Golf.

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 182, 19 August 1937, Page 13

Golf.

'Stymie").

H0W TO LEARN Building Up from Correct Elementals HASTINGS TOURNEY

(By "

"Nothing has done more to retard a clear understanding, of golf principies than the thousands of words of golf instruction written during these last few years. Generaily, the golfers who read hooks on golf don't understand hve per cent. of the instructional alticles Which they devoitr so avidly in their pathetic pursuit of knowledge." Thus R. B. Keily writes in "Fairway and Hazard," - but he then pxoceeds to write aiore words on golf! However, he presents several f eatures from a new angle which are worth consideration. Kelly considers self-taught and book-tatight golfers have very little chance of ever becoming good golfers, and in this we cannot but agree witlx him. -How many of them when they go to a professional have a sound foundation of the essentials of a golf swing to bttild UpOil? Consequently, unless the indivi^ual is prepared to saerifice play fdr a period and place himself eiltirely itt the hands of a professional for a thorough course of buiiding up from the correct elementals, the professional can do no more than give advice th&t will pefhapS correct temporarily a fault or two. Yery frequently this can only be done by balancing one fault against andther, and is bOund to fail, for in the long run the player will lapse baek into his old style attained by years of self-interpreted and selfapplied ideas of wliat is supposed to bo the correct thing. ' Kjplly adVOCates learning the cssontittls of golf froxn the putter upwards. The putting green is^he foundation of "tOticli," aiid in approaching, touch is acqtxlred from your puttixxg. All the finer and best-controlled movoments are Iearnt from tlxo putter, as stance, distance, feel of club-head, follow-through and line, Putting and short approaches a^e ffiueh allied, and the two should be blended by practice — hours of practice, not minutes. He reeofflineiids a system of practice as foilOWSs— Place six balls six yards from the pin, another six balls twelve yards from tlxe pin, then twelve balls fonr yardg from the edge of the green and twerity balls ten yards from the green. Take your putter and start ilOarost tlle flag and putt the first thrce balls. With the reniaining three balls use your mashio and putt with it. With the remaining balls putt one with your putter and the remainder with your mashio. JxiSt think you are putpick the line out just as you Woxxld on the green for your real putter, and you will cultivate touch, dlstance and line for your short approaches. The approach Shot is not a stroke saver. It is THE stroke saver, and THE match Winucr.

Hastings Tournament. The Hastings Cluh's eleventh annual tournament has been fixed for August 26, 27 and 28. and given good weather should be, as m previous years, -a very succossful meeting. Entries close on Monday, August 23, With competitors limited to 96, so players ehould not leave it too late if they seriously wish to compete. , The chief event, of course, is the Hastings amateur ehampionship, of which the present holder is K. Glendining, of the Manawatu Golf Clnb. This event is open to the lowest 16 gross scorers* of two medal rounds played on the opening day, who will play ofE in ecratch match play over 18 holes, including Ihe iinal. The seeond 16 gross scorers will play off similarly on handicap for the Longlands Handieap and the third 16 for the Ngatarawa Handieap. The remaining players will be divided into groups of 16 to play oif itt match play, on handieap^ for group prizes, also the first eight players eliminated from each of the play-off events will be drawn to play oif for flight trophies. Thus there will be three trophies (tlxo winner runner-up and the winncr of the flight) to bo competed for by each 16 players, besides two trophies allotted to each nioming and afternoon play for the whole field. On August 26 there will be a medal handieap in both the nxorning and afternoon. On August 27 there will be a bogey handieap in the morning and Stableford Hundicap in the afternoon. On. August 27 there will be a medal handieap and in the afternoon a fourball bogey handieap. A continuanee putting eompctition will be staged each day of the tournament. The division of the players into groups of 16 and subsequent flights of eight provide that each eompetitor will be certain of two rounds of medal play and two rounds of match play before his chance of a trophy disappears. AltOgether it is a most attractive programme that should attraet a number of golfers from other districts besides a large entry from the elubs in the Hawke's Bay distriet. Saturday Play. Owing to the exodus to Wellingtonto see the Springbok-New Zealand Test match a very limited field took ]iart in medal match on Saturday which also countcd for, ihe Presidcnt's Shield.

The conditions for golf Wdre good, but the scoring was hardly up to the average of reeent games. V. Little (8lr-l'2— 72) headed the A grade trophy list, his nett seore being one below par Und two etrokes better than his nearest oppOnents, "VV. A. Wilson and T, . Garrdd. The best gross scores were returned by T. Garrod (74) and H. X Longstafl! (78) who were the only players to break eighty. The B grade was won by. W. B. Nlcoll (98 — 22—76). , Week-end Game. A Stableford. bogey was played at the week-end. The winner turned . up in H. 3". Longstaff (34), with E. Vesty (34) eecond. FOur players tied for third place with 33 each, namely, A. D. Murphy, S. Bramwell, E. A. Murley and H. A. Eaddin. The bogey match played on Thursday was won by J. B. Eleteher, who returned a card of one-up. Central Hawlce's Bay Notes. The winncr of the bogey match played on Maharakeke linlcs on Saturday turned up in P. L. Pcacoclc, whoso seore of 1 down gave him a fairlv comfortable win from the rest of the field in the senior division. The scora was eompiled entircly of fluft'ed shots, but good ehip ghots and deadly putting, which goes to provo how iiuportant is the work round thc greens; a good putter lia« the bcst scoriug part of ihe gaiuo mastered. In the junior division H. Coats also won with a seore of 1 down, the runnerup being Dan Tareha, ' who seems to like bogey rounds, having won several at tho various tournaments to which he has been. This 14-year-oId son of the mighty Hapi looks like being "pretty hot" when ho gets a bit oldcr, and keeping the name of Tareha in its proud position in golf.