TOURNAMENT COMMENCES TO-MORROW

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 91, 14 October 1926, Page 12

TOURNAMENT COMMENCES TO-MORROW

PRELIMINARY PRACTICE GAMES

AUSTRALIANS DELIGHTED WITH COURSE.

The eonleat for (lie open and amateur golf championships u£ the Dominion, which opens at Minimar to-morrow, is the. most important that has ever taken place in. flic history of the game in .New Zealand, 'both by reason of the number of entries, and the quality of the contestan ■. Tlie leading Australian player, Hector Morrison, is a stroke better on his New Zealand rating than our best. • Ho did a 7G yesterday with two <>'s in it", on a windy day, quite premising on a strange course. He hits a beautiful tee shot, low and straight, and the rest of his game is what one would expect from his wooden shots, and from the holder of the New South Wales amateur championship. It is fortunate that, with the visit of such a redoubtable Australian, New Zealand is putting in a stronger representation of its golfers than has graced any previous tournament, and equally lucky that some of our best are playing better than over they did. Miramar was a busy place yesterday, as all the leading players were making the most of the opportunity of learning the few new features of the links. Goss (Wanganui), B. V. Wright, the brilliant Timaru youngster, N. 801 l (Hamilton), the Qui'n brothers (Eltham), Dr. K. Ross (Dunedin), Moss (Auckland), G. M. Dod.gshun, and N. 11. Bull (Hawkcs Bay), J. Harold (Wauganui), E. M. Macfarlaue and H. W. Macfarlane (Christchurch), A. G. Sime (Westport), and all leading local players, including A. D. S. Duncan, the "Bobby" Jones of New Zealand golf over half a century, and as good as ever, were all out in the morning. An interesting match was played between the Tournament Committee and the Australians, in the afternoon, which ended in a draw, two games each side, and one game drawn. The No. 1 match was played by A. D. S. Duncan and H. C. Kirk, and Hector Morrison and W. A. Windeyer. The Australians, and, indeed, all the visitors arc delighted with the course, and well they may be, as though there may have been others as good, there never had been a better course in a New Zealand championship meeting. The rain recently has slowed things up a bit, and if there is any more there will be none of the sensational scores in.it attend fast fairways when the best golfers congregate, as there is now very little run on the ball, but the turf is all the better for the rain, and as the mowers are busy, the links should be in the very best condition through the tournament. The new fifteenth is being played, and there are some minor alterations to the course, which has been re-measured for the meeting. MIRAMAB, JOYS AND PITFALLS. A brief description of the course may interest those who will follow the fortunes of friends during the meeting. The whole links have been stiffened up and improved for the championships, and they now form a formidable test of golf. Tho first hole is simple. 475 yards long, with trouble from the tee for slicers and pullers, and a ditch and luscious rank grass for topped shots. A well-placed second should leave the green open, but the green is well trapped for those whose seconds go astray, and a deep narrow ditch adds to the terrors of a long approach. In a strong southerly this hole proves quite long enough to reach in three; Bogey is 5.

A good deal of rough faces the tee at the second hole, but it should ■be cleared from the tee even in a strong northerly. It is not a difficult pitch on to the fairly wide green for an expert, though tho green is well surrounded by trouble and is hard to reach with an iron second in a high northerly. Bogey is 4.

The third is ido yards. On tho right the stony rough comes in almost in a line for the hole, and those who play it as a dog-leg are apt to run into the rough on the' left, if they give the bali a little, "draw" for length. Long hitters, with a following wind, may play straight, but it is a narrow fairway and hummocky in patches. The green is open, but trapped sideways and behind. Bogey is 5.

The fourth is a nice iron shot on a still day, 209 yards. It is well bunkered, and some of the rough behind it is of the hairy kind. Flax and swamp wait for really ragged shots to the right. Bogey is 4, but it is often done in 2.

