IRISH GOLF TIMELINE - 1909
One hundred years ago
the issues that played on golfers minds were; Sunday play, croquet
mallet putters, the virtues of the smooth vs bramble golf ball
and the state of the handicapping system.
The Irish Field brought
out the Irish Field Golfer's Guide in 1909 it was considered a
significant breakthrough in promoting golf in Ireland.
THE IRISH FIELD
Price ONE PENNY
THE OLDEST SPORTING PAPER IN IRELAND
A record
drive of 469 yards was recorded over the North Berwick golf course
by W.H. Horne, it exceeded Edward Blackwell's record by 100 yards.
The longest featherie drive was recorded by a Frenchman at St.
Andrews in 1858, it was 361 yards.
Gambling was not prevalent
on the golf courses of Ireland unlike their counterparts across
the water who considered it an intrinsic part of the weekend singles
or fourball. As one Irish Times journalist (who obviously like
the occasional flutter) put it: "bookmakers on the course
would be excellent people in the wrong place."
Golf Courses
Many golf clubs started
in 1909 including Laytown & Bettystown, Bandon, Thurles, Dun
Laoghaire, and Douglas golf clubs were all instituted in 1909.
Others like Charleville and Stillorgan Park golf clubs were formed
but didn't last, at least, as is the case of Charleville not in
their original form. By June Stillorgan Park golf course already
had 225 male members and 125 female members, Murray was the professional,
a protege of James McKenna, while at Portmarnock. It was 2,500
yards with a bogey 37 but wasn't scheduled for regular play until
the following year. Omagh and Dundrum (Co. Dublin) are also mentioned
as courses starting in 1909.
Lionel Hewson was captain
of Dun Laoghaire GC (or Kingstown GC as it was called then ) in
its inaugural year, and commented that historians would remember
two years in relation to Kingstown, 1817 for the building of the
pier and 1909 for the formation of the golf club. Co-incidentially
he was the editor of the Irish Golfers' Guide for 1910 and for
the magazine The Irish Golfer.
The Midland Great Western
re-opened the Mallranny golf on the Achill extension line of the
Midland Great Western Railway. The course was originally designed
by Tom Hood.
Toome Club on the shores
of Lough Neagh was created in place of a previously defunct course
and Alec Day was appointed professional with George Baillie and
John Black the driving forces behind the club. Despite backing
from such notable luminaries the course didn't appear in the Golfer's
Guide the following year.
Equipment
The Elvery's New Gipsy
golf ball cost 1s 6d, gloves 2s 6d, a pair and brogues and boots
cost anywhere between 17s 6d and 21s. Tweed golfing skirts 10s
22d. Dunlop Orange Spot, Haskell Royal, Kite, Baby Kite, Kempshall,
Gipsy and Golden Kite golf balls, the latter claiming forty yards
on its contemporaries, seemed to have been the missiles in vogue
at the time.
It was noted in the
Irish Times ("IT") that Killarney had invested in a
motorised lawn mower at a cost of £100, the IT special correspondent
felt it was probably the first of its kind in Ireland.
1909 saw the introduction
of the "Dreadnaught" golf club which was much publicised
after Robert Maxwell won the Amateur Championship with the club.
The club was a broader and deeper version of the existing clubs
and in someways similar to "The Bap" developed by John
Aitken from the Royal County Club (now Royal Portrush GC). However,
this club had a whippy shaft with the suppleness focused near
the grip. Basically it gave you greater distance if you were already
a good golfer but could prove unforgiving in the wrong hands,
the secret (it is said) was to let the club do the work and don't
force the shot. Probably the Big Bertha of its day.
Exhibitions
It was becoming a part
of the golfing landscape for two professionals to issue a challenge
to all comers to foursome match : Professional Challenge Match.
Edmundson and Hamill had defeated Kidd and Pope in a similar match
and Moran and McKenna were now throwing down the gauntlet for
a 72 holes event over two courses.
An eagerly awaited match
between Edmundson and Moran took place over the Dollymount course,
whose members put up the purse, on the 30 April 1909. Moran was
considered by some to have an ugly but very effective swing and
Edmundson, the visitor, had won the first two Irish Professional
Championships and rightfully considered the best professional
at the time. The match had already been postponed through illness,
a bronchial infection, on the part of Edmundson and he hardly
seemed to have fully recovered. The match was played in strong
winds and rain so it would be difficult to use it to guage their
pecking order. After thirty-six holes the match ended in a draw
with Moran shooting 79,86 to 82,83.
In late July Harry Vardon
played a best ball of John F. MacNamara (Muskerry GC) and Brown
at the Little Island GC he was at the time on a visit for the
purpose of laying out the Douglas Golf Club's new course. Vardon
was level at the end of the eighteen holes but his lack of knowledge
of the links was his main obstacle as his golf was seen as far
superior to that of of his opponents. Vardon joined forces with
McNamara to play Brown and Le Folly (Middleton) winning the match
one up. This match delayed the MacNamara's arrival at the professional
competition being played in the Curragh the following day.
