GOLF.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 18 October 1924, Page 9

GOLF.

The Inst twn weeks have been a very interesting period in the local golfing world. The championship finals, ladies’ and men’s, both provided excellent contests; the teams’ matches were most popular, and to-day the official closing is always interesting, though naturally a matter for regret that the ordinary season is over and clubs are supposed to be put away until the new ; season calls them out once more. To those who do not play a more active .game, the institution of summer golf was a great idea. Many a man marks it with great appreciation. For several seasons the golf “out of season”, has been of the best, and' it is hoped will- be so again this year. At the last meeting of the, N.Z. Golf Council a resolution was passed officially thanking the committee of the Auckland Golf Club for the admirable arrangements made in connection with the tournament and the excellent condition of the. course. The secretary reported that the indications were that the golfers’ farewell to the GovernorGeneral on October 23 would be thoroughly representative of the' golf clubs of New Zealand. Two local golfers, Messrs W. MaeClure and E. Fox, had an unenviable but somewhat amusing experience on the Awapuni links (says the Auckland Star), although, the humour, of the occurrence was, perhaps, more apparent to their friends than to themselves. The players had reached the tenth hole, when the game was interrupted by the unexpected and untimely arrival of a bullock, which, without warning preliminaries, made straight for the two golfers. Fortunately the incident occurred close to a fence; otherwise the results might -have been m'ore serious. Mr Fox managed to sidestep the first rush, and the beast then made-for Mr MacClure, who, in turn, made for the fence. Under the circumstances the golfer was unable to exercise the amount of care required in the negotiation of a barbed wire fence, with the result that, while he crossed the barrier, a considerable section of a portion of liis clothing remained on the fence to wave defiance at the infuriated animal. Mr Fox, in the meantime, had also managed to get through the fence, and the two escaped with nothing more 3erious than injured feelings. This recalls vividly the experiences of two leading Hawera golfers when the club was playing at the Oaks.' A Jersey treed them in the Glade,'and kept them “up” until the owner appeared and released them. . ‘ The Australian season just closed has been remarkable (says the Beferee) for

p the inconsistencies amongst the players. The best round one (lav, the worst the ’ next day, lias characterised the play [ of some of our champions. Tlie popu- , larity of golf is growing by leaps and , bounds. It is becoming tiie game of . the plebs as well as the patrician. The best lawn tennis players do not take a stance, like the golfer, but run i through the drive, as J. C. Parke did so incomparably, writes A. E. Crawley in “Lawn Tennis.” This secures a natural position and gets the momentum of the moving body. The margin of error is much greater than from a stance. The golfer lunges forward in trying to get this forward momentum, and he 'may drive a. long ball, but it is not “golf.”, So, bad lawn tennis imitates good golf, and bad golf imitates good lawn tennis. THE NEW ZEALAND GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS. HOW LEO QUIN WON THE AMATEUR. TITLE. E. J. MOSS IN SPLENDID FORM. CBv the Referee N.Z. Special.) Nothing more interesting in New Zealand golf has been seen than the best shown in the recent amateur and professional championships. Loo Quin, a young farmer of Eltham 24 years of age, the amateur golf champion of New Zealand, took up the game only four or five years ago, and his recent win surprised even the bestinformed critics who watched the play at the tournament at the Middlemore Links, Auckland. In the qualifying rounds, Quin finished low in the list. -Later, when he began to make his presence felt by defeating those who were given a. chance of winning the chainpionship, his form came under observation, chiefly from the fact that he got his wing, by recoveries in the second round, after being behind over the first eighteen holes. , In the final, Quin was opposed by J. Goss, of Wanganui, last year’s champion. The Eltham player struck great form, as he went out in 37, where Goss was two down, and finished the first round four up on Goss, with a brilliant 73 71 being the record for the course. In the afternoon he kept right on the job, and won the match 8 up and 7 to play. For the final lie maintained a standard of one over 4’s for the 29 holes. The general opinion is that the match was the most brilliant final ever played for the New Zealand amateur championship, as Goss was right on his game, but met a player liis superior on , the, day. E. J. Moss, the Auckland professional, won the open and professional championships. In handing the accompanying trophies over to him, Mr W. B. Colbeck, president of the Auckland Golf Centre, declared his conviction that Moss was playing the best golf in New Zealand to-day. From what he knew, and had gleamed from wellinformed players, lie considered Moss among the three best golfers in Australasia. NEW ZEALAND WOMEN’S TITLE. (Referee.) New Zealand seems to be rather unique in that players with splendid future before them are being brought to light. Leo Quin, who won the men’s amateur championship, went forth from his farm, without ever having a lesson, and played golf of a sort- never before seen in New Zealand. In the women’s championship, a young girl of 15 years, Miss Kay) reached the semi-final, beating some of the country’s best players. (Continued on next page.)

