ROUND THE LINKS

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 58, Issue 72, 27 April 1929, Page 12

ROUND THE LINKS

CURRENT ACTIVITIES AT .WAIOHIKI. GENERAL PARS ABOUT PLAY

(Notes hy "Plus Four.'-')'

With a liowling gal© blowing conditions were not exactly ideal for the medal match played at Waiohiki 011 Saturday afternoon last. Nevertbeless some good carxls were handed in, tho match being won ]>y F. 13. Kelly, whoso eard read, SS — 17 — 71. MECHANICAL PR1VACY. "BliiidciV are snid to lio tho latest iniiovation in Ameriea. Tliey are in ofi'eet blinkers, strapped 011 to exehide from the sensitive goli'er sueh dislraeting tliings as flviiig newspapex's. flapping skirts (moi'e Jikelv Oxford "bags"), inquisitivo birds, gently swaving brusli in the rough, tho hand of a friond put over liis nioiith to liide I a remark, "Now he'll duff it," and I perhaps more than anything else, the strained nervous tension apparent in crueial mome.nts 011 the faces of those who wish hira well. The device would ho ineomplete witliout ear pads to exelude the twitter of the fasliionable laity which accompanies all gallei'ies, and, of eourse, dcafne.ss is also assurcd. Golf for this man is to 1)0 nothing like tlie movietones, tliough he will still have the deep satisfaetion of hearing liis own muttered improeations, if he speaks loud enough for everybody else to hear. All innovations soem ridiculous at first, and it is what a nervous golfer sces out of tlie tail of his eye that spoils liis putt. If an eyesliade for a nfle-shot whv not blinkers for tho golfer. One is reminded of tho golfer who elaimed 1 to get liis best in.struetion for the golf swing from a liolo in a plank nailed to tlie rutters in the basement, whieh eame down only as far as liis elicst. The plank was pendant be tween him and the praetice ball, and he affirmed that it not only cured him of swaving. but that keeping his faee exaetly 111 front of the hole taught him more ahout liip, knee and foot work. ONLY *ONE SWING. If we had to learn a different swing, or marked variations of it, for different cluhs, tho game would bo so eomplieated tliat only the most porsistent and pcr.se vering golfer would over lcarn tliem all, savs a Wellington writer. But fortunately this is xiot tlie ease. Thcre is but 0110 swing, whieli vavies in lengtli and speed from tho smallesfc putt to tlie fiillest lrive. Of eourse the plane of tliat swing varies in different shots from flnt to upright. So it i.sn't neeessax'y to tell a puni how to swing with eaeh club, but only I neeessary to tell bim how to swing Tlie. lengtli and speed of the swing determino the distanco of tho ball's flight, and the loft 011 tlie. faee of tlie club detennines the heiglit of the ball's flight. There is a deeided differeuce in the feel of the different cluhs, and also between the different shots made with them. Tliis is due to tlie difference in shaft lengtbs, and to their svippleness or stiffness, to differenees in weight and to the distanee we stand from tlie ball, and to wlietlier we swing flat or uprigbfc aird to wlietlier we take turf or do not. And if you had two elubs identieal in every respect, exccpt that oue had an ivon liead and the other a wooden liead, tlie feel and sound of tlie shots made with tliem would be different, even tliough the swings were alike. When wc see a full and rapid swing it appears very diffieult and complicated, hecause of its speed; and hecause of the movement of tlie player's lieels, knces, liips and shoulders. But tliese movemonts are merely tlie eftects of a strenuous arm swing, and should not scare us. If you look at tlie swing in a putt you will see a sinai! segment of the full swing. Jt appears ver.v simple and ea.sy hecause it is so slow; and bceause

body movement is all but lacking. This cmphasises the wisdom of starting to learn the golf swing on thq green rather than on tlie tee. It is so much easier to work up from a little putt swing to the full swing in the drive than" it is j:o learn the fullest swing at tho very start. * >:= * IN THE BOOM. New golf elubs aro springing up all over New Soutli Wales. The latest whieli has arrived at the production stage, as the mining rnen would say, is tlie Narellan Grange Club 011 tlie Camden road, near Campbelltown, which was opened recentlv, when Miss Payten, member of a family long resident in the district, and herself a golfer oi' note, drove the first ball. Tho eourse is eighteen lioles in beautiful undulating downs country, well grassed, but at present sand greens will bo utilised. The new club has followcd the increasingly popular fashion of throwing the eourse open to unattached golfers at a cliarge of 2s per rouncl, and tliis should be credited to it for righteousness, as extending golfing facilities for the player who can--not get into a club in the metropolitan area and does not care to risk tli© deIiglits of tho Moore Park sunrise-till-sunset' quoue. * # ». IN THE BEGINN Rcferring to the beginnlngs of golf, Mr W. Milson recently wrote to a no evidence to sliow that the Dutch London pa per stating tliat "there was ever playe da ball into a series of lioles in the ground earlier than the 18th century." In the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" there is the followmg re ference to tlns matter, written by 11c iess an authority than Mr H- G. Hutchinson "One' of the most ancient and most interesting of the picturea in wliich the game is portrayed is the tail-piece to an illuminated 'Book of Hours' made at I3ruges at the beginning of the sixteenth century. The original is in the Britisli Museum. . . That which gives the picture peculiar ntcrest over the many |iictures or Dutch schools tliat portray the game in progress is that most of tligin sliow if on the ica. the putting heing at a stake. In this 'Book of Hours,' tliey are putting at a liolo in the turf, as in modern golf. It is scarccly to be dovibtcd tliat the ganie is of Buteh ongin, and tliat it has been in favour sinco very early days. Further than tliat our knowledge does not go. Tlie early Butclimen played golf, the.v paintod golf, but tliey did not wiito it." * * * CANTERBURY TITLE. G. F. Colbc'ck played good golf to wm the Canterbury Amateur Championship when he went twice round filiirley last Saturday in 151 strokes, and has tlius made a very graceful debut in Canterbury golfing circles. His scores of 76 and 75 were consistent and under conditions which, for some reason, or reasons, px'oved very trying to all the other top-notcliers, lnust bo rated as very good golf. It is lianlt to account for the indifferent scores of most of the others. • f • PROFESSOR'S MISTAKE . Tlie unlcindest cut of all was given by a caddie to an eminent professor who had taken up golf as a foiTn of mental relaxation. Aftcr sundrv swings at the ball, tho result of .eacli swing being the moving of tlie ball a trickling yard or s.o, he turned to the caddie and asked, "Sliall I ln't liarder?" "No!" said tlie caddie in disgust, "tliis 'ore's a game for brains, not strcngtli." JM -IVi JWk