GOLF

Southland Times, Issue 17506, 21 August 1915, Page 10

GOLF

o o (By “Cleek.” The championship commences on Wednesday week, and the course is undergoing: a thorough rolling, which should considerably improve the fairway. The committee used to think that the rabbits would be one of their worst difficulties, but the damage they do is inconsiderable compared with the injuries inflicted by some members who utterly ignore the injunction to replace the turf. Some means will soon have to be taken to bring the offenders up with a sharp turn. The only language that suitably describes these ignorant and unmannerly people is *mch as “Cleek” never uses, and which would not be tit for publication anyway. The following is an extract from the letter (to an English friend) of a wellknown golfer out at the front who is acting as Interpreter to the British Expeditionary Force; —“Would it be troubling you very much to settle a golfing argument out here? Could you get me the names of all the winners of the Golf Championship of Fiance (amateur) ? For although we light we still think of the grand old game. I have even managed to lay out a course of six holes, during a rest we had at the back of the lines. A little while ago I was practising half-iron shots, to and fro, when a shell hurst quite near and killed and wounded a few of us. That's good training for not minding people who cough or make a noise during your swing." The writer of this epistle would not appear to be at all downhearted. “What is to he done witli the hardened sinner who holes out in one stroke on the same course on three different occasions within six months?” asks "Golfing." "Sandy Herd was guilty of something of the kind at Coombc Hill his first season 'there, but. owing to his ill-luck in other respects, his offence was overlooked. Bui. now comes Mr Ernest Williams, of the Wale Club, another sinner on a big scale, to be a stumbling block and an offence. It is reported that on October 17 lie did the first hole (200 yds) in one. On February 7 he did the same at the 17th hole (temporary, 140 yds), and on April 10 he only look one stroke for the 6th (temporary, 171 yds).” The latest patent for the putting green is a cork or rubber facing to give greater control of the ball in screwing and reduce its tendency to jump off from the club. —"Golfing.” Recent articles in "Golfing” upon the possibilities of golf as a profession for women are to have an interesting sequel. A famous golf school in the States is anxious to secure four lady instructors from Home, and "Golfing” says the positions are advantageous and desirable.

It is good news to hear that the St. Mungo Manufacturing Co., of Glasgow, makers of the famous ■■Colonel" golf ball, have just turned their attention to I Die manufacture of one of the most | useful accessories of the office and the ] schoolroom—to wit, ink and pencil erasers. Hitherto, this useful little article has been supplied to the world very largely by Germany; so that in their new venture the St. Mungo Co. are making a direct attack on the trade of our enemy. Wc wish the "Colonel” every success, and we sincerely hope that all our readers will in future ask i for (and see that they get; "Colonel” eraser rubber. The erasers, which can he had in all sizes and forms, and in I ihroe colours (white, green, or red), I me branded “Colonel" —the fully registered St. Mungo trade mark—and are j obtainable for typewriter, ink, or ordinjary pencil use. This special department, I v, o understand, will iu no way interfere | with the St. Mungo's golf hall output, i which is going on as usual.—"Golf j illustrated." | A novel way of assisting the local war fund has been adopted by the New Brighton Golf Club. A. K. Tladfield, i one of the members, has presented a putter. This will be played for periodically during the progress of the war, and each winner will have his name ongraved on the putter. At the conclusion of the war those having their names on will play off for it. The entrance fee is to he 6 each match, and by this manner the club hopes to collect a fair amount of money. The whole, proceeds derived will be handed to the Red Cross Fund. The tirst game of the series will lie played this afternoon. THE SUCCESSFUL MATCH-PLAYEK. (By H. .1-1. Hilton.) Golfers who have a habit of winning a greater number of matches than the general run of their golfing ability would appear to warrant are invariably termed lucky players—a reputation which it is perhaps only natural should he accorded them by their unsuccessful opponents, as there is nothing more exasperating than to be defeated by an opponent whom you seem by the general run of the game to be outplaying. You outdrive him from the tee by a considerable distance, and, moreover, you keep on the fairway of the course with quite the same degree of regularity that he does: the result is that you are presented with the easier approach to play, and by all the Jaws of chances you should be nearer the hole when the putting has to be accomplished. But, notwithstanding these manifold advantages, you do not seem able to get away from him; lie hangs on hole after hole, and all the superior long game which you have been exhibiting appears of no avail, possibly partly through the enemy exhibiting a faculty for snatching unexpected halves, and partly through your own inability to drive homo the advantage gained from the tee. But whatever the reason for the failure may he, one cannot get away from a certain feeling of exasperation at the manner in which the game is shaping.

By all the laws of justice who should hold a useful lead when the all-impor-tant last few holes have to be played; but of a lead there is none, and under the circumstances it is not a little difficult to dismiss from the mind the feeling that one is suffering from an injustice and that the fates have not been altogether kind. And the man who is inclined to dwell upon this aspect of the situation is more or less a lost soul. It is in situations such as these that the psychological element in the art of match play comes so strongly into evidence. The man who at this juncture can manage to keen his temperament well in control will usually emerge successful in the end. Both players have been proceeding through a considerable degree of strain owing to the inequalities in the character of the play—the one on account of the fact that he has had to keep struggling from the very start to keep the game on terms of equality, and the other because he has apparently time after time been robbed

of his just reward. They represent entirely different forms of nervous strain, in that' the man who has' been manfully struggling against superior power has ha,d his nerves kept at high tension for. the whole of the journey; and, provided that he can stand the continued strain to. the finish of the game, .he will most probably emerge victorious; and, moreover, hie is always buoyed up by the consolation that his position is Infinitely more favourable than it might have been on the run of the play. In his case it is mainly a question of his powers of will and a certain determination to keep at it in the hope that his opponent will break down %nder the continued bombardment of unexpected episodes. '

“Never knew a ball to last like a Challenger.” So writes a well-known player. It is a fact that a Challenger stands plenty of punishment. You can’t hurt a Challenger. It will not iose its shape or crack or burst. Challenger Golf Balls are the best and last longest.