The Long Game Newsletter of the Society of Australia

S G A

No 54, SEPTEMBER 2015

Presidents Trophy 2015 Inside This Issue by Cliff George Page 1 Presidents Trophy 2015 This delightful annual event was held on Monday 3rd of August at Royal Melbourne Golf Club and attracted a strong field of 26 eager participants. Page 2 In the most challenging conditions of rain, hail and wind, accompanied by Golf Club Historians Forum warm sunshine, and a golf course in perfect condition, the field was reduced at Barwon Heads Golf Club to four qualifiers for knock out match play, after a most enjoyable lunch. New Members The first two ball match between Paul Burgess and Paul Bray was decided very Page 3-5 quickly on the first hole of the East Course in favour of Paul Bray. The second match, between Bill Young and Rod Hiscox produced some very exciting golf Old Hickory In Young Hands when the first hole was halved. John Fischer III Proceeding to the second hole of the East Course the struggle for supremacy Page 5 continued with this great par 4 hole deciding who would go forward and challenge St Andrews – In the steps of Paul Bray; Rod Hiscox emerged the victor and we proceeded to the third hole on Old Tom Morris the East Course for the dramatic playoff between Rod and Paul Bray. With Rod by Roger McStravick playing off a handicap of 26, and Paul off 4, the lower handicapped man quickly emerged a convincing winner with a comfortable par 4 resulting from a beautiful Page 6 approach putt, a feature of Paul’s game all day. Seven Clubs enough I had the pleasure of playing with Paul in the morning qualifying round when for he emerged as leading qualifier, with some excellent golf, despite the tough conditions. Congratulations to Paul Bray who was presented with the trophy by Page 7 Geoff Vincent back in the warmth of the clubhouse. Claytons Corner

Page 8 Balfour-Mellville Clubs

For The Diary Monday October 12th Golf Historians at Yarra Yarra Golf Club Sunday October 18th GSA Hickory Championships at Kingston Heath Golf Club Monday November 23rd Doug Bachli Trophy at Victoria Golf Club Paul Bray with Presidents Trophy Hail on the West Course at Royal Melbourne

The Long Game | September 2015 1 Golf Club Historians Forum at Barwon Heads Golf Club By Peter Gompertz Thirty GSA members, and golf club historians, attended at Barwon Heads Golf Club in a meeting room which overlooked the 18th fairway and green. The course looked in prime condition but our attention was held by a variety of informed speakers who kept us attentive. In the absence of President Geoff Vincent, Convenor Kim Hastie spoke on the role of the Golf Society and introduced our speakers. Val Lawrence and David Edge, both members of the Barwon Head Golfs Club Museum committee, gave us interesting insights into the history and development of the club, and its course, since its foundation in 1907. Like a lot of golf clubs founded in the early 20th Val Lawrence century a club house fire had destroyed useful historical material but diligent research by a succession of interested members including a journalist, Pamela Evans, has reclaimed most of the history so that when the time came to write the history of the club it was less difficult. The area is well served with quality golf courses and the General Manager of 13th Beach, Anthony Masters, spoke with pride about the history of his club from its opening in 2001. The course has hosted the Victorian Open and expects to for the next few years. It has a large residential base of members and as part of the RACV group, continues to prosper. The Beach course, designed by Tony Cashmore, was laid out over land that had previously been used to grow Asparagus and later raise beef cattle. The Creek course, a later Anthony Masters development by Tony Cashmore, with input from Sir Nick Faldo, is found to be less difficult by the members. Greg Libbis, President of Torquay Golf Club, outlined the continued development of his club since its early days as a 9 hole course attached to the Palace Hotel, and an extension to an old house, which formed the first clubhouse obtained by buying the dining room from the 1956 Olympic Village. The club is well supported in summer, with visitors camping nearby and the club running a ‘Townies’ versus ‘Tenties’ golf match. Mandy Buckley, a Life Member of Torquay Golf Club, entertained us with some amusing details of the politics of Western District Ladies Golf Associations over the years.

Greg Libbis As Cliff George was confined to bed with the flu, Peter Gompertz read Cliffs contribution on the current activities of the ‘Hickory Heroes’’. Kim Hastie proposed a vote of thanks to all the speakers for their contribution.

