WOMAN GOLFER’S SUCCESS

Southland Times, Issue 24440, 21 May 1941, Page 9

WOMAN GOLFER’S SUCCESS

CORONATION MEDAL WON With as great a degree of accuracy as can be attained in such matters, those very competent people, the officials of the Ladies’ Golf Union in all parts of the British Empire where golf is played, have solved two problems which so far have proved too much for the administrators on the men’s side of the game. The women fix the par of the course much more scientifically than the men fix the standard scratch score and observe the requirements much more punctiliously. Their handicapping rules have been well thought out and are rigidly adhered to. The result is that a woman golfer on the ten mark in Invercargill can reasonably expect to play to hei - handicap on any other L.G.U. course in the Dominion, or in England for that matter, and a net score three strokes below par at Otatara is of the same value as a similar score at Shirley or Titirangi. Thus the New Zealand Ladies’ Golf Union is able to match the members of affiliated clubs against each other from one end of New Zealand to the other in the annual competitions for the Coronation Medal and the Aotearoa Cup. The results of this year’s competitions have just been announced and a member of the Queen’s Park Club has won great distinction. Mrs L. Larcombe won the Coronation Medal straightout with the excellent card, 87-18-69, six strokes under the women’s par for the Queen’s Park course. But so good was Mrs Larcombe’s score that it also brought her into a tie for the open event, the Aotearoa Cup, and she lost the trophy only on the count back. Congratulations are due to Mrs Larcombe on her notable success.

Emergency Local Rules Golf clubs near the bombed areas in England have made local rules to meet emergencies which may arise as the result of attentions from the Luftwaffe. The Richmond Club, near London, for instance, has framed a set of temporary rules, some of which will interest, amuse and perhaps surprise golfers in this peaceful country. It is provided that in competitions during gunfire or while bombs are falling players may take cover without penalty for ceasing play. A ball moved by enemy action may be replaced, or if lost or destroyed, a ball may be dropped not nearer the hole without penalty. A player whose stroke is affected by the simultaneous explosion of a bomb may play another ball from the same place, but he incurs a penalty of one stroke. The penalty stroke is good—very good. The Richmond committee evidently thinks that no player who lets a little thing uke a bomb explosion interfere with his stroke can expect to get off scot free. The committee also notifies players that while the positions of known delayed-action bombs are marked by red flags placed at a reasonably safe distance, no guarantee is given that the distance is actually safe. British sang froid! What chance has Hitler got of terrorizing people like these? Champions Doing Their Bit

The champions are still playing golf in England, but only for recreation or in exhibition matches in aid of one or other of the war funds. Henry Cotton is now Flying Officer T. H. Cotton. Open champion Richard Burton is on the physical training staff of the Royal Air Force. Andrew Kyle, amateur champion, is a pilot officer. .Miss .Pam Barton, the women’s champion, is in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. The three champions will hold their titles for “the duration,” as the events were suspended at the outbreak of war and will not be resumed while the war lasts.

Golf Goes On In Britain The blitzkrieg has not stopped golf in Britain—not by a long chalk. The game goes on, and the men of the Navy, the Air Force and the Army find amusement and recreation on the links when opportunity offers. So do the business men bombed out of their offices in London, and the workers in the munition factories, and the watchers of the coasts and thousands of others who are arming and guarding and running the country. Professionals at courses near military camps are very busy, for scores of men who did not play golf before the war have taken the game up as a means of recuperation from the fatigue of their work with the armed forces and as an agreeable occupation for their spare time. Courses in the areas over which the invading bombers fly on their way to London, Bristol, Liverpool, Plymouth and other objectives have been hit and damaged repeatedly, but the damage is not so extensive as might have been expected. In fact it appears that the damage to the ground is sometimes insignificant, and is severe only when the bombs fall near buildings. “At one London club which I recently visited,” writes the editor of London Golfing, “a bomb had fallen 20 yards or so in front of the first tee. The resulting crater was hardly worth worrying to repair, but the blast had blown in nearly every window in the clubhouse, besides stripping a good third of the tiles off the roof.”

INVERCARGILL LADIES’ CLUB The following is the draw for a sealed hole match to be played at Otatara on Thursday at 1 p.m.:— First tee.—Mrs F. G. Hall-Jones v. Miss C. Smith; Mrs H. M. Smith v. Miss P. Pilcher; Mrs S. P. Girdwood v. Mrs A. H. Jensen; Mrs R. C. Cook v. Miss D. Stout. Sixth tee.—Mrs S. R. Lowden v. Mrs F. M. Corkill; Mrs N. Earl v. Miss M. McCallum; Mrs C. C. Anderson v. Miss M. Gardner. Eleventh tee.—Mrs J. D. Speirs v. Mrs O. G. Gilmour; Miss M. Stout v. Miss D. McCallum; Mrs H. T. Thompson v. Miss N. Jensen. TUATAPERE CLUB

A large number of golfers gathered at the Tuatapere club house on Saturday for the opening of the season. A. mixed foursome was played, 28 players taking part. Mr W. R. Langmuir (president) said that he was pleased to see such a large attendance and hoped that the season would be as successful as the previous ones. Mr J. A. Mangan, sen., made a presentation on behalf of the club to Mr R. G. Smith, who is leaving the district and has joined the Army. The first ball of the season was driven by Mrs Langmuir and after the foursome the players adjourned to the club house for afternoon tea.