GOLF

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 30 May 1925, Page 11

GOLF

June 3. —American Open Championship Worcester. June 25.—British Open Championship, Prestwick. August 31. —American Amateur Championship, Oakmont. September 25. —N.Z. Championships, Shirley, Christchurch. September 28. —American Ladies’ Championship, St. Louis. October 15.—N.Z. Ladies’ Championship, Miramar, Wellington.

NOTES. 9 The rain of the previous week-end has rather overdone matters, and one Low-lying portion near the river is very slippery. But for the greens and the course generally it lias been just what has been required. Polling and cutting are now having a very appreciable effect, and the greens will go on improving.

A few ardent spirits braved the elements at the week-end ■ and ■ round me course generally in good playing oiuei. There is a steadily growing appreciation of its many good features, those who are inclined to be pessimistic should remember the very short tim ® which a new course, hitherto unplajea upon, has had to get into order. It is remarkable that so much has been possible. It is certain that players will continue to better their opinion of the course. Borne of the holes could be little improved upon, even on established links. Work and time only are wanted. With the improvement ot the greens and the fairways the coin se is going to grow in popularity all the time. But plav must be fairly straight. That is a sine qua non, anil on wliat links is it not sol"

The weather caused the postponement of the opening of the ladies club season. It was too bad even i° r golf. . Enthusiasm amongst the ladies is steadily growing.

Congratulations to Mnnaia on their strong forward move —an increase in membership of nearly the former nuni- ' ber of players. It is, as one of the members remarked, almost more than revival. ,

The neat -little golf house which is just about .completed will be a very useful asset. The site chosen is the very' best that could have been selected alongside the monkey puzzle, and protected from the prevailing winds and handy to the entrance to the domain. The opening ceremony was fixed for to-day. Hawera wishes Manaia good luck and continued progress in the future.

The course, too, is much improved and the fairways in good order generally. The greens are small, but. that, no doubt, will be corrected in time.

A prominent lady golfer was hit and knocked down on the Hutt links recently, but suffered no serious damage. She was on the third tee when a high hooked hall from the fifth tee struck her on the cheek bone. Her face was fortunately protected by a heavy cloth hat. .

The fact that C. W. Rattray and S. K. Sleigh, of Dunedin, were playing at Shirley during the past week-end recalls to “Jigger,” of the Otago Daily Times, another visit of these two golfers when in one round, playing in a four-balj match as partners, they each did a hole in one stroke. Une of them got a “one” at “Muggeridge’s,” and the other holed his tee shot at the “Crossways.” In addition to this, Sleikh rimmed the cup for another “one” at the seventh in the same round.

Mrs. Collinson and Imlay Saunders seem to play their best golf on the New Plymouth course. Last year they won the ladies’ and men’s Easter tournaments, and this year they repented the performance. They are sure starters next Plaster, as there is a quiet wager by their supporters that they do the hat-trick.

Writing of the Daily Mail tournament, the Australasian notes that it carries with it prizes to the value of £I2OO. As announced by cable, Charles Johns, the Purely Downs professional, was the winner, Abe Mitchell and Edward Hay dividing the second and third money, and George Duncan coining fourth." Eliminating rounds were held in eight districts of the British Isles, the 100 best players being eligible for the final stages—72 holes of scoring, as in the open championship. The Midlands eliminating rounds were played at Leek, Staffordshire, early in April, and it is noteworthy that the best aggregate foi- the two rounds of play was that of T. Williamson, who established himself as the leading professional golfer in the Midlands over 20 years ago, and now is the professional at Nottinghamshire Club, Hollinwell, the course where the final stages' were played- His two rounds in the Midlands test took 149. It is also noteworthy, and distinctly interesting, to know that one of two players who tied for second place in this eliminating test was E. .S. Douglas, of Robin Hood, who won the open championship of New Zealand in 1913, 1914, 1919, and 1920, was the professional at Nelson in 1913, at Wanganui in 1914, and at Miramar on the occasion of other successes in this competition.

The win of A. M. Howden at Pupuke was a decidedly popular one, and is suggestive of him having early stuck his game (says the Star) How den is also a member of the AuckLand Club and in former years led the old Waiternata team in inter-el ul> fixtures. He learned his game in the land where “gouf” has its birthplace, and was a winner of events ju very youthful days. He hits his shots crisply and when in form his driving is a strong feature of his game. J. Howie, a recent aspirant, was the runne r up jn a score of i 152 net, the next to follow being the clnb champion, A. VV. Clark, with a ; score of 158 net.

D. R. C. Mowbray, by holing a one at the second (says the writer) added considerable pleasure to the afternoon’s .proceedings, but as I feel this column has adherents of imaginative power I will refrain from entering into detail, and will merely add that with the beverage at its present price one begins to seriously wonder whether ones are not too expensive a luxury.

Each of two golfers in a game m , f England holed out in one. In future l | when A leads off with this freak, 13 V p. will say solemnly as he addresses the • half “This for a half!”