NEW MEMBERS

Welcome to Dr Jennifer Picking and Barbara Aylen

Mandy Buckley

2 The Long Game | September 2015 OLD HICKORY IN YOUNG HANDS John Fischer III (Note: The following article has been adapted from a presentation given at the 2008 Annual Dinner of the Golf Collectors Society.)

John W. Fischer Jr., my father, I mention this history not to extol He knew a variety of shots, and always was the last person to win a my father’s competitive record, but worked the ball, usually from right major championship, the 1936 because it was accomplished using to left. But he could make the ball do hickory-shafted clubs against players what he wanted when necessary. As an U.S. Amateur, using hickory- who were using steel-shafted clubs. example of his swing knowledge, and shafted clubs. Among the players he defeated with ability, consider his comments about a By the early 1930s, most tournament his hickories were (twice swing adjustment he made during the players had changed over to steel, in the Amateur), , 1936 U.S. Amateur: “I changed my flat but my father stayed with the girl he , , Johnny swing to a more upright stroke in that brought to the dance, and who had Goodman and . rain squall during my semifinal match been so faithful to him. In fact, Dad against at Garden played with hickory-shafted clubs City. I did this to counteract a watery until 1955. He did not change over film between the ball and the clubface.” to steel because of the benefits of new Imagine changing your swing in technology; he changed because he mid-championship for one match. could no longer get quality hickory He had the confidence that he could shafts. His supplier, the T.W. Minton make that type of adjustment when Company of Barbourville, Ky., no necessary, and it worked since he longer produced them. won that match, and the final, on the Newspapers first noted a young following day after reverting to his in 1927 when at age John W. Fischer Jr., the last USGA standard, flatter, swing. 15 he won the Cincinnati Junior champion to win with hickory-shafted clubs. In a 1940 article, my father described Championship at match play and the (Courtesy of John Fischer III) his clubs as follows: “My pitching Cincinnati Championship at irons are heavier than the other irons. My father had several reasons for liking stroke play, in both cases using seven Although my irons are a mongrel set hickory, and continuing to use them borrowed clubs. of hickory-shafted clubs, purchased after the advent of steel shafts. First, he one at a time, workbench tinkering He won the Cincinnati Metropolitan had a very fast swing, and he felt that to obtain the proper ‘feel,’ has, to my Championship in 1930, the NCAA the slightly heavier irons, about a D-2 surprise, produced a graduated set of Individual Championship in 1932 swing weight, and stiff shafts were better irons, in which the driving iron weighs playing for Michigan, three Big Ten suited to controlling his swing. Second, 13¾ oz. and the niblick 16 oz., while Individual Championships, was twice he learned to play with borrowed the intermediate clubs fit into this medalist in the National Amateur, hickories. Having developed his swing weight range in proper order.” twice quarter finalist and once by watching better players as a caddie semifinalist in the Amateur and played and copying their methods, he didn’t It was an odd set. Most of the clubs on three Teams (never want to change. His swing was designed were Tom Stewart designs, but there losing a match) and, of course, won to get the best results from a person of was a niblick marked “Sunningdale,” our national amateur championship his build – 150 pounds (68 kilos) and a few odd George Nicoll clubs and a in 1936, defeating Scotland’s Jack six-feet one and a half inches tall (184 dreadnought niblick by James Spence. McLean, 1 up in 37 holes, at Garden cms). He had a flat swing and took the continued on page 4 >> City (N.Y.) Golf Club. club past parallel on longer shots.

Johnny Fischer putting in the 1936 final of the US Amateur, defeating Jack Mclean (Scotland ) on the 37th.

