Golf ‘Explosion’ Seen In U.K.

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30763, 29 May 1965, Page 21

Golf ‘Explosion’ Seen In U.K.

The golf “explosion” in Britain had created such a demand for courses that 35 new ones might be opened this year, said Mr J. Burroughs, chairman of the executive committee of the Golf Foundation, who visited Christchurch yesterday.

Mr Burroughs, who is also managing director of British Steel Golf Shafts, Ltd., is on a world business tour, and has spent 10 days in New Zealand. He will leave for Sydney today. Ten years ago, he said, it was the exception to find a British golf club requiring an entrance fee, or with a waiting list for membership. Golf had ceased to be a recreation for the leisured or well-to-do, and existing courses were overcrowded. The foundation was set up in 1952 as a non-profit mak-

ing organisation to train promising golfers up to the age of 18. A pilot scheme of free tuition had been started in six schools. The scheme had never looked back, and now instruction was given in about 1000 schools, 65 per cent of them the equivalent of. the New Zealand state secondary school. “The demand for golf facilities has gone right through the sound barrier,” said Mr Burroughs. “We’ve run out of courses in Britain. The foundation has been doing what it can to encourage councils and other bodies to lay out courses. “If there is a financial problem—and it costs big money to buy 100 or 120 acres for a full-sized course—we help with various. suggestions, such as extending an existing course, providing a nine-hole one, or a ‘par 3’ course, with shorter fairways and show them that courses can make money.” No charge was made for the foundation’s work, said

Mr Burroughs. Last year the foundation’s income was £20,000, and It would spend £22,000 this year, money coming from a levy on the makers of golf equipment, help from the professionals and other sources. The foundation hoped it would get help from the new sports ministry, which financed other sports. Mr Burroughs said his firm had been exporting golf shafts to New Zealand since 1930. Import licensing had become a big problem, with such a “snowball” growth in the sport The new import licensing schedule, to operate from July 1, increased allocations and gave more flexibility. Eighty operations went into making a golf shaft he said, and 14 different types of shaft were need to make a set. New Zealand-made clubs of top quality were equal to any in the world. A member of the Royal and Ancient Club, St. Andrews. Mr Burroughs commented: “I’m not a good golfer, but I enjoy the game. I used to

: be on a low handicap, but : it was too much like hard i work. Now, I play around 12 or 14, and it’s much more fun.” Mentioning the world-wide ■ growth (rf interest in golf, he said that two courses were I being laid out in Czechoslovakia, to the plans of British consultants. These were the

first he knew of behind the Iron Curtain, and he thought they were primarily for the use of tourists.

Good Entries For Squash

Excellent entries have been received for this year’s Christchurch closed squash rackets championships which begin on Monday night. There are full fields in all three grades. The seeded players are: A Grade.—D. R. Preston 1, D J. Triggs 2, R. M. Garrett 3, J H. N. Pine 4

B Grade.—M.Holdsworth 1, W. Thom 2, H. S. Gair 3, J. Cotter

C Grade.—P. G. Hill 1, B. E. Prisk 2. B. Boland 3. C. P. Mur ray 4.