GOLF.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 13 September 1924, Page 11

GOLF.

Ihe local senior championships are going along slowly, owing to the absence of several players, in the senior ranks. Now that O’Callaghan and the Quins are hack, the first and second rounds can he concluded at ah early date.

in the first round Hay Mackenzie beat Page, Salmon beat ‘Elliott, Cox heat Glasson, Fletcher beat Lewes, and Little heat Judd. ,

In the juniors, Duffill heat Caplen, Moss heat Ritchie, Synie heat Haughton. Torrens heat Ferguson, Jobson beat Studholme. Second round: Syme beat Torrens, Moss heat Blair.

A Hawera team will go to Patea today and play the annual fixture. This is an inter-club match which is always enjoyable.

Coming events on this coast of interest to Hawera are the Wanganui Club tournament, September 16 to 19; visit of Hawera to Wanganui, September 20 to 22; Springvale (Wanganui) tournament on October 26 to 28. The Napier tournament will he from September 23 to 26..

Congratulations to Leo Quin on his success in heating so many doughtv opponents. To finish by heating a fighter like Harold was a fine performance and took him into the semi-finals. His success will serve to bring Eltham and Hawera strongly into the golfing world of New Zealand. He has played consistent and high-class golf and has deserved his success. ' j The week has seen a most interesting feature in the world of golf, the most important fixture of the golfing year. It has ■ brought practically the whole of the best amateurs from every district, and every'professional in the Dominion The open amateur and professional championships were the fixtures. Throughout the play was of a high standard, and some of it was as good as could be seen in any part of the world. Naturally, the course is shorter to some extent than the crack courses in bigger centres, and bunkering is probably more severe. it has been interesting to see the provincial champions meeting in battle royal, and in.a number of cases striking surprises have been witnessed, feome players are better at medal than in match play, and it is not by any means to be assumed that they will succeed after qualifying. A good deal of regret has been experienced by many that Arthur Duncan, doyen of golfers, was put out in his farst round after qualifying at the head or th© list of amateurs. He had nine amateur championships to his credit, and one more would have given him double figures in'his record of championships. After his failure on Monday he came out on Thursday and did a magnificent 73 in a medal handicap competition.

All Taranaki players- will have been pleased to see Leo Quin do so well. The northern papers gave him great credit for his long straight driving and socond and also his good work round the greens. Dale hardly did as well as expected, though his play was generally .pretty good. He won a medal handicap during the week, after a very' strenuous PkD'-off with a northern player. Hl® is played to-day, and the result will be awaited with very keen anticipation. On general form Goss looks likeliest, but anticipations arc very often Upset. ' In commenting on A. Duncan’s record score of 71, a northern paper says it Mas largely the result of beautiful chip and run approaches, Duncan playing them with the master hand that has so often resulted in fine scoring on liis part.

Whether one believes in him or not Lord Birkenhead is a challenging figure, and everything he says is entitled to serious consideration. His new book of essays, "America Revisited, is packed full of thoughtprovoking material. On the lighter side one naturally singles out for notice .the way m which Lord Birkenhead , aces f-be cause of the improved outlook on life on the part- of the American business man to golf. He says: Lolf lias helped Midas to become prosperous in spite of his gold hv keeping him fit. He- sees no limit tc the stupendous wealth whjcli is the merican heritage, but lie is rejoiced to see that in the new age there b a realisation that "life is short, health vital, dollars incapable of transfer tc the next world, and that, therefore, theie is much to he said for a reasonable enjoyment of life in this.”

OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

OOURSES COMPARED

It is interesting to record that the score in the-New Zealand open championship was exactly the same, 301, u tbe British open at Ho’vlnke Moss would fare on the Old World highly bunkered and difficult course? it ig hard to say, hut Dougins, who went Home a few years ago, did not come out near the top. Besides beirm less severely bunkered, Middlernorc i< much shorter. 6040 yards, as against 6600 yards Tloylake has ten holes o f over 400 vards. and three of over 500 varcls. The .card of the Middlernorc links ir, as follows, the figures represent! n<r the distance and the bogev:— Out: 313 yards, 4: 402. 5; 301 4; 419 5 : 416. 5 : 283. 4 ; 142, 3 9«3.’ 4 O'.Q 5 —3207. 39 In: 112. 3; 255. 4- 360 5: 200. 3; 327. 4: 397, 4: 392. 5: 300 o; 400, 5 —2833, 38. Aggregate 6045 yards, ' It mav he found interesting to make comparisons between our leading golf-

