Golf. (By "Mashie.")

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 144, 19 June 1909, Page 14

Golf. (By "Mashie.")

fAll results or notices of matches, competitions, etc., Bhould bo forwarded to Mashie beforo Wednesday for publication in this column.] Afc Ohristchurch. on Saturday the Wellington team played the local raeD at Shirley Links. Evidently the most interesting game was" that between B. B. Wood and Arthur Duncan The local man was At one time two up, but Duncan's consistent play kept him safe, and he triumphed at the 18th hole, the 17th boing haired. A x^Press Association tolograin estates that Duncan's play ''might well bear' down and terrify even one no novico in golf. For som» time 1 have had my suspicions —now I am convinced. Mr. Duncan does the boa-constrictor trick. Ho tomh'es his victim, renders him inanimate, and thon wins tho game. Diok Banks says the mashie is a club that generally gives the? average young golfer a great deal of trduble, though there is no reason why it should do so ; aa a rule it is a case of over-anxioty. The hole is close at hand, and thero is usually a bunker of Bomo kind guarding < it to catch the ball if not properly played. Many good rounds are spoiled through want of confidence in this particular club. Personally, ha is in favour of players using a fairly stiff shaft in their mashie, and : there is a less tendency to pull a ball I when tho shaft is firm. There aro many different kinds of blades, but ha uses a deep-faced one for preferences, as it helps to get the ball out of tho rough lies better. It is generally ' understood that there aro two kinds of ! shots with the mashio. One in the full, ! tho oth«r tho half-shot. Tho distance ono | nscally expects to get it from 80 to 100 ! yards, which it practically all carry; not mnch Iran off is, got if tho ball is hit i properly. It is p, very similar shot to a full iron, excepting that it takes the club | up a little more vertical and that com- j bined wifh tho natural loft of tho club ! gives tho ball a higher elevation. Many I gclferg, if they oould depend on making ] this shot correctly would soon bo on '' | scratch mark. The chief difficulty arises ' from their letting . the right kneo go into it too quickly, thus allowing the weight of lhe body to ffo' forward, which means > that the hinds get before the club head, i Consequently, the ball is sliced, or hit out of the 6ooket. There is no other shot in the game that requires mere steadiness with the body, when once tho position is taken up. This sfcroko must be playod with the arms rigid. Always allow the elbows to be slightly bowed, bo that it enables you to get a little loft on tho ball; it also gives a more effortless appearance to the «hot. The Parliamentary golfers ajre breaking their customary rota of greens for the holding of their annual competition this year (says the Field). On 15th May tho first stage of fcho Parliamentary Handicap wil be hold on the new course of tho Prinoe's Golf Club at Sandwich. To tho majority of the competitors this will be unfamiliar ground, and the result will bo ■fjhat tho matohes in tho first two roundß will bo played under novel conditionb. Hitherto the greens visited in turn have been Bya, littlestone, Deal, and St. George's, Sandwich. It waa lately announced tl?a<> a new event will b« played for ohortly on tho .links of the San Sebastian Club in tho north of Spain. This will b» the competition for the open championship of San Sebastian. From Biarritz and Pau the journey is neither particularly, difficult nor particularly long to reach the picturesque seaside town on the northern coast of Spain, whose district is still redolent with tho memories of tho struggle of our troops during the Peninsular War. Some of the best British and French professionals, it is stated, have been asked to come and compete for the championship at San Sebastian, among these being Braid', Taylor, Dominique Coussies (of Pan), Gasßiat (of Baden-Baden), and Gassiat (of Biarrite), with possibly Massy from La Boulio. San Sdbastian is between two and three hours' railway journey from Biarritz 1 , even by tho easy-going Spanish train service, . so that it ia quite poeuible for a fair number of, tho • tosfc .jwaftieur players- at Fmi,

Biarritz, and St. Jean de Luz to get to San Sobaatian and back again in ono day, with th© scoring .rounds in tho competition included. As the English season in these southern districts is now in full swing tho gathering at San Sebastian to welcome the professionals should be both largo and representative of some of tho best players in English amateur ranks. Home papers give an account of tho professional foxirsotno for £100 a-side, in which Jame3 Braid (Walton Heath), tho open champion, and J. H. Taylor (MidSurry), ex-champion, opposed O. H. Mayor (Burhill) and Goorgo Duncan (Hanger Hill), was concluded at Walton Heath lasb month, and resulted in a win for Braid and Taylor by 8 holes up and 7 to play. Mayo and Duncan, as tho result of tho first 36 holes' play, at Burhill, started tho day with a deficit of 5 holes, but tihoy had done ' such excellent trounds in practice at Walton Heath that a lot of interest was still loft in tho match. In the morning, however, they nevor onco succeeded in drawing nearer to their opponents than tho five holes differonoo, and, after being 6 down, at tho turn, Duncan and Mayo wero as much as 8 down at th« seventeenth, a win, at tho next hole, leaving them 7 down, with 18 to play. Neither Taylor nor Mayo was a* his best in the first round, but Braid and Duncan were in good form. The last-named drove ! very well, and for tho greater part of tho i trmo was considerably tho stronger playw of his sido, but appeared to become slaSk i when he realised that his partner wae off his gome. Mayo and Duncan just about held their own on tho- outward half, in the afternoon, and were still seven down at the turn. Mayo failed to hole a 3yds putt to halve the »enth, where, in consequence, Braid, and Taylor became dormy eight, a half, at tho next hole, giving the older playors tho match.