GOLF.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 201, 4 May 1912, Page 8

GOLF.

nkw piA'Mnrnr. club. To-day the lirsl mat'.-h for the St. Andrew's Cross will he played by those members with, handicaps of 12 and under. For those whose handicap is over 12, a medal handicap will be held. An entrance fee of (id will be charged for each match. Messrs. A. Bewley, R. A. Gray and V. Elliott, who tied for iirat place in the medal competition on April 20, will decide the tie on to-day's play. Members who have not yet been allotted handicaps are asked to hand in signed cards as soon as possible, so that their handicaps may be fixed, as until this is done they cannot take part in the club competitions. As the recent bad weather has made the greens very soft and easily damaged, players are asked to take particular care when walking on them, and not to stand too close to the hole when showing their oppo-ients its position, -the proper way to indicate the hole being to stand with the flag at arm's length. At the last meeting of the committee it was decided that for the next two or three months the links shall be exclusively reserved for ladies on Tuesdays. j On Saturdays, ladies may play only in mixed foursomes after four o'clock. In I men's matches during May, June and , July, players will not be allowed to stop [ for afternoon tea after playing their I first round. The best scores for the Edmunds Medal, played yesterday, are as follows: Gross Hp. Net Mrs. Johns 116 22 ' 94 Mrs. Paton 115 19 96 Miss Read 122 24 98 Miss Blundell 127 28 99 Mrs. Haslam 133 34 99 Miss Brewster 112 12 100 The following is the draw for Mrs. H. Weston's cup, the first round of which will be played on Tuesday next:—First round: Mrs. Haslam plays Miss Read, Miss 'Blundell plays Miss Evans, Mrs. Kebbell plays Miss Ryan. Second round: Miss Brewster plays Miss Percy Smith, Mrs: Whetter plays Miss Glasgow, Miss Hall plays Miss Stephenson, Mrs. Paton plays Mrs. Johns, Miss Glasgow plays Miss McKellar, Miss Bewley plays Mrs. R. A. Gray, Mrs. Hut-ton a bye. TARAHUA CLUB. Matches under the auspices of the Tarahua Club will not commence until , next Saturday. Meanwhile members are , indulging in a fair amount of practice. . The greens are in good order, and altogether the prospects of the club are very bright. During this week a dozen new members were elected.

GENERAL. Now that golf is getting such a big hold in Taranaki, the question of engaging a professional for the whole district has come up, and the New Plymouth Club is at present circularising the various clubs interested as to what support each is prepared to give in the matter. It is understood that Mr. McCormick's services would be available if suitable arrangements could be made, and it is to be hoped that the proposal will be enthusiastically taken up. As the various clubs have already made their arrangements for the present season, it is not proposed to make any engagement for this year, but to have matters well in hand for next winter. The presence of a coach of McCormick's well-known ability should do much to raise the standard of play throughout tbe district. Golf is taking a firm hold in Invereargill. The fact that eight medical men were seen indulging in a round of the links recently speaks volumes for the health-giving nature of the game (says the Southland News). Sir Joseph Ward —a convert to the "stick and ba'"—has now pronounced symptoms of the "fever." His golf clubs accompanied him to Invercargill and fbr some days he was to be seen on the local course. Being "out of office" has its compensations, for golf has given Sir Joseph the secret of renewing his youth. A French lady, recently holding forth on the many dangers of the "new English game" of golf, said; "A young man and a young woman might disappear on the golf links for a whole afternoon far from parental control, and Heaven knows to what undesirable matches this might lead before the respective relatives have had time to find out whether, in fortune and I family, they were suitably matched to one another." Apart from these drawbacks, there can be no question that the influence of "le sport" is steadily asserting itself in French country life. Many golfers are still in doubt as to

whether, under the rules of golf, they are entitled to ground their clubs in permanent grass within a hazard; of course, the correct answer is that if the grass of a bunker is within the boundaries of the hazard, the club cannot l>p grounded on it. Wherever there is a hazard which is ' naturally .ill-defined, it is the duty of the 'committee to make the boundaries of the hazard clear to phi era, either by local rule or by marking the actual boundaries or by both methods. As an ex-

ample, a local rule at St. Andrew's states: "The grass bordering the road at the 17th hole is part of the hazard." The. term "permanent grass" does not occur in the present rules, but was introduced for the first time in the 1902 code, and found .to be a bad rule to interpret. The game is played at present in this respect as it has been played in the past, and although there are bunkers here within which a ball can lie on grass no difficulty should be experienced with [ the present rule No. 25. I