GOLF.

Otago Witness, Issue 2928, 27 April 1910, Page 65

GOLF.

NOTES BY BTJLGEE. . The Otago Club got off the second round of the Club Championship on Saturday -in perfect weather, the results being?:—H. C. Smith beat R.- P. Ward, 3 and 1; B. J. Smith beat J. R, Park, 2 up; R. J. Smith beat Errol Smith, 3 and 2; and W. Wyinks beat T. A. Hunter, 6 and 4. The gam© between B. J. Smith and Park was productive of fine golf, the scores being Smith 82, Park 84. Park is to be congratulated on his good fight against such a redoubtable opponent. It was not thought by club members that Wyinks would down Hunter so easily, although he is teckoned a® one of the steadiest players in the club and a hard man to beat. The semi-final is now between W. Wyinks and B. J, Smith and H. C. and R. J. Smith. The final is likely to be fought out by the brothers B. J. and H. C., and, if so, will be worth watching. The decisions of the Rules Committee for February deal with an interesting ease of the procedure to be adopted by a competitor in a stroke competition who continues to play under the impression that his ball has been lost. In a stroke competition of the Blackpool Club a player drove a ball off a tee towards a green at the far side of a high. sandhill. The ball oould not be found by either of the players or their caddies. The player then returned to the tee and drove off a second ball. In the meantime the search for the lost ball had been continued by the caddies, and it was found before the player drove aff the second ball. But, owing to the interveningsandhill, the party who had found the ball was unable to signal to the player in- order to stop his second drive. When the player got up to the caddies he lifted the second' ball which had been driven and. continued his scoring play with the first ball, which had been found within five minutes of the opening of the search. It is admitted, however, that the player himself discontinued hie search before the statuory limit of five minutes had been exhausted, and the result of hie score in the circumstances narrated was that he tied with three other players for first place. The question submitted is whether the competitor was right in playing out with the first ball, and, if not, was he liable to a penalty or to disqualification. The answer to the Rules Committee is ■that the procedure . adopted > by the , competitoi was wrong. A not technically lost until the expira. . of the five minutes’ interval, and the decision means that in a scoring competition, at any rate, no player may assume that his ball is lost until the five minutes have elapsed. It is only then that fie may proceed to tee a second ball and continue his interrupted gams. But both the question and the answer raise the subsidiary question as to what should be the dutv of the competitor himself in the midst of the difficulty. The presumption in this case is that it was his cwn duty to search for the lost hall for five minutes !;efore going back to ‘the tee. The Rules Committee state that the Ias + . part of stroke rule 12 was framed with the object of preventing a competitor from adopting the procedure indicated. The proviso in parentheses at the end of the rule is merely explanatory by way of definition as to what a “lost ball” is. It states that “under this rule a ball shall only be considered ‘lost’ when it has not been found after a search of five minutes.” But it does not specify who shall make the search, neither does it provide that - the competitor must necessarily pass the five minutes’ interval in helping others to make it; No doubt the disqualified competitor in this case showed the' prevailing - anxiety of all considerate players to avoid congestion and delay on the green by leaving the caddies and his partner to search for the ball while he went back to tee a second ball. He expected, no doubt, to be warned of the finding of the first ball in* time, but as he was not he was thus technically wrong in a double sensefirst, for not exhausting the five minutes’ search, and, second, in picking up the second ball when the first was ipso facto out of play. Another point raised in this batch of decisions is the treatment of wormcasus on the putting green. In the winter and spring, months the wormcasts accompany the golfer and hamper his putting more or J less on all kinds of soil, but particularly ] on the soft clays if the inland courses. It i is therefore desir ihlo that he should know | exactly how much liberty the rules give I him in treating the hindrance to his sure putting. It was objected that a competi- | tor of the Kingsgate Club lifted some worm- ■ oasts from the putting green lying on the | line of nlay, “thereby touching the putting ( line with his hand.” His opponent lodged an objection, saying that th; putting line must not be inched except with the club. The wording of the rule is, of course, perfectly clear, and the contention- of the objector has no sanction from the careful way in which the' procedure on the putting green i® guarded. The Rules Committee state that the player was perfectly rigi „ in removing the wormcasts from the line of his putt, because they are “loose impediments” which may he removed, not only with the fingers, but with a scrape of the club.. It is obvious that a good deal of confusion prevail® in the minds of many players as to what is permissible in touching the line of putt. The revised rules do not alter the old practice in essentials, except that they put an end to the abuse of “brushing the line of. put 4” with he back of he hand. But they still allow a player to pick up a loose impediment:, which may take tie form of a wormcaet, a twig of a tree, a straw, or a pebble.— The Field. The following were among the best cards handed in after yesterday’s play by the Otago Ladies’ Golf Club for the Junior

Sidey's prize was played off at the St; Clair Links by the Ladies' Club on Tuesday after l noon, when the following cards were handed in:—

Medal: — Hop. i Gross Net. ! Mrs Black ... 118 30 88 Miss Orbell ... 118 ' 30 88 Miss M. Siso ... 117 27 90 Miss M. Law .... 121 30 91 | Miss Theomin ... ... 116 20 96 mss- Forbes ... 112 15 97 The first of two rounds for Mrs T. K,

Gross. Mrs Gil nay 102 Mrs M'Carthy .. ... 01 Mrs Jackson 07 Mis® Fotheringham ... 95 Miss Tain© ... 116 Miss Lethbridge ... 109 Miss Burt ... 123 Mrs Smith ... ... '... 126 Hep. Net. 23 79 11 80 15 82 7 88 25 . 91 15 04 28 96 27 99 ST. CLAIR GOLF CLUB. The monthly Bogey competition was played at St. Clair Links on Saturday. Th© following are the best cards handed in;— Seniors. Hep. W. H. Irvin© 15 J. Forbes ... ~.i ... 5 D. R. Stocks 8 A. B. Barron 7 H. D. Jackson 18 Net. 2 up. 1 up. 1 up. All square. 1 down. Juniors. W. S. Fisher ... ... 6 H. Glendining ... .... 14 1 down. 1 down.