Revised Russley Course Will Test Title Players

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31152, 31 August 1966, Page 15

Revised Russley Course Will Test Title Players

The man who wins the 1966 New Zealand amateur golf championship will have to conquer a testing course as well as his opponents.

The championship will begin on September 5 at Russley, which, recently measured under the New Zealand Golf Association’s new courst rating system, measures 6644 yards from the championship tees.

This is a considerable increase on the 6300-yard course played by club members at week-ends. The course, in most respects. looks its splendid best. The watering scheme, introduced a few years ago. has given Russley fine fairways, and only on rare occasions will the amateur championship contestant find his ball in anything but a very presenable lie. The only discordant note in what may very well be described as a symphony of green is struck by the earthworks at the sixth, ninth, tenth and fourteenth greens.

It is a pity that this feature event should be scheduled for so early in the spring. The Russley club, understandably, was unable to wait for the amateur championship to continue its implementation of the new plan for the course produced by Commander J. Harris. Quality of Greens However, there will be few complaints about the course. The greens, in general, are of even texture and pace. Russley’s greens have long held a very high reputation, and that should be upheld in the tournament. A notable change in the general appearance of the course has been made with the trimming of the trees on nearly all the fairways. It may be a mixed blessing for the players. If there is more room now to manoeuvre, the prospects are that the looselystruck shot will now escape the foliage and carry on to even less favourable parts of the course, further from the fairways. One of the least impressive greens is the fifth, where very recent top-dressing has been carried out. The green is at present a very patchy one. The top-dressing is heavier on the

lower levels than at the top. where the pin is likely to be placed. On the higher levels, there is a considerable covering of stones. Bunkers Changed The long sixth hole has been changed. There are two new bunkers on the right of the green. There is one on the right front edge to penalise the player who has played his second to the right of the fairway. The other bunker on this

side has been moved further back, and this will trap the shot hit too firmly to the green. There used to be a bunker on the front left side of the green w’hich was a hazard for the player who had not found the best line. This bunker has been filled, and a new one made further back on the left of the green. The principal effect of the changes is that the long hitter has been issued with an i~vitation to try for an eagle three: the well-played tee shot leaves the green wide open. Anything but a really fine shot will be penalised. At the back of the green, the slight bank has been built up quite considerably. There are some bald patches from 50 to about 100 yards short of the ninth green, and the bank at the back of the tenth is being built up. This green, ultimately, will be long, and terraced. There is a new tee at the eleventh and the hole is 22 yards longer than its previous championship length. The

difficult par-four fourteenth Is another with earthworks at the back of the green, in preparation for the building of a bank.

Perhaps the New Zealand Golf Association, in allowing players with handicaps up to five to compete, has watered down the quality of a field which will have a handicap range of eight But this tournament should produce some extremely keen competition, nevertheless, and some highly exciting golf.

Hole 1 Yards f 338 Bogey 2 473 5 3 137 3 4 402 5 421 4 6 502 5 7 201 X 391 4 9 497 5 3362 37 10 162 3 11 344 4 12 3S1 4 13 466 5 14 420 4 15 204 3 16 518 5 17 3S0 4 18 407 4 3282 36 3362 37 6644 73