GOLF.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLIV, Issue XLIV, 8 March 1924, Page 3

GOLF.

FIXTURES. March 27-20 —Professional Tournament at Nelson. March-April—Professional one-day tournament at Miramar, Wellington. April 19, 21, and 22 —Easter tournament at Heretaunga, Wellington. May 26 —British amateur championship at St Andrews. June 23 —British open championship at Hoylake.

Very interesting has been the competition for the summer cup this year. The weather has been often pretty trying, on account of the excessive heat, but as a rule there is a nice sea breeze blowing. But the excellent condition of the links has compensated for any drawbacks epxerienced. It is safe to say that never before has the course been so good. The long game especially has gained, and a ball hit truly and well will secure a great length. The great-

lest difficulty has been in the short game and on the greens. Both these sections of the game are difficult at any: time, but under dry weather conditions' they have been specially hard. -The* ram, however, of late has gone a long way towards minimising these diffi-• culties. The course at present is in' great order. The club is lucky to have' such good playing conditions." j Prior to 1821 the five holes of the course at Leith measured 414 yards, j 461 yards, 42d yards, 495 yards and 435 ' yards respectively. * j One of the most important golf decisions was reached at a conference be- i tween representatives of golf unions. I An advisory committee comprising fiveEnglish, four Scotch, three Irish, and: , two Welsh representatives, will .act with ' the Royal and Ancient Club in govern- ; ance of the game, management of the amateur open championship, and the' selection of international teams. j Distance lends enchantment, provided ' you've got direction. I The American P.G.A. announces that' its professional championship will this I year be held at French Lick Springs, i Indiana, from September 14 to 20. Golf's growth in Canada during the ' last few years is nothing short of phen- i omenal. According to statistics pub-! lished in Frazer's Canadian Golf Direc-1 tory and Year Book of 1923, there are ; 258 golf clubs in the Dominion. In 1916 there were only 76. The growth, there, fore, has been almost fivefold in seven years. According to provinces, the' distribution is as follows: —Alberta 51, British Columbia, 26, Manitoba 33, New Brunswick 8, Nova Scotia 14, Ontario 124, Prince Edward Island 2, Quebec': 62, Saskatchewan 38. ; The perfect putting style is the style' you acquire on the drawing-room carpet I i during the summer and lose with yourj first visit to the course in the autumn. I The completed golf ball, as it leaves I the factory, is not at that stage ready! to begin its life—usually a short one— j on the links. Like the refreshment ob-' tamed at the nineteenth hole it is bet- i ter if a little aged. Experiments in the laboratories and on the links have; shown that the golf ball needs to be aged several months before it is" durable. In order to have the thin cover vulcanised to the right degree for obtaining distance, it must not be made too hard. If the balls are used while they are "green" they are very easily cut. The cover, with the exact amount of treatment to make it lively, toughens with a few months' ageing, yet it' retains its elasticity to the utmost degree—so far as delicate testing machines can show. New Zealand figures are not available, but it is estimated that in America the consumption of Balls amount to 40,000,000 annually. In the report of the Miramar Club it is stated that some 1200 pines, pohutukawas, and ngaios were planted during the year, and in spite of an abnormally dry summer fully 60 per cent, of the t»ees planted are growing. The installation of a gas cooker, an improved hotwater service, an addition to the professional's workshop, and an extension of the telephone thereto are some of the improvements made dfc the clubhouse. Tho ground in the front of the house has been levelled, and a shed for use as a machine shed was purchased^ The letter of Henry Gulleu, secretary of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St ; Andrews, Scotland, to the United States Golf Association, explaining the difficulties attending the dispatching of a Walker Cup team to the United States, raises the question, says W E Hicks in The Brooklyn Daily Times, whether the size of the team required in that trophy competition is not too large for an international match. Nine players came over from Britain in 1922 to play in the first competition for the cup at the National links, and this year ten American players went abroad as members of the team. These totals are more than twice as^ large as the numbers that represent "each nation in the Davis Cup international tennis compe-! tition, and the query naturally arises whether the Davis Cup contests could So on year after, year with such large teams as are called for in the Walker Cup tournament. It should be borne in mind that if so rich and prosperous a country as England and one so saturated with golf tradition finds it difficult to finance its golf team's visit to this country, it is scarcely likely that smaller countries will be induced to entertain teams; and it has not been the idea from the start of the Walker; Cup competitions that the entries were to be limited to the United States and j Great Britain, but that they should be as representative of the leading countries of the world as is the Davis Cup entry list. I