Motz Drives To Range Limit

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31672, 7 May 1968, Page 19

Motz Drives To Range Limit

The winter golf driving range at the Hagley Sports Centre was stretched to its limits on opening day yesterday when the New Zealand cricket representative, R. C. Motz, twice reached the Riccarton pavilion

with mighty blows of almost 300 yards. Two Canterbury representative golfers, R. M. Farrant and R. B. Townsend, hit a number of fine drives, and the Mayor (Sir George Manning) entered into the spirit of the occasion by hitting a shot of more modest proportions. Many prominent sportsmen and sporting administrators

met at the Canterbury Cricket Association’s new building for the opening ceremony. The centre caters for golf, cricket, and squash rackets. The association’s efforts in adorning picturesque Hagley oval with a modem sports centre were deserving of the highest praise, said Sir George Manning, in declaring the building open.

The prestige and progress of Christchurch was due largely to voluntary organisations. “Where would the city be as a living force without those organisations functioning in the life of the city?” he asked. The president of the Canterbury Cricket Association (Mr J. C. Saunders) said the opening of the centre represented the end of the association's long straggle to find suitable facilities for indoor

coaching. The King Edward Barracks and several wool stores had been tried, but had proved unsuitable. The association had had a heartening response to its drive to raise money for the venture, said Mr Saunders—slo,ooo had been raised by debentures, and family donations amounted to $3500. Canterbury cricket and cricketers were not without their critics in other parts of the country, but it was significant that Canterbury was the only association which had produced such a fine sports centre, said the chairman of the New Zealand Cricket Council’s Board of Control (Mr J. G. Leggat). It showed that Canterbury cricket was in good heart. Mr Leggat said he looked with nostalgia at the distance markers on the driving range. “Today, for the first time, I know just how far a Fijian

batsman hit me at Lancastei Park several years ago.” The president of the Canterbury Provincial Golf Asso elation (Mr S. G. H. Rich) said the centre would be of great benefit to golfers. “Those who think that they can drive 200 yards may be in for a shock.” Squash rackets had been regarded as a supplementary get-fit sport, but now it was a major game in its own right as well, said the president of the Canterbury Squash Rackets Association (Mr J. H. N. Pine). He expressed the hope that some casual players who used the centre’s courts would take up the game seriously. The photograph shows Sir George Manning declaring the sports centre open. The other speakers, from left, are Mr Rich, Mr Saunders, Mr Leggat, and Mr Pine.