BRITISH GOLF TEAM

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 80, 1 October 1935, Page 4

BRITISH GOLF TEAM

BOGEY FROM MEN'S TEES

CAPTAIN'S FEAT.

GALLERY AMAZED

I Something not ■unlike blank amaze- t ment was- mingled with the admira- s tion of the small. gallery of golf enthusiasts which gathered to watch the British women's ' team, practically straight oS the Kakurai at practice at Miramar yesterday afternoon. Miramar, on a day like yesterday., when half a westerly gale of wind was blowing, is recognised as perhaps the hardest course round Wellington, yet the carefree way the visitors romped over it, Mrs. J. B. Walker equalling bogey figures for the first nine holes from the men's tees, filled one with apprehension for the New Zealand match on the same course on October 16. WOMEN BEAT N.Z. MEN. Mrs. Walker's figures, compared with those of B. M.Silk, the New Zealand amateur champion, who, with A; D. S. Duncan, played Mrs. Walker and Miss Pam Barton, are illuminating: Mrs. Walker .... 555342545—38. B. M. Silk 454343645—38. These were the actual gross scores, allowing for some courtesy p.utts. but the women were conceded a third of a stroke a hole. It is not surprising that they finished 1 up at the sixteenth, where play was called off. This performance by th-5 new champion of Australia is made more appreciable when it is considered that the outward run from the women's tees at Miramar is 2726 yards, while the men's is 2989; both have the same bogey. MRS. WALKER IN ACTION. The remainder of the British team, and G. P. Roberts, made up another purely practice four. There was some educative and attractive golf to be «en there, but the gallery, having jnce glimpsed Mrs. Walker at work, •stuck to her till the match ended. The ■egularity of the results obtained by aer would be monotonous if it were iot for the restrained, purposeful grace ,-f her swing. One reads of the •grooved swing"; in Mrs. Walker one sees it. Her stance is only slightly open, sometimes almost square, with the ball midway between the feet for her wood shots, and like most of the team, her feet are seldom widely separated except when in difficulties. There, is a smooth, compact winding up in the back swing, in which the left arm leads and governs, and without a perceptible pause the flowing stroke begins, deceptively slow-looking until the crisp impact sends the ball away.. With a free follow-through, the finish is as perfectly poised as the backswing, the feet elastic, but retaining a firm hold of the turf. Shoulders and hips harmonise in the pivot. The length Mrs. Walker obtains so apparently without effort is remarkable, and her brassie picks up the ball as though it were teed. Save for shortening a trifle for irons, the same swing is used with slight adaptations of stance right through to her chips. Even her putts have a trace of that swing. Driving steadily down the centre, Mrs. Walker got. wonderful length at the two-shot holes, especially the third, fifth, eighth, and ninth. Her second at the eleventh was only just short of the green. Her long game as a whole was well-nigh faultless, and she had more control of her ball in the wind than most of her team, in fact the wind scarcely troubled her. Her chips and approach putts were never far from the hole. She did miss one of those'short-putts at the tenth,: but otherwise was safe on the greens. Reaching- the back of the fourth green with her iron tee shot, a rather strong approach-putt left her a nine-footer, which she sank for a 3, and she ran one down" from the- back of ■ the sixth ?reen for a 2. When a long putt just wriggles .in and out of the cup she chuckles. .... ■ MISS BARTON'S ADVENTURES. In striking contrast on the tee Miss Barton,.hatless, with her auburn aureole the sport of the winds, lashes into avery shot with happy abandon. Her address is a serious business, her feet -pread well apart, and the ball- well Eorward towards the left foot, her back, swing careful but determined. Then • she powerfully smites through with a more upright swing than Mrs. Walker, getting, when she connects faithfully, a tremendous balL A trifle of cut was'apparent on most of her shots yesterday. This reduced her length considerably,, and affected, her putting rather disastrously, but. with this overcome, one could see what her game might be. Direction was not her mainstay, but what recoveries! Bunkered green high at the first, she took 2to get out, and carded a 6. A second 6 resulted at the second, from another voyage to the right of the fairway, and a shot to the green troubled with the same complaint. A tremendous drive at the third almost rivalled the men's, and her second was through the green and into the rough behind, but her chip was a good recovery, and she finished the hole m bogey. Her long drive at the fifth was in a sandy crater on the right, but from the rough she was just through the green, and her chip rested against the pin, a 3. Two cut shots into the half-gale saw her round the corner at the seventh, up the hill in the rough, but she got her 5. A pushed-out drive was 70 yards from • the eighth, but a fine mashie shot cleared bunkers and trouble, and stayed •on the closely-trapped green, giving her a 4. Bunkered close to the lip with her drive at the tenth, her cut shot wandered away towards the ninth fairway, and the next was just through the green. The same "fade" in her drive at the eleventh placed her ball in an unplayable lie in the ditch, and she had to pick out and play from the thirteenth fairway. When it is considered that many putts were missed as well, her 2 over men's bogey to the ninth was remarkable. A WOMAN'S TRIUMPH. A feature of all the visitors is- that they play each shot full out, relying on the chosen club for the distance, j Miss, Barton, at the sixth, for instance, hit the ■ most powerful of shots for' this 106-yard hole, and stopped not 3ft from the pin, getting her 2. This hole was a triumph for the women, both getting 2's, while Silk's ten-footer just slid by, and Duncan, after being bunkered, picked up. Seldom off the fairway, Silk played a fine long game, and if he had been a trifle luckier on the greens, would have shown more of the form that gave him his 65 Miramar card some time ago. He ran over the hole a ehade too fast,, at the first, from the edge of the green, and several other times in the match lipped the hole. His worst hole was the seventh, where he hooked to the ridge. Occasional lapses spoilt a good run out for Duncan, who had 4's at the first, second, fourth, fifth, arid ninth, and put on a pretty run from the tenth of 44443. A STRONG TEAM. Other players of the British team have not perhaps the rhythmic steadiness of Mrs. Walker, but they will prove too good for most of those whom they meet in the various preliminary matches. All have a length which the best of our own players will envy, and play-their shots with, a crisp efficiency.

which will prove disconcerting. Miss Anderson, for instance, was on the second in 2. Irons are her favourite clubs, but the rest of the bag behaves so well that the choice seems one of sentiment. Miss Wade is another young member of the team who will produce results. A pleasing stylist with the woods her swing is full and free. An easy spoon shot was pin high against the wjnd at the fourteenth. Mrs. Greenlees is a player with more experience than any save Mrs. Walker, and it is evident in her steady play. Roberts, the fourth of this party, distinguished himself by holing two chip shots and sinking three long putts.