GOLF.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 21 June 1924, Page 11

GOLF.

In every centre the same succession of damp and cold week-ends has been experienced, and golfers are wonderum c t^€^ T ar ' e unc * er tiie uan of the clerk or the weather. .However, it takes a lot of discouragement to keen the enthusiast from nis round on the links, and it is a very rare thing to see no one out, whatever' the elements may be doing. The course has been very wet on the low-iving portions, but on the hillside- paddock and the sandy portion on the sea hone conditions are excellent. It is very pleasant to turn to the' latter after cornin'’through the .sticky section. The ex-’ peiience of the last few weeks makes one realise that those who maintain golf to be a summer pastime have muc-fT to support their contention. Still that nip in the air is wnat conduces to the best golf, and makes it the most enjoyable, ar.d the run in the bouse after a keen game is also very pleasant. The competitions are attracting fairly good entnes, and some good play is being seen, but the conditions generally have been adverse. Still the programme events conduce to a keenness of interest which would otherwise not be shown. They hare a distinct value to any club, and should induce regular practice.

The first golfers’ art union is now in full swing, and reports are received of very good support, and in some cases ol requests for more tickets. It will lie necessary for the chib to get the utmost possible from the scheme, and therefore all wlro a*re keen on the game, whether here or abroad, are asked to do all in their power to assist. The Dominion has a paragraph in last Wednesday’s notes on the scheme for Hawera under the heading of “Hawera’s New Course.” The writer says: “The growth of the popularity of golf is phenomenal, and even in New Zealand new courses are springing up day by clay. Hawera, like many another place, is finding that the land lent bv private owners for use as a golf course has become needed for other purposes, and the Hawera Golf Club has decided to take the bull bv the horns and have a links of its ■ own. As a. •commencement the club is holding a “First Golfers’ Art Union,” of £l5O value, by permission of the Minister of Internal Affairs, to assist to purchase the freehold of a suitable property. The problem of finance is a pressing one ifi all similar attempts to secure freehold links, but the work that can be put into a permanent course without loss to the promoters ultimately admits of the charging of an entrance fee and subscription that more than compensate for the initial anxiety, and such is the increasing popularity of the Royal and Ancient Game that it is very unlikely that the Hawera Club will regret its initiative.”

H. R. Blair, professional at Shirley, says in some remarks on mnshio play : “To the indifferent mnshio player let me make this suggestion: Take‘a halfswing so that the head of the dull is in line with your waist, and stop the club there and see if the toe of the club is pointing straight upwards. If it is not, take it back again and make it do so, and you will get results that will improve your semes.” It should he north trying. The successful forming of the English Golf Union ot Manchester marks rT big step forward in the control of the game in England. The proceedings were private, but at their conclusion the following official statement was issued to the press:

- “L Raynor Baftv presided, with A. Wright acting as secretary. An English Union was formed. Adrafting committee of the Lancashire, Yorkshire. a.nff Cheshire com in it tees was appointed. It was decided that, the name of the Union should he the English Golf Union, which should eonsisF of golf unions of England. The union recognises tlm Royal and Ancient Club of St. Andrews as the ruling authority. The first objects of the union shall he

(a) to help to set up a uniform system of handicapping; (b) to arrange an English championship, inter-sectional competitions, and such matches as may be decided by the executive committee; (c) to further the interests of the garnet in England. It was decided to appoint officers as follows: A president, a ( vice-president, honorary secretary, honorary treasurer, and an executive committee of sixteen members, no county to have more than two representatives. The joint honorary secretaries. pro tern, are Arthur S. Wright, honorary secretary Lancashire Union’ Whitehouse, Altringham, Cheshire, and Geoffrey Tweedale, honorary treasurer Cheshire Union, Landiway/ Wilmslow, Cheshire. ”

