ROUND THE GREENS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 68, 22 March 1939, Page 4

ROUND THE GREENS

CLUB COMPETITIONS DRAW TO CLOSE NOTES AND COMMENTS (By "The Skip.") Entries for the centre's Easter tournament close with the secretary, Mr. C. H. Clinkard, on Saturday next. The rain the week before last and again this week has been of great benefit to the greens, and they are freshening up considerably. To greenkeepers it was extremely welcome. Although the greens have been playing well and the dry spell was making its presence felt and many greens were becoming devoid of grass and breaking up at the ends. With care and attention they should now be in good order for Easter. Club competitions on the various Wanganui greens are nearing the final stage's. It. is the intention of a number of clubs to hold one-day tournaments when these are completed. St. John's and Wanganui East will play for the Hurn Cup this week, while the Wanganui Club, after defending the Keesing Cup in a challenge from Raetihi, will have Wanganui East as its next opponent. Bend-down Bowlers. Although from an onlooker's point of view bowling may not be very strenuous exercise, one competitor in the North Auckland Bowling Centre's singles tournament, with a mathematical turn of mind, computed that in each day he stooped approximately SOO times to pick up his bowl. If this was not strenuous exorcise, he wanted to know what was. Some of the competitors, who had to play more than four games in the day brought their tally of bending into the four-figure mark. More New Players. A feature of the bowling season in Wanganui has been the appearance of many new players and every club can boast a substantial proportion of novice bowlers. This is a very healthy sign for the future of the game in Wanganui and indicates the fast growing popularity of bowls. It has been very noticeable, too, that the new-comers include quite a number of young players. More and more young men are taking up bowls and this fact has been the most pleasing feature of the progress of the game in recent years. Shorter Days. Shorter days herald the approach of winter and bowlers are having their week-day bowling curtailed to some extent. However, more bowls probably have been played this season in Wanganui than during any previous season. Weather conditions since Christmas could hardly have been more favourable and it has been only on rare occasions that fixtures have had to be postponed. Although dry conditions have prevailed practically since Christmas, the greens have stood up to the lack of rain particularly well. * * * • The Game in South Africa. The popularity of bowling in South Africa during the last few years has gone ahead by leaps and bounds, according to a recent visitor from that Dominion. There are well over 140 clubs in South Africa with a membership of more than 8000. Numerous new clubs are being established and many young men are taking up the game. The South African Bowling Association's annual tournament, held about March, is always largely attended. Each club has a woman's section, and the women players have their own tourney at one of the large centres, such as Capetown. Pretoria, Durban or Bloemfontein. The visitor stated that the majority of the bowls used in South Africa are of composition make imported from Australia and that lignum vitae howls are being steadily discarded. No testing of howls is done in South Africa. This is interesting news, considering what importance is attached to the table test in Australia and the green test in New Zealand. Play goes on all lhe year round with night bowls under electric light in summer. Florida grass is the variety most favoured for greens. Don'ts for Skips. The following are a few don’ts for skips:— Don't grouch at your men. Don't acquire the habit of praising all shots, good or bad. Don't stand out to give a player the green. Don't change a player's second shot, unless absolutely necessary. Don't give your third a shot you are not prepared to play yourself. Don't drive when some other shot Is the correct one to play. Supervision of Greens. On Monday, April 17. the first steps in the Taranaki Centre's plan for better supervision and improvement of bowling greens will be taken when Mr. V/. M. Horton, supervisor and advisory officer to clubs, will pay his first visit to Taranaki in connection with the scheme. It is proposed to visit the 18 clubs which have agreed to join in the scheme on the following dates: April 17, Opunake, Mainaia. Auroa and Hawera Park; April 18, Eltharn. Stratford, Avon and Inglewood; April 19, New Plymouth. Fitzroy. West End and Vogeltown; April 20, Waitara, Leppcrton, Clifton Park and Urenui. Easter Tournaments. The following is a list of tournaments to be held at Easter by North Island bowling centres:— South Taranaki open rinks: Friday, Saturday and Monday, April 7, 8 arid 10. Entries close on Tuesday, March 28. Manawatu Centre's Easter rinks: Friday, Saturday and Monday, April 7, 8 and 10. Entries close Tuesday, March 28. Wanganui Centre's Easter fours: Friday, Saturday and Monday, April 7. 8 and 10. Entries close Saturday, March 25. Cambridge Bowling Club's rinks and pairs tournament: Rinks on Friday, Saturday and Monday, April 7, 8 and 10. Pairs commence Tuesday, April 11. Entries close on March 18. South Auckland Centre's Easter rinks: At Hamilton. April 7. 8 and 10. Wellington Centre's Easter rinks: April 7, 8 and 10. New Zealand Association Easter tournament: At Auckland, commencing on Good Friday, April 7.

