ON THE LINKS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 120, 11 August 1927, Page 9

ON THE LINKS

_ (By

E. C. ROBIESON.).

FIXTURES Saturday, August 13. .^ n *i Matches against Glendowie and Otahuhu. First round champion.land —First round championships. A —Semi-final championships. —Match against Papakura. fJtemata-Bogey, Haycock and Me- '* ie rose bo^l. L „ “ —Second round championships B * m nd medal handicap. tnwie Ladies. —Club championships. Ole" do "‘ e Monday, August 15 tirangi Ladies. —Entries close bogey hsnd ic a -p' ues day, August 16 ckland Ladies.— Second round cham.tlTreehlHUl Ladies.— Open day. OH e Wednesday, August 17 ,-lendowie Ladies.-Third round club cham ursday, August 18 Titlrangi Ladies.-Bogey handicap. Other Events ♦.mher 2 and 10.— New Zealand men’s S4P championships at Hamilton. I nreceding, New Zealand championships- Manawatu tournament. September 24-27. —Glendowie open tour--27-30. —Napier tournament. SeP 29— New Zealand ladles’ SeP ,-hampionships at Palmerston North. October 13-15. —Hamilton tournament. Maungakiekie Club The following team will represent the Maungakiekie Golf Club against Glendowie at the Titlrangi links on Saturd3K Randrup, R. J- Hamilton, H. L. Robson. T. Tysack, A. V. Peace. C. Balrnie, J- Torrens, H. W. Cooke, S. Hunter, E. Burns, W. J. Nolan, T. H. Chapman. Reserve: A. Bailey. The first round of the club championships Will also be played, the draw being as follows: seniors: R. M. George v. M. Nelson, ... i Robinson v. O. L. Martelli, T. A. AVi.ld'lne v. G. Fairburn, A. E. Robinson v R M Dacre, J. Hockin v. A. H. Magj jj. Hunter v. IV. J. A. Thompson, C G. Fisher v. R. McCrystall, S. Morpeth i;' \ C. Anderson. Juniors: A. B. Joplin v. C. McCullough, , j Good V. S. Ballin, H. KeesTng v. E. W. Griffiths, I. C. Stewart v. H. C. Grade: T. Gaskin v. G. White, J. F. ehanlv V A. N. Taylor, K. Beechan ? H Jenkin, W. Webb v. R. Gray. Following is the draw for junior and C grade championship matches to be played at the One Tree Hill links on Saturday:— T _ _ junior: E. A. Take v. J. S. Ranesin, r Wiseman v. F. W. Wilson, H. C. Spinley v. J. Murray. C. R. Jones v. H. "cGrade: F. Newell v. J. W. Tucker, S. Grilles v. H. R. Malcolm, R. Cleghorn v. S. Thornes. G. L. Knight v. W. Calderwood.

Maungakiekie Ladies The handicap medal match played by members of the Maungakiekie Ladies’ Golf Club at One Tree Hill links for Miss J. Easton's trophy was won by Miss Carnachan, with a score of 114 — 32, 82. The following qualified for the handicap match for Mr. Wiseman’s trophy, played in conjunction with the medal match: — A Miss Carnachan, Miss D. Horton, Miss K. Horton, Mrs. Schnauer, Mrs. E>. M. Smith, Mrs Haycock, Mrs. Brown, Miss McGowan, Mrs. Dignan, Miss J. Easton, Mrs. Russell, Mrs. Lovett, Mrs. Horton, Miss Stubbs, Mrs. Burton; Mrs. Frater and Mrs. Eddowes tied for 16th place. The tie which was also played for the senior L.G.U. medal handicap, between Misses Stubbs and Churton, was won by the former. The C grade match was won by Mrs. Baird, with a score of 78 for 13 holes. A C grade match will be played tomorrow. Post entries will be received. Papakura Club The following will represent the Papakura Golf Club against Glendowie at Glendowie on Saturday: J. E. Elliott, Pavitt, Smith, L. Spencer, Chapman, Williamson, Gilmore, Busing, Robbins, Langford, R. Spencer, McLennan, V. Elliott, Jones. Following is the draw for the third round of the club trophy to be played by members of the Papakura Ladies’ Golf Club on Saturday: Miss McLennan v. Miss Wilkins; Mrs. Mcßae v. Miss Harris; Mrs. Urquart v. Mrs. Chapman; Mrs. Naylor v. Mrs. Earl; Miss Elliott v. Miss Noble; Mrs. Langford ▼. Mrs. Johnstone; Miss Campbell v. Mrs. Frances; Mrs. Goddard v. Mrs. Gilmore; Miss Rhind v. Miss O’Callaghan; Mrs. Mullins v. Mrs. Tilston; Mrs. Elliott v. Miss White; Mrs. Pavitt v. Miss Wood; Miss J. Walters v. Mrs. BusiiTg; Miss M. Walters v. Mrs. Foote. The last medal round was won by Mrs. Tilston and Miss Wilkins with Bet scores of 87. Akarana Club The qualifying rounds for the Akarana senior and junior champonships commence on August 20. Entries close next week-end. The draw for the bogey competition °n Saturday is as follows: Karr v. Blythe, H. Brown v. BarraBrett v. Cummins. Wallace v. b u . m f- , Parr v. Goodman, Bailey v. Bun- , Falconer v. Dobson, Yallance v. Sinclair, Gilmore v. Budge, W. F. Joi° mpson v * Ferguson, C. Cox v.