The Long Game | September 2015 3 Continued from page 3 OLD HICKORY IN YOUNG HANDS John Fischer III

He shafted and re-shafted his clubs in However, the chipper and the left- That struggle in the rain against his basement workshop, and filed the handed clubs had to go in 1938. Johnny Goodman was my stiffest shafts and heads by hand to get the obstacle. Goodman lost because the It is interesting to note that Fischer correct feel. smooth, neat, grips of his new steel- was born in 1912, a vintage year for shafted woods and irons kept slipping Manufacturers today can make shafts golf, for , Sam Snead and and turning in his hands on the last that do everything, but Dad could were all born in the few holes when the rain soaked the adjust the flex point by sanding the same year. By sticking to hickory and padded handles. hickory shaft, and while it was said his game, Fischer was a dominant he carried 22 clubs when he won figure in amateur golf during the “My clubs are all six or seven years the Amateur, some were probably 1930s, while the other greats born in old. The grips are roughened from duplicates with a different shaft. 1912 were finding their games with prolonged usage. They got soggy In presenting one of the clubs he used steel shafts. rather than slippery in that downpour to Garden City Golf Club in winning and I was able to keep a firm hold on After winning the Amateur at Garden the Amateur, he wrote, “the niblick them. Little things like this, unseen City Golf Club in 1936, he explained which I sent to the club was one by the gallery, often decide golf his love of hickories: “My friends have of two niblicks which were almost matches. Mind you, I’m not arguing kidded me about those wood-shafted identical and which I interchanged that hickory shafts would improve antiques. They told me to donate because one had a stiffer, stronger other people’s games, but they do them to a golf museum, but I had shaft for use in playing in the wind.” keep me from hitting too soon.” the last laugh. Hickory shafts may be Before the 14-club rule came into obsolete for most golfers, but they There’s a bit more to the grip story. effect in 1938, my dad also utilized happen to suit my game. You see, As long as I can remember, my father some specialty clubs. As he once said, I have a very fast backswing – a rather would “rough up” his grips with a car “I carry a bevel-edged chipper, which treacherous thing to control when key so they wouldn’t slip in his hands. is in the nature of a putting cleek, playing full irons or pitches. Hickory The marks are quite evident on the and use it mainly where I need a shafts have more resistance than steel grips of his hickories. He continued very short flight and a long roll, that ones and thus help slow me down. to do it when he changed to steel. is, from the fringe of the green.” My worst tendency has always been He’d stand on the first tee roughing He also carried a left-handed mashie to hit from the top of my swing – we up his driver grip, and do it to other iron and spade mashie for shots golfers call it ‘rushing the clubhead.’ clubs as he walked down the fairway. where the ball was close to a tree, Steel shafts exaggerate this error. Grips on hickories were generally a bush or wall and unable to be hit Hickory is the ideal antidote. thin strip of leather wound around right-handed. These left-handed clubs “I never would have controlled those the shaft. Dad believed that power in weren’t just to bunt the ball back in low shots into the wind on the day of the golf swing came from timing and play; he could play a good game of the fifty-mile-an-hour gale, during the hitting with the hands. Dad gripped golf left-handed. semifinals of the 1936 Amateur, if I the club more in his fingers than had not had hickory-shafted irons. across the palms. Because of torque in a hickory shaft, the hands had to roll over to square the face at impact. With a thin shaft and thin grips, hand action was made easier. Thick grips tend to restrict the hands and take them out of the shot. Fischer had his critics who felt his swing was too fast and too “wristy,” but consider what one first-hand observer had to say about the result. In the quarterfinals of the 1932 U.S. Amateur, Fischer lost to defending Champion . After the match, Ouimet commented, “Johnny hits the ball far off the tee, with a beautiful well- Johnny Fischer chipping in the 1932 timed stroke. His stroke is very fast, but quarter final of the US Amateur; he gets 100 percent efficiency out of his losing to Francis Ouimet one down. wrists and is very seldom off line. 4 The Long Game | September 2015 Continued from page 3 OLD HICKORY IN YOUNG HANDS John Fischer III St Andrews – In the steps of Old Tom Morris With the irons, midiron, mashie and niblick, he is sensational at times and never presses, using a short, by Roger McStravick compact stroke with a open