A SPORTSMAN’S DREAM

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18759, 16 July 1935, Page 13

A SPORTSMAN’S DREAM

SARAZEN ON N.Z. “ALL SEEM TO PLAY GOLF” Gene Sarazen, the famous American professional golfer, pays a high compliment to New Zealand in a lengthy interview, entitled “100,000 Allies ot Golf,” in the .June number of The American Golfer. 'j! ' . , . i “There is more golf played m New Zealand than in any other country I know,” Sarazeh remarks. ‘.there aie only one million and a-ha 1 f people down there, and they’all seem to play. Every town has its course. And,What- a grand place that island is—why,; il s a sportsman’s dream. The country is narrowly striped with fast-flowing trout streams that teem with rainbows. Near Rotorua you can catch a trout in one stream, turn, and walk about- 20 yards to a hot spring, and cook it in about I two minutes. That- sure is de luxe fislihig. “The original fescue and grass which, we now have in America came from New Zealand. T have yet- to see anything to compare with the beantitul lairways, particularly those ot Invercargill, and they work* a strange plan, to keep their courses in good shape. During the sum-mer—-golf is a winter game down there —I hey lease out the course to sheepherders for three or four hundred dollars. The sheep keep the fairways in condition all summer, and when the winter playing season comes around they are led away lo oilier pastures. “The climate is ideal. Tho highest, the mercury goes is 85, and then they all complain of the heat. It’s a place that deserves a lot more tourist -trade.” Sarazeii said ho was planning another trip to Australia and New Zealand soon. “The. next time I-would like to take out Tommy Armour, (is they would like to sen the master iron player. ’1 hey all want to see the old masters down there; they have read about them, and want to leur.’i from those old players, lake .Mac Smith, for instance,'he would h'e a real treat I here, because they have heard and read of him for 25 years. Acs, sir, I am going hack in either 1936 or }937. take aboil! eight months, ami put another 100.000 in iles on my speedo'Ulctcl.