GOLF

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 17, 21 July 1928, Page 22

GOLF

»y "CNM-MOr"

MUNICIPAL LINKS

MORPETH IN FORM MIKAMAK IMPROVEMENTS Very littlo golf of an outstanding nature has been played round Wellington lately, but with the gradual approach of spring, and drier courses, clubs may be expected to get into their stride in club competitions. Berhampore. Ratepayers are as a, rule more concerned with civic politics than golf, and it is not surprising that the City Council, in _ view of the extensive roadiug activities and expenditure of recent years, and estimates of considerable magnitude for the improvement of reserves, is chary of spending the public money on the improvement or control of the Berhampore links. To the average citizen, the municipal links mean merely a reserve alienated from other sports, and the expenditure of a few thousands pounds on them, remunerative though it would be to tho City Council, would havo little chance if put to the general vote compared with Buch proposals as tepid baths, though, from a health point of view golf, for those abie to take part in it, is certainly more vo uable. Pablie money is, however, _. 't needed to put Berhampore in a thoroughly satisfactory condition. The fees from golfers have been shown by the City Council itself to be ample for the purpose. The patronage of the municipal links may fluctuate a little seasonally, but, tr' 'ng the average at £30 a week, there is an annual return of £1500. Grazing rights return a further contribution, but even, if the grazing were discontinued, it is evident that this reserve is entitled to more expenditure than it has received. Lack of control is certainly responsible for most of the congestion, but the condition of parts of the links adds to it. A great deal has been done in clearing away gorse, and the fairways, apart from the natural cross hazards, are not in bad' condition, considering the energetic spade work done on them by novices neglectful, of the injunction to replace the turf, but the hazards themselves, in their present state, cause delays and many lost balls. If these were piped across the fairways, or drained in some way that would allow of turf taking the place of ooze, novices ■would lose less time looking for balls and average players who got into hazards, which anyone is likely to do on Berhampore in the summer when the courso is dry and fast, could have the experience of playing the recovery shots which every goffer, . however good, finds invaluable sometimes. The very fact that the majority of golfers on the municipal links are novices should encourage the City Council to provide them'-..with a course where they may play their shots. A short supplementary learners' course, from which they might graduate to the public links, would help learners, and relieve congestion, and for .his purpose little ground would be required. Christchurch is alive to the value of municipal golf, and though it is more favourably situated in the matter of level ground within reach of the city, it is stated that a thoroughly; good municipal course is to be put down there. Wellington would be hard put to it to find a course on a tramline, but the combined revenue from trams and links would justify a thorough searchof all possible sites for another links to relieve Berhampore. It seems to be difficult to get tho City Council to say anything definite as to the ultimate disposal of the sandhills at Lyall Bay. There is apparently some arrangement with the Defence Department which makes lengthy tenures subject to the consent of the Department, and the reticence of the City Council may be attributable to that aspect of the question. The matter is one that might well be taken up by the New Zealand Golf Council. Nobody learns golf so quickly, as a boy, but the majority of boys cannot afford the expense of joining a club. As a feeder of golf clubs Berhampore has already proved valuable. Berhampore Scratch Score. Mornington Club members consider that the standard scratch score of 65 allocated by Mr. Redhead is on the severe side. It has, of course, been impossible for Mr. Redhead to personally visit all tho courses' in tho Dominion, and he has had to work on distances alone. Such matters as condition of fairways and nature of hazards cannot bo estimated on some courses, but must be experienced, and Berhampore municipal links is one of them. The kind of lie that ono may find after a frisky draught horse has tried a slide following a gallop where he has dug. his hoofs well into th© spongy ground to get up momentutft cannot bo imagined, it must be felt, as it wero. How deeply such things can be felt when a good card is spoilt by them, Mr. Redhead no doubt knows, and if he played through and around cattle as well, and found his ball nestling in a neat round hole on the green caused by the high heel of some flapper learning the game, and realised that these things'are part of the daily round on Berhampore, no doubt ho would alter his conceptions of the scratch score. Quite probably he would say that until tho congestion of players and the matters referred to wero remedied, Berhampore should not be assessed as a golf courso at all. Until some such attitude is taken up by the New Zealand Golf Council, it is very unlikely that tho City Council, though its finds its municipal links one- of its best revenue-producing concerns, will go to the small expense which, would make it worth while for men who could do a C5 on a level, well kept course of the same distance, to play on it. Pending further consideration by Mr. Redhead, the New Zealand Golf Council is not asking Mornington Club members to adopt Go as a scratch score at present. It is thought by some golfers that the.standard "scratch scores now being fixed are slightly ' . the rigorous side, and too closely modelled on English par, while atmospheric and other conditions differ widely hero, but golfers should welcome standardisation ou fairly strict lines. If their own standard scratch is slightly lower than that of other clubs tney will score when they play away from home, and if tho general New Zealand standard is on the tight side, tourists abroad will find the benefit there. Notes. The seventeenth at Miramar is undergoing improvements, and play is for the present to a temporary green in front of the bunkers. The alterations will not make the seventeenth any easier for the slicer or puller, but they will I make it possible for tho good golfer to play a long second to the pin without penalties in tho way of "kicks." Formerly there was a pronounced slope from right to left in front of the green, which drew many a good second into trouble to the left. This has been cut down and levelled transversely, removing adventitious, disaster, while longitudinally the somewhat abrupt and nobby bank 'ending up to, tho green has beeu given a stream-line contour, allowing a well-played straight second to run up to the pin. An excellent feature Of the' improvements' is that the levelling has added to the height of the bunker walls on the exit side, stiffening up Hie hole, for those who made mistakes. Alex. Stewart, « prominent Eltham golfer, holed out in one at the third hole at Eltham (210 yards) last weekend.