ers and those of America and “at home” in the light of the scores in each case compiled in the respective open championships (says the Australasian). Supposing “Tommy” Howard or I. H. Whitton, to mention the present and a past champion, were to win the title this year with a. score of 300, under . average weather conditions, could it fairly be deduced from such a performance that the best Australian golfer is as good as the best in either of the countries named? Well, to start with, Hoylake had, for the champ ion ship, 10 holes of 400 yards or over, three, of 500 yards or over, besides one of 490 yards. Only four of the' twoshot holes were under 400 yards, while two of the short holes were each 200 yards. The Royal Melbourne links has two holes 500 yards or over, two of 485 yards each, and three of 400 yards, with a total yardage of about 6300 yards, as compared' with Hoylake V 6650 yards. Also, the holes on the • great Cheshire course are more closely and severely bunkered than are those at Sandringham. Moreover, the sand •is raked smooth in the bunkers here, whereas on the other side it is left'-. to its fate, and, being therefore continuously dumpy and uneven, brooks no brassy nonsense, but demands stern, niblick strokes. Harold Hilton tells how yin the 1913 amateur championship, plhyecl at St. Andrew’s, which he won, he was caught in the famous Strath” bunker at the 11th hole six out of the eight' l times he played it, and never once. shccedded in getting his ball out again. The American “Open” was played' at Oakland Hills. Detroit, a course which measured 6850 yards, and thefe: was almost a gale of wind blowing most of 'the time. This green also is heavily bunkered. Yet Cyril Walker—a Hoylake-bred golfer by the way—who turns the scale at about 8£ stone, holed, it out in figures three less than 300 for the quadruple round —his scores being 7.4-74-74-75. Hagen’s winning score at Hoylake wag ■3Ol, but it was h.V .no. means brilliant, golf which produced "it In fact, he never looked like settling down to anything in the way of a steady game, and ’he owed his success purely to his splendid putting. His- last round was a continuous story of getting down in two strokes from hazards' of every kind, for he was all over the place, both with his wood and iron shots, and it seemed almost a miracle that he should have beaten E. R. Whiteombe, who. had played superbly, but was merely mortal on the greens. But, considering the difficulties and the great length of the course, both in the case ;of Hagen’s, victory and in that of the Aemrican champion, Cyril Walker, 'khe figures were amazingly good! Allow,mg. then for the relatively far easier playing conditions prevailing at Sandringham (those imposed by the weather, of course, cannot be predicted), it would seem that the supposititmus score of 300 quoted as a likely Y* ni )fog aggregate in the forthcoming Australian Open,»is not good enough ■upon, which fairly to base a claim that our .leading players would hold their own -with the corresponding British and American men] . V,, HAGEN’S WIN

Writing of the great final played by Hagen, .a> Home paper says: A man who * can win: the Open Championship twice in three years and fail by only one . stroke in the intervening year is quite ;obviously a king of golfers. By his wonderful performance in the final round .JWalter Hagen crowned himself anew. The test he was set in the last nine • holes, when he knew exactly the number of strokes he must not exceed in order to win, would have unnerved most .players. , But greatness in golf is as much a thing of temperament as anything else, and because Hagen possesses the right temperament he was ablq ( ,to find inspiration in the difficnltyof. his task and complete the course one under the next best score. In oxtending the warmest congratulations to the winner and to America, his country, golfing enthusiasts in this country.. Will . not forget the fine performance of E. R.' Whitcombe, who came nearest to winning the championship 'fof : Britain. The success of Britain ‘in securing the supreme golfing honour, will give the competition a new spice; of interest next year when British golfers endeavour to win it back. Were the championship to be won always by a British player it would lose much of the piquancy it has possessed in later years HAGEN’S SECRET. Hagen owed his success to'his perfect steadiness. .In .the United States golf is played with a macliine-like regularity and precision, and against this kind of competitor our more temperamental players are apt to fail Daily Mail.

THE AVERAGE GOLFER

Writing of the golfer who takes up the-game not exactly in his youth, and how : long he can last, ’Harry Vardon says in a special article to the press: “In nearly every' club more than half the members consist of players who have taken up the game fairly late in life, and who are at the very meridian of that era which the world—being sympathetic—calls a man’s prime. It is a nice question where a man’s prime ends so far as golf is concerned, and how best he can prolong it. J. H. Taylor, who, at the age of 53, performed so brilliantly in the recent British open championship, which he had a chance of winning until near the end, has let us into a secret. He says that he owed his prominent showing in that event to the fact that for three weeks before the'tournament he devoted himself -to the playing of golf, and banished 'all other distractions— of which the-professional golfer, like every other business man. has many—from his mind:

“I agree that as we grow older we need practice even more than when we- are- young, if we are to maintain our form. We heed it because, if we neglect it, the- particular muscles that are-used in golf—and it is most certainly a set of muscles entirely different from? those employed in any other walk of life—become disorganised. To do .their work well, they must be properly attuned. They gradually cease to be so unless they are kept in trim hy steady exercise in their own special sphere of activity. “There seems to me to be no reason why a golfer who is normally healthy should deteriorate on the links until he has turned the age of 55. Some improve until that time of life, and even go on improving after it.

