Golf Has Strong Spell in Summer Time.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18959, 4 January 1930, Page 25 (Supplement)

Golf Has Strong Spell in Summer Time.

Increasingly Popular, It Has Now Become a Vear-rounci Game.

Christchurch Lucky in Having Many Courses .

(Written for the “Star” by

E. H. S.)

Though the plus four brigade are in their real element in the winter, when the turf is heavy and two hundred yards is a longish distance for a tee shot, the sunny links provide such an attraction that golf can definitely be rated as one of the prominent summer games, and in spite of the rival at tractions when the summer sands call and the tennis court simply invites usage, “ golf widows ” will tell you that hubby still hies his way to the course on the slightest provocation. If you ask any enthusiast the reason for the game’s popularity he will, if he is at all inclined to be a voluble man, launch a speech that will rather overwhelm you, without having any particular meaning. That is the way of enthusiasts the world over. A little thought will boil the matter down Golf has an attraction which is shared by other fine games, in that, it demands a very high degree of skill, application and, above all, sportsmanship. If a man is a generous winner and a cheeiful loser, if he does his best all the time and does not trot out a varied assortment of excuses for bad play, he will be welcome in a golf club no matter what degree of skill, or lack of skill, he has attained. Then again, a player’s most formid able opponent is himself. A man ha” to curb his natural tendencies so that they fit in with the best results, and to develop those traits in his game are likely to lift him out of the rucK. He has to keep his head still and his eye on the ball, to take a couple of the most obvious dictums, ad any player will tell you how hard that is for the average beginner—and not a

few experts when they are in the process of having a bad run. Finally, golf is a game which tends towards good comradeship more, perhaps, than any other sport. Why. it would be hard to explain, but thc-e it is. Ask the average man where, apart from his home, he gets the best companionship, and in nine cases out of ten a golfer would answer, “At the club house down at the links.” Shirley. And now, with the widespread increase in popularity which the ga~\e has won for itself, summer golf is the rule rather than the exception. In New Zealand, while some courses get very dry and baked during the summer months, and thus the golf deteriorates to some extent, the majority, though in much faster condition than in winter, still afford excellent golf, ’n Christchurch at least four clubs play all the year round, and at Shirley, especially, the summer golf is pf a very high quality. The greens are fast and true. So fast sometimes that a high degree of skill in approaching and putting is called for. The fairways are splendid, and with the ground hard the ordinary player, who sometimes in winter experiences difficulty in “ getting there ” has the pleasure of driving a couple of hundred yards with some regularity. There are few towns of any size at all in New Zealand that have not got good golf courses. In Christchurch the game has a surprising hold. There must be over four thousand golfers here, and the advent of the Municipal Links will be the means of winning many more enthusiasts for this most fascinating game. Of the courses in and around Christ-

j church, Shirley is the best known, and affords the finest golf. Situated in ideal country, the course has had the I benefit of many years’ work and expen1* diture, guided by the best experience available, and the result is that there a game may be had that cannot be J bettered in the Dominion. All tl.e advantages of rolling countr}', with here and there a creek, a little hill, an enticing hollow, have been utilised, and an attractive planting scheme, now brought to maturity by time, adds a charm to the game as played there. The fairways are of a great smoothness, the greens fast,, true, and well guarded by bunkers. There is a club house there which rivals anything _in the country. Altogether, an Elysian spot. Shirley has been the home club of many fine golfers. Just now there is no one who is really outstanding in the realm of New Zealand golf, but for all-round form, and a uniform high standard, Shirley is well up on the list. Such names as those of Ewan Macfarlane, R. T. Tosswill, M. M'Beath, C. A. Seymour, Colbeck, Blank, Wilson, and Campbell, come to mind as plaj-ers of first class golf, and there are many others at Shirley capable of developing into fine players.

