GOLF NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 146, 23 June 1938, Page 27

GOLF NOTES

DEFEAT OF HUTT

MIRAMAR MEN PLAY WELL

PLAY IN WATT CUP

Using results of inter-club matches among the Wellington golf clubs competing in the Crawford Crescent and Squadron .Cup matches as a basis to determine the ibest of the younger golfers in the city would seem to be a profitless business. W. G. Home, of Hutt, entitled by bis success in the Easter provincial tournament, to rank either at or near the top, has been defeated in his twO: inter-club matches this season; ML R. Moore, top for Miramar, has defeated Home and been defeated by A. D. S) Duncan; I. A. Ewen has been defeated, by H. A. Black; G. P. Roberts has won from J. H. Drake and been defeated by E. W. Thurgood. And so on, in most confusing fashion. . , In the Squadron Cup fixture last Saturday, Miramar, blotted Hutt's record for the second time this season, Wellington having previously defeated the side at Heretaun'ga. : Miramar's success was meritorious, inasmuch as Hutt's team always appeals on paper at leas,t as extremely strong. And though,the bogy of strange conditions may have contributed to the team's two defeats, form so far suggests that both Wellington and Miramar will be pretty ■ difficult teams on the Hutt course. •'< \ ; ■'• ' :: -* ; -- •'■• ' , ' ; ' '• The task of deciding the most promising; or sat least the finest young golfer in the major clubs, is 'difficult. Home, Ewe'n, Roberts, and Moore, the four scratch, men,, all have their notable days. On Saturday, it was Moore and Roberts who were formidable. Roberts's defeat of a, player normally'as. steady 'as Drake, even though Drake was not at his best, was a fine- performance. And Moore's of Home was probably better, considering that Home, though npt hitting his shots consistently well, was still liable to be dangerous at any hole. .. Where Moore had an edge last Saturday and where he will always be formidable was on the greens. H. A. Black, who played with Ewen in a four with Moore and Home,. declared during the round that his own good putting during .the day originated m his- observation of Moore's wrist tion, with the clubhead pushed through in an, easy follow-through after impact. Moore stands on top of his ball with the club gripped high and strikes the ball so decisively that he is very seldom short. Ew.en arid Home, on the other hand, were having their adventures on the green, adventures Which included :timidity .and somewhat poor judgment of the line. Through the green, Moore swung freely and he snapped the' clubhead into the ball strongly and finely. Horhe,'; whose iron play is usually so well controlled, was not clicking with his clubs and his troubles included a tendency to take too much turf before impact. "He slowed' up his swing a little and watched the ball carefully. But there still seemed a kink which precluded accurate striking. There are suggestions at various times that Roberts deserves a higher ranking in the Hutt team. On Saturday, ■he was undoubtedly going well, and through the green his shots were; consistently fine. On the greens, he was as effected -;as.;Horne; - and Eweh, though he was strdkmg the ball better than they. At any rate, repetition of recent form by him should cause the Hutt selection committee some trouble. It was pleasant to note a return to form by Harold Black. His approach putting was one excellent phase of his play on the day/, possibly because of Moore's inspiration. But he was also hitting his woods with a deal more accuracy and length than in the match with Wellington some time previously. And he was able, because of his improvement, to attack throughout the match. At one or two holes he had Eweri scrambling for halves. And that sort' of treatment - -is most difficult to overcome. x WATT CUP MATCH INTERESTING GAMES The Paekakariki golf links were in. quite fair order considering the recent rain for the club's.Watt Cup match against Shandon last Saturday* The greens were inclined to be tricky, but taking it all round the links provided a good test of winter golf. The weather was fair, an' occasional heavy shower slowing up the greens. Shandon won by eight games to three, With one game halved. '■■-'' m F. H. Kember is a hard proposition on his home course, and he beat W. B. Reilly convincingly by, 5 and 4. Reilly received an early setback, however when his spoon connected with a stone in the fairway quite early iri the piece' and was broken. He promptly lost the next fbur holes. C. E. Hollis was patchy for the flrsl nine holes of his. match against J, Kember, but he came right on to ii in the run home to square the match, He has been playing useful golf lately, but he started badly on Saturday. The ex-Waiwetu player J. B. Wallace is one of those players who follows the centre of the fairway with monotonous regularity, and his close wort is accurate. He beat A. J. Craigheac in an interesting match by 3 and 1. • F. H. McDonald is not playing wel, at the moment. He is suffering on< of those spells experienced by all golf ers when it seems utterly impossible to do anything right. He is a gooc player and the lapse is merely tern There was nothing outstanding In.thi match between G. McGregor and A Smith, won by, the former by 2 am 1. McGregor was steady If, not bnl liant, but Smith had him (nr the aler towards the finish. . Incidentally, Mc Gregor's close match. was. almost re sponsible for P. J. Burke being Ibeatei in his match with P- Wheeler afte; having a commanding lead. The iou. played together and Burke won th< first five holes against Wheeler. Late; on he was 6 up with 7 holes to gi and was possibly toying with the idei of seeking the warmth of the club house in a matter of minutes. .How 'ever, Burke was very interested ii McGregor's close match with Smith and then the trouble started. Wheele; won on the twelfth and the score wa sup with 6to play. He won anothe —4 up and sto play. The next wa halved and Burke was dormy A Wheeler then proceeded to sink pheno menal putts at the'ttfteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth, to win them all an bring Burke to dormy 1. His grea effort failed at -the last hole,, wher Burke managed to halve and take th match 1 up. The outstanding feature of the gam between Go'llop and Hayward was th number of nasty stymies laid. Gollo was responsible for seven of them, bu they were not enough Jo take th stuffing out of Hayward, who won Jaegers was 3 up after thre holes in his match with Clark, bi then he slowly and surely proceede to lose the next eight in succession, t be beaten 5 and 4, _ —