‘‘All of which indicates that fo r the man. who .is getting on in years a steady application to'the use of the golfing muscles is essential if he is to keep his game at its best

“What is needed is the half hour’s practice of shots three or four times a week—not always the stern setting out'to play a match or a medal round, hut. the quiet business of keeping the muscles attuned by trying the shots in brief respites front both work and rigorous golf.’’

Whiting of Herd. Vardon says: “He is a perfect model of how to sway during the swing. He reellv does not sway .back as he takes the P u,b no—that sin against golf orthorWy—but. he 'sways’ forward' again with such poetic rhythm as he brings the club

down that he is balanced as well as anybody could hope to he at the instant of striking the ball. If everybody could sway as Herd does, this trait would cease to be a cardinal error in the playing of the game. Even would it be a virtue. But unfortunately nobody can master his manner of adjusting his poise. Hundreds of thousands of golfers try to sway back, but they cannot time a return movement like Herd.” •

Therefore is it best for the average golfer to remain quite firm and have no sway, just a pivoting of the body on the hips.

A THREAT

AMERICA MEANS TO RULE THE

LINKS

(Glasgow Herald.)

After George Duncan’s extraordinary exhibition at Gleneagles in a final that quite possibly may never be surpassed for the quality of the golf displayed by both players, one is interested, and amused, to read of how some American critics view the future of the Royal and Ancient. The American .as a rule thinks big and writes likewise, and here is what a writer in The New York Herald has to say about the ‘‘future open golf champion.” It might be as well, however, to point out here that he prefaces his cliaptei of optimism with the observation that “it is a prediction which you may take or leave alone.”

‘Within a very few 7 years,” he tells us. “Americans will run both the open and professional golf tournaments, and continue winning them indefinitely. The U.S.A. professionals are the best ‘money players,’ and as soon as the financial inducement is big enough they will take and hold the open and professional titles until it becomes monotonous.. . . . When professional golf becomes just a trifle more lucrative, far-sighted parents will begin to raise their boys to become golf pros., and the competition of the American professionals will drive the Scots out of business.

“In the good old days when prizefighters got about five guineas for finish fights, Britannia '.ruled the ring and the resin dust. But it soon became apparent that prize-fighting might be converted into a business. From that time on, .with a very, occasional exception. Americans held and cashed on all the fistic titles. They are still cashing, and the end is not in sight. “Golf is heading the same way. The perquisites of a professional with a title increase every year, what with the exhibition ■ games, the aiding in the advertising of winter resorts, the endorsement of golf paraphernalia and the literary rights. The profession soon will become lucrative enough to attract some of our ambitious young men. It may even lure them from the baseball diamond and the ring. “One of these days there will he wailing and gnashing of teeth in the Highlands and the Lowlands of Scotland, to say nothing of the grief on English heaths when they read a headline something like this— Moe Bernstein, New York Boy, Wins Open Golf Championship. “Ihis will come to pass while the links are held by the. present generation. The American champions £,re merely waiting until it is worth while,” Some prediction this. British golf is simply to be annihilated: swept out of existence. America first, the rest nowhere! And all this is sure going to come along. “While the links are held by the present generation.” Then, indeed, there would be wailing and ashing of teeth, but that unthinkable catastrophe must surely be a long way off yet. One wonders what the writer of the above article will think when he reads of how George Duncan’s opponent, intone of the biggest tournaments of the year, was round in 71, and was five holes down at the end of the round. It is going to be some New York Boy” who can equal, far less surpass, such a record as achieved oy our one and only Duncan

ANOTHER AMERICAN INVASION

America: Say; I guess you’ve got to tremble at the mention of my name. British Golfer: Sorry, old sport, but you don t affect me that way at all.

THE IMPATIENT

Is golf a game or a treatment P asks Dr. Saleeby. Your golfer may claim To be playing a game. But I question his role, When I watch him intent, With all energies bent, Upon making one hole.

No. he takes to the spoon As a medical boon, - When run down 'he may he, And in clothes that assume A suspicion of “room,” Takes a “pill” with his tee. —A.W. in Chronicle,

TAKEN DOWN

He (proudly): Went around in eighty, nine to-day She: And what was your hurry

THE ALMIGHTY LITTLE PUTT.

