Big Golf Match.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 16, 9 May 1914, Page 5

Big Golf Match.

RUBBER GORE WINS. THE SANDY LODGE TEST. Kow the Great Four Played. Details are to hand by the English mail concerning the great test match played at Sandy Lodge between the best professional golfers, playing against each other alternately with the old gutty, and with the modern rubber core ball. The result of the match, say the files, was to prove incontestably the superiority of the rubber core, but to leave in doubt the question whether Vardon and Duncan are superior to Taylor and Braid. On the final issue the Bardon pair beat the Braid pair by 1 up in a 36 hole match, but the real isst«G is that the rubber core beat the gutty by 5 holes in the first round, and 4 in the second. The scores were:— [First Hound.—Taylor and Braid, playing gutty. Out ... 54 35 5 4324—35 Home ... 4354 45363—37 Total 72 Vardon and Duncan playing rubber core:— Out ... 453 4443 34—34 Home ... 24434 3552—32 Total 66 Second Round. Vardon and Duncan, playing gutty: Out ... 553 5552 34—37 Home ... 455452 353—36 Total 73 Braid and Taylor, playing rubber core: — : Out ... 5434 46333—34 Home ... 344 453453—35 Total 69 Henry Leach, in "The Daily Telegraph," declares that such men as Braid, Taylor, Vardon, and Duncan could not in their respective turns prevent themselves from losing on the balance of 9 holes in 36 with the old ball, and so its inferiority was well demonstrated. Vardon and Duncan had rubber cores in the morning against their rivals with the gutties, and in the afternoon Braid and Taylor took to newer balls, while the other pair were relegated to things that flourished in the last century, the result being that Vardon and his associate were 5 tip at lunch, and then lost all but lj in the afternoon, thus winning on the day by 1 hole.

One of the most interesting features of the day's programme was the driving tests. Each of the four players took two balls of each kind, and drove his best with them. The longest distance was achieved by Braid, who drove the rubber-cored ball -a little over 278, yards, while Duncan, with a gutty, just passed the 2-10 yards' mark. These were the best achieve,ments, and they were fine ones. All day the gutty was badly beaten in the long game, not once, except by accident, did it get anywhere near tho other ball. "With the brassey there is no man better than James Braid, and yesterday the way in which he worked his wood on to the dull and difficult solid ball was admirable. Though ho was ultimately on the losing side, I think he got a little more satisfaction out of this business than anyone else did. One time from the tee ho suffered from a touch of slice in his strike, and I saw his ball lying rather heavily in rough grass. It was a dangerous lie for a wooden club, even had the ball been a rubber core, yet with his brassy this master in .resource despatched it in a way that suggested that even lead would not hinder him from his length. Generally all the four players when their time came adapted themselves very well to the solid ball, though they carried no special clubs with old-time lofts upon them. They had occasionally extra truble when bunkered, finding that the gutty woidd not rise so quickly from the sand as they had calculated. It did not appear that men who .played with the gutties fell in love with them. Taylor, who mourned the old ball on its relegation more than any other man, seemed happiest when dealing with the gay and obliging thing that has taken its place.

In "The Times," Bernard Darwin says: "The vivid impression left on my mind is that golf with the gutty is not so much a game for the strong hitter as for the accurate hitter. The [ gutty repays absolute trueness ofj striking in a way the rubber core can j never do. Many spectators who were, bred on the gutty may have reflected! with cheerful vanity during the last few years that as they had grown older they had mastered their youthful tendency to slice. Such, I confess, is my own ridiculous case. Yesterday revealed the secret of that suppos-1 ed improvement when we saw a ball, apparently cleany and truy hit swerve quite a long way to the right from just the merest suspicion of cut, with no cross wind to accentuate it. We realised how much the rubber core has done to help the 'sloppy' player who does not hit crisply. The enormous disparity between the two balls with the iron clubs was very noticeable. There is one little hole, the eighth, no more than 105 yards long, and here the rubber men could hardly flick or chip the ball with a light enough touch; but the gutty needed a solid, honest hit with the mashie. The distance gained by the rubber core with the irons was much more i remarkable than with the wood, though that was considerable. Apart

from statistics, however, the hard work of hitting the gutty was most impressive. There was Braid in th» morning round-playing the gutty game as brilliantly as any human being has ever played it, and holding his own with adversaries who had the rubber core; but it appeared to he a prodigious and superhuman feat of strength."