GOLF

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 28 May 1927, Page 13

GOLF

NOTES.

THE HAWERA CLUB,

Tilo work Being done '.round the greens is going to improve the play and of the approaches to the holes very considerably and make conditions much more agreeable. The enlarging of the greens will be a great help to everyone.

The next big intereset in the golfing world of New Zealand —actually the greatest thing in the history of the Dominion golf—is the tour to Australia of the New Zealand team to compete for Jfche Kirk-\Yindeyer Cup and in the New South Wales championships. If our men strike their best form there is no reason why they should not win the cup, and perhaps some of the other big events. But conditions over there will take some time to get used to and it will take time bo find the pace of the greens and fairways. However the winter aspect should suit them. The whole of the players of the Dominion will follow with the keenest interest, the fortunes of the team. The British Amateur Golf Championship commenced on Monday, and the play will continue throughout the week, the final being played to-day. The procedure, however in the British amateur event is quite different from that pursued in New Zealand. Here the Open and Amateur championships qre played at one and the same time. Four medal rounds are played in order to decide the Open Championship, and more amateurs than professionals take part; the thirty-two amateurs with the (lowest aggregates in the Open qualify to meet each other in match play for the Amateur title. These matches, too, are of the (thirty-six holes. In Britain, as in America, the Amateur Championship is wholly separate from the Open, and is played at quite a different time. In the British amateur event- the only limit to entries is the condition that- no player may enter whose national handicap is worse than 4, or a similar figure. Cpnsequestly to-day will find probably over two hundred golfers on the golf course at Hoy lake, near Liverpool, engaged in the first round of the Amateur Championship—a round of eighteen holes. In the British amateur the- final alone is contested over thirty-six holes; all the ■other matches are decided over eighteen holes.

The main problem that confronts almost every golf club- is relieving course congestion and speeding up play (says Grant-land Rice in a Home: paper). Apparently this can be done only through the medium of a course inspector, who moves around to see' that each match holds its place, and by an appeal to cluib members, to waste as little time as possible on crowded days. Golf was never intended as a sprint, but it was never intended as a “creeping pestilence.” There are thousands of golfers who still keep their statue-like pose long after they have hit the ball. There are thousands of others who either drag along or hang around the green many seconds after they have holed out. to register the scores.

If there is one aspect in which the leading amateurs of to-day compare unfavourably with their predecessors (says Harry Vardon in a recent article in the “Press”) it is in the playing of iron shots. What always struck me when watching Mr Ball. Mr Hilton, Mr Graham, Mr Fait, and Mr Maxwell was that they hit their iron shots not only with the same power and precision as the professionals; they were also just- as consistent in securing the desired results. Their successors are even brilliant, but they are irregular. They lack that definite control over the ball which we came, to regard as second nature in the first-class golfer. Why this should be it is difficult to say.

Putting ds th© simplest and yet most difficult part of golf, says 'J. H. Barnes. It is the Simplest because' it is the shortest stroke in the game. It is the most difficult because extreme accuracy and control are demanded in larger degree than in any other department of the game. Consistently good putting is the result of diligent patient, practice, applied, toward 1 acquiring a sound method, of striking the ball. I have, never seen a horn putter. Every real fine putter acquired his skill at the expense of almost endless hours of hard, patient practice. The team of British professional golfers to take part in the proposed match between England and America for the Samuel Ryder Cup has been decided. Harry Vardon, James Braid and, J. H. Taylor were the selectors, and they have, invited nine players, one as a, reserve, to visit America for the match in June. The team is also to take part- in the American open championship. The invited play ers' are: A. Boomer, A. Compston, George Duncan. Arthur Havers, George Gadd, Abe Mitchell, Edward Ray, Fred Robson and G. A. Whitcombe.

There is a- lot of luck in golf, and. where' several players of equal skill are competing, those who have the breaks of the game coming their way usually lead or are among the leaders. Without this element- of luck the game would lose much of its fascination. Then, why not play the ball from where- it lies? Perhaps it was for this reason the Scots, who played golf in- the early days, demanded “that no one -shall touch the hall from the tee to cuu.” Back of the Scotchman’s mind was the foundation of match- pay? And who can- say this idea was wrqng?

