On Ike Links Notes for Golfers

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 796, 17 October 1929, Page 6

On Ike Links Notes for Golfers

By

SLOW-BACK.

Auckland Golf i Another fine week-end with weather and courses in excellent condition! Auckland has not lived up to its old reputation for wet week-ends for quite a long time. Titirangi sent- a team down to Glendowie and gauged its strength to a nicety, each side winning six games. T. A. Goulding proved j equal to tackling C. Allcott on the latter’s own course—usually a fairly hard job. He won on the last green by 2 up. A bogey match was provided for those not playing in the teams match, and cricketers will be interested to see that N. C. Snedden and A. E. Slomaii tied for first with 1 down. Why let of these cricketers didn’t start golf long ago I can’t imagine, but at least, they are getting a lot of fun out of *it now. At Titirangi a four-ball bogey was the attraction, and the card 01 6 up returned by T. Goudie and X. McLean represents some very useful golf. W. J. Thomson and A. C. McArthur were close up with 5 down. The Junior and <’ grade championships were also duly cleaned up. In the former J. Rankin defeated X. McLean by 3 and 2 after a well-fought contest, and in the latter a strenuous match finished only on the 36th green, where A. E. Saunders was 1 up on A. E. McKeown. A play-off for a medal match emphasised the fact that R. M. Dacre is making striking progress, his card of 82, 12—70 being too good for that of E. E. Beeton, with net 75. The return inter-club match between the Auckland and Maungakiekie Clubs will be played at Middlemore next Saturday and, if the weather is fine, it should be a red-letter day. The first match of this year played at Titirangi resulted in a fine win for Maungakiekie. but the Auckland Club has some confidence that at Middlemore there will be a different result. Both clubs will be very strongly represented. and in the top match S. Morpeth will be playing R. D. Wright. The match will be played over the full course, which was opened for play last Saturday for the first time. The new holes are all excellent and I may have something to say of their characteristics and strategy next week. They 1 present the most modern ideas of course architecture. The Auckland Club championships are now getting on, but there are still two matches to be played in the second round. R. G. Rainger took on a heavy day’s work on Saturday. In the morning he played his first round match and defeated J. P. Aldred by 5 and 4, largely by his excellent putting. In the afternoon lie played Dr. F. Macky in the second round, but found the latter in one of his good moods and was beaten by 2 and 1. Dr. Macky’s length gave him a decided advantage and, though Rainger’s putting was as efficient as usual, his opponent gave nothing away on the greens. C. M. Gordon, who has been laid up, signalised his return to the course by narrowly defeating R. O. Gardner in the first round by 1 up. W. S. Ralph had a hard match with W. A. Donald, being 2 down with 4 to play. He finished in excellent style with four 4’s and won by 2 up, Donald falling away rather badly at the end. The second round matches between H. Plumley and W. N. Abbott and E. L. Bartleet and C. M. Gordon have still to be, played, if everybody plays true to handicap—a most unlikely thing to happen—Ralph and Plumley should be the finalists. The junior championships are down to the semi-final stage. J. P. Ewen, J. B. Elliot, F. Dawson and A. L. Stedman are still in. The final of the Hamilton Club championship, which has been awaiting the return of J. L. Black from the New Zealand meeting, has now been decided. W. Wynne has had a good season and has made sound improvement. but be could hardly be expected to hold J. L. Black, and so it proved. The scores in a medal match last Saturday would seem to show that the handicaps want a little adjusting, but perhaps they are waiting—like some other clubs—for the player to beat the scratch score some five times. A joke seems to have been played at Wanganui by putting J. Goss on 3. He finished in a bogey 7 up.

The Same Old Flag-Stick An incident in the Morpeth—Cathro match in the recent amateur championship at Wanganui would seem to show that despite all our efforts there are still many people ignorant of the flag-stick rule. What happened, according to our informant, was this: Morpeth was about 30 yards from the pin and Goss, who was umpiring the game, asked him if he would have the stick taken. Morpeth naturally preferred that it should bo left alone and, nothing else happening, he played, hit the stick and lay dead, and to add insult to injury laid Cathro a stymie. His ball would probably have gone on ten feet or more, and hitting the flag made a vital difference to the match. Now obviously either Goss or Cathro didn't know the rule, or possibly Cathro didn’t care to order the pin to be taken, or thought Morpeth couldn’t hit it, anyhow. The incident was much discussed and the discussion itself proved that the rule was not generally known. Goss was perhaps not exceeding his duties in asking Morpeth his wishes, but umpires should wait until they are asked before taking the pin. Having asked Morpeth, he should have asked Cathro also. The trouble is that that 20yds idea persists. It cannot be repeated too often that the 20yds applies only to modal and bogey pUi>'. A silly notion prevails in some quarters that it is not sportsmanlike to have the pin taken when the opponent is more than 20yds away from it. Worse rubbish never was heard of. except the idea that it is not sporting to require an opponent to hole a short putt. I have seen at least one important championship lost by the pin being left in. Once more: In match play either player may have the pin taken at any time —and he is very foolish if he leaves it in when there is any reasonable chance of the opponent hitting it. Twenty yards (nor any other distance) is not mentioned in the rule.

