Woodward Cup squads upset hole ratings

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32589, 24 April 1971, Page 14

Woodward Cup squads upset hole ratings

WHEN the New Zealand amateur golf champpionship is held at Waitikiri next year, the mostfeared holes are likely to be the 183-yard ninth, the 195-yard third, and the parfour fourth. . That these holes are the ones most likely to cost the country’s best amateurs strokes is suggested by a survey of the Woddward Cup matches played at Waitikiri last Sunday. There were 54 players, each having two rounds. Of the 108 times the ninth hole was .played, there was only one birdie—by J. P. Devine, on, his home course—there were 28 pars, 64 one-overs, 13 two-overs and a couple of three-overs. It is a difficult par three, with anything but the most accurate shot being penalised. The green is well exposed to tne wind, it is an elevated island, with steep sides, and bunkers. The survey suggested that club committees have considerable difficulty in rating their holes for the giving and taking of handicap strokes. Most golfers would agree that it is easier to score a par at a long hole than a short one, in most

circumstances. This is bome out by the short ninth And the short third being the most costly holes last Sunday. But the ninth is rated' at number seven on the handicap list, the third is number 11. There was only one birdie at the third also, scored by the Canterbury representative, J. F. Logie. In all, the field was 95 shots over par at the 'ninth, 83 over at the eleventh. The next most difficult hole was the fourth, a testing dog-leg with a new green to stretch thg hole beyond the carded 405 yards. At it, there were four birdies, 34 pars, 56 one-overs, and as many as 12 two-overs, with two players scoring sevens. That gave a total of 82 over par. The fourth hole is rated the third most difficult. Next in order was the second, which is rated the most difficult of them all. There were only three birdies at it, and the field was, in total 75 over. The eighteenth, rated number six, was the fifth hardest—63 over for the field. At the seventh, rated fifth, it was 50 over. The rating was confounded by events at the

53»-yard, eleventh, rated but on this asseSttfent only the seventh most,' diffttcfiJj. There were eijjht. birdies /here, 54 pars, and m ‘field was 48 over. The 46 over, fell into ttsMoiW-Place but the fifth dwlfr-'did <-not. This is cardetfrpnmmber 13 on the handtiap; scare, but was ninth ffn iij e results, the field being 38 jpver. The eighth was anqlner which the play?rs fpdfld harder than ekpgS&C It’ is rated as the fifteenth for strokes, but warms'tenth in the results—37l,fofr. h Of the remainder, the one which stood but was the thirteenth,,, rated as the fourtli-TiardfiJl" hole, but thirteenth Ub . the scores. There were 23 birdies, 59 pars, and the fie(d,was only 12 over in 108 rounds. The short twelfth I ,* carded as the eighteenth ip stokes, was the fourteenth fiJpractical terms. And the Rt the field found easiest was the par-5 tenth, rated ‘ number 10. At that hole, there were 26 birdies, and 64 pars. This was the only ‘hole where the field showed a profit. In 108 rounds, the tally was four under the card.