THE GAME ABROAD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16920, 20 December 1922, Page 3

THE GAME ABROAD.

CHRISTCHURCH CLUB. Anniversary Day handicaps were played on Shirley Links on Saturdav. i a bogey irtuidicap was played in the I morning, a four-bull bogey competition in the afternoon. The best- scores for . the morning competition wera;— ; 15. Marfarlane 5 up. A. L. Cropp 4 up. A. Douglas 2 up. C. P. Murray-Aynsley 2 up. W. W. Rowe all square. The afternoon game resulted as follows : Whitcombe and Williams 8 up. Wynne and Douglas 6 up. Quano and Taylor 5 up. Harman and Gow 4 up. Hewlett and Cook 4 up. Ward and Ashford 4 up. Sams and Duncan 4 up. Worall and Ronaldson 4 up. A Christmas tournament will be held }.\ the club ou Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of Christmas week, and will be open to members of clubs. A handicap match will be played over the three days of the tournament and j bogey anji medal handicap singles will j 1.- played as well as Canadian four- ; Mimes. All ladies who play against ! men in the Christmas handicap match will receive additional strokes in the handicaps. Entries for all events close * r. the club house on Saturday or may lit' sent in to any of the following, who constitute the tournament committee Messrs E. M. Macfarlane. C. A. Seymour. J. E. Donald and G. W. Havertield. YOUNG PLAYERS. T think there ought to be considerrhly more yomig players thfcin there —and what we have got I think ought to be seen more in competitions, is the opinion expressed by Arthur L*? l Vvro in the Melbourne *’ Sporting , (.lobe.” It is all very well to hear them remark: “Oh, I can’t do any good. What’s the uso-of mv competing against so and so.” Well, it certainly of use, if only to gain early experience. One, unfortunately, sees too many ~f our best amateurs play ’ike novices iu a big event —Why ? 1 feel inclined to say, and feel pretty sure about it. too. that it is because they were not “ broken in ” in the proper way—that is to say, early enough. No, we don’t set. nearly enough of the younger vsehool on the links. For this reason it is well to lay the foundation of all games earlv in life, when the imitative faculty is strong, and when mind and muscle foil easily into habits that, if permitted, cling all through life. Although it is desirable to begin at an early age to Itarn any game it is specially advantageous in. learning to play golf. I started my golf career .iust before leaving school. T used to go to the Jinks in Bye (England), which is a seaside course and one of the finest in England. every Saturday to bo employed as a caddie. Those golfers who allow the club to swish over the left shoulder at the finish are not hitting the ball. With them the ball is being swept off the tee, and although that i* quite a good method, it lacks tho crisp nip in the phot, which, as T say, gives impetus to the ball.—Abe Mitchell. The shorter the shaft, the nearer to the ball the player must stand. For the cleek the feei are drawn just i little closer together than for tlia driver or brassie; the boll is distinctly nearer to the player. If you re member not to stoop more for thes© shots than for your drives, you will naturally take up a position the proper distance from the ball. The nearer the player is to tho ball, th® more upright will be his swing. Th * right foot should be brought nearer to the left to allow for this element of uprightness which is enforced by t lie feet l>eing closer together, tho swing should be the same as for tha wooden clubs.—Harry Varaon. Her© are four points for suggestion to the modern gollcr : 1. Use the same grip for every shot 2. Use tho same stance for everv shut 3. Learn one kind of swing, an t when you vary it for different distances arid different strokes, let these variations be mere modifications of the basic swing you have adopted. 4. See that every club in your Tjn / is adapted to the stance and style of swing vou have chosen. It is recommended by Maxwell Hutchison to have all your golf c-luiu. both wooden and iron, with the same angle of lie as the irons, and let the and driver he of a length on' l ,? so much greater than the driving iron or r-leek as will bring them into seri 5 s w ith the others. When starting out to practice, don’t tike out a bag full of clubs with vou thinking that all can he mastered at once. Each club has to he taken Individually and studied. Try thv* driver first and then the tnashie. With the driver, care must be taken not fo lover-swing or hit too hard to g^t leeorth. The easier the swing io Indies’ play, the further the hall will travel, provided, of course, the wrists are brought into action properly. There arc two clubs which, as a rule, do not receive enough practice by ladies, namely, the niblick and tho nutter. You hardlv ever see anyoni l ard at work in a bunker with half n dozen ball** trying different stroke?. Trv it. Throw the balls in anywhere, regardless of nosition. and then experiment. If the sand is soft, strike with as much forc-e as you are abh» iust under the ball, and note well the result. nlwsvß ••ornemherinf? r<\ ke*»p tho bead down anti behind tho ball. 'Che worst possible fault on any hole of n links is to be commonplace. Even holes that have no great merit as a tost of play, if they but possess srim« : » distinctive feature of their own, ad l variety, and therefore pleasure, to fcin game of golf. The two hardest things in the wor* l to find are the man who won at pokor and the golfer who is on his game. Modern America says:—“Let ir.» have everything which will make th> game easier and more equitable.” Ancient says:—“Here is an old Scottish game requiring great skill we ghwl pre-e«vA as sucli, and if you want tc change the rules and the weapons, you are at full liberty to do *o, only you must nop call it ‘golf.’” “It would be of interest in a com mutritv with whom golf flourishes to know whether the seiert.ific measuremeuts of emotion had thrown an.? further light- upon the foozle, which is the bane of the golfer’s existence.” -- * ’ UteUinuu,’ 9