NEAR AND FAR CLUB-ROOM GOSSIP In spite of the wet weather conditions and the thrashing to which the greens were necessarily submitted by play during the few weeks, Middlemore links turned up trumps for Saturday. r Jhe fairways have seldom been better and the greens were excellent—so much so that better scoring might have been expected in the qualifying rounds. The only player to hold up his end was H. B. Lusk, with two rounds under 80, the only scores to break 80 during the day. During the wet weather the machines were kept off the course and the grass got well away, but after the three fine days with a drying wind last week the machines were put out, and the results were extremely good. One Auckland golfer who has been all round New Zealand recently, states that Middlemore greens are better than he saw anywhere. Unfortunately for other courses, few have anything approaching the greens at this particular club.

T. H. Horton, Masterton, is going to be by no means out of the picture at the New Zealand championships. I do not need to remark on the brilliant quality of the golf he played on occasions in Australia, and he is apparently carrying on in Masterton. His most recent rounds there have been 72 and 73, and a by no easy 72 is about the par at Masterton, and bogey 77 or 78. The 72 established a record for the new course at Lansdowne, and he was 5 up on plus 2. The following week-end he went out on plus 3 and finished 4 up, the 73 being produced between these two bogey efforts in a match. * * * Members of the Auckland Golf Club going to the New Zealand championships at Hamilton this year will include H. B. Lusk, R. D. Wright, H. L. Rees, C. A. Bowen, H. W. Tidmarsh, L. W. Delph and W. S. Ralph. * * * A suggestion that the O’Rorke Vase should be decided on the four rounds of the open championship, instead of on the last round only, will be made at the annual conference of delegates of the New Zealand Golf Association at Hamilton. The meeting will be held on the Wednesday evening, during the championships. m • • It is anticipated that the matter of a Dominion system of handicapping will be brought up for discussion at the conference. The New Zealand Council has pointed out some of the difficulties that have to be overcome and the Auckland Club officials recognise that these difficulties are very real. One of the greatest is the application for handicaps by members playing on courses that are virtually paddocks, with greens dotted round, and on which it is difficult to set a handicapping standard, comparable with those of properly constructed and wellmaintained courses. The longer handicaps might not matter to such a great extent, the difficulty being in allotting handicaps that entitle players to compete in the meeting. It appears to me that this might be overcome by making it a provision that handicaps of, say, 6 on certain poor courses could not be reduced without the player submitting cards obtained on a more or less properly constructed course. Courses might be classified as A, B and C class, and C class course players should be required to submit cards returned on B, or, preferably, A class courses. This would be for national handicaps only, the club handicap naturally being decided on club performances. At Masterton on Saturday Masterton beat Hutt by 18 matches to 5. J. L. Black and H. A. Black went down to T. H. Horton and E. W. Perry, 5 and 4. In the singles, Horton beat J. L. Black, 1 up, and H. A- Black retaliated on Perry by beating him 5 and

