GOLF.

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 11 August 1909, Page 64

GOLF.

>OTES BY BULGER.

Saturday was far from being an ideal day for golf, a piercing cold wind from the south making things most unpleasant for those competing for the monthly medal at Balmacewen. Despite the adverse weather conditions Hamilton and Basil Smith returned two excellent scores of 80 and 82 respectively, Basil winning the competition from scratch. His score included 6 threes. Hamilton played steadily throughout, and his plus 4 just put him out of the competition. J. H. Nimnio, who has been playing remarkably well of late, easily succeeded in annexing the Silver Cross. Following are the best cards handed in: —

The American champion, Jerome D. Travers, writing in Golf Illustrated, saye: — On the value of good putting I think we Americans lay more stress than is done iv England- When the greens are thoroughly reliable, and one may extract from them results which correspond exactly with the skill displayed in using the putter, it ie obvious that good putting must count for a very great deal. It is far better to , he able to lay the long- approach putts "dead" than to outdrive aji opponent by 20 yarde. A yard on the green is often of more value than 50 off it. As a rule American greens a.re smaller than thos^ I have seen here. And, as I am told, I may expect to see even larger greens in other parts, the necessity s&ems all the greater to my mind, at any rate, that putting should- be cultivated as a special department. On liberal-sized greens I reckon the man who can makes sure of being dead, and can hole out the short putts invariably, ie a match for anyone. In employing the phrase "dead" I .Jo so relatively. Unless a player is very sure of the shorter putta he has no right to consider himself "dead" under any circumstances. And the missing: of a very odd putt now and then doss not in the sense I employ the word in prevent him speaking of his being ''dead." Most golfers say the big hitter off the tee is the ir.an who frightens his opponent. I say that he who consistently Mms down good putts is a more intimidating obstacle Ihan the most powerful driver extant. Where big greens exist the long- run up tt the hole is bound to be one of the most telling j shots of aIL. i

If there is one lesson more apparent than any other which the result of the Open Championship teaches it is the j futility of talking and writing about the j "to old at 40" theory of the industrial j world in its application to golf. That theory, at any rate, will not 6uit the physical fitness of the present race of our best professional players. Taylor and Braid, though on the verge of their fortieth year, is each playing a game whioh, taken all through, is as g-ood. consistent, and brilliant as any £ame they have produced within the past 15 years. As was said of a greater name in the world's history tha.n either of our great golfers, "Age does not wither, nor custom stale their infinite variety"; and, looking at the playing resources which each revealed at Deal last week, there seems certainly to be no adequate reason to doubt that both Taylor and Braid are quite capable of keeping well in the front rank for another 10 years of hard play to come. Those observers, indeed, who saw most of the play at close quarters agree in stating that there was a peculiar distinction and finish about the play of the older professionals whioh that of the younger aspirants notably lacked. Many of the younger men played exceptionally brilliant scores for one* two, or even three rounds, but when the strain, nervous as well as physical, began to tell upon them, they laoked just that indefinable quality of "spring" and resolute doggedmess of temperament, without which eventual success in the waging- of 6uoh a keen struggle can never be attained. It is, therefore, too early yet in the case of players of the calibre and resource of Taylor and Braid to murmur under the breath the familiar tag about the veteran lagging superfluous ! on the golfiing stage. In the whole history of ±he Open Championship no player has appeared wiho has shown such a consistently brilliant record of scoring as Taylor. In 1894 and 1895 he won the Championship, tied with Vardon in 1896, and lost in playing off, but won a third time in 1900. In 1904 Bmm and Taylor tied for second place at Sandwhich; Taylor was second to Braid n 1905, being five strokes behind ; in 1906 he was again second to Braid with four 6trokea behind - y in 1907 he was second to Massy with two strokes behind; in 1908 he dropped- to seventh place, and this year at Deal Taylor, ' in the leading position, was six strokes ahead of Ball and Braid in the tie for the second place. A few days afterwards Taylor won his second consecutive victory in the French Open Championship, beating Braid by one stroke. That is a noteworthy record 1 of steady and brilliant play. Of the men in the younger school j of professionals Ball undoubtedly shows a steadily-improving form. He is 12 years younger than Braid and Taylor." He was . fourteenth in the Open Championship of 1906, seventh in 1907, and second in the tournaments of the last two years. His style is clean and attractive, and, taken all through, he is probably a better and more steady putter than either Taylor or Braid. But after watching him it ie impossible not to carry away the convictior that in the hurly-burly of a strenuous competition he Has scarcely the physical resources in his short and siightly-builfc stature to withstand a prolonged strain. All kinds of explanations are given to account for the decadence of Braid's game after the qualifying round© tiad been completed, avid the actual cotttest for the Championship entered upon. One explanation is that he was unfortunately drawn with Duncan, and between the 1 two, being long- drivers, there was a mutual rivalry to let it be understood that neither was willing to play t&e odd to the other off the tee. In this way the hooked shots of Braid into the rouph are accounted for. Another explanation is that Braid, the most angelic of players, was seriously put or* of temper at the second hole in the opening round of the Championship by a garrulous spectator, who would insist upon making audible criticisms of the player's shots. At this second hole, which, after all. seemed to be the turning- point of Braid's game, he tried to get down a long putt for a 4, overran the hole, and missed the putt hack. The spectator ejaculated. "Oh! hard lines," whereupon Braid, with unwonted heat, retorted upon his tormentor, "Will you etop talking?" Some of the elements that go to make up the modern, golf crowd are like the doctrine of effectual calling in the Shorter Catechism: they are beyond the wit of che ordinary -practical citizen to understand, and one is really forced to wonder why they so needlessly cumber the ground. They move habitually on the etroke, they run hither and thither like scared deer, -they talk at the top of their voices, they clap" their hands in offensively disconcerting applause, and_ thej criticise the player rouiid green when, he ie striving his hardest to save a stroke on his score. Every important golf match would be the better played if some effective means could be devised to pass a. golf crowd of men and women through the selective sieve of, at any rate, a nodding, practical acquaintance with the game and its etiquette.— Field. After yesterday's play for the Otago Ladies' Golf Club's senior gold medal, the following were among the best cards handed in : —

