GOLF IN OTHER CLIMES.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18906, 22 January 1927, Page 13

GOLF IN OTHER CLIMES.

FOREIGN TOURS FOJt BOOMER AND DUNCAN. \SIT.CU!.LT WRtVTEK »i'R TUB PRK3.'.) UV Harry Vardou.) This i.< tho lime of year when ilio Hritish golfer turns with excusable envy to thoughts of the gumo abroad. It. can tr.ily be said that on gall, as on our Umpire, the sun never sots, and in several parts of tho world iho march * of big events is now just beginning for tlic season. In India they hold their amateur championship meeting during Christmas week, and this same period murk* the opening of the great golfing holiday campaign in tho southern area of tho United States from California, on tho I'acitie, to Florida, on the Atlantic. Thither George Duncan has just gone, while tho hrothers Aubrey and I'ercy lioomor are duo to dopart on January Mth for tho Argentine, where they will remain till tho end of March.

Golf was just rising into popularity in the Southern States of America when 1 toured in that region more than a quarter of a contury ago, and its progress in the interim lias been wonderful. At one of the places where I played, Piuohuist, in North Carolina, 'the seeds of tho pastime were then being sown. This spot now has, I believe, four full-length courses for holiday-makers, and it is rolated that there these greens are so crowded in the season that the management has ere now been driven to tho length of instituting n timo-table limiting everybody to two hours 40 minutes for the round.

The system is worked by issuing to every match a card showing at exactly what times it should reach certain points of tho course. Tho rest is done bv "course policemen" on point dutv. who take in hand any match that is falling behind its schedule and urge it to go faster—or, failing that, ston it and give other matohes the right to go past. Where the Putts Wobble.

In the north of tho United dtat«s the courses—now closed lor tup winter' months—are, on tho whole, pretty much like those of Jlritainj and, it visitors from this country suffer any real handicap when playing there, it is caused by tho climate. In the south, many of the putting gi'Wns. nro . ot lierniuda grass, success on which takes a long time to cultivate. A Bermuda grass green lopks well., but tho stems are so stiff that the ball has a way of. wobbling about m its passage towards the hoip--a spectacle sufficiently disconcerting to make, every putt a source of anxiety, The natives' know how to muko tnoir mtts run truly on these greens. hut for the Visitor they are real problems. In sbmo parte M.he pu.ttf»ls greens are made, entirely of sand, 'iltey are watered and rolled twice, a (toy. §P a! J to avert the possibility of the "green rising from its appointed place, in a wind and resolving itself into a sandstorm. When we read of t|ie doings of Duncan, and envy him in his progress through the cotton-fields of Carolina, the. glories of Georgia (where .','evoryfliing is peaches") tho orchards of California, and tho orange-grove* of Florida, we ought tri remember t" a t the golf may ho presenting its sore trial?.

Carrying tho Apvioots. Still, wuuhl you not give much, reader, to wake- up -one morning and hud yourself in some placo where the sun is shining and goli is ax its wnith at this time of the year? What tthout Cairo or Helouan or tf.hnr.UHMi «f oven Sierra Leone?—all" very gwv winter courses, according to. oW,gui4°- D( Wf s l have by'me, and just coming into their, best trim. , • As we tramp ovpr British educes v.w observe the gauntness and nakedness of the trees, it is good to know, that at the ninth hole of Cairo the tee_ ahqc must carry 1111 .jijiricot grove: ;vit]i a ljne of lemon-trees on the uallt ami \ '." orauge-elunip on <lio |ef... ■Uh, io be able to lift out of 'apricots, utty Milder a penalty of one stroke! And wjiat about a round 4t <»ierra IjeoneTr-Jn West Africa- Sj'e'ri 11 Leone, where, as my uuthority says, the hilk surrounding tho courso rise. to 20IX) feet, jand the green-keeper bears : the imposuig name of Santiggi rimanni? I do not think I want to go to Aden. The secretary declares that "no visitors caino to .Vlen. If gue should come, he could play if brought, by a member." He adds that there is Simday play "with caddies, if-tho caddies desire it." , ■ , Wei Hei Wei might make an, interesting change, beoau so there is a uine»ho!es course laid Qilt on "disintegrating granite soil," and a>, professional who is a real five Chinaman. Meanwhile, there is the Riviera quite handy, ■ • " ~

There ii nothing at all exciting in t the announcement (writes the, London correspondent of the "Is'ew York Times") by the Cambridge University ' Press of a new book it is issuing for tho University of Melbburne, entitle:! "A Comparative Study of the M«lancsian Island Languages," by Sidney, Herbert Hoy, But it covers what might be described H 3 a romance of scholarship. Mr Hay was originally a pupil and then a teacher at a public elementary school. His work lay in a populous working-class district on the outskirts of London. His ordinary duties in such a sphere must have made exhausting demands on his physical and mental energies. ° Nine people out of ten in such a position would bo satisfiod with keeping abreast of their daily time-table. But young Ray, out of sheer love nf learning, took up the study of the languages r.poken m the islands ::f Oceania—a strange choice, especially ns there was no prospect of his ever being able to visit that part of -the world. Ho acquired Mich proficiency, however, that when the first anthropological expedition serf by Cambridge University of Torr.'-s Straits returned to England ail the linguistic materials it had collected were placed in his hands. When the ncjft expedition went out, arrangements were made for him to accompany it. The publication of its reports led to his receiving an honorary Cambridge M.A. Since that time his various treatises on tho languages of Borneo, Lifu. Papua, etc., have brought him recognition as the principal authority on these out-of-the-wav tropics, and the volume nonissued, which is pronounced to he the most important 'contribution to the subject, since Th\ ft. H. Codrington published bis "Melanesian Languages'' in 1885, may bo regarded as the crown of a remarkable career.