GOLF

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 151, 29 June 1932, Page 4

GOLF

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"SEA VIEW." )

Tho return of the New Zealand KirkWindeyer Cup team yesterday will maintain the interest which has been displayed in international golf, especi ally during the past month. .It will be interesting to hear the opinions of members of the team ou conditions on thu other side of the Tasman. Silk, the Wanganui member of the team, is expected back in the city this morning. The Kirk-Wiudeycr Gup, presented for competition between Australia and] New Zealand by the late Mr. K. C. Kirk, president of the New Zealand Golf Council, and Mr. W. A. Windeyer, of Sydney, was first played in Sydney in 1927. then being won by New Zealand. New South Wales won it at Wellington in 1928, and at Melbourne iu 1929. New Zealand retrieved it at Shirley in 1930. No contest was held in 1931. The cup has fully fulfilled its purpose, of drawing together the golfers of both countries for the improvement of the game in both, and it may do more. From the sharpness of the criticisms appearing in the Australian .Press on tho failure of Victoria to put m a team, there is no doubt that interest in tho fixture is keener than ever on the other side of the Tasman, and the cup may yet succeed in drawing fuller entries. If Queensland could put in. a team, why not Tasmania There is no doubt that the ideals of the late Mr. R. C. Kirk and his Australian friend, ' Mr. Windeyer, will bo borne out in a closer association of all leading golfers in Australasia. Further than that, if Australian or New Zealand teams ever journey abroad in the future, to either Britain or America, it would be difficult to overlook tho claims of the ' existing Kirk-Windeyer’ Cup members to inclusion, as they represent the blue ribbon of tho golf of their country. The Australian team which prevails over those of the other States, by process of elimination, is regarded as the cream of Australia, while New Zealand will always provide' the best players available for this classic event.

Like other golfers in Wanganui, players at Belmont on Saturday last found conditions the reverse of pleasant, while over the week-end they were even worse. A Nathan Cup challenge match will be played at Belmont to-morrow, Waverley having a team of eight in the field. This will mark the third occasion on which Wanganui hag had to defend the trophy since it was wrested from. Castlecliff. Those players, who have championship and other club competition matches to play must get them played by next Saturday, when a medal match is set down for those who have no other engagements. Owing to the unfavourable weather last Saturday the Scalleld Club did not play the Captain’s Trophy match set down on the schedule, this being postponed till a later date. Members who have not completed the first round of the Foster Cup are notified that this event will be drawn for next Saturday, when games must bo played. The attention of members is drawn to the necessity of completing the first round of the various club championships, in addition to the Runnerstrum and Mean Cups. A visit to Patea is scheduled for July 10, and those intending to make the trip should enter their names on the list at the club-house. The links are in splendid order, the recent heavy rains having had uo ill offecit. This is a tribute to the efficient draining system installed, last summer. A feature of play at Castlecliff on Saturday was Cathro’s round of 72 off scratch, giving him a card 1 up on the Colonel. Considering the rough weather, with heavy rain and strong wind, it was a wonderfully good display. Cathro was playing a Power Cup match at the same time as tho bogey match in which he put up his good card. Next Saturday the Castlecliff Club will play mixed foursomes, and judging by the good muster under adverse conditions last Saturday, there should be a largo number of members present on Saturday next. Players must remember that all cards, gooff, bad or indifferent, must be handed in. Facts hitherto unpublished here are racorded in the Sydney Referee regarding Sarazen’s win of the British Open. When the real business began Sarazen produced form which for sheer brilliancy has never been surpassed if equalled in one of these world competitions. He led tho field with a 79, and followed this with a 69. Thus for the first half of the course he knocked a stroke off Bobby Jones’ record of 140 at. St. Andrew’s in 1927. This was a phenomenal performance, but Sarazen’s sensational golf was not finished. He did another 69 in the third round, and was loft to do only a moderate 77 to eclipse Bobby Jones’ record of 285 for a British Open. Tn the final round Sarazen seemS to have concentrated on taking things steadilyHis position was impregnable, iNul there was no need for fireworks. It sav*s much for tho quality of his golf that his last round. 75. was his worst. An eye-opening feature of Sarazen’s game was that throughout the 72 holos contest he only once took out a wood for a. second shot, nor did he once use a No. 1 iron. His driving was magnificent, and though he had a lapse or two, his work on the greens was confident and deadly in its accuracy. With a spell of wet weather, tho question of teeing up assumes importance. It is perhaps worth while to cite opinions on the practice in England, where, though it was something of an innovation, it came into favour to a certain ' extent last winter. Inland courses there, much like those hero, suffer from softness. “In the worst cases, playing the ball as it lies is sheer mud-larking, which, by no stretch of the imagination, can be designated golf,” says one critic. “Not; only is there no fun to bp extracted from gouging a ball out of a sticky mess, but. the process, if persisted in long enough, is calculated Io ruin utterly any swing which I lie player may happen to possess. But there is another aspect, of the matter, and it. concerns the preservation of the course in something like' decent and reasonable condition. This is impossible if an army of players is tearing up the course in the often vain andeuxour ko dig the ball ou: of ilw

bed of glue.’* Quoting- Captain Tippett, who beat two of the favourites in the last British championship, C. J. Tolley and J. A. Stout, and who first realised tho value of teeing up when he was secretary of the Meadow brdok Chib, New York, now secretary of Royal Wimbledon, a famous London course, it, is mentioned that when play is at all possible more of the New York clubs, like Piping Rock and Siwanoy, make it a condition, in order to preserve the fairways, that players shall tee the ball, whether on a convenient tuft oi grass qr on a peg is optional. Whereas by teeing-up the American player keeps his swing intact, the British golfer, by having to dig for tho ball, develops evil habits of style which, when summer comes round again, have be.coiiiA deeply ingrained. “Why is it. that the Americans beat us?” asks Captain Tippett. “Because,” he says, “they are not asked to do anything calculated to interfere with their natural method of swinging the chib. Furthermore, the winter rule puts a premium on straight hitting, because the player can only exercise the right to tee-up when on the fairway.’’ Royal Mid Surrey, another of London’s oldest courses, has followed the example of Wimbledon. Hendon is another club with a huge membership which displays a notice re questing j.layers to tee-iip, ami Mr. Greenshiclds, the secretary, says that the provision has met with universal approval. ‘‘The present demand,” he says, “is for fairways like tennis courts,, and greens like billiard tables, conditions which are impossible if players hack divot l # a< big -oup plates out of the course."