GOLF.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19481, 30 November 1928, Page 14

GOLF.

. ♦ LOCAL CLUB. FIXTURES. Christchurch Club—Saturday, December Ist: Stroke Handicaps. Saturday, December Bth: Jubilee Foursome Boyoy Handicap. Monday, December 17th: Anniversary Handicaps—Morning, Stroke Handicap; afternoon. Four-ball Bogey Handicap; concurrently with, tho morning round the Kandolph Cup will be played. NOTES OF THE DAY. (By "Jigger.") In the good old days.—Amongst the original rules of the Burntisland Golf Club (instituted 179") was one which would create rather a stir to-tlay. It ran:—When a ball lies in sancj, mud, or amongst rubbish, no obstruction shall be removed; but in cases where the ball is so placed that the player finds he cannot play it, it shall be in the power of the adversary to play it. He failing or refusing to do so, the player may ,ift the ball, and play from oc-ltinil the hazard, losing a stroke." Tho annual match between the president's team- and the captain's team was played at Shirley on Saturday; and again the president's. team had tho pleasure of acting as hosts at the dinner and smoker which followed tho match at the club-house. During the evening there were toasts and a few songs. li. M. Macfarlane was round the Shirley course last Saturday morning in 66, which ;is a new low- score record for him'as well as'the'course. While this is not, an official record score, the tees in use were tho back onesj -and cv.ery putt was. holed out.. He was placing with G. S. Jones. '.His score at each hole and the scratch score of the course follow: — Scratch Score —Out—4, 4, 3, o, 5,. 4, 4, 5, 3—37. . Macfarlane —Out —3, 3, 3, 5, 4, 4, 4, 4,' 2—3-2. Scratch Score—ln —o, 4, 4, 3, 5, 3, 5, 4,. .4—37. ! Macfarlane—^-In —3, 4, 4, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4,. 4-34. .. ' : In answer-to several enquiries- as to. whether the hands and wrists, left shoulder, or left hip should start the back, swing, a leading authority has this advice to give: Try to figure that they all start together.. It is a big mistake to try to start any swing in sections Try to have the left hand and arm and the left side all work in team play, not one at a. time. The main thing to consider is this: As you start to take the club-head' back,"with tho loft hand and arm predominating;' let tho left side, . shouldor, hip, and knee turn with the swing in a natural manner —'all together, not in sections. Attempting to tako a swing apart by sections to concentrate on any one section is one of the surest ways m. the world to get a swing , that will be as smooth looking as a rock pile.

- Last Saturday morningat-8.30 about v fifty of the caddy boys of the ChristcliurchrColf Club' lined up at'the first tee. ready to start, the third annual caddies''match. It was played over; 18 holes,.stroke.play oji handicap. David Adamfc,-the winner of 'last year, was on scratch, while. some of the smaller juniors had as many as 30 strokes. The president, Mr Norton Francis, supplied prizes for the winner and the yunnerup in the'senior division, and the-.win-ner in the-juniors,, and H. R. Blair -gave a prize for the lowest gross score. Excitement ran high at rioori. when the golfers began to arrive, as some of: the-.boys were not yet in, and two had special permission to play in the afternoon. The final result showed David Adams to have the best gross score; a 79, which is a good score for anyone to make. He was 40 for the first nine .holes and ; 3P for; the ..last. rune.

TB; 'Hoar iron tho'' senior, handicap with a net : 77. - Playing on 9 handicap he did a good gross 86. L. Keatley was runner-up with net 78. • Lawrence Blair, son of 11. It. Blair, and not much bigger than the bag in which he was carrying the clubs both he and his co-competitor were using, was the winner in the junior division, with a net 80., He was round in 108 strokes, with 28 strokes handicap. It.was a surprise, to most golfers when Joe Kirtwo.od,;who is now iii. announced the other-day-that lie was! in favour of the proposed, alterations to. the regulation golf.ball. It is safe to say. that the majority of golfers, good or bad,' regard the ball as quite satisfactory as it is. When interviewed on the subject, the reasons he gave for his favouring the new larger and lighter ball were that with the present' ball golf was mostly driving and putting, and the approach shot was not much used—that the wind had little or no effect on the present ball, and tjiat the new ball >yoald require a great deal more skill. He predicted con- r . fidently that the new ball would come into effect in 1930. Tho opinion of most golfers isi that the game is" quite difficult enough already, without, going to any such lengths to make it more so. Though the new ball may be used extensively in America in 1930, it is fairly safe to say. that it will not find favour in England or Australia and New Zealand. Do you play American or British golf? may be a question: of the future. When the Americans have done altering, the game. What with' steel shafts, heavily faced- clubs, and larger.and lighter balls, it will not be' the same game.

One thing which Kirkwood emphasised from a golfer's point of view, but which also holds good in practically every branch of sport, is that the Americans specialise. The golfer plays nothing but golf, the swimmer does riothiiig 1 but;Bwito, 4he broad jumper nothing but'the- 'broad jump, and so on. Yet they specialise in specialising golf. They' practise one particular shot, studying it from every possible angle, and some idea of their keen determination to master the game may be gathered from Kirkwod's remark that it was quite a common thing to see a queue of golfers waiting for the sun to rise so that they could have a round of golf before going to work. Imagine a queue at the Hagley Pavk pavilion, or any of our local courses, waiting patiently for the day to become light enough for golf:

A professional was watching one of his pupils practice. This golfer had begun to lose distance with his irons and was trying to locate the trouble.