stance. In approaching he is highly accurate. Fischer is a good putter, and by Des Tobin the breaks on the green never seem to bother him.” Ouimet became my father’s mentor in many Until the publication of this stunning new book I was ways, and probably was one of the reasons for him of the view that more had been written about the city of being chosen for the 1934 Walker Cup team when St Andrews, Old Tom Morris and other pioneers of golf Ouimet was the playing captain. than is actually known. I was wrong! In his thoroughly Ouimet tried to get my father to change to steel- researched, well written, and lavishly illustrated book, Roger shafted clubs in 1935. He loaned him a set of McStravick transports us back in time. Metaphorically Spalding steel-shafted irons and sent a note, speaking, McStravick takes the reader by the hand and leads “I…think you will like these clubs very much. him, or her, through the streets, laneways, buildings and One advantage in having a good set of steel shafted other places of significance of this captivating city. clubs is this: The shafts remain the same at all times Little has changed in St Andrews since the era of Old Tom, and while good hickory is fine, the shafts are apt and this book’s narrative skillfully links local golfing lore with to get soft from constant use, dry out in the winter the broader culture of the town itself. As we are led, street by time or change radically in some way.” street, through the town, we discover that every street, house, Fischer tried the steel-shafted irons as Ouimet church, hotel and pub has a golfing story to tell and we gain a recommended, but eventually sent them back. new understanding of the lives of the Morrises, Auchterlonies, In spite of the weaknesses in hickory Ouimet had Robertsons, Forgans, Straths and Herds. We visit the homes pointed out, he found solace with his old hickories. in which they lived, and the workshops in which they worked at their ball, and club, making trades. We gain new insights As with most competitive golfers, the onset of World into the significance of the many ‘special’ places in St Andrews War II led my father to put away his hickory sticks. including its famous taverns and hotels, the St Andrews In the years after the war he devoted his time to his railway station which opened in 1852, St Andrews Castle and law practice and playing golf with his friends, although Cathedral, and the ancient cemetery where the bodies of Old he did play in the 1950 U.S. Celebrity Pro-Am in Tom, Young Tommy Morris and so many more legendry St Washington D.C., finishing second to Ben Hogan. Andeans were laid to rest, but whose ‘souls’ and ‘spirits’ still When my father finally switched to a set of steel- reside within its precinct and beyond, and so much more. shafted irons in 1955, he was still playing to a This book is truly a work of art. Exquisitely designed by the scratch handicap with his hickories. He assembled award winning book designer Chic Harper, St Andrews, In his steel-shafted clubs with the help of Toney the steps of Old Tom Morris contains 290 pages with over 350 Penna at the old MacGregor plant on Spring Grove digitally enhanced, sepia coloured illustrations, some which Avenue in Cincinnati. He picked clubs from bins, have never been previously published sifted through heads and put the set together by feel. He had difficulty finding steel shafts as stiff as St Andrews, In the steps of Old Tom Morris makes a welcome, those of his hickories. He had master clubmaker significant, contribution to the history of St Andrews, and the Howard Delaney grind heads for him. My father heritage of golf. It may be purchased through swung the clubs in the factory and “waggled” them www.thegolfbookshop.com and is available in three editions. in his hands. The long irons and mid-irons were The soft cover 1821 edition is priced at 60 pounds - $A130.00 Tommy Armour, and the 8, 9, 11 and utility wedge - and will appeal to a general readership audience. There are two were MT models. The process took two full days. special editions that will interest In selecting the clubs, he never hit a ball. The clubs serious collectors. The leather bound, were all picked by feel alone. When the clubs were numbered and signed 79 edition, tested for swing weight, they all came out at D-1. limited to 79 copies (representing Old Tom’s lowest ever score on the Old After 1955 until his death in 1984, my father never Course.) is priced at 395 pounds, bought another club. $A845.00, while the Collectors (A member of the USGA Museum Committee, edition, limited to 250 copies, is 295 John Fischer III is an attorney in Cincinnati, Ohio. pounds - $A630.00. Postage and He has been a frequent contributor to Golf Journal, handling costs are additional and are and continues to write about golf collectibles, and calculated as orders are processed. legends of the game. Ed.)

