WAIMAIRI GOLF LINKS.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20898, 4 July 1933, Page 14

WAIMAIRI GOLF LINKS.

♦ , -af RAPID ADVANCE. POSSIBILITIES AS SEASIDE : COURSE. The links of the Waimairi Beach Golf Club have been so improved since their opening a few years ago, and show such promise from organised de- ' velopment under a relief work scheme now in operation, that Christchurch should be provided with a first-dglg " seaside course of championship in a few years. To-day these linki r are sporting and quite attractive, although there is yet a great amount of - work to be done, and they are a tribute to the enthusiasm and work of the club's officials. The course has been won from seeming waste land ' where sand dunes densely covered' with broom, lupin, elderberry, and bracken abounded, but the early faith * of a few enthusiasts who considered ' > the country excellent for golfing a], ready has been proved justifiable.' It , winds through little valleys for - the most part, but there are elevations ■' from which panoramas of sea, hillg and mountains are obtained. These natural features have been cleverly." used by the course-architect in his laying out of the 18 holes. '• The area used is an Education t Board reserve, and at present unem* ployed men are working on it under V the relief scheme. They are doing - their work well. The club has not been formed long, fcut has a member- ; ship of more than 100, many of whom • had not taken up the game seriously - until a season or two ago. All * are f keenly interested in and not a little„ f proud of their new course. *-|i An Early Rustic Club-honse. £ First the course, to deserve the f name, needed a club-house. From '* material gathered in cutting out the - fairways—elderberries, pine trees, and ' broom—a selection was made and a" *. "club-house" was built resembling a ' summer house, the roof being thatched. " Relief workers carried out this con-' struction splendidly, and it is still 1 standing. Thus was the need pro- i vided for while the club gathered | strength. Soon the "summer-hotust" g was inadequate, and at an outlay of | £7 10s a shelter, formerly in the $ mere Hills upper sanatorium, was putchased. A wide, open fireplace and 1 chimney and a roomy verandah facial t the north-west were added, and to-ify A this structure makes a neat, comfort* i able, and quite attractive club-houat. I standing on an elevation commanding' a view far out to sea and along the, coast on the eastern side and back ttf | the Southern Alps on the western. t Sections of the property are off for use as experimental areas upon a which various Christchurch schoojs 1 are to plant pine trees under an- -■! afforestation scheme. These plots skirt'' Nfi some of the fairways, and if the trm' L| grow they will provide shelter bd& .f as well as enhancing the beauties-of I the area. Planting will be commenced * soon. t . J Generally the feature of the couiatf 1 is the privacy of the fairways. Sir A.' R. Blank, who was the architect and- I, who is now the club's president, made* S full use, not only of the natural' 'I contours of the country, to Bchiev&~ ; ';Ji this, but also wisely left growing strinsi'll of elderberry trees which prtfrtdi* shelter and make natural hazaEfjuii fringing fairways which fittinglyff&HH ward violent inaccuracies. The fifth® hole is The Glade, because of the gladelffl effect given by the rolling fairway® through parallel avenues of trees, bulH any of at least six others could have* been similarly, named. J|

Panoramas From Highest Tics, J| Most attractive of all are the highlra tees from which sea and land can swept with the eye. The breakeSlffi crash on the beach a few hundredlmi yards away over the sand dunes, arilffli the South Alps with peaks glisten on the south-westen|||| It is surprising how much established on the fairways and-in course lay-out every available sectiSkfß likely to hold grass growth has worked in so as to reward an ately placed shot on the fairwmaisl Bunkering is all natural, and more bunkers may be added aroujo&jjis some of the greens when they permanently established later. TbroSE are perfect natural cross bunkmJSftsa® many fairways, and of tho already established many are tected by natural features. , IS*!* The men working on the course ste jg concentrating on the greens at the work of sowing more grass ete'j® the fairways having been completes®!® Altogether 240 bags of seed .bttrtftilf been used. Some of the greens merely temporary, but they play sonably well, although cut from fflfc«P untreated turf—testimony to natural quality of much of the HPfl Several new greens are being structed and should be a few months. The whole secret green construction appears to be, of iirst finding the correct which the favourable grasses .Wmoi grow. Obviously there are three levgtffla on the property, one at which rel grows, one at which the best gf&mgMg grows into a very firm sole, and flrilfflj at which the growth is. mainly a of tough waterweed. Finding aStgaffl reaching the right level is not cult as it sounds in this case,. a* 'ImmSK actual depths referred to are not VCMnf widely sent that the area is well served waallS a natural underground seepage "flni water. The natural turf scattered 91 all I'airvvays is remarkably strong,MßSfln the success with a strike of fffltlH already is encouraging • iffiP Course of Approximately 6000 ?M&||| The progress made in so time is surprising and highly atl>iß factory. With one or two temporal Jag tees; in use, the course is approVwaMfl mately 6000 yards in length, and wimlSH out a dull hole. Certainly ■ the. is the least interesting, and tadmrnm the road is apt to give rather a wranijia| impression of the real qutiUs-|in ties. In the other 17 holes there "MM not another like it. The holes in tfaaliM order with distances are as' followjcMW Waimairi (370 yds), Florence's yds), A.R.B. (360 yds), Cabbage Trtftiw (190 yds), The Glade (410 yds), TM« Pities (360 yds), Pacific (425yds)f|l8| Rothesay (400 yds), Toi Toi (420yds)|M Lone Pine (285 yds), The (435yd$), Pip (195 yds), The SIumOIBI (305 yds), Recovery (355 yds), TtvPn Dunes (305 yds), Devil's ElbdWfaii (255 yds), and Home (365 yds). ScratcßfflM score is 76, with 39 strokes aUowfljjaßll for the first nine holes and 37 for The dog-leg type of hole is wffljMjl represented by several in this cdvxtimjM and at each the opening up ''of ~JE|H green nestling in a glade is the IgiM ward for a well-placed tee shot. third hole, A.RB., is named after tWiggl president, founder, and architect the course, Mr A. R. Blank, wh<**l§g energy, persistency, and infectioi#Sß enthusiasm have done much to sis®® the club to its present good tion. The twelfth is named after : wmß secretary, Mr Taylor, who is as. as the president. There is one bwiiM hole—the eighth—but it has qualities to commend it as such, sOggS! could be easily opened up if should at any time be desired. 'JaljS