GOLF.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19149, 4 November 1927, Page 17

GOLF.

LOCAL CLUB* FIXTURES. Owtdnreli Club— Saturday, November sth: Dmoilton C°P n»»t<:hoa. Friday, Nommr Htti: Tnson Cup and Veterans' JbtetM against WcllinEton Golf Clnb Imbi. S»tmrday. November 19th: SfoitM* Metal Stroke Handicaps. liktmJ Club— November 6th: Closing day; Bop* Handicap and Teams Match for HirtVood Cup in morning, an* Fourkill Botey Handicap in afternoon.

NOTES OF THE DAY.

I (By "Jigger.") • Tkeieightof self-confidence is a dufhiiwung "Fore" to warn golfers fkaeoirthe fairway three hundred jatis liwi of him. ,

• Tfofsßothig team of veterans has U«i lelerfjj to represent the Christ«tardi CM) against the team from the ?eUiogf«ißClnb in the veterans' match, pjti it with the Tuson bp.tttthj' : at Shirley next Friday:— £T. ft HarmaD, T. W. Woodroffe !«fUil), L. Bonnington, W. B. Purda, G Wood, D. Woood, D. Hoare, and J. Olh-tt. Eeserves: G. S. Jones, B.O.D.Meares, and H. E. B. Button.

b tke result of a meeting held the •te evening a challenge has been *Md to the Christchurch Golf Club 5 tt» otter clubs in and around the % for a match of 16 aside on a date <• fce imaged. The following clubs J"« represented at the meeting:— *yto, fiiehmond Hill, Avondale, Hare**di Hororata, Bangiora, Amberley, *wsten, and Hanmer Springs. A °*tfion Committee comprising Messrs [V. Harris, C. Sead-Gowing, H. It. Wj», tod E. de G. Eobilliard was •B««te<L Lists of single handicap WW are still required from, the *wpoi and Lyttolton Clubs. visit to Dunodin, Mr Bed»H we golf course architect, visited ;|lffi Q»tf «ourse at the xoquest of aP*jMttee -of that club, and spent ffflF"- two' days going over it. 3|**ttestionß will bo followed in a»«» *° ** B one on the coritße dur " iSitL* 61 * ' ew ttontnß - One improveJn**"«ge»ted was as to the length m*TO»l holes. e '■ eason wa * officially ffl?^""^ T ondale last week-end, the Ei****. to kept open for play durig™* *' tho summer, and at the EjT l they are looking at their t Golfers from other clubs HF»W uno Bummer golf, are join|a«.,snßiner members, and these be entitled to compete Wh rt the re B u,ar members of the JE?J *•»monthly medal and bogey fflg"9 matches which are to be •ffijww~onghoßt the summer season. §g£!L*™f • officials report that they ggywwed quite a number of ap- **** rammer membership. K Club will close its |S£f!"«m during the coming weekI&lErl* handicap will oc|E£" n °nung and a fourball bogey ■RTTji ■ Pkyod in the after«Lr_ < *W«oction with the mornSS? 7? t * )ams match for the *?, Tlll be Played. »W/ De rfr ceivetl at the Wftkf 3? r „ the handicap m&Z. *f"™*u bogey and members WjT? "Ota aro invited to partioiBoS Ci i , L dav of the Avon-'" mwo last weekend was a record M*sb^ pec V Tha lla y was ideal > W'SE&i* * 00 !? n S their greenest, y"jjL*~ * as ajdmirably organised. W* TS Z** l reoord attendance or «r«W*? bei ? and visitors from Wt tor*.- ta the morning a mixed ii*aZ?l was P la > ed - »n which Wfck S5 P « Participated. G. T. fflPtrV «ib: Mrs , Knight proved tho the flag to the eighmm^A'xJ* 1 * 'unners-mi. L. A. »s»"rf-Ll"* . Arche > - . also reachgreen. In the wllw Jfe 101 " competitions were Ms£K l Tr I T ards *o annual prize WPL *" -El!!! in the P a ™ oD - R%al£*T l!2 inT «i out that the WKmESiin'T** vi * "« d the oldV" out aj'y overlapping. WSSmSfA' Wlnner of eight BritThe grip M^^^*J B at as the 6olons of golt Tho main idea is to MKs*|%. n <* d through the ball, aWKSSiSr * matter of gripping. matter of speeding up i ''"thout any sudden I— BaJsy- b °qy lurching, faults MHlMaif™* or nothing to do mfffmSSr Walter Travis and mMKr iwored this with »