Two golfers were watching the wretched play of a distant friend. “Jimmie seems to be completely off his game to-day,” commented one. “No wonder,’* said the other, “he’s got a fearful cold in his throat; how can a fellow play golf if he can’t speak?” FORM OF COMPETITION SUGGESTION FOR TITIRANGI It was mentioned in this column last week that Titirangi had become the richer by a very fine silver cup presented by Mr. F. S. Ballin. The only question now remaining is as to what form of competition is to be instituted for the cup. The suggestion is here made to the Titirangi committee that the competition should take the form of a handicap match-play foursome —and not a Canadian foursome either. Titirangi has practically every other form of competition on its programme, but there is missing this foursome play, which is now becoming recognised, the world over, as one of the best of the golfing competitions. Witness the growth of the foursome in the playing of foursomes in the New Zealand v. Australian States matches in the Kirk-Windeyer Cup, and the institution of championship foursomes to be played at the New Zealand championships. The foursomes championships in Australia are really one of the most interesting of the big golf events in the country. Apart from being a pleasant form of competition the effect is excellent, and there is no better game to bring a player on. He may feel fifty-fifty about how he gets on in competitions, but when he has a partner depending on every stroke he makes, the effect is to make him produce the best he has. WHANGAREI TOURNAMENT The Whangarei Golf Club is holding a three-days’ tournament, commencing on August 25. Much the usual type of programme will be presented. On August 25 there will be a 36-hole qualifying medal, with a handicap event in conjunction with the first round, and a flag match in conjunction with the second. On the next day there will be a bogey handicap in the morning, and a medal handicap in the afternoon, as well as the first and second rounds of the championship. Semi-finals, and the final will be played on the third day, with a bogey in the morning, and a four-ball best ball bogey in the afternoon.

Incidents That Mar Pleasure of the Game Unending Series in Auckland Lead to Many Disputes At a men's golf tournament there are usually some arguments, or at least discussions over disputed happenings. At a women’s tournament there is one continuous discussion over a continuous lot of happenings. The three-day tournament of the Titirangi Ladies’ Club last week saw the players in their best form in this respect. They thrashed out everything from handicaps to what happened at Middlemore last season—at least there must have been something at Middlemore last season or sometime, because it came into the discussions. It started off with some heart-burn-ings over handicaps. One or two players did well enough to “reduce* —that oft repeated word at all women’s events. Unfortunately she, or they, had omitted the small but apparently necessary precaution of “signing” before going out. The question that cropped up then was as to whether it was necessary to sign at this particular tournament —whether it was an open tournament or not. As far as I know it is unsolved yet, but the players haven’t reduced. The women have a great handicapping system, but it is terribly difficult to keep in touch with all its regulations. A FULL BANQUET The second day was fairly quiet, but oh, what a feast on the last day! Proceedings opened about noon, when several players in a four-ball game came in, having scored stroke records on their cards, instead of bogey. Apparently they had made some unsuccessful inquiries before going out, and had not thought it a wise precaution to keep all their scores until they found out what sort of competition they were playing. Then there was some discussion about a ruling in the senior championship final, where Mrs. Dufaur, doing the usual thing, played a provisional ball at the Whau, after having put her first down the “donga.” The umpire ruled that her second ball must be considered as the ball in play—contrary to rules. Unfortunately the first ball was in a good position, and the second was quite unplayable. Mrs. Dufaur accepted the ruling like a sportswoman —but that didn’t stop the ensuing discussion. SOMEONE “BUTTED IN” But this was followed by one of the players