ENGLISH GOLF.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19174, 3 December 1927, Page 13

ENGLISH GOLF.

ALLIANCE TOURNAMENTS.

PAR OR BOGEY STANDARDS ?

(incuut wbittxm ro% tire roisi.)

(By Harry Vardon, Six Time* Open Champion.)

Tho district ond county alliances which now exist in nil parts of England lor the purpose of holding winter tournaments have so clearly com© to stay that it occurs to one that they might with advantage confer on tho subject as to the principles which nro best muted for their competitions.

It is certain that these events sono a very useful purpose. Abo Mitchell, who niado his reappearance in the Hertfordshire Allianco Championship tho other dav after live months' absence from public golf, and won by means ot ! a splendid second round of 67 on my home course, South Herts (Tottcridgc). savs that he is going to take part in the allianco competitions throughout the winter. He has had a bad time owing to his oporation in May lor appendicitis, but is now himself again, and feels that the alliance tournaments in the otherwise dull months are just tho kind of meetings that help to work a man up to concert-pitch for the busy season. It is perfectly truo that they do. m tho absence of any sjioeial incentive during tho winter season ono is apt to become slack, and slackness is the most difficult incubus in the world J<> shed. I sometimes think that the Americans owe their prowess in some degree to tho fact that, between Vivember and March, many of thoir lending golfers tako part in a lot of strenuous competitions in the Southern Statos. Wanted: A Policy. At present tho English Alliances have only ono point in common. They appear to be agrce<l that tho basis ol their activities shall bo to bring together amateurs and professionals. Of the latter there oro not always enough to £«» round, but, as far as possible, each side taking part in these gatherings consists of an amateur and a professional. This usually necessitates the introduction of handicapping, and it is on the question of handicapping that the alliances lack a policy. They have a dozen and ono different ways of adjusting tho matter, with the result that all sorts of strange scores nro returned. One dav thev look amazingly brilliant, and anbther'day they look remarkably bad. Take, for instance, two competitions held bv a certain county alliance. Bach side played bettor ball against bogey. Professionals, whoever they might bo, were rated as scratch men and, for some reason which is difficult to fathom, amateurs had four strokes added to thoir club handicaps. The winners finished nineteen up on bogey in thirtysix holes. Tho second pair were sixton up. Couplca who camo in twelve up or ten up thought they had done rather well, nnd found themselves in very humble positions at the finish. Another competition hold by tno same Allianco was deoided in the form of an ordinary foursmno, each coup e playing ono ball against bogey. luts time, professionals were rated at plus two and assistants ut scratch. Amateurs competed under thoir club handicaps, and each sido received tho customary foursomo allowance of threeeighths of its joint handicap. Here, with thirty-five couples starting, the winning return was flvo down. There is surely something wrong somewhere, when, in two consecutive competitions promoted by tho sumo body, the successful returns differ so greatly —nineteen up under tho one arangoment and five down under the other. These alliance tournaments may not appeal to all tho great golfers in the land, but they are certainly enjoyed by many—partly for their social side, and partly for the fact that they make mid-week breaks at reasonable intervals in the workaday world. They stir the player from that semitorpor ihto which—so far as golf is concerned—he is apt to sink when in winter his appearances on the links are limited to friendly rounds at week ends. Nobody goes to very much trouble to cure a slice or a pull or other golfing ailment when all that lies before him for months is the gentle recreation of the friendly week-end round, but his interest will remain at high pitch if he is going to try and help a professional to win a tournament.

Anybody who has been to a number of alliance gatherings knows that they are taken in all earnestness by the competitors, and that being go it would surely be very much Iwtter if a definite and generally-recognised method of arranging the handicaps could be devised.

Professionals v. Bogey. In the first place, it seems rather poor for professionals to play against bogey. So far as I know, thev were never set so modest a task until these competitions came into vogue. Any professional ought to be capable of beating bogey. If he could not do so, it would be—or should be—because he had played below form. Since there is usually a professional in every side in an alliance tournament, it occurs to one that it would be a better arrangement to take par a* the standard and allow the amateurs their full handicaps—or even their full handicaps plus a bonus. At Worplesdon, in Surrey, where competitions are held against par, the system is, I believe, to add three strokes to everybody s full allowance. The par score is easy to fix anywhere. Bogey is an arbitrary quantity. It has no established basis. Par is the lowest score in which a course can be played under normal conditions and without mistakes, two putts being allowed on each green. In nine cases out of ten, it is simple to decide whether a green can be reached in one stroke or whether it demands two strokes, or threo strokes. Consequently, par has a definite meaning wherever it may exist, and competitions against it in different places have at least some interest in their relation to one another. When Mr Bobert Harris made his report to the Royal and Ancient Club on the visit of the first British team of amateurs to the United States, he emphasised the high standard which tb* Americans set for themselves by aiming always to equal or beat par. Bogey may have given a good deal of pleasure and amusement in this country, but in accepting bogey as a standard—as nineteen out of every twenty clubs in England have done —we have plumped for indulgence rather than high ideals. The professional, very likely, would make just as good a return against the fixed score if he were playing against par as he would do against bogey, because ho would be stimulated to attempt so much more. It occurs to one that the Herts Alliance are now working on the right lines in holding a reasonable proportion of their competitions on scratch terms. Their Porter's Park Bowl—which is played for every year on the course of tho club who won it In the E receding year—is an event of this ind. An amateur and a professional represent each club, and play their better ball against bogey, buT the distraction of strokes allowed here and there is avoided.