Easter Tournament. Entries are coming in steadily for the annual Easter tournament of the Wanganui Bowling Centre and the fixture promises to be a pronounced success. There will be many counterattractions at Easter, but the number of bowlers has increased to such an extent in this district that it is not likely that the Easter fixture will be characterised by a paucity of entries. * * * * Notes From St. John’s. The first round of the club rinks finalisation games was played on Saturday, Green (per Murch) defeating Hewetson, W. Harris defeating Hounsell, Herd defeating Bourne and Broadhead defeating Glover. The semifinal will be played on Saturday. The club’s singles champion for the season was Jim Glover. Entering the eighth round, Arthur Pepper had two lives but lost to Kidd, Glover having the bye. In the ninth round Glover beat Pepper, Kidd being entitled to the bye. These were intensely interesting games, keenly contested till the last head. Glover's experience stood him in good stead in lhe final but Kidd extended him very well. St. John's Club members will agree in congratulating Mr. Fletcher on winning the champion of champion singles. He has been a consistently good singles player for .several years and deserves the honour. Our champion was his opponent in the second round. Gordon Pairs.—Congratulations to B. Armstrong and J. Caird, also Guy and Hutchinson, on gaining the right to represent the club in the centre finalisation games. They both won their first round but were defeated in the second round. The B Singles competition was won by A. W. Brown, who defeated Easton in the final after a close game with an exciting finish. In the A Pairs competition seventh round Wallace and Kirkwood had to meet Stringer and Broadhead, both with two lives. W. Brown and Benefield, one life, had the bye, the others having had byes. In the B Pairs the finalists are Colmer and G. Smith and Easton and Mackie, both one-lifers. The handicap singles is down to four players in the ninth round, Glover meeting F. Pepper and Kidd meeting W. Pepper, all with one life. The Ferns rinks competitiopJs nearing the final stages and has provided enjoyable games as usual. Two sections will find their winners, who will play off. The Supplementary Pairs competition is again providing interesting and close games. Five sections of seven pairs are taking part. In this competition skips are drawn with duh "twos" and the "threes" are drawn with club leads as nearly as possible. Each section will find its winner. After successfully stalling off challenges for the Hurn Cup from Raetihi, Hunterville, Gonville and Waverley, our representatives lost the trophy to a Wanganui East rink skipped by W. Raine. The game was finished in the dark owing to late starting and burnt heads but the visi-

hors seemed Io be “on top” most of the game and deserved their win. Clinkard’s team deserves congratulations on first o fall fetching the trophy from Taihape and holding it so long. I Our club visited Waitotara and Marton on the day of the “Diggers’” . tournament and enjoyed their trips. It is pleasing to note that the Waitotara green is playing very well. Waverley Club are sending six rinks to St. John’s green on Saturday to engage in a friendly match. Waitotara will bo unable to return our visit this season. HURN CUP CHALLENGE WANGANUI EAST v. WANGANUI Wanganui East, the present, holders of the Hurn Cup. will defend a challenge from the Wanganui Club tomorrow. The game will take place on the Wanganui East Bowling Club's green, commencing at 4.15 p.m. WANGANUI EAST CLUB FILL RINK COMPETITIONS TO END. Next Saturday will be the last. da> of play in the Wanganui East Bowl ing Club's full rink competition. It is probable that the followinj Saturday, April 1, will be devoted t< a visit to the Waverley Bowling Club Members wishing to take part shoulc enter their names on the board immediately.