GOLFING HOLIDAYS

Evening Star, Issue 19002, 25 July 1925, Page 22

GOLFING HOLIDAYS

ART OF MAKING THEM HAPPY [Written by Harry Vardon, ;o” the ‘Evening Star.’! This is the time of year when people are laying the final plans for their summer holidays. More and more is golf becoming the medium that contributes the main pleasure to an annual vacation. Not only does it solve the problem of finding something interesting to do every day; it also provides something to talk about in the evening. ; There is an art in making a golfing holiday all that it ought to be. We can he care-free about it while still giving sufficient thought to details to extract from it, the whole of the benefits that it is capable of conferring. There are two ways of spending such a holiday. One is to proceed straight to a chosen course, and make it the headquarters for the period of the recess. This is usually the plan fixed upon by the family party of husband, wife, and children. Those whose holidays are not blessed by the presence of children arc adopting in greater numbers every year the scheme of a combined motor-car and golfing expedition, travelling from place to place and playing on a different course almost every day. The increasing popularity of this plan is one of the most notable developments in connection with latter-day holiday golf. It calls for a certain amout of organisation. It is highly desirable to make sure before starting that accommodation is available at the places at which it is proposed to spend the nights, and that the courses which it is intended to visit are open to strangers. At some, it is not merely a matter of being a member of a recognised golf club and paying the green fee in order to be eligible for a day’s play; introduction by a member of the club visited is absolutely essential. Still, the necessary arrangements are well worth making, for here is a holiday full of variety and entertainment. Moreover, it is almost as cheap as a holiday spent in one place. HOW MANY ROUNDS?

Those who have tried it, tell me that the ideal way is to organise a party of four—as, for example, husband and wife in companionship with husband and wife. There is then plenty of scope for arranging a variety of interesting matches and prompting the social enjoyment of the tour.

The perfect programme for a day’s golf in such circumstances consists of two singles in the morning and an oldfashioned foursome in- the afternoon. There are usually competitions open to visitors, and it is a good thing to take part in them, as a diversion from anything in the nature of routine. , There can bo no doubt that many people play too much, and too strenuously when pursuing a summer holiday. Little good can come of three rounds a day. To a person who ordinarily leads a more or less sedentary life, playing perhaps, only at week-ends with the exception of an occasional round in the midweek, it is excessive suddenly to begin the arduous task of engaging in fiftyfour holes a day. ■However keen he may be, he is sure to grow a trifle weary towards the end, anti to start hitting the ball in a slack way. There is no surer means of developing faults. In fact, it may quickly spoil a golfing holiday by putting the player off his game, and thus making him exasperated with the perversity of things in general. _ Although I almost live on golf courses, it is many years since I played three rounds in a day. Two are sufficient for anybody. ZEALOUS FRIENDS. When a player goes off his game during a holiday, the best possible thing for him to do is to seek the advice of the local professional. To try various experiments leads often to worse faults than those that already exist, and to take the advice of friends is sometimes worse. There are always a dozen people of various degrees of inefficiency ready to tell a player who is repeating a certain type of bad shot at hole, after hole exactly what to do in order to correct the error. They mean well, and very likely they think that, at some time or other, they have cured themselves of a similar fault by the means that they recommend. But if tho truth must be told, tliey_ are unconscious quacks, and the person off his game who tried the advice of all of them would soon be very glad, I imagine, to give up the game entirely. It is the professional’s business to be able to diagnose faults, and, as a rule, he can do it unerringly in. hour. He gets down to the root of things. It is half an hour well spent on a golfing holiday, for it may mean the difference between enjoyment and a constant scene of frustration. For family parlies, the summer holiday affords a golden opportunity—indeed, the only real opportunity during tha year—to‘see how the scions of the household are progressing at the game. Those who have a son or daughter of real promise could not <fb better than arrange for the young hopeful to play, whenever possible, with a golfer whose methods are werth copying. Most likely the local professional will meet the requirements in thip respect. At the impressionable ago of anything ■between fourteen and eighteen nothing is better than to be beaten bv a good player, for the way in which ho did it is nearly sure to be assimilated by tho youthful mind. And more is learnt, m that way than in any other. Ask for the "Spalding Red,” play with the “ Spalding Red.” and you will use only the “ Spalding Red.” Used by the world’s golf champions.—[Advt.]