Hagley and Russley. In Hagley . Park, that evidence of early foresight, the Hagley club, which has one of the largest memberships in New Zealand, has a short course. It is not a hard one, there being no bunkers to test accuracy, but good golf is there, and the club has had a long and successful career, and afforded facilities for hundreds of golfers. The enterprise of the members and committee of this club has resulted in the inception of the Russley links, which, though in their third season, have come on at an amazing pace, and . jw afford really good golf. The names of Messrs F. W. Hobbs, T. D. Harman and R. A. Bagshaw will always be remembered in connection with the energy and sound policy which attended the first work in connection with this course. Russley is situated on the Burnside Road, about two miles past the Fendalton tram terminus. Looking very flat at first sight, it reveals many interesting features as the new player goes round. The fair-1 ways are very good, considering the time the links have been played on, anl the greens rival those of Shirley. There is a comfortable clubhouse. Russlev has a nearly full membership already. At Harewood. Harewood, situated on river bed country down the Harewood Road, was founded some five or six years before

Russley, and there again is an excellent course. Towards the end ' f last season, mainty owing to the energy of Mr R. A. Blank, the club held r tournament, took the bold step of creating another title, the North Canterbury championship, and enterprise was rewarded with success. Players from all over the province, with a strong representation from Shirley, visited Harewpod, and enjoyed the period thoroughly. R. A. Wilson, of Shirley, was the first champion of North Canterbury, while Miss P. Chrystall, ex-cham-pion of New Zealand, carried off the ladies’ title. Harewood is somewhat similar to Russley in that, while it must be styled a “ flat ” course, it has plenty of interesting features and a good system of bunkering ensures that to put up a good score there one must play real golf. The great amount if work which has been put in on the course since its inception is bearing good fruit, both greens and fairways showing the results. Avondale. Wonderful progress over the last few years has been made at Avondale, a course laid out in the rolling sand-hill country round Wainoni way. Avondale has been up against the fact that grass takes a lot of persuasion before it will grow on sand, but hard wt rk, carried out on sound lines, must have the desired result, and Avondale members are proud of their excellent course and the progress that has been made. Of late years several members of this cluo huve been in tournamen. limelight, notably young K. C. Ward, who did so well at the last amateur championship meeting in Wanganui. Eddie Prince, who has since joined the ranks of the professionals, won the Canterbury championship from a strong field in 1928, and Jack Millard, whose work on the course has been one if the factors leading to the improved conditions, has some fine performances co his credit. Avondale has features which, when the course reaches maturitv, will make it one of the most interesting in the whole of the country. IlllllllllllllllUlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllltlllllllilli

Richmond HilL Down at Sumner there is the Richmond Hill club, whose members are hardy individuals to whom hills present no terrors. Local knowledge is one of the factors in a good round there, for the course is so hilly that a misdirected ball is likely to end up almost anywhere. The links are eminently enjoyable ones, though it is alleged by one visiting playe- that he lost a ball from a six-foot putt, which overran the hole, went down the slope of the green over the side, down a hill, and was never seen again! Municipal Links. The success of municipal golf courses in England, America, and indeed in all parts of the world, has seen the movement spread to New Zealand and to Christchurch. The site for the Christchurch Municipal Links is the Rawhiti Domain at New Brighton, on land eminently suited for the purpose. Nine holes are available for play now, and it is, hoped that the full course will be open in a reasonably short period. There is a tremendous amount of work to be done, but if the requisite expenditure is not begrudged, and sufficient time is allowed before play commences, the whole course will be a credit to the city, and will be of immense value in developing the game. Again, it will afford opportunity for many more folk to indulge in the peculiar fascination of the game, and the undoubted joy derivable therefrom. In Scotland. On the subject of golf, one’s thoughts turn instinctively to the “ Land o' cakes.” Some years ago, the name of the game was associated in the minds of many people with Scotsmen, whose language was a sort of development of “ Keep yer ee on the ba' ” and similar uncouth expressions. Though Scotland made the game its own at a very early date, the origin of golf w*as not there, I but in Holland. The early records

from that country give little indication of what hold the game had. The early Dutchmen played golf, and they painted pictures portraying the game, but they did not write about it. “Utterly Cryit Down.” It is uncertain just when the game was introduced into Scotland, but in 1457 the popularity of the game was so great as to interfere with the then more important pursuit of archery.

