ON THE LINKS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXV, Issue 18948, 6 August 1931, Page 5

ON THE LINKS.

WEEKLY JOTTINGS (By “Driver.") Saturday's Fixtures. Highfleld—Four-ball bogey match. Glen-iti —Medal match. Playing under conditions which were not oi the best, H. V. Sharp (16) headed the field in last Saturday’s medal match at Highfleld with a net 69. N. C. Martin (12) was second with 71. Of the juniors, D. Moyes 86-17-69 was the best, being closely followed by G. H. Ussher 87-17-70, and S. Mills 94-24-70. The ladies’ medal match, played at Glen-iti last Saturday in conduction with the final qualifying round, resulted in a win for Miss Couper, not Miss Islip as was stated previously. Miss Couper’s card read 108-35-73, Miss Islip being second with a net 80. Most successful of the unearneds was Miss N. Shivas, who returned a net 81. In the final of the ladies’ knock-out competition Miss Morgan defeated Miss Islip. J. C. Mason, with a gross 86, wis the best perfromer in the medal round at North End on Saturday. I. J. Bradley filled second place with at gross 89. Of the juniors, W. Reid 94 and G. Hedges 100 were most successful. Mrs P. Foote with a gross 112 won the ladies’ division. Next Saturday Timaru will play Ashburton at Ashburton. The links there are reported to be good, the greens especially being in good nick. The team will be ensured of a pleasant day. Knock-out games are in full swing at Glen-iti. Some of the matches have been very even, and a number of ties have been reported. In a four-ball on Sunday, J. Menzies jnr. and O. Robertson tied for the second time with J. Jones and W. Jones. Menzies also tied twice with L. Holden in the singles compeittion before he could get a decision. Gamble and Morgan defeated Dodd and Whitehead 2 and 1, after being 4 down at the turn. The following Highfleld players have reduced their handicaps:—N. S. Hawkes to 9-7, H. V. Sharpe to 14-11, D. Moyes to 15-11, J. Moyes to 16-12 and F. M. Ward to 18-14. In the semi-final of the singles knockout at Highfleld N. C. Martin defeated F. L. Barker and D. J. Mcßeatn defeated M. T. Houlihan. The qualifying rounds for the Club championships at North End were completed on Saturday. B. Baxter heads the senior list with 171, followed by J. C. Mason with 174. The first junior is W. Reid 189. and the first lady, Mrs H. J. Washer 221. The date on which the senior championship final at Highfleld will be played has not yet been decided. It is hoped it will be postponed until the course receives some much-needed rain. At present the greens are practically bare and dust arises more often than not when the ball lands on the fairway. Such conditions are not the best for a Club final. The first rounds of the championships at Glen-iti are to be finalised by August 23rd. On August 22rd mixed foursomes for the Para Rubber Co’s trophy will be played.

D. Moyes and G. A. Ussher will contest the final of the junior championship at Highfleld. Both are young and have been playing well this season, so that the final should show some good golf.

“The mashie is a club no golfer can afford to ignore; he can discard others but the mashie is a member of the team every time.”—E. Ray.

“Here is the secret of those delicate chips out of bunkers—the wrists must not move.” —C. J. H. Tolley. It is said that in golf as in science and philosophy one needs to know a lot before one appreciates one’s own ignorance.

An American correspondent to “The Free Lance” writes that on June 19th the first game of golf to be played in the United States with the aid of an auto-gyro took place. It was stated that the auto-gyro made an excellent caddie and no difficulty was experienced in taking off and landing as the player followed his ball round the course.

This sort of thing may be all right for some of the American “cracks,” but we think it would be rather involved in the case of a “rabbits’ " foursome.

Youth seems to be having more than its share of victories in the major titles in Australia. Lads who ordinarily would not have left school are defeating seasoned veterans, the reason being, perhaps, that they are unable to find employment and are settling down to improve their golf. Following on the victory of J. Ferrier in the N.S.W. amateur, comes the success of H. Williams (16) and R. Harris (20) in the Victorian amateur foursomes. This young pair finished the 36 holes with 155, five strokes better than the KirkWindeyer representative, M. Ryan, and Sloan Morpeth. In the first round of the singles, Williams defeated the veteran, A. Jackson 4 and 3 after what was described as a first class exhibition. Over the past three seasons Williams has an arresting record (writes “Back Spin” in the “Referee”). It was not until he was ten that he first played golf, beginning at the small municipal course at Brighton. He soon found his feet. Two years later he toured the nine holes in 30, a record that still stands. When 12 he joined the Commonwealth Club, where the handicapper in his goodness of heart gave him 20. In io time this slim youngster spread-eagled the competition field. His first two handicap reductions surely constitute a record. He lost five in one bunch and another five at his next offence—ten strokes in two issues! Still they couldn’t stop his winning run. To-day he is on plus two, the youngest player ever to receive that rating. In 1929 the selectors at Commonwealth took their courage in their hands and put Harry, then aged 14, into the senior pennant team. Since then his pennant record has been remarkable. Last year ae j didn’t lose one game, and so far this I season he has recorded only one defeat, that to Cecil Harvey, of Victoria. However, he avenged this in the replay, when he trounced Harvey, 6 up and 4. The critics really sat up and took a little notice when Williams won the Riversdale open scratch event last season. In the field were M. J. Ryan, then national amateur champion, Alec Russell, and many other noted amateurs; but Harry carted home the silverware. Followed another win at Sorrento in January of this year, a third at Yarra with 74-74, second to Ryan at Kingston Heath (76-75), and third at Riversdale < 71-78). At Commonwealth, where par is 75, he has recorded a 73, and at Metropolitan a 71.

