had an easy victorv, with the exception of tne winner, J. 'Millard, of the Avondale Club, who returned a card of 2 up. Millard w;is piavin er on a handicap of four stroked, and played" fine- golf to ds a 76 under the conditions. The best scores were: J. Millard - * 2 "P G. \V. Haverfield ..2 1 down. T. H. A. Richards ..6 3 down Plav will be continued to-day, weather permitting, the events being the Christchurch Amateur Or»pi» Championship, ineluding two Medal Handicaps, for the men, and the Christmas Handicap for the ladiei. The draw? for both these events appeared in yesterday's "Press,"' and will he posted at the clubhouse. The names of J. M. Preston and H. 0. D. Meares, who ars scheduled t<> start at ]0 a.m., were emitted from the list printed yesterdaj.

WHY GOLF RUNS IN FAMILIES.

TRAINING THE YOUNG IDEA,

(specially wp.ittek roB "thx press. ')

(By Harry Yard on.)

It m?.y be true that —ae critical people point out from time to time — the standard of golf in Britain just now is not what it ought to be, considering that for several years the game has been on the crest of a new wave of popularity, and that tho number of players is estimated by responsible statisticians at thretf-quarters of a million. So far as I have been able to judge, we certainly have no amateur like Mi Bobbie Jones, of Georgia, nor do we possess a professional with tho capacity of Walter Hagen, of New York, to do the big thing cm the big occasion. Still, the proverb that there ore as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it can be adapted to the situation, in golf; and it is not too much to say that there are hopeful signs among the young players —at present virtually unknown —who began seriously to practiso the game only after the war, and who even then were in their teens.

I am reminded of this matter largely bv Home excellent doings on the part of the youthful sons of famous professionals. For instanoe, there is J. H. Taylor, jun., son of my old-time and long-time friend and rival, who has won the British Open Championship on five occasions, and who would have won it again this year if age and lumbago had not beaten him in the test of endurance.

Taylor, jnn., has recentlv become a member of the Mid-Surrey Club, where his father is professional, and his opening performances have been full of promise. At the autumn meeting of the club he secured the captain's prize far the best net soore on either day with the splendid return of 72, anrl a week later lie tied for the Senior Medal. his score in this event being 77. He is rated at plus 1. It happens very seldom indeed that a, youngster plunges into senior golf with a plus handicap in a. first-class club, and if this scion of a famous household had happened to be at either Oxford or Cambridge, nnd appeared in the limelight every week in matches against London clubs, no doubt ho would have ,ben hailed as one of the outstanding hopes of tho rising generation in British amateur golf. I understand his father lias definitely decided that he is to continue ?n. the commercial career which has churned him for some time, and play golf as a pastime. Another son, Leslie, has gone into the shop to become in due course the head of the business which his father has established. The Best Exemplars. Then there is Harry Braid, son of another famous professional, "who has gained five triumphs in the Open Championship. Harry Braid—he is also christened Muirfield, because he was born in the week in which his father secured his first success in the Open Championship, which happened to take place that year on the Muirfield