FROM FAIRWAY AND ROUGH

Taranaki Daily News, 16 April 1932, Page 4

FROM FAIRWAY AND ROUGH

STANDISH CUP CONTEST

PLAY AT FITZROY BEGINS TO-DAY.

THE MOVEMENT OF THE HIPS. (Bj r “Stance.”) The greens at Waiwakaiho have been very fast for the last four or five months, and as heavy rain came before last Saturday a great number of players sallied forth in the first round of the Standish Cup competition at Waiwakaiho quite convinced that the puttincr part of the business was going to be Tauch more simple than it had been for some time past. However, before the round was over they were sadly disillusioned. The greens ' vary a great deal, and the altered conditions took quite a lot of mastering. Some were very slow and some surprisingly fast, and the low handicap brigade in practically every, case failed rather badly. No player was successful in breaking the SO, F. Quin and C. H. Fyfe with 81’s having the best gross scores. However, the long handicap players managed a lot better and there were quite a number of good net cards. L, Ward, who showed when he won the four ball at the recent Easter tournament with J. J. Sullivan that he was on - the improve, is leading the field with 94—24— 70. He played very steadily all the way, his spotm seconds being particularly 1 effective. His worst hole was a seven at the third, where he required four putts, though this was partly balanced by a two at the ninth. 0. H. Fyfe was playing sound golf all the way and fully deserved his good card. The High School boy Elmes started at the ninth and had some bad holes to commence with. However, he settled down over the last nine, when he played some fine shots. These two are three strokes behind the leader. L. R. Curtis, J. Church, N. Renner and J. H. Boon are only one stroke further back, and the position is a very interesting one. The second round will be played to-day and, as a number have been getting in some practice ■ during the week there may be a- few .surprises. L. Ward’s handicap lias been reduced from 24 to 18, J. Elmes’ from 16 to 14 and Fyfe’s from 8 to 6. These readjustments, however, do not apply to the Standish Cup Competition.

GOOD WORK DONE AT FITZROY.

Play will officially commence on the new course at Fitzroy this afternoon.; The fairways have again been mown, durin o' the week and are in splendid; condition. The committee has decided that for the present players may tee up every shot, and it is to be hoped that this will be taken advantage of.' The course was inspected on Thursday afternoon by Mesrs. H. S. Wagstaff, the ‘president of the Seaside ‘Society, and C. H. Stephenson, the co-designer of the lay-out in company with Mr. F. S., Johns, the-captain of the New Plymouth, club, and all expressed themselves well, satisfied with the work that has been, done.

Waitara was not favoured by the best of weather for the opening on Thursday, the strong south-easterly winds making conditions anything but pleasant. The course, which was opened last year, is wonderfully improved. All the fairways have been mown and are rapidly getting into first class order. This improvement should show itself in the scores returned in the matches during the next month. The difficult conditions did not make the opening day a fair test.

The Inglewood club will open its season on Thursday, when a mixed Canadian foursome will be played. A lot of work, has been put in on the links of late and it is expected that th.ey will be in capital condition this week.

The Auckland provincial champion, H. Brinsden, was a visitor to Taranaki this week, and in a round at W a i wa^a^lo showed that he is still retaining the fine form that won his his title at Easter. Another well known player, A. E. Eks- ‘ tedt, was also at Waiwakaiho, and was much impressed with the improvements since his last visit.

It is to be hoped that the New Plymouth club will soon issue a challenge to Eltham for the Seafield Cup as the sooner interest is aroused in an event such es this the better. The policy of waiting until the season is well advanced is a doubtful one, and if a match is played early all the other clubs are reminded of the existence of the trophy.

THE DOWN SWING IMPETUS. For years we have always been told that the down stroke commences with a pull of the left hand and this has always been a cardinal point with most of the teachers, of the game but now as great an authority as Bobby Jones comes to light to say that it is very doubtful ,if this is the case. He contends, and very rightly too, that both the up swing and the down swing are started by the hips and finished by the wrists. As regards the up swing this statement has been universally accepted for a good many years, but his second assertion is sure to meet with quite a lot of controversy.. Nevertheless, in the opinion of the writer it is most certainly correct and it is easy to see how the old misconception arose. Let any player just go to the top of his swing with a. free full pivot and hold that position. Then move the weight forward on to the front foot with a forward thrust of the left hip. The feeling that one gets is a pulling or tension on the left hand. ' The older players misinterpreted this feeling of tension on the left hand to mean that they were commencing the down swing with an action of the left hand when all the time they were really commencing with the hip. This is undoubtedly of great importance. The hip movement is the keynote to the swing, and more especially on the down swing the hip must move into position before the hands and wrists can function in the correct manner. If the hands or the wrists come in front at the top of the swing the co-ordination of movement is upset, and the result is either a poor shot or the development of a stiff, wooden looking swing. OVER-CROWDED GOLF BAGS. Do golfers, particularly, those on. middle and longer marks, who have been accused of being the worst offenders, carry too many clubs? The question, has again arisen in England -with a letter and a leading article in The Times. The movement to curtail the number carried seems to be gaining .much support there, and is certainly receiving warm support from the caddies I who are asked to lug round the courses bags chock full of steel and wood instruments, many of which are never used. American golfers have probably played the greatest part in the development of carrying many clubs in the bag. Standardisation in golf, as in other things, has been their tendency. They have worked towards standardisation of the golf swing, using the same swing for every shot, but taking weapons of different “power,” according to the distance required with the shot. In Eng-

land it has always been the object to modify the swing to the distance required. It seems, however, that the point on which the argument should turn is not how many clubs a man carries in his bag, but how well he uses them. If a golfer can play any club well he would be justified in carrying .40 clubs if he thought that by doing so he could save a stroke on the round. Champions of such proficiency, however, are seldom made in a year or a couple of years. And more often than not the many clubs in their bags, all of which they use well, are the result of a gradual building up process which started with a wood, a mid-iron and a putter. The real danger, and drag on the improvement of the standard of golf generally as a game, seems to lie' with the player who expects to become a golfer simply because he has every conceivable type of club in his bag, one or othero f which could be used by a champion at times to play a special kind of shot.

In the swinging ’of a golf club and the hitting of a ball with that club there are plenty of things- to be thought about, and the simpler the game is made the greater is the chance of the long marker to reduce his' handicap.. The carrying of many clubs which places him in a quandary, at almost, every shot as to which one he should use is not making for simplicity.