Amongst the many undulations on Wellington golf courses, most players have had to face a hanging lie, states "Chipshot" in the Evening Post. To counteract the tendency to fall forward place the weight as much as possible on the right leg, and keep it there until the ball has been hit. Adopt an open stance to further counteract this tendency. To get the ball to rise, the left foot should be more in front of the ball than normally. Employ an upright swing, and endeavour to make the club hug the ground in the follow-through for as long as possible.

Most golfers dislike bunkers, but it was not until Mr E. J. Bayly-Mac-arthur, one of the leading members of the Royal Sydney Club, entered one on his home course a couple of weeks ago that he realised to the full the term “trap” applied to bunkers the world over. He sliced his drive from the tenth tee into a bunker set just in the right position to receive such a gift from the gods. With nonchalant mien, as befits any golfer of note, Mr BaylyMacarthur entered the bunker with a niblick and prepared to take his stance for the shot. But no. His feet started to sink. Within a few seconds he was up to his waist in sand, and before anyone could reach him he had sunk to his armpit, and was yelling for help. It took the combined efforts of his partner, several other startled players, and a host of caddies with long poles to rescue him from the quicksand. This had been caused by the removal of a stone foundation of the bunker. Timaru Club. The following is the draw for the four-ball (best ball) bogey handicap to be played at Highfleld on Saturday next:—Jas. Allport and Simmers v. others, Martin and Martin v. J. Moyes and W. J. Foote, Dunne and W. Allport v. R. J. Moyes and Houlihan, Marshall and G. H. Ussher v. Robt. Wilson and Sutherland, J. Kerr and Kingston v. J. Mackay and Kay, Fair and M. Gresson v. Steven and Tait, Horwell and Davies v. Murdoch and Innes-Jones, Duncan and Duncan v. Smith and Niccol, Crawshaw and D. W. Beswick v. D. Moyes and Blodorn, P. B. Foote and W. J. Beswick v. E. G. Kerr jnr. and Priest, W. Moody and Ward v. Purdom and G. C. Reid, Morrison and Ziesler v. Fox and E. A. Scott, Hassell and Cameron v. Jackman and Sharp, Hunter and Mcßeath v. S. A. Shrimpton and B. W. Moody, Holmes and Craig v F. S. Shrimpton and Holdgate. Players to arrange their own times of starting. Glen-iti Club. The following is the draw for the men’s fourth medal round, to be played on Saturday:— Glen-iti (No. 13).—A. A. Sutherland, E. D. Mcßae, E. Wells, M. Crowley, S. McConachy, G. Lee, A. Jones, R. Jones senr., J. Whitehead, W. Jones, D. Oram, J. Menzies senr., W. Skelton, ,T. Duncan, J. Morgan, J. Satterthwa’ite] N. A. Moore, J. Menzies jnr., J. Jones’ A. D. Mangos, L. Busbridge, N. A.’ Leslie, J. Lysaght, G. Hislop, l] Holden, W. Mantell, J. Ferrier. Ocean View.—D. Menzies, J. a. Lamb, W. Goodwin, H. C. Clark, B. H. Low, T. Mitchell, E. J. Thompson] p] Osborns, A. A. Caithness, A. Graham] G. P. Lawson, J. H. Healey, E. Dodd, v] T. Nicholas, F. S. Cave, W. Lawson] A. M. Shugar, H. J. Brewer, R. McDougall, H. Oram, H. Loomes, C. W. Steele, j] G. Johnston, C. Seyb, H. McClatchy] J. Stevens, N. Kennedy, R. Parker, G. Gamble, J. Beckingham, J. Crowley R. McKay, F. J. Robertson, A. E. Hall] J. Skinner O. Robertson, c, a! Haworth. J. A. Scott, W. R. Townsend Moffltt.