GOLF.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 4 October 1924, Page 11

GOLF.

Three interesting fixtures in the local club are fixed tor next two week-ends. On October 11 will be played thePatron v. President teams match and the senior championship final, and on the succeeding Saturday will be the official closing day. when mixed foursomes will be played and the presentation of prizes will be made. The committee hope to see many visitors on the latter day. The senior championships are now approaching a most interesting stage, and the meeting of O’Callaghan and J. Quin is being looked forward” to very much as a fixture which will certainly provide a fine exhibition of golf and a very keen contest. A very popular meeting was the visit of the New Plymouth Ladies’ Club team to- Hawera. The visitors brought a pretty strong team, and Hawora got- out their best to counter' them. The fairways are giving unmistakable evidence of the approach of spring and of the close of the ordinary winter season. The grass is growing much too fast, and unless heavily stocked with sheep, as liasi been done in previous years by Mr Tonks, play will be difficult. The greens, however, are as good as ever, and are most favourab*/ commented on by all visitors. Manaia bad their closing dav on Wednesday, when mixed four-ball matches were played and various competitions held- fer ladies and for. men. There was a very good attendance of players and visitors, including four members of the Hawera Club. After the four-ball rounds had been played, the competitions—approaching "and puttting and driving—were held. The winners were Miss M. Armitage- and Mrs A. Mitchell (for the ladies), and Mr Douglas (Hawc-ra) and Mr M. Ryan (Manaia) for men. In the approaching and putting Mr A. H. Christie tied with Mr Douglas, 9 each for tlnee distances, and the latter won on-the .plav-off. Mr Christie got three threes, while Mr Douglas got two fours and a one. Mr Ryan beat Mr G. Meuli, who drove with an iron, by only a couple of yards. It was altogether a. most pleasant afternoon and' much enjoyed by all. The members of the Manaia Club have bad a thoroughly good season, and are.all uniformly sorry that tin- season for golf lias conic to an end, owing to the failure to prevent that growth of spring grass which i s so essential to the farmer So jt is they have been obliged.reluctantly to “wrap their clubs; in vaseline”—a wise move for prudent golfers who want to preserve their clubs—in readiness for the next season. The Hawera ladies’ championship is fast nearing its conclusion, and the keenest interest is being taken to see who are to fight out the final.

“Baffy,” in the Evening Post, in a short note ou Leo Quin, the New Zealand amateur champion, makes an error in ascribing the features of the Eltham nine-hole course and some particulars about the family’s fine players, to Hawera, instead of their own course. There are certainly several features about that picturesque course that Hawera would like to steal, amongst which is the gloriously beautiful outlook to the slopes and peak of Egmont. They are proud to remember Leo is a member of their club.

Says the Auckland Star: The homecoming of Quin, the new champion, savours more of Anthony Hope in his stories of the return of the heroes to the Kingdom of_ Ruritania than an episode of real life. My readers will be interested to know that his return was heralded in a manner befitting the occasion, and briefly is this. Enthusiasts met the hero at Marten and conveyed him to Wanganui, where, amongst other things, he dined with his Excellency Lord Jellicoe. At Hawera scenes of enthusiasm were rampant, hut paled before the welcome at his home town, Eltham. Two local bands struck up “Here the Conquering Hero Comes,” and on stepping from the train the hero was carried shoulder high through arched golf c'lnhs and then escorted through the town. 1 am n/>t prepared to vouch for what happened subsequently, but will leave it to the imagination of those' who met the light-hearted conqueror on his northern visit. A banquet was also held in his honour, and at this stage I leave the description of proceedings to a pen more able than mine.

How some golfers last in the first flight. The length of time men like Arthur Duncan and AY. B. Colbeck have been playing first-class golf has been noted, and now a reference to the old files have recalled that Ivapi Tareha, who vanquished all the best in Hawke’s Bay, was champion there away hack in 1905.

Playing in .the final for the Titirangi* senior championship, R. M. George put up a course record, of 72, which included a 7, due practically to his finding a large piece of loose clay behind his ball in a depression just off the fairway at the eighth hole. His figures are worth noting: Out, 34 3 25 3 5 7 4—36.; in, 4 4 4 4 4 3 5 4 4—36.

