Gisborne Course Stiff Inter-Provincial Test

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28262, 27 April 1957, Page 5

Gisborne Course Stiff Inter-Provincial Test

'T'HE 6466-yards course of the Poverty Bay Golf A Club, on which the Freyberg Rosebowl tournament will be played from Slay 9 to May 11, looks much easier than it plays. Most of the provincial representatives engaged in this fixture—now regarded as a better spectator attraction than a New Zealand championship—will find it hard to match the standard scratch figure of 72. Only one or two of the 18 holes resemble in any way. the broad acres of many New Zealand courses. Even they are deceptive, because of the configuration of the ground, in which dead spots abound. It is real links country, and the best has been made of undulating conditions which have been likened to those found at Paraparaumu, although the differences in level are less acute.

One of the great advantages of the Poverty Bay club’s links is that it is within a mile and a half of • the centre of Gisborne: another is that it is typical seaside I'nd with excellent absorption and adequate drainage. Only one hole—the short sixth—ever shows the effect of rain even in really foul weather. Jean Donald, Bobby Locke and Norman von Nida have all played the course in recent seasons, and they commended it unreservedly The Scottish woman professional’s visit was marked by heavy drizzle, so uncomfortable that she thanked those who “stuck it out" as spectators of her round; but she remarked upon the course as the driest wet-weather links she had ever played. So players competing for the Freyberg trophy need not trouble about water hazards. Nevertheless they will have plenty of other problems, and feel contented enough at the finish if they equal the standard scratch score consistently. No touring professional has ever done more than a stroke or two better.

Few Targets

The course includes three holes of 500 yards or more, four of 400 yards or more, eigh| of 300 yards or more, and three one-shotters under 200 yards. They are wellspaced tor variety, and only three present outright target greens when the foot of the pin is visible from the tee.

Well-grown belts of trees protect most of the holes from the sweep of the prevailing westerly or south-westerly winds, and in many instances define the fairways with a harrowing threat to any player who sprays his tee-shots. Least protected, and possibly the trickiest of the lot because of close bunkering right around the green, is the short second. It looks perfectly simple until a player finds himself in a waist-deep sand-trap. Competitors of the standard sought for Freyberg Trophy play probably will find the green easily enough, especially after the pipeopener of the 527 yards first hole, a fairly easy scratch-5. The third is 330 yards in length, with a fairway bunker for the unwary and also a trap on the right of the green. A careful tee-shot should produce a scratch-4 here.

A right-handed dog-leg at the scratch-4 fourth, 387 yards, tempts big hitters to play across the bend; many get away with it, only to

find they have crossed the line of easy approach. A long shot straight down makes the green just as accessible. The 500 yards fifth is a scratch5. the fairway sloping to the left. It is easy to fall away into trouble around the green, however. Few good players miss their 3’s on the sixth, and the seventh, 345 yards and eighth, 387 yards, are straightforward scratch-4 holes although well bunkered. The 400 yard ninth is a much trickier scratch-4, a tee-shot needing to be well out in the middle to open up the green. Trap for Hitters The tenth, 303 yards, is easy for an accurate player, and the parallel boundary is the worst threat at the one-shot eleventh. A long hitter can quite easily find trouble on the 515 yards, twelfth, however, this being a dog-leg with a rough to catch a really long one up the straight from the tee. The next three, 394 yards, 332 yards, and 400 yards respectively, are all scratch-4 holes tightly enclosed by trees and all presenting the chance of poor lies for seconds and plenty of dead ground to confuse judgment of distance. The sixteenth, 360 yards, is one of the worst traps of all, for a deepish gully in front of the green is wider than it looks: moreover, the approach is only safe from one angle, because of a greenside bunker.

Accuracy Needed

The seventeenth, though shorter by 100 yards than the twelfth, has similar characteristics. Treetrouble penalises anything but a dead-straight tee-shot, and only a well-pitched second will hold the green. By contrast, the eighteenth, of 412 yards, is a fine homing hole —not by any means trouble free, but safe for in accurate hjtter. The green is right under the clubhouse lounge windows, and has seen many tough finishes. It was there that F. T. Gordon, then a member of the Poverty Bay club, sank a chip for a birdie three to win a championship three years ago. Gordon holds the course record for amateurs, with a gross 68 made when the course was shorter and the scratch score was 74; the professional record is held by Eddie Fennell, who registered a 67 against the new scratch score of 72.