Dominion Golfers Have Been Experiencing Lean Time In Last Few Weeks

Southland Times, Issue 23897, 16 August 1939, Page 11

Dominion Golfers Have Been Experiencing Lean Time In Last Few Weeks

By

PAR

Golfers and golf courses are having a pretty bad time throughout the Dominion just now. Rough cold weather has made conditions out of doors very disagreeable, and frost and snow have had a damaging effect on fairways and greens. Climatically, Oamaru is a favoured spot, but last Saturday the Oamaru club postponed the qualifying rounds of the club championship because of hostile weather and the bad state of the greens. No golf was possible locally on Saturday because of the heaviest fall of snow for 13 years. Club competitions, which have been suspended since July 22 on account of Ranfurly Shield matches and adverse weather, will, it is hoped, be resumed next Saturday. It is hoped to play the first Laing Shield match of the season at Otatara next week-end, Winton being the challenger. The Wyndham Club has also sent in a challenge and it will meet the winner of the Invercargill-Winton match. B. M. Silk, a former amateur champion, had a close call in the second round of the Wanganui (Belmont) club championship. V. B. Haworth put up a great effort and displayed splendid match-playing temperament in carrying Silk to the twenty-third green of an 18-hole encounter. Jim Ferrier ran up a sensational winning margin against P. C. Watson in the semi-final of the club championship at Manly. The result—l 7 up and 16 to play—speaks for itself. TWO PLUS 1 PLAYERS

A list of players with handicaps of four and under has been compiled by Mr G. O. Sutton, secretary of the New

Zealand Golf Association. The Dominion’s lowest markers are R. H. Glading (Hamilton) and the amateur champion, P. G. F. Smith (Akarana), who are on plus one. There are 37 scratch players, including six Otago men, T. B._ Ferguson, A. Gibbs, K. Ross, J. A. Scouler, A. G. Sime and B. V. Wright. This is the greatest number from any one club in the list, Hutt being next with five scratch players. The low-est-handicap golfer in Southland is J. E. Matheson, whose mark is one.- Among the handicap four men is J. G. Niccol (Pukekohe), who will be remembered as the winner of the Southland championships in 1935, 1936 and 1937. It is clear that the list is not complete —there are no Queen’s Park names, for instance —and Mr Sutton’s explanation of this is that the clubs concerned have not replied to his request New Zealand’s only plus one amateurs had an interesting duel in a Town - Country match played at Hamilton, Glading beating Smith at the seventeenth after a fine exhibition of golf. Glading assumed the attack at the start and he narrowly missed birdies at the two opening holes. However, Smith holed a good putt for a 3 at the third to square the match and he took the lead with a 4 at the next. Glading evened matters with a brilliant birdie at the long seventh and the position was unchanged at the turn. Smith was out in 37 while Glading, who took six at the fourth, was 38. The Hamilton youth won the tenth and twelfth holes in good figures, but his opponent obtained a birdie 4 at the next and squared the match when his tee shot at the short fourteenth almost found the cup. Glading became 1 up at the next when Smith’s tee shot finished out of bounds, and he recovered well to halve the sixteenth. He settled the issue at the seventeenth with a masterly chip. Smith’s second being to the right of the green. JACK THOMAS PASSES By the death of Mr J. H. Thomas the Invercargill Club loses a valuable member and the game loses a follower of considerable skill and exceptional enthusiasm. Mr Thomas succumbed early yesterday morning after a long illness in which he always appeared to

have a fighting chance. Bright, cheerful and sanguine by nature, Mr Thomas, until near the end, looked forward to the day when he would return to business and recreation, and nis golfing friends certainly looked farward to his rejoining them on the links. But it was not to be. Jack Thomas played golf with zest. He enjoyed the game and to play with or against him was a pleasure. He was always a stout partner and a dangerous opponent. He hit the ball well in the long game, and at times round the greens commanded a touch that was uncanny. He ftas likely at any stage of a match to upset the opposition with a thrust as lethal as it was unexpected. _ He took reverses and successes imperturbably, played the game in an admirable spirit and was a jovial companion. To every proposal for the advancement of the club and the improvement of the course he gave full and effective support. For some years he was a valued member of committee and besides taking an active part in the general management of the club served in a special capacity on the Green Committee. If funds were required for a worthy object he was invariably a generous contributor, and he made substantial donations of trees and shrubs. Such members as Mr Thomas are not easily replaced and the blank caused at Otatara by his death will be sadly felt. NEW WOMEN’S CHAMPION After a thrilling match the women’s championship of Australia was won by Miss Joan Lewis, the brilliant young Victorian champion, who defeated Miss Barbara Crago, a promising New South Wales player, by two and one. In

the qualifying rounds Miss Lewis broke the course record with a great round of 72. Half an hour previously Miss Crago had lowered the record to 76. With a score of 152 for the two qualifying rounds Miss Lewis led the field, her reputation as a golfer of class being firmly established by her subsequent match-play successes. Miss Cr_go qualified second with a score of 156. Miss Lewis began her recordbreaking round with a 6, but after that she timed her shots perfectly and proceeded to “burn up the course.” She was out in 38 and, with birdies at the sixteenth and seventeenth, back in 34. Miss Crago in her round of 76 was two strokes better than Miss Lewis at the turn, but took 40 coming back. The holder of the title, Miss Betty Kernot, attempted to win it three times in a row, but was defeated in the first round by Miss Margaret Rankin, the New South Wales champion.

