GOLF.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3509, 27 April 1912, Page 3

GOLF.

NOTES AND COMMENTS. (By “Niblick.”) As predicted in these notes; local players find Colonel Bogey in better form than ever this season. The new holes ma'ke the course more difficult, the length of the furr round has been increased by some 400 yards, while the bogey for the course has been reduced by two strokes. It is little wonder, therefore, that the majority of the players iii the Bogey competition on Saturday last were well'down to the Colonel. T. G. Morgan (20) and H. Bennett (15), who tied with 1 down, are both young players. Their performance on Saturday was good, considering that the grass is on the long side on some of the holes, and that the greens are not so good as they will be later on. F. H. W. Traill and G. M. Dodgshun took part in the Napier Golf Club’s tournament at Easter. Though neither succeeded Tn annexing any trophies, both played steadily and are already in good form. A PARISIAN VIEW. A French lady, recently holding forth on the many dangers of me “New English Game” of golf, said: “A young man and a. young woman might disappear on the golf links for a whole afternoon far from parental control, and Heaven knows to what undesirable matches this might lead before the respective relatives have had time to find out whether, in fortune and family, they were suitably matched to one another.” Apartfrom these, drawbacks, there can be no question that the influence of “lesport” is steadily asserting itself in French country life. A TIP FOP GOLFERS. Many golfers are still in doubt- as to whether, under the rules of golf, they are entitled to ground their clubs in permanent grass within a hazard; of course, the correct answer .is that if the grass of a- hunker is within the boundaries of the hazard, the club can not be grounded on it. Wherever there is a hazard which is naturally ill-defined, it- is the duty of the committee to making the boundaries of tbe hazard clear to plovers, either by local rule or by marking the actual boundaries or by both methods. As aii example, a- local rule at St. An drew’s states: “The grass bordering the road at the 17th hole is part of the hazard.” The term “permanent grass” does not occur in the present rules, but was introduced for the first time in the 1902 code, and found to be a bad rule to interpret. The game is played at present- in this respect- as it has been play in the past, and although there are bunkers here within which a ball can lie on grass no difficulty should be experienced with the present rule No. 25.

This very point, it will be remembered, cropped up in the game between F. Traill and G. M. Dodgshun in the semi-final for the championship last season.