She is stated to have an ideal temperament, while this is her first experience of tournament play. She was beaten in the semi-final round. After which Mrs Peake, Cambridge, defeated Miss Payton by 10 up and 9 in the final. •VISIT OF ENGLISH TEAM. It.is gratifying to hear that the Australian Golf Union have communicated with 'St. Andrews with a view to get them to send a team of some seven amateurs, to. visit ' Australia. If the team sent is in any sense representative, the matches with the Australian leading players would be very exciting. The expense, even if the team were the guests of the various clubs, as they no doubt would be, would be. heavy. The expenses of sending a British team to play for the Walker Cup in America are now to raise since numbers of unions have been formed in Britain; but ‘prior to that it w r as almost insurmountable. RECENT RULINGS. The subjoined additions to the rulings-} of the. Rules of Golf Committee have been forwarded to Mr Ross Gore v as lion, secretary of the Australian Golf Union.

With regard to numbers we do nol seem any further than we were, anc there seems no" valid reason that we should be. The easiest, and the pTopei time, for the marker to sign a card is when the round is completed. Aftei that, presumably, he goes away frori the club-house. Is it suggested tha the person or persons who are manag ing the competition should go after hin and get the card signed? I think fev people will make any attempt at all but merely disqualify an unsigned car*

as at present. Player without fellow competitor.The special rules for stroke competitions'direct- that competitors shall play iii couples/ Clubs which hold competi-

tions without adequate superintendence b should make a club rule which would, a automatically provide for the case of a p member -who is unable.to find a fellow t competitor, and whiyis not supplied by b the committee with a marker. It. is a suggested that such rule might allow • the player to compete with the last couple. Playing a Provisional .Ball. —The clauses added to Rules 22 and 23, which £ provide for the. playing of a provisional fc ball, were drafted ‘‘ in order to save v delay.” The Rules of Golf Committee ® is quite aware that in certain very rare ' ‘ cases a stricter law, which would enact * that a player could only go back and t play his next stroke after determining the position of the ball from his previous stroke, would provide more exact , •justice. The Rules of Golf Committee, r however, considers that in practice . these clauses have successfully fulfilled . their purpose of “.saving delay ” without interfering with the proper regula- , tion of the game, it should be noted that if a player desires to play a “pro- , visional ball” he may only play it “in order to save delay. ” . ] Unsigned Cards. —In many cases com- ( petitors are disqualified because they hand in their cards unsigned. A card cannot be held to be valid until it has been" sighed, by the marker. The Rules of Golf Committee is of the opinion that! a- committee should interpret StroTce Rule 5 (1) liberally, and shouldi riot, disqualify a competitor until a reasonable attempt has been made to obtain the signature of the marker. FATHER AND SON GOLF CHAMPIONS. Robert Nettlefold is open champion of Tasmania, and Les Nettfold, his son, amateur champion of Tasmania. NOVELTIES DOT FAIRWAYS OF MINERS 5 GOLF COURSE. Mine workers in the anthracite region near Scranton have gone in for golf. The men.who dig the coal have prepared their own links and can be seen daily trying to cover the course in par. The Hudson Coal Company has given permission for the employees to use the grounds. There are some hazards on the miners’ course not usually found on a golf links in the form of mine cave holes, which dot the fairways here and there. Some of the caves lead all the wav into the mine workings. Officials of the company have offered the use of the course free to all the employees, of whom there are 22,000 in this region. SOME ALLEGED HUMOUR, A wejrd Brand of knickerbocker affected by some golfers of repute, and even by some whose standard of play is not up to championship form, commonly goes by the title of “plus fours.” One had had a hazy impression that originally the golfer daring enough to don that particular form of nether garments signified thereby that lie was a- terrible person with'his clubs and his handicap about plus four, or, as a trotting man might think of it, manner as the Western American 1 ‘two gun man 15 (vide the pictures and popular novels) intimated by his practice of “packing 5 ’ 5 two that he was a fright with a revolver. But after all, it seems, ‘plus fours” did not earn their name in that fashion. Somebody has traced the origin of the term to the service uniformed by the Guards Regiment, in which the breeches were to come down to the knees “plus four inches.” So now even the three-figure golfer needn’t be diffident about wealing “plus fours.” Neither need he worry much if he happens to be a bit fine in the bone as reguards his supports. Once those accommodating garments are in position only an anatomist or an X-ray plant can gues what sort of a leg lies behind. She was new to the game of golf, and had tired her instructor considerably. “When do I use the putter?” she asked. “Some time before dark, I hope, 55 he replied with a. yawn. According to Plan. Fat Maloney was walking along the side of a golf course when suddenly he was struck between the shoulders by a golf bail. The force of the blow almost knocked him down. When he recovered he saw a golfer running towards him. “Are you hurt much?” asked the player anxiously. “V£hy didn’t you get out of the way?” “An 5 why should I get out of the way?” asked the Irishman. “I didn’t know there were any assassins round here at all. 55 “But I called ‘fore! 5 5 5 said the player,. “And when I say ‘fore! 5 that is a sign for you to get out of the . way. 5 5 “Oh, it is, is it?” replied Pat. “Well,.thin, whin I say ‘foive 5 it is a sign that you are going to get hit on the nose. Foive!”