Miss Iliver Kay, of AVhangarei, a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl, by sound play reached the semi-final of the New Zealand ladies’ golf championship. She was then defeated by Miss Payton, of Auckland. In addition to her ability to play golf. Miss Kay is an all-round athlete, and has swept the board in sports competitions at the Whangarei High School. She was born in Dunedin, where her father was for many years caretaker of the Bahnacewan links.

Writing of the late Hugh MncNeil, whose death was chronicled a few days ago, an exchange records that “lie was a life member of the Bo.val Sydney Golf Club, and was amateur champion in New South Wales in 1898 ami 1899, the first two years in which the event was played. He was Australian amateur champion in 1902, and Victorian amateur champion. He not on'ly won honours as a golfer, but was notedoin first-class cricket.” The lady caddie was a feature of the golf championships imst concluded in Auckland. Dressed in jumper, short skirt, and serviceable brogues, she accomplished her work in expert fashion, and the weather on the few occasions on which it was unkind troubled her not at all. She seemed to know the right club wanted every time, and didn’t talk too much. The moral support of a member of the fair sex who understands golf and all its trials and tribulations must have been very valuable to those fortunate competitors who had the foresight to secure a. “working partner” of this delightful variety. Surely this will make the long handicap men practise hard to he eligible to compete. To-day’s golf proverb; A good round needs no explanation and a bad one deserves none. A well-known golf professional avers that the particular kind of weapon we use on the green really matters very little. He himself putts with an aluminium club, a wooden expression, and an iron nerve WHEN TO START HITTING. Some valuable hints are given to Young players in the following extract from an article on driving by one of the English cracks:

Having disposed of the preliminaries, we now come to the actual swing of the club, and here again I must give a word of caution against a fault that is more common than the average player imagines. That is in regard to the up-swing, which must not he taken too quickly, else it will call for too much exertion, with resultant loss of power in the dowiV swing. ' Neither must it be too slow, or there will be a jerkiness of club or body or both, which will, produce a had shot. Take the club up easily, so that the entire swing goes smoothly. A few practice swings- without a. ball will tell you whether you are working on |bhe right lines. When nearing the top of the back swing steady the club, without pausing, of course, and at the moment you are. starting to bring it down, and not before, concentrate on the hit.

If you have done all I have suggested maintained loose wrists and guarded against stiffness of'arm and leg—the club-head will have travelled up from the ground in a circular sweep, the left arm pushing the club away from the ball; the wrists will fall into position underneath the shaft, -and the arms will bend at the elbow until at the top of the siring the left forearm will he almost at right angles to the upper part above the elbow. All this will come about naturally. Care should be observed to see that the right elbow does not stray from the body, but remains fairly close to it; hut this also will result automatically if the right hand grip is as it should be —well over and not under the' shaft.

For making the down swing and hitting the ball, the main consideration is to hit as hard as possible without jerkiness, or pressing. The same looseness of wrists and arms which I have already insisted upon must be preserved in the downward movement. At all costs avoid stiffening the arms or straightening them out too rapidly. The process of extending the arms so that the club-head goes out to its striking position must he a gradual one while the down swing is in progress, as by that means you secure arm movement plus wrist play. THE QUICK CHANGE ARTIST. Two clever skits, pictorial and stories without words, are given in the Auckland Star. One depicts the golfer in all liis pride and panoply of “plusfours’ ’ going into his tent on the beach, and the other shows him coming out a few minutes later, a miserable scarecrow of a man, in “minus-fours,” his very abbreviated bathing suit. An idea for anv seaside course, in summer golf. " • ■ GOLF CLUB OPENED. Yerv dismal weather prevailed when the course of the Queensbury Golf Club (Yorkshire) was officially opened by Colonel Edward 11. Foster, the president of the Club (says a Home paper).' Colonel Foster said lie sincerely hoped the club would be of great benefit to tlie neighbourhood. Owing to adverse weather conditions they, liad not yet been able to do a great deal at the course, but he thought • that when they saw it they would sav they had not done so badly in the short tipie they had had. The new nine-hole course is beautifully situated, adjoining, what is known as the Harrowins Estate—one of the prettiest parts of Queensbury.