GOLF

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 90, 13 October 1932, Page 21

GOLF

By "Chii'shot" N.Z. CHAMPIONSHIPS

COURSE SHAPING WELL

A STROKE PROBLEM

Surprise has succeeded surprise in the women's national meeting. The unexpected results only show that there is , a number of women golfers capable of i upsetting preconeeivod notions of the ■' probable champion, which goes to show ] the glorious" uncertainty of the game, , and gives pleasant .anticipations of a \ pleasurable rising to' form amongst a j similar number of male golfers next , month. Miss M.. Beadel is always a , steady player, and there was little , wrong with Miss Gaisford's golf, as j both went, out in 37. So little differ- \ ence was there between them that they ■ halved the next six holes, and then Miss : ■Beadel's mashio from the rough left her practically no putting to do. This ■ was the really deciding hole of the match. Miss M. Stevens, who defeat- , ed Miss 0. Kay, is a first-rate stylist ■■ and mashie player," who fought an. up--, hill.fight.fronv the turn»admirably. Miss-' S:-'Watstfa did' wel-Fto-•eliminate Miss • Beadel, but went down to Miss B.j Ruthel-ford; :V slashfng'driver and fine ' iron player; .who'tiiade a brilliant re- ', covery after a bad start, and played yevy tino'" golf indeed to defeat her . steady opponent. Miss Stevens went down to Mrs. J. C. Templer, one of New Zealand's best golfers, who is coming back to her best form after some years' absence from the game. Miss Stevens took her to the twentieth green. Championship Course; A visit to the championship course during the week-end showed that it is in very fine condition; indeed, little remains to be done'to make it perfect. The rain, which waa..thc only appreciable fall since the floods six weeks ago, had worked wonders with the turf, which was luxuriant, close, and springy on the fairways, while the greens are being brought to a fine pitch of perfection. Temporary tees are being used at all Ivoles' to save the tees for the great events of November, and oven now the championship tees are quite ready. The course is by no means too fast at present, and if a shower or two falls, in the next fortnight' they will .continue in first-rate golfing condition. Very dry weather will be needed to reproduce the lightning conditions at Shirley last year, as the sole of turf is so thick. While the alterations have not been extensive, indeed only what was contemplated by the club in any ease, some of.the holes have assumed a-good deal jiiore character as the result; An outstanding example is the thirteenth (453 yards), which has undergone a series.of alterations during the last eighteen months. The old green was within an easy iron shot from a good drive, and though bad hooks drib-, bled away into trouble to the left of it, was fairly well open in front, with a raised bank at the back. The new green is.set.much further .-back and to the left, making a' dog'-lVole of it, and though the entrance should be wide enough for scratch men, others will find the trapping most efficient and by no meaiiß^an' easy two-shot distance. Shaw and Butter will be pin-high in 2, but not everybody. ■ -It is a hole where

the drive niust'be definitely placed t< open up tho hole. Trees flank thi fairly vide fairway on both aides. Fron tho tee tho driver is confronted witl a new bunker a little to the left o: tho fair\vay-~a mound built up—am fronted by a serviceable basin-shape( trap, the upper lip of which is slightly overhung by grass, This will tra] topped drives played down the middle and it is almost in the line of a drivi intended to "finish on "the right-ham side of tho fairway further on. Thi drive, if placed ..well, will be well oi the right-hand side of the fairway whilo keeping in mind the trees there Thero are cross bunkers to catch ; topped second, and the less said abou tho things that happen in the treei the better,.though they are not so Uriel t)'at: wonderful shots cannot be playei out of ,them, sometimes. Tho thin green (157. yards) has been more thor oughly trapped in front. .'. Surroundec by trees and rough .on the other threi sides, it will, not bo easy to stop ot if tho weather remains clry^otherwise i is just a nice, one-shot note frequentlj dono in two.;., is i crucial hole in the stress of champion ship match play; -it-.is iioV 354 yards the tee having been moved acros.) thi crock, which is crossed-by- a bridgi not far from the twelfth, tee.. Quite ; fow topped balls will find' their wa; into ..the .watdrercss:herc; while thi well-trapped plateau .green is undulat ing and a stiff-iron." shot from a goo< drive in a northerly. The new eight tcenth is 413 .yards, and the" sbcon< nil iron now instead, of a. mashie chip There is" plenty "or" trouble "all Tbum the green, and tall grass, wire netting jjind Mater if the ball runs up the eas; slope at the back of the green an'< disappears, a niiicll inoro likely thin) with the added distance to judge. Thj greatest nerve^teaser, however, is stil likely to be the'l2o-yard fifteenth, wit] tho green up the tall bank. Stream flax, ditches, and watercress await th topped shot, while the greatest, tria of all is to land just on tho bank an< roll down. In a strong wind it is al too <>asy to got into the bunkers be hind the green or overrun it to th load. • "' - The Optimist. ' It was last Saturday, at Heretaunga He was playing in-a fourball from th' temporary fifteenth tee, and sliced o socketed into the strong sixteen-foo clump of bamboo on the right of th footbridge, disturbing some drows" birds. Perhaps" he had not seen it refuge, but he called out, apparently seriously: "Is it playable!" A passei by, equally seriously, answered that i might be, but did not' undertake to giv an estimate, of the strokes, likely to b required. A Provisional Problem. ' . Braid, the old war-horse, took S6 fo v round at St. George's Hill, but in i there was ah S that raises a problei uneasy to solve. It is commented npoi by G. AY. Greenwood as follows:—-Th far-ts are. these: At, the short foui teenth Braid, having pulled his tee sho ,in the vicinity of a wood and dee undergrowth, where the ball might b lost, played a provisional ball. Oi going in search of the first ball, th caddie announced: 'Here yon are sii',' whereupon-Braid played a- baJ wliieh In; took to be his. Tho. pro visional, ball was then picked up; bu when about ..to play again Braid dis covered that he had played a wronj ball. He was on the horns of a dilemmi However, he settled it by returning t the tee.find counting six with his nex shot,-two-for a lost ball,, and two fo picking up the. provisional ball, whiel became the one in play. My inter prctati'on of ''the" ineulent is that Braii unnecessarily .penalised".' himself' thre strokes, because the provisional, ball