■ Those who care can turn their adjuration to the long drive that whistles down the course or to the long irons that flop near the cup. But m the course of the last twelve months we have found our admirhtion focused upon those who in a championship can keep their head and body still and hit a six or eight-foot- putt squarely into the tm as if it were a practice attempt, says an American paper. VVe can’t recall in any twelve months of golf we .have known, followed or seen so many nerve-wracking putts that, 6 holed to win or save championships, putts upon which crowns, fame and fortune waited, and there has been hardly one that was missed. The last example was Walter Hagen’s finish in the British open. He had a putt of some seven feet possibly eight, to hole, ' and the ball ’was resting on a slight knoll which called for line* 31 ■* uc^raen *' finding the true

Now, in a pinch a seven or emhttoot putt is one of the hardest of all to hole, in so far as the nerves are concel nea. The three and the four-footers are none too easy, but they don’t have the same blasting effects upon the nervous system. Beyond ten feet one is hardly expected to drop the ball into the cup, so again the strain is not as great. Beyond ten feet it is merely a last desperate chance. But around six seven, or eight feet one feels that ho has a great opportunity to close out the engagement, a better opportunity than he may have again later on. In Hagen’s case this seven-footer meant a revival of his fortunes, a- second grip upon the famous British sceptre, which he had held once before it was a trying test, but from all accounts the ball was truly and squarely hit straight for the centre of the tin—a striking movement, and not a fast flurried jab.

The great trouble of going after putts of seven or eight’ -feet in a pmch is keeping the head and body

still, and not hurrying the stroke. This is the combination that must he watched. There is always a tendency under pressure to move the body , first, or to lift the head, and there is a double tendency to grip too tightly and hurry the back stroke, the result being a quick jab. Those who can meet the proper conditions under a heavy strain deserve the best that golf has to offer, since they are facing the most trying of all circumstances.

There is nothing else in the game that can quite put the same challenge to one’s control of. the nerves. It is the ultimate word in this respect, since fear, or failure must always cast its shadow over the green.

HOYLAKE AT CHAMPIONSHIP TIME.

(Referee.)

What most impressed Mr. J. S. Darton, when watching the big open championship meeting at Hoylake, was the thoroughness of the Americans; their absolute attention to any detail, however trivial. When it is considered that a stroke may be lost very easily it pays to be careful. Few players take enough trouble, as they possibly do not wish to appear “fussy.’’ But a championship' is often lost by one stroke, so that it pays to be attentive to detail, however small. “Hoylake is a. beautiful place for golf,” writes Mr. Darton, concerning the first events. “Tlie olubhou.se is a grand affair, indeed, and as there are other very beautiful mansions all round, it is all very fine. The grass is very long off the fairways, and the penalty is very severe when you find yourself in the rough. Practically every legitimate obstacle that can be reasonably placed or made is there. Mostly the men reckon it is three strokes harder Than Formby—'and probably it is—but it is such delightful country to be playing in. A great deal of the surface- of the links is just covered with briar roses, evidently cut short; but they are in bloom everywhere, and the ordinary meadow flowers bloom in profusion. The' ground is soft and the grass springy. So walking is an easy matter, and these English golfers do walk. You see some of the women running to keep up. None of the hills are very high —probably 30 feet would be the height and depth of any of it; but it is so all over (and everywhere), so to speak. If anyone did not know what -was tlje matter they would find it hard to account for the travelling crowds of people. You see one crowd coming and another pouring out of some narrow slip of a place, and another disappearing over the hill, the principals being in among the crowds. If you could set the separate meetings of our Domain on Sunday all steadily marching with evident intent, and all in different ways, you would get some idea of the scene. .

Elite of Golfing World

“The best dressed men and women of the golfing world are there, and some, of them go mad and do- the maddest things. ,To-day I saw some 50 women and flappers and little boys, all surrounding Hagen, and he was benignly giving his autograph to all these admiring and idolatrous women, and later on when Whitmore arrived in with his ‘7o’ he was worried to the same extent. There must have been nine or ten marquees erected for many and various demands, one of them being 100 yards long. .[ fancy it was lust an.afternoon tea affair.

“I got there about an hour after the start, and followed- the nearest around—Hagen and Wyatt. A 525 hole was driven with one- wooden club shot and one mid iron shot, out of the rough. The last hole—4lo—wa« driven in one wooden shot and a short chip snot with a mashie niblick bv Hagen. J. H. Taylor makes less display than Hagen, and more golf than the rest of them. He is the most business-dike golfer we- ever saw. #He walks with a. bit of a limp, and" to date he is the most consistent golfer ?. 10t—74 and 75 are his contributions, and they might, and should hole if?- 611 ’ f i° Ur i S i™ kes less ‘ One hole 160 yards dead into the wind, he elected to play with his mid iron. The Tir'l qmte i! ieavy ’ aiKl 1 d ™bted whether he would carry it, for he had been held up on the' tee for about If) minutes through some matter in front. bit and hi haVe Chi,led him a b!t, and he was short. It cos t him \ , Wh ore he got his 7he drove out of bounds and later was on. a very bad rough beyond the green, and three an otherwise perfect card. (he is 53) W vT ack UP With strain even now ' ChanCes are the best,