GOLF.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 118, 5 October 1912, Page 7

GOLF.

• - ■- • • ; THE AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIP, ' The ivi;r of Ivo Whitton hi the open championship of Australia was considered by the match committee, .in-view of; representation that, at the 14th hole, he?, having piayedi into an unplayable' posi-'; tion, elected to>pick up and tee, ,uiider : penalty of two strokes, but instead of i teeing behind "the place where. the jball lay the player teed at the. side-, of that, spot. To have teed behind .Would; have' 1 en tail ad going back .some' 30 yards <i'nd playing over somo -tea-tree bushes-Jof: the height of about • 12ft. Tlie committee ' (savs the Sydney Morning Herald) 1 de-. | cided that Whitton was entitled' to* te/j' wliere he. did, and it .appears '/t-liat jii} doing so they did not interpret tlife Jrule strictly .or correctly., Rule 11, .clause »I,* of special rules for.stroke' epmpctitiojis, says:—"A ball.may be lifted,frq'm ;anyi place on the course under penalty of two strokes. . A ball so lifted shall be teed and played behind the -place .\yherfe it lay; if this be- impossible,- ifcijshaU be teed-and played as near.-as- possible to the place where it lay, but- not, nearer the hol-fe." ■ ' ' ! ' . ' Tike, interpretation' rests ljppii ithe meariirig-of tbe word "impossible," which," on reference "to the d-ictiona'vy-, .we jlind to mean, "that cannot be" done, iiiipracticable," etc. And while it avouHl liav.e 'tenflered-Whitlon's'shot longeh-'aird njipre, difficult by reason of his haying |to*' : carry' the, tea-trees, it is apparent tliat' ib is quite practicable for-Mm to : t haVeJgone back. It would have been b;iil liljckj for Whitton to have, incurred the pCiiiilty of disqualification; but the rules, qr golf should, -we think, ill the befit. .intenests of the game, be construed strictly,! regardless of the consequences. , ; .".Jlad _ \Vhitton been disqualified! it would, of-'course, have rendered ineligible to compete in the. amateur clijani-, pionship, and the result would bare lJe.cn. that three-men would have tied ! for eighth -place, and an' additional iday would have had to be allowed to-enable them to play off. .

THE MULTITUDE OF CLUBS,

speaking, this is no fictitious tale, but a well-known/fact t)iat..tyegin«ers often think that ill tile multitude of clubs lies the secret of much golfing success. It is a curious tiling that the novice should, feel that he must have a elub to suit every possible: lie ito be jnet on the course, neglecting the , tru)«m, that the more clubs you play rwith jthe more you have to keep in practice toluse them properly, and'consequently you .are likely to be "off" a greater number at. * time. The expert, on the contrary, teaches himself to plav every leijgth •from full swing down to wrist sfeots with each of the few clubs - in his jbag from driver to putter. I was goinjj to qualify this statement, but there ijS a man who often putts with his driver, and it is quite a common thing in [dry weather to sec people take their Mills putters at a short hole. j