GOLF

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 4 June 1927, Page 13

GOLF

TOPICAL COMMENTS. FORTHCOMING- EVENTS. June 4—N.S.W. Championship Foursomes, Sydney. June (i—Quail lying rounds, . U.S.A. Open Championship, Oakmont. June 8 'and 9 —Kirk- \Y r indeyer Cup, Rose Bay, Sydney. June- H and 18 —N.S.W. Amateur Championship, Sydney. June 13—U.S.A. Open Championship. Oakmont. June 2(l—French- Ladies’ Open Championship, Touquet. July 11—British Open Championship, St. Andrews. August- 22 and 27—U.S.A. Amateur Championship, Minnesota. August 23 and 27—Boys’ Amateur Championship, Barn to n. September 2 and 10 —New Zealand Championship, Hamilton.

KIRK-WINDEYER CUP. Ail golfing eyes and many othetrs in addition will be on Sydney and the cable columns during next week, for on Wednesday and Thursday our team play for the Kirk-Windeyer Cup, a real stern contest between the- best quartette- ill New Zealand and the best- in Australia . It. will be of interest to Hawer-ai and Eltham enthusiasts to see if Leo. Quin, by hjs form in the next day or two, wins his place. A good deal depends on iliow the fast courses -suit him. Ass -a rule he- i.s. very adaptive in his play to local conditions. Every player will wish, him luck and hope he. ha-s; .found his best form, for 1 lie is a. great match player. FORM OF NEW ZEALANDERS. “Tlie form of the New Zealanders is somewhat of an unknown quantity,’ says Mr Soutar (an Australian authority in an exchange) “and it is difficult to forecast liqw they will fare against the cream of Australian amateur golf. They will be led- -by the veteran, Arthur Duncan, -whose visit to' Australia nearly 20 years ago, will he- remembered by there- who were fortunate enough, to follow the great match between Lion. Michael Scott and himself, and the great -fight the New Zealander put up to stave off defeat. “He was beaten lat the- 37th hole, after being 5 -or 6 down at one .stage of tlie lndtch. “Twenty years does not make a great deal of difference in, tlie play of a- first-class, -golfer when those- years are from the early ’twenties to- middle age. A different tale lias to be told when the- 50th year .has been 'left behind. As our distinguished visitor belongs to the latter school, we can hardly expect him to- play up to tlie form of hiis previous visit. He lias, however, done iso many remarkable scores in his native country that the possibility booms large of his- doing so over here, if he can produce Iris best form -and win, no one- would begrudge such a fine sportsman such ia glorious victory. The oilier New Zealanders who will be taking part are not so well known, but can be expected tq- put up the traditional good fight of the sportsmen of their country. A TRIBUTE TO MR. KIRK. / Ma-oriland golf probably -owes more to R. C. Kirk, who is bringing -a team from the Shivery Isles to New South Wales in quest of the Ivirk-Windeyer Cup, than, to any other pill-wia-lloper in the Dominion (says the, -Sydney ‘‘Bulletin.”) The lure of the Royal and Ancient snared Kirk early in life-, and the habit- has stuck. Playing a particularly good stick himself—he has hovered round the scratch mark for years—he is gu mine oi' information on golf lore and methods, and no searcher after a lost game ever,appealed to- him- in vain. He has cured more chronic hooks and slices than- most -successful 1 pros. Lambton Quay pedestrians often :see him in some -grotesque attitude explaining to some falter by tlie wayside exactly where he has -gone- wrong, pr frozen into the posture of one- peering down ian 'imaginary fairway, after a mythical hall. Every mat 'in Kirk’s home- was threadbare from practice-swinging: till fits housekeeper drove him to erect a. hut in his backyard, llow full of weird and wonderful mechanical devices of his own invention for the eradication of common faults. “I expect you -are tired,” I once said to- him- as we- were going home- after midnight from a dance-. “Not so- tired; that I wonthave a few swings before 1 turn in,” was the reply. That’s Kirk.

