PULLS AND SLICES

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 253, 17 June 1932, Page 6

PULLS AND SLICES

GOLF NOTES It is very satisfying to the committee of the Rotorua Golf Club to see the keener interest being taken this year in the competitions by the club mernbers. Players in the men's section of the club have now been divided into two groups, one of which plays on Saturday and the other on Wednesday. The average number of Saturday players who take part in the weekly competitions is fifty and the Wednesday group has grown during the past few weeks to twenty. Another encouraging feature of this season's activities is the improved standard of play. This is partly attributed to the beneficial practice pbtained by mernbers during the week on the handy nine-hole course in the Government Gardens. The opinion has been expressed by several of the older mernbers of the club that one important advantage which will be derived from the new Government course, when it is completed, is that many of the beginners will confine their activities to this area before they join the club. This will mean that most of the new mernbers of the club will not be absolutely new chums, for they will test their liking for th« on the cheaper course, and as a result the general standard of play on the Arikikapakapa course will be considerably raised. The stormwater draining which wai, being carried out around number six green has now been completed. This makes two greens that have received attention to prevent flooding. N further work in this direction is to be carried out at present, but the committee is keeping an eye on the result of the system used in these two areas with a view, if they are successful, of adopting a comprehensive scheme for the draining of the whole course. The committee is confident, however, of satisfactory results, as the work was carried out by two men with long experience of drainage schemes and their problems, in the Rotorua district. It has been suggested that certain mernbers of the Rotorua Golf Club form themselves into a subsidiary body to be known as the "Hole-in-One Club, as since the beginning of _ the season the number who have qualified for .admission is almost enough to ensure its success. Another golfer, E. Fenton, managed to pass the necessary test recently, when his tee shot on the sixth was all that was required for that hole. It cost him the usual penalty for his indiscretion. Rumour is rife that a member of the veterans' class also holed his tee shot this time on the seventeenth, but his clubmates are still in the dark as to the true facts of the case, and eagerly await confirmation. A new move has recently been made by the committee to make the par of the Rotorua course conform to that of other courses which are sometimes visited by team scomposed of local mernbers. The new par is 69, but for the time being the club is still working on 71. The handicaps, however, have been adjusted to the 69 par, so that each member now has an addition to his handicap of two or more strokes. The handicap limit now stands at 30 for the men. The first round of the "Ngakonui" Macdonald Cup competition has now been completed, although one draw has yet to be played off. The results to date are as follows: — E. Fenton defeated D. Jervis, 3 and 1; N. Smith defeated H. Parata, 3 and 2; Col. Mellor defeated A. Anderson, 3 and 1; W. Kusabs and H. Hamilton, all square; Spedding, Jr., defeated Marshall, one up; M. D. Carr defeated E. La Trobe Hill, 4 and 3; E. H. Hill defeated C. Worthington, 2 and 1; W. T. Pakes defeated S. E. Carr, two up. The second round will be played this week-end. An interesting one-club match played on Wednesday resulted in some excellent cards being returned, considering the handicap of the conditions. The best cards were: S. Smith, 98 — 24 — 74; R. Jones, 100 — 24 — 76; Robinson, 100 — 24 — 76; Redhead, 92 — • 16—76. Walker Cup. Five of the eight amateur golfers who have been chosen to represent Great Britain in the Walker Cup match with the United States this year are under 30 years of age. The : last British team which met the Americans for the cup, and which crashed badly, contained only one player under that age. A Freak Round. One of the most amazing rounds ever seen in championship golf was played at St. George's, Sandwich, in the third round of the British amateur ; championship. The player responsible for so startling an achievement as 31 out and a score six under 4's for the eleven holes of the match, is W. H. Elkins, a Civil servant in the Malay I States, where he is a manager of railways. He performed this phenomenal feat against C. Hardman, of Bury, one j of Lancashire's most prominent players, who lost by 9 and 7. Elkins, a middle-aged, athletic-looking man, was at Bulawayo for some time, and then went to Singapore. He is now the champion of Malaya. His round was what may be described as a freakish effort, which is not likely to happen again. His figures, startling to any one who has played over St. George's, are as follows: — Out: 44344 2433 — 31; in 43— a total of 38 for the eleven holes, as against' a scratch score of 46. He needed only one putt on no fewer than five greens. Kirk Windeyer Cup A change is needed in the Australian management and conduct of the Kirk- Windeyer Cup golf eofhpetition, says an Australian critic. The present position is most unsatisfactory. When the matches were instituted the annual contest was hailed as the first step by the two countries coneerned, in entering the realm of international golf. It was hoped that the Kirk-Windeyer 'matches would eventually work up to Walker Cup teams for Australia -and New Zealand, or perhaps a combined one from Australasia, but the history, of KirkWindeyer golf from the Australian side has been one of apathy, smallmindedness, wrangling, and indifferent management. New Zealand has officially and unofficially been single.ninded and keen. New South Wales i.as all the time been keen. Victor"an players have evinced interest, ,and spasmodically the governing

) -- ■ rrr— " — body has taken a passing interest. The other States have so far taken no active interest. Until the KirkWindeyer Cup, is, from the Australian side, handled by a national body, and until conditions of play and so forth are left entirely to that body, the New Zealand-Australian golf piatch will remain the half measure of near-farce that it has been. If, instead of donors and friends and others getting together and attempting to run this really worth-while thing, the A.G.U. and the N.Z.G.C. officially took it over, and worked harmoniously to make it a success, the annual match could develop into one of the outstanding golf fixtures in this part of the world.