A straight tec shot is imperative at (he fifth, 285 yards. The sliced tec shot, in a wind, may do a ram's horn waltz into lupins, rushes, or marram grass, while a bad hook will find lodgement in flax bushes. The green can be reached by the really long hitter. Medium drivers who are straight may find a soft patch in the hollow for their mashie shots. The green is well trapped all round. Bogey is 4. The sixth is an ideal short masluc hole, with no special features save a raised tee, and trouble all Tound the hole, which is no longer blind. It is 106 yards, and bogey is 3. The seventh, "Hillside," 415 yards, is one of the most interesting holes on the course, too interesting for many. Destined to be a historic hole during the championship meeting, a detailed description of its terrors may not be amiss. "Wind plays a large part in this narrow, dog-legged fairway, and a head wind (northerly) calls for two good wooden shots to be within a chip of the green, while accentuated slices or hooks invariably find a gritty refuge, with trimmings, or "simple, of itself." A sandy chasm yawns about drive length on the right, while on the left there is a low, sandy hill. Shaggy herbage persists in existence everywhere, and the golfer who gets a straight drive is faced with the problem that the green lies behind tho shoulder of the hill. It looks so simple to play for this carry that too many do it. The twitch on that slope is very healthy. The ideal way to play this hole in calm weather would be to play to tho left from the tee, but it very rarely is calm. The green is well bunkered." Bogey is ."i, and the fairway is one of the finest turf .on the links. The eighth is a well bunkered 270 yard hole, plainly visible from a high tee, the latter fronted by a flax patch. This hole was very narrowly open in front until recently. Bogey is 4. The ninth, 4IJO yards, and tho tenth, .".HO yards, are chiefly of interest from the direction of the wind, which makes them easy bogey s's, or much otherwise. Both are skilfully trapped for long hitter a. Another extremely interesting hole is the eleventh, 400. yards. A dog-leg drain traps poor tee shots and long slices, and tho positions unskilful players get into at this hole call for, guarded description in a newspaper. Hooked tee shots of any length will find rest on a rough, matted slope, while seconds ever so slightly to the light find bunk,r.s. Bogey is' f,.

II: (lie golfer does not pull into Iho lonji row of workers' dwellings Uiat Hank Km fairway, nr coirm lo rest in skilfultj; invisible |iot bunkers lourtU

(he green, the twelfth is just a nice iron shot on a still day. Sometimes it is a good shot with tho wood. It is 175 yards, and it does not pay to run through into the marram grass. Bogey is ■'!. Bar a small pot bunker to the left, and a parallel ditch on the right, there is plenty of room on the fairway of tho thirteenth, 380 yards, from the tee, but the iron (in a northerly) or wooden (in a southerly) second must be straight as the green is well trapped. Bogey is The fourteenth is an iron shot hole, surrounded, perhaps not plentifully enough, with shallow bunkers. Bogey is 3. The fifteenth is a new hole, made to avoid the blind "Crater," the pride of all those for whom it had old association?, anil the most disliked hole for others. A gap lias been cut in the saudliill, ami a new fairway laid down through it. A good drive leaves the hole in plain view, a short iron, or mashic shot away, according to the player's drive. The approach lies over undulating fairway, with a dip to the right, and only the pitch shot can be played with any certainty where the ball will finish. The green slopes upwards to the buck. Bogey is 4. The sixteenth is a drive and a niashie shot in still weather. The drain has to be crossed with the'latter, and tho green is well bunkered. It is 025 yards. Bogey is 4.. The seventeenth and eighteenth are chiefly interesting by reason of their length, 470 and 490 yards, and also by the pranks that the wind plays with untruly hit balls. Bogey in each ease is 5, rendered more difficult by the bunkering round the greens, which is artistic. The strengthened bunkers all over tho links add to the difficulties of the championship, and if tho weather is wet tho packed sand in them will prevent those explosion shots which so often lay the ball near the pin. The open championship commences tomorrow, and ends on Saturday, when tho best 32 scores will have qualified for entry to the amateur championship commencing on Monday.