GOLF

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7419, 22 April 1911, Page 7

GOLF

Playing in the qualifying round ut the CanierOm'v championship on .Snturnay, B. 15. 'Wouil, tiie present champion, put up u new recoid tor 'the links since the new course was laid out. Wood’s score tor the eighteen holes was 71, which is seven better .than the bogey spore, ihe out score was 3S and the in 38.

Kidston, the Wellington, represenntivo, in.ade a bald showing at the io Ngamotu Golf Club’s Easter tournament in Xcw Plymouth, playing good golf throughout, in the linui, however, he struck a vein of bad luck, and that sterling player, T. Saunders, of Wanganui, defeated him, by 2 up and 1 to play.

A Wellington team of ladies is competing in the Christchurch tournament. Sirs Lees, Mrs Watkins, and the Misses Brandon, Burns, Pearce, Stafford, and Bathurst comprise the party. They play in the Islington Cup match to-day. LIMIT THE HANDICAP. Manv good judges of the game attribute the fact that so many players fail to attain their efficiency golf to tho excessive number of Handicap _ stroke competitions. The limit of handicaps is extremely libera!, and tho temptation to a beginner to come in a winner at/hoearly stages of his career is great. Giile<l with a good eye mini confidence, a potential champion, plays round for a unndicap—his efforts at tho start may not bo ted successful, and'he finds himself docketed on the “30” or "35” mark. He 1 perceives that by dint of a little caution, and by being content to get tho ball round ibe course clear of bunkers, without any due regard to style, ho can keep in tho running for prizes. He possibly meets with somo success, and gets his handicap reduced to “18” or “12,” or even lower, but frequently it happens that ho has won his early triumphs at a very dear price, as ho has wedded himself to bad habits and a cramped style. This evil seems to arise largely from the fact that the handicap limit is. such that a beginner can, with a small element of luck, win a competition without any pretension to the right to bo called a golfer. If the limit wero lower tho absolute beginner would soon realise that he must know something about the game before having his name inscribed on a cup, and would therefore be more likely to cultivate a sound style, even tlio-ugh the effort led him through thoi-ny paths, and he would not have tho same inducement to pursue the primrose path round tho hunkers. By all means let there bo veterans' cups, and give all consideration to the older members of clubs, but let the halo and hearty junior recognise that ho should bo a golfer if he would win. a prize. PLAYING AGAINST THE’ WIND. In. an. article in. the “Piekf,” describing play ,in. a.round fir wintry weather, tho writer says of the bold adventurer: “Ho leaves nothing io chancea vast umbrella is lashed to his bag, the hood of .which is out to protect his club heads; and he has a pinch 1 of tar in li fold of leather to rub on his club handles (a great help’when tho hands begin to lose fooling;. ; ■ ; “Driving . with a low, firm, sweeping swing—the hands seeming to turn over at the .bottom of tho circle and positively smother tho ball—ho l is as far on towards the first hole as many h decent player on a halcyon day. The approach is easy, for the ball can bo pushed .right up to the hole, to drop at its side as suddenly, as though it had- been struck against a mattress. ■ : /'At the second tho wind is on the .right flank, ambushed at first behind a sandhill; but wo are ready for him, and from a swing even lower and move sweeping than before, with, a.n ovenmore marked turning of the hands,' the ball shoots out right, into tho Loeman’s lines. It is a challenge, a: bravado, ami the ball veers round agairi> into the straight (the cheated foe now actually: helping :it), and finishes, after a good running fall, within roach of the green. "A turn of tho course soon brings tho adversary on to the other flank, blit again our man is ready; a stance slightly more open, a swing slightly more upright, and the peril is challenged, overcome, and fifty yards coaxed out of the baffled enemy with the , same apparent ease as before. One learns ’almost to pity the foe a,s one sees the ball pushed up firmly with a strong shoulder stroke to right or left of the green, .rising gradually, soaring up, and then round towards the pin, to die down, at last upon tho tiny carpet that is dur goal.”