GOLF

NZ Truth, Issue 936, 3 November 1923, Page 9

GOLF

■ . »■' ■ ■ - Notes On Happenings (By "Sammy.") , Competitions at Rotorua have finished for- the season. Golfers should note that the course is kept open and mow.--cd down throughout the summer. PacK your clubs when you go to Rotorua. , You will enjoy a round there. s : : : : : The Golf Council has made a start inspecting the three courses offered for the championship next year. • Each course has its merits, but a deciding point must be the available accommodation. Promised, new accommodation won't do. It> must be there now, and the big centres have that m their favor. The Auckland Club at Middle,more have a course ready for s B, championship if it was' playeijd io-niorrow. This must be a point m their favor. ■Courses • which* ha" ye to "be altered randmade for an open.in a matter of ten months catjnbt be ready to stand the' strain and play of a big tournament. One hears comments at times that Middlemore is kindergarten golf; that the bogey is too easy, ettv I give them m that the lies are perfect for the straight golfer, but help them when they stray. into the rough., That is jsist as it should be. The bogey is easy. Yet Middlemore is- the only course where 70 has not been beaten. The best score returned Is ' a 70 -by E. S. Moss. Kirkwood and others

(On« of the "youngest" old Trainers on the Turf).

could not break average fours, so th« course la not «o easy. It 1« Marly ten years sln-ce^ the open haa twcn played over Auckland, and her tarn is due. The course la ready, "the accommodation la there. Why hesitate? :: ;: :: The boys' amateur championship At home is a big tournament now, and great Interest was shown m this year's matches. The boys showed they could play the game, and two budding champions gave a great display m the final. Donald Mathieson, aged 17, of Edinburgh, won the title for the second time m three years by defeating Hugh Mitchell, aged 16, by 3 and 1. The mntchas were played over the Dunbar course. N .The English boy started oft In great 'stylo and won the first four holes. Mathieson, after recovering from the disturbing influence of a missed putt of a foot, which shook 'him to the core, played with wonderful steadiness, and m course of twelve holes converted a deficit of four holes into a balance of two m his favor.. He played with admirable, -oven astonishing, calmness. In five solid hours ot golf he never once uttered a word, except occasionally to ask his caddie of his advice m the playing of a shot Mathieson thought only of hta game, and concentratod upon It m a manner rather amazing m a boy. He wan persistently outdriven by twenty to thirty yards, and yot It had not the smallest effect upon his game. Ho did not take the slightest notice of it, and never' once was encouraged W lash out In the endeavor to make up the leeway from tho tee. How many of us, no mutter how excellent our intentions, can carry them through to tho end without faltering? But through the green, round.it. and on it, Mathieson was master, ana ho knew it. Anywhere from forty to fifty yards he was usually down m two, and the process became so monotonous that ofter a while it had a destructive effect on Mitchell's g&mo. Mitchell is a big hitter, and at one hole he drove a measured dlatanco of 280 yards— a fearful length for a boy just sixteen years of age. Without doubt these boys will, m a few years' time, derive great benelt from to© games Just played, and -may m tha year* to eon» again play them m the finals of the asnaUur championship. '• «» ii «i Municipal golf v a paying proposition In Canada. Edmonton made a net profit of £150 last year I And Uw f«vw>TJ« ot tb* two public links In Toronto was £48*3 In membership fees alone. As showing the public appreciation for the dvio provision of golf for the masses last ywir 60,440 garnet were played on the Winnipeg Municipal Links, and on one day m M&y the amazing figure of «5S gomes wm recorded. Yet m the face of figures as Is published from time to time In this column, centres such ai Auckland do not make a stop to establish a paying sports ground. «* »i it Tho short, fiery colonel was having a rough «pln. Hole after hole ho was In tho rough, but always managed to find his ball just as he was "giving up." At "Land's End" ho sliced Into the tiger country. Whon plunging through the fern looking for hia boll a fellow-golfer camo his way. Casually, looking around, ho Bald to the purplo colonel. "It is a maxfll you are looking: for?" "No." snorted the colonel. "It's a blankity blank mosquito." " *: tt "I have taught my««lf to use l&n---fnm*c by writln* books and burning Ui*m." «ay« a well-known Dean. Another way la to take up golf. « J » : : : There nro two classes on tho link* — ihi- players who PLAY AT irolf and tho pluyors who PLAY Rolf.