GOLF

Southland Times, Issue 19690, 24 October 1925, Page 18

GOLF

(By

“Cleek.”

Walter Hagen, America’s crack professional, is reputed to draw a salary of £l5OO a year. With competitions being held throughout the summer it may be confidently expected that some of the handicaps will come down with a bump when the opportunity for reducing occurs next season. Shoes give a delightful freedom in golf but the player who finds his or her feet move with too much exuberance would probably find that boots would counteract this unfortunate trait of the pedal extremities. Such are the vagaries of golf! It. is reported that A. D. S. Duncan and A. E. Conway all played well up to the form they maintained throughout the season and it seems it was just the fickleness of the goddess who presides over all golfers that was the cause of the disaster which overtook the first named player. Tucker’s brilliancy appears to be rather unfortunate in its lack of consistency. Playing D. O. Whyte in the Wellington-Mira-mar match he had a bright spasm and so perfect were his first nine holes that Whyte, playing merely good golf all through, had too big a handicap to overhaul when Tucker relapsed into his ordinary game. A well-known golfer who w’atched the Shirley players says that a common fault was the raising or dipping of the right or left shoulder and that all these with this shortcomings were erractic sooner or later, while the golfers with free pivoting and even shoulder action, such as Horton, Shaw and Moss, were the most reliable with all shots.

The committe of the Queen’s Park Club is carrying out extensive alterations and improvements to the course at present and with new bunkers erected in the outside paddock and with the lengthening of the fairways to the extent of about 400 yds excellent golf should be the order of the day by the time the summer competitions commence. Entries are coming in freely and it is anticipated that with everything in its favour and with the cool of the evening to play in if so desired that summer golf will be taken up with the utmost enthusiasm.

R. A. Wilson and A. W. Morgan, formerly members of the Invercargill and Queen’s Park clubs, qualified to play off in the Denniston Cup contest at Christchurch. Both have been playing steady golf lately and Invercargill golfers will wish them luck in the first round to-day. The final of L.G.U. medals and the last march of the 1925 season was played by the Ladies Club on the Queen’s Park links on Monday last, when the following were the best cards for the day. —Silver Division-

Players desirous of participating in the closing day festivities on 27th inst, kindly advise the captain up to 6 p.m. on Saturday 24th inst. In the morning there will be a Medal round for all three grades, and in the afternoon a 4 Ball Bogey for A and E grades and another medal round for C grade, after which driving, approaching, and putting, approaching over Wellesley bunker, and putting competitions will be carried cut. Players are asked to provide their own refreshments for closing day. That J. Macintosh the vice-President of the Otatara club, who is at present on holiday in the Old Country, finds time among his pleasure trips to keep an eye on the good old game, is evidenced by the account he sent “Cleek” of the performance of a golfer of three score years and ten who won the Jubilee Vase of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews recent- | ly. It turns out the victor was Mr Spencer i Gollan who was a winner of matches 25 . years ago. A quarter of a century ago he I won the Calcutta Cup with a handicap of 3. This year his handicap is 14. For I a golfer of his years to play two rounds , a day for four days is an achievement rivali led only by Mr Charles Hutchings, who iin 1902 w’on the amateur championships iat Hoylake; he was then a grandfather. IMr Gollan was a great all-round sports- ' man in his younger days. He spent his early life in New Zealand and later, as a racehorse owner, had considerable success, winning the City and Suburban with Australian Star in 1901 and the Grand National with Moifaa three years later. In 1901 he accomplished one of his greatest personal athletic performances, sculling with two professionals, George Towns, and Tom Sullivan, the ex-champion of England, from Folly Bridge, Oxford to Putney Bridge in 13 hours 57 minutes. He also won honours at boxing, has been known as a walker and is a capable rider across country. Mr Gollan was in New Zealand on tour a little over two years ago and while here received a great welcome from his associates of the good old cross country days. Balmacewan has been selected as the venue of the ladies’ golf championships fcr the 1926 season. Miss V. Hutton was the only woman player to enter for the Godly Cup, (which takes the place of the junior championship) at Harewood. In the final she defeated H. Le Cren, junior, over 36 holes after conceding him five strokes. Bravo! Miss M. Sapsford, of the Avondale Club Christchurch, is a new recruit to the ranks of the golfing fraternity and it may be considered a good augury for her future that she was able to put up such a stubborn fight against Miss S. Payton at the recent ladies championships at Miramar. If Miss Sapford plays the sterling golf that she played hockey, when a member of the High School Old Girls team in Christchurch, she should in time reach the top-most rung of the golfer’s ladder of fame. Miss White-Parsons won the Ladies Golf Union Challenge fitowl contest at Miramar on Monday last. She put in the excellent score of 73 nett which was six strokes better than that of her nearest opponent. By this performance she reduces her handicap by three. Perhaps one of the most popular courses in the whole of England is Newquay, one of the beauty spots of the Cornish Riviera, which was this year honoured by its selection for the West of England Professional championship, which was played there. No settings could be more beautiful or more romantic, writes George W. Greenwood in the Daily Telegraph. Unless you deliberately turn your back on it, the sea can be seen from every part of the course and, whether you like it or not you constantly hear the roar of the ocean as the waves dash ceaselessly against the rocks. On one side is a series of bays. Jutting out to sea is the great Trerose Headland, with its lighthouse, and westerly is the Gannel River, and behind it the wild Cornish moors. The quaint little harbour at the foot of the cliffs is hidden from view. It was once a busy place where ships used to come and go but now’, alas! it is principally used by pleasure craft—what a glorious setting for the great game.