The Reformers The chief event 4 of the year being over in Britain, the ideas of the reformers are now filling the golf papers. The division of the forces is not unlike that of polities. On the one hand we have the conservative who will allow of no change until the matter has been very thoroughly tested, and will certainly not hear of change for the sake of change; on the other, the radical whose restless desire for reform leads him into enthusiastic action which is often premature and usually unwise. Between the two we have the great mass who either dont’ care either way, or who, being quite without the equipment to decide intelligently, throw in their lot with one side or the other. And so we have beautifully argued articles on the need for enlarging the hole from 41 inches to B—so well done, too, that if it were not for conservative caution we mignt be converted. The adoption or otherwise of steel shafts is a vital matter —or one would think so. By the way, just think of a Xew Zealand country club expressing an opinion on such a matter when probably not one of :!s

members had ever seen one. According to the different schools of thought: (1 ) the steel shaft is better than (not so good as) the hickory; (2) there is a serious scarcity (any quantity) of good hickory; (3) the change would benefit (ruin.) British trade; (4) the professionals are opposed to (in favour of) the change—and so on. The size or weight of the ball gives welcome matter to the journalist, and dark prophecies of the effects of the different standards in Britain and America help to keep the reader stirred up. Anyone would think the game was in the melting-pot and that tremendous issues were at stake; but it is quite all right—let us keep calm. Mixing Match and Medal Play We have become accustomed in this country to the practice of allowing medal or bogey cards t,o be taken out during a match-play event. This has arisen from the fact that most of our minor tournaments have match-play events as their chief attractions and, unless some concession of the sort is made, the survivors in the chief events have only one match to play many ways the practice is a bad one, but so many golfers want it that one is not surprised at tournament committees allowing it. The Rules of Golf Committee has decided in no uncertain terms against the practice, giving as their chief reason the great difference between match play on the one hand, and medal and bogey play on the other. It is true . that justice cannot be done to both games at the same time. In match play it may often be policy to take a risk which would be madness in medal play. And, if you have two for the hole in match play and only one for the half against bogey, are you going to go for it or lie as dead as possible? It is quite true the two don’t mix. There is another point that seems to need emphasis. What about our opponent? He is concentrating on a match and on nothing else, and it is no help to him to be asked to wait after he has won a hole, while we have a forlorn hope putt, to halve with bogey, or laboriously hole out for a medal. But while we would be prepared to wink at the practice in minor tournaments, we do object to anything of the sort at the Xew Zealand championship meeting. It was apparently the regular thing at Wanganui, and we think the committee was very ill-advised .and that the council should have* prevented it. A Dramatic Hole At Wanganui the clubhouse is on a plateau some hundred feet above and overlooking the first and eighteenth holes. The word was passed that Shaw and Moss were finishing their first round and a large gathering turned out to see the last hole. Moss’s drive against the wind was straight and true, but it was quite 30yds behind Shaw’s. Moss took a spoon and his shot was absolutely r.uled on the pin, coming to rest some 5 feet from the hole. Shaw was not dismayed. His iron shot never wavered from the pin and the excited crowd saw the ball roll up inside the other and only two feet from the hole. Moss’s curving putt hit the hole, but stayed out, and Shaw holed a great 3 to square the match. CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS NEW COMPETITION INAUGURATED With the object of bringing together the champions of each golf club in the Auckland district, an Auckland champion of champions match —the first of its kind —is to be played at the Auckland Golf Club’s links at Middlemore on November 9. This match will take the form of a 36 medal hole match, and the champion of each of eight clubs is expected to compete. The Auckland Golf Club has invited the champions to play on the Middlemore links for one week before November 9 free of‘green fees. Champions from the following' clubs, all of whom have not been decided yet are •xpected to compete:—Auckland, Glendowie, Pupuke, Otahuhu, Maungakiekie, Akarana, Everslie and Waiuku. The winner will receive a silver cup, valued guineas, which has been donated by Messrs. A. E. M. Rhind, secretary of the Auckland Golf Club, and

G. M. Brown, secretary of the Akarana Golf Club. The holding of a champion of champions tourney is certainly an ambitious project, but the promoters hope to carry it through to a successful final. OPOTIKI LADIES’ CLUB From Our Own Correspondent OPOTIKI, Wednesday. The following officers were elected at the annual meeting of the Opotiki Ladies’ Golf Club., Captain, Mrs. »irkmyer: secretary. Mrs. Jessop; treasurer, Mrs. Sydenham; committee. Mesdames Forbes and Hathaway and Misses T. Holloway and D. Pirritt. The annual report stated that a stimulus had been given to women’s golf by the club’s affiliation with the Ladies’ Golf Union. The club had had a very successful past season. x MAUNGAKIEKIE LADIES’ CLUB Following is the result of the fourball best-ball medal match played by members of the Maungakiekie Ladies’ Golf Club at One Tree Hill yesterday.— Miss M. Miller and Mrs. G. White, 89, 22—67; Miss J. Easton and Miss M. Harvey, 91, 24—67; Miss I. Walker and Miss P. Moody, 96, 31—67; Miss M. Robson and Mrs. Joplin, 9S. 31—67; Mrs. G. L. Taylor and Miss A. Grove, 88, 19—69; Mrs. Paterson and Mrs. Spinley. 95, 26 69; Mrs. E. Alison and Miss M. Bailey, 104, 35—69. A medal handicap match will be held on Tuesday next, players to choose partners. •