DOMINION TOUR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23191, 10 November 1938, Page 13

DOMINION TOUR

LOCKE'S IMPRESSIONS MATCH AT GISBORNE GUY'S COLOSSAL HITTING BY BOIIBY LOCKE No. 11. Siiiico my first article appeared, I have had the opportunity of playing on a variety of New Zealand courses, and against the cream of your amateur and professional golfers. Unfortunately 1 contracted ptomaine poisoning after my first match against Murray in Auckland, and was compelled to spend a week in hospital in Gisborno, where at first it scorned that my match against A. Guy would have to bis cancelled. I am pleased, however, that it was practicable to' postpone the match, because I would have been sorry to hiive missed a game with one whom I consider to bo one of the most promising young professionals 1 have encountered in either this country or in Australia. Until I played Guy, I thought that Henry Cotton was the longest hitter of a golf hall I had seen. I am not ko sure that Guy isi not longer, but, because of the difference in atmospheric conditions, I hesitate to comparo the length attained in England and in this country. Only by having the two players hitting ball for ball would one be able to decide their relative length from the tecs. Amazing Distances Nevertheless, Guy does hit somo colossal shots, and, as I write this just after 1113' arrival in Dunedin, I have already had word of some amazing distances achieved by him in one or two of his practice rounds prior to the open championship. I understand that ho had an Bft. putt for a 3 at the 086yard lltli, and drove the 345-yard 12th. I am not surprised, because, when Guy opens his shoulders, the little white ball certainly travels.

Guy, however, has more to his game than just long hitting. Ho plays crisp iron shots, and has , a nice natural putting style with the club head following through the ball, as that of a good putter should do, and, providing he does not let the occasion over-awe him, I am confident that Guy will perform well in the forthcoming championships. Lack of Experience His faults at the moment are largely those of inexperience in competitive golf. I think a lot of Guy's game and of his potentialities. The Gisborne course is laid out on the most beautiful golfing country, and represents quite & fine test of &o>fSome of the holes are really magnificent, while others, as is the case with most provincial golf courses, are of necessity rather weak, usually through some absence of length or perhaps of money to carry out extensive, and I might say expensive, bunkering schemes and so forth. Tho disadvantage that Gisborne suffers under is that of lack of water, and, after a long dry spell such as it has experienced in recent -weeks, one cannot expect really first-class greens. However, many of them were m fine condition and were a credit to the greenkeeper and to his knowledgo or grasses and their cultivation.

Typical of England From Gisborne I went to Hastings, incidentally experiencing a slight earthquate en route. There I played on the course of the Hastings Goli Club, which is a very fine example of the typical English Park course. Hastings has a bwautiful little course, which is, I. imagine, quite typical of the other courses in the Hawke's Bay district. I am afraid I did not play my best golf at Hastings, but had the pleasure of witnessing a fine exhibition by _A. Dyke, a professional in that district, who strung together a very fine 70 by ijoimd and well-played golf. And so to the Landsdowne course at Masterton, where I had a memorable match with your open champion, J. P. Hornabrook, which my next article will deal with.