Sportsman’s Notebook BALMACEWEN GOLF COURSE CONSIDERED TOO HILLY

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28889, 8 May 1959, Page 20

Sportsman’s Notebook BALMACEWEN GOLF COURSE CONSIDERED TOO HILLY

The Otago Golf Club cn Wednesday decided at iLs annual meeting that a move from the present course at Balmacewen was desirable. The m-eting empowered the committee to continue negotiations for another site.

The meeting was in committee for an hour and a half discussing the subject. In an official statement after .the meeting the newlyelected president (Mr G. B. P. Wilson) said: “The committee has been given the power to contine negotiations for the purchase of another suitable property.” No further details of proposed sites were available although it is known that the experienced Christchurch golf course planner, Mr A. R. Blank, has investigated sites at Brighton and on the Taieri Plain.

The committee of the club later issued a statement to the effect that a move from the hilly Balmacew’en site was considered necessary.

This was brought about by the consideration for older members, who found the hilly fairways too strenuous, and by the tremendous upkeep required to maintain the property.

The committee said that a full investigation into the possibility of making Balmacewen easier by levelling some of the hills was recently made, but the cost of such a scheme had proved prohibitive. * * « Grand Prix Circuit The New Zealand Grand Prix’s suggestions for a new Grand Prix circuit with a capacity for a crowd of 200,000 have been opposed by Mr T. Clark, a board member of the Grand Prix. Mr Clark, a former racing driver, said that the scheme for a brand-new two miles and a half track closer to Auckland than Ardmore could put the organisation in a financial strait jacket for the next 10 years. “The largest crowd I ever saw at a Grand Prix race meeting was 180,000 at the Melbourne Grand Prix during the 1956 Olympics when Melbourne’s population was swollen to two million,” he said. * * « Training Films

The Canterbury athletic centre has obtained colour films of athletes who took part in the senior national championships at Palmerston North early this year. The films are circular and run continuously, giving athletes and coaches ample time to study irregularities of style and form.

Wliineray As No. 8 The much-travelled All Black captain, W. J. 'Whineray, has been appearing for his Auckland club, Grammar Old Boys, as a No. 8 forward. There are some who think that this, or a side ranker's berth, is more suited to Whineray than the front ranker’s position

he has been occupying, for he is fast in the field, has excellent anticipation and backs up well. As a front ranker he has been a little too loosely inclined. Whineray played in the No: 8 position for Canterbury against Hawke’s Bay in 1957 and while on tour with the All Blacks in Australia also had a period as a sideranker in one game. # *

Interprovincial ski-ing

The inter-provincial ski-ing contest between Canterbury and Otago for the Cantago Trophy will be held this winter at the new ski ground hear Lake Ohau, on September 19 and 20. The referee for the meeting will be the ormer New Zealand captain Harry Wigley.