A LADIES' TOURNAMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 237, 6 October 1928, Page 17

A LADIES' TOURNAMENT.

HOW SUCCESS IS ATTAINED. THE LANGUAGE OF THE GAME. Golf tournaments fire not mnde By singinc, "Oh, lio»v beautiful," and sitting in the shade. The above gentle ■paraphrase-of Kipling's "The Glory of the .Garden," was used by the president of the Auckland Golf Club (Mr. P. H. Upton), to illustrate that the arranging and running of a successful golf tournament entails much hard work on the officials. Mr. Upton was presenting the'prizes at the conclusion of the New Zealand ladies' golf championship, which had just concluded at- Middlemore. and which was stated by visiting players to be one of the most successful yet held in the Dominion. . ■ ■ • ■ : , ■

Out of a welter of wet weather and wind of months' duration there came a period of fine weather, which commenced on. the opening day of the tournament. Some days, were brilliantly fine, others overcast, but not a drop of rain fell while the championship matches were being played. ■ As confidence in the meteorological conditions, was gained, the drab: wet weather gear and "brollies" were discarded. The old skirts and leather jackets were exchanged for something lighter and brighter, and us the championship neared the final stages, and the interest. increased, the- appearance or the course was greatly brightened by the colours of spectators' clothes.

With. a ; background " of- close-shaven greens and fairways, bright yellows, blues and reds showed out with a distinctness that was kaleidoscopic in effect. On the- links the colour scheme is not confined to ladies' clothes, for men who are addicted to golf are gaily clothed in plus fours and brightly-lined stockings and pull-overs. Not even Joseph, in all his glory, ever wore a coat with as many colours as one of these. When the gallery of some 700 persons was following the players yesterday afternoon, the sight was one loiig to be-re-membered. Stretched right across the fairway, and being held in position by the markers, they provided a colourful moving picture as, they marched from hole to hole. And as they marched there was in the air the scent of gorse bloom and new mown hay, the'latter rising, as the hundreds of feet stiri the grass, which had been cut by the motor mo%rer, and was drying in the warm spring sun. Simply Isn't Done.

■■' A golf gallery is something to marvel at. Each and every unit is an enthusiast, he or she must be able to walk the full length of a three-mile course' twice in one day. If he wishes to follow the fortunes of the players, he muct be prepared for athletic exercise himself. He is no idle bench sitter. And a golf gallery is a most well-behaved assembly. There is no. raucous barracking, just'a gentle clapping of the hands when something specially good is done by, one of the, players. When a player is addressing the ball before a stroke — riot in the language of the Indian Colonel, that is used when a short putt 'is missed!—there, is almost dead silence among the spectators, and if one wishes to communicate with someone nearby he does so in a hushed whisper. Yesterday morning, when" one player was about to make an attempt to "gat out of a difficult lie in a gully the silence was impressive. The stillness, however, was broken by two late arrivals, who, coming down the fairway with the wind behind them, were discussing corseis. The soprano comments cut the air sharply, and immediately about SOU pairs of eyes glared round at them. That sort of thing simply isn't done on\a golf course. The Fragrant Weed. Toe fragrant weed s .s not. unknown cu the golf links, and it was even apparent at the ladies' championship. Occasionally a player would walk across a patch of rich-scented clover or penny-royal, and the fragrance of the gorse and tea-tree was delightful to the senses. The fragrant weed was also to be seen in the vicinity of the golf house, and one of the prizes received by a successful competitor seemed as it'it were designed to fit either the vest or hip-pocket of a man. It was a small silver container, and when the crowd saw what it was there was a combined musical exclamation, "Oh, Olive!" - The golf course has-a language of its own. . The idea of the common person as distinct from the golfer is that it is very bad language. It has that repufe. People who nave never been on a golf course will tell you that when a man tops his drive, gets a mashie shot into a sand bunker, loses a ball, in the Tamaki.. or misses a short putt, his language is simply shocking, and that even the most tongue-tied member of the club will develop an extensive vocabulary oii such occasions. At ladies' tournaments, things are different. The language they use is distinctive, but not "picturesque or colourful. For instance, one of the successful competitors, when presented with a prize yesterday, said, I am fearfully bucked at getting this. And if : one could judge by the. remarks -made af the conclusion of the tournament everyone concerned, players and officials alike, were fearfully bucked at its undoubted shcp-vs."