o played only to save delay, became mcc operative when the next shot was playn ed, though it Happened to be with a h wrong ball. Whatever the correc-t rul>f ing, the incident serves to emphasise d the importance of identifying the ball d before playing a shot." 7 Back Swing Kills Bird, " Absorbed golfers practising swings ■J with the wood have often been shocked to realise how closely day-dreaining c people have come within reach of the n club-head, but something in the nature , of a record was recently established j| at Manly (Sydney), when, while makiug ~ a swing, a player's club came into coutact with a sparrow. K. Williams- was , s practising near the seventeenth tee at k Manly, and during the back swing his j club crashed iuto the bird, which was one of a flock, which, evidently lulled f _ into a false sensa of security by the silence of the party, was flying past. c Williams was the most astonished per n son on the links. Birds, rabbits, and ■ t even fish have been killed by golf ball?, but to kill a bird on the back swing of J a a stroke is probably unique in tho annals of the Koyal and Ancient game. 3) How to Slice.' c This title may make some confirmed ;e sliccrs groan, but it is sometimes a necessary, to obviate trouble or holdy -UP against a cross-wind, to deliberately c slice. Hector Morrison tells how it t- should be done, thus:—"Adopt a very d open stance, with tie ball-more forward t- than with the normal straight shot. In d fact, it can be almost opposite ?. the left toe. The grip is of the utmost d importance. More round the shaft to- %, ward the hole, .with both hands, than y with the normal shot. The club is d taken back, outside the ballliole line on g the back swing, with a curtailed swing, ie which must bo easily and unhurriedly 11 executed. On the down swing, hit from h outside, inwards, across the ball, and i, so manipulate the wrists that there is te a feeling of sliding the club face across il the ball. So long as tho swing is not d jerky and hurried, the club can be 11 kept under control throughout the 3- swing, and the requisite amount of cut ie or slice imparted to the ball, quite simply. It is well to remember that the tendency -ivith a cut shot is to be short, so take the, next more powerful club a., than.the direct lino to the hole seems LO to warrant." >'' Length of Drives. |c It is the general tendency to 1V exaggerate the length of drives" men tally, probably the reason why at long v driving contests the spectators •_. generally feel they have been treated • t to a vary ordinary exhibition. The tests niade during play by the Royal |c and Ancient Club at Tevon, however, show that even in the case of scratch players, 230 yards of carry is exceptional. "There were some extra- > r ordinary feats," says the "Daily-Tele-it graph. "John Burke, for instance, with bi a slightly following cross wind, carried , n 251 yards. S. L. McKinlay (Scotland) ie and E. Fiddian (England) both exceedr . Ed 230 yards, while against the wind >t Cy"l Gray (England) was credited with ,p one carry of 235 yards. A carry of )e 220 yards was exceeded by J. D. i, x M-acCormack (Iroiand), H. G. Bcntley IC (England), and A. S. Bradshaw (Enge , land)." ■ft Choice of Language. + It does not seem to matter so much, in what language Sir Thomas Wilford " replied to the' French toast at Geneva, * where, for the second time in his life, .' 0 he holed in one, but it would be a matter [j. of interest to know in what tongue he J r communed with himself at the crucial k moment. Hospitable as the Maoris are, r _ their language might not rise to auch j an occasion. i( j AT)e Mitchell's Record. 1, Not only was Mitchell's record of ; OS for St. George's Hill, Weybridge, not ; broken during the--first" of the qualifying rounds of the southern section , • of the £1040 tournament there, but it . was not even equalled; -Two players, Alliss and W. T. Twine, each with a score of 69, got within a stroke, while Mitchell and Pad'gham both returned