Sportsman’s Notebook Ripple Sole Golf Shoes Under Close Scrutiny

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29245, 1 July 1960, Page 13

Sportsman’s Notebook Ripple Sole Golf Shoes Under Close Scrutiny

Although only one of the major Christchurch clubs has banned them and another has asked members to refrain from using them, ripple sole golf shoes are under close scrutiny at other clubs for possible damage to greens. Only a few golfers are wearing the heavily-ribbed shoes, but greenkeepers are not happy with the impressions which may be made on greens when the ground is soft. “Our club has found the ripple soles definitely mark the soft surface of a green and has banned their use altogether.” said the club captain of the Russley Golf Club (Mr F. Wade) yesterday. “The impressions cause a ball to bounce around and not run true.” In a letter received by the Editor of "The Press.” a correspondent signing himself “Slamming Sam Snead". says his experience has been that a spiked golf shoe on a putting when twisted in the agony of the player trying to

“ride” the ball into the hole, will tear the surface of the green just as much as a ripple sole under the same conditions.

He quotes the English golf professional. Henry Cotton, as follows: "Our thorough American cousins have made a check on the damage to a putting green surface by spike, rubber coated, and ’ripple sole golf shoes. In all, 630 traverses were made over a period of two weeks over three strips of green and then a ball was rolled over the different pieces of turf. A method of evaluation was evolved—this I found a bit complicated to follow but the object of the operation was to condemn or not to condemn ripple soles The result was that ripple soles come out absolutely free. They do not damage the putting green surface more than any- other type of sole."

The following comments have been received from club officials:— Christchurch: “So far this winter has been reasonably dry, but if we receive a lot more rain, I can appreciate that mud could stick to ripple soles and affect the greens," said the secretary (Mr W. E. Coates). "We ihave made no ruling against ripple soles yet.” Rawhiti: No ruling has been made, but a club official said the ripple soles could cause impressions on the greens which' would affect nutting. Waitikiri: A notice has been posted in the clubhouse asking players not to use ripple soles. The club has noticed damage to its greens.

Avondale: “Few players are wearing ripple soles, but the greens committee is watching the position carefully,” said Mr J. G. de la Cour on behalf of the club. “Particular attention will be paid to their effect under wet conditions and on sandy patches.” Windsor: No rullhg made. Habiev: The greenkeeper (Mr E. Burgess) said ripple soles damaged the greens when players screwed around in wet conditions. No ruling had yet been made by his club. Russley: The club has banned the. use of ripple soles. ft * m Snow And Ice Report With heavy falls of snow in the South Island ranges and frosts inland, ski-ing and ice-skating enthusiasts should meet goqd conditions this week-end. Tows will be operating at most of Canterbury’s ski fields, and at Coronet Peak, Queenstown, snow conditions are good and all tows working. A report from Lake Ida predicts good skating this weekend. with the whole 26 acres frozen over. According to the Automobile Association (Canterbury) the roads are in good condition. ft ft ft Life-Saving Meeting Delegates of the Royal Life Saving Society representing branches from Whangarei to Invercargill will be in Christchurch tomorrow to attend a special meeting called to discuss artificial respiration techniques. The expired air methode-mouth to mouth and mouth to nose—will be the subjects of deliberation with special emphasis on the best means of instructing children and members of the public in its use. Films specially imported from America are to be shown, and their value as a teaching medium will be assessed. The techniques will be demonstrated to those present. The manual methods of. resuscitation will also come in for critical examination and recommendations for their improvement are likely to be adopted. A full day is to be devoted to this subject and when delegates leave Christ-

church they will be equipped iwith the necessary knowledge to step up the society’s nationwide instructional programme. ft ft ft Table Tennis Match The first representative table tennis match to be played in Christchurch this season will be held at the Selwyn Street Hall tomorrow evening, when North Otago will play Canterbury. North Otago, which is a subassociation of Otago, usually has a strong team, and sometimes contributes players to the Otago representative side. Last season a strong Canterbury men's team which included J. Armstrong and N. B. Radford drqtr 6-all in its section of this match, and the Canterbury women won 9-3. The Canterbury team to oppose North Otago tomorrow evening includes some of the province’s best younger players with H. P. Holt and K. Cassidy in the men’s team and Miss J. Rich, the South Island under-16 champion, in the women’s side. ft * ft Squash Finals The finals of the Christchurch closed squash rackets championships will be played this evening at the Christchurch Squash Rackets Club’s new courts in Chester street. In the A grade championship the finalists are R. G. Pattinson and D. J Triggs. who were seeded second and third respectively. Pattinson is the title-holder in this grade and Triggs eliminated the top-seeded M. L. Rooney in a long match on Wednesday evening. In the B grade championship the finalists are E. R. Morris and A. Trembath. ft ft ft Cycling “Manager” The Invercargill cyclist, W. Dalton, who will be New Zealand’s sole representative in the cycling events at the Olympic Games in Rome next month, has arranged his own "manager" for this competition. This will be A. Larkins, the prominent Otago cyclist. Larkins had intended visiting Rome for the Games, and while there he will be able to relieve Dalton of some of the burdens of solitary competition, by looking after his racing cycle and other administrative details to allow Dalton to concentrate wholly upon his riding. ft ft ’ * Boxer’s Retirement The New Zealand heavyweight professional boxing champion, Sonny Pehi, has announced his retirement after his defeat recently by the Islander Micky Lolo. Pehi won the national amateur heavyweight title in 1956, and entered the professional ranks in 1958. He was outpointed in his first bout with the then national professional champion, Roy Stevens, but knocked out this boxer in his fourth professional fight to take the title. Since then Pehi has beaten Johnny lefata. Peter Schmid, Charlie Beaton, Bull Hughes, Fred Wolfgramm, Chuck Woodworth and Mosese Varisikete, and lost only to George Mahoni and to Lolo.