The golf definition of the simplicity of th,e golf swing is given by an Australian writer: “Too many people, instead of using the club head to hit the ball with, either hurl their shoulders or their hips at it, in the vain hope of driving the ball two or three hundred yardff. All you are advised to do after taking up your address is to make the body revolve on an imaginary vertical spindle, so to speak. Just imagine yourself for one moment a Maypole, and your club the children running around it. The only difference is that the club, after travelling a little way round, suddenly takes an upward movement over the right shoulder (in the case of a right-handed player), returns on the same line to the ground behind the ball, only to repeat the performance on the left side of the body. Your hold on the club must only be sufficient to stop the club from slipping out of the hands, otherwise your wrists, etc., must be as pliable and as flexible as possible, so that the actual weight of the club may be thrown through the lowe* half of the ball.” This is in conti’ast to the initial advice of one professional, with reserved comments and instruction upon the re-! suit, “Stand up and hit the thing.” j Ad usual, the account cabled about the final of the amateur championship of Britain was lacking in any detail, and we will be left for a few weeks to find out what happened to 'several wellknown players, including Roger Wethered. who won the event last year. E. W. E. Holderness, who won the event this year, has been well known in golfing circles over a number of years—ever since he played for Oxford University at the age of 22, in 1912. In 1921 he represented England against America, and has ever since been among the leading British players. Last year lie was again to the fore, and he and Mr. Hope provided one of the sensations of the golfing year in the Walker Cup contests, After committing every golfing sin imaginable the British pair were 6 down to Messrs Heron and Ratan in eighteen holes. The British pair fought with tremendous courage to the bitter end and saved the match. At the sixth in the afternoon they were still 6 down. After a remarkable recovery the opponents found themselves all square and one to go, and Mr. Holderness won the last hole with a two-yard putt. Mr. •Holderness was born in Lahore, India. He belongs to Walton Heath, Rye, and Denham Clubs.

In a championship final between Sinclair and Armstrong in Sydney last week the scoring was particularly good, and it is worth remark that in the last nine holes both came in on 38 and 4i<] exactly the same for each hole. The figures were: —Sinclair: Out, 5, 5, 43, o, 4,3, 4. 5—38; in, 5,3, 4,4, 5,' 5, 3,4, 5—38. Armstrong: Out, 5,5, 5, 3. 5 (7),3, 4, 4—41; in, 5,3, 4,4, 50, 3,4, 5—38. THE APPROACH SHOT. Writing in the Lyttelton Times on the subject of the secret of accuracy in the approach shot, Aubrey Boomer makes some very interesting remarks. Inter alia he says: ‘‘l often wonder whether one-half of the members of the big galleries who follow the great masters in their championship battles learn, or realise what is to be learnt, from the execution of the shots they play. Rather, I fear, more interest is centred in the score accomplished than in the manner of its achievement. In the Channel Islands, where I was born, a year after the greatest of our golfers, Harry Vardon, won his first open championship, my thoughts turned to this wonderful golfer as soon as I began to play the game. Harry Vardon was not at his prime when I first had the pleasure of seeing him play, but I .have played with him since the war on many occasions, and when I hear golfeirs state that for two years Vardon was never seen to make a had shot, I can only think that in his case there must have been a perfect combination of concentration and execution.

I have watched Vardon play what should be the simple shots of the game —the plain shot of, say, fifty yards on to an uns>iikarded green. There are so many ways of playing this plain shot ,that the very simplicity of it tempts the golfer to slacken his concentration, with the result that he plays neither a pitch nor a run, and. very often, not a shot at all. It is a fine mental exercise to watch Vardon playing these shots to-day, and only those of us who have attempted to model some part of our game upon that of Vardon’s can realise lio\v much there is to be learnt from it. What I do now is to keep the club and left arm all in one line on the up-swing, and therefore compel it to come down in exactly the same way. That is what I seem to see Vardon do, and I find it gives me the best average result. Harry Vardon plays the shot from the forearm, and not from a bent wrist. If there were any tendency at all to bend the arm, it came at the elbow. Th© chief advantage of this shot seems to me to be that the ball can be hit much firmer, owing, doubtless, to the lack of wrist work. The wrist action adds to the power of a shot. But that is just what is not required in shots of the kind we are discussing. T feel quite sure that if we could hit our short putts twice as hard as we dc, we should not miss so many of them. Let us take, for example, Mr. Francis Ouimet. who is one of the best putters alive. He putts with a stiff left wrist, because he has found the easiest way to absorb the power. So it is in approaching as in putting. It is probable that a short period of practice with this shot will convince golfers of the value of the straight left wrist; not only in the matter of distance, but in the point of direction, too. In the case where much action is used the stiffening of the wrist, which must come at the moment of impact. is the most, important point. At the instant the ball is struck the left arm and wrist should be in straight line, and should remain so even in the follow through. If too much right hand has teen put into the shot the tendency will he for the right hand to cross the left at impact, with the consequent turning over of the face of the dub. A DEMOCRATIC GAME. The democratic side of golf, which, bv the way, has not yet made'any decided appearance on this side of the world, was much in evidence last week at Home. The cable messages tell us how tho. Duke of York, partnered by Captain Basil Brooke, played a. foursome against Mr Frank ‘ Hodges, a member of the present Labour Govern-

