TOO MANY CONTESTS?

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 126, 30 May 1935, Page 25

TOO MANY CONTESTS?

Are there too many golf contests, or not enough? Opinion on this matter is divided. - The club member on a double-figure handicap is apt to complain of the number of times during the year when he is debarred from the relaxation the game gives him because of contests which usurp the links, contests in which he "•* cannot take part with any hope of distinction. It must be borne in mind that the ordinary club member is the backbone of club financially, and as such deserves consideration. There are some older clubs which are positively embarrassed, when some new cup if presented, to find a space in the: club's fixtures for. any new event to honour it, and there is some truth in the statement that there are enough of such competitions, which are mostly handicap events. There is a considerable body of golfers, by no means restricted to mid-week; play, whose golf is of the chatty,.eomfprtable order, and' who: prefer to. pic Jv! their games with friends, playing when they feel like it. Competitions 'do not appeal to: them.

There is no doubt, on the other hand, thatiyoung, enthusiastics.players who are getting down to' low handicaps like to get out.of the card and pencil trophy fixtures into match play with men on slightly-better marks than their own. A sufficient number of cards must r of, Gourse be handed in to keep handicaps W. order'but young players on the'fniark'or-better like to meet men of-'their own quality outside their, s pwn Clubs,-arid?the opportunities Voiding;so arenot-tiiiny. The ;gop;d;pla^er*lare^w%iteidm::their: teams for aaaMbst of ■them'^an play :cfaly ; l)n'days when such fixtures a^e se^idowri:" The result is that;,:except for RTjO^incial tournaments and pertiaps r.the;;:;natiorial meeting, if they can; afford the:;texperise, they meet no. one except-the..[players they are accustomed to meet m inter-club games. Everyone knbws-pf instances of golfers with possibilities-;Vd nobody in their clubs to give th'eriv the beatings which will teach them their mistakes. Golf is not all shot-making, or mere practice would-do it, }t is largely generalship and temperament, and these come only ! after playing with, better men. "The, idea;has been put forward that lnterprovincial team matches would meet-lthis"requirement. These need not be. played, .it is suggested, at one huge tournament, but one province could play "another, Wellington v. Auckland, say, at.Wanganui, saving half the travelling; Expenses, and. the victors could engage Hawke's Bay, etc., the same idea to be carried out in the South Island, Othe surviving team of each island to meet in the final. At present the provincial championships, while- they sort out the best golfers in the province, and give local golfers some match play opportunities with those from other provinces, do hot encourage provincial competition. Here, again, the opinion of the great body of golfers which pays for the encouragement of the game in the Dominion maybe :tnat; there is too much competition..in. goU today, and that it;is robbing ttfe game of its appeal,, as a. game; This; may be; true to some extent, bjit. competition is inseparable from golf; whether it is be-1 tween, scratch men ".or .those* who are happy if they break. 90- a superfluity of strokes 'loses the game.- There is little likelihood of 'the mediuiri handicap player having tovtake part in>a provincial contest between teams of perhaps^ten players. ' The. r chief' difficulty would lie in. getting,,ten players ■away at the same time for. the,event.