In March of that year, the Scottish Parliament “ decreted and ordained that wapinshawingis (whatever that and baronis spirituale and temporale, four times in the zeir; and that the bowe-merkis be maid at ilk paroche kirk a pair of buttis, and schuttin be usit ilk Sunday; and that the futeball and golf be utterly cryit doun, and not usit.” Fourteen years afterwards, in May of 1471, it was thought necessary to pass another act against “ wapenshawings,” and twenty years after that a final and evidently angry decree on the general subject, with pains and penalties, was issued. So—- “ Fute-ball and Golfe forbidden. Item, it is statut and ordainit that in na place of the realme there be usit futeball, golfe, or other sic unprofitabill sportis.” That is an edict of James IV., and it is a matter of record that, that monarch showed a bad example to his people by practising this “ unprofitabill sport” himself. A century later the game appears in the records, together with a decree thht golf, among other games, shall not be played on the Sabbath. James IV. was the first Scottish monarch to figure in the records as a golfer, but James V. was also very partial to a game that was at that time distinctively known as “ Royal.” There is a scrap of evidence to show that the illfated Mary Stuart was a golfer as well. It was alleged by her enemies that, as showing her shameless indifference to the fate of her husband, she “ was seen playing golf and pallmall in the fields beside Seton.” James 11. of England was a known devotee. When Duke of York, he was challenged by two English noblemen to play against them, for very large stakes, the Duke to choose his own partner. He chose a Scottish shoemaker, one Johne Patersone, and the Duke and John won easily. Half of the large stake the Duke made over to his humble partner, who built himself a large house with his share, and had a little to put bv for a rainy day as well. In 1834 William IV. became patron of the St Andrew’s Golf Club (then, as now, the famous seat of the game), and approved of its being styled, “ The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrew's.” Various royalties held offices as patron and captain of the club. Game In England. Golf came into England as an institution comparatively recently. In 18S0 the golfer who travelled about England was a source of astonishment, almost of alarm, to his fellow-passengers. In those times the commonest of questions was, “ You have to be a fine rider, don't you, to play golf?” So vague was the idea of the game, as distinct from polo. Once recognised in England for the fine game it is, golf went ahead like the proverbial wildfire. Thence to America, where the energetic and

thorough sportsmen in the States took may mean), be halden be the lordis to the game as ducks take to water (to use my own apt phrase), and very soon came over and showed that they could hold their own in any company. Of late years with Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, Leo Diegel, Jesse Sweetman (amateur) and many others, they have shown that they can hold their own and get most of the other titles as well. France took up the game and produced some fine players. Everywhere where outdoor sport is popular the game is now played. New Zealand has made excellent progress in the game, the standard of the courses, and the prowess of the players. Individual New Zealanders have done well on various occasions in other countries. and the institution of the KirkWindeyer Cup has demonstrated that New Zealand’s best can at least break even with the Australian States. Suvan Hazards. The game is played under all sorts of conditions. Suva is not too hot for the enthusiasts there to play golf, nor are those folk daunted by the somewhat bizarre hazards with which their courses must necessarily abound. Instead of having one boy, whose duty it is to carry clubs primarily, there are three, a caddy proper and two “ find the ball ” boys. These latter not only have to have sharp eyes, but they have to be versed in jungle lore, to the extent of knowing just where a hornet’s nest is likely to be, and what not to do to annoy other residents of the course, whose bites cause the bitee (save the word) to “ stay bitten " as the American might possibly put it. The rough at Suva consists of grass fifteen feet high. There is a quite good course on the other side of the island, the dry side. It is styled the “ dry " side, as only about nine feet of rain fell there in a year, as against about twelve feet on the other side. There again caution is necessary, for the guava bushes which constitute most of the rough abound with hornets, beside whose bite a red hot needle in the arm would teem like an icy breath from the Pole. The golf attire there consists of tennis shirts, shorts, and sola topees. In various tropical countries golf is played under similar circumstances. The instance is given to show that, once golf has taken hold of one, one has to play, no matter what the circumstances. And now that the summer is well here, a little observation shows that this winter game has fallen off very little through the change in season. One goes out perhaps in flannels, certainly in a tennis shirt, and the shower one takes after the game is cold instead of hot; but the enjoyment is just the same. With even the half hour of daylight saving, it is possible for the average man to get in a game after five o’clock, and what better ending could he have for his summer day?.