ST. CLAIR GOLF CLUB. Tho fourth annual report of the St. Clair Golf Club says the year closes with a menihership of 92, as against 84 at tho end of the previous yoar. The finances of tho club are in a very satisfactory s^tato, there beine a substantial incroaso on the previous 12 month*. Duriiur the year Mr F. H. Pope l&signed from th^ secretaryship and committee, and Mr W. Hamilton Irvine and Mr A. L. I'-aac* were appointed rrepectivelv to fill the vacancies. Mr H. L Ferguson also resigned from ths committ^o during tho yoar. Tho club's professional j — Mr Milliner — loft at Ihe comnipncinrnt of the season, and his place was taken by Mr James Watt for a period of four months. The question of employing a professional for i n xt <s»ason should engage j the attention r' the. incoming committee. ' The various co .petitions were carried out with much sucefs during tb.2 season. During the yoar an agreement was come to with the owners of the links by which the club has— at the cxpirv of tho existing term— a further W-se of the property for seven years. This eytisfaclo.-y arrange- j

ment has permitted the committee to bring the erection of the long-proposed golf house to a successful issue. The club's thanks are due to those members who *co readily came forward and took up debentures, thus enabling the committee to accomplish this improvement. The club's thanks jare du.e to the House and Grounds Committee and the handicapper for the valuable work done by them during the year, to the Ladies' Cflub for contributions to the funds, to Mr J C. Marshall for donation to prize fund, and to Messrs White and Lyders for granting free use of their lands fer playing purposes.

I Mrs Turnbull w. Mrs Ward Miss K. Battray .. Miss Goukl Miss M. Law ... iii-3 Butterworth ... Gross. 10+ 100 99 103 116 114 Hep. Net 16 88 10 90 5 9* 8 95 18 98 16 98

In the Gold Croee. Gross. Hp. B. J. Smith ... 82 — W. Pag«fc Gale... 99 16 H. C. Smith ... 80 plus 4 F. Reading ... 100 16 John A. Cook .. 100 1* J. 0. Kettle ... 91 * H. A. Salmon . , 89 1 H. Braseh ... 9* 5 J. Laiog ... 105 16 W. F. Edmond 105 16 Net. 82 83 8* 8* 86 87 88 89 89 89 In the Silver C^oes. J. H. Nimmo . . 106 2* H. J. Reeves 105 18 82 87