A error in approaching at the fifth made him take live, coating him :a win, and at the sixth he was down in two, and at the seventh sank a chip for three. A, putt failed to hold the cup at the eighth, but nevertheless, he wias down in four and; three putdiim right, at the ninth. He started the return with a. five for the long tenth, hi.s fourth lipping Hie hole. After a. four at the next, Mr. Lusk had four three’s in succession, the fourth being 345yds and the -fifteenth 419yds. At these his seconds laid him dead. At the sixteenth a 'bad chip lost him the- hole to thu Colonel. Nearly down from the tee at the seventeenth. -a few inches preventing * a hole in one, he finished the last in four. His full card was: Out: 4. 3 2 3 5 2 3 4 3—29 In : 5 4 3 3 3 3 5 2 4—32 Total 61 NOTES. peninsula jutting out into the Tasman Sea or South Pacific Ocean on which is laid out the golf links of the town of Opunake. It is in many ways unique. The course looks over the ocean at practically every hole, with precipitous cliffs against which the breakers roar at high tide, and woe to the golfer who at the first or second or the fifth slices, or at the fourth pulls badly, or at the sixtli plays too strong —it is a gone ball, that will be carried away by the -sea. or the river. As much of the course is on pure sand it will be always dry Interest in the course is intensified by the .fact that the ground is all historic. It is all scarred by Maori fortifications, and close by are the remains of the British - fortified camp where, over fifty years ago, British Regulars and New Zealand Mounted Police, or A.C'.’s, as they Were familiarly known, were encamped for years, and were a real outpost of civilisation. History is closely bound up in the country over which the golfers play every 'week, little thinking, most of them, of the great deeds done in the past. J. L. Black, playing first for Huti against Duke of Miramar, went round in 79. Drake, did 79 and was beaten by 6 down anti 4 to go. Black’■& card read as follows.: Out. 4 4 4 4 4 3 5 4 4, 36. In. 4 4 3 4 2 5 4 3' 5, 34. Total: 70. Bogey is 78. Another course record, worth special notice is the 71 done by N. Bell, j-unr., itut Hamilton last week. This is a stroke better than Kirkwood’s.

It is ire assuring, -writes * Wellington critic, to fine! A. D. S. Duncan in form on the eve of hi® departure as evidenced by bis fine 71. at Haretaiunga, last week. If ihe can' 'similarly play only a strone or two behind course records in Australia there is every probability of the glorious victory for the l veteran hinted sals possible by an Australian writer. Macfarlane, Itotsis, and Horton are in good form, and as regards Quin, who is the youngest, as well as the. youngest golfer of the five l selected possibles,_ as lie handled, a club for the first time six years iago, he has a remark,able, store of ' good-humoured' imperturbability, which covers a remarkable concentration when, lie plays in big events, and lie has. the merit of playing his best when a hole, or two down. The team had it® official farewell in' Wellington, but doubtless other centres fare welled their champions suitably. Eiltbam eertainily did an. the, case, of Quin. The programme of the State championship lat Rose Bay, is June, 4, amateur foursomes' championship, 36 holes stroke play; open to amateurs, whose 'handicap' ;is two strokes or lews. June 8 and' 9 : Kirk-Win deyer Oup, teams of four, representing the States of Australia., will meet .in match play, and the winning team will play a similar team from New Zealand. June 11: Amateur championship, open to amateurs whose handicap, is two strokes or less. Sixteen to qualify for match play. _ 'Great Britain will send a formidable team of golf professionals to the United States ;this year to compete, in the American open championship, and to, meet the American professionals in the international match for the l Byder Oup. The nine players invited by the Professional Golfers’ Association to. make- the journey are—Al Boomer, A. Oompston. G. Duncan, A. G. Havers, Abe Mitchell. URay, R. Robson, George Gadd and O. A. Whitcombe. Ai common, fault among players, especially beginners, is the' playing e the wrong ball. Po;r the henefi|t of all we quote this rule : -‘lf a competitor play a 'stroke with a ball other than liis’ own, he shall incur no penalty, provided 'lie then piety Inis-. own ball, but if Ihe play two consecutive strokes -with a wrong hall he shall be disqualified.” The only exception to this rule is when a ball is lying in a hazard. The player is not penalised for playing the wrong ball in >a hazard provided the mistake is discovered as soon as- the ball is outside the limits of the hazard. Get into the habit of looking at your ball each time you advance it. So many players- use the same brand of hall that it i» advisable to put a small distinguishing mark when the hall is taken out ©f the paper. ‘ ‘Putting;, is tho and yet mOst difficult part of golf,” says J. H. Barnes. “It is the .simplest because it i© the .shortest stroke, in the game. It is the moist difficult because extreme accuracy and control are demanded in larger degree than in winy other department. of tlie game. Consistently fmiyl putting is the result of diligent, patient practice, applied toward acquiring a: sound method of striking the ball. I have never seen a born putter. Efvery real fine putter acquired his skill at the expense qf' almost, endless hours of hard patient practice.” Hitting too soon throws, the swing out of alignment, says, A. W. J. in the Referee. This is what takes place: While the clubheod i:s .still travelling on tlie back swing the body begin© to move forward anti the hands and wpsts are pulling lagainst «.h object that is travelling in the opposite direction. The club head then descends on a different ■arc from that ©n which it wa<? taken *