GOLF NOTES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXX, Issue XXVI, 27 June 1903, Page 1783

GOLF NOTES.

(By Stoney Dead.) . I he excitement last week in golfing circles was the extraordinary general meeting held on Saturday night. The meeting was called for a-quarter to eight, and it was ten o’clock before all the business was finished. At the annual general meeting held a short time back certain alterations in subscriptions were made which did not meet with the approval of the elub as a whole. Consequently Mr Arthur Roberton took the matter in hand, and sent iu a requisition, whieh was freely signed, to hold an extraordinary general meeting. Before the annual meeting the committee had given notice of their intention to move at that meeting that the annual subscription should be increased. The attendance at the annual meeting was not as full as it might have been. The official return, as shown by votes, gives it at 15. Personally, I thought the attendance was larger, but that is immaterial. as there is no doubt that there was not the attendance there should have been, brought about by illness in some cases, and the break-down of the railway service, whieh prevented the Remuera contingent from attending. Whan the committee’s motion was moved it read “That the annual subscription be raised to three guineas.” A long and very full discussion was raised, and the hon. treasurer and the hon. secretary were each bombarded with questions. The answers to these questions put the matter in the light that at three guineas the club must go to the bad, and at four guineas the committee would have to be economical to make ends meet. An amendment was then put that the annual subscription be four guineas, and after several strong speeches were made it was carried by 8 votes to 7. The fact was that the meeting reckoned up the position of affairs better than the committee did, and this the committee themselves admitted at the extraordinary meeting. Their favourite expression on Saturday night was, “I must eat humble pie,” Then the general meeting attacked the other questions of subscriptions. It was felt by the members that the entrance fee should be lowered. After cons’derable discussion it was reduced to one guinea, thus making the first year’s cost the same under the new subscriptions as under the old. A number of people look on the question of entrance fees to golf elubs from what I consider a ng point of view. What they say is, “We who have been members for years have suffered great discomforts, and have put up much good money to bring the course to the state it is, and let those who come in now pay for what we have done in the past.” This is a truly human proposition, but surely the right way to look at this matter is this: “What money we have expended is gone and cannot be recalled. What we want is new members up till the time that the course is becoming too crowded. The more members we have the more money the committee can spend on the course, and the greater enjoyment we shall take in playing. By all means encourage new members to join, and do not frighten them or prevent any joining by the fact that there is an entrance fee.” On this argument perhaps it would be well if there was no entrance fee. A man who is thinking about taking up golf says, "I should like to try this game, but do not know if I will stick to it. Why not join and try the game. It will only cost me the usual subscription for the year, and I can drop out if I don’t like it." Once get such a man in and he is booked; but is he likely to make a trial if it is going to cost him more than it does other men for what he looks upon as a trial season f There is no question that the annual meeting made an oversight in not dealing with the life membership subscription.

Till Saturday night it stood at 15 guineas. This is out of all proportion to an annual one of four guineas. Consequently the committee were right in the actiou in putting all obstacles in the way of preventing members becoming life members at 15 guineas. Had they acted ultra vires and declined to elect any member for life till after the extraordinary meeting I feel certain that matters would have been put right by resolution of the club. . result of Saturday’s meeting was tlii-: That had the dissatisfied members been present at the annual meeting they would have voted as the majority ,i at the meeting. To show- how right the majority were one must look at the voting. At the first meeting four guineas was carried by the bare majority of 8 "• Four weeks’ discussion and the lucid explanations of 'the elub's position by the hon. secretary and the hon. treasurer left the motion without a seconder, and it was withdrawn. Though Mr Roberton failed to carry any of his important motions, yet the thanks of all those who have the welfare of the club at heart are due to him. Saturday night's meeting cleared the air in many directions and strengthened the club. The new business done was that the life membership subscription was raised to 25 guineas. There was a strong party present who wished to do away with life membership altogether, but they were defeated. The same party then tried to make the life membership figure a prohibitive one, viz., 50 guineas. This also was negatived. Perhaps the meeting made one mistake; but it is so small it is hardly worth while discussing. The life membership for non-playing members was raised from 5 to 10 guineas. Considering that only two members have become life members it is a matter for no comment. There is one matter to which reference was made by the hon. secretary and last year’s captain, about which a few remarks will not be out of place. I refer to the up-keep of the grceiw and how the groundmen put in their time. I will make a bold statement, and it is: “Since the introduction of golf to courses where any considerable amount of labour is required there never has been one single club where a complaint has not been made that the committee are not getting the equivalent in work from the groundmen to the wages they are drawing.” The reason for this is that unless one is an extraordinary close observer one never notices what work has been done. I remember this fact being brought home to me on an English course, where for some days three men were weeding on one large green. This is very slow and tiresome work, as the man uses a weeder shaped like a table fork. I passed these men twice a day for some days, and really could not see any result of their work. Yet they had been working steadily the whole time. The hon. secretary pointed out how rolling work had been done last week at the ninth hole, and asked how many had noticed. I don’t suppose anyone who was unaware of the work having been done had the slightest idea that it had been done. On Saturday several matches were played for the Hanna prizes. Iu the senior division Mr Peele played Mr J. Burns, and beat him very comfortably. Mr Peele played a good game, and if he plays against Mr Hooper in the final aa well as he did with Mr Burns he will have a good show of winning. In the junior division, Dr. Lewis had a very, close match with Mr P. Upton, getting home by one at the 18th. Mr W. E. Bruce and Mr 0. Heather had a hard tussle. They were all square at the 18th, and Mr Heather won the 19th. Mr Bruce was very unlucky in being hit by, his own ball at the second hole. He played a shot near the rocks, and the ball rebounded from a rock and hit him so severe a blow on the ankle that he was limping for the rest of the afternoon. , .

Tlie Kiilev Committee of the 11. and A. Club, of St. Andrew’s, has finally given the following decision on the question of whether the cored ball shall be universally allowed or not: "The time has not arrived when the Royal and Ancient Club should legislate on the kind of ball to be used.” Thus this momentous question which has provoked an enormous amount of discussion has finally been net at rest. I notice that Taylor, who has been consistently the strongest opponent to the cored ball, now always uses one in his important matches. The committee of the elub have under consideration the question of appointing the younger Hood as caddie master. If they do do so, 1 am sure the members will willingly pay the extra penny which goes to pay the caddie master, in consideration of how much better they will find their caddies owing to the fact that there would then be some real control over the boys. Nearly every elub has its caddie master, and the institution is invariably found to work well. Talking of caddies, 1 am reminded of two stories about them. A certain London divine is an enthusiastic golf player. A few years ago he was playing at Sandwich, accompanied by a caddie who was no mean player. The. divine made ready for a terrific drive, but only succeeded in topping the ball. Of course he could not use the universal mono-syllable, so all he could say was ‘ Sh-sh-sh-sh!” This relieved his feelings. Then he had another fry. This time he scraped up a yard or two of turf, and once more he relieved his pent-up soul by sh-sh-ing. for the third time he teed his ball; for the third time hopelessly foozled; and for the third time let off his steam by “Sh-sh-sh!” The caddie could stand it no longer. "Alan,” he exclaimed, “sh-sh-sli-sh won’t, send that ball where you want it to go.” The other one happened at Littlestone, where the caddies are extremely independent. Descended, as they are, from a lawless band of smugglers, they literally don’t care tuppence what they say. In a foursome one day a particularly independent one was carrying for the only duffer of the four players. It happened that the duller played up to the standard of the others for the first few holes, and his caddy remarked at each shot, “That’s good for in." Then came the inevitable, hopeless foozle, at which the caddie remarked, "That’s more our style.”