The Long Game | September 2015 5 Seven Clubs enough for Harry Vardon By John Fawcett

When Vardon won in 1930 said of Chick his record breaking six Evans, former US Open and Amateur Open Championships Champion “he is the one first class golfer who has stuck with what some he used only 7 clubs. have called ‘old fashioned ideas’. Joe Kirkwood needed Chick’s golf bag contains a strong only seven clubs to win iron, an iron closely resembling a the 1920 the Australian mashie, a niblick and a putter. Open. The present limit Seven clubs in all, and in reality only under the R&A Rules of 3 irons. How he does it is hard to say, Golf is 14 clubs but there for he never seems to lack the shot called for. Possibly he figures that it is are some American pros better to know a few clubs well than urging that this number to have a slight acquaintance with a should be increased. Old great number”. time golfers had the notion Others have said that the less that it was the man, rather expert player ought to carry than the club, that made fewer clubs until he can learn the shot. The modern idea is to play with those he has. to buy a ‘shot in the shop’ by That may be true, but I can’t buying an implement for each help thinking that the present variety of shot. day assortment makes the game easier for him. He There are many golfers who can doesn’t have the highly make a mid iron talk. They could sensitive touch of the more play a 180 yard shot and a recovery experienced man and it ought to be from a bunker with the ball in a bad easier to play many clubs in the same lie with the same club; they ‘judged’ Someone presented him with the way than a few clubs in very many shots, while todays champion uses latest set of matched clubs; his golf ways. It takes less time to acquaint his judgement mostly in working out improved immediately and he was oneself with a few pieces of iron and which implement is called for to do immensely proud of them. Big wood than it does to acquire the skill which deed. With a standard club he hearted, and in spite of his Scot’s of a Chick Evans. then uses a standard swing. blood, he gave away his old clubs. Henry Cotton, in one of his books, Friends in almost every State got a Modern high pressure salesmanship said that before the 14 club rule sample. Less than six months later has more to do with big sets of clubs became mandatory Lawson Little, Hector was in a panic; it took him rather than golfing necessity. winner of a US Open, had 23 clubs several months, and the most subtle New models that come along as in his bag and at least eight of them forms of persuasion, to regain the regularly as did new model motors were niblicks! Pity the poor caddy. despised clubs that had stood by him tend only to feed the pride of for so long. possession, not help a mans’ golf. In 1964 a 7 Club professional tournament was held at Turnberry, In 1931 Willie Hope, a gifted ex- It is alright for anyone who can afford one of Scotland’s strongest tests. Cambridge golf blue who had the latest designer clubs but, any The general club selection was 2 represented England in the Home notion that they are going to be a big woods, 3, 5, and 7 irons, wedge and Internationals, and Britain against help to golf is quite another matter. putter. The winning score was 288 the USA, arrived in Australia. Many The cycle of changes in styles goes (70, 74, 72, 72) by Lionel Platts, a local golfers were keen to look over round as it used to do in the case of Ryder Cup player. The low score of his clubs. They were, surprisingly, women’s hats. 68 was returned by a London club rarer than Morrison’s famous ‘set’ – professional, Tony Fisher. Not wholly untypical is Australian driver, brassie, 2, 3, 5 and 7 irons and Amateur Champion Hector a putter, but with those ‘sticks’ Hope I was fortunate to win a now defunct Morrison’s experience 65 years ago. showed, by winning the Australian 5 club competition in 1989 with 39 Over the years he had gathered a Amateur Championship in 1933, how Stableford points using a 4 wood, 5, quaint but happy ‘set’ of rare clubs. a great golfer can make great shots. 7, irons, sand wedge and a putter. It can be done.