meat, and Mr Evan Williams, an official of the Miners’ Federation. In all probability the occasion was the opening of the Ton Pentre links (constructed by the miners), near Pontypridd, for there is no mention of a links of that name in the register of courses. Most people may not know that golf matches between the mightiest people in the land and the lowliest have hv no means been uncommon in the past. Strange to sav, the most illustrious instance oi such a combination relates to a former Duke of York James II.), who, in partnership with one John Patersone, a shoemaker of Edinburgh, easily defeated, over the links of Leith, two English noblemen who had challenged the Duke. His Highness, we are told, was so pleased with his victory that he gave half the stakes to his partner Patersone, and it is recorded that the canny Scott built himself a house in the Cannongate with the money. So the stakes must have been considerable. In quite recent times Lord Balfour —then plain Mr Balfour—used to take a Parliamentary team of golfers to Scotland in the autumn, which engaged in matches with teams composed entirely of fisher folk in the villages on the east coast of Scotland. The matches were of much mutual enjoyment, even if victory generally did not veer towards the rough sons of the sea, most of whom had swung a golf club long before they could puli an oar or hoist a mainsail. OXE SWING FOR ALL SHOTS.

Vardon, in one of his very interesting articles for the Christchurch Press, stresses a principle which is very valuable to all learners. He says: My reason for suggesting that there ought to be a hazard calling for a carry from nearly every tee is that I think that nobody will ever develop veal skill, at the game unless be acquires the gift of getting the ball well into the air instead of making it fly iow and run.

One of the first etTects of the introduction of the far-running rubber-cored ball was to cause several well-known links architects to set to work on the principle that a hazard stretching across the course was an out-of-date Unfair institution. Their idea was, I think, that it all depended on the direction of the wind whether the moderate player would get into it from his best shot or carry it. It is sometimes said that the crossbunker can now claim to have broken down the wall of prejudice which was consolidated against it. Its right to be regarded as a worthy feature of the golf course has been freely, admitted during the last few years, but I am far from thinking that it has been revived in the measure that it deserves. It is one of the essentials of a proper realisation of golf as a science. The person who enedavours studiously to make his tee shots fly low (he- is sure to try it when there is nothing to stop him, because such drives travel a little farther than those which are hit up in a plain, straightforward manner) never learns to execute his iron shots properly. In its fundamental principles, the golfer’s swing is the same for all strokes. Its length varies from fullness to shortness, according to the distance that has to be covered, and the disposition and movement of his feet are governed by the same consideration. But while he stands in a much more stable way for the mashie- shot than for the drive /the feet planted firrnlv on the ground all the while instead of that rise on the inside of the left foot which is necessary to accommodate a full swing), the actual method of wielding the club does not vary in a manner of which he is conscious.

By that very token is it certain that, if he plays the flat, running fee-shot, he will produce the came effect in his iron shots and little nitches, which, as often as not, will rim to perdition.” It is better to play one round of golf and feel good than to play two rounds -tind feel tired out.

