ON THE LINKS Pavilion Gossip

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 14, 7 April 1927, Page 7

ON THE LINKS Pavilion Gossip

(By

E. C. ROBIESON.)

FIXTURES April 9. —Four ball best ball bogev at Middlemore. y L April 9.— Medal handicaps at Titirangi April 9.—Medal handicaps at Maungakiekie. April 9.—Mixed foursomes, Glendowie. April 11. —Entries close Easter tournament. April 16, 18, 19.—Easter tournament and provincial championship, Middlemore. May 16.—British ladies’ championship. May 23-28.—British amateur at Hoylake. June 14-16. —American open. July 11-15.—British open at St. Andrew’s.

HANDICAPPING

AUCKLAND MAKES MOVE TO SECURE REFORM The question is: “Having taken up the matter of men’s handicapping, will the Auckland Golf Club carry the burden of revising it until it has persuaded the New Zealand Golf Council to take action and remove the handicapping from the present chaotic condition?” The women remedied their system quite a long time ago, and their handicaps are on a national basis. The golf council is, I think, in a position to put the men’s handicaps on a proper basis—if someone could only get them to do it. We look to the Auckland Club. WRONG IMPRESSIONS The club held a lengthy discussion on the matter at its annual meeting. Several members criticised the club handicapping—which, incidentally is fairly well looked after as club handicapping goes—and Messrs. H. B. Busk and Colbeck both attacked the Golf Council’s national handicap system. Unfortunately Mr. Colbeck gave those members who did not know better quite a wrong impression when he said the national handicaps were scandalous, and that the council arrived at them by accepting any bogey a club liked to give its course, fixed a player’s handicap, and add on five strokes, thus arriving at his national handicap. In point of fact the national handicap system is quite successful, and quite a good indication as to the respective merits of the players concerned. Mr. Colbeck said that Auckland players were penalised compared with those of other clubs whose bogey scores were not so well arranged. That is open to dispute. The real position is that Auckland has not at the moment more than very few players of championship calibre, and handicaps will not alter that. The last eight in the New Zealand amateur for several years shows a pronounced absence of Auckland players. Before the Golf Council issued national handicaps most of the courses concerned were inspected by one or another of the Golf Council, which then fixed its own idea of the scores, considering length And condition of the courses. On this basis the handicapping announced was quite fair, and the Council has not, as far as I can see, left itself open to any criticism, as far as national handicaps are concerned. But the point is that all the information gathered, and the classification of courses, is lying idle in Wellington. when it might be put to very considerable use. Instead of passing resolutions the Auckland Golf Club might serve a very useful purpose by appointing a committee to draft a full scheme of handicapping for submission to the next annual conference, which will be held at Hamilton in a few months’ time. In doing this they could secure a note of the extensive information in the hands of the Council, and make use of material on the recently completed British system. One of the speakers said the whole thing could be arranged in a few months, and I agree with him, knowing that the Council has already in hand a great deal of the information required to start the scheme on its way. Provisions as to what a player must do to maintain his handicap and penalties for failing to return cards, will prove a difficult part of the scheme, but the golfing brains available in the club, together with the experiences of the women and the British controllers, would overcome these. A perfect scheme might not be available right away, but a workable scheme should be ready by next season. We put it up to Auckland to lead.

The zest of golf is the best of all boozes, Who quaffs it a fine and refreshing cup chooses, For mixtures, add real self-control, concentration, The spirit of sportmanship; luscious libation.

AKARANA AMBITIOUS

A COMPREHENSIVE EFFORT A more than usually ambitious commencement, in the way of new golf clubs, has been made by the Akarana Golf Club, which has taken over sufficient land from the Winstone Estate at Mount Roskill to lay out 18 holes. Apart from the actual links the club is laying out several tennis courts, and the club-house is an old two-storeyed residence, of imposing character, in which it is hoped to foster the social side. Twelve holes have been prepared and play on them will start on Saturday. The remaining holes will be ready shortly after Easter, when the official opening will take place. Mr. Wilson, late of Titirangi, has been appointed greenkeeper, and Mr. J. Watt professional. A tractor and mowers for the course, and a motor mower for the greens, have been procured. The membership campaign opened a month ago, and already the list is nearly full. Akarana has, from the commencement, started out in a very progressive fashion, and I wish it success and an early rise to at least third position amongst local clubs. CLUB NOTES The club competitions on Saturday provided some exceptionally fine scoring. Middlemore in particular saw the middle handicap players put up a most successful attack on the bogey, nearly 20 players scoring better than their handicaps—an unusual and very promising sign for the success of Middlemore competitions this year. 1 did not, however, notice the names of any of the low handicappers on the result list. Rex George at Titirangi appeared to be the only one showing up in the results among the leading players. His score of 3 up from scratch was a good performance. He put a ball out of bounds at the short sixth, but scored 71 for the other 17. Not that he was really playing well; in fact, he was working hard for it all the way. The fairways and greens were good at both the leading courses, and compare most favourably with Balmacewan, Shirley or Miramar, all of which I have played on recently. FROM FAR AND NEAR CHAMPIONSHIPS At the meeting of the New Zealand Golf Council on Monday evening, the chairman, Mr. R. C. Kirk, presented a report of the professionals’ tournament at Rotorua, in which he warmly praised the club officials on the running of the tournament and stated that he considered the Rotorua Club should be congratulated on having one of the most enjoyable courses in the Dominion. Mr. Kirk also reported his inspection of the Hamilton course with a view to the New Zealand championship and considered that there is no doLibt that the course will be in good condition by the time the championship is played. The commencing date of the tournament sto be either Friday, September 2, or Friday, September 9, and a definite decision between these two dates will be made very shortly. PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS The programme for the Auckland Provincial golf championships shows: Saturday, April 16. Provincial championship qualifying round of 36 holes (16 to qualify), and in conjunction a 36-hole medal competition. Monday, April 18. —First and second rounds championship (each 18 holes match play), bogey handicap (morning), medal (afternoon). Tuesday, April 19.—Semi-finals of championship, followed by final, and bogey handicap (morning), and fourball best ball (afternoon). PRO-GOLF Two Wall Street men lunching at the Banker’s Club, amused themselves in trying to calculate the total wealth in their sight. Their computation showed 3,000,000,000, not counting two score unrecognised strangers, who would have added to the pot. There were seven bank presidents or chairmen, heads of two equipment companies, five oil financiers, beside directors. At a few tables financial discussions were obviously under way. At most of them, however, it was equally apparent that golf was the principal topic of conversation. (From the recent financial column of a New York morning newspeper.) Moral: Golf appeals to the class of people who have money to spend and know how to make it talk most effectively.