Conditions were ideal for Taupō and Tūrangi golfers this week. Photo / 123RF
It was a good field for the last day of April when we played a combined Nett/hidden partners.
Richard Vlaar and Julie McCarthy came first with 74 points.
Next were Cathie Braun and Jude Charlton on 76, then Billy Wells and Lesley Cottrell with 78 on a countback from Tim Whakatihi and Hikei Hartley, also on 78.
May 14 will be a Mulligan Day.
In our Stableford competition, Milani Thompson came first with 23 stableford points. In second with 22 points was Becky McEwan and in third with 21 was Margy Lynch.
Closest to the flag at the 16th was Milani Thompson, winning a Liquorland voucher, and the longest drive was Carin Genet, winning her the Bon Bon voucher.
Chilly, windy but sunny conditions were the order of the day for 22 vet women golfers for their latest round.
We were joined by Jane Swire, who was visiting from Cromwell in the South Island.
The competition of the day was Stableford, with some excellent scores returned.
The standout winner with 41 points was Julie Meiring, who said she putted really well.
In second place was Ladies’ captain Carol Taylor with 38 points, and Andrea Deadman was third with 37 points.
Rounding out the winners’ circle was Wynne Murdock in fourth place with 36 points on countback from Dawn Godinagh, also with 36 points.
All these players had money credited to their loyalty accounts.
The Liquorland-sponsored nearest the pin on the 16th hole was won by Colleen Wade, and Judy Nairn won the Baku/Vine Eatery voucher for her shot onto the 17th green.
The Tremains Real Estate longest putt winner on the 18th hole was Julie Meiring, a testament to her fine putting.
The two raffle winners were Val Stone and Lyn Edwards.
On what could only be described as a majestically sublime Taupō day, 40 ladies turned out for a pairs Stableford competition.
The players did not know who they were to be partnered with until the completion of play; another fun day for us all.
Coming out on top, with a fabulous score of 81 combined Stableford points, were Sally Mansell and Sharon Wiggins.
Behind them came Julie Meiring and Sheryl Painter with a score of 77, and third were Lexie Loof and June Roberts with 74 points on a countback from Michelle Hickman and Jenny Van den Berg.
A consolation prize was awarded to Tracy Hansard and Judy Nairn with 73 points. Well done ladies.
Nearest the pin for Silver went to Tracy Hansard, who received a Liquorland voucher, Julie Mering received a Cafe Lacus voucher for Bronze 1, and the Bronze 2 NTP went to Jenny Cory, who received a Columbus Café voucher.
The longest putt prize went to Viv Nyssen with a Dixie Brown voucher and the raffle was won by Val Stone with a voucher from Belle Cheveux Hair Salon.
Thanks to our sponsors for their wonderful generosity.
Woes that occur on the greens stay on the greens - or so they say - so it won’t be disclosed that a player who lost two balls still managed to be the runner-up.
Neither will the retort be repeated when a ball violently ricocheted straight back toward the striker after hitting a tree.
Nor will it be regaled that two Tuesday women on the course did not score netts equal to that of their Saturday peers’ top scores.
Or that the first group to tee-off bulldozed through groups of men who should not have been on the fairways that were scheduled for the women.
And the final straw was the women regretting the absence of their usual co-ordinator, bemoaning the higgledy-piggledy way in which the winners were announced.
Enough of tongue in cheek; the purpose of the day was jostling for Player of the Month and nett play, which were each hotly contested.
Areta Kahu won Player of the Month while also winning first place over Andrea Deadman on a countback, Nett 70.
Janine McCauley with a 71 Nett was placed third over Yvonne Raureti-Carson and Elaine Johnstone, who shared fourth and fifth place with Netts of 72.
Cherie Sinclair, whose drives would sometimes be hundreds of metres waywardly long, was surprisingly straight on the 16th hole, which enabled her to be nearest to the pin.
With a par on that hole, Cherie could boast six pars in total.
The longest putt on the 18th hole was accorded to Charlene Wilson, whose pars, also on the 16th and the 10th holes, made the 5672-metre walk on Tauhara worth getting out of bed early for.
To conclude, it is to be appreciated that trivial annoyances merely fuel the banter on the 19th hole, further whetting the appetite to return for more.
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