in the junior final losing a ball, and being informed by the umpire that that meant lost hole —which was, of course, erroneous, the “lost ball, lost hole” idea having been abandoned several years ago. One of the spectators “butted in” to correct the ruling, and there ensued a short sharp battle of words, in which the umpire said she hadn’t wanted the job anyhow, but now that she had it interference was in the nature of things that are unpopular. Of course there ensued afterwards a bandying of words that engaged most of the people in the club. For all I know it is going on yet. Moreover this did not complete the incidents of the day. As I heard it one of the players was disqualified for returning a card totalled up wrongly, though in other ways correct. If that was so the disqualification could barely be justified, and was a misfortune as the same player had been disqualified twice previously through no fault of her own. The committee is responsible for correct additions. Truly there is no lack of subjects for discussion this week. WELL, PERHAPS NOT On second thoughts, and in view of further happenings, I am inclined to revise the expressions in the first paragraph of this article, for Saturday afternoon provided a series of incidents in the qualifying round of the men’s championships at the Titirangi Club, that gave rise to equally as much dissention as on any day at the ladies’ event. , . Two of the players reversed their cards and put in the wrong scores, each of the players apparently scoring his own card, or neglecting to change the cards before going out. Two cards were put in without being signed, and another player lost several strokes through ignorance of the rules. In connection with the unsigned cards there is no option but to disqualify the two players. In this connection the only exception to the rule, that has ever been allowed, was in the case where a player asked to see his card before it was put in, and the marker put it in without showing him. JUST LACK OF KNOWLEDGE The case of lack of knowledge of rules was, strangely, almost identical with the case in the ladies’ final, when the umpire ruled—quite improperly that because a second ball had been played at the short Whau hole on the possibility of the first shot being unplayable, the second ball was the one in play. In the men’s case the player found that he did not know the rules when he had got to the stage of having played two balls from the tee, and he therefore played out both. With the first ball I think he got an 8, and with the second a 5. The decision was that the first ball must be counted—which was but the due of the player. He should make a point of knowing the rules if he has got to the stage of trying to qualify for championships. This matter of provisional balls was quite clearly set out in Rule 22. which states:— , ~ , “In order to save delay, if a ball has been played on to a part of the course where it is likely to be lost or unplayable, the player may at once play another ball, in the manner provided for in this rule, but if the first ball be neither lost nor unplayable it shall continue in play without penalty.” PLAYER THE JUDGE Incidentally the player is the only judge of whether his ball is unplayable, and a lost ball is governed by the fiveminute rule, so that there are no loopholes, and no disputes. Regrettable as it may seem the knowledge of the rules, even among the leading players—not only in Auckland, but all over New Zealand —is deplorably lacking. Another card showed a 6 at one hole, and should have shown 9. The sixth stroke was a six-inch putt. Playing this the player stood on the opposite side of the hole, and with the back of his putter dragged the ball into the hole with two distinct movements. This should, therefore, have been counted two putts instead of one, plus a penalty of two strokes under Stroke Rule 14. Boiled down, the whole thing comes to this: That there would be a considerably lesser number of disputes if players knew the rules, and observed them. NEW STYLE LULLABY Husli-a-by, baby, pretty one sleep, Daddy’s gone golfing to win the club sweep, If he plays nicely—l hope that he will— Mother will show him her dressmaker’s bill. Hush-a-by, baby, safe in your cot, Daddy’s come home and his temper is hot; Cuddle down closer, baby of mine, Daddy went round in a hundred and nine. —“Boston Transcript."