Harry Vardon (77,71)
played Michael Moran (78,75) at Delgany on the 18 September. The
primary reason for his visit was to improve the difficulty of
the course which was relatively bunkerless.
Michael Moran vs Fred
Smyth 9 October 1909 - Moran won comfortably 4up after 36 holes
at Hermitage the final 36 to be played at Dollymount 20 October
1909. The prize was for a substantial purse put up by the members
of both clubs. Moran 77,29 to Smyth (82, 32) with Moran eventually
winning 12 and 11.
US Ladies golf
No golfer is afraid
of a true lady golfer. A "true lady golfer" embraces
many qualities which the majority of lady players can never hope
to acquire.
The
1909 US Ladies' Amateur Championship was played at Merion and
there were sixty-seven starters of which 32 reached the matchplay
stages. Nonna Barlow, a native of County Waterford, lost to Dorothy
Campbell in the final by 3 and 2. Campbell was the reigning British
and Scottish Amateur champion but despite this Nonna Barlow was
able to hold her off until the thirteenth.
The Rules of
Golf
The year ushered in
a changes in the rules of golf:
· Upon hitting
the ball out of bounds from the tee area you could now tee-up
the ball again. Hitting out of bounds from anywhere else meant
taking a drop.
· Dropping would be done from over the shoulder and not
the head as in the past.
· You could no longer sweep the line of a putt with your
hand and dirt, snow and other impediments could only be removed
with a club but by not applying more weight than that of the club
itself.
· You could now take relief from casual water whether you
were lying in it or if it interfered with your line to the hole.
You could now drop two clubs behind where the ball rested or the
nearest point of relief to this.
· Also playing a putt while the opponent's ball is still
in motion would result in the loss of the hole rather than the
loss of a stroke as was previously the case.
CHAMPIONSHIPS
Irish Professional
Championship (May 12-14)
On the 14th May 1909
the IPC thirty-six-hole final was played over the Newcastle links
with Michael Moran comprehensively beating Harry Kidd the Malone
professional by 9 & 7. Accounts of the match recall Kidd securing
an early three hole lead with Moran bringing the match all square
by the turn. Moran proceeded to win four of the next five holes
but lost the next two leaving the match with a two up lead at
the half way stage. The final eighteen saw Moran playing great
golf as he was out in thirty nine despite high winds leaving him
seven up and followed it by winning the first two holes on the
inward journey to secure the match and his first victory in the
championship. This year was the last year for the matchplay format
and the eighth qualifiers for the matchpaly stages were:
M. Moran (Royal Dublin)
beat F. Bacon (Royal Portrush) 3 & 2
F Smith (Hermitage) beat H. Hamill (Ormeau) 3 & 2
H. Kidd (Malone) beat H. Ms Neill (Royal Portrush) 2 & 1
C. W. Pope (Fortwilliam) beat James Edmundson (Bangor) 2 &
1
Semi-finals
Moran beat Smith 5 &
4
Kidd beat Pope 5 & 4
Final
Moran beat Kidd 9 &
7
Other Professional
tournaments
On July 23-24 the Curragh
was handed over to professionals who wished to qualify for the
News of the World £240 tournament two players would qualify
from the Irish section. The prelude was a PGA strokeplay competition
over thirty-six holes which was won by Harry Kidd (73,72) with
Moran and Pope in second place (73,77) won the Irish qualifying
section over thirty-six holes. Moran won his place in the News
of the World after scoring 148 while Kidd and Robertson would
play-off for the final place both finishing on 152. A curious
incident would arise when it was later believed the Kidd may have
signed for the wrong score albeit that an official marker was
on hand to count and mark the cards. A three rather than a four
may have been provided for on the basis of an answer given by
a spectator. Presumably as Kidd was not offering to retract his
score he felt the correct score had been lodged the Curragh GC
made a statement in an IT editorial that the cards would stand
an and additional £5 be put up as prize-money for the play-off.
In the end the IPGA disqualified Harry Kidd in the News of the
World qualifier upon Kidd's acknowledgement of the error. In the
end both Robertson and Moran were beaten in the first round of
the News of the World tournament.
British Amateur Championship
(25-29 May Muirfield)
Prior to the championship
there was a proposal put by Edinburgh Burgess that the rota be
changed to include an Irish club (Dollymount was stated example)
by 1912. At the time the Amateur Championship was in the hands
of the clubs on the rota (Hoylake, St. Andrews, Prestwick, Sandwich
and Muirfield). Alas a new club was added to the rota but it was
Westward Ho! Who hosted the event in 1912. It was recognised (in
the would turkeys vote for Xmas category) that the only chance
Ireland had of hosting the championship was if the Royal and Ancient
were given control of the event.
