GOLF.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16635, 18 January 1922, Page 3

GOLF.

AT HOME AND ABROAD.

(By

"THE CADDIE.”)

Miss Joyce Wethered, English ladies’ dose champion, recently established a new record for the Worplesdon course. Miss TVethered, playing in a monthly medal competition in November, was round in 78, five strokes better than the previous best.

At Worplesdon, in the open mixed foursome tournament, an ususuallv attractive opportunity for exnl citing foursome tactics presented itself. It consisted of putting the lady member of one side to drive against the male member of the other side. Exactly what one could hope to gain by it I do not know. It depended a great deal on whether the team had a lady who, without being a long driver, could bo depended upon to keep the shots straight and make them travel sufficiently far to carry the heather and other sources of trouble in front of the tee. If the two men of tho match were long and erratic drivers—a term which suits a large proportion of the young amateur stalwarts of to-day—-then the invariably steady going lady driver might lay the foundation of a victory by keeping straight while her male rival landed his side in such an entanglement of heather that his own particular fair helper could not get him out of it.

The New South Wales amateur champion, T. E. Howard, has caused a great deal of discussion by deciding to turn professional. Although he is now a really excellent player, up to all the finer points of the gahere can be no doubt that the additional practice he will be able to get as a professional will greatly improve his game. The opinion of Australians who know Howard is that he will make an exceedingly fine coach. The game in all its intricacies is better understood by no one, for Howard, in his recent matches, has clearly demonstrated that he knows tho why and wherefore of every shot he plays. Australasian golfers will wish him every success in his new venture.

Deputy Surgeon-General Clarence Cooper, of South Norwood, Croydon, England, is ninety-one years of age and still plays two rounds of golf, each 18 holes, at the Norwood Golf Club every week. General Cooper first played golf at St Andrews in 1852, nearly seventy years ago.

According to a cable published in Australian papers the London 44 Daily Mail ” proposes that for the amateur golf championship there should be a qualifying round of 36 holes stroke play- It is fairly certain that it will be acceptable in the United States, hut will leadi to a warm controversy in England, though it is being supported by twelve leading amateurs. Commenting on this proposal, D. G. Soutor, the well-known Australian writes in the Sydney 44 Sun ” :— 44 The cable stating that the 4 Daily Mail ’ proposes a~ qualifying stage for the amateur golf championship marks an honest attempt to bring"up-to-date trig conditions governing that event. The proposal is not new, but the suggested reform is long overdue. The announcement that the proposal is being supported by twelve leading amateurs is interesting, and equally so is the fact thjat the United States will accept it. The history of the amateur championship- dates back to 1886. Up to 1897 the record entr?.’ for the championship was seventy-four, and curiously enough the year 1900 was the. first time that the number of entries reached the 4 cei> tury.’ From then on the entries rapidly increased, until in 190/ they reached the second century and the competition became unwieldy. suggestions were put forward, including the qualifying stage proposed in the cable just to hand, and it was decided that 4 No player shall be eligible to enter for the amateur championship unless his handicap has been scratch or below at all his clubs since January 1 of the year of the meeting.’ This had the effect of steadying the number of entries, but not substantially redxicing them. One effect it did have was to create a number of scratch and plus players who had no playing right to that distinction. This result wa.s obvious to anyone who studied the position carefully, but no doubt a compromise was necessary, and the time has evidently come when that compromise has outlived its usefulness and the true position has got to be faced. It is bard to follow the opposition to such a sporting suggestion as a qualifying stage. No doubt there would he surcrises, but the position should be looked at from the sporting point of view. Anv number of players could enter, but after the qualifying stage th£ competition would be reduced to conditions that would giye skill its opportunity without bracketing it with an endurance test.'

Mis* Cecil Loitch, the British. French and Canadian woman «golt champion, returned to Eng.nnd from XJ 3A. and Canada in November. Miss Leitch says she is certain to make the trip to America again next summer m quest of the United States title, which she failed to gain this year at Hollywood, New Jersey, in the national women’s championship, white she will also defend her Canadian championship, and engage in a number of exhibition matches in the Dominion in 192^. Lord Forster, Governor-General of Australia, and an ex-captain of the Royal and Ancient Club, recently wrote to the committee of the St- Andrews Club suggesting that before altering any of the rules of golf in future they should consult the golf associations m the British Dominions. According to Australian reports word lias 'now been received that the committee has agreed to this suggestion.

Why is it so difficult, asks Mr Leslie Schon in the “Daily Mail,” for a golfer to keep his eye on the ball when i' is nearly impossible for a batsman or a lawn tennis player to take his eye off a cricket or tennis ballf Have you ever heard a batsman say: “Why, I thought that drive had gone over the pavilion. I must have taken my eye off the ball.” Of course not. The batsman can’t take his eye off the hall because the movement of the ball provides the necessary stimulus. This is why it is easy to become an average bat or a fair lawn tennis player and very difficult to become a steady golfer. In attempting to hit a stationary ball there is nothing to stimulate the golfer's attention. Tile slightest movement of another player or a spectator

will oatch hi 9 eye and effectively spoil the stroke. But point or cover-point can edge up to the batsman, while a slow ball is coming down the pitch without the batsman taking the slightest notice. To a very great extent golfer? have to thank their ancestors for their inability at the present day to concentrate on a golf ball. Psychologists have filled books on the subject of attention, but it all amounts to cme thing, and that is instinct. Survival under primitive conditions depended absolutely upon the instinctive tendency to attend to anything that might be a danger signal. That is how the psychologists put it. In other words, if you were armed with only a flint axe and you were likely at any moment to meet a mammoth or a mastodon you would have to rely on your wits and not your weapon.' And so the instinct has been handed down to ua, and anything moving catches cur attention. But, funuilv ' enough, although most golfers know that if they keep their eye on the ball they will probably make a good stroke, this in itself is not sufficient incentive. Something is wanted to catch and to hold their attention. This is the raison d’etre of tho 44 jazz ” golf ball, which is designed to overcome this inherited instinct. It is simply an ordinary ball painted with coloured enamel. Any golfer who experiments with an old ball can make one for himself by the expenditure of a few pence. Yellow and black are gcod colours to select; . when combined they suggest the colouration of a wasp. Since few people can sit still when a wasp is buzzing around them, the golfer’s attention is more likely to be held by a yellow and black ball. It would be a mistake to paint the ball completely. Two rows of dots running in opposite directions round it are ample, and the painting can be done in fire minutes. If a threaded needle be. pushed into the cover, the golfer will avoid getting any enamel on his fingers, and the ball can easily be hung up to dry. Undoubtedly there will be some good-natured chaff on the first tee when one’s friends see the ball. The golfer will b© told that it is not a stimulus for his attention that he wants, but a stimulant in a liquid form for his inner man. But even with the chaff still ringing in his ears, 1 defy the player to take his eye off the jazz ball, at p-ny rate during the first stroke he plays.

A cable from London dated January 8 announced that on that S date the veteran Sandy Herd holed out in one on the Coombs Hill course. This is the fifteenth time ’that 44 Sandy ” has done the trick. His tally of holes in one is one each at Garton, Portruah. Machrie and Huddersfield, and eleven at Coombe Hill. Sandy Herd is rot fifty-four years of age, and was opei champion as far back as 1902. • *

The Suliningdale team against Cambridge University in November included Mr John E. Laidlay. Mr Laid lav won his first scratch meda*! in 1876, and the amateur championship forth© firs', time at St Andrews in** 1889; and ii now sixty-two years of age, but he boa' his ’Varsity opponent, jorty years hi: junior, 4 up and 3 to play.