The Boys’ Amateur Golf Championship, instituted five years ago by the Royal Ancient Golf Club and carried on by an enthusiastic group of golfers, mainly associated with London clubs, has gone from strength to strength, and the latest championship, decided on the links of the Edinburgh Burgess Golfing Society, attracted the largest and most representative entry yet received and the standard of play was higher than in any previous championship. Mr John Weston, honorary secretary, at the presentation of the cup and medals said that the championships sought to stir a keen competitive spirit among their boy golfers and if they failed to encourage that spirit it would probably be a long time before Great Britain wofl back supremacy in golf. The winner this year was R. W. Petrie a lad of seventeen years and when it is remembered that he had to play a week’s golf and then was called upon to put up rounds that were lower, or equal to the record it is surely evidence that the boys’ championship has done something to raise the standard of the game among the British youth. The performance of Miss Olive Kay, the Whangarei champion, was watched with interest at Miramar during the ladies championships play there this and last week. Quite a large gallery followed the young player in her match with Mrs Dodgshun but they were deemed to disappointment for Miss Kay never seemed to be able to settle down while her older and more experienced opponent played exceptionally steady golf. A championship match with a large gallery following is a very severe test of nerves and it is quite possible that Miss Kay was temporarily upset by trying to be too careful. However every match of this description she plays in will tend to steady her nerves and with a year or two more experience she will make her presence felt in no uncertain manner. It appears that, while many excuses can be made for the duffed shot from the tee, such as too much body sway, too quickly look, hands in front of the ball, etc., it seldom occurs to the puzzled players to give some attention to their feet. Time after time a player is noticed spinning his left heel outwards and time after time he “crashes” wilh his drive. Probably closer attention to this offending member would result in greater accuracy if not a longer ball. THE LIMIT. There’s many a man now swinging a club Who ought to be mowing a lawn, And many perforce, who litter the course, That had no excuse to be born There’s the handicap shark, and the horse that is dark. And the blighter who studies each shot, But curst be the soul who describes every hole He’s by far the worst one of the lot. The decision Of Mr Godby in the matter of Horton’s lost ball at the fourth hole at Shirley was adversely criticised by many at the time. The drive hit a tree, out of which a cone dropped, and then disappeared. As its flight was in the direction of out of bounds, after a search on the fairway, the decision given was that the ball was out of bounds. There are numberless instances of a somewhat similar nature, but the procedure is that a search must be made for five minutes on the fairway, when, if the ball is not found, it is declared out of bounds. The penalty having been waived at Shirley, the loss was in that case one of distance only. Had the ball been lost in bounds, Horton would have played his third, and not his second, from the tee, and, as the hole was halved, he might have lost it, so that, if anything, he gained by the decision. It is not known as generally as it should be that the discovery of the first ball after it has been searched for five minutes and given up does not entitle the player to cancel the shots played on the second ball and play the first without penalty. Neither is it a matter of usage amongst many players to tee a second shot off as nearly as possible the identical spot occupied by the first, but those who wander over the tee on such occasions in important events will find that it is necessary to avoid penalty. —“Chip-shot” in the- Post.

Miss Stout .. 99 20 79 Miss Campbell .. .. 90 417 81 Mrs Masters .. 93 11 82 Mrs T. M. Macdonald .. 97 15 82 —Bronze Div ision— Mrs A. S. Gilkison . . . 108 34 74 Mrs H. P. Thomas .. . Ill 36 75 Mrs W. Facfarlane .. . 108 32 76 Mrs W. J. Barclay .. . 105 27 78