GOLF

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 7 August 1929, Page 8

GOLF

NELSON CLUB

NOTES FROM VARIOUS SOURCES

The Week's Fixtures. Friday: Ladies, no,official match. Saturday: Men; third round Elieoun ter Shield.

Four. Hall Cumpctitiim. Entries For the corn petition close on Saturday noxt. Tin first competition resulted in some interesting and close games!

Ladies' Championship The draw fur the Indies' chjjfipiouship will !»' made slioi'tly. ■ The limii of' the ladies! knock-out tournament will be played next week between Miss Muckay and Miss Leggoe.

I<e>Hnndicaps. Tin! Following rc-haiulieaps have been made by the committee: Martin in 14/11; Mauuscll, to 20/15.

Encounier Shield. The third round of the Encounter Shield will be played on* Saturday.

Vetcrp.ns' Championship. In the Rotornu GolF. Club's tournament this year, a. veterans' championshi]i has been included. This is a competition open to players of lifly-live, years.and over. The limit might easily have been raised to sixty, as there arc many players of fifty-five in New Zealand* who'can play very close to scratch score, and tliis could hardly bo classed as veterans' play.

Worthy Ambitions. Ilorton Smith, the phenomenal young American golfer, lias worthy ambitions. He is using golf to an. end. Ho desires moro education and is making money at golf to obtain it. When he has attained bis object, he proposes to seek admittance to the ranks of Iho amateurs, as he 'locs not intend to go on making his living usiii golf professional. In the past year or so' Ilorton Smith has won 10 'championship;!, including the open 'of France.

Too Much Rigidity. "Though in most strokes that go wrong the fault occurs at the top of the swing, the manner in which the club is started hack Is very important. One tiling I have noticed about many players lis that, in many instances, the hands arc held too high when going off the tee. "This is caused through standing 100 upright. There-is not sufficient,'give'-at tluvknees, and generally there is a suggestion of too much rigidity about the bodv. To players who have go! into the habit of standing up and over the ball in this manner; T would say, 'Sit down toil'." TT-Georgc Gadd.

Potting. Any golfer who co-ordinates well ami who 'often takes more than thirty-six putts in one round does so simply through ignorance of the. basic, principles of putting. Carelessness is a.contributing 'factor, but carelessness in putting is a lapse, of co-ordination. A golfer should bo as' careful in choosing a putter as he is .in selecting a driver or any other club in his bag- Many players carry, two puttors—one of lighter weight than Iho other —to use for long and sTTort distances .just as they carry a masliic and mashieniblick. The average putting green today often requires one long putt of considerable distance. To get distance with a light putter means that control is sacrificed, and that the player is often far over the Hole. A remedy is suggested whereby the same length of time devoted to practice with a heavy-headed putter will yield vastly better results than with the lighter clubs. .

The Australian Open. Australian writers give Rufus Stewart, the big Kooyong professional, who won the title in 1927, a great chance in the Australian Open .-.Championship to bo played at Adelaide'this month. In a recent match on these same links Stewart followed up a morning round of 71 with a 73 in the afternoon., winning the event bv six strokes from a field that included all the best, amateurs and professionals of the State. However, regardless of the Australian writers, who do not seem to attach true merit to Ivo Whitton's play, ii looks from a distance that he will be as hard as any professional in "the field, and yet, respecting Ids play as wc do, if Andy Shaw once gets his* feet on the ground and gets about (wo balls awav right, the final between Whitton and Shaw will be well.worth watching.

How to Start. Abe Mitchell is.one of the great, players who maintain that beginners should start at the putting green and then take. Up the' mashie. His idea is that the shorter the first club the better; He says: "Keep the left elbow and arm firm and taut and grip appreciably harder with the left hand'than witli the right. Don't attempt to move back the club head. Move the hands and keep them together, with no wrist movement whatever. In practice watch (be club bead as it goes back and see if it turns away from the ball, which it should do. Keep the left elbow, well into the body and move the hands away from the: ball."

The Press and Golf. Where golf ranks in public interest m the United States may be judged from the fact that newspaper reporters at the Winged Foot course. Mamaroneck, NewYork, telegraphed 750,000 words about the American open championship. At everv third tee there was a telephone to facilitate' the sending out of progress figures No other sporting event _ rereives the same amount of attention from the Press, which means that no other event, claims so large a body of keenly interested readers.