Golf, being an all-absorbing game because of its mysterious elusiveness, has. during latter years, made a widespread appeal to youths of nil ages. One by one the great public schools are taking a deeper interest in golf

“ Driving like a roaring lion and putting like a kitten ” is how Andre / Kirkcaldy once defined a player*?; Same.

Vardon considers the mid-iron th? handiest club in the golfers’ bag, and if limited to u single club, it wouil bo his choice.

Why is it that the golfer is always off his game while the tennis sha r > is always in the pink of condition, and ready to play the game of his life?

There is no place in the game *or any extended oratory or statuesque posing. “ One 1 creeping pestilence,’ ’ as the loiterers have been christened

“ can wreck an afternoon for an enti r © field.”—“ American Golfer.”

Abe Mitchell wrote an article the other day on thefolly of pressing w ith irons. This applies especially to those who golf ir* knickers ;• playerr alio prefer ordinary trousers will fin 1 that an occasional pressing with an iron promotes a better style.

A par score is something more than n sum in arithmetic; if it did not include something more human, golf could not continue to hold us under* the spoil of its witchery.

Miss Alcxa Stirling, the American lady champion, won the scratch prize at the spring meeting of the Wirral Ladies’ Club, Birkenhead, of which sb.n i c an honorary member, with the fim* score of 74.' This is the time of year when tho citv golfer discovers : That the ball doesn’t “sit up” for tho brassy shots as it did at the sea coast. That the ease with which be stop-3 his nnproarh shot's does not make vp for the difficulty in finding out where his drive has buried itself. That the out of bounds penalty is ridiculously heavy. • That it is cheaper to play a floater. “Rather in and out form,” a,s the golfer said when his putt struck the hack of tho tin and bounced back 'o lie a couple of inches from the hole. Sometimes I was fortunate in getting a round—-and many times I wasn’t, but that’s neither here nor there. I kept up this Saturday stunt for quite a long time after leaving school—long enough, in fact, to got the game itself well into my blood. I found myself theorising about different shots in golf during my work, and used to long for the week to come to an end so that 1 could go down to the links and put my newly-formed theory into practice —or see whether this shot, played hv what I considered then one of the best players, coincided with my theory. But whether, it did or did not, I acquired the habit of borrowing one of my employer’s clubs and balls, and trying t-lie thing out for myself. Each caddy, 1 think, has his own particular model, and tries his best to ape him in every possible way—-even to laying down his cigarette or pip©. I: remember one of the best amateurs saying to me that one day the game would claim me, and that I would end up. by teaching the game, etc. AY ell it lias, apparently, or 1 would not now be writing this article. There is no doubt golf requires very exact 00-orriination of the mind and muscles of the body. In other words, there are so many things to be done at once that, if lone had to think of them all it would bo practically impossible not to neglect something important, as there are no trifles in, golf. 1t is therefore necessary to commit all the physical motions to muscular memory (I term it thus, having seen it written elsewhere, and it fits the case ho admirably), so that the mind may bo left free to concentrate oil the one factor of prime importance—that is. hitting the ball. There can he no denying the fact that the one thing necessary in the game is steadiness and stamina combined. There is, of course, as I have already mentioned, a great advantage in learning the game when young, but yet there is no reason to despair of getting well up in the lists even if a man or woman has found it impossible to handle the clubs until they have reached mature years.