The Australian women’s team to play New Zealand for the Tasman Cup in October is a very strong one and will take a power of beating. It includes the four players mentioned—Misses Lewis, Crago, Kernot and Rankin and Miss G. Shepherd, of South Aus-

tralia. In the qualifying rounds Miss Shepherd had a total of 167 and tied for third place with two others. Mrs Sloan Morpeth, who before her marriage was Miss Susie Tolhurst, winner of the Australian women’s championship in 1930 and 1931, is only an emergency for the cup team this year. AUSTRALIAN TITLES Deciding to broaden his golfing experience, R.' G. Holland, Waiwetu’s No. 1 player, has entered for the Australian championships, which are to begin in Melbourne on August 21. He will carry with him the best wishes of New Zealand golfers for success in Melbourne. It is surprising that more New Zealand amateur golfers have not taken part in Australian championships in the past. Holland is taking a wise course, and it should improve his game to rub shoulders with players of the calibre of Ferrier, Williams, Hattersley and Ryan (says “Niblick” in The Dominion). Holland will return to the Dominion in time to take part in the

New Zealand championships at Miramar in November next. Holland did rounds of 76, 79, 84 and 77 in the New Zealand open championship in Dunedin in November last, and qualified for the amateur championship, but was eliminated in the first round by B. V. Wright (Otago) by 2 and 1. The west course of the Royal Melbourne Club, the scene of the Australian championships this month, measures only 6460 yards, but is one of the hardest courses. The longest hole is 462 yards, which can be reached in two shots, and there are four par three holes,* thus giving the long hitters every opportunity to break 70. Situated in the famous sand belt country south of Melbourne, the fairways have been carved of thick ti-tree scrub, which gives accuracy a high premium. With the exception of the new seventh hole of 148 yards, the course is the same as that used in 1933, when M. L. Kelly won his open championship. It. has ten holes from 419 to 462 yards, all of the dog-leg variety, and some testing two-shot holes. Nearly every hole gives the player an opportunity to save some distance by taking a risk and cheating the dog-leg. Reasonably small greens are well bunkered. The course is an example of a short one being more difficult than a longer one. Bobby Locke won both his matches against Richard Burton, the British open champion, mainly, it is stated, because of his superiority on the greens. Locke seems to be enjoying greater success this year in match play than in stroke play. He had up till the beginning of this season been regarded as a better stroke player than a match player. STYLES COMPARED The latest issue of The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News (London) contains some interesting photographs of the leading English players taken at the top of the swing. Henry Cotton is well up on his left toe with his restricted back-swing. J. Adams, 4vho has a long back-swing, has barely raised his, left heel from the ground. Dai Rees, who also has a fairly full swing, has less footwork than Cotton. The pictures reveal the many differences in the three styles. Compared with Rees and Adams, Cotton appears much more rigid in his stroke-making. This always seems true about players with short swings. In the last few years, Cotton’s golf has become mechanical in every respect, somewhat in keeping with his swing. In his teachings, he has always emphasized his points clearly, pointing out the simplest way to achieve what he believes to be correct and most suited to golfers in general. N. von Nida has changed his game slightly since his trip to the United States. His new putting stance, with the feet wider apart than previously, enables him to stroke the ball more smoothly. Generally he has slowed up his play and is more deliberate over his shot-making. On the greens he spends great pains on his short putts, in contrast to his previous custom of hitting the ball quickly. He appears to be a golfer with sounder and more business-like methods than before. One leading Sydney club which has possessed excellent greens for a considerable period gives as the reason that it keeps the roots of the grass as close to the surface as possible, thus allow-

ing them to obtain full benefit from watering and feeding. Some courses top-dress their greens heavily and regularly, sending the roots farther from the surface, until they become coarse. The Sydney club’s method is advocated by a leading Melbourne grass expert, who declares that greens have to be scrapped every seven years unless they are looked after in this way, and not overdone. HOW WAGER WAS WON Two golf balls rattled down into the eighteenth hole at Hawarden, Flintshire, on July 13 at 8.30 in the evening —and the golfing miracle had been performed. Two young men, to win £lOO in bets, had. in one day between dawn and dusk, played golf in five countries —England, Ireland, Scotland. Wales and the Isle of Man. And one had endurance enough to break a course record on his last round. The golfers, Ernest Smith, 32-year-old Davyh’ilme Park (Manchester) professional, and his friend, Sidney Gleave, motor engineer and former Tourist Trophy winner, started the first game at Prestwick, Ayr, at 3.45 a.m. Then in an aeroplane piloted by Gleave, they flew past in turn to Belfast, Isle of Man, Blackpool and finally Hawarden, playing a round in each country. Smith it was who broke the record at Hawarden with a 68. The couple travelled ‘lOOO miles by aeroplane and car and walked nearly 30 miles to win their bets—all on a couple of. ham sandwiches and a glass of beer. Smith, to win his “corner” of the bets, had to do his five rounds in under 80’s. His average for the five courses was 72.

If the player makes sure of |1 swinging, he need not concern ■: U himself in the least about causK ing the body to turn; that detail | Rj will take care of itself. $

English tennis writers blame the German selectors for the defeat of Germany by Yugoslavia in the European zone final of the Davis Cup. Yugoslavia won both singles in straights sets, and won the match, three rubbers to two. If Menzel, instead of Goepfert, had been played in the singles, there would probably have been a different story, according to English writers. They point out that, although the Yugoslavs are playing great tennis, they will find the grass courts of America a different proposition to their own rubble courts.