total of fourteen championships, most of which were won between the ages of thirty-five and fifty. Mr P. L. Hutchison, president of the Avondale Club, is one of the leading landscape artists of the Dominion, and consequently the handsomely framed oil painting by him, depicting the Hanmer links, was much appreciated by the Avondale memtbers, when Mr Hutchison presented it to the*club on closing day. It hangs on the wall of the diningroom and undoubtedly adds greatly to the appearance of the room. Mr Hutchison hopes at an early date to paint a picture of the Avondale links.

A enquires whether it is not a fact that golf requires less mental activity or exercise than any other gaime of popular vogue. Viewed in one sense this is probably true. If one means merely the mental effort required ,to swing the club properly, the answer' may be yes, because it is one of the basic essentials of good mechanical golf that the swinging of the club be done automatically, as it were. Any conscious effort directed at controlling some single phase of the. stroke generally results disastrously.

But if tho matter be that of playing winning golf in tournament competitions, this correspondent has merely to watch tho play in any big tournament and to analyse the play of the field, and it will become readily -apparent that for judgment, strategy, psychological control and the like, no game demands more of the successful competitor than golf. Many an important match has been won between tho ears of the victor.

Th© Walker Oup international matches are to be played this year in U.S.A., and for the first time in the history of the cup the matches are scheduled to be played, not on the Atlantic coast as heretofore, but in the Middle West. The Chicago Golf Club at Wheaton, Illinois, has been selected as the course for the Walker Cup matches in 1928, according to an announcement made by the United States Golf Association. This is the first time that the international matches are to be played away from the Atlantic coast. The last of these contests, played in the United States in 1924, was held at Garden City, Long Island.

After his six months' golfing tour, Len Nettlefold, the youthful lefthanded Australian, who won the National Amateur Championship at Seatoun (S.A.) last year, is convinced that nothing can he more advantageous for the leading players of Australia and New Zealand than associating with the world's best E layers on the world's best links. He as seen and played with most of the best amateurs in Great Britain, and it is his considered opinion, and that of his father, Robert Nettlefold, that there is reason to believe Australia would put up a good showing against a British team in an "nternationaJ match for the Walker Cup. He would not go so far as to say that he thinks Australia would actually win, but he would not, on the other hand, say that Australia could not win.

The Golf Council has given effect to the recommendation of the delegates at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Golf Association at Hamilton, and allocated next year's championships to the Otago Club, tu be played on the Balmacewan links, provided certain suggested alterations are made at the seventeenth and eighteenth holes. The last championship meeting at Balmacewan was jii 1913, but since that time two meetings have been held in the South Island, both at the Shirley links. The decision of the Council, it* is hoped, will meet) with the approval of all golfers. A large attendance from the South Island Clubs is assured, and if the North Island players turn out, as they usually, do at Shirley, the meeting is sure to be a success from every point of view.

Approach shots over traps and hard approach shots to the green are usually missed because the player under such conditions is too well tightened up to pivot correctly. It is easier to pivot for a tee shot than for any other. For this reason you rarely see star amateurs or good professionals missing their drives. But when it comes to a critical shot over trouble there is a tendency to tighten up, and this tendency keeps the body from turning naturally in the right way. Few golf shots would be hard to play if it were merely a matter of the physical side. But it isn't the physical side that causes one to lose all relaxed effort in a pinch, to hurry the club or lift the head. The shot over the creek at the* second hole at Shirley catches many a player simply because he knows it is there and he feels he must get distance to get on the green in three. The result is that he does just' the opposite of what he would do if the hazard were not there. He tightens his muscles instead of relaxing. He becomes over anxious and lifts his head too soon and he hurries

the shot and tries to "lift" the ball over the creek, instead of taking it quietly and leaving the flight of the ball to the face of the club.

