GOLF.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15272, 23 June 1923, Page 15 (Supplement)

GOLF.

(By “Niblick.”,)

When partcislng always take out the club with which you play worst.

Be very careful that you do not step, either on 1 the line of your own or your opponent’s putt. .He can claim the hole if you do.

Playing a(. Wentworth Falls (New South Wales) on June i, Major Blake, with a following wind, made a remarkable drive of 360 yards. His ball finished 20 yards beyond a green distant 1 340 yards from the tee. No game has stricter rules of etiquette than golf, and it behoves every player to make himself conversant with the rules, so that he may not spoil another’s game by ignorance.

According to the latest advices, it is a mistake for beginners, when taking up golf, to learn to wallop the nail with a driver first. The thing to do, since it has become generally admitted that putting is so important, is to learn to putt first. Learn the game backwards. First the putt, then the approach, next the midiron or brassie, and last the drive. When Sweetser and Gardner,’ the Americans, were beaten in the first round of the British amateur championship, the golf writer of the London Times, (Mr Bernard Darwin) had this to say;:—“The Americans are so good and so dangerous that we cannot afford to feel sentimental over their defeat, but Gardner has so endeared himself to the British golfers that one may shed one little tear over his departure without it being suspected of being a crocodile tear.” The Sweet-ser-Layton match he described as rather curious golf with two rather restive and high-mettled players somewhat frightened of each other.

When Jess Sweetser, American amateur champion, went under in the first round of the British amateur championship, Grantland Rice, the wellknown American writer, pointed out that he was the eighth American titleholder to lose in the first round of British competitions. Jerome D. Travers, who had just won two amateur championships in U.S.A., went under in the first round of the British amateur championship in 1909, and Chick Evans met with a like fate in 1911. In 1914 Francis Guimet, then American champion, tried for the British title, but received his quietus in the first round. Jack McDermott failed to qualify at Hoylake in 1911, and in 1920 Walter Hagen, American open champion, could not get a better place than fifty-fifth in the British open.. Guildford was outed by Tolley in the first round in 1921, and Gardner shared Sweetser’s fate in this year’s championship.

Another open championship has gone on the records with the conclusion of the world test at Troon (Scotland) last week. It was a great finish with only three strokes separating the first five' players. A. G. Havers topped, off the honours for England against his American opponent, Walter Hagen. The weather was very trying over the concluding rounds, and many a doughty player went astray. Australasians can look with pride on the fifth place gained by J. H. Kirkwood, who was playing wonderful golf, only to go to pieces when lie had an excellent chance of winning. However that’s the fortune of the game. His iron and mashie shots are reported to have been played with deadly precision. His play at Gleneagles later on was brilliant. The new champion, who is only 25 years of age, is the son of a steward of the Royal Norwich Golf Club, and was recently appointed professional at Coombe Hill.