GOLF NOTES

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22367, 2 April 1938, Page 20

GOLF NOTES

♦ TOURNAMENT AT ' EASTER CONDITIONS FOR DOBSON CUP ALTERATIONS TO SHIRLEY’S PROGRAMME [By THE RABBIT] The Christchurch Golf Club will hold its Easter tournament this year as usual, although there have been some alterations to the programme. The Dobson Cup will once again be decided on match play, the first 18 in the Canterbury amateur championship playing off over 18 holes. The amateur championship will this year be decided over 36 holes, instead of over 72, as was played last year. The Avondale Club had arranged a veterans’ tournament at Easter, but this has been postponed until near the end of June. It is expected that there will be a larger entry than for some years in the women’s tournament at Easter conducted by the Christchurch Ladies’ Club, as it is thought that wives of delegates attending the Dominion law conference at Christchurch will take part The women’s tournament will be held on Wednesday, Thursday, and on Saturday morning, as the course has been reserved for the law- conference on the Friday. At the conclusion of the tournament on Saturday afternoon the prizes will be presented by the Governor-General, Lord Galway. Although it is too early yet for entries to be received for these events, it is considered likely that most of the leading Christchurch amateurs will be playing at Shirley in preference to the South Island close championship at Timaru on the same dates. There is a strong rumour that some of the leading players from Dunedin will also take part in the Christchurch tournament, but no foundation for this report is available, especially as there is a tournament in Otago at the same time. Finance at Waitikiri The rafcid transition of practically unbroken ground, though some of it was an onion patch, into a golf course came as a surprise to many visitors at Waitikiri who attended the opening on Saturday. The course is not without its blemishes—nobody could expect it to be —but every part of it shows the hard work and ingenuity that have been devoted to making a first-class course of championship length. Many of the holes are obviously artificial, and the putting surfaces are by no means good, but it was a wise policy to get the holes laid out so that those who advanced the money to start the course could get some immediate benefit for their outlay. In the end the progress and success of the course will depend entirely or. the finance available. It is proposed to start almost immediately with the construction of a swimming bath and tennis courts, all of which cost money, and the financial outlay on the course ;is by no means complete. British Open at Deal

’ This year the British open championship will be played at the Cinque Ports Club’s course at Deal, one of the true sandy seaside links which defy imitation in other lands. To visitors. the first sight of some of the holes at Deal is frightening and unprepossessing. The rough is not the tangled undergrowth found on the inland courses, nor is it like the furrowed bunkers—the ingenious devilry of American course architects. It is possibly worse than either, for the fairways are strips of green sward dotted here and there among ranging sandhills sparsely covered with a coarse grass and rushes. , , When the open was last played at Deal the course measured 6691 yards; this year .it will be 7100 yards. In recent years the championship courses have been lengthened, and even the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, that staid headquarters of modern golf, has not been able to escape. Some of the holes are being lengthened and others, where lengthening is not practicable, are being redesigned. Though most of the British courses are on the average 700 to 800 yards longer than most in New Zealand, it is well to remember that the championships there are played in the summer when the ground is hard and the huge galleries which follow- the more interesting matches soon *tramp the fairways as hard as concrete. A. D. Locke Tarns Professional

South Africa’s greatest < amateur golfer, A. D, Locke,, has joined the professionals. Younger, even than Jim Ferrier, of Australia, when he produced the scores which rocked English golfing circles, Locke has been in the leading amateurs of the world for three or four seasons now. Twice in succession hg has been the leading amateur in the British Open, and record figures on several English courses now stand to his credit. _ Perhaps even more telling than these were his performances in South Africa when he'won the principal open event from a field including A. H. Padgham and other British professionals in the-top flight. Later Locke played a special match against Padgham, and managed to keep a lead of_ one hcile rfi|it through the match until the sixteenth. Here both sent away long drives, Padgham, playing his second, put the ball within a few feet of the hole with a brassie and was; assured of the eagle three. Locke also used a wood and sank his second. It is in no way detrimental to S. F. Brews, the other really good golfer from South Africa who has made a mark in open tournaments in recent years, to place him below Locke. Also Brews was born in England, and though he developed his game in South Africa, the seeds of his success were sown in England. On one occasion—in 1934—he finished second in the British Open. Improvements at Harewood Every new steason sees rapid improvements to the fairways at Harewood until now there is a generous coating of good turf practically all the way from tee to green. These improvements are already telling their own story in the numerous reductions _ in handicaps\at this early stage of the' season. W. M. Satterthwaite has been twice reduced since the opening day, and now is playing steadily to his four, mark.

The three new members who recently deserted Avondale for Harewood have already settled down and are finding little difficulty in playing to their marks on their new course. The greens at Harewood are still among the besl in Christchurch, and the recently installed watering scheme, together with the system of turfing the thinly-cov-ered fairways, has changed the whole outlook of the course. When the North Canterbury foursomes championships are held there in May, those players who go to Harewood only when an open tournament is staged, will find many very pleasant improvements. . Australian Amateur Team

The Australian amateur golf team to tour Great Britain was due to leave on March 31 to take part in several matches. The members of the team arc M, J. Ryan, L. Nettlefold, H. W. Hattersley, T. S. McKay, and H. W. Rundle (manager). Of these it is possible that most will be heard of Nettlefold and Hattersley if they strike their best form, though they will have little

enough time to get used to the courses after their long boat travel before they start on their serious tournament play. Nettlefold (a left-handed player) is perhaps the longest hitter in Australia at present. Recently he was asked how far he would expect to get with a good drive on a flat and fairly fast fairway, without any helping windj He replied, in all seriousness'and without a trace of boasting, that he would be satisfied with something between 300 and 350 yards. Opening at Kaituna Though most of the city golf clubs have already opened their seasons there are still a few in the country which have not yet done so, as -they need longer to get their courses into playing order through their lack of labour. The Kaituna Club, with its interesting course, on the.- way to Akaroa. will open officially with a competition open to visitors on April 9. TEMPLETON LADIES* CLUB Results*' of a handicap bogey irjatch ■were:—Mrs Page (10), 1 down: Miss Wright (14), 2 down: Mrs Hope (18), 4 down; Mrs Rudkin (9), 5 down; Mrs Anderson (12), 5 down; Miss Ryan (23), 5 down; Mrs Eadie (14), 6 down.