GOLF NOTES

Southland Times, Issue 23179, 21 April 1937, Page 14

GOLF NOTES

MEDAL COMPETITIONS

(By

“Par”)

There will be a medal competition for players with handicaps of 20 and over at Otatara on Saturday. The April medal handicap played at Otatara last Saturday proved a good thing for D. Lindsay, who was making his first appearance of the season. It is unusual to find that the man with the best gross score also has the best net score. But, strangely enough, on two successive Saturdays this has happened. A week before M. O’Dowda, in an unofficial match, won with 79-3-76 and now Lindsay has improved on that by returning a card, marked 78-8-70. He was the outstanding player of the day, the next best net score in the A grade being 76. Lindsay hit some tremendous drives during the round. At Dunn’s Road, for example, his drive landed well over the “road” that cuts across the fairway, and at Long Tom his ball sailed out of sight over the ridge. Powerful hitting, as those who were playing on Saturday afternoon will agree. Lindsay played the latter hole—the last of his round—faultlessly. He cracked a long second up the fairway, played a short approach to within 15 or 16 feet of the pin and holed the putt for as sound a birdie as one could wish for. Lindsay was the only man on the field to beat the standard scratch score, an indication of the tightness of the course. H. M. Smith, M. O’Dowda and H. W. Rogers tied for second place with net 76’s and C. R. Wilson, W. Buchan and F. Holdgate had net 77’s. The B grade players at Otatara are not yet showing the form expected of them. The best effort on Saturday was a net 79 by C. C. Anderson, who would just about have played to his handicap had he not met with disaster at Taipo. J. A. Doig was a stroke away in second place and A. E. Smith was third. Only the final now remains to be played in the singles knock-out competition at Otatara. In a semi-final at the week-end H. W. Rogers deefated A. K. Mac Ewan 2 and 1 after an interesting match. Mac Ewan, who was receiving three strokes, was one dp at the fifteenth (Taipo), but knocked his opponent’s ball into the hole, giving Rogers a win. Rogers showed ( his appreciation by winning Knolls with a well-played 4 and Pancake with a birdie 2. Rogers will meet J. A. Thom in the final.

Queen’s Park Chib Saturday’s Fixture. — Four-ball bogey handicap. Queen’s Park players are being given every chance to get their strokes into full working order. Conditions have been excellent and the course is looking very well. The rain of last week cleared away in time to enable the fairways to dry out considerably and despite odd soft patches, better conditions for winter golf could not have been desired than those under which the April medal handicap was played on Saturday. R. G. Scandrett is starting the season in great style. Ten days ago he won the B grade Stableford with a net 37, and on Saturday he began his career as an A grader by winning the monthly medal handicap with a card reading 84—13—71 from a strong field. He had one stroke to spare from B. Murgatroyd, who is playing fine golf in patches. He plays his strokes very attractively, but is not yet hitting them as consistently as he can. J. G. Niccol went round in 76 to finish among the three in third place with 74’s net. The B grade winner was C. J. McEachran with 90—20—70, with A. E. McGrath one stroke away and C. Brew chasing them both with a net 72.

L.G.U. Official Year Book The 1937 Official Year Book of the New Zealand Ladies’ Golf Union is much bigger than previous numbers and provides a mine of interesting information. It will prove particularly useful to members of club executives, but all women golfers will find it a helpful" guide. The L.G.U. constitution and rules and system of handicapping are given, and, probably more important, a section is devoted to the rules of golf, of which all players, particularly those who take part in club competitions, should have a working knowledge. Particulars of the various competitions conducted by the union are. informative, and the results of contests are useful for reference. There is a list of players with low handicaps, which range from plus 1 to 6, but Southland names are conspicuous by their absence. At the end of the book is" a list of the affiliated clubs, with the names of the hon. secretaries, captains and handicap managers. Several clubs in England have decided that the player who holes in one will in future be the guest of the club for the day. Is any Southland club ! prepared to follow their example? The idea would probably be welcomed, as holing in one can be an expensive business, and it seems a fairer proposition that the man who so distinguished himself should not be penalized, but rewarded. In playing a shot from an uphill lie the chief difficulty comes in controlling the direction, although there is still the danger of topping as a result of faulty handling of the weight of the body (says an Australian writer). In taking the stance with the right foot lower than the left there is no complication at the beginning. The tendency to rest a greater part of the weight on the right foot is not dangerous, for from this position the player is able still to move into the stroke with the downswing if he will only do so. The trouble comes when he starts the downswing and either is unable or fails to move his weight forward against the slope and against the pull of gravity. If he hits the ball with his weight still well back on the right foot he will hit the ball on the upsweep of the clubhead, and is likely to top it. Even when they hit the ball cleanly a great many players are inclined to hook from an up-hill lie. The best method of guarding _ against this trouble, in addition to making sure that the body weight moves forward with the downswing, is to make sure of a strong pull and a firm hit with the left side and arm. Make sure that the club does not strike the ball an ascending blowRemarkable Hole In One If there were a Hole-in-One Club in England, as there is in America, P. H. F. White, a former Cambridge golf blue, would almost assuredly be elected president at once. At Rye recently he achieved what must be the world’s most extraordinary hole in one. White stood on the seventeenth tee one up and two to play against Leonard Crawley. For this 232 yards shot he selected a No. 2 iron. The ball, struck with plenty of power, landed on a rutty road, went merrily bouncing from rut to rut for 12 yards, hopped on the green, and like a little imp scuttled itself into the hole. Now all you hole-in-one-ers, beat this, urges The London Daily Express golf writer. Walter Hagen is not optimistic, but he is serious about winning for the fifth time the British open golf championship at Carnoustie in July, says a Victorian writer. In 1914, at the age of 44, Harry Vardon won the classic for the sixth time. He set an age record for the 72-holes event, which is_ generally regarded as the most gruelling and greatest test the game has. No one over the age of 38 has won the event .since the war, Hagen will be well in

his 45th year when he makes his attempt.

Hagen’s Putting Method

Walter Hagen has lately narrowed his putting stance, but when at the top of his game he employed a wide stance with the weight on his left leg and the left hand in control of the back swing. The right hand supplied the power on the down swing, the club hitting the ball firmly from a position opposite the left foot. For many golfers this stance affords a large measure of comfort—always an aid to good putting. In the last few years Hagen has narrowed his stance for all shots and rid his swing somewhat of the free slashing efforts he formerly used. Nevertheless his magic putting touch has hit a decline. Since Gene Sarazen left Australia less than a year ago many players are undecided whether they should take the club back with the right or the left hand (says an Australian writer). Sarazen preached the somewhat revolutionary theory that it was the right hand, not the left, which took the club back,’ and this applied particularly in regard to iron shots. It is, therefore, interesting to note the remarks of Tommy Armour, one of the greatest iron players in the world, in this connection. He says: “The most important thing to watch in hitting an iron shot is the correct and sufficient turn of the body; make sure that this turn is made on the right hip joint. To make this properly the player should practise taking the club back with the ball of the left hand—a push, as it were, instead of a pull. When we take the clubhead back with the right altogether it usually happens that the club is lifted too abruptly from the ground. The turning of the body on the right hip moves the weight of the middle of the body over toward the right as the club ascends. In getting ready for a hit you move the body away from the object to be struck. Observe a tennis player or a cricketer to see if this is not correct.”