But the 56-year-old grandmother from Havelock North didn't bask in the limelight early because for a good part of her life golf remained dormant.
Thanks to her father, Dave Teneti, 83, of Hastings, and mother Lucy, 81, the sport surfaced when she was 30.
"He used to try to drag us out there as kids and we used to hate it and scream and kick," explains Manaena of herself and 55-year-old brother David, of Hastings, when they were in their preteens.
"We just couldn't see the sense in going around a course chasing a white ball. We just wanted to play [like other kids in the yard]," says Manaena, who has worked as a machine operator for dog rolls at Wattie's for more than two decades.
Teneti then gave up golf to work on his drive at the pulpit with sermons as a Mormon elder so the former Lucknow Primary and Havelock North High School pupil rejoiced.
"I wish my dad had pushed us a little bit harder and he had kept trying and trying," says Manaena.
At 22 she met Paul, her brother's best mate. The men used to plough the fairways at Golflands as social hackers and dutifully replace their divots.
She got pregnant with Reihana and would join Paul for walks on the golf course but it wasn't until she was carrying Taine and the elder son was 9 and had picked up an iron that she showed a flicker of interest.
When her husband bought her a set of golf clubs for Christmas that year she broke down and cried.
"I thought, 'I don't want to play golf'," she says but Paul's psychological approach was to pull his wife out of the mental bunker, as it were, convincing her that if she didn't find traction she could return the equipment for cash.
When Manaena found out the set had cost $500 her heart sank even further.
"All I wanted was the money at the time. I don't know why?"
Reluctantly she teed up at the Mangateretere public course on No 1 and hit it dead straight, albeit not too far, got on to the green and one-putted for a par.
"He said I got a par and I said, "oh yeah, whatever that is'. So No 2, a short par 3, I put the ball on the green and he's jumping up and down thinking where's this coming from and I'm thinking, 'Mmm, this isn't that bad'," says a beaming Manaena, who hasn't looked back since.
The then golf bug-bitten mother pushed Taine around in a stroller and watched in amazement as Reihana threaded the ball through a maze of trees, on his way to eventually tutoring his brother, while she needed a gap the size of french doors to play out of trouble.
"When Taine started he had more imagination than Reihana had," says Manaena, momentarily letting motherhood eclipse her story. "They would debate each other and try to out do each other so that competitiveness came from me."
That spurred her to Masters trials but tragedy struck in the game of life - Reihana suddenly lost his wife, Sara-Jo, in a car crash in 2014, leaving the widower to channel his energy into raising daughters, Aleeah, 6, and Ivy, 4.
"I stopped for about six months trying to help Reihana through it," she says. But a steely resolve kicked in to win something for her late daughter-in-law.
Manaena won the Hastings club championship that year, beating fellow HBPB No 4 seed Fiona Ellis, and caught the Bay selectors' eye. She played in the Sybil Green Salver tourney but then the Toro Interprovincials beckoned and she drew the line in the sand on a mercenary approach to the code.
"I was expected to go out and train, train and train and I just couldn't do that," she says.
She didn't appreciate attempts to change her grip and swing, although her sons chastised her for not adhering to protocol.
"I started shanking it. I'm set up for a draw every time because that's who I am and I'm comfortable with that," she says, adding that Interprovincials just took the love out of the game for her.
However, HBPB manager Sue Sowerby urged her to bring some mongrel into her game, especially in matchplay tourneys.
"I try so hard to go out there, not to focus on the other girls [rivals], but as soon as I introduce myself and say hello to them I just connect with all my opponents and I just can't find that killer instinct," Manaena says.
"IP [Interprovincials] just takes that enjoyment out of it for me and there's too much pressure," she says, sighing when reflecting on how her adroit sons draw energy from a packed gallery when under pressure.
That, says the grinning, affable granny, is the business side and definitely attributes of hubby Paul.
That boys have inspired her and their maternal grandfather's admiration needs no interpretation.
"He's more proud of his mokos than me," she says, conceding her father always had her best interests at heart but she was too blind to see them.
In her first outing in the Masters she was so excited that she ran out of fizz by the time she got to the mound as the top seed.
"I played terribly," she says but the following year it was better as she got to know the field better and accepted No 1 seed wasn't her calling in the gross stableford.
"They [other top seeds] were so amazing so I had more fun watching them than playing my game so that's why I didn't play very well," she says, recalling her rivals were cranking 60m to 70m past her on drives.
The edict of playing for the team and not requiring a one-on-one matchplay face-offs sit quite comfortably with her at No 3 or even No 2.
"Matchplay in Sybil Green is fine because the women aren't on plus-something handicaps."
While she was slick on last year's Interprovincials trials she declined the selectors request to go as a travelling reserve.
Her priorities in the game of life always take precedence.
"It's my family first. I'd like to say my golf but it's work and golf at the same level," she says, adding her granddaughters are in pole position.
Manaena's putting is her forte and many Bridge Pa amateurs have endorsed that belief.
"I won this putter once and I just went out and drained the putts. I would get to a green with four on a par 5 and rain one for par."
Her husband once said she could putt with a broomstick.
"And I tried it but I can't," she say with a laugh before revealing she still has her first putter, a $29 Dunlop from K-Mart, and only parted with it because she won a Ping one in a tourney.
Manaena, who tees off at 9.10am on the No 10 hole, anticipates a wonderful weekend "with some awesome" teammates to play alongside at the Ngaruawahia Golf Club.
HBPB finished seventh last year and 11th the previous year. They have never won the tourney.
"We've got to finish better because my husband's business is sponsoring our team's travel expenses this year," says the jovial wife, revealing the plan is to promote Laser Plumbing and Electrical Napier when they receive the prize on the podium.
HBPB Masters team: No 1 Janie Field (Napier GC), No 2 Kathy Olsen (Maraenui GC), No 3 Martha Manaena (Hastings GC), No 4 Fiona Ellis (Hastings GC).
Non-travelling reserve: Lynne Roberts.