GOLF

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 63, 8 December 1926, Page 8

GOLF

(By

“Niblick.”)

A Game of Problems. Golf is a game of problems, and this was brought home forcibly to J. Smith, a New South Wales player, recently. He had a three-foot putt for a bogey. He putted, his ball, and it ran to the lip of the tin and hung there. With intense annoyance be stamped his foot on the green, and the ball rolled into the hole. The question was raised at ouce, did lie incur a penalty ? His partner marked him a bogey 5. Smith says the wind was blowing gale force at the time, and contends it was a bigger factor in influencing the ball to move than his stamp on the green. It is quite feasible that the wind would do so, for playing in the country championship at Kensington, B. D. Denver pitched his tee shot to the fourth green, but before he and his partner walked the distance from the tee spectators on the. green .saw the ball swept by the wind right off the green into a bunker. However, the case of golf’s greatest tragedy occurred in England recently, where an associate in Reigate Heath holed her tee shot at a “blind” hole. The search, for the ball was fruitless, and so another was played, which she finally holed in five. She then discovered the first ball in the hole. The heartless rulers of golf decreed that her first shot was in vain, for “when the player abandoned the search for the first ball it became a ’lost ball,’ and the second ball played became the ball in play.” No Need for Inconsistency.

An American writer says that sceptics of Bobby Jones’s golfing ability are no more. The Atlanta player has proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that he is supreme on the links, and that he has a long golfing career ahead of him. He has taken the uncertainty out of the sport, proving that a golfer can be just as consistent as the performer in any other sport, the duffers notwithstanding. . When any golfer can go through the season and play par golf, as Jones has, there isn’t much left to the argument that die vagaries of.the game are responsible for the inability to show consistency in scores. .The .King of Outdoor Sports.

Golf is the king of outdoor sports declares a writer in an exchange). Skill at it is something a rich man cannot buy, nor a poor one inherit, proficiency is only gained by hard work and' much prayer. A good man in this life ought to be rewarded with the right of way on the bluegrass, fields of the New Jerusalem, and be privileged to play with golden balls and silver clubs, with fluttering female angels for caddies. The man who invented golf deserves a monument as broad as the Pyramids and as high as the Eiffel Tower. It has saved more lives than the doctors; brought health and happiness to thousands. As a developer of character it has no equal. Golf makes a man patient and enduring It keeps the fires of hope continually alive. It gives one respect for one’s opponent, and even makes an enemy endurable. It is the cleanest, fairest sport in the world. Show me a good golf player and I will show you a clear-brained, well-balanced, generous, manly, fine fellow. IMPROVE YOUR “PUTTING.” Every golfer wiho is desirous of improving his “putting” can do so by simplv practising with the garden golf set! This splendid 9-liole set is specially designed for the small garden It was all the rage in England last season. No disfiguring holes need be made in the turf. All the skill required in ordinary golf has to be employed when playing. It is as fascinating for the beginner as it is for the seasoned golfer. Tlie 9-hole set only costs 42s fid.—carriage paid anywhere in New Zealand/ Order to-day Money refunded in the event of your being dissatisfied. Free illustrated booklet sent ■>n request. W. PI. Tisdall, Ltd., 100. LamlAon Quay, Wellington.—Advt. (3)