"I want you to watch something " the professional said. "We. will -line him up with this post." The post happened to be about halfway between the golfer and the professional. We -were standing at a rightangle position to the ball's line of flight. "Now watch his body,'.' the pro! said as the golfer came *to the top of his back swing. It was directlv in line with the post. "Now watch it," And before the club-head had been started down tho body was now eight inches in advance of the post, with the weight already settling on the left foot. "This fault," the professional eontinned, "is one of the most common of all golfing mistakes. It is largely responsible for the loss of distance that suddenly develops, especially .in iron piny. If you happen to be watching and use an interveninj; oost as a guiding

mark, you will sec everything in position at the top of the swing. And then you will sec the weight swing forward and the body well ahead of the action of the hands and the club-head. There are times when it will be a foot in front of the post before the club-head ever starts. This kills off all power. Some time ago a leading player was quoted as saying that the difference between a good golfer and a poor ono is that the good golfer keeps back of the ball, which means that he keeps his weight back of the swing and then lets it travel with the swing on to the supporting left leg. But when that weight gets to the left foot or left leg ahead of time there is no punch left in the stroke. The power is all gone. That is one reason why so many golfers have to take Number 3 irons or jiggers to get 140 yards. A lot of these golfers would hit the ball a long way if they could hook the golf club to the body and leavo the hands and wrists out of it. For they use the body more than the hands and wrists.

A number of things cause this forward movement of the body and the weight. It can come from thinking ahead of the swing, from over-eagerness to hit the ball. It usually comes from too much tension, starting with a tight grip. Tension usually means that the hands and wrists are no longer pliable, which means that the golfer calls on the body to swing the club. And when there is. too much tension the body is like a spring that gets into action at the first move of the swing.

This trouble of Ihrovving the weight forward too soon will cut down distance on any stroke. Frequently you see golfers hit shots for the pin and the ball doesn't reach the green. The player thought he hit hard enough to make the' ball pass the pin a foot or so. He had—if his weight had been balanced. But with the weight going forw'ard too soon a distinct cut shot usually develops. On those days when putts insist on stopping short it might be weir to watch this feature- and. bo sure the body.hasn't swung ahead too quickly. "Keep back of the ball" may be a moth-eaten slogan, but it is one that carries rare merit. It means something. It means that the club-head is to be given its cliancc to pick up increasing speed, not to be checked up before the is hit.

CHRISTCHURCH CLUB. • I The draw and starting times for the stroke handicaps to be played, at Shirley to-moi* row are as"follows: — ' ' ; 11 a.m.—D. 'Wood plays M. C. Keane, •"W. N. Seay plays S. J. Gordon, A. Jj. Cropp plays L. H. Campbell, H. Anderson plays iH. G. Dejiham, C. Ogilvie p.ays J. W'ilks, R. J. Murly plays G. W. Ilaverfield, E. h. Fisher plays A. K. Blank, J. A. Oliver plays H. R. T. Spanjer, C. Haigh plays G. A. K. Williams, L. J. Taylor plays A. W. Jtorgau, G. S. Jones plays E. J. Cordner, K. J. Walker plays J. H. Early, W. E. Best plans C. H. Smith, Peter Wood plays G. It. Stevenson.

12 o'clock —A. .A. Douglass plays W. Macbeth, F. Banks plays N. H. Skinner, K. W. Robinson plays F. S. Grant, W. D. Wood plays Fi S. Avent, R. S.' Beadel plays L. Hansen, ' M. 11. Godby plays C. S. Penliijs- . ton, C. H. Hewlett plays G. G. Aitken. 12.30 p.m.—G. TV, Ward plays R. M. Adams, E. J. Pumphrcy plays R. C, Abernethy,. R. T. Tosswill. plays W. P.. Anderson. 'W. J. SVatson playS M. Armstrong, R. A. Wilson plays 11 W. WoodrofTc, S. Gerard plays J. S. Cornell, F. W. IVcoman plays F.,0. A'Court, J. Ramsden plays H. Rennie. 1 p.m.—W. A. McQueen' plays Wm. Anderson, IX. Barlow plays 15. E. H. Whitcombc, IT. W. Macfsrlano playi L. A. Dougall, Dcnys Koaro playp M. A. Johnston, G. P. It. Beadel plays M. J. Russell, JD. Reese plays A. L. Macfarlane, C. Holdsuortli plays W. It; M. Irwin.

1.30 p.m.—A. TI. Glasgow plays M. G. Louisson, G. 'T. Woston plays IT. S. Williams, E. T. Shores plays M. K. Gray, H. A. Boddington plays J. V. Jacobson, li. Bonnington plays J. K. Davidson, P. P. Tymous plays L. A. Bennett, G. Hartshorn plays •W. B. Purehas, 0. Bonni/jgton playa L. B. Scott, K. W. "Ballantyne plays R. W. Morgan, E. D. Pullon plays..J. D. Whetter, P. E. Allison plays A. 0. Thomson.

N.S.W. PROFESSIONAL TOURNEY. HOLDER LOSES SEMI-FINAL. (UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION —ny JLJ3CTRIC TELEGRAPH —COPYRIGHT.) ■. . (Received November 29th, 8.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, November 29. Tho 36-hole stroke competition professional golf championship o£ New South Wales entered upon' the semi-finals stage at the Australian links, Kensington, to-day. W. J. Clark, the holder of tho State title, having defeated F. Popplewell, open champion of Australia, by 3 and 2, tried conclusions today with Don Spence, tho young Leura professional. Spence eventually won in great style, 2-up and 1. The other tcmi-final was between Frank Eyre and Arthur Spence. Tho latter won 2 up. The finals -will be played on Saturday.— Australian Press Association.