AMATEUR GOLF

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 19, 22 July 1932, Page 3

AMATEUR GOLF

MEMORIES IN BRITAIN

WHEN TAIT WAS CHAMPION

ENTRY OF AMERICA

The final of another Amateur Golf Championship has-been played. All through the week Muirfield Golf Course has been crowded with enthusiastic golfers: golfers with handicaps varying from scratch, to 18, eichone following his own particular "\ hero, mentally applauding hia fine / "shots and groaning inwardly over his fluffs and foozles, writes J. Cornwallis West in the London " D.aily Telegraph.'' Still, most scratch golfers will admit that, except, possibly in the .semi-final and the final, to play in the Amateur Championship is "not nearly such a severe test of nerves as the championship proper. Why is it that nearly all amateurs and many professionals loathe the sight of a. card, whereas match play is a comparatively simple affair and offers no such terrors? . . , /The. first Amateur Championship 1 ever witnessed was when Freddy Tait won it.at Sandwich in 1896. I had become an enthusiastic golfer two; years previously, when cramming for the Army in. Jersey, the nursery of many fine players such' as the Va'rdous, Eenouf, and others. The opportunity oif seeing it arose through the fact that I knew I was to-be detailed to proceed to Caterham to escort some recruits back to Dublin, where I was quartered. If I could arrivo in England 48 hours early I could see the ante-final and the final matches. • "AN OLD MAN'S GAME. '' I'shallAnever. forget my C.O.s fac'o when I explained my reason for asking for two days' extra leave,. The truth was that hardly anyone south of tho Tweed playedgqlf in- those days. Certainly there were some'wonderr'ul seai side courses la England at the time such as St. George's at iSandwieu, Deal, Bye. Westward, Ho! and one or two others, whose members we?o all enthusiastic golfers, but;-fchere were very jfew inland courses.,- The ignoraut considered it an1 old man's game and looked down upon it. However, although'my CO. did not know the difference between a driver, arid a putter, he gave mo leave. • '. I knew Freddy Tait slightly and bad seen him play golf; and that was enough for nic to wap to see him perform again. Besides being'the longest driver of his day, Tait was aVyery remarkable golfer, especially in match plajr, in that he would never admit defeat. An occasional bad hole made no difference to him; his opponent never knew what it felt like to have the .match in his pock;et;' . .■■■■ ~;;" .-..■- •' ■. ■ A HARD BOW. In 1896, for the-first time, 36 holes had to be played in the final. The luck of thoidraw in that year was remarkable, as Tait, if successful, would have to take on such renowned golfers as Hutchings, Laidlay, John Ball, Horaco Hutchjnson, and Hilton, His best match was in the semi-final with Horace Hutchinson, whom '.he beat 3 and 2. /In the final ho defeated Hilton easily by 8 up. In the following year, 1897, the Amateur Championship, held at Prestwick, was memorable for one of- the finest matches ever played in that competition. ; ','■•' This was the' final between Freddy Tait; and John Ball. At the 36th hole they were all square, and it was at the previous hole that Tait made.his never-to-be-forgotten shdt, when, taking a niblick to a ball lying in several inches of water, 80 yards from .the hole, he laid it dead., The match Was not won Uhtil the '3,7 th '; hole, when Ball got *a three, or is now called an eagle British^gblf BtiffWed a severe loss in 1900, wji^n, as in bflicei! in the: Black Thatch, *ait was killed by a^Boer/ Bullet when the Highland Brigade was mas■sjfere*i iit^ij^syßiSjjiitein. ••;•':/'.■.■ ;;!Anlrtfl^ch^piiriship J. well remem--I)e'^ was that of !1906, when it was won by Mr. Walter Travis, an American, who beat Horace Hutchinson in the semifinal and Edward Blackwell in the final. It wag an unexpected win, as the British amateur golfers', owing to the success >of. an' amateur team sent to tho United States a year or two before, had no great opinion of American amateur golf. Nor-was it a popular win; the conservative British golfer objected to the dome-shaped felt hat worn by Travis and .the long black cigar which he sindked the whole'wa'y round; ho also made ,ajl aggravating practico swiug before each- stroke, and, in addition, used an aluminium putter which looked more like a croquet mallet than a golf club, and, which, .was subsequently banned.by the gt. Andrew's Committee. * aobM in oi.inßß.

-'■- His victory had the effect of causing an'enormous toom in: aluminium clubs, so much so that the Mills company produced a wholes set, from a niblick to a driver, made of the same. metal, but their popularity/ was'short-lived. The standard of golf, as of all other games, has improved enormously in re- ( cent years. ' Young^ amateurs, such as the Hartley brothers, think nothing of driving a b/Ul put of sight, and, indeed, Freddy, Tait's famous, drive, in 1893, when he carried 250 yards, with a total length of 341 yards, must be an everyday occurrence ftr them and others of the same caiibre. ~-■-,. ,

Tait's best round at Sandwich in 1896 was 74, and "constituted a record; since then the course has been considerably lengthened, but.in spite of this 74 is nol at all an out-.of-the-way score amongst those whose, handicap .is on the plus instead of tlie minus side. -