AMATEUR GOLF REGOVERY

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2310, 1 December 1925, Page 4

AMATEUR GOLF REGOVERY

SOME NOTABLE PERFORMANCES (By Harry Yardon, Six Times * Open Champion) A feature of recent golf has been some very excellent scoring by amateurs, as, for example, the rounds of 74 and 72 by Mr. Robert Harris on the Royal St. George’s links, at Sandwich, and those of 72 and 73 by Mr. T. A. Torrance at Sandy Lodge. It may seem like mixing the gilt with the gingerbread to mention Sandwich and Sandy Lodge in the same breath, but, in their respective categories they are such splendid types of the seaside links and the metropolitan inland course that I am not at all sure which of the two affords tho greater ecstasy to. the man who is playing at the top of his form. Having a particularly warm corner in my heart for Sandwich because of its rugged naturalness which, unlike many courses possessing this characteristic, never seems to intror duce an element of flukiness into the golf, I select it as the finest test of the game—difficult in an attractive ■way and never heartbreaking in its intricacies—to be found anywhere in the British Isles, but that does not mean necessarily that it is the hardest on which to do a low score. Indeed, the player who is hitting the ball truly, and well, may do very wonderful figures at Sandwich for the breaks of fortune are apt to run wondrously in his favour —as on the •whole —they ought to do when a golfer is at his best. Nothing is more trying in such circumstances than to see a -well-hit shot break in the wrong direction. Championships have been lost through the moral effect'of it, for it happens on some courses that these untoward kicks occur repeatedly in a round for no apparent reason, and the player, realising that he could not possibly have struck tho shots more accurately and that he would hope to strike them in exactly the same way every time he appeared on the. .links, is apt to resign himself to the belief that everything is against him.

Sandwich Is especially kind to perfectly struck strokes, and among inland greens Sandy Lodge has the same distinguishing quality. Scores of 72 by Mr. Harris on tho one and Mr. Torrance on the other have'much in common. They could not be accomplished by the luck that sometimes plays a part in tho production of low figures at golf, and they could not be accomplished without the sympathetic tendency of such courses as these to draw good shots towards the hole. A Great Record, Personally, I think that the most noteworthy record score that exists is the C 8 which stands to the credit Of Mr. Everard Martin Smith at Sandwich. He accomplished it in 1911 in the open amateur competition for the St. George's Vase —an event in connection with which it is stipulated that the play must always be from the championship tees —and it is probably the only record round which has stood for fourteen years. So far as I am aware, every other pre-war record has been beaten or has become obsolete owing to the reconstruction of courses..

To all intents and purposes. Sandwich is exactly the same to-day as when Mr. Martin Smith accomplished his 68. I believe that, during the past year or two, Mr. Douglas Grant has equalled those figures, but I am not sure that he achieved the feat from the championship tees, which make a very great difference to the test at Sandwich. That the record should have stood for so long is the more notable for the fact that since its accomplishment, many of the best amateurs, such as Mr. C. J. H. Tolly and Mr. R. H. Wethered, have played on the course in the annual tournament for the St George’s Vase, and that all the leading professionals, including the Americans, have had four rounds at Sandwich in the open championship. George Duncan went nearest to equalling the long-standing figures. He had a score of 6 9 in his last round, and it would have been 68 but forr the one slip that he made in letting his spoon shoot to the home hole drift with the wind into the hollow on the left of the green. He was trying then to tie with Walter Hagen, of New York, for the championship. A four at the last hole would have done it, and would also have enabled him to equal Mr. Martin Smith's figures, but a five had to go down on his card. This is, I think, the only record" for a championship course which is held by an amateur. Summer and Winter Weight®. The recent performances by Mr. Harris and Mr. Torrance have not been the only manifestations of what looks like the beginning of a recovery in the standard of amateur golf. Mr. Tolly, after beginning the season by winning the spring scratch medal of the Royal and Ancient Club with a score of 73, and then turning his attention to lawn tennis, accom-* plished some splendid scores in Scotland last month. He secured the open competition forr the Silver Tasisie at Gleneagles. and did two 74’s in 'the autumn medal competition of the Royal and Ancient Club—the first to tie for the trophy, and. the second to win the re-play. Mr. Tolly is credited with the statement that he took up lawn tennis in order to reduce his weight, and that he succeeded to the extent of a stone. It is a rather curious cirrcumstance that the constant playing of golf with all the exercise that it entails in walking and the swinging of the club, does not necessarily conduce to a limitation of bodily weight' It may avert the accumulation of adipose tissue, but it seems to develop the muscles and the general firmness of the body in a degree that adds to the bulk. I have always noticed that I weigh more in the summer when there is golf in plenty to_ba played, than in the winter; whJ®HMg?}ort days and the demand, san paaiaicu lIV that J* k ' tain an ; IfAk. <t 1 (

Perhaps a turn at lawn tennis is a good means of keeping fit At any rate, it is good to find Mr. Tolly, Mr. Harris, Mr. Torrance and other amateurs playing at the top of their form at a time when the visit of another team of American amateurs is being arranged. Our players will need to be at their best if, next season, they are at length to win the teValker Cup. -