GOLF NOTES
NEW ZEALAND CHAMPIONSHIPS. THE TITIRANGI COURSE. The Titirangi golf links are to be the venue of tliis year’s New Zealand giolf championships fixture for the first occasion. On the last occasion that the national titles were .played for in Auckland, no less than nine years ago. Middlemore was the testing ground. Opinions differ as to the merits of the two courses as a test of golf, hut many hold that Titirangi is undoubtedly the more arduous. Though it may be shorter in the matter of yardage, it is longer in hitting distance in normal conditions and provides more holes than require two full shots. Hazards in front of the tees, out of bounds penalties, and the rough which borders the fairways are severe obstacles on the new championship course. A player to do well must have long range from the tee, combined with accuracy, as well as direction and power with second shots. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the four rounds of the open will reveal the answer. It seems safe to venture that the competitor who can average about the scratch score of the course 75 —will be the open champion. Competitors in the championships at Titirangi will be confronted with something different, if not more difficult, than has been the case in the past few years. Laid out by Dr. Alister Mackenzie, the eminent British architect, the course is rich in holes at which “routing,” or the placing of one’s shots, if not entirely necessary, is always desirable. Its terrain, while providing distinct variation for play, is fairly gentle in its undulations, but winding through the latter half of the course is the Wliau Stream, which is crossed and recrossed in play on some five occasions. This stream, gulleys in front of a number of the tees and the rough which grows in them, and the bushy country which borders several of the fairways, are hazards in which players who visit them will encounter serious difficulties, and they are factors which can provide disastrous holes in medal rounds. Primarily, the course calls for length and accuracy from the tees, and as the greens are not heavily bunkered, a feature which characterises the Auckland Golf Club’s course, where the championships have been played previously in Auckland, good driving paves the way for a first-class round, while weak shots from the tee spell serious trouble. A particularly aptly named hole. “Temptation,” is one where accuracy of the tee shot is essential, and a typical hole to tempt the long hitter. Here in driving across a down stream one bites off as much as one dares. A long tee shot which carries the edge of the tea-tree ensures a mashie second to the green, while a less ambitious drive, though safer, leaves a much longer second. Situated well above sea level at the foot of the AVaitakere Ranges, the course is exposed to winds_ from all quarters, and should anything above a normal breeze prevail then the natural difficulties of the course are increased. It is difficult to select an amateur capable of defeating the professionals in the open, and the most likely is B. M. Silk, a strong AVanganui player, with fine range, who will be suited by the course, and who has displayed brilliant form this season an Auckland writer). Silk, too, is the favourite selection for the amateur, being given priority to Rana AVagg, because of the penalties which the course will impose on the wayward tendencies which the latter displayed in last year’s contest. Rana AVagg was was lucky to defeat Horton last year, retrieving an apparently forlorn chance in a great fighting finish, which commenced with the holing of a shot from the bunker at the thirtyfirst hole, when 4 down, and culminating in victory at the thirty-seventh. Wagg has revealed himself as possessed of desirable reserve forces, and he may prove that there was more merit than good fortune in his victories of the past two years. Arthur Duncan won: the championship thrice consecutively from 1899, and has had seven other victories in subsequent years, the last being in 1922. Two years ago he was run-ner-up to AVagg, and fast year he was a semi-finalist, so it is evident that the veteran is not yet a spent force in first-class tourneys. The brothers, H. A. and J. L. Black, have played leading parts in the event for a number of years, and they contested the final at Palmerston North in 1930, Harold taking the title. Jack has had the exasperating experience of being the runner-up on three other occasions. In 1929 he took Sloan Morpeth to the 37tli at AVanganui, and had a similar great struggle with T. H. Horton the yeai before that at Balmaeewan. Back in 1921 A. G. Sime defeated him in the final at Shirley. Is he destined never to win a Dominion title? J. P. Hornabrook is one of the mercurial type, and was a member of the Kirk-Win-deyer team which visited Australia two years ago, but has as yet to give of his best in the national tourney.
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Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 263, 4 October 1933, Page 12
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856GOLF NOTES Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 263, 4 October 1933, Page 12
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