There were a few scalps
taken in the third and fourth rounds at Muirfield and Munn's win
over James Robb the 1906 champion gave some hope of an Irish victory.
Munn was now playing out of Londonderry rather than the usual
Dublin University affiliation. Munn went out in the next (fourth)
round to Captain C.K. Hutchison on his home turf and this together
with Dickson's exit ended Irish involvement in the Championship.
Irish Ladies Close
Championship (4-6 May - Lahinch)
The end of an era was
ushered in when, on 10th March a presentation was made to May
Hezlet by the ILGU for her contribution to Irish Golf. Her marriage
on the 27 April meant she would not be defending her title at
the out-of-the-way venue at Lahinch.
The sixteenth championship
was played at Lahinch and despite the loss of Miss Hezlet the
championship had the other Hezlet sisters, Mabel Harrison, Florence
Walker-Leigh and Amy F. Ormsby. While Florence Hezlet's early
exit was unexpected the appearance of three of the last four in
the Championship wasn't, the exception being Amy who had really
figured in the event before this.
Few at this stage would
have bet against Miss Walker-Leigh, the 1907 champion. Amy Ormsby,
the County Sligo player was quietly making her way through the
rounds despite not having everything her own way. Amy faced Miss
Walker-Leigh in the semi-final causing an upset by winning the
match by 4 & 2 to take her place in the final against Miss
Violet Hezlet. In the final she found herself three down but recovered
quickly to the extent of being dormy in the lead by the fifteenth.
In the end Amy took the next hole closing the match out by another
4 & 2 margin.
Later, Amy Ormsby would
emigrate to South Africa with her husband Larry Vernon (winner
of the inaugural West of Ireland championship) where she would
win four South African (SA) Ladies' Championships, an event coincidently
instituted in 1909. Her first win in 1922 was as a member of Mowbray
but later victories (1925,26,34) were as a member of Royal Johannesburg.
One hundred years later Mrs A F Vernon would be balloted for induction
into the SA hall of fame.
British Ladies Championship
(17-21 May - Birkdale)
The 1909 Championship
was played at Royal Birkdale and Florence Hezlet was again denied
the ultimate prize in Ladies' golf by being beaten 4 and 3 by
Dorothy Campbell Hurd. Florence had lost to her more famous sister
May in the 1907 final at Newcastle. Miss Campbell was the steadier
player and while Florence showed moments of brilliance it wasn't
sufficient to sustain a credible challenge.
Irish Open Championship
(30 August-3 September - Dollymount)
102 entrants but despite
the inability to attract Robert Maxwell, Hilton or Hutchinson
a first class field did show up. By the fifth round Munn was the
last Irish person standing while he had a close first round match
against J D Gardinier from there is passage proved reasonable
unimpeded including a fourth round match against his brother Ector,
whom he defeated by 6 and 4. In the fifth round Munn beat H.E.
Taylor (Richmond's Gate) by 6 and 5 and had another emphatic win
over J.D. Lyttle (Burntisland) by the same margin. J.D. Lyttle
would go on to win the South of Ireland championship at Lahinch
between 8-12 September. In the final he beat Robert Garson the
Scottish golfer from Troon GC by 2 up. It wasn't until the last
nine of the thirty-six hole final that the match got really interesting.
Munn had gone into lunch four up and held onto that lead until
the turn but heading for home started to miss small putts and
the margin was being reeled in. Fortunately he held on to become
only the second Irish winner in eighteen outings of the championship.
Irish Amateur Close
Championship (18 May - May - Newcastle)
There were fifty entrants
for this event, some of whom, for whatever reason, entered anonymously
or under a nom-de-golf. Lionel Munn decided to defend his title
despite suggestions that he might concentrate on the Amateur Championship.
Munn got a bit of a scare in the third round when he turned three
down against P.F. Jameson, the Malahide player but didn't lose
a hole from there in eventually closing out the match on the seventeenth
by 2 & 1. The next round saw Munn defeated by Mr D. Martin,
the Royal Dublin player, on the fourth extra tie hole. In the
final it was another Dublin University player, A.H. Patterson
who took the laurels against E.F. Spiller from Malone G.C. It
was at all times a close match and nothing separated them and
it eventually took the first extra tie hole to decide the contest.
Munn would play an exhibition
match against Harold Hilton on the 26 June to celebrate Ormeau's
new nine-hole course. Lionel Munn won the thirty-six-hole competition.
Hilton, the chain smoking golfer with the "piccolo"
grip had two Amateur and Open Championships to his name and while
he experience a lull in his golf since 1901 when many thought
he was a spent force until 1909 when he began showing some of
his old form. It was a significant scalp for Munn but he was unable
to translate it into a win in either of the events that stand
testament to your legacy in the golfing firnament.
