THE MENTION of Fred Daly still provokes fond recollections in the Scottish coastal town of Lossiemouth. Indeed, when the Home Internationals were staged there - at Moray Golf Club - this week, 84-year-old Alex Souter recalled the time Daly, the only Irishman to win the British Open, played a charity exhibition match over the links.
It was no ordinary exhibition match. Daly's protagonists on the day, back in 1950, included Max Faulkner, who was to win the Open at Royal Portrush the following year, Dai Rees and Bill Shankland, the golfing guru of the time. As part of the charity nature of the event, the crowds would toss coins on to the green as the players completed each hole.
Souter had only recently returned from South Africa where he worked in the gold mines and, upon hearing of the proposed exhibition, asked if he could caddy. So, on that day, he had the honour of carrying Shankland's bag. But it was Daly who provided the fireworks. "I remember it as if it was only yesterday," Souter told me. "They were such gentleman, joking and whistling the whole way round." "In particular, I recall that Daly used a rusty old putter - but he was holing them from all angles and the crowds just took him to their hearts," he said.
In fact, Daly conquered the Moray links that day. The Ulsterman - winner of the Open at Hoylake in 1947 - covered the front nine in 28 strokes and, at the completion of the 18 holes, signed for a course record 63. Unfortunately, that record no longer stands. Some alterations to the course since then and the addition of a few yards means that Robbie Stewart, a club professional at Cruden Bay, near Aberdeen, who shot a 65 some weeks ago, holds that distinction.
Still, Daly's name is still mentioned with a certain amount of awe in these parts. Souter recalls receiving two golf balls from Shankland at the end of the exhibition match. "My other memory is that they auctioned a little puppy dog for charity the same day," he said.
"This is a grand wee links course. We are unlucky to be so far north, otherwise I'm sure we would have hosted some of the bigger championships." The old Moray links was attracting visitors over a century ago. Indeed, an issue of "Golf" on September 11th, 1896, informed readers of some of the hazards involved in playing golf there.
"At one time," it stated, "the sea covered the part that is now played over and it seems to have left a succession of banks and hillocks of stones of all sizes. This in time has been covered with bent, whin, heather, moss and some grass, but as the soil is of no depth, the stones are a prominent feature of the links. One may find his ball lying on stones off a good drive and have to take a putt for his second, or risk breaking his club. This frequently happens." The same edition of the periodical also recalls how golfers would "show you their pet iron or lofter and mourn over it" and how a visitor from Edinburgh offered a guinea to the captain if he would start a petition to have the stones removed from the course.
Thankfully, the stones have long gone from the course and, as golfers during the Home Internationals discovered, the biggest hazard these days comes from the noise from aircraft taking off and landing at RAE Lossiemouth, which is adjacent to the course.
A GROWING number of courses around the world are banning metal spikes. So, it will bed interesting to see what conclusion is reached at Luttrellstown Castle Golf and Country Club today where a one-day ban is being implemented.
The trend in recent times has been against metal spikes. Greens are pampered, nursed and prepared on a daily basis and, yet, a US Golf Association study found that the "conventional golf shoe metal spike not only causes severe damage to the grass plant, but the rounded shoulder of the spike also causes significant soil compaction and delayed grass recovery for weeks beyond that of Softspikes shoes." At the start of this year, 185 courses world wide had instituted a spikeless policy, including the Jack Nicklaus course at Muirfield Village, Dublin, Ohio, where the decision to go spikeless was taken in June 1994. The word has spread and, now, it is estimated over 500 courses worldwide have banned metal spikes.
Why? Well, Don Tolson, the superintendent at Fox Hollow Golf Course in Lakewood, Colorado, explained: "It's absolutely environmentally irresponsible to wear metal spikes which shred turf tissue and spread a nuisance grass called poa annua, two headaches that require more water and chemicals to fight than are needed on spikeless courses." The revolution against metal spikes has been most dramatic this year, particularly in the United States. For instance, the Collegiate Players' Tour decided to eliminate metal spikes at all 10 tournaments and the renowned Blackwolf Run club in Kohler, Wisconsin, announced that it will no longer permit metal spikes on either of its two PGA Championship courses.
Which is why the development at Luttrellstown Castle will be watched with interest. Softspikes (Ireland) are providing competitors today with a complimentary set of Softspikes and, in fact, have offered any club in the country with sufficient numbers to implement a one day ban on the wearing of metal spikes.
However, advocates of the spikeless policy insist it eliminates spikemarks on the greens; reduces the spread of poa annua, eliminates impressions on the greens, protects delicate root structure and ensures better ball roll. Gerry Byrne, the course superintendent at Luttrellstown Castle, might be getting a few phone calls from his contemporaries around the country over the next few days to assess the impact of the one-day ban.
ANOTHER indication of the changing times in golf occurred, without fuss or ceremony, in the men's Home Internationals at Moray this week.
Sue Bennett, wife of the English Golf Union's president-elect John Bennett, refereed the singles match between England's Robert Wiggins and Scotland's Barclay Howard, the first female to officiate at this level. For the record, Wiggins won by two holes.
"IT'S NOT a brilliant golf course, but by no means a bad one either." Laura Davies' opinion on the St Pierre course which hosts next week's Solheim Cup match between Europe and the United States.
IN BRIEF: The official opening of Roscommon's new clubhouse and 18-hole course will take place tomorrow week, September 22nd. The upgrading of the facility has cost in the region of £1 million . . the 1996 CISM (Consel International Sports Militaire) Golf Championship will be hosted by the Irish Defence Forces at the Curragh Golf Club on September 18th-20th. Italy, who won the title at Ramstein, Germany, last year, are defending their crown.
