ITS COST TÒO GREAT

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 48, 26 February 1938, Page 8

ITS COST TÒO GREAT

AUSTRALIAN GOLF TEAM AMATEURS’ TRIP HOME Fares of the members of the Australian team of amateur goiters to tour Great Britain will be paid by the various State Councils, and the bill will exceed £6OO. Players are asking what return there will be for this expenditure, especially in view of the fact that tlie money might be better spent in other direction, and because the bank accounts of the councils are already attenuated to near starvation point, comments che Sydney Referee The most enthusiastic advocates for an interchange of visits will find it hard to answer the question. Three of the four players have reached a stage of ability that is not likely to be bettered by experience on British courses, while one is already past his prime. Certainly they should have a very good time a t the expense of the State Councils and the Royal and Ancient Club which invited them. But when that is set down, there is apparently little more t.o be said. If the fixture list included a clash with Great Britain, or even England, Scotland, 'W ales, or Ireland, there might be some reason for the sending of a team at a cost which the respective councils are unable to afford. But the E,. and A. Club, in its invitation, expressly sets out that there mUst be no matches of a representative character, that in fact only matches against clubs, and solely of the social order, will be played. Criticising: Terms of Invitation. One does not usually .criticise a host when he sets out the terms of an invitation, but; in regard to this trip there are reasons why there should be criticism. Why is it that the R. and A. Club countenances test matches between Great Britain and the United States, and yet will not permit a similar clash between the Mothe r Country and its Dominions? The club made its attitude clear when a British team visited Australia. Matches were played against the various States, but when newspapers referred to thorn as “tests,” Mr. Gullen, the secretary of the R. and A. Club,

o<CZ>oo<C^>4o who accompanied the team as manager, was emphatic in stating that they were nothing of the kind, and his request that they should not be so referred to was respected. The British players also made it plain that they regarded the matches as merely social functions, and in no way competitive. The captai n of the team, the Hon. Michael Scott, actually conceded a putt to an opponent for a win when the ball was four feet from the hole. Social matches are all very well in their way, but are they justified at a cost of £600?