THE ROYAL AND ANCIENT GAME OF GOLF

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 188, 10 August 1931, Page 11

THE ROYAL AND ANCIENT GAME OF GOLF

BY

FIXTURES. Christchurch Club—August 22: Final Denniston Cup and bogey handicaps. Ilagley Club—August 15: Third bogey handicap and tinals club and junior championship. Russley Club—August 15: Four-ball bogey. Harewood Club—August 16: Semi-final Godby Cup and club championship and stroke handicaps. Avondale Club—August 15: First round junior championship. August 16: First round club championship. Richmond Hill Club—August 22: First qualifying round championship and .stroke handicap. Rawhiti Club—August 16: v. Lyttelton, at Charteris Bay. Lyttelton Club—August 15: Stroke handicap. August 16: v. Rawhiti, at Charteris Bay. Diamond Harbour Club—August 16: Mrs IV. Paton’s trophy. Kaiapoi Club—August 15: First round championship and Parnham Cup. Rangiora Club—August 15: Open day. Amberley Club—August 15: Open. Ashburton Club—August 15: v. Timaru, at Timaru. Geraldine Club—August 15: Open day. Timaru Club—-August 15: v. Ashburton, at Timaru. Waimate Club—August 13: Second round championship. August 20: v. Oamaru, at Waimate. Greymouth Club—August 15: Stroke handicap. WOMEN’S CLUBS. Christchurch—August 19: Boge}'. Hagley—August 18: L.G.U. medal. Russley—August 20: Four-ball bogey. Harewood—August 20: Bogey. Avondale—August 22: L.G.U. medal and stroke handicap. Rawhiti—August 15: First round championship. Lyttelton—August 15: Saturday stroke match. August 16: v. Rawhiti, at Charteris Bay. Xaiapoi—August 11: Stroke handicap. August 18: Open day. Rangiora Club—August 15: First qualifying round women’s cup. Ashburton—August 13: First round championship. August 20: Aggregate score. Timaru—August 14^ Fifth medal match! Another fine week-end saw the golf courses in good order and conditions favourable to the game. The races on Saturday affected the entries for the club matches, but yesterday there were many visitors the various courses, j At Shirley there were two good games | in the semi-final of the Denniston Cup I competition. Sir Cyril Ward is keep- j ing up his run of good form, and he snatched a good win from C. A. Sey mour by two holes. R. C. Abernethy is another who has been playing good golf, but he found C. J. Ward a hard man to beat. Their match ended all square, and will have to be replayed j The greens at Shirley are still some- \ what devoid of grass, but the commit- j tee is watching them carefully and the; indications are that by championship! time they will Joe well up to standard, j There was indifferent scoring at Russley on Saturday. The winner of the senior bogey match, G. Palmer, played well and came in two down, but there was only one three down and the next; best was five down. In the junior' division D. S. Anderson, a promising young player, had a win with one down, j The fairways at Russley are showing a big improvement following the use of the heavy roller. Gordon Palmer was beaten by H. B. Bain in the semi-final of the Lindsay Russell Cup competition, the match having to he played again after the first was squared. Dagger played a consistent game in beating F. C. Wooler three up and two. Harewood has been top-dressed on many fairways, and the indications are that the scheme is going to be a great success. In the second round of the Godby Cup the winners were F. \V. Stevens, R. G. Malcolmson, L. N. Austin, and F. F. Leckie, T. 11. Moffat won an unofficial shilling in match yesterday, turning in the excellent card of 85-14-71. It is probable that the

"THE COLONEL"

handicapper will take some of the sting out of the victory by attending to Moffat's stroke allowance. A party of Harewood players journeyed to the ljine-hole course at Malvern, and were delighted with the golf they had and the hospitality they received.

R. 11. T. Hamilton is in good form at Richmond Hill. On Saturday he and G. M. Hall were four up in a fourball bogey match, but there were three other pairs with the same card. They were V. E. Hamilton and L. J. Moorhouse, J. B. Bruges and C. S. Peate, and E. L. Young and J. D. Edmonds. Bruges is another who has been in good form. Lately he scored a good win over K. C. Ward, of Avondale, in an inter-club match. The Tisdall cleek competition at Avondale, for the best net aggregate over two rounds, was won by S. C. Bingham, who. off the twenty mark, totalled 142. That was excellent scoring, four strokes ahead of the next man, D. Adams, The Rawhiti championship is at an interesting stage. In the semi-finals played over the week-end, R. J. Davis beat 11. Throp, 2 up and 1. while 11. F. Mora beat H. N. Jarvis one up. The final should be an interesting match. The final of the Hagley senior championship will be contested by L. S. Ayers and P. G. Greenwood. In the semi-finals on Saturday, Ayers disposed of W. A. Purdie, Greenwood beating C. H. Johnstone. In the junior semifinals, G. Jobberns beat F. G. Morris,, and M. S. Brown beat 11. Nixon. Owing to the recent top-dressing, the North Canterbury Amateur Championship meeting at Harewood will be postEoned till September 26 and 27, the adies’ tourney being on September 29 and 30. The old paling fence round the Harewood Club house is being taken down, and the timber is to be utilised for building shelters at some of the tees. Mrs W. J. Owens won a bogey handicap at Avondale well, turning in a card of one up off the 26 mark. The handicapper has acted drastically, reducing Mrs Owens by no less than three strokes. The Waipawa Golf Club have advised the New Zealand Golf Council, that owing to damage to the course, caused by recent heavy rains, their committee has deemed it advisable to postpone the tournament which was to have been held on August 26 and 27. “ In most games the right hand and right arm dominate the swing,” writes Grantland Rice. “They can’t in golf! But there is too much theory of the wrong sort in golf—and too much theory not followed up with clear mental pictures of the whys and the wherefores, the causes and the reasons. You may tell the golfer to keep his head still. Every good golfer does, approximately. That is, his head is the anchor to his swing. Watch the slow motion pictures of Jones, Mac Smith, etc., at the moment of impact. But when you tell the average golfer this, or most golfers, the first act is to lock head, neck and spine, stiffen up the entire body', and so wreck all possible chances for smooth swinging. So the golfer must realise the worth of the fundamental and find his own way to meet it. But he must first of all realise that nothing should be attempted which breaks up swinging smoothness or leads to tightening up.

“ Ninety-five per cent of all golfers have more faults than a swamp has mosquitoes. They can’t cure faults by merely saying, 4 Forget everything and hit the ball.’ It would be a simple game if that could happen. But when they try' it the big slice still comes off and then naturally they begin to wonder, what causes the slice and how to correct it. The slice won’t cure itself. It must be cured by the correct application of some fundamental which first means to get in position at the top of the swing to hit the ball.”