GOLF

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 15 December 1926, Page 10

GOLF

OUR PRINCE AND GOLF GOOD STORIES

There are several good golf stories about the Prince, and a description-of the first time he ever handled a go-11 (lub. This happened 'at Sandringham when he wa.s eight years old. Lord Balfour was visiting at Sandringham at the time and he gave, the Prince his first lesson. But it. was not until “Wales” was twelve that he began to practise goli properly under the tuition of a. professional. ' 1 found one .story new to me among the many preserved about the historic occasion' when tlie Prince played himself an as captain of the famous St. Andrew's Olub, an Scotland. He had to get through the terrible \ ordeal of making his drive with some hundreds of the best golfers in England looking on. He foozled —.small wonder -—and the ball rolled about thirty yards. “Oh. you little blackguard!” shouted ft voice. The owner of it wia-s <i* tsunburnt old woman who. had walked from her cottage twenty-one miles distant to see the Prince play himself in. laater the Prince, when lie lea,mb the i eason of the excla.matiou, bestowed a sovereign’ on the woman and apologised lor his poor drive. Gold, as a matter of fact, did not at first appeal at all to the Prince. It has now become almost as favourite a sportwith him as hunting. PHENOMENAL FEATS. When Mr Leveson-Gower, one June clay in 1906, played seven Tounds of the Ottawa golf links, commencing at a quarter to 4 o ’clock in the morning and holing his last ball at half-past 7 o’clock in the evening, after a tramp of 30 miles, the world of golfers wondered at such an amazing feat of endurance. In Scotland there was a doughty young lieutenant, Mr H. B. Lumsden/who was by no means content to leave the palm in Canada. He set himself the task of going one better by doing eight rounds on the Royal Aberdeen Club’s course at Balgownie; and by the time he had completed his task was so little fatigued that he put in a ninth before retiring for a well-earned night’s repose, his average for the nine rounds being a trifle over 82 strokes—--15 less than Mr Leveson-Gower’s achievement. But even this magnificent feat did not long content the gallant soldier, who felt sure he could compass a dozen rounds in the day (writes W. Greenwood in the Weekly Scotsman). Perching his ball on a little bit of sand one morning at 20 minutes past 2, he began his attack on the most marvellous golfing feat on record. Hour after hour he chased the flying ball,, doing his first round in 85 strokes his second and third in 81 apiece, the fourth in 77, and so on until, after IS hours of play, excluding intervals for meals, he completed his dozen rounds ia 990 strokes representing the wonderful average of 821 for each round. So little tired was he that he jumped on his bicycle and rode some miles to his home. But even such enthusiasts -is Mr. Lumsden and Mr. Leveson-Gower ha’cve had no mean rivals among past venerations of players. Fifty years ago Mr. W. G. Bloxsom did a dozen rounds at Aberdeen (which course then consisted of only 15 holes); while on an other occasion ho compassed 16 rounds on the nine-hole course at Musselburgh, and was beginning the 17th when his partner’s caddie threw down his clubs in disgust. Even time is powerless to damp the enthusiasm of the golfer, as was proved one bitterly cold -winter day, when four Scottish octogenarians enjoyed a foursome at Musselburgh, the sequel to a similar match at Westward Ho! The doyen of this veteran quartet was Mr. Thompson, who was in his 90th vear; while the "baby” would never see his 80th birthday again. The records of Scottish golf include many feats which would tax the skill of our best players of to-day to rival. In 1798 two members of the Burgess Golfing Society engaged for a wager to drive ball over St. Giles’s steeple. Edinburgh, which rises to a height, of 161 feet. Each of the competitors (Mr Sceales. of Leith, and Mr. Smellie, a printer) took up his station at the south-east corner of Parliament Square with his allowance of six balls; and each succeeded in sending several of his balls well over the weather cock into the Advocate’s Close. For a similar wager Mr. Donald McLean, a writer to the Signet, drove a ball over Melville’s- monument in St. Andrew’s Square; and several successful attempts have been made to drive a ball from Bruntsfield links to the top of Arthur’s Seat, a feat of considerable skill

THE GENTLE ANSWER. A golfer was considerably handicapped. by the actions of a very slow player in front. As it happened the latter was the owner of a perfect pair of bdw-legs. All through the afternoon the first player found himself hindered at every hole, but he managed to control his temper, although once or twice it cost him a great effort. But this could not go on for ever. Finally, his patience exhausted, the victim drove clean through the player in front, and his ball passed through the widely spread bow-legs. Mad with rage, the slow player marched back to the following player. “Do you call that golf, sir?” he stormed. “No,” answered the other suavely, “but it was pretty hot croquet—what?”