GOLF PLAY AND PLAYERS

Taranaki Daily News, 12 September 1930, Page 4

GOLF PLAY AND PLAYERS

SURPRISE AT WAIWAKAIHO CQRFE AND WATERSTON’S WIN, WESTON FOURSOMES TROPHY. ’

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Thera "was a surprise at'the WaiwaImiho golf links-on Saturday whe’n C. R. Corfe .and G, Waterston wpii the second and final round of .the Q. H. Weston trophy (foursomes, , ■ At the conclusion, of. the first round Corfe and Waterston with a nett .73 were eight strokes. behind thg leaders and their chances were regarded ajs. rather remote. It was not generally known that included in their score were, an eleven at the tenth and a nine at the eightli. On Saturday they avoided, these score destructors reached, the turn in 42. On the homeward ,ioui- t ney they pursued the even tenor of their, way until the sixteenth. There the tee shot was sliced, and the ball stopped under'a ledge in the rough. The hole , cost them six. ■ That was all their seii->. ous trouble and their gross round was 85, giving them a nett of 65. This really remarkable score is two better than the lower-handicapped man (Corfe) -.should do to play down to his mark, Corfe on Saturday was playing great golf and Waterston was reliable. A triumph for the players of the older generation, it was the more meritorious because, of the disastrous eleven at the tenth in the first round. The runners-up, J, D- Wilson and L. M. Steplieuson, were the only txvo of the leaders of the first round to threaten danger find, they might have been closer , but for . taking four putts, pn the ninthgreen. Johns and Johns failed to reproduce tlieir fifst/rouiid form and agross 94 was the best they could do. .Haughton arid Twooniey fillbd third position with two 74’S. To-morrow’s match will be a bogie handicap in two divisions, senior, and; junior. With the present state of the course there should be good scoring, but the exceptional hardness ,of the scratch score (72) makes anything sensatiorial impossible. .-.That 72 is probably theipost- dlljicult- serdteh score jh -the ,Doiriinion. -T 1 CANADIAN -OPEN BRILLIANT. . / TOMMY ARMOUR’S RECORDS. The Canadian open diampi°nship drew a wonderful field and with- the exception of Bobby Jones all the ‘ cream . 'of the Anierican. talent' was 'there. The scoring was brilliant, T _ ‘ J. , . With the final round, to po played Tommy Armour was' in"iiinth position, 4vq strokes behind the leader, put in the Jasfc he., tprned bn a , phenomenal fl-1 against a par of 70 and tied With'Diegai for the first 'place. He started badly by.taking a fjvc at a par foyr hole, he. followed this .with a couple of pars and then helped himself to five threes in a row, an eagle, two birdies and two pars; Another pair foyr. at the ninth saw him. ■reach , the tyrn in 32. Coming home hq, ■collected a birdie three at the- tenth, then three more, pars, followed by two more birdie threes. The throe remaining holes were collected in par to give him another 32 for the homeward . journey, and a 64-for', the round. This'broke the previous course record’by; two strokes, ’ Tn the final,-Armour, piled up a, couple of fld’s for Diegal’ to deal with and de-; spite two fine rounds Leo hud to be con-: tent with ■ secund place, . Armour I s generally regarfiefi as being the best’iron plgyer in .the world' and. on this occasion he appears to have, excelled himself. Walter Hagon came to light the final day with a couple of 7O’s, but thia was only gpqd enough to land, him in fourth position. -Both Armour and Djegal returned 877 for the 72 holes, three strokes better than the par. PROMINENT YOUNG PLAYERS. Young Brian Silk of the' Belmont (Wanganui)"Chib has collected a lot of scalps - this season and. last • Saturday added that of thej noted Cathro to his list. Silk has defeated Horton,' Ekstefit twice and Goss once this year and his. fortunes at the championships at Pal-, merston North next month will be* watched with interest. . Another youngster who has been attracting a good deal of attention is; Homabrook, Masterton, a pupil of Billy Horton. This lad waq at Miramar a fortnight ago and won golden opinions from all the critics. PSYCHOLOGY IN GOLF. Bobby Jones says golfers are very apt to approach three-foot putts in the wrong frame of mind. In the case of a 12-footer the player tries his hardest to get the ba]l into the hole;, fiis one thought is to hole it. But. what about the three-footer? He knows he ought to do it but does he get down to it with the one thought, that uf holing it, jn his mind? Jones thinks not, He says the playqr all the timp is trying not to miss it, not trying to hole it, arid there may be a lot in what Bobby; says. At any rate the hypothesis is very interesting ’and there is certainly a, difference between trying to sink a putt and trying not to miss it, SLOAN MORPETH’S PLAY. Of Sloan Morpeth’s qualifying rounds in the recent Victorian. championships the Sydney Referee writes:— ' “In the first'round he was up . to his old tricks.-of hitting them all over tlie place, and then retrieving ' the position by some unbelievable reebyeries.. Even then he had to notch two ‘birdies’ at tljc 17tH'.and 18th to turn in ah 83. Hooking was his downfall. After' lunch we saw the real Morpeth. Watching. him compile that 75, the best individual round; of the day, one felt that whoever beat him would gain the crown. Y 7 et I must confess' that there seems something unfinished about his golf. Those iron shots with which -he takes little or no turf, do not seem to be hit as a real champion would hit them. “But he wields an inspired putter. Also he is a wonder as a match player. “Incidentally the Commonwealth Club, which he represents, entered six players for this event, all of whom qualified. Rather a unique record.” HOW TO PLAY THE CHIP SHOT. “A chip shot is. a short approach with a varied amount of loft,” writes Charles Hendron in the Golf Monthly. "It may be a little pitch',' a Tittle pitch-and-run, or a little run-up shot. It is simply a ‘baby approach,’. . .Apy. iron club that meets the needs, or that suits, your preference, may be used, but the .club used most and found. to be most adaptable for the purpose is the light mashie. Most chip shots are of the pitch-and-run variety, and-this shat is. invaluable, epr. pecially in the summer, when the courses pre so fast and. pitching right up is impossible. “No set advice cap be given'for the stance, address and manner of playing the shot, for it varies with th© varying requirements that confront tire player. But we will say very positively that the chip shot is not a ‘wrist shot’; there is no such thing in tire game of golf. No ‘flicking’ or ‘flipping’ or ‘scooping’ with

the wrists should be indulged in. There is no-need for hurry,-so--let. your swing be deliberate, and free from snatch or jerk. Play the chip shot firmly and decisively; The- mistake many players make is to.play these little shots weakly, just because they are short. But you will'find'that the best players. aH play their short, shots crisply.. This is the .way to . make the bad perform as planned. “More shots are: lost in the immediate vicinity of the green than anywhere else, and this should make us realise the tremendous importance of the chip shot. It is strictly an accuracy shot, and therefore requires very deliberate control—and much practice. “The player who lias mastered this shot is an extremely hard person to beat, as it is a certain shot-saver.”