An extraordinary incident occurred in the Midlands professional championship, in which the British international golfer, Archie Compston, tied with Tom Barber. The play-off v&s to have taken place on the following day, but Compston did not put in an appearance, and the championship was awarded to Barber by default. Immediately after completing his afternoon round Compston left for London on his way to Berlin to compete in the German open championship, and was unaware that he had tied for the championship. Ties in minor events have been awarded by default on numerous occasions, but probably this is the first instance of an important championship being won by the absence ot a player.

There was one feature to Bobby Jones's back swing in his play in the American amateur championship, at Minikahda, worth thinking about (writes Grantland Bice in the New York "Tribune"). He had the steadiest and the least hurried swing of all the "star players. It was a swing that seemed to get under way with the smoothest motion, without any sign of being rushed. The intense human desire to "paste" the ball is back or most hurried effort. This desire may be hard to curb or restrain. But it is at least worth remembering that the steadiness of the game's best exponent is at least partly due to a steady, even back-swing sweep that is never attached to a hook or a jerk or to, any form of hurry and rush. The only way this type of swing can be developed is through thinking about it in practice, making it habit and a natural instinct.

A little dog played no small part in the decision of a match between Eric Apperly and G. Thompson, at Kensington (Sydney) recently. Thompson's drive to the last hole was hooked to the rough. To the amazement of the players it was found, after a search, in a good Hne with the hole. A dog war seen by some other players to pick up the ball and run away with it. Luckily for Thompson, it dropped it in a good, lie almost in the fairway. Thompson asked Apperly what_he was to do, but the N.S.W. champion always the best of sportsmen, said that as they had no evidence as to how the ball had got there it should be played where it was found Thompson acted on that. He needed only a hal to win the match, arid played the ball to the left of the green among some trees. He recovered well, but then Apperly gfd 5£ a stymie. It looked « if the match would go to the 19th, but Thompson tookTm marine andplayeda masterly shot, which hurdled Apperlv's ball and dropped into the hole. and Mrs Mirian Burns Horn of K«u sns City, tied for second place *rth 78's Mss Glenna Collett took an So. Mils Chaume took 87 to qualify,, and wnn her first and second round matches, although her play was not impressive In the third.round she was Eted bv 3 and 2 by Mrs W. Fraser, of Ottawa, who was Miss A-lexa btuling, of Atlanta, Ga.. a former American National Champion Miss Collett was also defeated by Mrs Fraser, who, in turn, met defeat .at the hands "T Mrs Horn, who went on to wm the title bv'defeating Miss Orcutt in w: final, over 3G holes, by 5 arid 4. Mrs Miriam Burns Horn already held tlie Western Ladies' Championship, an? has been a prominent figure in American women's golf for several years.

KIRK-WINDEYER GUP.

AUSTRALIAN COMPETITORS. [THE PBESS Special Service.] "WELLINGTON, November 3. Great keenness is being shown by Australian golfers at the approach of the KirkWindeyer Cup contests, states Mr L. Seifert, the well-known Palmerston North golfer, in a letter to Mr G. 0. Sutton, secretary ot the New Zealand Golf Council. • After visiting both New South Wales and Queensland, Mr Seifert states that every effort is being made by_ both States to dißpatch a Etrong team to New Zealand in quest of the trophy, and that it is fuly expected that these efforts will be successful. A factor in the selection was the time required for the New Zealand visit, but since definite information has now gone forward to Australia it is expected that this difficulty will have been overcome. The tour of the Australian golfers Tvill be shorter than was imagined. The letter reports a desire on the part of the visiting golfers for a tournament in the Dominion. This has bow been arranged.