GOLF.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVI, Issue XLVI, 30 May 1914, Page 11

GOLF.

The Hawera men have had two interesting outings lately, Waverley and Patea being visited. At both places the greens were aood and pretty fast and being somewhat small,* gave the local men some difficulty in staying on them. Hawera travel to Nevv Plymouth on Wednesday, taking up about the best team (and a khg list, too) available. They should be able to give the New Plymouth men a good run. In any case the trip will be most interesting and enjoyable. June 3 is always looked for by local players. . Ihe new links ar© rapidly improving, tees are formed at all of the holes, and the greens are beginning to be puttable. Lynch, the ground" man, says that the cold weather is hindering the growth of: grass and delaying the improvement of the greens It can in any case hardly be hoped to have really good greens this season.

The club house is being pushed forward by the contractor. Its completion will be a tremendous advantage to players, and will be much appreciated.

Later on a putting green alongside the house will be put down. This is a. wonderfully asset to a club and improves play on the greens very much, besides providing a means of puttm/r m odd times one has to spare when a round, cannot be played and also useful and interesting competitions.

Lady members of the local club will be interested to hear that Miss B. JNoian m a note says she has had a round of nine, holes on the Buluwayo linka {South Africa). She found them very rough, and the greens, being; of cla«?A were difficult to mitt on. When Mr John L. Low's book "CWcernmg Golf" made its appearance some years ago. not the least interesting .feature pf it was the chapter on driving by Mr Harold H. Hilton who may be regarded as still the greatest amateur exponent of the game The following extract from this chapter will be of particular interest to new players: "I have observed a large number of particular phenomena in tne matter of driven balls, and from them have deduced the following Wsj ,Fu' st > that straightness is secured by the avoidance of any change m the position of the centre of the circle the circumference of which is described by the club-head. Secondly, that the club-head will on the down swing pass over the same path which it took on the up swing. Thirdly, that the pace at which the club-head reaches the ball will .be greatly diminished unless the segment of the circle described after the moment of impact be at least as long.as the segment described before it. These three laws have their corresponding rules. J<-irst % stand firm, and don't sway or |ook up. Second, in addressing' the ball, assume such a position that the back swing is not cramped, and keep the back-swing under control. Third let there be no bending.of the arms atter the ball has been struck until the. circle i© completed." It was on the finks at Lossiemouth, last summer, where one of the greatest living British statesmen was anxiously inspecting his ball as it lay in the rough about thirty yards to'the right of the eleventh hole. Uncertain as t<o Wiiicn. club to select for so important an approach shot, he turned for counsel to his caddy, a small Scottish lad of 6ome ten summer®. The pair formed one of the prettiest pictures imaginable; on the one hand, the greyheaded but perplexed statesman, gravely urging the advisability of taking a niashie; on the other, the ragged, barefooted, toweel-headed urchin, insisting upon the use of a niblick. From the 6erious expression upon the eminent politician's face he might well have been consulting a Cabinet colleague upon 6ome question of vital import to the Empire, and I watched with interest to see the upshot of their deliberations. It was all in vain that the hard-headed Minister of State, the man in whose hands lay the destinies of a great people, pleaded for his mashie j the barefooted urchin stubbornly shook his head, and with, an imperious gesture thrust the niblick into his employer's hand. Shrugging his: shoulders in that resigned fashion that the House of Commons knows so well, the statesman took the proffered club, and in another moment had laid his ball within 6ix inches of the hole. Do you wonder, dear reader, that as I turned away from this moving. scene with a lump in my throat and the tears starting to my eyes, I should have felt that I had at least learnt something of the qualities that render constitutional party government possible, that I had diecovered perhaps some inkling of what it is that makes us Britons what we are? Yes—or. rather, No.—Harry Grobam in The Pall Mall Magazine.' The following extracts from an article, "Golf in Suva," will be of interest to many in Taranaki: —

Until about five years ago the game of golf was often talked about in Suva but no attempt was made to introduce it locally, the general opinion being that nothing like a suitable course could be found, owing to the rough nature of the surrounding country. When Mr George H. Morgan, the manager of the local branch of the TJ.S.S. Co., came to Suva he at once saw the possibilities here and put much energy and valuable time into an endeavor to form a club, with the result that a course was secured at Brighton Park, some two and a half miles out of town, and the game successfully started early in 1908. Interest has yearly increased, and now —the old links having provedi inadequate for the growing needs of the club—a new course has been secured at Greenfield.

On Saturday, 14th inst., the links at Brighton Park were closed and the clubs and gear were temporarily transferred, to the secretary's office. The new links are very much closer to Suva than the old course was, being situated on a property at Greenfield owned by a Mr G. J. Marks, but leased for a long term to the Brighton Dairy Co., and it is from this company that the old club has secured a lease.. The new course is exceptionally well situated, and the surface is kept sufficiently well grazed by the dairy cattle to make playing pleasure. Nine greens have been formed and holes laid out, and old golfers have already expressed the opinion that it would indeed be hard to find a more STtorting course. The club membership now stands at 55, but it is not intended to restrict the number of members, as the club has sufficient ground to increase the course to the full eighteen holes. . ■ Links like these should act as a special inducement to visitors, and the club already has an arrangement whereby visitors can have their first rhy's play free, and contribute at the rate of half-a-crown. per week

during the remainder of their stay Oxford .University scored an unexpected win over Cambridge in their annual golf contest held at ltye on Friday last. Isine men a-side played, and the Oxonians proved victorious by o games to 4. The record of these fixtures now stands at 17 wins fcr Uxrord, 15 for Cambridge, and 3 have been drawn.

In a cleverly written article 1 in an English paper, James Douglas waxes sarcastic at the expense of those players who are incapable' of making any appreciable advance in the game of golf. Inter alia, he says: "It seems to me that a vast amount of human suffering would be averted if it were established once for all that there are many persons who are naturally incapable of playing golf, and who are proof against all the advice, counsel and instruction of text-books and professional golf-doctors. There is a well-defined malady which I may call golf-blindness, and it is as hopeless to struggle against it as it is to struggle against color-blindness. The golfbhnd person is incurable. He is born golf-blind, and nothing can alleviate his infirmity. Therefore before any sane human being should be allowed to take up golf, he should' be sent to a1 golf-specialist, whose duty it would be to examine him as an oculist examines your eyes. An oculist can tell whether a man is fit to be a navigator or an engine-driver, or a signalman. The golf-specialist in the same way ought to be able to tell whether a man is fit to play golf. This pestilent sport aboimds in maxims which ought to put its martyrs on their guard. The most odious of these maxims, is the lothsome injunction, 'Keep your eye on the ball.' I make bold to assert that for nine persons out of ten this detestable edict is absolutely derisory. It is contrary to their character to obey it. There is an overwhelming impulse in the very depths of their soul to disobey it. Here then is the first test which everybody who is in danger of being captured by the imps of golf ought to apply himself. If he cannot keep his eye on the ball, let him immediately smash all his clubs and proceed to pick oakum, or break stones ,or make woolly mats, or play patience, for join an Antarctic exepdition.?)

Judge Hamilton, who has just been permanently appointed to the District Court in New South Wales, was a famous all-round athlete in his young days. In Sydney, his game has been principally golf, but he has not been able to play much lately. He was one of the original founders of the Royal Sydney Golf Club.