Nelson Capers (and the Caddy extraordinaire).
At the end of October I finally made the long-promised trip to Nelson to play some courses and visit my good friends Rhonda and Megannan.Wilma and I drove up on a Friday afternoon after she finished work and we broke the journey at Murchison so I could get up in the early hours and dash across the camping ground to play a quick 9 Holes before breakfast.
Wilma and the resident pet saw me off at 8 am and I headed to the deserted golf course....
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| Ya all come back now! |
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| Near miss on the 6th Green. |
As for Conifers.....check these beauties out:
A lovely 54 was scored and with No.31 course completed we continued up the road to Nelson.
Now Rhonda ( my friend in Nelson)
hates golf
or so she professes,and has always said she would never be seen on a golf course.
But she Loves me
and she loves an occasion so she very good-naturedly agrees to caddy for me.Not only does
she caddy for me but she also shouts me most of the rounds I play in Nelson as a belated birthday present.
And getting into the spirit of things we have to go in search of the perfect caddy outfit for her because she insists she wears a different outfit for each course. A girl has to look her best afterall!
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| Caddy Extraordinaire. |
We are a team............. stylin'it.
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| Rhonda ready for the 1st ever golf course experience @ Maitai |
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| Lippy on..@Kina Cliffs |
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| Gals at Best Island. |
i.e the photos were to tell a narrative of the round not to be arty creations and
juxtapositions of line,light and colour. In the end she took two cameras with her
so she could fulfil my needs for narrative and hers for art.
I certainly got a lot of action shots:
And she did not forget the Conifers ...
In Nelson I played:
No 32 @ Waahi Taakaro (Maitai Valley)
The major challenge being the Maitai River itself which I had to
drive over on the 1st shot of the round.Although I cleared the river
beautifully I was not so lucky with a later lateral water hazard.
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| Driving over the Maitai. |
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| Ooops! |
No 33@ Greenacres in Best Island.
Naturally we sang the theme music from Zsa zsa Gabor's famous 'sitcom' as
we drove up the road to the Golf Club.This course was very flat but played
along the Waimea Estuary with great views of the hills of Nelson. I
managed to get a bit of bird watching in here as well as golf (Tineke will be
relieved to hear.)
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| Yellowhammer. |
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| Spoonbills on Waimea Estuary. |
No 34 @ Kina Cliffs.
This has got to be in my top three of courses I have played.Fantastic and
distracting views on every hole and each hole uniquely challenging.I would
gladly play here again any day and we had an especially blue -skyed one.
There were hills and uneven lies; there were plateau greens where the ball
just did not want to stick;there was water to avoid around some of the greens
and there were scary drives up and over bush to be made.
A hard won 62 was scored
here but I was pleased with that given the difficulty of the course.Such a
beautiful course and we had it to ourselves!
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| Up and over the bush!No 3. |
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| Hard to concentrate with a view like that! |
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| An awkward lie. |
And last but by no means least No 34 @ Nelson Golf Club.
I had not intended to play this course as I figured it was a bit expensive and would be hard to get a Tee time but due to Rhonda's orchestration I was invited to join a group of wonderful ladies who had a gap in their Four as one of their number had done her Achilles tendon.
I was the youngest by about 30 years I think but believe me these ladies were no slouches and a great outing was had,Rhonda being especially happy to follow a full foursome around and record it for posterity.
Luckily I acquitted myself well with a 56 so my partner Mary and I won the Match Play.
I was particularly pleased with my Par on the tricky No 6.
This course has recently had some huge number of trees cut down to make it into a 'real' Links course,but the day I played it was sunny and still.
Thank you Ladies for fantastic experience and what an honour to play with such inspirational women. I sure hope I am still getting around a golf course in such good spirits as you all are myself, in another 30 years.
And a big thanks to dear Rhonda for so whole-heartedly embracing my 'project' and coming along for the ride even though she hates Golf.
Hmm and she may even be there on a golf course again soon to witness me finish my 50th one.........................
The itinerary for my Nelson trip also included Motueka and Golden Bay where I would play golf and see some dear friends that were especially supportive of me as I was going through treatment 41/2 years ago.
I cut my trip short as sadly I needed to return for the farewell and funeral of sweet Lorraine.
A very brave lady who had undergone surgery that made mine look like a walk in the park(and it wasn't!)
I drove home in a gusty Nor west trying to make it for the Vigil on the Friday night.By the time I got to Culverden I realized I was not going to make it in time.
So I stopped , and played a very meditative round of golf, singing songs and trying to tune in to the Vigil.
The wind died down and everything became still and clear. A quiet peace enveloped me and as I holed out on the 9th I looked up and saw this :
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