STILL STANDING

Writing in 1912. the “Referee” says that only last week Braid’s failure to qualify in the “News of the World” competition was chronicled, and now there is to record a feat performed by Braid which is- probably unparalleled in the- history of golf. He went round the 18-hole course at Hedderswick, near Dunbar, in 57 strokes. As the course is three miles round the score is truly marvellous. Some months hack Taylor’s 28 for nine holes in the playoff of the tie for the Baden-Baden championship was the “talk” of the golfing world; but even Taylor’s fine score pales into insignificance beside this 5f for IS holes. Braid’s figures were:—Out: 4, 3. 3,2, 3,3, 4. 3. 3 —- 28. In: 3, 3. 3,3, 4, 3. 4, 3. 3—29. Total, 57. Six consecutive- 3’s, and thirteen 3’s out of IS holes! It quite takes one’s breath away to think of it. The Hedderswick course, the scene of this most amazing performance, is not by any means a “long” course; nine of the holes can he reached from the teeing ground, and none of the others cejl for more than a good iron shot after a decent- drive. But the putting greens are small, and their surface varies considerably. The stirc-t par of the, round may be set down at 63. and it had been holed at- that figure. Braid llius reduced the record' by six strokes. He never made the semblance of n mistake, andi fortune was never kind

to him; she had- scarcely an opportunity of helping, since even the longer putt-s which he holed were so truly struck that only an earthquake could have kept the hall out of the hole.

A man may have a carbuncle taken out of his neck, and leave very little trace of the operation, hut it is otherwise with the divot taker _ who does not replace (says a critic). These holes look unsightly at the time, hut they are more dangerous afterwards, when the glass has grown, over them. It is not every player who can sense the slight depression in which his hall lies, and many an xm accountably fruitless ibrassie shot is due to the fact that the ball was. imperceptibly cupped, its weight depressing the grass mown level with the turf. It is no uncommon sight to see A. D. S. Duncan scattering divots wholesale, in practice shots, but not on any part of the fairway. Even where he merely skims the turf on any spot where another golfer’s ball may some day lie in play, the dust, however small, is aways collected and stamped down. (Hawera players might take note.) WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GOLF. I must let the head of the club go first. Heavens knows, I have never deliberately stopped the head of my club from going first. Any time it wants to go first, it. may. In fact, it would oblige me quite a lot by doing ,so. Because the head of my club won’t go first, I slice my balls into, bunkers, and so take 10 for the hole, which isn’t any good, because bogey, on our course is seven more than 5. The fairway is a wide, stretch of ground about 60 yards' ■ wide. My ball is only about 1 inch wide: 60 x 3 x 12 equal 2160. If 2160 balls were placed side by side all in a. row they would stretch right across the fairway, but not one of them' would be njine. Mine would be much further away to the right. It would be in a bunker. A niblick is intended for hitting balls out of bunkers. It doesn’t.

When I stand my hall on the top of .a high tee it flies straight up in the aix-—providing I hit it. Of course I don’t always hit it. More often I just hit the tee, although sometimes I miss both the tee and the ball and hit the world. I don’t think it ought to count a stroke when you hit the world. It does, though. In some ways, golf is a very unfair game. The piece of the world that you knock off when you hit it is called a divot. You pick it up and 1 put it back again. This is very humiliating. A hazard is any place l where, my ball pitches. My handicap's 24. When a man whose handicap is 24 plays with another man whose handicap is 18, then the 18 handicap man has to give the 24 handicap man six strokes. This in ridiculous and grossly unfair. That is why 18 handicap men always want to play 24 handicap men for nice new -balls.

It is very wrong when playing an 18 handicap man for a hall to kick yours into a good lie. Yet what is a man to do?

Furthermore, you should never talk when your opponent is addressing the ball. Better sneeze. Whoever is farthest ay ay from the hole plays first. So if ever you see a man going round the course first over and over again you will know at once who it is. It- is me.

Wait, though. On second thoughts that isn’t right, I never play first from a tee.