FREAKY GOLF QUEER SHOTS BY FAMOUS PLAYERS INTENTIONAL AND UNINTENTIONAL When you make a queer shot in golf and get good results do not be downhearted. Do not be cast down because something in the way of a stroke that you never intended cut a couple of strokes off your round. Do not think that the great players never do that sort of thing. They most decidedly do. Read of these few incidents, and be of good heart, for they have all come from the clubs of famous players. Last August the crowds watched Leo Diegel, the defender, driving off at the 11th hole, and the crowds saw a shot that annihilated some 340yds of the 515yds to the hole. In the afternoon the champion delighted the spectators by doing much the same thing, but adding another 10yds on to the distance. It looked line. But the real story was told by Diegel afterward, when he said they were the freakiest shots he had ever played. It was not what he meant to do at all. Playing in practice he had put every ball at the 11th over a fence out-of-bounds to the left. His intention in the championship was to play his tee shots out to the right on to the 12th fairway, which provided a good line to the 11th hole. He pulled both of them back on to the 11th. The peculiar thing was that this was the only hole at which he hooked them. At all the other holes he was hard down the fairway. HORSE A GROWING OBJECT A Scot, by the name of Anderson, a few years ago on a Scottish course, accepted a bet that he could hit a horse some 200yds away, with a midiron shot. He did —much to the indignation of the horse. One of the best horse stories concerns a match in which Vardon and J. H. Taylor were playing in a foursome, Vardon’s partner being Lady Wemyss. The Earl of Weymss, mounted on a horse rode along to watch them. The Earl was a stickler for the rules of the game, and at one hole he rode ahead of the foursome, and stopped near the green. Lady Weymss hit a ball which finished under the horse. Taylor waited a moment for the Earl to move away, but he did not do so, and on being requested to do so replied that his horse was something growing on the links, and as such could not be moved. Taylor played the shot, but his attention was apparently very much divided between the ball and the animal’s hoofs. QUICK THINKING Tommy Armour, recent winner of the American Open, combined quick thinking and acting in the final of the 1920 Shawnee invitation tournament. At a 460 yd hole, against the wind his down-swing was already in action when the ball started to fall back off the tee. Too late to stop Armour apparently sensed the danger of the position and acted accordingly. He accelerated his saving, and was through before the ball was finished falling. He hit it so far that he had only a mashie to the green. He won. EAGLES AND MOAS Carl Lindgreen committed the indiscretion that resulted in this article. .A a California course a few weeks ago he did two holes in succession in an aggregate of five strokes under par. He made a 506 yd hole in two, followed this by doing the next, 365yds, in another two. MIRACULOUS FINISH Duncan, Herd, Ray. and Vardon — what a four-ball! —were playing a fourball at Coombe Hill a few years ago, and were all square going to the 18th. Everyone played the hole badly but Herd, who was on the green in two. Ray had hooked his tee shot, and was in the rough, with a large tuft of grass behind the ball and overhanging it. It looked almost unplayable, particularly in the direction of the hole. But Ray is a powerful man. He took out a heavy iron, scattered the tuft to the four winds, and hit the ball 190yds. Then, just to show that he was versatile, he sank a 90ft putt for a three and a win. DANNEVIRKE TOURNEY GOSS WINS FINAL BRILLIANT MATCH Dannevirke players and spectators were accorded a golfing treat in the final of the Southern Hawke’s Bay champion on Saturday, when J. Goss, Wanganui, ex-New Zealand champion, beat Kape Tarelia 2 up. Goss beat J. L. Black in the semifinal 4 up and 3, after starting devastatingly by winning the first four holes, the first two in the aggregate three strokes under bogey. Black reduced this to two at the turn, but never recovered. Tarelia beat the Dannevirke player, E. Knight, 5 and 3. leading all the way. In the final Goss was two up in the first few holes, and by the eighth was three up. He lost the ninth, but held a two-up advantage at the twelfth, but Tareha, amid excitement, evened the score during the next few holes. The next was halved, but the seventeenth saw Tareha’s tee shot astray, and a penalty in manuka cost him the hole. Tareha was on the last in two, Goss being through. Goss came back hard, hit the hole, and stayed dead, though his ball was really due for the other side of the green. Tareha went for the hole, and missed it, and, taking two more, finished two down. The qualifying scores in the tournament were: J. L. Black (Wellington). 79—78, 157. K. Tareha (Xapier). 83—79. 162. E. Knight. (Dannevirke). 80—85, 165. J. Goss (Wanganui), 84—S3. 167. H. A. Black (Wellington), 86—81, 167. D. R. Pliarazyn’ (Napier), 82—86. 168. L. W. Bishop (Waipukurau), 89—S3, 172. R. S. Moore (P.X.), 85—88, 173. F Fryer (Hastings), 86—88, 174. T Saunders (Wanganui). 90—84. 174. .7 M. Hussey (Wanganui), 91—84. 175. X. P. Green (Dannevirke). 87 —88. 175. J. Hape (Dannevirke), 91—85, 176. J. A. Gunningham (Dannevirke), 87— 90, 177. W. Desha (Xapier). 88—90, 178. C. Riddell (Waipukurau), 84—94, 178. HOLIDAY BENT Messrs. A. E. M. Rhind, secretary at Middlemore, and W. B. Colbeck, another of the Middlemore members, are leaving Auckland next month for a month in Sydney, and perhaps other Australian cities. It is their intention to make it a golfing holiday, and they hope to play on as many of the Xew South Wales courses as the time permits—besides, of course, seeing a bit of Sydney and suburbs.

GOLF ASSOCIATION YEAR’S FINANCES Press Association. WELLINGTON, Wednesday. The annual report of the council of the New Zealand Golf Association, to be submitted at tne annual meeting at Hamilton on September 27, states that the total revenue for the year was £992 0s 2d, the levy for ladies having been reduced tto one shilling. The ordinary expenditure was £899 17s 4d, and the cost of the visit to Sydney of the Kirk-Windeyer Cup team £2OB 10s 2d, thus showing an excess of expenditure over revenue of £ll6 7s 4d. The balance sheet shows a surplus of assets amounting to £253 13s lid. During the year 13 clubs joined the association, the membership being 134, as against 123 last year, and 109 in the previous year. Since the close of the year three further clubs had been elected.