"HELL" IN 2

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 105, 6 May 1933, Page 5

"HELL" IN 2

GREAT ST. ANDREW'S SHOT

Mr. 0. 0. Sutton, secretary of the New Zealand Golf Association, received a lettei: from Sir Thomas Wilford recently, in which he describes a wonderful shot played on the Old Course at St. Andrew's. This is the story as Sir Thomas tells it:— "In one of the most interesting clubs in the world —to me —I write to tell you of a wonderful happening on the Old Course hero.a few days ago. First of all you must realise the surroundings where the extraordinary shots were made. Those who know the 'Old Course' here, as against the 'New' and the Eden, will certainly know tho bunker well-named 'Hell,' near the fourteenth hole on the 'Old.' This hole is 527 yards now, it was formerly 460. 'Hell,' the big bunker, is near the hole—that is to say, it is a short mashie chip 'out' if you are lucky enough to get into the middle, but the bunker itself is about 15 yards in length, about 1G yards wide and in one place about 8 feet in depth. It is customary for a player of my calibre to try for a long second to the loft, say, about 200 yards, and then a mashie to the green if one is lucky. That is the route taken by all but the very big drivers, and as the hole is 527 yards you will see that the majority, especially when the ground is at all soggy, take the line I have indicated. "Now, for the actual happening. George Boothby, a.short handicap man, I think about 5 or 6, played a long first estimated at about 270 yards; he then hesitated as to whether he would try and carry the bunker with a chance of reaching the green or cut away to the left. Ho decided to chance it. Taking out his brassie he made a beautiful second, carrying the bunker, successfully negotiating various rolls in the ground, and landed safely in the hole in 2! "This has never been done before in the history of this club, which certainly is not modern, but ancient. I have been a long while telling the story, but it has been, the sensation of the St. Andrew's golfing world ; so naturally I send it to you. I playefl with Boothby last week, but he didn't do anything sensational, and his driving to me is very wonderful, for ho seenis to come back like lightning."