THE CHINA MAIL, JULY 12, 1989
WHAT ABOUT THE
THE RULES
OF GOLF? Ignorance On Part Of Players And
Spectators
London, June 17.
IS
SPORT PARADE
S there a correct stance and deliv-bles at 56 and Mitchell was lbw,, at 57, ory? Bowlers are quite well aware and then Sutcliffe and Leyland came that scarcely two players deliver their together. When he was 30 Sutcliffe bowls in exactly the same manner. should have been caught by first slip There are many little idiosyncrasies to-he went on to score 175. Leyland be observed in individuals on any skied one to long off when only £; but green one cares to visit, but boiled Killick failed to hold it he scored 180 down to generalitie: there are two not out!
The pair added over 800 runs for
I but the haziest inkling of the rules by which that game is con-vering a bowl. There are what an up the day, play with 430 for 6. They
is very difficult to understand any person playing a game with-outstanding stances opted before de-
are the Yorkshire wound ducted writes a correspondent in the "Sports Dispatch." You can going, and the question often discussed later won by an innings and 246 runs. to a football match on Saturday afternoon and the grubbiest urchin concerns the delivery likely to give. Sutcliffe's 175 was his fourth con- will bellow "off-side" before the referee has spotted the infringe the greater accuracy in shot-produc-secutive century of the season and his
tion.
fifth at Lord's this year. In 1931 he ment, and at the Rugby game the smallest schoolboy can talk know-
I know many players who could hit four centuries in a row. The re- ingly about "feet up."
not deliver a bowl from an upright cord of six centuries in succession is stance, and many who could not use held by C. B. Fry and Don Bradman. the crouch stance. The majority of the more successful bowlers adopt the TN the only county match in which upright stance, and for style and ap- there was any play on that par- pearance it is to be preferred, but there ticular day Glamorgan won a backs- is a doubt as to its claim to the great-to-the-wall struggle to save the game
against Worcestershire at Cardiff.
A CORRESPONDENT'S SUGGESTION
an-
er accuracy.
the
And yet the rules that govern our great game of golf are merely regarded as something in a book to be avoided at all costs. I am not being facetious by any manner of means. The matter has been brought home to me all too thoroughly during past few weeks. Now, it is true, I know, that pro- counting two strokes penalty;
In the crouching style the actual bably 90 per cent of the people who other, a relic of the Stone Age, mut-delivery is limited to, a simple
The match had an amazing finish, arm in which Mercer virtually saved play golf take the trouble to learn tered something about "lost ball, swing, and this may allow greater game for Glamorgan by hitting Ho- the etiquette, the little niceties of lost hole." A third contended that concentration on weight and green. It worth for. 81 in one over. When Glam- the game. They would never dream the player was now playing stroke seems to me that in stepping forward organ's last pair came together they
from the upright position to deliver a of teeing up when the opposition number five.
were only 10 runs ahead, and the ex- bowl there is a liability to introduce tra half hour had yet to be claimed. have the honour; they would never
a greater margin of error than in the Mercer, however, hit out with splendid. dare to drive until the player in
case in the simple swing of the arm. abandon, and punished Howorth in one front has played his second stroke
Of the two styles, I think that the up-over for four 6s., three of them in It was, in a way, a repetition of right is best suited to the many var- succession, four 2s., and a single. Of (sic.) But of the rules, the all-im- the much-publicised happening in ieties of shots that have to be played, the 44 runs added by the last wicket portant commandments by which the Northern "Open" this year and certainly for driving I am of in ten hectic minutes, Mercer scored the game is governed from Camber-when Hector Thomson was the opinion that this delivery is to be pre 41. well to Kandahar the vast majority player involved. At any rate, the
ferred to the other.
After only 10 minutes of extra time, Be that as it may, it appears to me | Worcestershire threw up the of players are abyssmally ignorant. player in question was right that there is no stance which may be They had made 388 to Glamorgan's sponge.
A “LITTLE KNOWLEDGE—”
did. The position was termed the correct one; what is de 161 and 281 for 9. that he went back and played sired is a clean delivery, and to obtain such it remains with the individual to A great many of them, of course, counting stroke and distance pen-adopt the stance which allows its ac- have probably read the book of alty. In stroke play he could have quirement. words through once or twice in a teed
up behind the whin bush hurry, and having done so they counting two, strokes penalty, but acquire that little knowledge that not in match play. is an even more dangerous thing than ignorance. With an air of tremendous wisdom they will issue judgment on some point. that has arisen, and nine times out of ten 'the decision is a wrong one.
what he
in
* ** *
ITERE'S an item to make your
-mouth water.
The Rev. H. Allen Job, secretary of
during the season 1938-39, that the the Churches Committee on Gambling, estimates, in a survey of football pools
total sum invested in pools the British Isles was about £50,000,000.”
Allowing 20 per cent, of the money
Had catches can change the TERE'S an excellent example of how That is just one incident singled whole complexion of a game.
The scene is Lord's, where Middle out from dozens that are taking place sex entertained Yorkshire, the cham- every day, and the matter hasions, who were without Barber. Brian staked for expenses and commission, Sellers won the toss and Sutcliffe and Mr. Job says: "The total rake-off for his protege Hutton went out to open the season was about £9,000,000 (£2,- he visitors' inning on a perfect wic-250,000 clear profit and £8,750,000 ex- ket. Hutton played hard on to Pee-penses). In pools where agents are
roused the wrath of a correspon- dent, a fine golfer and a stickler about the rules of the game. -
Last week at a local tournament He writes:-"In my experience I there were one or two little inci- have found that serious lack of dents which laid bare a lack of knowledge regarding the most ele knowledge on the part of both mentary rules is very prevalent players and spectators. I witness- among even the best players, both ed one which might be given as an amateur and professional, and it illustration. A player hocked his would be a very good thing for golf second into whina, and if classes for players and referees his partner, after looking at the were sponsored during the winter ball, decided to regard it as unplay-months, where lectures would be able and went back to the previous given and those attending would spot to play another.
be thoroughly tested."
Immediately the crowd broke Now there is an idea which into little discussion groups and might lead to something. During the divergence of opinion was posi-the Winter months, it would not tively startling. One spectator had be difficult for golfers to get together it that the player ought to have occasionally and have a chat about dropped behind the whin bush, the game.
INSIST on
Genuine
VON CRAMM REFUSED TO PLAY FOR GERMANY?
Writing in "The Scotsman" re- cently Sir F Gordon Lowe said:- "I understand that Von Cramm was asked to assist: Germany “in the closing stages of the Davis Cup, but was unable to accept, as he has applied to become a natur- aliser Swede.
employed an additional 20 per cent., at least, should be added to the ex- penses."
Speaking of the evils of the system, Mr. Job says: "While the total amount... staked on football is probably only about one-fifth of that staked o'n horses, the number of people who take part is far greater."
I
MENTIONED in this column last week that G. Marseille, former Hong Kong resident, entered in the One-Armed Golfing Championship of Great Britain, had reached the semi- final of this event.
I have now received word that Mar- seille, who entered, as a member of Royal Hong Kong, was beaten in the semi-final by A. Burns, the holder, by 2 and 1.
Burns beat R: M'Karell in the final
retain his.title..
CELTIC SIGN J. CAMPBELL:
London, June 15.-Celtic last night nadə't useful addition to their playing staff" by Bigning James Campbell, the St. Mungo outside right, who his bean assisting -Patershill recently. Cambbell has been greatly sought-after, and ins désd, it is nO, BACÍ that Heart of Mid. [lothian were pa rly anxious
Lobtain his
DOCKE BEATEN IN MATCH AGAINST LADIES"
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