ON THE LINKS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18659, 30 August 1930, Page 16

ON THE LINKS

By “DRIVER.” (“Driver” will be pleased to receive notes of interest, local or otherwise, from the golfers of South Canterbury). A medal match will be played over the suggested new course at Highfield to-day. Gleniti play Pleasant Point at Gleniti to-day. “Darling!” cried the keen golfer, “I’ve just holed out in one.” * “There,” said she, “and I wasn t looking. Never mind, dearest; do it again, and I’ll watch you this time.” The second round of the Johnston Cup match wil be played at Gleniti next Saturday. Gleniti defeated Temuka in a return match at Gleniti last Satui day by lOi games to 3£. Two Highfield players were competitors at the North Canterbury championship tournament played at Harewood last week-end. D. S. Kemshed tied for the first medal handicap, but was beaten in the play-off. while C. W. Webber annexed the junior championship which, by the way, is for players whose handicap is over I eight.

D. C. Johnston, holder of the Highfield senior championship, who was transferred to Christchurch some months ago, headed the list in the first qualifying round of the Richmond Hill Club championship with a 78.

Miss F. Pringle played a very steady game in the first 9 holes of the ladies’ final on Thursday, going out in 40, which put her in the enviable position of 5 up. However, of the six holes played in the second 9 Miss Tizard won 3, halved 2 and lost 1. Despite her great recovery the hurdle was too big.

The scores returned in last Saturday’s bogey match at Highfield were not of the best. The greens were very heavy and some were particularly worm-casty. C. S. Bruce was the winner in the senior division with a card 2 up. Several 3 downs tied in the juniors.

The following are the results of the second round of the Highfield championships. Senior: —B. V. Wright beat Robt. Wilson; E. A. Scott beat J. G. Niccol; W. A. Scott beat A. L. Marshall; G. R. Kingston beat E. G. Kerr. Junior:: —J. Moyes beat G. C. Reid; J. F. Hamilton beat C. H. Coxhead; P. B. Foote beat B. W. Moody; N. C. Martin beat F. S. Shrimpton.

It is not uncommon to read of a bird being killed by a golf ball, but for three to fall victims to one shot must surely be something in the nature of a world’s record. Yet such an occurrence took place at Hamilton last week-end. Playing the eighteenth, H. T. Gillies half topped a brassey shot, and the ball dashed through a flock of goldfinches on the fairway, 30 or 40 yards distant, killing three of them in one fell swoop.

Many golfers have consigned bunkers to the bottomless pit, but few have visualised their being sent to the laundry periodically. This happens, however,, on the Royal Bombay Club’s course. For some reason or other the bunkering there is not done by digging holes or raising mounds, but by stretching canvas screens across the fairways and about the greens. When these get too dirty to be clearly seen from the tee, they are sent to the cleaners to be laundered. The things are about 18in high, and by all accounts are more difficult to negotiate safely than the ordinary pit or mound bunkers.

Contrary to public expectation, Bobby Jones took no steel shafted clubs to England on the occasion of his recent successful visit when he won the

amateur championship. In conversation with an English writer, Jones said that on the few occasions on which he has experimented with steel shafts there has been an appreciable loss in distance, an experience the exact converse of the majority of golfers. For use in the Walker Cup match and in the championships he brought with him the set of clubs, including the driver, brassie, and spoon, which stood so faithfully by him on his last visit three years ago, when he won the Open Championship at St. Andrews, smashing all records In the process. “Chiefly,” he says, “I am relying on old and trusted friends.”

“Were you really embarassed playing with Bobby Jones and Jimmy Johnston,” Mr O. B. Keeler asked the Prince in an interview after his recent match with the Americans. “Terribly! I was frozen,” was the reply.

The only successful tee shot is where the ball is hit from the inside out. This means that the club head must be starting across the imaginary line to the hole at the instant the ball is hit. One might thing that this would tend to cause the ball to fly straight for the rough to the right of the fairway, but in fact this is not the case, as the follow through will attend to that. The only chance for a mistake would be where the player attempted to make a direct hit out of it instead of a sweep. In this case the ball would be pushed to the right. The stance should be square for this shot, or, in cases where one was intent on hooking, the right foot should be drawn back.

There are not wanting golfers who hold that if the ball is hit fast enough and true enough, it does not matter wheter the follow through is carried fully out or not, but the opinion of the experts is against them. The unseen action in golf is the flattening of the ball on the clubhead face at the moment of impact and during the follow through. We know that the soft rubber core ball can be dented, but how much is the problem. Experts agree that the follow through will last for a distance of six inches at least. It all depends on how hard the ball is hit. The longer the follow through the better the direction. As the ball is hit there is some time required for the ball to flatten, and then some more time for it to rebound after the club loses its influence. This takes about the onethousandth part of a second.

Having seen Walter Hagen, Australians are better able to visualise Bobby J-ones. In the American open champion ship recently Hagen took 303 Jones did the 72 holes in 287 —15 strokes better than the man who broke most of the course records in Australia. It is possible that Hagen may not have been at his best after his hectic trip round the world. Though a great fighter and probably a greater match player than Jones, Hagen let the British open title go by the board this year, delegating the job of beating Jones to Horton Smith. The hefty Missourian, though unbeatable in events other than the British and American open contests, fell down on it, and then again, just when he appeared to have Jones on the run in the j American open, fell down again. Hor- ! ton Smith is credited with “temperament,” but fortunately he hasn’t the I casualness of Hagen.