It- is often an advantage to be able to play a- stroke with a considerable amount of slice. This is most easily obtained b3’ adopting your normal stance and playing the ball in your ordinary way. ‘‘Fore!” yelled the choleric 3-down man to a lady wheeling a perambulator across the fairway. “Call three and eleven three farthings,” suggested the veteran, “that will make her look up.” Kirkwood’s practice at trick shots stands him in hand in many tight places. Playing in a four-ball with Emmett French, at Pinehurst, against Gene Sarazen and Jock Hutchinson, his drive at the first hole finished against a tree in suc-h a position that it could not be played right-handed. He took a left-handed club and played a marvellous shot, which reached the green and went close enough to the hole to allow him to sink a three, which was one under par. Incidentally, he and French won the match. - The Golf Association of the United States has approved the use of steel shafted clubs for all championship competitors. The steel shaft was recommended for approval by the Implement and Ball Committee of the association, which reported that the steelshafted clubs as they are at present manufactured afford no playing advantage over, the wooden-shafted implements. This decision was reached after the committee had made exhaustive tests. It was pointed out that the uso of the steel for the shafts of golf clubs would tend to conserve the supply of hickory now used for wooden shafts. The rapid growth in popularity of golf has forced some manufacturers to use hickory which has not been properly seasoned, and consequently faulty clubs have appeared. The executive committee of the U.S.G.A., in sanctioning the u.se of steel-shafted clubs, reserved tin, right to alter or amend its decision in the event that the manufacturers depart from the style of clubs submitted to the officials for the tests. At the monthly meeting of the New Zealand Golf Council, applications lor affiliation to the association were received from the Featherston Golf Club and the Helensville Golf Club, and both were elected members of the association. The secretary reported that he has also received inquiries from the Hawarden Golf Club and the Te Puke Golf Club asking for information with regard to joining the association. A letter was received from the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrew’s giving more fully their reasons for not being able to confirm the decision of the appeal committee of this association last year in a case submitted by the Christchurch Golf Club, pointing out that the decision, No. 82, upon which our appeal committee relied, is not on all fours with the Christchurch case. Decision 82 had reference to an unsigned card being returned, and it is interesting to note that the St. Andrew’s ruling regarding cards which are not handed to an official hut placed in a, box is that such cards cannot afterwards be withdrawn from the box for signature.

GENE SARAZEN’S SWING. The-interesting series of slow motion pictures were seen by many golfers in some centres, and proved very valuable in showing his position and the perfect working of body and arms at different periods of the swing. The following are a few points worth

special attention and study, as showing his avoidance of some faults into which many fall: —.

A point to he noticed in connection with the swing is that there is no bending of the left wrist in the slightest degree, until the club has been taken to a point about parallel with the ground. Then, as the club benins to proceed over the point of the right shoulder, there is a gradual bending of both wrists.

Sarnzen’s right elbow is never allowed to escape from a position fairly close to the side, and the hody turns SO completely that the right elbow at the top of the swing is underneath the shalt, and never cocked up. Another point worthy of notice is that even in his mashie-niblick shots there is no attempt whatever to keep the face of the club pointed towards the hole at the finish of the stroke On the contrary every single shot is played with the toe of the club commencing to turn immediately the ball is struck, the right hand crossing the left He evidently does not believe m playing the crash sort of shot in the way so many amateurs and some professionals play it, where the endeavour iiS made to throw both arms straight out towards the hole, the face of the club being kept straight on to the hole after it has struck the ball.

THE LOST DRIVE. (John Doe, with no apologies). Playing one day on the golf links 1 was foozling and ill at ease, And my ball was slicing badly As 1 1 drove it fro™ the tees. 1 m° n t k ” ow i f T was trying To Teach the green in one Rut i drove such a ball at the 18th As the Colonel has never done. It flew from the tee like a swallow, Or a cannon-ball from the gun • It seemed as if Tolley and Kirkwood, And I had been made into one.' It sped over hazards and' bunkers, Like a, hare from the greyhound it irow; S€€ med like the living echo Of all my dreams come true. * It salved all my topping and slicing, And was balm to my troubled soul. As it slowed to a gentle ! >pproa oh-shot, And ended a foot from the hole. I have read all the text hooks and practised To get that drive again, That perfection of length and diiection— But theory and practice are vain. It may be on golf links elvsian I shall once more drive as well; It may be that only in iye.o7.nl— it may be —but who can tell?