On the Links

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7865, 29 July 1911, Page 14

On the Links

Yet another wet and unpleasant weekend was in store for golfers last Saturday. This -winter the golfers have been having a decidedly bad time of it and there are more for tho club house than tho links. AA"o can only hope for better luck in tho future. An Otaki team came down and tackled the Hutt men on Saturday, but were beaten by 5 games to 2. For the winners Callender was in great form against Poidevin finishing 8 up and 6 to play. Balneairs also put up a fine, gam© against Kirk, while other winners for the Hutt were Freeth, Climie and Stephens. For Otaki the winners were Brown arid K. Simcox. E. E. Bennett pulled off the second medal handicap at Miramar on Saturday, handing in a net score of SO. AV. Carter and the Rev. J. G. Bartlett cam© next with S 3 net. F. Seifort won the medal handicap at the Hokowhitu links on Saturday, his card reading 90 —10 —80. Dr Stowe (ham dicap 14) and S. Tyerman (handicap 4) were only a stroke behind. The Pearce Brothers (Clyde and Bruce) appear to-have made a very good impression in England. Bruco was successful in winning the open tournament at Cruden Bay, while Clyde came out on top in the open meeting at Peterhead. Both courses are in Aberdeenshire, and tho competitions—especially the Cruden Bay one —rank amongst tile principal open amateur fixtures in tho 03d“ Country.. Bruce Pearce also performed creditably in the St. George's Cup competition at Sandwick, finishing' eignth in rather a classy field, with a total of 161. Mr Everard Smith was tho winner, witlT'a total of 148. In the second round, however, ho idayed brilliant golf, and broke tho record of the course with a round of OS, being seven strokes bettor than any other score returned. In the final match of the <£lso Professional Tournament at Cruden Bay,[ Edward Bay beat James Braid after an[ exciting contest. Although Bay wasi dormy 2, he lost tho last two holes, and the round finished all square. It 'was decided to play nine more holes, andj in theso Braid became two up atj the fifth. He could not retain his lead,} however, for Bay holed a 7yds putt forj tho sixth and a 4yds putt to gain the! ninth. All square again, the players) agreed to go on hole by hole. The first proved fatal to Braid, for he went out of bounds with his iron, and he lost the hole at 5 to 4, A brilliant performance was accom-j pished at the championship course ar bandwick in the competition for the St. George's Challege Cup. J. MartinSmith not only won the tropthy with the lowest aggregate ever returned for the event, but created a record for' the green. He was out in tho wonderful score of 31, and came home in 37, hisj 68 being easily the best score ever re-j turned on the altered course in competition. His first round was a moderate 80, but his aggregate for the two rounds of 148 beat by 5 strokes the previous* lowest for the cup. Bobert Harris, with rounds of 74 and 75 —total of 149—was runnor-up. The modest man launched into a panegyric of the recent ox>ponent's play. “Never," he exclaimed, ally, '‘'have X seen better golf. My ojm .pbnent got away every drive, hit' every brassy clean, approached up to the hole i>erfectly, and. never missed a single putt." • "And how much," inquired the listeners, "were you beaten by." 1 “Beaten!" he exclaimed. “Why, F wasn't beaten. I won!" “The Bank Stroke." v Mr Henry Leach mentions a wonderful /stroke made by Peter Bainford in the professional foursome tournament recently at Walton Heath. It was noth-! ing more or less than a very, clever variation of the bank stroke, that was acconH plished by Mr AA r akcfieid in the univer-. aity match at Kyo, which was much) commented on at the time. The situation when this stroke is in-, dicated as being desirable or possible, ofi the only one that stands much chancel of success, is when the ball is lying fairly well, there is a hard bank in front of it, and it is desirable to make the) ball just get itself over that bank and stay close up on the other side, on a surface that is more or less slippery* and along -which the ball would run) away, to the ruin of the prospects ofi the player at the hole if any attempt were made to pitch it over tho intervening obstacle. It is a case where pitch-* ing is practically impossible, and a lit-» tie thought upon the situation as it arises shows that the only thing to be done is to make the ball roll extremely slowly over tho top of the bank; but such excessive slowness of pace is not easy to bring about- AVhat is done ia to take a fairly, straight-faced club, such as will impart much , running power to the ball, and hit the ball hard against tho face of the bank, so that the impact practically kills # ita momentum, and the little run that *lb then left in it is just sufficient to enable it to crawl over tho top and struggle along for a very short distance afterwards before it comes to a standstill. At the first consideration it would, seem that a shot of this kind, where great force is expended in order to gain a very little distance, must be very much in tho nature of a gamble and undependable; but, as 'a matter of fact, it can bo brought off safely with some frequency after a little practice, and is as reliable and useful as the “dunch" shot from a bunker close up to a putting green when the sand a long way behind the ball is hit and delved into with the niblick with all the force available. Mr Gordon Barry did the bank shot very nicely in the dosing stages of tho final of tho amateur championship at Prestwick, Mr AA 7 akefield did it at Eye, and now Rainfdrd has done it at AVaiton Heath, so we have three occasions .of great importance when it was attempted and brought off successfully. In the most recent case Bainford apparently took his putter when his side's 1 ball was bunkered at the sixth hole,; drove tho ball hard against the slightly, sloping face of the bunker, and had the satisfaction of seeing it pull up nicely on the putting green. The Bankruptcy Court, is a place which tries tho metal of a man*