SUMMER GOLF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19503, 6 December 1926, Page 9

SUMMER GOLF.

I RESPEbT FOR FIRST HOLE. ERRORS THAT ARE COSTLY, BY NIBLICK. There will be an important golf meeting, featuring the Christchurch amateur championship and several other interesting events, on December 27, 28 and 29. The tournament will be held on the Shirley course and will bo under the auspices of th3t clnb. The Christmas holiday will see a number of similar tournaments, so that in mid-summer there will be quite a boom in the royal and ancient game. The fact that golf throughout the summer becomes more and moro general in New Zealand reminds mo of the statement made by Dr. Mackenzie, the wellknown golf course architect. Ho says that it is quite possible, and eTen advisable, to do away entirely with the "rough," and to have the fairways as wide, practically, as the course, and then thoroughly well bunkered. The bunkers would catch the straying shots, but would give the good player a better chance to recover than does the rough. This would also mean far less time lost in locking for balls and would conduce to the maintenance of that equable state of mind, which makes golf more enjoyable and enables the player to be more effective. It is a proposition which ought seriously to be considered by the first-class courses in New Zealand, Promising Amorican Player, In these columns, a few weeks ago, I mentioned Frank Doip, the 212-year-old golfer of Portland, Oregon, who was run-ner-up m 1925 iu the Western Golf Association championship, and won it this year. Dolp is the tenth man ou the ranking list issued a couple of months ago by the United States Uolf Association, and probably tins least known of the ten, outside the United States. As a boy Dolp caddicd, and picked up die game quite naturally, as caddies do. Francis Ouiinet and George Von Elm, it may be mentioned, began to play golf when they were caddies; and so did many another good golfer. Dolp's grip is peculiar in that the left hand overlaps the .ight, as Bobby Jones does for putting only. Dolp overlaps thus for mil shots. He prefers a long iron shot to a brassie or spoon shot, and he is able to concentrate fiercely. In the United States am at oar championship Dolp suffered disqualification owing to a mistake which he made. He counted only a stroke as the penalty for putting a ball out of bounds, whereas it should have been stroke and distance. The mistake was discovered afteir the mistaken score had been posted up, and Dolp was disqualified. He played out the afternoon round, and his ireal total of 158 for the two rounds, if it had counted, would have enabled him to qualify with four strokes to spare. In the same qualifying test Robert A. Gardner, captain of the American Walker Uup team this year, carded a 12 at the very first hole. Ho hooked three shots out of bounds from the first tee, losing stroke and distance each time! He has twice won the title, but that first hole kept him this year from qualifying, j The Start Important. This disastrous commencement reminds one, by contrast, of Bobby Jones* advico to take particular care about the first hole, because the 9tart you make in your round paves the way to success or failure, more than your play at any other hole. How many instances of this can one recall! It is when we are faced with a syd. putt on the last greori to halve the match that wo realise with bitterness the importance of the first hole of the round which, in all probability, we played rathdr carelessly because there were 17 to follow. This is a fatal" attitude for a golfer. It is fatal t-o remind oneself that the round is long and that some chances are sure to come one's way; fatal to acquiesce in anything below oner's best, relying upon the comfortable, but false, philosophy that something will turn up. The golfer who improves, who learns to score, and to play matches as thoy should be played, is the one who concentrates on the shot now being played, and sees to it that his best concentration and executive power go into it. The fjame is important right from the very first tee. Some of us need constantly to bo reminded of this fact. It is a most valuable fact to remember. Golfing. Superstitions. A golfing caprice comes back to mind with this mention of the first hole. I have repeatedly, in Scotland, come across the belief that it was not lucky to win the first hole. Certainly it was ever a belief, half-heartedly held; for, although the statement as to the lack of luck likely to follow was often made, I do not remember having seen any golfer deliberately throw away a chance of becoming one up there. Even more common is the belief that " two up and five to go, never wins." I have.seldom met golfers recently who seriously thought about their chances of being beaten when in that position; but I can recall the time when the position of being two up at the fourteenth tee gave one furiously to think. Of course, there is no reason, in the nature of things, why two up and five should be more dangerous than two up and six. But it is more dangerous jast because people so commonly say that it is. The thought enters ones mind; the possibility of losing one's lead invades the consciousness ; and then there happen those ups and downs which make golf the fascinating and uncertain game which it is. Recent; Events at St. Andrews, I mentioned Bobby Jones a few. paragraphs back. Ho was made a member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, St. Andrews, at the September meeting of the club. At the same time Mr. Howard Frank Whitney was elected to the Rules of Golf Committee. Mr. Whitney is a prominent member of the United States Golf Association, in which lie has occupied the highest office. His election to the governing authority of the game of golf is not only a direct recognition of America and American golf, but shows also that those who have been, up to the nresenfc, responsible for controlling and deciding matters concerning golf everywhere, desire to make the directive body representative of all that is beat. Mr. Whitney has made a statement in which he acknowledges the honour conferred by the Royal and Ancient Club. He does not fail to point out the excellent impression which nis appointment will create from one end of America to the other. He regards it also as an earnest -if the co-operation of the two countries in all that makes for the good of the game. Viewed from the basis of his standing in golf circles in the United States, as well as from that of his ability and experience, Mr. Whitney will be a valuable addition to the Rules of Golf Vjffimittee. During the first week of October the new captain of the Roval and Ancient Golf Club played himself in by driving a ball from the first tee ou the Old "ourse. Thereafter he took part in the fnedal competition. But not with that '•all. The procedure is that the waiting "rowds of caddies make a rush for the il! as soon as it leaves the club, and the one who is lucky enough to capture it is rewarded with a golden sovereign, •bile the .ball takes its place with its scores of predecessors in the clubhouse John Gilmour is the new captain, •nd he is the first Scottish secretary . known as Secretary of State for Scot- j "d The Prince of Wales and Earl i Hai~ have both been captain of the j Royal and Ancient since the war. j