For the third year in succession Alex. Russel (open champion of Australia.) and C. H. Fawcett, of the Royal Melbourne Club, won ‘‘The Australasian” Foursome Challenge Shield. The final was played at the metropolitan course (Melbourne) and the Royal Melbourne pair defeated A. W. Jackson and W. B. Tunbridge 3 up and 2 to p!ay b

It is the faith of the old heads in golf that the player with great powers in long driving never knows from one day to another in which direction his shots are going, and it had striking justification in the case of .Michael Bingham in the eliminating teats at Leek, to which reference has just been made For two years enthusiasts from all parts of the Midlands have proclaimed Bingham as the longest driver in the world. Nobody who watched his driving in practice, when, amongst other things, lie reached a green 510 yards from the tee in two strokes, would challenge the claim, but he lias the defects of his own qualities in the sense that when one of his longest shots goes off the line it goes farther off the line than the shot of an ordinary driver, and often .gets into worse trouble. He suffered from that in this competition; moreover, lie is about as highly struhg as an Irishman can be. Successive disasters at second, third, and fourth holes in the first eliminating round killed his chances. From that point (writes Mr. 11. E. Howard) he and his caddie, also an Irishman, with flaming red hair and watery blue eyes, who had walked 50 miles from Birmingham to carry for Bingham, were the picture of brothers in distress. Every time that Bingham took his putter the caddie strode silently away with his back turned and stood at the corner of the green with his head bowed, hoping to hear the tinklp of the bal] dropping into the tin.

.MUSHROOMS—OR GOLF-BALLS. In a most fascinatingly written article on a daylight quest for mushrooms, Eiise Morton, in the .New Zealand ilerald, describes her disappointment at seeing what looked like a nice round headed mushroom under a dock and finding to her disgust it was a golf ball. She cannot be a golier, surely y Thus she describes the incident: — •‘There are five small mushrooms at the bottom of the big basket now. And then all at once, a perfectlyrounded snowy-white beauty, nestling under a dock-leaf two yards away! The usual rush forward, rewarded by —a golf ball. One reflects that the sheep and the seagulls might have attended to little oddments like that, lor any golfer will telj you how they lie in wait tor lost balls. And those other spurious, bare-faced imitators, the puffballs, are surely enough of a snare and a delusion without artificial competition 1 Perhaps things will brighten up over the links. It is raining now. a soft, penetrating drizzle that hangs every twig of the hawthorn hedge with unlit diamonds. Very wet underfoot, too, and still more depressing when a barb of the wire fence hangs one up by the shoulders. But the birds are singing very cheerily in the hedge, and a blackbird is fairly shaking his sides as he looks down from the tip-top oi a pine tree. It is a great morning for the birds!

Over the golf links, beyond the fence, the early mushroomer is clearly regarded as an unwelcome intruder by the native inhabitants. On the crest of a little grassy ridge, 50 grey seagulls form in line, with one large brown bird in the middle, and they scold as only seagulls can. The sheep, woolly, fat-faced, stand and watch with a silly stare, and then go running off at a wobbling canter. There have been dozens of mushroom rings on the links —one can tell that by the broken stalks, but further search seems vain. The despairing conviction comes at last that intrepid mushroomers must sat all night long with lanterns and watched tfie white rings spring up at their feet, garnered them in, and flitted with the dawn.”

A CURIOUS INCIDENT. During the match between R. C. Wilson and Geo. Duncan ju the Roehampton tournament a curious thing happened, illustrating how those whose business is golf may sometimes be at a loss to apply the rules of the game. Mr. R. Enderby Howard, writing in the Daily Mail, describes the incident in these words: —Wilsonj standing one down, was stymied on the Oth green a yard from the whole. Taking bis mashie, he lofted over tlie intervening balj an( I — in spite of the fact that he lifted his head with a jerk in doing it—holed out for what looked like a win which would make him all even. Then, however, he turned to Duncan with the remark: “1 struck the bal) twice; it’s your hole.” The referee acquiesced. This meant that Duncan became 2 up. Duncan raised the question as to whether the penalty for striking the ball twice was loss of hole or loss of one stroke only. H the latter, Wilson had halved the Oth. Nobody present knew the rule on the ■subject, and the players regarded it tentatively as Duncan’s ho,e. Tnere was much searching of rules and previ. ous decisions. A definite finding in accordance with the simple Rule 14 on the subject, was said to have been conveyed to the players nea r the finish that the 6th hole must be conducted as a half; it did not seem to be explicit to the principals. They regarded Duncan as being one up to the 18th hole. There Duncan sliced out of hounds and lost, the hole, making that match, as they thought, all square. They drove to the 19th to decide the tie, when they were stopped by an official, who announced that the Oth hole - having been counted as a half, Wilson had won on the 18th green. It was so unsatisfactory even to Wilson that he showed nothing like his proper form in the afternoon. THE CHIP SHOT. When off the edge of the green there are two or three ways of playing the ball up to the pin. One is the pitcli and run. another is a pitch with back swing which drops dead. Still another is the chip shot, which is made by a sort of stab motion. This shot carries a lot of back swing, but as the bal] is sort of squeezed i n the ground it never rises more than a couple of inches. The ball skims along the"ground, running along at a rapid gait until it gets near the cup, where it comes to a dead stop. One can never go very far wrong with an approach of this sort, as there is little chance of topping it or pitching it short. Of course, practice is required to make it perfect, just as practice makes perfect other shots in the game.- —Leo Diegel.

