GOLF

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 123, 26 May 1928, Page 22

GOLF

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WEEK-END PLAY DOUGLAS'S HOME RECORD GENERAL NOTES Tlie weather last week-end'was perfect for golf, and ;all'courses were busy. The ground has taken up the ' heavy dews and rains,-and is now, more in its winter condition. "With the warm weather, the glass lias grown on into the autumn more than usual, and where fairways are not cut regularly' it is considerably in evidence, but on all tho well-kept courses the fairways are in exuellent condition now and' the greens are steady and true. Miramar and Hutt. iMiramar A teams walked away witli the first seven games on the list. last week-end, nearly all /by big margins. Things were more even in the B teams, but the club win was a decisive one. J. H. Brake was at Miramar on Saturday, but only as a spetcator, a role ha will "not fill long, though he has suffered a severe set-back in his recent illness. His place as No. 1 was taken by. H. A. Black, who beat Eana Wagg 2 and 1, after a 'game that might have been cither's. These two young players are old club opponents, and whenever they meet it is always a close match. Black has just been made'plus 1 at Miramar, but his work .on the greens was not too good, while Wagg did not seem to be as good with his Jong game us usual. It was a strange match in several ways. The first was ingloriously halved in <s's. Wagg stymied, Black at the next, and won it in 4-5. * Black took threo putts at the long third, and Wagg was 2 up. Black took the fourth in 3. The.fifth was halved in 4's. Black's high inashie shot at the short hole landed ■ within putting distance of the cup, but stuck hard in, and his putt for a 2 was a'peculiar shot. Ho sank the next, however, and wou the hole, Wagg taking three putts, following a nice tee shot, and the game was squared. Wagg's wooden second at the long seventh was hooked, and landed pin high to the left of the bunker. He was short with his mashie. Black, in two fine long shots, was nicely on. the green, and laid his ball not three feet from the cup^ in 3, but Wagg's fourth laid him a dead stymie, with the ball on the lip, and the holo was halved in s's. The eighth was halved in 4's, Wagg missing a reasonable putt for a 3, and the ninth, through both missing easy putts, in 5 's. Both seconds went wide at tenth, Wagg's to the right in the rough, and Black's into the bunker on the left, and a half in s's : followed. Both ' were rough from the eleventh tee. Wagg found the bunker to the left' of the fairway, and Black had to take 2 to reach the side of the fifteenth green. He played a very fine iron, shut to the green, however, and the- hole was halved in s's, both missing putts for 4. Wagg's tee shot at the twelfth was got truly struck, anil\ the ball found a hanging lie on tho edge of the bunker fronting the.righthand cage of the green, and,, lifting his head, Wagg, was short. Black took the hole in 3,. standing 1 up for'the first time. Both missed four-foot putts at tho thirteenth, which w/is halved in s's. Black was nicely on the . fourteenth from tho ice. Wagg's iron shot at the fourteenth was not truly struck, being topped and hooked,, and the ball found tho bunker on the left of, the green, but Black, who ran up well, then missed a short putt. .Wagg approached we\l out of tho buiifcer, and got his three, squaring the game again. Wagg miss-hit his tee shot at tho fifteenth, and. Black .' won tho hole in 4-5. At the sixteenth Wagg's long drive found the 'rough near the ditch, and he was short with his mashie, Black winning the .hole in 4-5. Black dormie 2. Black's tee shot r1: the next was not of the best, but ho halved the hole, winning 2 arid 1. Tho cards were 80 and '83. N. A. Arthur and L. C; Hemery halv* every hole till the sixth, 5,. 4, 5,. 3, 4, 3. At the seventh Arthur found the natural sandbunker and weeping green whiskers on the right, and took several to get out, but the game -was all square again at the turn. At the fifteenth, Arthur was 2 up, but the sixteenth wa3 halved,- and Hemery won the last two holes, tho match ending all square, Berhamporo Congestion. It is only wnen someone is hurt that one hears much about, the congestion, on the municipal links at Berhampore, but it has existed for years, and nobody seems to think, it serious, enough to effectively, deal'with it. There are plenty of serious, golfers on Berhanir, pore, which has produced some of the finest golfers in New Zealand, but it it a public course, and' there is no control of the players, who start off at their own sweet wills, with the result ; that there is always more than.-one couple between each tee, and.sometimes as many as eleven pairs may be seen, standing one behind the other along the fairway of one hole. These are . the occasions when those who know no better play through from the back, and that nobody has been killed is merely a matter ofl luck. . Three instances of injuries recently provide a reason for again bringing up what is an evergreen subject. Like, the tramways, the golf course is one of the few paying city concerns, but it seems nobody's business to. see that the public get value for their money in either, case. From time to time sums of money have been placed on the estimates for a new club house, the present hutch being quite inadequate for the hundreds who visit the links during the week-ends, but tho matter never gets any further, If a new club houso wore built in the right place, half way round'the course, early players could start from both the tenth and first tees, but unless this weredone under .supervision, tho tanglo would only be worse. Tho City Council seems averse to spending money to improve what is a paying asset even in. its present condition, and which could be made to pay a good deal more if it were put on the proper basis. . . r . The Crawford Crescent. . The competition for the Crawford Crescent, a trophy annually competed for, is between the Hutt, Miramar,-arid AVcllington Golf, Clubs, restricted to cer* tain members of the A teams in intern club competitions. In intcrclub competitions between A teams Wellington has beaten Hutt, and Wellington ha* beaten Miramar, while Miramar hat beaten Hutt, so that Wellington would seem to have two legs in the first round, A Golf David. '■ \ Are Englishmen beginning to . tak« their golf, seriously? It almost 'lookt like it. Archie Compston, the North Manchester pro., has certainly _ siaia the Goliath of American professional* in what is very like a match for tha world's professional championship. Compston is a native of Wolverhampton, where he was born in 1893. _ He tied for second place in the 'British open championship of 1925, with a consistent series of cards of 76, 75, 75, 75, 301, against J. Barnes (U.5.A.)., 300. In 1928 he was eighth on the list in the open. He was runner-up for tha French open in1 1925, and in the same year was runner-up at the Boehainptou tournament, and won the Leeds Challenge Cup. ' That was the year in which ' he was beaten, 9 and 8, by Abe Mitchell in a 72-hole match for £.400, played over St. George's Hill and Wentworth. Ho' was , runner-up for th» Leeds 1000 guineas in 1924,