Long weekend keeps course attendance down

With Waitangi Day making the last week-end into a long one, and a number of members away from the district, the course was relatively quiet.
Saturday saw a stableford round the order of the day, and while the field was not the biggest, the scoring was again quite hot. In the lower handicap group, Darryl Coley led the way with an even par round for a haul of 46 points. Bill Graham and Laurence Butler were the next best with 42 points.
You had to feel a little sorry for Bruce Herangi.
He shot a one under par round of 71, and that was not good enough to get him into the prize list, and to add insult to injury, he lost the haggle.
But he did have the consolation of scoring a hole in two.
In the second group, it was Evelyn Munn who took the honours with 42 points from Ray Loader on 40 and Trish Gallon on 39 points.
Sunday was a medal round, and it was Ray Loader who shone through with his score of 65 nett. Se3cond place went to David O'Reilly on 68 nett, with both Bill Graham and John Pitau one stoke more. Both David O'Reilly and Ray Loader scored holes in two.
With players heading off to other clubs on Waitangi day, the club stableford competition was a small one, with Bruce Herangi topping the pile with just 37 points, which was one more then Thomas Tiopira, with the same margin back to Darryl Coley.
Last Thursday, the mid-week ladies held their opening day for the season, with the competition of the day being a stableford round. Irene Phelps led the way with 43 points, followed by Janet Campbell on 40 points and Daphne Jordan on 38.
The veterans group are now back in full swing, and on Tuesday their competition was a stableford round. Leading the way in the women's division was Janet Campbell with 41 points in group one, followed by Janet Shaw on 36 and Irene Phelps and Pat Gard on 35.
Betty Loader took out the second group with 39 points, from Judith O'Connor on 36 and Daphne Jordan on 32.
Ted Gard has the best round of the men with his 39 points taking out the lower handicapped group from Ian Gemmill on 37 and Jim Munn and Vin Oswald on 36. Lin Jordan headed the second group with 38 points, with Alby Haley on 37 and John Eccles, Syd Whittington and Trevor Oliver all finishing with 35 points.
The nearest to the pins on the sixth hole went to Evelyn Munn and Vin Oswald, while the ladies one on the third was also taken by Evelyn Munn, and Jim Munn took out the men's one on the seventh hole.
Next week's competition for the veteran's group will be a bisque par round.
As this is the first column since the end of last year, there is a bit of catching up to do.
The greens have been in very good condition, and as a result, there have been a number of outstanding scores registered. The men's summer Cup was won by Matthew Biel with rounds of 44 and 42 points, with Jordan Mitchell in second place with 44 and 41 points.
The Ladies Summer Cup also saw high scores registered, with Daphne Jordan having scores of 45 and 43 points, Fiona Samuel 45 and 41, and Cilva Richmond 43 and 41.
Then there was the opening day Fourball stableford competition, which saw Rose Alexander and Kevin Hunter head the field with 53 points, with Irene Phelps and George O'Keeffe on 51.
On Wellington Anniversary week-end, the Copthorne Solway Park 54 Hole Teamplay tournament saw Brendon McGillicuddy and Paul Moorhead take out the gross on 204 from Jeffrey and Phillip Tuoro on 205.
The nett went to Jeremy Harp and Darryl Coley on 189? from Jake Paulsen and Francis Nicholls.
The Ladies Nett went to Sherrah Ruhe and Moana Bogusz on 197? , with Anita Karaitiana and Rose Alexander taking the gross on 245.
This coming week-end sees the Wairarapa Golf Sub Association's festival of golf day on Saturday. Details of what that involves will be published elsewhere in this paper.
Then on Sunday, the last six players standing in the Mahunga Shoot Out will be off to Martinborough to play against their counterparts from Carterton and Martinborough. Tee off time for this event is 8.00 a.m.
For those not involved in the shoot out, the club competition will be a medal round.