IN AMERICA. The first really big clash of the Ameiican golf season of 1925 was the North and South championship at Pine, hurst on April 1 and 2, says an exchange. It brought together practically all the leading professionals. Walter Hagen, British open champion, Cyril Walker, American open champion, Macdonald Smith, Leo Diegel, Johnny Farrell, Joe Kirkwood, Jock Hutchison, Jim Barnes, Brady, Kerrigan, and the rest of them were all to the fore, though Gene Sarazen was a notable absentee. Among the competitors was also Tommy Armour, formerly one of Britain’s amateur cracks, but now, like W I. Hunter, British amateur champion in 1921, a flourishing professional in the land where to be a flourishing professional means a big income. The championship was decided by four stroke rounds, and the winner was Macdonald Smith. Though the extreme back tees were in use, and there was a strong breeze blowing, and the Pinehurst course has 209 bunkers. Smith opened with a flawless 68 and followed it up with a 70. At the end of the first day lie was four strokes ahead of Diegel, whose rounds were 69 and 73. Walter Hagen was third with 71 and 73. Kirkwood’s scores were 76 and 75. On the second day Smith put on a 70 in the morning and a 73 in the afternoon, giving him an aggregate of 281, or seven strokes better than fours. It was the lowest score ever made jn the tournament and was phenomenal going. The consistent Hagen (holder of the title) ran into second place ahead of Diegel, and Armour established his place among the best by taking fourth place.

IMAGINATION IN GOLF. What little insignificant trifles are sufficient to convert a good brand of golf into mediocrity! A new pair of shoes, a coat just a little too tight, a scratch on a finger, a grip coming undone, are causes sufficient to cause the downfall of a champion’s game. One well-known northern player some time ago went right off his game just when he was playing round after round in par figures simply because he had had all his teeth extracted. He discovered that as he made a stroke he used to clench his teeth. Having nothing to clench his game lost, its sting. Since he has had his artificial teeth fitted he has got back his clench, and recently wo n an important tournament, which only goes to show what an important position imagination occupies in the game. THE GAME TO-DAY. Golf is an old man’s game. That was the cry years ago. Nowadays it is the young man who comes to the top. The last few years has seen a wonderful change jn champions, and the range of these golfers is large and they are all young men. To play golf correctly a player has to start young—the younger the better, for then the hoys and girls will not require coaching to any extent. They imitate, and by natural movement they build up correct methods. A boy of not yet 10 years of age swinging a club like a pro is to be seen, says an exchange. This little chap, Jimmie McLean, son of the president of the Walton Golf Chib, has gone round the seven W'alton links (9 holes) in 55 with only an iron. This is really a wonderful 'performance and he is starting at the ’ time champions are made. SHORT PUTTS, The.player who swings .his club hack like a- raging lion usually brings it on the ball like a timid mouse. He should reverse. Mr. Hope Johnson, a first year’s player of Palmerston North, did not take long in having to pay the penalty of holing in one. Playing the sth. 155 yards on the local links be did the deed. When a man buys a set of golf clubs and starts hitting “a wee ba’ alioot” lie sentences himself to penal servitude for life. Never be ashamed to return your card. A player once won a bogey competition with IS down. Everybody else had torn up their cards. You may as well seek woo| on an ass as sympathy in golf. Never brag about your putts. Try rather to develop a habit of running them down.

When a player reduces his handicap to the vicinity of five he ceases to slice and pull. He then promotes them to “pushing and hooking.” Do not grip too tightly with the right thumb. He is the cause of lots of bad shots.

Keep the body still when putting

LONG DRIVING, ETC. In ah excellent article in the Metropolitan Golfer, by Jock Hutchison, on long driving and record drives, he says amongst other things that professionals, as a rule, do not go out for long hitting unless they fee] that jt is going to be of some benefit. A golfer who thinks only of the length of his drives will never become a good player. The professional averages up his game in a more scientific manner than the amateur. Ho knows by experience that it is possible to drive only so far with safety, and he knows also that pressing any shot is dangerous in the extreme. He is, therefore, content to hit the ball with al] his power well under control, and playing well within himsef.

Hutchison does not appear to believe all he is told Or reads of the yardage of the long hitters. Neither do I, nor anyone else for that matter. In the driving contests at the British amateur championship meeting the best drive was 270 yards.