GOLF

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 124, 21 November 1931, Page 20

GOLF

(?y "Chipshot" CLUBS CLOSING DOWN

SUFdMER SEASON OPENING

GOLF IN THE DARK

The fine weather of the last thref weeks has taken many golfers who ar# never heard of in competitive play to the links, and as those who have fought out the> important contests of the seasou cannot keep away, most links are fairly full these pleasant mornings. and evenings, quite apart from week-end play. With the exception of the Wellington Club, whose season is a summer one, the majority of clubs have closed down their competitions until ne-xt autumn. This week-end the qualifying rounds for the Wellington Club'a championship will be played.

Housed at Last,

In past seasons the Mornington Golf Club, on the occasions when inter-club matches were played, was rather like the sociable bachelor, a diner out, because the Britomart street shed was neither commodious nor attractive enough to entertain visiting teams in. With the fine clubhouse erected by tha City Council, there is now every facility for returning the kindnesses of the past to other clubs, and it is being taken full advantage of. Waiwetu, as other clubs will who come to play Mornington on its own course, found that a certain amount of local knowledge was imperative. Visits by other clubs, and the suggestions made, will no doubt still further improve the municipal links. Much has been done in the clearing of gorse, etc., in the last fewyears, and the fairways only need continued mowing and rolling, where possible, to become excellent. Unless shots are placed with certainty, the scorea are inclined to be high, owing to the run of the ball on the steep country which comprises the links, and.so tha course is really harder than the length indicates. Perhaps that is why players with a Mornington handicap play, above it when visiting fairways less surrounded by trouble.

Summer Fairways.

Clubs are awaking to the need for watered greens, if summer golf is to bs played, but. so far none has attempted watering the fairways. Heretaunga is the ideal summer course, because the turf stands the dry weather well,- but! on most other links the fairways get rougher and rougher as the weather, grows warmer. Divots, even when stamped down, refuse to grow in in. most cases, and the pock-marked fajr« ways give atrocious lies. In America they water the fairways on some of. the first-class courses by large pipes laid more or less parallel with the Una to the hole, which spray the fairways when the. tap is turned. Such ■ expenss is beyond the majority of New Zealand clubs. It would greatly enhance the pleasure of summer play, however, i£ the fairways were watered over a space to cover the drives of both the medium and scratch players, so that they, could play their brassies off.live turf at-tha long holes, and this need not be a very; expensive matter.

Twice in 34 Years,

At the closing of the winter aeasda, of the Hutt Club on Saturday, the club' captain (Sir. A. G. Bush) congratulated Eana Wagg on winning the New.Zealand amateur championship, and also spoke of the worthy effort made by the club to win the O 'Borke Vase. Thetea things, together with the recent win* ning of the Wellington provincial championship played on the Hutt links, had brought prestige to the club, .and he was optimistic enough to hope that iii the near future a New Zealand championship meeting would be held.there. Wagg's winning of the New Zealand amateur title was the second occasion on which that honour had come to- th« club, the previous instance dating back to 1897, when William Pryde, one of the foundation members of the club, was amateur, champion of New Zea* land.

A Good Bound.

A splendid round was played- at Corstorphine, Dunedin, when W. Clay* tou had a 66. This round could veryj easily have been a stroke or two strokes better, as Clayton missed two comparatively easy putts in the first half. The figures for the outward half wera steady, but it was on the return- journey, which is rightly considered ths more difficult, that Clayton played sensational golf. His card read as follows; Out, 434453344—34; in, 434443334—32. Total, 66. The bogey for the first half is 36, and for the last nine holes 37.

Playing in the Dark.

The recent decision at Christchufca that a player was entitled to the assist* ance of a match, held near the hole, when it was so dark that he could not otherwise see the hole, pales in interest when compared with a match between Lord Kennedy and Mr. Cruickshank, which is described as follows in a London journal: "This game- was the result of a wager, and it took place on. a pitch-black night, when the sky was unilluminated by either moon or stars. Just try and imagine the weirdness of the scene. Each player teed-up in the feeble glow of a lantern carried by his caddie, and ho then drove off against what appeared to be a solid black wall in the direction of a twinkling pinpoint of light, which marked the hole in place of the customary flag. At different points in the fairway men were stationed for the purpose of following the course taken by each ball, and, oa account of the intense darkness, they had to rely on hearing rather than oa sight. The winner of this extraordinary match was Cruickshank, but unfortunately, there is no existing record of his score. One thing is certain, however, and that is, he did not create a record for the course!"

Boy's Golf Eecord,

Olaf Auftreng, an eighteen-year-old player, playing on the West • Kent goli course, did the eighteen holes in ■"!% The previous record for the course waS 73.

A Winged Hazard,

Early in a match at Canberra recently a visiting player who had made a good drive from the first tee was amazed to see a crow swoop down and seize the ball from the fairway. As the bird rose from the ground a magpie left a nearby tree and gave chase, uttering a challenging shriek. The crow swerved in its flight, and as the magpie attacked, dropped the ball and concentrated its efforts on eluding its small pursuer. The birds disappeared, but the ball could not be found: Soon afterwards the crow reappeared,- but each time it swooped down towards a ball the magpie appeared and put it to flight. The magpie apparently waa standing guard in a tree commanding a clear view of this part of the course. Several times, however, the .crow removed the ball from the fairway. Later in the afternoon the crow transferred, its attention to another part of the course, and succeeded in stealing, two more* balls before the magpie arrived on the scene and stopped its depredations. The craw and the magpie are regular visitors to the course. The crow has bieii dubbed "the winged hazard" and the magpie "the golfers' friend." Magpies pt Heretaung'a have no crows to discipline, but sometimes they distract golfers by fluttering and screeching round iheni when, t^jr «r# playing a shot.