6 The Long Game | September 2015 Claytons Corner

Golf was, unsurprisingly, invented The notion of the ‘blind shot’ was Imagine trying the sell the principle in Scotland because hitting a ball seen as somehow silly, poor design of a course with any number of with a stick across the broken and something to be avoided by golf bunkers strewn randomly across course architects at all costs. the landscape, many of which are crumpled dune land linking the blind and from which escape by a Bunkers in the middle of the fairways sea to the farmland beyond made less than competent players is all but came to be viewed as ridiculous perfect sense. With no equipment impossible. At St Andrews, Muirfield hazards catching ‘perfect drives’. capable of moving soil in any great and North Berwick it’s all a part of If the measure of a perfect shot is the game. amounts, the early golfers played its position in relation to the one across the ground as it was, making following how could a drive into a There are many enormous greens at uneven lies, blind shots and hazards deep and penal bunker possibly be Muirfeld, and North Berwick, running in the direct line to the hole a part seen as ‘perfect’? fifty paces from front to back but at St Andrews you can be forty metres short of the fabric of the game. That two players could hit almost of the 5th green and still have 120 the same shot and come up with Mostly too, they played matches metres to go to reach the hole. against each other eschewing the need two quite different results was seen to count every single stroke they took. also as being unfair and the result At North Berwick’s 13th hole players “Golf is much more fun when you has been a sanitization the original have to pitch the second shot across don’t have to score – we do it because game. Architectural quirk, the luck and ancient stone wall built long we have to but I’m not sure why of the bounce and multiple ways of before the 1832 dated course. people find the need to count all their playing a shot and a hole make the Two holes later comes The Redan’, a shots every time they play – its not game unpredictable, offending the blind par three and a hole to spawn really what the game is about” said ‘predictable’ crowd. hundreds of imitations all over the world. The critics of the wonderful as we walked the Old The most important lesson of the blind 17th hole at Kingston Course at St Andrews preparing for Old Course is surely that the game Heath should spend a few minutes this years Open Championship. isn’t fair and it’s why it is not only contemplating ‘The Redan’ and the most important course in the Arriving in Scotland the week prior to perhaps re-assess their ideas. The Open I watched some of the final game but arguably its best; if it’s day of the Scottish Open at Gullane not the best it’s at least in the final. At Muirfield, seen as perhaps the and walked Muirfeld and North once answered a ‘fairest’ of all Open courses, there Berwick, two incredible but utterly reporter sympathizing with him over are deep and fearsome bunkers well different courses just up the road a particularly bad bounce and the short of several of the greens, and from Gullane. unfairness of it by saying ‘yes, it was directly across the route to the hole. unfair – but the game isn’t supposed In many cases they don’t affect the Anything more than an unthinking, to be fair.’ How you deal with the better players unless they drive into or rudimentary, study of these unfairness is surely golf’s greatest trouble but in this age hazards only amazing courses will show off to the mental challenge. affecting the poor players are seen as golfer just how far golf around the bad hazards. Few see them as making The most worn out modern cliché world has strayed from its Scottish the game interesting for all players. of them all is the course ‘should be roots, and how many of the original Why must hazards only be placed for playable for all standards of players.’ concepts have been distorted. the good player? It’s at the head of every marketing Inevitably of course the game would document spruiking every new course St Andrews though is always the most change as it moved inland from the to ensure the attraction of investors interesting place to watch the game idyll of the seaside, and no doubt and new members. being played and the championships there are many brilliant inland golf held in what is as much a university St Andrews might be the most courses all over the world. What town as a golf town are the best of playable of them all but try building changed was the introduction of the them all. concept of ‘fairness’ and the idea an opening hole in this day and age formulated primarily by Americans with a stream right across the front We should thank the Scots for what and adopted largely by Australians of the first green and where having to they gave us and next time something (and most others) you had to be able carry across it is unavoidable. unfair happens thank them for to see where you were going. understanding how to the make the game the most interesting of them all.

The Long Game | September 2015 7 David and Susan Wardle present the Balfour-Melville Clubs to Geoff Vincent Balfour-Mellville Clubs by Peter Gompertz David and Susan Wardle, great grand-children of R.A.A Balfour-Mellville, have donated 6 of his clubs to the GSA for future exhibition in the GSA Museum. The clubs include a fine Carnegie Clark brass putter. R.A.A Balfour- Melville was Secretary of the Royal Melbourne Golf Club for 5 years in the 1890s.

The Golf Society of Australia was formed in 1982 to research and preserve the history of golf in Australia. As part of this role, the Society manages the Museum and Library for Golf Australia. Golf Australia supports the Society by providing office space and administrative assistance.

President: Geoff Vincent am Hon. Secretary: Tony McLean Treasurer: Dick Kirby Editor: Peter Gompertz Correspondence: 601/155, Beach Street, Port Melbourne, 3207 Tel: 0418 101 374 www.golfsocietyaust.com