Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-09-09

Possibly no department of the game
OF golf causes so much discussion as
driving, We are not given long dis
sertations on the subject of the mum
Der OF feet which constitute the rec.
ord for holed approach with mashie
or the greatest length ever obtained
with q mid-iron. but time and time
again are we called on to read articles
on the subject Of who holds the rec
ord for the longest drive. There is q
writer who calls himself Hari-Kari In
Golfing who, In spite of. beginning
with the statement that there is no
more hackneyed subject in golf than
that Of record drives. still manages
to give 1s some new light on the mat.
ter. He says:
Yet It. is curious fact that there
ID no subject unless it be perhaps the
applicability Of stroke play rules to
DOGGY competitions-in regard to
which / am more often asked to act
as arbiter in disputes. And such cor
respondent has lately asked me to de-
eide controversy regarding the rec
.ognized record drive. can not do
better than deal with the matter here.
The recognized record drive is the
drive of 1888 yards made by w. II.
Horne Of Chertsey in the North Ber-
wick tournament held in July, 1903.
From the thirteenth tee Horne drove
to the side Of the green, level with the
flag, and later in the day the distance
was afterward officially measured and
returned at the figure mentioned. II
should be said that the ground falls
steadily from tee to green. and as
the surface was on the hard side at
the time. and the ball was further
aided by q strong following wind, all
the circumstances were favorable to
the player
Hraid,s Record.
This is not, however, the longest
drive ever made, although 1t is the
longest made during the play in any
competition. But Braid in 1905 drove
3g5 yards, with a following wind and
on post bound course, from the NJ,
teenth tee at Walton Heath where the
gradient is slightly downhill. He was
playing q round at the time with 81
George RiddelI, and the distance was
afterwArd measured by Sir Alexander
Kennedy, the wellknown engineer. Al
the home hole in the same round ne
drove to the bunker guarding the
green, q distance of $40 yards.
This year at Colchester, July 10,
George Duncan, playing an exhibition
match with James Braid, got IN Ut
tie putt of SS3 yards, and thus almost
equaled VIII. Hcrnes record. IN
this case alEo there was a following
wind, and the run of the. ground was
ali in favor of the driver.
While these are the longest anthem
ticated drives, it is not to be sup
posed that they are very much longer
than some that went before them.
The longest drive with the old feather
hall. AZ far as the records go, was that
made by Monsieur Messieux, french
master In the Madras College at ST
Andrews. The name Of Samuel Mes
sieux appears In the list as tnat OF tne
winner of the royal and ancient golu
medal in 1927, and of the silver Cross
in 1910, and presumably flis is the
same man. . Prof. James Stuart, VINO
was one of his pupils, says In MS
HE was goifer
of some repute, and lived for long In
history as having made the longest
drive that ever was made; but whetn-
er this record has since been beaten
/ can not say. 1t was on slightly
frosty day, with gentle wind with
him, and he was playing over what
was then called the Elysian fields.
OId-time SWipes. =.
This longest drive" was made IN
1888, and was long supposed to nave
been measured at 361 yards, and was
apparently not regarded at st: An
drews as wing been beaten by Lieut.
F. G. Tait's famous drive, made, DC
it noted, at the same place. In those
degenerate days, however, many nave
begun to cast doubts upon the authen-
ITCHY of the record, without any very
sound reason. | notice, for instance