GLENEAGLES.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18461, 15 August 1925, Page 11

GLENEAGLES.

A COURSE NEARLY PERFECT CROWDED GOLF PROGRAMME. (SPECIALLY WaiTTBK 70S "TMS 0 (By Harry Vardon.) For professional golfers, this ia the mast crowded period of ihe year. Following immediately ou the open chain- ' piouslnp comes tuo tournament at (jleneagles, i'crthsiare, tor iUUO guineas, i and, as tho iiXbt match-play event of tho ; sou sou uniuiig me proieaSkouuis, it has un interest peculiarly 11s own. It hapI pen* in neuily every generation ttiat ' somebody snows such exctvuouaily : high qualities us a matcb-£giiler as to bo voted die bust man of his era at thia form ot game, vvitltjut being able, how* | over, to assert any spinna! degree of supremacy in score-play. , It etui bu said with considerable justification that Abo Mitchell has occupied this position during the past few years. 1 am writing before the start of tho two days' scoring test in the championship at Prestwick. and it way bo that, by tho time these lines find thoir place in tho sun, he will bare retrieved his previous failures to win the highest title in the golfing world. Certain it is, however, that hitherto he has boon a moro formidable man Tn hand-to-hand rivalry than in the more p r less spread-eagled business of scoring competitions, competitions. Ho seems to need the stimulus of knowing exactly what he has to heat in order to bo inspired to beat it. I alwavs remember the determination with which he went out to tackle Joseph Kirkwood, the Australian, when they nict in the final of the Gleneagtea tournament four years ago. Mitchell had just one resolve. '*No matter how close to the hole Kirkwood places the ball" he said, "1 must place it somewhere nearer"—a very fine policy if one only has the ability to put it into effect. Mitchell showed that ability. Ereiybodv knew that he would outdrive Kirkwood. but the wonderful thing was the relentless regularity with which he made Kirkwood play the odd after thvj shots with iron, mashie, putter, or any other club. For the man Btnig> I p'ing against this kind of thing, it most have been oppressive to the point ol being heartbreaking. Force of Uramplc, Mitchell has been more successful than anybodv else in recent times in, the big match tournament held every autumn, and yet there obtrudes tie curious circumstance that when he is engaged in a score-play competftioc, and he knows not what a honored opponents may be doing, he has a ny of losing control every now and again over his long iron shota. He will play three or four in succession in a perfect manner, and then two that JttVft him so far from the hole as to set hw strusaline for tho figures—not always successfully. At least, that has been the ease prior to this week's championship. To account for it is difficult, seeing that Mitchell can produce the shots so no-" erringly when, in a match, his rival challenges him by example to do so. The late Willie Campbell—a very quick player; quicker than George Duncan la his most rapid mood—was a golfer of | the same kind. ' He could crush his "»i»n in a match, but he could not win stroks competitions. Mitchell is one of the very few men whom I would back to beat Macdonald Smith in a match, and that because, although Smith has no superior as an ixm player, Mitchell would very . likely excel him aB such if he tt<itq rallod ilpm to do bo in direct duel. An Insplrjng Coarse. Gleneagles is a wondroualy inspiring course for the person who finds Us greatest zest—as most of in do in oar less strenuous golfing hours—in matchplay. It calls for bald approaches that stir the imagination, and the blood tingle, and Its magnificent setting in the expanses ofthe Highlands makes a player feel fit to hit his shots ly better than he does anywhere •faff. In a golfing career, of nearly thirty-five . years, I have visited many hundreds ot courses, in Britain, the United States, France, Switzerland, Belgium, and elsewhere, but never one where the combination of golf and scenery Is ao wonderful as it is at Gleneagles. The ■ Grampian Mountains on oqo .side and./ the Ochil Hills on the other—both ' ranges in the distance, but so as to the whole situation—constitute a background of striking glory. When the sun plays upon -them the pifr ture is perfect. The Glen, with its overhanging crag —once, if not now, the reeort of eagles —from which the place takes its nauut is imposing, beyond the power of mortals to describe. Miles and "'i** of gorse and heather,- a blase of golden glory, stretch in all directions; here and there lakes are dotted even as they might be in fairyland. To a man wh% like myself, has been brought tip in a s rural setting, tho variety of bird-life is enchanting. And, in the midst .of all this is a golf coarse as nearly perfect as a golf course need be. TnlnxHf I understand that an effort is being made to have the open championship decided at Gleneagles in the nesr fotnre. It may be that, sooner or later, the Boyal and Ancient Club will decide hold the event on an inland green, as* ing that about 90 per cent, of presentday golf is played inland. U they dot, there would be no better a choice than Gleneagles. It haa the advantage, Ux»> of a hotel as fine as any to be found In London or any other big dty, as weD as plenty of accommodation in the earrounding villages. The fame.of Gleneagles is now worldwide. The golfer from America or elsewhere, who visits these isles enquires for Gleneagles in the same breath thai sets him talking about going to 8k Andrews. There most be something extraordinary about a plaee whieh gains this renown in a few years.